Episode 952: Tame Your Tongue

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 952 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:06] Cassidy Cash: Hey, there I'm Cassidy Cash. The host of that Shakespeare life. If you'd like to impact the world one day like Shakespeare, one way to do that is listening to this it's inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:19] Scott Maderer: for an injustice and holding up or justice. This is about if we are using words in a way that demeans others than we are pursing them. We have a tendency to want to categorize people and sin and put everything that isn't us into the category of. Of course that other group sin is worse than ours.

[00:00:45] Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true [00:01:00] calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your impact.

[00:01:08] So that you can impact the work.

[00:01:11] In today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world. I talk with you about James chapter three, verses one through 12. I share why James is focus so much on taming the tongue. And I also share how this is true, both personally and socially, and isn't just a matter of political correctness, James chapter three, verses one through 12.

[00:01:35] Goes like this. Not many of you should become teachers. My brothers and sisters for that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness for all of us, make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect. Able to keep the whole body in check with the brain. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies are look at ships.

[00:01:59] There they are [00:02:00] so large that it takes strong winds to drive them yet. 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 exploits, how great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world.

[00:02:21] Inequity it stains the whole body sets on fire, the cycle of nature and is itself set on fire by hell for every species of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species. But no one contained 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 lightness of the God from the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.

[00:02:51] My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and brackish water [00:03:00] can a fig tree. My brothers and sisters yield olives are great. Vine figs, no more consults. Yield flesh, this passage on James talking about taming the tongue. I think we all have heard and probably even said the expression sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

[00:03:21] If you think about it, that bit of wisdom is actually totally against what James is talking about. In fact, he's putting forward. The opposite position, the tongue is a fire and no one contain the tongue. It's a restless, evil, full of deadly poison that this is a dangerous appendage. And if you are going to be a teacher or a person in authority, you should probably learn to keep your mouth shut.

[00:03:50] If you're going to say something that's damaged. Now, maybe it is that James was mistreated and spoken badly about, and this is a [00:04:00] personal lashing out against this, or maybe this is an example of early political correctness. Don't say anything that might offend anyone. But I actually don't think either of those is true.

[00:04:11] I don't think James is talking about this from the point of view of never speaking out against evil or justice or about not hurting other people's feelings. James rather is recognizing and elevating that the words that we speak have a power over life and death. That the words that we speak are a salvation.

[00:04:34] No, the truth is most of the time when people talk about sitting, they almost have a pecking order in their head. And usually the sins that we all do, like gossiping and lying are way down that list. But James is pointing out that all sin can bring harm to the body of Christ, including that of God.

[00:04:58] The truth is that the words [00:05:00] that we speak to other people, when we speak words of kindness has power, but when we speak words of pain that also has power, and this is true, both at a personal level when you're speaking from one person to another, but also at the level of society. When we speak out against a group, when we speak out against other races, when we speak out against other genders, when we speak out against others who are different than us, we are just is surely cursing.

[00:05:35] Those who are made in the image of God. Exactly what James is talking about here. We're looking at somebody else made in the image of God and we're speaking words of harm against. This isn't a matter of being politically correct. Again, this isn't about not speaking up. If something is being done wrong, this is not about lashing out for [00:06:00] an injustice and holding up for justice.

[00:06:02] This is about. If we are using words in a way that demeans others than we are cursing them. We have a tendency to want to categorize people and sin and put everything that isn't us into the category of other, of course, that other group sin is worse than ours. But what God would say is that's not true.

[00:06:27] All sin is equal in the eyes of God, including that of gossip and speaking ill of others. We have to watch our tongue. James says. If not it betrays the truth of the way that we hold Christ Jesus to be. We're no longer just destroying ourselves and people's view of us, but we're also destroying the view of people.

[00:06:57] It means to be Christian, what it means to be a [00:07:00] follower of Christ. Think about how, not only do Christians talk about other groups, but even how do Christians speak about each other? How do we within the church speak about each other? That same sentence, that same lashing out that happens amongst society to Christians and Christians to society happens from Christian to Christian.

[00:07:23] How is that example? One of taming the tongue. How is that example? One of living out and recognizing the godhood within all of us and holding up blessings in place of nurses within our mouths. Thanks for listening.

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