Sermon Tone Analysis

Tongues of Poison, Tongues of Fire

(James 3:1-10)

Introduction:

The title of our message this evening is . . . .

and although I do believe that all of the Bible is the divinely given Word of God, there is probably no truer passage in Scripture than what James wrote here in chapter three about that most unruly of members, the human tongue!

That old children’s cliche, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me, just ain’t true, is it?

There can be nothing more hurtful, or more damaging to a person’s reputation and life, than the cutting words we fling their way!

And you know what?

There is no worse place for bad language and hateful words that I have ever been around than this place.

Many of us are totally unthinking and uncaring about what we say to others.

Sometimes we say things that take the breath away, don’t we?

Will Rogers wrote this: Live so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

We have taken what Rogers wrote, though, and perverted it to say, Live and talk so that the town gossip doesn’t even need our parrot.

We don’t much care anymore, do we?

What was once considered language reserved for military camps and taverns is now the common language of small children on the streets.

Rudeness and vileness of speech have become the distinguishing marks of our age.

And if you can’t take it, well then, you better figure out a way to toughen up a little bit because we sure ain’t going to give you any slack.

According to an AP-Ipsos poll conducted in March of 2006, the use of profanity in American culture is increasing.

Nearly 75 percent of people questioned said they encounter profanity in public either frequently or occasionally.

Two-thirds said they think people swear more often than they did 20 years ago.

Not surprisingly, the respondents were more than "hearers of the words."

Sixty-four percent said they use the F-word—ranging from several times a day (8 percent) to a few times a year (15 percent).

In addition, younger people admit to using bad language more often than older people.

They also encounter it more frequently and are less offended by it.

The poll showed that 62 percent of people age 18–34 acknowledge swearing in conversation at least a few times a week, compared to 39 percent of those 35 and older.

Swearing is also more pronounced among men: 54 percent of men swear at least a few times a week, compared to 39 percent of women.

In what may or may not be a silver lining, the poll showed that many of those who regularly swear do believe that it's wrong for them to do so.

There are many days, as I sit in the office, working or listening to James Lawrence snore, I can hear the vilest speech from outside the window.

The smoke-hole is right outside the office window, you know.

We have turned into a coarse and vulgar people.

And here is the real problem with Toungues of Fire.

Our tongues not only ravage others with words, but vile actions will often tag right along after vile words, won’t they?

We often become what we speak.

So, to say that words don’t matter– to say that’s all they are, anyway, just words–is simply not true.

Words enlighten or conceal, convey truth or falsehood, reveal beauty or ugliness, and have the power to create a feeling of security, to bathe us in love, or indeed words have the power to devastate and sow hatred!

And that is what we will encounter this evening from our passage in James–Tongues of Poison, Tongues of Fire!

I.

The Perils of Teaching (James 3:1-4)

(1 I believe that faithful, competent Bible teachers are sorely needed in the chruch today.

They have always been valuable, primarily because in the past, especially in the apostolic church, so many early believers came from the class of folk who never learned to read or write.

So the Epistles, and the Gospels, being circulated among the churches, by necessity, had to have someone to explain them.

Even now, in a country where the literacy rate is far higher than it ever was in the 1st Century, there is still a crying need for good Bible teachers.

And so if anyone feels the call of God on them to really dig deep into His Word, and then share those truths with others in sermons, Sunday School lessons, or any other medium, I believe that is a high calling.

But James attaches a warning along with that calling.

Be sure that you are called, because you will judged by a higher standard.

And this warning is related to our topic this evening: Tongues of Fire.

Words can used as weapons, injuring others, and they can also be used in deception, teaching people, as truth, things that are just unbiblical.

Look at your Bibles, verses 1-2.

(2 Henrietta Mears was, by all accounts, one of the greatest teachers of the 20th Century.

The list of evangelical leaders that fell under the wings of her influence include Billy Graham, Bill Bright of Campus Crusade, and over 400 other men and women as well who went into full time influential Christian service.

Henrietta was a Sunday School teacher.

But she was one of the best of the best.

She was a prime mover in the founding of the National Sunday School Association.

Gospel Light Publications, today a major publishing house, was formed by her to provide quality Sunday school materials.

