THE WEIGHT OF OUR WORDS | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

All right. All right. Well, welcome

Lifeford Church, everybody. How's

everyone feeling? We doing all

right. It is great to see you and to be

here with you all this morning. I am so

grateful that we could be gathered

together in this house. Again, just want

to say, hey, so grateful uh for all of

our high school seniors. What an

accomplishment. Uh I don't, you know, I

will say I don't I don't know if kids go

to school anymore. Uh like it's amazing

how many of you I see like out at like

1:00 on a Tuesday. uh like and I I like

I had to go to school in high school. So

I'm I'm still trying to figure that out.

But so I think you still deal with some

of the same things, but as bizarre as it

is, I know that it's a huge

accomplishment and we are so grateful

for all of the things uh that you're

doing. Hey, you're not the future of the

church. You're the church right now. Uh

and we believe that God's got great

things in store for you. And we are

praying fervently for your future. Uh

and for you parents, congratulations to

you. Give it up for yourself if you're a

parent in here and you made it.

You're the real heroes in the room. We

know this. Uh and so, uh we are so

grateful for every single family that

has been so committed to seeing their

children walk in the truth of God. And

we're going to continue in our

conversation here today that I'm really

thrilled about as we're continuing in a

collection that we've been calling Walk

the Walk, which is a collection and a

discussion that has us living and

lingering in the book of James. And

James really just wants to make sure

that we're a people that practice what

we preach. And so we've taken this fame

title from a famed phrase that says,

"Don't just talk the talk, but rather

walk the walk." And we know that James

understands what the Christian walk

looks like. That he knows that we live

in a broken and a fallen world that is

sick with sin. Sin which separates us

from a holy and a perfect God. That's

what Romans chapter 6 23 would tell us.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

That the wages of sin is death, which is

not just a physical death, but an

eternal spiritual death. eternal

separation from a holy and a perfect God

because he could not be holy, perfect or

just if he allowed any kind of sin in

the camp. So you and I needed some kind

of way to hope. But it would not happen

without any kind of radical rescuing and

intervening on our behalf. And what we

see is that in a merciful demonstration

of sacrificial love and grace is that in

Jesus Christ we have salvation. Yes.

that in Jesus Christ. We see that

Ephesians 1:7 would say, "In him is

Ephesians 1:7

redemption and the forgiveness of sin."

And so, we gather together here today as

a people that understand we do not

achieve our way into salvation, but

rather we receive salvation as a free

gift in Jesus Christ. That we have

repented of our sins and put our faith

in his finished work upon the cross. And

so the good news of the gospel is not

that now we get to see who can climb the

highest to him. Good news of the gospel

is that God came down to us in the

person of Jesus Christ. And so we cannot

be arrogant and we cannot boast in

anything that we've done ourselves. But

rather we boast in him. That we're a

people that understand we are not saved

by our works. And yet at the same time

the saved will demonstrate works. that

we have renewed and regenerated hearts,

but also engaged heads and hands in

seeing the kingdom of God on earth in

Orlando as it is in heaven. And so,

we're continuing in James today. We're

going to be in chapter 3.

Congratulations. We've made it all the

way through chapters 1 and two. We are

in James chapter 3. We're going to be in

James 3 · chapter mention

verses 1-2 together today. Uh, I don't

normally tell you the title of a

conversation that we're about to have

right now, but I'll tell you right now,

this one is called the weight of our

words. The weight of our words. Anybody

in here just crushing it with their

words? Just no slip ups at all. Just any

any liars in the room right now? Uh,

just want to go ahead. We got a couple.

Uh, hey, we're we're going to dive into

what I believe is going to be a fairly

difficult word. But here's here's the

good news. I think that we can enter

into it with a posture of grace,

recognizing that we are all people that

have wounded and been wounded with

words. And so, let us be quick to

forgive and quick to extend grace, but

let us also be convicted by what it is

that this word has to say. So, y'all

ready for James? Says this in verse one

of chapter 3. Not many should become

teachers, my brothers, because you know

that we will receive a stricter

judgment. Good morning. Uh for we all

stumble in many ways. If anyone does not

stumble in what he says, he is mature.

