Speak Better
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
ME (A hook):
ME (A hook):
Who here has siblings?
Okay, good.
So, most of you should be able to relate to this.
Unless you were a much better sibling than I was.
I have one older sister.
And growing up,
We would find ourselves not getting along…often.
When I think about our relationship growing up,
I would say some of the most hurtful things to her,
And some hurtful things about her,
Making fun of her with some of my friends.
When I reflect on the way I spoke about my sister,
And spoke to my sister growing up,
It is quite humbling.
Thankfully, God in His grace has brought our relationship to a really good place now.
But like I said earlier,
Perhaps you can relate to this.
But as I was thinking about this in light of our passage this morning,
I was thinking,
Imagine if you grew up with Jesus as your sibling!
Well, that is what the author of our passage experienced!
James grew up with Jesus as his half-brother.
I wonder how many times James spoke about his half-brother,
Or spoke to his half-brother,
In ways that humbled him, later on.
How many times he went to Mary or Joseph to complain about his brother.
Or how many times he picked on his little brother with his friends.
The Bible does tell us that James did not originally believe that Jesus was his Lord and Savior.
But later on,
After seeing Jesus die on the cross,
And rise from the dead.
He did come to trust in Jesus.
And we can only imagine how often he reflected on his childhood with Jesus.
By the time James is writing this letter,
He is essentially a pastor in the early church.
And in James 3:1-12,
He is writing these communal exhortations,
That echo his Brother’s emphasis,
On the crucial importance of addressing misguided speech,
And our need,
As Christ-followers,
To Speak Better in everyday life.
Because misguided words can adversely affect the church.
Slide
Our outline for this passage is:
The Tongue’s Potential (James 3:1-2)
The Tongue’s Power (James 3:3-10)
The Tongue’s Problem (James 3:11-12)
To speak better: speak the truth in love to one another & speak the gospel to your neighbors and to the ends of the earth.
Words are significant.
We all know this,
Not only as a fact,
But through experience.
I am confident we all have been deeply hurt by words from others,
And have hurt others with our words.
But we have also been greatly helped, encouraged, and blessed by the words of others.
And have the ability to help, encourage, and bless others with our words.
James was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this letter,
As God’s Word to us!
God has given us His Word,
To teach and show us Who Jesus is,
And how we can follow Him.
So, before we look at what James says about speaking better,
Let’s back up and take more of an overview of the Bible,
Slide
Beginning right in Genesis 1:3, where it says,
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
This happens again and again in the opening chapter:
“And God said,”
“And there was.”
This was true for everything,
Including humanity.
God created all things by His Word!
Therefore, words are important!
He could have just created everything without saying a word.
But He spoke everything into existence,
Demonstrating how important words are.
Not only did He use words to create,
But He speaks words to reveal Himself.
Slide
Gen. 1:27-28 says,
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Notice when God speaks to humankind,
He spoke purpose into their existence.
We need this.
We need God’s Word to tell us what we have been created for.
He still speaks purpose into our existence.
And in turn,
Our ability to speak comes from Him.
He gives us words to speak to Him,
And to speak to one another.
God places a high value on words.
Thus, He values our words.
And He speaks valuable Words to us.
Slide
For example, look what Jesus says to us in John 15:15,
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
For Jesus to hear from the Father,
Means the Father, Son, and Spirit speak to one another.
Slide
Jesus does this in John 17:1,
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
Again and again all throughout the Bible,
We see how important words are.
But the Bible also shows us that God is not the only One who speaks.
Going back to Genesis,
Slide
3:1 says,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
So, what we see here is that Satan also speaks.
He speaks cunning and deceptive words,
Words that contradict, distort, and twist God’s Word.
Slide
He continues a few verses later,
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So, again, words are important.
They can be used in good ways.
But they can also be used in very evil ways as well.
WE potential (vs. 1-2) (Why does this matter to us?):
WE potential (vs. 1-2) (Why does this matter to us?):
So, this is the background for James’s discussion on the need to speak better.
