Words that Build

All right, let's pray and then we'll get into God's Word this morning.

Jesus, we just thank you for who you are.

We thank you that you're our Lord and our Savior.

And uh Jesus, this morning we're gonna be tackling yet another difficult passage, Lord, that is relevant to every single one of us in here and really relevant to everyone who exists.

And so, Lord, I just pray this morning that you're preparing our hearts and our minds, Lord, uh, that if there's conviction in the room that it's not because of me, God, but because of your word speaking to us where we're at.

Lord, would your word be life-giving to us this morning?

And would you draw us closer to your grace and your mercy?

In your name, Jesus.

Amen.

Well, this morning we're continuing in our series called Kingdom Work, and we're looking at how kingdom work happens in our everyday lives.

I think many of us have thought, oh, kingdom work happens on a mission trip.

Kingdom work happens Sundays when I'm in church or when I'm serving and greeting or ushering or in kids' ministry, but really kingdom work happens in our everyday life.

As believers, that is our call.

And this morning we're gonna be in James chapter 3, verses 1 through 12, where James is addressing a nation of believers that's been scattered because of persecution.

James 3:1–12

And so they're dispersed all over the area geographically, and he's trying to let them know hey, even though you're being persecuted, even though you're under pressure, man, there is power in Jesus.

There is power in our testimony and how we live our lives.

And so James becomes just this wonderful instruction of what it means to live out our faith.

And today we're going to be looking at specifically what James has to say about our words.

Now, put on your imagination caps.

I'm about to tell a story.

If imagine, if you will, there's a truck driving.

It's driving and it's on the highway.

It's a hot August day, not too hard to imagine.

And this truck is driving, but unbeknownst to the driver, right?

A chain underneath the truck gets loose.

And now every mile or so, chink, it hits the ground.

Chink, hits the ground.

And as this driver's just cruising along, he's driving his big rig, air conditioning blowing in his face, music cranked, just focused on trying to get to his destination.

All of a sudden, as he's driving, that chain just hits and a spark flies out to the side of the road into brush.

Not too big of a deal, right?

Just one little spark.

But a moment later, that spark turns to smoke.

A few minutes later, that that smoke turns into a flame, and all of a sudden, other drivers begin to see on the other side of the highway fire coming up on the side of the road.

And so they do what they do and call 911 and say, hey, I just drove by a little fire on the side of the road.

But by the time the fire department gets there, the fire has spread up into a hillside, and now it's consuming acres.

What was once uh just land is now burned hillside.

And we're just like, come on, it was only a spark, it's just a little spark.

But we know what sparks can do, and now for any of us who live on the West Coast, we are familiar with what sparks can do, right?

We we know the devastation of wildfires, we know that one flame can destroy lives, homes, wreck everything, memories.

Now, we come to James today, and James says we need to learn to think about our words in the same way.

Because some of the biggest fires in our relationships begin with something that felt very small when we said it.

One sentence, one comment, one moment of gossip, one response in anger, one joke, one thing said in frustration that we wish we could have back.

And sometimes we try to convince ourselves, right?

We try to justify the things we say, and we go, ah, it was just a comment.

I was only joking.

I just needed to vent.

Or I didn't mean anything by it.

Or maybe you've heard this one, I only said what everyone else was thinking.

It was just a spark.

But James says, look at the fire.

Words, they seem small, but they are not harmless.

And James is going to push us to an even deeper truth than that today.

He isn't only concerned with the damage that our words can cause, he wants us to understand where do your words come from?

And he's going to help us navigate that.

So the question this morning for us as you sit there is not, uh, do I say bad things sometimes?

Because we all do.

No, the question is, what do my words reveal about what's happening inside of me?

Because if Jesus is the King of our hearts, this should eventually change what comes out of our mouths.

Kingdom people understand that small words can have big impacts.

So we don't want to dismiss them as small.

We want to learn to use our words to give life rather than destruction.

And this is where we're going to go in James 3 today with this guiding truth.

Our words reveal what's in our hearts.

And that's convicting, even as I stand up here and say this, because no one, as we're going to read in a moment, is immune from this.

All of us will struggle and deal with this.

But if we're faithful, we will evaluate our hearts and to look at our words and say, What is coming out of me?

Is that a revelation of what's in me?

So if you are willing this morning and able, would you please stand as we read from the Word?

James chapter 3, verses 1 through 12, and they'll also be on the screen.

