Taming The Tongue Series

Taming the tongue

James 3:1-12

Good morning everyone-

We have been in a series “Faith without works is dead” we are in the fourth week of the study.

We have looked at

Total surrender

Being good stewards with what God has given

Faith in action

And this morning… “taming the tongue.”

Don’t tune me out- society today calls it telling it like it is, my mom would have said it was disrespectful and I would have been in trouble. That little muscle in your mouth that most of the time operates without thinking first can embarrass us, frustrate us, torment us, and cause us to have to apologize more than any other part of our body.

Jesus had a lot to say about the tongue yet most of us at numerous times in our life after surrendering to Christ have let our tongue get us in a great amount of trouble.

As a kid, I was punished most for not being quiet or needing to have the last word!

If only I could have kept quiet and took the punishment, it would have gone a lot easier for me…but no! I always have to say the last thing and it never was the last thing because the last thing was my punishment for saying the last thing.

In school, at home, and in life…I could not tame my tongue.

My mom always said I would be a lawyer or a preacher. She did not mean it as a compliment because she had her hands full with me.

My mother who raised two boys by herself was not afraid to tackle any mouth problem.

James chapter 3:1-2 read from Bible

Let’s break this down a bit- how do you eat an elephant…one bite at a time.

James says we should not presume to be teachers, because we who teach will be judged.

You have to know the background- James is talking to cultured believers that thought only the elite, the selected and the educated could talk about God and His Word.

They most definitely would not have included James in that group- so he says don’t presume just because you are educated that you are a teacher, and don’t presume that only the educated can speak on the things of God.

(2) “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

Perfect is such a hard word to live up too. The word perfect in English here is the Greek word that means “mature.”

If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a mature man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Read from Bible (V3-6)

The tongue is small but powerful thing

Most tongues are around 4 inches long. Unless you are Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS who had a medical procedure to allow an average tongue to be able to stick out farther.

The tongue has five functions-

It is involved in licking, tasting, breathing, swallowing, and speaking. The papillae (pa-pill-e) present on the tongue gives it a rough texture. It is covered by a number of taste buds. There are several nerves in the tongue that help in transmitting taste signals to the brain, and thus helps in taste sensation.

Nothing better than enjoying an ice cream cone.

Having taste buds to enjoy your food (anyone from Covid-19 that lost taste knows and understands that)

Breathing, swallowing…functions of life. (I can choke on nothing)

It is speaking that gets us in the most trouble- James is saying that unless we are mature believers that we will run into trouble with our mouth.

Illustration

A 1500-2000 pound horse can be lead by a small bit put into his mouth. An 8 year girl can lead a trained horse with the right pull and movement with a bit in the mouth.

A horse left with his own uncontrolled strength cannot be stopped by a human who is 1/10 his size. He will run right over us without any trouble.

What does the Bible say about the tongue?

There are well over 100 verses that directly talk about the tongue and not letting our words damage us or someone else.

Do you think it important to get control of that part of our body?

Especially if we are professing Christ as Lord of our lives.

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.”

We have the power in our speech to bring encouragement or we can literally destroy someone with our words. We get to choose!