Controlling the Body's Strongest Muscle - Charles R. Swindoll

Oh good morning I smiled when chaplain bill Bryant talked about the chapel and the refurbished condition and that he plans to go back to the same family and ask for more reminded me of a true story when I was an intern for Reis Steadman out in Palo Alto ray came back from a trip up in the Northeast and he had stayed at a little bed-and-breakfast place and ate his meals in a small dining room where they had the quaintest little sugar and creamer and little pitcher that was out of pewter and he said to the whole congregation he said I want all of you to know as i sat there each morning I was tempted to steal the sugar and creamer and the pitcher and he said they were just darling he said I knew it Lane would really like them but he said I knew that someday I would be haunted by the fact that I stole him rather than had been given them so he went on with this message well the following Sunday when he went into his study there was a package on his desk and it was with a ribbon and he was amazed he opened it up and there was that pewter sugar and creamer and little pitcher from the place where he had enjoyed the previous week and he would just thrilled and he stood up for the congregation and he told them about the gift and he showed it to them and then he said I also lusted after a 32-inch television the next Sunday there was no television there it occurred to me as I was driving to the campus this morning that it was 45 years ago today I said where you're sitting and I began the four most significant years of my entire life I remembered a project that I would undertake at the beginning of each new semester and in those four years there were eight of those projects that I all alone and without saying anything to anyone about them engaged in I addressed in each semester an area of weakness in my life or on some occasions the breaking of a habit that had been a part of my life for too long and it proved to be a very challenging sometimes not successful on other occasions wonderfully encouraging project as I count the weeks that are in front of you before you take a break for the holidays and in this semester you have about 16 of them and I would like to speak today on a project that might make a difference in the rest of your years at the school however many they may be this project is a convicting one and it is well and will always be timely because it is an area that we all struggle with in fact it's a it's a wrestling match that usually pins us to the mat more than once a week if you were to look up in a little book that Cynthia and I have at home that puts medical language into layman's terms this particular organ of the body would be described defined like this it's a 2-out slab of mucous membrane and closing a complex array of nerves and muscles it enables us to chew taste and swallow our foods it helps us articulate words so that we are able to communicate verbally redefined in non-technical language it is a two-ounce beast call the tongue some never never learned to control it I mean the closing of a casket lid is the final sound on some lives I understand in jolly old England there is a gray slate stone worn dark by weather and age and if you bend down and look closely you'll be able to read the epitaph beneath this sod a lump of clay lies arabela young who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue some people never learn to hold their tongue it is the most dangerous part of church life if the tongue wags enough across the campus it affects the whole morale of the campus some of you are stronger in controlling the tongue than others of you all of us have the battle before us and I suggest that in these next 16 weeks you and I together give serious thought to addressing this one targeted area of weakness that continues to plague us as men and women in the body of Christ now make no mistake about it the the source of the evil is not the tongue the tongue is only a messenger like the bucket that dips down in the well if the water is pure and good then the bucket brings up pure and good water if the water is soiled and diseased that's what the bucket delivers nobody ever put it better than Jesus Matthew 15 17 through 19 do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated but the things that proceed out of the mouth come ectis gardius from within the heart and then he repeats the same same phrase for ectis gardius out from within the heart come evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness slanders it's a heart problem so when we read today of James's words in the third chapter of his letter it seems like James addresses this more penetratingly than any other writer of Scripture when we read the word tongue think heart the heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked continues to release its evil thoughts ideas promptings temptations and frequently the message comes out through the tongue and that message more often than not when it does is an ugly one it's unattractive and as we've said demoralizing now the passage begins with a command directed to those who teach or more specifically to those who may wish to teach let not many of you become teachers my brethren knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment someone is paraphrased it don't clamor for the teaching office Eugene Peterson's paraphrase don't be in a rush to become a teacher as these men and women on the platform will tell you the role of a teacher is