We're ready to talk about wisdom from above. God's word is full of wisdom for us and isn't it great just to be able to come together and tune out other things and look at a slice of scripture where God has wisdom for us, something to enrich our lives, something to add value to our our spiritual walk, something to instruct and correct and give us some encouragement for our walk with Him and our representation of Him in the week ahead. So our passage is in James, and it's almost at the very end of your Bible, the book of James. If you want to turn there, we'll be in chapter 3 today. May 4th of 2018 was recognized as International Anti-Bullying Day. And so IKEA released a study they called Say No to Bullying, where they did a 30-day test in some middle schools. They took two potted plants, as identical as they could, and put them into these middle schools. The plants were encased so that people couldn't touch or breathe on them or pour anything in, anything like that. The two plants for 30 days received identical water, fertilization, and sunlight. The difference between the two is that both were played recordings but one was played recordings of insults, and the other was played recordings of compliments. So they had these middle schools record these negative things, positive things, and they just played those on a loop, one for one plant, one for the other. The insults were things like, you look rotten, and are you even alive? The compliments were things like, I like the way you are, and you are making a difference in the world. So for 30 days, one plant received the insults, the other received these compliments, and the school students were supposed to look and observe and kind of see what happened. At the end of the 30 days, this is what the plants looked like. There's a photo here, and the photo on the left was bullied. The plant on the right is the one that got the compliments. All right, and so this, if you have doubts about this, take it up with IKEA. Obviously it's a small sample size, no control plants, anything like that. Hey, what's the science behind it? I don't know, I can't, I'm not saying this is necessarily the plants respond to bullying or complimenting, but I do know it works on people. And so I want to invite you as we start to zone in on today's scripture passage and what God has for us today to think about if the people in your sphere of influence, your home, your workplace, your classroom, whatever, were plants and the study played out, what would the people around you look like based on your speech toward them? Because sometimes reactions can be very blank, people act unaffected by our words, or maybe they explode in anger or have comebacks. It may have all kinds of reactions on the outside, but on the inside, this happens. Our speech is just that powerful. And so our passage today is about speaking responsibly. James chapter three, the verse 12 verses. Remember the preceding passage if you were here last week. James has given us really a wake up call about checking our faith. You want to make sure your faith is good. What good is it if it's just talk, if it's just conceptual or theoretical and it doesn't play out in works? We wanna have a faith that is saving, that's active, that's mature, that's all in, a faith that's alive. And we know we have it by our works, when we're able to relinquish earthly security, rest everything on God's promise and reach out to those around us in need. Now in chapter three, James wants us to see that if we claim to have genuine faith, and particularly if we wanna have positions of influence, We have to learn to tame our tongues, bridle our speech, or we can say speak responsibly. First thing we're gonna see here in chapter three about speaking responsibly is that we have to govern our speech, thinking of ourselves, viewing ourselves as someone who will be judged. Speak as someone who will be judged. Look at verse one. My brethren, be not many, masters or teachers, leaders, people with positions of influence. Don't everybody want to be in that position of teaching influence? Why? Because knowing that we, he includes himself in those people in position of leadership and teaching, shall receive the greater condemnation. Hey, don't be too eager to have a platform, to have an audience, to have a wide influence, a lot of listeners for everything you have to say, because those in positions of leadership, those with a big audience, the more people you reach with your speech, the greater the accountability will be on judgment day. And so it's a sobering reminder, let's speak as people who are going to be judged. God is very concerned with our speech and he will hold us accountable. This is a helpful reminder because our tendency and so many people in our world, we clamor for attention. We want to be seen. We want to be heard. We want listeners. We want followers. We want the microphone. Don't interrupt. I've got this to say. James says, be careful what you wish for. What does Jesus tell us? And these are surely in James's mind as he writes these things, the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 12. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word, everything we say, God is concerned with, God keeps track, there's judgment coming, we're gonna speak responsibly, we start by recognizing, I'm gonna be judged for my speech. And the more people my speech reaches and influence, the greater the accountability, the stricter the measure of that judgment is going to be, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, Jesus says, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Like Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, with great power comes great responsibility, right? And James wants us to recognize our speech has great power, can have great impact, that comes with a real responsibility. If we're gonna speak responsibly, we keep in mind that we're going to be judged for it. Verse two. For in many things, we offend all. Or we could say we all offend. All of us trip up. or a modern translation is, we all stumble in many ways. That's a healthy, humbling reminder. Sometimes with our speech, and he says he's covered in chapter two, the way that we view others and kind of make snap judgments and judge others to remember to let go of our gavel, we're going to be judged, and when we point the finger, the finger's pointing back, when we notice the mode in someone else's eye, the speck in someone else's eye, there's a log in our eye sometimes, So it's in many ways we all offend, we offend all of us. If any man offend not in word, verse two, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. So I think we can all agree, that's not me, I'm not the perfect person. If I were perfect in my speech, I could claim to be perfect because the speech is the one thing that none of us is ever going to reach this level where we wouldn't say, yeah, sometimes something slips out that I shouldn't have said. Yeah, sometimes something comes out and I realize, you know, the way it came out or the way it was received just was really harsh or really hurtful and it would have been better left unsaid. And we all have those things that it's like, man, I wish I could take that back, whether it's the moment it slips out or days later, it's like, if I had been better thought out, if I'd been more in control of my emotions, if I'd been in a better spiritual state, I never would have said that. In many ways, we all stumble. And if we don't, that's a measure of perfection, which James is concerned with perfection. Remember in the very opening passage of the epistle, it's like the trying of our faith works patience. That patience, that endurance builds up to make us perfect and complete and tired, lacking nothing. That's what we're after. And we can gain some growth in that through trials. We can gain some growth in that chapter 2 trying of our, not only the trying of our faith, but the expression of our faith through works, where Abraham's works wrought with or were synergistic with his faith, his faith and works, and by the works his faith was made perfect. Where after this perfection, this growth, this completion, a mature entirety as believers, and James says the kind of the pinnacle of that, you know you're there if you're not offending with your speech. You never stumble with what you say if you're able to speak responsibly. In video game terminology, it's like, responsible speech is the final boss. If you can beat this level, or in scholastic terms, have you ever looked at a syllabus and it's like, the final grade is based in percentages, and you know, you've had classmates that it's like, well, the paper's worth 20% of the final grade. I could not write the paper and still get maybe like a D minus and pass the class. When it comes to our speech, it's like the oral report is worth 90% of the final grade. And so if you don't offend here, you know you're okay. But in many ways we all stumble. James isn't saying that words are more important than actions or that words are more important than what's in our heart. But it's what Jesus said, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks. And so if there are problems in our hearts, it shows up eventually in our speech. And so that's why, hey, if there's no problem in our speech, there must not be problems in our hearts. That's a measure of perfection. We're never gonna get perfect. in our pursuit of holiness and our earthly walk, but we wanna strive for it. And part of it is learning to speak responsibly out of a heart that's in tune with God. Your speech is a barometer of your spiritual health. And that's the measure we'll be judged by. Remember chapter one in verse 26, he said, if anyone among you seems to be religious, but bridles not his own tongue, his religion's vain. We can't learn to speak responsibly. The whole thing's a wash. If we're not growing in this area, Christ isn't in our heart if it isn't impacting our speech. So chapter two, our faith is worthless if it doesn't manifest in obedient works. Chapter three, our religion is worthless. In chapter one, verse 26, if it doesn't manifest in responsible speech. Our words have enormous impact, not only on those around us. but even on our own spiritual condition and future judgment as we give account to the Lord. That's why chapter two, verse 12, remember this, James says, Remember what's the measure? How should we speak? As those who will be judged. by the perfect law of liberty. Everything I say, God holds me accountable for, and the more that hear it, the stricter the judgment. Speak carefully, as one who will be judged. Number two, speak as wielding a powerful tool. And in these next several verses, James has kind of a diatribe on just how impactful, just how powerful, and even, unfortunately, how destructive our words can be when we don't speak responsibly. Look at verse three. Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body, like the whole horse, can be controlled by this little bit in the mouth. Verse four, behold also the ships, which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Wherever the pilot wants to go, it's this little rudder, that's the whole direction. And so far, both of these examples, they're not necessarily bad. It's like your speech can actually have very productive impact. It's good to be able to steer a horse or to guide a ship. And even the next metaphor he'll use is like fire, and even fire too can be very useful and helpful. In fact, it's a basic survival tool. If you're out in the wild, it can keep you warm, it can give you light, it can fend off wild animals, but it can also be very destructive. Verse five, even so the tongue is a little member, a small body part, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." Vivid illustrations James used, and I was going to use some other word pictures just to drive home just how potent speech can be. