Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost September 14-15, 2024
“The Power of a Word” James 3:1-12
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Since the Presidential debate on Tuesday folks have picked apart and analyzed the words of former President Trump and Vice-President Harris. Fact-checked. Tone. Non-verbal expressions. This analysis will go on for some time. You see, words are important. Words are powerful.
That is what the Bible says, as well. We just read a long section from James about the tongue and the words that come from our mouth. “Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it
makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course
of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:5-6) “No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:8)
In the first chapter James, the brother of Jesus by the way, says, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (1:19) How about this? – “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” (1:26)
Do you need a good dose of humility? Read James. Do you need a word of God’s law? This is where you should go. James will pick you apart and let you see how you should be.
A word is powerful. I bet you have been picked apart by words before. Someone called you a name – ugly, fat, dumb – and you haven’t forgotten. Or you have said that to others, and they have
not forgotten, and you live with regret that you ever opened your mouth. You were told where you could go. You spoke some choice four-letter words to your spouse, your child, someone at work, and
it had immediate and lasting repercussions. Like James comments, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” (James 3:9-10)
The 8th commandment is about the use of the tongue. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” You are not to be a liar. Your words are to be true. In the Large Catechism (1529), Martin Luther concludes his thought about the commandment with the words, “There is nothing on or in a person that can do greater and more extensive good or harm in spiritual and in temporal matters
than the tongue.” Our words are powerful, for good or for evil. We can bless and encourage another, or we can destroy them and injure them. Words are that powerful. I find it interesting that in this section
about the use of words, James would begin the section with a warning to those who would be considering becoming preachers/teachers. He says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1) What does a preacher do? We use words. Lots of them. Did you know that I get paid by the word? When I go on and on and on, you may think – why does he do that? We’ve already heard that!! Well – each word is another quarter in my pocket. (NO – NOT REALLY!!) But words are powerful. Whether what a preacher is saying or what we speak to our family and friends – they need to be
chosen carefully.
Our words are powerful. But God’s words are even more powerful and more lasting. God’s word of law stings. It can be brutal. Honest but brutal. It causes us to consider our ways and turn back to Him with repentance. Hebrews 4 is a strong word about God’s word, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrows; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
There is nothing we should desire more than having God speak to us. His words mean everything to us. Sometimes others can speak words that hurt us – sometimes we deserve those words and sometimes we don’t – but God’s final word is life giving and reviving to a hurt soul. His is the word that is final. God always has the last word. And that word brings us back to life.
Consider in Scripture the power of God’s word. Everything that you see, and some things you will never see, came about because God spoke. Genesis 1 uses this formula over and over again, “And
God said let there be…and there was.” God simply speaks and there is. God breathes and life begins. That is a powerful word.
So, when we get to the New Testament and St. John thinks about how to tell us about the coming of Jesus, he says that God spoke and the incarnate Son of God was born. “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2) God wants to speak to us. He has something to say to us. He gives us the Word – Jesus.
John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
God has a powerful word spoken when you hear, from my very mouth, that your sins have been forgiven by God. They are no more. “As a called and ordained servant of the Word, I forgive you all your sins…” That word comes from the words of Jesus, “If you forgive anyone their sins they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:23)
God’s words are powerful. The words of the hymn by Martin Franzmann, “Thy Strong Word” (578, LSB, verses 1,3) go like this:
Thy strong word did cleave the darkness; at Thy speaking it was done./ For created light we thank Thee, while Thy ordered seasons run./ Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous; bright with Thine own holiness,/ glorious now we press toward glory, and our lives our hopes confess.
In Absolution God’s words are powerful. In Baptism God’s words are life giving. In Ephesians 5 Paul speaks about the church – us – in this way, “Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle of any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Verses 25-27) I love it!! “Cleansing her with water through the word.”
Words are filled with power, especially when they come from God. Here’s a promise about the power of what God says, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (I Peter 1:23)
How will you use your words? How will you guard your tongue? Will you do good with your words, or will you do harm? Paul says it clearly, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29) You, and I have many opportunities to breathe life into someone who is hurting and discouraged. We can use our words to tell them that we will bring them before the very throne of God in our prayers. As the psalmist put it, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” (Psalm 51:15)
This reading from James 3 rang very true, personally, to me. That verse, “What a great forest is set on fire by a small spark” is what actually happened in my life. At my first church I set the original sanctuary on fire. Literally. My first call was to Amherst, Colorado. It is known for wheat, corn and tumbleweeds. Lots of tumbleweeds. One day I decided to burn the tumbleweeds that has filled in around the historic first church, built in 1910. As I burned pile after pile of them, I looked up at the roof of that building and I saw that it was on fire. A little spark from my tumbleweeds had started the fire. I’m sure that I could be dismissed very quickly as their pastor for doing such a thing!
I called the Volunteer Fire Department – made up of many of my members – and they saved the roof and the church and me. A little spark caused that fire.
On that day I was forgiven. Their graceful words were more powerful than my actions. Powerful and graceful words from God are like that – it is what we need. Amen!!
