“DON’T RUN YOUR MOUTH!” James 3:1-12
FBCF – 10/23/22
Jon Daniels
INTRO – (https://www.sermoncentral.com/church-media-preaching-sermons/sermon-video-illustrations/the-power-of-words-4968-detail)
How many of you know someone who runs their mouth too much? How many of you run your mouth too much? How many of you know that running your mouth too much can get you in trouble?
We use a lot of words over the course of our lives. Think about these things:
- Lord’s Prayer: 56 words. Gettysburg Address: 266. 10 Commandments: 297. Declaration of Independence: 300. A US gov’t order to set the price of cabbage: 26,911!
- It has been estimated that most people speak enough in 1 wk to fill up a large 500-page book. Means in avg lifetime, that amounts to 3000 volumes or 1.5 million pages! It’s a scary thought to realize that Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37, “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” (NLT)
Everyone has heard the “Sticks & stones…” statement. The first past of that statement is very true. But that second part is very false. Words DO hurt when they are used careless, maliciously, & deceitfully. That’s why we see James returning to the subject of the tongue in our passage today. He’s already said that we need to be slow to speak (1:19); that claiming to be religious w/out controlling your tongue shows that your religion is worthless (1:26); & that speaking down to someone in a discriminating way is evidence of evil motives in your heart (2:3-4). Now he circles back to the issue of our words & our mouths in 3:1-12.
EXPLANATION – James 3:1-12 (p. 1012)
Small things make a big impact.
- Heart attacks & strokes – Tiny blockage of plaque or tiny blood clot that breaks off
- Cancerous cell turns into a life-threatening tumor
- Pebble in shoe
- Eyelash in your eye
“Small” sins that seem insignificant quickly escalate & become major lifechanging, life-altering problems that devastate our lives & the lives of so many others.
- Remember the progression of temptation & sin that we saw in James 1:14-15?
James gives some illustrations of small things that make a big difference:
- A bit in a horse’s mouth – Avg weight of a horse – 1200 lbs – Bit weights ½ a lb.
- Rudder on a ship – Nimitz-class aircraft carrier – Has 2 rudders that each weigh 110,000 lbs. “Wow! That’s huge!” But not if you compare it to total weight of the ship which is in the neighborhood of 100k tons – 200 million lbs!
- One tiny spark from a careless campfire or a cigarette flicked out of a car window can set an entire forest on fire.
Same is true of the tongue. Avg length of human tongue is a little over 3 inches & avg weight is about 2 ½ ounces. Considering that avg weight of a person in the US is about 178 lbs., the tongue is definitely a “small member” or “small part of the body” (v. 5). Crazy that something that’s less than 3 ounces can totally wreck your life & the lives of a multitude of other people.
But that’s exactly what James is telling us in this passage.
APPLICATION – Remember that your words have impact, both positively & negatively.
WRONG USES OF YOUR WORDS:
BLAMING GOD – James 1:13-14 – Temptation is a part of the Christian life – “…we all stumble in many ways…” (v. 2). Happens to all of us all of the time. There’s the tendency to lay the blame elsewhere when we are hit w/ a hard temptation. We don’t want to own up to the reality that we have weaknesses & areas of vulnerability. Want to give the appearance that we always have it together, when in reality, we are getting beat up & beat down by temptation.
We find it easy to blame God when those times of temptation come. We might find ourselves thinking & saying to ourselves, “God is the one who made me like this. He’s the one who gave me this weakness. He’s the one who put me in this situation. I just can’t help myself b/c God is the one who made me this way.”
We may not come right out & say the words to God Himself, but that is what we are doing when we think like this. It’s a scary to think that someone would shake their fist in the face of the God of the universe & say “I blame you for this!”, but that’s what we are doing. And that’s a wrong use of your words.
BAD LANGUAGE – Ephesian 4:29 – “No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” (CSB)
Last week, we talked about the fact that we are an angry society. We are also an obscene society. The verse in Ephesians tell us that “foul language” shouldn’t come out of our mouths. It’s another one of the “many ways” we stumble. That Gk word for “foul” means “rotten, worthless, bad.” Different ways our language can be foul, rotten, worthless, & bad:
- Profanity
- Off-color, obscene jokes
- Gossip
- Slander
- Malicious talk that is intentionally focused on hurting the other person & tearing them down
All of these come under the wrong usage of our words for “Bad Language.”
