James 4: Wisdom in Words
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: James 3:1-12
N:
Opening
Opening
Welcome, and Happy Reformation Day! 504 years ago on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and sparked the Protestant Reformation.
Budget discussion 11/7 following Family Worship.
Business meeting 11/14 at 5:30 pm, need a quorum. If we don’t have a quorum, we will have to have a special called business meeting before we eat lunch on 11/21.
Don’t forget to go vote if you haven’t already. ERLC out in foyer with information for you.
MNM $11,637.75. Something to celebrate! Last day. I’ll give a final number for this offering next Sunday.
Today marks our fourth week in our six-week series in the book of James, where we are considering the concept of wisdom in this little letter and the idea of knowing how to live a life that glorifies God. In short: having a faith that works. Last week, we considered faith and works, and saw that while we are not saved by how well we work, if we have a faith in Jesus, then it is clear that that saving faith will manifest itself in our doing good works: living lives that seek to bring glory to God. This concept of wisdom reaches even to the level of the things that we say, which is why today, we will look at “wisdom in words,” examining the first 12 verses of the 3rd chapter of James. As we read our focal passage this morning, please stand with me in honor of God’s holy Word:
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.
PRAYER
Have you ever been really foolish with your words? I mean really foolish. Like talking negatively about someone when the person is within earshot? Or saying that you know about some subject that you really don’t, and you get called on it so you look entirely foolish? Or flying off the handle in anger and saying something that you neither wanted to say nor meant, but which would create a defining moment in your relationship with someone forever? Or posting something online that started something of a firestorm on your social media channels? Have you ever just wished that you could totally take words back? I know I have.
I think back on my life and there have been many times that I would like to go back and redo as far as my speech was concerned. Times I said things that I didn’t mean, times I used my words to manipulate or control, times I hurt people while getting a laugh at their expense. Even now, I have ways that I speak that I don’t like: such as tending toward condescension when I know I’m right in a disagreement, getting short when I don’t feel like I’m being heard or understood, and taking what I might consider to be a “witty” comment one sarcastic step too far.
Here in chapter 3, James gives us what is in my opinion the most thorough treatment of our speaking and language in all of Scripture. Since we are talking about wisdom: knowing how to live a life that glorifies God, it’s vital for us to understand the power, the problem, and the purpose of the tongue.
1: The POWER of the tongue
1: The POWER of the tongue
“The pen is mightier than the sword,” is an adage that we’ve likely heard at some point in our lives. It’s meaning is that words have more power to affect change than a weapon does. When here in James 3 speaks of the tongue, he would have been including all forms of speech, not just purely words spoken out loud. So this would include written words as well as spoken. And James clearly believes that words are powerful things:
James 3:3–5a (CSB)
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.
These images are things that just about everyone in James’ time would have understood. We probably have some in the congregation who ride, but we’ve likely all seen a horse with a bit in its mouth. The bit is generally a small bar that goes across the horse’s mouth, fairly far back, so the rider can use the reins to control the horse. We also understand the idea of a rudder when compared with the rest of a ship: the rudder is a very small part, but turning the rudder changes the direction of the entire vessel.
James compares these two things (and one more thing we will see in a moment) to the tongue. The tongue is small when compared with your whole body, but it can be used to direct your whole life. The words that we use matter.
Think of it this way: words are things that we can never truly take back. The Roman poet Horace is quoted as saying,
“A word once uttered can never be recalled.”
Recalled here doesn’t mean “remembered.” It means “called back.” Once spoken, our words take on a life of their own, and how they land is not always in our power to control. And now that social media is a part of the fabric of our lives, the long-lasting nature of our words is incredible. Everyone who posts to social media: give careful thought to the power and permanence of the words and pictures that you post, the things you comment on, retweet, share, or like, and the meaning behind those words. Consider how many people have said something online perhaps decades ago, and those things are being dredged up and weaponized against them now? Words are very powerful things, indeed.
Our speech is a major theme for James, and many times in this epistle, James’ uses a reference to our words as a part of his overall picture of what wisdom looks like:
26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself.
