Proverbs 16:24
Let’s hear the word of God together.
Proverbs 16 verse 24 says this, gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body. So tonight we want
to consider wisdom and words. So we’ve, gone through Proverbs,
maybe the first eight or nine chapters, we went through verse
by verse, and now for the remainder of Proverbs, we’re picking up
on some of the themes and maybe pulling together not all, but
most or some of the needed verses to give us a bit of what it says
about that particular subject. So tonight, Wisdom and words. You know the saying from when
you were a child, sticks and stones may break my bones, but
words shall never hurt me. We know that’s not true, right?
Usually we don’t get hit with sticks and stones, but we get
hit pretty good. And probably most of us still
have some shrapnel from some grade school play yard. Words
that were said those words do hurt and so I think the opposite
of that little childhood phrase is more true Broken bones shall
heal and mend but words will hurt until the end. Isn’t that
a more true statement than the latter? Well, the power of the
tongue is something we ought to consider biblically. And I
would guess that we know what the book of James says very well
from chapter three. I think we heard of it Wednesday
night when we talked about how we should live towards outsiders.
from Colossians chapter 4 verse 6, maybe. But we also read, I
think on Wednesday night, James chapter 3, which says we do two
things with our tongue. We bless God, who is the Lord
and Father, and with the same lips, the same tongue, we turn
and we curse men who are made in God’s image. So I would think
that every one of us knows deep down our misuse of the tongue. Deep down we know where we have
been hurt by another’s words. And we know that we have much
work to do in order to use our tongues for righteousness and
not for wickedness. So think for just a moment, if
you will, with me about the positive use of the tongue and then the,
I’m not going to say negative use of the tongue, I’m going
to say the destructive use of the tongue. The positive use
of the tongue in the book of Proverbs, is a fountain of life. The positive use of the tongue
in the Proverbs is a honeycomb, it’s choice silver, it’s encouragement. It is spoken or fitly placed
words in season or appropriate words. In chapter 10 of Proverbs,
verse 11, it says this, the mouth of the righteous is a fountain
of life. but the mouth of the wicked conceals
violence. Then if you skip over to verse
20 of chapter 10, it says the tongue of the righteous is choice
silver and the heart of the wicked is of little worth. Uh, there’s
a number of things that could be said, uh, in light of wisdom
and words and the, the power of words, uh, the positive power
of words, um, We’ll say a few more in a few minutes, but let’s
think for a moment about the negative use of words. Uh, chapter
12 verse 22 speaks of lies. Uh, chapter 12, 22 says lying
lips are an abomination to the Lord. Uh, elsewhere it says there’s
like six, seven, eight things the Lord hates. And one of those
six, seven, eight things the Lord hates are lying tongues.
So a destructive use of the tongue is lying. Or in chapter 17, verse
nine, you have gossip. Chapter 17, verse nine says,
whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter
separates close friends. So you have lying and gossip.
You also have slander. In chapter 10, verse nine, You
can flip along if you like, or just listen. It speaks of slander. The one who conceals hatred has
lying lips. Whoever utters slander is a fool. Then we have flattery in chapter
26, verse 28. Flattery, not encouragement or
kind words, but flattery in order to get something for another. 28. 2628 says, a lying tongue hates its
victims and a flattering mouth works ruin. And then finally,
one last destructive trait of words is curses or cursing. Chapter 30 verse 10. Do not slander
a servant to his master lest he curse you and be held guilty. So we want to think a bit about
the power of the tongue. We want to think a little bit
about the use of our words. And we can think of this, not
just in the positive or the destructive comparison, but think about your
words for prayer. Think about your speech, just
your everyday talk. Think about your words and relationships. But importantly, think about
your words and your heart. Proverbs 4.23 says, guard your
heart for out of it flows the springs of life. So where do
your words come from, whether they’re positive or destructive?
They come right out of In fact, Jesus says, from out of the overflow
of the heart, the mouth speaks. So you want to know what’s in
here. A good litmus test is what comes out of this hole on the
front of your face that gets you into lots of trouble. James
chapter 3 verse 9, as we’ve mentioned, says that with our lips, we bless
God, who is Lord and Father, and we curse man who’s made in
his image. And so we ought to think a lot
about how we feed and nourish our hearts. our thoughts and
our motives because those lead to right actions. Think for a
moment about prayer. Prayer, we offer up unto God
the desires of our heart for things agreeable to his will.
We don’t want to pray for things that aren’t in line with godliness,
that aren’t in line with holiness, that aren’t in line with God’s
work in the world. But our prayers ought to be full
of adoration and confession and thanksgiving and supplications. We had to seek first the kingdom
of God, loving what God loves, knowing that we pray out of a
new heart, a changed heart, a new creation. Think about where our tongues
get their sources. James, I think, says something
about we can have fresh water flow from our mouth and we can
have salt water flow, but the two can’t be mixed. And so we
want to strive for godliness in our lives, not have our tongues
set on fire by the fires of hell, but to have our tongues bring
the words and the praises from heaven. We ought to use our tongues
also to encourage our neighbor, to do good to others, to speak
well. Remember the ninth commandment,
you shall not bear false witness. We ought to not do any injury
to another or their good name. Ephesians 4.29 also reminds us
that we ought to let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouths.
