Faith Speaks

Well, it's good to be with you again, and the opportunity and privilege to share God's

Word with you.

I discovered from my records that this time last year or thereabouts, I was here spouting

forth on the tongue, which is interesting, from the book of Proverbs.

Of course, John kindly in his email reckoned I was becoming a specialist in the topic.

I probably am for all the wrong reasons, as I discovered.

So I suppose it's interesting to work out just why on earth it comes round with this

frequency.

Is it because your elders here reckon that this is a topic this church needs to hear frequently?

Well, they'd be right, not just from this church's perspective, but any church really

needs to get their head round what we do with this muscle that flaps around between our gums,

frequently letting us down.

So it might have been that reason, but I suspect not.

I think that the reason simply is that the Bible has a whole lot to say to us about the

tongue, the things we say, the things we articulate, the use that we put it to.

So I suspect that is the reason.

And it's your misfortune that you've got me twice on the topic.

But hopefully we'll share some things this morning that are different.

But I rather suspect you can't remember what I said last year anyway.

So we're okay.

James chapter 3 is our passage.

James 3 · chapter mention

Turn with it if you have a Bible.

If not, I think the words are behind me.

Almost.

James chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

Let's read the first 12 verses together.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach

will be judged more strictly.

Ain't that the truth, John?

You'll all go home at lunchtime and work out how good I was.

You don't need to phone me up and tell me.

Verse 2 says, as Paul pointed out,

We all stumble in many ways.

If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.

Or take ships, as an example.

Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder,

wherever the pilot wants to go.

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.

It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,

and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, creatures of the sea are being tamed,

and have been tamed by man.

But no man can tame the tongue.

It's a restless evil full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father,

and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness.

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.

My brothers, this should not be.

Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs?

Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Amen.

God will bless his word to us.

I don't know if you read the books of Chuck Swindle at all.

He's an American, but we can forgive him for that.

He writes really accessible and interesting books,

and he always comes at them from an interesting perspective.

And one of his books is called Killing Giants Pulling Thorns.

And in it he tells of an epitaph on a tombstone

that he came across in a kirkyard or a churchyard in England.

And it said this,

Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies Arabella Young,

who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue.

Well, being told to hold your tongue,

it's usually advice that's reserved for children, isn't it?

But perhaps it ought not to be.

Maybe there's a spiritual discipline hidden in amongst all that.

I'm sure we can all reflect on occasions when,

oh boy, we wish, we wish, we'd held our tongue.

Now, in the normal course of our life,

we say an awful lot.

Now, somebody apparently, according to Google,

so it must be right,

has estimated the number of words that we say.

So, in an average 70 years for a bloke,

308 million words.

Apparently.

For a woman,

637 million.

Now, I know you'll find that really hard to believe.

So, it is perhaps inevitable,

and amongst all of that stuff,

we're going to say something wrong.

We're going to allow our tongues to slip,

as we say.

Now, the psychologists estimate that for every thousand words,

you'll make a couple of errors.

So, at an average speed of talking,

that's 10 to 20 times a day

when you'll say the wrong thing.

Remember old George W. Bush?

He was great at this kind of thing, wasn't he?

He was great.

And had enormous fun trolling the internet.

And you can spend hours on this.

Poor man.

Families is where our nation finds hope,

where wings take dream.

They misunderstood me.

And my personal favourite,

in addressing the sort of national association

of primary school teachers in America,

he opens up by saying,

I'd like to spank all teachers.

Poor man.

Now, they're humorous.

Probably not all that important.

And not the kind of thing

that this wise old pastor is highlighting for us.

Rather, he is highlighting the impact

that our tongues can have,

and the harm they can do

when we don't allow them to be under the control,

and the guidance and the direction of God's Spirit.

And in this one short letter,

he has repeated this warning several times.

So, back in chapter 1,

you maybe remember in verse 19,

we read this.

Dear brothers, take note of this.

Everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak,

and slow to become angry.

That's good advice, isn't it?

Quick to listen,

and slow to speak.

Then, towards the end of the chapter,

verse 26,

if anyone considers himself religious,

and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue,

he deceives himself,

his religion is worthless.

