James 3:1-12
1 Not many of
you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who
teach will be judged more strictly.
2 We all
stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a
perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3 When we put
bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole
animal.
4 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.
5 Likewise the
tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a
great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
6 The tongue
also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole
person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by
hell.
7 All kinds of
animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been
tamed by man,
8 but no man
can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the
tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been
made in God's likeness.
10 Out of the
same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
11 Can both
fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
12 My brothers,
can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring
produce fresh water.
(NIV)
Not long
ago someone was telling me about a trip he had made to the Bahamas. He said he was walking along and he came to
this pier on the beach, and at the end of this pier there was this great
commotion that was taking place at the end of the pier and he was curious so he
went to see what was going on. He looked
down and he saw this modern day adventure who was preparing his homemade
sailboat for a solo trip around the world.
He said
everyone was around that pier yelling at this young man.
“You’ll
never make it.”
“You’ll run
out of food.”
“You’ll die
of thirst.”
“You’re an
idiot.”
“You’re a
fool.”
But there
was one voice in that crowd. A relative
probably. Obviously a friend. One voice that was shouting, “You can do it. I have confidence in you. I’m proud of you..”
What a
perfect example of life!
In the old
cowboy folk song, there is a line about the home on the range, “where seldom is
heard a discouraging word.”
But we in
our life and place seldom hear an encouraging word.
Many of us
stand at life’s piers and we look down on others, speaking discouraging
words.
We need to learn to watch what
we say. James says that “no man can tame
the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison … Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing.”
What do we do with our
words? Do we hurt, or do we heal? Do we discourage, or do we encourage?
The author of Hebrews said in his
New Testament book (Heb 3:13), “Encourage one another daily, as long as it is
called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”
St. Paul said in his first letter
to the Thessalonians (5:11), “Encourage one another and build each other up.”
Yet most of us do not do that. We speak evil of one another. We tell lies about one another. We give discouraging words to one another.
Many of us stand at life’s piers
and look down at others and tell others, “You’re never going to make it.”
“You are a fool.”
“It can’t be done.”
James was right when he said “no
man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison … Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing.”
What do we do with our
words? Do we hurt, or do we heal? Do we discourage, or do we encourage? We need to learn to watch what we say.
The Duke of
Wellington, the British military leader
who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo
was not an easy person to serve under.
He was a brilliant, demanding soldier but he was not one to shower his
subordinates with praise and words of encouragement. Yet, even the Duke understood that his methods
left something to be desired. Late in
his life he was asked if he had his life to live over again, would he do
anything differently. And he admitted
that if given the opportunity he would give more praise to others.
And all of
us ought to do just that. Praise one
another and give encouragement.
Now mind you, I’m not suggesting
that the Scriptures teach that we should give false praise and empty flattery.
Our Old Testament lesson from the
Psalms says, “flattering lips speak with deception.”
William Author Ward once said,
“Flatter me and I will never believe you.
Criticize me and I may not like you.
Ignore me and I will never forgive you.
But encourage me and I will never forget you.”
Dr. John Trent, President of
Today’s Family, said in a magazine article that sometimes giving encouragement
means giving praise in the work of another person. Words and phrases like, “great job,” or “I’m
proud of you,” or “Beautiful work,” or “well done.”
But on the other hand, there are
times when encouragement makes no pretense that the other person has done a
good job because maybe the other person has not done a good job at all.
Maybe they have done a lousy job,
but we still should watch what we say, for they still need a word of
encouragement from us.
You need to lift someone up in such
a way that says to him or her, “You’re worth something. You have value to others.”
I read recently about a man who
lost his job and he was thrown out of his profession for some
indiscretion. He was a white-collar
worker. Had a wife, kids, nice home,
nice car. Everything he’d dreamed
of. Then he lost his job. He lost his car, the house had to be sold and
the family had to move into a tiny apartment.
He took work at a construction
company at the very bottom of the construction ladder, literally. He had a job hauling concrete bricks from the
loading dock to wherever the bricks were needed. It was hard work and it was exhausting work
and it was completely different from anything he’d ever done.
Instead of going to a nice
air-conditioned office every day he was going to a dirty, dusty, hot work site.
Instead of wearing tailor made
suits he was wearing blue jeans and T Shirts.
Gone was the piped in music that
played softly in the background of his office.
In its place was the blaring music
of hard rock and rap and music he couldn’t understand.
Any girl that walked by was subject
to rude whistles and salvos of profanity by the workers.
He said he just couldn’t take it
any longer.
