James chapter 3, if you would turn in your Bibles there as we begin the second part of our communication series. Just want to review for a moment as we think about this idea of communication and how important it is as we look at the idea of life to the glory of God. But there is one thing that most people do all day long, and that is talk. And when the scripture says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, our communication is a huge part of how we can obey the Lord. So, no matter where you live and no matter really what you do, we talk a lot. And the ability to communicate is what separates us from the rest of creation. Now, someone rightly You know, we had the little moment there last week talking about whether animals can communicate and all that kind of thing. And someone reminded me of Balaam's donkey and sent me that passage this week. So anyway, the ability to communicate as far as distinction of those made in the image of God, mankind, is that we are able to talk and communicate with words. And so that's how God revealed himself to us. And that's how we communicate and reveal ourselves to other people. The word talk seems so normal or ordinary, but there are a few things that we do that are more important. And so I'm sure a lot of really great things were accomplished in your life over the last seven days. But as far as living life to the glory of God, How much of that in the area of communication can we say that we did to the glory of God, that we communicated for God's glory? And we'll ask for some feedback on that in just a moment. Four principles for our communication. God has a wonderful plan for our words that is far better than any plan we could come up with on our own. Sin has radically altered our, and that was supposed to be corrected, sorry about that, God's agenda for our words resulting in much hurt. confusion and chaos. So as we looked at the scripture this morning and we understand that things are crooked and things are not the way God originally designed it because of sin, our communication then has changed as far as God's original intent. And then in Christ, we find that the grace that God provides, all we need to speak as intended, all right? So there is hope for us, we can change, and hopefully there was opportunity this week even for you to think about your words, maybe in a little more serious manner as you went about your time. And the Bible teaches how to get from where we are to where God wants us to be in this area of communication. So that's a little bit where we, Discussed initially last week. We talked about God being the first person to speak He's the first speaker in Genesis 1 the world of communication was a world of peace some of us long for peace in our homes and peace in our workplace and we could go on and on and But ultimately, we understand that that's not what we have right now because of the fact that sin came in. But God's original intent, and in the Garden it was a place of communication that was constantly giving glory to God. It must have been a wonderful season of time to live. There was no communication struggle. Everything spoken reflected the glory of God. Every single thing reflected the glory of God. How wonderful that would be. But then, what happened? Satan spoke for the first time, as we see as we progress through the beginning of Genesis there. And when he spoke, we see the position, the authority, and the very words of God were challenged. When the evil one came alongside and communicated a different message to Eve, and actually said, you know what, you can be like God. which really, you know, was very attractive and very tempting. And we still want to take the position of God, and so we still are tempted with that very thing. But the authority of God was challenged in His very words. And so Satan said, you know what? He said that if you eat of that fruit, then there's gonna be problems, but actually, you'll actually be like Him. And so, His words, His authority was challenged, and His words were challenged, and that was the first time that we see that happening, and we see a different interpretation of life from God's. And there are many voices communicating all week long to us that are a different interpretation than what God's words for us are. That's why we have to go back to the scriptures constantly and renew our minds in the word, because all the voices that are competing with God's voice in our life. We see for the first time that a lie is spoken, and then we see people speaking against each other. And then we have what we have today, and that's communication problem on overload. And that's a very mild way to put it. So, God originally had this wonderful plan, and he designed it to be a place where every word would glorify him, but that was radically altered when sin came into the picture. So, at the end of last week, we looked at the idea, a number of passages from Proverbs, but Proverbs 18.21, I want to come back to here this afternoon, that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. But I want us to look at the idea of the power of the tongue. And why is this such a big deal? Because there's other passages of scripture that kind of bring this to light, and James 3 is one of them. You may have it in your text there in your hand. I'm going to read probably a few more verses than just what you find up there on the screen. But it says, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 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. Now, if you put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we direct the entire body as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so great and driven by strong winds, are directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also is the tongue. It is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things." So the scripture teaches us that the power of the tongue, it can bring death or it can bring life. And it's such a small part of the human body, but it has such a great effect on so much of what we do. And so the communication that God desires is really, really important. