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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Lord, I want to thank you for the beautiful people in our church family. We see a transformation, a growth, a development in their lives. Lord, we thank you for the lives that were touched this week.
[00:00:12] We thank you for the families that were touched this week. We just know that you're doing a special work in our community. And I also want to thank you for what you're about to speak into our lives. Right now. We're going to talk about probably one of the greatest challenges to relationships, a barrier, an obstacle that we all encounter. And. And it affects not only our marriages, but it affects all of our relationships between siblings. It affects our workplace, it affects our neighborhood, it affects everywhere. And so, Lord, I just pray, give us an ear to hear today. Help us to be good listeners. And that as we hear what we're hearing and as you're speaking into our inner being, Lord, I pray that you'll move us to action. Because we know that just hearing your word, we've already been challenged by James to just hearing your word and not acting on it's not enough. It doesn't bring about change. But the moment we act on it, the moment we trust you, the moment we obey you, the moment we do what you're asking, everything changes in our lives. We just start moving and growing and developing. And so, Lord, I pray that this message will really speak into our hearts today. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. So we're in the book of James, folks, and this is a very challenging book.
[00:01:26] I think we're living in a day of tremendous communication. How many say that's true?
[00:01:31] I think there's more information than we know what to do with. It's a blessing on one side and a curse on the other. Right.
[00:01:37] We have information at the tip of our fingertips. Sometimes it's good information and sometimes it's false information.
[00:01:43] I was doing some research on the Internet this week, and I go, wow, talk about conflicting information. And so I always look at the source. I always want to know who's doing the information. What's the study? A lot of times I'll go, this is a survey. This is the study. But when you start studying what they're using for criteria, that's what I'm interested in. And how can you make these assumptions? But we're going to look at some of that today.
[00:02:06] I think also we recognize that with this much information coming at us, it creates a level of anxiety.
[00:02:13] Actually, they're now doing studies on the effects of the social media on Children, and it's creating huge levels of anxieties in their lives. And so I think we need to understand, you know, too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing. I don't know if you know that. You know, it's true. You can overdo things, and it becomes very destructive in our lives. So James, chapter three is a tremendous passage addressing this barrage of words that are flooding our souls. You know, words are powerful.
[00:02:44] James is really deeply. I can see it. You know, most scholars will say James is wisdom literature, and it's the New Testament wisdom literature.
[00:02:54] But James is so deeply affected by the Old Testament. And, you know, he's a Jew, he knows the word of God. He's really deeply affected by Proverbs. I can see it when I'm reading the Book of James. It just. All these proverbs come flooding into my mind, probably because I studied so deeply on the Book of Proverbs.
[00:03:13] Listen to what the Book of Proverbs says about our mouth, our words, our language. It says the tongue, which is. This is a figure of speech. The tongue represent our mouth. Our words has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
[00:03:34] So what is he saying? He's basically saying that the words that we're speaking can have a tremendous impact on the people around us. You know, I spent, as I said, actually two years researching from the Book of Proverbs.
[00:03:49] And in that research, my thesis was really communication from the Book of Proverbs. So what I did is I literally counted every single verse in Proverbs, and I found out there were 886 verses.
[00:04:02] Then I started looking at all the verses that dealt with things like speech, speaking, listening. These are all parts of communication. And I found out that there were 250, 45 verses. That's an estimate. That means probably a verse or two I might have missed or maybe something could be interpreted a different way. But what I'm basically trying to get across to us is that over one fourth of the entire Proverbs, the book actually deals with communication. How many? Are you getting an idea that might be an important part of relationships? And it's true. In our relationship with God, God wants to speak to us. God wants to hear from us. That's what prayer is, hear from us.
[00:04:41] He wants us to listen to what he has to say to us. So communication is vital in every relationship. And we recognize that most people will tell you. You know, a lot of times we're struggling with communication, but not in the way we might think. Sometimes People think, well, we're just not talking to each other. No, sometimes people are really talking. It's just, you know, what they're communicating. Isn't that nice? And that creates problems in relationships. So it's more than just the words we're using. But maybe sometimes it's the tone or all kinds of things. But, you know, as I say here, the sheer number of verses on it spoke to me of the importance of this issue.
[00:05:18] And let's face it, probably one of the biggest obstacles or barriers to having healthy relationships with each other is how we communicate with each other.
[00:05:26] I think most of us can look back in childhood and can say this, that often as children, we're afflicted with a self image that's been shifted. But what was communicated to us by parents, teachers, and our peers and, you know, if you actually have people giving you positive, you know, input, that's great. Isn't that wonderful? People are affirming and encouraging and, you know, it helps you to become maybe a more confident person and that kind of thing. That's powerful. But, you know, I think a lot of people in this room, you could probably tell me stories that you've been shattered.
