Faith Through Words and Wisdom •

Did you wake up this morning thinking to yourself, my words today are going to change someone's life? No, probably not. But you know what? They may. We never know when our words may influence someone that way. And so we are studying James Chapter 3. The lesson is titled Faith Through Words and Through Wisdom. And in the study of James, we are working through the topics of faith and works. And so what I want to do is open up with a text from Jesus, from John Chapter 15, where he talked about faith and works, not using those exact words. And so I'll put it on the screen for you. John 15, 16. Jesus said,

And so that points me, I think, about both faith and works there, because Jesus chose us, and he appointed us to bear fruit, the faith in him, and then our works. And I'm wondering this morning if our words aren't one of the main vehicles for our works, for the fruit. Do you think that maybe we produce a lot of the fruit of righteousness by our words, maybe by our lack of words in some cases? So the first half of our lesson today is on the tongue, what James calls the tongue. The second half is on wisdom, which is awesome, because with the power at our fingertips or our tongue tips, we need to have the wisdom to apply that properly. So I bet every one of you can think of someone in your life who spoke some words of encouragement, kindness, praise, that just really blessed you or changed your whole life. I think back to kindergarten. I don't remember hardly anything about kindergarten. But one thing I remember is that one day, the teacher put music on, and we were dancing or something. I don't know. And she stopped me, and she said to me, she said, Susan, you are a very good dancer. It's the only thing I remember about kindergarten. I'm amazed I didn't turn into a ballerina or something, because it meant so much. This little praise to a little girl about something that was fairly insignificant. But you get the point. And you probably have a story. If you thought about it, you could think about someone who gave you some words of kindness or praise at some time that just wanted you to become a ballerina. You can also probably think about someone at some point who spoke things that were harsh, things that were unfeeling to you that may have changed the course of who you are today. Goes both ways. And I mentioned that before we get started, because remember, we're putting boundaries for ourselves. This lesson is for me, not what someone in my past should or shouldn't have said to me. This is about me going forward today. And that's important when we're talking about words, because we all have a story to tell about someone who crushed our spirit as well. But that's not what our lesson is about. So let's dig into our lesson. James 3. We'll start at verse 1.

And those words make us have to pray again. Father, help us to sort through this passage, to take in, breathe in your spirit here, Lord God, and to make it useful, to apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so before we get to the subject of our words, James has this little preface here that he talks about. So who should use the words to influence the church body? He said, not many. Not many of you should become teachers. I wonder if James had been observing the Christians. Last week, we talked about his observations about them. He says, don't pay attention to the wealthy over the poor. And I wonder if he also observed here people wanting the platform to teach, whether or not they were spiritually gifted, whether or not they were spiritually mature, whether or not they had learned to control their tongue. There was a desire for people to have that. Maybe it was prestigious already by that point. I suppose in some ways, the pastor teacher in the Christian churches had sort of replaced the rabbi teacher in the Jewish circles and so I suppose there was some prestige to it. Maybe some people just like to be the one talking, the one where their opinions come first. John talked about deatrophies when we studied third John, who always puts himself first. So his advice is, not many should become teachers and the reason he gave was, they'll be judged with greater strictness. Last week again, we talked about all of us will be judged. So speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of liberty, okay? So we already set that foundation and now he says that teachers will be judged with greater strictness. I want you to think for a minute of the judges at the county fair, okay? So they're judging, deciding who gets blue ribbons and this and that. Do you suppose that there is a greater strictness given the artwork category for adults than there is for the children? Much more leeway for the children than there is for the adults. And so that makes sense to us, to those who have been given more, more is expected. That's just exactly what Jesus said. And I wanna show it to you. Luke chapter 12, from everyone who has been given much, much will be required. And from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. It makes sense. So in a way, he's trying to spare them from the greater judgment. But if much has been given, then you know, there you are. Now, I don't want all of you to turn in your Sunday school resignations at this point and say, I am so done with fifth and sixth grade. No greater judgment for me. I resign. No, no, no, no. That's not what we're after here. I wanna make a few observations and then we'll move on. First of all, teaching second grade, teaching junior high, that wasn't a thing when this letter was written, okay? Remember, this is the first letter. We believe it to be the first letter written in the New Testament. So what were they teaching? What were they teaching in these Christian churches? We're teaching Philippians right now. Well, Philippians was barely happening. You know, you can't teach Acts. Acts isn't even