Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we're all about providing sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and on today's episode, I want to offer some reflections on the tongue. Over the past 10 days, there's been quite a dust-up online, and I was certainly uh in the the mix with that situation, and I have been reflecting a ton on how to use the tongue, how I might do a better job using my tongue, and uh how how I might follow biblical steps. Uh, I always want to be faithful to proclaim the truth, and most certainly always want to be faithful to uh call out false teachers and to point out truth and rebuke error and those who contradict what God's Word says, and at the same time uh want to do my best to preserve the bond of unity and to love the brethren and to honor Christ in the way that I talk. And I want to share some thoughts with you, really just personal ones, that I've been reflecting on. This isn't to preach at you, it's really to preach it myself and together. Uh, consider what the Bible says about how we use our tongue. I want to be more committed than ever to speaking the truth in the right ways at the right time. And there's vivid imagery in James chapter three. Uh James says, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. I don't know that there's been a more helpful passage in the last ten years since my true conversion that reminds me that the way that I speak is potentially more important than any other aspect of ministry. Proverbs says, where words are many, transgression is unavoidable, and no doubt as a preacher and a teacher, I talk a lot, and as people, we all talk and dialogue, and James three is a humbling reminder for those of us who teach. That is, those in the body of Christ who, in their primary role, if you think of a body, uh their part is that which is the tongue. It speaks, it teaches us the scriptures. James says, let not many of you become that, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. And the word stricter there is the Greek word megas, and you can hear the word mega in it. You know, it means to exceed a standard. It's above average. And I think of the word picture in 1 Corinthians 16 9, I was doing some cross-referencing, and Paul uses the same word to describe a wide door of opportunity for gospel ministry, but think of that wide door, or if you were to compare uh the weightiness and the measure of judgment or impact that a teacher would have with comparison to others, uh maybe for some of us, our our width or our sh our size for that judgment is you know, an eight by ten room. And then you take a teacher, and it's more like a banquet hall or a stadium, meaning it goes further, it's larger, it's wider, and that's gonna mean for teachers there's more scrutiny, there's more damage potential. And most certainly, what James is gonna be talking about is that there is more care required. There's responsibility, like Jesus when he says, to whom much has been given, much is required. All sin is sin, but those of us who are in the body of Christ who use our tongue as part of our spiritual gift, there's a weightiness that should fall upon us, and we need to be very careful. I need to be very careful. James goes on to say in verse two, for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man and is able to bridle the whole body as well. What's the you know thought there? Well, if you can control your tongue, controlling everything else is a lot easier. He gives the image of horses with bits in their mouths and ships with rudders. He says in verse three, Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also in verse four. Though they are so great and are driven by the strong winds, they are directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. The idea there being such a small object, the tongue can steer and can control and direct and impact a great deal of our direction in life. One commentator says it relates to destiny, meaning where we're destined, where we're heading, the trajectory of our life is in relation to our tongue. The way we talk is so important. And if I were to relate that to the events of this past week, the way that we tweet, the way that we type, our fingers connected really to our tongue and our mind when what we say and how we say it online. I was meditating on uh verse five, so also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. And I was reflecting on this and looking up some different commentaries and the thoughts there from different commentators, and most all are unanimous that this isn't sinful boasting, if you will. It's that the tongue is small, but it can take credit for a lot of what happens in our lives, meaning it boasts of great things. It says, I have great impact. What happens when I am moving and operating is massive. The tongue is so important. Then the next thing that James says is, see how great a forest fire is set aflame by such a small fire. I could not help uh in thinking through cross-referencing with Proverbs 1627, where there is also fire mentioned. A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. That is the last thing I want to be associated with. It's the last thing I want to be in my life. I'm sure you're the same way. Proverbs 627 is really a warning for us in a sense that we are we are worthless, we're useless, we're not bringing value to things, most certainly not bringing value to the body of Christ. When we plot evil and our speech is like a scorching fire, we're just setting everything ablaze. And the tongue is a fire, James says in verse six, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body. Isn't that incredible? The whole body can be defiled, poisoned, polluted by that small little two or three inch razor blade in our mouth. You could say that the tongue is potentially a weapon of mass destruction. He goes on to say it sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. I'm also thinking of Proverbs 1218 as I was jotting down some notes in my Bible and and using Proverbs as a helpful cross-reference tool for what James says about the tongue. And Proverbs 1218 says, There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts. And I think of that in relation to the fire that can be set by the tongue in our lives. And I was asking myself, you know, are my words like sword thrusts? Are they inflicting damage and the wrong kind of damage? I'm not talking about wielding the sword of truth. I'm not talking about saying strong things that need to be said. I'm talking about taking your words and even the gift of communication that you have and I