Thank you. How's everybody doing? Very good? See, I intended that to be awkward. And that was, I I expected I would have to do that for 20 or 30 seconds for someone to just say, this is too awkward, I have to say something. And it was like five seconds it took. That's exactly what I'm talking about this morning. That awkwardness, maybe you've had this in a social setting, where there's a little bit of silence, and you know someone should be saying something, and I can't let this stand. I'm just gonna jump in and say anything, I don't care if it's right or wrong. We have to fill the space. And that's kind of the way we are as human beings. We're made to speak. We're made in the image of God, and He's given us a voice. Uh they say an average person, man or woman, no stereotypes here, will say an average of about 16,000 words every single day. They say some people will say as many as 48,000 words in a single day. You know who you are. Please be quiet right now. I'll probably say at least 4,000 words just in a regular length time this morning. So we're geared to do this, to constantly communicate and to speak. But as God's kids made in his image, we are made to do so much more than just fill the gaps. We are made to speak life. And that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning. So I grew up uh taking piano lessons, probably like a lot of you maybe did, uh, but unlike a lot of you, I just kept taking piano lessons. Uh you s most of you stopped after a year or so, and you regret it now. Uh, but I only had two or three main teachers. Let me remind you of your regret. It's good. And the I had a first teacher for about four or five years. She was a tremendous influence. But as I got a little bit older, like uh junior or senior year in high school, she said, it's time for you to move on and have a different teacher maybe can challenge you at a different level since you've decided to study this in college. And so I got set up with uh a professor at Kennesaw College. Years ago it was Kennesaw College. So I went into the the very first lesson, and uh it was the first time this guy had ever heard me play. So I really wanted to impress him. So my plan was I'm just gonna play these two or three pieces as loudly and as fast as I possibly can, just as powerfully as I can. Cocky little kid, you know. My attitude was like, that's how you play a piano, you know? Just boom, drop the mic on the ground. So, which, you know, with a classical piece, you know. So his response was he just kind of folded his his hands like this and he leaned back. And he said, you know, Ben, there was a lot that was going on there, but I'm not sure you really said anything. So he said, what I want you to do is I want you to go back home, and for the next week, I want you to try this one exercise. And the exercise that he gave me uh is really it was beyond insulting. He said, uh, if you ever try this, like on a grand piano, uh, it's not the same thing on like an upright piano, but on a grand, if you play a key so softly and so slowly, you'll actually notice like a little release point towards the bottom, and that's when the hammer is gonna activate. So if you press it so slowly, you could actually hit that point without engaging the hammer. And what you get is just kind of a click, click, click, click, click. And so he said, What I want you to do is I want you to go home and play the same piece, one of these, but so slowly uh and so softly that you don't even engage the hammers. So that's what I had to do all week. Just click, click, click, click, click, click. It's so hard to do. You have to be really soft. And it was an exercise in intention, and it made for a really long week practicing, too. You know, my parents would be like yelling downstairs, what are you doing? You're supposed to be playing the piano. I'd say, I am playing the piano. I'm just, you can't hear it. It's this new teacher you hired. It's basically your fault, you know. Just click, click, click, click. But it was a really important lesson. It was like my Mr. Miyagi moment, you know, it's wax on, wax off. Because the lesson was every note is a decision. You know, you're just learning a bunch of phrases and licks, and you're just spitting them back out from memory, and it's an honor to play every single note. And it's really hard to not make music, and it needs to be really hard for you to play it and not make music. So I came back the next week and I was a much different player. Every note is a decision. So we don't think about it a lot, also, but you know, Jesus grew up with a family, just like we did. His mom and his dad taught him to be a carpenter. He had uh four brothers we know about from little details in the Gospels. Uh, it was James, Joseph, Simon, Jude, and at least a couple sisters. We don't know their names, unfortunately. And at least a couple of those brothers grew up to become really strong leaders in the church. Maybe most notable is James, Jesus' younger half-brother, and he was one of the main leaders of the Jerusalem church. And that's kind of interesting because a lot of commentators think that the book of James in the New Testament was written by this half-brother of Jesus. And the book of James, if you read through it, uh it's kind of unique among the other books in the New Testament because it's more than any other person, he seems to borrow some of Jesus' own phrases and kind of word pictures. And even in terms of tone, it kind of reads like it's it's not an easy read, it's very uh convicting, but at the same time, it's really inspiring. So it kind of kind of reads like the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. Sounds like this was written by