[00:06:01] You know, hurtful words, painful words, debilitating words, you know, and it's crushed your spirit and it's affected your sense of who you are and your sense of self worth. And I think that's a huge thing in life, and I think we understand that today. But, you know, a lot of times we kind of. You have to be careful. You can affirm people, and that's not really the truth. You can tell people something, and that's not good for them either. You know, they think they're more than they are. You know, you can be doing that. That causes damage, too. So we have to be very careful with the words that we're using. I think there's words that we can use that can really encourage people and lift them up.
[00:06:38] And I think as well, in our hearts there is a longing. And part of the longing, number one, is to be loved. And we interpret being loved by being heard. Isn't that true? And so, you know, people want to be understood, people want to be heard. And so today, more than ever before, especially through social media, people now are expressing a lot of stuff on social media that I think is totally inappropriate, let's face it. But why are they doing it?
[00:07:08] Because they want someone to hear them. They want to be heard. And I think as Christians, you know, we need to be better listeners. And as a matter of Fact, James tells us that In James, chapter one and verse 19, we're going to be in chapter three. But James, chapter one, verse 19, he says something.
[00:07:25] He summarizes a lot of the Proverbs when he says this. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
[00:07:38] When I look at our world today, I think we're doing the opposite. You know, we're quick, you know, to speak, we're quick to get upset and angry, and we're very slow to listen. How many say that's true? We just don't tend to do that.
[00:07:52] And I think as a church and as people, we need to work harder at listening.
[00:07:58] Because you know what will happen if you start really listening with a caring heart? What will happen is people will open up.
[00:08:05] People want to be heard. You know what people are looking for? Can I trust people? Can I trust somebody? Can I open my heart? And I'm not feeling criticized or ostracized or put down, but really to be understood.
[00:08:19] That's what we really long for. Because I think that's part of what being loved is all about. And people are looking for that. They're seeking that. I think Rick Warren says something very interesting. Rick? Sorry, not Rick Warren, Warren Worsbee. And he says it's in his book on Be Mature.
[00:08:36] He makes this amazing synopsis of these chapters. In chapter one, he says, the mature believer, you can tell when you're maturing as a believer, you become patient in trouble.
[00:08:49] So if you're struggling with patience in a time of affliction and difficulty, all that's saying is that you're just not that mature. That's all part of growing up. Isn't that great? We can actually understand where we need to go. How many know if you don't know where you're going, you're probably not going to get there.
[00:09:06] And so in the Bible, and James especially is telling us, you know, this is the way to mature, this is the way to grow up. This is the direction you want to move in. So he says, I want you to learn to be patient in trials. As a matter of fact, he says, I want you to choose your attitude. I preached that whole sermon on choose your attitude and choose to be joyous. You know, if you're going to go through a hard time, you can either do it happily or grumpy.
[00:09:32] So choose your attitude. Most people, you know, they choose the wrong attitude, let's face it.
[00:09:36] But you know, when you're going through a Tough time. And you're deciding, I'm going to be happy and joyous and celebratory and worship God in it. People are going to immediately take notice of that and say, what's different about you?
[00:09:49] And immediately now you're communicating the kingdom of God just by what you're acting and behaving. The second chapter, he goes on and says, the maturing person is a person who actually applies God's word.
[00:10:03] And I talked at length last week about when we don't do what God says, it really brings about great destruction in our lives because when the trials come, we just fall apart because we're not doers of God's word. And then in chapter three, the third thing here that he brings out that I think is beautiful, is that we actually can control our mouths. How many of you know that's really hard to do.
[00:10:27] We're going to talk about that today. We're going to focus in on the great challenge of trying to have a little, little self control with our mouths. And so James now is going to caution us that everything we're saying we're accountable for before God.
[00:10:42] Every idle word, everything, it says it right there. In Matthew's Gospel, often our words are the cause of conflict. What's new?
[00:10:51] You know, people today are still talking. You know, we're still confronting, criticizing, boasting, self justifying. We're giving unsolicited advice.
[00:11:01] Isn't that true?
[00:11:03] Absolutely. We're doing that all the time, you know, so James is saying, be a little slow on doing these kinds of things. We also know that words can be used to bring encouragement, care, comfort, inspiration. It can have lasting influence for good. So in other words, like the Proverbs teach us, words can bring life or death. Words can bring hope, despair. Words can bring encouragement and comfort. And words can also bring distress and hopelessness. So how can we overcome, I call it the greatest barrier in relationships? How can we communicate better? This is an important topic, I think it is.
[00:11:45] So James is now going to explore this issue of how to learn to restrain our lives in order to succeed in communication.
[00:11:55] Because we can just go off the top. Alec Moyer says, challenges us with how to overcome the things in our lives that continually trip us up. And he says it this way, the tongue.
[00:12:07] Remember, this is a.
[00:12:09] It's a figure of speech. The tongue is actually speaking of the way we communicate. Okay. The tongue is the key factor in controlled living. We ask ourselves, how are we to control the powerful forces within us that drive us into sin?
[00:12:23] And James replies by Talking about something we've never considered. Do we control our tongue? Do we control our mouths? In other words, are we mindful of what we're actually saying?
[00:12:36] So I'm going to look at what James is saying about the impact our words have on one another. That's our focus today. And I'm going to look at three things we need to understand about our communication. The first one is simply the power of our words.
