James #4

Northside Church

James 4

5/9/21

James 3:1-12

Illustration: Two stories below… or an animal that constantly gets out and terrorizes people…

Welcome to Northside, my name is Jamey Mills and I am one of the pastors here at Northside. Thank you all for joining us here and online, it’s always an incredible blessing to be with you all here and online. Happy mothers day… shout out to my favorite mom… she happens to be the best mom… deserves an award for raising this… and believe it or not, I was the good kid.

We are in the 4th week of our sermon series on the book of James… James is the 1\2 brother of Jesus… and the leader of the most influential early church. This is a letter he sent out for those Jewish Christians that have been pushed out by severe persecution. Struggling in life and many of them struggling in faith…

Reminding them that God is at work in us through hard times.

Reminding them that God’s word should be the anchor for our lives in hard times.

Reminding them that what we do is a reflection of who we really are… when it comes to our faith.

And to get us started today I want to tell you two personal stories that i think will help get us there.

I graduated from HS in 1993, and had no idea what I was going to do. I ended up going to Bible college that summer I came home and worked at the place I had all through high school. One night, an old friend showed up at work and asked if we could hang out… she and one of her friends who I’d never met came over after work and wanted me to go out with them… and I know what that meant. I was trying to change some things in my life… and so I walked them out to the car and told my friend that I wasn’t sure we could be friends anymore. That night… she drank and drove. She pulled out in front of a log truck… and that young lady that sat in our living room hours earlier died that night… and my friend had died several times… but did end up surviving. I remember being really disappointed with myself… not for the decision not to go, but for the words I said… words that hurt. I did eventually go see her in the hospital… I did apologize… but I feel bad to this day.

I think it was that same summer I ended up helping a buddy of mine at a camp… as a camp counselor. I was up at the cabin running late and I was trying to make my way to where everyone else was in a hurry and I came across this little guy that was crying pretty hard… not knowing what to do… I sat down with him. He told me he felt dumb becasue he was homesick… and so I told him about the 9 months I had just exierienced a way form home… and how hard it was… but that it helped me realize how much I love my family… and that's never a bad thing…

We became buddies for the rest of the week. The following summer I decided to call this church in Powell Butte oregon that had been sending my money for school… just to see if they needed help. It was so interesting because the phone didn't ring… and after a while I said hello… and someone on the other end asked if Jamey was there… it was the craziest thing… It was Powell Butte calling me to see if I was interested in helping get their youth program off the ground that summer. The first person that met me as I pulled in on my first Sunday… was Ryan Vaughn. He went home and told everyone about what I said… turns out… It brought me my very first ministry experience… I had no idea that my words meant so much to him.

I can't tell you how many times I have been on both sides of this… times where I think God has used the words that come out of my mouth to encourage and build people up… and times where I have ripped people down and caused significant pain… caused them to question the reality of who I am… and even worse… the reality of who they are.

When it comes to taming my tongue I want you to know that I’m a work in progress. I fall short… still. There is no excuse… I’m not proud of it.

And with that, what James says becomes an incredible challenge for me. The tongue is talked about in every single chapter of James.

In fact the Bible speaks of it often in general… it's described as wicked, deceitful, perverse, filthy, corrupt, flattering, slanderous, gossiping, blasphemous, foolish, boasting, complaining, cursing, contentious, and vile… and that’s not exhaustive.

Based on what James writes… I’m guessing your struggle sometimes too. My hope and prayer for all of us is that we’d be courageous enough… to pray even in the moment that God would convict us in a way that leads to real growth and change.

James 3:1–12 (NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

James 3:1–6 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

James in a sense is carrying on from the conversation from last week. This relationship between faith and actions… That the reality of a saving faith changes our behavior… And here James is saying that it also changes the way that we talk.

The very opening verse in this passage is actually one of my least favorite passages in all of scripture. Talking about How not many should ascribe to be teachers within the church… And why is it that they’d be judged more harshly?

Ultimately, If God is who He says He is… what we are doing here this evening in talking about God’s Word… and applying it to our lives is probably the most important thing we can do… It’s not a place to bring half cocked opinions or grind an axe… It’s not a place for 1\2 truth… the potential damage is huge.

And we take it incredibly seriously. We work hard and study hard… and I hope you know that I’m open to being wrong… and I will tell you when I am. We try our hardest to communicate what we believe God is teaching through His Word… in ways that encourage, enlighten and even convict.

John McAurther said that teaching God's word… Echoes throughout all eternity.

And it reminds me of this picture… how cool is that close up. One small drop of water… sends ripples… impacts things far beyond its impact point. I know how we teach, how you hear, how you adjust your lives by it… or not… goes on to ripple in the lives of those around you too.

James mentioned teachers…. But I don’t know that his point was to smack them around or even to honestly discourage others from teaching… as much as he was using them as an example of people who talk a lot, and as a result… hold a lot of responsibility.

The letter of James wasn’t written just to teachers or high ranking church leaders… not to pastors… but to parents, neighbors, co-workers, small group leaders, church volunteers… it was written to Christians.

It reminds me of one of John Maxwell’s irrefutable laws of leadership… that

Leadership is influence… nothing more, nothing less.