somebody who grew up around Jesus. So when James tells us in the third chapter of the book of James that it's really important for us to tame our tongues, what we say and speak is important, then we know that James knows that to be true because he's seen it true in his brother, half-brother Jesus. So let's listen to what James says. This is starting in uh chapter three, the book of James. He says, Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church. For we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. And in the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. Kind of like I'm doing right now. So, already here, just a few sentences in, six sentences, a couple short paragraphs, and does it feel like it's maybe you're being sold something? Did you catch that third sentence? That's really an amazing principle. He says, if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way. This one area of control equals every other area under control. And how does that sound? It kind of sounds like swallow this pill and you'll never gain weight. Or, you know, choose this as a vacation spot and your whole family will get along all week. You know, we're we're so trained in our culture. You know, you hear some on the radio or TV, and it's just this filter of, yeah, I know what you really mean is it's gonna help me with my weight, and it's a pretty place. You don't really mean that. But when we read the Bible specifically here, you know, there is hyperbole in the Bible, but this is not one of those spots, I don't think. If we control our tongues, we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way. So, how does that work? You know, the analogy he gives of uh a bit in a horse's mouth, that's really appropriate. I've never really done much with horses, but apparently this bit is actually on the tongue of the horse. And so, as a small turn, if you control this just the tongue of this massive animal, and you control the direction of the entire beast. Like a small turn in a rudder on a ship, it's translated into a change of direction for the entire vessel. James is saying, that's the way human beings are made. Small turn of phrase in our words in the whole course of our day changes. You know, one little yes, and that can change everything. No. I forgive. These things, words are really powerful. But how is that how's that tied together? Um probably the first thing we should should note is there's some some obvious personification that's going on here. Like when James says the tongue's a small thing and makes a grand speech. It's a figure of speech, not uncommon, like in the Bible or anywhere else. So, like in Romans 3, when Paul says, our feet are swift to shed blood. Uh or 2 Peter 2, when Peter says, our eyes are full of adultery, or James says, our tongues is a small thing, but it makes a grand speech. This is not like, you know, a campy horror flick or something with severed body parts that come alive and start doing things. When that's that kind of thing is written, our gut level response is to say, well, don't blame the tongue, it's not the tongue's fault. Somebody told the tongue what to do, and that's that's it. That's the point. The author's just tricked you into making his point. Because the tongue's really connected to who we are on a heart level. And that's what Jesus teaches. Jesus is talking to the uh Pharisees in Matthew 12, and he says this a tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree's good, its fruit will be good. If a tree's bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes. How could evil men like you speak what's good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. And an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. So our tongues are connected to our hearts. Our hearts are connected to our tongues. Don't blame the tongue by itself. This is really a heart thing. The tongue is the first place that kind of tells on us whatever's going on on a heart level. Jesus says, when you speak, it's the words that come out of your mouth, not necessarily the things you think about saying or the things that you maybe would say if the time were appropriate, but nobody really expects me to say that right now. But the words that actually come out of your mouth, those are the ones that are most telling. And Jesus says, those come out, they spill out of this treasury, whatever you've treasured. So you either speak out of this abundance that you have, living before God and His grace and His leadership in your life. It just spills out there, or it spills out of the abundance that we feel, the abundant lack, trying to live life apart from Him. It's very clear reflection of who we are. It's a heart thing. And if that's really the way the mechanism works, then maybe James knows what he's talking about. When he says in James 3, if we could control our tongues, then we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. This one area of control equals everything else under control because the only possible way that you could ever tame the tongue is to be tied in on a heart level in a relationship with God. And just be talking with Him in conversation about your day and what you're doing. And if you have that level of intention with each word, then everything else in your life is going to be locked and loaded, ready, ready to be in control, also. And you're gonna say things that initiate life and that change the direct the direction of your day. You're gonna speak truth. So I I challenge you to just put this to the test. And like Bill told us last week, put this to the test. See if James knows what he's talking about, or if or if Jesus knows what he's talking about. And try to take a day