The World Says:
“Words don’t hurt anyone”
Scripture: James 1:26 Date: 21 March 2010
Purpose: The world tells us that gossip is harmless but this is not what God tells us.
Last week we began our sermon series, entitled, “The World Says”. I think we would all agree that our world is full of lies and deceit. We see it on every corner, every channel we turn to on the television, and we also see it creeping into our own lives as well. I believe we need to separate what the World tells us from what God tells us. It is time we see the truth!
When we give our lives to Jesus, we give Him everything and this includes our tongues as well.
Imagine your life is a great...BIG...boat. What's steering your ship? This clip reminds us that loose lips do indeed sink ships. If we change our words, we can change our course in a much better direction.
VIDEO: “Words”
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
How can we be an effective witness for Christ if we are deceiving ourselves with our own words?
“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you.” Oh, really? Try telling that to a child whose parent yells, “You’re a brat.” Try telling that to a wife whose husband screams, “I hate you.” Try telling that to a middle- aged woman who tells herself, I’m’ fat and ugly.” - Words can and do hurt all the time! The truth is, words hurt, don’t they? They hurt us, others, and God.
I. Words can hurt us.
A. (Proverbs 18:8) The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.
1. This tells us that “Words of gossip are like choice morsels”. That what we say we take in ourselves, into our inmost parts.
2. You are what you eat. This is something we have heard most of our lives. It’s really common sense isn’t it? If we want to keep our physical body running healthy, we need to eat healthy.
Illustration: During my wrestling years I would always pull weight, tying
to get to the perfect wrestling weight. The temptation was all around me as
wrestling would kick-off each year during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Each year I would go through weeks of pain and agony, disciplining myself
to not eat all the cakes, pies, and goodies during Thanksgiving was tough.
Sometimes it was too much to handle and I would cave in late at night and
sneak a piece of cake or whatever was calling my name from the fridge. I
would tell myself, “It’s no big deal, it’s just a small piece of cake, it won’t hurt
at all.” I would wake up the next day feeling horrible and guilty.
I can remember after weeks of discipline, weighing before the firs tournament
of the year and making weight. My mind would go nuts and I would gorge
myself with the most unhealthiest foods I could get my hands on. Man, they
would taste so good! Then reality would hit me, the sickness of eating all the
wrong things would become too much for me and my body would scream out
to me, “Why, why did you just eat all this junk? You know we can’t compete in
the tournament with all this junk inside of us and we cannot perform for our
coach.” And I knew that the coach would be disappointed and that I just hurt
myself.
- This is much like us when we are living for Jesus. We abstain from Gossip, name calling, and sarcasm. It is very tempting at times and we want to act out, we want to scream, we want to cave in and lash out at individuals or situations. And sometimes we do. Maybe we say something negative about someone but it is something small and we try to justify it and tell ourselves “It’s no big deal, it’s just a small word and it won’t really hurt us at all.” Then we wake up the next day and we feel horrible about what we said.
- Maybe the world’s temptations are too strong at times and we cave in completely and gorge ourselves with Gossip, Slander, Cursing, and Screaming. It may feel great at the time but then it sets in and we realize that we have just hurt our witness and we cannot perform as we need to as a Christian.
- James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
3. Careless words hurt us and our testimony. How can we expect to do God’s will if we are corrupting ourselves with harmful words?
4. If we cannot control our words, we are deceiving ourselves and our walk with Christ is worthless.
B. And what about the words we tell ourselves?
1. Some of us beat ourselves up verbally don’t we? We beat ourselves up with negative thoughts. “I’m fat, I’m unattractive, I’m stupid, I’m a horrible person.”
2. What kind of words do you speak to yourself? Are they words of encouragement and self-esteem? Do your words reflect the fact that God created you in His image and that He loves you? If not, they should.
Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
3. Don’t speak down to yourself or others. This will hurt you more than you may realize at the time. And no matter what the world tells us about how words don’t hurt anybody, I think common sense tell us otherwise because….
II. Words can hurt others.
A. (Leviticus 19:16) “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.
1. Just curious. A friend responds with hearsay. A neighbor offers details. A coworker swears it’s true.
2. Gossip and slander can ruin friendships, by placing doubt in our minds; it can ruin reputations and tear apart lives. Gossip can have devastating lifelong effects on lives.