He goes on to say that every single one of us influences in one way or another… YOU… hold the power of influence.

Francis Chan suggests that everytime you open your mouth… everytime you share a thought or an opinion you're influencing someone…

I feel like James is saying that even though your tongue is small… it is powerful.

Your tongue has the power to impact the course of your life.

… and the lives of those around you… think about it… your job, your family, marriage, friendships…

Our words can bring life or take life… that can lift up or shove down. They can bring hope or rob people of it. They can bring unity or cause division… they can help or hurt, they can point people to Jesus or away from them, it can bring light or dark, they can be full of respect or dissension… they can build trust or destroy it...

And so the question is… what kind of a person do you want to be? I’m betting it's the same kind of person Jesus desires you to be too. And if that’s not the case… Huston we have a problem.

The most beautiful people I know… and admire… are people who speak life and joy… who speak grace and love… who can even speak hard truth in ways that build bridges instead of destroying them… and Jesus says… our words are a direct representation of a reality that's within us. Our words make a difference… they matter.

Those who can bridle the tongue… if we can learn to control it… it impacts the direction of our lives… how our lives will go. Where our lives will go.

The warning that Jesus gives… if we take Him seriously might make us sweat a little.

Matthew 12:36–37 (ESV)

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.”

WHY… Why would Jesus say something like that…

It reminds me of this summer… I was standing out front with some of the guys in my neighborhood… and off in the distance there was this haze… and just later (PICTURE) the smoke rolled in so heavy and thick you could hardly see down the street… ash was falling from the sky…

These fires spread so hard and fast… they were completely out of control… the damage was massive… lives were lost and hugely impacted…. People were fleeing to right here in our own backyard.

James says your words hold that power. They can be the small spark that ignites an inferno… that you may never put out…. That’s lit on fire by the pits of Hell itself, that causes unimaginable damage… that people may spend the rest of their lives recovering from.

One author said it this way… Oh christian, your words are purposed to bring life… Do you find it beneath you? Is it too small? Are we too great for such a high calling?

Ephesians 4:29 NLT

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

James continues…

James 3:7–12 NLT

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both freshwater and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

It’s easier to train a lizard or a fish than to tame your tongue. I have tried for years to train my goldfish and the only thing I can get them to do is swim on their back… but… they're super good at it.

James says how is that out of the same mouth, we praise God… We welcome Him, we are thankful before Him, we verbally and even physically respond to His goodness in our lives… and at the same time… rip up, knock down… speak poorly of, slander or gossip about people who were created in the image of God Himself?

Chan suggests that

we cannot disconnect our relationship with God from our relationship with people who were created in His image and that He loves dearly.

It reminds me of my own kids and wife… one of the places I struggle most with people most is when they cut down or… are mean to… don’t try to understand my kids or wife.

I think James is saying it's how God feels when we just see people for their mistakes and opinions… for the ways that sin had distorted His image in them.

Just like salt water and fresh water… don't flow from the same stream… those things shouldn’t both exist in us… the presence of God in our lives… even changes the way we talk.

I feel like what James is saying is… that the source is the real issue. If the water is bad, the source is bad.

James is saying the source within us is the real issue.

John MacArthur says that nowhere is The relationship between works and faith more evident than in the way we talk.

Our heart will inevitably be disclosed by what it is that we say.

It is the tattletale of the heart…

Eventually… our internal reality… will be laid bare by what we say.

Matt 15:19

talks about all kinds of things stem from heart issues…

Matthew 15:19 NLT

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Luke 6:45 NLT

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

In

Luke 6:45 NLT

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

… Jesus says that a good person brings good things out of the good stored up in their heart… and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For the mouth speaks whatever the heart is full of.

How does that sit with you?

I think Jesus and James are asking the same question… where is your heart? What resides there? What is the source like? What’s in your heart? Hate? Lust? Addiction? Insecurity? Regret? Guit? Unforgiveness?

Tony Evans two frogs that came to a ditch and tried to jump across… they didn't make it… as they landed in the bottom they began to jump and flail… at first it was light hearted but soon they realized that it was serious. Eventually… they were exhausted.

Some of their froggy friends came along and noticed them down there… it was clear they wouldn’t make it… so they gathered around to say goodbye.

“We’re so sorry you’re in the ditch. There’s nothing we can do. It’s too far for you to jump out, so we just came to say goodbye.” Basically, they told their friends to give up and die. The first frog gave up because he was just too exhausted… he literally laid over and died. The second kept jumping… tirelessly… and his friends waved their arms and told him to stop… you’ll never make it… your look foolish… and then to their shock… he gave one great jump and landed right in front of them.

“How did you do it?” they asked… and He said… I’m deaf. I only understand you now because I’m close enough to read your lips. When I looked up and saw you waving and encouraging me… I just knew I couldn’t give up.

Who do you want to be? James says your words are powerful…

They have the power to direct the rest of your life…

To Damage your life… and the lives of others

Our words matter… and they are reflection of an inward reality… of what's going on within us…

Chose life… I cannot tell you how much the world around us needs it right now. CHOSE LIFE… to be someone who communicates truth… who builds bridges… who dares to look for the image of God in the lives of those they disagree with most.

It will change your life…

Communion