Materials




Weapon of Mass Destruction
James 3:5b-10
R. Todd Bouldin


We live in a world in which there is much to be afraid. We hear much about terrorism, about suicide bombers, about identity theft and government wiretapping. We are legitimately fearful of these things. But we should fear nothing more than the weapon of mass destruction contained within our own bodies, our tongues. There is nothing more frightening and more threatening to our world than our capacity to curse each other.

Prayer

Another friend of mine, ironically named James, is preaching from the book of James today at another church. He called me earlier this week and said he was struggling with the book because he just does’t see how James belongs in the New Testament. In fact, he could’t even find the name of Jesus anywhere in the book. James is right to some extent about “James”. It is a book with blacks and whites, stringent moral demands, and not a lot of Pauline love or grace. In fact, there is no mention of Jesus in this book at all.

We don’t even know for sure who wrote it, though many have assumed that it was the brother of Jesus. If this is true, then this book takes on a whole new depth because James may have been writing a book which reflected the character and ministry of the brother he knew so well, and he certainly was writing as the leader of the church that met in Jerusalem. It is not a missionary letter like Paul’s. Rather, it is a letter written for those who have been in church for a long time. They don’t need any convincing of Jesus or salvation – they got that down in Jesus 101 and from years of worship and preaching. What they needed was a reminder that there are implications for those who claim to live by the faith of Jesus Christ.

So James does’t spend a lot of time rehearsing the faith. He just gets right down to business. In chapter one he writes about the implications of faith for facing suffering and problems in life, then he turns to our stewardship of money, and to our responsibility for those unable to take care of themselves. He says that religion that is pure is one that takes care of the orphan and the widow.

In chapter two, he writes about the ways in which our faith in Christ calls us to get off the social ladder, to honor the poor and not the rich, and to be merciful to those who have sinned. That’s what it means to have faith in God. You can’t say you believe in God then look out for only the powerful and those who can help you. Belief won’t save you, James says. Even the devil believes in God. So, he says, faith without works is dead.

Then in chapter three James focuses his wisdom on yet another aspect of Christian character, a controlled tongue. The passage seems almost to be the crescendo, or even the point, of the whole letter. Even earlier in chapter 1 James says, “Be slow to speak and quick to listen.” (1:19). “If you think you’re religious, but don’t bridle your tongue, you’re deceiving yourself.” (1:26)

Remember this letter may have been written by a church leader. Church leaders know how much damage a tongue – or an email or letter – can do in a congregation. So he writes in chapter 3, “How great a fire is set ablaze by a small fire. And the tongue is a fire . . . itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:5b)

Think about the greatest hurts in your life. Chances are that they came from harsh or careless words. “Can’t you do anything right?” “B+? You’re not trying hard enough.” “You’re getting fat.” “You anger me.” “Why can’t you be like … ?” These are words that you would never say to a child, but unfortunately they get said, and they are never forgotten. No child ever forgets hearing that they are not smart, or loved, or beautiful. Other times we longed to hear words, like “I love you” or “good job”, that were never spoken or were spoken too little.

Other times we are more subtle with how we use words, but the subtlety cannot mask the anger and pain. You come home from work one day feeling lousy, and you’re not sure exactly why. Nothing went wrong really. But you just feel lost, unmotivated, and down. Then you think for a minute and realize it was a few daggers that had been stabbing you all day long. Everything someone said seemed pointed at you. But the daggers went in so smoothly that you did’t even notice that you were being stabbed until you stopped to find that you were not feeling too good. Or perhaps you’re volunteering at church for a ministry, and someone says to you, “Well, I don’t see how you have time for it.” The implication: you’re just not as busy as she is, and all of a sudden you feel like you’re life does’t count for much. It does’t take much to hurt someone with the tongue.

Young people get easily discouraged by comments that poke fun of their clothes or their hair. “You really should wear something else.” Sometimes people speak to us in ways that pretend to honor us but really sound a lot like you are speaking to a child or a servant. Everyone gets knifed when they hear, “A lot of people are saying about you … I just thought you should know.” I have learned in ministry and in politics that any time someone says to you that “several people are saying”, ask for names. It usually means them, and whoever they told. The number will be remarkably small in any case, and not many people are often saying very much. It is all of these subtle ways that cause us to feel the knife so deeply.

James noticed that this happens a lot with Christians, and for some reason, it’s particularly bad in churches. I hear the instruction of a church leader when he writes, “With the tongue, we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth come blessings and curses. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” (or “ought not so to be” in one of my favorite King James phrases). (James 3:9).

