Saturday, October 05, 2013

Watch you words!

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.”  If someone told you that, they were lying.  Words are powerful; they can change your life forever.  Uplifting words can give you confidence and fill your heart with hope.  Demeaning words can plunge you into depression or fill your heart with rage.  Inspirational words can lead an army to victory, while words of defeat can make a nation surrender.  Words of truth make good decisions possible; lies and half-truths can lead to terrible mistakes.  Of all the tools at your disposal, none is more powerful than the tongue in your mouth.

If you don’t think that words are powerful, consider God.  He made our world just by saying the words "let there be..."  Psalm 33 says, By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  Jesus ended a storm with the words "Quiet!  Be still!" (Mark 4:39).  The Lord raised a dead man from the grave with the command, "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43).  When confronted with Satan in the wilderness, Jesus defeated the devil using nothing but the words of Scripture.  Words are God’s greatest tool.

Sadly, the devil also knows how to use words, and he uses them to devastating effect.  Satan used nothing but words to lead Adam and Eve into sin, dooming us all in the process.  Satan can make the most outrageous lies sound like the unvarnished truth.  He even quotes the Bible, twisting God’s words so that we misunderstand them.  And the devil uses us to spread his filthy words around.  Even the disciples were not immune; when Peter objected to Jesus’ talk of going to the cross, the Lord responded "get behind me, Satan!  You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men" (Mark 8:33)

James writes, With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come [both] praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.  The tongue is capable of great destruction; James says Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell…no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  No wonder, then, that the Bible frequently cautions us to keep the tongue under control (James chapter 3).  Psalm 39: I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth.  Psalm 141: Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.

There are many ways to misuse the tongue.  You can use it to spread gossip.  You can use it to shift blame to someone else.  You can use it to complain.  You can use it to lure people into doing something wrong.  Skillful use of the tongue can trick people into giving you what you want.  You can bend people to your will by using flattery, lies, or threats.  You can buy good will by making promises you don’t intend to keep.  But God is not fooled by slippery talk.  Listen to Jesus: I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken (Matthew 12:36).  God hates bragging: Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed (1 Samuel 2:3).  God detests gossip: Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, or use your lips to deceive (Proverbs 24:28). There is no such thing as a white lie; A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin (Proverbs 26:28). The Lord wants more from us than empty words; John wrote Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:18).  The Lord is not fooled by half-hearted worship; These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (Matthew 15:8).  The evil on our lips makes us unacceptable to God.  When Isaiah was given a look into God’s heavenly throne room, he cried out: Woe to me!  I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty (Isaiah 6:5).

Sin provokes harsh words from God. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked (Isaiah 11:4).  He has sent many spokesmen to warn us of His anger: I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth (Hosea 6:5).  These are words from God that we don’t want to hear.  They hold us accountable for our actions.  They threaten us with punishment in hell.  They demand that we change our ways. 

God uses words like a surgeon uses a scalpel.  We are filled with the cancer of sin.  If it is not removed we will die eternally.  If we submit to His treatment God will begin surgery, using His holy Word. The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).  Surgery, of course, is painful—but it is a far lesser painful than joining Satan in the fiery pit.  God’s surgery is temporary; the pain of sin is eternal.

Jesus never let His tongue get out of control. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22).   As He preached about the kingdom of God, His words were well received: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips (Luke 4:22). But things changed when He began to reveal Himself as the Son of God sent to earth as our Savior.  People were offended by His message.  The hostility grew until He was arrested under false pretenses and unjustly condemned to death.  Yet through it all, Jesus held His peace. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7)

Jesus suffered in silence; He only opened His mouth to give God’s blessings to others.  When nailed to the cross, He asked the Father to forgive His tormentors.  While He hung from the nails slowly dying, He promised a repentant criminal today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).  Although His lips were cracked and dry, He told John to care for His widowed mother.  And just before He died, Jesus asked for a final drink so He could let the world know that it is finished (John 19:30)—His battle against sin and Satan was over and He could die in peace.

Jesus suffered all this out of love.  He said, Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).  Jesus is our best friend, the only friend who gave everything He had to erase our sin and invite us to heaven.  But His work did not end with His death; Jesus rose from the grave to live at the Father’s side, sending us His Spirit so we can understand God’s words and use our mouths constructively.

When God speaks, we do well to listen. Proverbs 2:6 tells us, the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  We should love God’s words as did the man who wrote Psalm 119: The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold…How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth…Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.  We should live as Job did; I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread (Job 23:12)

Scripture tells us how to use our lips.  David wrote, My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long (Psalm 35:28).  Hebrews chapter 13 says, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.  We should use our lips to tell everyone about our Lord and how wonderful He is!  Reading Job we see another good use for our tongues; my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief (Job 16:5).  Our words should speak about others, not ourselves—Proverbs 27:2 says let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.  We should only speak when we know the facts, and always with good intentions: My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know (Job 33:3).  We should learn all that we can before offering advice; Solomon wrote, Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips (Proverbs 22:17-18).  And we are to tell our children and grandchildren about the Savior; I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations (Psalm 89:1). Words should be used to build up, not to tear down. 

There is no better place to exercise our tongues than in church.  God says, I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder (Zephaniah 3:9). God purifies us through the blood of His Son, blood that washes away our sin.  We appeal to that blood when we pray, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14). With our sins forgiven, our hearts leap for joy and we pray O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise…My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you--I, whom you have redeemed (Psalm 51)

We must open our mouths and speak about the Lord, because God commands it.  Jesus said, Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father in heaven.  But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33). Paul writes, if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:9-10).  Confession of the faith shows what is in your heart; Paul writes in 1st Corinthians that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.  When we speak about Christ, we show that He is living in our hearts.

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Proverbs 12:18). Thankfully, God’s word reigns supreme—it is the only word that can reverse the damage caused by our reckless speaking.  Jesus heals us when He says friend, your sins are forgiven (Luke 5:20).  When God speaks, His will cannot be thwarted. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).  Only the Word of God is powerful enough to free us from sin and rescue us from hell.  Those who refuse to listen when God speaks are only hurting themselves. Look at what Paul says in Romans chapter 14: `As surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'  So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God

So mind what you say.  James writes, If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless (James 1:26).  God knows everything you say; before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD (Psalm 139:4). Always remember Solomon’s advice: He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity (Proverbs 21:23).

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