Blessings And Curses! Series

Blessings and Curses

James 3:1-12

July 2, 2023

A "minister, priest, and rabbi" lived in a small town and became good friends. They decided to go on a fishing trip together. While they were there they began to share their innermost thoughts and secrets. The priest explained he enjoyed eating meat every day, even during lent and despised fish. The rabbi confessed that he too had a problem. He loved bacon, and ate a weekly plate of bacon and eggs.

The pastor remained silent, with this head down. Finally when pressed by his friends to reveal a secret, he said, "Well, if I must tell you, I love to gossip, and I can hardly wait to get home."

James Hewett said, “It isn't the things that go in one ear and out the other that hurt as much as the things that go in one ear, get all mixed up, and then slip out the mouth.” (2) Most of what we’re going to talk about today is common sense stuff.

As we continue our look through the book of James, we’re hitting a section of scripture in which James really has nothing positive to say. And I’ll speak about it for a bit, but I also want to look at what we can learn and be encouragers. So, let’s look at James 3:1-12 - - - -

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?

12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James is pretty clear about his view of the tongue. Our words can hurt or heal, build up or tear down, bring wisdom or wounds, encourage or discourage, praise or rebuke, teach or lead astray. The Bible says that little thing, the tongue, is a dangerous weapon.

In the Talmud, the Rabbis compared the tongue to a sharpened arrow, a lethal weapon that can wound at a long distance.

Why is it so deadly? Well physically speaking, few places are more infested with bacteria than our mouths. It’s estimated there are between 500 - 600 different types of bacteria in your mouth, totaling about 20 billion.

Someone said words are like nitroglycerine — they can blow up bridges or heal hearts. How true is that?

When you and I gave our lives to Jesus, Ezekiel tells us, God gave us a new heart (36:26). And according to James, it’s supposed to be evident when we speak.

The Bible has a lot to say about our words. David wrote --

3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds. - Psalm 141

Set a guard over my mouth? Ever thought about that one? In Matthew 12, Christ tells us - - -

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

And Proverbs 18:21 is often quoted - - - -

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. - Proverbs 18