Taming Wild Horses: Watching What Comes Out - James 3:1-12 (Wednesday Night Reflection)
I have always loved to fish. I will have to say, though, that I did not
grow up with as many opportunities to fish as there are around here. I grew up in rural Granville county—this was
before there was any such place as Falls Lake.
There were opportunities for lake fishing, in the reservoirs for Butner,
Creedmoor, or Oxford, or even trips up to Kerr Lake. However, one of the most common opportunities
to go fishing was pond fishing. There is
one thing, well probably more than one, but one in particular, that you have to
remember about pond fishing in Granville County. Most of those ponds were located in the middle
of horse or cow pastures. Outside of the
possibility of a roaming bull or the owner with a shotgun (if you didn’t get
permission to use the pond), the biggest thing that you had to be wary of were
the gifts that the cows or horses left behind.
Walking from the fence to the pond was often like being in the marching
band during the Christmas parade when they unthinkingly lined the band up
directly behind the Saddle Cub…it calls for a constant dodging of horse or cow
pies. We had to watch out for what came
out of the horses, less we find ourselves stepping into a mess.
Last week we began our series on
Taming Wild Horses, hearing James tell us that we need to learn to bridle our
tongues in the same way that a horse is bridled to bring it under control. Remembering that we have been given the gift
of two ears and only one mouth, we heard James remind us that the first thing
we are to do when engaging in conversation is to be quiet. We are to “be quick to listen and slow to
speak.” James cautions us to first
listen and we discovered the need to first listen to the Word of God and let
His Word shape our conversations…and then take time to truly listen to the
person that we are in conversation with—not be so caught up in what we want to
say or so hung up on one thing they have said or done that we cannot truly hear
what they are saying.
This week we continue to turn to James
for guidance in taming these wild horses behind our teeth…and while he doesn’t
say it this way, he pretty much cautions us against letting horse patties fly
from our mouths…he cautions us to watch what comes out. James begins the chapter by emphasizing just
how dangerous our tongues, our words are…from the need, once again, to bridle
them, to comparing them to the small rudder that controls a huge ship, or a
forest burnt to the ground by a small fire.
James goes as far as to say that the tongue is a fire and it is filled
with iniquity…that it can stain our whole body, that it is set on fire by hell,
and that it is restless evil, full of deadly poison. Then James gets to the root of the problem: “With
[our tongues] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are
made in the likeness of God. From the
same mouth come blessing and cursing.
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish
water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and
sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs?
No more can salt water yield fresh.”
James quickly points out the hypocrisy
that is found in much of our speech. He
says that we come in here on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and are quick
to lift our voices in praise to God—and then we use those same mouths on Monday
morning or Friday night or any other time that we are not gathered for worship
and use those same mouths to curse others who are made in the image of God
(which includes all of humanity). We
might quickly respond to James that that whole “cursing” folks stuff was from
ages gone by or folks that live in superstitious territory, that we are in a
scientific age and that we don’t go around cursing folks any more so we are
free and clear. Well, we might could
make that argument, and it might be correct on a technical level, but it is way
off on a spiritual, God-level. We use
words all the time that curse another. A
curse as defined by Oxford Dictionaries is understood as “a solemn utterance
intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment or
someone or something” or “an offensive word or phrase used to express anger or
annoyance.”[i] While we may not be invoking a supernatural
power, though whether you realize it or not, any of us who might curse using
the infamous “G-D” phrase are doing just that, we regularly use words that are
offensive, and that are intended to inflict harm or punishment on someone or
something…maybe it wasn’t our intent, but it is the intent of the
language. When we make negative
statements about a person, or group of people, because of their gender, because
of their age, because of their social class, because of their educational
level, because of their ethnicity or nationality, because of their political or
personal or spiritual beliefs, we are, in essence, cursing them. We curse those made in God’s image whether it
is through direct judgmental criticism, the passing along of offensive humor
(such as sexist, racist, or ethnic jokes), or the perpetuation of stereotypical
beliefs about a group of people.
My brothers and sisters, this ought
not to be so…foul, brackish, polluted water ought not to flow from our lips,
ever. We should never curse those God
has created, whether they realize that or acknowledge Him or not (in much the
same way that David refused to harm Saul, for Saul was God’s anointed, despite
the fact that Saul was determined to take David’s life). Foul curses should never flow from the same
lips that praise God…our lips should ever and always be a found of living praise
for the God who created us. What happens
when we let both flow from the fountain of our mouths? Consider if you would scooping up two of
those horse patties and tossing them into the pond. How many of us on doing that would readily go
and drink right away from that pond?
None of us would. Why not? Because the pond is now contaminated…it is
nasty…we might not even eat any fish that we catch because we now consider the
pond foul. The same can be said for the
words that come from our lips. How is
God to hear pure praise coming from our lips when he has seen the curses
flowing off our tongue? How is He to
believe we love Him, who we cannot see, when we curse and hate our brothers and
sisters whom we can see?
Jesus emphasizes this same kind of
thinking when he points out that it is not what we put into our bodies that
makes us unclean, but it is what comes out of our bodies…out of our mouths; Jesus
said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within,
from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,
adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride,
folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”[ii] Jesus declares that when that stuff comes out
of us, including slander, another means by which we utter curses with our
tongues, it defiles us, it contaminates us, it makes our words flowing from our
mouth as revolting as a glass of horse-patty pond water.
So what should be flowing from our
lips other than the praise of God? What
should we be saying to or with regard to not only our brothers and sisters in
Christ, but also each and every person that God knit together in their mother’s
wombs and filled with the breath of life?
God’s Word takes any confusion out of
the matter:
“Those who love a pure heart and are
gracious in speech – will have the king as a friend…[iii]
“Entirely out of place is obscene,
silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving.”[iv]
“Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.”[v]
“Show yourself in all respects a model
of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech
that cannot be censured…”[vi]
Finally, “Let no evil talk come out of
your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that
your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.”[vii]
Our words should be gracious. What we say to others should be filled with
the same grace that God has shown to us…
Our words should be full of integrity
and sound speech so that no one can accuse us of hypocrisy…our words should
reflect our lives…and our lives should reflect our words…
Our words should be filled with
thanksgiving…they should always point to the One who has given us the ability
to talk…the one who has and who can continue to redeem our speech…
Our words should be that which build
one another up…we should build one another up face to face and when talking to
others---they should be words of encouragement, words of support, words of
gentle guidance…
Our words should be reflective of the
Word of God through whom we have received the gift of life, the gift of
salvation, the gift of redemption, the gift of reconciliation…
As we learn to tame these wild horses,
as we learn surrender to the power of God’s Spirit at work within us, may our
words Speak Life and then may the pure praise of God should ever be on our
lips…
[i]
OxfordDictionaries
[ii] Mark
7:20-23
[iii] Proverbs
22:11
[iv] Ephesians
5:4
[v] Colossians
4:6
[vi] Titus 2:7-8
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