I'm going to talk to you tonight from
James chapter 3.
So if you have your Bibles, you can
turn to James chapter 3.
And you know what this topic is about,
don't you?
The tongue.
So the title of the message is Taming
the Untameable Tongue.
Does anybody want to do that?
Have you mastered this, Larry?
You got it?
No?
Okay.
I haven't either, so don't feel bad.
It's an interesting topic because taming means to
subdue something so it's easier to control.
Like if you tame an animal or you
tame a wild horse or something, you're making
something easier to control.
And the Bible puts it back on us
to tame our tongue, this unruly little thing
that gets us in all kinds of trouble.
And don't think it doesn't include e-mails
and text messaging and now, right?
Facebook, the media, and that tongue is what
gets us in trouble.
This little thing is what we take it
from here, from our heart, and we push
it out through our mouth.
And that's what James is going to talk
about.
Chapter 3.
My brethren, let not many of you become
teachers, knowing that we will receive a stricter
judgment.
For we all stumble in many things.
If anyone does not stumble in word, he
is a perfect man, able also to bridle
the whole body.
That's interesting because he's saying if you're able
to tame the tongue, you're a self-disciplined
person.
You can tame your whole body.
If you're able to tame the tongue, you
are a person of self-discipline.
Perfect doesn't mean what we think perfect.
It usually means complete, lacking nothing.
If you're able to tame that, you're able
to tame other issues that go along with
character.
Verse 3.
Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that
they may obey us, and we turn their
whole body.
Look also at ships.
Also they are so large and are driven
by fierce winds.
They are turned by a very small rudder
wherever the pilot desires.
Even so, the tongue is a little member
and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire
kindles.
And the tongue is a fire, a world
of iniquity.
The tongue is so set among our members
that it defiles the whole body and sets
on fire the course of nature, and it
is set on fire by hell.
He's not mincing any words, is he?
He's crystal clear there that the tongue, and
you know, marriage problems, where does it start?
Issues at church or at work, where does
it start?
The tongue, because out of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth is going to speak.
And that's what gets us in trouble.
The tongue is what causes wars.
The tongue is what's causing a lot of
division right now, especially in our nation.
But let's go back up to the top.
Teachers speak into the lives of others, offering
advice, guidance, and direction.
So James is saying, if you want to
become a teacher, first I think he's doing
two things.
He's warning people that you will receive a
stricter judgment.
If you're going to be a teacher of
God's Word, and you're going to proclaim what
God's Word says, you're going to be held
under a stricter judgment by God because you're
saying, not necessarily thus saith the Lord, but
you're saying here's the counsel of God according
to the Bible, this is what we recommend,
and you're held to that standard.
But I also believe, let not many of
you become teachers, is a lot of people
in the church were wanting this position of,
I guess would be prestige.
And everybody's wanting to be a teacher.
If I could just be a teacher, if
I could just, now it's a church, if
I could just get my name on the
PowerPoint, if I could just sing on the
worship team, if I could just be center
stage, and that's not, number one, that's not
the right type of attitude to have when
God calls you to the ministry.
So so many people that were desiring to
teach, he says, hold on, you better be
doing it for the right reasons because you're
going to have a stricter judgment upon your
life if you say the wrong things.
Elevated position.
There are ulterior motives, and false teachers are
of this kind.
They have ulterior motives.
They are going to be held under very
strict judgment.
Controlling the tongue is a mark of maturity.
Perfect often means complete, which we just talked
about.
And you'll notice, if you can control your
tongue, often you are fairly mature in the
faith.
Have you ever noticed this?
That those who are not very mature in
the faith just like to go crazy with
their tongue?
Or on email, Facebook, wherever, out of the
abundance of that heart, the mouth, the speaking.
So a sign of spiritual maturity is what
do you do with this?
This?
It's a sign of maturity with the tongue
and how we treat others.
Those in leadership positions can do a lot
of harm with the tongue.
And it's not just leadership because you might
think, well, you know, church leadership or whatever,
but also in your home, especially fathers.