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And so we have here in James a couple principles that I would like to focus on tonight. And the first one would be controlled speech is a measure of maturity. Controlled speech is a measure of maturity. And when I talk about maturity, I'm talking about spiritual maturity. If we can grow in one area of our lives, that will show that we are really trying to be more like our Savior. It's the area of communication, because that area plays such a major role in the whole portion of our life. There's a warning there in chapter 3 and verse 1. It says there, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren. And why? Knowing that as such, we will incur a stricter judgment. And so, James here even includes himself, we will incur. And he's really kind of addressing, probably there was an issue that were, there were those who were trying to perhaps be teachers, and maybe it wasn't appropriate for them to do so, or their desire was wrong, and there's a little bit of a warning there. Many of you want this, but be very, very careful what you're asking for, and in some ways, it needs to stop. Why? Because in the Jewish culture, to be a rabbi or teacher, that was something that was revered, something that was very admirable. People would want to do that. But with that responsibility, James says, there comes a stricter judgment. And so it's a warning to anyone who communicates and teaches the Word of God to be very, very careful. And it's not an attack on the office of a teacher, but it's really, it's a sobering reality that if you spend your life talking to people, from the Scripture's point of view, and really have the authority to do that, then you better be really careful as you make that choice. Because there will be a stricter judgment, because there is a responsibility that is placed. And so he's asking people to be very, very careful. Now, in the context of James, in chapter 2 at the end there, he describes really what faith looks like, and he says, for just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. So, he is trying to communicate that if you have genuine faith, it will come out in your life. And the first thing that he addresses in working out your faith is your speech. And appropriately so, because it plays such a major role in our lives to the glory of God. And this passage tells us that really when we learn to control our speech and we grow in that way, we are actually maturing in our Christian faith. And so this is no small, insignificant matter. Christians are very good at categorizing sins. And sometimes people say, well, spiritual maturity looks like when a person no longer participates in things that may be immoral or, you know, and the list could go on and on. They're not addicted to something. You know, those big type sins that many times we put like on a higher category. And we think to ourselves, well, a person that looks really, really good, They're spiritually mature. But that person can spend the majority of their day dishonoring God, not glorifying God, by just what they say. Even though they can look and their activities of their life may fit all of the, you know, cross the T's just right and dot the I's, but their speech actually reveals. Because if you walk with them a little bit in life, you start to realize what kind of person they really are. And I mentioned last week, and I'm saying this really just because I love to joke around with folks, but I was encouraged this morning about, I mentioned that sometimes couples, as they get older, they argue more and more. And in the retirement age and beyond, couples can really go at each other. And someone reminded me today, well, that's because they spend all day together. When you're younger, you go off to work and you don't see each other. So, you know, it's easier for people who are in the retirement and beyond age because they spend so much time together. That's why they argue so much. Now, I don't know if that's a good excuse or not, but that was their excuse this morning. So, and those of you who said that to me, I'm just, I'm just playing. All right. So, but Seriously, you can have someone who has been saved for many, many decades. And everyone who knows them, as far as casually knows them, would think, oh, that's a spiritually mature Christian. They read their Bible, they know the scriptures, they don't do wrong things, they don't watch wrong things. And yet, on a moment by moment basis, what comes out of their mouth does not bring glory to God at all. So it actually really reveals how spiritually mature they really are. And we don't like to evaluate ourselves along these lines, but I would say communication is one of the biggest way to evaluate whether we live life to the glory of God, because every word matters. So you may have this over the last week, you may have stayed away from all the wrong things, and you may have made a lot of right choices, but if your speech on a regular basis did not glorify God, there's still quite a room, there's plenty of room for improvement in your spiritual life, and we don't like to think about it that way. I mean, just this morning, what perhaps, or throughout the day, we could have been tempted to really not glorify God with our words, right? So you could have said, ah, it's raining again, I hate the rain. That could have been something that came out. Boy, that sermon was a snoozer. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that. Did you see what she had on? She was a voice major. We can dishonor God in so many ways. And that's just taking a small little category like church life this morning. But that's the reality. We don't like to get that honest with ourselves. This is a huge part of life to the glory of God. I cannot reiterate it enough. There is death and life in the power of the tongue. It is a very small member, but It reveals our maturity. James says there in verse two, it says, we all stumble in many ways. We all stumble in many ways. And he's referring to this idea of not glorifying God with our speech. It's a metaphor for sin. It's the idea to trip up. It's not necessarily a fatal fall, but it's something that impedes our progress. And it basically means to fail or sin in the area of the speech as we travel down the Christian path. And so we sin with our tongue on a regular basis, and so many times we don't even think about it. just simply to understand Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So simply when we don't speak to the glory of God, we fall short of that glory and we sin against the holy God. And it's really, really important to him. It really matters in regards to our sanctification. He really wants his children to grow in this area. So we cannot take it lightly and we cannot assume that like, you know, well, I'm doing pretty well in the other areas of my Christian life and so I'll just kind of excuse this area. Absolutely not. There can be no excuses in this area of dishonoring God with our communication. None. It's that serious. And many times as Christians, we don't view it. What are some of the ways that When James says we all stumble in many