I. The dire warning to would-be teachers (vs 1-2)
Matt 12:36 On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
2 Tim 2:2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to FAITHFUL men, who will be able to teach others also.
I Tim 1:6-7 Certain persons have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Mark 12:38-40 Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.
Isaiah 66:2 These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.
II. The disproportionate power of the tongue (vs 3-5)
Prov 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Prov 12:18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
III. The destructive power of the tongue (vs 6-8)
1. A fire
2. A world
3. A restless evil
4. A deadly poison
IV. The difficulty of taming the tongue (vs 7-8a)
V. The deadly inconsistency that plagues the tongue (vs 9-12)
vs 9-12 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
Rom 8:29 For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Col 3:16-17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
