Rhetorical Reckoning – Pt.4

If God’s people would take their
Bibles, turn back once again to James chapter three. James
chapter three. In the context of this very intense
passage, over the last couple of weeks, I just began to wonder
how many times our speech, our tongue, speaking in general terms, particular
sins of the tongue, how many times those were addressed in
scripture, and you guessed it, it’s impossible to literally
count every single occasion. But what I did is I started compiling
a list, and I literally came up with hundreds of passages,
pages and pages and pages, and I figured that we would just
review each one as we begin this morning. I’m kidding. But there
were hundreds and hundreds of occasions throughout scripture
where the use of our tongue is addressed. The sins of our tongue,
lying, slander, blasphemy, even the passage that we read just
a few moments ago. There are literally hundreds
and hundreds of occasions where our tongue is addressed in scripture. The sins that we commit with
our tongue. This just happens to be one of
the most severe, one of the most pointed, one of the clearest
and most direct opportunities for us to really back away and
have God himself address and examine our tongues. We do that
in James chapter 3, and we will take the chapter verses 1 through
12. James chapter 3, verses 1 through
12. Let not many of you become teachers,
my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter
judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in
what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole
body as well. Now, if we put bits into the
horse’s mouth so that they may obey us, we direct their entire
body as well. Behold, the ships also, though
they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed
by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot
desires. So also the tongue is a small
part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold,
how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. The tongue
is a fire. the very world of iniquity. The
tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire
body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire
by hell. For every species of beasts and
birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been
tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full
of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the
likeness of God. From the same mouth come both
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from
the same spring Same opening, both fresh and bitter water.
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives or a vine produce
figs? Neither can salt water produce
fresh. If you’ve been with us, you know,
the context that James saw this push among the churches that
he oversaw a push to teach a push to take hold of the mantle, as
it were a push to take the opportunity to have an influence, to teach
others, whether it was in large group or even small course discipleship. People were taking hold of opportunities
for which they were not ready, for which they were not qualified,
about which they were incomplete in what they even knew. And so
James is seeking to put a stop to that right off the bat. But
in doing so, he wants to warn the masses, every single person
about the dangerous use of the tongue. for teaching, for speaking,
for pastoral ministry, for really any kind of teaching ministry,
the tongue is an occupational hazard. You need to be able to
speak. But in doing so, you are you are risking offense. Not
just offense against those you are teaching, but offense against
God. And so James here is urging that before we open our mouth,
we are prepared. Before we are really ready to
instruct others that we have examined ourselves, it’s the
beam and the log and the speck, right? Well. James sets forth
the concern that we shall, as teachers, incur a stricter judgment,
but then he unfolds six principled illustrations, and we’ve looked
at several already. These principled illustrations
are really for everyone. Every one of us is going to sin.
Every one of us is going to sin with his or her mouth. And so
these principled illustrations are for us. They are for us to
take and savor and examine in light of our own tongues, in
light of our own speech. We are to examine ourselves.
The first one we saw in verse three. If we put bits into the
horse’s mouth, it’s a simple illustration. Just as a mighty
horse can be guided by a bit and a bridle. James says our
speech should be under our complete control. You don’t let a horse
just do what the horse wants to do. We are to guide the horse
and even a small child can get on the horse with the right equipment,
with the right training and guide this great animal. James says
that’s an illustration of our tongues that each one of us should
have control. We should confess those things
we need to confess. We should do away with that language
that we used to use. Those ideas that are communicated
with words. We should take control of our
tongues. It’s a simple point that he makes. The second point
is in verses four and five. This is the illustration of the
rudder in the ship. Another small mechanism, just
like the bit, just like a small bit is placed in a horse’s mouth.
