8/12/2019 1992 Issue 8 - Sanctified Speech: Glorifying God With Your Tongue - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/2

The

Bible

specificall

y

gives instruc

tion on how the tongue is and

is

not

supposed

to

be used. Itisveryimponant

to think

before

one speal{$.

Many stu

dents,

even

in Chlistian

schools

have

problems, because they make improper

use

of their tongue. Whether it be pro

limity,

slander, disrespect, or

lying,

they

all play

their

role

in destroying Chlist

's

temple, wbich consists of

His people.

Profanity isabig proble

m, because

it

is so easy [ get away with and to do.

Profanity is present in most teenagers'

vocabularies today. Many Christian

young people

use

profanity

as though

it

is acceptable in living the

Christian life.

Profanity is so often used because many

teenagers

who

believe they

are

Chlis

tians have

little

or no idea that God '

specifically forbids all

such

vulgar

or

improper speech. If they do know that

profanity is not allowed

in the Christian

vocabulary, they overlook their sin and

leave any

guilt

behind. The problem

is

that profanity is so accepted with teen

agers . They do not care whether it is

Wt"ongorright;

theywant

to feelaccepted

in a sodal group and that

is all

tlley

care

about.

f

profanity

was

not cool, there

would

be less use

ofit.

Because profanity

is not acceptable to most parents and

adults, teenagers use profanity to show

their rebellion. That is

exactly

what

profanity

is,

ablatant and ovett

rebellion

against not just parents, but

God Him

self.

Those

who call themselves

Chlis-

tians and use profanity, greatly

offerid

the very God who gave them

life

and

bringshame to Hisname.

In

Daniel

3:29

Nebuchadnezzar says, Therefore, make

a

decree

that

any

people,

nation or

tongue

dlat speaks

anything

offensive against

the

odof

Shadrach,

Meshach and Abed-nego

shall be tomlimbfrom limb and their

houses

reduced

t a

rubbish

heap.

God

does not

take lightly the fact thatpeople, especially

Hischildrenwho Imow better,blaspheme

and profane his

name.

Proverbs 15:3

tellsus that the eyes of he Lordare in every

place,

watching the

evil

and dIe good. He

sees those that shame Hisname, and they

.

will

not

go

unpUnished.

f

apersonhears

someoneshamingour

Lord, they

should

take

it upon

themselves

to

ask the of

fender,in a humble and loving

way,

not

to shameJesus by using profanity.

One

way

in which this

will

help a Christian is

thattheywillnot have

to

listen to another's

profan

ity

, therefore helping them not

to

grow accustomed to

the

bad habit. Sec

ondly,

one will

have a better chance to

growdoserto Godinhis fellowship with

others. It is velY hard to break a bad

habit, but Phillipians4:

13

te

lls us

that

we

can do

all things

through QlIist who

strengthens

us.

Another vety big problem at school,

probablythe

biggest, is

the

way

in which

students slander

each

other.

It

is

most

aggravating

to

walk into aroom,

see

little

groups ofwhispering

people,

and know

that they are gossiping. Why not

tell

evetybody in the room and get it over

with? Everyone is

going

to find

outabout

it

by the

end of the

day anyway.

Even

worse

thanseeingthe wbisperingis hear

ingwhatisactuallysaid. One ofthe most

frustrating

things is to hear a group of

students saying, "Did you

see SUzie

Q's

hair

onp

icrure da

y?

It looked positively

horrendous. or

Did

you know that

so-and-so wets his bed?" as though

al

l of

this

infOlmation

isnecessatyto everyday

life.

Is this

upli

ft

ing

and

edifying?

The

Bible has so much to say about this

degrading

gossip

.James

3:5-12 explains

what

effects

improper use ofthe tongue

can

have on aperson's own

life as

well

as

other's lives:

So

also the tongue is a

smaIl part

of

he

body,

and

yet

And the tongu

e

is

a ire,

the

velY

world

oj iniquity;

the tongue

is

set

anwng

our

members

as

that

which defiles

the entire body, and sets on

fire

the course

of

our life, and is on fire by

hell

For every

species

of beasts and birds,

of p t i l ~ and

creatures

of

the

sea is

tamed

by the

human

race.