She was also the visionary and tireless force behind the founding of Forest Home, the great conference center where thousands upon thousands of people have come to Christ.

When Teacher died in the early sixties, officials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park said it was the largest graveside crowd in twenty years—an astounding fact, considering that many of Hollywood’s most famous celebrities are buried there.

Henrietta Mears’s life is an eloquent testimony to the positive influence of a gifted teacher who was totally committed to Christ.

(3 On the other side of the street, however, was Jim Jones.

The godly teaching of Henrietta Mears resulted in the salvation, changed lives, and abundant life of countless people.

The evil, false teaching of Jim Jones, in 1978, resulted in the massacre of hundreds.

Thirty years ago, Time magazine had a photo essay of the events that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana.

The pictures displayed Jones’ disciples, his triumphs, and his end—the rotting bodies of hundreds of people in the infamous Jonestown massacre—an unforgettable testimony of the influence of a teacher for evil.

(4 Teachers wield enormous power, don’t they?

Teachers of all sorts do: those who teach Scripture and those who teach first graders.

The authority that is automatically invested in them is such that it led James, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, to issue a warning that is intended to scare those off who might be tempted to wield that power in a manner that doesn’t honor the Lord.

(5 And so it is absolutely essential for teachers, especially Bible teachers, to be above reproach.

Young, or untaught, minds in the hands of a skilled teacher are like clay in a potter’s hands.

And I am telling you that those of us who presume to teach the Word of God has better be handling it carefully.

Because while I will not be judged for your sin, I will be judged if anything I taught you led to that sin, or led you into error!

(6 But if you pay attention to the way life seems to go, there always appears to be more than enough irresponsible teachers, but rarely enough teachers to go around who take their work seriously, and who always strive to rightly divide the word of truth.

And things were no different back in the Apostle James’ day either.

Ambition, and ambition is the problem, carried to extremes, is not a Christian virtue!

All of us must endeavor to do, and be, the very best we can with the talents and gifts that God has given us.

But only so that we can glorify God and not ourselves.

You see, the truth is, being in front of people with a God-given gift of gab, the ability to exress yourself in words, and then be given the position of expounding God’s Word, is a seductively powerful force.

And, even for the man or woman who seeks to glorify God with their teaching, there is the temptation of the sound of your own voice becoming the thing you are most in love with.

R. Kent Hughes wrote this: . . . .

there is the temptation to give in to a subtle egoism which gives you goosebumps at hearing yourself talk.

The more you hear yourself, the less you can be taught by anyone but yourself.

And listen, even godly teachers are subject to this.

It can become intoxicating to hear your voice and to see people respond!

And if someone ever says that they are not affected by this, that they have never been speaking and then filled with a desire to showboat it some, to listen to themselves with approval–they’re lying.

All of us forget from time to time that it is God who works through us, and that without His power nothing at all will ever happen!

It is not our voice we should want our audience to hear, but the voice of Jesus.

(7 Notice though in verse two James uses the metaphor of a horses’ bridle to illustrate the self-control we are to have, first in the matter of teaching, and then he will develop it further to include every instance where our mouths will overrun our brains.

You remember when people used to tell you to count to 10 before opening your mouth when you got angry.

It really isn’t, but I used to think that was stupid.

How much damage could all of us have averted in our lives if we had just counted to 10, using that as a bridle to control our mouths?

(8 How does a bridle work on a horse?

It fits around the horses’ head with the bit fitting into his mouth; and the rider, of course, is able to control the direction of the horse.

Listen to me carefully, if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, to put His bit into our mouth, as it were, and control us, our tongues will simply become unmanageable, won’t they?

James further points out that the sails of great sailing ships, with the winds moving the ships through the oceans, are turned, they are directed, by a small rudder.

And people, our tongues are like poison and fire, tongues that must be controlled by God.

But we will sometimes teach, and say, what we want, and not what God wants, right?

And our tongues will light a fire that we cannot put out!

Our tongues will steer the ship of our lives in directions that will devastate ourselves and devastate others.

II.

Tongues of Poison and Fire (James 3:5-10)

(1 And then James gets down to brass tacks in our next few verses, doesn’t he?

His use of vivid imagery reaches a peak in our final verses.