Sermon Tone Analysis

Hiding our emotions

I think most of us usually think that we are pretty good at hiding our emotions.

Certainly we do become adept at putting on a good front.

When you casually interact with people, unless you’re the type of person that picks up on body language quickly, then usually that front will be enough to hide what is going on emotionally inside you.

But, open your mouth beyond the most basic small talk and you don’t have to have a psychology degree to get a bit of an idea of what is going on.

The tongue

You see, if there is an organ in the body that has a habit of betraying us, it is the tongue.

Sure, we can speak a lot of fluff - you know, those words that are really quite empty.

But the reality is that it usually doesn’t take too long for little things to slip out.

The longer you speak to someone, the more true this is.

The longer you speak to someone, the more true this is.c

mounting an argument that I think is clearly true.

The tongue is a destructive force, but it is actually a symptom of what is in the heart.

This morning I am going to explore the arguments that James raises.

As I do, it might initially seem evident that the application is that we should be more careful with what we say.

While that might be good advice, as we explore James’ argument, we’re going to see that if that is our strategy, we’re going to fail.

Swearing

It’s a little bit like swearing.

Now, as many of you are aware, the youth group we run is almost entirely made up of non-churched youth.

As a result it probably wouldn’t entirely surprise you that when it comes to swear words, you hear the odd one or two… or a hundred.

Well, when the swearing gets a bit excessive, we try to crack down a bit harder on it.

And you know what - to an extent it will work.

There is an extent to which people can control the language that comes from their mouth.

But what is evident is that, particularly as they relax, those swear words will reappear.

Now, with some exceptions, that’s not because they are trying to be rude.

The reality is, those swear words come out because it is part of their way of thinking.

For many, they don’t even realise what they’ve said might be rude unless it is pointed out to them.

You see, when a habit is ingrained into us, while to an extent you can curtail it by just telling yourself to stop, unless there is a deep seated change, the issue will remain.

And so, while this morning while I’m going to be focusing on the tongue, this is actually the outlet of our problem, not the problem itself.

Leaky hot water system

During the week I had a problem that was a good example of this.

You see, inside our house we have a hot water system, and unfortunately we discovered that the area around the system was getting wet.

Eventually we found the problem.

You see a hot water system has some sort of release valve for when the pressure gets too high, which would allow water to be discharged into an overflow pipe.

Unfortunately, the valve proved to be leaky.

As it wasn’t leaking much, we decided just to monitor it and if it got worse, then we would have the option to replace it.

But later a discovery was made that changed the assessment.

The discovery was that the overflow pipe was blocked.

Had that discovery not been made, we could have replaced the leaky valve many times over but the problem would have remained.

In the same way, you can try to curtail your tongue, but if you’re not looking at the root problem, nothing will change.

Context

But before I try to get to this root problem, let’s explore what James has to say.

Although, before we do that, as I always like to do, let’s make sure we know how today’s passage fits in with the whole letter.

Well, as we’ve discovered while doing this series, the letter James wrote is a very practical letter.

He is deeply concerned with the practical outworkings of our faith.

It is almost as if James is saying - right, you know the basic truths that underpin our faith, but this cannot just remain theory.

When Jesus died for our sins, being the climax of God’s plan to redeem humanity, it was not just a spiritual exercise completely divorced from day to day living.

Rather, there are rock solid links between our faith and how we live.

The passage just before the one we are looking at now made this very explicit.

As we then move into chapter 3, while in one regard he is introducing a new topic, it’s actually just another angle on which we should explore this link.

Interestingly, if you were paying careful attention in the earlier chapters, you might have noticed that James gave us a hint that this topic was going to come up.

Perhaps most explicitly this was done in which says

James’ argument

Interestingly, as James raises the topic in chapter 3, he actually does so in the context of warning people against becoming teachers.

Now I’m not sure if James here is identifying a particular problem during the time of the early church.

I should add that as far as we know this letter was a very generally letter, not specifically addressing particular people, but it is possible that James was making a general observation that many Christians were desiring to become teachers.

The statement, as it’s given in the first verse, makes the point that the reason you should avoid becoming a teacher, is that you will be judged more strictly.

For the sake of clarity, I should point out the when James is talking about teacher here, he is not talking in the sense of a school teacher but of course of someone who teaches other about the Christian faith.

And while I’m clarifying things, I should also add that this is not a warning that we shouldn’t try to explain things to others when the opportunity arises.

Certainly, times will arise when each of us should give the reasons for the hope in which we have.

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Rather, James warning should instead put into focus any desire we might have to set ourselves up in a position of authority over others, particularly when we are giving instruction.

Specifically why this is such an issue is because the sins of those who teach are amplified is our message.

A teacher has significant influence and has the ability to lead many astray.

Now this of course does not mean that to be a teacher you need to be perfect.

Certainly I would not be standing here now if that were the case.

Or more to the point, no body would be qualified, which even James acknowledges when he states in verse 2: “we all stumble in many ways”.

Of course, the only exception is Jesus.

And while in one regard you could say that Jesus is our only real teacher, this is not what James is trying to get at.

Jesus is our teacher, but he also raises others up to carry this task as part of the process.

Now we could ask - why has James raised this point just before a discussion on the problem of our tongue?

Well, because the problems that we’re about to look at with the tongue are significantly amplified for anyone who has placed themselves as a teacher.

The problem still occurs for those who don’t find themselves in a teaching capacity, but the affects are not as wide spread.

The small controlling the big

Well, as James explores the effect of the tongue, he gives us a number of analogies.

The first two essentially make the same (or at least similar) point.

Bit in a horse

The first analogy is of a bit in the mouth of a horse.

The bit is a relatively small device.

It sits near the mouth, and (forgive me if I get my horse terms incorrect), it’s connected to the reins, such that a little movement in one direction will make the entire horse change direction.

Rudder of a ship

The second analogy is of a rudder on a ship.

Now, regardless of the size of the ship, the rudder is small in relative terms.

But the relatively small device has the ability to turn the biggest of ships.

Good or bad

Imagine one of those large cruise liners that are fairly common today.

Relative to the size of the ship, their rudder is small

Now in both of these analogies the control can be either for good or ill.

You see, the rider of the horse, or the captain of the ship can decide where the horse or ship goes.

If they know what they are doing, they can keep away from danger.

If they are either reckless, or don’t know what they are doing, their direction can lead to trouble.

You might recall the Costa Concordia from 2012 where the captain did try something foolish and the large ship overturned near the shore line of Tuscany killing 32.

But by and large, the horse riders and ship captains do use the bits and rudders for good.

The power of the tongue

In the same way, the tongue is relatively small, but yet it can make a huge difference.

In fact, the tongue can do a lot of good.

The tongue can encourage and motivate others.

It can be used for teaching and rebuking.

But perhaps even more significant, the tongue allows us to put our thoughts into words.

In this way, abstract ideas, when said out loud, can start to have meaning.