The Division Tongue

And we're glad that you're here, not because we're filling seats, but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we're convinced that there's no one so good.

They don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it.

And so God has something to say to everyone in his word, which is why we come back week after week to open up the Bible and hear what God has to say to us.

We're continuing our series in the book of Proverbs.

And you'll remember that Proverbs is a book about wisdom.

And wisdom is skill in the art of living.

Wisdom helps us to navigate the path of life that God's given us.

And wisdom helps us to stay on the path.

Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord.

That's the foundation of wisdom, the place that it starts.

And wisdom continues.

It grows with humility.

Unless we're humble, we can never expect to become wise.

Because it's only the humble person who knows they have more to learn.

And it's only by learning more that we become wise.

We've been looking at a variety of practical topics.

We looked the last couple weeks at the idea of work and our money.

And this week we are turning to our words.

Now this passage, we're in Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verses 12 through 19.

This passage speaks about a little bit more than words.

But there's a special focus on words.

And so that's going to be our focus as well.

And as we do that, then I invite you to turn with me either in your Bible or near the end of your worship guide or in your phone to Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

And remember as we come to this passage that this is God's word.

And Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5 tells us that every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30:5

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

And so that's why we read now, starting at verse 12.

A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord.

Verse 15.

Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly.

In a moment he will be broken beyond healing.

There are six things that the Lord hates.

Seven that are an abomination to him.

Halty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.

A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil.

A false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we just thank you again that you speak to us.

And we ask that you would do that again this morning.

Just through these words in this chapter of the Bible, you'd remind us that this is your word that brings life.

And you'd do that for us.

That you'd use your word to encourage us.

And you'd use it to challenge us.

We thank you most of all that you are flesh in your son, Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

If you've been in Colorado for any length of time, you know that people in Colorado love their guns.

Now, whether you like that fact or don't like that fact, not the point.

You know that if you have a weapon, if you're going to use lethal force, there are only a few situations where you're actually allowed to do that.

And primarily, it's when your life is actually in danger.

If your life is in danger, then there's self-defense at play.

And there's almost no exceptions to that rule.

So if your life is not in danger, you use lethal force, you're going to be in danger.

In the state of Colorado, with one exception.

Do you all know what that exception is?

If you have good reason to suspect someone is committing first-degree arson.

Now, I'm not encouraging you to do that.

I'm not a legal expert.

Okay, don't go and use lethal force against someone who's committing first-degree arson.

And then come back and talk to me about it.

But the point is this, right?

That there are some things that are so destructive that they require that level of force.

And in most situations, it's only if your life is threatened except when someone is looking to destroy by fire.

Which raises the question, why?

Why would that be the exception to the rule?

Well, there's a lot of different reasons, right?

One, fire is so incredibly destructive.

Even if they're not threatening your life right now, it could ultimately end up threatening a life.

Another reason I would imagine is we're in the state of Colorado.

Wildfires can happen like that, right?

And so someone's, they're looking to burn something down.

They could end up destroying not just someone's home.

They could end up destroying many, many lives.

And so this is something that's incredibly serious and dangerous.

And that's why it's the exception to the rule.

That's why it's the portion of the law that falls outside of the general principle.

The author of the book of James in the New Testament, in fact, compares our tongues, our words, to fire.

And that's the kind of situation that we see in this passage.

We learn in verse 12 that this is something that's about words.

It's a worthless person who goes around with crooked speech.

And then in verse 17, we see the same thing.

It's a lying tongue.

Now, what makes first-degree arson different from other types of arson,

that to be first-degree, it has to be intentional.

You have to want to be burning something down.

You have to want to destroy someone's property.

And it's that same intention that we see of this man, this worthless person.

Verse 14, he's devising evil.

Okay, this isn't an accident that he's causing trouble.

He is sowing discord.

There's a process here, just like you'd sow seeds in the ground.

He's sowing these words, knowing he's going to get the result he wants.

And then we see in verse 18, there's a plan that's being executed.

He devises wicked plans.

And so as much as he can, in whatever he does, this person stirs up trouble.

It is first-degree destruction.

It's intentional.

He wants to cause trouble.

He wants to destroy something.

And then we find out that it's not just that it's intentional,

but just like arson, this is destructive.

It's deceptive.

Verse 13, he's doing all these strange things with his body language.

