I'm reminded of the story
of the elderly couple who lived in the mountains. One evening the gentleman was feeling rather
romantic, and he complimented his wife and said, "I'm proud of you,
Ma." She was only half listening
and replied, "I'm tired of you too,
The tongue is an
important organ in our body, small, yet enormous in results. James says, “...the tongue is a small part of
the body, but it makes great boasts” (vs. 5).
In the Scriptures, we read about the tongue 143 times. James describes the tongue as small spark in
a great forest.
Chuck Swindoll
describes the tongue:
The
tongue--what a study in contrasts! To
the physician it's merely a two-ounce slab of mucous membrane enclosing a
complex array of muscles and nerves that enable our bodies to chew, taste, and
swallow. How helpful! Equally significant, it is the major organ of
communication that enables us to articulate distinct sounds so we can
understand each other. How essential! 2
He is right; the
physician can describe the tongue as a membrane of muscles and nerves. But there is more to it than that; it is a
way of communication. With the help of
the tongue, we can make sounds and words.
Yes, words. Remember teaching
your child how to speak? We listen to
them so carefully so that they will say a word.
And when we hear the first word, that becomes the celebration of the
family. Words, how important are words.
Once a professor (Dr. Brack at
I love his
observation. Yes, indeed words are so
important in our life, we can communicate.
We can make sentences. We can think and express even very complex
ideas. Some time ago, scientists trained
a gorilla named Koko. He learned
sign language. He learned more than 1000
words. That was wonderful. Yet, he could not make sentences.
We can make sentences and
our sentences are complicated and sometimes dangerous. James is warning us to be careful
about how we use our tongue, our words.
“With the tongue we
praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in
God’s likeness” (vs. 9). Why do we
gossip or misuse our tongues so often?
a. Desire
for excitement: Some people are bored in
their life. People do not have things to do,
they are bored. Both in the Middle East
and in the
b. Desire
for attention: Usually gossipers are attention
seekers. Self- interest. “I am important, I have something new to tell
even if it is not true.”
c. Desire for prestige: These people have the inferiority
complex. “I know something you don’t
know.” Unfortunately, the church often
falls in this trap. Unfortunately, the
media, TV or printing media have fallen in this trap. News becomes entertainment and excitement and
not reality. Last week governor
Schwarzenegger said somewhere about hot Latino people. The media made it an issue, even though a Latino
senator said it did not bother her.
Of course, this does not justify the governor’s uncontrolled tongue; he
apologized and his apology was not enough.
We need gossip. We feel good
about it.
So what do we do? The tongue needs control. How?
We will continue in the English sermon.
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1 Illustration from eSermons.com
2 Charles Swindoll,
Seasons of Life, Multnomah Press, 1983, page 21
3 Illustration from eSermon