The Mature Tame Their Speech — James 3:1-12

[00:00:05] Please visit Calvary.com to learn more about our church and visit Nate Holdridge.com for additional Bible teaching for my lead pastor, Nate Holdridge. Teaching today is our lead pastor, Nate Holdridge.

[00:00:24] I'm sitting here in the house this morning. God loves you. God is using your life. My kids and I, we've been in the practice these last few years.

[00:00:34] We celebrate Father's Day on Saturday because on Father's Day I'm working and then after church is over with I really don't want to hang out with hardly anybody. So I'm like in a coma after Sunday morning services.

[00:00:49] So we celebrated yesterday we had a nice family breakfast, cinnamon rolls and bacon and eggs and just sat at the table for a few hours together.

[00:00:57] All three of my daughters home and together and so that was a blast. And then last night we went out for the ultimate. We went to this very fine restaurant together. It was called Costco.

[00:01:10] And we bought hot dogs and a soda for all of us got out of the door under $8 for the whole family.

[00:01:18] I was like, I'd father's at gift right there. And well we are there actually picked up a pair of Costco Kirkland signature sneakers and so I just felt like that's the perfect dad's gift for me.

[00:01:33] So love being a dad has been one of the highlights of my life and you know we live in a time where we're often told that fathers are not important.

[00:01:43] So I run it because we trace so many of the problems that we have in life to relationships with our dads at times.

[00:01:51] But fathers are incredibly important. If you think about it, the body of Christ, the church, we might be one of the last places that is preaching that message that family is not an idol to worship and not everyone gets to be able to build a family in a biological way.

[00:02:07] And some of us are called a spiritual family and that's all that we get. But we also can celebrate the dads that are in the house and their engagement with their kids.

[00:02:17] So for those of you that are serving your families as examples and raising your kids well, we thank you for what you're doing. It's a tiring work. We understand that but you are important. And if you hear nothing else today, hope you hear that word.

[00:02:34] Hey, I wanted to mention you before Rob reads the passage, James 312. I wanted to mention to you that next Sunday a friend of mine, Zach Vesnes and Isaac is a pastor up in Petaluma at a Calvary there.

[00:02:49] And he and I are real close friends together. He's shared here a bunch of times. I've shared there a bunch of times. We've got a good relationship with each other and with each other's churches. And we were talking a couple months ago, we're like,

[00:03:00] Now this summer time is pretty hard to get through as a pastor because you've got a lot of things going on. A lot of moving parts and then you're traveling and there's conferences and all these different things that you're trying to pull off.

[00:03:11] So we said, hey, I'll scratch your back. You scratch mine. Let's do a pulpit swap. So next Sunday, I'll be up in Petaluma preaching a message that I've already preached to you guys here and he'll be preaching a message.

[00:03:23] Here to you guys that he's already preached up there. So we don't have to do the 15 hours or so of work and putting into that sermon. It'll help both of us and you guys will be immensely blessed by Zach next Sunday.

[00:03:35] So I won't see you guys next week. Zach will be here sharing the word with you. I don't know what passage other word he's going to share from but I know it's going to be a huge blessing.

[00:03:44] So be praying for that this week and look out for him next Sunday. He and his wife Kara will both be here with us next week.

[00:03:52] They're going to stick around in town for a few days to hang out and caramel and just spend a little couple of time together. So look out for him next Sunday. Okay, speaking of a good dad. Rob Leak.

[00:04:03] Great dad right here. And he's going to read to us James 3 verse 1 through 12. You guys would follow along in the word. Good morning. James 3 verses 1 through 12. English standard version.

[00:04:16] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater stricness.

[00:04:23] 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. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

[00:04:38] 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. So also the tongue is a small member, get it both great things.

[00:04:53] 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, sitting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.

[00:05:10] For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tame by mankind.

[00:05:18] But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison with it. We bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

[00:05:30] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree my brothers bear olives or a grapefruit grapevine produce figs?

