James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 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.
James three is our text for today. Last Sunday, James two, we heard that faith without works is dead. James wants to help us live out our faith in love, in ethics, in practice, and today he talks about the use of words, the power of words, how the gospel affects the way we communicate. Interestingly, when we go to the doctor, the doctor often examines our thong to see what's inside. That's what we're going to talk about. It in a way, our tongue reveals a lot about what we have inside of us, inside of our soul. There are some things that the text tells us about words, and let me begin just pointing to the power of words, because that's how James starts. In verse one, he says that the teachers, especially the teachers of faith, will be judged more harshly the more we talk, the more we're held accountable by God. God takes very seriously our use of words. Verse two points out that we all struggle with our speech. None of us can control it perfectly. We can try for a week, not complaining about anyone or anything, not bragging about anything, not gossiping, not cursing, not manipulating, just encouraging and uplifting others. How would that be, right? And then in verse three, four and five, James used three metaphors. He compares our speech to a bridle on a horse, a ruler on a ship in a tiny spark that can ignite a huge fire. Our words are much more powerful than we realize, and where does that come from? This power? I think we can trace it back from God, from the beginning, from creation. If we look at the beginning of Genesis, we see how communication started. God said, Let there be light. And there was light. God's words create reality. And since we are made his imagey, our words also have some sort of creative power. For example, our self image, how we see ourselves in how it shapes our lives. It's built from words. It's shaped by all the things people have said to us over the years, like feedback from our parents, from our teachers, from our friends, if children are told they are stupid, those words can have a profound impact on them. We all know how words can deeply affect our self esteem. We often spend our lives dealing with consequences of what others have said to us, the power of words. Words have a huge impact on a society too. If we can trust the words of our leaders, the media or experts, it can create big problems for us. A country can fall apart when trust breaks down. A great example of this is that Oscar winning film the lives of others, 2006 which tells the story of the last days of East Germany. No one trust anyone back then, because people's words meant nothing. When words mean nothing, there is no society, there's no relationships, because they depend on words. A well placed compliment can get you a friend, it can get you a date, maybe, or it can destroy your chances, because words have power that is almost irre. Parable once you utter them, if you stab someone with a sword and then apologize, you might remove the weapon, but the wound remains. If you cut someone with words and say, I'm sorry, well, you're sorry, it's okay, but the wound doesn't come out. It stays there, hurting. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Then we understand Jesus in Matthew chapter 12, when he told us that on the Day of Judgment, people will give an account for every useless word they utter. Jesus wasn't exaggerating. Every word will be considered on the Day of Judgment. It is a serious matter. Let's press a little bit on that. My second point the poison of words. Words definitely have the power to build up or tear down, they kill or make live. James refers to the tongue as poisonous in verse eight, highlighting how damaging words can be, and the Psalm 140 already spoke in these terms, rescue me from Lord, from evil doors. Protect me from the violent who devise evil plans in their hearts. They make their tongues as sharp as serpents. The poison of vipers is on their lips. That's where it comes from. This idea of the poison on a tongue. So what? Exactly? What exactly makes words poisonous? James does not dive into specifics in chapter three, but he does give us some clarity in chapter five, James identifies two main types of harmful words, lying and unloving speech. In verse 12, James says that it's absolutely critical to tell the truth. He's recalling Jesus on the sermon of the mouth, don't swear. Let your yes be yes and your no be No, like in a courtroom. As followers of Jesus, we're always under a commitment to tell the truth, nothing but the truth. And in verse nine, James writes, do not complain about one another. He's talking about not being compassionate to others, unloving words, words of criticism. Paul captures the essence of what James is talking about, but he frames positively. If the poison is lies in hatred, then Paul writes, you know this, you speak the truth in
love like two wings on an airplane. Truth and love both are essential for balance and flight. Truth is essential because lies are damaging. They distort reality, they uphold information. When we lie, which we exploit others by keeping them in a false reality. And why is love important? Because the poison is not just in the lie, but in the insensitive, angry, hateful words, words that are not loving. We are called to speak the truth always, but always in love. Proverbs 2515, tells us that a soft tongue breaks bones, which is a fascinating way of saying, that gentle, loving words can penetrate even the toughest defense. If you're trying to say something to someone that they do not want to hear, and you come across as harsh or ironic, this attitude will only increase. Their resistance. What Proverbs is telling us is at the best way to break down a person. Resistance to the truth is being kind, finding the best time to speak. Sometimes we say things to someone, you know, we can help. We can solve and they and then we say, I told the truth. I try. I did my part. No, we did it. We didn't do enough. If we didn't, if we didn't speak the truth in love. Truth without love is poison. Loving, but lying words are poison too, only when our words are true and loving at the same time, we can rest assur that we have done our part, that we have created life in healing with them. Now let's find a solution for this dilemma, the here for the poison. What are we going to do? How can we control somehow, somewhat our tongue? James doesn't give us a recipe, but he points the way at the end, once again, James points to the teachings of Jesus, my brothers can the fig tree produces olives or divine figs. Likewise, a spring of salt water, cannot yield fresh water. Remember how Jesus spoke about the relationship between the tree and the fruit. A good tree bears good fruit. Before thinking about the fruit, we need to think about the tree before James said that the tongue controls the body, but now he says that the heart controls the tongue, the tree controls the fruit. The mouth speaks from the heart. The key is the heart. Guard your heart. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of, and that raises the question, what fills our hearts? We all have something that fills our hearts, what we love in life, if it is our reputation, our name, then when someone criticizes us, we won't know. We do not know how to react with our words, we will strike back. If what fills our hearts it's people's approval. Then that I want to people to like me, then I will be a coward. I will not open my mouth to say something for the fear of hurting someone. If it's money that fills my heart, if it's status, we'll go around and around and exaggerating with our words to get that contract. It won't be real if what fills my heart is to be right, to always have the last word on a debate, then I will never know when to shut up. I will not let others speak. I will not abstain from any discussion, because I have to have to have to give my opinion the world deserves to know my latest tweet, that discussion people are having on social media or out there will not go unanswered. They will have to listen to me if what fills our heart is not God, His kingdom, His grace, His commandments, we will always find ourselves at a dead end, because we will fall again and again into the error of using our words for evil. How can we fill our hearts with God's love? The answer is simple. It's all over the Bible, but it's kind of hidden in the text. At one point, James tells us that the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a fire that has been set ablaze by hell itself. In other words, James tells us that the devil feels our tendency to sin with our words, what James doesn't say, but we can add from another text. Is that our tongue is not only set on fire by hell. There are two kinds of fire, two kinds of fire that set a tongue on fire. One is the fire of hell, but the other one is the fire of heaven. Our tongues can be set on fire with a fire that worms not burns, that enlights not frightens, the fire that comes down from heaven. That's how it was for the first disciples. It's been that way since that day. Pentecost, remember, in Acts chapter two, fire came down from heaven in the form of flaming tongues that rested on the heads of each of this Jesus followers there, their tongues were healed. They were enabled to speak so that everyone could understand words that didn't kill but saved, brought life healing to people, and they spoke the truth about everything, about our sin, about our our need for salvation, about what God had done through Jesus Christ, how Jesus was the only way the truth and the life and they also the disciples spoke of love. Pentecost filled their hearts with faith, courage, understanding, moderation, self control, gentleness, kindness, meekness, patience, Pentecost hear the poison in their tongues, And from that day on, disciples, the church, us. We live our lives to use words to bear witness of the gospel, how to fill our hearts with God's love. The cure for the poison of words is called the Holy Spirit. He is our counselor, our teacher, who can fill our hearts with God's love and heal our tongues, the fountain that James speaks of, the fountain of fresh water, water of life. It's the Holy Spirit. It's another symbol for the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, you don't know what you were saying, but when you drink from that fountain, you will learn you will be different. Jesus was announcing the Holy Spirit, the source of good, the source of life, and he is yours. You have received him abundantly since the day that you have been baptized. How does the Holy Spirit do this on us? He does that through the word that you are right now hearing,
and he does that through the Holy supper every time we receive, on our mouth, on our ears, bread and blood and the word of God, the Holy Spirit is filling you, feeling your hearts, feeling your tree. He's highlighting the word of Christ, the work of Christ, because he's drawing us closer and closer to the love of Jesus, and making us little by little with ups and downs more and more, like Jesus, the Holy Spirit is producing as we speak, the fruits according to the tree. They speak according to what it is what lives in your hearts. Look again and look always to Jesus, how he uses words. He's the perfect example of keeping quiet when is necessary to keep quiet and speaking when it's necessary to speak, and how to speak and why to speak, and look to at the most dramatic and important moment of Jesus life, when Jesus was on Good Friday, being judged and condemned, how Jesus uses words, how he didn't respond with. And they attacked him and accused him unjustly how he didn't strike back with his tongue in the face of the worst insults. Why? Because, as well as being our example, Jesus was also being our substitute. He was paying for our mistakes, for every nasty, ignorant and stupid word uttered out of our mouth, for our silence when we should speak, for every poison. Jesus is our model. Let's imitate him, but Jesus is our Savior. If any sinful word escape us, let us run into him in sincere repentance and open our mouths to do the most important thing there is to confess. Lord, have mercy on me, forgive me, and he forgives you, and He forgives us. With our tongues, we bless our Father, and with our tongues, we curse other people. Blessings and curses come out of the same tongue, my brothers and sisters, says, James, this should not be the case with you, because Jesus lives in your hearts, because the Holy Spirit is at work in you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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