Able also to control the whole body. Now

if we put bits into the mouths of horses

so that they obey us, we direct their

whole bodies and consider ships. Though

very large and driven by fierce winds,

they are guided by a very small rudder

wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So too that though the tongue is a small

part of the body. It boasts great

things. Consider how a small fire sets

ablaze a large forest. The tongue is a

fire. The tongue, a world of

unrighteousness, is placed among our

members. It stains the whole body and

sets the course of life on fire and is

itself set on fire by hell. Every kind

of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is

tamed and has been tamed by humankind.

But no one can tame the tongue. It is a

restless evil full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we bless our Lord and

Father, and with it we curse people who

are made in God's likeness. Blessing and

cursing out of the same mouth, my

brothers and sisters, these things

should not be this way. Does a spring

pour out sweet and bitter water from the

same opening? Can a fig tree produce

olives, my brothers and sisters, or a

grape vine produce figs? Neither can a

saltwater spring yield fresh water.

Let's pray together.

Lord, this

is this is one of those that is

applicable almost immediately and

doesn't take really a whole lot of depth

of thought, just a reality of

conviction. And so Lord, as we enter

into what is a difficult word, I pray

that we would be a people that are yes,

convinced of our righteousness in Christ

while also being convicted of the sin in

which he is saving us out of, saved us

out of that we see that there's a work

that he is still doing. But Lord, would

we be a people that are not constantly

looking around at others trying to find

the faults, but rather would we be a

people that look inward first? Would we

be a people that do the work in our own

lives? As we come alongside a community

of people where quite often more than

anything else, it is our words that get

us in trouble. It is our words that can

be so incredibly difficult. And so,

Father, we submit all of ourselves to

you. Every single bit of us. And Lord,

today, even as we read this chapter, I

find myself in a place of just wholly

trembling about what it is that I'm even

doing up here, using words to talk about

your word. Father, would you guide and

guard everything? And Lord, would it be

pleasing to you? Would you be glorified

in it? Would we be a better community as

a result of it that glorifies you? Lord,

we love you. We praise you and we thank

you. Ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well, San Juan Island is located off of

the Washington state coast and at one

point it was home to many individuals of

both American and British nationalities.

Now truth of the matter is uh that the

Americans and the British were there for

very different reasons. Americans were

settled on that land largely because

they had settled the land. And we see

that British individuals that were

occupied at this place were often there

because they were employees of the

Hudson Bay Company that was doing a lot

of operations off of San Juan Island.

And so as a result, you had these two

very different groups of people that

were on the same island and they both

felt like the island was theirs and they

had no love for the other individual.

Well, on June the 15th, 1859, we see

that it would be a pivotal day in the

history of this island because it was on

that day that an American man by the

name of Lyman Cutler would walk out one

morning and as he was stretching his

arms and he was enjoying a new day, he

would look into these potatoes that he

had planted and he noticed that there

was a pig that was snacking on all of

the potatoes that he had planted in his

yard. And so in true American fashion,

he would go back into his home, grab his

gun, and shoot and kill this potato

thieving pig. What he didn't know about

this potato thieving pig is that the

potato thieving pig belonged to a

British fellow by the name of Charles

Griffin. And when Charles Griffin

discovered that his beloved hog had been

shot, dead, and murdered by this

American man, he was livid. So livid, in

fact, that he decided to go and confront

this man, Lyman Cutler. And as they

found themselves having a conversation

and a confrontation, they realized that

both of them felt like they were in the

right. They had reached an unbelievably

ineffective stalemate. And so finally,

the American man Lyman Cutler decided

that he would offer some level of

compensation for this deceased swine. As

he decided that he would offer some

level of compensation, he honestly

thought that it was generous that he was

offering Charles Griffin anything at

all. And yet at the same time, Charles

Griffin thought it was preposterous that

he wouldn't offer more. And so he was

mad because he didn't offer the exact

amount of money that he wanted. And

because he also didn't get the money he

wanted, he didn't have the hog that he

loved so much. And now, as a result,

they had reached a point where he

decided that he would take matters into

his own hands. And we see Charles

Griffin would go and discuss this with

British authorities. Upon discussing it

with British authorities, we see that

the British authorities would then

threaten to arrest the American man,

Lyman Cutler. Well, you can imagine that

Americans didn't love this a whole lot.

And so, we decided, we're going to go

and talk to our own authorities. and

they got General George Harvey involved.

