James—Faith & Works Message 6
The Heart of the Matter
Text:
I think everyone would agree this morning that words matter. And no one probably thinks more about word choice then those who work in marketing. But sometimes, despite their experience and expertise, even marketing professionals miss the mark. Consider the following examples:
• When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like “Coca-Cola.” The only problem was that the characters used meant “bite the wax tadpole.”
• When Pepsi started marketing its products in China several years back, they translated their slogan, “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life” pretty literally. Unfortunately, the slogan in Chinese really meant, “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave.”
• The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. “No Va” means “It Does Not Go” in Spanish.
• Coors put its slogan, “Turn It Loose,” into Spanish, where it was read as “Suffer From Diarrhea.” (Steven Grant/SermonCentral)
And while these are some humorous examples, I think we all have examples where poorly chosen words caused incredibly harm. The old rhyme of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me” is a catchy tune…but it’s also a lie. Words matter. And if you have yet to be convinced of this, my goal is that by the end of our time together in James 3, you will be deeply convinced. So turn with me there this morning where today will be all about the importance of taming the tongue or managing one’s mouth.
Sometimes in our culture, we look at someone who says whatever they think as someone who is bold or courageous, but James says just the opposite. There is often a sense of pride or bravado for a person who is willing to “tell it like it is” or is a “straight shooter.” But James says, not only are these things not to be esteemed, he says it is a spiritual problem that is both dangerous and has deeper roots than we realize.
James 3:1-12
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.
Right off the bat, there is a seemingly odd statement in verse 1 when James says that very few people should desire to become teachers. It would seem like in order to get the message out, we need MORE teachers. And that would seem even more important in the New Testament church where they did not have the full Bible yet and the printing press had yet to be invented. And, a little historical fact, their culture was a culture of orality. In other words, truth was passed down and preserved through SPOKEN words and not WRITTEN words. In fact, the shift to written words didn’t happen until Rome destroyed Jerusalem and everyone scattered.
And because you didn’t have the completed Bible yet, you needed to have teachers who could teach and inform others. They needed to be able to teach sound doctrine. They needed to be able to teach about things like sin, church formation, evangelism, how to relate to one another, and even the Trinity. And add this practical reality to the fact that most of the converts to Christianity at this point were Jewish, where being a teacher was a very highly esteemed position. Listen to what one commentator wrote:
“Rabbis were master teachers and were accorded great honor and respect by their fellow Jews. As reflected in the gospels, many rabbis relished their prestige and privilege. In some Jewish circles, rabbis were held in such high regard that a person’s duty to his rabbi was considered greater than that to his own parents, because his parents only brought him into the life of this world, whereas his rabbi brought him into the life of the world to come. It was written that if a man’s parents and his rabbi were captured by an enemy, the rabbi was to be ransomed first.”
So if you walk out of here only hearing one thing this morning, it’s save your pastor first, Amen? So you have an early church, where all of these truths were not yet written down, and where all these truths were new to them, and most of the disciples come from a position that of all the things to be esteemed, a spiritual teacher was at the top of the list. And the first thing James says in verse 1 is – Not many of you should become teachers. How do we make sense of that?
Well, I think there are two reasons: One, some people want the audience and don’t understand the responsibility. They like pontificating. They desire the esteem and influence. They want to be seen as having all the answers, but they don’t understand the responsibility that comes with being a teacher. And two, right there in the verse – a teacher will be judged with greater strictness.
Over the years of ministry I have met countless pastors and lay people who had a desire to have an audience to show others how much they knew…while having little to no understanding of the responsibility that comes along with it. And so James says to wannabe pastors, “Be careful what you ask for.”
But as we read these verses about taming the tongue that starts with a warning for teachers, does that mean that James is only talking to teachers when he talks about being accountable for one’s words? The answer is NO. In fact, look quickly at verse two as James starts to broaden the audience of his teaching. “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.” He says that ALL OF US stumble in many ways. And that word “stumble” is a metaphor for sin. So we all sin in many ways…and one of the ways we often sin is in the words we speak. Think of it this way, because teachers are influencing others and speaking on behalf of God, their words will receive stricture judgment – verse 1. But because this is such a struggle for all of us, he says that if you can tame your tongue (teacher or not), it’s a sign that you have brought your WHOLE life perfectly under the lordship of Christ. Think about the magnitude of what he is saying in these two verses. Our words matter.
