What I would like to talk to
you about tonight is the tongue. The tongue is the thing that most of us have
the worst time with in keeping it out of trouble. The tongue is so small, and
yet it causes big trouble. A word here, a word there, and the next thing you
know…. Trouble, big trouble comes our way!
There are four areas that I
will be talking to you about in this bible study: Cursing and Lying, Murmuring,
Railing. We will probably not finish this study in one lesson because I want to
cover it thoroughly. But before we go any further let us pray: (Pray!!!!)
Our text tonight is in:
Matthew
15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
1.
CURSING & LYING
1
Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
How
many times have we seen people who have no clue about what constitutes decent
language; enter a conversation using foul language, and then wonder why
everyone looks at them funny as they walk away. It’s because there are certain
types of language that are not to be used in polite company and this world
doesn’t teach that any more. We have become a “crude” society instead of a “polite”
society.
More
and more generations of people are being raised by unchurched people. I’m
talking about people that were never raised in church, raising children. The
more generations that pass between those generations which were affected by
church and those which have not been affected by church teaching, the worse the
gap becomes between decent conversation and crude conversation.
Some family lines will make
the trip faster than others. But all will eventually end up in the wrong place
given enough time. It may take one generation with one family line; it may take
several in another. But as long as a family refuses to look to the word to get
an understanding of what the bible declares is decent, their conversation will
only degrade.
As the old saying goes,
“What children learn is more caught than taught”. What behaviors, what language
you model before your children is what they will likely model themselves as
they grow older. If you curse, they will curse, if you smoke, they will smoke.
If you have anger problems, they will have anger problems. But what are we
supposed to do? Let’s look at Ephesians Chapter 4.
Ephesians
4:22 That
ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts;
Verse 22
is telling us that we need to change the way we talk when we come to Christ. We
are not in the world any longer; we need to quit talking like it. No more
cursing, no more lewd talk, no more talking about rude, crude and nasty things.
Ephesians
4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Verse 23 is telling us that we need to change what we have been
putting into our minds and put only clean, pure and holy thoughts into our
minds. We renew our mind by the study of the word, by prayer and fasting,
meditating on God word. We read in:
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
This is how we renew our minds. This is how we can have a
peaceful spirit. This is how we can learn to have trusting relationships with
people. This is how we can change a corrupt mind into a holy mind. This is how
we renew our mind.
Ephesians
4:24 And
that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
Verse 24 is telling us that we need to get away from our old
nature. We need to depart from the “World” as we Christians tend to call it. If
you are going to continue to use drugs, you will continue to talk like a
druggie. If you continue to live the life of an alcoholic, you will continue to
talk like an alcoholic. If you continue to live a life of perversion, you will
continue to talk like a pervert.
If you want the things which you speak to be pure and holy,
then you need to live a pure and holy life through Christ. While you’re working
on your life, your tongue will follow. If you’re trying to follow the example
that Christ has set for us, your tongue will become Christ like because
conviction will set in, and you just won’t feel comfortable talking like you
did while you were unsaved. You need to walk upright, you need to talk upright,
and you need to be Christ like!
Ephesians
4:25
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we
are members one of another.
Verse 25 tells us that we need to put away lying to our neighbors.
We need to speak the truth before all men. We no longer should have a reason to
lie to anyone. All our deeds should be good, above board, and legal. Therefore
there is no longer any advantage to telling a lie. It won’t gain us anything;
it will only condemn our heart and bring condemnation to the one we love, Jesus
Christ! Remember, we now represent Christ, not just ourselves.
Let’s look to Ephesians 4:29-32
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Verse 29 is telling us that we need to put away cursing, and unholy language. Everything we say should be glorifying God. It should build up others in the Holy Ghost, not drag them down spiritually. It should be a comfort to others and not a terror. People should be able to tell that you’re a Christian by your language. Trust me; they will know whom you serve shortly after you open your mouth. If trash comes out, they will know that you’re a servant of Satan. If good things, things that glorify God come out, then you’re probably a servant of God.
Ephesians
4:30 And
grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
Verse 30 is warning us that God is listening to everything we say, He sees
everything we do. He is “Omnipresent” That means that He is everywhere at the
same time. When we sin in the things we do and say, God knows it whether
anybody else does or not.
