James 3:1
through James 3:12 1Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren,
knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 2For we all
stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is
a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. 3Now if we put the
bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their
entire body as well. 4Look at the ships also, though they are so great
and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small
rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. 5So also the
tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.
See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6And the
tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among
our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the
course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7For every species of
beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has
been tamed by the human race. 8But no one can tame the tongue; it is a
restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of
God; 10from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren,
these things ought not to be this way. 11Does a fountain send out from
the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12Can a fig tree, my
brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water
produce fresh.
It was his first day on the
job. He was a new clerk in the fruits and vegetable section of a super
market. A lady came up to him and said she wanted to buy half of a head
of lettuce. He tried to dissuade her from that goal, but she persisted.
Finally he said, "I'll have to go
back and talk to the manager."
He went to the rear of the
store to talk to the manager, not noticing that the woman was walking
right behind him. When he got into the back of the store, he said to the
manager, "There's some stupid old bag out there who wants to buy half a
head of lettuce. What should I tell her?"
Seeing the horrified look on
the face of the manager, he turned about and, seeing the woman, added,
"And this nice lady wants to buy the other half of the head of lettuce.
Will it be all right?"
Considerably relieved, the
manager said, "That would be fine."
Later in the day, he
congratulated the boy on his quick thinking. He then asked, "Where are
you from, son?"
The boy said, "I'm from
Toronto, Canada, the home of beautiful hockey players and ugly women."
The manager looked at him and
said, "My wife is from Toronto."
The boy said, "Oh, what team did she
play for?" -- Bruce Thielemann,
"Because," Preaching Today, Tape No. 105.
We laugh at this story but wouldn't it
have been better if the young man had guarded his tongue and not found
it necessary to try and recover himself after he had blurted out words
in his conversation that demeaned women.
I. OUR TONGUES CAN BLESS OR HURT
A. You and I begin the Christian life by
using our tongues to confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and by
believing in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead.
James uses analogies easy to understand.
He likens the tongue to the bit that is placed in the horse's mouth with
a bridle. By that simple device the horse is made to obey the command of
the rider. Then he compares the tongue to the rudder of a ship. A giant
ocean liner is steered by the relatively small rudder in whatever
direction the ship captain wants it to go.
Our Lord Jesus said that by our words we
will be justified and by our words we will be condemned. Matt.
12:36-37 “But I tell you that every careless
word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day
of Judgment. 37“For by your
words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Watergate episode in our recent
history brought the downfall of President Nixon. What really cost him
the presidency were tape recordings of private conversations that had
taken place in the Oval Office. Some people felt that it was unfair to
demand that the
tapes of private and confidential
conversations should be made public. Others wondered that such tapes
were even in existence. As one man put it to me one time, "Why, if there
were those tapes, did President Nixon keep them intact? Why didn't he
just get rid of them? Then those private conversations could never have
been played back."
I think of the recent episode of Senator
Trent Lott who spoke some ill-advised words at the birthday celebration
of Senator Strom Thurmond. His words cost him his leadership as Majority
Leader in the United States Senate.
II. SPOKEN WORDS HAVE BOTH TEMPORAL AND
ETERNAL IMPLICATION
A. The tongue
is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how
great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a
fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as
that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our
life, and is set on fire by hell.
Smokey the Bear says "Only you can
prevent forest fires" James says a great forest is set on fire with just
a match, a spark, a cigarette butt, a smoldering camp fire. The Chicago
fire of October 1871 is said to have started by a cow kicking over a
lantern in Mrs. Patrick O'Leary's barn. Fanned by strong winds, the
flames spread quickly. The fire raged for more than 24 hours. By the
time it was finished it had destroyed 17,450 buildings, including the
entire business district of that great city. More than 250 people died
in the flames. Ninety thousand people were made homeless. The damage was
estimated at $200 million, which would be measured in the billions
today.
James says
no one can
tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9With
it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been
made in the likeness of God;
We no doubt tend to think of human
speech as sound waves that go out into space and are swallowed up by the
atmosphere. However, the Bible tells us that the words we speak are all
recorded. The Bible calls them books that shall be opened. Your life is
a library of words stored up in a computer memory bank in your soul.
