James 3:1-12    NT p. 214 or 1509

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

3:2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.

3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.

3:4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

3:5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!

3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.

3:7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,

3:8 but no one can tame the tongue - a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.

3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?

3:12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

NRSV (ComLec) (c) 1989 NCC

INTRODUCTION:

There's an old, old story about a young preacher who invited his Bishop to preach at his Church's Centennial celebration. The place was packed that day. Members and former members from five states attended. The Service was twice the size of any Easter Service they had ever had. The Bishop and the young preacher made their way up to the pulpit area and took their seats. The young preacher had never seen so many people and he didn't know ½ of them.

He and the Bishop watched as people came in. At one point the Bishop chuckled and pointed to a couple who seemed mismatched. The man was well over six feet tall and the woman was just barely five feet tall. Thinking he had found an in with the Bishop, the young preacher pointed to a woman sitting on the second pew, laughed and said, "Now isn't that the ugliest woman you have ever seen?"

The Bishop bristled and said, "Young man, that's my wife!"

The young preacher said, "Not her, I mean the one sitting next to her."

To which the Bishop indignantly replied, "And that is my daughter."

Don't you know that young preacher knew that his next appointment would be The Armpit United Methodist Church in NoWhere, Texas?

We started talking about how words can hurt last week as we looked at the letter of James. James picks it up again in this chapter. It's obvious the young preacher hadn't read this letter.

Stick out your tongue. Go ahead, stick your tongue out at the preacher. This may be the only time you ever get permission to actually do that without someone getting the wrong idea. You might feel better.

There really was a point to that. James doesn't speak so much about words as he does about the tongue. Do you know how many clichés or phrases there are about the tongue and the mouth? Well, neither do I but here are a few that I thought of and ran across.

Find your tongue.
Hold your tongue!
Keep a civil tongue in your head.
On the tip of my tongue.
Tongue-in-cheek.
Tongue-tied.
Bite Your Tongue.
Engage Brain Before Putting Mouth Into Gear.
Cat got your tongue.
Tongue Twisters.
Speaking in tongues.
Bad-mouthing someone.
Don't put words in my mouth.
Foam at the mouth.
From your mouth to God's ears.
Left a bad taste in his mouth.
Motor mouth.
Run off at the mouth.
Get a tongue-lashing.
Shoot your mouth off.
And our all time excuse: "It Was Just A Slip Of The Tongue." (1)

That was a mouthful.

I. IT CAN HARM:

A. James doesn't have a whole lot of good to say about this little muscle in the middle of our face. He calls it, "a fire, set on fire by the devil;" and "a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

Sounds like something out of a horror flick doesn't it. But the tongue can become more horrible than any movie monster we can ever think of. Let me give you a couple of examples.

They say Hitler was a very gifted speaker. He could spin a speech and stir hearts. Do you realize that for every word in Hitler's Mein Kampf, 125 lives were lost before and during World War II?

I love watching Jay Leno's Headlines on Monday nights. Some of them are absolutely hilarious. But then some of them are downright bizarre. Some of them even lest a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe you saw the show Monday. Leno read:

Minister Arrested Over Dispute With Member. Police were called when the Pastor of a small church and a member got in an argument over the interpretation of Scripture. The disagreement turned into an argument; and the argument turned into a regular knock down drag out, Donnybrook. When police showed up, the minister had a woman pinned against the wall, his arm at her throat, shouting, "Are you going to show me some respect now! Are you?"

This little muscle in the middle of the face can be the most dangerous weapon on earth.

B. It can hurt, harm, humiliate and harass. It can belittle and tear down, put us in our place, and make us feel like a disgrace. It can lie, it can profane, it can be obscene. It can nag: "What?" "Leftovers again?" "Can't you do anything right?" "Well, I just don't like it! " You're not going to forget my birthday again this year, are you?"

It can be spiteful, hateful and tacky. Two women met in a department store. The first was a former girlfriend and the second the new bride to be. The first woman said, "I hear you've accepted Jack's proposal. I suppose he never told you he once proposed to me."

The fiancee responded, "No .But he did once tell me there were a lot of things in his life of which he was ashamed, but I didn't ask him what they were."

This little muscle in the middle of our face can even gossip. Gossip, basically, is the art of confessing someone else's sins. If it goes in one ear and out the mouth it's usually gossip.

In The Jewish Press, Morris Mandel writes, "Gossip is the most deadly microbe. It has neither legs nor wings. It is composed entirely of tales and most of them have stings."

I don't need to go any further. Suffice it to say that the tongue can do more harm than any other weapon in the world. Someone said the pen is mightier than the sword. But the tongue is even more powerful than the pen.

II. IT CAN HELP:

A. But the tongue is not all bad. In the hands or rather the mouth of an unrepentant sinner, it can very well be evil and vile. But in the hands or the mouth of a loving caring Christian, it can be a thing of beauty. It can be an instrument of peace and good will. The tongue can build, boost and bolster.

I can't think of anything more beautiful and uplifting than hearing one person praising another. Praise is a tool in the building of the Kingdom. Praise is an act of humility. It moves our pride to the back burner lets someone else step forward. It takes us out of center stage and lets someone else have the glory.

