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Defilement of The Tongue
Defilement of The Tongue
I started being picky about what I watch. I like cartoony type movies. The
language seems to be a lot better. But even then, not all cartoons are innocent.
They have cartoons where they do or say things that are not pleasing to the Lord.
This is one that gets me. You hear of a really cool movie thats seems really
interesting. The best thing about it is its showing on cable. So you get your
popcorn or whatever, you sit in your favorite chair in front of the TV and you start
to watch the movie. And then the whole movie is ruined. Its because the actors
open up their mouths and dialog comes out and its nothing but junk, cursing, and
slander.
When I encounter a movie like that, I always have an image of God putting coals
in their mouths to keep them from ruining the movie.
But its really more than that. These actors also have a problem, which we will
address, because its a problem that society has as a whole.
And it seems like something we cant get away from. But why is that?
Why are young children and adults using such language? And how can we change
this?
Christ gives us the answer to both, the problem and the solution.
Well start with the first problem. This sermon is about Matthew 15:11 but Jesus
gives us a preview in Matthew 15:8 and 15:16-20 to where the problem starts.
Jesus states in Matthew 15:8-9 These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Their hearts are far from Me. It means that our initial problem is in our heart.
Not the physical heart that pumps blood but the heart that convicts us by saying
youre doing the wrong thing.
In Matthew 15:11, Jesus says, It is not what goes into the mouth the defiles a
person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.
So defiling or cursing is not only with our mouths but also with our hearts. In
order to fix the problem, we need to get to the heart of the problem.
What we need to do instead of ignoring it, we need to control it. We can control it
by first, not watching or listening to these things that allow our mind to be exposed
to filthy words on a daily basis. Theres a saying I learned in computer class,
garbage in, garbage out.
I like music a lot. And I like modern music. There are songs I really like but they
have filthy words in them. I stopped listening to the songs because when I became
a Christian, my attitude changed and so did my heart, along with my hearing.
And its not only the bad words that need to be censored out but also what is being
said. There are songs that may not have bad words in them but have bad
suggestive lyrics.
When we open our mouths and say bad things, we are teaching others to say bad
things. Were also saying that its okay to have a lying tongue, its okay to have a
cursed tongue, and its okay to have a gossiping tongue.
Youre saying to others that its okay to do this and that youre having them fall
into sin, which leads to eternal death in hell.
Lets think about this; do you think that God will allow people into His holy
heaven who use their tongue in this manner? Do you think God allow you into
heaven with what you say?
And its not only the adults Im talking about, who should know better, but its the
children. When we use such a tongue around children, they pick up this behavior
and grow up using it. They think its okay because they learned it from you. And
when they die (which I know that we dont want to think about that), but when
they do, what will happen to them? Do you think that they had a godly example so
they can learn to follow God or are you showing them an example that leads them
to eternal destruction?
We are responsible for showing others a godly attitude, a way that God wants us to
lead others, and if we are leading ourselves to a path of destruction, we are also
leading others onto that same path of destruction.
And its not only about what comes out of our mouth thats important, but how we
act toward another.
Matthew 22: 37-39 states You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You can go to church, you can read the Bible, and you can say Lord, Lord. But as
Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will
enter the kingdom of heaven. So just because you say Lord, Lord doesnt mean
that you will enter into Heaven.
And no one likes to be told that they are not going to Heaven. No one wants to go
to a place of eternal death and destruction. And God doesnt want that either.
But wait. Jesus goes on to say this also but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Jesus gives us an opportunity and a way to get to
heaven. We must do Gods will. And when we do Gods will, were closer to God
and we lead others to God. We do this by following Christs example on how to
live. And we must also know that God has given us a way out.
When we mess up, and we all do, since the bible says Romans 3:23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Jesus have given us a gift of salvation.
A salvation that allows us to be forgiven for what we have done toward others and
towards God. This is Gods answer for us and to us so that we can live for Him.
We must change our ways. We must learn to control our tongue and we must
control our actions. We have to stop, take a breath, and think before we act. We
must consider ourselves as an example toward others. We must continually ask
ourselves am I leading this person toward Christ? And also am I leading
myself toward Christ? And in the end, we will see each other in this glorious
place called Heaven.
Lets not allow others to fall into temptation. Lets not allow other to follow the
wrong path. Stand up to cursing, slander, and the use of Gods name in vain. Lets
show everyone that we can lead a happy, fulfilling life without junk that will lead
us into destruction. And share with others about what Jesus Christ has done for us.
His shedding of blood on the cross that saves us from our sinful life, and which
gave us a gateway into our Heavenly Fathers Kingdom so that we can spend
eternity with Him.