Faith Speaks

Introduction

The power of words has been written about often. Our words have the unique power to quickly take root in people’s heart and can change the trajectory of that person. Proverbs 16:24 “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” A life can be changed forever with as little as a single phrase, an uplifting word or an act of kindness.

A 21st century Jewish Rabbi shared this striking statement about the power of words:

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively use words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”

I wonder what stories we might have collectively in this room this morning. Probably some positive and unfortunately some negative as well. I remember when we first moved back to the States after my family finished serving as missionaries in Austria.

In Austria I had been attending school in the local elementary school which of course was all in German. The way our family functioned was out in the community it was all German and then in the home we spoke English. Well when my dad became pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Lawrence, KS it meant I jumped into 5th grade all in English.

Everything went pretty smooth except there was this one kid who picked up on my accent and for some reason decided to call me James Bond Jr. Now two quick things…first thing I would say he should have called me Arnold Jr. because Arnold Schwarzenegger is Austrian not James Bond who is British, but maybe my physique didn’t bring to mind Arnold…so clearly he wasn’t the best at coming up with insults…the second thing is today I wouldn’t mind that at all, because I love Bond movies, but back then it really bothered me and made me self conscious of my accent.

To shift to a positive example I go back to High School where I had one person in particular speak into my life. Coach Stidham was my track coach and also was the leader of our FCA program. I had gotten involved in it and gone to a couple of the FCA Camps in the summer in Estes Park, Colorado and coach Stidham also was at our church and we went to a mission trip to inner city Chicago together. In each of those experiences coach always found opportunities to speak into our lives in a positive way and for me he always encouraged me to both grow in becoming a leader and by pursuing ministry.

Those words really empowered me to believe in myself. I also think about others along the way who spoke into my life and we had one older lady in Jess’ home church who every time I got the chance to preach would come up afterwards and tell me one day I’d pastor my own church. I always politely thanked her but was quick to point out I was happy coaching and doing part-time youth ministry.

Well her words obviously came true and I believe that God used her and others to speak truth into my life to help encourage me to pursue what God had before me. Today we will look at the power of our words and let me encourage you to write down some notes and consider how God might be speaking to you today and how he might use you to speak words of encouragement into others. So here we go!

James 3:1–12 ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

1. “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”

If this sounds familar it is from the great theologian Uncle Ben from the Spider Man Comic Books and Movies. It of course has its root farther back than that. History tells us the story of Damocles who was afforded to switch with the tyrant Dionysius.

Reminders that power is to not be used for wrong and shouldn't be exploited at will are at least as old as the legend of the Sword of Damocles preserved in the 1st century BC Tusculan Disputations of the Roman orator Cicero.[2] Probably retold from earlier but now lost accounts by Timaeus and Diodorus, Cicero relates that the courtier Damocles was overjoyed at the chance to trade places with the 4th century BC tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius the Elder for a day. His happiness was abruptly ended when he found that a sword had been suspended above the throne by a single horsehair, indicating the worry of monarchs—particularly tyrants—over the precariousness of their rule. The historical Dionysius was known for treating his subjects harshly and was deposed twice, eventually dying in exile and poverty in Corinth.

We will see that though this concept of responsibility in power has always been around wether in the legend of the Sword of Damocles or in modern day with Uncle Ben in Spider Man, we can attribute it to the words of Jesus in Luke 12 where he addresses his disciples, warning them to be on guard and focused on the ministry that he has called them to.

Being a teacher was a big deal in the early church. Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Sadly many sought to be a teacher for the wrong motives…let me say that unfortunately we still see this often times.

One of the questions we always had for young people who wanted to go into ministry or wanted to do an internship at my last church was what is your motivation for going into ministry? If they talked the whole time about being on stage we always saw that as a warning sign…not that preaching the word isn’t important, it absolutely is, but teaching the word of God is a huge responsibility and we should be careful not to rush to put people behind a pulpit and careful to praise people for their teaching/preaching because it’s easy to get intoxicated with the attention. I had an intern and of course he wanted opportunities to teach, but he was also ready to go clean out an church closet, load up supplies for one of our benevolence ministries, and was ready to teach to a crowd of 5 or 100.