[00:05:46] Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Amen. Amen. Let's pray together. Lord we thank you for your word this morning and pray that you would help each one of us here.

[00:05:59] Today to use our words well that they be under the control of your Holy Spirit, submitted Lord completely to you.

[00:06:09] And since Lord we are imperfect in this we pray that by your spirit you would mature us more and more so that our words could become what you would want them to become.

[00:06:23] And so Lord we pray that you strengthen us as we interact with your word this morning and Jesus name. We pray together. Amen. Amen.

[00:06:33] Okay, there's a very famous, probably passage of scripture passage that many of you are already familiar with. You've read before you've probably heard sermons on the taming of the tongue, the power of the tongue, the power of our words, how they matter what they can do.

[00:06:48] The harm that they can cause. James seems to have a perspective here that the tongue is unteamable. There are no exhortations in this passage. There's not a lot that we're told that we need to do in this passage.

[00:07:05] There aren't a bunch of imperatives in this passage, but it seems that the implied exhortation that James has is that though the tongue is intamable, by ourselves we are to with God's help and power, tame the tongue and bring it into submission.

[00:07:25] And the word tame is the right word to use because all through this passage, James will even talk about the natural elements and bring in them into harmony with our will, even taking wild beasts and taming them. If I could say it like this according to James,

[00:07:44] if you were to and I actually had to look this up this last week to see if there are still a sea world around in there are still sea worlds.

[00:07:51] I haven't been in a few decades, and then also had to look up to see do they do the thing where the trainers like ride and orca,

[00:08:00] and they still do that, at least in Florida. They still do that over there. I think you can do anything in Florida. You can ride anything you want in Florida.

[00:08:09] And they're still doing that there. And kind of like James's thought would be, if you were there and you are watching that orca trainer riding in orca, you'd be seeing a person who had an easier time bringing that orca into submission than their own mouth.

[00:08:28] That's kind of the concept that James has. And we're going to talk about that today. We'll go real deep when it comes to the impossibility of taming this thing, but then look to God for our hope of transformation.

[00:08:41] Now you guys know as we've been studying through the book of James, what's the concept that we're looking at? We're thinking about a profile of Christian maturity. That's what James is describing over and over again.

[00:08:52] And he has three themes that he keeps revisiting over and over again throughout his vision or his profile of maturity. One of them has to do with how a Christian handles difficult things in life trials and temptations and things like that.

[00:09:06] Another one has to do with how a Christian deals with their financial status, whether they're poor or wealthy, how did they handle their money? How did they treat others that are in the other brackets of society?

[00:09:20] And then a third has to do with wisdom. How is a Christian being shaped by wisdom? What wisdom are they clinging to? Where are they getting there marching orders for life? And are they being transformed by the wisdom that comes from God?

[00:09:37] This theme is the theme that James is revisiting here as he talks about the time. This is a wisdom passage. He's thinking that the wise person is going to have a mouth that brings healing and health and life to those that are around it.

[00:09:56] But the foolish person he's describing right here is going to do great damage with their words. The Proverbs stated this way in Proverbs 10 verse 11, The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

[00:10:15] In other words, someone who is righteous, they're saying righteous things. Their words are producing life for others. Someone who is speaking wicked words, you might not even know it at first, but over time, their words are producing violence to those who receive them.

[00:10:32] And so my question today is we start out our time thinking about this passage of Scripture is, Do you want this maturity of speech to invade your life? Would you like to be a person who gains control of your mouth? Control of your tongue?

[00:10:50] If you're anything like me there are plenty of times where you have said something, you have thought something that got you into trouble because you said it. And as you look back, you wish I hadn't gone there. I wish I hadn't responded in that way.

[00:11:07] I wish I hadn't made that commitment. I wish I hadn't said yes to that opportunity. I wish I hadn't said yes to that temptation. Our mouths can get us into a world of trouble if we're not careful.

