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“Yokes” Part 4

Mind the Tongue, Not “Never Mind” the tongue.

Matthew 12:33 – 37.

The Yokes put on the people of Palestine during the 1^st Century were not just those of the Roman occupation but also by the religious leaders of the day: the Pharisees and scribes. Over the past several hundred years there had been 613 rules and regulations about how to live, and these were added to by the Rabbis year by year. These rules that had been add to the Law by men to weigh them down with heavy burdens were contrasted to Jesus’ ministry when He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (See Mt. 11:28-30.)

* This week as you pray, ask God to put His grace on your yokes.

So far we have looked at these yokes:

1.       Focus on the Root, not the Fruit. Vv 1 - 8

2.      Major on Love, Not Law. Vv 9 – 14

3.      Live in Blessed Submission, Not in Cursed Suspicion. Vv 15 – 30

And now the 4^th – Mind the Tongue, Not “Never Mind” the tongue. Vv 33 – 37

            * A question that needs to be asked: Who deserves mercy? And When?

            True or False            We are Christians because of what we do?

            True or False            We are known as Christians by what we say?

Jesus, the living Word, came speaking LIFE. (See John 1:1 & 14.)

We are His ambassadors who also speak the words of life.

Proverbs 18: 21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who live it will eat its fruit.”

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth….”

We are saved for good works and good words. Be mindful of the impact of lour words and remember that we will judged for what we say.

Jesus said about this in Matthew 12: 36 & 37: “But I tell you that every careless (useless) word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

            This reminds me of a famous passage in Romans 10:9 – 10: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

            Words do matter, not only to a human heart when you speak certain words of either condemnation or love, but words matter to God when we speak out loud our love for Jesus and thank God for the salvation and hope that is in Him only. Remember that in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, the people who heard him speak in their native language were “pierced to the heart” by his words of life and this resulted in the salvation of 3000.

Remember Psalm 141:3 – “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” And David’s prayer in Psalm 39:1 – I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.”

So, you could pray every day the prayer of David in Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”