Foolish Words in Sunday School
I was probably around eight years old when I learned about the power of my words.
I had a friend spending the night at my house on Saturday and he came to church with us in the morning. In Sunday School, our class was messing around and being unruly. The teacher was understandably getting frustrated and he kind of snapped and told us to stop acting dumb. Trying to be the class clown and show off in front of my friend, I chimed in and said, “Maybe it’s not the class that’s dumb, but the teacher.” All the kids in the class started cracking up—except not my friend who was visiting. He told me afterwards that he thought that was really disrespectful.
The thing was, I knew it was right away. I instantly felt bad and wished I hadn’t done that. That was a good lesson for me at a young age that you can’t take your words back once you’ve spoken them.
Great Power
As children, we learn the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me.” We say that, but that’s definitely not true. Words can hurt us a great deal. Hurtful comments that someone said to you twenty years ago can still sting when they pop up in your mind.
The Bible is very clear on this point: our words matter.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us that, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
Our words can mean the difference between death and life. Our tongues are that powerful.
According to a recent study, the average person speaks 16,000 words a day. That’s a lot of opportunities to use our words for good or for evil.
In many ways, our words can reveal the real us. In Luke 6:45, Jesus says, “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
In the book of James, James provides his readers with measures to discern the validity of our faith. He asserts that true faith will result in righteous works. In this passage, James makes it clear that, as believers, if we have transformed hearts, we should have transformed speech.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 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. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full 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. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. – James 3:1-12
The Context of James
This book is written by James, the half-brother of Jesus and the head of the Jerusalem church. This is believed to be the first NT book written. James is writing to Jewish Christians who have been dispersed outside of Jerusalem through persecution. He’s writing to them to encourage them and to also exhort them to examine their faith to ensure it’s real. The key message of this book is that: true saving faith will result in righteous actions.
A core component of James’ book is focused on the fact that claimed faith without a changed life that produces righteous living is not authentic saving faith. Claimed faith from a life without good works is dead faith. True, living faith in Jesus Christ will result in good works. Those works are not what saves someone, as they are saved by faith alone. However, true saving faith will never be alone. Saving faith results in a changed heart and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so a true Christian will produce spiritual fruit. That certainly doesn’t mean that we’re perfect, however, the overall direction of our life should be towards obedience and away from sin.
He offers a series of exhortations or tests as to what true saving faith looks like.
In light of that, I believe the main point of James 3:1-12 is that true saving faith should result in righteous speech.
In a series of several articles, we will break down this passage to explore how to apply its truth in our lives.