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, no limit to the vitriol and sin that can come through our speech, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defiles or stains or corrupts the whole body. You could look right and seem to act right and have right facial expressions, but if the words that come out of your mouth are fiery, the whole body defiled and set us on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell. This is pretty intense, that he's talking to leaders, but he's talking to believers in general. He uses that term, my brothers, a few different times to show, hey, this is for all of us, that even as believers, our speech could channel hell. Pretty important. We learn to speak responsibly. It's amazing. People can train all kinds of animals to do things. Not that every species that's ever existed has been trained to perform tricks or things like that, but James is saying all kinds of animals can be trained to do things. We can bring animals under our subjection, whether it's training them to do things or whether it's just subduing them in cages or enclosures and things like that, but not the tongue. Verse 8, the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Wow. I think James wants to get our attention about the potence that our tongue wields. It's a powerful tool. When you watch the news, there's a lot of bad news, and the worst of the bad news is when it involves children being hurt or killed. The CDC reports that over the last 20 years, Hundreds of young American children have lost their lives playing with firearms. It's these situations where they didn't know it was real, or they didn't know it was loaded, or they just didn't have anywhere near the proper reverence for the damage it could inflict. And so there's so much loss of life, what a tragedy. And each one of us knows, if we walked into a situation and saw a child with a deadly weapon, we would immediately do anything within our power to get their attention, to try to impress them with how vital it is that that be put down, that that be put under control, that that be locked up until such a time they could be trained to use it responsibly. What James does for us is he looks at a church full of believers with fully loaded mouths and says, you have no idea how much damage that can do. Lock it up until you know how to use it responsibly. It can be used for good. It can be powerful for justice and right and all of that, but if it's not used responsibly, can be deadly. Proverbs 18, 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And that's just the sobering, chilling, but also potentially inspiring truth that James is trying to drive home as we kind of put these wisdom literature thoughts together. It's the idea that if we're going to be wise, if our lives are gonna be governed by wisdom from above and we're going to please God with our lives, there's got to be an accountability, a responsibility, a care attached with what we allow to come out of our mouth. Jesus said, it's not what goes into a man that defiles them, because there were these religious bickerings about dietary laws and washing your hands when you're eating all this stuff. He says, it's what comes out of your mouth that defiles. You can really do damage to yourself and others with irresponsible speech, unfitting speech for James in verses six through eight. It burns, it stains, it poisons, it curses. Great Chicago fire that killed 300, destroyed 1,700 structures, left more than 100,000 Chicago residents homeless. It started by a little lantern that got kicked over in a barn. 1997, a forest fire that burned 800 New Jersey acres. Forced the evacuation of 2,000 people from retirement complexes. It was caused by a carelessly tossed cigarette. 2020, a fire in San Bernardino burned 36 acres, forced the evacuation of hundreds, injured 13, and killed a 39-year-old firefighter. It was started by a smoke machine that was part of a gender reveal party. And it's like something that started out to be innocent and positive, if proper care wasn't used, it actually became destructive and deadly. Obviously, there could be so many examples given. We know that one spark can cause a forest fire. The rage is out of control. And James, like Smokey, wants us to know only you can prevent this from happening. when we're careful, when we're responsible with our speech. Because in your workplace, in your home, in your church, great damage can be done by one person's discontented speech, complaining speech, overly critical speech, gossiping speech, dishonest speech. can poison a growth environment, can really suck the life out of a wholesome, nurturing home, or workplace, or church. The member can defile the whole body, James says, and we can think about a parallel there with church language. So third point in verses 9 through 12, we want to see that not only we speak as someone who will be judged and speak as wielding a powerful tool, but third to speak as addressing image bearers. When I speak I'm an image bearer of God addressing other image bearers of God. Very important we keep that in mind, verse nine. Therewith, okay, with a destructive tongue, we could bless or praise God, verse nine, even the Father, and therewith curse we men. Watch why that's such a big problem, because they are made after the similitude of God. How messed up is it if we can stand in here on Sunday morning and say, blessed be the name, and then by afternoon, we're slandering, we're gossiping, we're lying, we're using impure speech, we're tearing down others. James says, it ought not so to be, verse 10. Out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not so to be. When we're talking to other people, we're talking to image bearers. Try talking to a parent and saying, you know what? You're handsome, you're beautiful, but your kids are ugly. I'm sure you don't mind my saying that. Yes, of course we do. Because, well, for one thing, that kid's got my genes. That's the child in my image and likeness. And for another