How To Manage Your Mouth Series

A. If your TONGUE has ever gotten you into TROUBLE . . . will you please raise your hand?

1. Now turn to each other and say, “I’M NOT SURPRISED!”

2. We are not SURPRISED, because it happens to all of us.

COMMENT:

There is not a single person here who has not had the experience of saying something, and then wishing you had never SAID it.

ILLUSTRATION:

There’s a story of a man who worked at a PRODUCE DEPARTMENT of a grocery store. A woman came up and asked if she could buy HALF-A-HEAD of LETTUCE. It had been one of those days, and before he could think he replied, “Half-a-head!? Are you serious? Look lady, God grows these in WHOLE HEADS and that’s how we SELL them!”

The lady responded, “You mean that after all the years I have shopped here, you won’t sell me half-a-head of lettuce?”

“Look,” he said, “If you like I’ll ask the manager.” She indicated that would be appreciated.

So, the man marched away to find the MANAGER and when he found him said, “You won’t believe this, but there’s a LAME-BRAINED lady back there who wants to know if she can buy HALF-A-HEAD of LETTUCE.”

As he was saying that, he noticed that the MANAGER was trying to subtly stop his OUTBURST. The CRAZED WORKER turned around to see the LADY standing BEHIND him. Unbeknownst to him, she had FOLLOWED him as he SEARCHED for the MANAGER.

But without skipping a beat, the WORKER said to the MANAGER, “And this NICE lady was wondering if she could BUY the OTHER HALF of the HEAD of LETTUCE.”

COMMENT:

Oh, how our TONGUES get us into TROUBLE! If we heard it once we’ve heard it a thousand times, “THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!” Every day, you and I speak THOUSANDS of words, and that leaves a lot of OPPORTUNITY for us to SAY the WRONG THING!

B. As we begin chapter three of James, we notice that he devotes most of this chapter to the TONGUE and

its IMPLICATION for Christians.

1. Back in chapter 1 is when James first introduced the topic of the TONGUE—how we should speak.

a. James 1:19- “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry…”

b. James 1:26- “If anyone considers himself to be religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his

tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

2. James wants us to understand just how DESTRUCTIVE and NULLIFYING the tongue can be.

a. The NEGATIVE INFLUENCE of the TONGUE can OVERRIDE an otherwise GODLY LIFE.

b. So, what POINTS does James make about the TONGUE and our responsibility in MANAGING our MOUTHS?

3. James 3:1-12 (READ)

MESSAGE:

I. OUR TONGUE IS A MARK OF OUR SPIRITUAL MATURITY- James 3:1-2

A. He begins this chapter by addressing TEACHERS in the church—Bible class teachers.

1. James wants teachers to understand that they have a grave responsibility in what they SAY to

others as they TEACH.

COMMENT:

In the Early Church, TEACHERS were held in very high esteem. And because of that, many insincere people were seeking to be TEACHERS. So, James says to them, “Although being a TEACHER may appear, at times, to be a position of HIGH STATUS, remember being a TEACHER is a grave responsibility who will face a stricter judgment. They will be held accountable to God for what they have said to others in his Name.”

2. James is not trying to discourage people from TEACHING, but he wants teachers, THEN and NOW, to understand that when we stand up before people and teach God’s word, we are to do so HUMBLY and PRAYERFULLY—weighing carefully WHAT we SAY and HOW we SAY

IT when presenting God’s Truth.

B. But James goes on in verse 2 to make the point that ALL PEOPLE will be held accountable before

God for the use of their TONGUES—TEACHERS and NON-TEACHERS alike.

1. Here he writes, “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.”

COMMENT:

James is saying here that although teachers will be JUDGED more strictly for the use of their WORDS, everyone else will still FACE JUDGMENT for the WORDS they speak as well.

Yet, James understands that MANAGING our MOUTH is a difficult process. In fact, he says if we can “completely CONTROL our tongue, then we would be PERFECT in every way.” But then James writes in v. 8 that “no one can tame the tongue”.

Our WORDS get us into TROUBLE more than anything else—we SIN more with our TONGUES than with any other part of our body. If we could control the most DIFFICULT part of our body, then we can control the rest.