Roberts talks about life and death are in
the power of the tongue.
You can literally murder with your mouth.
Not physically, but you can break a person
down so much that they feel worthless and
ashamed and belittled.
And if you've been there, you know exactly
what I'm talking about.
That tongue can really lash out, especially if
it's little kids.
You can really hurt them as they grow
older.
And that tongue is bringing life.
It's hell set on fire.
And there are moms that are mean to
their kids or spouses that are mean to
each other, and that sets the whole house
on fire.
Words of leaders direct the entire church.
I think that's why James is putting a
standard on here.
Let not many of you be teachers, knowing
that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
Usually the leadership of the church will direct
the direction of the church.
They'll propel a church into a certain direction.
Good or bad, indifferent, whatever it is, that
leadership will direct the church in being careful
in that area.
So I'm sure you want to know more
about taming the tongue.
First step, you have to admit that there's
a problem.
Right?
We don't want to admit that there's a
problem, but there is a problem.
Gossip, lying, embellishing, slander, angry words, mean words,
all of these are things that are not
pleasing to God.
So the first step in order to tame
this tongue is to admit I have a
problem with my tongue.
What's interesting, when you bring something out into
the open, when you bring sin to the
light, it loses its power.
Sin loves to grow in darkness, and I
often think of a cockroach.
You ever turn on the lights and you
see those things run sometimes?
Right?
Out in the garage or outside or whatever.
It's just maybe in your house.
But you turn on the light and they
run.
And that's what sin, the sin is the
same way.
If you expose it and say, okay, I
have to work on this area, help me.
You tell somebody, there's accountability there.
Now accountability in and of itself doesn't do
anything because you can just go right around
the accountability.
But it adds an extra level of protection
because you're confessing it before others.
There's power in that.
Sin loses its grip.
It starts losing that grip.
You confess it and you begin to work
on this area.
And I would suggest that most of the
marriage counseling that we've seen over the years,
that I'm sure you've done before, you look
at most of the marriage problems that we
are seeing, it's because of the tongue.
Angry outbursts, belittling, controlling, all these things that
go with the tongue.
So here's what I try to do.
Here's biblical precepts for this.
To tame the untameable tongue, which I believe
it is tameable through the power of the
Holy Spirit working in your life.
First thing, remember this.
This will help in a lot of different
areas.
Respond to someone, don't react.
Boy, that's hard, isn't it?
Because somebody hits you, you want to hit
them back.
They hit you with harsh words, you want
to hit them back with harsh words.
So usually what I try to do, and
it happens a lot in email, maybe I'll
share this Sunday, but a popular author just
came out in support of gay marriage.
And I wrote an article, and it's on
the Christian Post and Charisma News, and a
lot of different organizations are picking it up,
and I wish I could tell you that
all the comments were positive.
But they are not positive.
You get emails and you see comments on
Facebook threads, and I want to react.
And I want to react, but I haven't
yet.
I haven't responded either.
But it's hard, you have to fight that,
because they're so misled.
The battle really isn't over that, it's over
this.
That's what this is really about.
If this is true, if this is inerrant,
if this is God's Word, then there's no
question.
There's no question at all.
But when it comes to, well, that really
didn't say this.
I mean, it says not to eat shrimp,
too.
Shellfish.
I mean, it can't be.
And that's where the whole fight is over.
And I get things like that.
And so do you.
Somebody says something, you want to react and
react.
And so part of maturity is responding.
So when your spouse says something you don't
want to hear, instead of reacting, take a
walk.
That's usually when I go check the mail.
Or take out the trash.
This is the real service.
Wednesday, right?
You're going to be real here.
But Morgan does it as well.
We don't have this perfect household, there's difficulties.
The kids sometimes, it's very challenging.
And the best thing to do is to
respond.
And that sometimes involves changing your atmosphere, changing
what you're doing.
I went into my office and just put
on worship music.
Or take a drive and change that so
I can respond.
