Introduction

James 3:9-12 ESV  With it [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  (10)  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.  (11)  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?  (12)  Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

• So for the past two sermons from James we talked about the horribleness of the tongue.
  • How it is full of evil and deadly poison.
    • We talked about the power that it has too.
      • Not the name it claim it power…
      • Not some magical power to “Speak things into existence”
      • But the power to burn your life down…
        • How great a forest is set ablaze but such a small spark, this is what James teaches us about the tongue.
    • Between Pastor Jared’s sermon and my sermon on this topic, you have been thoroughly warned about your tongue.
  • And the truth is, THERE IS POWER IN THE TONGUE.

Proverbs 18:21 ESV  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

• So we know there is POWER in the tongue. But the power is not only death, there is also life in the tongue.
  • So this morning I want to look through James 3:9-12 but I want to look at it through the lens of the Blessing and not the cursing.
    • Because I think we have been well warned to not use our tongue for nonsense… and honestly you are going to be warned in this sermon some more… because it is so important… but I want the Focus of this sermon to be the blessing… the correct way to use our tongue… the power of LIFE in our tongue.

• These Things Ought Not To Be So, How We Ought To Use Our Tongue.

James 3:10 ESV  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

• These things… blessings and curses coming from the same mouth… these things ought not to be so…
  • This begs the question then, what “ought to be so” we know what “ought not to be so” but we have to ask “what ought to be so?”
    • When you say ought so much it starts to sound strange… ought so, not so, ought not so… anyway I digress… we shouldn’t be using our tongue to curse and bless, so how should we be using our tongue? WE SHOULD BE USING IT ONLY TO BLESS!

• Now last week we preached on the verses just before these in James and the sermon was titled “Bless yourself: Stop running your mouth”.
  • Now that sermon was about finding blessings by allowing the Holy Spirit to help you control your tongue… bless yourself.
    • But this mornings sermon is all
• So let’s get into my first point this morning… instead of cursing others, use your tongue to bless God.

Point One – Instead of Cursing Others, Use Your Tongue to Bless God

James 3:9-10 ESV  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  (10)  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

• The argument here is supper duper simple.
  • Man is made in God’s image… to curse men is to curse things made in God’s image.
    • How then can you bless God with your tongue and curse people made in God’s image… These things ought not to be so!
      • To make this supper duper clear… can I make it plain this morning?
        • It’s like saying you LOVE Ford, but you hate EVERYTHING that Ford makes.
          • I LOVE FORD! Great company, really, great American engineering. Ford is the BEST automobile company, it is better than all others, it reigns supreme. FORD FOR LIFE BABY!
            • Yeah man, I hear that! I love Ford F150’s.
          • What? NO! F150’s ARE GARBAGE! They are terrible, awful, useless pieces of machinery.
            • But I thought you love Ford?
          • Oh yeah! THEY ARE THE BEST!
            • So you must love the Ford Focus?
          • What? No, it is trash! Found-On-Road-Dead… that is what Ford stands for when it comes to the Ford Focus.
            • Ok… but you love Ford? Oh, you must love the muscle! You got to respect the Ford Mustang!
          • Why would I respect that trash? Talk about an overhyped, overengineered waste of money.
            • So you love the first car then, The Model-T?
          • That’s a Death Trap.
            • The Ford Fiesta?
          • More like Ford Siesta… what a boring car!
            • The Ford Taurus?
          • Yeah I guess it’s nice… if you like giant overpriced paperweights!
            • The Escort?
          • The only thing that is escorting me to is a Honda dealership so I can get something good, you know what I mean?
            • Bro I don’t understand! In one breath you say you love Ford and it’s the greatest automobile company ever… but then you trash everything that Ford makes…
          • Well I love Ford… just not what they make?
            • WHAT DO YOU MEAN? This is Ford’s vision, This is Ford’s design… THESE CARS ARE MADE EXACTLY THE WAY FORD WANTED TO MAKE THEM. TO TRASH THEM IS TO TRASH FORD.
            • Out of your mouth comes blessings for Ford and curses for all that Ford makes… THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT TO BE SO!
• How many of y’all know I am not preaching about FORD’S this morning?

