The taming of the tongue
Notes
Transcript
Explanation!
Explanation!
This past week, it struck me anew, how quickly mankind is able to become complacent!
Have you recently thought back, to when Covit first appeared?
How we took to vigorously washing our hands
Started keeping our distance
How we went into isolation ...
And how we started anew to practice family worship
Started calling each other, asking how we were all travelling ...
How good is that?
And how is that all going now, loved ones? (I ask sincerely)
May God grant us fervor and enthusiasm and joy,
as we continue along the path of faith renewal.
And may it be seen in what we do and say and think ...
By the grace of God, I was also personally reminded this past week
of the blessing,
and the weight of Ministry!
With ordination comes a glorious blessing:
it brings the exclusive privilege, of bringing to the people of God,
the blessing of God (we call it the benediction!)
(Not everyone may bring it in the context of the gathered church)
It is a wonderful, humbling, frightful … privilege!
When one is ordained,
We promise that we accept the responsibility!
But, ministers’ too, can become complacent.
By the devil’s orchestration, and by personal brokenness
it is a privilege that can be neglected by ministers ...
Even as we remember this passage in James:
1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.
Friends, this morning, before I greet you in the name of our Lord,
I ask you again, to keep me in your prayers
so that I will serve you well - to the glory of God alone!
and not become complacent!
May the words of James 4: 7-8, guide our thoughts and prayers now:
7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Loved ones, I greet you on the certainty of God’s promises
Who says to us: “Grace to you, and Peace, Amen!”
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Amen!
I have asked Gregg to lead us in a prayer
Growing in saving faith (part 3)
Growing in saving faith (part 3)
Last week, we revisited the truth
that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone,
and that that is the foundation of our faith.
However, says James - This truth, is more than dogma!
This faith - this saving faith! -
is a reality, only when put our faith into practice, willingly, joyfully ...
Look, for instance, says James
at the way people of faith, deal with suffering!
“The way we face trials and temptations, is a reflection of our faith!”
(That was the message of Chapter 1 of James’s letter to the church.)
And then, as an ongoing example of our faith
remember, that our faith will be seen in the way we treat one another!
The way we treat one another, is a reflection of our faith!
For instance ...
Let their be no undue favouritism in our lives!
(That was what we were called to consider in chapter 2).
2 For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in,
3 if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”
4 haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
As if to summarise everything James had said to that point, he writes:
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
We can understand the first part easily enough:
A person can have a pulse, be breathing, and yet be clinically dead!
We call it, being in a "vegetative” state. (And the word says it all …)
Well, that is an example, an illustration, if you will, says James, of:
Likewise, “Faith without works … is dead!”
In modern-day expression:
“You need to do more than talk the talk
you must walk the walk!”
And James now quickly follows this rather uncomfortable reality
with another exhortation!
“Tame your tongue! An untamed tongue is a sign of dead faith!
Let’s read James 3: 1-12 together...
1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.
2 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.
3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind,
8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.
10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
11 Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a saltwater spring yield fresh water.
In verse 1, James is speaking to the leaders of the church,
those men called and equipped by God,
to teach the church, the people of God
about the salvation of our souls in Christ.
Nothing more, nothing less!
And immediately, he adds a warning:
1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.
Loved ones, I want you to know that I take this warning seriously!
As seriously, at the very least,
as each parent should take the raising of their children in Christ!
Because it is a commandment of God!
46 he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today, so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully.
You see? “Which words?”
“All the words that I am giving you as a warning today ...”
The words of the law and the prophets, the whole bible!
That is what Christian living is all about!
Living by the Book!
And having given that warning to would be teachers, ministers, evangelists, James quickly becomes practical, again:
“And Christian living brings with it a responsibility, and care, and love
and we are far from perfect, so we will need God to bless us
if we are to be all we say we are - Christians!
And little is more front and centre, when we ask: “Am I a Christian?”
than the test of the tongue. (The tongue tip test…)
If you want to determine the maturity of your faith, friends
then keep a record of how you speak!