have, and using it to inflict and a wound and a harm. And then the proverb there in Proverbs 1218 finishes by saying, But the tongue of the wise brings healing. There's a wisdom in the way that we talk. We can bring the sword of affliction and try to do as much damage and cut off as many body parts and kill as many as we can, or we can use it to speak wisdom and bring healing. I want to live a life and speak in such a way that Proverbs twelve eighteen is the result, rather the back half of it, rather than my words being rash like sword thrusts. James goes on to say for every species of beasts and bird and reptile and creatures of the sea, they're all tamed and have been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil. It's full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives or a vine produce figs, nor can salt water produce fresh? And then he speaks to wisdom, and this is probably the most convicting part of all if the first twelve verses aren't. He says, Who among you is wise and understanding? I certainly want to be counted as that. He says, then, let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above. He's saying that kind of behavior, the way you're operating, that's earthly, natural, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there's disorder in every evil thing. You know where there is selfish ambition or there's jealousy, there's that kind of behavior, that kind of heart, you're gonna see every evil thing. And so I know for my own life, and I'm sure for yours, we want to run from that kind of wisdom. We want to run from that kind of situation, and we certainly want to retreat back from triggering that kind of situation. He says, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy. Now there's some wisdom that I want in my life. I'm sure you do as well. Wisdom that's from above is pure. It is peaceable, it is gentle, it is reasonable, it's full of mercy and good fruits. It's unwavering, it's without hypocrisy. I remember talking with a mentor of mine, a pastor, who would always go back to this passage and ask about the fruit of my life and speak about the fruit of his life and what he was aiming for. And he says, We know we're we would know we're operating in the wisdom of God when the result is that which is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy. And in that season, I remember we were always discussing what it looks like to be an unwavering man, and most certainly that's going to be connected to the way that we use our tongue. And as much as I at times, and certainly sure we're all guilty of this, but I speak to myself, I want to be the minister of justice. I want to be uh on on Jesus' uh government team, part of his cabinet, you know, my role will be I'll be the minister of justice. Well, when we take on such a role, we are overstepping what God has already said. He is the one who administers justice. Vengeance is his. We are to walk in truth, we are to speak the truth. But there is no model in Scripture for striking out on a crusade of self-interested justice. We must double check our hearts and ensure that we aren't the ones with hypocrisy in our hearts, we aren't the ones who have abandoned that which is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits for something else entirely. And all that ties back to the tongue. The way we talk is going to reflect the wisdom of God in our lives or the wisdom of the world, that which is earthly, natural, and demonic. I know for me, I'm sure for you, in the end, I want to live out verses 17 and 18. Verse 18 says, And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. I want to walk in that. And it all relates back, most certainly, to the way that we use our tongue. I want to encourage you in that today, and I certainly want to keep on looking in the mirror myself, the way that we speak the truth, why we speak the truth, and how we interact with people. Uh, I may have more reflections on some of the issues that came up in days ahead. Most certainly uh there's always room for theological debate. There's important aspects of speaking the truth that need to remain in our lives and in our ministries. Uh, we should most certainly never back down from proclaiming the name of Christ no matter the cost, and from speaking the truth in love. But uh, in the words of wiser older men, it's not always what we say, but it's how we say it. And uh it's not always what we do per se, or what our goal is, but how we go about achieving that goal. And so I hope you're thinking about that. I know I am, with relation to the way we talk and the way we live. I want to do my best to use social media in a way that honors the Lord and that edifies and equips you. That's our goal here for the gospel. That's my goal with the use of social media and certainly with my shepherding mandate in my local church. And so uh maybe in the future we discuss more of these issues. I'm sure there'll be others that talk about the culture war, and there'll be a lot of helpful resources that come out here, there, and everywhere about the way we need to have integrity and watch our character in the midst of this culture war. And I am most certainly not above that exhortation. Um, but for me, this next week or so, I'm gonna shift my focus onto my family as we welcome our fifth child, and we'll keep putting out sound doctrine for you and encouraging you. I want to be a faithful shepherd to the flock of God that is among me here at Shepherd's House and keep using for the gospel to equip you with sound doctrine for the glory of God. I want you to know that our ministry team is more committed than ever before to equipping you and serving you and to proclaiming the truth. We want to look back, I know I do, on Judgment Day and see a life that doesn't have a lot of regrets from nuking people on Twitter, but has a long history of speaking the truth because we love the truth and we love Jesus and we love his church. Thanks for listening and for being so gracious. Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not forget that our Mormonism resource drops this week. That should be our focus as you watch all those videos. There's gonna be 30 plus free videos that equip you for reaching Mormons with the gospel. You can watch Michael Wilder's amazing testimony of God's grace taking him from being a zealous Mormon missionary to a gospel preacher. And I pray that you are filled with zeal and filled with joy and filled with a desire to go out and reach people with the gospel for the glory of God. I love you, friends. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.