When we sin, we grieve the
Holy Ghost that lives within us. We are in effect, crucifying Christ all over
again. We need to seek God with all our heart in order to keep from sinning. We
need to repent when we do sin and seek the face of God for forgiveness and for
strength to live for Him without sin in our lives.
Some people say that we all
sin every day. I disagree with that position and do not believe it is doctrinally
correct. The longer we live for Christ, the more Christ like we should become.
The longer we should be able to go without sinning.
To be a Christian is to be
Christ like. If we are being conformed to His image, we are ceasing to sin more
and more each day. Remember that Romans 12:2 tells us to:
Romans 12:2 …. be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Therefore it is possible to
live for Christ and to live without sin.
Ephesians
4:31 Let
all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking,
be put away from you, with all malice:
Verse 31 tells us that we need to get rid of anything that does not
bring glory to God. How can you speak kindly when your heart is full of hatred?
How can you live for God when you have an angry spirit? How can you properly
represent Christ when you have a heart that is full of rage and revenge? You
can’t, that’s why we’re told to get rid of it, get it out of our hearts. We
need to put on the mind of Christ, not the mind of Satan!
Ephesians
4:32 And be
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Verse 32 tells us what things we should do
to help change our heart. We need to be kind to each other. How many of you
prefer to be treated kindly rather than badly? We need to be tenderhearted
toward each other. We need to remember that we are all sinners saved by grace.
We need to remember that not everyone is at the same level as we are
spiritually. Some are just babies in Christ, some are teenagers, and some are
mature adults.
Others are just
plain lost, and therefore don’t known any better. We need to love them into the
kingdom! How can we love others into the
There used to be
a saying many years ago that said something like this. “How you gonna represent
your bad self?” I’m asking you tonight, how are you going to represent your
savior? How are you going to represent Jesus Christ to the world?
It’s also been
said, that you are the best bible someone else will ever read. They’ll learn
everything they know about Christ through watching your life. Is your life a
mystery? Is your life a horror story? Or is your life a love story? Let the
world see the love of Jesus through your actions, your personality, and as this
lesson teaches, through your words!
Now
let’s look at Ephesians 5:3-4
Ephesians
5:3 But
fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named
among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
These verses are talking
about what I said earlier, that your tongue reflects your life. We need to put
away the lifestyles of the world; the sexual sins, petty jealousies, or
anything else in our lifestyle that would reflect badly on our savior. No
filthy talking, no dirty jokes, just giving thanks to the Lord for all the
things He’s done for us!
Many of us can spend untold
hours on the phone or just talking to someone else, and yet we can’t spend ten
minutes in prayer to our Lord and Savior. I think that if we were to spend as
much time praying and thanking God for all that He’s done for us, as we spend
complaining about the things that haven’t gone our way lately, we wouldn’t have
nearly so many things go wrong for us.
We spend so much time
complaining about our lives that nobody in their right mind would want to be a
Christian after hearing about everything that’s gone wrong in our lives. It’s
far too dangerous to be a Christian the way some folks talk. Let’s make our
words count for Christ. Let’s show the world just how thankful we are to be
saved, how thankful that we have a savior that loves us so much that He wants
to spend eternity with us!
Now let’s look
at what Colossians 3:8-10 has to say to us
tonight:
Colossians
3:8 But now
ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth.
Verse 8 tells
us what he have seen repeatedly, that we need to put away anything in our lives
that doesn’t bring glory to Jesus Christ. We need to put away the anger, the
wrath, the ill intent toward others. We have no business speaking those things
which are blasphemous to God. Those curse words that add God’s name to them. We
need to stop cursing altogether. We need to quit telling things that we have to
make sure others don’t hear because we are unsure if their content would be
acceptable in mixed company or around children.
Colossians
3:9 Lie not
one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Verse 9
tells us again, just as we have learned in Ephesians 4:25 that we are not to lie any more to
anyone. The second half of James 5:12 puts it this way:
James
5:12 ……but
let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
As
born again believers, we have no need to lie. If we sin, we are to confess our
sins, not lie to cover them. Liars have their place in the lake of fire as
proclaimed in Revelation
21:8
Revelation
21:8 But
the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death.
Liars
will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven; they will enter the kingdom of hell.
I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to enter into that kingdom! I
want to go to heaven! I want to spend eternity with Jesus and not with the
devil. The devil just isn’t my kind of people!
