Power in our Words.

Bible Passage: James 3:1-12

How this passage could point to Christ: Throughout Scripture, Christ is portrayed as the Word (John 1:1), and His words reveal the character and heart of God. In every interaction, His compassionate speech brought healing and conviction, which serves as the ultimate model for how we should speak in our own lives.

Big Idea: Our words have the power to build up or tear down, and as followers of Christ, we must harness that power wisely, choosing to speak in a way that reflects the heart of God rather than our frustrations and fears.

So as you guys know, I just got back from Paris a little while ago, and while I was there the group went to a couple museums.

At one of the museums was the tomb of a man named Napoleon. This is not the guy who made the ice cream…

This was a picture of his tomb.

This is a picture of his tomb.

He was the emperor from 1804-1814.

He was a military guy and was super powerful. He was a military genius.

But he was a tiny guy…

He is know for being a not very big man!

Yet, he has a huge tomb. This thing could fit several people in it!

Plus, he has more than one tomb. Because when did died he was not in France. and I am not sure about the history behind it but it took 19 years for his body to get back to France.

So they had a tomb for him, but when they finally got his body, they said hey this is not big enough for him so they built him a bigger tomb.

But even though he was a small man, he had a lot of power.

1. Power in the Small

Even the small things in our life can be a big deal.

Think about your toe.

It is a small little thing, but think about having no toes.

Studies have shown that having no toes would make it to where walking and balance would be so hard.

Think about it with every step you push off your toe.

What about the Pineal Gland?

Come on homeschoolers, you don’t know that this is?

Today I am taking off my church coat and I am putting on my coat as a neurologist… and by that I mean that I did some googling and found this.

This gland is the size of a piece of rice, but even though we do not know the name of it, we all need it.

This gland produces a hormone called “melatonin.”

So without this gland we would not be able to sleep, our body would not send signals saying hey you are tired, then we would feel terrible and wore out all the time.

So lets look and see what James has to say about something that is small, but yet so powerful.

James 3:1–4 CSB

Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment. 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. Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies. 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.

This passage is talking about our words.

I know that you guys have heard the saying sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

How dumb is that saying. Words are everything.

They are the way to communicate.

They can bring life, but they can also bring death.

Words hurt people more than things hurt people.

The saying is the words will not hurt.

More often than not, my feelings get hurt, or I get upset, or mad.

Usually when people get mad they do not punch you unless they are really mad.

All this to say. Words are a big deal.

This passage says that we are all going to stumble. We are all going to sin.

I love how James says “we” like even the brother of Jesus is like I am going to mess up.

But he makes the point that we will all stumble over our words.

He says that the only people who are not going to is people who are fully mature or in other words perfect.

No matter how hard we try we are going to say something we should not!

I am talking about cussing, but in the same sense I am not.

There are times where you can mean something, but your words portray something different.

This is why our words are so important.

James goes on to give some examples.

He talks about a horse.

Has anyone ever ridden a horse?

I grew up in a small town and I have seen the amish trotting around everywhere, so at the walmart in my hometown they have place to tie up a horse.

These horses however are guided by two ropes. (it is kinda like a 0-turn lawn mower if you have never been on a horse.

Those ropes are connected to a bit that goes in their mouths.

Pulling on these ropes pulls their mouth which pulls their face, which pulls their bodies.

But horses are strong animals.

1 horse is as strong as 10 people.

We literally call it horse power when we have a fast car.

They can be huge, they can be fast, they are just strong animals.

But this is what James it getting at…

It does not matter how strong you are, your words are leading the way.

You have the choice to speak life, or bring people down.

Our words are just so important to us spiritually.

The next thing that talks about it a boat.

Boats are controlled by a small rudder.

Some of them can be less than 1% of the boats.

So just like your mouth does not take up a lot of area. It still guides your life.

Now that we know James care about words, I want to go back to him saying that teachers have stricter judgement.

Why? Why does James chose to say that right now.

I am up here right now using my words, to interpret the word of God.

That is scary.

If I get something wrong and I teach you guys something wrong, God will see that as a big deal.

I think of the book of Job and if you know anything about Job he is going through a tough time. He has three friends that tell him hey you are getting punished because you did something wrong. God would not treat one of his people like this, but Job was saying “no, I have been faithful to God” then his friends told him all of these things about God that were not true. What did God do?

Job 42:7 CSB

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

He was angry at them. I am not sure about you guys, but I do not want the God of the universe, who can kill me right now if he wanted to, to be mad at me.

This is the same thing behind false teachings.

Do you think false teachers are going to pay for misrepresenting Christ.

Joel says all the time life is too short to get Jesus wrong. AND IT IS.

I do not want to be like the mormons who got Jesus wrong.

I do not want to be like the Muslims who think he is only a prophet.

I do not want to be like Jewish people who deny Christ as God, but say he is also only a prophet.

I do not want to speak anything against the Bible.

If I do, and I teach it to you guys…

James is saying that God will not be pleased.

We MUST represent Christ in all of our words.

Because no matter how small we think are words are… they matter.

2. Fire of the Tongue

James 3:5–8 CSB

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. 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. Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

*light a lighter*

Right here, this little lighter, causes this little tiny flame.

