Wise Words: Using Your Tongue Wisely

June 1, 2014

Wise Words

Using Your Tongue Wisely

Proverbs 15:1-8

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

Believe it or not the tongue is an important part of our culture.

• It has even found it’s way into the way we talk:

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“I’m all tongue tied.”

“Cat got your tongue?”

“That’s a real tongue twister.”

“I’m saying this tongue in cheek.”

It’s interesting to me that the tongue is almost all muscle like the heart.

• With the heart, you have no control over this muscle.

(Advance Slide #3)

• In contrast though, we DO have control our tongue!

Yes, the tongue is important.

• Without our tongue it is, almost, impossible to eat.
• Tongue moves food and pushes it back so that we can swallow.
• Our primary usage of the tongue is to speak!

The Bible confirms this...James 3:5-8.

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5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 [For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

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• NOTICE - our tongue is a world of evil, it corrupts a person, it sets us on fire!
• NOTICE - vs. 7, everything in the world can be tamed but not the tongue!
• It is impossible to be tamed!
• Why? It’s ruthless, evil, full of poison.
• Jesus said the same thing:

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. Mt. 15:18

• What comes from the mouth is first found in the heart.

ILLUS - Have you ever eaten something and you still taste it later.

• Maybe you wish you’d never eaten it...it left a bad taste in your mouth.
• This is sort of what Jesus is describing here!
• But it also leaves a bad taste in God’s mouth too.

(Advance Slide #6)

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Eph. 4:29-32

• This is not just about cursing and using bad language...we shouldn’t do that.
• NOTICE - vs. 31 we begin to see how we’re to use our tongue…

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

(Advance Slide #7)

Text

1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. 3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. 4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 5 A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent. 6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. 7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools. 8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. Proverbs 15:1-8

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Proverbs 15 - emphasis is on how to use the tongue for good rather than evil.

vs 2 - “The tongue of the wise spreads knowledge…”

vs 7 - “The lips of the wise spread knowledge…”

vs 1 - “A soft answer turns away wrath…”

vs 4 - “The gentle tongue is a tree of life…”

vs 8 - “…the prayer of the upright is acceptable (God)”

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These are all good things!

• They are wholesome.
• They are what God wants.

Yet there are verses that stress the negative use of the tongue.

• 15:1; 15:4; 12:18; 26:28
• Proverbs condemns the negative usage of the tongue.
• It stirs up anger, it crushes the spirit, and it pierces the soul.

Lesson

This text tells us how we can use our tongue.

• We can use our tongues to “do good.”
• However, we can’t if our mouth is closed!

What are some of the “good things” we can do?

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Spread knowledge - vs. 2

What kind of knowledge do we need to be spreading?

• For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; Prov. 2:6
• The best knowledge is ALWAYS going to come from God.
• It’s always going to be God’s knowledge.
• His knowledge gives me wisdom.
• His knowledge makes me wiser than my enemies.
• His wisdom is given FREELY and generously if I seek for it.

When we quote or speak God’s words we unleash His power.

• For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb. 4:12

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Can bring healing - vs. 4

What does this mean?

• Remember 4:31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
• These are a disease but our mouth is the cure.
• Jesus said it this way:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Mt. 5:9

• What do peacemakers do?...they make peace!
• A real peacemakers deals with people. People who are…
• Consumed with bitterness
• Filled with rage and anger
• Prone to start fights and slander.

A soft answer turns away wrath... - vs. 1

(Advance Slide #12)

Lay hold to the greatest power in the universe - vs. 8

“...the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”

• We should use our tongue to do the most important task.
• We can talk, appeal...pray to God!
• If we do pray and we seek to pray from hearts dedicated to His righteousness, God says that pleases Him, and He will hear us… and He will act upon our prayers.

PRAYER

Conclusion

With all that said, there is one thing that we can do with our tongues that Proverbs didn’t talk about.

• In fact, it is THE ONE THING God really loves for us to do.

(Advance Slide #13)

• We can used the tongue God gave us to show love and concern.
• EX - Penn Jillette (an outspoken atheist) was given a Bible
• The Bible included phone numbers and an email.
• As he recounts this story he almost comes to tears.
• He is still an atheist, but someone with the tongue that God gave them told Him about God...a seed was planted.

This is what God calls us to use our tongues to do.

(Advance Slide #14)

• To show those who are lost that we care for them and that we have a God who really does love them.