Colossians
3:10 And
have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Verse 10 reminds us that we are not
the same person we used to be. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Not only
are we not the same as we used to be, but Christ has recreated us into His
image! Not saying physically, but spiritually we are new creatures in Christ
Jesus. We have taken his nature upon us and thrown the old one in the trash
where it belongs. Don’t go digging through the trash for your old nature. Just
rejoice in your new nature, and live in such a manner that it brings glory to
your Lord and saviour!
Now let’s look
at what James 3:2-10 has to say on the subject:
James
3:2 For in
many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses'
mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold
also the ships, which though they be
so great, and are driven of fierce
winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listeth. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and
boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And
the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body,
and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is
set on fire of hell. 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of
serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But
the tongue can no man tame; it is an
unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and
therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 10 Out
of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought not so to be.
This
passage tells us what trouble the tongue can cause. It tells us how hard it is
to control. God knows our struggles with our tongue, but He also makes it clear
that while it is hard to control, we can control it if we want to. It’s hard
work, but it’s a worthy task! If we learn to control our tongue by applying
God’s word to our heart through reading His word, through fasting, and through
continual prayer, we are considered by God to be perfect.
Don’t curse and lie one
minute and then speak of Godly things in the next! Your mouth and the words
that come from it should always glorify the Lord. As one man put it: “God gave
us one mouth and two ears, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak…”
We need to start taking more time to think before we answer a question, or
before we express our opinion on a subject. Let’s look what Solomon said in
Proverbs.
Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted
wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Too many times we want to
express our opinion on a subject when we should just keep our mouths closed. I
had a boss who once told me that “You can be right at the wrong time and still
be wrong”. You may be right in what you said, but if you say it in a way, or
place that causes embarrassment for someone, especially if they are in a
position of authority over you, you are in the wrong. Someone else will say the
same thing you did at a later date and get the credit for your idea. Be careful
what you say, and when you say it. Take time to think things through before you
speak! This is a lesson that I still need to remind myself of from time to time
1
Peter 1:15
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation;
This
verse says it all, very simply, and very plainly. When you speak words, would
the Lord say those words? Or would He be ashamed to say such things? As the old
saying goes, WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? This verse is further evidence that
the tongue can be controlled if Christ has full control in our lives. If we
truly have a heart after God, we will have a mouth that speaks after the heart
of God.
1
Peter 3:10
For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from
evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
The Greek word for Guile is “dol'-os”
From dellō (an obsolete primary word meaning to decoy; a trick
(bait), that is, (figuratively) wile: - craft, deceit, guile,
subtilty.
In other words, using guile means
you’re telling lies, leading people on, trying to scam them, you’re using them.
We need to keep our thoughts and our words pure. We need to make sure that the
things we say about other people are building them up, not tearing them down.
God will not honor liars or those who use deceit or guile. We need to do all
things to the glory of God, and not for our own glory!
1
Peter 3:16
Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of
evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in
Christ.
How
many of you have had people accuse you of things that you haven’t done? I have!
But because of the clean life I have lived before others, and the poor life
they lived before others, no one else in the church believed that other person.
That other person kept on trying to say bad things about people until they
taken out of their position of authority in that church. They were telling too
many fibs, they were making too many unfounded accusations about others,
thinking it would strengthen their own position in the church. Instead, it cost
them their position… Now they wander from church to church going through the
same trouble because they have never learned to just keep their mouth shut…
Philippians
1:27 Only
let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I
come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand
fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the
gospel;
We
are known by the words that we speak, and your words may travel farther than
you could ever imagine…What will people think when they hear of your words?
What will Jesus think when He hears “all” your words? Because He does hear all
your words, whether spoken in public or in private.
Other scriptures:
Psalms
19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable
in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalms
50:23 Whoso
offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright
will I shew the salvation of God.
Proverbs
6:16 These
six things doth the LORD hate: yea,
seven are an abomination unto him:
Proverbs
6:17 A
proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Proverbs
6:18 An
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to
mischief,
Proverbs
6:19 A
false witness that speaketh lies, and
he that soweth discord among brethren.
1
Timothy 1:9
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for
murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1
Timothy 1:10
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for
menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine;
Revelation
21:8 But
the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death.
2.
MURMURING
Exodus 16:2-3 And the
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron
in the wilderness: 3 And the
children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the
LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat
bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill
this whole assembly with hunger.
