A Subject In Everyone's Mouth Series

Vance Havner tells the story of the old colored manny who was in

quite a serious auto accident. Where there is a wreck, of course,

there is soon a lawyer, and he said to her, "Auntie, you ought to

collect some damages from this." "Damages!" she responded.

"Man, I'se done collected enough damages, what I needs is repairs!"

She may have been mixed up, but she knew that getting fixed up was

the primary need. That is the need of each one of us when it comes to

this subject in everyone's mouth-the tongue. What we need is not

more damages, but repairs.

We see the damage everywhere, but we do not have to look at

others, for our subject is one that is in everyone's mouth, and,

therefore, we have to look no further than ourselves for evidence of

its negative, harmful, and destructive power. Christians will often

say that the answer is Christ, and no one can argue with that, for in

Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The

problem with this solution is that the solution is not the problem.

Leona Hertel explains what I mean out of her own experience. She

wrote, "I once took a math course and found all the answers to the

problems in the back of the book. I thought it would be a snap.

However, just having the answers did not help me to learn the proper

mathematical procedures. Life is often like this. We know the

answer to our problems is found in Christ, but we must learn how to

apply His all-sufficient grace if we are to find help in time of need."

God has supplied the answer in Christ, but it is our duty to learn

how to make it work in life. The application of truth is just as vital as

truth itself. We do not become Christlike just by knowing that is our

goal. It doesn't just happen. There are practical steps we must take

to achieve this goal, and that is why James stressed wisdom, which is

the practical application of truth and knowledge in life.

But how does James help us to achieve repairs for this minor

muscle of the mouth which is marred by sin, and which can be so

harmful in marring the lives of others? James follows the same

pattern that needs to be followed in bringing the lost to turn to Christ

and be saved. A sinner must be convinced of his sin before he feels

any need for a Savior. So a Christian needs to be persuaded about

the tremendous danger of the tongue before he will bring it under

submission to God. Only when we are fully convinced of how

inconsistent our tongue is will we be willing to work at bringing it

into conformity with Christlikeness.

In verse 10 James makes it clear that the major problem

Christians have with the tongue is in inconsistency. Out of the same

mouth we send forth both blessing and cursing. We are back to our

doublemindedness again, and James said in chapter 1 that such

doublemindedness will not receive anything from the Lord. He will

not give the wisdom and patience a person needs to press on to

perfection. Your Christian growth can come to a halt just because

your mouth is a fountain that sends forth both bitter and sweet.

Aesop tells the story of the master who ordered his servant to

prepare him the most perfect dish on earth. The servant brought in

a dish of tongue, for he said, "The tongue is the instrument of the

mind, and the source of the most beautiful poems and most noble of

thoughts." The master then ordered him to prepare the most

abominable dish possible, and the servant again brought him tongue

saying, "It is the poisoned instrument of slander, falsehood, and

blasphemy." The tongue is a great paradox, for it is both the best

and the worst. It is the producer of all our praise, and the maker of

all our malice. We both love and hate with the tongue, and James

says we must stop using it for evil, and use it consistently for good.

Our need for direct help from God is obvious as we examine the

details of James in his denunciation of the tongue. In verse 6 he says

it is a fire. Fire can be good, but James stresses the fact that the

tongue fire is fed by the flames of hell. Phillips in his translation

makes it vivid-"A whole forest can be set ablaze by a tiny spark of

fire, and the tongue is as dangerous as any fire, with vast

potentialities for evil. It can poison the whole body; it can make the

whole of life a blazing hell." The NEB has it, "...it keeps the wheel of