Series: Taming the Tongue---James 3
Introduction: Most of the messages we have looked at based on James 3 have focused on restraining an out of control tongue.
We all envy the man or woman who knows exactly when to speak and when to be silent.
Outspoken Christians and silent Christians..
Moments of silence
"It is better to have people think you a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
-- Mark Twain
"I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver."
--- Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
1. SILENCE IS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO HEAR FROM GOD IN OUR LIVES: One of the problems with my generation is that we cannot go a second without noise. The Psalmist reminds us to, “be still and know that I am God”
---ELIJAH –HIDING IN A CAVE AFTER THE HUGE SHOWDOWN ON MT. CARMEL WITH THE PROPHETS OF BAAL! 1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
---Religious orders such as the Benedictines have insisted on this as one of the essential rules of their institutes.
2.SILENCE IS NECESSARY WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LESS TO SAY ON A TOPIC!---when the debate at hand is foolish and can not be resolved by human logic or wisdom!
But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God." Matthew 26:63
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
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Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.
Proverbs 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.
"Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don't throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
2 Timothy 2:23 “Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.”
1Timothy 1:4 Some devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work--which is by faith.
---How many buttons can you have on your shirt?
---Can a man who is saved, shave?
---Can women wear pants or wear a little make up?
---Can we use plastic communion cups?
---Can we baptize in still water or does it have to be a river?
---Can we praise God with string instruments
3. We should remain silent if we cannot speak the truth in love!
The last thing we need is another Eric Rudolph who sought to speak up for the unborn by bombing abortion clinics!
While we can see that there are clearly times to remain silent in the Bible!
There is also a time to speak!
PREPOSITION: This AM I want to take a few minutes and look at a few of those clear times when Christians should speak!
I. We must speak up when we see or know of injustice!
Esther 4:14----For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
This means that when there is an injustice being committed against people that may consider us their enemy we still speak up! Jesus called us to love our enemies!
Ill: THAT EVEN WHEN THEY HATE US WE STILL SPEAK UP ABOUT INJUSTICE! WE PLEAD THE CASE OF THE WIDOW AND ORPHAN!
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Martin Niemöller
Recent SNL skit mocks CHRISTIANS (once again)---The way react clearly shows that not all religions are the same! Feb. 19, 2013 10:25am “Why aren’t the writers at SNL churning out weekly skits about Islam – or the Prophet Mohammed?
Where’s the mock movie trailer for ‘Jihad Undetonated?,’” he wrote. “Where’s the television show called ‘Good Muslim B****es?’
Or the magazine essay about ‘The Myths of Mohammed?’”
ILL: WE HEAR ABOUT GAY BASHING BY CHRISTIANS? YET IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES IT IS THE LAW THAT TWO MEN OR WOMEN CAUGHT IN A HOMOSEXUAL ACT ARE TO BE PUT TO DEATH!
Should Christians just pray for justice and leave the rest to God?
Blessed are they who maintain justice . . . . (Psalm 106:3)
This is what the LORD says: Maintain justice and do what is right . . . . (Isiah 56:1)
This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. (Jeremiah 22:3,13-17)
Follow justice and justice alone. (Deuteronomy 16:19, 20)
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice . . . . (Job 11:5,7)
Learn to do right! Seek justice . . . . (Isaiah 1:17)
II.We should be willing to speak up when we see injustice, and we should also be willing to speak up when we can share the hope we have!
When you have an opportunity to tell others about the hope you have in Jesus ! We must speak up.
Ill: TEACHER SHARE YOUR FAITH AND HOPE! If you have a kid at school whose parents are divorcing and they are down and depressed –you need to let them know that they are loved and it is not their fault.
One teacher that can speak up about the hope that they have!
ILL: The government had said it planned to embalm Chavez's remains "for eternity" in much the same way as was done with the remains of Soviet leaders Lenin and Stalin and communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong after they died. "Russian and German scientists have arrived to embalm Chavez and they tell us it's very difficult because the process should have started earlier ... Maybe we can't do it,'' acting President Nicolas Maduro said in televised comments on Wednesday.
ILL: Millions are putting their hope in the Pope. Scandals and corruption to deal with! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus!
Acts 2:24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.
Romans 4:24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
ILL: This week Lupe Gonzales was looking for the hope of something better! He was ready to be freed from this body that is outwardly wasting.
The Forty Martyrs of Sevaste REFUSED TO SILENT ABOUT THE HOPE: Governor Agricola of Armenia was confronted with "mutiny." Forty soldiers refused to offer the sacrifice ordered by emperor Licinius. The forty who stood before him that wintry fourth-century day in Sevaste were fine specimens of manhood who radiated an aura of courage. He was determined to make them see reason. The "rebels" did not wait for the sentence to be imposed, but tearing off their own clothes, ran to the pond in the raw March air. "We are soldiers of the Lord and fear no hardship," they said. "What is death for us but an entrance into eternal life?" On this day, March 9, 320, singing hymns, they stood shivering on the pond as the sun sank.
III. We must speak up to share the way to find the hope!
It is not enough to simply live a good life in front of people!
We are warned to not share our faith!
We are warned to not proselyte!
Ill: Acts 4:16 --When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
----Show video!
We must be willing to share that Jesus provided the way to heaven!
ILL: Rather than questioning what God will do with people who have not heard about Jesus we should question why we never speak about Jesus.
Ill: Rather than questioning if a women can teach a men about Jesus we should be asking why we are not sharing Jesus.
Ill: Ethiopian Eunuch--- Philip "opened his mouth" and beginning from this passage tells the eunuch the good news about Jesus.
Don’t go to your grave saying, “I wish I had said something….”
Jesus Christ’s final command to the Christian community was, “You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” (Mark 16:15
… Without him there is no salvation from sin. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”(Acts 4:12 NIV)
ILL: We must turn on the lights and share our faith! Sometimes we must not let our fears hold us back! Pilots from HORNET were the first to attack, scoring lethal hits on Zuikaku-class carrier. It was long after dark when the returning aircraft arrived over the Task Force. All were critically low on fuel, many badly shot up and their pilots wounded. From flag plot aboard Lexington (CV-16), Admiral Mark Mitscher gave his famous order to "turn on the lights", thus risking the submarine threat, but allowing the exhausted aviators to find carrier decks upon which to land.
God did not give us a spirit or fear and timidity!
CONCLUSION: When we lived in NC my wife was a substitute teacher and there was a kid in her class that chose to not speak. They believed something traumatic had happened to her. She refused to speak. We have experienced a dramatic event! We have been saved by Jesus and we must speak up!
