good morning this is one of the things that um
i joke that they don't tell you in pastor school
is that um you're constantly always revising
your message always um you're never done writing
it in your brain so And one more thing that I
was like, oh, I need to add that in there just
now. Anyway, good morning, everyone. It's good
to see you from here, here, with our message.
We are making our way through the Book of James
this summer. If you've been here for a few weeks,
you know that. If you're new here, this is where
we are, in the Book of James. It is later in
the New Testament. kind of tucked away in a bunch
of smaller books. It's right after Hebrews is
longer, but it's right after Hebrews, and it's
just like you've got the Peters, the Johns. So
a lot of these little tiny writings and letters
that are easy to read in one sitting. The book
of James is great like that. If you've not ever
read a book of the Bible in one sitting, James
is a great one to do it with. It takes about
15 to 10 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes. easy to access.
A few weeks ago Alex preached and he was up here
and he shared that James is his favorite book
and I had not been in it to study it in a while
and so in prep for this message I read through
the book a few times and I had forgotten how
much of James I have very specific history with.
Again, it's not a long book but it is densely
packed with practical, very practical and sensible
things. And so, in fact, I was so glad to get
to preach today's message because I did take
some time to reflect on the early days of being
a Christian and what that looked like for me.
I was 14. I don't know, like when you're coming
into it not having grown up in it, it can feel
a little overwhelming because there's a lot to
know, there's a lot to absorb. constantly learning
things and God is constantly revealing things
to you and teaching you things. And so I remember
James felt very accessible to me. And I remember
thinking that these are really easy things to
attach onto. And even now. Looking through the
book, there's not a whole lot to excavate culturally.
I love digging in historically and culturally
to a book. I want to know every corner of every
cultural aspect in a word study. I want to know
all that stuff. I want to know the landscape,
and I want to know who was there, and what was
their background, and where did they come from,
and I want to know all of it. James, you don't
really need to do a whole lot of that with it.
There's not a whole lot that needs. word studies
or background, the words as they are meet us
in our world today very easily. So yeah, as a
new Christian, this book presented me with things
to hold on to that I've kept with me for so long
as I was working on adjusting how I lived in
the world. So we're going to just jump right
in. We are in the book of James. We are in chapter
three. So again, it's right after Hebrews, later
in the... New Testament, if you are looking for
it in a physical Bible. If you have a digital
Bible on your phone, just look up James. And
you can even Google search James 3, 1 through
12, and it will bring up the passage in a couple
different sources. So at the house, we have a
tradition that as you are able, please take a
posture of attention. So I invite you to stand
if that is how that works for you. Standing is
a good way to position or even energize our bodies.
So I'm going to read to you James 3, 1 through
12. Not many of you should become teachers, my
brothers and sisters, for you know that we who
teach will face stricter judgment. By the way,
I'm reading from the new revised standard version,
updated version. For all of us make mistakes.
Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is mature,
able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.
If we put bits into the mouth, mouths of horses
to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
Or look at ships, though they are so large and
are driven by strong winds, yet they are guided
by a very small rudder wherever the will of the
pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small
member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How
great a forest is set ablaze by such a small
fire. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is
placed among our members as a world of iniquity.
It stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle
of life, and is itself set on fire by hell. That
all sounds very dramatic. What he's saying is
the tongue can do some damage. For every species
of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature,
They can be tamed and has been tamed by the human
species, but no one can tame the tongue, a restless
evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless
the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people
made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth
comes a blessing and a curse, my brothers and
sisters. This ought not to be so. Does a spring
pour forth the same opening, both fresh and brackish
water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters,
yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can
salt water yield fresh. Let's pray. God, through
your word today, reveal to us some truths, make
some pathways clear in our mind. Use your word
to transform us and to speak deeply into our
hearts and minds. I pray that things take hold
that need to take hold in us. And that's going
to be different for each of us. as we are each
here to listen to you and to be taught by you,
to be loved by you and changed by you. Speak
to us in ways that will transform us each individually,
but also as a church as a whole. And we thank
you for your faithfulness to us. We pray your
blessing on the word today. Amen. You may be
seated. So just a quick reminder over the last...
A few weeks that we've been in this book, James
was writing to fellow Jews. That was his audience.
