Wednesday, October 23, 2019

BIBLE STUDY: TAMING THE TONGUE





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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e475ww32Jg
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O for a Thousand Tongues - St Michael's Singers [with lyrics]

Find a quiet place.  Bring your Bible with you.  Pray the Holy Spirit will open your heart to understand His words and the challenges of this study before you begin.  

Then read James 3:1-12.  (I’ve shared the Amplified Version) or read the passage in your own Bible:

1)    “Not many of you should become teachers [self-constituted censors and reprovers of others], my brethren, for you know that we [teachers] will be judged by a higher standard and with greater severity [than other people].  Thus we assume the greater accountability and the more condemnation. 
2)    For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things.  And if anyone does not offend in speech – never says the wrong things – he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.
3)    If we set bits in the horses mouths to make them obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about.
4)    Likewise look at the ships, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the impulse of the helmsman determines.
5)    Even so the tongue is a little member, and it can boast of great things.  See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze!
6)    And the tongue [is] a fire.  [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth – the cycle of man’s nature – being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna).
7)    For every kind of beast and bird, or reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature).
8)    But the human tongue can be tamed by no man.  It is (an undisciplined, irreconcilable) restless evil, full of death-bringing poison.
9)    With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!
10)          Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing.  These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.
11)          Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?
12)          Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs?  Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.”

Introduction

Did you know the tongue is a muscle and it is the one muscle that gets the most exercise of all our muscles!  We love to talk in fact, we spend an average of one-fifth of our entire lives talking!  This does not include the time we spend talking to ourselves. 

If you go through an average day you will speak about 20,000 words each day.  This is enough to fill 66 books of around 800 pages each! 

Some have the gift of gab and some have the gift of gabbing well.  What we must keep in mind is that the way we speak reveals how we are doing spiritually! 

Take a moment to write down your thoughts:

Share a personal experience where you were built-up by someone’s words.



Share a personal experience where you were torn down by someone’s words.




You can speak in jest or in the heat of your emotions and you can hear words others speak that wound you.  God entrusted you to use this great power wisely.  But it is not easy.  
Nevertheless, there is no rewind -- you can’t take your words back, no matter how you wish you could.

Metaphors to help

James, the author, is known for how he fills his writing with illustrations we can relate to.  In the passage above, he uses seven metaphors to explain the tongue.  What are they?  Would these be easy to share with another?

  • 1.     B _______ in the mouth of a horse
  • 2.     R ____________ of a ship
  • 3.     F ______ / S ________ that sets a forest ablaze
  • 4.     B ___________ or M ______________
  • 5.     F _________________
  • 6.     P __________
  • 7.     F _____ T _________


After the resurrection of Jesus -- and before He ascended to heaven -- He challenges those who would follow after Him:

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-20

That makes you and me His representatives until He returns!   So, it is important for you to use your words being ever mindful of that responsibility.  A good place to begin is to remember Jesus’ example.  Think about how Jesus spoke to those He met and taught and corrected. 

============================

What is one example you remember 
that illustrated how Jesus spoke with someone?
=============================

You can use your words to build others up, encourage and refresh them or to wound them for life.  Wounding words seem to have a very long shelf-life in your heart.  The tongue reveals hidden heart thoughts, ideas and temptations you are dealing with. 

You must purpose to use your words to glorify Christ, because you are Christ to those around you.

Application

  • 1.     Think and consider before you speak
  • 2.     Watch your words (Your tongue is in a wet place and it’s so easy to slip.)
  • 3.     Put off gossip and put on praise
  • 4.     Be wise with the use of your words
  • Speak (write, post, send) whatever you intend to say to the glory of God. 


Morgan Blake an Atlanta Journal-Constitution Writer:  “I am more deadly than the screaming shell for the howitzer.  I win without killing.  I tear down homes, break hearts and wreck lives.  I travel on the wings of the wind.  

"No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me.  I have no regard for truth, no respect for just, nor mercy for the defenseless.  My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent.  I never forget and seldom forgive.  My name is gossip.”

Five ways to avoid sharing gossip

  • 1.     Is it true, do you know it’s true?
  • 2.     It may be true, but is it necessary to share it?
  • 3.     Is it beneficial?
  • 4.     Do I have permission to share this?
  • 5.     Is your motivation pure?  (Don’t use the excuse of sharing a prayer request to share gossip).


Where is help to moderate and ensure your words are encouraging?  The ultimate help comes from having a new heart and allowing the Lord to transform your words.  Practice keeping short accounts with yourself and know how to approach someone you've wronged with your words to ask them for forgiveness.

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(Spiritual soap – I John 1:8-10)
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Pray and ask the Lord for wisdom and strength.   Always remember:  What you say, may not seem important at the time, but what you say is your testimony to others.  It can wound or it can change another's life.   

Types of Words to Avoid

Careless
Vain
Meaningless
Idle gossip
Contemptuous
Caustic
Purposefully hateful
Carnal
Filthy
Blasphemous
Immoral
Arrogant
Angry
Petty
Hostile

NOTE:  Did you know that every one of the Ten Commandments can be broken by using words alone! 


Bill McCartney, who established the Christian group, the Promisekeepers said, ‘The measure of a man is in his words.  Are they true?  Can he back them up?  In the final analysis what else do we offer people?  Can you back up your words?  Do you live them out?”

Additional helpful Scriptures

Reference
My Personal application
Genesis 1:1

Numbers 20:7-13

Joshua 1:8

Job 19:2,

Job 40:3-4

Psalm 19:14

Psalm 34:1-3

Psalm 141:3

Psalm 106:33

Proverbs 1:19

Proverbs 8:21

Proverbs 17:27-28

Proverbs 18:21

Proverbs 25:11

Isaiah 6:5

Matthew 6:5-7

Matthew 15:17-19

Matthew 16:21-23

Luke 6:45

Luke 22:54-62

John 1:1

Galatians 5:16-24

Ephesian 4:29-30

Colossians 3:17 –

II Timothy 3:3

James 1:19-27

James 4:13-15

I Peter 2:1

I Peter 5:7


YouTube Videos for further consideration



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