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Reading:              James 3:1-12

We all know the power of words. We know both how they can inspire and we know how they can deceive. Conmen are out to take advantage of our naivetyand our gullibility. Salesmen are gifted in their use of speech convincing us that we really do need what they have to offer and convincing us that what they have to offer is better than anyone else's. Smooth talkers are those who use flattery in exaggerated and insincere manner. How we long to hear some plain speaking and so often we listen in vain to our politicians for such!

And yet we can't get away from words and speech because man has been created to be a social animal. He does not function well in total isolation – indeed he was never intended to do so. Right at the very outset God declared concerning the first man Adam:

Genesis 2:18 "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

This same teaching reappears variety of different forms in the Bible. In the book of Exodus for example we find Moses effectively trying to lead the people of God on his own, without taking advantage of the help and support that might be available to him. It took his father-in-law Jethro to challenge him:

Exodus 18:14, 18 "Why do you sit alone…? The thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone."

Happily Moses listen to the advice he was given.

In similar vein the Preacher declared:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

When we turn to the New Testament when Paul writes to Timothy he speaks with sadness of how he has been deserted by some of his former friends and we have a sense of the pain of isolation that he felt. See 2 Timothy 4:9-18.

Another way in which the social nature of man is made clear to us is in the prescriptions laid down concerning the isolation of a leper. Now leprosy in the Bible was an awful thing and the disease stands as a picture of the awfulness of sin. Such was the gravity of leprosy that a leper was not able to participate in the normal social life of his people but was excluded living on the margins of society:

Leviticus 13:46 "(The leper) shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp."

An important part of living in society is communication and how we speak to one another.

Now, in becoming a Christian, the believer does not cease to be a social animal. The believer has responsibilities in two different directions. Responsible for his relationships with those who do not or do not yet believe and he is also responsible for his relationships with fellow believers.

With Unbelievers

Jesus had made it very clear in his high priestly prayer recorded in John chapter 17 that he neither expected nor desired that his followers be completely separated from the unbelieving world. He did not want them to be taken out of the world rather he sent them into the world:

John 17:15, 18 "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one...As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world."

In what follows this becomes even more clear as Jesus goes on to pray not merely for his existing disciples but for those who will come to believe in him through their testimony. Thus he fully expected his disciples to be in contact with those who did not yet believe, contact which would involve verbal exchanges of information:

John 17:20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word."

Earlier in his Ministry Jesus had also acted in total harmony with what is now praying about to his Father. We read in a variety of places of how he sent his disciples out ahead of him to preach the good news of the kingdom. After his resurrection, he charged his disciples with what we know as the Great Commission sending them out into the whole world to proclaim and make known the gospel message. The Acts of the Apostles traces the early extension of the Christian church as these first disciples did just what Jesus had told them to do. We read of the Apostles going out and speaking with great authority and power but we also read of the rank and file members of the Christian church "gossiping" the gospel wherever they went.

The apostle Paul in writing to the church at Rome tackled the subject by employing a series of questions:

Romans 10:14 "But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believe? And how are they to believe in him of whom they had never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"

Or again in writing to the church of the Colossians:

Colossians 4:6 "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

While Peter put it this way when he wrote urging Christians to be ready to speak about their faith:

1 Peter 3:15 "have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."

With Believers

The Christian believer in coming to faith in Jesus Christ undergoes the tremendous transformation. One very significant aspect of this transformation is the believer’s new set of family relationships with others who share the same faith. The New Testament knows nothing of a true believer who deliberately isolates himself indeed quite the reverse is the case!

Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

Jesus himself told his disciples that he would be with them in a special way when they met together in his name:

Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

After his resurrection the Lord Jesus met with 10 of his disciples who were together – they were the ones who will particularly blessed at that time. Thomas, who was the absent disciple, had to wait a full week before he was to meet the risen Lord!

So important is the community aspect of early church life that much of the teaching of the new Testament is incomprehensible without it. How can there be mutual encouragement unless believers meet together and speak together?

1 Thessalonians 4:18, 5:11-12 “Therefore encourage one another with these words… Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,”

We've already suggested that insincere and deceitful language is unacceptable but such smooth talking is not the only kind of talk of which we disapprove. How tiresome we find proud and arrogant speech and, you know, the Lord does too:

Isaiah 10:12-13 "When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says: "by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; likeable I bring down those who sit on thrones..."

The smooth talk of a seductress is capable of leading many a man astray, persuading him that he can enjoy illicit pleasures with her with impunity – but it never works out like that.

While others, who may not be overly concerned about living uprightly, may be happy to use perverted speech the Lord hates it and the Christian is not to talk like this! It is hardly surprising then that the Lord encourages us to put away crooked and devious speech from our mouths. "Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool." Proverbs 19:1.

And yet speech doesn't have to be like that at all – we can use words in a much more positive way as indeed the Bible tells us that the Lord promises to give pure speech to give to his redeemed people.

Zephaniah 3:9 “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.”

Our speech doesn't have to be harsh and aggressive like a scorching fire as bark out commands accompanied by harsh warnings – our speech will be much more persuasive if sweet and judicious. (Proverbs 16:21, 23, 27). After all, we read:

Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

And so we should learn to cultivate gracious speech for:

Proverbs 22:11 "He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend."

Some of the most famous words in the Old Testament include a reference to our speaking:

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

As the apostle Paul went about his ministry as a servant of God he was determined not to put any obstacles in the way of others by the way he spoke but emphasised that his speech was truthful speech (2 Corinthians 6:3). With this concern being evidenced in his own life Paul was being thoroughly consistent when he wrote to the Colossians urging them be careful about the way they spoke too.

Colossians 4:6 "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

This was still concerned for Paul at the end of his life Paul as is seen from his recommendations to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity,"

The Christian is indeed to be characterised by truthful speech but that is not the only obligation that is laid upon him. We already mentioned the need for a speech to become gracious and in order for that to be the case what we say must be motivated by love

Ephesians 4:15 "Rather, speaking the truth in love…"

v.25 "Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another."

Here we have a New Testament application of one of the 10 Commandments: "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour." (Exodus 20:16). Zechariah the prophet had already been made such an application some did 500 years before the New Testament era:

Zechariah 8: 16-17 "These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgements that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord."

What we have said so far should prove to be very helpful for us in the way that we live our lives. Were we to follow such advice it would surely help us in our communications with others. But I don't want you to think that if you tried to follow this advice that you will somehow make yourself a Christian. However, if you are a Christian already, or were you to become a Christian, this is the kind of behaviour that your Lord expects of you and will expect of you.

James tells us in his letter both the importance of bridling our tongue and just how difficult that really is!

James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”

James 3:8 "but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, for of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”

As we try to clean up our lives with regard to speech – and I hope you realise by now that I'm not merely talking about what is commonly called “bad language” – we will find yet one further proof of our need of a Saviour because we will never meet God’s standards. And every falling short of His standards is sin.

But there is yet hope!

The Lord Jesus Christ – the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the God-Man – has never once failed to attain the divine standards revealed so clearly in Scripture. He was perfect in all His actions, in all His attitudes, in all His deeds and motivations and He was perfect in all that He said.

Not only did He make the truth known but He never once spoke amiss. Isaiah prophesied about him:

Isaiah 53:9 "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

This is what we read of him in the New Testament:

John 7:46 "The officers (who had been sent to arrest him) answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”"

John 8:46 “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?”

This then is applied by Peter:

1Peter 2:21-22 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

So then let us realise our need of the Saviour. Let us come to Him and then let us go on seeking, by His grace, to follow His example to the glory of God.

Amen.