watch your tongue

“Ask not what your country can do for

you—ask what you can do for your country”

J F Kennedy - inauguration speech in 1960

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears

and sweat”

Winston Churchill – 1st speech to the House in 1940

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill/mountain shall be made low,

the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all

flesh shall see it together” Martin Luther King Jnr

Series – ‘Developing a faith that works’

Today

‘Watch your tongue’

James 3:1-12

Warning to those who teach God’s Word

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers,

because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly –

James 3:1

Warning to those who teach God’s Word

Handle God’s Word correctly

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly

handles the word of truth

2 Tim 2:15

Warning to those who teach God’s Word

Deal with uncomfortable subjects

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit

their own desires, they will gather round them a great number of teachers to say

what their itching ears want to hear

2 Tim 4:3

Warning to those who teach God’s Word

Proclaim the whole counsel of God

For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will (counsel) of God

Acts 20:27

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training

in righteousness

2 Tim 3:16

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check

James 3:2

The tongue – Power to Direct

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the

whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by

strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go

James 3:3

The tongue – Power to Destroy

A fire … the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts …. a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire … It corrupts the whole person, sets

the whole course of his life on fire …

James 3:5

The tongue – Power to Destroy

Idle gossip/half truths

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

(whisperer, secret slanderer)

Rom 1:29

Speaking the truth

speaking the truth in love … Eph 4:15

Let our lives lovingly express the truth in all things – speaking truly, dealing

truly, living truly

Eph 4:15 Amp

The tongue – Power to Destroy

Words spoken in temper

Words of negative criticism

The tongue – Power to Destroy

Animals

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of

deadly poison

James 3:7-8

The tongue – Power to Delight

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's

likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 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.

James 3:9-12

The tongue – Power to Delight

The spring

The mouth of the righteous is a

fountain of life ...

Prov 10:11

The tongue – Power to Delight

Grapevine

The lips of the righteous nourish

many ….

Prov 10:21

For out of the overflow of the heart

the mouth speaks

Matt 12:34

The tongue has immense power

To direct To destroy To delight

But I tell you that everyone will have to

give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have

spoken

Matt 12:26

If all of our words were put into print

One day's words would fill a 50-page book

One year’s words would fill 132 books of 200 pages each!