He was a Jewish man. He was writing to other
Jewish folks. And this was a group. Because he
knew he was writing to other Jewish people, they
had a shared cultural history. Also, all that
James has written up to this point matters to
this chapter. in reflection of what we have heard
in the last few weeks it matters to what we are
about to hear so when our writer wrote the initial
text um just keep in mind there were no verse
breakdowns and title summaries and that sort
of thing like when you write an email you probably
don't put things in it like an exhortation on
the recent meeting Words about finances and then
list them. Like you just write your email, right,
in progression, like thought after thought after
thought. And that's how the original scriptures
would have been written. It is only like, you
know, modern day. I say modern day as like scripture
in the last, you know, thousand years has been
like these subdivisions have been added. So when
you read scripture and you're like, what are
we referring to? There's probably some stuff
that. would have come before that is helpful
to know, which is why reading a whole book is
useful. So with this in mind, prior to this,
James had been talking about the temptation to
show favoritism. He speaks to those who are eager
to talk and to teach at the gatherings of the
house churches. So some of them may see this
as an opportunity to show off and boost their
status in the community. They want to be up front.
They want to be the ones that are the the learned
teachers looked at as the wise ones. And so James
here is reminding them that there's a heavy burden
because words matter. James reminds them that
teachers carry a heavy responsibility for what
they say. It is one thing to be mistaken about
something yourself, but it is another to share
the information, the mistaken information, broadly.
and share it far and wide and mislead others.
There's a heavy responsibility if you're going
to be one that shares and teaches and lets your
words travel afar. So words matter. So James
is, to some degree, saying to them, if you want
to be a teacher, let's just know a few things.
This was a bit simpler at one time. Certainly
there were plenty of those who desired to teach
for nefarious reasons or just even self -indulgent
ones. Enough so that James wanted to speak to
it and bring it up. I can't imagine even how
James would approach this topic now in our world.
You want to teach? I see what you're posting
online. You think you're a teacher? That would
have been a wild letter in comparison, but now
we have public forums of every kind at the reach
of all of our hands. People who should not be
publishing themselves to a potentially global
audience can broadcast some crazy things. And
they can call themselves teachers or prophets
or even beyond that they offer medical or economic
or political advice without accountability or
any vetting. Social media literally gives you
the opportunity to have followers. People's opinions
about everything are out there, and misinformation
is like a disease. The visual James offers, how
great a forest is set ablaze by such a small
fire. We all know what it's like to watch words
go viral online, but even... in our own worlds
how world words can just get out of our control
in our own communities in our own world sometimes
even in our own families like that's not what
i said oh but this is what she said he said like
words travel that's the thing and we know it
the words that come out of our mouths often have
a life of their own so to restate this james
says of you should become teachers my brothers
and sisters and in my ears it almost sounds a
little like the southern bless your heart i love
the whispering of it you know not many of you
should become teachers my brothers and sisters
but to that point i offer i'm this is just a
little personal aside because i this is a bit
of a a bit of a soapbox for me In regards to
our words and the information we share and how
we watch it and how we share it, just a little
word on social media. Repost and share responsibly.
Do your own research. Vet your sources. Look
at the date of a post. Find out who funded the
research. Okay. Back to this. Thank you for that
moment for PSA. Because we are talking about
words and the sharing of them and the vast movement
of them. Social media is where it happens a lot.
This isn't a social media message, but it will
show up throughout this. So the non -teachers,
like if you're like, well, I'm not trying to
teach anybody. We still have a word from this,
right? Like this is still to us because words
matter. Words travel farther these days. They
just do. And I'm not just referring to social
media. There is something about having opinions
that exists culturally in our world, right? There
is pressure to have an opinion. You need to take
a stance, and you need to speak out, and you
need to do so right now. And sometimes we feel
pressured to say something in the moment, that
we have to say something right now. And listen,
I'm not disagreeing with that as an entire concept.
However, remember, let's remember back to Chapter
1. of james where he just simply says 119 you
must understand this my beloved brothers and
sisters let everyone be quick to listen slow
to speak and slow to anger so this advice should
also find its way into our toolkit for life and
in partnership with this message because informed
opinions are sometimes hard to come by So I say,
we all need to be reminded that our words go
far and fast these days in whatever forms they
are. They are tough to contain, and once they're
said, they are out there. So our question today
was, have you ever said anything that you wished
you could take back? And I'm guessing all of
us said yes. That feels pretty... Pretty guaranteed
that we have all said something we wish we could
take back. We've all said something that even
in the moment of saying it, we knew it was going
to go south. And we even thought something that
we knew beforehand that we shouldn't say. And
somehow, we still said it. I don't know why I
said that. I knew I was wrong. It does happen.
you've watched the damage of words be immediate.
You've made an intentional targeted attack and
you meant to wound. And for some, the damage
was unknown and even unintended, but the thing
was said and it did hurt. And that's a tougher
scenario. Who has ever said something and it
did leave a wound and you never intended it to?