At the end of the boat is a little paddle called a rudder. And that
small little rudder guides the ship. And the principle that
James teaches with that illustration is that just as a huge ship is
steered by this tiny little piece of wood called a rudder, so our
tongues should maintain a purposed course for our lives. You don’t
just let a ship go meandering across the sea, or it will end
up on the rocks, or in who knows where. We should have a purposed
course for our tongues. We should talk like Christians. We should speak like those who
are heading for heaven. There’s a third principle that
we looked at last week. We saw that in verses five, the
end of verse five and verse six. Another tiny little thing this
time, not a bit, not a rudder, but a spark, a tiny little thing
with huge implications. This was the implication, or
the illustration rather, of a fire. And the principle that we drew
from that is that just as a tiny spark can set a massive forest
ablaze, so also our careless words can be devastating. A lie, a bit of slander, gossip
that tears apart someone else’s life. Those things can be utterly
devastating. Just as devastating as a forest
fire where it burns completely out of control. We come to the fourth illustration.
The fourth illustration we find in verses 7 through 10. The fourth
illustration goes like this. For every species
of beasts and birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed
and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we
bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have
been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come
both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be this way. It’s a simple illustration again.
All of these, if you look at them and meditate on them, what
James is saying is not profound. It’s not difficult to figure
out. We don’t have to import all kinds of spiritualistic ideas
into these. It lies plainly on the surface,
each one of these illustrations. But each one of them teaches
a principle, and the principle here is just as even the wildest
of creatures can be tamed, our mouths must be brought to happy
obedience. We cannot give up and give in. And where James says no one can
tame the tongue, he doesn’t say we shouldn’t try. James is giving the reason here
in verses seven for those sentiments that he expressed in verses five
and six, the destructive nature of our tongue, just like a forest
fire. It’s literally out of control. Our tongue and James is providing
the reason for that strong statement. What one commentator said, the
strongest language about the tongue in all of scripture. James provides the reason for
that strong language here in verse seven. In verses five and six, he said,
the tongue is a fire. It defiles the entire body. It
sets on fire and is set on fire by hell. Strong language. So James here in verses 7 through
10 wants to say, let me tell you why I use such strong language. It’s the evidence, if you will,
the justification of such shocking terminology. But while James
is building on that previous illustration, the illustration
of the fire in verses 5 and 6, he clearly introduces yet another
illustration. A fresh illustration with a fresh
principle. The illustration is simple. Every
species has been tamed, is tamed, has been tamed. And we know this
to be true. It’s axiomatic. It was axiomatic
in his day. How much more so in ours? I’m
relatively certain that in Jerusalem there was not
a sea world, right? Where Shamu had been trained
and people could go and gather and see Shamu do his thing. In
fact, now that has even been taken away from us. But in James’s
day, James looks about and he says, look, every species has
been tamed. It’s been subdued. It’s been
taught, promised a treat at the end of its amazing trick. It’s been brought under control.
Mankind, having been given dominion, has taken control over the creature
world and has taught them, has tamed many, and has trained them
to a degree that each one of these creatures becomes a living
illustration of what James is talking about. The word here,
and it’s used only one other place in scripture, of the Gerasene
Demoniac. Remember him? The Gerasene Demoniac,
once he had come to Christ, he was calm. He was in his right
mind. No longer did he flail about in chains. This is exactly
what mankind was designed to do. Not to put on circuses, but
to take dominion Psalm 8 says it this way, you make him to
rule over the works of your hands. You have put all things under
his feet. All sheep and oxen, all the beasts
of the field, the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea,
whatever passes through the paths of the seas. Everything, he says,
comes under man’s dominion. When I was growing up, our family,
we took personal responsibility to fulfill this divine mandate.
