Heart 2: The power of words

Bible Reading

James 3:1–12 CSB

1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is mature, able also to control the whole body. 3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies. 4 And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. 11 Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.

Introduction

The Bible is a great book with lots of wisdom literature in it. The most obvious place where we see wisdom literature is in the book of proverbs.

If you have never read proverbs before, I recommend you do, because it is one of the best ways in which you can grow in wisdom. Proverbs are meant to be read together with a community and debated and discussed so that together you can grow in wisdom.

Now when you sit down and look at the book of proverbs you will see that it covers a whole range of topics.

How to live your life, how to use your time, how to spend your money, what to look for in a spouse etc.

But the topic it talks about more than any other, the topic that it covers in the most detail is how we use words. How we use our tongue.

Now the book of James is considered to be a new testament book of wisdom. And just like the book of proverbs, James covers the way we use our words in some detail. And today as we look at our next “Heart” sermon in the head, heart, hands, holy worship series, we can be tempted to just jump into what James says.

But we need to pause before we begin.

We have to understand that the current passage isn’t just some disembodied teaching, devoid of context.

So before we look at the text itself, we need to understand that the context our passage on taming the tongue comes directly after James discussing faith and works.

So James has spent quite a bit of time underscoring the fact that if you have faith, if you believe in Jesus, then your life WILL look different. If your life isn’t different because of your relationship with Jesus, then JAmes says, your faith is a dead kind of faith. It doesn’t do anything - and it should.

So then he starts talking about what that looks like in practice. And the first thing he tackles, the first practical application of the doctrine that faith is expressed through works, is the taming of the tongue.

That’s where we are in the book, of James. That will become important a bit later.

So let’s now dive in and see what God, through the apostle JAmes, has to say about how we use our tongues.

The first thing we see is the power of the tongue.

The tongue is powerful.

James gives us a range of pictures to demonstrate how powerful the way we use words is.

The first picture is of that of a ship’s rudder.

James 3:4–5 CSB

4 And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest.

A ship, even in those days, was a ralatively big vessel. And this big thing is controlled by a tiny rudder. Something I did not know until i was preparing this sermon is that a rudder is designed to be about 1.5 - 2 % of the size of the ship’s hull.

That is 98% of what interacts with the water, 98% of the part of the ship that is touch with the water isnt the rudder.

The 2% determines where the ship goes.

Now this isn’t relevant, and don’t jump to too many conclusions about this, but the length of the human tongue is about 4% of the size of human. So in some ways you can say a tongue is twice as powerful as the rudder of a ship...

Look teh point is, in the same way as the rudder of a ship steers the whole thing, so too the tongue has tremendous power to steer the course of one’s life. IT is a powerful thing.

The second picture James uses is that of a spark of fire.

James 3:5–6 CSB

5 So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

This the power of the tongue, like a tiny flame, it can burn down a whole forest.

The tongue has power in that though it is small it steers the whole body, and though it is small, it’s power is kind of self-propelling. Like fire our words can start small, but quickly snowball into something immense and powerful, as destructive as a forest fire.

But we know of the power of words don’t we. The shape of our history as a people has been determined more by words than by guns. The pen truly is more powerful than the sword. Just consider the way in which words have shaped the history of the world.

Consider the good ways in which words have shaped our history.

““I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ … “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther king, these words changed the course of American history.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Winston churchhill. These words stirred up a nation which ultimately lead to the defeat of Germany in WW2.

But words can be the cause of great evil too.

Consider, Hitler, one of the greatest orators of this 20th century.

Consider the deconstruction of reality through language. There is no truth.

Consider the distortion of biblical truth through changing the meaning of words. Love is love.

Can we use words for good, or evil?

The book of James responds with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. - Obama

Words are powerful, the tongue is powerful.

But not only is the tongue powerful,

Not only is the tongue powerful, the tongue is spiritual

The tongue is spiritual

Why is it that the tongue is so powerful?

It is because our ability to speak is a supernatural gift.

Our ability to speak is part of our image bearing nature - it is somethign that is unique to uhmanity.

While it is true that most animals can communicate in some way,

speaking, God’s chosen method of doing stuff, is uniquely human.

In fact the fact that we can speak is supernatural - it is just so common, that we think of it is as natural...

And because words are supernatural things, they have power and they do thing on a spiritual level.

Let me show you how this works.

Consider:

Words do things at a deep spiritual level. There is something about saying something that somehow makes it real.

We know this from experience - there are things which might be true, but aren’t real until we actually verbally say them.

If you are dating someone, and the relationship progresses really well, you might love the other person, but in some ways that love is not real, until you say it to the other person.

This afternoon I am solemnising a marriage. And it is not until the couple say “I do” that their marriage is in a sense real.

Our words do stuff. Our words do stuff on a spiritual level.

Think about Jesus’ own ministry. It is not until he says it that the paralytic man can get up and walk.

On teh cross Jesus prays that God would forgive the people because they don’t know what they are doing. Why did he say this outloud? Could it be that the process of forgiveness involved Jesus interceding for the people on their behalf, verbally, before God the Father?

Why is it that Jesus cries out that God had forsaken him?

Why is it that he refuses to die, until such a time as he said “It is finished”.

Why is it that the sign of the Holy Spirit’s pouring out on His people at Pentacost is that they can speak powerfully?

For that matter, why is it that Jesus is called the Word of God?

Why is it that when God creates the world, it is done by speaking it into existence.

And why is it that at the end of time in the book of Revelation, that Jesus says “I am making everything new”, even while everthing is being made new?

It is because words have spiritual power. They do stuff on a spiritual level. And because we bear God’s image, our words have a related but lesser spiritual power.

And it is precisely this spiritual power of words that make them so dangerous.