ways in regards to our speech, what would many ways look like? I would suggest the tongue can be involved in complaining and murmuring. And if you recall the history of the people of God and how God interacted with them, when they murmured and complained, it did not please the Lord, to put it mildly. And yet as believers, we can get up in the morning and we can murmur and complain. We can go to work and we can murmur and complain. We can come home and murmur and complain. And we can go to bed murmuring and complaining. And think to ourselves, I'm a pretty good Christian. And yet, perhaps, our words are identifying the fact that we're really, really not. And our spiritual maturity that we think that we have really grown through the years, we're probably not as mature as we think we are. But that takes a real honest look at our lives. So we can be involved in complaining, we can be critical and tear people down, With our words, we can be involved in immoral conversation. We can be involved in cursing in a moment of anger. You know, I'm surprised many times at how much Christians let go as far as cursing is concerned. And I realize sometimes in the context in which you work and things like that, that there are many voices and there's a lot of folks who don't understand your worldview and where you're coming from, and so you can really be affected by that. But there is no place for cursing in the life of a believer. At no point should we be taking God's name in vain on any level. That's really, really important to him. But yet sometimes in our day and in our culture, it's just a little word here and there at work. My wife didn't hear me. Kids weren't around. But God heard you. And that really matters if we want to live life to the glory of God. We can use our words to spread gossip. We can use our words to tell lies and people use the term, well, it was a half lie. No, it was a lie. I'm always talking to my kids about exaggeration. In fact, on the way here, a statement was made in the car, and I'm like, really? Everyone is doing this? Do you really want me to pull out the statistics on this? I'm like, that's an exaggeration. That's not true. When we use harsh generalities, it's not true. So when you go to your husband or your wife and say, you always do this, don't do that. It's not accurate. Now, they may have a regular pattern of it. And you could say that probably in a very kind way. But in that moment, that's probably not what's happening. You're probably lashing out in anger. And it's coming out through really, really bad communication that does not please the Lord. Our words reveal our true maturity. No matter where you live, no matter what you do, your words can be a measure of how spiritually mature you think you are. And so we must be careful to understand we all stumble. James says it. Look right there, verse two. 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." And so it's the idea of perfect here is really the idea of mature, and that's where, you know, the emphasis comes from. That if there is someone who controls their speech, they're in a place of spiritual maturity, or they're headed that way. And that's the goal. And James says, for we all stumble in many ways. And this is the great desire of our hearts, or at least it should be, that we would be growing in our communication so that we could really say, you know what? God has done a work in my life, and I'm really striving, and I'm growing towards maturity, and this is how we evaluate it. And so we're better with our children than we have been in the past. We're speaking better to God's glory in our marriages than we have been in the past. Our coworkers, those customers that come in and they are so frustrating to you because they think they're entitled to everything and you're there just to simply meet their needs and they make you feel that way and your response to them can either be to the glory of God, or it can be bringing death to those who hear. So the first principle is, controlled speech is a measure of spiritual maturity. How are you doing spiritually from this perspective? I don't wanna hear how many years you've been saved. I don't wanna hear how much you read your Bible. All of those things are wonderful and important, but the scripture says that maturity can be evaluated by our speech. So how spiritually mature are you? It really matters. The second thing I would say from this text, the tongue is very, very small, but it is very significant. And it tells us that at the end of two, if we're able to bridle the tongue, the whole body will be able to be controlled. Man, that's a great thing. As far as understanding, okay, if I could get this area of my life and I could see some growth and improvement, there could be a positive effect here in everything that I do. Maybe as you look at all your relationships and you're like, man, I just, there's conflict in this relationship and there's conflict at work and there's conflict with my kids and there's conflict. Perhaps instead of looking at everyone else and their problems, perhaps maybe you're the problem with your words and your communication. And if you would strive to change, a soft answer really does many times turn away wrath. Maybe the conflict would start to minimize in your life. As we go through this, we're going to look at a number of resources that will help us with our relationships and conflict resolution. But let the Scripture sink in this afternoon, early evening, wherever we are at this point. Our communication, it's a small part of who we are as far as the makeup of our body, but it really has an effect on the whole. Continue reading. If you put, and there's a few illustrations here. It says, if you put the bits into the horse's mouths so that they will obey us, we direct the entire body as well. Ships also, talking about how great it is, it's driven by winds and massive, and if you understand this from an illustration point, that you have this massive machine, And yet, a small portion of it, the rudder can control the whole direction of it. These are two really great illustrations that help us understand how important the communication is in our lives. That if we can learn to control our mouths, then a lot of what happens in our lives will probably go in a whole different direction. And ultimately, we will bring God glory, which is what we should be living for. We can understand. Many of you, some of you have been around horses growing up and some of you have horses right now. And that, that bridle, you put it in the, you know, in the mouth of the horse and boy, changes everything. You have complete