Drop The Weight, The Tongue
Hebrews 12:1 says “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us.”
If I were to ask you what the most powerful thing in the world is, what would you say?
You may say, “The most powerful animal in the world is the elephant, or maybe the whale. They’re pretty powerful.
Then you may think outside the animal kingdom, and think the most powerful thing in the world are the huge engines that drive the great ships like aircraft carriers. Or maybe the engines on the space shuttle, that enable the shuttle to break free from the atmosphere and soar into space.
Perhaps the most powerful thing in the world are nuclear tipped missiles that can be shot and then controlled by a pilot operating a joystick hundreds of miles away, with amazing accuracy! Missiles or bombs that can destroy cities, or lay waste to entire countries.
Or maybe we would need to think, not bigger, but smaller. Maybe the most powerful things in the world are germs and bacteria. That can now be released into the air or water and be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
Or is the most powerful thing in this world an illness, a disease that can ravage the body and destroy human lives, like cancer?
What if the most powerful thing in the world are our words? The words that we speak to each other.
When Dr. Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream.” His words brought hope to hundreds of thousands of people, across all sorts of cultural, and ethnic barriers. His words revealed his vision and transplanted it in the hearts of others, transforming their thinking, changing their perspectives.
JFK said “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Those words impacted hundreds of thousands of citizens to move from consumers to contributors. They inspired others to volunteer and work on behalf of others for the betterment of the country.
Words can move us. Words like…
“I love you.” “I’m sorry.”
“I was wrong.” “I forgive you.”
“I am proud of you.”
When my father said, “I am proud of you.” I tried to remember what it was I had done that made him say those words. And I would try to repeat it. I wanted him to say those words to me.
Words can invoke deep feelings. Feelings of love, empathy, compassion, and feelings of anger, hate and bitterness.
Remember what we’d say when someone said something mean to us? “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.”
Remember that? Do you now know how untrue that is?
Words can leave deep and lasting wounds. Words like
“loser”
“You’re a failure”
“You’re so stupid”
“I hate you”
“I’m ashamed of you.”
Our words can separate friendships, break apart families, demoralize churches, hurt people we are called to love.
James 1:19 says, “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
I saw a modern translation of this verse on a bumper sticker. I read, “Engage brain before putting mouth in gear.”
It is so easy to hurt others with our words.
Moms and Dads, Husbands and wives, we can come home from work, grumpy and crabby and we walk into our house and what do we do, we yell at our spouse, we are short with them, and they have no idea why we are grumpy and crabby…
Our spouse, has inherited our grumpiness, we have passed it on to them, so they have a conflict with the oldest child. Who maybe is watching TV, or playing a video game, happy and content, and we walk in, “And will you clean this room! It is a wreck. If Jesus returned He would leave you behind, because he couldn’t find you in this room. Pick up your clothes…” And then we walk out of the room, leaving a hurt, angry, confused child in our wake.
So now the elder child goes over to the younger child who is in their own world, playing and having fun and they kick their toys and says, “Get these stupid things out of my way.”
The younger child now upset goes outside and kicks the dog!
The dog sees the cat and takes it out on the cat, the cat gets mad, comes in and pees in someone’s shoe!
Wouldn’t it just be easier if you came home mad and grumpy and just peed in someone’s shoe?
When we get upset and speak in anger and frustration we lose control, and we say things that cause lasting harm to others.
We spread our hurt and frustration to those we are called to love.
Have you ever felt the weight of words misspoken?
When you know you gone too far, and said things that were better left unsaid. Almost as soon as they crossed your lips you knew they were wrong.
Illus. A man spread vicious rumors and harmful gossip about another man. In this small village the judge not only presided over cases where the law was broken but also over cases involving unethical or improper conduct.
So the man who had spread the malicious gossip was brought before the judge. The judge stepped from behind the bench and handed the man a large bag full of chicken feathers.
Here is what I want you to do. I want you this very day, to place a feather upon the doorstep of each and every home that has heard and listened to your gossip, and upon the doorsteps of those who have repeated what you have said.
After you have completed this assignment I want to see you back in my courtroom tomorrow morning.
Well, the man quickly began placing the feathers on the door step of each home that had either heard about the rumor or had helped spread the gossip by repeating it to others. After 4 hours the man returned home, Having nearly emptied his bag of feathers.