thing, this is someone I care very deeply about and whom I love and is precious in my eyes. No, we wouldn't talk to someone that way. But James wants us to see that's what we're doing when we criticize and slander other people. That's someone God made. That's someone in God's image. And guess what? God takes it personally. What you say to your kids, what you say to your spouse, what you say to your coworkers, what you say about people in leadership, people in your church, people in your spheres. What you say is, if it's about people, it's always about image bearers of God. That doesn't mean we praise bad behavior or flatter with insincere compliments or anything like that, it just means I'm careful what I say about anybody else to remember that I'm talking about someone God cares very much about, someone in God's image, and he takes it personally when I use destructive speech toward them. Proverbs 17, five, he who reproaches the poor mocks his maker. I said that backwards. He who mocks the poor reproaches his maker. So when we, with our speech, put down someone who doesn't have things together, Proverbs says we're actually reproaching the one who made that person. God takes it personally. Verse 11, doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter. Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine, figs? So can no fountain yield both saltwater and fresh. Just like it would be unnatural and unfitting to see an olive growing on a fig tree. It's unfitting, unnatural for someone who says they're saved to have hurtful speech coming out of their mouth. Salt water actually takes life. It actually dehydrates. Fresh water gives life. It hydrates. And they might look the same, but the effects are totally different. Ephesians 4.29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. The idea is like it's in there. The potential is there. You could so easily form those words, and they can slip right out and do their damage. Paul says, don't let it happen, let none of it, don't let any of that corrupt, poisoned, cursing, bitter, fiery language come out. And if it's there, obviously, if we're having to rein it in and it's so hard, it reveals a heart problem, that there are anger problems, there are pride issues, that there are lust problems, that there's an arrogance factor at play. And we go to God with these things, but don't let it come out of your mouth. I think as we consider these things and James's instructions here are not so much about The positives, Paul will say, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, why, to minister grace to the hearer. So we know to put on the right thing. James is just concerned to get our attention and say, look, it can do great damage, let's rein it in, let's set a watch. And I think this could be all of our prayers this morning with the psalm, Psalm 141, verse three. Set a watch, O Lord. Before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Chapter 1 of James, verse 19. Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. It's like some days you gotta reach for that glue stick instead of the chapstick. It's like, yeah, set a watch, keep it in, rein it in. Think this week about, first, not initiating, not starting that negativity, and then also not reciprocating. So when someone gossips, it's like, well, I can respond with something positive or I can remain silent. to cut back on comebacks where it's not like as soon as somebody says something to me, I'm defensive and here comes something sharp back at them. I got a zinger ready for you. Could God help us just to set a watch to think before we speak, to weigh our words before unleashing them, to speak words of hope. Sometimes life can be very hard. Sometimes in trials, when there's extra stress in the home or in the workplace or in the church, it gets easier to just kind of have that negativity dominate our speech. But actually, it makes the trials worse when the trials become bearable when we're able to speak hope into each other's lives. Speak responsibly. Are you a teacher in the church? You will give a count. for how your preparation, how your content, how your delivery speaks the words of life into your listeners, or how it doesn't. If you have friends, people you talk to regularly, or you have followers, people who see what you post, or what you blog, or vlog, or podcast, or have on your channel, your website, you'll be judged based on whether you spoke life, whether you built up with growth and edification to your readers, your hearers, your followers, or whether it was idle, useless, self-promoting, whether it tore down and poisoned and ministered death. Yes, if James were writing today, he would surely warn us to bridle our thumbs. You'll not only give account to every word that comes out of your mouth, but for every word your hands write, your fingers type, or your thumbs text. Every idle tweet will be brought under judgment. Do you have employees working under you or students required to listen to you? You'll give account based on whether your words afflicted or uplifted them. Do you have children or grandchildren that you have an opportunity to speak into their lives? God will judge every word of your speech based on whether you're speaking truth, whether you're speaking life. or whether our speech was more angry, more impatient, more harsh, more selfish. You've probably seen studies or read things about how formative in a child's life the speech of a parent or grandparent can be. James wants to see, this is a great responsibility. We better think carefully about this. Do you have a spouse? God is highly concerned with your speech toward him, with your speech toward her, whether it nourishes for her flourishing or whether it wounds her and stings her, whether it builds him up or whether it tears him down. We'll give account for this. Our homes, our marriage, our church, and everything else can look one of these ways. Sometimes it's like, well, I can't think of anything positive to