So, there's a measure by which you can assess

whether your religion is worth anything.

And it's the extent to which you accept or don't

a controlled tongue.

Verse 12 of chapter 2,

speak and act as those who are going to be judged.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged.

In chapter 4, verse 11,

brothers, don't slander one another.

Whoever speaks against his brother or judges him,

speaks against the law.

And then in verse 9,

chapter 5, verse 9,

don't grumble against each other.

James has a lot to say about the tongue.

It's a big deal for James.

But as we've already said,

if you check the Bible out,

you'll find James not the only writer

who wants to tell us something about the tongue.

We thought on Proverbs last year,

there's 150 verses or so in Proverbs

that Solomon's responsible for

that are all about the tongue or speaking

or lips or mouths.

Isaiah, central to his testimony,

I am a man, he said,

of unclean lips.

Not I've got a terrible heart,

as black as pitch.

I'm a man of unclean lips, he said.

The Lord Jesus warns us

that one day we'll give an account

for every careless word

we've uttered.

The apostle Paul talks about the tongue.

Peter talks about it.

Even the apostle John talks about it.

So this is a big deal for James.

It's a big deal for God.

And therefore, it ought to be a big deal for us.

Let me pick up two or three things in this passage

just as we go through it.

I want to say, first of all,

there's something here about the tongue's influence

on the direction that our lives take.

There's something about the influence

on the direction.

These verses three to five

are all about direction, aren't they?

They're all about control

and about impact.

And we are familiar with these metaphors

that James uses.

Horses, ships, fires.

I've only ever been on a horse once in my life.

That's not an experience I want to repeat.

It's a long time ago

and I can still remember it.

You go on these YF adventure weekends.

I'm far too old for all of that now.

But there's the obligatory horse riding

up there, up north.

You know, and I was the biggest,

so I got the biggest animal,

which I didn't think was entirely fair.

So I get on this thing rather nervously

and the girl says to me,

don't worry, it's very easy.

There's two controls.

Kick it to go.

Pull it to stop.

The kick it to go bit worked.

And it didn't go terribly fast,

fortunately, to begin with.

Then all of a sudden,

it clearly smelt its stable

and it set off.

And that's when I realized

that the pull it to stop bit

wasn't quite working.

I began to doubt the inerrancy

of scripture here

because I could remember James saying

the bridle will control the horse.

No, it doesn't.

No, it doesn't.

Finally got to a stop all on its own.

But we get the picture, don't you?

There's this thing in a horse's mouth

that controls it.

Or there's a small thing

at the back of a ship

that steers it.

Likewise, James is saying to us,

the tongue has a huge influence

to steer the course of your life.

How you use it,

the things you think and verbalize,

says James,

will play a significant part

in the way your life goes.

And if you control your tongue,

it can direct your whole life

into what is acceptable

in God's sight.

If you don't control it,

the implication is

that you're going to get

into a whole lot of trouble.

You see, our tongue

is more than just a muscle

that over time

we are able to control

so that it makes sounds

that people understand.

It goes deeper.

Its influence extends

to the very core of our beings

because before we speak,

what we say

has come from our hearts,

our inner beings.

It's so true, isn't it,

that especially if you're going

to tick somebody off

or you're going to say something,

we often rehearse it,

don't we?

I'm just going to give them

a piece of my mind.

I'm going to tell them this.

I'm going to say this.

There's a commentator

called T.C. Baird.

He put it nicely.

He said the tongue

is the hinge

on which everything

in our personality turns.

I think he's right.

Ultimately, James is saying here

the tongue is a key factor

in living a kind of

controlled, disciplined life.

And if you let it loose,

it gets out of control.

It will damage

just like a forest fire.

So there's something about

the tongue's influence

on the course of our life.

the kind of people we are.

But James goes a lot deeper

than that because he

also says to us this,

the tongue here plays a part

in your eternal future.

That's quite interesting,

isn't it?

Look at these verses

sort of six onwards.

They're really severe

in their warning.

He says the tongue's a fire,

a world of evil

among the parts of the body.

a world of evil

among the parts of the body.

It's as if

all the sin and unrighteousness

you could possibly imagine

gets zeroed in

on what you say.

We often concentrate

the things we do,

don't we?

James puts some emphasis

here on the things we say.

I think he's right.

Seems it's a tool

that we've got

that too often

and too readily

becomes at the disposal

of God's enemy.

And it's more than

just the odd word.

It's a world of evil,

he says.

Then he says

it corrupts

the whole person.

It seems as if

total havoc continues

and our whole personalities

get marked out

by the things we say.

It's almost as if

our lives

get a stain on them

that

mark us out

as certain kinds of people.

Whether it be

critical people

or

flippant people

or

obscenities,

whatever it might be,

he says,

James,

it's marking us out,

it's corrupting.

But here's the rub

and here's the real warning.

He goes on,

he says,

you know,

our whole life

is destroyed.

The whole course

of our life

is set on fire.

It's a blaze

because of a failure

to master the tongue.

It's got this huge potential

it seems to be

influential

right through

our life

and to impact

us

and impact

others.

So that's serious

stuff,

isn't it?

A world of evil,

the whole person,

a whole life,

but he's not finished

yet.

And here's the

real force

of the warning.

He says,

it's set on fire

by hell

itself.

self.

That's where the influence

comes from

and where destiny

is if it's not

sorted,

set on fire

by hell.

No one's really sure

what James was meaning

by all of that.

But he's certainly

grabbing our attention,

isn't he?

It seems,

of course,

very directly

that if we fail

while we are alive

to confess

the Lord Jesus

Christ

as our

personal

saviour,

scripture is very

clear about

our destiny

and maybe that's

something you've got

to sort out

this morning

before you say

anything else.

Maybe you've got

to confess

that the Lord

Jesus Christ

is your Lord

and your saviour.

But I think

there's something

else here.

It's as if James

is saying to us

here that there's

a danger that

hell's influence

will remain on

all of us

and will in

some way

impact

on our

eternal future

if we don't

pay attention

to this.

Now that's not

to say if we're

a Christian

we'll lose

our salvation.

The Bible's

very clear about

that.

But there's

something also

that when we

stand before

the Lord

Jesus Christ

we will be

asked to give

an account

not for our

sins

but for the

rest of our

lives,

our service,

the kind of

people we have

been,

the way we

have helped

others,

the way we

have hindered

others.

I think James

is giving us

a very clear

warning here

however mysterious

it appears

of the real

influence of

evil that we've

got to be

careful and

watch out for.

So there's

something about

the impact of

our tongues in

terms of our

lives and the

direction.

There's something

about the fact

that our tongues

can play a

part in our

eternal future.

I think the

third thing I

want to highlight

here is that

our tongues

impact on the

lives of other

people.

Of course they

do because

unless you're

prone to

talking to

yourself and

you might be

generally when

we talk it's

because someone

else is around.

How much

thought then do

we really give

to what we

say?

Now verse

one and I bet

you thought I was

skipping over it.

I wasn't.

I want to go

back here.

James very

rightly focuses

on those he

says who

presume to be

teachers.

Those who want

to set

themselves up

as those who

know more than

others.

Who want to

teach.

Now I want to

say to you that

platforms, this

one included,

are not made

of wood.

They're made of

very thin

ice.

And as

preachers we

have to learn

to be very

good skaters.

Because all

the time we're

skating on

very thin

ice.

And I'm

acutely

conscious that

I will say

things to you

this morning

and doubtless

next week the

devil will have

a real good

go at me

and do his

very best and

he may well

succeed in

demonstrating

that actually I've

not got this

mastered any

better than

anyone else

has.

Therefore I

hope you

pray for your

preachers and

your teachers.

I hope this

week in your

prayers you

were mentioning

me.

I hope you'll

pray for John

and others who

occupy this

particular position.

Because as

James says,

I'll spend

more time in

front of the

Lord giving

him an account

for what I

said from

platforms than

others will.

And we need

to think about

that.

Jesus was

very clear

about it.

He talked

in the

Sermon on

the Mount

about the

law and

how he

hadn't come

to abolish

it.