The people murmured until
the Lord gave them Manna to eat. Then they failed to follow His instructions
concerning it. Like most people, they want to blame somebody else for their
problems instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. They don’t
follow the rules and somehow it’s somebody else’s fault when things go wrong.
There are times when we just
have to trust the Lord and those He’s put in control of our lives. We need to
learn to trust the leadership of the church. But the church also has the
responsibility to be trustworthy! As the Pastor of this church, I have to study
the word thoroughly and bring it to you with every scripture taken in context
of the passage it was written in. As a congregation, you have a responsibility
to study those things which I have written to make sure I did it right!
This is what the Apostle
Paul wrote about the church at
Acts 17:11 These were
more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were
so.
I believe that we are
more so required to study the scriptures than they were, because we have more
of the scriptures than they did. We have the whole book; they may have had only
a part of the whole bible. Not much of the New Testament had been written yet.
We have the whole bible and more tools to check what the preacher has taught,
to study it with, than they ever dreamed of! We need to quit murmuring and
start studying.
If I, as the Pastor of
this church, am not teaching you the whole word of God, and therefore teaching
false doctrine, you need to find another church rather than murmur. If you will
study the scriptures that I will give you on any subject, with a heart toward
God, and with prayer, you will find that I am correct about the themes which I
teach from these scriptures. Not because I’m infallible, but because the Spirit
of God dwells in me, just as He dwells in you if you’ve been filled with the
Holy Ghost.
Many churches today
will only teach you a partial gospel. They will only teach you a partial
doctrine of salvation. They will only teach their denomination’s doctrine
instead of searching out the whole word of God to find out what the whole of
the bible says on any given subject. Then they pooh, pooh over the many
scriptures that show their position to untenable. Discounting the importance of
those scriptures which contradict their denominal positions.
This particular
story is about the people in the wilderness again, lacking in their trust in
the Lord and the leadership God has placed over them. The complained that Moses
had led them into the wilderness to cause them to die of thirst. Therefore, at
the rock in the wilderness, Moses according to God’s plan; smote the rock and
it brought forth the water they needed in order to survive.
We need to keep
in mind what it says in Matthew 6:25-34:
Matthew 6:25-34 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought
for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your
body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? 26: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27: Which of you by taking thought can add
one cubit unto his stature? 28: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29: And
yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. 30: herefore, if God so clothe the grass of the
field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he
not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31: Therefore
take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33: But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you. 34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof.
We need to learn to trust God for all
our needs instead of blaming the preacher. God will bring what you need, when
you need it, and all your murmuring will do; is cause God to delay bringing what
you need.
Numbers
14:1: And all the congregation lifted
up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2: And all the children of
The people complained about the
inhabitants of the promised land, because there were giants in the land, and they
refused to enter in. They murmured about their leadership and were determined
to return to the
God still judged their sins, but he didn’t
destroy all of them, he only judged those who were adults. He didn’t kill them
right away, but commanded them to wander in the wilderness for forty years.
They wandered until all those who wanted to go back to
God had a blessing in store for the
children of
NUMBERS CHAPTER 16
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
Numbers 16:1-38:
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and
Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of
Reuben, took men: 2: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of
Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the
congregation, men of renown: 3: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against
Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all
the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is
among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the
LORD? 4: And
when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: 5: And he spoke unto Korah and unto all his
company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who
is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him
whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. 6: This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all
his company; 7: And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD
tomorrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall
be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. 8: And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray
you, ye sons of Levi: 9: Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that
the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring
you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to
stand before the congregation to minister unto them? 10: And he hath brought thee near to him,
and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood
also? 11: For
which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together
against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him? 12: And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram,
the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: 13: Is it a small thing that
thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill
us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? 14: Moreover thou hast not brought us into a
land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and
vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up. 15: And Moses was very wroth, and said unto
the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them,
neither have I hurt one of them. 16: And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the
LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow: 17: And take every man his censer, and put incense
in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and
fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer. 18: And they took every man his censer, and
put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron. 19: And Korah gathered all the congregation
against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory
of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation. 20: And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto
Aaron, saying, 21: Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may
consume them in a moment. 22: And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the
spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the
congregation? 23: And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 24: Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get
you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. 25: And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan
and Abiram; and the elders of
As
we can see, God sets in order those whom He trusts in positions of leadership.
