Watch Your Words Series

WATCH YOUR WORDS

Grow Up Rather Than Give Up Part 8

JAMES 3:1-12

All of us here know the saying, " STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES, BUT WORDS WILL NEVER HURT ME. " I am here to tell you that is not true. Words do hurt. Broken bones will heal over a period of time. Sometime we never recover from the crushing words spoken to us by others. I know people right now that are living in defeat and depression because of the words that were spoken to them when they were growing up. I know people that believe that they are worthless, no good, and will never amount to anything because that is what they were told growing up as a child. They are still suffering from the verbal abuse that they received as a child.

There is a story of a woman in an Indian village who maliciously gossiped about another lady and her family in the village. One day she found out that she was wrong about this lady and her family and had a change of heart. She went to the village’s wise man and asked how she could take back all the wrong she had done. The wise man told her to go home and kill her chickens and pluck there feathers and put them into a bag. After this she was to go back and see the wise man again, but on her way back she was to scatter all the feathers she had plucked from the chickens.

The lady did as she was told. When she got back to the man, he told her, " now go back and pick up all the feathers that you have scattered. " The woman was astonished at such a command and said, " By now the wind has carried the feathers through out the village and beyond." The wise man then told Her, And so it is with your careless words. They are like the feathers scattered in the wind. You can not retrieve them. " With that the woman with a broken heart because of the words she had spoken went her way, determined from that day forward to Watch her words.

The words we speak effect the world around us. What we say, and how we communicate with each other has lasting results. The words we speak can give life, hope, and love. Or, they can bring death, division, and destruction. Proverbs 18:21 Death and Life are in the power of the tongue. Once the word is gone forth from your mouth It is to late. I believe that is why James say’s That we are to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. In other words engage your mind before you engage your mouth. By all means don’t let what you say be the result of anger. When we are angry we say things we know that we shouldn’t say and latrer regret what we say. Warning: Watch Your Words. The tongue is in a wet place and it can easily slip. Matthew 12: 36-37 That every idle ( careless ) word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

The taming of the tongue and a careful watch over our speech is so important that the bible gives instructions concerning what comes out of our mouths. James has already told us that a mature Christian is, (1) Patient in times of troubles. (2) and Practices the Truth. Now James is telling us that a mature Christian Has Power over The Tounge. James 3:2 For if any man offend not in word, The same is a perfect ( mature ) man. You can measure the maturity of a Christian by the content of their speech. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I pur away childish things.

Lets see what God’s word has to day about our tongues and our words.

WHY MUST I WATCH WHAT I SAY?

"Why must I do that? It’s only words; I’m just kidding." Words are significant, says James. Three reasons we have to learn to manage our mouth. Then he gives us six illustrations, two for each of the points. He was a great communicator because he knows how to illustrate.

1. OUR WORDS CAN DIRECT US AND OTHERS IN LIFE:

It has tremendous influence and control over my life. Where are you headed in life? Where are you going to be ten years from now? Look at your conversation. What do you like to talk about? What do you talk about the most? We shape our words and then our words shape us. James says, the tongue is small, it’s tiny. And because it’s tiny we think it’s insignificant. But it has tremendous power. v. 3 Consider a bit in a horse’s mouth. You’ve got a huge stallion, 2,000-3,000 pounds, and a 95 pound jockey on his back. The jockey can control the tremendous mighty horse by a little piece of metal stuck strategically over his tongue. Likewise your tongue controls the direction of your life wherever you want to go, and a little bit of a word or a phrase can influence the total direction of your life.