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Introduction to Course: Every Fire Begins with a Spark
The Great Fire of London
After being devastated from a year-long outbreak of the bubonic plague, London was finally returning to normal.
Shops were reopening, and people were once again walking freely about the streets.
This same year, however, had been very dry, and the crowded, wooded structures of London were tender-dry.
[Susan Wise Bauer.
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, vol.
3, Early Modern Times (Charles City, VA: Peace Hill Press, 2004), 124-126.
Most this narration of the story was sourced here.]
Then one night in September of 1666, as the story is told, a bakery caught fire, as one little coal fell out of the fire unnoticed, and it began to burn some wood nearby.
Soon, the entire bakery was in flames, and the fire began to spread to the structures nearby.
Some poor decisions were made by the Lord Mayor of London, as he spoke in a rash and crass manner about the insignificance of the fire.
Within a very short-time of him leaving the scene of the fire, the blaze began to burn out of control.
As the fire spread across structures, it approached the ship-builders house, which contained barrels of tar used to seal the seems of ships.
When the fire reached this home, the barrels exploded, blowing the roof of the house off!
Fire rose into the air, and the burning pieces of shingles and wood flew out and caught other nearby houses on fire.
Soon the fire spread across the city.
The Lord Mayor would live to regret his thoughtless and rash decision to ignore the fire.
The fire went on to burn for three days until the wind died down and the firefighting efforts started to work.
But by the end of the blaze, most of London had been burned, which included an estimated 13,000 homes, almost a hundred churches, and almost all official buildings.
The city was left in ruin.
All it took was one unguarded fire, one hot coal rolling out, and one poorly spoken decision to unleash devastation on a whole city.
And James tells us this is exactly the way our tongues work.
With our tongues we can start great fires and wreak havoc on our lives and the lives of others.
This is a sin that affects every single person in this room.
Every single person.
Even if we exercise great self-control in our lives, we all know that our tongues are nearly impossible to contain at every moment of every day.
Even James admits that he stumbles in what he says because he also is not perfect.
Only a perfect man can speak without sinning all the time.
And there has only been one man, Jesus, that has lived his whole life without stumbling in his speech.
List the top three ways you struggle with taming your tongue.
(Use Clark’s attached chart for help on categories if you are not sure how to answer.)
[1] Susan Wise Bauer.
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, vol.
3, Early Modern Times (Charles City, VA: Peace Hill Press, 2004), 124-126.
Most this narration of the story was sourced here.
1.
1.
2.
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What are your top three strengths in speaking life to others?
(Use Clark’s attached chart for help on categories if you are not sure how to answer.)
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2.
3.
What fires have you started in your life with the spark of an uncontrolled tongue in the last month?
You Are the Problem
As you can see, the title of this morning’s class is, “Why Do I Say the Things I Say?”
The answer to this question is both straight-forward and complex.
Let’s start with the straight-forward answer: the problem is in you!
Jesus said:
:-45
Illustration: Squeezing the sponge
If the problem is in your own heart, this means that when you say things that should not have been said:
You cannot shift the blame to another person.
You cannot shift the blame to your circumstances.
You must take full responsibility for every word that comes out of your mouth.
In what ways do you tend to shift blame to other people or circumstances when you lose control of your tongue?
Why do you think you do that?
Is there anyone you have hurt with your words recently or not-so-recently to whom you need to take responsibility, repent, ask forgiveness, and see to reconcile the relationship?
List the names below and try to contact them this week.
Illustration: I come from a long day.
I’m hungry (more like hangry), tired, and feeling generally annoyed.
We sit down for dinner, which my wife has spent the last hour-and-a-half preparing.
Not only do I not show appreciation, I make a negative remark about not being the mood to eat what she’s prepared.
When she is hurt, I then react that I didn’t mean it that way, and she shouldn’t have taken it that way.
It’s certainly not my fault!
She didn’t ask me what I wanted to eat, and there are about 20 reasons why I am justifiably grouchy right now.
The one thing I am sure of is that everything I have said or not said was the right way to handle the situation.
This is not my fault!
WRONG.
After about 15 minutes of holding my position, I realize that I have been seeing everything backwards.
It was not her fault for fixing something I wasn’t in the mood for: it was my fault for not being grateful and thankful.
My unloving words also were not caused by my stressful day: it was my fault for not casting my burden upon the Lord, asking Him for strength and peace, and then coming home with a heart full of gratitude for all the blessings in my life.
It’s time to repent…again.
I know I’m the problem, but I don’t understand why I react the way I do
So, if that’s the straight-forward answer (that the problem is in you!), we now come to the complex answer: We’re so messed up, so bent towards sin, we don’t even know why we react the way we do a lot of the time.
We need healing at the deepest levels: we need to be made new.
We need a new heart.
We need healing at the deepest levels: we need to be made new.
We need a new heart.
There are ways that we have learned to speak, to be silent, to lash out, to bottle up, to criticize, or to flatter that must be radically changed if we are to glorify God with our words.
We know that we are not inherently good: we really all get this.
Don’t believe anyone who tells you differently.
You know how many things you have thought or said in the last week that did not measure up to God’s standard of holiness.
How then, do we become the good person who produces good out of the good treasure in his heart?
What it takes to produce life-giving speech is something that must come from outside of us and then transform us into something new.
And this power to produce good fruit comes from a changed heart that is created by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
Truly good works are impossible without this heart-changing faith.
This heart-changing faith comes when Christ pours out his Spirit in us: then we have union with Christ.
The prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament prophesied what we can experience today because of Jesus Christ.
He proclaimed:
The fulfillment of this word came when the resurrected Christ, having defeated death and sin, ascended to the right hand of the Father.
And he poured out His Spirit on all who repent, are baptized, and put their faith in Jesus Christ, receiving the forgiveness of sins.
And once you are in Christ, you are a new creation.
Paul wrote:
And, as those who are made new, purchased by the blood of Christ, we are to leave behind our old and sinful ways.
Rather, we are to live and speak in ways that bring glory to God by the grace given to us.
This includes our words.
1 Peter 2:1-5
Our new heart is able to receive and give the grace of God.
This new heart will produce words that give life to those around us.
In what ways do your words and interactions with others show evidence of your new heart?
How has your speech become more gracious over the past year?
If it has not improved, why do you think that is?
In what ways have you be neglecting the power of the Holy Spirit in your life to speak with gracious words?
What unhealthy patterns of speech need to be undone in your life?
Leaving Behind Old Ways of Speaking
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