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| JAMES LESSON #55 Take a look at Jude 16. He is talking about ungodly men � men who have crept into the church unseen. This is a description of grumblers. Grumblers are �all about me.� Watch your tongue � it can change the course of God�s work. Know this: God will hold you accountable for every word. Turn to James 3:6 The tongue can change the course of a person�s life. �not just their faith, or the work of God � but, their life. Every where you look there are people who are hurting. The majority of them are hurting because of something someone said to them. In your own journey, walk backwards a minute �it won�t take you long to identify someone who�s really hurt you with their mouth-and/or the exact words they said. Whatever was said colored your thinking about yourself. That presents a big problem. The issue at that point shifts from what was said, to what I �choose� to believe. They said �You�re worthless.� God says, �You�re priceless.� They said, �You�re stupid� � God says, �I�ve �lavishly poured wisdom� into all that you are. Who will you believe? The pat answer is �God� � but the truthful answer is, �Whoever�s talking loudest at the moment!� --that is a �relationship� issue. How �anchored� are you to His heart? The tongue can change the course of a person�s life by changing how they see themselves- which directly effects how they do or don�t perform. It also effects how they �react� to situations. Turn to Proverbs 18:21 Just as the tongue can destroy � equally, the tongue can build. I had a class of sixth graders. I�d heard nothing on their test scores � or their performance as a class the year before. I approached them as if they were a group of �gifted and talented� kids. Little did I know that they were predominantly low achievers. I pushed them � encouraged them and watched them rise to the occasion � They �became� who I told them they were. They reached to meet the expectation that my �tongue� put in front of them. I instilled �truths� in them about themselves, not lies � and they believed them and acted accordingly. Instilling truth into the lives of others gives them permission to live on God�s terms � reaching to meet God�s expectations � empowering to grow into the person God intended for them to be. Look at Proverbs 18:21. Death and life of what? Of potential- of what could be. What does James say about that? Look at James 3:18- Your mouth will bear fruit from what it spills. Death � or life. Good seed will yield righteousness and peace. Proverbs 14:5, 25 So many times we want to go with the flow of the crowd instead of going with the truth. Proverbs 15:4 There are many children who have been pulverized by their parents and/or teachers tongues � lies � to the point where they believe that they have no purpose or value. They grow up to become adults who battle with depression, hopelessness, confusion and uncertainty about who they are. What�s the answer to that? To find out what God has to say about you. No � not the �power of positive thinking� � but the �truth.� What does GOD have to say? Look at Proverbs 12:18 You can bring healing in a person�s life. Proverbs 12:25 Have you ever watched the impact of genuinely saying �I love you� to someone � Have you ever watched what it does to the inside of them in terms of healing? We�ve gone down a side road for a minute to look at the effects that a tongue can have when it issues out a �good report� � Now I want to take a look at the answer to �wrong speech.� Look at Psalm 119:23-24. When someone nails you with their mouth you have one of two choices. You own it � or you disown it. If you own it, it will �define� you. The way to �disown� it is to go back to the Word of God and follow it�s direction as �counselor.� God is described as your �Wonderful Counselor.� The way to pray? God � I�m depending on You for the definition of who I am. I can�t define �me� for �me� � and what was just said to me, hurts. I don�t want that to be �who I become� � so I�m going to depend on your definition and own it as �truth.� Back to James 3:9-10 Remember we have shown how the tongue can change the course of a person�s life. Life and death are also found within the tongue. Here you have blessing God and cursing man coming out of the same mouth. The word �curse� here is �katarao� � �kata� means �down.� This means to �speak down to, to pray against, to wish evil, to curse, to condemn.� Is that the way that God looks at man? No � why? Because man was made in His image. The word �cursing� is �katara� � �ara� means �mal� diction � to �speak bad of.� What he is saying is that you can not rightly bless God and curse what God has made. Ou can�t have from the same mouth both blessing of God and cursing of man � the mouth has a well � and that �well� is the �heart.� It�s either got bitter � or sweet water. What comes out of the mouth shows you what�s in your well � or shows you that a little contamination has gotten into your well. Why is this �made in His image� thing so important? Genesis 1:27. He made us in the �image of God.� Genesis 9:6 God says, if anyone kills another man they should be put to death. Why? Because they are killing something made in God�s image. God �gave� that person life. You have no right to put people to death unless that person has put someone to death. Matthew 5:21-22 �Raca� means �Good for nothing- empty headed-� He�s saying your words are telling me that in your heart you are saying that that person doesn�t deserve to live � they are empty, worthless- and of no value. James says � �Don�t go there!� All the way through the sermon on the mount (the first several verses of Matthew 5) what he�s showing them is, �Ok- You�re keeping the externals of the law � but you heart hasn�t changed. In your heart you are committing adultery. In your heart you are murdering. That�s why James is saying you can�t curse man in your heart. He�s made in the image of God. If you are cursing another person, you are really cursing God. He�s the one who made the person. He made them like Himself. You�re saying to God, �You don�t know what You�re doing � Your plan isn�t sufficient.� Matthew 5:44-48 You are to be �perfect� like your Father. A �perfect� (mature) man does not curse man, who�s made in his Father�s image. In another passage it says that when you are cursed you are to give blessing instead of cursing because you are to be like the Father who created man in His own image. Look at James 3:11 James puts it on the table by showing that the tongue reveals what�s in the heart- what�s in the well. Listen to a person�s tongue and you will know what is going on in their heart. A person who always has sexual innuendoes � tells dirty jokes � what�s in their heart? Immorality. A person that is consistently cutting down, criticizing � what�s in their heart? Probably anger � Probably bitterness. Get this: The tongue reveals the heart. Watch your heart. The following is an illustration that I heard from Kay that very accurately depicts the irrevocable damage of the tongue. A woman sat over a cup of coffee in the beauty salon and shared some gossip that was very very destructive. What she said deeply wounded the person. The woman realized from the backwash of pain that she saw, that she�d done a tremendously damaging thing. The guilt was so heavy that she went to her pastor and said, �I�m overwhelmed and I don�t know what to do. I have said some terrible things that aren�t true. I can�t get rid of them. I can�t retrieve them. What do I do? How do I �undo� the damage?� The pastor said, �I want you to do exactly what I tell you to do. Will you do exactly what I ask you to do?� She said, �Yes.� He asked her if she had a feather pillow. She said �Yes.� He said, �I want you to go home, rip that feather pillow open, go back out in your yard and shake the feather�s out into the breeze.� She said, �Is that all?� He said, �Yes.� She said, �Is that going to help?� He said, �Yes.� So she went home and did exactly what he said to do. It didn�t help at all. The guilt was still there. She called him and said, �I�ve got to see you. I did exactly what you told me to do and I don�t have any relief. I�ve lost my feather pillow.� He said, �I want you to do is go and find every one of those feathers and put them back in your pillow. Fill it back up.� She said, �That�s crazy! It was a windy day and the feathers went all over the place. I�ll never find them all.� He said, �That�s what happens when you say wrong things with your tongue. It gets out and its irrevocably gone. Learn well and never forget.� The tongue has the power of life and death. If you want to be a �perfect� �mature� man or woman, then learn to bridle your tongue. How can I do all this stuff? Joint effort opportunity: The Spirit of God gives you a �new heart.� Guard it well. Don�t allow any contaminates to get in and pollute your well. Hold that thought- more tomorrow! Loving you, �copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
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