When General George Harvey heard about

what had happened, he decided to send

the US 9th Infantry led by Captain

George Picket to San Juan Island. And

when George Picket landed on San Juan

Island, he put an American flag right in

the middle of everything and said, "This

is now an American territory and y'all

can get out." Well, as you can imagine,

the British didn't like this very much.

And so, as a result, they felt like this

was negotiating in poor taste. And so,

they ended up sending their own

contingency over. We see that Admiral

Robert Baines would end up coming over

to San Juan Island with three fully

functioning naval warships where he

would take a British flag and he would

plant that in the ground and say, "This

is now a British territory." And at that

point, we see that all of these

individuals now from different

nationalities would end up gathering to

this one location where a battle was

about to break out. And you see that

very quickly tensions were escalating.

There were more than 3,000 people. There

were more than three fully functioning

naval warships. We see that there were

hundreds of guns, thousands of rounds of

ammunition, and an unbelievable amount

of testosterone that was at stake in

this moment. And all of a sudden, we

were ready to go to war over this thing.

But it would be Admiral Robert Baines

where upon landing on San Juan Island

would be the voice of reason. And when

he saw all of the different things that

were happening, and he realized there's

about to be a full-scale battle going on

here, he would send these famous words

back to the governor of British

Columbia. he would say, quote, "I will

not involve these two great nations in a

war over a squabble about a

pig." And so they both ended up agreeing

that they could have temporary military

presences on this island. And then we

see from there they would end up coming

up with a longerterm solution that would

allow them to move forward with some

level of unity. And that, my friends, is

how the Great Pig War nearly began.

no

casualties except for one

pig. But there were nearly thousands of

others. And what's amazing is that this

squabble over a pig nearly led to a

fullscale war. That something seemingly

small and inconsequential nearly led to

an allout battle on this particular day.

And I got to be honest with you, the

first time that I read this and I was

just mulling over it, I was like, is

this literal history? Like, did this

happen? This is the dumbest thing I've

ever read in my life. This is

embarrassing. I mean, like, how do you

even muster up the strength to move

towards this battle? Like, what are

these guys saying to each other on their

way to the fight? It's bad, man. We

don't do something about this.

Generations of our kids are going to

have British pigs eating our American

potatoes. Are you ready to lose your

life for the glory of our potatoes? For

pigs and potatoes? Like what are you

doing to be like, I am ready to lay it

all down today for this? And as I was

making fun of them in my head, I felt

like the spirit of God was reminding me,

you do this all the

time. You do this all the time. You can

take something small and make it a

monster issue that all of us struggle

with taking small things and allowing

them to become major problems in our

life. And the main source of that

struggle is what James is getting at

today. One of the deadliest forces in

the world is our tongue. The way that we

use our words that our words can be

unbelievably powerful. And we all know

this. You even look at this scenario

itself without thinking about ones that

apply in our own life. that words can

settle a small squabble or send for more

soldiers. That words can be a source of

great healing and direction or heartache

and

devastation. James is saying we need to

be a people that understand our words

can be powerful and problematic. And our

problem is that we can't tame the

tongue. That it's the way we use our

words that can be so incredibly painful.

