The Lutheran Hour
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"A Big Mouth"
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Text: James 3:8-10
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Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed! Those three words, which tell of Jesus’ resurrection, are the best three words this world will ever hear. Because Jesus lives, our forgiveness has been won and for those who believe, salvation is assured. Now, by the Holy Spirit’s power, may that story of salvation be shared in all we do and especially by what we say. Lord, grant this gift of witness to us all. Amen.
Four ministers often got together for lunch on Mondays. This particular Monday one of them said, “We four have shared some great times, but I think we’d be closer if we confessed our shortcomings to each other. It sounded like a good idea and one of them began this way: ‘I have to confess, that once when the collection plates were placed in my office I pocketed $50.’ The second said, ‘My personal shortcoming is liquor. In my desk I keep a bottle of vodka. Often, after a long meeting, I unwind by having a swig… or two… or three.’ The third said, ‘My shortcoming is my secretary. I’ve never actually done anything, but as the man said, “I’ve lusted in my heart.”‘ When it was his time to speak, the fourth minister started squirming. After a polite pause, the others asked, “And your shortcoming, dear brother?” Quietly the minister said, “My weakness is, I gossip… and I can hardly wait to get out of here.”
Today we’re talking about transgressions of the tongue. It is a topic which should be of interest to you. After all, haven’t you been the victim of someone’s malicious conversation? Yeah, I thought so. I don’t know anybody who has escaped being sliced into small pieces by a gossip’s sharp, wagging tongue. Yes, we’ve all been sliced up — and all of us have done some serious slicing of others.
Quite reluctantly I do include myself in that second category. It’s been a number of years since a man paid me a visit in my office. He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place his face. He greeted me cordially, even warmly, and I asked him to sit down. He introduced himself as an old high school comrade. We exchanged some remembrances of shared acquaintances and past professors. Then he got serious. He said, “I was in town and had to stop at the church to talk to you. I wanted to visit with you about how cruel you were to me.” Quickly I sorted through my card catalog of our times together and could recall no such mean moments. I hesitated and said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t ever remember such an occasion.” It wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t recall anything.
Such a lapse of memory was no problem for the man sitting across from me. He began to share stories, incidents where I had picked on him, had insulted him, had chosen to make fun of him. As he spoke, I could see events which I had forgotten long ago, were, for him, as if they had happened yesterday. As he spoke, I slowly remembered. Yes, this had happened; and I had indeed said that. It was embarrassing. It was painful to be confronted by the knowledge that I had tried to lift myself up in the eyes of others, by putting this fellow down. Those incidents, which had happened many years ago, had given my classmate years of pain. When he was done, there was nothing I could say to him other than, “I am so sorry.” And I was sorry. I still am. To his credit, my friend accepted my apology. Conversations since then have indicated he did so sincerely, and we are friends. Still, such scars of the tongue do not always heal so well.
Some of you remember Karen Carpenter who died in 1983. Karen, unlike so many others in the music industry, did not die from an overdose of illegal drugs, or alcohol, or from living too fast. According to many around her, Karen died from words. Early in her career, Karen read a concert review, a review which called her, “chubby.” While the writer of that editorial may not have been trying to be cruel, for Karen that word chubby, stuck with her; for nine years it stuck with her. To stop being chubby, Karen starved herself, abused laxatives. took thyroid pills, and purged herself. Eventually her system said, “Enough,” and it shut down. Karen Carpenter died at the age of 32.
Now, lest you think this is a message on anorexia and not sins of the tongue, let me tell you of Megan Meier. Megan, like most young teens, was pleased when a good looking young man asked to be her friend on a social Website. Megan and her new friend, “Josh”, exchanged information, and although they never met, they became friends. They stayed friends until the day arrived when “Josh” said Megan was “mean” and didn’t want her as a friend any longer. Megan decided “Josh”, along with the rest of the world, hated her. Megan was 14 years old when she hanged herself. She never found out “Josh” had never existed, he was made up, a cruel prank played by people who should have known better.
The old poem says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” You know that poem, but don’t you believe it. Names can hurt, cruel words, insensitive sentences can kill and if they don’t kill, they wound, leaving a deep scar on the soul. That’s not an original thought for me. The New Testament book of James, one of the first books of the Christian age, agrees as it spends no little amount of space addressing transgressions of the tongue. It says, “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” The reformer Martin Luther explained the problem when he wrote in his Large Catechism: “it is a common evil plague that every one prefers hearing evil to hearing good of his neighbor; (indeed) every one (of us) would much rather…all the world should speak of (us) in terms of gold, yet we cannot bear that the best is spoken about others.”