Now, it's not entirely clear what's going on here

since we've been separated by so many years from the original audience of Proverbs,

but most likely he's trying to signal here.

He's doing something that's underhanded.

He's operating in a way that's maybe a back channel.

And his plan, as we saw before in verse 18, is meant to lead to evil.

And so this person is using his words to destroy.

He's using his words in a way, rather than building up the community, he's burning it down.

Our world has not changed that much since the book of Proverbs.

We're still humans.

And so the same things happen today.

It happens in a variety of ways.

This could be someone who's just absolutely lying, right?

They're telling something that's not true.

It could also be someone who's telling half-truths, right?

They're telling part of the truth, but not the whole truth.

And the part of the truth they're telling is just enough to make you believe something that's not true.

It's meant to lead you along the path.

It could be someone who's repeating things that are very true,

and they don't need to be repeated.

People don't need to know.

You don't want people knowing about the mistake that you made 10 years ago

and that you've reconciled with people for, right?

But there's a temptation to keep repeating these mistakes over and over in the community,

that there's a half-life to someone's failures that they're never able to overcome.

One way this happens in the church,

there will be people who stir up division,

claiming to be concerned about the purity of the church.

They believe something's wrong in terms of a doctrine.

Or a practice.

And that's a right thing to be concerned about.

But they're concerned about the purity of the church

in a way that destroys the peace of the church.

Rather than beginning, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 18,

in small conversations, one-on-one with leaders,

instead they go around, they have a whisper campaign in the congregation.

They share their complaints with everyone else.

They tell the whole congregation, their whole friend group, their whole small group,

their life group, about the things that are making them upset

and how they think what's happening is wrong.

And so while they think that their cause is right and righteous,

and maybe it is,

they pursue it in a way that this passage tells us is an abomination.

It's possible to be concerned about the purity of the church,

but not the peace of the church.

And in fact, God is passionate about both of those things.

God loves the purity of his church.

He died for it.

God also loves the peace of his church.

God loves the peace of the church.

We see people like this also on Facebook.

Many passive-aggressive posts, right?

People share their experiences with a friend that they haven't spoken to,

and they say, oh, this is just anonymous, right?

But they put enough details in there that everyone knows who they're talking about.

Instead of going and speaking with that person one-on-one,

they're airing it for the entire internet to see.

Facebook is filled with people who wink with their eyes,

signal with their feet,

and point with their fingers.

In fact, we could add just social media in general.

This person repeats things in private

that maybe need to remain secret, right?

They may need to remain between two people.

You and someone else have a disagreement.

You reconcile.

You resolved it.

It doesn't need to be discussed anymore.

And yet this divisive person goes around,

and they share those things.

Maybe there's things in private that a group knows

that doesn't need to be shared outside of the group,

and yet this person goes and shares them in public.

They make sure everyone knows.

They are family members like this.

Perhaps you have someone in your family who calls everyone.

They stay connected because they want to know the news,

and then they redistribute it to all the other family members.

And there's a special focus, though.

There's sort of a tabloid news distributor.

There's a special focus on the negative news,

and they'll share it with you in a way

that looks like they're trying to be concerned,

but really they're making sure that you know

about all the tension, you know,

in your brother and sister-in-law's marriage

that you didn't need to know about.

And they're making sure that you know

about all the ways that your grandchild is misbehaving.

This person is the divisive person

that stirs up division.

Then there's the person who pretends

to be a trusted confidant, right?

They come to you.

They tell you, I'm not gonna share this with anyone,

but I'm here for you,

and I wanna make sure you have a place.

And I, you know, this is just between you and me.

And the next thing you know,

that thing that you only shared with that one person,

everyone's aware of it.

And if you've lived in this world for any length of time,

I'm confident this has happened to you at some point,

perhaps continues to happen to you.

Kids,

this is what we talk about

is the difference between telling and tattling.

If you are telling,

if you're reporting,

you're sharing something

that an adult needs to know.

It's a problem

that you can't solve on your own,

and someone's actually in danger.

Someone's not in danger,

and maybe you can resolve the problem on your own.

These are principles we would go over

when I was a teacher.

You are not telling,

you are tattling.

What's the goal of tattling?

It's to stir up division.

One who tattles,

verse 19,

sows discord among brothers.

And that's often the goal of the tattler.

