James 1:19-21, 3:1-12 Speech
- Read James 1:19-21
Prayer
On a wind-swept hill in an English country church yard, stands a drab slate tombstone. The faint etching reads,
Beneath this stone, a lump of clay
Lies Arabella Young
Who, on the twenty-fourth of May
Began to hold her tongue
Let’s face it, controlling our tongue can be difficult some times, and yet, James lists it as one of the evidences of true Christianity.
If you remember, we said that James is a very practical book. James is addressing Christians scattered because of persecution, and there are beginning to be some tension and some conflicts in the churches across the empire. As Jesus warned in His parable about the wheat and the tares, there are beginning to be some weeds in the church, and these weeds, these fake believers are causing problems in the c church. So James is writing to address some of this.
In this chapter he warns twice about the possibility of someone being in the church, perhaps even believing he is a Christian, and yet not really being one.
- Read James 1:22
See his warning? He says, “If you’re listening to the message but not living it, you’re deceiving yourselves.”
- Read James 1:26
This is another time when he warns that people are only kidding themselves. So he spends a great deal of his time talking about what authentic Christianity looks like.
It is easy to deceive ourselves, to think that we’re something we’re not.
Gladys, Drew and I enjoyed watching America’s got talent for a number of years. We haven’t watched it much in the last year or 2, but for a number of years we did.
Do you remember the tryouts the first season or 2? Some of the people who would get on there and try out as singers. Oh my word. Some of those folks couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, and since no one told them otherwise, they thought they could sing.
Well, there are lot of people who believe they are Christians because they attend church some, or they read their Bibles some, or because they do some good things. In Matthew 25 Jesus warns that there are going to be a lot of people who believe they were saved but were not.
James, addressing that concern lays out 5 Evidences of true saving faith.
1. Those with true saving faith study God’s Word - James 1:22-25
2. Those with true saving faith obey God’s Word - James 1:22,25
3. Those with true saving faith serve others - 1:27
4. Those with true saving faith Practice holiness - 1:27
5. Those with true saving faith restrain their tongues - 1:26 (Gregory Brown, Evidences of True Saving Faith)
Oh my friend, please examine yourself and ask if you are truly a believer, if you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ.
- Read James 1:19
Oh, how I wish we were better at listening to one another. How I wish we spent more time listening to God and listening to one another. Do you think, perhaps, there may be a reason the Lord gave us 2 ears and only 1 mouth?
This morning I would like to address our speech. James has a great deal to say about our speech.
Please turn with me to James 3
- James 3:1-12
Did you notice the length of this passage? What comes out of our mouths is so vitally important that James devotes 12 verses, in the middle of his letter, to our speech.
As we look at this passage together, I’d like you to notice first the warning about the tongue.
I. WARNING ABOUT THE TONGUE
Verse 1. Not many should become teachers. James is in no way down playing the importance of Christian teachers. My word, we need people to help us discern the meaning of some of the Bible. How many people, not understanding the full counsel of the Word of God, take some verse, and build a theology upon that one verse.
No, teachers are needed and they are important, but he is reminding folks that teachers are held to a greater standard because they have a greater impact on a greater number of people. He isn’t suggesting that any of us are perfect, verse 1, because we all stumble in many ways.” But he does say, “Think about what you’re doing.”
Some people want to teach simply because they love to hear themselves talk. They want a platform and an audience. So James says, “Be careful about that. Make sure you’re teaching for the right reason, because you will be held accountable for what you teach.
So there is a warning about the tongue. But notice, James also talks about the power of the tongue.
II. THE POWER OF THE TONGUE
- Read James 3:3-4
We have all seen horses with their bridles and with the bit in their mouths. Huge, 1000 pound horses controlled by a bit that weighs less than 1/2 pound. That is power.
Of we’ve seen huge ships, directed or steered by relatively small rudders. Again, James is emphasizing the power of our tongues.
Parents, you have no idea the power your tongue can have on your children. None of our children are alike, but if you find something they are good at and encourage them in that area, how you can help them blossom.
On the other hand, if you constantly point out their weaknesses, or compare them to their siblings, or tell them they will never amount to anything, you can beat them down and scar them for life.
Men, you have no idea the power you have to lift up your wife to encourage her, and to help her feel beautiful, a princess worthy of protecting and rescuing.
Women, you have no idea the power your speech has on your husband. The Bible says, women, respect your husbands. Ladies, if your husband feels respected by you, it will help him grow into what God called him to be.
