The Test of Response to the Word and the Power of the Tongue

“God desires that we would be doers… As we continue going through this believers owner’s manual we’re going to look at our response to the Word and the power of the tongue…

The purpose of preaching/ bible studies/ godly fellowship is not simply “feel goods…” but it’s to profit, edify and inspire godly living…
• We can hear the word, and feel the power, and delude ourselves with the idea that the word is in us…

• “Knowledge without obedience only increases condemnation.”

• We must commune with God and be transformed but Him to truly know God, to fulfill His purposes within our lives, and to experience Heaven…

• The heart of the idea is found in V23-24… the idea is receiving the word and then examining ourselves and allowing His to change us…

• Sometimes it a tweak… sometimes it’s a renovation…

• “Mirror” looking into the word of God reveals the holy and perfect God to man and our true selves…

• The wise hearer will look intently into the mirror of the word of God because they want to know themselves well… the Holy Spirit exposes our hearts… we only truly learn something spiritually when it becomes incorporated within our lives…

V25
This does not mean we’re going to the law and rule following for our salvation, only that we’re living out what we’ve already experienced…

• When we receive Christ and follow Him the Holy Spirit writes this within our hearts… we cannot do this outside of Him…

• ‘Liberty’ set free from sin, and we receive the desire and ability within Him to live to God’s desires for us… in contrast to the unbeliever, where the law is condemning and a burden, the believer finds freedom in living out the character of Christ… “he will be blessed in his doing…”

We are to be doers of His word… The secret to true happiness is found in living in willful obedience to the will of God… not simply to be able to say we followed all the rules, but living in unhindered relationship with God…

• Now God could have chosen anything to illustrate, this point but He focused His attention on one thing…

I irony of being doers of the Word, being exemplified by our words should not be lost on us… our words have power to both bless and destroy…

• The power of the tongue… 3 times this is an example of doing and living out faith… it’s important, God’s making a point, repetition means something…

(V1:19) So before we are to speak it’s a wise thing to listen…
We need to have a quick ear… a listener, a learner… we have two ears one mouth we should use them accordingly…

• So the right spirit for the believer is to be receptive… ready to hear, and to receive with meekness the word both of God and the heart of others… this is a place of being good ground…

“Slow to speak”
In our current cultural climate wouldn’t this be refreashing…

• We are to have a cautious tongue… it can become easy sometimes to fall in love with our own voice… let’s learn to weigh our words carefully…

James 3:1-12

V1 All of our words matter, but the more influence we have the stricter our words will be judged because they have greater impact… now this cuts both ways (reward/ caution)…

• This is the reason Jesus seemed harder on the Pharisees…

• To be a good leader is honorable, the only way to maintain good leadership is with honor…

V2 “Perfect man” the idea is that we gain control over ourselves in all areas of our life…

• Not that control of our speech means perfection, but it’s an indication as to the condition of the inward heart of a person…

• So he says “we all stumble,” James himself… then he proceeds to talk about the idea case, what should be… as well he talks about the realities of life…

V3-5 All little things controlling big things…

• It’s hard to ride a horse without a bit in its mouth… Guiding ships in spite of storms… Very small flame, very large forest…

V6-11 How easy it is to sin with our words… unthinking or unkind words… This is one reason we should be slow of speech…

• “a world of unrighteousness ” reflecting the world we live in… “set on fire” the source of this evil is Satan…

• Our tongue will be on fire one way of the other… from below for evil… from above for good (Pentecost, there is a reason God chose tongues of fire to rest on their heads, fire cleanses, and the tongue can only truly be controlled by God… the Holy Spirit controls the uncontrollable)

But our tongue uncontrolled is “staining the whole body,” it hurts not only others, but ourselves…

• We’ve mapped DNA… Split the atom… put a man on the moon… and we’re still unable to control our tongue…

• When we hurt others and ourselves with our tongue we don’t just do damage to humanity… People are created in the likeness (Image) of God, how we treat others is in a true sense how we are treating God… (what you do unto the least of these)