Being a Pastor, or a leader in a church is not a position to be taken lightly.
If you can live for God without being a Pastor, the by all means do it! Those
who are in leadership positions are held to a higher standard. They will
receive a greater punishment for failure; I can’t guarantee they will receive a
greater reward for doing well.
James 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the
greater condemnation.
The word tells us in
Hebrews Chapter 5
Hebrews 5:1-4 For every high priest taken from among men is
ordained for men in things pertaining to
God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: 2: Who can have compassion on the
ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is
compassed with infirmity. 3: And by reason hereof he ought, as for the
people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. 4: And no man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron.
How was Aaron called of God? He was called to the service
of God by the Prophet of God, Moses. There are those today that have the gift
of Prophesy. Those who are called of God to the ministry today; need to be
called not only in their communion with God, but by a Holy Ghost filled prophet
of God.
Those who would usurp the authority of their Pastor; will
most certainly find that God is not pleased with them! If you feel the Pastor
is in error, first go to him alone and see if he’ll discuss it with you. A true
man of God will try to find a time acceptable to “both” of you to discuss your
viewpoint. You need to have enough of the Holy Ghost in you to listen to him
explain his viewpoint in full before making a judgment on his position. It’s
rarely possible for a Pastor to teach all doctrine in its fullness during the
limited time of a normal bible study.
If after listening to him, you still think he’s wrong, show
him your point of view. Please do not take one scripture and to try to use it
to prove the thirty scriptures the pastor has are wrong. If after your
discussion with Pastor you still think he’s wrong, you have a decision to make.
If the error is not a matter of salvation doctrine, just agree to disagree and
keep supporting your pastor and your church. If the error is one of salvation
doctrine, you need to find another church. God will not bless you if you stay
and undermine the Pastor’s authority and teaching in the church.
Even if you are a part of the family of the Pastor,
you still have to follow God’s word and the man of God He has placed in your
life. Miriam, the sister of Moses, was stricken with leprosy for murmuring
against him..
Now
let’s look at the New Testament:
1
Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer.
The
principle of not murmuring is carried forth into the New Testament. As this
scripture mentions, destruction awaits those who would murmur. Don’t nail your
Pastor to a cross; build a solid foundation under his feet. Don’t flay your
Pastor with a whip, pray for your Pastor that he doesn’t trip. How would you
feel if your Pastor always talked bad about you, ran you down, and made you
feel worthless? If he’s doing that during his sermons either you’re one messed
up character that needs to get right with God, or God will take him out of the
picture for you. Let’s see what Romans Chapter 12 tells us to do:
Romans 12:19-21: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20: Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed
him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of
fire on his head. 21: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome
evil with good.
In
other words, never attack a Pastor, even a bad one. You need to always be in
intercessory prayer for your pastor, and pastor’s need to always be in
intercessory prayer for the congregation.
Philippians
2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Philippians Chapter 2 speaks of working together with others,
to put others ahead of ourselves, to humble ourselves. How can the church of
the living God grow if the people are fighting amongst themselves? We need to
work together if the church is to grow.
Visitors will
quickly see if we’re a church that’s tearing itself apart, or if it is a church
where people are willing to forego their ideas in order for the church to move
forward. That doesn’t mean that your ideas are thrown to the wind, it means
that you will not always get your way on every issue. My vision is that we
capture people’s ideas on paper and then pray about them. Now may not be the
time to implement those ideas, but when the time is right, those ideas are
still there to be harvested for the benefit of the kingdom.
Now on to James:
James
1:26 If any
man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth
his own heart, this man's religion is
vain.
Regardless
of how sanctified, how holy, how religious a person may seem to be, if they are
always talking about someone, if they are always talking bad about the pastor,
that person needs to repent and get saved. They may have been saved, but if
they are practicing gossip, or are running down the leadership of the church,
or the congregation, they have lost the Holy Ghost because it is an abomination
to God! Let’s look at Proverbs Chapter 6:
Proverbs 6:16: These six things doth the LORD
hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17: A
proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18: A
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to
mischief, 19: A false witness that speaketh
lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Anyone
who is sowing discord among the brethren is guilty of an abomination before
God. Their name is removed from the lamb’s book of life. And as we shall see in
the book of Revelation, nothing abominable shall enter into the
Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter
into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
3.