That night there was a terrible storm. The rains fell and the winds blew. But the man slept soundly. Happy that his punishment had been concluded.
The next day he entered the courtroom and the judge again stepped out from behind the bench.
This time with an empty sack. Now, he said, I want you to go back to each home and collect the feathers.
The man said, “There is no way I can collect each of the feathers. The wind blew last night and those feathers are surely scattered all over the countryside.”
And the judge said, “And neither can you withdraw the harm you have done by saying what you said.”
Think about this the next time you are tempted to say an evil word, a critical word, a sarcastic or negative word to someone else.
The day may come when you recognize that you have done a great wrong. And you may seek forgiveness, not only from God but from the one you wronged, but you may never be able to collect the words you said, or undo the harm you inflicted!
Peter knew the pain of words misspoken. Remember Peter denied that he even knew Jesus when Jesus needed him most, not once, not twice but three times.
And after the third denial the Bible says that Peter wept bitterly.
How long did the memory of those words weigh upon Peter?
How long did he feel the incredible weight of his guilt?
Matthew 12:36 says “I tell you, men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Now I have to tell you, that blows me away!
Those of you who know me know that I speak a lot of words on any given day. I speak a lot of words.
You mean I am going to be held accountable for every careless word I have spoken…and so are you?
I read, not too long ago, about a man who studied words, and language; he studied the things people say.
He noticed how often people brag, or exaggerate, or misrepresent themselves, or try to sound smarter than they really are, or reveal pride in what they say, and how often people are cruel or cutting with their words, sarcastic, unkind. He recorded how many times people made promises and failed to live up to them, gossiped, spread rumors, were critical, and how many times people simply whined and complained.
He listened to hundreds of thousands of people over 11 years in his study and he compiled the information. He found that the average person sins 247 times, every day, with their words.
Maybe if we just said less words, we would sin less.
Illus. Man joined monastery. It was a silent order. In fact they were only allowed to talk once each year. And then they could only say one sentence or statement. At the end of the first year the man said, “My bed is too hard”.
At the end of the second year the man said, “The food is often cold.”
At the end of the third year he simply said, “I quit.”
The head monk said, “I’m not surprised, you’ve done nothing but complain since you got here.”
We don’t have to say a lot of words to sin, or to have our words be harmful, or wrong.
Now there’s a reason why we’re going to be held accountable for our words. Because our words are more than mere words.
Matthew 12:34 says, “Out of the abundance (or overflow) of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Our words are evidence of what is inside of us.
They are proof of the real condition of our hearts.
If we speak unkind words that is evidence that we are unkind. That we possess an unkind heart.
If we speak critical, judgmental words, we are exposing, by our words, a critical, judgmental heart.
If we choose to speak careless, sinful words, we are showing that we have little regard for God’s Word or His will, and that in fact our hearts are sinful.
And the Bible reminds us that our sin will be judged!
And so if you are thinking to yourself, I don’t want to be judged for every sinful word I have said, in fact, I don’t want to be judged for every sinful word I have said today…then there are a few things we must do…
1.We must ask for forgiveness.
We must ask God to forgive us. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2.We need to seek forgiveness of those we have wronged with our words.
If we have spread rumors or gossip, if we have lied, or been critical or malicious, fault-finding, judgmental, unkind, unloving, if we’ve spoken words that have been divisive, or have discredited someone else, or hurt their reputation, then we need to go to them, and seek their forgiveness.
3.We need to seek God’s help.
Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth O Lord, Keep watch over the door of my lips.”
God will help us, so we don’t impulsively speak then think.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is the key to keeping us from being the kinds of people who sin and hurt and destroy with our mouths.
“If anyone is in Christ they are a new creature. Old things have passed away, Behold all things have become new!”
What things become new? All things. A new heart.
We need a new heart. A new mouth. We need to speak with a mouth that has been touched by God. With words that build up, and honor Him! A consecrated mouth that will never be used to speak the enemies words. Never used to tear down, or speak against God’s creation.
Today, If you are tired of the words that have come out of your mouth, then it is time to be made new!
If you have failed in this area today,
As a parent,
As a spouse,
as a friend,
as a believer, as a Christian…then drop the weight.
Carry it no more! And be free!
Pray
Altar call.