James 3:1–12

James says, Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble in many ways, and if any one 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 the whole body as well.

Look at the ships also, they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by very small rudder, wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is small member, yet it boasts of great things.

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, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird and of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.

It is restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth comes 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 grapevine produce figs?

Neither can salt pond yield fresh water.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Thank you.

By the way, the reason I have you stand again is just because God's word is more than just any other text we can have.

And so we stand because I want us to have a reverence for God's word, and and standing sometimes helps us get into that position and that posture.

So thank you for doing that.

So James is a deeply practical book.

He is not interested in faith that only lives in our heads or in our hearts.

He wants a faith that's going to become visible to everyone around them.

And in James 1, he says we must be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger.

Later in that same chapter, he says, if someone thinks that he is religious but does not bridle his tongue, that person's religion is worthless.

Then in James 2, he says, faith without works is dead.

And then now in James 3, he turns directly to our speech, the words that we use.

Because one of the clearest places our faith becomes visible is in our words.

So today we're going to walk through four movements of this text.

We're going to see that words reveal my maturity, words direct my life, words can destroy when they are ruled by sin, and words can be healed by a heart ruled by God.

So let's begin in James 3:1, where he gives us this warning.

James 3:1

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

Now that kind of sounds surprising, right?

Because we often encourage people to teach.

We're just like, hey, you should teach our children.

We should teach scripture to students.

We should lead small groups.

You should uh lead our families, right?

So we're trying to teach constantly uh to help others follow Jesus.

But James is saying, hey, look, teaching is not bad, but teaching is weighty.

You have to be careful.

This is not a light calling, no matter what the setting.

And in the first century, teachers carried heavy influence because they received honor for what they taught.

And most of the teaching happened orally.

So it happened with an educated person presenting information to people to help them learn.

So they learned by listening, and communities were shaped by the words of the teacher.

So James is warning the early church do not rush towards the influence of teaching without recognizing the power and accountability that needs to come with it.

Why?

Because our words matter.

And words, they shape people.

Parents, leaders, pastors, and many others know this.

A person with their words has the power to build confidence or create shame, to clarify truth or spread confusion, to point people to Jesus or to point people towards themselves.

That is why James says teachers will be judged with a greater strictness.

Now Jesus says something similar in Matthew 12, 20, uh 12, 36.

He says, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak.

That should sober all of us.

We are accountable for every word we speak.

And you're like, even our teeners?

There's not like a gap year.

No, our words matter to God.

Now, James, he does not leave us this only for teachers, by the way.

Verse 2 says, 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.

So what an honest sentence that James has given us here.

He includes himself in this.

So James is not just telling his readers, hey, I know I've heard the way you speak, okay?

I know it's bad.

You guys need to work on that.

He's James is saying, all of us.

We all stumble in how we talk.

No one in this room has a perfect record with words.

We have all spoken too quickly.

We have all exaggerated.

All of us have gossiped.

We have all complained.

We've all used sarcasm to shame.

We've we've said true things in cruel ways.

We have stayed silent when we should have spoken, and we've spoken when we should have stayed silent.

We all stumble in many ways when it comes to our words.

But notice how James says, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man.

Now I want to focus in on this idea of perfection because we hear perfection and we think, perfect, without sin, without error.

But this is not the word here that he's using in Greek, teleos.

It does not mean flawless in the sense of never needing grace or without sin.

This idea carries with it maturity, completeness, wholeness, or being fully developed.

So what James is saying is that the major test of speech will be maturity.

That our speech reaches this place of completeness and spiritual maturity.

So a person is not simply a mature Christian, is not someone who knows a lot about the Bible, right?

We think if someone can speak and just pull verses out of their mind, oh, they must be a mature believer.

Or, oh, they show up every Sunday.

They don't ever miss a Sunday.

I've missed tons of Sundays, but even when I go, they're always there.

They must be a mature believer.

That's not the definition.

Those are good things, knowing the Bible and attending church, those are good things, but it's not what makes us mature.

A mature person is someone whose life is increasingly brought under the Lordship of Jesus.

Now, one of the most influential pastors and preachers I saw growing up was a man who every time he came to a camp to speak or spoke to a group of people, was never like, oh, this is where I've landed now.

I finally made it.

I'm a perfect pastor.

You're so blessed to have me.

It was always, man, I thought, I thought I was on the right track, and I realized, I realized how much I'm not living up to the call that God has given me.