They wanna get someone else in trouble.

They wanna stir things up

because something,

it's boring right now, right?

The one who tells

is looking to maintain peace,

to preserve peace.

The one who tattles

is looking to destroy peace,

to break it down.

And so no matter what our age

or our stage,

we need to be careful

with our words.

Now I'll mention,

sometimes rules like these

that I've outlined for you

are abused

to protect people in power.

Someone powerful

will do something wrong

or abusive,

they'll use their power differential

to get advantages

they shouldn't,

and it's covered up

under the guise

of maintaining peace.

That is also

an abomination.

There are,

as always in Proverbs,

there are exceptions to things,

but even then,

there's a right way

to go about

confronting abusive power.

So if someone

is using these verses

to cover up

abuse,

especially a heinous form

of abuse,

a high-handed form

of abuse,

that itself

is an abuse

of these verses.

But in general,

those are the exceptions,

not the rule.

In general,

we're looking with our words

to preserve the community

rather than to tear it down.

And as we've seen

with the last couple passages

in Proverbs 6,

there's an underlying principle.

There's something

underneath all of this

that helps us understand

why it matters.

And the principle

is this,

divisiveness is a very

serious sin.

We're told it's

an abomination,

verse 16,

and it's a very

serious sin

because God

loves the community.

It's a serious sin

because God

loves the community.

We live

in an individualistic

culture

and age

where the rights

of the individual,

the privileges

of the individual

are put

above everything else.

It is hard

for us,

even as Christians,

to wrap

our minds around

how much

God cares

about the good

and the unity

of the community.

It is hard

for us

to wrap

our minds

as Western Americans

around how

much

God cares

about the unity

of the church.

There are not

many things

in the Bible

that are referred

to as an abomination.

This is one of them.

God takes

very seriously

the unity

of the church.

God takes

groups

and communities

more seriously

than we do.

God

is not

as individualistic

as we are.

And just

like someone

committing

first degree

arson,

it does not

take a lot

to burn

a community

down.

Just like

someone

committing

first degree

arson,

it does not

take much

to burn

the community

down.

And so

we see here

that judgment

is very

serious.

God

is not

afraid

to use

lethal force

for those

who destroy

the community

with their

words.

That's what

we see in

verse 15.

Calamity

will come

upon him

suddenly.

In a

moment,

he will

be broken

beyond

healing.

In other

words,

your words

ultimately

will catch

up with

you.

They will

probably

catch up

with you

in this

life,

and they

will

ultimately

catch up

with you

at the

end of

your

life.

Of course,

we know

this more

and more

as people

living in

an age

of technology.

You'll

hear more

frequently

news articles

about court

cases where

the private

text messages

became public,

right?

Where the

private emails

became public.

I shared

with one

new member's

class.

I grew up

in a church

right outside

Washington,

D.C.,

and there

were folks

there who

worked on

Capitol Hill,

and one of

them told us

that the rule

was that you

would never

type something

in an email

that you

would be

unwilling to

see on the

front page

of the

Washington Post

the next

day.

That was the

rule you were

meant to follow,

because it was

very likely,

right,

that what is

private is going

to be made

public?

Well,

the Bible

tells us

something even

more frightening.

Jesus,

our great

wisdom teacher,

remember Matthew

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12,

he's an even

greater teacher

than Solomon.

He's our great

and greater

wisdom teacher,

tells us that

every word

is going to be

made public

one day.

Every text message

is going to be

made public

one day.

Every email

is going to be

on the front

page of the

Washington Post.

In Luke

Luke 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8,

Jesus says

this,

for nothing

is hidden

that will

not be

made manifest,

nor is

anything

secret that

will not

be made

known and

come to

light.

And then

Jesus,

talking to

the Pharisees

in Matthew

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12,

tells them

this,

you brood

of vipers,

how can

you speak

good when

you are

evil?

For out

of the

abundance

of the

heart,

the mouth

speaks.

The good

person out

of his

good treasure

brings forth

good,

and the evil

person out

of his

evil treasure

brings forth

evil.

I tell

you,

on the

day of

judgment,

people will

give account

for every

careless word

they speak.

For by

your words

you will

be justified,

and by

your words

you will

be condemned.

So Jesus

is reminding

them there

of the

reality of

judgment,

that he

is going

to come

back to

this world

to return

for his

people and

his church.

