Sermon Series
How to Face Our Future! – Part 8
"How to Manage Your Mouth"
Pastor Jerry
James 3:1-12
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Last week in my message about
“How to Have Real Faith,” I said
“Talk is Cheap.” It is easy to tell people things; but to prove it, that is a different matter. The point I was making was
“You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk”? To help understand what I am asking, let me give you a quiz:
Five frogs are sitting on a log that is floating in a pond. The five frogs have a committee meeting and decide that they are going to jump into the water. So, now, how many frogs are there on the log? The answer is five because talking about a jump into the pond is not the same as actually doing it.
Today, there is a huge disparity between what we say, and what we actually do. The present day politicians lure their voters with their manifestos which they promise to perform if they are elected to that important position. But most often they fail miserably because they have promised more than they can fulfill.
“They talk the talk but don’t walk the walk”!
Let me ask you a question:
“How many of you like to talk?” With the pandemic this past year demanding that we stay at home, isolate, social distance and wear masks, all these have made actual talking very limited. But, here’s maybe a more important question to ask when we do get to talk:
“How many of you when you talk say only good things?”
Today we're going to look at what James has to say about
"How to Manage Your Mouth". We love to talk. Everybody seems to have something to say. Before the pandemic the average person would have 30 conversations a day; and did you know that you'll spend a 5th of your life talking? If you're a man, you speak an average of 20,000 words a day. If you’re a woman, you speak an average of 30,000 words a day.
(Does that surprise you?) Which explains why when we men are done talking, our wives still have 10,000 words to go! I don’t know if that is accurate, but at least, I think my wife always gets to have the last word!
Our mouths get us into a lot of trouble. We seem to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Sometimes it doesn’t take but a few words to really get yourself in trouble! James talks more about the tongue than anybody else in the New Testament. Every chapter in the book of James says something about managing your mouth. (v 2)
"We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check." James says, if you can control your mouth, you're perfect. When you go to the doctor, he often says,
"Stick out your tongue." Your tongue reveals what's going on inside of you, …and that’s not just physically but spiritually. James says that you've got to learn to manage your mouth. You've got to get your tongue under control.
I. Why Must I Watch What I Say?
Three reasons we have to learn to manage our mouth.
- MY TONGUE DIRECTS WHERE I GO
It has tremendous influence and control over my life. Where are you headed in life? Look at your conversation. What do you like to talk about? What do you talk about the most? James says,
“The tongue is small, it's tiny.” And because it's tiny we think it's insignificant. But it has tremendous power. (v 3)
Consider a bit in a horse's mouth. Vonda loves horseback riding
(we ride whenever we can on vacation). Imagine, you've got little people like Vonda & me sitting on the backs of a huge horse, 2,000-3,000 pounds. We can control these tremendous mighty horses by a little piece of metal stuck strategically over their tongues. Likewise your tongue controls the direction of your life wherever you want to go; and a little bit of a word or a phrase can influence the total direction of your life James says.
Then James says,
Consider a ship. Have you ever been on a cruise? Cruise ships are of gigantic size. Yet a relatively small rudder directs the huge ocean liner out in the middle of the waves and winds and seas. A little rudder keeps it on course. Our tongue is like that. Our tongue is like a rudder that steers us. Your tongue is the steering wheel of your life. It is the guidance system. If you don't like the way you're headed right now, change the way you talk. James says that my tongue directs where I go, so I've got to learn to control it. (1 reason to manage mouth)
- MY TONGUE CAN DESTROY WHAT I HAVE
(v 5) James gives another illustration. Imagine a beautiful forest - tall beautiful trees everywhere.
Now imagine it completely destroyed instantly with a little tiny match. It only takes a spark to get a fire going. You remember seeing pictures on the news of the fires in California this past year, each started from a single spark. James says that your tongue can destroy like that. You can lose it all. A careless camper with a match can destroy an entire national forest overnight. A careless word can destroy a life overnight. Thousands of lives. Gossip is like fire. It spreads quickly and it wreaks havoc. I wonder how many people because of a careless word have destroyed their marriage, or their career, or reputation, or the reputation of another, or their church, or a friendship. The tongue not only has the power to direct where you go but also to destroy what you have if you don't learn to control it. It's like a fire.
James says our mouth can cause a chain reaction, the course of events from hell. James says,
"Set on fire by hell" itself. James says you've got to learn to manage your mouth, not only because it can direct where you go but it can destroy what you have. You can lose everything simply by what you say. It's like a fire.
Proverbs 21:23
"If you want to stay out of trouble be careful what you say!" What your mouth says can be like poison. The word in Greek is literally
"snake venom". Just a few drops can kill. You can assassinate somebody with your words. Assassinate their character. The tongue is a deadly weapon. (1) Tongue has the power to direct where you (2) destroy what have
- MY TONGUE DISPLAYS WHO I AM
It reveals my real character. It tells what's really inside of me. First James points out how inconsistent we are in our speech. (vs 9-10)
"The tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with the same tongue we curse men who've been made in God's likeness. From the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be." We say these things out of the same mouth. We come to church on Sunday. The highest use of your mouth is to use it praising God. Then we walk out, get into the car and on the way home we argue or say hurtful things to our loved ones. One minute we're praising God and the next we're cursing other people. Cursing here doesn't necessarily mean profanity. It means any kind of put down. Any kind of put down is a curse. He says
, “Why curse men? They're made in God's image.” How is it possible to be talking in love and kindness one minute and then in hate the next minute?
James gives the answer in (vs 11-12). He says consider the source.
"Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." The point is, whatever is in the well comes out in the water. Whatever is in the tree, comes out in the fruit. My problem is not really my tongue.
My problem is my heart. What's inside is what comes out. My mouth eventually betrays what is really on the inside of me. I can fool you and pretend but eventually my tongue is going to catch me. It's going to let you know what's really inside.
If you've got a problem with your tongue, it's much more serious that you think.
You have a heart problem. A person with a harsh tongue has an angry heart. A person with a negative tongue has a fearful heart. A person with an overactive tongue has an unsettled heart. A person with a boasting tongue has an insecure heart. A person with a filthy tongue has an impure heart. A person who is critical all the time has a bitter heart.
On the other hand, a person who is always encouraging has a happy heart. A person who speaks gently has a loving heart. A person who speaks truthfully has an honest heart.
II. WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Get a new heart
You've got to get a new heart, that's the problem. Ezekiel 18:31
"Rid yourself of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit!" Painting the outside of the pump doesn't make any difference if there is poison in the well. I can change the outside, I can turn over a new leaf, but what I really need is a new life. What I need is a fresh start. I need to let go of all the past and be born again and start over. I need to get a new heart.
How do I get a new heart? 2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new person. The old has passed away. Behold all things have become new." New life, new heart, new spirit. When you come to Jesus Christ, He wipes out everything you've done in the past. He says You're starting over.
We need to pray like David prayed in Psalm 51
"Create in me a clean heart, O God" because what's in my heart is going to come out in my mouth.
You need divine power to change your heart. You need supernatural power to control your tongue. You can't do it on your own. We need to ask God to help us. Psalm 141:3
"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." Great verse to quote every morning.
"God, put a muzzle on my mouth. Guard my lips. Don't let me be critical today. Don't let me be judgmental. Don't let me say things off the cuff that I then regret." You need to ask God for help daily because you need His power in your life. Getting into God's word is a part of asking God for help. As you ask Him for help you need to read His word. What goes into your mind, goes into your heart, and what goes into your heart, comes out of your mouth. Fill your mind with the word of God.
What does your tongue say about you? What does it reveal about you? What's in your heart is going to come out in your mouth. Let Christ change your heart today!
