Baan Athitaan Church
“30 Days To Taming Your Tongue” – Message 2 of 6
God’s Way to Change Our Words
Pastor Michael Johnson
Sept 5, 2010
INTRO:
When we look at a plant, the most visible parts of the plant are the leaves and the stem. These are the things that are above the surface. However, the leaves and stem are also connected to the root and soil that are under the surface and not seen but very real and very important.
That is why it is so important to understand the connection between our heart and our words. The words are like the stem and the leaves and are visible to all to see. Our heart is like the root that is below the surface and its health in many ways is dependent upon the soil surrounding our heart.
As we look at God’s way to change our words from the inside out, we must embrace 4 truths about speech and our words.
4 TRUTHS ABOUT SPEECH AND OUR WORDS
The first truth about speech and words is this: words sprout from the ground of our hearts.
I. WORDS SPROUT FROM THE GROUND OF OUR HEARTS.
The first passage of Scripture that I want us to look at this morning is found in Matthew 15:18-20.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man….”
Kind and encouraging words come out of the mouth of a heart that is kind and encouraging.
Gossip and words that hurt peoples name and reputation come out of the mouth of a heart that is angry and has roots of bitterness.
When a person enters into a personal relationship with Jesus, the root of his or her heart is given a new inclination, a new desire. The old nature and bad inclinations are still there and must be brought under the submission of God. However, now there is a new nature in the heart that is at work and that new nature wants to produce healthy and helpful words from a good and healthy heart. This can be done but we must recognize that this is a growth process and growth takes time. One of the most important things that you can begin to do is to begin doing what I call “storing up” good in our hearts. Notice what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 12:35.
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” Matthew 12:35
To “store up” means to collect, accumulate, or stock something as a reserve for future use; to lay up or put away. In the words of Mary Kassian, “When we speak, particularly in unplanned situations of being irritated, tired, sensitive, or stressed, we reach down into the pantry of our hearts and bring out what has been stored up over time.” P. 45.
The first truth about speech and words is this: words sprout from the ground of our hearts. The second truth about speech and words is this: Healthy speech requires a healthy root.
II. HEALTHY SPEECH REQUIRES A HEALTHY ROOT.
I have always liked to plant things and help them to grow. When I was a young boy, I planted several grape vines and over several years they blossomed and grew healthy and strong and began to produce lots of good grapes. When the grapes would ripen, we would go pick them and give them to my mother and my mother would make the best grape jelly you have ever tasted.
Every summer when I was a boy, I would plant a garden. I would plant okra, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, watermelon and lots of things. I remember one Summer planting some pumpkins. I had bought some pumpkin seeds and then planted them in the garden. The plants began to grow and get really big and before long small pumpkins began to grow off of the vines. The pumkins in America get really bright orange and grow really big. I remember going out to the garden one day and seeing the vines looking really bad. I thought the problem was insects so I put some insecticide on them hoping it would kill the insects and the vines would get better. After only a few days, instead of getting better, the pumpkin vine just died. Later I found out that it wasn’t insects at all, but the problem was what they called “root rot.”
Root rot is one of the most common and devastating horticultural diseases. It is caused by a variety of fungi that infest the soil and attack the roots of plants and trees. Root rot is almost always fatal and kills the plants.
Our heart is our first priority. Jesus accused a group of religious leaders in His day called the Pharisees with appearing clean on the outside but full of greed and selfishness on the inside. He told them that cleaning the inside of the cup ought to have been their first priority. Notice Jesus words in Matthew 23:26.
“First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
The implication Jesus was making was that when the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts are clean and pure, then the words that come out of our mouths will also be clean and pure.
In other words, healthy speech, requires a healthy root.