Introduction

Welcome back church! I’m so excited about today’s message and I’ve got lots to share with you as this is our largest section of James in this series. Conveniently for me, it’s all about words. As you probably know already, the book of James spends a lot of time, probably close to a third of the book, devoted to the words we speak, how we speak, and why we speak. And as I’m sure you also know, words are powerful!

American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent and evil they become in the hands of someone who knows how to combine them.”

Yes, words can be evil and destructive. Honestly, if you’ve ever lived through the Junior High years you know just how true this is. But words can also be life giving, creative, and wonderful. Simply think for a moment about a time when someone spoke encouraging and life-giving words to you. Wasn’t it absolutely amazing!?!

In fact, we know from the book of Genesis that God literally spoke the world into existence. And Psalm 33:9 says, “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” Words are powerful! Words have meaning. An ill-timed or perfectly timed word spoken to another can impact them for their entire lives. Think about that for a moment… You can change the trajectory of another person’s life, simply by the way you speak to them.

This might have been some of the impetus behind why James devoted so much time to this subject in his letter. And because this is the largest section of James we’re going to cover, I’m going to tackle the chapters in bigger chunks to see what James has to teach us about both speaking and boasting.

So let’s get started, we’ve got lots of ground to cover today.

Words are powerful! Words have meaning. An ill-timed or perfectly timed word spoken to another can impact them for their entire lives.

Main Teaching

James begins this section by making a point about the judgement teachers (or preachers) will incur because of their position… Which wouldn’t make a ton of sense if not connected to the rest of the chapter where we learn just how powerful words are. And of course, words are the primary medium through which teachers teach and preachers preach. Maybe James is trying to acknowledge just how serious the situation is by revealing the weight of responsibility he carries. Either way, he immediately moves on in verse 2 by saying, “We all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body.”

In simple terms, if you’re able to control your mouth, then you can control anything. You have reached the end of the journey, perfection. All of us have said things we wish we could take back or change… because even though the tongue is such a small part of our bodies, it can have an immeasurable impact.

James goes on to give three practical examples (Verses 3-5) about how something large and powerful is controlled by a comparably tiny thing ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium