The power of your words
James chapter 3:1-12
Introduction-
Did you know that there is power in your words?
We have all been hurt by other people’s words.
Words are used to lift us up and to tear us down.
Making eye contact with someone-
Good morning or What!
How are you? Or eyes and words saying I don’t care.
Inside the power of words is also the tone of a word. That is where it gets complicated, if the tone is taken wrong, it can change the whole meaning of the word and sentence and how it was intended.
While social media has a lot of advantages, one disadvantage is that we cannot see a person’s face when they write on Facebook, or send an email.
I want to take a few minutes to see what God says about our words and how important a part they play in our lives.
Jesus Himself gives us direction about the importance of words we use to each other and that our words usually come from the condition of our heart.
We will see that you cannot separate words and heart. They are very closely related and even if the words are right, the attitude may not be which makes our words of less value.
Matthew 12:34-37
Words are important to Jesus-
Taking into context the text, Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees and interacting with religious people.
Jesus was not impressed with religious people. (people who talked a good game)
Religious people who have graded themselves based on their self made virtue of not being as bad as someone else.
Jesus is not interested in merely altering behavior. He does not want people to simply say and do the right things.
He wants to create new hearts, with good deeds coming from a heart change.
The Scribes and Pharisees spoke terrible words about Jesus. They called the Son of Man an “ally of the devil”.
Jesus shows two observations
(1)- The state of our hearts can be seen through the words that we speak.
(2)- Each one of us will give an account to God of every idle (empty) word that we speak.
Considering the state of our heart, listen to this quote-
“A man’s character can be known from his words. That which is in the heart can come to the surface only through our lips; we can produce through our lips only what we have in our hearts. There is nothing so revealing as words. We do not need to talk to people long before we discover whether they have wholesome or dirty minds; we do not need to listen to them long before we discover whether they are kind or cruel; we do not need to listen for long to someone who is preaching or teaching or lecturing to find out whether that persons mind is clear or whether it is muddled. We are continually revealing who we are by what we say.”
About our idle or empty words-
In the right Greek context, idle words do not produce anything productive. Idle words have no value.
Idle people do nothing of value, they waste their time.
Idle words have no value.
Idle words are words that we speak without thinking, and the only way that we can control our words is to be thinking before we speak them.
A.Plummer says-
“The carefully spoken words may be calculated hypocrisy. When we are consciously on our guard, we will be careful what we say and how we say it; but when we are off guard, our words reveal our character. It is quite possible for a person’s public utterances to be fine and noble, and the private conversation of that person to be coarse and obscene. In public, words are carefully chosen, in private, the guard is down, and any word leaves the gateway of that person’s lips. It is so with anger; we will say in anger what we really think and what we have often wanted to say, but which the cool control of prudence has kept us from saying.
Many people are models of charm and courtesy in public, when they know they are being watched and they chose their words carefully. In their own homes they are irritable, sarcastic, quick tempered, critical, because the public will not see it.
These words are the most dangerous.
Anger makes us say words that we would have never said had we had control of our words.
You can never take back words that have been said.
You can say you are sorry, but they cannot be taken back. Hopefully, they can be forgiven.
Listen what James says about the tongue
James 3:1-12
James gives us some warnings-
He says that those who purposefully turn people away from the truth of God and lead them astray will answer for their idle and unproductive words.
He says that we can tame animals by putting a bit in their mouth.
We can steer a ship that has a large motor or strong winds by a small rudder.
The tongue is like a small match, it can cause a lot of damage.
With our tongue, we praise the Lord and curse our brothers and sisters.
With the same mouth, we praise and curse. He says that it should not be that way.
(8) “But no human being can tame the tongue. It a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
No man can, but God can! No man can but God can!
He (Jesus) is still able to change a heart.
He (Jesus) is still able to get control of a mouth that is out of control!
He is still able!