and just be intentional about every word that comes out of your mouth. Be prayerful about that. And see if that does not have a dramatic effect on everything else that you do in terms of just being in control. What I think you'll find is, you know, number one, it it absolutely has an effect in a really good way. And the second thing I think you'll find is that we always screw this up, like spectacularly. You'd be amazed. And by being that in you know attentive to it, you're gonna see just how wow, nine out of my top ten regrets of the week are not things that I did or didn't do, they are words that came out of my mouth. And that's what what James talks about a little further in that chapter. He says, But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It's a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it's set on fire by hell itself. People tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, sometimes it curses those who've been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right. Does a spring of water bubble out of both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? No. And you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring. So the second important lesson here, you know, the first one was if we control our tongues, then we control everything else. Huge dividends from that level of control. The other side, the second lesson is, unfortunately, no one can do it. You cannot tame the tongue. It is a wild animal. It's like a horse. I don't think I have to convince anybody here that you cannot tame your tongue. You still say things and things spill out of your mouth, and they scare you, and they hurt people that are around you. But the good news is that Jesus can. Jesus can tame the tongue. He's really good with horses, I guess. He and he's really good, you know, as a captain with his hand on the rudder guiding the big ship. He can do this. His spirit is in our spirit, and as we live out of that abundance, then the words flow from that. And then all of our actions change. So I was thinking maybe instead of you know these two analogies that are a little bit uh dated, you know, a bit in a horse's mouth, or a rudder on a ship, I I guess the 21st century version of this illustration uh would be you know, think of your life as like a car. And you're driving down the road of life, and the wheel of the car is your tongue. So just a small turn on that wheel, the wheel seems like a small thing, but the whole direction of the vehicle is gonna change. And it's gonna have a huge effect. So basically, all I'm trying to communicate this morning is just Jesus take the wheel. You know? Jesus take the wheel. Take it from my let's all stop for a moment and ponder the deep wisdom that is miscarry under wood. It's wonderful. But okay, but it's really not a joking matter, is it? I shouldn't make light of this. Because this is life and death. It is a big responsibility to own a tongue. It's a big responsibility to drive a car. I remember learning to drive when I was 15, and uh, you know, I was a bit cavalier about the whole thing, as most 15-year-olds are. But I remember my dad, I mean, in the passenger seat teaching me how to drive. He's over here. He was not cavalier at all. I don't remember his exact words, but I think it was something like Ben, you you do understand, right? That you are now strapped in behind the wheel, controlling a 3,500-pound steel missile that is traveling 60 miles an hour against oncoming traffic. You might not be particularly concerned right now about learning how to do this safely, but I promise you, everybody else on the road, whose very lives depend upon you not hitting them with your missile, they're kind of hoping that you learn to make good choices. Now let's start up the car. It's a big responsibility to sit behind the wheel. So who's got their hands on the wheel? It is a big responsibility to have a tongue. This is the power of life and death. Proverbs says, this is Proverbs 18, 21. The tongue has the power of life and death. And those who love to those who love it will eat its fruit. Those who love to do this, you're gonna eat its fruit. For better or for worse. So how are we gonna use, bear this great responsibility that we have in our tongue? Remember how this this whole chapter started in in James 3. We don't want to just jump over this first sentence. James says, I don't want a lot of you to be teachers because you're gonna be judged more strictly and you're saying a bunch of things that don't really line up. And I suspect, I don't know what was going on in that that first church, but I suspect some people kind of got fired that day. Some people that maybe just enjoyed hearing themselves talk or like to pretend to have some special access to God to get nice seats at parties, or like James mentions here, people that had no problem apparently condemning whole groups of people just because it made them look smart. People who were made in the image of God and God loves deeply. And he says, the leader in the church, not on my watch. But James says, instead of all that that's going on, that's kind of the culture that existed even before Jesus, and we're gonna change this. Instead of all that, what I want, this is how I want the whole church to come under control by every single person controlling their tongue. And the only way to do that is to be tied in and geared in to this ongoing relationship with Jesus and living out of that abundance. And that seems like a tall order, but that's exactly what we're made to do. Everything is about that. You know, we all, and and by the way, this whole taming of the tongue thing, this is not just don't say that one thing that would be