[00:12:50] Now, remember I said I went on the Internet, did a little research here about these studies, and I was just kind of shocked at all the different numbers because this is what I came away from after looking at who did what study, where I went to university studies, actually. And I started looking at how they went about testing. And I came away with this idea that, you know, speaking varies from person to person.
[00:13:16] Has a lot to do with our temperament, has a lot to do with our station in life, our vocation in life. Some people have to speak more. We're going to talk about that, you know, and they discovered that in a day, somewhere between 16,000 and 22,000 words are expressed. Now, I've already said some people talk way less than that.
[00:13:35] And I'll say there's some people talk way more than that.
[00:13:38] Okay.
[00:13:41] And it's interesting. There's, you know, you get the impression when you're looking at the Internet that women talk way more than men.
[00:13:47] That's not true. It's not true.
[00:13:50] I know it's shocking, but it's not.
[00:13:53] Just think about it. You know, we have kind of images in our mind. No, it actually says the only time that, you know, as a group, women talk more than men is during child rearing years. That's probably because mothers have a greater responsibility to speak into the lives of their children. That totally makes sense. Right.
[00:14:10] You know, and then there are vocations that cause you to speak more than others.
[00:14:15] And as we're going to find out, when you're in those vocations, it's a dangerous place to be.
[00:14:21] James begins by warning us regarding our words.
[00:14:25] You know, the challenge is basically to teachers. But I'm not just talking about teachers in school. I'm talking about teachers that teach anything that have people listening to them. And especially teachers of theology. Wow. In Bible college or a preacher who's speaking words. So there's a danger those who teach others are going to be held to a greater degree of accountability before God.
[00:14:50] And what I mean by that is, especially when we're a teacher or a parent, no one's going to get excluded Here, you know, parents are also teachers, so we're going to be held for greater responsibility. Are the words that we're saying congruent with our lifestyle? In other words, are we telling our kids, for example, do what I say, but don't do what I do?
[00:15:14] That's a mixed message. That's hypocrisy. And I think a lot of times people get totally turned off. And, you know, preachers are really guilty of this. You know, we can say all kinds of stuff and tell people all kinds of stuff, and then we don't do it ourselves.
[00:15:27] That's not a good thing because God is looking at what we're doing or what we're attempting to do.
[00:15:33] You think everybody does everything perfectly? We're going to find out in verse two. No, we don't.
[00:15:38] But are we living out what we're asking other people to do? And so when I ask people in our church to do something, I spend a little time thinking about it. And you say, well, why is that? Because I'm asking you to do something. I know I have to do it, so I'm not going to ask you to do something I'm not prepared to do. So I have to do a lot of thinking about what am I getting people into? Because I'm not only getting them into it, I'm getting myself into it. Because if you're the leader, you can't be telling people to do something and go sit down in the good old rocky armchair and let them go do it. No, you can't do that. You have to be up front.
[00:16:15] So that's a challenge for every parent, for every teacher, for every pastor. It's the same challenge.
[00:16:20] James starts out this way. Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. Now, I didn't realize this. I had. I actually preached in James in 1985. I looked up my notes. I go, I could never preach this stuff. It was so scanty. There was very few notes. I didn't know what I was doing. This was when I first started, right? I was started pastoring here in 1984, and I had to preach every week. That's a big pressure when you're not used to it. So I looked at those notes and went, man, this is really bad. I don't know if I messed up or what. But I did notice something that I totally forgotten. I wrote down when I got to this verse that years ago when I was considering and I was trying to figure out what does God want me to do with my life. And I had this sense that maybe I should be a pastor. This verse terrified me. Verse 1. And I think it should. I think before you jump into something, you should think about what you're gonna do and if you're going to start teaching people. Then I started thinking, wow, I'm going to be under God's scrutiny at a higher level.
[00:17:22] I take that stuff seriously.
[00:17:24] I'm not fooling. I know one day I'm going to stand before Almighty God. You know, if you think you terrify me, you're nothing compared to God. I'm going to be honest right now. You might get mad at me. I can handle that. But if God's upset with me, that's a new ball game. I'm in trouble.
[00:17:37] So that verse kind of terrified me. And then it says in the next verse, we all stumble in many ways.
[00:17:43] And so what are one of the ways? Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect.
[00:17:50] In other words, that word perfect, I think is a mature person. It's a person that understands, you know, it's not moral perfection. The only person that never sinned was Jesus. And everything he said was right on. But for the rest of us, you know, over the years, all the sermons I've preached, I have to give an account for all those words. Words.
[00:18:09] And sometimes I've said things that I probably shouldn't have said it in my enthusiasm. I probably went over the top and said more than I should have. You know what I'm saying? You can do that. It's so simple to do. You got to think about, what are you talking about here? And then it says, and they're able to keep their whole body in check.
[00:18:28] So if you can keep your mouth in check, you're going to be in good shape. That's what James is telling us.
