The Object in Everyone's Mouth
James 3:1-12
I want to talk with you about "The Object in Everyone's Mouth." I'm referring to the tongue. James has a great deal to say about the tongue and about speech.
In the first chapter, he mentions the the subject twice, in verses 19 and 26
He is saying that one of the practical tests about the reality of your religion is whether or not you are able to bridle your tongue.
James, in the closing verses of chapter 2, has talked to us about faith and works. In chapter 3 he is going to talk with us about faith in our words. Words are very important. The things we say and the words we use are very crucial.
Before he specifically gets into the whole area of the tongue and the words we speak with our tongue, he begins in verse 1 with a warning and in verse 2 with a statement.
Notice verse 1
Those who have been given the assignment to teach have to be very careful about their words and you should not be overly anxious to be a teacher because you are more accountable for the words you use. I'm in this category.
Never underestimate the significance of what you say and teach.
We have to be very careful if we are to teach the Word of God because we can direct people's lives and we can give people wrong direction if we are not careful about the words which we use.
Now with that warning in mind, look at what he goes on to say:
He says, first of all, be very careful if you are a teacher of the Word. But he also says in verse 2 something very important.
Verse 2
What he means by that is that we all stumble. He's saying that in many ways we sin and many ways we stumble and in many ways we trip up. But then he says, "If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, he is a perfect man." That doesn't mean that the person is sinless who doesn't offend with their tongue, but what he's saying here is that a test of maturity of our life as a believer is whether or not we have learned to control our tongue and to watch our language.
Or maybe it means you would have to be perfect in order to not have that problem.
All of us understand the power of words. Do you remember the little saying you used to hear in school? "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That's not true. Words do hurt us. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words do hurt us.
Chances are right now as I speak to you, you can think about some words that some people used to you. You can think about some things that were said to you, and they have gone with you all of the rest of the days of your life and they still hurt to this very day. In fact, you’re kind of mad at me for even bringing it up and making you upset! Be very careful of the words you speak.
So James is going to talk to us about the tongue and by means of some very pertinent, to-the-point illustrations James is going to share with us the importance of the tongue.
I. The Direction of the Tongue.
The tongue can have a way of directing things. He uses two illustrations.
The first illustration he uses is in verse 3.
A bit is just a little piece of steel that goes in the mouth of an animal. He says that by means of a little bitty bit weighing just a few ounces, it is possible to control and guide and direct a big animal.
Have you ever seen a little girl all dressed up on a horse and in her hands are the reigns? Because there is a bit in the mouth of that big horse, weighing several hundred pounds, and a little girl is able to direct that horse by means of that bit.
This is what he is saying about the tongue. The tongue is a little member. He's saying that the tongue can direct a person's life. The tongue can get the whole body in trouble.
Think what just the bit of a word can do. A boy stands before a judge and hears just a bit of a word, "guilty," and it directs his life to prison. Here's a girl and she stands before the altar of marriage and just a bit of a word, "I do," and she is now married. A little bit of a word can direct your life.
It is very important the words that we use because they are like a bit in the horse's mouth. They turn about the whole body. You can get your whole body in trouble by your words.
I heard about a little boy that came into the class after recess one day and he had two black eyes and a bloody nose. The teacher said to him, "What happened to you?" He said, "Wrong word to wrong boy." The mouth is like just a bit in a horse's mouth. It will direct your life.
The second illustration he uses is in verse 4, and he says that words can be like the rudder of a ship. The rudder of a ship is relatively small. It's not big at all; and yet by the means of a rudder, it is possible to direct a ship weighing tons.
If you go out here to the docks and to where these cruise ships come in, you will see these ships weighing thousands and thousands of pounds, holding great numbers of people. We know that the captain of that ship, by the means of the movement of that rudder, is able to guide and to direct that ship. By means of the rudder that captain can crash it on the shore or can guide it safely into the harbor.
The same thing is true with our words. What you say can direct other people. What you say can move people in their life in a certain direction.
Then he makes a second truth by the means of two other illustrations beginning in verse 5. In verse 5 he's going to talk to us about
II. The Destruction of the Tongue.
The first illustration he uses in verses 5 and following is fire. He says that the tongue can burn like fire.
verse 5
In 1871 in Chicago, Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lantern and a fire began to burn from that small beginning, and it burned up 17,000 houses around. Three hundred people died in that fire. 100,000 people were left homeless as a result of the Chicago fire, and it all started when a cow kicked over a lantern.
In 1950 in Korea, just a pan of rice boiled over and started a fire. Before that fire was stopped 3,000 buildings had been destroyed. Just a little fire, but how destructive it can be.
Of course, we know that fire is either a good servant or it is a poor master. Fire can be used for good purposes. A fire in your house can cook you a meal or it can warm your body. But fire out of place in your home can set your house on fire and can burn all your valuables and can cause the loss of life.
Fire can be good and yet fire can be bad. He's talking here about the destructive nature of fire.
verse 6
He's saying that the tongue and the words that we use with our tongue can be just like a fire, that it has its own world and its own world of sin.
Think about unkind words. Think about deceitful words. Think about lying words. Think about hateful words. Think about hurtful words.
Look at verse 6 again.
Isn't it an interesting thing that a person otherwise might be considered in very positive ways, and yet they ruin it by their tongue?
Have you ever heard someone say of someone, "Isn't she a beautiful girl, but she spoils it by the things she says"? She's attractive on the outside and yet when she opens her mouth she ruins everything people think about her by the unkindness or the cutting nature or the jealous spirit of her words.