Now I actually prefer the way people in the world curse. Before you misunderstand me, I just like the way that it is honest and direct, and not passive and disguised like in most churches. In my experience of church, we are taught to be nice, and not to curse or gossip. So when we curse others, it’s never with a curse or with angry words. Normally, it comes as a “concern” or, better yet, as a “prayer request.” “I’am just really concerned about Mary.” “I know I should’t be talking about someone, but I just really am having a hard time with Joe.” “Please don’t tell anyone but I think Billy and Sue are having marriage problems.” But when you peel back the pious veneer, all that remains is just gossip or passive cursing.

Thinking that we can handle the gossip or make decisions about it for ourselves, we listen to it. But the problem is that listening to gossip, or tolerating it from others, takes poison into your life that you can’t expel and contributes to spreading poison about the other person that they cannot defend. Even if you think the poison ism’t true, it still looms around in your heart and causes doubt about the people you should give the benefit of the doubt. It is like a deadly virus that’s been downloaded into your soul, and you cannot delete it. It keeps coming back.

James would say that we should just stop talking unless we are going to use our tongue to bless someone. One preacher friend of mine says that he thinks one reason that we love animals is because they can’t talk and will never curse you, especially to others. It’s nice to have something in life you can trust to love you and not talk to you. There are Christians in our culture that spend a lot more time highlighting the moral failings of others on their radio and television shows than in acting mercifully. Perhaps people would learn something more of Christ if these same people who claim to be believers would shut their mouths and open their hearts.

I do not think that James is saying that we should just ignore the sins, failures and hurts others cause us. I think he is saying that we should be careful of the words we use, particularly when we are angry or hurt. When animals are hurt, they charge you or bite you. When humans are hurt, they pick up the phone and call their friends. This ism’t that different in church – we just call it a prayer request.

Jesus once said, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” (Matthew 18:15). When someone comes to you and tells you how they perceive you or how you have hurt them, normally those conversations go pretty well and you regain the relationship. There is reaffirmation of the friendship, a request to forgive, a resolve to act better in the future, and usually some tears shed or a prayer that is prayed. And then you find that you love the person even more than you did before the conflict. But when you avoid this process and decide to share with others first, it always leads to more suspicion, pent up anger, and passive aggressive action and slander.

In summary, James says don’t keep coming to worship to bless God if you are cursing a person God made. Why? Because God created that “someone else” in His image. When you curse someone else, even when you do it while smiling, you curse God. If your words slander someone, you have failed to see the relationship between your faith in God and in the way you treat those who have the image of God. In fact, you must have missed something in worship because it is here that we are reminded of how we all are sinners in need of the mercy of God. Even when we offend God with our sin, the words God hears are those of Jesus, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Perhaps James heard about those words of his brother uttered from the cross. He certainly recalled how another member of their church, a man named Stephen, uttered them when those who misunderstood him hurled rocks at him. For James, that is the standard of what it means to follow after his brother, to believe in Christ. The way you talk about another person is to bless them and not curse them. And it all begins by realizing that God has spoken a blessing over your life too. People who leave worship knowing this are much less likely to be self-righteous about the sins of others.

We believe in the Gospel of Christ, which means that we do not believe that any of us are Christ. We have a Savior but we are not one. So it is not our job to rescue a person from all of his or her mistakes by speaking about them with others. The person already has a Savior, and it’s not us. People who are grateful for the blessing of a Savior just want to bless others.

The tongue can be a deadly weapon, but it also can be a great blessing. To bless someone is to give someone a gift that is like one that could only come from heaven. It is to reconnect heaven and earth for the person, to let them see the embrace and smile of God, to give them back the image of God that has been so destroyed by the silent daggers of disappointment, pain and revenge. When you bless others, they see that their lives are not ordinary but the creation of God. Blessings help people see God’s delight in them.

Blessing someone, rather than cursing them, is not for preachers only. It begins with being one person in another person’s life who ism’t interested in getting all of the information so that you can render a judgment. It ism’t your job to get all of the information, or to share it once you have it. The only One who already has all of the information already has decided to love you, to forgive, and to give them a future filled with hope. That should be the point of your words to or about another person too. Judging how other people are doing at life is hard work. Blessing other people really ism’t that hard, once you realize that your life has been blessed by a God who loves you and who has not condemned you. Blessing others begins by doing what you were created to do: to bless God.

You can leave vengeance, judgment and information with God. Then you can be free, free even to bless those who curse you. It all begins by allowing God in Jesus Christ to bless you, then blessing others just like He has blessed you.

Jesus used His tongue to bless and not curse. That’s what James wanted you to know about his brother. That’s what James wants for the church he leads as well. Nothing is more powerful than a church that has learned to bless and not curse the world.


January 29, 2006
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