And we've all been on either side of

that. Yes. Like every single person in

here knows what it's like to be the

subject of gossip. And no matter how

untrue or unfounded it might be, it can

still be painful. And yet at the same

time, that hasn't stopped us from

dragging people's names through the mud

before. No, no claps for that. Nothing

like

no. All right. So proud of you guys. And

and so it's never stopped people from

doing that. We all know what it's like

to release vitrial towards someone and

to be the recipient of someone's

vitrial. We have all wounded and we've

been wounded. And so we see here that

James is going to say, "Hey, we need to

be a people that are cognizant. We're

aware of the fact that our words have

power and it can be really powerful in a

positive way or powerful in a really

negative way." And he launches into this

in James 3:1. And it's a little it gives

James 3:1

me heart palpitations when I read it

every time because you look at it. And

he said, "Not many should become

teachers, my brothers, because you know

that we will receive a stricter

judgment." So the great irony in me

telling you this right now is that James

is warning you about people that do what

I'm doing in this very moment. And what

we see is that James is going to end up

really just taking an application of

what Jesus has said and making it clear

to us, which is essentially all of the

book of James. You remember in Luke

Luke 12:48

12:48, what would Jesus say? Jesus would

say, "Hey, to whom much has been given,

much will be required. And to who has

been entrusted with much, even more will

be expected." And so James is taking

that and he's applying it in this

situation. And he says, "Hey, not many

of you should aspire to be a teacher of

God's word." Why? Because you use your

words to talk about the word and you're

not perfect with them. Uh, and so I

would just put a pin there uh for a

moment if you'll allow me. And what I

would just say to you is uh if you're

someone who's like, "Hey, I like really

love uh me and trust me as a teacher of

God's word." And you've ever felt

wounded by me, let me just take a moment

to tell you I'm deeply grieved by that

and sorry. Uh like I like it it's it is

a weighty thing to walk up here uh and

try to convey the word of God not only

as an imperfect person, but as someone

who doesn't use their words perfectly.

And so I I'm deeply apologetic. If

you've ever been like, "Man, that kind

of hurt me when he said that. It's not

my intention." But I think there is

something really weighty to walking up

here and knowing that if I said on three

we're all going to bark, you'd do

it. I can assure

you there's no other setting in my life

where I could walk into a room and be

like, "Let's bark on through." They'd be

like, "Get out of here, dude." Like I

mean that doesn't make you

know there's a lot of weight to not just

being able to get up here and say

something and we would all do it but to

say hey this is what God's saying and so

there's a lot of fear and trembling with

that right and the good news is that

James is going to acknowledge that

there's an imperfection in everybody

that does that as well and he lumps

himself into it in James chapter 3:2 as

you notice James will say for we all

stumble in many ways Anyone does not

stumble in what he says, he is mature. I

like the ESV would say, is a perfect

man, able also to control or to bridal

his whole body. James says, "We all

stumble, which is good. We should be

able to look at each other in this room

and really any context in which you go

and you should be able to look at people

and be like, there is a fellow stumbler.

Those are my people right there." Right?

And so we're all fellow stumblers. And

that should really get us to a place

where it's like I mentioned the other

week where anytime we're thinking about

those prayers that Jesus will talk about

in in all of his parables where he's

saying, "Hey, there was a Pharisee and a

tax collector that went up to pray."

None of us should feel like we've got

the moral high ground to be looking at

other people and be like, "Lord, I thank

you. I'm not like this loser. Thank you.

I'm not like that. Thank you. I'm like,

no. No. We're all in a place where we

stumble in many ways. And not only do we

stumble in many ways, but our words are

pretty much attached to every single

thing that we could stumble in. Do you

see that? Like you could stumble with

anger and words are attached to that.

Comparison and words are attached to

that. Idols and words are attached to

that. Lusting and words are attached to

that. It could be manipulating and words

are attached to that. Perfectionism and

words are attached to that. There's

pretty much no area of your life where

you stumble and there's silence as a

result of it. that we stumble and our

words can end up being a part of that in

a really major way. And so any of us

that feels like we have the opportunity

to look down on someone should do so

from a place of saying, "I'm looking

down at you with the desire to help you

up, my fellow stumbler." that all of us

stumble in many ways. And so let me help

you and let's follow in step with the

spirit of God like Galatians chapter 5

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

25 says together that we might be

unified in moving God's kingdom forward

here on earth. Much of which will happen

as a result of our words. And that's

really where James starts to take it.

Right? You see that in James 3:2, he

James 3:2

will say here, "Hey, whoever does not

stumble is mature and perfect and able

to control and bridle their whole body."

And then he takes it in the direction

talking about the way we use our words.

He says in verses three and four, "Now

if we put bits into the mouths of horses

so that they obey us, we direct their

whole bodies and consider ships though

very large and driven by fierce winds,

they are guided by a very small rudder.

wherever the will of the pilot

directs. Which is pretty significant in

as you think about the imagery that

James is putting before us here. He says

a small tool can make a huge difference.

And he gives some really great imagery,

some of the best biblical imagery that

you can ever get for these things. He

says, think about small bits that are in

the mouths of horses. The average horse

weighs anywhere from 840 to 2200 lb and

reaches speeds of 55 m an hour. And how

do we control those bad boys? With

this. A small piece of metal goes into

the horse's mouth and with it you

control the whole beast. He says, "If

that's not doing it for you, think about

ships. Think about vessels. They are

massive. And we see that they'll be

confronted as they're sailing seas with

strong waves and with surging winds."

