Throughout the Bible, the spoken word is taken very seriously. In the old days, the ancient Hebrews regarded these little oral sounds in utterly concrete terms. They believed that to speak a word was to create a unit of energy with powers all its own, and then let this loose into the world. For example, in the Psalm 147, a word is pictured as “running swiftly through the world.”
That is a sobering thing to realize about the words we speak. Once the words pass from our lips they have a life all their own, and we can no longer control where they go or what they do! Because of this the tongue has amazing destructive power.
Washington Irving said, “A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use.” Since the tongue is so efficient at inflicting bodily damage, and since we want our body to be healthy, then I think it would be good for us to spend some time examining some of the various ways the tongue can damage or injure.
1. One way—perhaps the most common way in which the tongue hurts, is when it is used for what is known as gossip.
GOSSIP is saying negative things about a person when they are not present. It can also involve the telling of a truth that does not need to be told for the purpose of hurting someone. Sometimes gossip involves simply asking questions like, “Is George faithful to his wife?” Sometimes we gossip by saying nothing when we hear things that we know are not true and say nothing to correct them. We also promote gossip by simply listening to it. Remember, there can be no gossip if there are no listening ears.
Why is Gossip so destructive? One reason is that it spreads uncontrollably. It also destructive because it warps the truth. People expand on what they hear until the rumor gets worse and worse.
Gossip or rumor is a very powerful thing.
2. A second way that the tongue can do damage is through slander.
This is defined as saying negative things about someone else in their presence.
The word “SLANDER” literally means “ripping of flesh”. When applied to speech it is a put down–intentionally hurting someone with the words you say about them. When we slander someone we not only involve ourselves and the other person–we also involve God. Remember, SLANDER is putting down a person.
Well “blasphemy” is literally putting God down. God made humans. All people are His handiwork. So when we put down a fellow human, when we slander them, this is BLASPHEMY because in so doing, we insult the God who made that person and loves that person and sent his only Son to die for that person.
3. A third way the tongue can do damage is through lies and exaggerations.
A local church body cannot be healthy if lying is a common practice within it’s membership. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” If your body worked in this deceitful way, it wouldn’t be long before it was no longer functioning. And the same is true of the church. When we don’t put away truthless-ness people become afraid to reach out. They become afraid to move because they don’t know whom to trust.
We have to be able to trust one another here if we are to continue to enjoy the health that is in this place.
4. A fourth way that the tongue can do damage is through grumbling and complaining.
Even when we try to resist being influenced by such negativism, we find some of it rubbing off. This passing around of the poison of pessimism happens every day, and it steals our joy. It creates an atmosphere of wholesale negativism where nothing but the bad side of everything is emphasized. No wonder God inspired Paul to write in his letter to the Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things WITHOUT grumbling or complaining that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God…”
Is this little two-ounce muscle in our mouths the problem? No. In Luke 6:45, Jesus unmasks the real culprit. He says, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
So, the tongue is actually neither friend nor foe. The tongue is merely a messenger that delivers the dictates of the heart, either for good or evil. How do we tame our tongues so that they help our churches and our homes to be healthy places?
a. We need to ask God to empower us to use our tongues in ways that will help and not hurt.
Make it a regular practice to pray the words of Psalm 19:14… ” Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight Oh Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.”
b. Before you speak ask yourselves some basic questions:
- Is this the truth?
- Does this need to be said? Remember, “a closed mouth gathers no feet.”
- Do these words edify the person…do they build them up?
A loose paraphrase of Ephesians 4:29 is “build up or shut up!”
c. When we are wronged…
instead of retaliating with gossip or slander, follow Jesus’ guidelines to limit the damage the tongue can cause. They are recorded in Matthew 18:15-17.
- Go to the person privately. Tell him or her how they have wronged you, hurt you.
- If that doesn’t work take someone with you.
- And only if these first and second steps do not solve the problem do you take the issue to the entire body.
A loose paraphrase of Ephesians 4:29 is “build up or shut up!”
d. Use words to do good.
Remember, the tongue is as efficient at doing good as it is at doing bad– through wise counsel or sound advice or loving correction or encouragement or witnessing or teaching or comforting, or through simple words like: Thank you! I appreciate that! I’m sorry! Forgive me! I love you!
If you are guilty of using the tongue in a destructive way, remember the words of the prophet Isaiah 6:5-7, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
Do you remember God’s response to this confession of Isaiah? God sent an angel…a seraph to fly to Isaiah with a live coal in his hand taken from the altar. Isaiah 6:5-7 says, “With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Let’s stop right now and ask God to do the same for you and I.