/////////////////////////////////////////
Five headings will help us formulate such a record/process
and, by God’s grace, keep us faithful, as we think about God
and also what we think, rolls out over our tongues:
As you consider your faith, specifically as it relates to your speaking
KNOW THIS:
1. It is difficult to tame the tongue;
2. don’t underestimate the disproportional power of the tongue;
3. The untamed tongue will lead to destruction and even death;
4. (The deception of the tongue) “White man speaks with forked tongue”
5. But, we may live in hope and certainty, that all is not lost!
ON THE CONTRARY!
1. The difficult of taming the tongue
1. The difficult of taming the tongue
v2. We all stumble in many ways!
Even before James will offer his own examples of the the raging force of the untamed tongue
He offers us a moment of inward reflection!
As we are confronted by God’s word,
Loved ones … we will do well to take stock early in this sermon!
How do you stumble, when talking?
Gossip
Lies (and little lies)
Slander
Anger
Cussing
Yet, here is the hope part, as we take stock, and resol;ve to do better
daily
we grow (we learn to be quick to listen, slow to speak)
But all along this journey, as we grow in faith, we become aware that ...
The disproportional power of the tongue
The disproportional power of the tongue
Like a bit // a rudder
3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we direct their whole bodies.
4 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.
5 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.
The power of the tongue to build up, or destroy! (9/11 planes!)
It is a reflection of what lies within!
Our tongues may bring comfort (examples)
Our little tongues … can reduce a grown rogue to tears
tears of joyful submission, and peace, and forgiveness!
(“Today you will be with me in paradise!”
But, Our tongues may bring destruction (examples)
6 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.
The untamed tongue, is the source of much discord and destruction!
It is a fire, says James!
A fire which is first kindled in Hell,
until it becomes a raging fire storm of destruction,
that sweeps through the church.
Are you keeping stock of your own memories, friends, of how you speak
or have spoken, as we consider the destructive power of the tongue?
I once in my youth told someone I loved them
taking no time, to consider the power of those words, to bring
and receive, happiness (what love is meant to do)
But spoken selfishly, the heartbreak and self-guilt it brings
when we say it without meaning it!
I was in a place of counselling once,
where the marriage between two people had broken down.
And the Minister, meaning good, no doubt, and hoping for a positive answer, asked the young husband: “Do you not still love her?”
And he answered, bluntly, truthfully (because he probably never did
“No!” “I don’t love her anymore”
And it led to anguish, and divorce,
disappointment, and devastation!
And that … should not be!
Clearly, the implication is,
that the tongue is like fuel,
waiting to be set alight,
by the flame of hatred and jealousy and anger ...
And so it starts to burn, and grow, until it destroys everything in its path!
(I always find myself thinking that this is an illustration Australians can really understand, what with our bush fires!)
A beast that demands to be heard
Destroy a person’s reputation
Destroy a congregation
Examples from the animal kingdom, showing how difficult it is to tame the tongue
7 Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind,
8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
And then we come to ...
Deadly inconsistency of the tongue
Deadly inconsistency of the tongue
9 With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God’s likeness.
10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
Bless God
curse His image!
As we come seeking the blessing of God, visibly, “Father, forgive me...”
we bring, invisibly, the curse we carry for those we dislike!
“I despise you!”
These things should not be!
MUST NOT BE!
It is blasphemy!
A great hope
A great hope
If moved to want to tame your tongue,
you have the faith ...
a SAVING faith!
Though it be difficult, we are able
First fruits of the Gospel!
Not yet perfect … but growing towards perfection
by grace alone, through faith alone
and my very speech is already a sign …!
And from this sign we can have hope!
By garce, we grow, through faith, we curse less, we praise God more,
(the things with which we keep ourselves busy)
Until we become part of the chorus
“That every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Or in the words of the hymn
O for a 1000 tongues ...
Amen!
