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
So, let’s look at what James wants us to learn - - -
Chapter 3 begins with a warning to those who teach. James says, ‘not many of you should become teachers, for those who teach will be judged with greater strictness.’ That’s an intimidating statement. That’s a true statement, one that I hold to with my teaching.
In the early church, the rabbis were the teachers. They were highly esteemed and often times became legends during their lives. Some believed they were as important as the Word of God; and ended up not teaching the Bible, but were teaching their ideas - - - as the law.
People were easily deceived and misled and you could say they ended up worshiping the teacher, which is wrong. This type of teaching leads to stricter judgment. It’s true for all teachers.
Let me add, James tells us this type of teaching, teaching that is done for your own benefit will lead to a stricter judgment. This doesn’t mean you can’t make a mistake, instead James is looking at the motivation and purpose behind what you’re teaching.
It’s God’s expectation that if you want to teach others the Word, whether children or adults, it’s really a matter of your heart.
In verse 2, James reminds us that we’re not perfect. Everyone will stumble and make mistakes. In a sense that’s reassuring, because I know I’m far from perfect and while James says that someone who doesn’t make mistakes is perfect, the literal meaning of perfect in the Bible is mature and complete. When you’re not making mistakes, it’s a sign of growing in maturity and Christlikeness.
James goes on to tell us that it isn’t easy to tame our tongues. And James gives some great illustrations.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t go horseback riding. The last time I did, was about 40 years ago, I had a horse that was much larger than I needed. When asked if that horse was too big, I said, ‘of course I can ride that horse.’ Pride got in the way, I wanted to impress a girl not named Debbie.
But, the horse was smarter than me and knew I was petrified. It didn’t help that I knew nothing about riding a horse, especially that I could control the horse by the bit in its mouth. Eventually the horse was moving pretty fast and heading for a tree, so I did the only thing I could think of. . . I jumped off the horse in full stride.
I had all the power available to me, but I didn’t know how to use it. And that’s true for us as well when it comes to taming the tongue, we have the power to tame our tpngues, but we often don’t . . . . and that gets us in plenty of trouble.
Think of the times you’ve misspoken, blamed someone for something they didn’t do, raised your voice when you didn’t need to, sent a nasty email or text, used sarcasm to beat someone down, talked about someone when they couldn’t defend themselves. We do it pretty well.
So, it’s interesting that James uses a horse as an example because the horse, as big as it is, can be controlled by the little bit that’s in its mouth. Pull hard enough to one side and the horse goes where you want it to go, even stopping. I wish I knew that 40 years ago.
James also tells us to look at ships. As huge as some ships are, they’re controlled by a rudder that’s a fraction of the size of the ship.
When fully loaded, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford can house up to 90 aircraft and weighs approximately 100,000 tons. It has 2 nuclear power plants running it and is over 1,100 feet long, has 25 decks, over 200,000 gallons of paint, 4 - 30 ton propellers, travels in excess of 35 MPH, and costs about $13 billion.
As immense as this ship is, it is controlled by 2 rudders which weigh about 100 tons each. The rudder is just over 2/10 of 1% the weight of the ship. So the worlds largest aircraft carrier like the USS Gerald Ford can be tamed.
Yet, James says this is not necessarily the case with our tongues. He compares the tongue to a forest fire. Think of the Chicago fire in 1871. A cow kicked over an oil lamp; some hay caught on fire, until the stable was on fire, then the next building was on fire, and the rest is history.
Think about forest fires which start with a match, a campfire that’s not properly put out and eventually there’s a raging fire. Think about our air quality the past week from the Canadian wildfires. I’ve been able to start a fire the next day after using our fire pit.
Is your tongue like that? Do you have control over it? Sometimes we start a conversation that was to be Christ centered, yet it turned into a gossip-fest. It happens before, during and after church. It happens in school and at work, and at home. But it shouldn’t. But it’s so hard to resist.
Example about concern for someone . . . it’s about the motivation - - the heart!!!
Then James compares our tongues to wild animals. We can tame wild animals, but we can’t tame the tongue, it’s a restless evil, full of deadly poison. We can go to Sea World and see a killer whale kiss its trainer, we can see people hold deadly snakes, we see lions and tigers tamed, but it’s so difficult to train our tongues not to be filled with a deadly poison.
James tells us - - -
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.
And we all know that James is correct. That doesn’t mean we don’t hold someone accountable, but the question is in the “HOW DO WE HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE?” Is it with a beat down, or helping them to grow and learn from what happened?
Again, I really believe it’s the motivation for what we do. It comes from our hearts and spirits. We’ve had communion, we’ve worshiped and what will you do after worship? Will you be critical, will you gossip, will you slander . . . or will you use your lips to praise God, bless God and bless others in the process.
So, as I think about the end of this message . . .
I want to remind you of the importance of words. We’ve talked about them for a few weeks in different ways. We looked at James instruction in 1:19 - - - -
Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
On Father’s Day, we looked at the importance of who God created men to be.
For all of us, our words carry a lot of weight. I really want you to consider how you can bless someone this week. Can you help someone to feel affirmed? Do you have a difficult time saying “I love you?!”
When someone says it to you, do you clam up? I get it. Been there. But how can you affirm that person by letting them know you love them with your words?
Actions are super important and the actions must back up the words, but sometimes, kids and adults long to hear those words . . . “I LOVE YOU!” I deeply and passionately love. Hey, my friend, I love you.”
We throw that word around a lot when it comes to fun things and food, but then we hold it back when it comes to those closest to us, those who need to hear it the most. Let them know they’re loved.
So, how do we learn to tame our tongues?
A few practical suggestions —
If you can’t say something good, say nothing - - -
President Lincoln said, It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
That’s so true!!
President Calvin Coolidge said, "I have never been hurt by anything I did not say."
You can never get blamed for saying what you didn’t say!
Proverbs 10:19 tells us - - - - When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent."
If you hear someone gossiping, can you challenge them. Ask how can we help this person. Don’t let them off the hook so easily. Or maybe you can say, "May I quote you on that?" That might shut them up. Another idea is to ask someone if they have spoken to the person in private.
If you think you’re heading down the wrong path of injuring another person because of what you say or how you say it, then ask yourself “How can I build up instead of tear down?”
Proverbs 12:18 says - - -
18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Is that true for the way you react when someone says something you don’t like? Do your words just come flying out. . . before you can think?
Then use the acronym think —
T - Is it true?
H - Is it helpful?
I - Is it inspiring?
N - Is it necessary?
K - Is it kind?
If what we are about to say does not pass these tests, we should keep our mouth shut. It works!
1. Morgan Blake, Bible Illustrator for Windows, (Hiawatha, IO: Parsons Technology, 1994)
2. James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers. 1988), p. 256
