“The Power of Words”
Why we need to bridle our tongues and who can help us
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Text: Acts 2:1-7; James 1:19-26
If not the single most powerful, one of the most powerful forces in the world is words. The words that we speak tell us so much about who and what we are. They convey to others what we believe or what we don't, what we know and what we don't know. Words can heal, words can hurt. Words can inspire, words can deflate. For the power of words is one of the great mysteries of human life, and how potent they can be!
In 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Vaclav Havel was speaking in Germany. He voiced an interesting phrase: “We are living in a time when words can shake the foundations of governments, where words are mightier than 10 military divisions.” Havel at that time was, of course, an inspirational leader within the Czech freedom movement. He was one who believed deeply that the best way to take on oppression and the problems of the world was through the power of words, words that are mightier than 10 military divisions.
Words, you see, have the ability to inspire the heart and to inspire the soul. You need only watch what is happening in the current election to realize that one errant word by a leader or by a political partisan can negatively affect a whole campaign. One inspirational word, one phrase can capture the imagination of people and so bring them around to your side that they will commit everything to you. The power of words, both for good and evil, both errant and inspiring, can move the heart and soul. They're powerful things.
No one understood that more than the writer of the Book of James. Writing to Jewish Christians who were scattered over a wide variety of places, James knew that if the Christian community was going to plant solid roots wherever it found itself, Christians must be known for speaking wisely and kindly and thoughtfully. The problem within the church was that there were some who were running off at the mouth, saying whatever was in their minds, speaking words of anger, speaking words of hatred. In so doing they were undermining the mission of the church of Jesus Christ.
What Christians have to say and how they say it has an impact on the way in which the world sees the church, the way in which the world sees its Lord. Therefore, James is concerned that people use their tongues wisely. He even tells them very, very carefully to make sure that they, to use an old-fashioned term, “bridle their tongues.” Just as a bridle in the mouth of a horse holds it back, so too we must bridle our tongues in order that they don't run away from us and let us say things that are hurtful, cruel, mean or spiteful. More than that, James believed that what we say and how we say it to others reveals what is in our very own hearts. It gives others a sense of our faith and what we believe.
I want to look, just for a moment, at two sides of the power of words. The first is that words can speak poison. There is a wonderful phrase in my little book of quotes that really moves me: “Maybe the eyes are the windows of the soul, but heaven forbid that the mouth becomes the entrance to the brain.”
In other words, the mouth can be very, very dangerous and very often it says what we are thinking. But sometimes, and this is the implication, it speaks before we have thought. Things just pour out of our mouths and afterwards we realize that once they are said we cannot retrieve them.
I read a lovely story about a mother who had a young daughter who, shall we say, used rather bad and inappropriate language from time to time. Knowing her daughter didn't realize the impact of what she was doing, her mother one day asked her to scatter feathers from a pillow over the front lawn.
The girl did as her mother asked and scattered the feathers all over the lawn. Well, you can guess what happened. They went inside and the wind began to blow and the feathers started to blow with the wind. After about an hour the mother said to her daughter: “Will you now go out and collect all those feathers and put them back in the pillow?”
The girl said: “Mom, you're out of your mind. This is the most silly thing I've ever heard of in my life.” But she tried to please her mother, so she went out and began to gather all the feathers, but of course they'd blown all over the place. Finally, the girl came back with only half a pillow full of feathers and said: “Mom, I'm sorry, but there is no way that I'm going to be able to get them all back.”
The mother said: “Your words are just like those feathers.”
When you say something it is gone - it disappears. You never know where it's going to land and once you've said something you can't get it back. No matter how clever you might think you are, no matter how wise or able you think you are, you need at times to bridle your tongue.
There's a delightful joke (and do not in any way take this seriously, please) about a very cocky young man. He had just got a summer job in a store and he pretended to know everything, and no one could tell him what to do. He had all the answers. This young man thought he was really quite smart. He had an answer for everything. He was as sharp as a tack. Finally, one day the owner of the store came to him and said: “Young man, I'm really interested. You seem to know so much. Where are you from?”
The young man said: “I am from Toronto, sir, where we have the most beautiful hockey players and the ugliest women.”
The man said: “Oh, dear. Is that right? My wife is from Toronto.”
The young man paused, then said: “Well, in that case, what team does she play for?”
Still doesn't cover it up though, does it? No matter how smart we think we are, what comes out of our mouths is gone. It evaporates almost into the ether, and it can cause great damage.