James 3:9-10 ESV  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  (10)  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

• Envy, Malice, Strife, Gossip, Bearing False Witness…
  • When I am talking about cursing this morning I am not talking about using bad words… which as Christians you shouldn’t be using bad words my last sermon made that clear…
  • I am talking about using your words to destroy, to tear down, to break down other people.
    • In the Ford example I just gave I did not use any “curse words” but I was still cursing Ford.
      • When we use our words in envious ways, in malicious ways, in divisive ways, when we use our words to lie about others to tear them down… when we use our words to wish ill will on others… we are cursing others…
        • And when we are cursing Others we are cursing people made in the likeness of God.
• Who do you curse?
  • Democrats? Republicans? Coworkers? Estranged Family Members? Other People in the Church? People who hate the church? People who persecute the church?
    • Who do you curse? Because all of these people are made in the image of God.
    • To bless God and Curse what God made makes no sense… these things ought not to be so!
      • So what ought we use our tongue for instead of cursing?
        • Obviously blessing!
          • Instead of cursing others, we should be blessing God.

Psalm 103:1 ESV – “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”

Psalm 34:1 ESV – “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalm 145:1-2 ESV – “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.”

Psalm 96:2 ESV – “Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.”

• So many times Christians ask for blessings…
  • Lord bless this food, bless my marriage, bless my children, bless my day… bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me…
    • And I am not saying that is a bad thing… but I want you to know that you have the power… you have the ability… to bless God with your tongue.
    • We need to be a church that seeks first to bless God before we seek God to bless us!
  • What does it mean to bless God? Why is it that we so understand what it means for God to bless us but we struggle to understand what it means to bless God?
    • They really are the same thing… when I want blessings from God I want to feel good, I want victory in what I have set out to accomplish, I want good and not evil.
      • So, when we bless the Lord we want God to feel good… God has emotions… we have emotions because we are made in God’s image…
      • God can be angry, sorrowful, joyful, regretful, happy, sad… all of it.
        • When we bless the Lord we want God to have Joy! We want him to be happy! We don’t want Him to be wrathful, or regretful…
          • So we lift up his name… because He loves it when we lift up His name.
            • We praise Him and Worship Him… because He takes joy in our praises.
            • We glorify Him for all He has done for us, because He is angry when forget and neglect all the good He has done.
            • We speak victory over His works, over His plans, over His doing… though He does not need our help…
    • You know there is a casting Crowns song, and I love the lyrics, that say “How refreshing to know You don’t need me…How amazing to find that you want me”
      • No God doesn’t need you to bless Him. But He want’s you to.
        • In the same way the Packers, or the Vikings, or the Bears, or the Chiefs… or whoever you support… they don’t need you to cheer for them.
          • They are perfectly capable of moving the pigskin without you shouting like a crazed child from the grandstands…
            • No your football team doesn’t need you to cheer for them… but they sure do appreciate it.
  • God made us to be with Him, to Honor Him, to bless Him… HE LOVES IT WHEN WE USE OUR WORDS NOT TO CURSE HIS CREATION, BUT TO BLESS THE CREATOR.
    • When you bless God you are serving God.
• But You can’t bless God and curse His creation… these things ought not to be so.
  • So what ought to be so? Well we ought to bless God with our tongues and we ought to bless other with our tongues. That’s my second and final point this morning.

Point Two – Instead of Cursing Others, Use Your Tongue to Bless Others

James 3:9-12 ESV  With it [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  (10)  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.  (11)  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?  (12)  Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

