Here's a news flash for us all: We don’t have a ‘tongue problem’ nor do we have a ‘mouth problem’. What we have is a ‘heart problem’. Ever heard the old expression –“Garbage In, Garbage Out’? Yeah…if it is in there, it is going to come out. And Jesus gave us a pretty solid hint as to how that works…whatever is in a man’s heart will come out of his mouth. He likened this to the ‘fruit of a tree’.
Read what Jesus told a group (whom He ‘lovingly’ referred to as ‘vipers’):
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt. 12:33-35)
The mouth and/or tongue are simply the ‘pipeline’ that reveals what is in our hearts. There is no point trying to ‘work on your mouth’ to cover up bad fruit. If it’s in your heart, it will come out. Many of those ‘evil’ things that Jesus pointed to that reside in our hearts that defile us (Mark 7:21-23) coincide with all the deeds of our sinful flesh nature. Paul writes in Galatians 5 that “the deeds (fruit) of the flesh is evident”… He then goes on to list so many of those traits of carnal nature that we all have…and need to be dealt with. (19-21)
Where we have often got tangled up, thanks to ‘religion’ is doing our best to not let that stuff come out when we are at church or around others that we would not want to know what is really in us? Others…well maybe not so discreet…they just let it fly and think nothing of it.
You’ve probably read that statement before that suggest what you do and say when no one else is around reveals your true character. Lots of truth in that.
So instead of trying to deny or cover it up…why not just agree with God’s word and then allow Him to deal with the Real issue…our hearts? Maybe we have consistently begged God to ‘remove all those things from our hearts’ like what the Psalmist cried out in Ps. 51 – “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord”. (10) In another place he cries out for God to ‘search his heart’ and remove any offensive or sinful thing’. (139:23-24)
And God wants…to do just that. That is why Jesus came…to perfect our hearts in His love…to purify us. Look what Paul wrote to Timothy in his first letter…’the goal of our command is love from a pure heart’. (1:5) This is what ‘sanctification’ is all about…and it happens to be the ‘will of God’ for us to be sanctified, or made pure or holy. (1 Thess. 4:3;Matt. 7:21)
This next part may be ground breaking for some if not truly liberating. I know it was for me. Remember that passage in Matt. 12:43-45 where Jesus explains what happens to an unclean spirit that goes out of a man? He eventually seeks to find its way ‘back in to the house from which he came’. I think where we have not fully been enlightened on is how we keep that door shut and him out. I also have a suspicion that is the reason those prayers to God for Him to ‘remove’ such things seemingly go unanswered…if He did remove the source of that sin (which He truly wants to do)…if we don’t know how it tries to come back and how we must purposefully keep it out…then what will our condition be in the end? Seven times worse off than we were in the beginning.
So let’s examine this. We know when we were born into this world, we ALL had defiled, sinful hearts. (even these adorable grandsons of mine) When we come to the Lord…with ALL our hearts and surrender to His Lordship, He begins to lead us in this walk…not to promote you and ‘your ministry’…rather to cleanse and sanctify your hearts where you decrease, and He increases. We are instructed to follow…obey, and to also be ‘alert and vigilant’ given we have an enemy, the devil’ who is on the prowl. (1 Pet. 5:8). We are told to ‘give no place’ to him. (Eph. 4:27). We are also advised to ‘resist him’. (James 4:7) Many seem to think that ‘ignoring’ him is just as effective and sadly, that is not the case at all.
So just how…do we ‘give place’ to the devil? Well consider this. If we began to follow Jesus at some point in our lives and He began cleaning up our hearts…and somewhere along the way we thought we could ‘coast’ or put it on ‘auto-pilot’…growing ‘at ease in Zion’ because we found ourselves trusting in our ‘doctrine that saved us’…then we probably were lulled to sleep. That pretty much is how Jesus describes the state of the church prior to His return-asleep. This is what the parable of the ten virgins refers to in Matt. 25. Ever notice those ‘pokes’ from Paul about ‘time to wake up’ or ‘arise from our slumber’?
