Taming the Tongue
James 3:1-12
“What Do Your Words Say About You?”
How powerful, how impacting are our words?
- Ask James - whose overarching message in chapter 3 may be that nothing defines us like our words
NOTHING REVEALS THE HEART LIKE OUR WORDS
Here in this text James makes two broad statements --
1 - WHEN OUR WORDS ARE UNDER CONTROL - LIFE IS UNDER CONTROL
- read vs.2
- James seems to say - show me a perfect person - and I will show you one whose words are perfectly controlled
- For the person who can keep the tongue "bridled" - UNDER TIGHT REIN
- has the ability to control every part of oneself
-vss.3-5b serve to illustrate
James' point is clear - like a bit, like a rudder - the tongue has influence all out of proportion to its size
- This mere 2-oz. slab of mucous membrane can set our course
- And hence can rightfully boast of the power it has
- As God created the world with a word - so our speech can create our own worlds
Conversely --
2 - WHEN OUR WORDS ARE OUT OF CONTROL - LIFE IS OUT OF
CONTROL
- One hunter's small fire in the backwoods of San Diego so far has consumed a third of a million acres in the past 7 days - destroying 2,376 homes – and killing numerous lives
- So a tongue - like a spark, can set its own fire – vs.5b
- The tongue can become the conduit of bad things – vs.6
- It can damage, corrupt every sector of life
We're familiar with some of the ways words corrupt, devastate
1 – Gossip - words that ultimately slander - bring a certain ruin to a reputation
- “I'm told his wife dominates the family”
- “It's been said that he is very difficult to live with”
2 – Flattery - words that function like gossip
- The difference being that while gossip is saying behind one's back what you would not say to one's face-flattery is saying to one's face what you would not say behind one's back
3 – Perverse words - vulgar words - coarse talk - that dominate so much of culture
- We are no longer shocked, embarrassed anymore
- In our music, in our movies - their endless stream has had a numbing effect
- But imperceptibly - like salt air - such words eventually corrode the heart
4 – Harsh words - words with malice, with edge - words that take the heart out of people - that kill relationships, harden the heart
- Words that confuse, embarrass, hurt, assault
- Job refers to such language in 19:2
- How long will you vex my soul and break me in pieces with your words?
5 – Lying words - that overstate, exaggerate, mislead
- "Sticks and stones can break our bones, but lies can break our hearts and our careers - can ruin reputations, wreck marriages, and start riots" (Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way it is Supposed to Be)
Do our words really matter?
- According to James -- our words are EVERYTHING!
- Under control - words can lift a heart, change a course, and liberate a soul
- Left unchecked, out of control - words can poison the atmosphere, rob us of a great relationship, spoil our day, hinder our sleep, depress our spirits
So what is to be done? How can we get the tongue under control?
The short answer is - YOU CAN'T
- Vss.7-8 tell us what we already know --
- THE TONGUE CANNOT BE TAMED
- This beast will not respond to our commands - anymore than my Airedale responds to mine
My best intentions seem to go by the wayside in the heat of the moment
- My intent to tell someone I love them seems to freeze up - my tongue will just not cooperate
- On the other hand - my tongue often speaks before I give it permission, before I think
As Dave Barry puts it –
"There are times even our dog will look at us and think to himself - 'I may lick myself in public, but I'd never say anything as stupid as that’”
Seemingly - there are inclinations from another kingdom built into our bodily existence - formed in sin and set against God - which determine our words, govern our course, our lives
- Leaving a tongue wild and out of control - TWO FACED
- A sort of Jekyll and Hyde – vs.9
a - on one hand -- the tongue is capable of the highest of human endeavors - the blessing of God
- We sing, and ordinary speech is elevated from pedestrian prose into poetry, and set to tune-and in the course, speech has been intensified and expanded
b - But then - it so quickly descends to the pits
- From scaling the peaks of praise - the tongue can lower itself to the abyss of abuse
- From toasting God in the pew - we can immediately find ourselves roasting people in the foyer
It is this duplicitous nature that makes the tongue most dangerous
- Our defenses go down in this environment of grace - and then we are blind sided by abusive language we never expected
So where is James going with all of this?
- Having declared the power of words to direct, to destroy, to be duplicitous, twofaced
- Are we stuck - condemned to whatever course our words may take us?
Not necessarily - that's the point of vs.10
- Its here the translation misses the intensity of what James is really saying
- For what James literally declares is - IT IS NOT NECESSARY
- IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!!
- In fact - settling for duplicity as the way it is --
- Is as absurd as a fountain producing one kind of water one day - another kind the next – vs.11
- As nonsensical as a fruit tree producing a different fruit – vs.12a
- As bizarre as salt water producing fresh – vs.12b
James is simply doing what all of us who know Christ must do - TAKE SERIOUS
OUR SALVATION
- That in coming to Jesus there is a radical change - A REVOLUTION OF
CHARACTER
- Not some mere tweaking of our personalities
- Not some simple rearranging of the furniture in our hearts
In Christ - one is made new
- In Christ - our hearts have been reformed - our sinful nature has been put to death – Gal. 5:24
Gone are the excuses - she made me say this - look, I'm just human
Those transformed by the Spirit should reflect good fruit, pure speech
What's necessary is --
1 - Give our lives to Christ - only He can tame the tongue
2 - Submit ourselves - OUR TONGUE - to God and the renovation He desires to do
- Placing our confidence in Him and not in ourselves
3 - Commit ourselves to enter into the spiritual disciplines
- Solitude, Word, prayer, worship
- The rigorous process of the inner transformation of the heart
- For only when this takes place has room been made for the Spirit to work
- Who then begins to surface the duplicity buried deep in our hearts
- The things that give rise to poisonous speech
4 - And then ruthlessly reject these former desires - our former habits
- Rather than coddle or pamper or tolerate or encourage -justify or give room
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