It’s good to be back from my trip to Cincinnati. And it’s great to jump back into our Faith on Display series as we look at the book of James. This week we are looking at the first 12 verses of James chapter 3. In this section of James’ letter, he talks about the struggle of teachers, particularly those who teach about God. And he talks about how dangerous the tongue can be. James writes, “No one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” The tongue can be dangerous. And we know this, right? We’ve heard the tongue used for remarkably good things as well as remarkably bad things.

When I was at the Stewardship Kaleidoscope conference in Cincinnati this past week, one of the plenary speakers talked a bit about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Quite a famous speech, right? With some powerful, life changing words about a world free of racism and hatred. King says, “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” Those are bold words bring us hope and joy. Can you think of some other famous speeches like that, that speak of hope and joy and peace? (let people shout some out, but if not said, insert: Lou Gehrig, “Luckiest Man on Earth” speech; JFK, “Ask not what your country can do for you,…” speech; Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address). Now, what about really painful things that have been said to you. You don’t need to speak them out loud. But I think all of us can probably think of at least one thing that someone has said to us that was hurtful.

We also know that some things we say, though they may not be hurtful, are also not necessarily good. I recently discovered a comedian named Brad Stine who has a bit where he talks about Christians and curse words. And this is what he says: “You know, as Christians, we’re not supposed to curse. And that’s good. That’s good that you watch your mouth. But the problem is that it slips out now and again. Cause you’re human. Human. And sometimes we don’t even give ourselves that much. See that’s the point I’m trying to make. I wish we were more real to people that don’t believe like us. Maybe they’d find us interesting and compelling cause we’re real with them. Cause the truth of the matter is: It’s not fair that we don’t have curse words. Christians should have their own curse words. Cause I don’t care how holy you are, you slam your hand in the car door…something’s coming out of your mouth. That’s just the way it is. And for some reason a curse word feels like just the right man for the job. I don’t know what it is about slamming your hand, but Ouch! just doesn’t cut it. For some reason it’s that curse word that makes it feel like it’s beginning to heal.”

Words have power. Often it is the power we give to them. But that does not make them any less powerful and potentially harmful. James clearly recognizes the power of our words to both praise and to curse. Proverbs 18 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” So Proverbs goes even a step further than James. The tongue does not just hold the power of blessing and cursing, but the power of life and death. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 12 when talking to the Pharisees, “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Our words can bring pain, death, and even condemnation. That’s a lot of power.

The mouth can speak words of pain and death, but it can also speak words of life. Jesus says to his disciples, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” And then when many disciples desert Jesus because his teachings are hard, Jesus says to Peter, “Do you also wish to go away?” And Peter responds, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The mouth has the power to curse and the power to bless, the power to tear down and the power to build up, the power to kill and the power to raise up. James understands that. But what James is struggling with is how the same mouth can utter both curses and blessings. How can profound evil and profound good come from the same source? Yet there is really no denying that both powers seem to dwell somewhere in the depths of our being. That is how the Apostle Paul, who once persecuted and killed Christians, can then become the foremost Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles.

So what are we to do with this reality? How are we to be good if “no one can tame the tongue” as James says? James asks at the very end of this section, “Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.” Now, we know that a fig tree can’t yield olives, right? That seems obvious. Figs are what a fig tree is made to produce. And a grapevine cannot produce figs because a grapevine was made to yield grapes. And salt water, unless we use some method to remove the salt, cannot yield fresh water. As I thought about these examples from James, I thought about our Faith on Display series. And I thought about all the varieties of arts there are. And I began to ask myself questions similar to James. Can a painter make sculptures? Can a musician paint a painting? Can a novelist play an instrument? Now, as I thought about that, I thought, “Of course they COULD.” I am a terrible painter, but I CAN paint. Yet I think the point James was making still holds with these examples. If someone’s passion and purpose in life is to paint, then they should paint…not sculpt or play an instrument or write novels. If Norman Rockwell had taken up guitar instead of painting, we wouldn’t have all of his amazing artwork. If Mozart had tried his hand at sculpting instead of writing music, then the world would be deprived of his musical genius. And what James is saying to us in his letter is that if our passion and purpose lies in Jesus Christ, then what we produce should be the good things of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But unfortunately, the reality is that we often act the way James says “ought not to be so.” With the same mouth, we both bless God and curse our sisters and brothers. In fact, this sort of behavior has become almost a hallmark of American Christianity. It is because of this sort of behavior that many have left the church with the claim that Christians are “hypocritical.” We praise God and pray for unity with our brothers and sisters, and then we speak disparagingly about other Christians who believe differently than we do. We call other believers liars and fakes, and we beat them down with our words. We spend time building walls between ourselves and others instead of bridges. And we misrepresent Christ in the process. We promote hate and anger rather than love and peace. From our hearts flows lust and envy and malice instead of joy and contentment and hope. And it is from our mouths that these things flow.

And in this passage from James, we are not really given a lot of advice on how we go about being more consistent in our speech. But I believe that like with all improvements, it takes time and practice. I think we can begin by simply thinking before we speak. I know that that seems a novel idea in this day and age of posting to social media exactly what is on our minds at any given moment. But, as followers of Christ seeking consistent Christian living, we would be wise to consider our words more carefully, whether speaking them aloud or typing them onto an electronic device. I would recommend we use a sort of Marie Condo approach to our words. Before speaking or posting, let us hold the words for a moment and ask ourselves, “Do these words bring joy? To me? To others? To God?” If not, perhaps we would be wiser not to speak or post them. As we practice this, we will become more adept at recognizing the blessings and the curses before we utter them. And hopefully we can all begin to produce more and more of the fruit of Christ and less and less of the fruit of anger and cursing. The things we say may seem small and insignificant, but they can make a big difference for good or for ill in the lives of those who hear them. So, we must be careful to use our words in ways that bless God. We’ll never do things perfectly, but we can always do things better. May God help us in doing so! Amen!