And here is why James makes such bold statements….
1. WORDS ARE POWERFUL
I think sometimes we minimize the power of our words. And one of the reasons is because we say so many of them. Research suggests that the average person spends 20% of their life talking. If you are female, that percentage jumps to 98%. From the very beginning of creation we learn that words are so powerful that God’s WORDS actually spoke everything into existence. That is called “ex nihilio” which means “out of nothing.” We see the power of words used to deceive Adam and Eve that led to the fall of humanity. Jesus says later in Matthew 12:36 that “every idle word will be judged.” And James leaves no doubt as to just how powerful our words are.
If you’re listening, smack your neighbor and say WAKE UP. Once we go through this list on the power of words, you should never excuse away harsh or unloving words with “sometimes I just say things I don’t really mean.” As a matter of fact, the power of words is so important that James mentions “the tongue” in every single chapter in the book of James. Why give something so much attention?
Our words have the power to (borrowed from Warren Wiersbe Bible Commentary)….
• DIRECT – vs 3-5a
Look at verses 3-5 again: 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.
James gives us a couple of really good illustrations to help us see how such a small member of our body can have such a huge impact. We’ve all seen huge cruise ships or battleships and we’ve all seen large animals like horses. And the way that these ships and horses are controlled, the way they are directed to go in a different direction, is by a very small rudder or by a very small bit. You might think it would take something much more significant in size than a rudder or a bit, but you’d be wrong. And James says that the same is true with us. That one of the smaller organs of the human body has the power to DIRECT everything a person is and does.
Just think about how your words have had the power to direct:
• Words lead to conversations with a person you end up marrying
• Words lead to conversations that end with you getting a job
• Words lead to conversations that encourage you to make decisions that have changed your life
Not only do words have the power to direct. They have the power to…
• DESTROY – vs 5b-9
Look at verses 5-9: “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 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.”
Let me turn some of these words into a bullet list just so we can focus on the powerful descriptions he uses regarding the power of words:
• a fire – (fire left unchecked destroys…just like words)
• a world of unrighteousness
• stains the whole body
• set on fire by hell
• a restless evil
• full of deadly poison
• used to curse other people
James isn’t playing patty cake with his church. This is the type of sermon that should make you wince. Why? So that we might be aware of the power of our words. We could stop the sermon right here and all of us should make the commitment to never again offer up the lame excuse of, “I know I said that but it was just words” after spewing (to use James words) deadly poison on someone else. If we were in an environment that we felt comfortable being vulnerable with each other, some of you would give testimony that words are so powerful that you are still haunted by hurtful words spoken over you or loving words withheld from you. Those words have literally tried to destroy your life. That’s the point James is trying to make in verses 5-9.
Our words show up in all types of forms because speaking to other people is a normal part of life. And the more words we use, ESPECIALLY if we’re teachers, the more opportunities there are to use words poorly. We can’t prove this scientifically, but sins of speech have to be near the top of the list when it comes to our potential to sin.
• Some are prone to belittle others
• Some are prone to talk too much (a manifestation of pride)
• white lies
• coarse joking
• arrogance
• criticism
• manipulation
• selfish talk
• flattery
• gossip
• words of shame
• words of blame
• words of aggression
Want me to keep going?
• words of condemnation
• words that induce doubt
• slander
• sly suggestions
• angry words
And the list goes on and on…
And when you have all these words with the potential of sin coupled with the power of words to destroy, we would be wise to memorize Psalm 141:3 and make it a daily prayer: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!”
I’m always astounded to see reports of millions and millions of acres that are consumed by a forest fire…and they’re often started by a small errant spark. That’s exactly the word picture that James is using to illustrate how our words have the power to destroy lives.
So our words have the power to DIRECT and to DESTROY…but they also have the power to…
• DELIGHT – vs 10-12
"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."
At a glance, it’s easy to focus on the warning/correction offered in these verses: “these things ought not to be so” (vs 10). And what he is speaking to is the hypocrisy of Christ being in us and destructive speech coming out of us. Let me make plain what he is actually saying here in verses 11-12. He’s saying that a person whose life is marked by habitual, nasty, caustic, unloving, harmful words is not a Christian. I don’t care how much religious activity they have and how much Bible knowledge they have accumulated, the fruit of their words give evidence that the root of their heart is not connected to Jesus.
