Rashness - Proverbs 12:18

the quality of being uttered or done without due deliberation as in the rashness of words.

Related and relevant words on the first level include impulsiveness, promptness, expeditiousness, hastiness, precipitousness, Not too bad. Go a little deeper on the second level of rashness, recklessness, carelessness, foolhardiness, irresponsibility, negligence that stops us in our tracks. We know that sin has radically altered the agenda for our words. And in Genesis 3, for the first time, words were used to be spoken against other people. And we've been working on that since then. Sin is a matter of routine in a broken world, but you add the impetus of a sense of overdrive in our rashness, and that adds incredible insult to injury. We failed to extend grace in our communication, but we are often so kind to ourselves, we tend to blame our communication problems on external conditions and external circumstances, but they do not cause us to sin. It is not our personalities, it is not our past, it is not people, it is not present circumstances. All of those simply reveal the sin that is already in our hearts. So our external words reveal the battle within. In Puritan Richard Baxter's classic, A Christian Directory, great book, Under Directions for the Government of the Tongue, says this,

sins of the tongue to be avoided on two levels. regular things, and an imprudent, rash, and slobbingly handling of holy things. When they are spoken of so ignorantly, unskillfully, disorderly, or passionately, to dishonor them and frustrate the desired good success.

He goes on to say,

when you have understood the sense of the tongue, keep all upon the heart that should be upon the tongue and keep the heart clean from that which the tongue must be kept clean from. The principle work must be on the heart.

We all know this.

For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So we have two problems. We talk about the tongue, but it's also the problem of the heart. We must keep them both clean. from ignorance or impatience, actually our desire to be quick-witted, we like to come back quickly, or a hardened heart because of anger or bitterness, vengeance, sarcasm, criticism, suspicion, disrespect, among other things. The biblical imagery in this verse compares the spiritual damage done by a thoughtless tongue to the physical damage done by a sword. In fact, if you let your imaginations run, the appearance of the tongue can look like a sword. Might be a bit of a stretch, but go with me on that. Pythagoras said that

the tongue cuts deeper than swords because they reach even to the soul.

Thinking about comments like, his words went right through me, or her words just about killed me. We're not just talking about the mechanics. of our communication. The puncture patterns, if you will, that we develop adversely affect the relationships that we have horizontally and vertically with our Father. Number two, healing, rashness. When we do it, we confess, we repent, we ask for forgiveness, we pray for reconciliation. If we are rebuked, then we consider the source, consider the substance and be prepared to grow. Rationals, when it is done to us, we grant forgiveness, we pray for them, we possibly rebuke them, but if we do, we do it lovingly and we do it gently. We also give a nod to humility over hypocrisy as we look for specks and logs. Thinking about the provision of good health with our tongue, we need to practice the medicine of self-control, stewardship, and silence. We need to take the time to slow down the pace of our exchange and refine the art of deliberation It has been said that

a preventing trial is better than a repenting trial.

Thinking of our stewardship, Old Testament scholar Trempe Longman reminds us that

wisdom teachers felt the fewer words, the better.

That is a characteristic of wise speech. The tongue of the wise brings good health. Moreover, Speech, the words that serve people, that we use to serve them, actually soothes the hurt that has already been inflicted. Baxter tells us to

learn to be silent until you've learned to speak. Do not let the tongue run before your wits.

And scripture also tells us that

there's a time to keep silence.

And we know that Christ modeled silence for us. Three, hope. Paul Tripp in his classic book, War of Words, reminds us that

Christ is the word who is the only hope for our words.

You can add a bit of motivation to this glorious hope provided by Jesus in Matthew 12, 36.

I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.

Seneca, Roman philosopher said,

it is best to say little to others and much to yourselves.

Accordingly, we need to think about the following five questions during these self-conversations. Number one, are my communication patterns healthy in the principal relationships in my life? Does my talk encourage faith and spiritual growth in people around me? Are my words building up the church for good? and giving grace to those who hear them. Do my words celebrate God's sovereignty and my submission to it? Am I demonstrating my allegiance to his kingdom or to my kingdom? Do I face communication struggles with the recognition of the gospel, God's grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit? So as we think about and consider those five questions, here are five action steps, applications, if you will, to embrace on this journey of transformation. Number one, pray every morning to God for preservation from the sins of speech that I am liable to that day. Commit the custody of my tongue to him Pray as David did in Psalm 141.

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips.

Number two, make it part of my continual work to watch my tongue. Make it my study and my work and watch it continually. Call my tongue daily to account and be humbled before God in the penitent confession of the sin that I discover and renew my resolution for a stricter watch for the time to come. Make use of a faithful monitor for accountability. We don't think of accountability partners in this particular area, we save them for other areas. but this is perfect. We tend to be a little too forgiving in our own speech. So a friend here could be exceedingly useful. And then finally pray for protection from the enemy's warfare that often seems to activate or provoke my sinful nature and to facilitate my sinful behavior. Bottom line, Our word problems do not feature a resolution of strategies and techniques and skillful words. It's not about strategies and techniques. Rather, it is that we prayerfully, individually and collectively as a church, and continually speak in step with the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5.25, so that our word should bring redemptive good into the lives of people that God has placed around us. And number two, that all of our words bring glory to the Lord. Let me pray. Father, we love you tonight, and we are delighting in the fact that we can pray scripture to you. We pray Psalm 39 to you. As we think about this series, that we will guard our ways, that we may not sin with our tongues, that we will guard our mouths with a muzzle, so that we may honor the relationships that we have in our lives. Father, the people, believers, unbelievers, people in the workplace, people in the neighborhood, people in the church, relationships, that we can honor the relationships that you have placed in our lives, horizontally, and with you vertically. Amen.