Controlling Your Power Plant - Working Your Tongue God's Way Series

Sermon - Control Your Tongues to Work God's Way

Scripture: Ephesians 4:29-32 “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

INTRODUCTION: You are not your own, you belong to God, you have a new attitude, so Control Your Tongues to Work God's Way. The Bible says, “the tongue can no man tame.” Man has the power to subdue the largest, strongest, and wildest beasts in nature, yet he has not the power to subdue his tongue. All that he can do, is to put on it the bridle (James 1.26) and be slow speak, swift to hear and slowness to wrath.

James 3:2-7 “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. 3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.”

We are a sound bite, acronym generation. So when it comes to really communicating we are not very good. It can be tough to communicate effectively. Because communication is shared with the tongue, but comes from the heart.

“Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” In the NLT “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

Our key verse is Ephesians 4:29 (KJV), “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth...” Literally, corrupt communication is rank, foul, rotten, worthless. Rotten words come from rotten hearts.

Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight.”

Our communication as Christians is important because all of us need to feel heard, appreciated and respected. Ephesians 4:15 cautions us “...to speak the truth in love...” Christians who do it well, are those who learn how to discuss their differences, humble yourselves and work through differences of opinion without destroy one another or tearing down one another.

Ephesians 4:29 NCV, “...do not say harmful things, but say what people need...” Remembering 1. We all need to Respect. 2. Appreciation 3. Honesty and 4. Acceptance. Recognize that each of us are different because God loves variety. Let’s Communicate clearly. Communicate encouragingly. Communicate in various ways until we find the right approach. Why? Because we belong to God. Three things in the text: 1. Learn to communicate with a credible, honest and gentle tongue (vs. 25). 2. Learn to Eliminate the trash from your communication 3. Learn to Make encouragement a major part of your communication.

Do you ever have a problem with your tongue? Sometimes we do. It might be lying: -"It wasn't me!" "I didn't do it." "I'm feeling under the weather today, so I won't be in to work." "I'm going to be working late tonight. It might be gossiping, “Did you hear about . . .?" "Don't repeat this, but . . ." "I probably shouldn't say this, but"… It might be hurtful, "I hate you!" "Shut up!" "Can't you do anything right?" "I can't stand them." "You’re just crazy." If we would admit it, we can have all kinds of problems with our tongues sometimes, but Christians, we can do better. By God's grace we can start new habits in our speech. We can control our tongues to work God's way. Let's explore the text to see what God wants us to do. We must bridle our tongue constantly and guide with bridle.

1. Learn to communicate with a credible, honest and gentle tongue. God wants us to have honest tongues. We see this truth in vs. 25, where Paul said: "Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another."