James says that you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool – vs 12. When someone has nasty words, we say, “Are you salty?” One of the descriptors of Jesus is the living water and a pure fountain of eternal life. Do you see what James is getting at? It is impossible for the pure living water to be inside of us and the habitual pattern of our life is that salty words come out of us.
But we said that our words DO have the power to delight…so don’t let the negative warning in these verses cause you to gloss over the first six words in verse 10: From the same mouth come blessing…
Listen to these words from Proverbs:
• Proverbs 25:11: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” In other words, a wise word is both beautiful and valuable according to this verse
• Proverbs 12:25: “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” Proverbs was Prozac before Prozac was cool!
• Proverbs 18:4 (NLT): “Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.”
• Proverbs 10:11(NLT): “The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain…”
Yes, your words have the ability to destroy, but they also have the ability to bless. And while our tongues can never be fully tamed, the can be redeemed. God has given us the gift of speech. And it’s with our words that we praise him…it’s with our words that we give counsel…it’s with our words that we share the gospel and speak truth in love. Just like some of you have been haunted by words that have destroyed, some of you have been sustained by words spoken into your life during key moments by key people. Words are powerful…both in their power to destroy, but also in their power to delight.
But there’s one more thing that we want to remind you of when it comes to our words…
2. WORDS ARE REVEALING
I don’t know if this is happening more often or I have just been more aware of it lately because we live in a world with social media and smart phones where everything is captured for eternity, but there seems to be a lot more recent occasions where someone famous has said something racist or derogatory or inflammatory, and they had to issue a public apology. And it often goes something like this, “I would like to apologize for my words. Those words do not reflect a true representation of who I am as a person.” Other times I’ve heard, “It’s not like me to say that.” OR maybe, “I don’t know what got into me.” I’ll tell you what got into you! Whatever is in the well, shows up in the water. In other words, the words that come out of your mouth is the truest indicator of what is really in your heart. This means the words you say really ARE a true representation of who you are as a person…words that we say AND words that we type.
This idea that whatever is in our hearts, comes out of our mouths are not my words…these are the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:34: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” We’ve tried so hard to teach this to our girls…recently, I did something purposely annoying to mess with my daughter Taylor. And I did this for no other reason than that’s my job as her dad. And she turned around with her hands clenched and stared at me…and then with a twinkle in her eye said, “You’re lucky that angry words didn’t just spill out of my heart.”
And I was one proud papa, because she understands Matthew 15:18: “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” Church, for THIS reason, there’s no such thing as a person who has been saved by a loving Christ who also has a life dominated by unloving words.
So where do we go from here. Look back at verse 2 with me: “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.” A person who can tame their tongue is a person living with a heart completely surrendered to Jesus. Why? Because our words are the overflow of our hearts. So the reason that our words can direct our lives is because the desire of our hearts is what drives our behavior. Proverbs 4:23: “Above all else, guard your heart, because it determines the course of your life.” And so how do I know what’s in my heart, that is really directing the course of my life? The very words that are coming out of my mouth.
I told my wife this week that I’m not sure that EVERYONE that’s been listening to these messages from the book of James really understand the gravity of what James is trying to communicate. This is now the sixth test that James has given us to test the genuineness of our faith…and just like the first five tests, when the pattern of our life is dominated by unloving words, James doesn’t say our faith needs a little pick-me-up, he’s not saying that we need to fine-tune some different aspects of our faith, that we need to simply sort some things out. Over and over, he has said that our faith is phony, counterfeit, worthless, and dead. He says that we are deceived by even thinking that we are Christians. If this doesn’t make you wince, it’s not because James is not a good communicator…it’s probably because you are self-deceived.
As we wrap things up this morning, some of you don’t need a new vocabulary or a better filter…you need a new heart. You don’t need greater willpower, you need to lay hold of the promise of Jesus the Redeemer…the one who never spoke a word of deceit. The one who alone has the words of life. The one who can take a stiff, stubborn, heart of stone and turn it into a heart of flesh able to be molded and shaped to be like Jesus. Today, don’t leave here committing to turn over a new leaf. Leave here today with a heart that is completely surrendered to Jesus Christ.
