Sermon Tone Analysis
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Today we’re talking about talking, about communicating.
Statistics show that women talk far more than men talk.
Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’re bombarded with talking.
TV, radio, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, emails, we’re constantly engaged by communication.
James has a lot to teach us about it.
Today we’re talking about talking, about communicating.
Statistics show that women talk far more than men talk.
Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’re bombarded with talking.
TV, radio, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, emails, we’re constantly engaged by communication.
James has a lot to teach us about it.
Read
Words are powerful; with them we can encourage and also put down.
Solomon says in that “the tongue has the power of life and death.”
Consider how many young people are taking their own lives because people are bullying them, tearing them down, and discouraging them.
There are hundreds and hundreds.
It is so easy to belittle and ridicule.
All it takes are a few keystrokes.
says “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Words can rip right into us.
But words can also soothe, encourage and lift us.
Most of us are not prepared for any kind of verbal assault.
I grew up learning, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
The thing is, most of the time, I wasn’t waging against sticks and stones, but actually against words, and they did hurt!
Words that were spoken years ago, can come back and shape us later in life.
The things you do as a parent are shaped by what you heard as a child.
If you were mocked for acting a certain way, before you know it, you’ll be careful to try to stop your child from acting like you did.
But we shouldn’t have to do that.
We should let our kids be kids, and find their own way, and build them up with our words and encourage them!
Most of our actions and reactions have to do with words we hear.
Words can wound, or heal.
All speaking is potentially dangerous, so be careful who you’re listening to.
Be careful who you listen to.
Read verse 3
Renee’s cousin has horses.
Her daughter, Chelsey loves riding her horse.
It is amazing what she can get her horse to do.
Have you ever been on a horse?
They’re very tall.
You feel like you’re way up there!
It is amazing that with such a simple thing as a bit and bridle, you can direct where you want the horse to go.
Amazing.
Read verse 4-5a
It is the same idea, stated again.
Speech is powerful.
But used without care, it’s dangerous.
Read 5b-10a
If you are a student of history, then you know that awesome and terrible things have happened because of the power of speech.
Consider Hitler’s rise and the powerful use of speech and propaganda.
He convinced people to do terrible things, and to think nothing of it!
That’s the truth of the holocaust.
It’s the truth of abortion today.
The people pushing for abortions use words that dehumanise, like ‘clump of cells, foetus.’
But it is a person, a baby has its own DNA, blood type, finger prints, beating heart, feels pain, the brain functions, everything indicates it is a unique, living human being.
But powerful rhetoric has convinced countless people that it is nothing.
They’ve dehumanised it.
That the rights of the mother trump the rights of the child.
But this is where Christianity is different from the rest of the world.
The power of Christianity isn’t in words, in rhetoric, or even in reasoned argument.
It rests in the power of God.
Even the apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, claims that he came, not with powerful words, not with wise words, but by a demonstration of God’s power.
Do you worry about what to say to people who aren’t Christians?
Stop worrying about it.
It is about the Holy Spirit, in you, in them.
Say what needs to be said, plainly, clearly, lovingly.
That’s our foundation, the power of God at work.
Yes, we’ve had good preachers, teachers, apologists, but it is the Holy Spirit who changes hearts.
Words can bless, words can heal.
Words can curse, words can hurt.
Words tell us how we’re doing, spiritually.
Look again at verse 2 “We all stumble in many ways.
If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
One of the ways we stumble is in how we use our words.
But if we are able to keep our words pure, our lives will be also.
Think about that.
Be careful with words.
The tongue never wears out.
Notice that?
As you grow older, there are things that you can’t do, that you could do before.
A ninety year old, probably can’t sprint as fast as she could at 20.
But the tongue is still as powerful at ninety as at 20.
James isn’t saying, wow, if you can just control your tongue, everything else will be peachy, you’ll have a pure life.
Rather, he’s getting to the heart of the matter.
Listen to Jesus’ teaching in , “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
So, knowing that the average person spends a fifth of their life speaking, what do the words we say and write reveal about our hearts?
Why are words so powerful?
Why do we take offense at people’s words?
Why doesn’t the saying, “I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you”, work?
It doesn’t work because words connect our hearts to other people’s hearts.
This is why we speak vows at weddings.
They are promises, that bring out the feeling in our hearts.
This is why other people’s opinions, other people’s words hurt.
We can’t always choose whether or not to be offended.
Sometimes the offense comes because the people who spoke to us matter deeply to us.
I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit.
Particularly as it concerns Christians.
Why do some people give up on church?
Often it is because harsh words were spoken to them.
Why is church different from any other place?
It is because this should be a safe place, a place of encouragement.
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