• Guy’s I want to tell you about this tree in by back yard. IT IS A BANNA-APPLE TREE!
  • What?! A banana what tree?
  • A Banana-Apple Tree!
    • It grow’s banana-apples? Never heard of them?
  • No, not banana-apples, it grows bananas and it grows apples.
    • No it doesn’t.
  • Yes it does, it’s beautiful.
    • No it’s not… what you are describing is an abomination…
  • I mean… the fruit is all pretty rotten… but it is there, apples and bananas on the same tree.
    • THAT IS NOT HOW AGRICULTURE WORKS… THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT TO BE SO!
• This is the example that James is giving. A tree can grow ONE kind of fruit… a source of water is either Fresh or Salt water. A vine can either grow grapes or olives… but not both.
  • To suggest otherwise is ludicrous!
    • Now agriculture has come a long way… we can splice different seeds to make different kinds of fruits and yields…
    • But in the 2000 years of agricultureal science that has happened since James chapter three was written… we still don’t have banana-apple trees. We still don’t have Olive-Grape vines or Grape-Olive trees.
      • YET FOR SOME REASON WE HAVE BLESSING-CURSING CHRISTIANS.
      • THESE THINGS OUGHT NOT TO BE SO!
        • We shouldn’t have Christians who use their mouths to bless and curse.
• “BUT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND PASTOR, The people from the opposing political party are IDIOTS and they are ruining this nation”
  • Well that may very well be so… but when I grew up I was told never to make fun of people with mental illness.
    • BUT THEY ARE EVIL AND THEY ARE DOING EVIL THINGS WITH MY TAX DOLLARS.
      • Yes they do do evil things with your tax dollars, and that needs to stop… like NOW… but the solution is not to call them names and post funny memes that only serve to tear down and curse them…
    • Well then what do you suggest?
      • I don’t know man… open your Bible, read it, and do what it says?
    • And what exactly does the Bible say about how I am supposed to speak about the NINCOMPOOPS on the other side of the political spectrum?
      • Well I am so happy you asked!

Matthew 5:44 ESV “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

Romans 12:14 ESV “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them”

• Listen… I don’t know who you curse…
  • People on the other end of the spectrum politically.
  • Coworkers and mangers who undermine you.
  • Family members who always say the wrong thing to you.
  • People from different cultures who think differently than you.
  • People who persecute you and other Christians for their faith.
• Look, I think we can all agree that Al-Qaeda is a horrible, evil organization.
  • The horrible things they are doing to Christians and women in Afghanistan… the roll they had in the September 11^th attacks… the many thousands of Christians they have martyred in the middle east.
    • We can agree that Al-Qaeda is evil.
      • And I give you permission to curse Al-Qaeda…
        • Because Al-Qaeda is an organization, not a person. Al-Qaeda was not made in the image of God.
        • Curse them! LORD TEAR THEM APART. LET THEIR PLANS FAIL! LET THEIR RESOURCES DRY UP! LET THEM BE A STENCH IS NOSTRALS OF ALL THE MIDDLE EAST. LET THEM NEVER BE ABLE TO KILL ANOTHER CHRISTIAN AGAIN! IN THE MIGHTY AND POWERFUL NAME OF JESUS! KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
      • But as you curse Al-Qaeda, you must remember that those in Al-Qaeda are made in the image of God. The organization is not, but the individual is.
  • I think most of us can agree that Russia is doing some horrible evil right now. Regardless of how you feel about Ukraine, we can agree that Russia is WAY out of line and being just about as Evil as Al-Qaeda ever was.
    • So we pray against the plans of Russia… we curse the Russian army and government as a whole…
      • But I don’t Curse Vladimir Puttin… why? Because I open my Bible, Read it, and Do what it says.

James 3:9 ESV  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

• Vladimir Putin, like it or not, is made in the image of God.

Matthew 5:44 ESV “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

• I am not denying that Putin is our enemy… but that means all the more we must love him and pray for him.

Romans 12:14 ESV “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them”

• Look, Putin persecutes Christians… he has long before this war in Ukraine. He shuts down churches, shuts down the preaching of the Gospel, he puts former KGB agents as heads of the Russian-Orthodox Church, the only type of church he allows…. He is our persecutor…
  • And as such, we are to bless him and not curse him… Because Romans 12:14 demands it.
    • So what does that look like, it looks like Jesus dying on the cross, blessing those who were killing Him.