3. Gossip builds as sparks of rumor, innuendo, and half truths leap from ready mouths to eager ears.
4. The dancing flames of gossip entice people to gather around its hot, tantalizing fire.
5. Like a glowing ember in a forest of dry trees, the fire of gossip is far from harmless. One dropped spark from its fire has the potential to set off a blaze that sears a person’s dignity and reputation.
6. Don’t fan the flame of gossip by repainting it. If the information concerns something that needs your attention, get the facts and take necessary and appropriate action.
7. Carefully keep sensitive matters concerning others on a need-to-know basis, respecting privacy as you would like them to respect yours.
- Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
8. Avoid the hot glare of Gossip. Instead stand in the cool light of truth.
Words hurt. They not only hurt us and others, but most importantly they hurt…
III. Words can hurt God.
A. (Proverbs 6: 16-19) 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
1. When we look at Proverbs 6, we see that having a lying tongue and being a false witness is listed among some things that the Bible tells us the Lord hates.
2. Lying is the conveying of a false statement—information deliberately given as being true. It is also “anything meant to deceive”—deception. Satan is the author and father of “the lie”
(John 8:44) 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
3. Lying is definitely against God. How could a lying tongue not hurt God?
4. It is difficult for me to understand how e can pick and choose God’s Word and only apply what we want to our lives. How can we say with complete confidence that we please God when we are only obedient in the areas that we choose to be obedient in?
Illustration: It’s kind of like when we tell our children to pick up their rooms. They get them picked up and looking nice because that is what we asked them to do and they want to please us and be obedient but upon inspection of their rooms we find that they only picked up the main area of their room and hide the clutter under their beds. They chose to be obedient but only to what they decided to be obedient in.
- I can tell you that this is something g that does not please me as their father. Likewise, don’t we believe that or lack of obedience is unpleasing to our father as well? We cannot pick and choose what we want to follow when it comes to God’s instructions. It’s simply all or nothing when it comes to serving our Lord.
5. God calls gossip a sin. It directly breaks God’s 9th commandment. Exodus 16:20 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
6. For something that the world tells us is so small and harmless, God tells us differently. Gossip violates God’s command to treat others the way you would like them to treat you.
B. Slander” is a word that has an interesting origin. It comes from the word “Devil.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, slander means “malicious talk; to spread damaging information; to defame; to speak ill of.” Is it no wonder where slander derives its name?
1. Slander is the work of the Devil, and those who slander are on his team. In fact the Bible says that Satan is called the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10).
2. Are you an accuser of the brethren too? If so, even though it may not be your intention, you are being used an agent of the Devil! According to scripture, any Christian who’s mouth is out of control does not have a right relationship with God.
- James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
C. “Gossip” is derived from the idea of “whispering.” Gossip” means “To indulge in idle talk or rumors about others; spreading of sensational stories.”
1. Gossip is a close cousin to slander, and God’s Word places both in the same cupboard as murder and other wickedness -- sins worthy of death.
2. Let me ask, as a Christian do you occasionally slip up and commit a murder here or there? Or how about theft -- do you occasionally burglarize a home or steal things from the store? You may think this is silly to ask. Of course, a Christian lifestyle doesn’t behave that way. But how about gossip or slander?
3. Do you engage in idle talk or rumors about others? Do you participate in bad-mouthing or spreading rumors about others? According to the Bible, which sin is less severe? Murder or gossip? I’m sure you get the message. Paul said, BOTH are sins equally worthy of death.
4. I’m sure that you realize that anything which is placed in the same category as murder must be a serious sin -- something that should not be taken lightly. But unfortunately, Christians do not usually consider gossip and its related activity as sin.
5. What we must realize is, gossip is more than a little bad habit. Gossip is wicked and sinful -- a disease of corruption from the mouth.
6. Gossips use their mouth as a weapon -- a weapon which is always aimed at people to fulfill Satan’s desires to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).
7. “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor” (Prov. 11:9). Gossip is an enemy to God and everything called holy -- a cancer which spreads a deadly infection to the body of Christ.
Closing:
Words can and do hurt all the time! The truth is, words hurt, don’t they? They hurt us, others, and they hurt God. All throughout Scripture we read about how our carless words can affect all of us in a negative way. I believe that God is speaking to us this morning, His message rings load and clear in our ears. He desires us to be obedient and to guard our lips as we can all agree, Words are dangerous and hurtful.