And at

that time,

no matter

what has

been secret,

all things

will be

revealed,

and everyone

will answer

for their

speech.

And so it

underscores for

us here the

importance,

the urgency

of faith

in Jesus

Christ,

right?

Because that

is our one

and only hope.

All of us,

if we examine

our words,

would have

words that we

don't want

repeated.

We might

have text

messages we

don't want

published,

emails we

don't want

distributed.

And yet,

those are

the things

that if

we are

apart from

Jesus Christ,

we will

stand before

God one

day and

face his

judgment.

That day

could be

many days

in the

future.

That day

could be

today.

And so

there's a

tremendous

urgency for

us to

embrace the

offer of

forgiveness that

God offers

to us through

Jesus Christ.

This should

cause us

tremendous

fear.

And yet,

we also

learn from

these passages

we need

much more

than just

fear,

right?

You'll

remember from

Proverbs

Proverbs 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

that we

can only

be protected

by wisdom

if we

love wisdom.

We can

only be

protected by

wisdom if

we love

wisdom.

In other

words,

fear is

not enough.

It's not

that we

need more

fear,

but that fear

is driving

us to what

we actually

need.

We need

a greater

love.

And that's

what Jesus

and the

Proverbs,

as wisdom

teachers,

both tell

us.

Here in

this passage,

we see

that it's

the heart

that matters.

Verse 14,

it's a

perverted

heart that

devises

evil.

And so

it's verse

18 as well.

It's a

heart that

devises wicked

plans.

And so

fear ultimately

isn't going to

help us or

save us.

It's the

heart that's

the problem

for this

worthless man.

And Jesus

tells us

the same

thing in

Matthew

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12,

what I

just read.

Out of the

abundance of

the what?

The heart,

the mouth

speaks.

So it's out

of the

goodness of

the heart

that the

good man

brings out

good treasure.

In other

words,

the mouth

is not

the cause.

The mouth

is the

symptom.

It's not

that we

need new

mouths.

It's that

we need

new hearts.

it's not

that we

need new

mouths,

but that we

need new

hearts.

And of

course,

when we

come up

against that,

we realize

our

powerlessness,

right?

Jesus is

the only

way to

change

hearts.

Jesus is

the only

one who

can transform

evil treasure

to good

treasure.

We have

to obey,

right?

There's a

call to

obedience here

in Proverbs.

We cannot

obey unless

we're

transformed.

We have

to obey.

There's a

call to

obedience

here.

We cannot

obey unless

we're

transformed.

The basic

logic of

the gospel

is this.

I know

that I

must

change.

I know

that my

words must

be different.

And I

cannot

change

myself.

Logic of

the gospel

is this.

I know

that I

must

change.

I cannot

change

myself.

And so

it's a

greater

power that

has to

change our

hearts.

It has

to be

the

power that

comes through

Jesus Christ

as he

offers us

peace and

reconciliation

with him.

We are

able to

live at

peace with

others.

As he

changes our

hearts by

his Holy

Spirit,

we are

able to

then bring

forth good

treasure.

It's that

that transforms

us and

motivates us.

Remember,

it's not

just that we

want to

avoid the

floor of

the law.

It's not

just that

we're not

lying.

We're

looking to

head for

the ceiling,

to head for

the stars.

We're

promoting

goodness and

truth.

And so to

do that,

we have to

look to

Jesus who

transforms and

changes our

hearts.

We look to

Jesus and we

realize he

doesn't repeat

our sins,

right?

He removes

them as far as

the east is

from the west.

love.

And so we

don't have to

repeat other

people's sins.

Love covers

over a multitude

of sins.

Jesus' love has

covered over our

sins.

We're able to

cover over other

people's sins.

Our acceptance

is not based on

our performance.

acceptance.

And so we

don't have to

tear other

people down.

We don't have to

destroy the

community in

order to be

accepted.

We don't have to

convince other

people that

there's someone

who performs

worse than

us in order

to belong.

God, in

Jesus Christ,

promises to

never leave

us or forsake

us.

And because of

that, we can

trust him

rather than

destroying other

people in order

to get ahead.

Jesus is the

one who gives

us greater

promises and

greater provision.

He is the

one who actually

gives us the

power and the

ability to

have not evil

words but good

words.

