James 3:1-14 | tame the Tongue

Intro -

Hey y’all, hows it going? Everyone feel behind after labor day?

Good good.

Well cool, if you have a bible, open up to James 3, if you don’t have a bible, they’re at the end of the row right here, throw up a hand and we’ll pass one to you.

Hold on to that, til after the service or you can take it home if you don’t have one.

So, james 3, is where we are at.

let’s get into it.

Have you ever been affected by something someone said?

Like someone said something to you. and it had an impact on you.

how many of you have gotten a compliment? Do you remember it? Maybe.

Or have you ever been insulted or someone said something mean to you.

Do you remember that?

SO when I was 8 years old, my family and I had gone to see Niagara Falls up in Buffalo, NY.

On part of that trip we got to go to Canada, and that was super cool.

At that time, it was just like America, just further north.

But we had gone in the spring, i think, it was a long time ago.

It was warm, it was a warm spring Canadian afternoon.

And we had stopped to get an ice cream, me mom dad, 2 year old brother and my grand parents.

This place had ice cream but more importantly, it had a yard you could play in.

Well, i’m walking on this side walk about to go do whatever, and i spot on the side walk, a mustard packet.

just been baking in the sun all day. It was a little bloated.

And what do you think I did? I stomped on that thing.

I mean, knee up, smashed it.

And what did it do? It exploded, duh.

But the way this thing exploded it was like the little tear here part was a little pre torn, so only that part opened.

This Basically created a mini mustard cannon.

And that mustard that had been baking in the sun, shot out of there and went all over this very ornery Canadian man who was eating ice cream.

This thing shot all over his ice cream cone, his glasses, got on his shirt.

And this is what is just burned in my memory, it’s not what he looked like, but what he said so me. 26 years ago.

This dude jumped up ready to fight, and my parents must have been near by, because he pointed at me and said

You! and then looked at my parents and said is tat your child, is that your child??? This dude was ready to fight, he called my parents all sorts of things, my grandad actually told the dude to calm down.

He was like, its just mustard man.

This dude was mad, the only thing that kept him from murdering me was probably the law against murder. He wanted to kill me i think.

And looking back on it, its really funny. Like I know that 8 year old me is immortal in that family. But in the moment, I wanted to run, i was scared, i felt like i was the worst human, I felt awful.

I felt bad for what I did on accident, but he made me feel like i was a plague on his life.

I’ll never forget him screaming at me and my parents.

I really can’t tell you what he looked like, but i know exactly what he sounded like.

His voice had power. That still resonates in my mind.

So this is where I want to live tonight. That what we say and how we say it matters. so

Context

James 3, let me set the stage and then we’ll talk about it.

this is sort of a new idea

it’s really though connecting all the previous ideas together.

This is a fairly famous part of James, the taming of the tongue passage.

and a lot of the time, we read this and chalk it up to mean, “hey quit cussing.” yeah you should do that. but it’s way more than that.

It’s about way more than just what comes out of your mouth, but where what comes out of your mouth comes from.

This has to do with about how we communicate as a whole.

So remember last week, faith and works, our faith is proven by our works.

Our works don’t give faith, but our faith gives works.

so this passage take that idea and says this is the first place you can check if you have genuine faith.

If your faith is saving, do you sound like someone who is following christ or do you sound like the world.

So James 3 let’s get in to it.

James 3:1-12, we’re gonna read most of the chapter

but before we do that, let’s pray for our time in the word.

pray

okay, james 3:1-12, Pay attention to what he’s saying here.

James 3:1–12 ESV

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 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. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 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. 5 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! 6 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. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

p1 - What we teach matters.

Okay so what is going on here?

When I first read this, this seem disjointed. it feels like James can’t settle on an idea

It feels like there is not a single thought that runs through here.

Like when James was writing this, it was all bullet points.

Just stream of thought, good thing. Good thing. good thing. and send.