We had cats and dogs, turtles, snakes, and tadpoles, and a raccoon,
and a duck, and a magpie, and probably more. That really is just a fulfillment
of the divine mandate to take dominion of the earth. And as he mentions these creatures,
it’s an echo, really, of Genesis 124. God said, let the earth
bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and
creeping things, beasts of the earth after their kind. God made
the beasts of the earth after their kind, cattle after their
kind, everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. Horses would fit into that category. He’s addressing those creatures
that walk on their feet. Horses, dogs, dogs could be trained
to catch frisbees. We talked about horses and what
they can do last week. Elephants, one of the most remarkable
things I’ve seen, a massive, massive creature taught to essentially
dance or think he’s dancing. We think he’s dancing. I don’t
know what he’s thinking about. Lions leaping through rings of
fire. And what about birds? Parrots
taught to talk or at least sound like they’re talking, taught
to mimic our sounds. A cockatoo riding a scooter who
hasn’t enjoyed that event. Ravens are suggested to be among
the smartest of the bird world, trainable. Reptiles, now this
is one that I would I don’t need to train a snake. A snake doesn’t
need to be trained. It probably really doesn’t want
to be trained, but someone decided to train a cobra. Sea creatures, dolphins, killer
whales. And so James’s point is really
a simple one. It was simple even in his day.
They didn’t need to go to the zoo. They didn’t need to go to
SeaWorld to see these great things taking place. They knew it. Many
animals have been already domesticated and many more have been trained. But his concern is that no one
can tame the tongue. Meaning that no sooner do we
get a hold of it. Say gossiping is our Sin of choice
with our tongue. And we confess it and we pray
about it and we plead with the Lord and we talk with others,
we employ others to pray for us. And finally, by God’s grace,
we begin to get a hold of the sin of gossip. And then we curse. And maybe we get a hold of that
one for a time and then in time that burst forth into boasting
and aren’t we proud of what we’ve accomplished? We’re so creative at training
animals, but we cannot get a hold of our own tongues. We can’t
consistently measure them so that we could promise without
a shadow of a doubt that the next Lord’s Day we could walk
in here with a perfectly pure tongue all week long. We can’t
do it, because we can’t tame the tongue. And it just speaks
of the reckless and wild nature of our mouths. We have no ability. to take dominion
over the tiniest member of ourselves. Wild, unruly, untameable. But what is hopeless for people in the world, by God’s
grace is not hopeless. We can continue the work. We must continue the work of
taming our tongue. We must continue to try time
after time. We must have good days by God’s
grace and give thanks and praise for that day of not blaspheming
with our mouth, of not slandering someone else, of not using that
word that came so easily in years past. We must have good days.
And we have to be watchful of tomorrow. No wonder the psalmist said,
set a guard, O Lord. Set a guard, O Lord, over my
mouth. Keep watch over the door of my
lips. Because the psalmist knew how untamable the tongue was. But I want you to see just how
dramatic, just how dangerous James held the tongue to be. Look at verse eight once again.
No one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full
of deadly poison. You know what? I was tempted
here almost since seven is the perfect number. I was tempted
to see here yet another illustration and come up with a perfect number
of seven illustrations in this series. But here he’s talking
about an adder, a snake. some kind of reptile that is
venomous and dangerous and deadly. And he says that that essentially
describes the nature of the tongue. It’s totally unruly, totally
uncontained, untameable. I remember some friends of ours
had a dog and it was trained. You would say, kennel and the
dog would scoot man run off to the kennel and get in and look
sit right at the door of the kennel and you know where this
is going right and then one paw at a time ever so slowly he would
begin to creep it that’s our tongue right just about the time
we think that we have control of it but this isn’t just a sweet
little dog This is a deadly snake loose in our house. One pastor described it in these
graphic terms. The tongue is unrestrainable,
ungovernable instrument of wickedness. It is the same as double-minded
earlier in James 1, unstable. It flirts constantly from one
subject to another, from one sphere of wrongdoing to another.
From slander, it glides to impurity, from impurity to arrogance, from
arrogance to frivolity, from frivolity to anger, so that when
a man is trying to tame it in one sphere, It suddenly escapes
him and exalts in wild freedom in another. The writer of Ecclesiastes nailed
it when he said of our tongue of the speech of the average
person, words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious while
the lips of the fool consume him. The beginning of his talking
is folly. That’s the best it gets. And
it only goes downhill from there. The lips of a fool consume him.
The beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is
wicked madness. Paul said the same thing. Paul
said exactly the same thing. Avoid worldly and empty chatter
for it will lead to further ungodliness. We must passionately seek to
train the tongue and then watch over the tongue, put it on a
leash, put it in a kennel, lock the door if we need to, because
it’s a deadly poisonous serpent. What one pastor referred to as
every man’s concealed weapon, right? The tongue. And it’s an
apt term for the vicious tongue. Look at verse 9. With it we bless
our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been
made in the likeness of God from both the same mouth. And he’s
astounded at this. And aren’t we? From the same
mouth come both blessing and cursing. We’ve already talked about the
tongue. It’s necessary. It’s part of our face, part of
our life, part of our bodies. It’s the way that we communicate,
the way that we interact with others. It’s a necessary part
of our being, but it’s a necessary evil. There are good uses for
the tongue. Look at what he says, with it
we bless our Lord and Father. That’s a good thing. We’re commanded
to do this. We’re commanded to sing praise
to God, to tell of his goodness. To declare him among the nations, one called it the highest and
most noble employment of the human tongue, to sing praise
to God, what we’ve already had a privilege to do this morning.
There is a God-given purpose for our mouth, and there’s no
higher purpose than singing God’s praises. Robert Johnstone said
it this way, the purposes for which speech has been bestowed
are these. To carry on the business of life,
you need to communicate. To minister the needful mental
refreshment of ourselves and others. In other words, to say
good and hopeful and helpful things to other believers. To
help our fellow men by instruction, encouragement, and comfort. And
the highest use of all, to praise God, to bless God, to praise
him with thankfulness. But while there is a good purpose
for our tongues, there is sadly also, we know all too well, an
evil use of our tongues. And he says with it we curse
men. And when he says we, James puts
himself humbly in that mix. James had sinned with his tongue,
just like you and I have. Walk out of church after singing
God’s praises and tell a lie to someone or slander someone
else or share some little tidbit of gossip. James acknowledges completely
here that we’re all still beset with this difficulty called the
tongue. And we lash out even at those
who are created in the image of God, our fellow Believers. One pastor said the divine likeness
imparted at creation has not been totally obliterated. Whenever
you look out at your fellow believers, friends in Christ, he says sin
has marred this likeness in fallen man. Yet as God’s noblest creature,
every human being retains an indestructible nobility. Now,
I had read this several weeks ago, and it was interesting this
past week, wherever I went, I tried to think of people in their indestructible
nobility. Do you know how difficult that
is? They’re so obnoxious, right? They’re so offensive. They’re
in my way. They smell. You know, when I
preached, I think it was Romans 15, I said, I, if it weren’t
for people, I would be the greatest Christian. So would you, right? But I tried to think of people
in their indestructible nobility, and it takes effort. He called it a personal, rational,
moral being. He possesses the attributes of
reason, will, and conscience. But to curse a man is to insult
the God whose likeness this man bears. Everywhere you go, it
doesn’t have to be in church, everywhere you go, the person
on the street, your neighbor, he bears the image of God. And
it is utterly sinful to curse him. From the same mouth, James says
in verse 10, come both blessing and cursing. I remember when I was a baseball
commissioner, one of the most remarkable, sad episodes, two ladies on the same team with
sons on the same team, wearing the same colors, probably even
hats. One mom heard the other criticizing
her son’s poor play. And the next thing you know,
they were throwing punches and had to be forbidden from attending
all future games. From the same mouth had come
cheering, adulations for the team when they won. And from
the same mouth came cursing. It’s commonplace. In our lives,
it’s the easiest thing to do. But I want you to notice how
James settles in and addresses this sinful tendency. Look, if
you would, at the end of verse 10. I mean, he has just gotten
it cranked up, right? These are some of the strongest
words in all of scripture to address the tongue. And he ends
with this from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.