done. This is written about the time of Paul's second missionary journey. The New Testament wasn't written. So what were they teaching? Well, they were teaching the way of Jesus. They were teaching the way of truth without a manual. They were teaching the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus Messiah in the same way that Jesus himself told those disciples on the road to Emmaus. I love how it says that he said, Jesus told them, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the scriptures concerning himself. So through the Holy Spirit, these guys, James and Peter and Matthew and Luke, Jude, they were going to be writing the manual. They were gonna be writing the New Testament, which we now teach. That's what we teach is we teach the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament. But at this point, obviously, not many of them were spiritually mature to teach. Not many of them were gifted in that way, although the Holy Spirit was giving out the job of pastor teacher. So does this still mean something for us today? Yes, it still means something today. But I wanna talk about children because this is a group of women and many of us teach Sunday school. So what does it mean for us teaching kids? I believe that what we do in our church models now with Sunday school, with Awana, with that sort of thing, it is a cooperative effort of parenting and equipping our kids to know the word. We cooperate with one another. I know when my kids were at home, I wanted other adults saying the same things to them that I was. And so that's my perspective there. What about teaching adults? I teach the Bible to women. Our pastor teaches the Bible to the whole congregation. Regardless of who you're teaching, here's some questions that should be asked. Are you growing personally in spiritual maturity? Are you gifted? Are you called? Do you take it seriously? Are you willing to invest the time to study? It's not just something you do so that your opinions come out first. So I feel like those are some good guidelines. You know, Peter, when we studied 1 Peter, he said each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. So if you believe it is a good work that God has given you to do, then teach, but do it soberly as if you're speaking the very words of God. That makes sense to me. OK, we want to dive into the core of our discussion on words. And remember, our perspective through the book of James is faith and works, OK? And so with our words, we express our faith. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And then with our words, we have a lifetime to produce fruit, fruit that will last. And some of those works come through the use of our tongue. Again, like we said, some of those good works happen by restraining our tongue. And I have to admit to you, that was a completely new revelation to me this time studying through, that there could be fruit in my life that happened because I stopped something. But that's fruit. That's just my revelation. OK, I hope you loved those vivid analogies that James put to use in this chapter because it really helps us understand the power we have to steer or control someone's something, someone's life even. James likened it to a bit in the mouth of a horse. A horse is such a huge animal. And that little bit in the mouth can steer that animal where the rider wants it to go. He talked about the rudder, such a small little tiny part of the ship. And yet, it steers a whole ship even against strong winds, even can move it in a direction against a pole going another direction. So our words have the power to steer. We have amazing power to do good with our words. I listed a few things that I thought of. First of all, words of training, training our children, training with kindness, training with firmness in the direction that they should go. Definitely, that is like a bit in the horse's mouth with our kids. Words of encouragement, not flattery, but words that encourage people. At our women's retreat, we broke down the word encourage and looked at the root word. The root is courage. So to encourage someone cheers the movement toward courage. And courage is finding the strength to continue even in the face of pain or fear or boredom. And so encouragement can go a long way encouraging young mothers, in particular, I think of today. Keep going. You can do this. You will reap a harvest later on. Words of appreciation or gratefulness when you notice someone who is faithfully laboring in a situation. They can go a long way. Of course, this is October, and so it's Pastor Appreciation Month. And so Paul and I have gotten some sweet emails, some sweet letters. It means a lot. It means a lot to just get a nice little word of encouragement or appreciation. I had one of my kids when he was a toddler, preschooler. I don't know where this came from, but he said to me hundreds of times, mommy, you're a good mommy. Isn't that sweet? I can remember him standing on the drawer that you pull out of the stove and stirring up a pot, pretending like he was cooking on the stove. He said, mommy, you're a good mommy. And he would say it hundreds of times. And I'm like, Lord, thank you. I think I really needed that. You were just putting words into that child. But before he got to that point, it was a different story. And so the next point I wrote was words of warning. And although that is a very delicate matter, words of warning definitely can be fruitful if they're submitted to the Lord. And that same little boy that said, mommy, you're a good mommy, when he was maybe 18 months old, we had a family over. And we were peers. We had kids the same age. He was a pastor. My husband was a pastor. And they got ready to leave. And he said to us, he looked at us, and he said, you got to get a handle on that little boy, or this isn't going to go well. He was right. But the Lord, the reason he was right is because our