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The Tongue (part 2)

The two greatest positive uses of the tongue are recorded in the tenth chapter of Romans. The first is confessing Jesus Christ and calling upon him. It is our part in our salvation.

But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:8-10 NIV)

Our salvation has to do with our heart and mouth. The latter expresses the former.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13 NIV)

The second positive use of the tongue is preaching Jesus Christ.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” (Romans 10:15 NIV)

“How beautiful are the feet...” If it were written today, would it say, “How beautiful are the wheels...” or “the wings”? I think not. Feet belong to a live messenger. The person that carries good news has beautiful feet even though they may be dirty and dusty. It is the good news being carried that makes the messenger’s feet beautiful.

Prior to regular postal service, messages were sent by courier or special messenger. They were hand carried. This is the way the New Testament letters were delivered. The messenger would be on the road for months. In addition to the letter he carried, he himself would be a letter. We see this in the following passages:

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2, 3 NIV)

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. (Philippians 2:19-24 NIV)

Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:16, 17 NIV)

The two great uses of the tongue are confessing Jesus Christ and preaching Jesus Christ.


St. Paul

Then I preached Christ, and when she heard the story, -
Oh! is such triumph possible to men?
Hardly, my King, had I beheld Thy glory,
Hardly had known Thine excellence till then.

Then with a rush the intolerable craving
Shivers throughout me like a trumpet call,
Oh! to save these; to perish for their saving
Die for their life; be offered for them all.

F.W.H. Meyer

(An excerpt from On Being a Christian by Jim Wilson)

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