And he says, "And you need to understand

that the way that we control these

massive ships and vessels is we'll do so

with a small rudder in the midst of

incredible chaos and that will end up

guiding the entire ship." He says the

tongue is the same way. He says it's a

small piece of our anatomy and yet it

plays a major role in shaping our

reality in guiding us. And so he says we

need to master our mouths. We need to be

wise with our words. And we see that

he's going to say that if you do so, you

can bridle or control your entire self.

That a small piece of our anatomy plays

a large role in shaping our reality.

Words shape actions and they shape

directions. Do we know this? Like every

single one of us knows what it's like to

look back in life, maybe far, maybe not

that far back, and go, there was

something that was said to me, life that

was spoken into me or over me that ended

up shaping the trajectory of my life, my

action, and my direction. We all have

different stories and testimonies

associated with that. But maybe you're

in here and quite honestly, you are in a

career or on a career path right now

because of something that your parents

encouraged you in, that you were

interested in as a kid. And those words

ended up shaping where it is that you're

going in this very moment. Maybe the

reason that you're faithful in in being

faithful to the call of following the

scriptures and and and being in church

despite the fact that there's a whole

world out there that thinks it can just

be me and Jesus and you realize that the

church is important is because you had a

pastor that spoke into you about being a

leader on some level. They saw the

growth in you and the spirit of God

moving in you and it encouraged you in

such a way to where you're like, I need

to make sure that I keep doing this with

my life. Uh for me, teachers have always

been big that I had a couple of high

school teachers in my life that would

call some things out in me that I didn't

even think was true of me. And they were

like, "Hey, there's something that I

want to fan into flame in your life, a

giftedness that I see in you that I

think you'd be really good at doing a

couple of different things." That we all

know what that's like. And Proverbs

would lend stronger language to it that

I think would be helpful for us here in

this moment. You look at Proverbs in

chapter 16 24, right? It it says,

"Gracious or pleasant words are a

honeycomb, sweet to the taste and health

to the body." Proverbs 18 verse 21 would

Proverbs 18:21

mention, "Death and life are in the

power of the tongue."

How many of us know that an ontime word

in a trying time can shape the

trajectory of our life? Anybody know

this to be true? That someone said

something to you congruent with the word

of God at a time where you felt like the

things that your father had spoken over

you were not true of you. And as a

result of their testimony to what God's

word says about you, all of a sudden

that changed your posture. that

completely took you out of a place of

despair and put you in a direction to

where you can see light at the end of

the tunnel. You're grateful for what's

happened. That's true of all of us that

our words are powerful, but they can

also be problematic. And that's where

James is going to take this. We see

Proverbs would say to us, yes, that

gracious or pleasant words that they're

like a honeycomb. They're sweet to the

taste and they're health to the

body. But also harsh words can be

harmful. They can be destructive and

they can bring forth death. And we see

that that's kind of the direction that

James is going here. Fortunately or

unfortunately, as you look at verses

five and six, he says, "So too, though

the tongue is a small part of the body,

but it boasts great things. Consider how

a small fire sets ablaze a large forest,

and the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a

world of unrighteousness, is placed

among our members. It stains the whole

body and sets the course of life on

fire. and is itself set on fire by hell,

which is just intense. But we see that

James again is issuing a warning to us,

right? He's saying small things can

create big problems. He's like, think

about Smokey the Bear. Like a small

spark in a forest can burn the whole

thing down, right? That's what he's

saying. It's interesting.

Small sparks can burn down large and

steadfast forest. And that's

fascinating. You know, I I think about

whoever the first individual ever is

that sticks and stones may break my

bones, but words will never hurt me was

wrong.

That guy, I would love to have an

audience with that guy and be like, did

you have no friends? Like, were you a

recluse? Like, how did you live? Did

anyone ever say something that just

really bothered you in some way? What do

you mean? Because the truth of the

matter is I have witnessed more men

weep over things that their father said

or did not say to them at some point in

their life more than anything else. I

have witnessed more women weep over

something that someone said to them in

some relationship in the past that

sticks with them to this very day. I

have witnessed more people weep because

of something that tends to go back to

their childhood more than anything else.

And it doesn't matter if you're 30 or

90. That that's the truth of the matter.

That those things, they can stay with us

and they're harmful. And you know what

the scary thing is? It's that negative

words seem to be more harmful than

positive words are

helpful. In short, they burn.