Luke 12:48 “…Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” & 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Both of these verses remind us how important it is for Pastors & leaders within the church to be careful with their words. There is nothing worse than sitting through a sermon that glorifies the preacher more than God, or that takes God’s word and adds & subtracts from it. My prayer is that when you come to worship at Liberty that you will hear the word preached…I feel like I’m still growing in my preaching and honestly it’s really intimidating to get up here and do this every week. There’s times during the week sometimes when you think God I”m not worthy of this calling or God are you sure this is what I’m called to do just because of the weight of it. But what a privilege it is to get to preach the word of God and how rich are the scriptures we get to proclaim and how wonderful is it to be dependent on the work of the holy spirit in my life as I get to stand before you teaching the word of God.

One of the big encouragements in verse 2 is that James says “we all stumble” indicating that every human battles against sinning with their words. Romans 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.”” which Paul quotes Psalm 5:9 “For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.”

But verse 2 there is also a beautiful little reminder of our limitations and God’s great mercy. While James has spent a great deal of time emphasizing works, he also acknowledges that all Christians stumble in many ways. James’ call to good works is not a demand for perfection and though he mentions that “he is a perfect man”, those who bridle their tongue, the idea is that we will be made perfect one day in heaven.

It’s not a pretty picture of how God describes mankind's use of the tongue and if we are honest we are all guilty of this. Yet, James reminds us we are not hopeless in this. He will transition to describing a mature Christian being able to tame the tongue just as a person is able to control a horse with a small bit or how a large boat is guided by a small rudder. We are to follow this example and learn to control our tongue in order to avoid sin and as a way to show that we are followers of Christ.

2. The Tongue as a Revealer of the Heart

Luke 6:45 ESV

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.

Over the next few verses we will see James continue to highlight the danger of the tongue and builds off of this example of the bit and horse and rudder and boat by introducing a third analogy in the form of a spark and a fire. Now this seems very timely as we have seen on the news the giant wildfire in California and the damage it has wreaked on that area.

Authorities say a burning car that was pushed into a Northern California gully less than a week ago sparked what's now one of the largest wildfires in the state's history. Officials said the Park Fire had grown to more than 386,000 acres as of Wednesday morning — making it California's fifth-largest in history.

Proverbs 16:27 ESV

A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

Proverbs 26:21 ESV

As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

The word of God warns us about the danger of the tongue and you don’t have to look hard to see evidence of this played out in our world. My example at the front end is just a small sample size of what I’ve experienced in my life and many of you probably have experienced way more and worse than that. We see families ripped apart by careless words, marriages ended, children verbally abused and having wounds the rest of their lives, and on and on.

In one commentary it explained how the Greek word for hell in verse 6 is gehenna which is actually a physical location right outside of Jerusalem where trash was burned around the clock. This same location was used in Old Testament times as a place where pagan people would sacrifice to false gods including the practice of child sacrifices. Pure evil. This is what James uses to compare the impact of the tongue and the impact it has on others.

So what do we do? James has painted a not so flattering picture of the tongue and the danger it possesses. In verses 7-10 James goes on to explain how difficult it is to control the human tongue compared to how we are able to tame animals. Verse 9 in particular stands out as James reminds us the double nature of the tongue with which we both “Bless the Lord & Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Then James gives us a great example from nature when he reminds us that spring cannot produce both fresh and salt water and the example of fruit trees not being able to produce fruits other than what it was created to produce. It’s a beautiful picture of how our lives should not be like this either. If we are believers we are to be a spring producing fresh water and if we are a fruit tree we are to bear the good fruit we were created to do.

Ultimately we see that the main point is that our tongue is a good revealer of our heart. The words we use will reflect the inward posture of our heart. You know people are pretty good at fooling others. We might fool some people putting on a facade, but their will always be people in our lives who know the real us.

Mark 7:22–23 “coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.””

We see James reference the teaching of Jesus again with his imagery of the tree which brings to mind Luke 6:43–44 ““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 reality is we are all in bad shape when it comes to this, but the good news is we cannot change it in our own strength. If we want to fix our tongue we need to fix our heart, which means we must have a heart that belongs to Jesus. So often people try to fix the symptoms instead of finding out the root of the issue. This is true for us as well…just trying to fix how we talk without having that inward heart change will always end in frustration. Make sure your heart is good.