He begins in vs. 1-2,
With the Tongue’s potential.
Slide
First, in vs. 1,
He gives some advice:
Basically, don’t become teachers.
Why?
Because, he says,
Teachers will receive a stricter judgment.
This is a sober warning concerning the responsibility of teachers.
Great care and great prayer must go into becoming a teacher of God’s Word.
And although James is talking about those who are called to the task of teaching God’s Word,
In an official sense.
There is a general application to all of us as followers of Christ.
Because we are all called to be teachers of God’s Word to some degree.
We are all commissioned by Jesus to make disciples of all nations,
Teaching them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.
So, we take this responsibility seriously.
James’s warning is a terrifyingly humbling warning.
Because when we stand before Christ,
We will be judged for every word we say.
Slide
Jesus said so in Matt. 12:36-37,
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
James is highlighting how this is especially strict for teachers.
Because teachers hold influence.
There is a sense of vulnerability to being a student.
As a learner,
You open yourself up to greater growth,
But also potentially to serious error as well.
That is why teachers are held in strict account.
It restrains us from speaking carelessly when we teach.
It keeps this sense of butterflies in the stomach.
Good, healthy nerves,
That keep us aware of the weight of what we speak when we teach.
James emphasizes about how perilous the human tongue can be in this chapter.
And from the start,
He shows how this is especially true for the teachers.
Throughout the history of the church,
Teachers have been held in high esteem.
Which is understandable,
Jesus says that whoever does and teaches His commands,
Will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
But He also warns in Matt. 18:6,
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
So, God wants us to understand the great responsibility of teaching.
But He does not want us to shy away from teaching,
He says that He gives the church teachers.
But we cannot appoint teachers carelessly.
People need to become teachers for the right reasons.
Some may desire to be a teacher,
Because it makes them feel important,
Or because of the influence over others it gives them.
Which is dangerous,
Because false teachers will lead others astray.
They speak lies,
They distort God’s Word,
And they can be cunning and deceptive,
Because they are a mouthpiece for Satan.
But like Satan,
They will be condemned.
On the other hand,
Jesus promises to reward faithful teachers.
Our words carry eternal significance.
So, think about the potential of your words before you teach God’s Word.
Slide
There is potential for great good and growth.
But there is also great potential to sin in what we say.
Notice in vs. 2,
James says “we all stumble in many ways.”
He is not excluding himself.
Teachers and leaders and every person,
Has the potential to sin.
Only those who are perfect don’t sin.
But what James is suggesting,
Is that the most difficult thing for us humans to control is our tongue.
So, if a person does not stumble,
Or misstep,
Or fall,
Or sin in what he says,
Then he is not only able to control his tongue,
He is able to control the way he behaves with his whole body.
Because that person is perfect.
The Apostle Paul also connects this same idea of our sin nature to our speech.
Slide
Describing sinners in Rom. 3:13-14,
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
The point is that those who don’t know God have tongues that are filled with death,
Tongues that lie and deceive people.
It is like poisonous venom shooting from their lips.
They curse others,
They speak words of bitterness.
Their is potential for great danger when it comes to the tongue.
Slide
But going back to James,
He says, if you are perfectly mature,
Then you will perfectly control your tongue.
And if you are able to perfectly control your tongue,
Then you are able to perfectly refrain from all sins.
And although none of us are perfectly mature,
The concept here,
Is that as we mature,
Part of that maturation will result in better control over our tongues.
Because, as James said back in ch. 1,
Whoever does not control their tongue has a worthless religion.
GOD power (vs. 3-10) (Teach the text):
GOD power (vs. 3-10) (Teach the text):
And we stumble in regard to the tongue,
James warns us in vs. 3-10
Because of The Tongue’s Power.
Slide
First,
He does this by giving us three different metaphors,
To illustrate his point that powerful results can be achieved by small means.
Now, I know many of you have some experience around horses.
