The Tongue: Life and Death Are In Your Mouth!
Proverbs has a lot to say about what we say. In
fact, the subject of the tongue and how we use our words is perhaps the
preeminent theme of this book. Over 150 times in this book alone, Proverbs
refers to our lips, our mouth and our tongue. One of the central issues of the
Book of Proverbs is how you use your tongue. I think all of us remember reading
in the book of James where it says “Though
the tongue is small, it is set on fire of hell. With the same tongue we bless
the Lord and curse our friends.”
Words are important. After all, God created the
universe with words. He spoke and it was so. Our Lord Jesus was called THE
WORD. “In the beginning was
the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us.”
Two reasons why words are important:
1.
Because of the sheer quantity of words we use.
Do you have any idea???According to
researchers, each person here will open his mouth an average of 700 times in a
day. In those 700 times, you will use an average of 18,000 words. Those 18,000
words would translate to about 54 printed pages. That means that in one year,
an average person would fill 66 books of 800 pages each. Every year. wonder Jesus said, “By your words you
will be condemned and by your words you will be justified.”
2.
Because of the amazing power of words.
With your words you either say something worthwhile or something
that is not worth anything at all.
Proverbs 18:20-21, “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s
stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue
has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Whether you know it or not, there is the power of life and
there is the power of death within you. Everything you have said this week has
either been life-giving or death-dealing, and there is nothing in between. The
tongue has the power to kill, to destroy, to hurt, to maim and to assassinate.
Right
Uses of the Tongue
1. The tongue may be used for wise counsel and sound
advice.
Proverbs 10:31 says, “The mouth of the righteous brings forth
wisdom.”
Proverbs 15:7 says, “The lips of the wise spread knowledge.”
2. The tongue can speak rebuke and reproof.
Proverbs 17:10 says, “A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a
hundred lashes a fool.” If you find a man of
understanding and you rebuke him, he will be impressed by your rebuke more than
if you find a fool and beat him with a lash 100 times. That is because a wise
man, a man of discernment, is a man you can come to and say, “My friend, I
think you’re on the wrong path. My friend, I’m not sure about what you’re
doing. Before you do that, stop and think. Let’s talk for a bit.” Blessed is
the man who has a friend who is willing to come and give you advice like that.
Proverbs 27:6 says, “FAITHFUL ARE THE WOUNDS OF A FRIEND,
BUT THE KISSES OF AN ENEMY ARE DECEITFUL.
.
3. The
tongue may be used for encouragement.
“Proverbs
12:25- An
anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”
“Proverbs 15:4The tongue that brings
healing is a tree of life.”
“Proverbs 15:23A man finds joy in giving
an apt reply—and how good is a timely word!”
“Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a
honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
How many of your words this last week were words
of encouragement? How many of your words were words to build up? How many times
in the last week did you find it necessary to criticize, to tear down and
destroy? . Are you the kind of person that other people are glad to see coming
into the room, or are you the kind of person that causes other people to turn
their face away? One reason may be that they see you as a negative,
discouraged, critical person. Everybody has troubles and problems. Nobody gets
a free ride from earth to heaven. How blessed you are if you use your tongue to
lift up and encourage the people around you.
4. The
tongue may be used for witnessing to others.
“The lips of the righteous nourish many.”
Proverbs 10:21
That
means that you can use your lips to help bring people to God. You can use your
lips to give spiritual nourishment to other people.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of
life, and he who wins souls is wise.”Proverbs 11:30
That
means that somebody, somewhere, opened their mouth and gave you the gospel. You
are a Christian because somebody shared the gospel with you, spoke on the
social media, from a pulpit, or because somebody close to you spoke the words
of life to you. What have you been doing to become a tree of life where you
work, at your school, to your friends, to your neighbors, to your loved ones?
By your lips you should give such good fruit that people come and want what you
have…
BUT SOMETIMES YOUR TONGUE HE USES FOR WORONG…
1.Wrong
Uses of the Tongue
“Proverbs 20:17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,
but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.”
“Proverbs 26:28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a
flattering mouth works ruin.” Proverbs
“ Proverbs 28:23 He who rebukes a man will in the
end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.”
2. The
tongue may be used for quarreling.
“Proverbs 18:6 A fool’s lips bring him strife, and
his mouth invites a beating.”
“ Proverbs
29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under
control.”
Young people, you’ll never learn a better lesson than this: learn
to control your temper.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man,
do not associate with one easily angered.”
3. The
tongue may be used for gossip.
“Proverbs 10:18 He who conceals his
hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
“Proverbs 16:28A perverse man stirs up
dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.
Proverbs 17:9 He who covers over an offense
promotes love.But whoever repeats the mater separates close friends.
That means that you don’t have to tell
everything you know. You don’t have to make everything right. You can cover
over some things so you can go on with life.
Three questions to ask yourself whenever you’re
tempted to tell something to someone else about what somebody has done:
Is it true?
Is is kind?
Is it necessary?
There wouldn’t be any gossip if we used those
three questions before speaking.
4. The
tongue may be used for lying.
Proverbs 6:16-19 gives
us the seven things the Lord hates. Two of them are a lying tongue and a false
witness who pours out lies.
“Proverbs
14:25 A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.”
“ Proverbs
12:19Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
5. The
tongue may be used to seduce to evil.
Proverbs 5 talks about the lips of an
adulteress. It says her lips drip with honey.
“Proverbs 6:24 Keeping you from the immoral woman (or man),
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife (or husband.)
“Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an
adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the Lord’s wrath will fall into it.”
Your tongue, which is meant to bless God, can be
used to drag other people down into sin. Don’t do it.
6. The
tongue may be used to talk too much.
“ Proverbs 10:19 When words are many,
sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
“ Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his lips
guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.
“ Proverbs 17:27 A man of knowledge uses
words with restraint.”
Proverbs
17:28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he
holds his tongue
That means that you don’t have to have an
opinion on everything. You don’t have to comment on everything that goes by you
in life. You don’t have to answer every question. How blessed we would all be
if we would learn to listen more and to speak less.
This is the best single verse on the tongue in
all the Bible. It says, “Let every person be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” You wouldn’t have too many interpersonal problems anywhere if you
just put that verse into practice..
4.
Yield your tongue to God.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever said,
“Lord, my tongue now belongs to you?” That’s where Romans 6 comes in, talking
about yielding the members of your body to God. Have you ever told the Lord, “I
have been using my tongue for myself. I am now going to use it for you. Here are
my lips, let me speak for you. Here is my mouth, let my mouth speak the words
that you want.” Proverbs 16:1 says, “To a man belongs
the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.” That verse means the tongue can be put under the Lord’s control.
That’s a great thought. Your tongue, which today may be set on fire of hell may
become a tongue under God’s control. He can give you new lips. He can give you
a new tongue. He can put new words in your mouth. He can baptize your speech.
Shall we not yield our tongue to him? Shall we not give him our lips? Shall we
not give him our speech? Shall we not say, “Oh, Heavenly Father, here is my
tongue, let it speak only for you!
Oh God, help us today and this week to yield our
lips to you and so may they be filled with messages for thee. Amen.
