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OPENING
We’re continuing this week with our series on “Questions and Answers.”
The title and subject of the message this morning is “Do Our Words Have Power?”
Let me say here that this is not a sermon on Name it and Claim it.
Blab it and Grab it
Proclaim it and Obtain it
Vocalize it and Materialize it
Believe it and Seize it
Gab it and Nab it
Say it don’t Spray it
Turn with me in your Bibles to James 3.
You’ve probably all heard the old nursery rhyme:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
Is that a true statement?
Crazy week.
Guess God was preparing me for this message.
The truth is that our words have power.
In fact, look at what the Bible says in Proverbs 18:21:
Let me summarize that verse for you like this:
Your words are either deadly poison or life-giving fruit.
The choice is yours.
Last week we learned that God’s Word is inerrant and infallible.
Man’s words are not.
At some point our mouths are going to get us in trouble.
We are going to offend, hurt, injure, or start a fire with our words.
As we just read in Proverbs, death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Our words have the power to either:
tear down or build up,
wound or heal,
curse or bless,
discourage or encourage,
start wars or offer peace,
damage relationships or restore relationships.
Our words have the power to impact both ourselves and others emotionally, spiritually, and even physically.
In James 3, he is writing about our Christian faith.
Back in Chapter 2, he has just written the famous Scripture, “faith without works is dead.”
In other words, James says that genuine Christian faith will produce a change in heart and a transformed mind that will produce good works.
Good works do not produce salvation, but salvation produces good works.
And here in Chapter 3 James is going to give us one example of how genuine Christian faith produces good works.
And the example he uses is the power of our words.
MESSAGE
How do our words provide evidence of genuine Christian faith?
Our words reveal the true condition of our heart.
Why are our words so important?
Our words have the power to defile us.
What kind of power do our words have over ourselves and others?
In James 3:1-12, James gives us 5 ways that our words have power:
Our Words Have the Power to Condemn
Here is a specific warning to those who would desire to become teachers or ministers of the Word of God.
We will be judged more strictly (the KJV says we will receive the greater condemnation), because of the responsibility to faithfully communicate the Word of God.
But Jesus also talked about the power of words to condemn:
Idle words are careless words.
Not only intentionally vulgar or blasphemous words, but every idle word.
So is Jesus talking about believers or unbelievers here in this verse?
The answer is both.
But wait a minute!
I thought that believer’s sins had been taken to Calvary and forgiven?
They have, but believers and unbelievers are both going to stand before the throne of God’s judgment one day.
The Judgment
Unbelievers
Unbelievers are going to stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment to be judged for their sins.
This judgment takes place after the 7-year Tribulation and the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom.
Believers
Believers are going to stand before the Bema Seat or the Judgment Seat of Christ.
As believers, we are not going to stand before God to recieved a sentence for sins.
Our sins have already been taken to Calvary and the penalty of sin has already been paid by Jesus.
It is not a question of whether we get to enter Heaven or are sentenced to Hell.
As believers, we are going to stand before the Bema Seat of Christ to be judged for our works and will either gain or lose rewards.
What have we done with the resources and talents that God has given us since we became His followers?
Our words have eternal significance.
Our Words Have the Power to Control
James reminds us that none of us are perfect.
Our Words have the power to control the direction on our lives.
The point is that we need to focus on controlling our tongues instead of letting our tongues control us.
Our Words Have the Power to Corrupt
James compares our words to the destructive power of a fire.
Our words are not like water.
You can pour out a glass of water on the ground and it will not spread and become a flood, but one tiny spark can ignite a fire that will spread and destroy an entire forest!
He says our words:
are a “world of iniquity,”
“world” = “kosmos” which is typically used to refer to the earth.
Here it refers to a system of evil that is against the character of God.
“defiles the whole body,”
You can’t get the smell of smoke out.
Fire will destroy everything in its path.
“sets on fire the course of nature,”
Literally, it is setting “on fire the circle of life.”
Not only does it affect you, but it affects everything and everyone you touch.
Young girl, 14, from New Jersey who took her own life because of bullying at her school.
“is set on fire by hell.”
“hell” = “Gehenna” = Valley of Hinnom.
It is where the ancient Israelites used to sacrifice their children to the false god Molech.
In Jesus’ day, it was the city garbage dump outside Jerusalem.
There was a fire burning there all the time.
It became a symbol of the eternal fire of hell.
That is the symbol that James uses to describe the power our words have to corrupt.
Our Words Have the Power to Conquer
Even the wildest of beasts can be tamed.
But James, says, “no man can tame the tongue.”
So what hope do we have?
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