[00:11:19] And this for me is a lesson that I've been learning over the years. One of my daily prayers comes from Ephesians chapter 4 where Paul tells us that there are certain things we're to put off and put on each day.

[00:11:31] And he tells us to put off corrupting speech, let no corrupting word come out of your mouth. Instead give grace to the heur as is fitting. And that has been a daily prayer of mine for a long time now, Lord would you be with my mouth?

[00:11:49] I know that my words matter. I know that the things that I say matter and so often I have those experiences where I walk away from a conversation. And I feel within myself like, oh, I didn't get it right.

[00:12:03] And I said things in a way or I had a tone that was not the tone that I wanted to have and I have to go back and give a corrective. This has been something I've been trying to learn and in a lot of ways.

[00:12:14] In fact recently this last year I read a book that impacted me deeply called Rare Leadership. And I won't bore you with the details but there's an acronym in it that I've been repeating to myself over and over again.

[00:12:25] As these Christian authors who are taking neuroscience and theology kind of combining them together and they said, you know one of the important things to do is be a rare person.

[00:12:35] You know, you know, you know, you just want to take off the relational hat and just like go after someone. But the reality is we're in a long-term relationship with the people in our lives remain relational. This is still a human to human interaction.

[00:13:00] Many of our anger and troubles and issues come when we refuse to see someone as a human. And well, as was seen in this passage, James says, we bless God and we curse people made in the image of God.

[00:13:13] And then the second thing, remain relational, A, act like yourself. Who am I? I'm a Christian. I've been saved. I've been redeemed. I'm new in Christ Jesus. I'm a new creature in him. How does a guy like that speak and talk and act?

[00:13:31] And then the third letter is again, the letter R which they say stands for return to joy. In a return to joy, get back to like I'm saved. Jesus loves me. God is for me. He's working in my life.

[00:13:47] This negative thing is not going to derail me entirely because God is on the move in me and then E, rare, leader of the E stands for indoor hardship.

[00:13:58] You see a lot of times we spout off at the mouth because we don't expect that life is going to be difficult at times. And we're not ready for the hardship. We're not ready for the pushback. We're not ready for the difficulty.

[00:14:11] So I've just been meditate. I'm not going to quiz you guys on the way out or anything like that. Like what was my acronym? You don't have to remember that's not even in the notes or anything, but it's just something that God, I'm just trying to say,

[00:14:21] God has been working on this in my heart. And I hope and pray that he works on this in your life and heart as well as we consider the words that James has to offer to us.

[00:14:31] So the first excitation I want to give to you from this passage comes from the first five verses which we will read again in a second. And the excitation is this, you need to number one, raise your opinion of the significance of your words.

[00:14:46] You need to raise your opinion of the significance of your words. Let me tell you what I don't mean.

[00:14:54] You might have, you might be thinking when I say that because it's trying to find the right way to write that. You might be thinking as I say that that like,

[00:15:00] Oh, Nate, that doesn't really sound good because I know some people who have a super high opinion of the significance of their words and I really wish they didn't think so highly of their thought.

[00:15:09] I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, you've got to have a high understanding of what your words can do in your life and in the lives of others. So let's read verse one to five together. He says,

[00:15:19] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater stricness for we all stumble in many ways and if anyone does not stumble in what he says he's a perfect man.

[00:15:32] He will also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.

[00:15:39] Look at the ships also though they're so large and are driven by strong winds they're guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member.

[00:15:52] Yeah, it boasts great things. Okay from from these four and a half verses I want to tell you that I think we need a raise our opinion of the significance of our words and how does James get into this excretation?

[00:16:07] Well first of all, in verse one he hooks them into his way of thinking by first warning the church. He calls them brothers.

[00:16:15] He warns them he says, look not many of you should become teachers. Now let me ask you do you think that James value the teaching role in the church?

