REASONS
I NEED JESUS #7
July
30-August 1, 2016
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
James 3:3-12
“ANOTHER REASON I NEED JESUS:
“I’M NO EXPERT TONGUE TAMER”
James 3:3-12
(NIV 1984) “When we put
bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole
animal. 4Or 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. 5Likewise 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. 6The 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. 7All kinds of
animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been
tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless
evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out
of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can
both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My
brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a
salt spring produce fresh water.”
I tell the Confirmation Class kids
that it’s always easier to learn from someone else’s mistakes. The fact of the
matter is we learn best from our own, especially when they hurt. I can still
remember the day. I was sitting in my college dorm room with friends and my
roommate, good friend, lifting partner. He’d had a girlfriend for quite a while
and had been spending more time than usual with her. Some of the guys didn’t
like that and started in on him. What started as friendly teasing was getting a
little personal and heated and that’s when one of the guys said to my roommate,
friend and lifting partner, “Even Spud says you’re whipped.” His gaze turned to
me. My face flushed because it was true. Behind his back, instead of defending
him, I had joined in. I had some fence mending to do. Have you ever had that
happen to you where you got busted for talking behind someone’s back? If you haven’t, count
yourself blessed because you know there are plenty of times you could have and
should have.
Sins of the tongue. We tend to
downplay them. “I was only kidding,” is the excuse used to justify cruel
teasing. “Well it’s true,” covers a multitude of gossiping and character
assassinations. God doesn’t downplay sins of the tongue. Listen again as He
reminds us how powerful our tongues actually are. “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we
can turn the whole animal. 4Or 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. 5Likewise 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.” Little bits control huge
horses. Relatively small rudders steer
huge ocean going ships. A tiny spark causes great destruction. California and
other western states have experienced the damage one little spark can cause. In
a recent devotion I read this. “Martin Luther once commented, “The gossip has
the devil on his tongue, and the listener has the devil in his ear.” Not to
improve on the Reformer’s observation, but before the devil is on the tongue
and in the ear, he’s in the heart.” When we engage in those sins of the tongue
the Devil is in our hearts. Hear again how serious God is. “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.”
Your tongue gets you in trouble with
more than your college roommate. It gets you in trouble with God. And here’s
another reason I need Jesus. I can’t tame my tongue. Neither can you. God knows
that. He had James write, “All kinds of
animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been
tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless
evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.”
State Fair is just around the corner. My wife used to help neighbors show
Belgian draft horses. Have you ever been close to one? Go in the horse barn and
see. They are huge draft horses with bulging muscles. And yet these slight of
frame girls could easily lead them around. But they couldn’t tame their
tongues. Construction workers can control massive cranes placing trusses and
beams exactly where they need to go. But they can’t control their tongues. Think
of how easy the lies come when you are put on the spot or justly accused. Kids
murder each other with words that hurt on the playground and at school and now
in text messages and posts to hurt those who are left out. Jesus gave what is
known as the Golden Rule to show how easy it is to know how to love others. You
can use it in reverse to show our shameful sinful hypocrisy when it comes to
sins of the tongue. Do you like it when other family members tell stories about
you that don’t make you look good? Why do that with others? Do you like it when
those under your authority, your children, students, workers, talk badly about
you and make you look bad? Why do feel like you can do that to your
authorities? Think it’s no big deal? Look again in the mirror of God’s Word. If
you are someone who sits around a campfire, in a dorm room, in the break room,
on social media, gossiping, stirring up dissension and making separations among friends, family, co
workers, God calls you a pervert. And you thought that just applied to sexual
deviants. The list of tongue sins is endless. Husbands bark at wives. Wives
belittle their husbands. Parents think angry yelling is a form of discipline.
Children think sass is a constitutional right. Shall we go on? And then there
are the times we don’t use our tongues. You’ve heard it said that silence is
golden? Silence can also be deadly. For God expects us to be the ones who stand
up and defend our family, co workers, bosses, school mates. I’m no expert tongue tamer. And neither are
you. I need Jesus. And so do you.
And thankfully we have him. Did you
notice in the Gospel lesson how Jesus used His tongue? He had it perfectly
tamed. He used His tongue to bless His enemies. “Father, forgive them.” He used
His tongue to give a criminal heaven. “Today you will be with me in Paradise!”
Jesus is perfect. And He was perfect for us. You see there were more enemies of
Jesus and people who dishonored His name on His mind than the ones right before
Him. It was more than Roman soldiers who placed Him on the cross. We did too.
Oh no, not that we put Him there. We made it necessary. Jesus went to the cross
willingly because He loves us so. He didn’t want us experiencing the hellfire
our tongues have earned so He took it for us. On our behalf He stands before
the Father and says, “Father, forgive them. I have paid their debt in full. I
have taken their sin and I give them my righteousness.” On our last day on
earth He will come for us and say, “Today! Today is your day for paradise.”
Thank you Jesus.
Yes, thank you Jesus. In the Gospel
lesson there was someone who did that! One of the criminals. Did you notice how
he used his tongue to defend Jesus? We can use our tongues in a God pleasing
way too. James tells us how. “Out of the
same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can
both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My
brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a
salt spring produce fresh water.” I worked for a construction company for
several years while in college. You know how they can talk. Every once in a
while when someone would let off a blue streak the foreman would yell, “Do you
eat with that mouth?” It was meant to be a humorous way to say, “Knock it off!”
James would have us think of how we use the gift of speech and ask, “Do you
pray with that mouth? Do you pray to your holy God asking for mercy and help
with the same mouth that you tear down and hurt people who were created in the
image of God?” And then he uses a couple of pictures. In nature fruit trees
only produce the kind of fruit that they actually are. Springs of water can
only be fresh or saltwater, not both. Our tongues will only spew forth what
already exists in our hearts. If our hearts are evil we will trash another in
order to make ourselves look better. If they are pure, we will defend. How can
we get them pure?
There was a very famous man who lived
about 3000 years ago. He realized that his response to God’s mercy had been to
let his heart become evil. And when he realized that he also realized he could
not change on his own. King David prayed to God. We use a portion of that
prayer in one of our orders of worship we haven’t used in a while. Please stand
and turn to page 20 in the front of the hymnal and sing the prayer you find on
the top of the page with me so that from our mouths will come praise and not
cursing. “Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your
salvation and uphold me with your free Spirit. Amen.”
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