BOASTING – v. 14-16 – Know anybody that’s got the “big head”? Drop down to verses 13-16 & look at how destructive & detrimental this is to you & to the Body of Christ. We might think there’s nothing wrong w/ doing a little bragging. But that kind of usage of words is seriously wrong. It doesn’t come from God. It’s earthly – worldly; unspiritual – it’s what unsaved folks do; & it’s demonic – “inspired by the devil” (TLB). And when use our words this way, it brings about “disorder & every vile practice.” Why? B/c Satan is the author of disorder & every vile practice.
BREAKING GOD’S HEART – v. 9-10 – When we use our words in ways that don’t please & glorify God – cursing people instead of blessing God – it breaks His heart. Ephesians 4:30 – “…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” Any time we speak in a sinful way, we grieve Him & break His heart.
RIGHT USES OF YOUR WORDS:
PRAISING GOD – v. 9 – When a person gives a eulogy at funeral of a friend of family member, they recount all the good things about the person’s life & give that person words of praise. They give thanks for the person’s life & the positive impact they made in their life.
To “bless God” means to eulogize Him. Of course, we know He’s not dead. But the Greek word, eulogeo, means to give Him praise & glory that He is due. Just as you would stand & use your words to praise a good friend during a eulogy, so we need to stand up & use our tongue for its intended purpose – to praise & glorify God! Doesn’t mean that every word that comes out of our mouth is directed to God. But it does mean that whatever we say should reflect His glory & praise. What gives Him more praise?
- To knock someone down w/ your harsh words? Or build them up & encourage them?
- To let your tongue run away out of control & destroy someone w/ a wildfire gossip session? Or speak words of love & grace?
- To let your words be foul, bitter, poisonous, aggressive & abusive? Or make sure they are holy, clean, kind, & peaceful?
POSITIVE WORDS TO OTHERS – Ephesians 4:29 - “No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” (CSB)
My wife is a big Karen Carpenter fan. Karen & her brother, Richard, were a popular singing duo in the 70’s & early 80’s. Simply known as The Carpenters. She died in Feb. 1983 of heart failure that was brought on by years of self-abuse from the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa. What brought on this eating disorder? A musical reviewer once called her, “Richard’s chubby sister.”
How would you like to be the person whose cutting, negative words were the first ones to cause a crack to form in a person’s life – a crack that eventually led to the complete devastation of their life? We must be careful to speak positive words that build others up, not tear them down.
PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS – 2 Timothy 4:5 – “…do the work of an evangelist…” – What a HUGE privilege God has given to each of us as Christ-followers to be announcers of the Good News of Jesus to the world! God’s plan for people to be saved is for them to HEAR the Gospel & respond to it. And the way that they hear the Gospel is for us to use our words to PROCLAIM that Gospel to them.
PRAYING – James 4:7-8; 5:13-16 – Finally, use your words rightly by using them to cry out to the Lord in prayer. I will spend more time on these verses next week, but James exhorts us to “submit ourselves to God” & to “draw near to God” in 4:7-8. Prayer is an essential part of submitting & drawing near to God.
And in 5:13-16, a passage that we regularly turn to in times of physical suffering in someone’s life, we know that praying for physical healing in someone’s life is so important. We cannot forget the power that is found in the prayer of someone who is truly walking w/ the Lord – Verse 16 – “The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.” (TLB)
CONCLUSION – Really not a tongue issue. It’s a heart issue. Can’t just say, “OK, I’m going to stop using my words in a wrong way.” Might be able to do that for a short while, but sooner or later you’ll be right back where you started. Why? B/c the words coming out of us are showing what is in us. And until our heart changes, the mouth will stay the same. Wash your mouth out w/ soap all you want to like your Mama used to do. But until your heart is washed & cleansed by the work of Jesus, your mouth will never change.
So, if you were to come forward in this invitation, what words would come out of your mouth today in obedience to what God is saying to your heart today?
- “I need Jesus to save me today.”
- “I need to join this church FAMILY.”
- “I need to repent of sin in my life & get back in fellowship w/ Jesus.”
- “I believe God is calling me into the ministry” or “to the mission field.”
- Or maybe you need to go to someone else & use your words to ask for forgiveness, or to pray for them, or to build them up & encourage them.
