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
The third truth about speech and words that is important that we understand is this: healthy speech requires healthy soil.
III. HEALTHY SPEECH REQUIRES HEALTHY SOIL.
The words of our mouths and our behavior are like the leaves and the fruit of a plant. They are above the surface of the ground and can be observed and seen by others. Our attitudes, motivations, and thoughts are below the surface and are hidden from others like the root of a plant. Some roots of bad speech are anger, bitterness, envy, pride, malice, and lack of self control. Those are issues related to the health of the root. However, there is another factor that has a tremendous effect on the root of a plant and that is the soil.
The soil represents our deepest values and beliefs that determine what we allow to take an important place in our hearts, including the respect and importance we give to the advice of other people that we respect and look up to.
Soil conditions have a tremendous effect on what kinds of plants will grow and how healthy they will be. The soil creates an environment in the heart in which encourages the growth of good or the growth of evil.
Jesus has always been concerned about the quality of soil in a person’s heart. He once told a parable about the importance of good soil. This parable is recorded in Luke 8:5-15.
The farmer scatters seed all over the ground. But the soil that was hard did not allow the plants to grow. In the soil that was dry and rocky, the plants do not last very long. If the soil was filled with weeds and thorns, the plants would survive but would be chocked and never grow to full maturity. It was only in the good soil that the plants grew to maturity and produced fruit.
Notice what Luke 8:15 says, “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”
The soil represents our deepest values and beliefs that determine what we allow to take an important place in our hearts.
In other words, God sows seeds of truth onto the soil of our hearts. Whether or not that truth takes root and grows into healthy plants depends on the condition of the soil of our heart.
What is the composition of the soil of your heart? Is it fertile and receptive to God’s truth? In this parable in Luke 8:12, Jesus identifies the devil as the one who seeks to take away the word of truth from our hearts.
I really think it is important to take just a moment and let’s look at the type of speech of the devil.
The word devil used in Luke 8 comes from the Greek word “diabolos” which is where we get our English word diabolic. The word diabolos is a word that refers to a person who makes hurtful accusations and says things that slander other people. The Bible uses this word 34 times as a title for Satan. Satan loves to use his words to make hurtful accusations and say things to slander and hurt other people. Do you have people around you that seem to always make hurtful accusations of others and say things to slander and hurt others? Be aware! They are using their words just like Satan uses his words.
Satan says, “It’s ok to raise suspicious of people’s integrity, honesty and faithfulness. It’s ok to exaggerate the truth just a little bit and make the story really good. It’s ok to tell little white lies, they won’t hurt anybody.”
God’s Word says just the opposite. God’s Word says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29
As I shared with you last week, “Moving toward spiritual maturity requires that we learn to speak the right words at the right time and for the right reason… and it also requires that we learn to leave unsaid the wrong thing at a tempting moment.”
“God’s way to change our words is to change our words from the inside out. In other words, God’s way to change our words is to change our heart, to change what we believe, and to change how we think.” Pastor Michael
In order to begin that process, we must embrace 4 truths about speech and our words.
Truth #1, Words sprout from the ground of our hearts. Truth #2, Healthy speech requires a healthy root. Truth #3, Healthy speech requires healthy soil. And lastly, Healthy soil requires removing the contamination.
IV. HEALTHY SOIL REQUIRES REMOVING THE CONTAMINATION.
This week as I prepared for this message today, I did some internet searches on how to clean contaminated soil, I learned some interesting things that relate to cleaning the soil of our hearts.
One of the articles that I found, said this, “The condition of your soil is one of the most important factors when it comes to how well or how poorly it can grow plants and crops. If the soil is low on nutrients then your plants’ growth will be stunted. … It’s difficult to clean polluted soil, but it can be done with patience and perseverance.” (How to Clean Polluted Soil by an eHow Contributor)
The article went on to say that the first thing you needed to do was to test the soil to see what contaminates where there so that you could know how to clean the soil.
As I read the article, God reminded me of the critical nature of us being willing to let the Holy Spirit test the soil of our hearts. Let’s look at what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:23-24.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.”
The Bible encourages us to open our hearts and ask God to search our thoughts and reveal areas in our heart that are contaminated. Do you want to remove the contamination in the soil of your heart? The first thing you need to do is to ask God to reveal areas in your thoughts and your attitudes, in your beliefs and in your values that need to be changed.
If you are serious about transforming your speech and words God’s way, then you need to take the time to test the soil for contamination. Ask God to show you the areas of your heart that He wants to clean up.
Once you have done that you need to apply Proverbs 28:13-14. Let’s look at it.
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy. Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.”
The first part of cleaning up the contamination in the soil of our hearts is confessing our sin. Confessing our sin is owning up to the fact that contamination exits in our heart and it is no one else’s fault but my own. I allowed this root of bitterness to come. I allowed this hardness to happen in my heart. I allowed this evil thought to come into my mind. It is my fault and I cannot blame anyone else.
The second part of cleaning up the contamination in the soil of our hearts is forsaking our sin. To forsake it means to dig the contamination out and throw it away and replace it with thoughts that are consistent with God’s Word and His ways.
“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them finds mercy.”
As we allow God to identify the contamination in our hearts and as we then act on that contamination by confessing and forsaking our sin, the soil of our heart begins to improve. As the soil of our heart begin to improve, good thoughts and attitudes will take root and sprout into healthy, beautiful, and fruitful words. We will be experiencing God’s transforming power to change our words God’s Way.
“God’s way to change our words is to change our words from the inside out. God’s way to change our words is to change our heart, to change what we believe, and to change how we think.”
CLOSING COMMENTS
If we are to change our words God’s way, we must embrace the four truths I shared with you today. Truth #1, Words sprout from the ground of our hearts. Truth #2, Healthy speech requires a healthy root. Truth #3, Healthy speech requires healthy soil. And Truth #4, Healthy soil requires removing the contamination.
I am reminded of a prayer the Psalmist recorded in Psalm 19:14. Psalm 19:14 says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Do you want the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart to be acceptable in God’s sight? Then we must continue to remove the contamination in the soil of our hearts.