[00:18:34] Proverbs says this sin is not end. This is. I'm going to even. This is a different verse. I put the wrong verse down here, but I'm going to just read a different one here. Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent holds their tongue.
[00:18:51] Or that was the NIV 1019. I looked it up. I got the wrong reference. But when words are many, the older NIV says, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. Now, how many have ever been in a situation where you're trying to resolve an issue and all you do is amp up?
[00:19:12] Anybody else amp up? You know what I mean? You're amping it. Up, you're taking it to a new level.
[00:19:17] The moment you start doing that, you're going to be in trouble.
[00:19:21] You're in trouble. The moment you start amping up, you're in trouble. That's what he's basically saying, you know, because even a fool is considered wise, they just shut it down. You know, the discerning people don't say anything when words are many. Sin is not absent. Sin is not ended by multiplying words. In other words, we're just making things worse. How many have ever had a conversation where the more you talk, the worse of God?
[00:19:49] Nobody else besides me. Okay, that's fine.
[00:19:52] Yeah, I'm willing to admit it.
[00:19:55] I'm in a dangerous vocation. You'll find out in a minute. Okay, the more we talk, generally the greater probability we'll say something to offend somebody. How many know that's true? Greater probability, it's going up all the time. Or even worse, we can violate God's moral code. That's even worse.
[00:20:13] And how many know the moment you sin against a person, you're actually sinning against God? We don't think of it that way, but it's true. All sin is ultimately against God.
[00:20:22] So here's a number of things that I jotted down about teachers, okay, what he's bringing out. Teachers have to have a kind of an even tempered disposition.
[00:20:31] It makes sense. Look what it says. The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint. And whoever has understanding is even tempered.
[00:20:41] You go, that's not, it's not describing me, Pastor.
[00:20:45] Well, I'm telling you, we have to get, we have to rein ourselves in.
[00:20:50] I think it's okay to have passion. As a matter of fact, you know, the Bible does tell us we should be zealous towards God. There should be a zeal, there should be passion towards God. But that doesn't mean we, you know, we're, we just kind of fly off the handle all the time. That's not what he's talking about.
[00:21:06] Dan McCartney says it this way. The key connection is that since teachers use the tongue, they're engaged in a dangerous enterprise.
[00:21:13] Isn't that interesting? I like this guy because he understands it. And only the mature person of humility, purity, gentleness and sincerity should engage in it. Says, in other words, before you start telling other people what to do, you better have lived a little bit and figured it out that you need to do what you're telling others to do.
[00:21:31] That's what he's kind of getting at, isn't it?
[00:21:33] Isn't this kind of a challenge, parents, that what you're telling your kids, you better be doing.
[00:21:39] You got to start living up to what you're telling them. You got to be the example. You got to model this thing. That's what it's all about. You know, it's about modeling.
[00:21:48] We need to model the life that people need to live. You know, the Apostle Paul had the audacity to say, be a follower of me even as I follow Christ.
[00:21:58] So what is he saying? He said, where I'm not following Christ, don't follow that. But basically he's challenging people look at my life and I'm following Christ, coming along and follow because I'm bringing you to where Jesus is. I'm trying to do this special kind of life I'm living for God. And people need. People need living examples of it. People need models. How do you do this?
[00:22:21] And let me tell you, it's easy to tell people what to do. It's a lot harder to do it.
[00:22:27] How many know that's true?
[00:22:29] Come on, let's be realistic. It's easy to tell. I read the Bible. Oh, yeah, I should do that. And you go watch somebody, you know, you should be doing this. The question is, am I doing it?
[00:22:39] Because the moment you start doing it, you find out, well, this is a little harder than I thought it was.
[00:22:44] And then you learn a whole bunch of things about yourself and you learn a whole bunch of things about people. And then when you start learning and God starts showing you and helping you to actually start doing it, then you have experience. And with that experience, you can help other people actually begin to secure succeed in doing it, too. So we want to be a model of it. Another danger is that we can teach what's false or heresy.
[00:23:07] Sometimes we just don't have the knowledge.
[00:23:11] And that's why Paul says to Timothy, watch your life and doctrine or your teaching closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearer. It's interesting that the Apostle Paul said, after I have preached and others, I beat my body under submission in order that I myself may not be disqualified.
[00:23:31] What's he talking about?
[00:23:33] Listen, you know, preachers have fallen. How many know this happens all the time?
[00:23:38] What's going on there, Pastor? Well, they know the right thing to do, but they're not doing it. So eventually they disqualify themselves from what they were preaching. They fall.
[00:23:49] So, you know, this is going to shock you. Maybe it won't. But, you know, I love wisdom literature. I love the book of Proverbs.
[00:23:57] And you know, Solomon is probably the man that wrote most of it.
[00:24:02] And the Bible says he was one of the wisest men that lived at his time. He was a wise person.
[00:24:07] But wisdom is a person who fears God and does what God says. And you know, as I keep reading the story of Solomon, eventually Solomon stopped doing what he told other people to do.
[00:24:17] And you know what happened to him?
