KEY TEXT
Luke 6:45 (ESV) – The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, FOR OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART HIS MOUTH SPEAKS.
INTRODUCTION
- Our mouth is an outflow of our heart
- Commentary of our Key text
- Title
‘THE HEART ISSUE OF OUR TONGUE’.
Outline:
- The different kinds of tongue
- The heart issue of each tongue
- The heart resolver
MAIN POINTS
- THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF TONGUE
Proverbs 21:23 (ESV) – Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.
Our tongue is the main culprit that always gets us into trouble.
Therefore, Proverbs warns us to keep quiet.
What are the kinds of tongue that always get us into trouble?
- A harsh tongue
- A negative tongue
- An overactive tongue
- A boasting tongue
- A filthy tongue
- A critical tongue
On the contrary, what are the kinds of tongue that always get us out of trouble?
- An encouraging tongue
- A gentle tongue
- A truthful tongue
- THE HEART ISSUE OF EVERY TONGUE
The kind of tongue we have, reveals the kind of heart we have on the inside.
- A HARSH TONGUE
What is a harsh tongue?
It is a tongue that loves to criticize and speak in a severe way to others.
What does a harsh tongue reveal about our heart?
A harsh tongue reveals an ANGRY HEART.
ANGER
While anger is a natural emotion, it can also be a destructive force that can cause harm to ourselves and others.
Understanding the root causes of anger is essential for Christians who desire to live a life that reflects the love and grace of God.
Unresolved anger can lead to damaged relationships, bitterness and even physical health problem.
Root Causes of Anger
- Unmet Expectations
We often have expectations of ourselves, others, and even God.
When these expectations are not met, we may feel disappointed, frustrated and angry.
James 4:1-3 – “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
James 4:1-3 highlights the connection between unmet desires and anger.
When we focus on our OWN DESIRES, we become selfish and may even be willing to harm others to get what we want.
Remedy– Shift our focus from ourselves to God.
- Pride
When we believe that we are ENTITLEDto certain things, we may become angry when those things are not given to us.
Proverbs 13:10- By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom.
This passage highlights the connection between pride and strife.
When we are focused on our own desires and entitlements, we may become angry when others do not conform with our expectations.
Remedy – Humble ourselves before God and others.
- Fear
When we feel threatened or insecure, we may become angry as a defense mechanism.
1 John 4:18- There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
This passage highlights the connection between fear and anger.
When we are focused on our own safety and security, we may become angry towards those who we perceive as threats.
Remedy – Focus on God’s perfect love for us.
- Sinful Nature
As fallen human beings, we are prone to sin and selfishness.
Galatians 5:19-21 – Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contention, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
This passage highlights the reality of our sinful nature and the works of the flesh, which include anger and outburst of wrath in the form of harsh words.
Remedy – Surrender our lives to God and allow Him to transform us from the inside out. Walk in the Spirit.
Application: Are you one with a harsh tongue, always dressing others down with severe words?
Do you have unmet expectations; pride; something or someone who has threatened your security causing you fear?
Or is it that you have not been walking in the Spirit and thus allowing your fallen nature and flesh to control you?
- A NEGATIVE TONGUE
What is a negative tongue?
Biblically, a negative tongue is a pessimistic tongue; a tongue that is faithless in God and in life; a tongue that loves to give negative details of everyone and everything.
A negative tongue speaks more of the GIANTS than the ABILITY AND POWER OF GOD.
It focuses more on the impossibilities than the possibilities in Christ.
What does a negative tongue reveal about our heart?
A negative tongue reveals a FEARFUL HEART.
FEAR
We are instructed in the Bible again and again to “fear not”.
Types of Fear
- Mysophobia – fear of dirt
- Nyctophobia – fear of darkness
- Necrophobia – fear of the dead
- Taphophobia – fear of being buried alive
- Triskaidekaphobia – fear of ‘number 13’
- Xenophobia – fear of strangers
- Pathophobia – fear of “germs”
- Atychipobia – fear of failure
- Ergophobia – fear of works
- Phobophobia – fear of ‘being afraid’
- Ecclesiastophobia – fear of “attending church services”
Root Causes of Fear
- Sin in the place of faithfulness
Romans 8:32- He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.”