My brethren. My brethren. These things ought
not to be this way. This is a humble shepherd coming
alongside of those who have quite obviously offended others and
offended God. But instead of railing at them,
he puts himself right down next to them and says, we can’t do
this. Brothers, can’t live like this. Just as even the wildest of beasts
has been tamed. We need to go buy a leash. We
need to monitor the critter between our teeth. We need to tame the
tongue. We need to try. But there’s a
fifth illustration and a sixth, and they go just about that quickly.
The fifth principled illustration is in verse 11. And James building
upon this image of two things coming out of the same orifice
that are mutually exclusive, blessing and cursing. He says,
does a fount send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter
water? By bitter water, he’s talking
about salt water or brackish water or sulfur-infected water,
water that you and I would not drink. And he isn’t talking about
by a fountain here. He isn’t talking about the hallway
drinking fountain. Although the image holds, when
you approach the fountain, the drinking fountain, you’re expecting
clear, pure, drinkable water to come forth. But what James
had in mind was a spring, a hole in the side of a mountain that
could be trusted to constantly perennially put forth fresh,
pure, cool, drinkable water. And he’s building on this illustration
of verse 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.
And he says that it’s utterly inconsistent. What is consistent is to come
here and sing praise to Almighty God. What’s inconsistent is to
go out and rail against anyone else, or to curse, or to blaspheme,
or to slander. Principle number five. Just as
we can expect drinkable. I told you these were simple.
Just as we can expect drinkable water from a fountain. So a believer’s
conversation must be pure and beneficial. Let me give you a
graphic. You’re going to all be so thirsty
by the end of this. What is water? It’s refreshing. Right? First thing you think
of when you go to get a drink of water is how refreshing. We’re
simple creatures, right? It’s cool, wet on my mouth. But then perhaps, especially
if you’re a thinking person, you begin to think why I was
beginning to get a little bit dehydrated. This is necessary. It’s not only refreshing, but
it’s necessary. I needed a drink of water. You didn’t even really
think about it or process it. You just approached the drinking
fountain and it was refreshing. And oh, yes, by the way, it’s
necessary. And perhaps if you’re really
a thinking person and now you begin to do the math in your
head, yes, it is refreshing and yes, it’s necessary. But by the
way, have I told you it’s life sustaining? I can’t live without
this drink. You didn’t think that when you
approached the fountain, that if I don’t take a drink of water
soon, I’m dead. But that’s the reality. Water
is refreshing. It’s necessary, but it’s life
sustaining. You know, come to think of it, shouldn’t
that be true of our words? Shouldn’t that be true of our
words, that just like Jacob’s well was for the Samaritans,
that they would make that daily trek. They had no other water.
