Sermon Notes: James 3:3-12

The Tongue is a Fire James 3:3-12

The Tongue is a Fire

“Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies Arrabelle Young, who, on the twenty-fourth of May, began to hold her tongue.”
If the heart is the main concern of the Christian faith, the tongue is likely a close second.
Paul describes the problem in Romans 3:13-14: There throat is an open grave, with their tongue they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
David describes the solution in his Psalm 141:3 prayer: Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.
We have talked in recent weeks about John Wesley’s emphasis on the need for holiness, growing in sanctification, moving onto perfection. Although we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:12), the old self lingers, and our life-long project is to die more and more to the old nature. One of the most stubborn and dangerous hold overs from the old self is the tongue.
Research shows that we speak about 1/5 of our entire lives. The average person has over 30 conversations per day. That amounts to 66 800-paged books a year [Repeat]…I just happen to have one those books with your name on it, a transcript of your words spoken from over the past year. Would you like me to share it with the congregation? I won’t share yours if you don’t share mine.
Although it’s only 1/5 of our lives, our words spoken by our tongues have a great potential for good or for ill.
James calls the tongue a small spark that becomes fire, too often a fire ignited by the fires of hell.
On July 23 of this summer, an 81-year-old man and his wife were pulling their trailer on a highway in Shasta County in northern California, when one of their tires went flat. The metal rim scraped the pavement. Sparks flew and fell upon dry grass,, igniting a blaze that within weeks had scorched 229,651 acres, destroyed 1,064 structures at a cost of $1.65 billion. Three fighters and five civilians were killed.
A spark can do a lot of damage. So can the tongue. For this reason, not only James, but Paul, David and others, including Jesus, warn us over and over giants the dangers of the tongue.
In Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus says: But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned. / Remember those 66 800-page books for every year of your life? Hmmmmm.
The wise man of Ecclesiastes 5:2 says then: Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
So, real quickly, how do we prevent and contain the fire that can be ignited by our tongues? James goes on to offer instruction to help us.
James 4:11: “Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters” Putting down others is a sign of your weakness and insecurities. Ask yourself, why am I putting this person down, gossiping or slandering? What is it that I am so insecure about that I would slander and bad mouth this person? Then ask the Lord to tame your tongue, and give you grace to overcome your insecurities.
Next, James 5:9: “Do not complain, brothers and sisters, against one another, or you will be judged. The judge is standing at the door. Why do we complain? It doesn’t solve anything. We must do it for another reason. Complaining is comforting, because it excuses us from taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions, or lack of action. The next time you find yourself complaining, ask yourself what actions am I not taking but am instead assuaging my anger or frustration by complaining? We all complain. Sometimes to commiserate with someone to share our hurt or to let off steam. But know what you are doing. You are that moment excusing yourself of responsibility of resolving the issue. The Stoics have a helpful teaching here. Epictetus said an uninstructed person will lay fault for a bad situation on someone else. The person with a little instruction will blame himself. But the wise person will blame neither another nor himself. If there is a problem, see to resolve it in the most virtuous way, but stop complaining. That solves nothing.
Finally, James says in 5:12: But above all, brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or earth or with an oath, but yes is to be yes and your no is to be no.” This echoes Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:34-37 when Jesus says that same thing. Make no oath. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. This passages is about humility, plainness and honesty in our words. It’s about virtue, about you being the most excellent you that you can possibly be. The most excellent you is a virtuous you, and you who says what he means and means what he says. His words matter. He lets his words be few, and when he does open his mouth he means it. His words can be taken for truth. They are as good as done. When you are bold enough to speak, you will speak truth. It means you are a plain, unassuming, virtuous person who doesn’t use rhetoric or fancy language to justify yourself or convince others. Your simply yes means yes, and your simple no means no.
Conclusion: Let your words be few. When you do dare open your mouth, let your words reflect a virtue that is beyond reproof, a truth that is simple and sure. And know that you are producing a transcript, documenting your life each time you open your mouth and wag your tongue. Will your tongue produce a work of simple but beautiful poetry, or will it be a book of deceit, slander, gossiping, cursing and bitterness? James say our tongue is a spark that will light a fire. Let it ignite a fire of encouragement and good news and not of bitterness and ugliness.

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