Speaking Life - Part 6

PASTOR’S FIRST FUNERAL

A young pastor had as his first duty in the church that just hired him the leading of the funeral of an older eccentric man who had just died. Standing before the open casket while preaching, and trying to console the widow, he said, "I know this must be a very hard blow, Mrs. Vernon. But we must remember that what we see here is the husk only, the shell. The nut has gone to heaven.”

Second one ready:

Church Feud

Church feuds are not uncommon, especially among cliques in the congregation. But when the pastor and choir director get into it, stand aside.

One week our preacher preached on commitment, and how we should dedicate ourselves to service. The director then led the choir in singing, 'I Shall Not Be Moved.'

The next Sunday, the preacher preached on giving and how we should gladly give to the work of the Lord. The choir director then led the song, 'Jesus Paid It All.'

The next Sunday, the preacher preached on gossiping and how we should watch our tongues. The hymn was 'I Love To Tell The Story.'

The preacher became disgusted over the situation and the next Sunday he told the congregation he was considering resigning. The choir then sang 'Oh, Why Not Tonight.'

When the preacher resigned the next week he told the church that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was taking him away. The choir then sang, 'What A Friend We Have in Jesus.'

Recap from Last Time

Faith that Works Part 5: Living Faith - James 2:14-26

Don’t just pray, be an answer to someone’s prayer

Living faith always leads to action

Nekros = Dead, speaking of a corpse

If faith was just a creed, demons would be justified

Righteous acts are an outflow of saving faith

Salvation is by faith through grace, unto good works

Counterfeit faith does not save

Faith that doesn’t have “fruit” is fake and delusional

True faith is more than intellectual belief. It’s more than affirming Biblical truth. It is faith working through love!

Faith should only be dead to doubt, discouragement, and impossibilities

“We believe that men are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith which is alone. They are saved by faith without works, but not by a faith which is without works.” -Charles Spurgeon

Tonight’s Teaching: James 3:1-12

Faith that Works Part 6: Speaking Life - James 3:1-12

Marks of a true/mature believer?

1. Steadfast in trials

“The storm that you sleep through is the only storm that you can calm”

2. Not controlled by their emotions

3. They know their weaknesses

4. Doers of the Word

5. They don’t show partiality

6. Their faith works

Now James is going to show us another area where we need to mature, our mouth.

7. They tame their tongue

James 3:1 NKJV

1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

If you teach the Word, you will be held to a much higher standard of judgment.

Luke 12:48 NKJV

48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Matthew 12:36 NKJV

36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

1. Preachers are the prime example of the power of the tongue

With their tongues, true teachers of the Word can guide their people toward victory, or false ones lead toward defeat.

James 3:2 NKJV

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.

The person who can keep their tongue is

2. Teleios: mature, full grown, complete, an expert

The importance of maturity:

James 1:4 NKJV

4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

3. We need to know our weaknesses, so we can truly get to know God’s strength

James 3:3–4 NKJV

3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

Horses are large, powerful animals. And yet, they can be controlled with a small piece of metal and a few leather straps. This is called a bit: a bar which is placed behind the horse's teeth, resting against the soft tissues in the back of the mouth. This gives the rider the ability to create pressure on the animal, and even pain, if used roughly. With a bit in a horse's mouth, a rider is able to control the whole animal, to make it obey, to steer it wherever the rider wants to go. https://www.bibleref.com/James/3/James-3-3.html

Analogies of how we exert influence on others through our words

This influence can go both ways. It can be used for great blessing, or for evil.

The “tongue” of the church is the teachers, and the body is the “believers.”

The tongue: bits, rudder, spark

The body: horse, ship, trees

A small object controlling a much bigger one is a “big” part of the analogy.

James 3:5 NKJV

5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

4. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”-Proverbs 19:21

Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Our words can have massive effects

Proverbs 16:27 NKJV

27 An ungodly man digs up evil, And it is on his lips like a burning fire.

Some men’s tongues bite more than their teeth.

Charles Spurgeon

James 3:6 NKJV

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

5. Our words are active and can release hell or heaven on earth

James 3:7–8 NKJV

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Double-minded use of the tongue

James 3:9–10 NKJV

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

6. No one can tame the tongue without God’s help

Psalm 140:3 NKJV

3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah

7. Praising God is the best and highest use of the tongue

8. Using this same tool to curse His representatives shows a spiritual disconnect

Something is structurally wrong when we are doing both things at the same time. Our maturity is lacking.

9. What we speak is a measure of our maturity

James 3:11–12 NKJV

11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Mixture is not natural

Genesis 1:11–12 NKJV

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Freshwater Vs. Salty water

Fig Tree = Olives?

Grapevine = Figs?

“If Paul saw the American church today we’d be getting a letter too!” (More like a book, or a very long series.)

God wants you to be naturally supernatural!

If you want to be an effective believer you can’t be a dualistic one. You can but you won’t be effective in your call and all you will end up doing is bringing shame on the Lord.

10. Fruit tells you a lot about a tree

Matthew 7:18 NKJV

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Luke 6:45 NKJV

45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Applications:

A. The right words, spoken at the right time, with the right attitude, release life. But the wrong words, spoken at the wrong time, with the wrong attitude, release death.

B. The most difficult member of your body to control is not your eyes or your fists, but your tongue.

C. The tongue is: powerful, untamable, and reveals a window to the soul.

One of the first things that happens when a man is really filled with the Spirit is not that he speaks with tongues, but that he learns to hold the one tongue he already has.

J. Sidlow Baxter

D. I can’t tame my tongue, but the Holy Spirit can!

O for a thousand tongues to sing / My great Redeemer’s praise, / The glories of my God and King, / The triumphs of His grace!

Charles Wesley

A prayer for our tongue

Psalm 141:3 NKJV

3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.

AMEN!