DON'T RUN YOUR MOUTH!

Based on James 3:1-12 - Challenges hearers to consider both

the negative & the positive impact of their words.
How many of you know someone who runs their mouth too much? How
many of you run your mouth too much? How many of you know that running
your mouth too much can get you in trouble?
We use a lot of words over the course of our lives. Think about these things:
- Lord’s Prayer: 56 words. Gettysburg Address: 266. 10 Commandments: 297.
Declaration of Independence: 300. A US gov’t order to set the price of
cabbage: 26,911!
- It has been estimated that most people speak enough in 1 wk to fill up a
large 500-page book. Means in avg lifetime, that amounts to 3000 volumes or
1.5 million pages! It’s a scary thought to realize that Jesus said in Matthew
12:36-37, “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for
every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or
condemn you.” (NLT)
Everyone has heard the “Sticks & stones…” statement. The first past of
that statement is very true. But that second part is very false. Words DO
hurt when they are used careless, maliciously, & deceitfully. That’s why
we see James returning to the subject of the tongue in our passage today.
He’s already said that we need to be slow to speak (1:19); that claiming to
be religious w/out controlling your tongue shows that your religion is
worthless (1:26); & that speaking down to someone in a discriminating
way is evidence of evil motives in your heart (2:3-4). Now he circles back
to the issue of our words & our mouths in 3:1-12.
EXPLANATION – James 3:1-12 (p. 1012)

Small things make a big impact.