Have I done that successfully?
No, I have not.
But that's the biblical principle is to respond
in love and not react.
Here's another thing.
When I react, usually there's an apology that
will follow.
But when I respond, there's no apologies needed.
That's a big difference.
Also, the New Testament.
Believe it or not, the New Testament encourages
us to err on the side of grace.
So if we're going to err on anything,
we're not supposed to err on the side
of judgment.
And judging and being critical all the time.
We're to err on the side of grace.
Because our human nature is to go this
way.
So to err on the side of grace.
Listen, so many people offended me over the
last few years that I just have to
let a lot of that go.
Same with you, I'm sure.
Erring on the side of grace.
Not having to get the last word in
and challenge everything.
So as you're responding, as you're just going
to err on the side of grace, another
thing is to hear both sides.
Hear both sides.
Try to understand what a person is saying.
Let them understand what you're saying.
Or if it comes to saying something about
others, hear both sides of the equation.
Proverbs says to hear both sides and to
whoever answers a matter before hearing both sides
is a fool.
And you know what often changes, doesn't it?
You'll hear one side and you'll get all
fired up.
I'm fired up.
And then you hear this side and you're
like, wait a minute.
You didn't tell me this and this and
this.
That changes things, doesn't it?
And you start to see things different when
you hear both sides.
And then that way, once you hear both
sides, your tongue with your words are measured.
They're calculated.
You've sought wisdom and you know what's going
on.
Another point, remember that Satan loves anger and
division.
He thrives in it.
I often wonder how much division does he
actually bring into the church and how much
is self-created.
Because he's working.
A church like this too, he wants us
to divide and get angry over non-essential
issues that aren't essential to anything.
And bring division in there.
And start to bring disunity instead of unity.
Start to bring division.
And then what happens with your tongue when
there's division?
Nobody knows, right?
Come on.
It gets going.
That untameable tongue starts saying things it shouldn't
say.
That's where we start to belittle or gossip
or slander or bring division.
And always remember this.
You can encourage division or you can quench
it by the words we say.
What do we do with our tongue?
I already mentioned this.
Facebook, texting and emails reflect your tongue.
And as we all know, the mind controls
the tongue.
Be not conformed to this world but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And it does work.
The Word of God is as sure as
it is written.
It works if you meditate on it and
you look to it.
You can change your thoughts which change your
tongue.
Many of you know if you've had an
anger problem in your past and you've been
able to conquer that.
How have you been able to conquer that?
Through taming the mind which then tames the
tongue.
That's really anger.
At the root of anger often is pride
or not getting my way or selfishness.
You ever see a little kid get angry?
Why do they get angry?
It's time to do your homework.
It's time to go.
It's time to go to bed.
No, that's not yours.
No, you can't have that candy.
Why?
Anger, anger, anger, anger.
So anger is often why we go off
on people.
And why the tongue is hurting and damaging
people because we're angry.
So if we can transform our thoughts and
harness anger then we'll have much better control
over our words.
And always remember words cannot be erased.
Wouldn't you rather just not say anything?
Because once you say it, that can't be
erased.
And to encourage you, I just talked with
somebody recently who is very depressed at the
words he said.
And what it's doing to his marriage and
can't get those words back.
But although they cannot be erased, you can
quench.
You can quench that fire.
You've started a fire with your tongue.
You can quench that fire even though you
can't erase it.
You can go and now rebuild and build
that person back up.
And there's something, I don't remember who came
up with it, but about emotional deposits.
If you're making more withdrawals into somebody's emotional
bank account, you're not going in a good
direction.
You have to make more deposits into that
emotional bank account.
You have to invest in them, invest in
them.
So if you say something that maybe is
difficult, they're more willing to take it unless
you're always withdrawing.
And always pulling out things that aren't healthy
and always putting a person down.
You wonder why they're not happy in marriage.
You wonder why we're seeing what we're seeing
because it's a constant drain on the person.
See how great a forest a little fire
kindles.