And it wasn't like a woe is me.

He was just being honest.

He was a pastor who was transparent and just telling people, like, listen, I have not achieved yet.

I am still figuring this out, how to be made holy in the presence of God.

And then he would invite others into that journey.

And I would say he continued to make Jesus the Lord of his life.

And that is what James is calling people to.

But also he's really focusing in on their tongue.

And that is why words matter so much, because speech is not a small side category of discipleship.

It is a window into the heart.

Luke 6, 45 says, For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.

So what's in here will come out.

Our mouths will eventually reveal what's in our hearts.

If pride, anger, fear, bitterness, insecurity rules the heart, then our words will become self-promoting, weaponized, controlling, poisonous, or defensive.

If Jesus rules the heart, then our words will carry truth, grace, humility, courage, repentance, and love.

Now, this does not mean we will never fail, because James already said we will all stumble, and we all already have.

But it does mean that our words to tell the truth about what's happening inside of us.

So when we speak, they're revealing something about us.

So before we ask, how do I fix my mouth?

We need to ask, what is ruling my heart?

Because some people, and I've heard this from many students in my time in youth ministry, I just need to stop cussing.

And I'm just like, okay.

And like, yeah, it's just like when I'm around my friends and I hear it, then I say it, and I just need to stop.

Like I just need to stop.

It's like, yes, that's true.

That's a true statement.

You should stop cursing with your words.

But it's more than that.

It was more than just the outward obedience of not saying these words.

It was about the heart, about allowing Jesus to get in there, what is filling the heart, because our words are a measurement of what and who is ruling our hearts.

Words direct my life.

James now gives us two pictures here.

Verse three, he says, If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide the whole body as well.

And verse four, look at the ships also.

They are so large and are driven by strong winds that they are guided by very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So both of these images are meant to give us the same point.

Small things can direct large things.

So a bit is small compared to a horse, but it guides the whole animal.

A rudder is small compared to a vessel of a ship, and yet it controls the whole vessel.

Then James goes on in verse five So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a force is set ablaze by such a small fire.

So the tongue here in Greek is glosa, and it can refer to the physical tongue, but it also refers to language or speech.

So James is using a tongue as an image for our words.

The tongue is small, but it is powerful.

Thinking like James, your tongue is like a steering wheel, right?

So if we think of it like this in a modern way, it's like a steering wheel in a car, right?

It can steer a conversation.

It can steer a relationship.

It can steer a family.

Our words matter.

And think about how much of your life is directed by the words that you speak, right?

A marriage can change direction through words, both for good and bad.

A child can carry words from a parent for decades.

A friendship can be strengthened or destroyed by words.

Many of us can probably think right now of a relationship that's been affected by our words.

Many of us can think of a time when we spoke to a parent out of anger or hatred.

Many of us probably carry regret for how we spoke to someone.

You know that moment when your kid for the first time looked at you and said, I hate you.

And you're just like, What?

I've given everything for you.

I've done everything for you.

How dare you speak to me that way?

And now we know as parents, we we believe.

That's they're saying it just right because they have no authority.

And so they're just using whatever they can to get at us.

But it doesn't make it any less hurtful or painful when you hear those words from your child.

I remember being in an argument with my mom, and I was just so angry, so angry, and she was so right, and I was so wrong, and that didn't matter.

I was gonna get at my mom, and so she's yelling at me at all this stuff, and so I just stop and I look at her and I just go, I hate you.

But it wasn't like I was a uh seven-year-old child who didn't know what he was doing or what he was saying.

No, I was a teenager, and that moment it came out of my mouth.

I saw my mom's physical demeanor change.

It was no longer anger, it was sadness.

Because she believed that I believed what I just said.

And she just stopped the argument and walked away.

It crushed me in that moment.

I was like, I want that back.

I want those words back.

I can't I can't take it back.

Did we reconcile?

Yes.

Did I ask for forgiveness?

Yes.

Did we continue to move on?

Yes.

But our words are powerful.

And they have the ability to just raise people up, to encourage, to bring hope, to bring life, but they also have the power to destroy, to hurt, to break.

Our words, by the way, do not merely describe reality, they often shape the reality that we live in.

Proverbs 1821 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

This is not an exaggeration.

Words can give life, right?

A word of encouragement can keep someone going, a word of correction can turn someone away from danger, a word of forgiveness can reopen a relationship, a word of witness can point someone to salvation in Jesus.