But no one

can

tame the tongue;

Uis

a

e s s evil andfuIl ofdeadly poisonWith it

we bless our

Lord

and Father; andwith itwe

curse men,

who

have

been

m de in

the

likeness of God;from

the

same maudl come

bodl blessing and cursing.

My

brethren,

these thing

s

ought not

to be

this

wayDoesa

fountain ~ e n o

ut

from the same

opening

both fresh and bitter water? Can a ig tree,

my

bredlren, produce olives, or a

vine

pro

duce figs?

NeiUler

can salt water produce

fresh.

James

is

amazedthat slanderous

gossip

can come out of the same mouth

that

praises

Jehovah. A Chlistian's goal

in life

is to

glorify

and honor God. How

can we say we are honOring Him when

we

defile

and cutdown thebeings

He

has

c

reated

in

His

image?

The answer

is,

we

cannot If only the srudents would real

ize how imponant it is to control the

habit ofgOssipingwhile they are young,

then when they

get

older they

will

not

have

as

hard ofa time with the problem.

InJohn Calvin's commentary onJames

he

writes: "When

he

Games) says

that it

(the tongue) isset on fire by hell, it is the

September, 1992

l'

THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon 25

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 8 - Sanctified Speech: Glorifying God With Your Tongue - Counsel of Chalcedon

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'

Same

as though he had said, that

the

outrageousnessofthetongueisthe flame

of the infernal fire, For as heathen poets

imagined that the

wicked

are tonnented

by the torches of he

Furies:

so it is true,

that Satan by the

fans

of temptations

kindles the fire ofali evils in the world:

butJamesmeans, that

lire,

sentbySatan,

is most easily caught by the tongue, so

that it immediately burns; in shon, that

it is a material fitted

receiving.

fostering,

and increasing the

fire

of

bell (Calvin's

Commentaries

XXII.

page 321 ).

HereCalvindescnbeshowthetongue

is a material worthy of damnation in the

fires of hell. The tongue is only a small

p n of the body and yet it by itself can

catch the fire thatSatansends.

Therefore,

controlling the tongue is so impottant in

the

Christian

life.

If

one

cannot control

his tongue people

will

never

trust

him

and he

will

not have a good reputation.

God does not want gossips as represen-

tatives of His kingdom. f a Christian

encounteISsomeonewho is going

to

talk

about someone else, he should defend

the victim of gossip and tell the

gossip

that he is not

glorifying

God. Put one's

selfin the shoes of hevictim. Slandering

is no wayto earn friends.

Godwill

honor

those who revere

His

creation.

Do

not

succumb

to

the ways of the unrighteous.

Avoid

all

appearances of

evil

and stay

away from those who slander.

Disrespectfulness to teachers and

other adults is anothergood example of

.hownot

to Use

one's

tongUe.

It isso easy

to sman offto a teacher

when

she is not

listening ormay be occupied with some

one else in the classroom. Disrespect is

another form of outtight

rebellion.

Stu-

dents are not aware of how prevalent

disrespect in the classtoom

can

be. They

seem to have no

desire

to change their

way and, more often than not

they

blame

theirsinon theteacherbecausetheteacher

provoked them. Of course, it s

always

the teachers

fault. The

stUdents are al

ways rightlln the OldTe&ament young

people were punished severely

if

they

had disrespect for authority. This proves

how much the culture we

live in

today

has digressed from the high morality

level ofthe past. It

is

so easy to spout off

anger and bitternesstowardsanadult.

As

Christians, is this the

Godly responSe?