hurtful. This is James saying, tame your tongue and speak to other people, knowing that they're made in the image of God. We are called to speak life. You know, we all know the golden rule that Jesus said you know, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love others as you love yourself. Jesus summarized the entire Old Testament like that. But notice when Jesus gave that, he did not state it like, do not do this thing that you would never want done to yourself. Now that's true, but that negative kind of formulation, some people call that uh the silver rule. And that, you know, you'd see that a little bit like in the Old Testament, and there are even a few people that had stated that in different ways even before Jesus, in ancient Greeks and Confucius, and maybe Jesus knew that. But when Jesus gave the golden rule, that was new, best we can tell, in all creation. That was a gift. The silver rule that a lot of people call that is don't do that thing that you would never want done to yourself. But Jesus says, you want to go for the gold in this? Is you go do what you would like done to yourself. The only way that's ever possible, that's like you go create. Something's brand new in this world. The only way to do that is to be living out of this abundance with God. Because you have no other motivation to do it. You're not reflecting somebody else's good behavior and rewarding that. You didn't see something, it's like, great, I can do that too. This is you are imitating only God Himself, a loving God, who, a loving God who causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on everyone. And he's saying, You're made in my image, you go do. So the silver rule version of this, tame your tongue, is pretty good. You know, and if that's the only thing you take from this morning, then that's probably time well spent. Don't say that thing that's bouncing around in your head that you would never want someone else to say to you. That's one less forest fire if we do that. But the golden rule version of this, you know, if we want to go for the gold, is speak to other people in the way in which you would like to be spoken. And the only way we do that is this ongoing relationship with God. And he gives us the words to do it. I remember the the first Sunday I ever came to his hands. Um it was it was just me. Amy was was at home, one of the kids was sick, and uh just his background. I was kind of in a dark place in my relationship with God. Uh I had been on staff at a couple churches before, and it had just been honestly very difficult, and people had been hurt. And so I blamed myself, I guess, on a certain level. But you know how that goes? Uh the enemy never really has the respect to to make that accusation to your face. Like say it out loud, because it would be so easy to swat that down as a lie. And instead, you just get this kind of murmured accusation back at your five o'clock. And it's just far enough away that you don't quite muster the energy to turn around and look at it and just get rid of that. That's kind of where I was. And I'm a pretty shy person, so my plan was I didn't know anything about his hands, I just had Lowe's one day, and God said, It's a church right there. And and so I came the next Sunday and I'm very shy, and I'm my plan was I want to get in and get out, I don't want to engage with anybody. And so I I successfully avoided a hug, you know, on the greeting team, which you could do. The the trick is you gotta wait till the person in front of you is engaged, you know, with a greeter mid-hug, and then you gotta go around real quick on the side. So I pulled that off. I shouldn't share that trick. But it it was the free coffee that kind of threw me off my game, really, because I loved coffee and I got that in, but I was, you know, right as the service was starting, and I didn't know the rules. Like, what do I do? And I'm Mr. Uptight, and so I said, I'm gonna have to talk somebody. So I picked somebody that looked nice enough that was right by this door to the big room, and I made eye contact and I said, Excuse me, is it okay if I bring my coffee in? Because I was scared I was gonna break a rule and spill something or something. Can I bring my coffee in? And this person, um, I'm not sure who it was necessarily, I don't remember. This is like 2007, but in terms of personality, it was somebody like Betty or Irene, or I should have known better. And and she said, Oh yeah, no problem. But then I could see in her eyes, it was like God said, No, no, no, say a little bit more. And then so she just leaned in and grabbed the side of the coffee, and you know, we kind of communed over the coffee for a second, and she said, Please know, this is a place of freedom. And I knew that was God having her say that to me. And I just cracked it started to crack me open just a little bit. Just a word, but it started to crack me open. So I said, Okay, God, you're already talking to me. I'm only a couple feet in the door here. This is a place of freedom. And so I looked at my coffee and I just threw it on the ground. It's a place of freedom. What are you gonna do with his hands? Come on. No. I didn't I didn't do that. I thought about it, but I didn't do that. I said, This is a place of freedom. So I sat right in the middle. There's no one in the spot where I was right there, it's empty. Uh I sat right in the middle, right in front of the soundboard, a few rows. Uh I thought the sound would be good. And I remember the third song, uh, Susan sang it. And I know it was a song she picked intentionally, you know, prayerfully for whoever might be there that morning. And it was that song in the chorus, the only lyric in the song is just love, love, love. Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Over and over and over. And just a word. It's just a word. But with each one of those repeats, and I started to crack open a little bit better. It's like God was saying, look at me here, love. I'm not about fighting, love. I'm not about fear, love. Just words. And then Steve led us through the Lord's Supper. And he said something in the Lord's Supper that I know a lot of you have heard a lot of times here at his hands, but it was new to me in my where I was that day. And he said, Please know, God's not mad at you. And it was just a just words, he was just speaking, but it was like light bulb. That's what that murmur is back there. And to hear it spoken out loud, it really made me realize how silly that is. No more. Just words, all those three little things that kind of angled me into finally hearing it from God Himself. I'm not mad at you. But yet so much more than just words. We're made in God's image to speak life. But what's our example of doing this? You know, what are the rules? If I'm ordering food at a restaurant, do I have to be prayerful about that? You know, if I'm talking to my second grader about math problems or meeting a coworker for the first time, how does this work? Jesus said in uh in John 14, 14, 10, he said, Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Do you really believe that? Or is Jesus exaggerating there? Every single word that Jesus spoke was something that he had heard in conversation with his father. And it was an honor for Jesus to be accomplishing what the Father had given him to do. The people made in your image, and every word was spoken with intention. But you know, it's so easy, we hear that and we think, Yeah, that's fine, but that's Jesus, right? It's Jesus is a special case. There's no way that you really expect me to do that, right? 1 John 2, 6 summarizes it really well. John says, Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. So that's you you only got two options. We either live our life the way Jesus lived his life, or we try anything else, and it's gonna fail. And that's the way Jesus lived his life. Every single word was an intention that was spoken, and he's he spoke life to his world. You know, the we're made in the image of God, and the people that are around us every day, our spouses and our kids, our friends and our family and co-workers and complete strangers, they are all made in the image of God. And as such, we will dare not speak to them in a way that's anything less than what God would have us say. And we do that not just out of respect to them, not just because it's a better play. We do that out of respect to God, the God who created them, the God who loves them intensely and has made each one of them uniquely, and we want to say his words. We're put here to speak life to our worlds. Worship team, you can start coming back up here. So my challenge for you today is what is it that God would have you say out loud today? Not just think in your head, but speak. Just ask him, just show me, show me two or three conversations today where I can speak life. Now I know this needs to be a mode that I always live in, and I know that's the idea here, but I I need a place to start. So just today, show me two or three conversations where I can speak life. You know, not just the silver rule level of this. You know, God help me to keep me from putting my foot in my mouth so frequently. But I want to go for the gold. I want to speak to others in the same way that I would like to be spoken. It, you know, but already the excuses, I I can hear these, you know, it's like I love my spouse, you know, and I know you probably do also. And we need to find the words to do that. If you are unspeakably proud of your kids today, then say that out loud. Find the words to do it. And the excuse might be, well, you know, I did that yesterday. I I had that conversation. But you don't know where they are today. And only God does. And don't just don't just say, I'm gonna come up with something nice, but God, exactly what would you have me say? Because discouragement comes so quickly. And we all know that from our own experience. So God can guide us. Or the excuse might be, you know, I've I'm not really much of a talker, I'm more of a doer. But I don't buy it. We are made in the image of God to do both. Say it and do it. And if if you're not Shakespeare, who cares? You almost get more points if you're not Shakespeare. We are made to speak it and do it. So the way it works is our our words themselves are actions. Because every word is a decision, and decisions are actions. And then our actions speak volumes. So really, it's the same thing. And they're the same thing to God. The Bible's full of stories of God just saying it and doing it, and that's what He's making us, we're made being made in His image to do the same. So our prayer this morning is this God, you know, it's so easy for us to just get discouraged. And we just think, I don't know where to start in my relationship with God. But He's given us a great place to start. Just start with the words that come out of your mouth today. God, how can I be intentional about that? Let me speak life to my world. Or we might say, God, I just feel powerless. I'm just overwhelmed with this. I everything's coming in on me, and I feel powerless. But that's a lie. You are not, because you've been given the gift of a tongue to speak life to your world. It's a great responsibility, but it's a great gift too. God, we need that. Fill us with an abundance in our hearts and just let it spill out from there. And then we're excited to see how that might change everything else in our day. Amen.