Since God has given us His Son as Lord and Savior, do you think He will withhold other blessing from you?
Remedy- Get in touch with the One above it all. We may dwell at times below the clouds of trouble, but we have an anchor in heaven far above the clouds. We are not trusting what we can see but the God who is above it all.
- Sight in the place of faith
Sight may give you a sudden burst of faith in what you see but it will not suffice in the dark of the night.
Many of us are trusting what we possess; the friends we know; a position we occupy; the education we have received or our experience in life.
If that is our foundation, we have a right to be afraid.
To put any or all of these issues above the power of God is to fail.
Fear will eventually overtake you.
Remedy -Don’t trust what you can see, but trust the One who told you to live by faith!
Get in touch with the One who is before all the troubles you will ever face and knows how to take you through them.
Application: Why are you always speaking negative words and giving negative reports to your superior? Could it be hidden in your heart is fear – you have a sinful conscience and you are walking by sight more than putting your trust in God?
3. AN OVERACTIVE TONGUE
What is an overactive tongue?
An overactive tongue is one that speaks a lot, mostly at the wrong situation.
What does an overactive tongue reveal about our heart?
An overactive tongue reveals an UNSETTLED HEART.
What is an unsettled heart?
It is a heart that is tumultuous and uncertain. It is an uneasy heart.
A synonym for an unsettled heart is an aimless, drifting and floating heart.
UNSETTLEDNESS
Biblically, an unsettled heart is a heart that is downcast, broken, doubtful, fearful, divided and does not have peace. And therefore, it masks itself by many words.
Root Causes of An Unsettled Heart
- Guilt
- Fear
- Trying to run away
- Reducing life to what you think you need
- Trying to live a life without God
Remedy- Come to him. Jesus is calling those who are weary or laboring in this life – those who are feeling fatigue, weary from the hard toil and are heavy laden.
And Jesus is calling you to take His yoke.
The call to take the yoke is a call to sanctification – take the yoke as His followers and this yoke calls us to the same characteristic of Jesus like gentleness (willing submission from our heart to God’s rule and plan in our lives without grumbling and complaining) and humility (a willing heart to go with the flow of God’s will).
Once we do that, our heart will be given rest.
And once you have a restful heart, you will have a restful tongue.
4. A BOASTING TONGUE
What is a boasting tongue?
It is a tongue that makes great boast about one’s effort and accomplishment.
Too often what we brag about is as silly.
We do something small and the Lord does the rest and we brag as though we did it all.
Boasting is a dangerous sin of the tongue.
None of us is indispensable.
It is God alone who is indispensable.
What does a boasting tongue reveal about our heart?
A boasting tongue reveal an INSECURE HEART.
INSECURITY
Insecurity is a form of fear.
God designed insecurity positively as a warning that we are vulnerable to some kind of danger.
It instructs us to take some protective action.
But in the current vernacular, what we typically mean by ‘insecure’ is not just a circumstantially induced fear but a fear so recurrent that we refer to it as STATE OF BEING.
Insecure =FEELING A SIGNIFICANT LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, OR A POWERFUL FEAR OF OTHERS’ DISAPPROVAL OR REJECTION OR A CHRONIC SENSE OF INFERIORITY.
Root Causes of Insecurity
The root cause is our IDENTITY IS UNCERTAIN OR THREATENED.
Our identity is who we understand ourselves to be at the core. It is our essential self.
Or it is what we want to believe and want others to believe is our essential self, even if it is not who we really are.
Where does our sense of identity come from?
Our identity is tied into WHAT WE REALLY LOVE, WHAT WE REALLY WANT, WHAT WE REALLY BELIEVE OFFERS US HOPE.
In other words, we always find our identity in our god (idol).
Our god is not the God in the Bible.
Our god is the person or thing we believe has the greatest power to determine who we are, why we are here and what we should do and what we are worth.
Our god is what we can’t help but seek and follow because we believe our god’s promises will bring us the greatest happiness.
So, when we feel insecure because something threatens our sense of identity, it is telling us something about our god.
So, we try to reduce our exposure to people or situation by boasting.
Remedy – Use your insecurity as a warning to expose your wrong identity. Don’t avoid it.
Let your insecurity expose your false god.
This exposure will confirm your worst fear about ourselves: inadequate, insignificant, failure and condemned.