But when we read this is in the context of the whole letter we see it start to make some sense.

and what threw me is this first verse. Like why put this here?

James 3:1

James 3:1 ESV

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

like why is this in here?

but think back to last week, faith and works. in James 2:20, James writes,

James 2:20 ESV

20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

These are connecting though pts

and, it kinda gets lost on us,

but this first verse is James dunking on some people who were teaching faith apart from works.

Basically saying, you do not need to be a teacher. Cause you’re dumb… “you foolish person”

That is strong language to call someone a fool.

But this is what he is saying.

What we teach, matters. You cant teach things with out serious study or without knowing what you are talking about.

Because here is why,

if we get the gospel wrong, eternity is at stake.

Thats is why Sunday morning Pastor Randy told you to check him on things, run what he says next to the word.

Same for me, don’t take my word for it, take it to scripture. If you disagree with something, come talk to me about it, i’d love that. If you have questions, bring them.

But if we get the gospel wrong, then the good news is not good news.

This is why James is so adamant that we get it right.

Because this is what is going on here, in our day, there are million different “gospels” out there.

all sorts of different way people think you can save yourself

but what we know it there is only one.

Only one leads to salvation. Only one leads to life change, only one leads to Jesus.

If you think of the gospel is just believing in God, you’ve already missed it. If when you think of the gospel it is coming to church, you have missed it.

none Of that is the gospel. That’s works apart from faith

and this is rampant in our context.

I need you to realize that there are people in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, that think just because they are present twice a month, that they’re good to go.

We cant be good enough

only thing we are good enough for is to go to hell.

If you look through the new testament, when the gospel is preached, guess what, it is preached to people in the church.

Because they need to hear the gospel,

we need to hear the gospel. We need to be reminded of what Christ did.

In 2 Timothy 2:8, Paul reminds timothy, who is an elder, who’s the pastor of the church, of the Gospel. He says.

2 Timothy 2:8 ESV

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

Remember the Gospel. Know the Gospel. Teach the Gospel.

One so that you know what the gospel is and two, so that when you hear a false gospel you can spot it.

James is telling us not to miss this

So think of it like this, and I think i’ve used this before, but I like how this shows whats going on.

Do you know how they train people to spot counterfeit money? Like fake cash?

What they do is they take you and i think it’s just like a month or less, they take you, let you hold real cash all day, let you study real money all day.

Get your hands on it, you know what real cash is like backwards and forwards. You know it.

They know it as soon as they put their hands on real cash that it is real.

It has a look and feel, it has a special texture.

They do this, so that when they come across a counterfeit, they know it almost instantly, it doesn’t have the real feel, it’s close, but it’s not real.

So what we teach matters, what you tell people outside these walls is the gospel matters.

What we teach matters. and by inverse, what you learn matters.

I know a lot of you are a little younger,

we are a fairly young group in here. But as you grow, you need to be learning, you need to become familiar with all sorts of things.

And then What you do with it matters.

take what you learn, filter it through scripture, filter it through the gospel.

Spurgeon has a line, “visit many books, but live in the bible.”

Learn widely but gain truth from who Jesus is.

tracking, okay.

so, that’s verse one.

p2 - How we talk to people matter

So what we teach matters, the faith, what we teach about the faith matters.

So james is connecting this to faith and works.

So how we talk to people matters.

Because No one one cares if you have the right the gospel, but you are just insufferable about it.

even if you nail the gospel but your speech, how you act toward people don’t match up, no one cares

You can’t yell someone into the kingdom.

And So one of the markers for if we believe in who Jesus is, is how we talk to people.

James uses a lot of verses to nail this down.

But In this he says two things.

Your tongue controls you and then, you can’t control it on your own. and when James says tongue, he’s meaning communication. both verbal and written. just saying,

but, look at this picture.

Look at verse 6 James 3:6

James 3:6 ESV

6 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.