But in case you don’t,
They are big, strong, and fast animals.
However, if you ever see someone riding a horse,
You will notice a tiny little bit in their mouth,
Is used to direct them.
And that is James’s point,
By controlling the mouth of the horse,
With something tiny,
You can control the entire horse.
Second,
Ships are very large.
I know some of you have been on a cruise before.
If not,
You have seen cruise ship commercials.
They are huge!
They fit more people on one cruise ship than we have living in the entire town of Afton!
And yet,
They guide these massive ships from one harbor,
Through the open sea,
To another harbor,
And back again,
All with a small rudder on the stern of the ship.
The captain has a steering wheel,
And as he turns it,
That small little rudder will shift from one way to the other,
And that massive ship will follow.
Something as small as a rudder,
Is able to control something as large as a 3,000 person cruise ship,
Then something as small as the tongue,
Can control an entire person,
Powerfully impacting our lives,
And the lives of others.
But James’s final metaphor for the tongue here,
Illustrates how it is capable of causing powerful disasters,
Just like a small fire can set ablaze a large wildfire.
A few years ago,
There was this horrific wildfire raging through California.
It devastated many neighborhoods,
Lasting well beyond a week,
Stretching across miles and miles of land.
And it all started from a wayward spark from a small firework at a gender reveal party.
You see,
If a tiny little spark happens to drop in just the right place,
It takes mere seconds before that spark ignites into a blazing inferno,
That will just continue to multiply faster than we can control it.
Slide
James says in vs. 6 that the tongue has the power to be that spark.
The tongue can be like a wildfire that just rages out of control.
Also comparing it to a world of unrighteousness.
His point is that speech that is uncontrolled is powerfully devastating and destructive,
Like an out of control wildfire.
Proverbs similarly says about the tongue.
A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
So, Proverbs and James are both saying,
A person who stirs up strife,
Who gossips,
Who continuously criticizes and accuses others,
Due to their own proud and critical heart,
Leaves a path of hurt and wounded people in their life,
Generally, causing the most hurt in their own home,
Like the charcoaled remains of an out of control fire.
Again,
Just think of how the words of others have affected you in your life.
Both in good ways and in bad ways.
But James’s focus here,
Is to warn against the ways words hurt.
Because that type of hurt doesn’t heal easily.
Words cut deep.
They affect us.
They stay with us.
Some of you may even be able to recall some of the hurtful things someone has said to you in the past,
Even if they have repented and sought forgiveness for it.
It is not that you want to hold onto the hurt,
But that is just how powerful words are.
And some of you are able to still recall something hurtful said to you,
That was never apologized for.
Someone who spoke words that were hateful, evil, satanic.
That is the point James is making in the second half of vs. 6.
These types of evil words spoken against others,
Things like blasphemy, gossip, slander, lying, critical accusations, and empty or false vows,
Are all pollutants that effect the whole person.
James says evil speech stains the whole body.
And the warning here,
Is that evil speech that spoils and corrupts,
Is set on fire by hell itself.
It is set on fire by the place where unrepentant sinners will spend eternity,
It is set on fire by the place prepared for Satan and his demons.
The tongue is a powerful danger!
And a tongue set on fire this way,
Sets the entire course of that person’s life,
Toward the eternal punishment of hell.
Slide
We must be aware of the power of the tongue!
Because not only is it dangerous,
But it is also too powerful for you to tame in your own strength.
James makes this clear in the next verses.
He brings up all types of creatures from the creation account in Genesis.
Saying how every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish,
Can, and has been tamed by humankind.
We have the ability to take even large, wild, and uncontrollable beasts,
And make them docile.
Over in my house right now,
Are two beasts with sharp claws and teeth.
Okay, maybe they aren’t the best example.
A better one is this show on Nat Geo called Secrets of the Zoo.
This show follows several different zoos across the world,
Shadowing trainers, zoologists, and vets at the zoo.
