Mentoring Men for the Master

THE MEANNESS MEMBER OF MENTORING MEN FOR THE MASTER

The Bible says that the tongue is the meanest member of the body and that means that the person in the church or in the Mentoring School who would misuse his tongue the most is the meanest. So mean and so destructive is the tongue that the Holy Spirit devoted an entire chapter to expose its evils- James 3.

  • The Meanness of the Tongue
  1. God says the tongue is a DESTRUCTIVE FIRE (James 3:5).  Illus.  A layman said to me recently, “our church has been destroyed”.  When I asked, “How”?  He said, “It began with one spark, a false rumor which kept circulating until it became a raging fire”.  For example, “loose lips, sink ship.”
  2. God says the tongue is a DEFILER OF OUR ENTIRE LIFE (James 3:6).  When your tongue is out of control, your whole body is in disarray (James 1:26).  Your mouth is an exact expression of your heart.  See Matt. 12:34.  Illus.  We have fire prevention week.  Every church ought to have gossip prevention week.
  3. God says the tongue is a DREADFUL EVIL (James 3:8).  Man has tamed every kind of animal but he has never tamed the tongue.
  4. The tongue is a DEADLY POISON (James 3:8b) I read of a 17 year old girl who drank some poison and died.  There is no poison on earth that is as deadly as a poisonous tongue.  Romans 3:13 says “the poison of vipers is on their lips.”
  5. The tongue is SET OF FIRE OF HELL.  In other words God said that you would have to go to hell to find something as ugly, cruel and destructive as the tongue.
  6. The Monster of the Tongue.

In every letter of the ALPHABET ,one can find a mean tongue.

  1. Angry tongue
  2. Backbiting tongue
  3. Critical or Careless tongue
  4. Divisive tongue
  5. Exaggerating tongue
  6. Filthy tongue
  7. Gossiping tongue
  8. Hasty tongue
  9. Insulting tongue
  10. Jealous or Judgmental tongue
  11. Kangaroo tongue
  12. Lying tongue
  13. Murderous tongue
  14. Nagging and Nasty tongue
  15. Offensive tongue
  16. Polluted tongue
  17. Quarreling tongue
  18. Raging tongue
  19. Suspicious tongue
  20. Tattling tongue
  21. Unreasonable tongue
  22. Vicious tongue
  23. Wicked tongue
  24. X-rated tongue
  25. Yahoo tongue
  26. Zone tongue

Illus.  This is to give you some idea of the tragedy when a TONGUE IS MISUED.  I read that a lady went to see her pastor because she had become under conviction due to the misuse of her tongue.  The pastor asked her what was troubling her and she said, “I have gossiped about most everybody in my church.  Do you have any counsel?”  And the pastor said, “Yes, I do.  Go get you a bag of feathers and put one feather on the doorstep of every home that you have gossiped against.”  She said that would be easy enough.  She got the feathers and placed one on the doorstep of every home where she had gossiped.  She went back to the pastor and asked, “Pastor, what do I do now?”  He told her to take the bag that the feathers came in and go back over the community and pick up each one and put it back in the bag.  She said, “Pastor, I can’t do that.  By now, all of the feathers have blown away and I can never retrieve them.”  He told her that was the point that he wanted to press upon her heart.  When you say hurtful words, the damage is done and you can never undo it.

 Illus.  Gossip is a form of insanity.  People will come to you and say, “I don’t gossip but …”

  • The Ministry of the Tongue

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21.  A wholesome tongue is “the tree of life”.  1 Peter 3:12, “He who loves life and would see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil.”

  1. With the tongue we can call upon the Lord and be saved (Romans 10:13).
  2. With the tongue we can praise the Lord (Psalm 34:11).
  3. With the tongue we can offer a sacrifice to Him (Heb. 13:15).
  4. With the tongue we can pray (Jer. 33.37)..
  5. With the tongue we can witness (Acts 1:8).
  6. With the tongue we can bless every person we meet (Eph. 4:29).
  • The Mastery of the Tongue.

The Bible says that no man can tame the tongue.  But it does not say that the tongue cannot be tamed.  Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.  So when the heart is cleansed, the tongue is cleansed.  Illus.  Mel Trotter says he lost 90% of his vocabulary when he got saved.

Resolve of every Christian should be Psalm 39:2, “I will put a muzzle over my mouth”.  The prayer of every Christian should be Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard over my heart, o Lord.”

  • The sixth use of our tongue should be to confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of the Father (Matt. 10:32:33.
  • The fifth use of our tongue should be to speak against evil and for the right – against abortion and for life (Acts 4:20).
  • The fourth use of our tongue should be to praise the Lord.  Psalm 34:1
  • The third use of our tongue should be to build up and edify people. Eph. 4:29
  • The second use of our tongue should be to tell others how to be saved. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” Acts 8:4 – gossip the gospel
  • The first use of our tongue should be to call upon the Lord and be saved.

 

  • The Magnificence of the Tongue.

Let the Bible Speak:

  • Proverbs 15:23
  • Proverbs 15:11
  • Proverbs 15:4
  • Proverbs 12:25
  • Proverbs 15:1

“One little word will fell him” (the Devil) – Martin Luther

  • Ephesians 4:20
  • 1 Peter 3:10