Faith And Our Tongue

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Three mass shootings - Wickedness -hatred - chaos - death - pain - hopelessness

The report from the SBC - Wickedness - corruption - abuse - silence - judgment

Intro

God’s Words create & give life

Satan's words deceive and destroy life

Man’s words can do both but make no mistake:

The central application - use your words to bless and not curse

The central message - all things flow from the heart to the mouth & into our deeds (True with the shootings, the SBC or me this morning)

But make no mistake:

God will have the last word! - Rev 22:12 - NLT

12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Faith recognizes the power, responsibility, and danger of our tongue and seeks to use it constructively not destructively.

The power - The Danger - The double-mindedness and 4 ways we can use our word to bring life.

The Power of Our Words (vv.1-6)

Words come with responsibility - v.1

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

There is a limit

Teachers (didaskaloi) played a prominent part in the life of the early church.

Paul singles them out as exercising one of the three most prominent ministries in the church, along with apostles and prophets ( Eph. 4:11).

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Teaching takes special giftedness and with that giftedness comes a responsibility.

‘I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:26–27).

There is judgment

It raises the dignity of the position by pointing out the dangers and responsibilities of the office for those who might otherwise neglect these requirements.

When they stand before Christ, even as His children, they will be judged for every word they have said. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 12:36–37

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Words can be used for great things - vv. 2-5a

The struggle with our mouth is everyone’s struggle - v.2

2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

“We” displays James' honesty and humility for he himself struggles here and so do all of us.

Truly a sign of maturity is someone who can control their mouths

The struggle with our mouths is a good struggle and a lifelong struggle

The tongue can be a great force for good if controlled - V.3-5a

The horse and the bit - v.3

3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

This struggle begin with a thought

James wanted us to use divine power in bringing our thoughts into captivity to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

The man who is able to bridle his tongue perfectly would also be able to “control his whole body” (3:2), i.e., refrain from all other sins.

Notice the connection between turning a mighty animals whole body with the controlled mouth able to control our whole body.

With the proper instrument, the trainer or the rider can accomplish wonderful ends.

Ex: Picture a small man in a chariot with two powerful horses.

They’re only powerful and useful if they are controlled.

The usefulness depends on its submission to its master.

James is pointing us to our desperate need for something divine in this battle of our tongue

The ship and the rudder - v.4

4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

Out on the sea, without a mechanism for steering, the pilot would have no way of keeping the ship on any course.

The effectiveness of the instrument is what counts.

Although the tongue is small in size, its abilities are large. Some instrument must be used to rein it and guide it.

The power of our words -v.5

5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

The point is that our words drive our deeds (behavior)

Control one you control the other.

Ignore your words and don’t be surprised when you find yourself in a place you never thought you’d be.

Ex: The mass shooter: Why do they always go to their social media first? Because no one wakes up one morning and destroys their life or someone else. First comes thoughts, words, and then deeds.

Phillips paraphrases, ‘the human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast of!’

James’s point: something as small as the tongue can have a huge impact on our entire lives, and the lives of others either for good or for evil.

The Danger of Our Words (vv.5b-8)

Words can destroy everything - vv. 5b-6

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

The tongue is the starting point for great evil

V.5 - The illustration is easy for us to imagine for we have seen how one careless spark can set a forest fire that is unstoppable and destructive.

A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. (Prov 16:27)

V.6

A world of unrighteousness = kosmos = this fallen world system or worldview

forest in rsv (hylē) could refer to the brush which covered so many Palestinian hills, and which, in that dry Mediterranean climate, could so easily and disastrously burst into flame.

it sets the whole course of his life on fire. Course may also mean “wheel.”

Life may refer to “birth,” “origin,” or “existence.” A misused tongue may affect the cycle of life from birth onward!

You can speak a word into your child so much that they believe it and don't think it won't have destructive consequences

But speak life into your children and see the difference

The tongue destroys life

V.6b - The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

V.6 - The mouth can stain - Words can mark others like a stain on your favorite shirt.