And so we live in a world of spin, We live in a world that
bends the truth. We live in a world that exaggerates.
We live in a world where discouragement and degradation and tearing down
and criticism and gossip and slander, coarse words, slang
language and wasted words are the norm. And so you’ve heard
the phrase before, we’ve got to steal back our language, steal
back our words. So just a couple practical things.
First, before you speak, think about what is true, what is helpful,
what is inspiring, what is necessary, and what is kind. We’ve got a
little method to our madness with prayer, adoration, confession,
thanksgiving, supplication. What does that spell? A-C-T-S-X. Okay, so think. T is for true,
H is for helpful, I is for inspiring, N is for necessary, and K is
for kind. the things about to come out
of your mouth, true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind.
Think also about the proper use of language. We are logical beings
made with reason and rationality. We’re made in the image of God.
Think about words these days, slang and textese. I got an email back from somebody
who’s a good bit older than me, and it said TY, which I interpreted
to be thank you. I couldn’t figure out anything
else it meant, but we live in a texting world, but we need
to use language properly, or maybe as your English teacher
or your mother said, don’t destroy the Queen’s English, right? We want to use logic and cogency
and truth in what we say. Maybe a third practical thing
to think about is manners. COVID has really wrecked manners.
We’re not looking people in the eye. We’re not getting in their
space anymore. We’re not shaking hands or hugging or giving the
right hand of Christian fellowship, those kinds of things. But we
ought to say hello and goodbye and call people by name. Some
of you met John today. He’s the retired minister from
Christ Community in Greensboro. John is probably one of the most
outgoing people I know. And when you go into a restaurant
with him, He looks for name tags. And so when you sit down to eat
with him, he becomes the dominant person at the table. And he says
to the person by name, hello, how are you? My name is John.
And I’m thankful that you’re doing your job today taking care
of us. And right then and there, you’re going to get some really
good service. But it’s kindness. It’s manners. It’s hello and
goodbye. It’s asking people their name
and their interests. So often we encounter people and it’s,
hey, or the nod. How about those tar heels? We
spill our guts because we want everybody to know everything
about us because we have incurvitis, is that the word? We’re curved
inwardly. A fourth thing, practical thing,
use the scriptures in your language. We all know a lot of useless
facts. I bet most of y’all know how many times Tom Brady has
been in the Super Bowl. Maybe this crowd doesn’t, it’s
10. But that’s a useless fact, isn’t it? It’s unhelpful info. It’s opinions we all live by. But use the scriptures. When
somebody asks you for help, speak the truth. Speak the scriptures
to them. Another couple things to think
about. A fool is considered wise when
what? He keeps his mouth shut. So words,
words, words sometimes is good, but when else, what other activity
with our mouth might be good? Keep it shut. Shut the trap,
as we say. A fool is considered wise when
he keeps silent. Or this is one of my favorites. This one gets tossed around our
household sometimes. For lack of wood, the fire goes
out, right? That’s a good one. Or a proverb
that I think is very convicting to me and hopefully to many others,
where words are many, sin is not absent. So talk, talk, talk
equals what? Sin, sin, sin, most likely. Another
practical way to think about our words is to gather data,
to listen, and maybe even, if necessary, pray and then speak. then enter into the conversation. It’s good to speak the truth
in love and to have our words seasoned with grace for others.
And why is all this true? Well, it’s because of this, God
himself is truth and God who can never lie speaks only truth. And so when we open the Bible
and we read the words, when we hear the promises and we see
God’s threatenings and his graces, we can take him at his word.
What God says he will do. What he says is trustworthy.
He means what he says. But the devil on the opposite
speaks lies. In fact, he’s the father of lies.
He’s the source of lies. James says that when we have
a wicked tongue, an evil tongue, a destructive tongue, It is not
from the graces of heaven, but it is set on fire by the fires
of hell. And remember what plunged Adam
and Eve into sin, plunged mankind into sin. It was Satan coming
and telling a big fat one, right? A big lie. Did God really say? And so that first lie led Adam
and Eve into sin. But we remember what James, the
half brother of Jesus says, the truth will set you free. And
so we take great heart in our use of words from God himself,
but also through his son, the Lord Jesus, who is the way. But
what’s that second thing he is? The truth. And he is the life. We remember also that every idle
word we will be held accountable for. So we want to have redeemed
mouths, redeemed lips, redeemed tongues, speech seasoned with
salt, because that’s what’s pleasing to God and what’s good also for
our neighbor. So we’ll think on these things
and pray that God might bless us. Pray with me. Lord, we pray
that you would Touch our lips like you did, Isaiah. They are
unclean. Lord, our lips are full of fresh
water praising you and saying kind things at times, but they’re
full of salt water as well. And as your scripture tells us,
this cannot be so. So redeem our mouths, redeem
our speech, redeem our hearts, and give us lips that praise
you and serve others. And we do not ask idly for this
to be so, but we do want it with all our heart for we want to
be outpost of heaven and not agents of Satan himself. So help
us, we pray in Christ’s name, amen. All right, let’s respond
to God’s word. We’ll stand and sing 159. Abide
with me, fast falls the even tide. you