Taming Wild Horses: Don’t Commit An Abomination - Proverbs 6:16-19

It seems like it has been forever since we have tackled the subject of “Taming Wild Horses.”  It has been nearly a month in fact.  Hurricane Florence came in and interrupted our series.  Interestingly enough, while I was led to preach this series in preparation for our “Congregational Conversations,” that we might be reminded how to talk to one another, or any that we might not agree with, it seems that God had multiple plans for the series.  Over and over during the last month, as folks have dealt with the aftermath of the hurricane, including conversations with insurance agents and adjusters, or with impatient or rude customers, as well as others, I have heard many comments about realizing the difficulty in taming these potentially destructive wild horses.  Several said they had to remind themselves to control them…some have said they have chewed them up…some have confessed to having let the horse go wild once more.

Since we will begin those conversations tonight, before we get into this last sermon in the series, let’s remember the steps we have considered in taming these wild horses found between our teeth.

We began by taking in the advice for any conversation as offered by the letter of James.  James offers us this: “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger….”  Before we engage our tongues, we must first learn to listen.  God gives us a physical reminder in that we have two hears and only one mouth, only one tongue.  We have to listen before we speak.  What do we listen to?  Before we speak we are to listen first to the Word of God…we are to spend time in making God’s Word a part of our hearts and minds so that we know when we speak, we will be speaking from a place that centers in Christ, the Word made Flesh.  We are to spend time in prayer, listening for the present power of God’s Spirit in our lives.  Then before we start speaking in a conversation, we need to make sure we are truly listening to the person we are conversing with.  We have to make sure that when the person is talking we are not spending time thinking about what we are going to say back to them and truly listening to what they are saying.  James then reminded us that we must be slow to speak, taking the time to filter through what we are going to say, to ensure that we are having a “knee-jerk” reaction to something that has been said to us, and to make sure that we are filtering whatever we would say to make sure that we are speaking as those who have first listened to and given ourselves over to Christ.  Finally, James tells us to be slow to anger, for when we are quick to anger, and speak out of that anger, we are most likely to let our tongues set a fire ablaze that cannot easily be contained, much less quenched.

We followed the importance of listening with the importance of watching what comes out of our mouths.  We turned again to James and were reminded that we cannot praise God and curse our brother or sister with the same tongue…well, he reminds us that we do, and that we should not.  Why?  Because God cannot receive our praise as pure and holy while our mouths are tainted with curses and profanity the rest of the time.  Our words, our language, should be reflective of our relationship with Christ.  All talk that proceeds from us should be full of grace, full of integrity, and filled with thanksgiving; they should build others up, offering support, encouragement, and gentle guidance; they should be reflective of our Savior…words that offer forgiveness, hope, reconciliation, and redemption.

So tonight, as we conclude our three-part series and begin our congregational conversations, we come with a final warning about the need to tame our tongues.  We must not let our tongues cause us to commit an abomination before God.

December 1^st of this year will mark twenty-three years I have been blessed to serve as a pastor.  During the entirety of this time, the controversy of homosexuality and our denominations position have continued to grow more and more contentious.  During this time, I have watched other denominations address the issue, and eventually divide.  At the same time, I have watched other denominations, or at least members within those denominations, rally and refuse to bend to the change within our culture.  Yet, I have also watched as some of those who felt they were trying to be faithful, become just as guilty of sin as the sin they were protesting.  I have watched those who call themselves Christians tote around hate-filled signs, protesting at military funerals and other events, declaring God’s hatred of those who are homosexual…I have listened time and time again as those who claimed to be faithful kept telling the homosexual that they were an abomination to God.

Even if we, my brothers and sisters, declare that the practice of homosexuality is a sin, this way of responding to it leaves us just as guilty of sin as the sin being protested.  How?

First, we cannot declare that God hates an individual because of their sin.  God offered His own life through Jesus Christ that we all, regardless of the sin, might find forgiveness of that sin.  Homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin…the only unforgiveable sin, according to God’s Word, is the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit (which is another subject for another day).  God expresses His desire that all might repent of their sin and come to find salvation in Christ.  God does not hate any person, for they are those for whom He offered His own Son.

Secondly, God’s Word lists many actions or sins that God hates or that are an abomination before God, including, but not limited to, the act of homosexuality.  In fact, I choose tonight’s Scripture for that very reason.  The wisdom of Proverbs states that there are six things that God hates, seven that are an abomination to God (again, noting that these are actions not people committing the actions that are abominations).  Homosexuality does not even make this list…and yet among the seven things listed in these three verses, three, almost half of them, relate to the wild horses we call our tongues: a lying tongue, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord among a family.

Twice, in three verses, lying is listed as an abomination to God.  Interestingly, lying, if we are going to be honest with one another, has become an acceptable practice in our culture.  There’s the obvious cliché that politicians lie to garner either our vote or our support for their cause.  Yet it goes much deeper than that.  In the movie, “Liar, liar,” the character Fletcher, played by Jim Carry, argues that all adults lie…that we have to lie…that we need to lie.  In trying to convince his son to take back his “truth-causing” wish, Fletcher declares that sometimes we lie to protect the feelings of others, such as not telling his pregnant wife, when she asked, that her outfit made her look fat.  Over and over again, through my life, I have heard that “little white lies” are acceptable.  This doesn’t even begin to touch the issue of lying to protect a child or a friend from the consequences of illegal or immoral choices…lying on job applications or in interviews…lying to cover one’s rear end in a job or other setting…all practices which seem to be widely accepted in society…yet Scripture tells us that lying lips are an abomination before God.

Then there is the issue of sowing discord among a family…another practice deemed abominable before God.  Let’s consider that family could be the “traditional nuclear family” or it could be the “church family” or it could even be a “community family,” such as a workplace or even a small community like Harkers Island.  In addition to lying that we have already covered, is another practice that is commonly wielded and accepted and causes great discord among family.  There are many self-avowed, practicing gossips in every community, and nothing sows discord like gossip…whether it is spreading it, or simply encouraging it by listening to it…it disrupts community wherever it is found.  It does not matter whether the word being spread is true or false, any talk that tears another person down, damaging their reputation, is gossip, it is disruptive to community, it is an abomination.  Words of condemnation are just as much a means of sowing discord in family, in a community.  When we start condemning one another because of actions or because of differences in belief, then we are sowing discord, and even forgetting our role as the Body of Christ…we are given the same purpose, the same mission, by God, that He gave Jesus…and we are reminded that God sent Jesus into the world, not to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved.  When we engage in conversations of condemnation, whether it be that of an individual or a group, then we not only are committing an abomination, but we have forgotten our very purpose…redemption, not condemnation.

So what are we supposed to be about…what should our speech do?

God’s word calls us to speak the “truth in love.”  We are called to address the issue of sin…Paul reveals to the church in Corinth that to disregard or write off sin is just as much a disruption to the family of believers as anything else.  But we have to address it in love…with the love of Christ…we have to address it in such a way that we acknowledge that we are all fellow sinners, seeking to grow more Christlike as we journey together.  We address the sin not because we want to destroy or condemn the person sinning, but in order that they might come to find new life in Christ alongside us.  We address it in such a way as to draw one another together…to build up the body, the Body of Christ, in love…a love that flows from God, through us, into the world…seeking redemption and reconciliation…offering grace and mercy…may those words flow from us…may our tongues be bridled and tamed…that we find ourselves not committing an abomination…but becoming the blessing of God in the world.

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.