a very public position and one that carries with it an enormous amount of responsibility why would there be a stricter judgment on those who teach first because it is our task not to give our opinions but to represent truth and to be careful in the articulation of the truth that we are representing in this case what the text is teaching rather than how we feel about it or for that matter what our prejudice may be regarding the subject it is about communicating truth the other reason is that there are a lot of people that are impacted by what we say the teacher stands before groups sometime large groups James warns those who will be doing that not to rush into that role without realizing that you'll be judged by a stricter judgment when someone in our congregation has a slip of the tongue it may affect a family or a few friends when I have a slip of the tongue an entire congregation is impacted by it the points clear with that comes a stricter judgment and then he explains it further we all stumble in many ways and if anyone doesn't stumble in what he says he is perfect well we all stumble in what we say and the teacher in this case in the context the teacher who stumbles stumbles on public display and if he's able to control his tongue he's able really she is well able to control her own whole body so as the tongue goes the life goes what's in the heart is usually not kept quiet listen long enough you'll find out so James after the warning now begins to amplify the idea of the tongue he gives us three statements three ideas if you will regarding the tongue in verses three four and five the tongue is small but powerful in six seven and eight the tongue is necessary but it's dangerous and then nine and ten the tongue is helpful but it's inconsistent first the tongue is small but it's powerful now look at your Bibles you'll see three word pictures in verse three if we put bits into the horse's mouth so that they may obey us we direct their entire body as well horse is a strong animal much stronger than a human being but a human being less powerful sitting on that horse if there are the reins in hand and if the bit is in the mouth that horse will go where the rider exit even though the horse is stronger that small bit makes the difference in the direction of the he chooses a larger example in verse four behold the ships also now he's moved from a four-footed animal to a vessel that can weigh up to 880 thousand tons and more and this ship please observe though the ship is great and driven by strong winds they're still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires just like the rider on the horse with the bit so the pilot on the ship with the rudder directs it wherever he wishes it to go a couple of weeks ago insight for living sponsored a cruise conference up into Alaska tough work somebody has to do it so I was there all that week long with about nine hundred and fifty folks an hour half of the ship as we ministered through the week and enjoyed some delightful times with the passengers late one evening I stood on the stern of the ship and I looked over the back and I I saw the churning of these multiple propellers as this enormous cruise ship was moving through the Alaskan inland Passage it was probably 11 11:30 at night I happened to lean over the port side and look to the front of the ship and the way this is built that up there in the in the skipper's quarters there was a section that leans out and enables the captain of the ship to look at the side as the ship is being docked so that he can guide it all done by computers now but he can guide the ship right into the pier or right up alongside so it can be tied up and held there in dock he happened to have been or someone was on duty at that time and I looked and I saw him and from my position and the very stern of the ship all the way well almost to the bow to the front of the ship there was this tiny little person first I was really glad he was there and second I thought of this passage just that one individual with the command of the rudders is able to guide that ship through the waters take away the rudder you've lost control the ship is without Direction doesn't reach its destination what the rider is to the horse and what the pilot of the ship with the use of the rudder is to the ship the tongue is to the life this isn't the only large example James would use he goes to one even larger in verse five he refers to the tiny spark of a fire and describes the flaming forest that can follow if it's out of control so also the tongue is a small part of the body and get it boasts of great things now his illustration behold how great Forrest is set aflame by such a small fire we read of them virtually every year of our lives a fire has gotten out of control because of someone's irresponsible action or perhaps on purpose a spark an ember of a cigarette that wasn't put out lands on dry pine needles there's a flame that starts and there are some time hundreds of thousands of acres burnt because of the spark it's clear isn't it he's illustrating that the tongue goes small and seemingly insignificant in fact a powerful thing not only powerful it is also dangerous you will not read the words in verses six seven and eight like or as now he describes what it is the tongue is a fire the very world of iniquity the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body don't miss the word defile one man has put it in these words John Bunyan wrote of talkative he was a saint abroad and a