With your words, with your tongue, you have the power to cause your husband to strive for great things. To be a man of God, to impact others’ lives. But with your tongue, you can also pull the rug out from under him. You can make him feel that nothing he does will ever be good enough. That he will never be able to please you, that he will never measure up in your eyes.
You have no idea the power your speech has on your spouse.
It’s been said that Samson killed 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Well, 1000 marriages are killed everyday using the same tool. 10,000 children are damaged everyday with that same tool. Never underestimate the power of your words.
III. THE PURPOSE OF THE TONGUE
- Read James 3:9-10
One of the purposes of the tongue is to praise God.
1. Praise God.
> Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.”
One of the reasons the Lord has given us the ability to talk is so that we can praise Him, and did you know that singing and praising God is one of the first signs that you are filled with the Spirit?
> Ephesians 5:18-19 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,
Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.
Let me ask you my friend, is your heart filled with songs? Are you singing?
Well brother Gene, you don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know the struggles I’ve had. You don’t know the pain I have. That may be true, but I do know that Paul and Silas sang in the prison after being beaten.
I can remember during an especially painful time, walking up and down my driveway, with tears streaming down my face, singing, “God is in control. We believe that His children will not be forsaken. God is in control, we will choose to remember and never be shaken, there is no power above or beyond Him we know. Og, oh, Oh, God is in control.
We have our tongues so that we can praise the Lord, Do you remember the night Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper in the upper room? The night, shortly before He was crucified?
> Matthew 26:29-30 But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
Jesus sang a song with His disciples before they went out. We sing and praise the Lord and when we do we discover that He is singing with us.
> Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet[a] in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”
We sing and praise the Lord, only to discover that He is right there singing with us. He is delighting over us.
My friend, if no one has told you before, I want you to know that God loves you.
Turn to someone near you and tell them, “God loves you.” We praise God. But, we also encourage and educate others.
2. Encourage and educate others.
a. Educate
> Mark 16:15 Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Did you notice what He told us to do? He told us to preach the Gospel, He did not tell us to preach politics.
I believe Christians are to be involved in the political process. We have to stand up for what is right and against what is wrong. We are to be salt and light, but we are called to preach the Gospel, not politics.
This past Sunday night, they held the Fall Celebration of Worship at First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach. It was a time for the churches of our association to get together and worship together. I, as usual, forgot about it until the afternoon, so I didn’t get to tell ya’ll about it. Anyway, they had a speaker there who spoke on revival. He told the story of talking to a friend of his who was an atheist.
She asked him one day, “Why do ya’ll hate me? Your know, I don’t believe in Jesus, but I am interested in learning about what ya’ll believe because it amazes me that a carpenter from 2,000 years ago can make such an impact, but, every time I try to talk to someone about Jesus, and they find out that I am a Democrat, they want to start talking politics to me, and they act like they hate me. You are the only one who has ever talked to me about Jesus.
My friends, it wasn’t a new political party that changed the world in the first century. It wasn’t an industrial revolution. It wasn’t some new technology. It was a risen Savior named Jesus Christ, and when the disciples started sharing about Jesus the leaders of the day complained, “They’re turning the world upside down.”
WE are caked to educate people about Who can truly bring them peace. It won’t be a green new deal. It won’t be the building of a new solar panel power plant. There is nothing that will bring the peace people, are seeking except a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are called to educate, and we are called to encourage.
b. We are called to encourage one another
> Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
You ever notice how you just enjoy being around some people? They are so encouraging.
I’m glad Nancy isn’t here this morning, so I can say something nice about her and she’ll never know it. But on Wednesday nights, after Bible study, on her way out the door she’ll come up to me and say, “Thank you for teaching on that tonight,” or something like that. Encouraging.
Do you encourage other people or do you criticize?
I read an account yesterday by an African American man who told about his experience at school. He said he was fortunate enough to have a special, encouraging teacher one year. Every day, when someone in the class did something good, perhaps they did a good job on a project, or they did well on a test, or they helped someone, the teacher would put their name on the board. So the people whose names were on the board were kids who did good things, not bad.
He said, after a while he notched that his name would get put on the board more and more, and he finally realized that it wasn’t the white children in his class sitting around him that held him back. He could accomplish and do whatever he wanted. He said it changed his life, all because of a teacher’s encouragement.
We are called to educate and encourage.