Remember pure religion? It isn't religious formalism but loving others

So with our mouths, we can stain the very heart and life of those we are called to love.

The mouth is dangerous because of how it spreads to the whole body. Like a deadly disease that starts small but in a blink your terminal

The mouth can be demonic

set on fire by hell.

Many still carry the wounds from those hateful, evil, satanic words. “Satanic?” you ask.

Yes, satanic. In verse 6 James says that the tongue is actually “set on fire by hell.”

Evil speech is one of the devil's children use to destroy image bears of God

The mouth can poison - v.7-8

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

The tongue is a dangerous weapon! That is probably why James told us earlier in 1:19 that we are to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”

The poison produced by the tongue ‘destroys the neighbour’ (Prov. 11:9)

9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,

but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

One careless word can set a marriage, family, friendship, or the gospel back years.

Speak a careless word to your child and one day a guy like me will set with them when their 50 and they will still have it stamped on their hearts.

This struggle with our mouth seems hopeless

But Augustine helps us keep this in tension: ‘… he does not say that no-one can tame the tongue, but no-one of men; so that when it is tamed we confess that this is brought about by the pity, the help, the grace of God’

There is nothing more important than to commit our minds and our mouth to the Lordship of Christ. Think longer before we speak

A tongue committed to God can be used as a positive tool for building hope and stamina in others.

We must recognize the danger of the tongue, and you must recognize our inability to tame the tongue.

The Doublemindedness of our Words (vv.9-12)

The inconsistency of our words - v.9-10

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Rom 7:24-25

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

The word of the curse, which is the opposite of blessing (cf. Deut. 30:19), was seen to have great power in the ancient world.

This inconsistency in speech is true of every believer as James’s shift to the inclusive “we” testifies (cf. v. 1)

We are sinfully inconsistent when we bless God in worship and then go right out and curse those made in God’s likeness.

Ex: But you don't know the stress I’m under. Even when we are oppressed we bless and do not curse.

Even if they were under great stress, believers should resist the temptation to speak evil against fellows following the example of Job, who said, “I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against [my enemy’s] life” (Job 31:30).

The origin of our words

11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Nature is consistent, but our tongues have never provided models of consistency.

Fresh water is fresh and salt water is salty

Colossians 4:6

6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

James asked whether a single fountain or spring ever pours forth both “fresh” (lit. “sweet,” glukus) and “salt”31 (lit. “bitter”) water, for which the intended answer is no.32

Sinful words inevitably come from a sinful heart.

Our problems are deeper than most people think.

Mark 7:14–23

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Grab this! From the heart -to the mind -to the mouth -to the hands

“We don’t need a spiritual tongue doctor but a spiritual cardiologist.”

So What?

Only God can cleanse our hearts, our mouths, and our lives

Isa 6:1-9

6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

Isaiah realized the problem God is holy and I am not! God help me

We are one choice away from a decision that would set our lives towards disaster

To this reality comes the Lord

Christ redeems us and indwells us with the Holy Spirit so we might through His power exercise the fruit of the Spirit which is self-control.

4 Ways to bring God glory with our Words

To build up others (Family, Church, community, world)

Begins at home (4 praises/positives to one correction/ negative)

Spreads into your church

Eph 4:11-16

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Bubbles into our community

To correct injustice

Ex: Someone gets shot by the police and the first thing we do is use our thumbs to start talking.

Gather the facts - It is nothing but sinful judgmentalism to spout off opinion without truth.

Proclaim the truth - When injustice happens call it that even if its not politically correct.

Our Silence screams to victims of injustice!

Do what's right no matter the cost.

To help others know and follow Jesus

Evangelism (relationship and spontaneous)

How will they hear if we don’t open our mouths? Romans 10:14–17 makes clear that if we don’t open our mouths, people will not hear, and if they do not hear the word of Christ, they will not be saved.

Discipleship (Formal and informal)

To Worship our God

Col. 3:16

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.