[00:16:25] He absolutely valued the teaching role. He thought that some people should become teachers. He was a teacher himself. He thought that future generations of the church would require teachers.

[00:16:34] He knew that. He was a teacher. He wanted more teachers. But he knew as well the seriousness of the responsibility of the teaching role.

[00:16:45] There's just a wait to it not just because of what you might say, but in James' scheme like the way he's thinking about a teacher it's not just what's coming out of their mouths, but it's their life.

[00:16:57] And he's saying people are going to watch not enlist into what you say and they're also going to watch your life. In the Proverbs, the truth is combined with words and actions together.

[00:17:09] And that's how James thinks of a teacher. There's what you're saying. There's what you're doing and people are going to be watching your life.

[00:17:16] And what James is saying is you'll be if you're a teacher held accountable for what you say and for what you do. And you will be he says judged with greater stricness.

[00:17:28] Now I've talked to many Christians over the years who have interacted with James chapter 3 verse 1, and have used it as like the reason that they don't want to be a teacher.

[00:17:38] I don't want to be a teacher in the church. I'm not going to do that because you guys are held to, you know, like you're going to have to answer for what you said and what you did on the day of judgment.

[00:17:47] And I don't want to do that as if you won't be judged for what you said and what you did throughout your life you will. He says teachers get a greater stricness. You know what that means? That means that everybody else gets normal stricness.

[00:18:02] We still got to give an account for what we say. We still got to give an account for what we do. Why does James enter into this subject? Here in verse 1, that's possible that there were too many people in the church of his era that wanted to teach.

[00:18:20] If you think about the context he was in, it was a predominantly Jewish church still. He's writing really early on in the life of the church.

[00:18:28] And in the Jewish mentality, the rabbis, the teachers were held in really high esteem and now you've got the gospel coming in and lots of people who were sitting under rabbis in Judaism. They now become Christians and a new wave of teachers is required.

[00:18:44] The rabbis who have not converted can't be the teachers and the church. And so maybe there's too many people saying like, you know, we esteemed teachers in our culture, we want to be a teacher or something like that.

[00:18:55] Or maybe James is just trying to grab our attention about the power of our words. And he uses teaching as like an entry point into it because the rest of everything he says is not for teachers exclusively, it's for everyone in the body of Christ.

[00:19:10] But it's shocking warning I think delivers a serious truth. Our words are measured by God. Teachers' words will be judged with a greater stricness but all of our words will be judged. You all be it with a lesser or normal stricness.

[00:19:28] Not only are words measured by God but are words, they apparently, according to James, are a huge marker of maturity.

[00:19:38] You know when you go to the doctor's office and you're getting a check-up or whatever and they do that thing where they say stick out your tongue and they think like, It's kind of like a, there's something I don't know what they're looking at.

[00:19:49] I never went to medical school. I don't know if that surprises you or not, but I don't know what they're looking at, but I'm told that's like they're, they can see, this is like a marker of other things.

[00:20:01] And James is looking at the tongue and he's saying, if that is healthy, then I can tell you right now there's going to be health in other areas of this person's life.

[00:20:13] James says in verse 2, he's like, you know, we all stumble in many ways, which you might think is James's way of just saying like, you know, we all fail and we all, nobody's perfect.

[00:20:24] And we can't really do this Christian life, but then in his next breath he's like, but the man who does not stumble in what he says is a perfect man and in James's way of thinking, I keep telling you, this is his way of saying mature, whole, complete.

[00:20:42] Healthy. He is a perfect man and then he says, able also to bridle his whole body. So if he, if he can do that, James is saying, then he's got other areas of his sanctification and personal growth on lock.

[00:21:01] James very much believe that we could gain mastery over our words and that if we do, we will gain mastery over every other bodily action.

[00:21:14] Mastery of our words and other words gives us strength and power to master other areas of life. Now this is an interesting way for James to think about things because the Bible teaches another angle as well about our words.