devil at home many a man speaks with perfect courtesy to strangers and even preacher and even preaches love and gentleness and yet snaps with impatient irritability at his own family it has not been unknown for a man to speak with piety on Sunday and to curse a group of workmen on Monday it has not been unknown for a man to utter the most pious sentiments one day and to repeat the most questionable stories the next it has not been unknown for a woman to speak with sweet graciousness at a religious meeting and then to go outside to murder someone's reputation with a malicious tongue it's a fire your tongue my tongue our tongues our fires that set ablaze an impact and hurt other lives if they get out of control I know a man older than I who a number of years ago was in a Thanksgiving gathering at his at his home his father-in-law was there along with a number of family members who had gathered for the meal and then watch a little football and enjoy the evening the father-in-law and the son-in-law had not really a good rep good relationship and something triggered the father-in-law's comment we're in the midst of the group he just sort of dropped off the words you know I never had much use for you anyway called his name this man who I mentioned is still carrying around the shrapnel in his brain from that one statement he's a man in his 80s and he can still remember the tone of voice his father-in-law used the tongue is a fire your tongue on this campus is a fire your tongue in the classroom at home with a group of friends is dangerous however it's necessary how empty our lives would be if it were not for the tongue as apples of gold and pictures of silver so as a wise reprove er upon an obedient ear proverbs 25 11 and 12 how beautiful are words chosen at just the right moment James is on the other side of the picture the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity and it is able to set on fire hellish things look at verse 7 makes me smile when I read this verse every species of beasts and birds reptiles and creatures of the sea he is tamed and has been tamed by the human race we got trigger Lassie Shamu flipper talking mules laughing hyenas tamed Falcons and pigeons we got pet rats and spiders and snakes and lions and tigers I've even written an elephant I've even written that sorry camel and Jericho who when I finished riding him spit on me so I spit back as a result we can tame the animals in the field and the birds of the air even large fish even whales but the tongue verse eight note it no one can tame it is a restless evil don't stop reading full a verbal Sinai now your tongue the tongue God wants to use in your mouth for the rest of your lives to minister to people is the same tongue that can destroy the heart of one of your children or break the heart of your spouse or ruin your ministry hurt your reputation it's humanly speaking untamable Washington Irving once wrote no other tool except the tongue gets sharper with constant use Publius the less known among the philosophers said I have often regretted my speech but never must one of my mentors used to say you know Chuck I never felt sorry for the things I did not say James isn't pressing for silence he's pleading for control the hope in James's mind is not that every one of his readers winds up saying this semester I say nothing ours that's miraculous when you stop to think about it you know you're not going to go there and he doesn't expect you to go there it's that when I say something I really say something worth hearing or stay quiet the tongue is a small but powerful it's necessary but never forget how dangerous it is and it's helpful but inconsistent look at these two closing verses in our text with it with the tongue on the one hand we bless our Lord and father and with it on the other hand we curse our fellow man who have been made in the anvil in the image of God from same mouth come blessing and cursing these things ought not to be this way I read recently the story of a little boy sitting next to his dad who was just fussing about the morning happen to be a Sunday meal and fussed about the choir complained about the preacher talked about the usher who said him where he didn't want to sit the air conditioning was too warm and it was uncomfortable and the people around him are hypocrites and then the father bowed and led in this wonderful prayer for the meal little boy watching and hearing the whole thing said to his daddy when the prayer was over daddy did God hear you when you were fussing about all that stuff that went on this morning and dad rather embarrassingly said well yes I'm God God heard that well daddy did God hear you when you said that prayer just a minute ago well yes son he heard me well daddy which one does God believe a good question would be maybe even better one which one represents your heart same fountain bitter water in sweet water remember the words restless evil you can assassinate another person another's reputation by gossip you and I can murder a character my slander you can crush a spirit by rage how often I've seen the lights go out in a teenager's eyes through a sarcastic remark thrown out in public by a parent who wanted to sort of put her or him on the spot I found a very helpful guideline that I hope you will apply through this semester as this new semester runs its course I want to suggest there are four gates you let the tongue or words pass through before you utter them four gates and one gate opens to the next gate which