Tongue Tamer

Tongue Tamer
January 1, 2010 4:30 AM -0600
Manuscript
Outline
Notes
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Untamed tongues have a tendency to get us in trouble, but they can be brought under control with a little help from God. In this message, we learn some basic principles and a prime reason to become tongue tamers.

Thesis: A humble, controlled, and consistent tongue is essential to godly living.

Objective: Call believers to embrace and realize the call to control what they say.

Intro: Extreme tongues: Extreme tongues: Giraffe tongue 18-20 inches. Blue whale tongue weighs 3 tons. Chameleon tongue is as long as its body.

  1. We must have a humble tongue (1-2).
    1. We should not presume (1; So often, we assume to have a role of authority and so lecture or rebuke people. Certainly, there is a right and proper time and place for such use of our tongue, but we must hesitate to assume the mantle of teacher because with such privilege comes tremendous responsibility and accountability.).
    2. We must be mindful (“We all stumble in many ways” (2); Before we presume to teach or lead others, we must be mindful of our own failings. We have all failed, and so at the very least, our tone should be moderated. And sometimes, we should even remain silent.).
    3. We must practice control (2; The ability to control the tongue is key in many ways. While it is exceedingly difficult to restrain and we often fail, we must remember that it is also difficult to restrain ourselves in other areas. And as we discipline ourselves to control our tongue, we can apply the same lessons which we learn in that endeavor to controlling other aspects of our lives as well.).
  2. We must have a bridled tongue (3-8).
    1. It influences everything else (3-4; Just like a bit or rudder, which is relatively small but still able to steer far larger things, the tongue has the ability, when well-restrained, to direct us to great things, but when unrestrained, it has the power to steer us completely off course and into great danger and worse.).
    2. It can destroy everything else (5-6; Just like a tiny spark can set the greatest of forest fires, the tongue has the capacity for tremendous destruction, corrupting the whole person so that they are bound for hell. The source of its power for destruction is Satan himself.).
    3. It is impossible for us to tame (7-8; It is impossible for us to tame the tongue on our own. It is simply too wild. We must have God's grace and power to bring it under control.).
  3. We must have a consistent tongue (9-12).
    1. It tends toward inconsistency (9-10; We have a tendency to praise God and curse men, who are made in God's image. We also praise and curse in general. These things, done with the same tongue, are contrary to one another.).
    2. It must be restrained (“My brothers, this should not be” (10); Such inconsistency is not appropriate for the people of God and must be stopped.).
    3. The bad negates the good (11-12; Just as it's not possible for fresh and salt water to flow from the same spring, a fig tree to bear olives, etc., it is not possible for a tongue which is guilty of cursing to effectively praise God.).
Ryrie
  • (1) “Since teachers use their tongues (to instruct others) more, they will be judged more strictly.”

  • (2) “The theme of verses 1-12 is found in the second clause: If anyone... he is a perfect man.”

  • (2) “Perfect means 'mature, of full moral and spiritual growth.'”

  • (2) “The word for 'man' is male, indicating that men particularly need to guard the use of the tongue.”

  • (3-5) “Small but powerful is the tongue, like a bit, a rudder, and a spark.”

  • (6) “The whole course of his life” = “the whole course of human existence.” “The tremendous destructive power o the tongue comes from hell (lit., Gehenna).”

  • (9) “The divine image has been marred by sin but not totally obliterated. Our being made in the image of God is the basis for not cursing our fellow man.”

  • (10-12) “The point is that a believer's tongue should not speak inconsistencies.”

Henry

  • Henry suggests a very effective outline for the passage.

    • “Not to use our tongues so as to lord it over others.”

    • “Govern our tongue so as to prove ourselves perfect and upright men.”

    • “Dread an unruly tongue as one of the greatest and most pernicious evils.”

    • It is exceedingly difficult to control the tongue.

    • We must consider the tongue's use in religion and the service of God and limit it in other ways accordingly.

  • “These words do not forbid doing what we can to direct and instruct others in the way of their duty or to reprove them in a Christian way for what is amiss; but we must not affect to speak and act as those who are continually assuming the chair, we must not prescribe to one another, so as to make our own sentiments a standard by which to try all others, because God gives various gifts to men, and expects from each according to that measure of light which he gives.

  • (1) Henry suggests this expanded translation: "Therefore by not many masters" (or teachers, as some read it); "do not give yourselves the air of teachers, imposers, and judges, but rather speak with the humility and spirit of learners; do not censure one another, as if all must be brought to your standard."

  • (2) “It is here implied that he whose conscience is affected by tongue-sins, and who takes care to avoid them, is an upright man, and has an undoubted sign of true grace.”

  • There is a great deal of brutish fierceness and wantonness in us. This shows itself very much by the tongue: so that this must be bridled; according to Ps. 39:1, I will keep my mouth with a bridle (or, I will bridle my mouth) while the wicked is before me.

  • No man can tame the tongue without supernatural grace and assistance.”

  • That tongue confutes itself which one while pretends to adore the perfections of God, and to refer all things to him, and another while will condemn even good men if they do not just come up to the same words or expressions used by it.”

Reflecting God
  • (1) “Because a teacher has great influence, he will be held more accountable.”

  • (2) “Since the tongue is so difficult to control, anyone who controls it perfectly gains control of himself in all other areas of life as well.”

  • (6) “set on fire by hell” is “a figurative way of saying that the source of the tongue's evil is the devil.”

  • (9) “Since man has been made like God, to curse man is like cursing God.”



  • Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
  • Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
  • Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.Jam.iv.html
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