- Heart attacks & strokes – Tiny blockage of plaque or tiny blood clot that
breaks off
- Cancerous cell turns into a life-threatening tumor
- Pebble in shoe
- Eyelash in your eye
“Small” sins that seem insignificant quickly escalate & become major
lifechanging, life-altering problems that devastate our lives & the lives of so
many others.
- Remember the progression of temptation & sin that we saw in James 1:14-15?
James gives some illustrations of small things that make a big difference:
- A bit in a horse’s mouth – Avg weight of a horse – 1200 lbs – Bit weights ½ a
lb.
-Rudder on a ship – Nimitz-class aircraft carrier – Has 2 rudders that each
weigh 110,000 lbs. “Wow! That’s huge!” But not if you compare it to total
weight of the ship which is in the neighborhood of 100k tons – 200 million lbs!
- One tiny spark from a careless campfire or a cigarette flicked out of a car
window can set an entire forest on fire.
Same is true of the tongue. Avg length of human tongue is a little over 3
inches & avg weight is about 2 ½ ounces. Considering that avg weight of a
person in the US is about 178 lbs., the tongue is definitely a “small
member” or “small part of the body” (v. 5). Crazy that something that’s
less than 3 ounces can totally wreck your life & the lives of a multitude of
other people.
But that’s exactly what James is telling us in this passage.
APPLICATION – Remember that your words have impact, both positively
& negatively.
WRONG USES OF YOUR WORDS:
BLAMING GOD – James 1:13-14 – Temptation is a part of the Christian
life – “…we all stumble in many ways…” (v. 2). Happens to all of us all of
the time. There’s the tendency to lay the blame elsewhere when we are hit
w/ a hard temptation. We don’t want to own up to the reality that we have
weaknesses & areas of vulnerability. Want to give the appearance that we
always have it together, when in reality, we are getting beat up & beat
down by temptation.
We find it easy to blame God when those times of temptation come. We
might find ourselves thinking & saying to ourselves, “God is the one who
made me like this. He’s the one who gave me this weakness. He’s the one
who put me in this situation. I just can’t help myself b/c God is the one
who made me this way.”
We may not come right out & say the words to God Himself, but that is
what we are doing when we think like this. It’s a scary to think that
someone would shake their fist in the face of the God of the universe &
say “I blame you for this!”, but that’s what we are doing. And that’s a
wrong use of your words.
BAD LANGUAGE – Ephesian 4:29 – “No foul language should come
from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need,
so that it gives grace to those who hear.” (CSB)
Last week, we talked about the fact that we are an angry society. We are
also an obscene society. The verse in Ephesians tell us that “foul language”
shouldn’t come out of our mouths. It’s another one of the “many ways” we
stumble. That Gk word for “foul” means “rotten, worthless, bad.” Different
ways our language can be foul, rotten, worthless, & bad:
- Profanity
- Off-color, obscene jokes
- Gossip
- Slander
- Malicious talk that is intentionally focused on hurting the other person &
tearing them down
All of these come under the wrong usage of our words for “Bad Language.”
BOASTING – v. 14-16 – Know anybody that’s got the “big head”? Drop
down to verses 13-16 & look at how destructive & detrimental this is to you
& to the Body of Christ. We might think there’s nothing wrong w/ doing a
little bragging. But that kind of usage of words is seriously wrong. It doesn’t
come from God. It’s earthly – worldly; unspiritual – it’s what unsaved folks
do; & it’s demonic – “inspired by the devil” (TLB). And when use our words
this way, it brings about “disorder & every vile practice.” Why? B/c Satan is
the author of disorder & every vile practice.
BREAKING GOD’S HEART – v. 9-10 – When we use our words in ways
that don’t please & glorify God – cursing people instead of blessing God –
it breaks His heart. Ephesians 4:30 – “…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God…” Any time we speak in a sinful way, we grieve Him & break His
heart.
RIGHT USES OF YOUR WORDS:
PRAISING GOD – v. 9 – When a person gives a eulogy at funeral of a
friend of family member, they recount all the good things about the
person’s life & give that person words of praise. They give thanks for the
person’s life & the positive impact they made in their life.
To “bless God” means to eulogize Him. Of course, we know He’s not
dead. But the Greek word, eulogeo, means to give Him praise & glory that
He is due. Just as you would stand & use your words to praise a good
friend during a eulogy, so we need to stand up & use our tongue for its
intended purpose – to praise & glorify God! Doesn’t mean that every word
that comes out of our mouth is directed to God. But it does mean that
whatever we say should reflect His glory & praise. What gives Him more
praise?
- To knock someone down w/ your harsh words? Or build them up &
encourage them?
- To let your tongue run away out of control & destroy someone w/ a wildfire
gossip session? Or speak words of love & grace?
- To let your words be foul, bitter, poisonous, aggressive & abusive? Or make
sure they are holy, clean, kind, & peaceful?
POSITIVE WORDS TO OTHERS – Ephesians 4:29 - “No foul language
should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up
someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” (CSB)
My wife is a big Karen Carpenter fan. Karen & her brother, Richard, were a
popular singing duo in the 70’s & early 80’s. Simply known as The
Carpenters. She died in Feb. 1983 of heart failure that was brought on by
years of self-abuse from the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa. What brought
on this eating disorder? A musical reviewer once called her, “Richard’s
chubby sister.”
How would you like to be the person whose cutting, negative words were
the first ones to cause a crack to form in a person’s life – a crack that
eventually led to the complete devastation of their life? We must be careful
to speak positive words that build others up, not tear them down.
PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS – 2 Timothy 4:5 – “…do the work
of an evangelist…” – What a HUGE privilege God has given to each of us
as Christ-followers to be announcers of the Good News of Jesus to the
world! God’s plan for people to be saved is for them to HEAR the Gospel
& respond to it. And the way that they hear the Gospel is for us to use our
words to PROCLAIM that Gospel to them.
PRAYING – James 4:7-8; 5:13-16 – Finally, use your words rightly by
using them to cry out to the Lord in prayer. I will spend more time on these
verses next week, but James exhorts us to “submit ourselves to God” & to
“draw near to God” in 4:7-8. Prayer is an essential part of submitting &
drawing near to God.

And in 5:13-16, a passage that we regularly turn to in times of physical

suffering in someone’s life, we know that praying for physical healing in
someone’s life is so important. We cannot forget the power that is found in
the prayer of someone who is truly walking w/ the Lord – Verse 16 – “The
earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.”
(TLB)
CONCLUSION – Really not a tongue issue. It’s a heart issue. Can’t just
say, “OK, I’m going to stop using my words in a wrong way.” Might be
able to do that for a short while, but sooner or later you’ll be right back
where you started. Why? B/c the words coming out of us are showing what
is in us. And until our heart changes, the mouth will stay the same. Wash
your mouth out w/ soap all you want to like your Mama used to do. But
until your heart is washed & cleansed by the work of Jesus, your mouth
will never change.
So, if you were to come forward in this invitation, what words would come
out of your mouth today in obedience to what God is saying to your heart
today?
“I need Jesus to save me today.”
- “I need to join this church FAMILY.”
- “I need to repent of sin in my life & get back in fellowship w/ Jesus.”
- “I believe God is calling me into the ministry” or “to the mission field.”
- Or maybe you need to go to someone else & use your words to ask for
forgiveness, or to pray for them, or to build them up & encourage them.