Taming The Tongue sermon post...James 3:1-12

 

Originally I thought of putting that iconic tongue of the rock and roll group, the Rolling Stones to head this post but then I reconsidered.  Interesting fact, the home we owned in Gaylord, MI had a sliding glass door and when the sun hit it just right you could see that someone had applied one of those tongues to the glass.  The sun had baked into the glass the image long gone.  Maybe that is another illustration about the lasting effects of the tongue.

James goes into small (p) prophet mode in this section of his letter.  He gives a stern warning to the Christians about how we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus.  The next section he will go into pastor mode with helps to assist us in this endeavor.  James, the master of illustrations, goes overboard with 8 illustrations, 6 facts, and 4 warnings in these 12 verses.

I wanted to write about these two statements.

"Have you ever said something you wished you would not have said?"

"Have you ever said something you should not have said?"

The first statement has the connotation of responding with, "Oh well!"  Excuses could follow along with rationalizations and then some wishful thinking not to do it again.

The second statement labels what you said as sin.  What does a Christian do with sin?  A Christian uses the same tool, the tongue, that verbalized the sin to confess the sin which is necessary for maintaining a right relationship with God and possibly with others.  Not always guaranteed with others but it won't start without it.

The tongue is connected to the heart and it is a concealed weapon within the vault of teeth, jaw bones, and lip muscles for a reason.  Next Sunday we will hear what pastor James says to the Christian about what to do when the heart is not right.  A regulation of its use is needed in a negative sense when it can be a fire and a positive sense when it can be a healing salve.  

One last thought is how Peter and Paul write of the sins of the tongue in the same breath as the sins which we usually deem as the "big" sins like murder, adultery, etc. Check out 1 Peter 3:10-12; Ephesians 4:25-32; and Colossians 3:1-11.  The Colossians passage shows a progression.  The sins the Christians came out of listed in verses 5-7 probably by distancing themselves from those environments led to instruction about the sins that are in close proximity listed in verses 8-9.  It is hard to distance yourself from your own heart and tongue.  All the more needed that our heart is surrendered to God so we will speak surrendered words too.

Adam