These people tame dangerous wild animals,
Teaching many of them to do amazing tricks.
Cheetahs and gorillas and killer whales and crocodiles and more!
We humans can train all these powerful and dangerous animals,
Yet the tongue is so powerful
That it cannot be trained in the same way.
No human being can tame it,
James says in vs. 8.
It is more powerful,
More difficult to tame,
Than a wild beast.
Not only that,
James illustrates that it is filled with a poison,
That is more venomous than the most poisonous snakes on the planet!
Psalm 58:4 says about the wicked, that...
They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
And in Psalm 140:3,
They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
Slide
We use our tongue to bless God.
But the tongue has the ability to also curse others.
The tongue has the capacity for both virtue and vices.
However, James says,
It cannot be used for both.
It is prohibited.
Because blessing and cursing are contradictory to one another.
But this is the nature of the tongue.
It is the same idea of being a double-minded man,
That James talked about back in ch. 1.
The same mouth that blesses God,
Is cursing fellow humans who are made in the image of God.
The point is,
When you curse another person,
It is not like you are just cursing some creature with little to no value.
James says that cursing any person is cursing a creature who bears the image of God.
And being made in the likeness of God,
Means every human has inherent worth.
Throughout my time as a pastor and from the time I have spent counseling,
I have come to learn that it is pretty easy to fool people.
You can seem nice, gentle, wise, kind, helpful, and loving in public.
But behind closed doors,
Others get to see who you truly are.
This is what happens when we try to control the tongue in our own strength.
It is too powerful for you and I to tame.
James’s warning is frightening.
You and I are in bad shape if we are left to control our tongues on our own.
I took a lot of communication classes,
Read a lot of books,
And listened to a lot of lessons that try to tell us otherwise.
The reality is you and I cannot ultimately change the way we speak for the better ourselves.
You and I cannot control our tongues,
Because the Tongue’s Problem is rooted in the source of our speech.
YOU problem (vs. 11-12) (Response):
YOU problem (vs. 11-12) (Response):
Slide
And that is what James closes with in vs. 11-12.
On your own,
You are helpless.
If you want to speak better,
You must understand that your words are an indication of your heart.
Therefore, your words are an indication of your spiritual condition.
James uses multiple metaphors to illustrate this:
Fresh water springs don’t produce salt water,
Fig trees don’t produce olives,
Grapevines don’t produce figs,
And a saltwater source does not produce fresh water.
His point then is clear,
Sinful words come from a sinful heart!
This means if your speech is wicked, evil, or sinful,
It is a bigger problem than a slip of the tongue.
Jesus taught the same thing.
Slide
Look at Mark 7:14-23,
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
If you are speaking words that are immoral, deceitful, hateful, adulterous, sensual, slanderous, proud, accusatory, and foolish,
It is not an external influence causing that speech,
It is coming from within you.
Your tongue’s problem is your heart.
Your tongue’s problem is you,
The real you,
The innermost you that you truly are.
Slide
Again, look at what Jesus teaches in Luke 6:43-49,
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Imagine you have this apple tree and you are trying to grow apples.
But every apple that it produces is just rotten.
So, you decide you are going to fix it.
You go to Frog Pond and buy a bushel of apples,
And you begin stapling all these fresh, crisp apples to the branches of your apple tree.
You take a step back,
And sure, the apple tree might look good from afar.
But is it truly healthy?
Of course not.
There is still a problem at the root of that tree.
And that is the case when it comes to us.
It is not just that your speech or your behavior is the problem.
You can learn some principles that might make your speech look better from a distance.
But the root of the problem,
Your heart is still rotten,
Apart from Christ.
Sadly, even among Christians,
So much of the way we talk about changing and growing spiritually,
Looks more like stapling good fruit to branches,
Rather than addressing the root of the problem.
If someone says a bad word,
We just tell them they can’t say bad words.
But we don’t address the problem at the root,
When Jesus plainly and repeatedly tells us that our tongue problems are heart problems.
