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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Stumbling,
Mumbling and Grumbling
(James 3:1-12)
by
Karl J. Forehand
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we
shall incur a stricter judgment.
(James 3:1)
Everyone wants to be in
control. They may not want to take
responsibility, but they want the assumed power of control. In James’ day, the New Testament church
was just beginning and everyone wanted to be a teacher. There is a danger in teaching, mainly
because it involves the mouth. James
goes on to signify several of the pitfalls we fall into.
1. Stumbling
For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he
says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. (James 3:2)
“We all stumble”
That is important to
remember. The classifications that we
make in our minds are man-made. In
reality “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23). We often overlook are inadequacy to focus on the shortcomings
of others.
Pastors often look at their
“sheep” and think “Geez, God, are you sure this is my flock. When we are honest, then we realize that
there are not 20 perfect people to start a church with. There may be 20 that are similar; but even
then they are still all sinners – they all stumble.
“In many ways”
We are not just a brick or two
short of a full load, we ALL stumble in MANY ways. The Pharisees avoided this fact by assigning more significance
to the sins they did or didn’t commit.
James stresses to the past and current Pharisess: If you want to
weight something (or make it more important), consider the sins of the tongue
the most important. Why? Because, if you can control your tongue,
then the rest will be easy.
If speech is important, what
does it involve?
- Speech is what you say
to God. It is the faithfulness
of your actions. It is your
submissiveness. It is your
worship and your responses to his guidance. How you talk to the Lord is an important part of you
speech.
- Speech is what you say
to others. We understand this
one. It is our gossip, our
criticism and our encouragement that affect other people.
- Speech is also what you
say to yourself. It is the
internal dialogue you have with yourself.
James says that if we can
control all these, then we are perfect (complete). Do you agree that we all stumble?
2. Mumbling
Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us,
we direct their entire body as well.
Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by
strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the
inclination of the pilot desires.
(James 3:3-4(
The directions we give to
ourselves and others must be clear.
We give directions when we
-
speak when we should be silent
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are silent when we should speak
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speak without God’s direction.
We must understand that the
voice steers great endeavors, much like the rudder on a ship or the bride on
a horse. A parents words greatly
impact their children. A husbands
words greatly impacts his wife. A
wives words greatly impact her husband.
A boss can either motivate or discourage his/her employees by the
words spoken. A president speaks and
we go to war. A general gives an
order and thousands of men either charge or retreat.
Psalms 141:3-4
says, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my
lips. Do not incline my heart to any
evil thing, To practice deeds of wickedness With men who do iniquity; And do
not let me eat of their delicacies.”
Proverbs 10:19 says “When there are many word, transgression is
unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.”
The directions we give to others
and our self must be clear. We must
give honest, intentional encouragement.
We must give genuine, helpful correction. We must give relevant and timely warnings. We must give helpful, positive motivation.
What we say steers our heart and stirs the hearts
of others. We can’t afford to mumble.
3. Grumbling
So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of
great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small
fire! And the tongue is a fire, the
very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which
defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set
on fire by hell. For every species of
beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has
been tamed by the human race. But no
one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly
poison. (James 3:5-8)
Because made his creation to
multiply, everything we say and everything we do has a ripple effect. What we say and what we do, in a way,
starts a forest fire that spreads naturally to other people and other times. Sometimes we think our grumbling is
holy. We ignore the ripple effects
that it has.
We should say:
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what could I say to positively change this situation?
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What should I not say?
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What does God want me to say?
What would Jesus say?
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How much of what I am about to say is because of my sinful heart?
* The trouble with stumbling,
mumbling and grumbling is what it
says in verse 8. It says, “…no one
can tame the tongue.” So, then what
are we supposed to do? We have to
understand the la w of:
4. Bubbling
With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have
been made in the likeness of God;
from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not to be this way. Does
a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a
fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can
salt water produce fresh. (James
3:9-12)
Jesus explained this in Luke 6:45. He said, “The good man out of the good
treasure in his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out
of the evil treasure (in his heart) brings forth what is evil; for the
mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.
What comes out, comes out because it is
inside. It is not what happens TO us,
but what we ARE that determines how we speak. Even if you say it to yourself, your speech is determined by
your heart. The only way to truly
change your speech is to let God change your heart.
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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