Look at what happens when ‘men sleep’. Matt. 13:24-25 gives an incredible illustration on this…’when men slept, an enemy came and sowed tares’. This came right on the heels of Jesus talking about how a sower went out to sow some seed. He later explains to His disciples in that same chapter how the ‘seed is the word of God’. Guess what- Satan sows seed himself…bad seed. And he is quite good at doing this and while ‘under the radar’. Now if you are truly abiding in Christ, that ‘radar’ works just fine. But for many who are not truly abiding (all the while they think they have this cozy great relationship with God), the enemy, who we are admonished to be on the watch for and resist, shows up regularly.
Do you remember the passage I cited yesterday from 2 Cor. 10 and how we are to ‘bring in to captivity EVERY thought to the obedience of Christ”? Yeah…that is what we most likely have failed to do, being ignorant of Satan’s devices. (2 cor. 2:11). Now if we happen to be awake and alert, we recognize those ‘seeds’ being sown all the time. And in that moment, we have the opportunity to reject that thought or welcome it. Please know, this has nothing to do with ‘positive thinking’. This is an all-out spiritual attack and war that for the most part, the church has failed to show up for. If we had, then everyone would not continue to be sinning like everyone freely admits. I would also suggest that IF we really knew what was happening at at stake here, we would not be like those in Matt. 22:1-5) who ‘make light’ of such things or were ‘not willing to come’, more concerned with temporal matters like their business and land and ‘oxen’ other matters’. (Luke 14:18)
What I am sharing here is for you to give thought to and ask God to bear witness and confirm by His Spirit and word. But you and I have an enemy who stays busy ‘sowing seed’, just like that sower in Mark 4 and Luke 8. In fact, look at Luke 8:11-12. We are told by Jesus that the seed is the word of God and that the ‘devil comes take the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” Ever wonder how he does this?
He sows his seed into our thoughts and waits to see what we do with it. IF we are abiding with Jesus, you will know pretty quick where it came from and deal with it immediately. Otherwise, you don’t do like Paul advised by ‘bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) And then that thought works its way into our hearts...and eventually out our ________?
For example…that deal about having a ‘sharp tongue’. We may call it being sarcastic or ‘snarky’. You know…those little jabs we like to toss out under the canopy of being ‘funny’? Yeah…I was proficient at it. And God dealt with me on this exposing it in my heart. The very definition of ‘sarcasm’ refers to the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say, especially in order to insult someone, or to show irritation. I mean, what’s wrong with being ‘funny’ and making people laugh? Well, it’s not the fruit of kindness, gentleness, and love that Jesus teaches is the mark of a true follower of His. So when I repented of it…guess what I discovered? The enemy was showing up regularly with some of the ‘best lines I ever thought of’. And he would ‘sow them in to my mind’ which is the gateway to my heart.
What I have discovered is when I am abiding in Jesus, there is this new ‘filter’ in place and immediately I’m faced with a quick analysis of what I am about to say. It’s like Jesus is asking if I really need to say what is on my mind at that moment. There are those times when I pause and want to justify it by saying: ‘but it is funny and not that bad’. To which I hear the Lord respond: ‘Oh…so having others laugh and think you are funny is important?” (Now let me assure you, God has no problem with laughing and enjoying funny things to which there are plenty of in this life). But you know and I know when the Holy Spirit is involved and it is in that moment when we are truly proving to God who and what we love more. The closer you walk with Jesus, you will discover…I promise…how much these things truly matter to Him.
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may build others up in a good way”. (Eph. 4:29). We all know that verse…but living it out is another matter. IF we just ‘hear’ that word but don’t ‘do it’…we end up deceived which is not a good place. (James 1:22).
I have much more to say on this…hope you join me tomorrow? :- )
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