He hadn't

come to

stroke any

of it out.

He was

there to

fulfill it.

And he

then said,

look, if

anyone sets

aside the

least of

these commandments

or laws and

teaches others

to do it,

they'll be

called least

in the

kingdom of

heaven.

So there's

real warning

there for

those of

us who

preach and

teach.

And that

includes

Sunday school

teachers,

it includes

home group

leaders,

it includes

youth leaders,

any position

where you

open up the

word of God

and seek to

help and

instruct somebody

else, do

it with much

prayer and

great carefulness.

But James has

all of us,

of course,

in our

sights, in

his sights,

rather in

verses 9 to

11, and

he's talking

here about

inconsistency,

and that's

the real

message,

of course,

behind James's

letter, that

if we're being

honest, of

course we would

call it

hypocrisy about

not living in a

truly consistent

way for Christ,

whether it's our

words or our

actions, not

really mirroring

the life that we

say we have.

And of course

when you're

inconsistent in

your Christian

life in some

way, shape,

or form, it

will not bear

fruit.

We can't be

one thing and

expect another

thing.

We must be

what we say

we are and

we must say

what we

actually are.

There has to

be a

consistency

there, especially

if we're to

ever make a

real impact on

our friends and

neighbours or

our colleagues.

But there's

also a message

here for

churches, and

some would say

that's what this

was all about

in James's

mind, how we

speak to each

other is at

the heart of

his concern.

You know, we

can raise our

eyes to heaven,

as Paul was

saying, in

praise and

blessing God.

And then we're

turning around and

we're looking for

the words to

say to someone

else that will

defame them or

denigrate them or

criticise them or

slander them or

simply gossip about

them.

And James said

that's not

right.

And of course

in all of these

things must

lie the

condition of

our hearts

before God.

Because Jesus

says out of

the abundance

of our hearts

our mouth

speaks.

What's inside

will come

out.

It will have

its impact

personally,

perhaps lastingly

and certainly

to others.

So what can we

do about it?

What can we do

about it?

Well, James,

this master

pastor,

recognises this

is really

difficult if

it's not

impossible for

us.

Twice over,

he points that

out.

We're not

perfect, he

says, able to

keep our whole

body in check.

We can tame the

wildest of animals,

he said.

There was a picture

in yesterday's

times of a

73-year-old

Finnish man who's

been adopting

big brown bears

all his life and

there was a

picture of him

kissing this

great brown bear

and I thought,

poor, that

wouldn't have

been me.

But you can

tame the

wildest of

animals, says

James.

Do you know,

you can't tame

your tongue.

You can't.

Only God

can.

And that's the

point.

God can bring

grace and

redemption to

hearts and

lives that

manifest such

things in the

things we say.

So maybe the

first thing is

simply to get

before God and

in the words of

Paul to

Romans, count

yourself dead to

sin but alive to

Christ Jesus.

Don't let sin

reign in your

mortal body such

that you obey

its evil desires.

Don't offer any

part of yourself to

sin as an

instrument of

righteousness.

Offer yourselves

to God.

Give God your

tongue.

Give him your

heart.

Give him your

tongue.

God.

The psalmist put

it this way.

Set a guard over

my mouth.

There's a good

prayer.

First thing in

the morning.

Before you've

kicked the cat,

kissed the wife

or kissed the

cat and kicked

the wife,

whichever way it

comes.

Guard my

mouth.

And then last

year I shared

with you Alan

Redpath's little

acrostic thing.

So I'll share it

again on the

basis you've

possibly forgotten.

Alan Redpath

said whenever he

was going to

say something,

he used the

little word

think.

Is what I'm

about to say

true?

Is it

helpful?

Is it

inspiring?

Is it

necessary?

And is it

kind?

True,

helpful,

inspiring,

necessary,

kind.

Once you've

gone through

that little

list,

people have

arrived at a

decision whether

what you want

to say is

really what

you want to

say.

And I guess we

need to remember

that when we

speak at all,

God is the

one who's also

listening.

May God bless

his word to

us and encourage

us and help us

in the week.

thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.