James is not just talking about an errant word. He is talking about words that deliberately hurt, words that are spoken in meanness, words that are spoken with viciousness, words that are spoken in wrath. James said there was only one way that we can ensure that our words don't go out and hurt, one thing that we need to keep in mind: namely, the Word of God. For it is the Word of God that informs the heart. It is the Word of God that takes away envy and bitterness, anger and wrathfulness. It is the Word of God dwelling in the heart by the power of the Spirit that is ultimately the bridle on our tongues. For what comes from our tongues is the manifestation of what lies deep in our hearts.
Only when the heart changes, and I say this to the young people who are here this morning in particular, and only when the mind is open to the power and the spirit of God, does the tongue follow suit. Therefore, we have to be careful what we say, lest we hurt anyone. If we desire to speak words that are not poisonous, our words need to be informed by the power of the Spirit.
So often, and I've seen it in my life and I'm sure you've seen it, words are spoken in anger and the devastation of those words can last for ages. Words that are spoken in hatred, driving people away, are words that need to be bridled by the power of the spirit of God. That's what James was getting at when he said: “Be slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”
There is also the positive side: that our tongues are there for prayer and praise. James uses another phrase: “Be swift to listen, slow to speak.” In other words, take time to pray, take time to let God's spirit nurture our inner life. Let God's spirit direct us. If we don't take time to listen, then our tongues run away from us and we don't know what we're saying. It is not only to say that we hear, it's also that our lives themselves might be conformed to the spirit of Christ.
A man named Andrus Tamas was conscripted 53 years ago into the Soviet army. But after they had conscripted him, the Soviets thought he was out of his mind. They thought he was speaking gibberish, and they said: “This man is mad. What are we going to do with him?” They put him in an asylum and left him there for 53 years. They locked him away and forgot about him.
After 53 years somebody realized what was wrong with this man. It wasn't that he was speaking gibberish, he was speaking Hungarian and they hadn't realized it. They thought he was mad, but he was as sane as the day is long. When he came out of prison after 53 years, Tamas did something: He stood in front of a mirror for hours. During the 53 years that he was imprisoned they were worried that he might hurt himself, so he wasn't allowed a mirror. He looked at all the lines on his face and saw his receding hairline and the gray stubble on his face. Can you imagine if you hadn't seen yourself for 53 years what it would be like?
In the Bible James used a similar analogy. He said: “You know, speaking is fine, but the problem is, if we don't look in a mirror from time to time, we forget what it is we are saying.” It is needful for us, sometimes, not only to speak, but also to look inwardly and see what we're saying. And it is faith that allows us to see ourselves as we really are, because it is no good just saying things if our lives do not fall into line with what we are voicing. Our words and our deeds must go together.
This morning, you young people in the confirmation class are making a verbal commitment to Christ. You are making a promise, a covenant, but what you say should not only be words, it should be something that is deeper by the power of the Spirit in the heart.
Three years ago, on May 25, 2001, Erik Weihenmayer climbed to the top of Mount Everest. What was amazing about this man was that he was blind. Even though 150 people have died trying to ascend Everest, and though 90 per cent of those who try fail, this man made it. He was asked how he was able to climb Everest even though he is blind. He said that he did three things. The first was that he listened to the bell worn by the sighted people climbing in front of him. Secondly, he heeded their warnings when they said: “Eric, in two feet there is a precipice that is 100 feet deep.” The last thing was that wherever he put in his peg, he listened to the sound it made going in, and knew from that sound whether it was a solid foothold. He climbed the whole way blind, but listening, using his hearing as his guide.
This morning, my friends, we are in a sense, climbing our way through our lives, but we're doing so listening to the one who is our guide. The power of God's word and spirit will help us in the climb of our life.
A couple of days ago I listened to an interview by Peter Mansbridge of Jarome Iginla. (I did pray, remember, for the Flames four weeks ago.) There is Jarome Iginla sitting opposite Peter Mansbridge talking about hockey and the Flames' success. But there was one telling moment in the interview for me. Peter Mansbridge said to Jarome Iginla: “I hear that you're a very spiritual man.”
Jarome Iginla said: “Yes. I suppose I am. My father has been a minister, my mother is a Buddhist, but I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It's amazing the power of what can come from a tongue. It was said humbly. No big deal, no fanfare, no big song and dance as so often is done. Just a simple confession of faith that tells you a lot about the man behind it.
I hope today when you use your words and make your promises and vows they will say something about the person behind them. I hope they will say that you are someone who is slow to speak anger but quick to listen to the power of the Word of God. This is my prayer for you. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.