say. This person I'm dealing with, you don't know what they're like. But stop and realize for a moment, actually the people under your influence are, in part, a product of your speech that molds them. If your spouse looks like the plant on the left, it's like, well, what do I compliment? Well, maybe they got that way because they don't receive daily encouragement and words of life and hope and compliments and blessings. All they hear is cursing. It's going to wilt them. As we close, and I'll tell you, boy, sure, I'm preaching to myself here, and God's using this passage to work in my life. I can tell you, I talked about comebacks a moment ago. As a middle child, home with seven kids, you know, I had it coming from both sides sometimes. I learned to just zing with some comebacks. I've developed a sharp tongue that I hope you've never been on the wrong end of, but, you know, it comes out if you've been around me long enough, and some of you say, oh yeah, we know about that, or, you know, my kids maybe, or Sarah would have to tell you. We all need this. But let's not walk away from here, friends, with this, okay, well, from now on, I'm going to try harder. And then I'll do better. because that can last like hours. You know what I mean? This has to be something. James is not, okay, he's big on the measurables. What are you saying? What are you doing? You know, don't tell me about invisible things in your heart if it's not showing up. So he's about moral speech and he's about moral behavior, but He, of all people, would never want us to go out with this moralistic response, like, okay, well, if I do more, say less, speak better, then God's gonna be pleased with me, and it's just about my effort. Of all people, James would tell you, all the moralism, all the effort in the world won't get you to God, because he tried it for years and years, until he finally realized, it's gotta be Jesus working through me. If the speech is a problem, it's not just a lack of awareness or effort. It's a lack of fellowship with Christ. It's a lack of the Spirit's influence and control in me that the symptom is the bad speech. The symptom is the lack of works. So let's not just try to make the symptom better. Let's reach the heart issue and say, Lord, I need more of you. I need... to fellowship with you. I need daily communion with you. I need regular communion with your people. I need you living through me in such a way that my speech is transformed, not by my effort, but by your transforming work in me. So do you have Christ in you? Have your sins been forgiven? Have you been reborn into God's family for a relationship with him? Always wanna put this challenge forefront. It's like all of this work on speech and obedient works and all of this won't get you anywhere until you first have a faith relationship with Christ where you've accepted his death on the cross as payment for your personal sin and surrendered your life to be his follower and that's when he goes to work on you and you go to work for him. So if you need to be saved, if you're not sure that you're ready to meet God and that you're truly Christ's follower, He in you and you in Him, take care of that today. See one of us today. We can just open Scripture and show you here's how to have a relationship with God. And if you have that relationship with God through Christ, it's always about communion. It's always about surrender. It's always about pursuing Him, His work in our lives. has to be a work of grace that God does from within your heart. So let's seek better speech by seeking Jesus. Let's be responsible with our mouths by giving the keys over to the Lord and asking the Spirit to convict us when what we say is not what should be said, to guide us so that what we say is what should be said. As we walk with the Lord, He'll transform our speech. Let every word that shouldn't have come out. Okay, now, you know, we were Thumper's dad, right? Bambi, if you don't have something nice to say, don't say nothing at all. That's not great English, but he's a rabbit. All right, so We tried this, right? That came out in the 50s. For 70 years, parents have been trying this on the kids, right? I think it was this week, maybe last. And I take my kids to school in the back of a little car. Three of them are shoulder to shoulder. And it's kind of tight. And they're in each other's space. And they can start bugging each other. And this one morning, I was just like, they were after each other and picking at each other and negative. And I finally said, all right. Nobody say anything for the rest of the trip unless it's something nice. And then immediately, all these nice things started coming out. No, no. It just got quiet. And it was like quiet, quiet. No one had anything nice to say. But you know what? The quiet was better. And you might be there where it's like, the right speech isn't there yet, but maybe what James wants us to take away for now is, okay, then just be quiet until what comes out is ready and is spirit-led. And it might be the next thing that comes out, the next words that need to come out toward someone in your home or someone you have a relationship with is, I'm sorry. or just something as simple as, you know what, I realized I don't do enough speaking of encouragement into your life. And I love you, and I want to do better at that. I want us to build each other up. And that kind of conversation, that kind of intention, that kind of measured, responsible speech in the home, in the church, in the workplace, I'm telling you, it's like sweet water. So we can flourish like the plant on the right. instead of drooping like the plant on the left. So when we speak, as Christ leads us, let's remember that we'll be judged for our speech. That every time we talk, we're wielding a powerful tool, and we're wielding it towards someone that God cares very much about who's made in his image. And may God use that to teach us to speak responsibly. Let's bow and ask for his help.