Sermon Tone Analysis

*Taming the Tongue*

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*It’s the little things in life that make a difference.*

*Virus*

*A tiny rock in your shoe.*

*Speck in your eye.*

*Splinter.

Very small but it has a great impact on the body.*

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*James teaches this lesson as he writes about the tongue.

It is not very big, but it has enormous power.*

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James 3:1-18 (NASB95) \\ 1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

\\ 2 For we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

Romans 3.23 \\ 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

\\ 4 Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

\\ 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! \\ 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

\\ 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

\\ 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

\\ 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; \\ 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

\\ 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

\\ 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs?

Nor can salt water produce fresh.

\\ 13 Who among you is wise and understanding?

Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

\\ \\

*Introduction:* The Bible says a great deal about the tongue.

David prayed for the Lord to set a watch and keep the door of his lips.

The writer of Proverbs declared that the hypocrite with his mouth destroyed his neighbor.

Jesus warned about judgment regarding use of the tongue (Matt.

12:36–37).

James said it takes a perfect person to not offend by words (James 3:3).

The way we talk reveals what we think, for out of the abundance of his heart a man speaks.

The use of the tongue either crowns or curses the Christian community.

How we talk is a gauge to our spiritual health.

Our speech reveals what kind of person we are.

And it is not just what we say but it is how we say it.

*1.

**The Tongue’s Power to Direct (James 3:3–5).*

James 3:3–5 illustrates the great potential of the tongue in how it directs: like the bit to control a horse and the rudder to control a ship.

The power of the tongue is effective to direct the lives of others into right or wrong paths.

We must ever be aware of the idle word, the questionable story, the deliberate lie, or a half-truth, which is in reality a whole lie.

If the tongue is properly regulated, the whole man—as a horse is managed by the bit and a ship is steered by the rudder—is brought under control.

We can use our tongues to guide people in right choices and decisions that honor God.

The problem with the tongue, however, is that it has the power to direct in the wrong way as well.

The tongue is like any other gift that is given by God; it can be misused and do serious damage.

James 3:5 (NASB95) \\ 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

We used to sing, “It only takes a spark, to get a fire going…”  Every year we see huge forest fires that cause millions of dollars worth of damage and inevitably when they get to the source they find something small; a camper didn’t put his fire out, someone careless with a match or cigarette butt unintentionally starts a fire that soon gets out of control destroying everything in its path.

What a picture of what happens when we don’t guard our tongue.

A careless word, a half truth, or even the complete truth spoken in a manner that there is no hint of love.

Arguments erupt and before you know it you’re in the middle of a forest fire of words, words that burn and sting and injure.

You didn’t mean it to happen that way it just did.

And then when you look around you the damage is unbelievable.

*2.

**The Tongue’s Power to Destroy (James 3:6).*

James gives us the tongue’s description, comparing it to a fire, a world of iniquity (3:6).

He further states that it defiles the whole body, sets on fire the course of nature and is itself set on fire by hell.

What a powerful indictment!

The tongue is a powerful weapon.

| Ps 52:2 | Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.

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| Job 5:21 | “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.

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| Ps 57:4 | My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.

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| Ps 64:3 | Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword.

They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, |

| Ps 140:3 | They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips.

Selah.

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| Jer 9:8 | “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

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| Jer 18:18 | Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah.

Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet!

Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.”

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What do we sharpen?

Knives, swords, axes, tongues

Why do we sharpen these items?

We want them to cut better, faster, easier, do more damage.

You wait til I see that person.

We plan what we are going to say, we rehearse it in our minds.

We are more careful with sharp knives than we are with our tongues.

But the wounds that we make with knives heal, while the wounds that we make with our tongues are easily reopened.

All it takes is another careless word and those wounds are fresh on our minds.

James tells us that the tongue defiles the whole body.

You may look clean on the outside and you may even act okay most of the time, but if your tongue is dirty, if the language and the words out of your mouth are hurtful or obscene or careless, it affects your entire body.

Throughout his epistle, James describes the tongue’s devastation: the hasty tongue (1:19), the hellish tongue (3:6), the heathen tongue (5:12), the hypocritical tongue (1:26), and the heartless tongue (2:15–16) are all described in this book.

*3.    **The Tongue’s Power to Delight or to Degrade (James 3:9–17).*

James shows us very clearly that we need to discipline our tongues.

We need to be mindful of the words that come out of our mouths.

We bless God with our mouths.

| Ps 35:28 | And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness And Your praise all day long.

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| Ps 51:14 | Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

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| Ps 66:17 | I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue.

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| Ps 119:172 | Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.

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We were meant to praise and glorify God.

We do it with the words that we say, with the words that we sing.

Then James reminds us that with that very same tongue we curse men.

We curse the very creation of the God that we just finished praising.

God we love you, but those people you created, we can’t stand them.

God we can’t even understand why you love those people.

We use our tongues to cut them down, chop them off at the knees.

But God we love you!

James tells us that we can’t have it both ways.

We can’t have blessings and curses from the same mouth.

It just doesn’t work.

| Ps 15:3 | He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, |

| Ps 34:13 | Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.