Superbowl 37 FedEx commercial spoof of Castaway.
If you recall, Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert for years.
The commercial portrayed a frazzled Hanks in the movie.
The FedEx employee goes to door of suburban home, package in hand.
Lady answers door, he explained that he survived 5 years on a deserted island and during that entire time, he kept this package in order to deliver to her.
She replies “thank you”.
His curiosity gets the best of him and asks, “what was in the package?”.
She replied “Oh nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a GPS device, a compass, water purifier and some seeds”.
Much like that package, the resources for growth are available in God’s word.
Today we are beginning a 3-part series titled “Watch yo mouth”.
Repeat after me “watch yo mouth”.
This series is centered around James 3:1-12.
Stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.
Read from my bible.
This passage contains the single most sustained discussion in NT on use of the tongue.
As I began preparing for this series, I realized James (who was the 1/2 brother of Jesus) was well-versed in OT scripture, and Jesus’ words, resounded with James in this entire epistle, but especially in chapter 3, in my belief.
It is a powerful expose of the sin and nature that mar our speech.
This chapter is full of teaching (discipleship), correction (rebuke), and child-training.
That is what we will examine in this series.
We'll begin, with the first 3 verses in part 1 of our series.
James 3:1 “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”
I don’t want to veer to far off course here, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve had an admiration for teachers.
Not so much the public school system, but the heartbeat, which is the teachers.
I believe James is admonishing those who are possibly considering to be teachers, that they are held to higher standards, and the weight and potential influence they carry, should not be taken lightly.
James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem, so by now, he knew a thing or two what challenges teachers face.
He then goes into this discourse about the power of the tongue pertaining to our speech.
But, this is not confined solely to teachers.
James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”
…he is a perfect man. Almost like he was saying “oh, I know YOU’RE perfect.”
Which we know, only one who has walked the earth who was perfect.
James 3:3 “Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.”
Candy spots
As we go through this series, I’d like us to keep in mind a few thoughts:
If our tongues are out of control, our relationship with God is out of control.
Our speech, both publicly and privately, is seen by God.
Children hear how we talk to our spouses and friends, and to them.
Do we raise our voices to them or others?
There was a time, far too long, when I had enraged outbursts towards my children.
Lisa and I have only had a couple of “knock-down drag out” type of fights and the kids only saw one. No beating, hitting or anything like that, just some ear bleeding volume in our voices. Mostly mine.
Once, when Brig was about 6 or 7 years old (old enough that he remembers it to this day), that he and I were playing on a side road next to our house, and a car blew past a stop sign, and I yelled that was a ‘blank’ stop sign you just ran!
He said “dad you didn’t have to cuss”. OUCH
Let’s look at 3 passages today that tie-in to this chapter in James.
We’ll begin in
Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Last week we looked at some “signs” that we are Spiritually Maturing.
One we can add to that is:
Spiritual growth can be measured in the proper stewardship of our tongue.
Let’s look at how David dealt with this.
In the verse that precedes v14 David prayed that God would keep him from sinful actions.
Psalm 19:13 “Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.” NKJV
NLT- Keep your servant from deliberate sins. Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
back to Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
Meditation of our heart- our thoughts
Words of my mouth- expressions of our thoughts
Be acceptable in Your sight- May the thoughts, that lead to words, and the words that lead to actions, be pleasing to you, my strength and my Redeemer!
I believe David is asking that his words to God, and to others, is acceptable to God.
When considering our growth in controlling our tongue, we can use these yard markers:
Is what I am going to say, true?
Proverbs 11:13 ESV “Whoever goes about slandering, reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.” -watch yo mouth-
Is what I am going to say, kind?
Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” -watch yo mouth-
Is what I am going to say, necessary?
Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” -watch yo mouth-
Obviously, it wouldn’t be prudent to carry this list around, and each time before you speak, pull out your checklist...
However, this thought process will develop and become a natural part of your speech, over time.
It will take work. Hard work. Intentional work.
Scene in NCIS
We could compare this thought process to a bank account.
Deposits are required, before withdrawals can me made, otherwise overdrafts occur.
-Story about giving my checkbook to Lisa-
We’ve got to deposit God’s words into our hearts before we can think and speak as David prays in Psalm 19:14.
Doing a quick word study I learned that the word “heart” appears in the bible about 1,000 times. Usages of the word heart include “mind, emotions, will, or inner man”.
One of my favorites is Acts 13:22 “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’”
I’d like to go back to Eph 4:29 for just a couple of minutes.
Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”
“if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”
-Watch yo mouth!-
that word “corrupt” has a transliteration from Greek to English as “rotten” “foul” “putrid”
“edification” building up
“impart grace to the hearers”-communicate or increase in them grace by instruction, reprehension, or exhortation.
Just a couple more passages as we wrap up today’s message.
Proverbs 18:7–8. The mouths of fools are their ruin, they trap themselves with their lips.
v8 Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.
-watch yo mouth-
Proverbs 18:20 “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.”
-watch yo mouth-
Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
-watch yo mouth-
Three We statements:
We can choose to speak life or death over our lives and those around us.
We speak like not only in our words, but also in our actions.
We cannot separate our words from our character.
-Ashley yesterday-
Closing
So much in God’s word about importance of proper speech!
We all face battles everyday. May we never lose sight of the fact that when we speak God’s word, we are putting God in the battle!
The devil doesn’t want us speaking life, but we overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
Words have power to heal, encourage, instruct and bless.
-say goodbye to online viewers-
Pray out