James

3:5

states that

..

ifwe put the

bits

into thehorses'mouthsso thattheymayobey

us, we direct their entire

bo Y

as well."This

verse,

applied in a Christian's

life, says

that ifwe bridle ourtol)gue,we

can

have

control

over

the rest of ourbody as well.'

If an individualhears another

individual

talk

to

a teacher disrespectfully, that

individual should

not

laugh at

their dis-

respect. He should insteitd help put the

"bit in their mouth by telling them

that

disrespectisnotacceptableandthatGod

does not want mockers trying to further

His

kingdom,

Lying,anothersinfuluseofthetongue,

issomethingthatoccurseveryday.

Lying

is probably the easiestway to sinwith the

tongue. Once a person

statts

lying about

one thing, he usually must

lie

about

other things.

Before

he knows it, the lie

becomes a bigger

lie

than he expected.

People seriously think that a

small

fib is

nO( as

bad

as

a renous

lie

. If

one

thinks

about it, one

will

realize that a

SIJlall fib

canbuild,making one more accustomed

to

fibbing. Then,one continuesand statts

doing

some serious lying,

causing a ca

tastrophe.

All lies are considered the

same. Whetherit bea biglieorasmallfib,

they are alilies

The Bible says:

There are

six things which the Lord hares,

yes,

seven

which are an abomination to

Him:

haughry

eyes,

a }>ing

tongue,

nd hands

that shed

innocent

blood,

aheart that evises wicked

plans, feet that

run rapidly to

evil,

a alse

witness

who

utters

lies, nd one \WI

causes

strf[eamongbrothers (Proverbs6:I6-I9)

.

It

is impottant

to

note that

the

writer

of Proverbs emphasizes that

ali these

things

are

an abomination

to

God. Also,

there are two

instances

that

mention the

tongue,

seeming

to

indicate thatwiseuse

of the tongue is very imponanr f a

Christianfinds himselfcontinually lying

or even

ouly

lying sometimes, heshould

repent and

ask

forgiveness.

Repentance

26 f TIlE COUNSEL

of

Cbalc:edon f September, 1992

means apologizing

to

the offended and

trying

never

to do itagain. Godwill

help

those who honesdy

try

to live in accor

dance

with his

laws

and

corirrnands.

The

tongue

is not

entirely

bad.

After

all, God did give it to us

for

areason,but

we must be careful how we use it. The

tongue can be

used

to

prqise God.

n

the

Psalms David exclaims

rcried to Him .

with my mouth, ndHe was extolled with

my

tongue.

(66: 17) We can

also sing

praises with our

tongUe.

Let

my tongue

singofthyword,forall thy commandments

are

righteousness ' (Psalm 119:172).

Throughout the ages, the tongue has

been used to influence and

change

the

lives ofpeople.

The

only way

the smdent body can

control the use of its tongue is to look

to

God for guidance and have confidence

that He will change

stUdent's

hearts

through prayer and diligent efforts on

their pan

to

control their own

tongues.

When you control your own tongue,

you setan example for others

to

follow.

We need the kind ofleadership thatwill

stand' up and fight the battles against

profanity, slander,

disrespect,

andlying,

GodwantsHispeopletoleadandfightor

get

off the battle field, fwe stand against

the

sins

of

the tongue, the

Bible says

that

our mooth of righteOusness

will

flow

with wisdom,

and

we can rejoice be-

cause it

says that the

pervened

tongue

will be cut out (Prov:lO:3l). We

are

fighting

Satan's

army

. We battle the

temptationS

of

the tongue .

Do

.not

get

caught in

the

midst of

the fightingwith-

out one's sword.

The Bible

is the sword,

so use it. Purify the church by bridling

the tongue so that we can more readily

conquer this world and

take

dominion

over

it. Pray

that

by God's

strength

we

may bridle our own tongues and Stand

up for what we mow is right.n

Christa Minkoff, a smdent atChalce

don Chtistian School and daughter of

Mike and Debbie Minkoff ,won the top

prize offered by Triumphant Publica-

tions in a

receilt

contest with thisarticle.