One of the great strengths, and at the same time, one of the great weaknesses of being on the radio, of speaking to people you don’t know and can’t see, is that you can be honest with them. You can be incredibly honest and say things, which if we were sitting face-to-face, might be embarrassing or uncomfortable. Well, right now I’d like to take advantage of that anonymity. As I talk to you about your defining moments of life, I’d like you to be totally honest. And if you’ve never heard that term, life’s defining moments, I’d like to tell you what it means.
A defining moment of life is something that has happened to you, or something that was said to you, that helps determine why you do the things you do, that shapes how you feel and think about yourself. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Not at all. Quite possibly other people who were at that event or heard what was said to you, didn’t even notice or pay attention. But you noticed and you remembered. If you need an example, here’s one. I’m sure the writer who said Karen Carpenter was “chubby”, didn’t think a thing about that word. I’m equally sure he wasn’t trying to be cruel or malicious. On the other hand, that word chubby defined the rest of that talented woman’s life. A defining moment shapes how you think of yourself.
So, what are your defining moments? Did a parent say something like, “Why can’t you be better behaved,” or “Clean up your room,” or “Get good grades,” or “Play sports like your brother or sister?” What are your defining moments? As a child, were you left out; were you left uninvited to parties; were you always among the last to be selected for a team? What did the kids call you on the playground? Did anyone ever label you as being stupid or fat or ugly? All of these examples, and so many more, can be defining moments. There were times when saw yourself through the eyes of others; you heard what they really thought about you, and you were saddened. It doesn’t make any difference if those words were said years or even decades ago, they still bring sadness and sorrow and pain. Transgressions of the tongue can hurt. You know it; I know it; Jesus knows it, too.
Jesus understands not only because He is the all-knowing Son of God; He understands because He’s been where you are. Have you been laughed at? Jesus understands. When He told a group of mourners that a girl might be dead to the world, but not to the Savior of the world, Scripture records those who were there: “laughed at Him” (Matthew 9:24). Have people said insulting things to you? Jesus understands. Some of the very people He had come to save accused Him of being insane and demon possessed (John 10:20). Have people lied about you? Jesus understands. When He was on trial for His life, the authorities brought in false witnesses, paid perjurers to invent charges which would take the Savior to His cross (Mark 14:57-59). Have people ever made fun of you? If so, Jesus understands that too. When He hung on the cross, many of those who were gathered there mocked our Redeemer. They said: “Jesus is supposed to have saved others, but it doesn’t appear He can save Himself. Let Him come down from that cross, and if he does we will believe in him” (paraphrase of Mt. 27: 41-42).
Thank God Jesus didn’t get down off that cross. Thank God He didn’t save Himself. If He had done as those mocking voices had challenged, and He could have done just that, He would not have been our Savior; our sins would not have been paid for and every one of us would still be wallowing in the filth and muck of sin. We would still be lost, condemned to eternal death and damnation. But Jesus stayed on that cross, and Jesus did die. His cry of victory,
“It is finished” told all of creation that sin’s stranglehold had been broken and the devil could no longer claim mastery over our souls. The Savior’s resurrection on the third day proclaimed to a waiting, wondering world that even death, the last of humankind’s enemies, had been defeated. Now, by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s power, all who believe on Jesus Christ are saved.If you have had people say hurtful and unkind things to you, then, please listen to what the Savior has done to heal those hurts. The prophet Isaiah said: (excerpts ch. 53): “(Jesus) was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;… he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed…He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,…although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” Because innocent Jesus took our punishment, those who are given faith in Him are made into a new creation. That’s what St. Paul said. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The open wounds produced by the harsh words of others can be healed. Talk about “a life defining moment.” No matter what others may say about us, Jesus says we are valuable. If others delight in pointing out our flaws and failings, Jesus says we are forgiven. When others tell us we are unwanted, Jesus says we are the Father’s beloved, adopted children. Jesus’ assurances, words which come from the Son of God, have infinite power to overshadow everything cruel, anything hurtful and horrible that others have ever said to us. That truth is a life-defining moment I pray will come to all of you. May it be yours, because it changes everything.