[00:21:30] Remember Jesus, he said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So the Bible talks quite often about how what's going on in here comes out here.

[00:21:41] And so we need to deal with what's going on in here. We need to grow and be transformed here so that our mouths are impacted, but here in this passage, James is saying, but we should also should be focusing on what's happening here because if we can get discipline here, we can get discipline in every other area of our lives.

[00:22:05] Why is that? Well for one, I think we would say it's that way because speech is one of the hardest things to control. So if you're like can control that then you're probably able to have self control in other areas of your life.

[00:22:20] But James seems to be thinking that it's also because so many of the facets of our lives are downstream from the words that we say. Maybe illustration to describe what I'm talking to you about would be helpful. Imagine like a modern house.

[00:22:39] Of course we have electricity. We're very thankful for that. And our homes generally, unless you're off the grid, our homes are generally hooked up to the power grid.

[00:22:51] And if the side of our homes may be outside connected to the garage, if you've got one of those, there's maybe like a circuit breaker or like a master circuit, a master supply.

[00:23:02] And if that master supply is shut off, then the power coming in from the street doesn't get into the house.

[00:23:10] And none of your outlets are going to work and no power will be found in any of the bedrooms of the home. And James seems to be thinking of the maturity of the tongue in that way.

[00:23:20] If the tongue can be matured, if the mouth can be matured, if a Christian man or woman can get control in this area of their lives, then it has a shake out through the rest of their sanctification and growth. And they get power to overcome in other areas of life as well.

[00:23:40] So our words, they're measured by God. They're a sign of maturity. But James also says in these opening five verses that they're also highly influential in our lives. James is a good preacher.

[00:23:55] He does what good preachers do and he just kind of appeals to the environment that people knew about to illustrate his point. So he starts out horses and ships, you know, he's like, hey, you look at a powerful horse.

[00:24:10] It's controlled. It's brought into submission by a small little bit that's put in its mouth. And he says, you look at a big ship, a large boat it's out there on the water. How is it steered and controlled with a small little rudder?

[00:24:25] But what does James's point? He's saying, the larger is guided by the smaller and that's the way it is with our mouths. What we say, how we talk, what we commit to with our mouths, what we think, what we decline, what we affirm, what we agree to

[00:24:46] And the tone we use all combined to direct the course of our lives. It might be small, but the tongue he says they're in verse five, boasts great things.

[00:24:58] In other words, the tongue has the power to exert massive influence on the quality of our lives. And so James is just pointing out this thing is huge. Now all this to say I'm just trying to make the point in this first movement of the passage that we must have a high opinion of the significance of our words.

[00:25:22] In our words affect us, our words affect others. If you just think about it, when you say that words have shaped the very world that we are living in today.

[00:25:38] The words that people have spoken over human history have brought us to this current moment. Words set families at war, set families at peace, words set nations at war and nations of peace.

[00:25:53] Words are of incredible importance. No God, at the very beginning of his revelation of himself, God spoke the cosmos into existence and then Satan spoke doubts about what God has said spoke poison or evil.

[00:26:13] And the people that God made in his image we have been imitating either one of those voices ever since. Words are incredibly important. We've got to have a high opinion of the significance of our words.

[00:26:29] All right, number two, here's where we're going next. I think what James wants us to say next in verse, middle of verse five, although he through verse eight is this, we have to believe that only God can tame our words.

[00:26:43] This is not one of those areas of life that we're supposed to say, I got this.

[00:26:53] Not supposed to be one of those areas of life where we say to ourselves, I can do this in my own strength. We are supposed to conclude with James only God can tame our words.

[00:27:02] And the thing that he says in the middle of verse five all the way through verse eight, he says, how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.

[00:27:10] 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.

[00:27:23] And the kind of reptile and sea creature can be tame and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.