3. Listening to the Voice of God & Mobilizing the Voice of the Church

So finally we want to look at how James wants us to not be defeated about the state of our sin and inability to control our tongue. David Platt in his commentary is helpful when he states: “But this is where I want to encourage you, in light of your sin, to recognize God’s provision for the imperfect words we have spoken and the imperfect words we have believed. God speaks in creation, Satan speaks in the fall, but then God speaks again in redemption and God has the last word!”

We can find hope and healing in tuning into God’s voice above the voices of all others. In just a few short verses, that we will look at next week, James encourages his readers by saying:

James 3:17–18 ESV

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

We find that as Platt puts it “The Word of God is the ultimate solution to our word problem.” We are saved from our sinful state, including words we have used to hurt others, by trusting in Jesus. By believing the words of God we can triumph over the evil of this world.

This good news, the gospel, is the words we are to speak to both ourselves and to a dying world around us who needs to hear these words of hope!

Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

This passage is a picture of what the church should look like. We are to engourage one another by doing what? By speaking, using our words, of truth in love to build up one another. See I wholly believe that God knew how hard it is to live out our faith and that left on our own we will default to use our tongue for evil…but that’s the beauty of the local church…a body of believers who come together to build one another up, that uses the words of scripture to take heart, that then uses the words found in the Bible to go into a world filled with people hurt by words and offers up the beautiful words of God that promises new life through Jesus Christ. How do we know this? We look at the final word of God through John.

Revelation 21:5–7 ESV

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Closing:

So let’s be people who use words of truth in love to bring hope to others. Sometimes I wonder about all the things that go unsaid. Think about about your own life and how often you wish you could go back and tell people you love them or let them know how much you appreciate them. I know there are many times in my life when I’ve felt to speak the words of encouragement that I should have expressed.

I love the story of Emmitt Smith and Daryl Johnston. You guys know that Emmitt is one of my all-time favorite athletes, so much so that we named our Emmitt after him. He was so gracious and always made sure to give others credit for his success. Here is a portion of his Hall of Fame speech:

“Daryl Johnston, where are you? Will you please stand? You mean the world to me (tearing up) not just because we shared the same backfield, but because you sacrificed so much for me. People don't understand what it took to be a fullback in our system, the sacrifices you made not simply with your body but your whole spirit. You took care of me as though you were taking care of your little brother. Without you, without you, I know today would not have been possible. I love you from the bottom of my heart.”

Perhaps more current the Olympics have gives us many examples of the power of words both negative and positive. I love how former gymnast Aly Reisman came to the defense of Jade Carey after she faced criticism. Here was the online exchange:

@jadecarey

i haven't been feeling the best the past few days but i gave it everything i had today. thank you for all the support i have received. i'm so grateful

@AlyRaisman

@jadeacarey you did so well today & I'm so proud of you!!! It breaks my heart that our society is so hard on athletes that you feel the need to explain yourself. You're human…It's ok to make mistakes. I can't wait to watch you in the days to come & I hope you feel better. You inspire so many & remember there are people at home dreaming of one day being just like you!

So what about you and me? How are we doing in this area? Are there people that God is wanting us to speak encouragement to? Or perhaps you need to do some work on the words you use to line up with the faith that you proclaim. I think about our young people and the environments they step into every day when they go to school. You know I’m convinced one of our biggest missionary forces in our world is students who step into their school environment every day as ambassadors of Christ. Is it easy? No not at all. I remember what a middle school & high school locker room talk was like….but what an opportunity to stand out and point others to Christ.

There’s the story of Tim Tebow when he was at the University of Florida and in this documentary other players talked about how they would try to show him inappropriate pictures on their phones, try to get him to join in on dirty jokes, and invite him to all of the parties promising him all sort of things…but you know in the documentary those guys all said that Tebow was the real deal and no matter what they tried he would continue to guard his tongue and avoid getting himself in those compromising situations…he lived out his faith boldly even in difficult circumstances and so can we. Not only that but he was able to use words to point others to Christ through interviews and even the words he put on his eye black as he played…he used words to proclaim the words of God found in scripture.

Let’s make sure we follow Jame’s advice and continually work on guarding our tongue and learning to tame it. It’s not a one time thing…it’s a daily submission to the way of God and actively working to get it in check, so let’s leave here today with the goal of thinking of how our words can bring healing and hope or destruction.

Let’s Pray…