What he's saying, many of you know, I
got back from Hume Lake and that fire
up there last year was, I could not
believe how large it was.
All the mountaintops it took and all the
valleys, it was just, it was black.
But how did that start?
Lightning hit one little area in a valley,
just a little, the brush was so thick.
And same thing with the tongue.
It starts that little fire going.
And it fuels that fire.
And it's hard to kindle it.
So that's what he says about the tongue.
And then he goes into verse 7.
For every kind of beast and bird and
reptile and creature of the sea is tamed,
and has been tamed by mankind.
But no one can tame the tongue.
It is an unruly evil full of deadly
poison.
And I think the point he's making there
is self-discipline isn't enough.
Willpower isn't enough.
And I kind of laugh sometimes when I
talk to people and go, I just got
to try better.
I just got to try better.
No, you've got to change your heart.
As the heart changes, as the well that
everything springs out of changes, your words change.
See, it's the well.
I've got a river of living water flowing
out of me.
Or I've got just a cesspool coming out.
You've got to change that living water to
change the tongue.
But no man can tame the tongue.
It is an unruly evil full of deadly
poison.
With it we bless our God and Father.
And with it we curse men who have
been made in the image of God.
Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and
cursings.
My brethren, these things ought not to be
so.
So James, obviously this was a problem in
the early church, wasn't it?
Do you ever read the Bible and go,
wow, that sounds real familiar?
That was 2,000 years ago.
See, nothing has changed.
And the reason James is confronting this is
obviously it was acceptable or people weren't being
challenged.
They were cursing their fellow believers and then
they were praising God.
They were cursing at their spouse.
They were praising God.
And he's saying you can't have both of
those things going on.
One or the other will prevail.
Does a spring send forth fresh water and
bitter from the same opening?
No.
What he's asking, it's a rhetorical question.
Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives
or a grapevine bear figs?
Thus, no spring yields both salt water and
fresh.
So it has to be the right spring
because no spring can yield both.
You're either going to yield salt water or
you're going to yield fresh water.
And it's really about the battle within.
Rather than excusing our actions, James says that
we should not allow this contradiction.
So the church was allowing this contradiction in
their life.
And James is saying don't allow this anymore.
You have to take a stand.
And what I hear often for people excuse
their tongue or anger is they say, I'm
German.
I'm Irish.
I'm Cuban.
I'm Italian.
Well, is there a nationality that doesn't lose
their temper?
And people say it's an excuse.
I'm just passionate.
I'm just opinionated.
You don't understand me.
And say, no, no, you've got a mean
tongue.
You've got an unruly tongue that needs repentance.
And so you excuse how I'm going through
a lot.
I'm taking time off to do this.
And I've been through this and I'm going
through that.
That's why I'm doing this.
It doesn't matter.
We're able still, Paul says, or Peter says,
James says, golly.
You've got James, Paul, I'm working on Acts
today too with Peter being filled with the
Spirit and in front of the religious leaders
who are putting them in jail.
And I've got that and then this comes
up.
So James, I'm sure Peter and Paul would
say that too.
But he's saying here you can't make excuses.
That's what they're doing.
The blessings, they're at church, blessings are coming
out and the cursings are coming out.
And he's saying that ought not be.
Because really when that's happening is you can
walk a fine line of being a hypocrite
or walking that fine line of not being
filled with the Spirit and you're playing church.
Now we all cross that line.
We all make mistakes.
But the person filled with the Spirit of
God is quick to get back on track.
They're quick to repent and repair that damage
that they did.
And then James exposes where evil words come
from.
Verse 13, Who is wise in understanding among
you?
So he's asking you.
Who is wise in understanding among you?
Let him show by good conduct that his
works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and self
-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and
lie against the truth.
This wisdom does not descend from above, but
it is earthly, sensual and demonic.
Wow.
He's saying if there's bitter envy and self
-seeking in our hearts, we do not boast.
What we're doing is we're lying against the
truth.
