The Power of the Tongue

 

Text: James 3:1-12

Focus: the tongue

Function: to frame our tongues in a positive light

3:¹Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will face stricter judgment. ²For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. ³If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. ⁴Or look at ships: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire! ⁶And 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 life, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, ⁸but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Good morning again!

Let me remind you again, by way of introduction that this book is heavy in its tone. James points out sin in a rather blunt fashion as he writes to help the Church reflect the love of Christ to this struggling and broken world that is in need of Jesus’ love and healing.

We understand exactly what he is saying here and the advice, or perspective that he gives really is a sage warning about either the destructive or creative power of the tongue.

And the text, I believe, is intended to motivate our desire to discipline our tongues and be careful about what we say.

I have three great regrets in my life that have to do with the wrong thing that I said with my tongue.

With one, I have been forgiven and the relationship is restored, but the other two are with another loved one who refuses to speak to me.

Destructive words do the kind of damage that a fire does. It burns and it hurts and it destroys.

I hope to be forgiven by that person. And I punish myself instead of forgive myself for those words.

I need to learn to forgive myself as well.

We live in a day and age where negative rhetoric, and the ability to parse it out is seen as a positive character trait. And James says that Christians are not to stoop to that level.

We can have political passions, but we can’t use the kind of destructive rhetoric that politicians resort to.

As Christians, we are not to be like that.

We have power with our tongues and I want us to see what it is.

We have the power of salvation.

In Romans 10:10, we read the words “with the heart, one believes and with the mouth, one admits it and they begin that process whereby they are healed through the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

And also, there is the promise from Jesus who said, when you confess me before men, I confess you before the Father .

I love that promise! To know that God knows us and cares for us is indeed comforting.

Next, we have the power of faith.

Jesus said that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains.

He told us to speak to it the word of faith and rest in God.

I remember as a young believer, in the 80’s when the Berlin wall was still in place.

I was praying through this passage and asking the Lord what he meant and I sensed the Spirit nudge me and ask me what mountain did I see in my life?

As I pondered it, I responded with the Berlin Wall. It was a symbol of oppression and injustice to me and I was offended by the godless nature of Eastern Communism.

So I prayed against the wall and after I prayed, political events started happening and within 6 months of that prayer, the wall came down.

I doubt if I was the only one praying that prayer, but I remember that when I prayed that prayer, the wall was indeed a permanent fixture in geo-political landscape. And then, it came down and the Spirit reminded me of that prayer.

We speak to mountains and they move.

There is an Hebrew word for that creative power of God. The proverbial “Word of God” that created the universe. It is Rhema. It is the creative power of God. It might be the same power of God that was used by Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus when he spoke to the dead and he came back to life.

There is power and significance to what we confess with our mouths in positive or negative ways and it seems to me that supernatural forces are connected to it.

Every time I give a dollar to the poor on the street, I look them in the eye and try to humanize them. And the response is always a “God bless you.” When I read in scripture how God is close to the cries of the poor, I think, “okay, the poor are given power by God, I’ll take a blessing from God!”

We live by faith and our petitions to God are part of our living by faith.

Like you, when I pray, I pray protection for my loved ones, but then I realize that God loves everyone and so I pray protection for God’s loved ones everywhere. And that leads me to pray for justice to happen in this world because that seems to be the heart of God.

So, our mouths can speak salvation and healing. Our mouths can work faith both against the mountains of injustice and our personal concerns and desires.

Also, James mentions the possibility of the times that our mouths are a blessing toward others.

The Apostle Paul was concerned about this Christian discipline as well. The CJB Bible quotes him in Ephesians 4:29 this way: Let no harmful language come from your mouth, only good words that are helpful in meeting the need, words that will benefit those who hear them.

We are to use our mouths to build each other up. I believe that takes us taking the time to see the image of Christ in the person we are talking to and to realize by faith the potential that God has for them through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I know James is negative about the potential for sin with our mouths, but I find strength in emphasizing just what we can do with our tongues.

And we have seen that we have creative power with our tongues, we have the power to bless and encourage and finally, we have the power to forgive sins.

John 20:22-23:²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

That is real power in the tongue.

Yesterday at our Kairos training the subject of how we treat the question of Homosexuality came up.

It is a delicate problem for us. We are diverse. And we have people like me who are in full support of forgiving what others call the sin of homosexuality in order to include them in the Kingdom of God.

And there are others who believe that isn’t natural and goes against the created order and therefore, against God’s perfect design.

And we didn’t have an argument about it.

But I spoke up about this very passage of scripture and reminded them of the power that we have to love and receive others who act and believe different from us.

I also mentioned that it is the Holy Spirit who does the work of transforming people into the image of Christ and it isn’t up to us to judge other servants of God.

And the cool thing was is that it was just like here, we have difference of opinions about it, but we love each other and we get along for the common purpose.

The conversation would have went negative until the Holy Spirit prompted me to explain to them the power of the tongue to heal and restore and forgive the failures of others.

So, our tongues bring about our salvation, they partner with God in creating new possibilities, they build others up and they forgive others.

Let us use our tongues to the glory of God!