James says that the person who claims to be religious but who has no control over their tongue should be concerned (remember what we looked at last week).
12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.
Note that in 2:12, James connects the things that we say to the actions that we take.
11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.
Each of these passages references our speech in some way. Obviously for James, our speech is an important factor in the direction of our lives. This goes for the words that we say, the words that we write, and even in many ways, the words that we think. Remember a couple of weeks ago, when we considered Wisdom in Trials, and we reflected on James 1:14-15?
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
Don’t we have a dialogue with ourselves as we start down this path? Aren’t there words that take place in our heads and hearts that feed our temptation and desire? Aren’t those words extremely powerful as well? Consider what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18:21 as it relates to this passage from James:
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Notice the power that Solomon acknowledges that our speech has: death and life. I don’t think that we take the power of our tongues seriously enough. We forget that our actions flow out of our words, either the words we have spoken or even the words we have thought. And thus we come to the problem of the tongue.
2: The PROBLEM of the tongue
2: The PROBLEM of the tongue
There has been a lot of discussion in the last few years about the concept of language as violence. And while I’m not here this morning to go in-depth on that subject, I can say that in my perspective, language can be in its own way violent (while not physically so), if its intent is to cause injury, harm, or to wrongfully control or belittle someone else. Keep in mind that just hearing something that you disagree with isn’t violence at all, and if you think it is, you are going to have a very difficult time in this world, even if it’s something that you vehemently disagree with. However, the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names shall never hurt me,” is nothing but drivel. Of course names hurt us. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t use them, nor would we have come up with some cute rhyme to try to try to convince ourselves and others that they don’t. But the tongue’s problem isn’t that it can hurt… that’s just a symptom. Its problem is that it’s broken, and that’s why it can cause hurt. Just like the rest of each of us, our use of words is broken in many ways. But more than simply being broken, our words can cause horrific damage if not controlled. James makes one more comparison here in verses 5b-8:
James 3:5b–8 (CSB)
5 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.
The tongue is a fire. And even a small spark can start a significant fire.
An example happened this summer in Redding, California. A golfer playing at Gold Hills Golf Course there hit a shot into the rough on the fifth hole, leaving them with a chip shot to get out. When they chipped, their club hit a rock, which created some sparks, and burned an acre of the golf course before it was put out. No one was hurt. (nydailynews.com)
James’ language here in chapter 3 is severe. He says that the tongue is a “world of unrighteousness…it stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
The problem with the tongue’s brokenness is that we often do not use our words wisely, and this is what James is capturing when he writes this. Consider along with this what Solomon said earlier in Proverbs 18:
6 A fool’s lips lead to strife, and his mouth provokes a beating. 7 A fool’s mouth is his devastation, and his lips are a trap for his life.
When we allow our words to flow unchecked, we actually are being the opposite of wise: we are being foolish. The types of things that we think about when we reflect on the problem of the tongue: gossip, slander, insult, lying… we looked at several different sinful uses of the tongue when we examined the Ninth Commandment in our series TEN back during the summer. So we need to seek to have control over our tongues. Consider these two passages from Proverbs:
27 The one who has knowledge restrains his words, and one who keeps a cool head is a person of understanding.
23 The one who guards his mouth and tongue keeps himself out of trouble.
“But, Bill,” you might be thinking, “Didn’t James say that, ‘no man can tame the tongue?’” He did. So am I contradicting what James said? And if I’m not, what are we to do?
James is right. No man can perfectly tame the tongue. But I want you to think back to the illustrations that James used that we looked at during our first point: the bit with the horse, and the rudder with the ship. Like the tongue, these are small parts that can direct the larger entity, correct? We need to think about HOW these things work. The bit in the horse’s mouth and the rudder on the ship don’t merely just act on their own, do they? No. Instead, each of those small things is acted upon by something else: the rider or the pilot. The question then when we get to the tongue is this: Who is piloting your life? Is it you, or is it Jesus, through His indwelling Spirit? We can’t control our tongues, but Jesus can, and He wants to be in control of the tongue of the one who belongs to Him.