We either live up to our image bearing nature with how we use our words, or we destroy with our words.

Our words can be used to create.

Have you ever considered that you can bring life and build stuff and shape people? This is part of your redemption - your words can be used to build - just like Jesus. Obviously to a lesser degree, but nevertheless your words can build and create, not out of nothing, like God. But your words have tremendous building power.

I mean, How does the Bible teach us to use God’s word? What does 2 Timothy 3 say? God’s word is God’ breathed, and it is useful for:

teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteouness.

What is teaching, but speaking God’s word in order to become spiritually mature?

What is rebuking, but speaking God’s word in order to pull someone back spiritually from the sinful path they are on?

What is correcting, but speaking God’s word to each other in order to sharpen our understanding and refining our faith?

What is training in righteousness, but speaking God’s word to each other, to help equip us to live life in a way that is in line with God’s revealed will for us?

In each instance, the word is used, by the church, to build each other up.

These are spiritual actions accomplished by the word.

Are your words being used to build?

Are your words being used to encourage?

Are your words being used to shape and train up?

Are your words being used to carefully craft someone’s spiritual life according to GOd’s will?

Are your words being used to redeem?

Are you speaking like Jesus?

Because the opposite is also true, our words can be used for great evil.

When our words destroy, we mirror Satan.

Consider, the first evil that came into the world, was because Satan twisted God’s word. It is exctly God’s good life giving, life protecting Word that the serpent attacks:

He says to eve - “Did God really say...?”

And there are tons of ways in which words can destroy.

The most obvious is just saying hurtful things to someone. Using your words to tear someone down. If you have been alive on earth for any amount of time, you have felt the sting of someone’s evil words.

Have you ever seen your words this way? Do you see the power you wield with your tongue?

Will you, like God, create and order with your words?

Will you, like Jesus, heal and build up with your words?

Or will you, like Satan, use the power of your words to destroy, corrupt or kill?

So our words are spiritual and powerful.

so we have seen that our tongues are powerful, and our tongues are powerful precisely because they are spiritual.

But finally, and probably most importantly, our tongues are diagnostic of our hearts...

The tongue is diagnostic

James 3:7–12 CSB

7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. 11 Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.

Do you see what James is saying here - he says the way in which you use words shows everyone what is going on in your heart.

As we have seen our words are a divine gift. We can speak because we have been made in the image of God. Our words have power, because we are God’s image bearers.

And like the rest of us our words can be used either to worship God and to act like Jesus, or they can be used to worship Satan and act like him.

And so because of that, the way you use your words shows what is going on in your heart - whether you are bearing God’s image, or distorting it.

Our words show us what is really going on in our hearts.

Consider the last week, what are the things you said about others? How does that stack up against your faith and your privileged position as one of God’s children.

How do your words reveal your heart?

The problem is, that all of us have a deep heart issue. Our hearts aren’t pure.

This is how James describes it:

James 3:6 CSB

6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

It is itself set on fire by hell… wow.

So the evil we can achieve with our tongues is remarkable. And it is looks a lot liek what Satan did int he garden of eden.

It getting someone to doubt God and his good word. It is spreading false beliefs or information. It is gaslighting and hate speech.

One of the key ways the tongue destroys is through Gossip. The Bible has a lot to say about the sin of Gossip and it’s implications.

There are many many ways in which the tongue destroys, consumes and burns.

So let’s pause here for a moment to consider the flames we carry around in our mouths.

What is going on in your life? What is the character of your speech?

How do you talk about people?

How do you talk to yourself?

What are the things you say about others?

what things do you say about yourself?

If you are like every other human, it is likely that you are an unholy mix of good and bad.

But that is exactly James’ point.

James 3:9–12 CSB

9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. 11 Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.

We are hopelessly stuffed. Because the tongue diagnoses our wicked and evil hearts.

We have this faith which is supposed to be alive and well, which should result in our lives having been changed.

But the reality is that what we say reveals how far we still have to go.

What we say to others and ourselves reveals that we are double minded, that we are a spring of saltwater and freshwater, a fig tree that produces olives. A person whose mouth both blesses and curses.

And we have a duty to control our tongue, because it is so powerful in the spiritual real,

We should be like the ships captain who controls the rudder to steer where we want the ship to go, we should be like a rider which controls the horse with a bit.

But we cant.

No human can tame the tongue,

and so all our words really do, is condemn us.

James is saying, do you want to know what kind of person you really are - then consider your words.

And you will soon realise how much more you look like Satan in the garden,

and how little you look like Jesus.

And, he says, you have a duty to control your tongue, but you cant.

And in our passage

- he doesnt resolve this tension.

He leaves us like Paul does in Romans 7:15-25

Romans 7:15–25 CSB

15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

Who will rescue me from this body of death, who will rescue me from a heart that produces all kinds of evil, all the time, as shown through the wicked way in which i use words?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That is the point - you cannot tame your tongue,

humans can’t tame the tongue.

But God can, through his Holy Spirit, for those that belong to him.

God does,

through his Holy Spirit,

for all those that belong to him.

We will fail to use words to build one another up, and we will hurt each other with evil and twisted speech.

But God loves us anyway like a husband loves a wife - flaws and all. And because of his great love for us, we will over time, become more and more holy in the ways we use words.

And just like a husband and a wife’s relationship,

it is the love that the God has for us in Jesus,

that ultimately captures our heart.

And the more our hearts are captured by Christ,

the more our hearts will be changed.

and the more our hearts are changed,

the more our speech will be under control.

The truth of the matter is this:

The more you love Jesus, the more you look like him,

the more you will be in control of your tongue in response to his great love for you.

So if you want to be in control of your tongue,

if you want build people up and not destroy them like your wicked heart wants

then you need to look to Jesus.

Amen