Illustration-
I read an article the other day that said that the biggest land animal created by God was the elephant. African Elephants can weigh 14-15,000 pounds. Enormous animals! One of the biggest animals in the ocean is the whale. The tongue of a Humpback whale can be 14,000 pounds. Isn’t that just bizarre! A God who can make a tongue that can weigh 14,000 pounds can surely take a human tongue that weighs .1pounds and get control of it if we will let Him.
.1 pounds of flesh and not thinking creates a lot of hardships with us.
Greek Proverb
“We have two ears and one mouth that we may listen the more and talk the less.”
We often talk more than we should and listen far less than needed.
To become a mature follower of Jesus we need to learn to watch what we say and listen more.
We all make mistakes or slip up and say things we should not. We cannot eliminate it but we sure can do a better job.
He (Jesus) is capable of guiding:
our motivation
our thoughts
our choice of words
our communication has on others.
Many people may think that it is impossible to control their tongues, but most people haven’t even begun to try.
People who allow Jesus to control their tongues will be able to control themselves in every other way.
This is a God thing! We cannot do it by ourselves, but we must also be willing to let God do it and not fight Him.
Please Think before you tweet, post ,snap, use Instagram or write on Facebook because people will judge you based on your words and there is no filter on these social sites.
Ask yourself if this is something I would say to Jesus?
James is building a case for the damaging power of our words.
We see this evidenced in history when dictators used their words to mobilize people to destroy others.
We see it evidenced in church splits and in the ruining of a pastor’s reputation.
And we see how verbal abuse in the home can destroy the very personhood and character of spouses and children.
Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against one another.
Idle words are damaging because they quickly spread destruction.
Gossip would be idle words
Ken Sande, in his book on conflict resolution, The Peacemaker, gives the following definition for gossip.
"To gossip means to betray a confidence or to discuss unfavorable personal facts about another person with someone who is not part of the problem or its solution."
Gossip only leads to trouble!
If it's not your business or the business of the person you're talking to, you should not be talking about it.
If you are not working out the problem or a part of the solution, you should not be talking about it.
Illustration:
General Robert E. Lee was once asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army, an officer who had made some mean-spirited remarks about him. Lee thought for a moment, then rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the questions seemed troubled. "But General, I guess you don’t know what he’s been saying about you." Oh yes, answered Lee. I know. But I was asked my opinion of him, not his of me."
Words are like dynamite, if used properly and in the right place they are beneficial. Used improperly and in the wrong place they can produce a lot of damage.
The Word of God has been tough on some of us this morning,
Listen more than we speak
Choose our words wisely
Out of our heart the mouth speaks- so for some, we need a heart change.
We can build up or tear down- we choose which one we want to do.
We cannot do that on our own, but we have to make the choice to want to.
Let’s end on a positive!
What kind of world would this be if there were more please and thank you’s ?
More people that would just hold a door for someone and not be in such a hurry?
Just deciding to be kind to someone, lets go way out there. Kind to a complete stranger.
Deciding, even if they have a right to be mad, to choose joy.
Positive response instead of negative and harsh one?
Which words would you like to hear?
Which one would make your day better?
Which one would Jesus want you to do?
Proverbs 15:1-
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Proverbs 18:21
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
You have the choice of bringing life by your words or death and destruction by your words.
Jesus says, not me that we will be held accountable for the idle or empty words we say to each other.
God tells us in His Word that the tongue has incredible power. We can use our tongue to bring blessings and life or curses and death. The saying "sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me" is simply not true. Our tongues can be the most difficult thing to control and leave us with great regret if we use our words to hurt.
There is hope! The Bible tells us that with the help of the Holy Spirit we can have power and control over our tongue.
Speak life to others starting today!
Colossians 4:6-
Let you life be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Only a renewed heart can produce pure speech. If the source of our thoughts and actions is the love of God in our lives, then we will not be able to generate the kind of negative speech that James warns us against.
Close-
We have God in our lives, or at least we should have.
We have the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have.
Build up or tear down
Poison or blessing
Curse or encouragement
Lets pray