So words are powerful and have the potential for greatness, and the words can change a life.

I think back to a moment that was so defining in my walk with Christ.

I was a brand new believer.

I had been trying to live faithfully for Jesus after years of not living for Jesus for Jesus.

So I was an athlete, I lived into that party scene, and that was my identity because I saw my sister live out that identity, and it seemed great.

So I said, that's going to be mine.

And then I encountered Jesus and my life changes, but I fail.

I end up at a party where I'm drinking, but at this point, I'm a leader in the youth group.

I'm helping disciple middle schoolers.

So I remember I go to youth group that day and it's just weighing on me.

And I'm sitting there, and the youth pastor's preaching a message, and I'm just crushed at the weight of my shame.

And so I'm sitting there going, This is it, it's over.

And after youth group, I said, I need to talk to you.

So he brings me into his office and I sit down with him, and I'm thinking, This is it, this is where I get kicked out of the church.

And so I sit down with him and I say, I have to confess, I messed up.

I went to this party and I said I was gonna go there just to be a light for people.

I ended up drinking, and I I understand if I can't be at this Church anymore, if I can't be in the youth ministry anymore.

And I I was preemptively giving him permission to punish me.

Because that's what I've known.

And he just sits there, and I think, oh, this is gonna be real bad.

And he goes, Ryan, I can see that the spirit is working in you.

You didn't have to tell me that you failed.

I never would have known.

But God is doing something in you.

He's growing you, he's maturing you.

So yeah, what you did wasn't great, but I see God doing something amazing in you.

And I want to see him keep doing that.

It changed everything.

Had he been like, you're right, you're a sinner, out of church, no more helping in youth group, I wouldn't be here today.

But because he spoke truth in my life, he didn't say what I did was good, he didn't say that, oh, it's okay to go out there and do that stuff.

He recognized my failure, he corrected, but then he put words of hope in my life.

And it changed the trajectory of my life.

So as good as words can be, and as powerful as they can be, they can also bring death.

The point is not that our words are magic, it's that our words are powerful.

Ephesians 4.29 gives this clear command: let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

That verse gives us a simple test to gauge our words.

Will this build up?

Will this give grace?

Will this serve the person who hears these words?

Now that does not mean we only say easy things, right?

That does not mean that we're not allowed to speak hard truths.

Sometimes love requires hard words.

Jesus spoke hard words, by the way.

The prophets, they spoke hard words.

Parents, sometimes you need to speak hard words.

Spouses, sometimes you need to speak honest words.

And that is not easy, but it's appropriate.

But kingdom speech is not only measured by what is true, it's also measured by whether it is spoken in love for the good of the hearer under the authority of Jesus.

Because truth without love is damaging.

But love without truth can easily become a fantasy.

But truth spoken in love is a gift.

And so James wants us to feel the weight of the tongue, the weight of our words.

And again, small does not mean harmless, right?

Because we see a small bit guides the whole horse, a small rudder steers a ship, and a small word can redirect a life.

Words can destroy when they are ruled by sin.

Now James kind of focuses in on the destruction at the end of verse 5 when he says, How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.

The image is easy for us to understand, right?

Because we can look at something like this, right?

Small, tiny, and by itself, right?

It's nothing.

But this right here, small flame.

Look at that.

I blew it out with a breath.

It doesn't seem like it's much, but we know this, used inappropriately or put in the wrong environment, can cause massive devastation.

So just because something is small does not mean it has does not have the potential to be destructive.

A spark does not need to be large to be dangerous, it only needs fuel.

And sinful speech always looks for fuel.

Anger, pride, fear, insecurity, bitterness, gossip, envy, unforgiveness, all these things are fuel for sin.

One sentence has the power to ignite a fire that can lead to massive destruction.

And anyone who's seen the destruction of a fire knows that the rebuilding or healing process isn't always quick.

I mean, we literally can look at the palisades.

We can look at areas that have been devastated by fires, spoken most recently.

And we know that those homes aren't going to be built in a week.

Some will take years, if ever.

So the healing process of our words, it may not happen quickly.

The devastation may take time or years.

James in verse 6 says, 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 by the fire of hell.

James uses very strong language here.

And he's not talking about a minor personality flaw.

So he's not like, ah, they're a great person, but man, their language is a little off.

No, he's talking about very real spiritual danger.

Notice how he says the tongue stains the whole body, set life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.

This word hell here is Gehenna.

