know for me there's a lot of scriptures that
i've read and i comprehend but man even after
knowing them for years i still find some of them
hard to to do i still find myself failing at
them a lot a lot more than i'd care to admit
i wish i could stand up here and say that i've
i've mastered some of these commands but i hadn't
and uh and maybe i will i don't know maybe maybe
y 'all have mastered some of these things but
every it seems like every time that i read through
a scripture It's like, golly, I still got some
work to do in that area. And maybe I do good
for a season, but I think maybe that's why it's
good for us to read scriptures that we've read
before. I'm not implying that all of you are
as slow as me. Some of you may be far better.
But if you are like me, then it probably is good
to read through the scriptures. Man, it just
constantly reminds me that I got a long way to
go, that there are some areas in my life where
I'm still weak, and I still need to be reminded
that, hey, you need to pay attention to some
things. And this topic we see here in this proverb,
and really throughout the proverbs, is a good
reminder to me. And I fail at doing what it says
more times than I want to. But man, this passage
and passages like it, they come back to my mind
a lot. So we're going to look at Proverbs chapter
15 tonight, just a few of these verses. We'll
start in verse 1, but let's pray and then we
will get started. Dear Lord, we thank you for
your good word and I pray that we would hear
them and that you'd help us to do what they say,
dear Lord. Maybe there are some things in your
word that are easy for us and we master those
things, but maybe there are other things that
we struggle with and we don't want to struggle
and we try and then some days we just fail. And
I pray, God, that your word would just strengthen
us and be a reminder to us and that you would
just kind of guide us along in a way to help
us to be able to grow in areas that we do fail
and that we need to improve. that your word would
stick with us and help us to grow in you. And
I pray that you just give us a good night tonight.
In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. Proverbs chapter
15, verse 1. It says, A gentle answer turns away
anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath. Now that
is a good scripture. That is a good scripture
for us to think about and to remember because
it will happen at some point in your life. It
has happened before and it will happen again
where you're going to be in kind of a heated
situation with somebody. It just happens. Maybe
you argue with your spouse. You get in a disagreement.
You're stressed. You're worried. Maybe it's a
coworker. Maybe it's somebody at the supermarket.
Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a family member.
There's going to be a time where there's going
to be a disagreement or there's going to be something
that comes up or you did something or they did
something. And people are going to be at their
boiling point. And it's really easy when we get
to that point to just want to... Open our mouth
and just let the words flow. And we've got no
shortage of them. When we get in those situations,
when we are fed up or when we are angry or when
we are mad and we just get so mad at people,
even people we love, not people we hate, even
people we really love, and we just let it flow.
We open our mouth and we just let the harsh words
just come out. And what does that do? It usually
just... causes the whole situation to explode.
And sometimes it spills over into other people.
And then other people begin to argue. And then
a whole crowd begins to argue. And then everybody's
fussing and feuding and there's rioting in the
streets. We've seen it. We've seen this type
of behavior. We've probably, sad to admit, been
one who's just kind of opened our mouth and let
it rip. Maybe we were on the giving end of it.
Maybe we were on the receiving end of it. Maybe
we've been part of a group at odds. Maybe we've
seen groups on TV that are at odds. But this
is something that we all are familiar with in
some way. And the harsh word is what stirs up
wrath. And so when you get to that point and
you just let those harsh words flow, most of
the time it does not. make the situation better.
I would say it never makes the situation better.
It only escalates the situation. But what is
the solution? What is the solution? When we feel
ourselves and we're at that point where we're
about to break, we have a choice to make. And
that's why it's good for us to read scriptures
like this. So this will be on our mind and in
our heart. Okay, God, here's what your word says.
If I'm harsh, It's going to stir up wrath. But
if I give a gentle answer, it's going to turn
away anger. It's going to calm things down. Now
there's probably been times in your life where
you had something on the tip of your tongue and
in your mind and in your heart you thought to
yourself, I shouldn't say this. But... You didn't
think about it long enough because you just had
to let it out. You just had to say it. And it
is so hard to keep our mouth shut. We just have
to blurt it out. And we know we shouldn't. And
if we have to ask ourselves, should I say this
or not? Well, you've already answered the question.