This wisdom, which is not wisdom, this foolishness,
descends from earthly and sensual and demonic influence.
Where there is envy and self-seeking, confusion
and every evil thing are there.
Envy is like, I sure wish, I sure
wish I had a family like they have,
and kids like they have, and you start
to envy and get jealous and get upset.
And these things are demonic.
It's not wise to do that.
But wisdom that is from above, from God,
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to
yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy.
Now, I had to fill in my name
in that blank there.
Shane is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full
of mercy, without partiality, not judging, without hypocrisy.
How are you doing on that list?
Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in
peace by those who make peace.
He's basically saying, it's what I've been saying
all along, is his lifestyle, or our lifestyle,
must match our faith.
Our lifestyle must match our faith.
And I picked out something from P.H.
Davids.
He's a commentator on the Epistle of James.
He said the problem is that zeal, you
know, being zeal is zealous, you're energetic, you're
passionate.
It can be a good thing, it can
be a bad thing.
He said the problem is that zeal, passion,
can easily become blind fanaticism, bitter strife, or
a disguised form of rivalry, and thus jealousy.
The person sees himself as jealous for the
truth, but God and others see the bitterness,
rigidity, and personal pride, which are far from
the truth.
So he's saying, just because a person is
zealous and passionate for something, doesn't mean that
they are seeking God's heart.
They're jealous, they're envious, if they're not practicing
what James just said, practicing the truth.
And we are called, it's interesting because people
say that on Facebook and different places, especially
today, people are saying, you know, about the
article, that we're not supposed to judge.
Judge not, love your brother.
But we are called to be fruit inspectors,
and we are called to judge and discern
things.
Jesus says, remove the plank from your eye,
and then you can see better to remove
the speck from your brother.
So once you get your heart right, you're
able to judge and discern.
John says, we're to discern all things.
We're to be fruit inspectors, using wisdom.
But the wisdom that is from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits.
So let's talk about that first one before
I conclude.
Purity leads to clean hands in the Bible.
Genesis 25 is a good reference.
When a person is pure, they have clean
hands and a pure heart.
They haven't lifted up their soul to an
idol.
Their hands are pure.
There's innocence there, Psalms 26.
You have this idea of purity, a little
child.
We talk about purity often, the pure years,
and the purity you see there.
Back when Miley Cyrus was at Disneyland, right?
Eight years old.
Now a big difference.
What happened?
That purity is gone.
The innocence has been gone.
But we're supposed to have that purity and
that innocence.
And actually in Amos 4, 6, an empty
stomach is related to purity.
And if you read that context there, Amos
is talking to the people and calling a
sacred assembly and getting them back on track
and having an empty stomach, being fasting before
God, being broken before the Lord, and not
letting King's stomach dominate and just having an
innocence there and a purity there as you
seek God and not taking up lustful desires.
Purity is related to guiltless, blameless, or innocent
behavior.
So as Christians, we're supposed to have this
wise as a serpent, and it's hard for
me, men, type A personalities, to have this
wise as a serpent yet gentle as a
dove, just gentle and guiltless and peaceable and
pure and just loving and almost gullible, even
though that's not the right word, but this
Reagan, trust but verify, you know, Ronald Reagan,
for some of you.
I wish he was running again, right?
Oh, here I go again.
Can I come back?
I'm coming back, Larry.
This is...
Goodness gracious.
Peaceable.
Purity, peaceable.
Peace is not...
This is interesting about being a peacemaker.
A.W. Tozer said we are called to
be peacemakers, but not religious negotiators.
So you never negotiate the truth in order
to be a peacemaker.
In order to have peace with someone, have
peace with someone, then you can't necessarily always
be on the same page.
So that's why Paul says as much as
it depends upon you, live peaceably with all
men.
And I had a lady the other...
A while back asked me about...
I don't know what group she was with,
but I spoke at a pastor's conference, and
she talked about being Catholics and Protestants coming
together more on different issues.
And I was trying to explain trying to
find that balance, you know, come together on
abortion or come together for voting for the
right person.