They didn’t have a city water system. They had to march out
to the desert and put a bucket down in a hole and draw up water
and cart it back into town because it was refreshing and necessary
and life-giving. Shouldn’t our words, shouldn’t
our speech, Be refreshing and necessary and life-giving. Number
six, the sixth principled illustration that I find in this passage,
although I would entertain an argument for a seventh, we find
it in verse 12. Can a fig tree, my brethren,
produce olives or a vine produce figs? And the obvious answer
to both of those is no. James really borrows from Jesus
here using the same analogy in Matthew 7. You will know them,
the prophets, whether they’re true or false, Jesus says, by
their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from
thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? And James seizes upon
that illustration and he applies it to the tongue. And his point
is simple. Orchards, whether it’s an orchard
or a vineyard or a garden, they’re not inconsistent. Whatever your
plant is going to grow. Remember when we talked about
butternuts the other day, right? In March, you come, you see a
little plant, it’s a butternut. And then you come later, and
it’s a big leafy plant, butternut. And then you see the tan colored
fruits, butternut. And then you see it on the table
at Thanksgiving, and it’s orange, looking like potatoes, butternut. Except, well, last year. See, last year, I was going to
save some money. So I planted some seeds. I had
them labeled even, butternut. Only I forgot about this one
little principle. You discover a lot of little
things along the way when you garden. And I forgot about this
one little principle called bees. You see, when bees pollinate
the flowers, the seeds that are in that fruit
now are no longer pure butternut seeds. There’s some kind of mutant
thing with bumps and green marks all over it that none of us really
felt comfortable eating. That was my fault. You grow what
you plant. And in James’s case here, he
says that if we can expect the appropriate fruit from a tree,
than a Christian’s talk ought to be the fruit of God’s grace. That’s what we can expect. That’s
what we should be able to expect. From the Christian’s mouth. And now those verses I promised
you. pages and pages of verses about the mouth. And I’m going
to spare you. I’m not going to read every one
of them. But I can literally do it like this. Psalm 10 7. His mouth is full of curses and
deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief
and wickedness. You want another one? Okay. Psalm
73, they mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from
on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens. Their
tongue parades through the earth. Another, okay. Psalm 109, they
have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me. They have spoken
against me with a lying tongue, with words of hatred. And it’s
the same thing that’s all the way through the Psalms, pages
and pages. Same thing you find in Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes. Do you dare me? Oh, you don’t
think I can find? OK. The mouth of the wicked conceals
violence. Proverbs 11 9. With his mouth,
the godless man destroys his neighbors. Proverbs 15, a harsh
word stirs up anger. Proverbs 2, the man who speaks
perverse things. Proverbs 18, the words of a whisperer
are like dainty morsels. All throughout the Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes is the same way. And you know the New Testament
verses. Oh, you don’t? Okay. The New Testament. Every careless word that people
speak, they shall give an account for In the day of judgment. Romans 16, by their smooth and
flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
First Timothy 513, their gossips and busybodies talking about
things not proper to mention. Colossians 3, 8, which verse
we read earlier. But now you also put them all
aside, anger, wrath, malice, abusive speech from your mouth.
Pages and pages of these verses. Jude, from which we read earlier,
they’re grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts.
They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining
advantage. Over and over again in the New
Testament, the subject is addressed. And so I want to narrow it. I
want to close with just three concerns. Because if you were
to say perhaps for the last four weeks you’ve been sitting here
going through James this is great. I think I’m pretty good because
if you’re thinking sitting there thinking about maybe your habit
of speech used to be lying. And by God’s grace, you have
conquered that, you’ve taken a hold of your lying tongue,
and no longer do you say half-truths or false truths. Most of us would hopefully say
the same thing. There are some of these sins
of the tongue that lie pretty much on the surface, and we better
be dealing with. They better be well in hand. Blaspheming. Most of us, I pray,
have gotten a hold of blaspheming, cussing. That was one of the
first things the Lord began to work on with me. Flattering,
saying things to people about people that really you’re only
saying for the sake of gaining an advantage, as Paul talked
about. Most of us have most of these
things well in hand. I want to tell you about three
that are perennial trouble for the Christian. And you could
look in any one of a number of places. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse
1, don’t go. Romans chapter 1 verses 29 through
31. Or you could even go to, well,
a number of places. Ephesians chapter 4. But I just
want to point up three specific ones really quickly. First of all, gossip. Right? And we all just squirmed. I saw
you. The Greek word for this is fascinating. It’s an onomatopoeia. Remember
that word in eighth grade English? It’s, it’s a word that sounds
like what it means. Listen to this one. Scytheristus. It sounds like whispering. It
sounds like what we do when we gossip. Come here. I got to tell
you something. And in this particular case,
this gossip is just, it may not be an effort to destroy someone
like slander is, but gossip does the same thing. You can’t retract
it. It has a life of its own, like
a forest fire. It’s a whisperer. That’s what
the King James used to refer to it. And it’s vicious and deadly
and destructive to individuals. This is what you would call a
detractor, someone who just goes about talking about someone else,
destroying people’s character. There’s another element. There’s another element in those
three lists that gets overlooked. Not only gossiping, but boasting. It’s presumptuous speech. It’s
speaking as if God didn’t exist. It’s speaking as if we are in
absolute control. As one said, they express a neglect
and independence of providence. None of us are independent of
God’s sovereign providence in the world, ascribing too much
to themselves, their power and will, as if they had their lives
and fortunes in their own hands and at their dispose, when everything
depends on the will of God. James will make that point as
he closes his epistle. Not only gossip and boasting, but I would say
the most destructive of all is slander. Slander. And that sin is repeated every
day. Peter addresses it. Paul addresses
it on numerous occasions. six times over scripture that
this word is introduced as one of the low points of humanity.