He's the one who

transforms our

heart from

hearts of stone

to hearts of

flesh.

God has

restored his

relationship with

us.

And so we're

able to risk

hard conversations

with other

people knowing

that if we

lose our

relationships with

them, we

still have our

relationship with

God.

We don't have

to fear the

nakedness that

will come from

having every

word exposed

because Jesus

has already been

exposed for us.

and so we

don't have to

live in fear or

be motivated by

fear.

Instead, we are

motivated and

transformed and

propelled by

Jesus and his

work on our

behalf.

He is the one

who empowers us

and enables us

to do what the

ninth commandment

points us to,

to speak words

that are good and

loving rather than

words that are bad

and tear down.

That is the

power that God

gives us.

He empowers us to

speak good and

uplifting words.

Proverbs chapter 15

Proverbs 15 · chapter mention

says this, to make

an apt answer is a

joy to a man and a

word in season how

good it is.

Of course, we want

to be those kinds

of people, right?

Word in season kind

of people.

People whose words

lift other people up

and build them up,

who encourage them

and sustain them.

In her book,

Pride and Prejudice,

we are told about

two different

characters who have

different relationships

with their words.

We have Wickham,

right?

Wickham's a man who

appears to be very

gracious in his words.

He wins people over

very quickly.

He tells them what

they want to hear.

His manners are

wonderful.

And yet it actually

turns out that he is

someone who winks

with his eyes,

signals with his feet,

and points with his

finger, right?

He openly slanders

Mr. Darcy.

He's not just saying

things that are

partially true.

He's saying things

that aren't true.

He's twisting the

truth.

He's destroying him

as part of the

community.

And he stabs him

in the back.

Why is he doing

that?

Well, he's devouring

people, right?

He's looking to gain

something, to earn

something.

He's taking advantage

of young women who

are too naive to

stay far away from

him.

He's looking to get

the money that he

needs to pay off

his debts.

He is stirring up,

he's creating

discord, enmity

between brothers.

Mr. Darcy, on the

other hand, now he

gets some flack,

right, for his words

at the beginning.

He says some things

about Elizabeth that

are unflattering.

And yet, ultimately,

he's someone who

uses his words to

build up the

community rather

than tear it down.

He does not go

around sharing the

truth about

Wickham.

He does in a

letter, right,

ultimately to defend

himself against the

slander.

But he's not going

around trying to

destroy.

Instead, he's

protecting.

There's many things

he could share that

are 100% true that

he doesn't.

And it continues to

the end.

We learn, of course,

that he ends up

coming out and

protecting the

community, not just

in his words, but

in his actions.

He saves the day

out of his love for

the community, and

he pays off Wickham's

debts so that Wickham

will marry Lydia

because he's willing

to sacrifice, he's

willing to lose,

right, to love this

community and protect

the honor of this

family.

He covers up, he

lets love cover a

multitude of sins

rather than going

out and revealing it

and disgracing people.

He does not

advertise that he's

done this, and he

doesn't do it out of

fear, right, but out

of love.

He does it because he

loves the community,

and most importantly,

he loves Elizabeth.

Wickham, on the other

hand, escapes for a

time.

He does not escape

forever.

He faces the

consequences of his

words.

Ultimately, everything

that is secret is

made public.

And so, brothers and

sisters, God warns us

of the danger of our

words.

We can burn down our

communities.

God also points us to

something better.

He points us to words

of love.

words of love that come

to us and through us

because of Jesus' love

for us first.

And so, he points us to

our need for a new

heart, and he provides

that new heart through

Jesus so we can express

our love for others and

the community in the way

that Jesus has given it

to us.

And so, that is our hope

and our confidence.

And we can say, the good

person out of good

treasure brings forth

good, but the evil

person out of his evil

treasure brings forth

evil.

I invite you to pray with

me.

Our Father in heaven, we

thank you that you don't

just warn us of judgment,

you don't just present us

with the fear that we need,

but you also give us the

escape and the provision

that we need in Jesus

Christ.

You transform our hearts,

you give us new hearts,

you cover over our sins

and forgive them, and you

build up and give us a

community to be a part of.

We thank you that we don't

have to earn these things

or deserve them, but that

you give them to us through

Jesus Christ, and so we ask

all of them in his name.

Amen.