[00:24:19] Well, I'll tell you, he became an idolater.
[00:24:23] He started, you know, first of all, he started accumulating many chariots which the word of God forbid. He started leaning to his own understanding, which he himself said he shouldn't. He began to accumulate tremendous amount of wealth and probably didn't dispense it wisely. And then he had all of these wives. Oh my goodness.
[00:24:43] He wasn't very wise, right? Think about what he was doing. And eventually these women, many of them were idolaters. And it says as he loved foreign women and he began to worship their God. So at the end, the nation eventually was divided, but it really, it fell apart at the latter part of his reign. His son inherited it. But really that nation was going down because Solomon had moved away from God and became a worshiper of idols. And he himself, and I'm not his judge, but I'll tell you something.
[00:25:17] I would be hard pressed to argue that Solomon one day will be standing before God as a person that's eternally secure or saved with God because I think he turned his back on God.
[00:25:28] How's that?
[00:25:30] That's a shocking statement I just made.
[00:25:34] I'm not his judge. God is his judge. But I'm telling you, when I read the book, it's pretty scary. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
[00:25:40] And he has no excuse because he knew better.
[00:25:43] He was teaching the rest of the people how to live and then he turned his back on it. And I'm going to tell you right now, that's why James is saying, be very careful. Not everybody should sign up for this. And that's why I was hesitant as a young person to say I want to go do this, to think twice. You know, teachers also face the danger of abusing other people.
[00:26:02] You can do that. You can use your role to, you know, put other people in their place. Look at Luke. Timothy Johnson says regarding the dangers that befall teachers. He says teachers are particular. You're vulnerable to failure in speech. Not only because their profession demands of them that they speak more than others and they must do so in public and before a frequently captive Audience. But because such a setting provides temptations to virtually every form of evil speech. What kind of evil speech would you be doing?
[00:26:30] Well, arrogance.
[00:26:32] You can get very arrogant. You can be very dominant over the people you're leading. You can become angry and petty.
[00:26:39] You can slander, mean. You can.
[00:26:42] Here's one. One of the big dangers I think of preachers, flattery and for the sake of vainglory. In other words, tell people what they want to hear so people will like you. How many here like to be liked?
[00:26:53] A few of you? How many here love to be hated?
[00:26:59] No hands went up on that one. See, I knew I'd get you on that one. But that's true, you know, people like to be liked. You know, human beings like to be liked. Everyone in this room, you like to be liked. You don't want to be hated.
[00:27:10] But think about it. What's the job of a minister?
[00:27:14] This may shock you. My job is just a messenger boy. I'm just supposed to tell you what God said. That's it.
[00:27:20] Well, you're going. I don't like what you're saying. Then you'll leave.
[00:27:24] That's a temptation. Pastors, they don't like people leaving.
[00:27:28] But listen to what Paul says.
[00:27:31] I'm actually preaching in a minister's conference here next month. So, you know, I'm going to say this stuff, preach the word, be prepared in season, and now to season, correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. That tells me you got to study. You better know what you're talking about.
[00:27:47] For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine or good teaching. Instead, to suit their own desires, they're going to gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. What is he saying? You know what? There's a lot of people that are preaching what people want to hear. So people go gather over there and say, hey, I like hearing this guy. He's good. Makes me feel good. Right. Why do you do that? Well, you got a lot of people coming. Makes you feel good.
[00:28:11] The person speaking, they're going to turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to miss.
[00:28:19] So here's the deal. For me personally, what drives my life, I have some things that drive me. Here's number one, that I correctly interpret God's word. Number two, I'm going to stand before God, have to give an account of everything I'm saying to you. I want to make sure I do it the best possible way that I can do it. And I want to make sure I understand it.
[00:28:36] That's why I've done 20 years of postgraduate studies. You're going well, you're just not very bright, pastor. It took you that long?
[00:28:43] Well, I was busy pastoring, guys, but what was I trying to do? I was trying to get better at what I was doing. I was trying to understand the scriptures correctly.
[00:28:52] You know, there's a lot of people just jump in ministry, have no training, and saying all kinds of crazy stuff. I hate to say that, but it's true. And I feel bad because, you know, some people say, well, if I don't know any better, God can't hold it against me. I'm ignorant. I'm going, how many know that's not going to work? Doesn't fly with God, Because God's only going to say you had opportunities. We have so many opportunities in North America to learn the right way.
[00:29:17] So we got to stop making excuses for ourselves. It's not going to work with God. I want you to think of the end, not just what's happening in the moment. Think about the end. The day you're standing before Almighty God. I think about that day. It's going to happen. I'm going to stand before the Lord.
[00:29:30] And, you know, I don't want God to, you know, say, hey, what were you doing down there? You were doing your own thing. You know, you were building your own scenario. You had your own agenda going. I don't want to hear that stuff. I want to hear them say, paul, you did exactly what I asked you to do. You studied, you cared, you loved from people. I want you to share my message with them. Because in the end, you're accountable for what you're hearing. I'm accountable for what I'm saying.
