Taming the Tongue. James 3:1-12 Introduction This morning we come to James addressing issues of the tongue / speech

Transcription

1 Taming the Tongue James 3:1-12 Introduction This morning we come to James addressing issues of the tongue / speech Words have great power for good or evil Some children were asked to write letters to encourage American servicemen overseas. A couple of these letters were shared with Reader s Digest: Dear soldier if you re having a rough day, remember the most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Dear veterans you rock more than AC/DC or Metallica or Red Hot Chili Peppers. I am so happy you are risking your life for the USA. My Grandpa Bob was in the Navy. Now he likes peanuts. Sometimes you run out of things to say... Speech / language is something unique to humanity amongst God s creatures He created upon the earth God is a speaking God / we are made in His image C. John Collins: People have tried to teach language to the animals that are thought to be our nearest kin, namely chimps and gorillas; all of these attempts are failures. You can raise a chimp in your family, and try as you might, you will not be able to get it to talk. Take a human child, and you cannot prevent it from learning to talk and repeating in public all the things you say at home! The differences between humans and other animals, as the linguists analyze them, are not simply of degree (as if we were simply more developed than the animals are) but of kind. [The Historical Adam, p. 165] The ability of speech reflects the unique position of man in the created realm Speech is a gift of God given to humanity it can be used for good / misused for evil Words can also be dangerous / harmful The Supreme Court nomination process of Brett Kavanaugh a friend of his that has known him for 38 years spoke on Fox News said: I can t believe words can ruin a life referring to the chaos created by allegations made that are uncorroborated / go back to college days The power of words During the days of WW II there were spies on American soil from Japan or Germany 1

2 One phrase that was put on posters by the navy was loose lips sink ships i.e. don t talk about where you are sailing off to [or where your son is going] a careless word spoken to the wrong person could cost the lives of many Prov. 13:3 The one who guards his lips preserves his life; the one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Words have played a crucial role in history Words have been used to sway men to evil [Adolf Hitler] spark revolution / or move people to the noblest of deeds. A good quote can be remembered hundreds of years later: I have not yet begun to fight The patriot John Paul Jones Give me liberty or give me death Patrick Henry Words can enlighten the unknowing / encourage the faint We have nothing to fear but fear itself. FDR to the American people caught in the grip of the Great depression Words can bring comfort to the sorrowing / soothe the dying. Words can be used to tear down another / spread distrust and hatred / deceive / slander / or to praise God / pray to God / utter sober words of truth Prov. 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Jesus uttered these words about speech: Matt. 12:36-37 And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. James has been telling us to show our faith outwardly by our actions It makes perfect sense that he would move to this particular area of the tongue In fact he already raised the issue back in1:26 where he spoke of true religion involving a bridling of the tongue 2

3 I. The Danger of the Tongue vv. 1-2 Let not many of you become teachers. James includes himself in this warning when he says, knowing that we shall incur a stricter judgment So his point is not to dissuade any and all from teaching but rather to rein in perhaps a situation where too many were appointing themselves to the task and were not being faithful to the truth God will hold teachers accountable for what they have taught This is an important principle as the Bible gives many warnings about the dangers of false teaching / false teachers What about the teachers? / they will be held accountable by God Andy Stanley is a mega church pastor in the Atlanta area He was recently called out for a series of messages he preached on the Bible itself He said we need to stop telling people to believe in the Bible just tell them to believe in Jesus He said we need to need to stop proclaiming the Genesis creation myth it s just a stumbling block to faith for people it gets in the way What s wrong with that idea? You don t get Jesus without the foundation of the creation account Jesus came to remedy a problem that occurred in the Garden of Eden and that has ongoing effects to our very day [The Fall of Man into sin / original sin] If you throw out the Bible s own plot line you end up with a Jesus of one s own invention / and a salvation that has nothing to do with man s true problem you ve moved to a different religion Instead of listening to Andy Stanley and his views on the creation myth we are better informed by listening to Paul and Jesus I Cor. 15:21, 22 Sounds like Paul understood our sin problem to be related to Adam 3

4 Romans 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Jesus Himself quoted the creation account to back up His answer on a question about marriage and divorce He did not treat the account as a myth Matt. 19:4, 5 Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. A little bit of heresy can cause a great deal of damage Satan was the first false teacher he questioned the Word of God Did God really say this? and then he lied about the consequences of sin Eve believed his lie *** It is no small matter to take up the Word of God and seek to explain what it means to others James points to a future judgment based upon what people have spoken II. The Mighty Tongue vv. 3-8 Here - James emphasizes how little things can wield great influence and effect With the horse with just a little bit in the mouth you control the direction of the whole 1000 lb. horse A 40,000 ton battleship is turned by a small rudder The tongue is a small part of the body but we must recognize that it produces great effects It can be like a forest fire that starts from a small spark Many sins require the misuse of the tongue lying / cursing / slander / profanity / outbursts of anger / expressions of hatred / gossip / blasphemy / grumbling complaining / inciting to evil / tempting others to sin All sinful speech points to sin in the heart John MacArthur: the tongue only produces what it is told to produce by the heart. For that reason The tongue is a good barometer of true religion James 1:26 true religion includes the bridling of the tongue 4