The answer is no, you should not say it. If you're
not sure, you shouldn't. But too many times in
the moment in our emotions, we just, we give
in. And we give that harsh word and it makes
things worse. But how many situations in your
life could you have made better by giving a gentle
answer? Now somebody might come at you and they
may be full force. I'm talking about tearing
you up. And it is so hard to be calm and to not
say anything. But that's... What's going to help
the situation get better? That's what the Lord
wants us to do. And so maybe that's a good prayer
for us. Maybe you don't struggle with this at
all. Praise the Lord if you don't. Maybe you
struggle with it mightily. Maybe you don't ever
give a gentle answer. Maybe you are just, bam,
harshness to the core. Maybe this is a good verse
for us to settle on. Because in almost every
situation, if somebody comes at you and they're
getting on you, Your response will either make
things better or worse. And if you answer with
a gentle answer and with calmness and are not
confrontational, chances are that situation is
probably going to die pretty quick. But if you
answer with a harsh word, that situation is probably
going to get worse and worse and worse and worse.
So maybe we can think back in our life at times
that, man, if I would have just kept my mouth
shut, Or if I would have just said something
that was a little more gentle than what I said,
man, maybe I could have resolved some conflicts.
Maybe there are some conflicts and some barriers
between you and someone else tonight that's a
result of a harsh word. Well, we can't take our
words back, but maybe this scripture is a good
reminder for us tonight that maybe we need to
reconcile with some folks that we spoke a harsh
word to. We can't take back our harsh word of
the past, but maybe there's a gentle word that
we can bring forth to somebody that we've wronged
in the past. Say, you know what? I was harsh
on what I said, and I was wrong on what I said.
Maybe if we approach them with some gentleness
and love, maybe that changes hearts. It changes
attitudes. It helps folks to reconcile with each
other. Verse 2. The tongue of the wise makes
knowledge attractive, but the mouth of fools
blurts out foolishness. That's a good verse to
think about right there. Do the words that come
out of your mouth, are they attractive to people?
Do the words that come out of your mouth attract
people to God and to the Word of God? Or are
you just running your mouth with a bunch of foolishness,
just saying a lot of words? Well, that's a good
thing for us to think about. Now, there's plenty
of verses that talk about this very idea throughout
the Proverbs about the fool making his voice
known. And maybe we do good at being quiet sometimes.
Maybe we don't at other times. As the old saying
goes, I think Ernest quoted it in Sunday school
this week or last week. I can remain silent and
people may think I'm a fool or I can open my
mouth and leave no doubt. So a lot of times we
probably would be better off just saying very
little or maybe saying nothing at all. But perhaps
sometimes we say words that really don't amount
to a hill of beans. But what does the proverb
say? The tongue of the wise makes knowledge attractive.
So the knowledge that we have of God, the knowledge
that we have of God's Word, do we make it attractive?
And the way that we talk with people and communicate
with people, when we open our mouth and words
come out, are we just rambling like a bunch of
fools? Or are we doing something that brings
glory to God? That's going to make that knowledge
of Scripture and that knowledge of Jesus Christ
and the way that we speak to people, does it
make that attractive to them? Do our words attract
people to listen to what we have to say? Not
for us. So what we say will be something that
brings glory to God. Are the words that come
out of our mouth unattractive and a turn off?
Are they harsh? I don't know. That's something
that we all have to look at in our life. We have
to examine our heart. We have to ask the Lord
to help us. And help us to watch the words that
come out of our mouth. To know when to speak
and when not to speak. To know what to say and
what not to say. To know whether to say a little
or say a lot. I suspect probably almost always
saying a little is the better option. Maybe there
are occasions that speaking up with more words
is better, but I think generally speaking, a
few words is probably the best way to go. Verse
4. The tongue that heals is a tree of life, but
a devious tongue breaks the spirit. Well, that's
a good word. Our tongue is a powerful thing.