How does this happen? Our tongues are broken because we’ve messed up our relationship with God through sin. And to solve that rift between us, God gave His Son, Jesus, to die in our place because of our sin, and He defeated death and rose again. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we give up going our own way, we turn away from our sin, and we agree that He is Lord of our lives. And because of what Jesus did, God forgives us of our sin, declares us to be righteous, and guarantees that we will live forever with Him. Part of that guarantee is that He comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit, and in so doing, gives us the power to have control over our tongues. We cannot tame our tongues. He does it as we submit to Him.
And then our tongues can fulfill their greatest purpose:
3: The PURPOSE of the tongue
3: The PURPOSE of the tongue
So if our tongues aren’t supposed to be used to wound, what is the purpose of words for the Christian? James saw this question clearly as well, noting the duality that we seem to have with our words. Notice how he paints this duality in verses 9-12:
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.
This duality is not how it should be for the believer. Our tongues should not be used to curse those who bear God’s image, should not be a spring that pours out bitter water, should not be a fig tree that grows olives, or a grapevine that grows figs. As we’ve said, words are powerful. To this point, we’ve mostly considered that words are powerful in a negative sense: that they can cause harm. But they are also powerful in another way: they can heal as well.
23 The heart of a wise person instructs his mouth; it adds learning to his speech. 24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.
11 A word spoken at the right time is like gold apples in silver settings. 12 A wise correction to a receptive ear is like a gold ring or an ornament of gold.
Our tongues are meant to speak life, to bless and encourage, to edify and build up.
This connects us back to verses 1 and 2:
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.
Those who teach are those who specifically use their words for the edification of the body. If those words are false, great harm can come to the church. This is one of the verses that is critical for me in preaching, and why I pray what I pray before I preach each week: because I know that my words are vital and need to be God’s words to be useful. My messages each week are completely pointless if they’re not from God and empowered by Him. Without God’s working, my words have no eternal consequence. So each week I am desperate for God to work through the prep and the writing for His own glory.
But I know I don’t have my words under complete control. Notice what James says about that: we ALL stumble in many ways, but the tongue is so volatile that if someone can manage to not stumble in what he says, it’s a sign of great maturity: so much so that he will have great self control. This makes sense, right? Since the words that we say both externally and internally tend to manifest in our actions, if our words are under control, then our lives will likely be under control as well. This is difficult for sure! But it’s a sign of spiritual maturity, according to James, which takes us back to chapter 1, and those verses that I believe are sort of the “thesis” statement in James:
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Submitting our tongues to the control of God is a part of the process of developing spiritual endurance, which leads to maturity and completeness. Now, this doesn’t mean that we can only say “positive” things. Sometimes speaking the truth in love demands that we speak that which someone might not want to hear, word that might be painful or difficult:
6 The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.
But if we’re using our words truly to show love, then even the difficult words are a blessing.
Application
Application
So if our tongues are meant for blessing instead of cursing, for speaking life instead of death, what are we to do? We should take seriously the warning that Jesus gave in the Gospel of Matthew:
36 I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.
I’m not sure how many Marvel fans there are here this morning, but have any of you watched Loki? There’s a great scene in the very first episode of that series, where Loki has been captured by the TVA (Time Variance Authority), and he goes through this whole processing experience, where he’s dropped down into these different parts of being processed after arrest. He lands in one room, and a guy with glasses pushes a big stack of paper toward him and says, “Please sign to verify this is everything you’ve ever said.”
“What?” says Loki. Another page prints, which the man puts on top of the stack and says, “Sign this too.” A closeup of the paper reveals that it says that Loki had said, “What?” Loki responds, “Oh, this is absurd.” Another paper prints. “And this,” says the man. Loki, without another word, signs the paper, and he is quickly dropped to his next processing area.
It is absurd to think about all the words that we’ve ever said. But what we need to realize is that, while it’s not the TVA, there is someone who knows our every word, our every thought. The Lord God knows them all. And since our words are so powerful and can be used for both harm and blessing, He takes our words very seriously. It matters to God how we speak. Play back in your mind the words that you chose to speak this week. How did you speak to your spouse? To your children? To your friends? Your teachers? Your employer? Your employees? Yourself? Your brothers and sisters in Christ? Did you speak life? Or did you speak death? Did you build up, or did you tear down? God knows every word.