That's another part of this, isn't it? So the
scriptures are full of warnings about managing
what we say, being thoughtful about what we say,
being careful and mindful. James' words here
are not new instructions for new believers. He's,
again, speaking to a largely Jewish audience
who had a cultural background that they shared.
They would have known that these things have
been spoken about extensively in the Psalms and
Proverbs. they would have known that some of
these wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible featured
many thoughts on the topic of our words and what
we say. So when it's the right time to speak,
the words are the right thing to add. Scripture
talks about how we offer these words. So with
the things that we say, blessings and curses.
James talks about this in verse 9 and 10. With
the tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and
with it we curse people made in the likeness
of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing
and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought
not be so. When one thinks of cursing someone,
like when I say we have blessings and curses
towards people, It might take, what do you imagine
your head, because I'll tell you what I imagine.
It takes the image of a hedge witch with a knobbly
finger saying, a pox upon your house. If anybody's
seen The Princess Bride, anybody? There's the
woman in the crowd that's like, boo, boo to you.
That's what I remember. I'm not actually wishing
a pox on my head. But that's what comes to mind
when you think about somebody cursing you. And
honestly, in the first century that this church
was forming, the Greco -Roman world was culturally
filled with a pantheon of gods. Surely you could
beseech one of them to bring harm or ill will
to someone who did you dirty, right? And though,
generally speaking, things are different along
those lines, I don't know that our hearts have
changed. The desire... of ill will to be placed
on people is real. In my heart, I have hoped
not great things for someone that was consistently
problematic in my eyes. Maybe not as far as death,
but I have certainly hoped that they got what
they, I think, they deserved. You've heard people
say, have the day that you deserve. I hope you
have the day that you deserve. This is not how
a person of God should be functioning. Even verbally.
Common curse words have to be taken into consideration
to some degree. How we say and where we direct
them, what's in our heart fueling them when sending
them out matters because words matter. What current
cuss words have you even directed at someone
with anger or frustration or ill will in your
heart? Those words come out usually when we're
angry, right? where we're feeling some type of
way, how you say them and how you direct them
does matter. So even for those that we don't
like, we have to hold the truth at hand that
those we like and love and those we dislike are
both made in the image of God. We are now very
familiar with the phrase imago dei here, and
we are responsible for seeing others in that
way. God loves them, and truthfully, the thing
that is causing someone to stir something up
in you is not actually them. It's not the creation
of God. It's the thing in their hearts and their
minds that they're hurt, that they're living
from, the narratives they believe are true, the
experiences they have had or not had, and the
same goes for you. Those are the things that
stir up that feeling in us. So when you are thinking
about somebody and you're thinking in your brain
and even saying some loose things about, I hope
that they... Consider, are you looking at the
Imago Dei and really saying that about God's
creation? Take a moment and understand what you're
really frustrated with is the brokenness in us.
Right? And you have it too. So that changes how
we look at somebody else and what we think that
they deserve. Folks, what do we do then? Do we
bless them? That's a little hard to do, too,
when you're really frustrated with somebody.
But perhaps it is something to start practicing.
May God fill you with truth. May God bring you
joy. I am frustrated with you, but may God bring
you joy. Because that's going to change you,
and that's going to change us. May God bring
me joy. May God bring you healing. And not said
with an attitude like, oh, God brings you joy
because I know. But sincerity in your heart saying,
may God bring you joy. I am frustrated with you.
I am angry. I am livid. but your creation of
God, and may God bring you goodness. That's hard,
but if you practice it, that will be your go
-to in those moments. We send a whole world of
contradictions out from this one place, this
one place in our body. We have seen the posts
on social media where we think, that person says
they're a Christian? Or we've overheard someone
outside of the church setting. We know that they're
a part of, and we may be a little shocked. Before
we roll our eyes and mutter such hypocrisy, which
feels like we are all talking about, we've done
it too. Because we are human and it's hard. It's
an area of growth for all of us. So I'm not condemning
us. I'm saying we can work towards being better.
James 1 .26, if anyone thinks he is religious
and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his
heart, this person's religion is worthless. It's
a strong indictment. So James talks about blessing
and curses, but there are a few other of these
dualities that we find in scripture that I think
are worth talking about when talking about words
and the words that we choose and when and how
we say them or don't. So, I want to offer you
truth and lies, escalation and de -escalation,
and building up and tearing down. The words that
we use and how they contribute to these things.