firstborn was completely compliant. We were just, we had no, nothing to go on. And some of you have had those strong-willed kids. It's like they come out of nowhere. And you're like, ha! And he was out of control. But that word of warning came. And the Holy Spirit gave us the grace to receive it without defenses and without kind of looking at them like, well, your kids aren't that great either. We just received it. And I'll tell you what. We went to work. And so that word of warning changed the course of someone's life, our lives, our son's life. Because it was received. But like I said, they're delicate. Words of warning are a delicate matter. OK, so all of our gifts that we have from the Lord have a positive and a negative use. And now James forces us to look at the negative side. Our words can steer the course of someone's life. Our words have the power to destroy. And James illustrated that with a fire and with this untamable beast. He said, 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. So I thought of some examples of words that have the ability to do great damage in an opposite way that we just looked at. Words of criticism can linger in someone's mind for years and erode forward progress in someone's life. Words of gossip can separate relationships, can blacken someone's reputation. Words of anger can ruin relationships and can set a course for fear and for withdrawal in someone's mind. But you know what? This isn't new information to us. We already know that we're supposed to avoid criticism and gossip and anger because it says it stains the whole body. And we can agree with that. But set on fire by hell? Don't you think that's a little harsh? I would never say that to you. I would never post that verse on Instagram. That doesn't sound like a Jesus thing to say at all, except that Jesus said that. When Jesus was talking to his disciples and he told them in Matthew chapter 16, he said, you guys, I want to let you know that I am going to suffer, I'm going to be rejected, and I'm going to be killed. I want you to look at this conversation here. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. And he said, never, Lord, this shall never happen to you. And then Jesus turned to Peter and said, wait for it, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Jesus said that Peter's words were coming from Satan. Is that not another word of saying set on fire by hell? So it is a Jesus thing to say. Not that I would recommend saying it to anyone in your family at any point. That's not going to go well. But I got to thinking about that story and how quickly, just like Peter, how quickly I can use my tongue to just speak my opinions. Now, in this case, it seemed like a lovely thing. Peter seemed like he was trying to protect Jesus. Like, no, that would never happen. Well, if it never happened, we would never have salvation. It needed to happen. It was God's plan. But how quickly I assess the world around me, whatever is going on around me, through my lens, which is often not set on things above, but set on things that I think, and I speak something out. And the spark comes out of my mouth, and the forest starts to burn. And so we realize, wow, that could happen to me. My tongue can actually be set on fire by hell in the same way, which is very. sobering. So note to South, not many of you should share your opinion first without setting your mind on the things of God. In verse 8 he says, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil. J.B. Phillips described that word restless in such a great way. He said, always liable to break out. It is a restlessly evil. Always liable to break out in the same way that an untamed beast pacing around in a cage is liable to break out if an opportunity were to arise for it. That seems like a good way to describe my tongue. I can feel that restlessness. You know what, on occasion I can get it to do what I want it to do, but it's pacing. It's pacing. Always liable to break out. So what do we do with the tongue like that, you know? Since he also says, look it, no human being can tame the tongue. Did he say the tongue is untameable? No. He said no human being can tame the tongue. Now I thought about another sentence that we maybe would make that clear. No human being can save the sinner. Is the sinner unsaveable? No. It's just that no human being can save the sinner. So in the same way that our salvation has to be accomplished by the Lord, taming our tongue also needs to be accomplished by the Lord. The problem is we often think that we are sufficient for the task, and that's often where we fail, because we are not sufficient. Oh, we can apply self-control, and we should apply self-control, but the complete taming process lies somewhere else with someone else. It's not a matter of education. Has anyone in this room never heard these things before? No. We all know these. We all know that we need to restrain our tongue. It's not a matter of education. You can't educate yourself into changing. Has anyone never heard the toothpaste illustration, right? You squeeze the tube of toothpaste, it comes out, you can't get it back in. We've probably done that illustration. Information isn't going to fix this. What's going to fix it? Transformation. Transformation is the only thing that will tame that tongue, and so that's why we got into that scripture. It is Matthew 12, 34,