[00:29:56] And your responsibilities be like the Bereans. And it says when Paul was speaking to them, they were more noble than the Thessalonians because they diligently searched the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was the truth.
[00:30:07] So you need to be listening to every preacher you hear, every book you read. You need to be saying to yourself, is this really what the Bible is saying?
[00:30:17] That's your responsibility.
[00:30:19] My responsibility is to make sure that I'm just saying only what God wants said, and I'm saying it in a loving way, because the Bible says we need to speak the truth, love.
[00:30:30] And if you don't love people, you shouldn't be talking to them. How's that?
[00:30:34] Because you're going to do a lot of damage to them.
[00:30:37] So we can abuse our role, you know, then the power of words directing control. Listen, it says in verse three, when we put a bit in the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Isn't that an interesting illustration? He's speaking about our mouths, but now he says, this is how an animal is controlled. You put the bit in the mouth and you're controlling the power of that entire animal by controlling their mouth. You see how powerful that image is? Because that's what Paul is basically saying. You know, God wants us to control our mouth and then to control the rest of our lives that way.
[00:31:13] It's interesting. He goes on to talk about the ships, and I'll talk about this.
[00:31:18] Dan McCartney says this. If the rudder, which is the other illustration he used to, is uncontrolled, in the presence of a strong wind, the ship can run aground. How many know that's true? If your rudder is broken, you could run into the rocks and the ship would be destroyed. Or even worse, the winds come on you. All of a sudden, you're out of control and your ship capsizes. And even if the ship can be maintained and controlled, a misguided rudder, a little rudder jams up, it's going to send you to the wrong place.
[00:31:45] You're not going to get to where you think you're going.
[00:31:48] It's very important.
[00:31:49] Who are we listening to?
[00:31:51] Because we need to make sure we're getting to the right destination. And I don't know about you, but I'm trying to get us all to heaven.
[00:31:57] And I think a lot of people may be saying that, but really, are they getting you there?
[00:32:02] Because remember what I've said, people who do the word of God are the ones that are going to get there. The people who are just hearing the word of God and not doing it, they're not getting there. Their house is going to crash. I think I pointed that out last week.
[00:32:15] So, as he says here in verse four, take ships as an example. Although they're so large and are driven by strong winds, they're steered by a very small rudder where the pilot wants it to go.
[00:32:26] So the tongue really is affected by what? Well, Jesus said it in Matthew, chapter 15. But the things that come out of a person's mouth actually come from his heart, and these are the things that defile them.
[00:32:42] So the key to controlling our mouths is to actually have a heart encounter with God.
[00:32:49] That's where we need to go. We need a heart encounter with God. So let me move on to the second thing. The damage our words can cause. I think most of us can understand that. James now is going to explain the origins of our mouth, and especially when they bring about evil. He says in verse four, in verse five here, likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great bows. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. I think we all know this stuff.
[00:33:17] Little unattended fire, pretty soon it catches. It's not dealt with properly. Pretty soon the forest catches fire. And we've seen huge forest fires all over North America. And a lot of times it's just neglect.
[00:33:31] It doesn't take a big fire to destroy a forest.
[00:33:35] Right? That happens. That's what James is pointing out to us. Our mouths may seem small to us, our words may seem insignificant to us, but maybe we're starting a fire that eventually becomes a raging forest fire, and it just does so much damage, it gets out of control.
[00:33:51] It says the tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body it corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. So what's James saying here? Our words are like an uncontrolled fire that destroys indiscriminately and shapes a person's future in a negative way. Think of how many wars have started with rhetoric that have degenerated into hatred and anger and ultimately people killing each other. And, you know, give you a real classic example. I was looking this up on the Internet. I was trying to find. I read a interesting illustration. But I'll just say it this way.
[00:34:28] You know, when Hitler wrote his book Mein Kampf, can you imagine all the hatred that was spewed out of that book? And eventually, you know, millions of copies were sold in Germany before World War II. And it literally created a mindset.
[00:34:42] And, you know, it was just pure hatred.
[00:34:46] And a nation went to war. And eventually the nations of the world went to war.
[00:34:51] And out of one crazy person's hatred in one book, it fueled 50 million deaths. So if you think that, you know, our words are not powerful, listen, they are extremely powerful.
[00:35:06] Dan McCartney says James Point would be that undisciplined. Oh, it's not in here, but I'll just read it. James point would be that undiscipline and an evil tongue of would be teachers can really destroy the whole church and further set fires that are left uncontrolled. You know, they're reigniting. No sooner is one out than three more emerge from the Ashes such as the destructive power of ugly rumor, jealous backbiting gossips, another form of verbal warfare.
[00:35:37] You know, it's fascinating to me how fast words can destroy.
[00:35:43] And I've seen it so many times in people's lives. And you can't take them back once they're out. They're there, right? They just stay out there and they can do a lot of damage.
[00:35:53] However, on the positive side, our words can bless, comfort, enrich other people. So we know that there's two sides to our words. And then he goes on to talk about this.