[00:27:35] Like I said, I think James is saying we have to believe that only God can tame our words. Now to make that point, James turns again to the realm of nature and he talks about fires. He says, you know, a great forest is set ablaze by a small fire.

[00:27:52] And we can understand here in California, right? We have like fire season, you know, in a lot of times you just get like the smallest little spark can start a fire. I remember I mean I grew up here and I know smokey the bears a national figure but smokey the bear was like a huge figure. You guys know smokey the bear?

[00:28:11] I remember smokey the bear. I remember being a little kid and I remember hearing that message. I had one of my best friends, his dad was a firefighter and so we were always getting like smokey the bear swag.

[00:28:22] And I remember smokey the bear's thing. His thing was he'd point and say only you can present for us fires. You guys remember that? Some of you guys quoted that. So the message sunk in.

[00:28:33] But when I was really little and I first heard that message, I couldn't understand he was using like the royal you, you know like all of you. I just thought he was like Nate.

[00:28:44] You know it was a lot of pressure. I was on the lookout for forest fires, you know. It's like only I can prevent this. It took me a little while to realize like oh there's a collective thing we're doing this together.

[00:28:57] And that really got the bird and off of my shoulders once I realized that. But you know we get the idea a small little spark. I remember talking to a friend in the last few years and they were driving and they had a trailer.

[00:29:13] And they're driving along and they get to their destination and they realize that they've done everything right with their little trailer. But there was one little chain that was hanging on the ground and they thought oh no, that could have been hitting the ground and causing sparks.

[00:29:29] So they went back, drove through the mountain pass that they had come by and sure enough a little fire had begun to grow there in the forest. And because they caught it they were able to put it out and all of that you know like a little spark can do great damage.

[00:29:45] And James is using that analogy to say that's what our words are like he says in verse 6 the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of unrighteousness.

[00:29:55] The Proverbs say like this, Proverbs 16, a worthless man plots evil in his speech is like a scorching fire. A dishonest man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close friends. You know slanderous words dishonest words.

[00:30:12] He's a powerful word they can do wild fire like damage. Remember hearing the story of a man who had come under the conviction of the spirit and he since great remorse over some of the things that he had said about other people slander gossip ruining their reputation.

[00:30:31] And he went to his pastor and said what do I do? You know, I want to make this wrong right.

[00:30:38] And in the story the pastor says to him well I want you to go and I want you to buy yourself or find a little bag of small little feathers.

[00:30:48] And I want you to go put them on the door post of the home of every single person that you said things about that you should you had nobody's been talking about.

[00:30:56] And so he went out and he did that and then he went back to the pastor and he said well what's next in the pastors said now I want you to go back to their homes and I want you to collect all of those feathers.

[00:31:08] And the man began to laugh he protested he said yeah, I mean by now they've all blown away there's no way they're there any longer in the pastor said that's part of the lesson.

[00:31:18] You need to learn that your words once you let that cat out of the bag you have no control over where they go.

[00:31:25] You know, control on whose ears they land upon you can repent you can apologize you can go to the people that you've wronged you can try your best but it's better to be conscious at the outset of the uncontrollability of your words.

[00:31:43] And James is very conscious of this idea. It's so true that many of our troubles in life they start with our words. Proverbs 18 says this a full mouth is his ruin and his lips are a snare to his soul.

[00:32:01] Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you're thinking to yourself why did I say yes to this? I should not be here. Sometimes our lips are words snare our soul so many troubles in life can be traced back to an ill-advised text message. A problematic email.

[00:32:27] An unwise social media post I even remember many years ago I noticed that you know a Google they for their Gmail service.

[00:32:37] They had added these little extensions that you could elect into an ad and they had one that they said just in case your prone to sending emails when you're intoxicated.

[00:32:50] They had a thing where when you hit send before it would send it you had to do a rudimentary math equation. Because apparently that's an issue for some people like I should not have sent that.

[00:33:06] In a so often what we say can get us in trouble many more of our problems in life can be traced back to an off hand comment or words of anger or agreeing to the wrong things.