Psalm 3413, keep your tongue from evil and your
lips from speaking deceit. 1 Peter 3 .10, for
whoever desires to love life and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips
from speaking deceit. In Proverbs 6, 16 through
19, there are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him, haughty
eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent
blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet
that make haste to run to evil, a false witness
who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord
among brothers. Don't lie. This one starts early
in our lives. As a child, we do it out of self
-preservation. We're trying to navigate what
feels safe and right in the world. When we lie,
it is usually to save our skin. Or we may even
say a partial truth, hoping that there's enough
truth in it that it'll float and not come back
to us. James 3 .11 says, does a spring pour forth
from the same opening, both fresh and brackish
water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters,
yield olives or grapevine figs? No more can salt
water yield fresh. It's not like we can pull
the ratios together. If I have more truth than
I do deceit, then I'm telling the truth. We can't
balance the ingredients. It's one or the other.
And one affects the other, doesn't it? Introducing
even a little deceit into truth makes the whole
thing deceitful. I think we need to do better
with how we view and say things in this area.
We've become comfortable with lying. We do it
a lot in the spirit of saving somebody else's
feelings. That's where it shows up quite a bit.
There's a million other ways that lying shows
up, but that's one that is very cultural to us.
It's very American. Americans have a lot of feelings.
And we're very worried about offending or hurting
someone or saving somebody's feelings. We are
obsessed with offense here. But only in some
ways. But we lie to each other as an effort to
care for each other, but it's not really caring
for each other if we're not being honest, right?
It's a terrible practice and it doesn't do good.
More truth, please. Let's be mindful of that.
More truth. The next one, escalation and de -escalation.
This is not stated as such scripturally, like
you don't find the words de -escalation in translations,
but I'm categorizing it as that because of the
way some of these following scriptures play out.
And words do impact this. They have such power
to add fuel to a fire or even put it out. Proverbs
12 .18 says, There is one whose rash words are
like sword thrust. But the tongue of the wise
brings healing. Proverbs 15 .1 says, A soft answer
turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
And Proverbs 26 .20 says, For lack of wood, the
fire goes out. Don't fuel the fire. And where
there is no whispering, quarreling ceases. That's
a good one. For lack of wood, the fire goes out.
and where there is no whispering, quarreling
ceases. So again, I said I'm referring to social
media a lot here today because it is relevant.
It is where our words stay almost forever, aren't
they? And where we often find people honestly
being their absolute worst, their worst selves,
because they don't have to see the people that
they're engaging with. So this one's really applicable
here. If anybody ever saw the movie Anchorman
and Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy says simply,
well, that escalated quickly. All you have to
do is look at the comments section in a Facebook
post or on Instagram or TikTok, and that is very
applicable. You're like, well, that escalated
quickly. It's never been truer. People come in
hot on those comments. You're like, wow, where
did we, how did we get here? All sorts of bravado,
smugness, and accusation show up in comment sections.
Again, we all think that our opinions are fact.
But also, when we are quick to speak and slow
to listen, when we do the opposite of what we've
been instructed to do, escalation enters the
chat. And rarely is anyone thinking about cooling
the fire in those moments. And I'm not talking
about appeasing people. I don't think that we
need to be placating. Adding words to words just
to try to calm everything down for the sake of
being like, oh, is everybody calm? That's not
always the best. But perhaps this is where listening
is most important. Listening with ears that hear
behind the words to what's at the core of something
so that when you hear and you do take time to
speak, When you do end up speaking, attention
to the person and what's happening in them is
what's spoken to. That often is quite de -escalating
and is able to bring the temperature down to
something, on something. The last one, building
up and tearing down. This is where our words
can be good or bad. Ephesians 4 .29, corrupting
talk come out of your mouths but only such as
good for building up as fits the occasion that
it may give grace to those who hear how is this
for you when we speak are we intentional about
building others up are you even good at building
yourself up or do you tear yourself down with
your words this line in the verse that i just
read the last part that it may give grace to
those who hear. Indicating that it's not just
the one who receives the exhortation, that's
not the only person that benefits. For those
around hearing it, it also benefits them. It
gives grace to those who hear. What a beautiful
idea. It's quite common right now to hear tearing
down. It is all around us. We need less discrediting
for the sake of dislike. We need less belittling.
We need less destruction. How can you contribute
to the better? This last week, New York City
had an election for their primaries for who they
will put forth in the mayoral race in November.
And I saw an interview this week that I thought
was so cool. Zoran Mamdani and Brad Lender were
two candidates that were applying both to be
the mayoral candidate, and they were endorsing
each other publicly. They were sitting side by
side in an interview pointing out where in each
other's platforms they saw goodness and hope
in each other's efforts. That was phenomenal.