Use also your insecurity as an INVITATION to escape the danger of false beliefs about who we are, why we are here, what we should do and what we are worth and to find peaceful refuge in what God says about all these things.
Let Christ define us.
Application: Have you been boasting a lot to people about yourselves? Have you been boasting a lot about your “anointing” and “spiritual gifting”? You have an identity issue and you need to come to Christ and allow the gospel to redefine you all over again.
- A FILTHY TONGUE
What is a filthy tongue?
A filthy tongue is one that loves to talk about dirty jokes and using profanity to punctuate every sentence.
A filthy tongue is one that loves to talk about sex and the opposite sex in a very corrupt and perverted way.
What does a filthy tongue reveal about the heart?
A filthy tongue reveals AN IMPURE HEART.
Root Cause
An impure heart is a heart that has allowed sin to enter into its life.
And this leads us to live in a fog or a haze where we cannot see clearly.
An impure heart cannot see God.
Sexual sin clouds our vision and makes us blind, deaf and dumb to the ways and working of God.
You cannot draw near to God while deliberately walking away from what God says is best for your life.
Purity leads to clarity; impurity leads to double-minded idolatry.
This means when our thoughts are clouded by impurity, it can quickly lead to some ungodly logic:
- “I love God but I love porn more so I will keep the secret habit going.”
- “I love God, but I love my boyfriend or girlfriend more so it is fine for us to mess around.”
- “I love God, but I love my freedom more. So, I’ll move in with my significant other rather than waiting until marriage.”
- “I love God but I want to do things my way and ignore what God says is important.”
Sexual impurity leads to a fog where it is very difficult to see the goodness and glory of God.
Remedy -The good news of the Gospel shows us that purity can be a reality for all who trust in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Sin enters our hearts through our eyes, ears or thoughts.
Therefore, we have to guard our heart as Proverbs 4:23 tells us to do by controlling what we see, and hear and keeping our thoughts pure and confessing those that are not.
- A CRITICAL TONGUE
What is a critical tongue?
A critical tongue is a deadly flame, seeking only its own importance, caring only about being right.
A critical tongue can masquerade as being loving, making it difficult to diagnose.
One thing a critical tongue often says is, “I was just trying to help.”
They are actually “well-intentioned dragons”.
What does a critical tongue reveal our heart?
A critical tongue reveals a BITTER HEART.
BITTERNESS
Bitter believers are those who have been bitten, and then channel their energy into snapping at others.
Thus, a critical tongue.
Bitterness makes us permanently angry.
It carves deep lines on our faces.
It adds heaviness to our very steps.
A bitter heart is always a bad heart and often a boiling heart.
Root Causes of Bitterness
The word “bitterness” comes from an old root word meaning “to bite”.
Bitterness is like being bitten by the old serpent Satan, releasing his venom and poison into our heart and life.
Bitterness is the POISON that comes when bitten by certain things in life.
It is as if Satan has bitten and injected all the poison of hell itself into a human heart.
So,bitterness bite us:
- Because of what is said about us
- Because of what is done to us
- Because of what is taken from us
Remedy- FELLOWSHIP –“Pursue peace with all men” (Hebrews 12:14) – We are to be the initiator and the originators of peace.
FORGET –“Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice” (Eph 4:31). To “put away” means “to discard; to get rid of”.
FORGIVENESS – “And be ye kind one to another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph 4:32).
No one has been treated dirtier than the Lord Jesus.
But even when He was dying on that cross for our sins, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “Let us go to Calvary to learn how we may be forgiven and then let us linger there to learn how to forgive.”
Application: Have you been bitten by bitterness to the point that your tongue becomes inflamed with poisonous criticism? Can you fellowship, forget and forgive for the sake of Christ?
- AN ENCOURAGING TONGUE
What is an encouraging tongue?
An encouraging tongue is one that imparts life and grace to the hearers.
It is one whose speech that is always gracious, seasoned with salt (Col 4:6).
An encouraging tongue like salt, always flavors another person’s life and like salt, the words preserve the discouraged, preventing him from decaying into despair.
What does an encouraging tongue reveal?
An encouraging tongue reveals A GRACEFUL HEART.
- A GENTLE TONGUE
What is a gentle tongue?