[00:33:18] The excuse drunkenness adultery fornication at some point all of them could be stopped with words. And unfortunately all of them can be accelerated with words as well.

[00:33:32] It's clear that James saw the impact of our speech and in fact in verse 6 when he's on this fire theme he said it sets on fire the entire course of life. It's a tricky Greek phrase it actually means the real of birth.

[00:33:50] It's like James is saying at the very hub of human experience and existence the quality of human experience and existence is tied back to this hub of how we speak what we say. And James has had this deep understanding of the impact of our speech.

[00:34:11] He even said if that's all that's not bad enough he said at the end of verse 6 that the fire of our tongues is often set on fire first by hell.

[00:34:23] It sounds severe to some of us this morning like how can you say that but as we look at the utter destruction that so many people have had to endure because of the harsh words or dangerous ideas that others have given them. It's hard to disagree with James.

[00:34:43] Just to use a historical reference point that we can all agree to how can anyone look at the words coming out of world war two and Nazi Germany you heat those words they do something right they do something the fire destroyed.

[00:35:02] And this sounds rather hopeless from James so hopeless because even at the end of verse 7 and verse 80 said it can't be tamed no human being can tame the tongue.

[00:35:12] It's kind of like well that's it is it's Jane just saying like hey I just got some news for you guys like it's hopeless.

[00:35:21] There's nothing you can do about it your tongue is like this world of unrighteousness it's just going to do crazy damage so like I don't know my excretation is like get a cabin out in the woods just like don't talk to people you know because you're going to be tearing people up if you speak is that what James thinks no James James had a front row seat as the half brother of Christ he had a front row seat to the one who always used his words well.

[00:35:48] And James believed in the possibility of God redeeming our speech and redeeming our words but he didn't want us walking away from his teachings saying to ourselves you know that's an area of life I can really mature by myself. He wanted us to say the tongue is untainable.

[00:36:08] From a human standpoint.

[00:36:12] But it is timable with God you know to James it's like he's describing the tongue like the red sea that cannot be crossed or a galaith that cannot be slain or a grave that cannot be defeated but in his mind he knows but God can part the waters of the Red Sea but God can slay galaith but God can defeat death and the grave.

[00:36:38] But God can help us with our untainable mouths James is saying. I love this about this man he understands the magnitude of the problem but the magnificent God who can deliver us from the problem.

[00:36:56] All right so all that to say let's get to my last little expectation here at the end of verse 8 all the way through verse 12.

[00:37:03] Third and final thing we got to allow God to heal the source of our words we have to allow God to heal the source of our words.

[00:37:12] Look at what he says at the end of verse 8 he said the tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison with it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

[00:37:23] And the same mouth come blessing and cursing my brother's these things ought not to be so does a spring poor forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water can a fig tree my brothers bear all lives or a great vine produced figs neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

[00:37:42] But I want to say here is that we have to allow God to heal the source of our words this morning I got on the phone and called my my dad.

[00:37:54] My dad loves the Lord so much he's been a pastor forever you know as long as I've been alive he's been pastoring he started this church in 1979 and he lives in Nevada now and he's still pastoring I call him a church flipper.

[00:38:11] Because he goes to churches in distress and he helps turn him around get some back on their feet and the hands them off to new versions of leadership.

[00:38:20] And he's a pastor a pastor and so we were talking this morning I was just wishing him a kind of bug me because I called him he picked up and he's like hey and they happy fathers down my head no happy fathers data you you're the father here I'm the son.

[00:38:36] But we were just chatting for a few minutes and I was thanking him for various things some theology that he's he handed down to me and some ministry philosophies he handed down to me.

[00:38:47] But but I said you know dad the other day I was with a young man 24 years old who wanted to just pick my brain about maturity and growing in Christ and being a godly man and I asked him the question you know I just I kind of trying to paint a picture for him I said hey man you know.