B. Mike Singletary was a linebacker with the Chicago Bears who was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mike was the youngest of ten children growing up in Houston, Texas. When he was about 12 years old his father, who was a preacher, left his mom for another woman and moved across town, leaving Mike's mom to work 16 hours a day at two jobs just to provide for Mike and his nine older brothers and sisters. After his father left, Mike really bonded to his older brother, Grady, who took on a kind of father role in his life. But that same year, Grady was killed by a drunk driver. Mike was only 12 years old, and he was lost, depressed and without direction. That was when his mother called him into the kitchen one day, sat him down and said to him.

Mike, look me in the eye. I want you to know something. I have prayed for you since before you were born. And I have been praying for you every day of your life. Mike, I see greatness in you. You are a child of God and there is greatness in you. I don't know where it will lead but it's there and you will need to discover it. Now I need you to step up, Son, and take on some responsibility around this house. I need you. Will you do that?

Mike said that day, after that talk, he went to his room. And for the first time, God exploded a vision for his life. He wrote down goals. To make the varsity football team in high school. Get a scholarship to college. Be an All American, get drafted, play professional football and earn enough money to buy his mom a house. He achieved all those goals. And in retrospect he would says, "My life began that day!" (3)

Sometimes all it takes is a little praise, a kind word or a compliment and lives are changed. The tongue can and does boost, bolster and build up. It CAN be a thing of beauty and not "a restless evil."

III. USE IT WISELY:

A. The tongue can be used for both good and evil. We're called to use it wisely. The tongue can express or repress; release or restrain; enlighten or obscure; adore or abhor; offend or befriend; the tongue can enslave or set free. It can affirm or alienate; build or belittle, comfort or criticize, delight or destroy, express interest or indifference, be just or judgmental, be sincere or sinister. The tongue can Xerox the good or X-ray the bad. (4)

But the bottom line is that it's up to us. And it's up to how we are wired. You see, I sort of believe that in the beginning, the tongue was wired to the heart and soul. That the heart and soul of the individual acted as a filter and controlled what was thought and what was said. But at the fall, the tongue was rewired directly to head. Any old thought could come pouring out without any restraint. And that's the way it was for years.

But then Christ came into the picture. And Christ comes into our lives. When we give ourselves to Him completely, our tongues are rewired to the original specifications. The problem is that sometimes we don't surrender and give ourselves totally to Christ. We keep back a portion for ourselves. And its that portion that gets us in trouble. Because we leak. We are rewired, but we leak. We have those little slips of the tongue that we just can't pull back.

So, how do we deal with all the negative aspects of our tongue. How do we tame this muscle in the middle of our face. How do we disarm this slippery and wet lethal weapon?

First, through Christ. Let Him rewire your life and your tongue. Let Him reconnect that much needed filter of faithfulness in your life. Give your life to Him more fully. Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, put Christ in control of your tongue.

B. Another way is to use an acronym put together by Alan Redpath based on an old saying: "THINK before you speak." With that word THINK, he challenges us to ask ourselves a series of five questions before we speak about someone else. (You might want to write this down.)

Is it True? That's a simple question. But is it true? Is it the whole truth or just part of the truth? Can you prove it?

Is it Helpful? Does your speaking about it bring about a solution to a problem or add to the problem?

Is it Inspiring? Sometimes even how we address an issue when it's true and helpful is wrong. We should be inspiring as well.

Is it Necessary? Sometimes our words and our concerns aren't really necessary. We don't need to get involved.

Is it Kind? That's pretty simple. What's the motive behind the words. Will it build up or tear down?

THINK before you speak. Is it True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary and Kind? (5)

The tongue doesn't have to be a weapon. It was created to praise and build up. All we have to do is let ourselves be rewired and put Christ in control.

CONCLUSION:

Statistics tell us that the average person speaks about 4,800 words a day. However, statistics don't tell us how many of those words were necessary or beneficial. That's up to us. The proper use of the tongue is to build up, to commend, to encourage, to praise and to give hope to others.

One of the popular phrases nowadays is "Whatever." No matter what anyone says, it can be answered with, "Whatever." Well, the Apostle Paul had his own version of "Whatever," too!. And in light of what James writes here concerning our use of the tongue, I think we it would be good for us to memorize and use it.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul writes: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

That's the kind of "Whatever" we ought to be employing in our lives.

And don't just think about them, wrap your tongue around the "Whatevers." That way you won't have "Just A Little Slip Of The Tongue," and wind up at Armpit United Methodist church in NoWhere, Texas, but instead will praise and glorify God.

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Bibliography

1. With help from Clichés: by Eccentric Software, Seattle Washington.

2. SFMay85

3. Jay Mitchell, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. (DeaconSil.com)

4. Pastor Vince Gerhardy, St Luke's Lutheran Church, Nambour (DeaconSil.com)

5. A Passion for Preaching. Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no. 11.

SermonWriter, email version, Copyright, Richard Niell Donovan. (www.SermonWriter.com)

Sermon Mall, www.SermonMall.com

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Preaching Magazine (Preaching Resources, Jackson, TN)

Dynamic Preaching, Disk Version. (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

Lectionary Homiletics, (Lectionary Homiletics, Inc. Midlothian, VA)