[00:36:05] I guess that's where that. Oh, this is. Oh, I see what I'm doing.
[00:36:09] Okay, so all kinds of animals, birds and reptiles and sea creatures have been tamed, okay.
[00:36:17] By mankind. Isn't it amazing? Wild animals, we can tame them, but no human being can tame the tongue. Now it was really fun watching, reading these commentators because it was an argument. You know, you could actually tame your mouth and be self restraint or others were arguing, there's no hope for us. Our mouth is uncontrollable. And I actually go at the group that doesn't believe that we can control our own mouths in some way. I think what needs to happen is we need a change of heart.
[00:36:42] That's what changes our mouth. That's what I'm trying to get across to us today.
[00:36:47] That's the hope we need. And I'm going to give you two incidences in scripture that kind of support this idea. The first one is the Tower of babel. Remember Genesis 11?
[00:36:55] They were rising up. They wanted to be like God. They built the city. God had told them to go out and scatter and multiply. And they were unifying and building this thing to bring glory to themselves.
[00:37:06] And what did God do? He came down. And what did he do?
[00:37:10] He confused their language.
[00:37:12] And the moment their language was confused, the whole thing fell apart.
[00:37:16] When we're unable to communicate, relationships fall apart. Okay, we see that. That's one example. Let me give you the positive example. So you go to the New Testament and now you got the disciples. And they've been really interesting to follow through the Gospels because they're all over the map, right? They're just like us, all over the map. And they've denied Jesus and they've done all kinds of crazy stuff. But then on the day of Pentecost, something amazing happens. What does God do? He pours out the third person of the godhood. The Holy Spirit comes down and he falls. He's really, he's in filling these disciples with what? God's living presence.
[00:37:52] And so when we receive Jesus as our Savior, what happens is God, the Holy Spirit comes and fills us with his presence. The Spirit of the living God comes inside of us. Wow, this is amazing. But I find it fascinating. In Acts, chapter two, the picture that Luke paints for us, he says, and they had tongues of fire come on them.
[00:38:15] So what was happening was, you know, why did God speak? Like, when Jesus was filled with the Spirit, he had a dove, which was a symbol of the Spirit come on him. He didn't need the tongues of fire because it was a cleansing of their mouths. And then they began to speak in other tongues. And they spoke the wonderful works of God in languages that people could understand. Right. That's the story.
[00:38:34] I want you to think for a minute. The prophet Isaiah, what happened to him when he was encountering the true and the living God? It said the moment he had this vision of God, God, he saw God in all of his glory. What's the first thing that he said? Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm ruined. I'm a man of what, unclean lips? And I live among a people of unclean lips. What did God do? He took a coal, sent an angel, took a coal, touched his lips. Once his lips were touched by God, what happened then? God says, who will go for us? And Isaiah said, here am I. I'll go.
[00:39:11] You see, that was what happened on the day of Pentecost. God had to touch our lips in order change our heart and touch our lips so we could actually be a witness of the grace of God. But let me move on to the third point, because I got one minute, okay?
[00:39:27] The importance of a consistency of our words.
[00:39:31] He goes on to say, it's interesting. He says, with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? So he's using an illustration of two waters. And let me just say it. What is he basically saying? He's saying, look, how can you come to church on Sunday and bless God and curse people on Monday?
[00:40:04] He goes, that's inconsistent. That's not the way you do things. How can you bless God and then curse people who now are made in the image of God? He says, something's wrong here.
[00:40:16] And then, I love the illustration that Alec Motyer says. He says, suppose two sources of water flow Together into the same outlet.
[00:40:26] One sweet, one is not good, brackish, which means unpalatable. So you got good water and bad water, and they merge and they end up over here.
[00:40:37] We would never know the double source because the bitter flavor would prevail. Right? Isn't that true? That's what happens. If you have good water hitting bad water, what happens to the water?
[00:40:47] It's all bad.
[00:40:48] And here's the problem that we have. We can sit here and bless God to our heart's content. And then we go out and we criticize people with our mouths. And. And what we've really done is when people hear that, they don't know that we've been blessing God.
[00:41:02] All they can see is that we're cursing people.
[00:41:05] You see, because what the bad stuff is what they're seeing, how many go, this is inconsistent. Are we following this?
[00:41:11] And so here we are now, you know, we have a lot to say. We're living in a society. We have a lot of avenues to say it. And we're talking all the time, and we're criticizing people. We're saying things, and we're all that stuff. And what we're really doing, and we don't see it yet is we're actually criticizing God.
[00:41:30] Because when I sin against a person, I'm actually sinning against God. So I think we have to be a lot more careful about what we say about people than ever before.
[00:41:40] As a matter of fact, John says this.
[00:41:47] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. And everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. That's a very powerful statement.
[00:41:59] It doesn't mean I have to agree with falsehood. I'm not suggesting that. I think we have to agree with truth.
[00:42:06] But I think we have to be very careful of criticizing people.
[00:42:11] Because let's face it, we're not fighting with people. We're not fighting with flesh and blood.