5 The person who learns to bridle his tongue reflects a maturity / authenticity in the Christian faith When we begin to reflect the new nature that God produces it is going to affect our speech Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you should not have said. When we exercise so little control over our tongue that we can t keep ourselves from blasphemy and profanity then other sins are sure to follow suit The tongue is a window into the heart Last summer President Trump appointed a guy named Anthony Scaramucci to be his communications director he lasted all of ten days why? Because a recent interview surfaced of him using language that would make your grandma s curlers fall out He was gone The tongue did him in Calvin: If we desire to form our life aright, we must especially strive to restrain the tongue, for no part of man does more harm. In May, 1941 the massive German Battleship the Bismarck was sighted in the waters of the North Atlantic by British Navy This was Germany s largest battleship and was being used to disrupt shipping to England. It had recently been used to destroy the HMS Hood where only 3 men were rescued out of the water from a ship carrying 1400 of British Naval personnel. But the Bismarck was wounded in the battle and decided to head for a safe port in Nazi occupied France Seeking revenge the British Admiral Tovey called upon all warships in the area to join in the hunt to chase down the Bismarck before it could reach safe harbor One British plane was able to strike the Bismarck with a torpedo that damaged its port rudder mechanism causing it to jam at 12 degrees the captain could no longer maneuver the ship where he wanted to go British vessels lined up and sent the Bismarck to the bottom of the ocean rescuing several hundred Germans in the water 5

6 With the rudder mechanism disabled this massive battleship became useless The rudder was that important The tongue is important in that way Satan wants nothing better than for you to turn your tongue over to him let him use your tongue as an instrument of evil He wants us to be liars / blasphemers / slanderers / taking the Lord s name in vain / using our speech maliciously / etc. God says, I gave you the ability to speak use it to glorify God Ps. 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. We glorify God by speaking truth Ananias and Saphira lied to the apostles about a tract of land sold Peter: You have not lied to men but to the Holy Spirit they fell down dead A controlled tongue is one that speaks truth We glorify God by having a controlled tongue / that does not speak rashly Prov. 15:1 a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. Prov. 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. We are told that Moses spoke rashly when he struck the rock Psalm 106:32, 33 Moses spoke rashly / struck the rock was not allowed to enter the Promised Land Sins of the tongue cannot be blamed on others / Moses could not blame Israel for his sin Well I am surrounded by people of a foul mouth so I join them Or other people made me angry so I let fly with a few ill-advised words Or other people lie so I do to No your speech / your tongue is your responsibility before God vv. 6-8 This little piece of flesh contains in it a whopping potential for evil 6

7 There is something hellish about an out of control tongue We tame all kinds of animals but the tongue seems to resist efforts at taming it is like an untamed animal We would never think of letting loose a wild bobcat in our church or home but we sometimes think very little of letting our tongue go wild for a few minutes People can train dogs to go to the refrigerator and get a beer for them But taming the tongue is really something that man cannot do on his own apart from grace R.V.G. Tasker: Because of the Fall man has lost dominion over himself. In its natural state the tongue is a restless evil By God s grace we are able to bring a measure of restraint and control to our speech III. The Inconsistency of the Tongue vv Man being made in the image of God gives him a level of dignity If we are not to curse God we should not curse those made in His image Calvin: Were anyone to object and say, that the image of God in human nature has been blotted out by the sin of Adam; we must confess that it has indeed been miserably deformed, but in such a way that some of its features still appear. Righteousness and rectitude, and the freedom of choosing what is good, have been lost; but many excellent endowments, by which we excel the brutes still remain. If we are going to praise God we should not be in the practice of slandering or speaking evil of others We can sing: Blessed be the tie that binds and then go out and curse and swear or rip apart a brother or sister in Christ because they did something we did not like Which use of the tongue does God believe? If a tree bears figs one day and the next day it has poison berries we would say that s a strange tree Those who praise God should not curse their brothers What is coming out of your fountain? [fresh or bitter water?] 7

8 Conclusion This last week President Trump spoke at a rally and pointed to the media section and said here is a big part of the problem in America The media can say whatever they want about anybody with no accountability to anybody / no accountability to standards of truth uncorroborated stories are proclaimed as proven facts / etc. James comes to us and points to our tongue and says this can be a big problem for you and I don t underestimate it But if we learn to bridle the tongue as we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ our tongue can be an instrument of blessing to others and give glory to God as we praise His Name -- - and shine a light in the darkness as we hold forth the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified The tongue can tell forth the greatest news ever proclaimed Jesus Christ came into this world died for sinners / rose again from the dead Salvation is found by those who repent of their sins and put their faith in Him 8