Like you could be given 40 compliments

and it's the one criticism you'd think

about all

day. You could tell me this is the best

message I ever heard. This is the best

message I ever heard. This best message

I ever heard. And someone's like, "Hey,

I got a question about why you said

that." I'd be like, "What?" You know,

like you do this. We all do this. I

mean, ladies, you do this all the time.

You do something with your hair and

you're just like, "I don't know. I just

wanted to see. I don't know. I just" And

you go in, people are like, "Wow, that's

so great. Wow, that's so great. Wow,

that's so great." And someone goes,

"What'd you do with your hair?" And

you're like, "I don't know. Should I go

back?" Should like like just you start

panicking. I don't know. I don't know. I

need to go bury the person who did this.

I don't

know. I mean, guys. I mean, you just

decide to get a little confident. You

get a new pair of shoes and you walk in,

people like, "Man, those are cool. Those

are cool. Those are cool." And someone's

like, "What are those?" And you're like,

"I don't know. Going back in the closet

like I'm never going to touch them

again." You can get all the compliments

in the world and it's the one criticism

that'll stick with you. It's why I make

our team say encouraging things in a

really specific

way. The problem is that encouragement

is always very

general and criticism is very

specific. And so oftentimes we'll find

ourselves in a place where what will

happen is you'll say to someone in an

encouraging way, I appreciate you. I

appreciate you. I appreciate you. Well,

I mean, I appreciate lots of things, so

that's not all that great. But someone

that's critical of you will say, "Hey, I

just don't like the way that you do this

and I don't like the way that this

happened." And can you explain to me how

that and you're just like, "Man, that is

like odd. I don't even remember

that." And so, it's different. Instead

of saying, "Hey, I appreciate you." Say,

"Hey, I have noticed that there was a

time where you came into this place and

now you're at like a completely

different place." It is like the Lord

has done such a work in you that you

look lighter. And I know that that

probably took a lot of deep work in you.

And I don't even know what it is. And

I'm not trying to like prophesy over

your life in a way that could be

inongruent with what God's word says.

But I just want to say to you that we

are all so encouraged when you walk into

this place because it's like the joy of

the Lord is resting on you. And as a

reminder to us who come in here with bad

attitudes that with all that you've been

through, we need to act more like you

because we have way less reasons to be

in a different place than you are. But

we are so encouraged by your

encouragement. That's different than I

appreciate

you. We want to be a people that are

specific in our encouragements rather

than just people that are specific in

our criticisms. I thought to myself this

week, if we played out a

scenario where as we left this place,

you were not allowed to complain, you

weren't allowed to gossip, and you

weren't allowed to be negative in any

conversation in your life, would you

have any friends left? And would you

have anything to talk about?

You

know, do you have anything to talk

about? Nobody is impressed when we claim

to follow the King of Kings, but we

complain about every little thing.

Nobody is enamored with the Lord of your

life when you're gossiping about every

person in your life. I know way more

individuals that would take broken bones

from sticks and stones that eventually

heal than broken hearts from harmful

words that they feel like are never

going to get healed at all. we all would

do well to be a people that are measured

in the things that we say. And yet at

the same time, I feel like I have to add

this caveat and this really might be

something that you just notice as a

generational divide. Uh there's also a

place for saying things that are

constructive. And I think we live at a

time right now where anyone I think even

believers that think that they don't do

this, but often times we do. Believers

often will feel like anything that you

say that I don't like means that you're

really critical of me. I don't like

this. that means that you're critical of

me, you hate me, you're evil, like what

it's like there there's got to be a

place to be constructive, folks.

Proverbs

Proverbs 27:6

27:6 says that the wounds of a friend

are trustworthy, but the kisses of an

enemy are excessive. Did I flip

that? The doesn't say that the wounds of

an enemy are excessive and the kisses of

a friend are trustworthy. It says that

the wounds of a friend are trustworthy

and the kisses of an enemy are

excessive. There are many of us that are

in this place right now and you would

rather be wooed even when you're wrong

than be wounded that you would get

right. There are many of us that have

contemplated leaving faithful churches

and friendships because they had the

courage to tell us the truth. Honesty

feels like toxicity in a world that

hates the truth. Honesty feels like

toxicity in a world that hates the

truth. And the truth of the matter is,

we like to be around people that will

kiss us with flattery rather than wound

us that we might look more Christlike.