After three weeks it was just
wearing down his soul.
He had discovered the truth of
what James had said. “No man can tame
the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison … Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing.”
The words of others brought pain
and sorrow and discouragement and finally he just couldn’t take it any longer.
He decided one day that he would go
in and work until Noontime. And when the
foreman came by with his paycheck he was going to take it and walk out and go
home and never look back.
It so happened that this day was a
particularly bad day. He did something
stupid and everyone was cutting him down for making a very simple mistake.
The foreman brought him his
paycheck and for the first time in three weeks this foreman said something
civil to him.
He said, “Hey, there’s a woman in
the front office who knows you. She says
she takes care of your kids sometimes.”
“WHO?”
And the foreman gave the name of a
woman who worked in the nursery of the church where the man and his family
worshipped.
The foreman handed him the paycheck
and went on with his rounds.
The man tore open his paycheck and
inside was a note.
It was from the woman in the front
office.
It read, “When part of the body of
Christ suffers, we all suffer together.
I just want you to know I’m praying for you.”
He stared at the note, astonished
at the Lord’s timing. He didn’t even
know the woman worked in the front office of this company. Here he was at his lowest point in life. He had committed a terrible and public
indiscretion. He had a lousy job and he
was doing a poor job at it. And here was
this woman who gave a word of encouragement that was just enough for him to
pick up that wheelbarrow and begin pushing another load of bricks.
James was right when he “Out of
the same mouth come praise and cursing.”
We need to watch what we say. What do we do with our words? Do we hurt, or do we heal? Do we discourage, or do we encourage?
In fact
sometimes it is in the midst of a person’s worst failures that a person needs
to hear the word of encouragement most.
It was during a practice session
with the Green Bay Packers and things were not going well for his team. Coach Vince Lombardi singled one of his
players out for his failure to put out.
It was a hot, muggy day and the Coach pulled that Guard aside and
leveled a barrage of criticism at this young man, as only Coach Lombardi could
do, telling him in effect, “Son, you are a lousy football player. You’re not blocking. You’re not guarding. You’re not putting out. In fact, you’ve had it for the day. Get off my field and hit the showers.”
The young man dropped his head and
walked into the locker room. Forty-five
minutes later Lombardi found him in the locker room sitting on a bench. His head hung low. He was sobbing softly.
Lombardi was always a rather
changeable character. He had a
compassionate side of him, so he walked over to the young man and put his arm
around him and decided to give him some encouragement.
The coach said, “Son, you know you
really are a lousy football player. You
aren’t blocking, you aren’t tackling.
You aren’t putting out. But in
fairness to you, I should have told you the rest of the truth. You may be a lousy football player now, but
somewhere in you is a great player and I’m just the great coach who can pull
that great football player out of you.
I’m going to stick by your side until that greatness comes out. And with those words Jerry Kramer
straightened up and began to look forward to the next game. He went onto become a great football player.
James was right when he said,
“no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly
poison.” But, James also said, “Out of
the same mouth comes praise.”
We need to watch what we
say. For we can hurt or heal. We can encourage or discourage.
But it is
not just in those moments of failure that we need words of encouragement. Even people who are successful. We look at them as having all the
confidence. All the positive image they
need. But even they need words of
encouragement.
In the Library of Congress is a box
on display. It is marked, “Contents of the pockets of the President of the
Untied States the night of April 14, 1865.”
Of course that was the night that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Five things are found in that box. A small handkerchief embroidered with the
words, “A. Lincoln.” A country boy’s
penknife. A spectacle case that was
repaired with string. A purse that
contains a five-dollar bill. For some
reason, it is a Confederate bill. Go
figure! And – some old faded newspaper
clippings praising the work of the President.
One of the clippings is a speech from John Bright proclaiming,
“President Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest men of all time.” Well—everyone thinks that today, but back in
1865, a lot of people did not feel that way.
The President’s critics were many and they were fierce, and he spent
hours in lonely despair. There is
something touching about this man who is NOW thought of as one of the great men
of all time needing to hear some words of encouragement in his own
lifetime.
But, of course, we all need to hear
encouraging words. Whether we are a
President of the United
States, a future great football player, or a
construction worker moving concrete bricks from one place to another.
And the people around us need to
hear those words.
There is an old chant that many of
us would sing as children. “Sticks and
stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
Of course, that has never been true. Words can hurt. Or they can heal. Proverbs (18:21) says, “the tongue has the
power of life and death.”
Therefore, we need to watch what we
say to others.
Copyright
2012, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online
and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com