Blessing/Cursing

Again, I think that Brad is trying to set me up. Because once again James is bringing us face to face with some difficult realities and difficult truths. In fact, it seems that as we read through James that his punches are getting harder and harder.

I was thinking about it this week and reminds me of this scene in the movie Miracle. Where coach Herb Brooks is upset with his players because they are distracted, they are playing for themselves, there is bickering among the team, and he has had enough of it. So there is this scene in the movie where after they lose a game they should have won he takes them on the ice. And he tells them they need to do these sprints. And after they finish one, he tells them “again” and after that one “again”, and they go time after time and they are exhausted. And after each one they get more tired, they feel beaten down, and they are just ready to stop. But it isn’t till one player is able to recognize that they play for the USA and not themselves that he lets them go. Because the heart of the issue is a reminder of their purpose as a team playing in the Olympics.

I think that is a little of what James is doing in this passage. He is reminding them that their main goal as believers is to be unified in purpose and Spirit and as he see’s it there are a lot of issues they face in being a unified people. So first a foremost I hope that we are able to see this passage as an encouragement towards unity. It is James saying “if you are truly a people that have received the joy of salvation then you must be a people that see the fruit of this salvation in the way you treat one another.”

And in our passage today James focus is on the tongue. What James wants us to see is that the fruit of the Spirit in a believers life is control over the tongue.

James gives several groups of illustrations to make his point clear. He uses the example of a horse bit and a rudder of a ship, he uses the spark that sets a fire, and he uses the fruit that a tree produces as three difference sets of example. Each stating a unique aspect of the significance of the tongue.said that their religion is useless and that they deceive themselves if they say that they are believers but are unable to control their tongues. So already established that a doer of the Word must control their tongue and that someone who calls themselves a believer must see the fruit of that faith to be a true believer he now tells just how significant the tongue is and what it tells us about our faith. Because it is not something easy to control, in fact James seems to indicate, it is nearly impossible for us to control of our own ability. He starts off this section by stating that not many should desire to be teachers and preachers of the Word because they will receive a stricter judgment. Your Words have so much weight that unless you have confidence in your ability to control your tongue because the penalty is greater for those called to ministry. Because, as James says, all of us will stumble in one way or another with our words. The word for stumble refers to something accidental or even inadvertent. That we might not even recognize just how significant our words had been at any given point. Our words have unintentional consequences oftentimes because our choice of words is not careful and has little consideration for the affect they may have. This is why, it is so difficult to control our tongue.

So James gives several groups of illustrations to make his point clear about just how difficult it is to control our tongue and why it is important. He uses the example of a horse bit and a rudder of a ship, he uses the spark that sets a fire, and he uses the fruit that a tree produces as three difference sets of example. Each stating a unique aspect of the significance of the tongue.

The tongue reveals status of our heart

James says that if someone is able to control his tongue that he has control over his whole body. This word is the same word that he will use in the next verse when referring to the bit of a horse. It means to have “the reigns over a bridle.” In fact, to have control of the mouth of the horse is to have control over the entire body of a horse. James says that the horse will “obey” the one with the bridle. It can have the sense of persuading or even corrupting or seducing. It can lead in a direction that previously may not have been considered. You may think of an instance where you made a statement of fact or maybe an opinion about something and someone told you that you are wrong. Our first reaction oftentimes when someone tells us we are wrong is not to say, “hmm…maybe I had incorrect information and you may be right on this one. Rather our first reaction is to tell this person why they are wrong and we are right. We can end up finding ourselves defending a position that we previously were not all the passionate or serious about to begin with. So I believe James is correct when he states that our tongue can “seduce” us.

In the same, he states, a ship with a small rudder, will go wherever the pilot turns the rudder. So just as a bit and rudder will control a much larger object and its direction, so does the tongue control the whole body. If you think about a ship you have the one steering (the captain), the means of control (the rudder), and the object that is controlled (the ship). In the same way the body is directed by the desire of the heart and the words that come from those desires.

Both illustrations that James provides reveal to us that to control the tongue is to control the entire body. Then James uses another example of animals, in fact he goes through every animal we see in creation. And he says that all of these animals have been tamed by men. He references the job that God has given us as humans, to have dominion over the animals, a mandate given to all of us. Many of us in one way or another show our dominion over animals. When we have a pet that we train to listen to our voice and respond on command. Or the many other types of animals that people train. People have trained lions who have more strength then we could ever handle on our own. People tame elephants, the largest land animals on the planet, so they can ride them. You can go to Sea-World and see killer whale, animals who have a diet of dolphins and sea-lions, trained to do jump out of the water and do tricks. We can do all that! But then James says…yet we can’t tame the tongue! It will be a lifelong challenge for us to use our tongues wisely and to honor God with our words. It will always be easier to use words that are harsh and hateful rather than with kindness and gentleness. But as believers we are called to do this to the best of our ability. That our thoughts and our words have such an impact on us that they affect our decisions. In fact, what our tongue seems to do is reveal the desires of our hearts. And if we cannot control our tongue then we have a spiritual problem that we must also be dealt with.

I have heard people say “why does it matter if I use some colorful language ever now and then.” or “I was already thinking it so I just said it”. But what the tongue seems to do is diagnose a heart issue, that our words are more of symptom more than they are a cause. A doctor does not diagnose a runny nose, or a headache, or a fever as the cause, the doctor diagnoses them as symptoms of a deeper issue that must be addressed.

So the question being asked here is not just “why are our words important?” but also “what do our words reveal about our spiritual character?” Because as James will tell us next, our words have a far greater impact than we realize.