And the fact of the matter is that you

can often be deceived with all of those

kisses because though they might feel

great, the truth of the matter is you

have not grown at all. How is it that

Jesus Christ was betrayed before he went

to the cross with a

kiss? Matthew 26:48, Judas says to the

Matthew 26:48

mob that he's bringing to Jesus, "The

one that I kiss, arrest him." And yet

what we see is that in Luke 22:48, after

Luke 22:48

Judas kisses Jesus, Jesus says to him,

"Judas, do you betray the son of man

with a

kiss." Public demonstrations of

affection can conceal differing inward

motivations. And the truth of the matter

is, I would much rather have a friend

that's willing to smack me in the face

than someone that will stab me in the

back. You know that those kisses can be

deceiving, and you need some people in

your life that will rally around you and

say, "Hey, I love you and support you."

But the truth of the matter is you need

to grow here. You need to grow here. And

so we see here that James is going to

continue that thought, but he's going to

do so in a really hilarious way. Anyone

that tells you scripture is not funny

isn't reading it correctly because James

is really going to take a shot at us

here. And he's going to say in James 3 7

and 8, every kind of animal, bird,

reptile, and fish is tamed and has been

tamed by

humankind. But no one can tame the

tongue. It is a restless evil full of

deadly poison. James said, "Every

animal's been trained." Now, one of you

contrarians in here is trying to think

of the one that hasn't been trained.

He's saying it in general. Like, all of

these animals, they've been trained.

Have you ever been to a circus? It's

like the craziest thing in the world.

It's the most like who grows up and is

like, "I want to be in a circus." Like,

we'll tell lions and tigers and bears,

"Get through that blaming hoop." And

they're like, "Yes, sir." Like, that's

crazy.

They just do what they're like, "Go to

SeaWorld. We're telling whales what to

do." Like, who's the first guy that ever

saw a killer whale out in the wild just

swimming at crazy speeds and destroying

seals and was like, "You will bend to my

will." Like, that is

crazy. And yet at the same time, we've

done it, but we can't tame the tongue.

We've got a better chance of getting

Shamu to jump over someone while Michael

Jackson's singing than we've got of any

kind of hope of keeping our tongues in

line. That's what I'm saying. That is

crazy. That's supposed to make We're not

just supposed to be like, "Yeah, we have

tamed everything." It's supposed to be

like, "What is

happening? What is going on?"

He says, "With the tongue we bless our

Lord and Father, and with it we curse

people made in God's likeness. Blessing

and cursing come out of the same mouth."

My brothers and sisters, these things

should not be this

way. Outside of being

submitted to the spirit of God, there is

no chance that we're going to be able to

tame the tongue. He says, "We all bless

and curse out of the same mouth. We'll

bless our Lord and Father, but we'll

curse those who are made in his

likeness." And that's interesting

because I think, you know, one of the

hardest ways to strike up a friendship

with me would say, "Hey, uh, man, I

really love you. Like, you you're so

great and you know, I just I just really

I really love how it is that you're

you're talking, Luke, and honestly, like

I think we would be good friends. like I

I've heard you talk a little bit and I

think we have a lot of similarities in

life. I think we should get together. Uh

small potential snag and caveat. Could

you never bring your kids? I just hate

them. And depending on the day I might

be like right. But I mean for the most

part I'd be like but for the most part

I'd be like huh?

Like we have no chance at meaningful

friendship if you're like man you're so

great but Judah and Elijah get out of

here. Am I right? Like that'd be

crazy. And he's saying, "Hey, that's

what we do with our words,

though. We say, "I love

you, but man, I hate

them. I just can't stand

them." I I was with a pastor a couple of

months ago, and he was like, "Man, I I

love being a pastor. I just don't like

people." And I was

like,

"Huh?" I was like, "I'm I'm trying to

work that one out. I just I I'm

struggling with

that." Some of y'all are laughing

because you're like, "I don't like

people." But I mean,

that's too funny over here.

Uh, right.

But it would be

hard when we gather in this place and

say, "Lord, I love you." And we praise

him with our lips, but we wound his kids

with our

words. And so we see here that it's hard

to lift a hand of praise and be punching

someone down

here. He says it shouldn't be this way.

