Sermon - James 3.1-12 The Taming of the Tongue

James 3.1-12

·         A neglected part of scripture and an unheeded message.

·         Infused with the teaching of Jesus. Written by the most respected leader of the Church at the time of Peter and Paul. The man who decisively and sensitively chaired the most important and potentially controversial Council of the early church (Acts 15). A Council at which Paul, Peter and all the other apostles were present. The Lord’s brother (older half bro or younger full bro?) who needed no introduction or references.

·         Today’s passage from James’ letter to the churches gives a firm warning in strong language about the dangers of the tongue. How this small body part has disproportionate influence and is prone to cause all kinds of damage.

·         Every week we can see examples in public life of people and organisations trying to limit the damage of things which have been said.

·         This week we’ve had the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Sun newspaper trying to undo the damage of crass statements they made in the wake of the deaths at Hillsborough football ground over 20 years ago. A storm of riots, attacks on US branded restaurants and consular staff and properties was started by the words of an idiotic film maker. A well loved and respected US diplomat with a great love for the Arab world was one of the tragic victims.

·         Then seeking to gain political capital in the wake of that tragedy, presidential candidate Mitt Romney made some regrettable and factually incorrect accusations, potentially damaging his campaign and making a lot of work for his campaign team. President Obama took advantage, claiming that Governor Romney “tends to shoot first and take aim later”.

·         A nice quote from the President, but isn’t this true of all of us? At least some of the time? We actually don’t have to look further than our own families, ourselves in particular, to find many examples of the damage caused by careless or angry or foolish words!

Teachers beware

It was certainly true of the early church leaders – look at Peter in today’s gospel passage Mk 8.27ff). And James is pointing to himself as much as anyone else when he speaks of the special responsibility of teachers (of the Christian faith).

·         Teachers will be judged more strictly, because of the influence their words have on the lives of others. And one of the reasons teaching Christianity is a high risk occupation (to be avoided if possible!) is that the main tool of the trade is this desperately dangerous instrument, the tongue.

·         Take a look at verse 2. A well known Christian teacher with a prophetic and healing ministry once announced at a conference that he was pleased to say he had finally fulfilled the conditions of this verse and reached a state of maturity where he was in complete control of his whole body, including his tongue. This claim was unfortunately proved false when the man next to him on the platform poured a cup of cold water over his head!

·         But before you relax and switch off, thinking these warnings are for someone else, bear in mind that there is a sense in which we are all teachers, people who teach others what Christians or British people (or whatever our nationality is) are like.

Tongue metaphors

Look at the illustrations James gives to show the power and danger of the tongue.

·         Both the horse’s bit and the rudder of a ship are far smaller than the animal or vessel they control. And yet they do control it, making it go in directions and reach destinations it would not have gone to.

·         His main point is that the tongue is also very small in relation to the influence it has. But perhaps he also has in mind the way the tongue and its words can lead us off course, astray, into dangerous territory.

·         Certainly the next image, of the tongue as the spark, the carelessly dropped cigarette end which starts a forest fire, speaks of the devastation that words can cause.

·         Of course we can’t blame the tongue itself; we need to pay attention to the source of the words it speaks. As Jesus said in our gospel reading a few weeks ago; “What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit…” and so on (Mk 7.20-21)

·         In his final illustrations James also turns to the source of what comes out of our mouths and points out that fresh and salt water cannot come from the same spring.

Lessons we can draw

·         Verse 9 relates directly to the great commandment. We need to learn to love both God and neighbour wholeheartedly and consistently. If we do we will be less likely to use the same tongue to praise God and also to curse our neighbour.

·         Know your trigger points – tiredness, provocation, feeling undervalued for your work, sitting in traffic jams – the situations where you are most likely to put your foot in your mouth.

·         Silence is golden – ears and mouth should be used in the proportion that God gave them to us, as the saying goes. And I think it was the writer of Proverbs who said somewhere that even a fool appears wise, so long as he keeps silent!

·         We also need to be people who actively seek reconciliation for the damage caused by our words, or the words of our community. Don’t just let it fester – deal with it, take responsibility.

·         Our success in all of this will be much more likely if we are part of a loving Christian community where trust is growing, where forgiveness is practiced, where the example of Christ is studied and followed, where honesty and compassion are prevailing. That’s the underlying theme of the letter of James and that’s what we are trying to build here at St George’s.

·         May God help us and enable us to go beyond the superficial to a deeper engagement with God and each other, in a way which pleases God and which draws others into friendship with him.