[00:39:04] A godly man is not built in a moment but he's built over a lifetime and that lifetime is spent repeating some basic practices.

[00:39:15] What are those basic practices and we were just kind of talking about that and I said dad you know one of them that came up was just that daily interaction with God's word.

[00:39:26] And I said dad I'm just thankful to you because every time in my whole childhood I ever woke up early enough to see you doing your morning routine.

[00:39:36] I knew how I would find you you are there with your Bible spending time in prayer not preparing sermons but letting God speak to your heart letting God shape you letting God mold you. And I'm so thankful that you allowed God to shape the source.

[00:39:52] That's what I'm trying to say need to be people who allow God to heal the source of our words you see in this little closing paragraph that we're looking at this morning.

[00:40:04] James says all these real hard things about our tongues he says in verse eight that it's a restless evil full of deadly poison but what I want to suggest to you is that as we walk with God as we pursue the sanctification that he has for us was we enjoy God day after day after day.

[00:40:22] What can he do to our words he can change them from being a deadly poison to being of great medicinal value to those who receive them.

[00:40:33] There's a proverb that talks about this. Proverbs 12 verse 25 says anxiety and a man's heart weighs him down but a good word makes him glad.

[00:40:45] You want to be one of those people who rather than piling on to the anxieties and fears and insecurities of people you're lifting their burden your words are used in that way.

[00:40:58] And then James also says in verse nine and ten that there's a like a like a dual personality that comes out of us.

[00:41:13] That from the same mouth that bless his God praises him raises our hands and seeing songs to him celebrates him talks about his absolute goodness from that same mouth so often comes curses of people who God made in his image.

[00:41:34] Which which aims to suggesting there is that as we walk with God that duality begins to evaporate and pretty soon we're speaking consistently praising God blessing the people that he has made. And then James closed his by saying.

[00:41:56] Look it's impossible for a fig tree to bear olives or a grapevine to produce figs or a salt pond to yield fresh water and I think what he's saying there is listen as you walk with the Lord if you're a Christian today here's what happened to you.

[00:42:16] You believed in Christ you trusted Christ in his death and burial and resurrection on your behalf and you become born again. Your birth by the spirit of the spirit comes to live inside of you and the Bible calls you a new creature in Christ Jesus.

[00:42:34] Here's a thing about being a new creature in Christ Jesus. We don't always behave like we're new creatures in Christ Jesus amen. We don't always live that out and so what he's I think alluding to is the true you.

[00:42:50] The Jesus you the Christ centered you the redeemed you the known by God you the chosen you the born again you the new creature you that person doesn't talk like that.

[00:43:10] That person speaks words of life and health and there's a consistency in what they say and so I think what James is alluding to is that God wants to transform our words so that who we really are within is made evident through our words.

[00:43:28] If you're in Christ today, that true is you is what needs to come out in your speech. The real you is not the one speaking the terrible types of words that James recounts in this passage but the real you talks like Jesus.

[00:43:44] It's confident in loving and truthful and sure and hopeful when you when you see people like Jesus, you see not just what they are but what they could become in Christ.

[00:43:57] Like Jesus you see beyond the world's brokenness into what he can do and will do one day when his kingdom comes in full.

[00:44:06] You see beyond the lies of failure and loss and you know that God is at work and like him you're a source of life and fruit that's the real you and our aim is to walk with God so that that person comes to the surface.

[00:44:22] I just want to end today with a simple question it's the question that I asked at the top of this teaching who would like their words to become more mature and more Christ like more Jesus like is there anybody today you'd say I want to dedicate my mouth to God.

[00:44:43] I want my God my mouth to be submitted to him. Thank you for listening if you would like more teachings and information about Calvary Monterey please visit calvary.com You can also find books teachings through the Bible and articles from our lead pastor at natholderage.com

[00:45:04] Thanks again for tuning in see you next week