And what do you do with that? Like I I

thought to myself, well, this this is

hard because no one's perfect in this.

Nobody. Not a single person who claims

the moral high ground could go without.

Well, what about this? Like, we all have

issues. So, nobody's

perfect. But what's that pattern look

like in your life? Right? Like, do you

have meaningful friendships that have

lasted a long time? Or does it always

seem to be like, h, that cut off, that

cut off, that cut off, and it's because

of something that was done or said? Like

if you look back at even places that

you've been where you've worked, is it

just like uh they don't like me, they

don't like me, they don't, you know,

what does that look like in your life?

Do you have people that they would say,

"Hey, if we get together, I just I going

to end up being super negative or like

what does that look like in your life?

What's the pattern?" Because what should

be indicative of the believer is while

we're not perfect, there's a pattern of

whenever you get around them, people are

like, "Man, I know that person loves me.

I know that they might even say some

difficult things to me, but I know it's

for my construction in Christ. What's

that look like for

us? Says, "Does a spring pour out sweet

and bitter water from the same

opening? Can a fig tree produce olives,

my brothers and sisters, or a grape vine

produce figs? Neither can a saltwater

spring yield fresh water." James is

concerned with consistency.

says, "You're not going to be perfect,

but are are you relatively consistent?"

I

mean, you realize like a fig tree is not

going to produce

olives and grape vine's not going to

produce figs and salt water and spring

water aren't going to come out of the

same opening. The tree is going to

produce what it is.

And so he

says the only way that that

changes is if there's radical

transformation in

us. And the good news of the gospel is

that that works begun in us. But we

might need to lean into it a little bit

more today. You

know, Jesus would say in Matthew 12 that

from the overflow of the mouth, the

heart

speaks. And so what do we do? What do

you do with this? Well, the good news is

you're going to be able to practice this

in 2 minutes and 28

seconds 24

3

because everybody has failed in this and

sinned. Number one, can we be a people

with repentant hearts quick to forgive

and quick to look internally, not

externally?

me most of

all. Can we be a people? It's someone

goes low, go high. It's amazing. Someone

says something like really terrible and

you come in, you're just like, "Well,

you know, I just I don't I don't think

that's true." Like people don't even

know what to do with that. They're like,

"Huh? See you later."

Like someone starts gossiping, speak

kind. It's really simple

stuff. And here's the thing that should

change us most of all is how does your

father speak about

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you? Your father clothed you in

righteousness, called you beloved son,

daughter, redeemed, restored,

mine. And the only person who was

justified to take a stone and chuck it

at you chose not to. The only person who

would have been justified to retaliate

didn't. The only

individual who would have been justified

as people were spewing hatred towards

him would willingly go to a cross for

them. What should we do? We should do

what he does.

And so honestly, I don't have some like

insane clothes for us

today. But I think one of the true marks

of a believing community is that we're a

people that are called to

repentance. And so maybe take a moment,

this altar be will be open and listen.

Maybe you've been wounded deeply by

someone and you just need to come pray

for that person.

Maybe you've wounded other people and

you need to come pray for

restoration. Maybe you're someone in

here and it's just you're holding on to

some things from long, long ago in your

life and you just cannot fathom that

what your father says about you is

true. I just wanted to open the altar

that we would be a repentant

people. Maybe you want to sit in your

seat and do so. But can I just remind us

again, nobody is innocent of

this? And so rather than look at who it

is that we can take shots at, would we

just be a people that would fall with

our faces on the ground and say, "Lord,

would you just mark us different from

this point?

Lord, would you just do a work in us

that we would be a

people that are a community of people

that represent you well in the way that

we

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speak? Lord, would we be a people that

don't b at the word

repentance, but recognize that it's a

call from you to turn our face to you

and away from sin. That we would be a

people that walk in

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your your

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word. Father, I don't know if there's

anyone in here specifically that would

say, you know what, I I feel deeply

wounded right now. uh would you just

raise your hand if that's you? If you're

like, you know what, I'm carrying some

deep wounds from something in my past

that's been said about me. Yeah. Just

want to see who I'm praying

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for. Lord, you see these hands and you

see the hands that didn't go

up. Would we have the courage in here

today to fall at your feet and be

changed? Lord, we love you. We praise

you and we thank you. We ask it in Jesus

name. Amen.