And one day the books will be opened and all the contents of those tapes
will be public knowledge. If you want to clear the tapes there must be
repentance of things said and done and the blood of Christ applied to
the sinful expressions of your life if you don't want them made public.
B. In the 16th chapter of
Luke Jesus tells about a rich man who died and found himself in hell.
His tongue was burning like fire. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus, a
beggar who also had died but who was now in Abraham's bosom. During his
lifetime Lazarus had begged for leftover food from the rich man's table.
All this man in hell asked for was for Lazarus to dip his finger in
water, come to where he was and touch his tongue with some cooling water
to give him momentary relief from the terrible burning he was
experiencing in his tongue. Apparently his tongue had spoken words that
could not be taken back or repented of in hell. So his burning pain was
localized in his tongue.
Abraham
told him that there was no way that anyone could cross from heaven to
hell or from hell to heaven because there was a great gulf fixed that no
one could traverse. Their destinies were forever settled.
A Greek philosopher asked his servant to
provide the best dish possible. The servant prepared a dish of tongue,
saying: "It is the best of all dishes because with it we may bless
and communicate happiness, dispel sorrow, remove despair, cheer the
fainthearted, inspire the discouraged, and say a hundred other things to
uplift mankind."
Later the philosopher asked his servant
to provide the worst dish of which he could think. A dish of tongue
appeared on the table. The servant said, "It is the worst dish
because with it we may curse and break human hearts; destroy
reputations; promote discord and strife; set families, communities and
nations at war with each other." Wasn't he a wise servant?
Solomon said in Proverbs
21:23
He who guards
his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.
One day a harsh word, harshly said,
Upon an evi1 Journey sped,
And like a sharp and cruel dart
It pierced a fond and loving heart.
It turned a friend into a foe
And everywhere brought pain and woe.
A kind word followed it one day,
Sped swiftly on its blessed way.
It healed the wound and soothed the
pain,
And friends of old were friends again.
It made the hate and anger cease,
And everywhere brought joy and peace.
And yet the harsh word left a trace,
The kind word could not efface,
And though the heart its love regained
It left a scar that long remained.
Friends can forgive but not forget,
Nor lose the sense of keen regret.
Oh, if we would but learn to know
How swift and sure our words can go.
How we would weigh with utmost care
Each thought before it reached the air
--
And only speak the words that move
Like white-winged messengers of love
We need to pray this prayer...
Forgive me, Lord, for careless words
When hungry souls are near;
Words that are not of faith and love,
Heavy with care and fear;
Forgive me for the words withheld,
For words that might have won
A soul from darkened paths and sin
To follow Thy dear Son;
Words are such mighty things, dear Lord,
May I so yielded be
That Christ, who spake as never man,
May ever speak through me.
Before the tongue can be tamed it must
have Christ. There must be a new nature, which begins to think God's
thoughts and desires to please him. By the grace of God we can have a
new tongue, which can render praise to God and offer prayers that can
bless his Name and speak comfortably to others about the Savior. But
even when we receive Christ there is still that old nature that wants to
exert its influence. James says that there can be inconsistency in the
Christian walk, which is manifested by our speech. He says,
10from the
same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought not to be this way.
That little member, the tongue, has so
much power for good or ill. We need to be constantly on our guard as to
how we use the tongue. Harsh words, unkind words, bitter words, all are
not of Christ but are of that old nature.
Listen, dear friend, we are
his children and have been given the Spirit of God to enable us to tame
our tongues to speak words of kindness, words of blessing. We can pray
for those who despitefully use us instead of speaking ill of them. We
are given grace to repent of the evil words we have spoken. We can use
the words we speak to heal and help, to bless and comfort instead saying
angry words, hurtful words, word of cursing, lying, gossip and slander.
Oh, listen beloved; we can lay up treasure in heaven by the words we
speak. We can witness for Jesus Christ and lead others to faith in him
so that they will be eternally glad they met us.
Let us use our tongues to bless and not
hurt, comfort not criticize, encourage not discourage. Let us be a
people of tamed tongues, tongues of love and mercy and the loving
kindness of our God.
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The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
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distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word.