Controlled by the Holy Spirit (2)
James 3:1-12
There was a person in the church who
complained about everything. Once after the service he/she came to pastor and
asked for scissors. The pastor asked why? He/she said that the pastor’s stole was
too long and did not match his gown. The pastor was kind. He agreed and gave
the scissor and the person shortened the
stole.
Later the pastor said to this person: “Now, there is something about which is
altogether too long and which has annoyed me and many others for quite some
time, I would like your permission to shorten it.”
The person gave the permission. The pastor
said: “Very well, open your mouth stick
out your tongue.”1
Do you remember visiting a doctor’s office? The first thing they
want you to do is to open your mouth
and stick out your tongue. The doctor takes a tongue depressor and presses
down the tongue to examine your
throat and mouth. They say the tongue is a great help in determining our
physical health and condition. We too need to examine our tongues for our
spiritual health.
William Shakespeare wrote about power of
words: "He
who takes from me my good name, takes that which enriches him--but makes me
poor indeed."2
How are going to control this uncontrolled
little weapon in our mouth.
1. We
need to be hooked to the Holy Spirit. I mean the best way to control is by
being in touch with the Holy Spirit. The tongue reveals if we are hooked or
not.
We
read in James 3:12 “My Brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or grapevine bear
figs?”
Of course not. From the fruits one can know if we are in touch with
the Spirit of God. Jesus said it better in Mathew 12. He was healing Beelzebub. The man was possessed by
evil spirits. The Pharisees thought he
was doing this miracle by the evil spirits. Jesus said that can not be.
Furthermore, He said: “26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided
against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive
out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they
will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of
God, then the
33"Make a tree good and its fruit will
be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized
by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil
say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man
brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For
by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words
you will be condemned."
You see words are so
important, because they are coming from the heart. If the heart is not
controlled by the Spirit of God, that is dangerous.
Once physicians were
debating which organ is most important in our body. Everyone was trying to
convince the other about a part he thinks is important.
A Rabbi was
listening. He comes with this idea. “There
are two vessels of the body only that are important, but you have no knowledge
of them.”
“One is the channel that runs from the ear to the soul
and the other is the channel that runs from the soul to the tongue.”3
Are we channeled to
the Spirit of God. Where is your soul? To whom it is
attached? Where do you get your knowledge? Are you plugged in to God?
2. Our mouth, our tongue should bless and not curse.
We Read in proverbs
12:18: “Reckless words pierce like a
sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings
healing.”
Can we bring
healing? In a small village in Croatia a
boy by name Josip Broz was serving in the church during
Sunday
As a pastor and as a
father of a family, I am asking this morning to myself. What kind of words do I
have in my mouth? How much do I connect to God through the Holy Spirit?
3. Our mouth should be full of Praise and adoration to
God.
In the 1660s,
Bishop Thomas Ken, kept encouraging his congregation. He saw the light of
God in this catastrophic situation. He wrote a song that we sing every Sunday
in our church:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise him above ye
Heavenly Host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (4)
Can we
praise God with our tongue, which reflects
what’s in our heart and soul? People will criticize us always. We can not stop
that. Once extreme environmentalists rebuked a fisherman who
was fishing. They said: “Aren’t you ashamed that you are catching those
poor little fish?” The fisherman said: “Friends, if the fish kept their mouth
shut, they wouldn’t have been caught.”
Let us
close our mouths or let us talk controlled by the Holy Spirit, words of
encouragement and edification. Let us praise God for the opportunity that we
have that we can talk with words.
May
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14).
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1 Illustration from
eSermons.com
2 Illustration from
eSermons.com
3 Paul