Luke 23:33-35 ESV  And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  (34)  And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.  (35)  And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

• Jesus is crucified amongst common thiefs… and the Jews and the Romans who crucified Jesus are there in the crowd mocking Him… and Jesus says “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing”.
  • Literally, in his dying moments, Jesus prays a prayer of blessings over His enemies.
    • They are ignorant, Father, forgive them… let them see the errors of their ways… let them find wisdom and understanding… let them find forgiveness… let them be saved…. Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
  • Could we pray that for Putin?
    • Father, I don’t understand why Putin is acting so evil… He clearly doesn’t know you… He doesn’t know the evil that He is committing is really evil against you. Father, while I ask that his planes in Ukrain fail… I ask that your planes for Him succeed. That He would be saved, complelty and fully, that He would come to repentance, that He would become a man after your own heart… and that all of Russia would hear of His testimony… that Russian generals, would be forgiven and saved because of it, and through them Russian soldiers… and that the soldiers would bring the Gospel home and their families would be saved. Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing!”
• Is that a prayer we can pray from Puttin?
  • What if when we talked about Putin in passing we didn’t tear him down, but we urged other people to pray for his forgiveness.
    • WELL PUTIN IS SO EVIL AND WICKED.
      • Yeah man, he is, that is why I am praying that He would be saved. I was evil and wicked once too… thank God I didn’t have control of a supper power while I was in my sin… I really think we need to pray that Putin would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That he would be forgiven and eternally blessed the same way I was when I came to Jesus.
• Now if you think THAT is radical… then you are really not going to like this next part.
  • If you are capable of doing this Putin…
    • Can you then also do it for Pelosi… for Biden… for Trump?
    • Can you also do it for that family member who hurt you so deep and continues to hurt you?
    • For that pastor that tore you down and continues to hurt others.
    • For that coworker who tells lies about you and gossips about you?
    • For that person who hit your car and speed off afterwards.
    • For that guy who cussed you out on your Facebook post?
    • For the racist who hates your guts because of your skin color?
    • If we can bless Putin, then don’t you think you can bless your neighbor?
• But pastor that is so WEAK! Aren’t we supposed to be STRONG?! MORE THAN CONQUERORS?! This kind of talk sounds so passive and weak and cowardly…
  • That’s exactly what Hitler said. He said that he wished Germany wasn’t a Christian nation because Christianity was a weak religion full of meekness and forgiveness… He wished that Germany was following more of a Warrior religion, not a flabby meek forgiving religion.
    • BUT GUESS WHAT! HITLER LOST TO A BUNCH OF BIBLE LOVING, MEEK AND FORGIVING CHRISTIANS.
      • Children find it very easy to curse others… but they must be taught through many tears how to forgive.
• Forgiving your enemies, loving your enemies, BLESSING YOUR ENEMIES, that takes strength.
  • So you have a choice for how you are going to use your tongue when it comes to others…
    • You can use it in weakness… or you can use it in meekness.
    • You can chose the childish ways of cursing others… others created in the image of God, and in so doing curse God without even realizing it…
    • Or you can be meek, patient, humble, kind, and STRONG. Praying prayers of blessings and forgiveness over your enemies… not that their plans would succeed… TO HELL WITH THEIR EVIL PLANS! But that God’s plan of redemption and forgiveness would succeed in their lives.
      • I pray for Putin’s success. Not what HE thinks is success, because he does not know what he is doing… but for God’s success in his life… that he would be repentant, forgiven, and saved… That’s a prayer of blessing, and eternal prayer of blessing.
• So whoever you have been cursing, saints… whoever you have been cursing, remember the Ford example… they are made in God’s image… your coworkers, family members, and neighbors.
  • Your political opponents… people who hate you… people who persecute you and other Christians.
    • Instead of cursing them… love them enough to want them to go to heaven.
      • Hate their plans. Hate who they have become. But love them enough to want them to not stay that way.
      • Love them enough to speak blessings of forgiveness and repentance over their lives.
      • To have compassion for them, because they don’t know what they are doing.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  (10)  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  (11)  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

• I am not saying that there is not evil in the world. THERE IS!
  • I know first hand, because when Paul says in Corinthians “Such were some of you” he was talking about ME!
    • I was a pervert, I was thief, I was a liar, I was an idolater, I was greedy and rivalrous. Such were some of ME!
    • But God saved me. He washed me and sanctified me and justified me in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
      • I was God’s enemy, and yet He died for me, blessed me and saved me.
      • If He can do it for me, if He can do it for His enemies… than He can do it for my enemies too… and I will use my mouth, my words, to Bless Him, the Giver of eternal life, and to bless others who need to receive that eternal life.
        • And maybe, just maybe, there is someone here today who needs to receive that eternal life.

Gospel Call

Aaronic Blessing