This is what the passage is talking about. This little spark, this little flame.

This little flame can do so much.

All it takes is one spark.

One comment.

One word.

One slip up.

On post.

And the one thing that you thought was a big deal. Saying those few small words causes division.

Gossip

Cursing

Making fun of someone.

Saying things that do not honor God.

Our words are so dangerous because these things are so easy to do.

A spark can cause a forrest fire.

Because where does it stop?

One comment becomes two comments.

People start intentionally stirring the pot.

People become over prideful and won’t admit when they are wrong.

They defend their words so much to the point that they hurt people.

Doing these things keeps on fanning the flame and fanning the flame and it grows bigger and bigger.

and this fire *light lighter again* is easy to blow out.

Big a forrest fire is not.

We have to blow out the fire before it gets to big.

How big is your fire?

Because we have to put on the fire look at the ending on verse 6:

It staining the whole body, setting the course of life on fire, fire by hell.

The things we say are affecting us.

It is effecting others.

People still carry around the baggage of things that people have said to them in the past.

There are still wounds that have not been healed because of something that is said to you.

And I am sure that this is the case with at least one person here tonight.

That someone has told you that you will never do something.

That you are not enough.

That you are not pretty.

That you will never get your dream job.

Whatever it might be; words hurt and they affect people.

Words effect both the people hearing them and saying them.

You may be like what do you mean?

When that person cussed me out it affected my life, not theirs.

No, I promise you that it affected their life as well. They might not know it, but Satan is using it as a tool to devour them from the inside without them knowing.

Because verse 6 said it was setting their life on fire from Hell.

This greek word for hell is “geenna” (gee-n-a)

Okay Braden, cool story bro. We do not care… well I promise this is significant.

This was a place just outside of the streets of Jerusalem where trash was constantly being burned.

Then pagans started to go there and sacrifice their Children.

This is a place where they would burn bodies.

And Jesus used it to reference hell himself.

What James is saying is if you cannot slow down your tongue you are going to burn yourself. You are going to burn your life. You are on a firey track straight to hell.

Our words have the opportunity to bring life and steer us in a good direction, or they can kill, steal, destroy, and bring death.

Look at Proverbs 16:27

Proverbs 16:27 CSB

A worthless person digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

We are called to obey God’s Word: we talked about being doers of the Word.

We do not want our tongue to be a fire.

Rather we want it to bring peace.

Ephesians 4:29 CSB

No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.

This does not say do not cuss.

We should not cuss.

But this says no foul language, or other translations say no unwholesome talk.

But key in on the second part, only what is good for building others up.

Our words should lift others up, not tear people down.

This is hard.

This is not natural.

But this is what we are called to do.

We will never be perfect though.

As James said earlier we are going to stumble, and he says it again here.

We have tamed all these animals, but no one has fully tamed the tongue.

I mean what animal have we not tamed?

There are pet raccoons.

People train orcas at the zoo.

I had a friend in college that used to have pet squirrels.

We are going to slip up.

Our goal is to try our hardest not to.

To lean on God and remember what his word says.

3. Consistency in Speech

James 3:9–12 CSB

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

Our tongue is inconsistent.

We sing praises to God with it.

But then we yell at our parents because they want us to stop playing video games.

We compliment someone on how they look.

Then stir up gossip behind their backs.

James has already made the point that this is hard.

But we are called not to speak in an unwholesome way.

Each time we speak in an unwholesome way, we let Satan have a seat at our tables.

When we sin, we let Satan in.

This includes are speech.

This is why it is so important to be consistant in our speech.

We have to be consistently Good.

We cannot let our words invite evil into our lives.

Action: So how? How do we watch our words.

Luke 6:45 CSB

A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

This verse makes me ask the question, what is flowing into your heart.

Are the things of God flowing into your heart?

Are you in prayer?

Are you reading your Bible?

Are you in Christian community?

Are you confessing sin?

Then there are things that can affect your state of mind and you might not know it…

What type of music are you listening to?…

Man I listen to rap, all about drugs, sex, money, and murder.

Do you think that is honoring your relationship with God?

That the words that are coming in aren’t affecting the words that are flowing out of you?

What movies are you watching?

What podcasts are you listening to?

What books are you reading?

Who are you surrounding yourself with?

Because even if we do not want to admit it-

The things around us have influence on us.

If you go and hire a personal trainer, lift, run, and workout for 2 years, people will be like man you go to the gym.

But it is the same… we have to workout our spirituality.

If you spend 2 years reading your Bible, praying, confessing sin, living in community, your life will change.

The words we speak are an overflow of the heart, so what is your heart overflowing with?

I have left a blank there on your outline, and that information is for you and only for you, but is your heart over flowing with Jesus, or is it over flowing with the world.

If there is something that comes to mind and you are like yeah… I need to stop doing that, or I need to cut that out of my life so I can be overflowing with Jesus…

Feel free to write that down, think about it this week, and let it convict your heart.

Conclusion.

We cannot be conflicting in our speech. We have to be constant.

I hope and pray that you chose to speak life.

But to speak life we have to surround ourselves with Jesus.

We cannot do this on our own.

We need Jesus to change our hearts, which will change our words.

When Jesus is flowing from us, we will be speaking things of him.

Pray with me.