What a revelation. Y 'all, it can be done. Oh
my gosh. I pastored a church in 2012 up in Chicago
for a bit and I would often review my sermon
at Starbucks in the neighborhood before I went
over to the church. And every week a man would
wheel in his elderly mother, she was about 90
years old, and they'd find a table and he'd go
and get their coffee and they would sit and she
didn't say much, but he would just pour out coffee.
compliments and beautiful words over her. Mom,
you look so beautiful today. You're so beautiful.
That's a great hat you chose today. I love that
scarf. That color is amazing on you. I'm so happy
to see you. I'm so happy we get to spend time
together this morning. I love our time together.
It was just, and I'm not kidding, an outpouring
of that. He just continued to say these beautiful
things over her. He wasn't loud, but the room
wasn't big and it was easy to hear him. And I
loved it. What a thing to be near. It was powerful
being around so much support and acknowledgement
of beauty and goodness. He was building her up.
Just doing nothing but building her up. So one
of the Sundays I stopped by their table on the
way out and I told them how much I loved hearing
them. And he went on and on about it. her to
me while she was there. He was so in the practice
of building her up that even when he was talking
to somebody else, he was just building her up.
And so it was like a grace that I got to experience
as well upon hearing it. It moved me. It affected
me. Proverbs 16, 24, gracious words are like
a honeycomb. sweetness to the soul, and health
to the body. More of that also, please. Proverbs
18, 21, death and life are in the power of the
tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
We have so much power with the words that we
say. So much power with the words that we say.
James talks about humans have tamed all manner
of things. Animals, they've tamed them. The waves
on the sea, they haven't tamed them, but they've
figured out how to work with them. They have
figured out how to tame things and to work with
them. And yet, he's like, nobody's tamed the
tongue. Nobody has done this. This one is going
to be a hard one for us all. Forever. That's
great. This will be with us forever. But if you
can gain a good practice of mindfulness over
it, he actually alludes to if you can figure
this out, you probably have figured out some
discipline in other areas of your life as well.
Because this one's hard. This one is probably
the hardest. I would like to be someone who is
known for the words that they say, and it brings
good things to mind. It brings grace to those
who hear it. I would like to believe that my
words are kind and wise and truthful and that
they are words of blessing, that when things
are stressful, the words that I immediately go
to are ones that bless others and are kind and
thoughtful and lift others up, because that is
the practice I am in. I hope... Above all, that
the words that I say reflect a God that is loving
and reflect a God that reflect that I see God
in others as well. And I believe you want the
same thing. I believe we collectively want that.
And folks, if, when, because it will be a when,
the words you say cut, when the words you say
wound and when they misinform and when they deceive
and when they tear somebody down, And you know
it, which we usually do. When we do those things
and we are aware of it, y 'all correct it. Just
correct it. The truth is, when our words do damage,
it takes a whole lot more to repair. But do something
towards repair. You know? Work towards repair.
Say you're sorry to the ones you affected. Set
it right as you can. Go back to others that may
have heard the wrong thing, the thing that shouldn't
have been said. Follow the trail back if you
can. Take responsibility for the words that you
said that you shouldn't have said. Set it as
right as you can in spite of the damage you may
have already done. Work towards a better end.
And then reflect on yourself. Because the words
we say tell us what is happening in our hearts.
If we find that the words we are saying are not
reflecting a loving God, we need to be slow to
speak and look at ourselves. Proverbs 15, 28,
the heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer.
When we're hurting, we hurt others. And if we're
anxious or feeling cornered, we might find unproductive
words to be a quick way to resolve those feelings,
to make us comfortable again. We use words as
tools for so many different reasons. We so often
speak without full consciousness to our words.
So let's be thoughtful, and let's be careful,
and let's be intentional. Let us think. Let us
listen. so that when it is time to speak, it
may give grace to all who hear. Amen. Let's pray.
God, with these things, may the words of our
mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable
in your sight. Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
God, set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch over
the doors of my lips. Let these words from the
Psalms be things that find a deep place in our
hearts and our minds, that they would be guideposts
for us. That as we start speaking, we are reminded.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord.
And may you set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch
over the door of my lips so that... The things
I don't want to say or the things even that I
want to say that I shouldn't don't escape my
mouth. Help us speak the good and where we have
not, help us be brave enough to repair and to
correct. And may your goodness and your grace
and your mercy and your love be over all of it.
I pray this in your name.