And Gehenna is associated with the Valley of Hinnam and uh near Jerusalem.

And in the Old Testament, this valley was connected to idol worship.

And it was connected to idolatry and evil and judgment.

By the time of Jesus, Gehenna has become this final place of judgment that they use because of its destructive power and because of its location and its opposition to God.

So when James says the tongue is set on fire by Gehenna, he is saying destructive speech is not merely bad manners.

It carries a hellish quality about it.

So talk about sobering here.

We know that words can sound like they come straight from the kingdom of darkness, right?

We've heard words that dehumanize, words that curse the things that God has made, words that divide what God loves, words that lie, words that seduce, words that shame, words that destroy.

And James says the tongue can become an instrument of that fire.

And we see it, right?

And we've allowed it as a culture, as a society to penetrate our media, our music, our television, our movies, and it's just become so prevalent that what happens to a people who just sit in these things, you become desensitized.

And so James is saying we have to recognize where this type of speech comes from and be aware of it.

Proverbs 16, 27 says, a worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

Proverbs 26, 20 says, for lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisper or quarreling ceases.

I love how painfully practical the Proverbs are.

Basically, it's saying this if you stop adding wood, the fire will go out.

Some of us need to stop adding wood.

Stop forwarding on the message.

Stop repeating the rumor.

Stop feeding the outrage.

Stop rehearsing the offense in your mind.

Stop saying, I probably shouldn't say this, but.

Stop calling it honesty when it's cruelty.

Stop calling it discernment when it's suspicion.

Stop calling it venting when it's slander.

Stop adding wood to the fire.

James keeps going in verses 7 and 8.

He says, For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and of sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.

Well, that seems hopeless.

Great.

All right, good luck.

Have a good day, guys.

You have no hope.

But James is not saying change is impossible.

He's saying human self-control alone is not enough.

You on your own, by your own willpower, it's not enough.

We cannot tame the tongue while leaving the heart unchanged.

The tongue problem is a heart problem.

That is why David prays in Psalm 141.3 set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

He does not say, I will try harder.

He asks God for help with his words.

Psalm 1914 says, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Notice the connections, words of my mouth, meditation of my heart.

If God is going to heal our speech, he first must rule our hearts.

So ask yourself, where are my words setting fires?

Where have I become careless with speech?

Where do I need to stop adding wood?

And for some of you, your speech, your words now, they're not just orally.

They're behind a keyboard, behind a text message, behind a review.

Right?

We're very bold and impassioned when no one has to see our face.

It's much easier today to be destructive with our words when we write them down.

But James is giving us this clear warning when sin rules the heart, the tongue becomes aflame.

But we're not going to end with hopelessness, we're going to end right here with the words that can be healed with the heart ruled by God.

So verse 9 says, With it we bless our Lord the Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

So he's saying this with the same mouth, we can praise God, and then we can curse people.

We can come here and sing worship with our words and then leave this place and curse others.

And James is saying that that shouldn't be so.

Verse 10, from the same mouth come blessing and cursing, my brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Why?

Because people are made in the likeness of God.

Genesis 127 says, So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created a male and female, he created them.

This means that our words are never just about people, these are about image bearers.

People who reflect the image of God in their creation.

Now, this doesn't mean we don't ever confront evil practices or bad things, but it does mean that when we disagree, correct, confront, or rebuke, we must do so, knowing that the people we are talking to are image bearers of Christ.

That changes it, right?

Because if you look at someone and see an enemy, then your words will unleash that.

But if you can stop and pause and tell yourself the person I'm speaking to is a beloved son and daughter created in the image of a God who's shown me undeniable grace and love in my life, it changes how you view the person and how you speak to them.

Even as parents to kids, as husbands to wives and wives to husbands.

James is telling us that it is inconsistent as believers to bless God while cursing people who bear his image.

And then he ends with 11 and 12 saying, Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or grapevine produce figs?

Neither can salt pond yield fresh water.

So he gives three images: a spring, a fig tree, and a grape vine.

Can a spring pour both fresh and salt water?

Can a fig tree bear olives?

Can a grape vine produce figs?

The answer is no.

It cannot.

A source produces according to what it is.

So James is pressing us towards this wholeness in Jesus.

He wants our speech to match our worship.

He wants our words about people to match our confession about God.

He wants a mouth that blesses God to be a mouth that speaks life over others.

But this change will not happen through simple behavior modification.

