Mouth Issues--Republished from 2016

This week we return to talk about the tongue. James, for all of his concern about how we live our lives in this world, speaks an awful lot about keeping track of the things that come out of our mouths. In chapter one, he speaks to us about the fact that our tongues can disqualify our religion. This is because we need to avoid hypocrisy...the leading killer of testimonies in the world. In chapter three, James picks up on this and really fleshes it out for us. He tells us that the tongue (or our mouths) can get us into so much trouble because we say we love God, and then we turn around and say we hate our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is not what should be going on in the life of the true believer.

Now James gives us some direct examples of the kinds of sins that we might expect from our mouths. Namely slander, judgment and presumption. All three of these are issues of the mouth that need to be addressed if we are going to be holy lights in an unholy world. But to keep from giving away my entire sermon for the week, I'd like to take us to a couple of the issues of the mouth that are not addressed in this passage in James.

Let's talk about gossip today. No, I don't have a juicy story about someone for you to pass on, because this is exactly the kind of issue that God wants us to avoid. Gossip tends to hurt the person who is being talked about. And it can also be cleverly disguised, especially by Christians.

"Hey, I want to share a prayer request about so-and-so." That's probably the most used in the church...perhaps you've even used that one yourself. It sounds so spiritual, doesn't it? But it's really gossip cloaked in a false veneer of piety. What should be your answer when someone says this? Here's my usual response: "Did they share this request with you personally?" If the answer is anything but yes, I walk away. And I also make sure to let the person know prior to their "sharing" that I will be contacting so-and-so to let them know that I am praying about this thing. That usually stops it in its tracks.

Another way we gossip is simply by talking about someone else's problems. If someone hasn't given you permission to talk about their problems with someone else, then it is gossip. So just don't do it.

Yes, our mouth can get us in a lot of trouble, and we can even candy-coat our sin to make it more "easy to take." But it is not good for us, for the church, or for the people we talk about. So let's make a commitment today to not gossip.

Share with me ways that you try to stop gossip before it starts. Comment below if you can, or shoot me an email at jim.augustine1970@hotmail.com and we'll talk. And we'll see you on Sunday!