Contradictions of the Tongue
Introduction:
1. The tongue is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
2. These verses teach us that just because one blesses God with their tongue that does not justify it is improper use.
3. Rather the habitual improper use emphasizes the inconsistency of the individual.
4. In order to have a pleasing character one must bless both God and man continually.
5. Therefore, we have an obligation to control our tongues because of their unruliness and the poison that kills the life of the inconsistent Christian.
I) The Tongue that Blesses God
A) Speaking Well of God Habitually
1. Blessing God is the highest function of the tongue
a. By the tongue we lift our praise to God.
(i) Psalm 148 - Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them forever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.
(ii) Praise is the value we place upon God.
(iii) By his hands we are fed.
(iv) By his power we are saved.
b. Our time in heaven will be spent praising God.
(i) God expects our tongue to be used as best it possibly can.
(ii) We worship God by our tongues in the hymns we sing, prayers we offer, and the preaching that is done.
(iii) How magnificent the tongue can be in glorifying God.
2. We find that blessing God is a habit.
a. It is something that must be worked on.
b. 1 Peter 4:11 - If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
c. Eternal praise for God because God is the only one worthy of such affection.
B) Includes Praising His Handiwork
1. Man is made in the image of God.
a. This image is not physical but a moral and spiritual likeness.
(i) We can have the heart of God like David.
(ii) We can have a righteous spirit like Christ.
(iii) We can have an ethical faith like Solomon.
(iv) God created man to be capable of understanding justice so that God could save him from his sins.
b. We all have a divine origin.
(i) Since God breathed life into us all we have moral and spiritual directions.
(ii) Man defines his life by the moral choices he makes for himself and by himself.
(iii) Yet man can see the spiritual side of himself even if for a brief moment in time.
2. Human life is sacred.
a. The sacredness of human life comes from the fact that we are godlike in our moral and spiritual natures.
b. Man can be made anew through the power of his word.
(i) The hope of man's salvation is for every man regardless of his crimes.
(ii) That hope makes one sacred for God see man as sacred.
(iii) Ephesians 4:24 - And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
II) The Tongue that Curses Man
A) Revelation of the Heart
1. The term curse implies a habitual practice.
a. Psalm 62:4 - They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
b. This is not an occasional practice but a vice.
2. It reveals itself in the stressful moments of life.
a. In argument with one's spouse.
b. In dealing with our enemies.
B) A Petition For Destruction
1. Cursing man is pleading for God to punish him for his crimes.
2. Like asking God to take a hammer and pounding a man to the lowest levels of hell.
3. How spiritual is such a petition?
III) The Contradiction of the Tongue
A) Presumptuousness of Man
1. Verse 10 - Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
a. The one who blesses God and curses men regards himself as privileged to do so.
(i) He shows by his actions that he is better or loftier than man.
(ii) He looks down at other men made in the image of God.
(iii) He shows by his action that he is lower than God.
(iv) Despite his high-handed view of himself he considers himself to look up to God.
b. Cursing man is an offense to God because it opposes the creative power of God.
(i) A man's curse despises what God has made.
(ii) Because he views himself better than others he takes matters into his own hands and avenges himself.
(iii) He believes that he has the authority to deliver justice upon God's creation.
2. This presumptuousness reveals a double-minded man.
a. He shows his faith by his works.
(i) He pronounces empty words upon God's creation.
(ii) He fails to recognize that these words do not damage the other person but damages himself.
(iii) For God is not influenced by the curses to act IAW these petitions.
(iv) But he works out his empty faith by trying to get God to destroy His own sacred creations.
b. James tells us these things ought not to be so.
(i) Do not believe yourself to be better than anyone else.
(ii) The mouth was created for holy purposes and not for sinful ones.
(iii) It is contradictory for a mouth to praise God and curse man.
(iv) Ought implies can.
(a) If you ought not then you cannot.
(b) The point is that because there is a contradiction in blessing God and cursing man then you have a reason to refrain for doing so.
(c) Because you have a reason to do stop being contradictory with your tongue then you cannot be contradictory with your tongue.
c. Pronouncing curses upon man is both senseless and sinful.
B) Illustrations
1. Consider the illustration of the fountain.
a. Good water is one of the greatest blessings for those living in an arid environment.
b. The fountain is the source of these blessings.
c. It is impossible for a spring to supply both good and bad water.
2. The question asked in verse 11 is rhetorical.
a. It must be answered no.
b. A fountain that yields good water may be depended upon to continue that supply.
c. Nature is consistent in its bestowal of blessings.
3. Consider the illustration of the fig tree and vine.
a. The question too is rhetorical.
b. There is an immutable, unchanging, law of nature that things produce after their own kind or likeness.
c. A fig tree cannot produce olives or a vine produce figs.
4. Application
a. The practice of the tongue in giving both blessings and cursing is contrary to the laws of nature and a violation of God who created it.
b. The individual who habitually blesses God and curses man transgresses God's law and therefore is sinful.
c. 1 John 4:20-21 - If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
d. No one can expect to be able to curse men, God's creation, and bless God at the same time.
C) Salt Water Can't Yield Sweet Water
1. Matthew 7:16-18 - Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
a. Jesus points out that one cannot be both good and bad at the same time.
b. And since know an individual by his fruit if a fruit is bad then the tree is wholly bad.
2. Because the nature of these uses of the tongue is habitual we find that the illustrations must have the same idea.
a. A fountain does not continually provide both sweet and bitter water.
b. A fig tree does not produce both olives and figs.
3. A mouth which curses cannot properly bless God.
a. Though both may be attempted it is the cursing which defiles the man regardless of the amount of times one blesses God.
b. Matthew 12:36-37 - But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Conclusion:
1. Man cannot curse anyone.
2. He has no authority to do so.
3. God created all men alike and to place one's position in the order of the universe higher than another man is presumptuous and sinful.
4. This presumptuous can be revealed by one's words.
5. Do not lift yourself above others.
6. You cannot bless God and curse men.
Posted in: Book of James, Sermon Outlines