The Power of the Tongue

Taming the Tongue

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 

4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 

 

11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 

12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Lured and Enticed

Blessed is anyone who endures temptation.

Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. 

No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.

But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it;then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:12-16)

Temptation

All sin is like illicit sexual intercourse according to James

Proverbs 7

My child, keep my words
   and store up my commandments with you; 
keep my commandments and live,
   keep my teachings as the apple of your eye; 
bind them on your fingers,
   write them on the tablet of your heart. 
Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister’,
   and call insight your intimate friend, 
that they may keep you from the loose woman,
   from the adulteress with her smooth words. 

For at the window of my house
   I looked out through my lattice, 
and I saw among the simple ones,
   I observed among the youths,
   a young man without sense, 
passing along the street near her corner,
   taking the road to her house 
in the twilight, in the evening,
   at the time of night and darkness. 

Then a woman comes towards him,
   decked out like a prostitute, wily of heart. 
She is loud and wayward;
   her feet do not stay at home; 
now in the street, now in the squares,
   and at every corner she lies in wait. 
She seizes him and kisses him,
   and with impudent face she says to him: 
‘I had to offer sacrifices,
   and today I have paid my vows; 
so now I have come out to meet you,
   to seek you eagerly, and I have found you! 
I have decked my couch with coverings,
   colored spreads of Egyptian linen; 
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
   aloes, and cinnamon. 
Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
   let us delight ourselves with love. 
For my husband is not at home;
   he has gone on a long journey. 
He took a bag of money with him;
   he will not come home until full moon.’ 

With much seductive speech she persuades him;
   with her smooth talk she compels him. 
Right away he follows her,
   and goes like an ox to the slaughter,
or bounds like a stag towards the trap 
   until an arrow pierces its entrails.
He is like a bird rushing into a snare,
   not knowing that it will cost him his life. 

And now, my children, listen to me,
   and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 
Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;
   do not stray into her paths. 
for many are those she has laid low,
   and numerous are her victims. 
Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death. 

Homework and Extra Credit

Jezebel and Athaliah

The Great Harlot

False Religion

The Flesh,The World, and The Devil

Jesus, the Hound of Heaven

The Church Papers

The Holiness Papers

Jesus the Sin Bearer

Man's Lost Dominion

The Consequence Engine

Your God is Way Too Small

True or False



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January 4, 2022