He says that it is a fire among our members. He says in verse 6, "And sets on fire the course of nature." Literally, that means the wheel of life. It's saying that from our words every area of our life, the whole wheel of our life, can be affected by the words we use.
He says, "And it is set on fire by hell." Isn't that an awesome thought that the words we use can be kindled by the fires of hell itself? Think about how that when we open our mouths, we can open our mouths in blessing or we can open our mouths and be such a curse.
I think about how words have the power for good. I think about Billy Graham, the great evangelist, who has preached the gospel to more people than any other man who has preached in the history of the world, and there was power of his words to kindle people for the Lord and to kindle their lives to be on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.
But on the other hand, think about another man who used words. Think about Adolph Hitler. I don't know if you have ever seen any news clips of Adolph Hitler, but he was one of the most persuasive and most power speakers that the world has ever known.
By the means of his tongue and by the means of his words, he spoke words which were obviously kindled in hell. He inflamed a nation, brought the whole world to world war, and literally thousands and thousands of people lost their lives.
He says that the tongue is destructive like a burning fire.
But then he uses another illustration.
In verse 7 and following he says that the tongue is also destructive like a wild animal.
verse 7
When God created the universe and the world and He created all of the animals and He created man in Genesis 1, the Bible says that God said to man to have dominion over the created order.
We do know that it is possible for people to tame animals. Have you ever been to a show of dolphins and seen how they can train them to jump through hoops? Or have you ever been to the circus and seen the lion tamer and he is able to tame those lions? Man is able to tame wild animals. He says that they have been tamed, they are tamed, but
Verse 8
The picture there is of a serpent. The words that are used here are of him describing how a serpent moves. He says that it is like an unruly, that is, like a restless, a deceptive. "An unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
Here is this snake and this snake slips quietly up. In an unsuspecting moment that snake strikes and deposits its deadly poison and then it slithers away.
James says that that is exactly how destructive your tongue can be. It is possible for a person to just slip up with a destructive tongue, and it possible for him to just drop a word of gossip, to just drop a jealous, hateful word, to just say something that is not true about an individual and you have wrecked a reputation. You have destroyed someone's influence because the destructive nature of the words which you have used.
The Direction of the tongue, the destruction of the tongue, then he mentions
III. The Deception of the Tongue.
verse 11
He says that a spring is consistent in its nature.
God has given us an orderly universe, and God has given us a nature which is consistent. What that means is that if you have a spring that is filled with sweet water, it will consistently give you sweet water. If you have a spring which has bitter water, it will consistently give you bitter water. There is a consistency in nature.
He's talking now about the deceitful nature of the tongue. Does a spring give both bitter and sweet water? The answer obviously is no.
Remember what he has just said in verses 9 and 10.
What he's saying is that there is an inconsistency here.
Sometimes people are inconsistent with their tongue and with their words. They come to church on Sunday and they sing the songs of Zion. With their lips they bless the Lord in the services, in the house of God. Then Monday morning comes, and with that same tongue that has been used to bless the Lord they curse men. The Bible says that there is an inconsistency there. That shouldn't be.
(verse 10) Christians, of all people, ought not to be that way.
You shouldn't be inconsistent in your words.
Not only that, but he says that it is like a tree in
verse 12.
You go to a fig tree. When you go there and start picking the fruit, what do you expect to get from a fig tree? You don't go to a fig tree saying, "Oh, boy, I hope I can get some olives off of that fig tree." When you go to an olive tree, what do you expect to get? You don't go to an olive tree saying, "Oh, I hope there are some figs on this olive tree."
There is a consistency in nature. What he's saying is the fruit of the lips will bear the nature of the heart.
People will try to say they were just angry or overcome, and what they said isn’t really who they are, but I will remind you that what is in the well will come up in the bucket!. A glass will only spill what is inside it.
Do you know why people say what they say? Because that is who they are! That’s what’s inside them. The Bible says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life."
The real you comes out when the squeeze is on. What you really are is demonstrated by the things you say when you are under pressure. He says, "These things ought not to be."
Let me hit a positive here because he has talked to us about the directive nature of the tongue like a horse's bit or like a rudder of a ship, and he has said there that the tongue can be directed and that the tongue can direct life. The good news is for you and me is that we can have a captain who can control the rudder of our life and His name is Jesus.
The good news is that you have a captain of your life vessel. He can help you control that rudder of your life.
The second thing I want you to know is that though the Bible says that the tongue is set on fire of hell, the Bible also teaches it can be set on fire of heaven.
On the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter, who had been known to use his tongue in the wrong way, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He spoke on that day and when he did his tongue was set on fire of heaven and 3,000 souls were won to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ask God to clean up your tongue and to set your tongue on fire from heaven.
Then there is the next thing. Though the fountain may be bitter in your life, God can make that fountain sweet. Do you remember the Old Testament experience about the children of Israel in a place called Mara? The Bible says that they found the water bitter. They began to complain because the water was bitter. God said to Moses, "Moses, cut down this tree and cast this tree in the water and when you do the water will be sweet."
That's what God can do for you and me because though our fountains may be polluted, though our hearts may be impure, there is a tree called Calvary where Jesus died; and if the tree of Calvary can be cast into the fountain of your life, then Jesus can clean up your words and can help your words to be a testimony and a blessing and a help.
And lastly the fruit of our life ought to bear witness to the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Everyone of those can be demonstrated through our words.
The Word of God says in Psalm 39, verse 1, "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." That's a prayer that all of us should pray. "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue." You and I should sing the words of the great hymn writer, "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King." We can all do it if we let the Lord take control of our tongue.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
