The Unruly Tongue

(James 3:5-16) "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."

One of the deadliest members of our mortal body is a tongue. The tongue can be used for both good and evil. It can be used to praise God or to curse God. It can be used to bless and uplift other people, or it can be used to tear down people. The same with a fire. The fire is a good and necessary thing when it comes for heat in the winter. It's also useful when it's used to burn trash. However, fire will destroy things if it isn't tamed and let out of control. Suppose your drapes catch on fire in the house. If that fire isn't contained very quickly, then the fire will spread to other parts of your house. Eventually the whole house will be consumed if the fire isn't extinguished. That's how the tongue can be. The tongue can engage in gossip about someone. Suppose person "A" says something malicious about person "B". Before too long, person "B" will be spreading it to persons "C", "D", "E", and the list continues. Before you know it, the statement that was first uttered by person "A" has been told to everyone in the community before the evening is over with. That's how damaging the tongue can be. Another thing that happens when gossiping takes place is the rumors that are spread will grow into something greater as the gossiping statement spreads to other people. Suppose person "A" tells person "B" that person "D" is fornicating with someone. Before too long that rumor will be spreading to other people. Any person that shares that information will add more to that. Person "B", who was told that person "D" was fornicating with someone, will add more to that statement and say that person "D" not only was involved in fornication, but he made that person whom he was fornicating with pregnant. The gossip grows and grows as it's passed on to each person. By the time the last word is said, it's totally different from what was said to begin with. That's how dangerous gossip can be. More and more lies are added as each person passes it along.

Proverbs 6:16-19 mentions seven things which are an abomination to the Lord. The last abomination that's mentioned in verse 19 is the one that mentions about the person that soweth discord among the brethren. God hates it when the brethren engage in discord. Sowing discord is of the Devil. That's a portrayal of the characteristic of Satan. Satan always loves to stir discord in the House of God. Whenever church people engage in sowing discord, they're exhibiting the characteristics of Satan. However, gossip is a two way street. There are those that will use their mouth to spew gossip and there are those that lend their ear to listen to it. Both are wicked. I've been guilty of both before and I've seen over the years the damage that can cause. God says we shouldn't mess with people that devote their time in spreading malicious gossip. It will hinder the work of God. Miriam in Numbers hindered the work of God with her tongue. There can't be peace and harmony in the church when we allow our tongue to get out of control. The tongue is a raging fire and people's reputations have been ruined due to somebody's uncontrollable tongue. God hates it. What's amazing is how the tongue can be used for both blessing and cursing. James stated that shouldn't be so. If you drink from a water fountain, it's not going to put forth both fresh and salt water simultaneously. Therefore, our tongues shouldn't be used to build someone up at one moment, and then the next moment the tongue is out of control unleashing untold damage upon that individual. The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The reason why we have so much problem with our tongue is because our heart's are dark. Our hearts aren't right with God.

The Bible teaches us about the importance in bridling our tongues. James 3:2 mentions that we put bits in the horse's mouth to teach them to obey us and we turn about their whole body. Verse 8 says the tongue can be tamed by no man. It is an unruly evil. Full of deadly poison. There have been churches that have experienced splits due to the poison of people's tongues. That shouldn't be the case.

A couple of years ago I was in a teacher's classroom at church. She had a sticker on her filing cabinet. That sticker was mentioning about three different groups of people and the characteristics of those people. I thought it was interesting. It was making reference to above average people, average people, and below average people. It said that above average people talk about great ideas. Average people talk about things. And below average people talk about other people. I was thinking last night about those that devote their time using their tongue to destroy other people makes me think they're not very intelligent. It appears they don't have anything better to discuss than the negatives of other people. It's ridiculous. People that constantly slander other people are those that in my mind are small-minded. I'm not saying that's the case, but those that devote their time to malicious gossip give me the impression they're small-minded people. They give the appearance of small-mindedness. They don't know of any other subjects to discuss than to tear down other people. There are so many subjects we can discuss and ponder upon. It's childish and sinful to use our tongue to slander other people. What does it accomplish? Nothing but heartache, hard feelings, and misery. We must stop that. Phillippians 4:8 is a great verse everyone ought to memorize. If we will center our minds and thoughts on things above that are pure, then I guarantee you all the strife and vicious gossip will cease. Those that engage in slander are feasting their minds on unholy things. If we will set our affections on things above, we won't have much trouble with that unruly member of ours. We should determine in our hearts we won't give party to those that want to spend their time biting and devouring other people. If we would practice that in the church, then revival might break out and people will get cleansed and healed.