And along with that, we need to remember that God has also said that the words that we speak are an indicator of something more than our maturity. They are an indicator of what is actually going on within our hearts. Jesus said in Luke 6:
43 “A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thornbushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 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.
You can imagine James having heard this (likely not from Jesus directly), and now recalling it as he writes on the tongue.
Here’s what I want you to get a hold of this morning: if your heart is full of Jesus, then Jesus is going to overflow from your heart! If your heart is filled with Scripture, then Scripture is going to overflow from your heart! If your heart is filled with the Spirit of God, then the Spirit of God is going to overflow from your heart! And all of these overflows are going to come right out of your mouth.
So we have to ask ourselves: what comes out of my mouth? What does it say about the state of your heart?
One last thought:
Beloved brothers and sisters of Eastern Hills: How do we speak to the lost? Our tongues are meant to provide a blessing. How do we bless the lost? How should we use our tongues to bless those who are far from God, but who still bear His beautiful image? We tell them about the cross. We tell them that Jesus has come to save them. That He died for them. That He went to the grave for them. That He rose again for them, that they might turn from their sins, and surrender to Him and be saved. Some of the lost might not like the message of the cross, but that’s not the point. We show God’s love and bring Him glory when we testify to the truth of the Gospel to those who are lost. Who are you going to strive to talk to about Jesus this week?
Closing
Closing
Our words matter. They are powerful for good or for ill, to heal or to harm. How are we using our words, church family? Are we speaking words of life, or words of death. God wants us to respect the power of the tongue, to allow Him to overcome its brokenness through our submission to His Spirit, and to allow our words to fulfill their wise purpose: bringing glory to God as we speak.
Some of the words that I have spoken this morning have told you about the Gospel: what God has done to save fallen humanity because of His great love for us: He sent His Son to die for us. There may be someone hearing this right now, whether here in the room or online, and you have never surrendered your life to God by trusting in what Jesus has done to save you.
Church membership.
Repentance and prayer.
PRAYER
Lord’s Supper
Lord’s Supper
Call down the deacons.
James 3 shows us that our words are an indicator that we aren’t perfect, and that we still need Jesus all day, every day. The Lord’s Supper is a physical reminder of what Jesus has done for us so that we can be right with God, even though we have far to go to being fully mature, able to control our whole bodies. This practice this morning does not save us. Instead, it’s the church family coming together to celebrate, to commemorate, and to partake in each other’s lives for a moment of reflection, remembrance, and recommitment.
I do want to say that the Supper is for those who believe in Christ only. If you are not a believer, we love you and we’re glad that you’re here to see this, but please do not take the Supper. I say this for your own good, because the Scripture tells us that to eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner is to be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. (1 Cor 11:27).
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, but not a member of Eastern Hills, you are welcome to join us in taking the Supper this morning. In that same chapter in 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the church in Corinth, and by extension us, to examine ourselves before we partake, seeking to properly judge ourselves and our relationship with Christ in preparation. Let’s take a moment now to examine our hearts before we take the Supper.
Ask God to speak to you about the state of your walk with Him.
Ask God to reveal to you any areas of sin in your life that demand your repentance.
Ask God to reveal to you any areas where your will is not in line with His, and commit to His lordship in those areas.
Ask God to prepare your heart for taking the Supper with your fellow believers.
Deacons pass out bread.
Paul wrote this in 1 Cor. 11:
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Deacons pass out cup.
Paul also wrote:
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Daylight Savings Time ends next Saturday night (well, 2am on Sunday). Make sure you set your clocks back an hour before you go to bed next Saturday, or you’ll be super early for church!
Bible reading: Psalms 31-60 started yesterday. We’re on Psalm 32 today. There’s a new reading plan on the website for November. We’ll start 1 Samuel after we’re done with Psalms 31-60.
Instructions
Benediction:
10 For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, 11 and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, 12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.