control for the most part. Same thing with the rudder of a ship. And in verse five he says, so also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts of great things. And so we have a lot of work to do on a regular basis because we need to understand that This area seems insignificant, apart, but really, really important. Now, in Matthew chapter 12, and as we close this afternoon, I want to just think about this. The scripture tells us that what comes out of our mouth is really just a reflection of our heart. And so from the heart, the mouth speaks. So let's say one of your children, they have a disrespectful tongue, okay? There's an attitude there of disrespect, and it's coming out in the words that they say to you. Well, what does that reveal about their heart? Well, it probably reveals that there's pride there, There's perhaps bitterness. There's things there that need to be addressed, and so you may say, don't ever speak to me that way. Not in this house will you talk to me that way. And so you'll go after the speech, which I understand at some point, yes, it's very important, but as a parent, we probably want to get to the heart of the matter. And so with the addressing of the speech, we actually talk about the heart that motivates those kinds of disrespectful words. And in our own lives, when we find ourselves sinning in our words, we probably need to ask yourself, what is in my heart that is coming out of my mouth? And God, help me deal with my heart. You have a sarcastic, critical person. What does that reveal? Sometimes it reveals a great amount of insecurity. If people are always tearing others down and they have to joke around in order to make people like them and things like that, a lot of times that reveals they're very insecure. Now, I understand some personalities are just funny, and that's great, but sometimes it's actually something that hides really what's in the heart. And people who have to always tear down someone else, and this could be from young people to older people. You can have older people that, you know, they're sitting around talking about their grandkids, and you know, and then there's that one in the bunch, well, you know. Well, did you know what they did? And there's just always this, you have to like tear someone down to make you feel better about yourself. Sometimes it reveals a lot of jealousy and it can be pride as well when people are critical. A gossip tongue reveals a heart that really is not loving. And many times it reveals a heart that really could be revenge, or we just like when people are put in a negative light, whether it be pride or jealousness. A perverted tongue reveals a heart that can be full of lust and wickedness. And so, what comes out of our mouth as we do this evaluation, we should also then go to the next step and say, what is in my heart that does not glorify God and I'm experiencing it as I speak? The tongue is a, it's a small member but it has a huge effect to our whole lives as we walk through the Christian life. And so, please, during these days, would you consider just a moment-by-moment evaluation of how you really are spiritually? How mature you are? And maybe there should be just some confession of, God, you know, I've really missed this. I thought I was in a better place, but I'm really not. And my words reveal who I really am. As we close, I just want to kind of end this. We ended here last week, but God wants us to be living to the glory of God in our words. That is His desire. He wants us to be changing to be like Him in our communication. Jesus is the word. He is our only hope for our words. And then lastly, the gospel brings hope for change in the way we understand and solve our communication problems. So what does that mean, the gospel brings hope? Well, when we understand the nature of the gospel, according to Romans, it means that we're freed from our sin. So we actually We're no longer slaves to sin. We're no longer bound by that. We have the freedom in Christ to grow and change to be like him. And so the gospel every day gives us hope. You know what? I don't have to live this way anymore. I don't have to always talk to my spouse this way anymore because I have the Spirit of God living inside of me. He came when I came to know Christ, and so therefore, I can speak a different kind of speech. I can speak to the glory of God. I can speak to the glory of God to my children, my coworkers, my customers, whatever it is, whoever it is. There's actually hope for change. If we have been redeemed by our wonderful Savior, Jesus is the word and he is our hope and help. And so you may be here tonight and say, you know, I'm a little discouraged in this area because I'm not doing real well. Well, look to Jesus. And if you're his child, you can change. Today could be day one. So you actually could go home tonight and speak to the glory of God in your home. Today could be day one, and tomorrow could be day two, or maybe you mess up and tomorrow's day one. So in your dorm this week, you can speak to the glory of God. In your friendship and your relationship pool, you can speak to the glory of God. There is hope in the gospel for change. And as we understand from God's perspective, this is a very, very big way for us to evaluate how we're doing spiritually. So whether you've been saved for one year or 50 years, This is a good tool to really identify where we are in our walk with Christ. And it really matters. Every word matters. Controlled speech is a measure of maturity. The tongue is a small part of the body, but it can have a major effect. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Would you speak life this week? Would you strive to live life to the glory of God in every thing you say? Let's pray. God, help us not to take this lightly. We're so prone to think better of ourselves than we really are. And so Lord, I pray that as we have looked at your word and your word has told us that we all stumble in many ways. And so on a regular basis, we are tempted to speak words that do not glorify you. They're actually words that represent death. But we have hope in the gospel that we actually don't have to live that way and we can speak words of life and therefore grow in our walk with you. Help us to strive to bring our communication under the control of the Holy Spirit and watch our lives for you flourish in wherever aspect you want them to glorify you. And so Lord, please help us as we go from this place, even in the homes, in the cars on the way home, and in our homes tonight as we pillow our heads. I pray that our communication will be to your glory. In your name we pray, amen.