RAILING/REVILING
The Greek word for railing
is: loidoria (loy-dor-ee'-ah) which means slander
or vituperation: - railing, reproach [-fully].
Vituperation means: an outburst of violently abusive or harshly critical language.
In other words, it means to say untrue
things about a person, lying about them, or to slam somebody verbally. It means
being disrespectful, abusive, and most certainly, not Christ like.
What are we as Christians supposed to
do with people like that? Well it depends on whether or not that person is
calling themselves a brother or sister in Christ or not. Let’s see what 1 Corinthians 5:11
says about it:
1
Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that
is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
If
anyone who is called a brother or sister in Christ talks like the description
of a “railer”, then we are not to even to sit down and eat with them. That’s
how bad God hates those who talk about others, that’s how bad He hates
gossipers! That’s how bad God hates those that speak evil of those He’s put in
authority in the church.
If
you don’t like those who are in charge of the church you attend, pray until God
gives you an answer as to whether you need to change your attitude, or change
your church. God will not bless you for speaking evil about your church, even
if it “is” wrong…. You’re much better off changing churches first.
But again, check to make sure it’s the church that has the issue
that needs to be dealt with and not you…. If you have the
issues, you need to change, not change churches!
Jude
8 Likewise
also these filthy dreamers defile the
flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed
about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but
said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 But
these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know
naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly
among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers,
complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great
swelling words, having men's persons
in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember ye
the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Even
someone as powerful in heaven as Michael the archangel wouldn’t speak evil
about the devil himself, yet there are those who would speak evil about anyone
and everyone in every church in town, and that’s not right!!!! These same
people are referred to as murmurers, complainers, speaking great swelling words.
In other words, they think they are better than everybody else. They think that
they are the only ones who know what’s right. They think that they should be in
charge.
They’re full of pride and
have no humility. I would bet they’re too proud to know they have a pride
issue. They would insist they are humble and have no pride issues. Yet all the
while they would insist they have the right to speak evil about people because
they were in the right, and not the ones who they were talking about. They were
the ones done wrong so that gives them the right to speak badly about other
people.
People like this need to
study their bible more. They need to pray longer. They need to ask forgiveness
from God for their words, for their deeds, and for their attitude. You can’t
justify talking badly about other people in any way, shape, form or fashion. Give
it all to God and let him take care of matters. It says in Romans 12:19:
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the
Lord.
We need to look at ourselves
before we talk about others; I can guarantee you that each and every one of us
needs a little more work on us before we’re perfect in God’s sight. Since God
is the only one who is perfect, He is the only one qualified to judge another
person. Let’s take a look at what 1 Corinthians 11:31 says:
1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be
judged.
We need to judge ourselves
before God finds it necessary to judge us. I daresay, it will go much easier
for us if we would do so! Now let’s look at a kissing cousin to railing, it’s
called reviling.
A.
REVILERS
REVILER: To abuse
with opprobrious language, to vilify, to defame. OPPROBRIOUS: Reproachful and contemptuous;
shameful.
When you talk badly about
people, even people who may deserve it, you’re doing evil in the sight of God.
As I mention often in this church, our goal is to love people into the kingdom,
not shove people into the kingdom. If we are talking about others, again, even
if they deserve it, are we showing love that a sinner would be able to
recognize as such? I don’t think so.
We need to remember, that
not only are the people in the church hearing us talk about others, the sinners
around us are hearing us talk about people. Who, in their right mind, wants to
go to a church where people are always talking bad about other people? Who
wants to go to a church full of backstabbing people, those who would form
cliques, and those who are prideful instead of humble?
One church I attended had
several children with down-syndrome in it. This was probably the best church I
have ever been a part of, yet when these kids would go down to the altar no one
would go down to pray with them. I don’t know why, I could speculate on the
many reasons why they wouldn’t, but the bottom line is, I went down to the
altar to pray with those kids. I wanted those kids to feel like somebody cared
enough about them to pray with them! Those kids had a love for Jesus that you
could not deny. When they prayed to the Lord, they prayed with their whole
heart. That’s loving someone into the
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
1 Corinthians
6:9 Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
1
Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the
Bottom
line, if you are reviling someone, you are endangering your soul! Please, in
the name of Jesus, stop, repent, and try to love that person into the kingdom.