Romans chapter one, first Peter one, second Corinthians 1220
is what I would call one of the most frightening chapters in
scripture. This is Paul standing back from his church that he
loved and in which he had seen God do amazing things. And do
you know what’s frightening? He was afraid to go back there.
He was afraid to go back to Corinth for fear of what he might find.
Namely, listen to this list. Second Corinthians 1220, I’m
afraid that perhaps when I come, I may find you not to be what
I wish, and may be found by you not what you wish, that perhaps
there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slander,
gossip, arrogance, disturbances. This word slander is among the
lowest forms of human life. Unwanted derogation is what one
commentator described it. You’re just totally tearing someone
to pieces only for your own good. Only thinking that you might
gain from it. It means to speak evil of or speak harshly of someone
else, to backbite, slander, disparage. Those are all various words that
are used to translate this one Greek word. It’s beyond just
a misrepresentation of the facts, it’s an attempt to destroy somebody
with the words of your mouth. Whether it’s an exaggeration
of the truth, or it’s a distortion of the truth, or a complete and
utter lie, slander tears people apart. John Gill, Spurgeon’s
predecessor in his pulpit, said it this way, slander, speaking
evil of one another, is done either by raising false reports,
bringing false charges, aggravating failings and infirmities. Just
finding fault and making it the biggest offense that mankind
has ever known. Lessening, depreciating characters,
endeavoring to bring others into discredit, It really amounts
to anything that hurts or damages another person’s character. But I want to close with Thomas
Manton, one of my heroes of the faith, because he’s a man of
words, careful words, precise words. And he said of the sin
of slander, there are several kinds of evil speaking. Whispering
is a private defamation of our brother among those who think
well of him. This is the person who puts their
hand to their mouth and just utters some trashy piece of gossip. Backbiting, that’s our word for
slander, is more public. This is brazen. Now, both may
be done in many ways, not only by false accusations, but by
divulging their secret evils, by increasing and aggravating
their faults. And as we have been talking about
the tongue for two weeks, I fear that the ears might be jealous.
And so I close with this. Thomas Manton said. Do not give
way to slander in others. In other words, he says, if you
have somebody come to you and begin to rail down on someone
else, don’t listen. Plug your ears, run away, do
not give way to it in others, your ears may be as guilty as
their tongues. Therefore, such whisperings should
never be heard without some expression of dislike or countenancing them. Our countenancing them draws
us into a fellowship of the guilt. Just to listen to the slander
makes us equally guilty. Would you examine your heart
before the throne of Almighty God? Oh merciful God, we are so far
off the mark. Even if we were just to stay
fixated on those three particular aspects, gossip, boasting, and
slander, not to mention lies, blasphemy, flattery, Lord, We
need a return to your standard of how the tongue should be used.
We need a return to what you would have us to do and say in
every situation. We need help to tame the tongue. Everything else has been tamed.
Grant us the grace, your grace, to take hold of our speech, that
it might be a particular avenue a particular way of pleasing
you, of honoring you, that there be no disparity in our mouths,
praising one minute and cursing another. God grant us the grace
to examine our mouths and to confess anything that we see that is out of concert with what
you desire in our lives. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus name. Amen.