Sermon 2

Defilement of the Tongue: How to control it

Matthew 15:11
We have a problem and many of you dont even know it. Its everywhere. Its at
work, its at school, its in the car, its on TV, and its in our house. No matter
where we are, its there. And its spreading like a virus. If we dont get a handle
on it soon, itll be out of control even more than it is now.
I bet youre asking yourself, What is this problem? , Is it affecting me?, Is it
affecting my children? And the answer could be Yes.
In America, cursing is an increasing problem. And Im not only talking about
adults. Im talking about children. And we accept it by allowing ourselves to
watch or listen to programs with bad words, or even associate with friends who, for
a lack of term, have a colorful language. The bad part about this is that our
children are exposed to this. Its everywhere, even at school. But we let it slide.
Ill give an example.
I like to play games on the computer with my son. Theres one called Minecraft.
We go onto these servers so we can play along with each other and other people.
But I always encounter young kids who say things that I would never even say.
And when you correct them, they get worse. You usually expect what they said
from an adult or even a teenager. But some of them are nine or ten years old.
I used to work in a jail and most of the inmates I dealt with had better language
than these children.
Some of you are saying, I dont use bad language, but are you listening to bad
language?
What about the movies you watch?
Or the shows on television?
Or music?

I started being picky about what I watch. I like cartoony type movies. The
language seems to be a lot better. But even then, not all cartoons are innocent.
They have cartoons where they do or say things that are not pleasing to the Lord.
This is one that gets me. You hear of a really cool movie thats seems really
interesting. The best thing about it is its showing on cable. So you get your
popcorn or whatever, you sit in your favorite chair in front of the TV and you start
to watch the movie. And then the whole movie is ruined. Its because the actors
open up their mouths and dialog comes out and its nothing but junk, cursing, and
slander.
When I encounter a movie like that, I always have an image of God putting coals
in their mouths to keep them from ruining the movie.
But its really more than that. These actors also have a problem, which we will
address, because its a problem that society has as a whole.
And it seems like something we cant get away from. But why is that?
Why are young children and adults using such language? And how can we change
this?
Christ gives us the answer to both, the problem and the solution.
Well start with the first problem. This sermon is about Matthew 15:11 but Jesus
gives us a preview in Matthew 15:8 and 15:16-20 to where the problem starts.
Jesus states in Matthew 15:8-9 These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Their hearts are far from Me. It means that our initial problem is in our heart.
Not the physical heart that pumps blood but the heart that convicts us by saying
youre doing the wrong thing.
In Matthew 15:11, Jesus says, It is not what goes into the mouth the defiles a
person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.
So defiling or cursing is not only with our mouths but also with our hearts. In
order to fix the problem, we need to get to the heart of the problem.

What is the problem with our heart?

Again, in Matthew 15:16-20, So Jesus said, "Are you also still without
understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes
into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the
mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies.
These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not
defile a man."
What does it mean to defile?
According to Merriam-Webster, defile is to make unclean or impure.
Even people, who say they love Christ, dont love Him, because if we really loved
Christ, we wouldnt defile Him with their mouth.
People say they have a close relationship with Jesus and they say they love Christ,
and they even tell others about Christ. But yet, they defile the name of the Lord.
Anytime you say the Lords name out of mere expression or anger, or any other
way that is not a way of love or thanks toward Him, is using His name in vain.
And this also goes with using a fowl tongue. We do not love God when we use
language that is not appropriate. And when we do hear it, we ignore or accept it as
part of our life. We dont pay much attention to it and thats what causes the
problem. Its because the more were exposed to bad language, the more we
become deaf to these words. Im not talking of deaf of hearing but a mental and
spiritual deafness. Its where our mind is used to these things to the point we
accept them as everyday life. And as long as we accept them, we will also say
them. This is what Jesus was saying about the Pharisees. They would say things
that would defile themselves and others, and even God. Matthew does not detail
about what exactly the things the Pharisees said, but we do know that whatever it
was, Jesus called them out on it and was saying that eating with dirty hands was
not as bad as what they were saying. Now Im not saying we should eat with dirty
hands, because we are a culture of cleanliness and we tend to have germs that
could make us sick, but what I am saying is that if we did eat with filthy hands,
that what comes out of our mouth is worse than what is going into our mouths.

What we need to do instead of ignoring it, we need to control it. We can control it
by first, not watching or listening to these things that allow our mind to be exposed
to filthy words on a daily basis. Theres a saying I learned in computer class,
garbage in, garbage out.
I like music a lot. And I like modern music. There are songs I really like but they
have filthy words in them. I stopped listening to the songs because when I became
a Christian, my attitude changed and so did my heart, along with my hearing.
And its not only the bad words that need to be censored out but also what is being
said. There are songs that may not have bad words in them but have bad
suggestive lyrics.
When we open our mouths and say bad things, we are teaching others to say bad
things. Were also saying that its okay to have a lying tongue, its okay to have a
cursed tongue, and its okay to have a gossiping tongue.
Youre saying to others that its okay to do this and that youre having them fall
into sin, which leads to eternal death in hell.
Lets think about this; do you think that God will allow people into His holy
heaven who use their tongue in this manner? Do you think God allow you into
heaven with what you say?
And its not only the adults Im talking about, who should know better, but its the
children. When we use such a tongue around children, they pick up this behavior
and grow up using it. They think its okay because they learned it from you. And
when they die (which I know that we dont want to think about that), but when
they do, what will happen to them? Do you think that they had a godly example so
they can learn to follow God or are you showing them an example that leads them
to eternal destruction?
We are responsible for showing others a godly attitude, a way that God wants us to
lead others, and if we are leading ourselves to a path of destruction, we are also
leading others onto that same path of destruction.
And its not only about what comes out of our mouth thats important, but how we
act toward another.

Matthew 22: 37-39 states You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You can go to church, you can read the Bible, and you can say Lord, Lord. But as
Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will
enter the kingdom of heaven. So just because you say Lord, Lord doesnt mean
that you will enter into Heaven.
And no one likes to be told that they are not going to Heaven. No one wants to go
to a place of eternal death and destruction. And God doesnt want that either.
But wait. Jesus goes on to say this also but the one who does the will of my
Father who is in heaven. Jesus gives us an opportunity and a way to get to
heaven. We must do Gods will. And when we do Gods will, were closer to God
and we lead others to God. We do this by following Christs example on how to
live. And we must also know that God has given us a way out.
When we mess up, and we all do, since the bible says Romans 3:23 for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Jesus have given us a gift of salvation.
A salvation that allows us to be forgiven for what we have done toward others and
towards God. This is Gods answer for us and to us so that we can live for Him.
We must change our ways. We must learn to control our tongue and we must
control our actions. We have to stop, take a breath, and think before we act. We
must consider ourselves as an example toward others. We must continually ask
ourselves am I leading this person toward Christ? And also am I leading
myself toward Christ? And in the end, we will see each other in this glorious
place called Heaven.
Lets not allow others to fall into temptation. Lets not allow other to follow the
wrong path. Stand up to cursing, slander, and the use of Gods name in vain. Lets
show everyone that we can lead a happy, fulfilling life without junk that will lead
us into destruction. And share with others about what Jesus Christ has done for us.
His shedding of blood on the cross that saves us from our sinful life, and which
gave us a gateway into our Heavenly Fathers Kingdom so that we can spend
eternity with Him.