opens yet a third and finally the fourth ask yourself these questions before you say what you planned to say number one is it true now in order for you to know it's true if it's about someone else you need to check the source you need to find out before you spread that word regarding that person whether it's a fellow student or a teacher or whether it's a fellow teacher or a student be sure it's true that'll cut out about eight tenths of most the things we are going to say about other people is it true second is it confidential has someone said to you in the passing of information I'd like you not to share this then don't or if you can't control your tongue say to the person before they unload that information really I'm not sure I can keep from telling someone else so just keep it is it confidential I found in ministry over these years it's easier to find purity among others than it is to find confidentiality very very few people are completely confidential and a pastor who isn't confidential is a train wreck getting ready to happen is it confidential third is it necessary see how this has a way of weaning us away from gab is it necessary does this space of silence need what I've got to say is that important enough for me to say it forth obviously in all four is it edifying is this going to build up or just going to tear down this is going to enhance or bring sadness is it edifying I'll give you a versus scripture that you can memorize through the semester it's Ephesians 4:29 I'd suggest you write it out and put it by your phone really it's easier to talk too freely when you're on the phone because the other person can't see you and you can't see the other person or put it by your computer in the in the amplified bible the verse reads let no foul or polluting language or evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk come out of your mouth but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others as is fitting to the need and the occasion that it may be a blessing and give grace to those who hear it every time I think about how this tongue of mine needs to be put on guard I remember the story of Jack Holcomb Holcomb was an evangelist who not only preached his message he sang it was a soloist in yesteryear back in the days when evangelists would drive from one place to another in their own cars and facing the deadlines of the next crusade or revival Holcombe it stayed a little time longer than was planned in Colorado before he drove through the night to his destination in New Mexico came up over the Raton Pass and was on his way to the city that was next in his plans the crusade in Colorado had been wonderfully successful really hundreds of people had come to Christ and the crowd grew to where they finally were in the high school stadium where he would preach and sing and and I'm sure he must have been just a small little figure in the eyes of those who said far in the back but on the way to his destination he was feeding and it was early in the morning and he saw that ominous flash in the car and the heard the siren of the black and white behind him and irritated he pulled over he stopped his car and reached in to get his wallet and the officer walked up and said good evening at that point the Evangelist said look I'm speeding okay just get to the point I'll give you my driver's license and just write me the ticket I'm talking the officer said would you get out of the car please why do I need to get he says sir you're under arrest if you do not get out of this car door open he got out he said put your hands on top of the car and he's standing there with his hands on the car thinking oh man the officer said to him while you're standing there I'd like to tell you about something that's happened in my life last week in Colorado I attended a series of meetings and as a result I came to know one who would give peace and forgiveness and control he said I I just want to tell you I don't have a plan to give you a ticket by the way I don't know why I never meet officers like that but they never come after my car and Holcomb realized as he described it that he was the one and he said to the man as he turned around officer I'm the one who led you to Christ the officers stared at him began to weep he turned around got in his car and drove all Holcomb's a courageous man to tell that story on himself every once in a while I think how helpful it would be if someone were that direct and honest with me say you know what your words are hurtful and I don't want you to go any further just stop I think if that had happened frequently enough in my life I would have better control on my tongue today let's bow together during the weeks that pass in this fall semester father catch us up short remind us of the power of the Spirit who alone can give us the control since we cannot tame our own tongue since we cannot clean up our own hearts we place ourselves at your disposal enable us father to have the control to think before we speak and to pause long enough to evaluate before we even give an opinion especially as it relates to others and may our tongues not give the lie to another wise wholesome spiritual life watch over the student body and may this be one of those record-making semesters his hearts and lives model verbal control in the name of Jesus we pray and everyone said

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

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Length: 37min 27sec (2247 seconds)

Published: Wed May 09 2012