Areas of stumbling blocks; sins of the tongue in Proverbs; John 16:1; 2 Cor 11:1-4.

Title: Areas of stumbling blocks; sins of the tongue in Proverbs; John 16:1; 2 Cor 11:1-4.

 

God does not govern you by a bunch of rules. God instructs us in virtues and then asks us to figure out how to apply those virtues from doctrine to our lives. Do your jobs as unto the Lord, but He doesn’t tell you how to do your job.

 

Legalism is all about rules as was the Mosaic Law, which if you recall was a means to increase sin.

 

It’s a lot like a constitutional government versus the progressive government that we have now have

 

We are a nation full of laws and some of them are simple and beautiful and more of them are long and unintelligible needing lawyers just to read them.  

 

If the laws are voluminous (long) and changeable then they can’t really be laws since no one can follow them or even know or understand them all. - James Madison, Federalist Papers (paraphrased).

 

Dodd Frank Act, over 2000 pages long. (From a website run by a law firm to help businesses try to understand the law) “The Dodd-Frank Act has broad and deep implications that will touch every corner of financial services and multiple other industries.”

 

Homestead Act gave away 10% of American land west of the Mississippi, and it was under 1400 words long. It was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. The law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, including freed slaves, was 21 or older or the head of a family, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. The occupant had to live on the land for five years, and show evidence of having made improvements.

 

The rule of law requires that we should all be able to read and understand the laws.

 

Under a system of virtue under the word and the Spirit anyone can fulfill the system in grace. It is simplicity itself.

 

God doesn’t want to control you as a tyrant, if He did why would He have given you a free will? He doesn’t put you under a burden of rules. While there are approximately 400 plus commands in the NT they are not rules as much as they are commands of divine virtue that extends to the heavens. You’ve got to apply the doctrine you know to the stumbling blocks that you find have come upon you.

 

President Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural address made mention of a young soldier named Martin Treptow “who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flylear under the heading,

 

“My Pledge,” he had written these words: “America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.” - Martin Treptow

 

That’s not rules, rather that’s virtue headed towards a singular cause. And although Jesus Christ has already won the war do we have a similar attitude in this war or do we sleep until it’s over?

 

Areas for stumbling blocks:

Concentration of stumbling blocks: Soul, marriage/family/home,
local church, business/labor/wealth, entertainment, social life, school.

 

Wherever there are people, and that includes yourself, there is the potential for stumbling blocks. So that means they are everywhere, however, if we combine people with desire then we find a greater concentration of them.

 

Stumbling blocks also occur where there are dualities: believer and unbeliever, positive believer and apostate believer, rich and poor, one race to another, male and female, authority and subordinate, teacher and student, good and evil, etc.

 

Satan uses differences to create conflicts through ignorance and arrogance such as racism, chauvinism, tyranny, oppression, etc.

 

People and desire cause complexities that are easily handled with God’s word and Holy Spirit in the power of love and grace orientation.

 

Phil 2:2

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

 

This wonderful command eliminates conflict and therefore stumbling blocks providing that the mind, the love, the spirit and the purpose are all of Christ. Never compromise sound doctrine.

 

In each area where stumbling blocks exist we noted that the tongue is the greatest cause of stumbling blocks; the sins of the tongue in gossip, maligning, slander, complaining.

 

James 3:2

For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect [mature] man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

 

Prov 10:13 On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found,

But a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.

 

Prov 10:18 He who conceals hatred has lying lips,

And he who spreads slander is a fool.

 

Prov 10:19 When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.

 

Prov 10:20 The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver,

The heart of the wicked is worth little.

 

Prov 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many,

But fools die for lack of understanding.

 

Prov 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.

 

Prov 13:2 From the fruit of a man's mouth he enjoys good,

But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

 

Prov 13:3 The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;

The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

 

Prov 14:23 In all labor there is profit,

But mere talk leads only to poverty.

 

Prov 15:2 The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable,

But the mouth of fools spouts folly.

 

Prov 15:4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life,

But perversion in it crushes the spirit.

 

Prov 17:4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips,

A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

 

Prov 17:27 He who restrains his words has knowledge,

And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

 

Prov 17:28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;

When he closes his lips, he is counted prudent.

 

Prov 18:7 A fool's mouth is his ruin,

And his lips are the snare of his soul.

 

Prov 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

And those who love it will eat its fruit.

 

Prov 19:1 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity

Than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool.

 

Prov 20:15 There is gold, and an abundance of jewels;

But the lips of knowledge are a more precious thing.

 

Prov 21:6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue

Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.

 

Prov 21:23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue,

Guards his soul from troubles.

 

Prov 22:11 He who loves purity of heart

And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

 

Prov 22:17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,

And apply your mind to my knowledge;

 

Prov 22:18 For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,

That they may be ready on your lips.

 

Prov 24:1 Do not be envious of evil men,

Nor desire to be with them;

 

Prov 24:2 For their minds devise violence,

And their lips talk of trouble.

 

Prov 24:28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips.

 

Prov 24:29 Do not say, "Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."

 

Prov 26:23 Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross

Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

 

"silver dross" is "a silver-like substance left over from the process of purifying silver and used to cover pottery to make it look like silver."

 

Taken as "fervent lips" the idea is "emotional or impassioned speech." An evil heart refers to a person's thinking or thoughts that are bad or wicked. "Warm words that hide a malicious spirit are [like] impure silver that covers clay." "Smooth words that have evil intention are as a bath of fake silver on a clay pot."

 

Prov 28:21 He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor

Than he who flatters with the tongue.

 

Avoiding sins of the tongue will lead to happiness and years added to your life, PSA 34:12-13.

 

Ps 34:12-13

Who is the man who desires life,

And loves length of days that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil,

And your lips from speaking deceit.

 

This is only a sampling of what the Bible has to say about the speech of a person and so we recognize this to be of supreme importance.

 

2 Tim 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.