It will happen when our hearts are brought under the Lordship and authority of Jesus.

Matthew 15, 18 says, What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

So Jesus is saying, What's in our hearts is what's going to flow out of us.

A heart that's ruled by Jesus will produce truth, grace, and wisdom, and courage, and confession and life.

Colossians 4, 6 says, Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each other.

So the invitation is this evaluate your heart.

Bring it before the Lord.

Let him reveal to you where you need to grow so that the things that come out of you come from the source of Jesus ruling your heart, not just the things of this world.

So we need to learn to use our words to give life rather than bring destruction.

Now, most of us, we can manage our words.

I guarantee you I could probably have a conversation with all of you after service, and you could speak respectfully, you could speak with really kind words, you could sound polite, uh, you can appear kind and really easy to impress people.

We can all do that.

But the real test comes with the people that are closest to us.

What are my words like at home?

What are my words like when I'm tired?

What are my words like when I'm hurt?

What are my words like when my spouse criticizes me?

What are my words like about people who are not in the room?

James is not asking us to become silent people.

He's calling us to be surrendered people.

Some of us need to repent of the destructive speech in our lives.

Some of us need to go home and apologize.

Some of us need to stop the pattern of gossip.

Some of us need to stop asking our children in ways that crush their spirit.

Some of us need to stop speaking with a spouse with contempt.

Some of us need to stop using humor as a weapon.

Instead, use your words to give life.

The tongue is small, but its words are powerful.

And finally, today, I want to bring an invitation because someone might be here today who's thinking, like, what did I walk into?

Yeah, I get it.

Words are bad, but you know what?

Whatever.

There is a God who loves us so much, and there's no way we can be in this right relationship and live this out without a relationship with Jesus.

And honestly, you can read this passage and go, what hope is there?

But we as a church know that our hope is Jesus.

John 1 calls Jesus the Word who became flesh.

That was intentional.

Jesus is the Word, He's the eternal Word that entered the world full of lying, cursing, accusing, and violence.

And yet he spoke only what the Father gave him to speak.

And he spoke words that gave life, forgiveness to sinners, truth to the proud, comfort to the grieving, healing to the broken scripture to temptation, peace to the storms, blessing over children, and mercies from the cross.

So if you're here today, there's good news for you.

If you don't know Jesus, if you've never given your life to him, Jesus lived a perfect life.

He died and rose again to save sinners, to make us new from the inside out.

Jesus is more concerned with your heart than how you look to others.

I always thought it was about how you looked in church that mattered.

Then I found out the more that I fall in love with Jesus, it's more important about who I am on the inside, so that I can be transformed on the outside.

And so if you're here today, it's not about being perfect.

It's not about having your life put together.

It's about accepting Jesus.

It's about letting him give you that new heart, not just a new vocabulary, not just fewer bad words, but a source of new life.

So today, if you don't know Jesus, you can come to him right now as you are and say yes to him.

All you have to do, confess to him.

Confess that you're a sinner, believe in his death and resurrection.

If you have faith in that, Jesus says you are saved.

Now for the rest of us today who already belong to Jesus, today we have to check our hearts in our words.

Notice I didn't say your, I said our.

All of us have to ask for forgiveness.

All of us need to heal from bitterness.

All of us need to redeem what's been abused, and all of us need to make our words a spring of life.

Let us pray.

Jesus, even as I preach this word this morning, I'm convicted because I know, like James, I have failed.

God, my words have fallen short of praise.

I've spoken harshly with those I've loved.

But God, you are a God of forgiveness and grace and mercy, and that does not excuse or justify the words that we have used negatively to bring destruction.

But Lord, I pray that we would be a body of believers that speaks truth in love.

That Lord, your grace comes out of our lives because the source of what's in our heart is a relationship with you.

God, we are not perfect, but Lord, if you are perfect within us, then that will begin to pour out of our lives.

Jesus, please transform us.

Make us to look more and more like you.

Let the source of our words be tied deep into your word, deep into the conviction of your spirit that lives within us, so that when others hear how we speak and how we don't speak, they are pointed to the perfect presence of your Son.

That Lord, sometimes the greatest witness is not what we're doing, Lord, but it's what we're we're proclaiming, that it matches with the praise that we bring on Sundays.

Jesus, redeem us, heal us, restore us, and may our hearts, may our hearts be so ruled by your sonship, God, your lordship, that we would be an outpouring of your presence.

And we pray this in your name.

Amen.