Sermon Tone Analysis

Watch Your Tongue!

Good morning children of the Most High God!

We are going to continue our journey in the book of James this morning.

We are covering the first half of chapter three this morning.

What James covers in a few verses is undoubtedly something that we all struggle with at times.

Let’s turn to the word of God this morning.

Now that is kind of scary, teachers are judged more strictly!

When I was preparing this teaching, I wanted to leave this verse out because I knew you would all be looking at me like that! “Oh, your in trouble Bob!” Listen, if I ever say something that does not sound right or you question, please come talk to me.

I need to know, and the last thing I want to do is misdirect or in anyway not represent the risen Christ.

James is telling us that we must carefully consider assuming a role of leadership, being a pastor, or a teacher of the word of God.

God does not discourage people from assuming the position of a teacher, James is pointing out that there is a certain dignity in the position of teacher that requires an understanding of the dangers and responsibilities.

Teachers within the church have an inordinately great opportunity to influence others within the congregation.

That influence is meant to guide people to the cross and to help people apply scripture to their faith and life.

Anything else is deception.

James is not teaching that there is a double standard here.

Teachers are not required to live stricter lives than other believers.

We are all called to live strict Christian lives.

Yet, we must realize that in this flesh, none are perfect, no, not one.

Look what James says next.

In this verse, James takes his focus off of the individual teacher and includes the entire Christian community.

Yeah, all of us!

Notice that James humbles himself and includes himself in this observation.

The Greek word for “we all” is hapas, and it means all, whole,every-one.

We all fall short at times.

James the Just, brother of Jesus, had slip-ups too!

Now, when James is talking about the “perfect” person, he is not saying a sinless person.

The Greek word for perfect is teleos and it means perfected, but the biblical sense James uses is to describe Christian maturity and completeness in Christian virtue.

What is interesting is that James says “ stumble in many way” and then puts what we say at the apex of all sin.

Our words are the one common sin among all believers who have the ability to speak.

Picture a mountain of sin with our words being at the very tip.

James is saying that the person who controls the tongue, has allowed God to be the center of their thoughts, and is far less likely to say something hurtful or to fall into other sins.

The more we learn to control our tongues, the smaller that mountain becomes.

James gives us two great illustration of controlling the body through control of the tongue.

The bit in the horses mouth, which is small like the tongue, allows the rider to control over the entire animal.

Whichever way they want the horse to go, and what they want the horse to do.When believers allow Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts and words, He will guide our actions, he will help us tame our tongues.

Similarly, the small rudder of a ship controls the direction of the entire vessel.

What happens if we take the rudder away from a ship in a storm?

It crashes all over the place.

We have to pilot these vessels using the knowledge and wisdom of Christ, and through the fruit of the Spirit.

There is incredible power in our words.

Solomon, the author of Proverbs 18:21 tells us that:

The power of life and death!

The words you say influence those around you.

Again, we choose.

Do we use our words to speak life, hope, and truth?

Do our words, our texts, our social media posts direct people to Jesus Christ, are we reflecting Christ?

Or do we use our words destroy, alienate others, gossip, and shun?

All of which are tools of the great deceiver.

We are either going to eat our words as rotten fruit or we are going to produce fruit of the spirit to achieve a good result.

Imagine the difference in our lives and the lives of others if our thoughts and words were “yes” to what is true, what is good, what is right, and what is admirable and “no” to what is evil, wrong, hateful, and un-godly.

James goes on to say:

I do want to make a point here.

As a way of deciding which scriptures are relevant to themselves, some people read this chapter and think it is all about cursing.

It is not.

I do not have to curse at someone to make them feel bad or to start trouble.

Earlier in James, he talked about being slow to speak.

Running over others in conversation and not practicing intentional listening shows that we think what we have to say is more important than what they are saying.

This behavior says to the other person “I am more important than you.”

When we boast about ourselves to others, we can make the listener feel less important, inferior, or less of a person.

Kind of like minimizing their feelings and achievements.

If we are making statements that stress:

• our ability

• our talents

• our self-sufficiency

• our triumphs

• our possessions

• our position

• our spirituality

• our accomplishments

We are probably attempting to make ourselves feel superior to somebody else.

I cant tell you how many times I have had discussions with people who have to one-up whatever I say.

They make the conversation about themselves.

It is usually because they have a superiority complex and I recognize that they probably feel inferior and need some help seeing who they truly are in the eyes of God.

The point is that our tongue, with a few hurtful words can start a devastating fire that can cause great damage to someone mentally and spiritually.

This is a tough verse theologically.

“The tongue is also a fire” means that the potential exists to use use our words in a destructive manner, much like was previously stated.

The “world of evil among the parts of the body” is what can be confusing.

We find the answer in “world of evil.”

He connects these words in a way that signify the forces of the world that oppose God.

It is going to get bumpy here for a minute.

When a person is using their mouth to dominate others, tear someone down, hurt someone, or belittle someone, that person is not being guided by Holy Spirit.

It does not matter if they are a pastor, priest, minister, or laity.

Name the sin, and words are involved either through thoughts of the mind or verbally through the tongue.

And what is the source of that fiery tongue?

Hell itself.

If I am not speaking with the heart of Christ, under the influence of Jesus, what has influenced my words?

The world, which stands opposed to God.

Who is the prince of the power of the air?

The evil one.

So, who’s influence am I under?

Scary question.

By human nature, which is corrupt, the tongue could serve as a divisive instrument of evil.

By grace, the grace that is to permeate the heart and mind of every believer, the power of Christ, the tongue can become an instrument of positive blessing.

The idea is not that our tongue is only an instrument of discord and strife.

God can mold an abusive tongue into a force for good and righteousness.

God can and will mold those who are willing.

I know he has done it in this very congregation!

Can anybody here testify!

Thank you Jesus!

In our final verse, the Apostle Paul says: