James 3:1-12 Matthew 1`2:34-37

How often do you take your car to have your oil changed? Three thousand miles? Six thousand miles? Twenty five thousand miles? The car manufacturers usually say about six thousand miles is OK. The oil companies say you've got to do it every three thousand miles. But then I've heard if you get synthetic oil, you might be able to get by with changing your oil every twenty five thousand miles. The reality is if you are not checking your oil and changing it, your engine is going to lock up and your car is going to die and not go.

Athletic coaches also require check-ups. When I played high school basketball, the coach used to talk about a “gut-check”. What he meant by a gut-check was  “Are you ready to be fired up and really play this game or are you just going to go through it lackadaisically?” Well, I think we need periodic heart-checks, to check in with Jesus Christ to see how we are doing. Salvation isn't a once-in-all event. Yes, we make a one-time commitment and belief and that entitles us to salvation but then one has to work on it to get a greater reward. One has to have periodic heart-checks to see how we are doing.

This morning, I am starting a series of sermons entitled Dying to Self . It is a Biblical theme to die to self and be filled with Christ. It is changing your life so that you are not the center of your life but Jesus Christ is. As I thought about this, I thought, “Well, let's start with our language.” How do we die to self around the language that we use? I jotted down some questions. Bear with me as I read these questions to you! Do we express thankfulness for what God is doing in our lives?...to parents?...to teachers?...to friends? &to employees?...employers?...to spouses?...to family? Are you a thankful person in your words? Do we speak words of encouragement to those who are down? Do we choose not to enter into a conversation that put others down or cut other people down? Do our words reflect a heart full of Christ when people need comfort or are in a crisis? Do we laugh at the expense of others? Are we entertained by hateful language? Do we rejoice in other's downfalls or wrongs? Have we become numb to evil? We need to take a look at how we use our words.

The two scriptures that Shelley Kiefer read this morning are quite convicting. One says we will be acquitted by our words and the other says that we will be condemned by our words. In both cases it says when we are facing judgment by God, He will take in consideration how we have spoken in our life, how our words are used. So it is extremely important to get our words right. Jesus says, “From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” He also said that “out of the heart comes evil thoughts, lies and slander.” We need to change our heart, to have that heart-check and make sure that we're filling our heart with good things and then allowing that to overflow into our life and out through our words. As I thought about this, I couldn't help but think of a sponge as a good analogy of our hearts. A sponge soaks up water in its environment and then if you squeeze the sponge, the water comes out. What is inside comes out. That is quite a bit like us. When we are in a crisis of life, we are squeezed by those crises. When we are in difficult relationships, we may be squeezed by those relationships. What comes out is what is in our heart. We need to fill our heart with the best possible things. We do that by studying the Bible.

I want you to do a little fantasy exercise with me right now. In your imagination, go back in your history and see if there is anyone who modeled negative behavior and negative speech for you. Can you think of anyone who was negative in your life and that got absorbed in your sponge  in your heart  so that when under pressure sometimes that comes out? Also think about language. Who in your past may have used bad language around you so that you picked it up? I know that in my high school days, kids used terrible language and it was easy to fall in with them and use it, too. As I told you, I once worked in a prison, the Lebanon Correctional Institute, and as I worked in that prison, I taught college classes and I counseled some of the inmates. I found myself using a whole lot of the four letter words that the prisoners used. About every third word was a four letter word that really nobody should use. But all of a sudden, I became aware that I was teaching the classes using those words. I had absorbed from their culture. One day, I walked out and I said to myself, “What the heck are you doing? Why are you letting yourself be infiltrated by that garbage, letting that stuff in your mind? I rationalized doing that by saying, “I'm speaking their language so they will understand me and they will get what I am teaching.” But they could have understood me without me using that language. They weren't ignoramuses&although sometimes one wonders about criminals. Many of them could certainly understand plain old English. But it is easy to allow the culture that you are in to be soaked up and then allow it to come out. So use your imagination and see who may have influenced you? Who was in your life? Where did you learn bad words? What about the third commandment? The third commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the Lord your God's name in vain,” meaning we're not to use God's name in some awful way. Have you done that? Do you do that? It is so easy to just say, “Oh my _____________ (fill in the blank) (You've heard it.) or “JC--!“ (our Lord's name and His messianic title) when something of a crisis goes on. Well, that is taking the Lord's name in vain. It is one of the major commandments to not do that. So we need to check out who taught us to use this language. Who made us numb to using it so we don't think a thing of it and it just flies out of us? What kind of things are we filled with? Have you hit your thumb with a hammer? Do you say, “Oh gosh”? That would be better than some other expletive. So we can substitute good or neutral words for the bad words that can come out of our mouth.

Here is an interesting fact that has always fascinated me. When I studied psychology, I learned that the English language has over 900,000 words. 900,000! Which means we have an enormous choice of words to use  a huge choice of words to use. But the average person on a daily basis uses&guess how many? 300. The average person's vocabulary consists of 300 words on a daily basis out of 900,000 words, 900,000 choices. Wow! What expletives does your 300 words contain?

Here is a homework assignment for you. Listen to yourself this next week and see what 300 words you are using and see whether they are good words or not such good words. Listen to the instructions given to us by Paul in the epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 29 through 32. He says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. But only what is helpful to building up others according to their needs that may benefit those who listen. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another. Forgive each other just as Christ has forgiven you.”

What great instructions. Do your words build other people up? Have you encouraged a child recently? Have you encouraged a spouse recently? Have you encouraged a boyfriend or a girlfriend recently? Have you encouraged a neighbor, a fellow Church member lately? Jesus wants us to use words of encouragement. That is what Paul says here and so that is what we are to do.

There is a psalm worth reading (Psalm 51). Its first line is a wonderful prayer and we need to say it often. You'll recognize it when you hear it. It is&”Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew within me a steadfast spirit.” We check our oil, 3,000. 6,000 miles. We need to check our heart just as frequently and sometimes change what is in it.