We see that from Scripture. We see that from
the book of James and the New Testament. Man,
our tongue, it can do some stuff. The words that
come out of your mouth, they have power for good
or for bad, for positive or for negative. They
are... They are powerful words. And it says the
tongue that heals is a tree of life. Is your
tongue a tongue that heals? Or is your tongue
a tongue that harms? Do you bring encouragement
and compassion and love with the words that you
speak? If so, that's healing to people in some
way. It's healing to you. It makes you feel better.
If you go around spouting negative words and
bad words and angry words and harsh words, then
one, it ain't going to make those who are around
you feel any better. And two, it ain't going
to make you feel good. It's going to affect you
too. It says in the second part of the verse,
but a devious tongue or a perverse tongue, maybe
in some of your translations, breaks the spirit.
That's a tongue that just wants to argue and
feud and is proud. and only out for himself,
and the things that that tongue says isn't really
concerned about others, but just the person who's
saying those words. And it says that the devious
tongue breaks the spirit. I think that's true
both of the speaker and of the hearer. I think
that when we speak in that way, I think it affects
us. I think that that... It makes us feel bad
when our tongue's just running rampant and saying
things maybe we shouldn't say and just blurting
out a bunch of foolishness. I think it just makes
us feel bad or maybe puffs us up with pride,
which affects us in some other way too. It affects
our spirit. Maybe we say things and then later
we go back and we regret that we said them. Man,
I wish I hadn't said that. And it makes us feel
bad. It affects us. But it also affects the person.
that we spoke those words to. And so what are
our tongues doing in our life every day? Do we
have a tongue that brings healing? Or do we have
a tongue that leaves us regretting what we had
to say and really hurting the one that we spoke
to? Do we have a tongue that always comes back
with a harsh word? Or do we have a tongue that's
full of gentleness? Do we have a tongue that
tears people down or do we have a tongue that
builds people up? Those are good questions for
us to ask ourselves. And maybe we ask ourselves
some of those questions and we say, you know
what? I haven't quite mastered this yet. Or maybe
you say, yeah, I've mastered all those. I'm the
master of my tongue. Well, praise the Lord. You
can give me some tips when we leave. But chances
are there's probably going to be some point in
your life where That question is going to come
to your mind. Should I say this or should I keep
my mouth shut? Well, remember Proverbs chapter
15 verse 1. Remember the gentleness that the
Lord has shown to you. Remember the gentleness
of Jesus Christ. Remember the grace and compassion
that you have received. Remember how the word
of God is an encouragement to you and a strength
to you. Remember how when you see the words of
Jesus and how he speaks and how Paul speaks,
how the strength that you get from those words.
Remember that and let that guide your words.
So that you would speak with the same gentleness.
So that your words would be words of strength
and encouragement. That your words would be words
of hope. That your words would be words that
would be a light in the darkness. Not that people
would celebrate your words, but so that they
would see the heart of Jesus Christ through your
words. Do the people around you see the love
of Christ in your words today? And the way that
you treat people and the things that you say
to people? Well, if the words that we say today
aren't a good representative of the love of God,
then we need to pray and say, God, I need you
to help me with my tongue. Help me to know when
to shut up and when to speak. And help me not
to say more than I have to. Let's pray. God,
we thank you for these good words. It's a good
call to action, dear Lord. And I pray that you
would help us to be able to do good at this.
And maybe some are better than others. Or maybe
we all struggle, dear Lord. I don't know. But
it's not always easy for us to keep our mouth
shut. And so I pray that you give us the strength
to do so. Dear Lord, maybe there are times that
we need to speak and help us to know when those
times are and help us to know what to say in
those times, dear Lord, but help us to be gentle
and to not escalate situations, but to try to
be one who's calm and brings a gentle spirit
of love and peace and compassion to those things.
God, let us not be a tongue that tears people
down. that breaks people's spirits, that leaves
us just feeling horrible for the things we've
said. But God, let our tongue bring healing,
as the proverb says, dear Lord, that it would
be an encouragement to those that we encounter.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.