Why can't it just all come together as
peace?
And I tried to explain the doctrinal challenges,
the doctrinal issues, that what, say, Roman Catholicism
believes and what Protestantism...
I can go to lunch with the priest,
but I couldn't worship with the priest.
It's a different...
So as much as I want to be
peaceable with them, I can't come alongside and
walk the same doctrinal path because there are
so many differences that it would take me
an hour to try to talk about those
differences.
So when it comes to worshiping God and
being on the same page on theological issues,
there are areas where you can't necessarily find
that middle ground.
Because being unified with God sometimes means you're
not going to be unified with others.
Especially in this whole debate about gay marriage
and transgender and all this.
I can be loving, so can you.
I can be full of peace, so can
you.
But when you say, you know, I just
don't agree with that.
Well, that's narrow-minded.
That's bigoted.
You're not seeking peace.
Well, I'm seeking peace with God and His
Word, and then you have to line up
with that.
We have this concept that peace, maybe it
started back in the 60s, that you just,
you know, it's just all come together and
put everything aside, and that's good.
But when it comes to worship issues, when
it comes to truth issues, it's hard to
live at peace with all people.
Because when you're adhering to God's Word, many
people will not be able to follow along
with that.
So that's why Tozer said, we are to
be peacemakers, but not negotiators.
We don't negotiate the truth.
See, it actually would be impossible.
Why can't Mormons and Jehovah Witness and you
guys all just come together and be peaceful?
Well, because we disagree on very foundational points
that if you come together, then now you
give certain organizations credit, and it's almost you
are encouraging or validating what they believe.
And that's where the danger is.
And you try to find that balance.
Again, I could go to lunch with a
Mormon, but you couldn't worship, because it's a
different God.
It's a different Jesus.
We will never be at peace in that
way.
That's why world peace is a concept that
can never happen.
We pray for it.
We pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
But how can you get ISIS to come
together with America?
How can you get Muslim nations to come
together with Roman Catholic nations?
Because see how it doesn't work that way.
So that's why Paul says, as much as
it depends upon up to you, live at
peace with all people.
So we can disagree, but still be hospitable.
Everything he just said was perfect.
But the wisdom that it's from, there's a
pureness, there's an innocence.
I'm a peacemaker.
I'm gentle.
I'm willing to yield.
I'm full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality,
without hypocrisy.
Now I'm not.
I was just saying that.
I'm a work in progress too.
The peace one is interesting, because this gay
marriage thing, I think is going to be
the heel on which a lot of people
die.
And I think it's going to be where
the big falling away comes from.
Because they are departing from what God's word
says.
And it's hard to be united in this
area if we're divided on a foundational truth.
And this author, she's a female, very well
known, said that we need to come alongside
of the LGBT community and help them parent.
And their brothers and sisters in the Lord,
and help them, you know, they're believers.
They can have a holy union.
The Bible is two people love each other,
then they're allowed to do that.
And they came to that conclusion by reading
all the scriptures dealing with that issue.
And I read all the scriptures dealing with
that issue, and I came to a complete
different conclusion.
And that's why, so how can we be
at peace?
How is that possible?
Both, one would have to concede.
One would have to say, okay, I'm wrong.
God's word says this, or it doesn't say
this.
And you concede to that.
So that's peace does not involve conceding.
Because here's the thing, unity.
Unity, first and foremost, is unity with God.
Unity with the Holy Spirit, unity with truth,
unity of faith.
That's unity.
And then if others can come alongside of
you and be united, that's where we're united.
But the different religious groups out there aren't
united with God.
They don't have that unity, so I can't
be united with them.
So that's why there's a big disunity out
there.
So there's a difference between being a peaceable
person, we can all do that, because that's
just a matter of our attitudes, and being
gentle, and listening to others, and wanting to
show the side of Christianity that many people
don't understand.
And I was actually, Helen, you're here?
Yeah, you and Gary.