James is painting this picture of a fire, that got out of control. That we can’t control this, and the tongue, left unchecked, will destroy everything. It will destroy you. and this probably would have been the story a lot of people would have thought of, this roman. This had happened a generation before hand.

In the Roman world, during the fall of the roman republic there was a senator named Cicero, and he was known for the power of his speeches, and for his written letter.

He was so good at communicating that he was actually feared.

Basically the thought was, if he could talk he was a threat.

And Cicero knew this, he knew he was good. He knew he had real power in his writing and his speeches.

This got him in trouble, so much that the Roman Consul, basically the president in today’s terms, but way more powerful, hunted him down.

Cicero spoke so much against him, when they got him, the cut his hands off, and then stuck a pen through his tongue, after killing him.

The tongue is powerful. ,a sounds like Cicero.

SO what is James tying to say here,

because he says two things that are not good news for us.

He says, you can’t control your tongue, and an uncontrolled tongue will destroy you.

Remember faith and works,

works are the out pouring of faith.

So, if you have faith you will have works.

If you are following Jesus, it is going to be reflected in how you talk.

And not meaning, he cusses less than someone else, it’s deeper than that.

He’s saying,

Are you kind when you talk or are you quick to cut someone with your words?

Do you jump in with gossip? Or Is your speech gentle?

IN Col. 4:6 Paul writes,

Colossians 4:6 ESV

6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Is your speech seasoned with salt?

This comes from Jesus telling us to be salt and light, to drive out darkness, to bring out only the good qualities. To heal.

Does your speech do that? does your speech drive out darkness, does your speech enhance and bring out the best in people? Is your speech harsh or healing?

this is where we need to turn this on ourself and think, does my talk do that? Does my speech do that?

This is what James wants you to do,

think, the first thing your faith is going to do it, sanctify your speech, sanctify how you talk.

The only way that can happen is if we are actually following Jesus.

He says we can’t control it, if we could we’d be perfect people. James 3:2

James 3:2 ESV

2 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.

We aren’t perfect so we need Jesus.

All of that to say, is your faith saving?

First place to check is your speech, is your tongue being sanctified?

Because how we talk to people matters, how we present the gospel matters. Not if you can convince someone but can you lovingly talk to someone you may profoundly disagree with?

This is a lost art in our culture, it is actually probably looked down on by some.

The ability to speak nicely to someone you disagree with.

To not see everyone as an enemy to be fought, but a sinner needing a savior.

If you want to look different in this world, speak differently, the world is watching and will take notice how you talk.

Timeless truth: what we say is evidence of what is deep within is. How we talk is how we share the gospel.

SO what does this have to do with anything?

It would be really easy to just say this says watch your mouth. It does say that, but it’s deeper than than that.

What we say is evidence of what is deep with in us.

In Luke Jesus says to his disciples Luke 6:45

Luke 6:45 ESV

45 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.

What is deep with in, will always come out.

If you don’t have Jesus, you can’t share Jesus.

One of our goals here at FBC Gray is to make Jesus Known, you don’t do that if you don’t already know Jesus.

How we talk is how we share the gospel, it will be the first thing a person notices about you.

Let your words be seasoned with salt, let your words be light in the darkness

Truth for our context: This world is polarized, our speech cannot be.

This world is so full of loud, harsh speech, let’s not be like them.

Let’s be the ones who speak truth in a way that shows we know ultimate truth

P2Christ

Because that is what we have, that is all that we have.

We only have jesus, that’s it.

That’s all we can give.

All we have is the good news that Christ is risen and on the throne.

Here is the gospel, Christ died for you, to make a way for you.

SO if you are sitting in here, and you don’t now Jesus, the gospel is for you, not with a scolding speech, but a gentle voice welcoming you home.

Jesus died for your sins, which means he knows them, and died for you anyways, he knew what he was buying.

Jesus offers life.

So while we pray, confess and sing, ask yourself, do I know him as Lord, do I know Him as king?

Y’all pray with me.