A gentle tongue according to Proverbs 27:6 is a tongue that instructs, speaking wisdom, with words that fit each situation, like apples of gold in a silver setting (Proverbs 25:11).
A gentle tongue is a tongue that gives soft answer, turning away wrath according to Proverbs 15:1.
A gentle tongue is merry, doing good to the hearer like medicine to the sick according to Proverbs 17:22.
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life” – Proverbs 15:4
What does a gentle tongue reveal about the heart?
A gentle tongue reveals a LOVING HEART.
- A TRUTHFUL TONGUE
What is a truthful tongue?
A truthful tongue is one that is free from deceit, deception, flattery and lies.
“A truthful tongue is a tongue that endures forever but a lying tongue is but for a moment” (Proverbs 12:19).
What does a truthful tongue reveal about the heart?
A truthful tongue reveals an HONEST HEART.
How to develop these three good tongues?
Be in touch with the One who is Grace, Love and Truth – Jesus.
And your heart will be aligned with His heart and then what comes out from your heart will be an encouraging tongue; a gentle tongue and a truthful tongue.
(III). THE HEART RESOLVER
Many of us have froward tongues that flow from an angry heart; a fearful heart; an unsettled heart; an insecure heart; an impure heart and a bitter heart.
Our tongues bring death instead of life.
But we know we are to give an apt answer to people around us so that we can bring joy to the heart of our Father.
We are supposed to use our tongue to speak words that is so fitting for each situation that it is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Tragically, our words are not like apples of gold but rotten apples grown from our tree in our heart that is corrupt; ungracious; bitter; proud, selfish loveless and merciless.
It is a DEGENERATE, WICKED AND FALLEN TREE.
What can be done for a degenerate, wicked and fallen heart like ours?
2000 years ago, the TREE OF LIFE that carries the full essence and sweet fruit of GRACE, LOVE AND TRUTH came.
Yes – Jesus that TREE OF LIFE came and died on the TREE OF THE CROSS, absorbing and paying the penalty by dying for our toxic heart like anger, fear, unsettledness, insecurity, impurity and bitterness so that at the apt time like our constant failure now, we can receive this apt word from His mouth on the cross – “I have forgiven you for you know not what you are doing or saying”.
Roman 5:6-8 says that “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly”.
At the apt time, Christ, the Living Word that is full of grace and truth died for you and me so that today He can be inside us, bringing into our very heart His cleansing blood to cleanse our filthy and sinful heart to be as pure as snow and more importantly to impart His grace, love and truth into our inmost heart so that instead of it continuing to be the wicked, stony hard heart, His redemptive and atoning work on the cross can soften it up.
The ULTIMATE GENTLENESS, JESUS wants to soften our hardened heart so that our heart can receive THE ULTIMATE LOVE, GRACE AND TRUTH that will in turn water our hard heart to become fertile heart for the TREE OF LIFE to grow.
We all deserved to be slapped by God for all the wrong tongues.
Yet remember, our Christ had taken that slap for us when the officer of Annas slapped Him across His face when He answered correctly that He is the son of God.
So why do we keep letting Jesus be slapped by our wrong tongues?
Why not allow the Holy Spirit to do a deep surgery in our heart to realign our identity and faith in Him?
The Tree of Life died on the Tree of Calvary so that today you can be the Tree of Life – full of grace, love and truth – healing many people with your word instead of hurting them.
To the degree you see how much the Tree of life has died for you to become the Tree of Curse, to that degree will you allow the Holy Spirit to uproot the wrong tree and to replant the Tree of Life in your heart and to water it, gradually letting it grow into the Tree of life with the full essence of Jesus.
It is still love, grace and truth at the end of the day- that God wants to change our heart to be.
CONCLUSION
Out of the abundance of our heart, our mouths speak.
You want to know what is in the heart, listen to the WORDS.
- A harsh tongue – an angry heart
- A negative tongue – a fearful heart
- An overactive tongue – an unsettled heart
- A boasting tongue – an insecure heart
- A filthy tongue – an impure heart
- A critical tongue – a bitter heart
- An encouraging tongue – a graceful heart
- A gentle tongue – a loving heart
- A truthful tongue – an honest heart
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life” – Proverbs 15:4
“My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right” Proverbs 23:16.
