September 13 2009 Reading: James 3
Theme: What words can do........
On March 10 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and his
assistant, Thomas Watson, having worked solidly in their laboratory for several
days
finally set up their equipment, great coils, wooden frames,
magnets and of course wires, metres and metres of wire.............
This was to be what Alexander Graham Bell called a
“speaking telegraph”, an apparatus he hoped would send
a living human voice down the wires
The time came, it was all ready. In one room
Alexander Bell bent down by the speaking end of the apparatus. Thomas Watson
was in another room, at the listening end. Alexander Bell said: “Watson, come
here “
Watson heard him......... clearly,
a new age of long distance communication had just been born.........
in which words, messages, news, of all kinds would travel by wire
so much so that these days we tend to think that above all words and
speech
simply communicate information to other people............. and that’s it.
But actually in Alexander Bell’s laboratory that
morning two things happened.
When Alexander Bell said: Watson come
here....... Watson heard him,
that was the first thing, a communication........
but then, feet pounded in the passage outside and Thomas Watson came back
into the laboratory shaking with excitement - he had heard the message in the
receiver in the next room, and had come, because
that was the second thing......... the words he heard did something, called
him and he ran through.........
When we open the pages of the Bible, we find that
the Bible is much more interested in what words do. For the Bible, words do
things...........
Right from the very first pages God says Let there
be light, and something happens,
there is light...........
His word does things...........
That’s what James is writing about in chapter 3 of
his letter........
He is writing about the things words do,
only, in chapter 3, he is writing of the destructive force of words........
What does he write ? He
writes this: that the words we say can sometimes be like a tiny
flame........... which starts a big fire writes James,
You might have seen on the news those forest fires
taking place in the dry conditions round the world........
On the West Coast of the United States.........
this has been happening for some years now. A couple of years back one of the
Fire Service Technicians in the huge Hayman Forest in Colorado noticed some
wisps of smoke drifting across the mountain forest to the north. He raised the
alarm and the fire crews sped
to find a blaze already burning in every direction....... within hours it
was out of control....It took them ten days before they managed to get it back
under controll.
In the meantime the Hayman Forest Dept. was stunned
to find the fire had apparently been started by a technician from their own
office. At an authorised camp fire site the technician had set fire to some
office papers and then had left thinking the fire was out. From those few
sheets of paper......... that tiny flame,
100,000 acres of forest were destroyed, 22 homes
rased to the ground, fortunately without loss of life. It was the worst forest fire
in Colorado’s recent history.
a tiny flame can start a big fire, writes James.........
That’s what words can be like, that’s how
destructive they can be
Of course, when James wrote his letter, he was
writing to folks who were in quite an extreme situation. James was writing this
letter to those Christians scattered after the troubles in Jerusalem in about
35 or 40 AD.
we read about it in Acts 8 and 11 - the church in
On the coast, in Cyprus, and off to the North East
in Antioch, they were trying to get by each day, living in a difficult
situation, facing tests and challenges of all kinds, These Christian people who
had lost everything - shops, homes, farms, small businesses were under great
pressure. So its not surprising when they met for worship, they found there was
sometimes conflict coming out of the stresses and tensions of the situation
they were all in. So some asked the apostle James for some guidance, some of
these men and women must have written to James asking for help, wisdom, guidance in their situation.
James writes: when we speak, he says, our words, can be like the tiny flame that starts a blazing fire
in a dry forest.........
when we speak the words on our lips can be like the rudder of a huge ship,
affecting the direction of the whole vessel.....
Does anyone think they are religious
? If they do not control their words, their religion is worthless and
they are deceiving themselves........
words do things, they can destroy.............
That is James warning about what words can do
but the Bible has more to say on the subject....... if words,
as we all know, can destroy......... the Bible tells us that words can
also build, can strengthen us.....
words do something: particularly God’s word.........
in the psalms the psalmist writes:
Ps. 119.25 I am laid low in the dust, preserve my life according to your
word
v. 28 my soul is weary with sorrow strengthen me according to your word
v114 You are my refuge and my shield I have put my hope in Your word.....
words do something: words can preserve and
strengthen us,
give us hope...........
so, says James: be quick to listen, slow to speak,
discipline your words and your speaking
James calls us to careful, upbuilding wise
speech...........
what we say can build others up, bring healing,
now, if that’s true of the words we say,
So, if words do something, make something happen
- what of God’s word ?
The letter to the Hebrews tells us:
in chapter 4.12: The word of God
is alive and active sharper than any double edged sword it cuts all the way
through to where soul and spirit meet,
it judges the desires and thoughts of the human heart......
What does God’s word do ?
It searches us, tests us, weighs us in the
balance........ says Hebrews
There’s a dramatic story in John’s gospel of a
crowd about to stone a woman for adultery - Jesus could have kept on down the
city street avoided the commotion, the excitable crowd but He didn’t - He
walked straight to the centre of the crowd and said: Whoever is without sin,
let them throw the first stone. With those few words the crowd began to melt
away, the Lord saved her life. With a
just a few words.................. and then in just a few words He spoke to
her. Is there no-one left to condemn you ? He said.
Then neither do I condemn you.
What does God’s word do ?
Well, when Jesus speaks it, it sifts the desires and thoughts of the human
heart, brings to that woman
forgiveness, healing and new life...............
and to us too
What does God’s word do ?
This strange word of God.........
sifts, tries and tests us to the depths of our very soul,
the apostle Paul writes
1 Cor 1.18 the word about Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense
to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God’s
power.........
Yes - this strange word of God......... does
something,
it sifts, tries and tests us to the depths of our very soul,
and the mystery is this:
for some its message is nonsense, for others, it is God’s power........
What does God’s word do ?
Jesus says
Jn 5.24, I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him
who sent me that person has eternal life and will not be condemned but will
cross over from death to life
When Jesus speaks the word of God,
Hearing and believing it, we receive eternal life, our guilt is taken away,
and we cross over from death to life........
The message this morning is this:
Hear, and believe, and receive eternal
life.........