Proverbs 15:4
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
In the book of Proverbs there’s a startling connection, a chain of sin, that’s easy to miss. In the New Testament’s book of wisdom, James, we’re taught that the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. It literally sets the whole course of life on fire – a fire set by hell (James 3:6). This is no idle warning, no mere trifle to consider. Surely Scripture isn’t concerned with man’s outward ethical standards that are arbitrary – such as dinner manners, dress codes and things like that. This is the heart of life. The tongue.
We learn in Romans that our throat is an open grave, and we use our tongues to deceive…the venom of asps is under our lips and our mouths of full of curses and bitterness (Romans 3:13-14). Interestingly, and herein lies that horrible chain of evil, Paul says in the very next verse that “their feet are swift to shed blood and in their paths are ruin and misery. (Romans 3:15-16). Jesus says too that any verbal abuse leaves us liable to eternal damnation! Is this shocking? It shouldn’t be. Read it yourself in Matthew 5:21-25 where Jesus illuminates for us the connection that’s all throughout Proverbs. It’s Jesus who tells us that the commandment against murder requires that we guard our lips from slander and insults.
Why is this this case and why is it so easy to miss?
Let’s follow the connection so that we understand the gravity of evil speech, which flow like honeyed poison from our lips. Yesterday, the conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, died. His opponents on social media erupted with horrific words against him, wishing him hell and other vile things. It was difficult reading to be sure but proved that America’s greatest sin is invisible to it. America is full of hatred of God and man. America is full of murderers in grave danger of judgment.
The Scriptures teach us that it’s foolish to pretend there’s no God and that He hasn’t spoken (Psalm 14:1, 53:1; Proverbs 1:7; Ecclesiastes 2:14). To think that there’s no God we must pretend that nature, which shows clearly God’s divine nature and eternal power, is purely accidental and that everything else in life is also governed by nothing at all (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19). It’s also to make a mockery of moral evaluations, which we’re doing incessantly (Romans 2:14-15). It’s to engage in the greatest con game of all time. It leads to the act of pretending that some things are right and other things are wrong, and that we know these things, despite everything only being a grand cosmic accident. Unbelief in Jesus Christ, who is the pure logic of the universe, the perfection behind it all, at the bottom of it all, the personal ultimate holding up all standards, leads to nihilism and terror.
This is why the Bible in general, and Proverbs in particular, makes such a case against the so-called foolish. The foolish are devoid of rational standards because it’s their moral position that leads them to this ignorance. Sinners wish to flatter themselves by pretending there isn’t enough proof for God. This is a brazen lie as we’ve already shown. The very concept of proof rests upon a universe of logic, meaning and personhood. To even ask the question, therefore, presupposes Jesus Christ as the ultimate person from whom logic and wisdom flow. Unbelief isn’t intellectual, but moral hatred of God.
Want proof of man’s hatred of God? Watch his tongue. See what he says about other image-bearers of the Most High God? Since unbelief is moral treason, rooted in hatred, not ignorance, it will continue to bubble up in the things we say about other people. In other words, it’s perfectly natural for a sinner to slander his neighbor just as it was perfectly predictable for Cain to kill Abel. Sinners would kill God if they could get at him. This is why Jesus told so many parables about ungrateful servants beating the master’s men, even killing his son. And this is why Jesus Christ was murdered. Man’s hatred of God is always bubbling under the surface and it turns up most often in how we speak of those we dislike.
So, this is the connection between unbelief, foolishness, slander, and violence. And it’s why the commandment to love our neighbor as ourself is literally impossible unless we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And we can’t love God like this unless He pours His Spirit into our hearts first. To achieve this, we must repent of our sin and turn to God humbly in Christ.
To this end we must say that it’s a Christian’s duty to “clean up his mouth” through the cleansing of his heart. A mouth that slanders a neighbor is drawing water from a well that’s polluted with self-righteousness and pride. After all, it’s pride that brings us to unbelief in the first place. Is it a wonder that homosexual groups speak of “gay pride”? Pride is the flag of unbelief. Pride is what leads us to our war with God, not logic. But a heart that’s been touched and redeemed by the grace of Jesus Christ is one that sees every neighbor anew and will no longer slander. A heart that’s renewed will begin to grow in consciousness of the patterns of thought that lead to hatred. A renewed mind/heart will do everything it can to live peaceably with others (Romans 12:18).
Lastly, the Christian will recognize the pattern that slander follows. Gossip, lies, and insults flow from our hearts when we hate our neighbor – and we would kill them, but we can’t. Let that sink in, for that is the clear meaning of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. Speaking evil of a neighbor is often associated with something wrong they’ve done to us, whether real or imagined. In such a case, slander is the weak party’s vengeance and words are the knives we cut with because that is all the power we have at the moment. But God knows our hearts. To this the Bible says that “vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Romans 12:19) and we’re commanded to overcome evil with good (verse 21). The alternative is to be overcome by the evil of hatred.
All of America is awash in empty and vain promises of love. But we don’t know love because we don’t know Christ and this is evident in what we say about each other. Christians are commanded to use the sword of truth (His holy and life giving Word and its derivative principles) to “tear down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5), not people. That’s the critical dividing line and it shows us much about the reality of our faith. If we truly love our neighbor then we abhor the lies the Enemy has used to enslave them (Romans 12:9-10) but we fight those ideas, not our neighbor. We are called to attack the Devil’s ideas for the sake of our neighbor and to the glory of God. We are never permitted to slander or insult our neighbor. Ever.
This is why the hardest commandment in Scripture is, perhaps, to bless those who persecute and abuse us verbally.
“Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For: Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:9-12).”
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