[00:42:16] We're fighting against spiritual forces of darkness.
[00:42:19] We need to love people.
[00:42:21] We need to really care about people.
[00:42:24] And then he illustrates with two types of plants or trees. He says, my brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can salt springs produce fresh water. What is he saying? You know people and you know the character of a plant by what it produces. How many say that's true? I don't go to a fig tree to get olives, and I don't do an olive tree to get figs. That's what he's saying. I go to the right tree because I know that whatever that tree is producing identifies its characteristic. If there's olives on a tree, what's the tree? It's an olive tree. If there's figs on the tree, I know what's on that tree. It's a fig tree. It's what's producing it. And so I have to look at my life. You have to look at your life and say, what am I producing?
[00:43:09] What is the fruit of my life?
[00:43:12] And it has to be the fruit of the Spirit. Otherwise if I'm producing the wrong fruits, then I can't say that I'm really a follower of Christ. Because the results of following Christ is the fruit of the Spirit.
[00:43:23] And what is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace. Wow. It tells me right there. So here's where I'm going to close the message. I'm a couple minutes over. I thank you for allowing me to do that. I want to give you just really quickly five practical things. You may want to write these down.
[00:43:41] Number one, I think in this message we can honestly say we've all sinned.
[00:43:47] I can speak for myself, Father, forgive me.
[00:43:51] It's easy to mess up.
[00:43:54] If you've criticized somebody this week, you need to join me in prayer.
[00:43:59] Just confess your sin. What does God say he'll do? He's faithful and just to cleanse us from sin and purify us from all unrighteousness. Number two, we need to meditate.
[00:44:10] You know, some of us get so wound up because we're meditating on all the news feeds and then we're upset. We're all in a snitch. Come on, let's be honest. I need to meditate on God's word day and night.
[00:44:24] What are you programming your mind?
[00:44:26] What's going in your heart? It's going to come out of your mouth, I can guarantee you. Number three, praise God rather than grumble and complain. How many here this week? You complained about something.
[00:44:40] You grumbled about something. Okay, what am I telling you to do? You can sit down and grumble and complain all you want. It's not going to change a thing. It's going to affect you negatively and you're going to be that brackish water again. No, I think we need to start saying, you know, lord, I just want to thank you. I can focus on what's wrong with things, or I can thank you for what's right with things. And I'm going to focus in and thank you despite the challenges. I thank you. You know, if you have nothing good to say. I forgot to say this as a little boy. I don't know, one of my relatives says, listen, if you've got nothing good to say, don't say anything. Now how many are catching on? They're getting this idea from James.
[00:45:21] Can you see it? James is actually bringing this idea out. You know, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything. But I can come to God and say, lord, I just want to thank you. There are many good things to be grateful for. Number four, think before we talk.
[00:45:35] You know, those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come, come to ruin.
[00:45:42] How many go, I have a tendency to talk before I think. Don't raise your hands. I don't want to make you embarrassed.
[00:45:49] Right.
[00:45:50] Think before you talk.
[00:45:53] And then lastly, pray for God's help to guard what we say. Listen to what Psalm 141:3 says. Set a guard over my mouth, Lord, and keep watch over the door of my lips. Let's stand as we close. And I'm going to give you one more Psalm.
[00:46:10] Psalm 19, verse 14. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart what be pleasing in your sight, oh, Lord. Hey, how many know that if you're going to. If you are going to speak words and you're going to think about the right things and you please God, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to please a lot of people because you're going to be doing the right thing.
[00:46:34] You'll be treating people properly, with dignity and respect and love.
[00:46:40] It doesn't mean you have to agree with people. It just means you got to show people that truly you, you know, you're not their enemy. See, I think there's this polarization that's happening. It's needless.
[00:46:54] These people are not my enemy.
[00:46:56] You know, I know who my enemy is.
[00:46:59] They're not my enemy.
[00:47:01] I need to pray for their souls.
[00:47:03] They need to be enlightened by God. I can't do that.
[00:47:06] But you know what? You'll never win people by criticizing them, but you'll certainly win them when you, you know, love them, pray for them, be kind to them, do good to them. Even when they're not doing good to you, you're still doing good to them. You know what's going to happen in the end? They're going to go, I give up with you because you're not responding the way they would respond. They just can't figure that out.
[00:47:31] Means you got a new heart. It's a heart after God. So let's pray. Lord, thank you this morning. I believe this speaks to all of our hearts. I would venture to say that probably this week, somewhere during the week, we messed up.
[00:47:44] At least I did, if anybody else did. But I know it's very, very challenging.
[00:47:50] And so we pray for a heart change. We pray for forgiveness. We pray for sensitivity. We pray to have the right understanding. Father, help us to practice, you know, how to be a maturing Christian and to reflect your image in our world, Lord, so that people can see the light. Help us to, you know, be different. That we're actually salty in the sense that of a good nature. And that we're actually causing people to hunger and thirst after you because they see the nature of Christ in us and that our words are reflecting a transformed heart. And we just thank you for that today, Lord, in Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