She actually encouraged me a few, I think
last year, to get in touch with Antelope
Valley Free Thinkers.
It's a big atheist group.
And I emailed the founder, and he said,
oh yeah, we'd love to have you at
our next event.
We'll talk about it this week.
We'll let you know, Q&A.
And I said, yeah, I'd love to go
and just answer questions.
I'm not going to be in attack mode.
You'd be amazed at what they think Christians
are, and what they have.
Just go, and 20 maybe atheists there, and
talk, and share, and listen.
And see, I can be very peaceable, very
peaceable, but you think I'm going to maybe
switch my view?
I mean, it's not going to happen.
But these guys just have this view of
Christianity as Bible thumpers always against something.
So if I can go and explain how
God changed my heart, and what God's doing
in my life, and why do Christians this,
and they're hypocrites.
Yeah, because here's why.
Here's our sinful, fallen nature is still a
part of me.
And here's why I need Christ.
And you can explain, and break it down,
and listen, and understand, and leave their shaking
hands.
Peaceable, but guess what?
A lot of us aren't on the same
page.
That's what he's saying here.
You can be a very peaceable, nice person.
And I've not always done well in this
area.
I've upset people before by quoting Scripture, and
getting upset at them when I should have
been.
Uh-oh, what's the next one?
Gentle and willing to yield.
Willing to yield.
I heard something.
It might have been Chuck Smith who said
this many years ago.
Randy, if you remember.
Blessed are the flexible.
And then I added something like, for they
shall not easily be broken.
It's this branch that's flexible.
And willing to yield is this sense you
have an agenda.
You have your day going, but you're willing
to yield.
Your kids need you.
Your spouse needs you.
Something breaks down.
A flat tire.
Whatever it is, there's this willingness to yield.
So you're gentle.
You're understanding.
Willingness to yield has everything to do with
self-righteousness and pride.
A person has their agenda, their way.
They want to get things done.
I've got things to do.
They're not willing to yield.
So James says here, true religion.
You're a gentle person, and you're willing to
yield.
Yield doesn't mean, oh, you're right, I'm wrong
on these issues.
Yielding, well, imagine a stop sign.
You're going up to it.
You're both tied at the stop sign.
Go ahead.
I'm yielding.
I'll allow you to go.
How about if we tried that at our
homes?
Yield.
Go ahead.
I don't need to get the last word.
I don't need to be right.
Boy, there's a lot of people shaking heads
Wednesday on this one.
Maybe I should camp out here for a
minute.
But in all fun aside, guys, these are
characteristics that God has to do.
You can't just wake up and possess these
characteristics.
You have to be broken before the Lord
and say, God, I need to be gentle
with my children.
I need to be more willing to yield.
Why am I so argumentative?
I want to seek peace.
I want to be this pure, innocent person
who just trusts but verifies.
And God, I want these characteristics, and I'm
humbly submitting my life to you so that
you can give me those.
So tie it in with taming the untameable
tongue.
Does your tongue reflect this?
See, we can act a certain way, but
does my tongue reflect me being peaceable?
Does my tongue reflect me being gentle and
willing to yield?
Willing to yield with the tongue simply means
not getting the last word in.
Or not popping off.
You know what that means?
Pop, pop, pop.
Attack mode.
And so the tongue has this gentle, peace
-filled purity to it that, if you look
at the life of Christ, that's exactly what
he did.
I mean, he spoke like no other man.
He had great authority.
He denounced sin.
He cleaned out the temple.
He spoke righteously and with righteous indignation and
anger at times.
But he had all these characteristics.
So I think for tonight it would be
a good time during worship just to get
our hearts right in this area with the
tongue.
And how are we doing with the tongue?
And am I not peaceable?
Am I not gentle?
Am I not willing to yield?
Is it all about me?
That's a good point on willing to yield.
Is it all about me?
And my way, what I want, what I'm
going to get.
And that's not biblical.
I mean, it's not according to what James
is writing here.
But also it's going to dictate how you
speak to others.
It will control your tongue.