Bona Fide- A Study Of James- Part 7- "Taming The Tongue" Series

Bona Fide

A study of James

Genuine Christian Living

Part 7

“Taming the Tongue”

I have recently been building a new tack room

And part of that process as many of you know

Involves

Going through tack and organizing

Sometimes getting rid of old or extra stuff

This is really hard to do

No good cowboy feels he or she ever has enough tack

But as I was going though box after box of tack

I kept coming across more and more bits

Now some of these bits are considered to be very mild

Others very harsh

In the right hands any of these bits can be a tool

But in the wrong hands

Any of them can actually become a weapon as well

Causing damage instead of producing the desired outcome

We are continuing in our study of James this morning in the series called Bona Fide

We have connected a lot of dots that James has drawn out for us

He has done this in an effort to show us

Though scripture

Through the eyes and words of Jesus

How to live as Bona Fide Believers in Christ

And just as importantly

How to take the love of Christ

Outside of the walls

Of the church building

Out into the community

Out into the world we live in

And show the world

And the lost of this world

First where to find the instructions for living a truly blessed life

And then

Teaching them how to follow those instructions

Through our actions

Through of love

Through our words

--Words---

Think about this with me this morning

Have you ever been hurt by words

I know if you are being honest

That there is no one sitting here that can say otherwise

Have you ever hurt anyone with your words?

Once again

Let’s get real

It happens more than we would like to admit

We say something without thinking it through

We pop off before we consider the effect our words will have

We use the wrong words

At the wrong times

In the wrong ways

This is a problem that all humans have

It is not just a Christian Problem

But

Always a but right

As Bona Fide Believers

When we do this

It is often Christ and his cause that suffer

So

Let’s connect a few more dots this morning

That will help guide us towards that Bona fideness that we desire

And that Pleases Our Lord

Please open your bibles to James Chapter 1

Keep your bulletin there as we will be looking at James charter 3 as well this morning

James chapter 1

Verse 26

“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”

James in this passage of scripture

Mashes on all of us just a bit

In fact he flat stomps on some of us

He says we must control our tongue

Or

Once again

Or

Not Are

We are only fooling ourselves

And

Our claim to be Bona Fide

Is just the opposite

It is counterfeit

I know I paraphrased that a bit

But I think you get the point

When we claim to be believers

When we say Jesus is the Lord of our lives

When we say we are Bona Fide

And then we can’t shut our mouths, notice I said we

Not ya’ll- we all can do better in this area

We show just the opposite

You may say

Preacher

What do you mean?

Shut our mouths

What does James mean?

Well in order to better understand what he means by controlling our tongues

It is necessary to skip forward just a bit

In the book of James

To Chapter 3

James 3 Verse 1-11

Dear brothers and sisters,[a] not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.[b]

7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?