• Even after the fall, the imprint of God, His likeness is still within us…

• The absurdity of the idea of being a mature believer and having no control over our tongue… (V11-12) how can both blessing and cursing come from the same mouth…

So let us build each other up with our words, let us exhort one another… not giving way to the desires of Satan for our tongue…

James 4:11-12

As brothers and sisters in Christ we are bound to each other in love… we should be the last people to seek to destroy another person…

• “evil… judging” this is judging that is rash, or unreasonably harsh, or is unkind… It’s listening to rumors… not looking past first impressions, narrow-mindedness, self-conceited, forgetting we cannot know motive in the way God knows motive…

James is not condemning all judgement but the heart of evil judgement… by condemning evil judging James is in fact judging…

• (Acts in leading the church)… We need to know all the facts before expressing a judgement… guard our hearts against revenge and severity… examine ourselves against bad motives… if we error, let us error in mercy…

• The law of love, let us not violate it… let us not think we are defending the law and honor of God in trying to condemn others… in effect denying the desired work of the cross…

• The ultimate judge is God not men…

• He loves to save and takes no joy in destruction… God is both the mirror we see our true selves in… and God is our breath that in grace gives us life…

The end (desire) of our speech should be to bless and serve God… to restore souls… the end of evil speech is destruction and the work of Satan…

• Let us seek to condemn evil principles rather than people bound by evil…

• If a fellow believer is in error lets go to them first instead of making it a topic of conversation…

• Let us seek to see the good in man instead of only searching for the bad…

James 1:19 So from this “slow to speak” posture it enables us to be “slow to anger”
• Sometimes in talking too much we can work ourselves up a lot…

• Our anger doesn’t work God’s righteousness… nothing good comes of it… “put away all filthiness” (the idea is shedding dirty clothing)… the word of God cannot effectively work a godly change in our lives if we are holding on to moral corruption and evil within our lives…

In this place we can become doers of the word…

• With hearts made pure by God… this prepares the good soil to “receive with meekness the implanted word”

• When we can be quick to hear Him… slow to speak understanding the power of our words… slow to anger knowing good does not come of it… and putting away our ‘grave cloths…” we become doers…

As “doers” we separate our behaviors from that of the worlds… Sanctification (to make holy, to set apart)…

The idea is that we’re truly living the “born again” life…

• The word has to become a part of our very nature… affecting both who we are and what we do… if nurtured the implanted word grows within us…

And this “doing” created by the “implanted word” looks like this:

James 1:26-27

V26 “thinks” that he is okay… self-deceived…

• If our tongue is running wild, we may enjoy the warmth of Christian fellowship, but we’re only being hearers of the word not allowing it to change us, and we’re in a dangerous place… We’ve made our faith worthless…

V27 This is an example of how to live out being a doer of the word… we are not doers of His word simply to show off or impress people…

• “before our God and Father” – doing everything as unto the Lord… because we love God… this is our heart…

These two principles define true relationship with Christ, truly “doing”:

• Mercy (because we’ve received mercy [meeting physical needs can point people to Christ and give a window into how He meets spiritual needs])

• God is also calling us to a life of active charity towards the world…

• Christ “went about doing good” we’re to follow His lead… our worship to God is vain if others do not experience the love of God through us…

• Purity (because His enabled us to follow the example of Christ)…

• God’s calling us to purity in an impure world…

“The wonder of the grace of God is that God can take an unholy man out of a unholy world and make that man holy and put him back into an unholy world and keep him holy!” L Ravenhill…

• This is found only in God’s strength…

• He’s not calling us to hide away and become hermits to maintain our purity, but to live in contact with the world and live an unworldly life…

• This takes a rare moral courage that is only found in close communion with Jesus, and He’s calling us all to this… This to God is more beautiful than the finest church building…

So let’s turn the mirror on our own souls…

Is there anything that I we’re hiding or compromising on morally? Is God purity marking my life?
To whom am I showing God’s love and mercy by serving, befriending or helping?
Let us seek God to deliver our tongue from evil by the transformation of our hearts…
Let us seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit… that our tongues would be set on fire by Jesus, not the world…”

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