Sadly, sometimes we poison one another instead.
IV. THE POSION OF THE TONGUE
- Read James 3:8
We are called to educate and encourage one another. Sadly, often our tongues are instead filled with poison.
1. Poison of criticism
Have you ever been around someone who is always critical? All you hear coming out of their mouths is criticism and negativity.
I find myself getting like that sometimes and I have to fight against it.
Gladys and I were on our recent trip, and we saw an awful lot of people. I was amazed at some of what I saw, and I remember commenting, that there is no one so ugly that they can’t make it worse with the wrong clothes, or hairstyle, tattoo or piercing.
Now, where did that come from? I guess I’m getting old and crotchety. It’s easy to criticize people who are not like us, or who don’t do things the way we do, or the way we think they should.
The other day, I was cleaning out a truck and I found a pack of cards in the center console that read, “Hey, you stink at parking. Seriously, Even a five-year old knows how to stay within the lines.”
I haven’t given any of them out, but I did slip a couple of them in my pocket.
Criticism. It comes natural doesn’t it? A poison that comes to our tongues so easily.
2. Gossip
Gossip is another poison that comes so easily to our tongues.
In a small German village, a woman differed with her minister and became so angry that she began spreading ugly rumors about him around town. As fate would have it, she eventually became ill and called on the minister to pray for her. He came gladly, and she asked his forgiveness of her gossiping.
"I will grant you forgiveness," the minister said, "but there's something you must do."
"I'll do anything," the woman said.
"As soon as you get well, go pluck the feathers from a black chicken and put them into a basket and bring them to me."
When the woman got well, she did what the minister asked her to do and presented the basket of feathers to the minister.
"You did well," the minister said. "Now take this basket of feathers and scatter them in the corners of the marketplace and from the towers of the church. Scatter them throughout the town. Then return to me."
So the woman did. She walked from one end of town to the other, scattering the feathers. Then she returned to her pastor. "I have done as you asked," she said.
"Very well. Now take your basket and collect all the feathers. Make sure not one is missing."
"But that is not possible!" the woman said with a choking cry. "The wind has carried many of them away!”
"So it is with your words," the minister said. "While I have gladly forgiven you, do not forget that you can never undo the damage your untrue words have done."
The sin of gossiping - how easily committed! What does the Word of God say about this evil?
> In Leviticus 19:16 we read these words: "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord."
> Proverbs 26:22 says: "The words of a talebearer are as wounds" and
> Proverbs 17:9 says "He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”
Oh, if we could keep our mouths shut about one another.
3, Let’s not forget the poison of impatience
This week I read of an 80 year old man, who was sitting on the back porch with his son who was watching a ballgame.
The dad asked his son, “What’s that?” The son answered, “It’s a butterfly.” Then he turned back to the game. After a few minutes, the Dad asked his sons again, “What’s that?” The son answered again, “It’s a butterfly,” and turned back to his game. A few minutes later the dad asked a third time, “What’s that?” The son turned and looked, “I told you. It’s a butterfly. Come on dad, I’m watching the game.”
The dad gets up, goes into the house and comes back with a journal. He opens it and tells his son, “Read that.” The son begins to read his dad’s journal.
Today my 3-year old son and I watched mom plant a garden. My son saw a butterfly on a raise and asked me, “What’s that?” And I patiently answered him 35 times.”
Some of ya’ll are now the children of older parents and sometimes they forget things. It’s time to demonstrate some of the patience with them, that they have shown you over the years.
Impatience can poison our words, simply in the way we answer or say something.
James says, your speech, what you talk about, what you say and how you say it is a measure of how your spiritual walk is going. How are you doing?
V. CONCLUSION
Story is told of a teacher who once gave her students a unique writing assignment. She wrote all of the students’ names on the board, and then told the students to write something nice about everyone on the board.
When the students had finished their writing assignment, the teacher collected them, organized them, and the next day gave the nice comments back to all the students.
Year’s later, some heard that the teacher was in the hospital. A man went to visit with her and found 4 of his former classmates were already there. While visiting with his former teacher, he pulled to collected note from the writing assignment years ago containing all the nice things the people in the class had said about him and told the teacher how much that had meant to him over the years. As he was telling her, his 4 former classmates produced their notes as well. Some carried the notes in their purses, others in their wallet, some in a drawer at home.
Never underestimate the power or importance of encouraging or kind words. Your speech can make a world of difference in people’s lives?