The tongue has the power to destroy

After revealing to us just how difficult it is for us to control our tongues. He discusses the power of a fire from two perspectives. First, that it has destructive power. A fire spark has the ability to create severe damage far beyond what its small size would suggest. It is destructive and it spreads quickly. It is unbridled, it cannot be contained, and it is passionate. James even clarifies, “and the tongue is a fire”. He is saying “yes, the tongue has this level of destructive power, this is not an exaggeration.”

John Calvin says this about this passage “a slender portion of flesh contains the whole world of iniquity.” In other words, out of the mouth we can find the origin of every kind of sin and evil. And if you don’t believe John Calvin, hear what Jesus says in Matthew 15:17-19

Matthew 15:17–19 CSB

“Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

What comes from the mouth spreads over every other part of who we are. And then James hits us with this, “The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is places among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

The tongue taints our inner character. The tongue can corrupt our soul and destroy our life. He refers to the tongue as being set on fire by hell. Reminding us that Satan was the original deceiver, that through His words brought destruction to all mankind. In the same way we can say words that irreparably damage ourselves or others. And words do not need to be true to have a monumental affect, words can put a burden on someones life.

And since they can have such a serious impact God tells us that we will give an account for our words.

We will give an account for our words

James really goes for the gut punch here. He reminds us that we cannot have both hateful speech and God glorifying speech come out of the same mouth. We can’t both speak with hatred toward our neighbor, spread gossip, deceive, lie, curse, and every other kind of evil talk and also have faith in the Lord. We can’t both pray to God and glorify and worship Him while also turning around and cursing others. James even has in mind the praise and glory we give to God in worship during a worship service. That we can’t sit next to someone and praise the Lord together, then turn around and speak with malice or hatred or slander against that person.

Consider what it means to curse someone, it means to believe they do not deserve to be in the Lord’s presence, you are asking for them to live apart from God. Now we don’t “curse” people in that sense, but we do question peoples faith based off choices that they may, or because of an opinion that they hold, or because they disagree with us on something that we believe strongly about. We often can find colorful words to describe those who we have issue with as well. But we must not allow both cursing and blessing come out of our mouth, and for those who call ourselves believers we must be marked with words of grace, love, and forgiveness.

One big issue of our day is the idea of “cancel culture”. Where you may have said something in your past that has come to affect your future in some way. Whether it is to lose a job, lose influence, lose money, etc. And as believers we know that we are called to forgiveness and grace to our neighbors, that we do not seek to destroy others but rather to show kindness even when kindness is not shown to us. But as believers we should also recognize that even if in this world we do not give an account for every word that we say or every post on social media that we make; one day the Lord will bring us to account for them.

Matthew 12:35-37

Matthew 12:35–37 CSB

A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

So even though you may not care about being “cancelled” by others. You should ask yourself “how valuable is the thing that I am going to say?” “will the words that I use still feel like the mature and wise thing to say a year from now or 10 years from now?” “will I regret the choice of words that I used in this conversation?” “How important is this social media post and how will others view the words that I say?” Again, I am just seeing what James and Jesus tell us. That even if other people forgot your words, and even if you believe that someone should “get over it” because what you said wasn’t a big deal, or if you think that it is harsh for someone to analyze the words that you have said. One day the Lord will be able to scroll through every word that you said and you will have to give an account for, as James calls them, the “careless words” that we use. Which means not just the things that we mean but the things we say flippantly, the jest that we make, the sarcasm that we use, the words that we mumble under our breath. Every comment that we have made that we know we took too far, we will have to account for every single one. So James ends by telling us how we are to control the tongue.

The Spirit gives us the strength we don’t have on our own.

I read in one commentary about these verses “Christians who have been transformed by the Spirit of God should manifest the wholeness and purity of the heart in consistency and purity of speech.” In other words, those who believe they have been redeemed and have the Holy Spirit living in them should see the fruit of the Spirit actively in the way they talk.

James give an example of a fig tree that can’t produce olives, nor a grapevine produce figs. And James quotes from his brother Jesus again from Matthew 7 where Jesus says that false prophets will come in sheep’s clothing and you will be able to recognize them by their fruit. Just like a grape comes from a grape vine and not a thornbush, you will be able to recognize a believer by its fruit.

Therefore, as believers the fruit of the Spirit in our lives should be wisdom with our tongue. But as James has pointed out countless times throughout the passage, none of us are really able to tame the tongue so how are we able to see this fruit? Well it is in the name, it is the fruit of the Spirit.

Romans 6:5-7

Romans 6:5–7 CSB

For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin.

Those who have the Spirit no longer have sin ruling over them, we are freed from sin through the blood of Christ and in the power of the Spirit. So we are not called to do this on our own, we are given the greatest power we can imagine to help us in our weakness. As one commentary said it “only a renewed heart can produce pure speech; and consistently (though not perfectly) pure speech is to be the produce of the renewed heart.”

So we can be thankful that we are not left to our own ability to try and figure out the right words, because we know if we tried we would fail! We would lose that battle and we would be feel overburdened by the weight of this sin. But thanks to God that through Christ, whom we are united to in His death and whom we are crucified with, Has given His Spirit to us so that we are no longer a slave to our own tongues, but that we are given the only power that can tame it.

But that doesn’t let us off the hook, because we are called to reveal the fruit of the Spirit, to be doers not just hearers, to have both faith and works. So if we have been truly saved, if we believe in the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit then we should feel a desire to glorify God with our words. To find any inner fault and to throw it off. To consider our word choice, to think about if our words honor God. And to recognize that every single one of us struggles with this sin, not a single one of us is innocent in this. And so if we are a believer we should not remain stagnant with our use of our tongues, but that we should grow in maturity till we are able to control our whole bodies.