Taming The Tongue: Doers Of The Word Series

TITLE: TAMING THE TONGUE:

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B

Biblical Text

James 3:1-12 The Message When You Open Your Mouth

MAIN TEXT:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Where did that bit of wisdom come from? Certainly not from James. The proverb “sticks and stones may break my bones” means the fact that if you are attacked by someone, you will only go through physical pain. Eventually, you can be healed, and the body becomes whole, but it will not affect your personality or bravery. On the contrary, the damage done by verbal abuse and hurtful words is always irreparable. The proverb “sticks and stones may break my bones” is said to have its initial traces in 1844, in Alexander William Kinglake’s book where it is used as “golden sticks and stones.” Later, it was cited in The Christian Recorder of March published in 1862, where it was stated as; “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me.” I like that version better Words will Never Break me!

James the brother of Jesus held a counter position. “The tongue is a fire,” writes James, and “no one can tame the tongue – a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

And so dangerous is this appendage, the tongue, that everyone should think seriously before becoming a person of authority, before deciding to teach and to lead and to speak to other people.

1) Don’t Teach The Wrong Word

This passage begins with a stern warning to those who teach and proceeds to a set of pronouncements, nearly a tirade, on how the human tongue is dangerous and evil, that inevitably it does more harm than good, and that our only hope is to some extent to keep it under control.

I feel the need to highlight the particular caution James has for those of us who teach others on a regular basis. “We who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” The words we speak from the pulpit, from our social media platforms, and in passing have great influence. Are we healing with them or harming them? Words have the power to harm and to heal always, but all the more from the mouths of church leaders and authorities.

To be called to preach is to play with fire, Holy Spirit fire and the sort of unholy fire James speaks of here. It is more than fake News it's fake Faith.

Our speech moves the Body of Christ, toward more just and holy ways of being or into idolatry, what James calls friendship with the world.

2) It Only Takes A Spark, To Set Off A Forest Fire.

Does James see the tongue as inherently evil, controllable with effort but incapable of real change? Or should we read the other side of his metaphors, that the spark that starts the raging inferno can also light the home fire that cooks our food and warms our weary bones?

Despite our own experience that the tongue is unruly, that controlling our speech is a never-ending struggle, we can affirm other, quite different experiences.

We do, in fact, bless God with our voices, and we do so sincerely, without reservations or false motives.

In fact, if we are able to bless God with our tongues (and we are), it should follow that we are not the kind of people whose tongues lead them astray.

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.' Smokey the Bear immediately comes to mind. Be careful, because it only takes one spark to set everything ablaze. We grew up seeing the posters and hearing the cautions against accidentally setting a fire.

'A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that.'

A careless word, a wrongly placed adjective or verb, even the placement of our punctuation can change what we meant to say into something we never intended. The fires of gossip and controversy can be quickly set ablaze. The fires of curses, of name-calling, of hate speech, might need to also be mentioned. Sparks that can begin with a misplaced word, a hasty generalization, or perhaps a leap without proof. There goes the spark.

'By our speech, we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.'

3) Don’t Be double-tongued

Our American society hasn’t the faintest idea how to listen. So much of American Christianity is a shouting match our back door whispers. Foolishness abides. Fires are set, and what is the cost?

I am aware of how the mouth can betray. The dilemma is named in verse 9, “ With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.”