WE (Paint a picture of the future):
WE (Paint a picture of the future):
But praise God that Jesus doesn’t just tell us we have this problem,
Without providing what we need to solve it.
This part of James’s letter should confront every single one of us.
Because all of us are guilty of sinning with our words.
And if you say you haven’t,
Then, I am sorry,
But you are delusional.
If we are honest,
James’s words here are meant to humble and convict us.
We all share the tongue’s problem,
Because we all share a heart problem.
But let me close this morning with two applications:
An encouragement,
And a challenge.
Slide
First, the encouragement in light of our sinful speech,
Is that God provides for both the sinful words we have spoken,
And the sinful words we have believed.
Going back to the start of our overview,
Remember, God spoke in creation,
And Satan spoke in the fall.
But Satan does not get the last word.
God speaks again in redemption and restoration!
He has spoke the gospel promise!
And this is nothing like the broken promises we make and believe.
He always keeps His promises.
So, as we learn to hear God’s voice over all other voices,
Then we begin to find hope and healing!
This goes back to the earliest parts of the Bible.
Right after Satan spoke,
And Adam and Eve believed his words over God’s Words,
And the fall happened,
God spoke the first of His gospel promises,
Saying a baby, a child, the seed of the woman,
Would crush the head of the serpent:
Sin, Satan, and death.
Fast forward thousands of years,
And God kept His promise,
By sending His only Son,
Jesus Christ,
To be born of a virgin,
Born under the law,
To redeem us,
Who have broken His law.
You see,
Jesus lived the perfect life we never could
He spoke only perfect words,
Something we could only dream of doing ourselves.
And He died in our place,
For all our sins,
Including the sinful words we speak.
But He did not stay dead,
He rose from the dead,
And now our sinful words,
Have been overcome by the Word made flesh!
Looking ahead to the second half of this chapter,
Which Lord willing we will look at next week,
This is the wisdom James says we all need,
It is wisdom from above!
This is the beautiful thing about wisdom according to the gospel.
Wisdom is not something we learn,
It is someone we receive,
It is Jesus Christ Himself.
1 Cor. 1:30 says that Christ became wisdom for us.
On the cross,
He became our substitute.
So, all our sinful words,
And all the consequences for them,
Were placed upon Him.
While all His righteousness,
His wisdom,
Gets placed upon us.
So, growing in wisdom is all about knowing Jesus Christ.
He is the ultimate solution to our tongue’s problem.
James makes it clear that God saves us sinners by His message of truth.
We are changed and transformed by His Word.
Death doesn’t get the last word for us who trust in Christ,
Because the cross of Christ defeated death,
And drank God’s wrath on our behalf.
As Jesus said on the cross,
It is finished.
And still today,
He has promised even more.
He has promised a day,
When He will return,
And He will bring His kingdom,
And it will be the final word.
Until then,
Let me give us one final application as a challenge.
And as I do,
I want to invite the music team up.
God’s Word is all-powerful and beautiful.
It demands a response.
As His people,
We must speak better.
But what does that look like?
It is twofold.
First, we speak the truth in love to one another.
The Bible says we need each other to grow in maturity.
So, we need to love one another with our words,
Together,
As a biblical community,
For the glory of God.
And as we grow up into Christ,
Our head.
We then speak this gospel message to our neighbors,
And to the ends of the earth.
The OT prophet Isaiah was changed by God.
He knew his speech was sinful,
And he saw that only God could empower him to speak better.
But as a result,
He was ready to go wherever God would send him.
Here I am!
He said,
Send me!
So, God told him to go and speak words of life.
Brothers and sisters,
This must be our response too!
We must go and speak God’s gospel message.
Romans 10 asks how the people will know,
If we don’t open our mouths for them to hear the Word of Christ.
Because if they do not hear the Word of Christ,
They will not be saved.
So, to speak better,
Speak the truth in love to one another,
And speak the gospel to your neighbors and to the ends of the earth.
Pray.