And so it comes back to that what James called the law of liberty, which enables us to yield to God and to obey God. Transformation is God changing us, not us changing us. And so purposefully yielding to the word of life that lives within us so that our words will produce life. OK, we'll get more perspective on that in verse 11, but we got to finish verses 9 and 10. Verse 9, with our tongue we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. This is another observation that James made, is from the same mouth comes blessing God and then cursing people. Do we seriously do that? Do we bless God and curse people? I don't curse you, I hope you don't curse me, but if we think about it in a different word, speaking badly of people, well then we can totally wrap our mind around it. Especially feeling the freedom to curse a political figure with whom we disagree, right? And I've heard Christians do that and I've seen more of them do it on Facebook when they forget I'm in the room. That happens, right? You forget who all is going to read what you're saying. But let's figure out who we're allowed to curse and who we're not allowed to curse because this talked about cursing men made in the likeness of God. So who's made in the likeness of God? Are Christians made in the likeness of God? Are good people? Are non-Christians made? Are atheists made in the likeness of God? Is Vladimir Putin made? How about Donald Trump? You know, who is made in the likeness of God? Well, everyone is created in the image of God. Everyone has the possibility to be redeemed and so we don't have a freedom or liberty to curse anyone made in the image of God. And so, but the point here is just out of that same mouth, James said, it should not be that out of it comes both blessing to God and cursing to people. What should come out of that same mouth? Consistency. Consistency in our speech. Blessing God and blessing people is consistency. Verse 11 explains consistency. 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 a salt pond yield fresh water because figs come from a fig tree and olives come from an olive tree and grapes from a vine and salt water comes from a salt source and fresh water from a fresh source and critical words come from a critical spirit and bitter words come from a bitter heart and loving speech issues forth from a heart that has been consecrated to the Lord. It is about the source. It is all about the source. And so, if the source is pure, the fruit will be pure. If the source is defiled, the fruit will also be defiled. Have you guys ever come into your house and there's a smell? There's two ways to deal with the smell. There's candles and sprays and there's getting to the source and finding the rotten potato. It is all about the source. How much effort is it for us to be having to clean up our words once they come out all the time but just going right to that source? Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee and consecrate our heart to be set on things above. Sometimes we hear things coming out of our mouth and I think, where did that come from? Oh, that's right. I know where it came from. I know where the source of those things and so rather than cleaning up what came out, I need to point into consecrating this so that source becomes devoted to the Lord. The second topic is wisdom, which we definitely need. James explains these two sources of wisdom, earthly and unspiritual wisdom and wisdom from above. In verse 13, he says, who's wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. Some of the key words that are repeated there that show the fruit of this earthly wisdom are jealousy and selfish ambition. That's the fruit of earthly wisdom. Some people are given to competition, always having to kind of come out on top, get the most attention, and that the fruit of that is jealousy. You're jealous of people that maybe are in your way for that. Selfish ambition is when people advance their own interests, their accomplishments, success, knowledge, and abilities. These are the fruits, James is telling us, of earthly wisdom. And so the counterpart, what does real wisdom look like? What are the fruits of real wisdom? We read on in verse 17, wisdom from above is first pure. It is peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and is sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Now as we look at that list, the last thing that we want to do is to say, I need to work harder at being peaceable, and pure, and gentle, and reasonable, and merciful, and impartial, and sincere. That's my list of goals for this year. I'm gonna do all those things. No, that's not the point. What he's telling us is, that's the fruit. That is the fruit that you will see from a heart that is consecrated to the Lord, from wisdom from above. Because the wisdom from above has an open channel when our hearts are open to the Lord and consecrated to him. And so these results happen naturally. And as the fruits grow, we become more reasonable. We become full of mercy. We become. impartial and peaceable. And you know what? Our words reflect that. Our words then begin to reflect that. So I hope this has been an encouragement, this chapter, to us not to look at this and say, oh man, I need to do so much better. If there's anything that we all need to do better at, it is rising in the morning and saying, Lord, I consecrate my heart to you. I set my mind on things above. I devote myself to grow in you, to learn from you, to be mindful of your kingdom. And I'm going to trust you with the fruit that comes from that, the words that come from that. And if I start to smell something not so great, I'll go back to the source and I'll start all over again. Because this is what we'll do for the rest of our life. We never arrive, it's like, perfect. My words are now perfect. We don't arrive. So we keep going back to the source and we encourage one another in these good works that we have. Father, thank you for this chapter. Difficult as it might be sometimes, Lord, I thank you that you just put it on James's heart to lay it out so clearly for us that we can see the power for beauty and also the power for destruction that we have been given by you, Lord God. And so just together, we commit ourselves to you and we ask, Lord, purify my heart. Change my heart, Lord. Make it more like you. And we trust you with the outcomes, Lord. We trust you with the fruit of that. In Jesus name. Amen.