That might be the end of the message, but there is one thing more which needs be said today. Up until now I have spoken only of the cruel things which others have said to you. But that is only part of the story, isn’t it? You’ve heard my confession of something I said which had hurt. You could make a similar confession, couldn’t you? You spouses, how about that heated argument when you resurrected a personal, tender event from the past, and picking your words to inflict maximum pain, tossed it into the face of your loved one? That day you opened a wound which might be ignored; which might be forgiven, but which might never heal. Parents, have you never over-reacted to something your child did? Did you spit out harsh words in anger; did you saddle your child with a derogatory or demeaning name? You young people, many of you spend hours developing a hierarchy of social adequacy, a pecking order of acceptability. Let me ask you, ‘when that list is done, who will be the real winners and who will lose?’ Christian friends, when we speak about others, are those caring and concerned words only gossip dressed up in Sunday-go-to-meetin’-clothes? Do we forward emails without checking to see if the information they contain is true; do we consider the damage those messages might do, or the hatred they might inspire, or the reputations they might ruin? When we get on the phone, does our conversation uplift or tear down and would we carry on that conversation if Jesus were listening on an extension? We know the answer to those questions, don’t we? All of these are transgressions of the tongue and they wound someone for whom the Savior died; someone the Lord loves; someone who ought be loved by us. Such words are not right, they are not fair, and they are no more Christian than the taking of the Lord’s Name in a false and foolish manner. Brothers, sisters, these things ought not to be.
If you, like me, are guilty of transgressions of the tongue, you also, like me, need to hear some good news. We have a Savior Who entered this world to give His life as a payment for all the wrongs we have done and said. When Jesus looked down from His cross, He saw those who had lied about Him, who had spread all manner of rumors about him; who were, even as He died, mocking and laughing at Him. Seeing them, Jesus called out a prayer: ‘Father forgive them.” He offers the same prayer for us. And, because Jesus has lived, died, and risen, His prayer for pardon becomes our reality. By Jesus’ blood we are forgiven of all we have said wrongly, unfairly, cruelly. Complete, total, unconditional forgiveness is ours. It is Jesus’ gift to us. It is a gift which needs to be shared.
A final story about the tongue. The man had been ruthless. As he built his fortune, he had pushed aside some and walked over others. Unfortunately for him, his social skills were not as nicely honed as were his business skills. To help him find acceptance among society’s elite, he imported a butler from England. The boss’s first order of business was to throw a banquet. He gave the butler this order: “Nothing but the best. I want nothing but the best food, the best meat, the best drink.” Then he gave the butler a wad of cash to carry out his command.
The day of the banquet came. The servants brought out the first course, the second, the third. While the dishes were beautifully prepared, they shared this feature: beef tongue was the meat in all of them. Furious, the boss summoned the butler and gave him a tongue lashing: “Are you trying to make me look the fool? Were you not ordered to buy the best meat there is?” The butler said this: “Sir, I have followed your order to the letter. The tongue is the bond of civil society, tongue is the organ of truth, the expression of thought, that by which we praise and adore the Lord,” The Boss didn’t like the explanation, but he couldn’t argue with it, either.
What he did do was make sure tongue didn’t get served the next day. He ordered the next day’s meal be made from the poorest meat which could be procured. You know what happened. Yes, they served tongue again. The boss popped his cork. “What, tongue again?! Did I not order the poorest of meat be served?” The butler didn’t flinch as he explained: “Sir, you did and I complied. Consider, tongue is the source of strife and contention; it is the beginning of arguments and wars; the organ which produces lies, slanders, and blasphemy.” Once again the boss couldn’t argue and we can’t either. The tongue can build up or tear down; it can praise God, or it can blaspheme Him. It can drive people away from the Savior, or it can invite sinners to His salvation.
As for my tongue? This message ends by using it to say, “If we can tell you more of the Savior who has won your salvation, please, feel free to call us at The Lutheran Hour.” Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 13, 2009
Topic: What About Gun Control?Mark: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Well, today we’ll be dealing with a subject that often stirs up a lot of emotion.
Ken: What you mean by that, Mark, is that no matter how I answer, somebody’s going to disagree and possibly be really angry with what I’ve said.
Mark: Perhaps.
Ken: Well, OK, let’s give it a shot.
Mark: That’s an ironic choice of words because we’re going to be talking about guns. One of our listeners writes, “My brother is a gun nut. He collects them, he fires them at the range, he loves to hunt with them. I, on the other hand, believe that if we removed all the guns from the world, this would be a much better and safer place. After all, wasn’t it Jesus Himself who said we should ‘turn the other cheek’?”
Ken: Yup, I’m going to get into trouble. Maybe I should take the easier route.
Mark: What would that be?
Ken: Well, since the Bible was written long before guns and bullets were invented, I can confidently say: The Bible says nothing on the issue of guns.
Mark: But you also wouldn’t be dealing with that part about turning the other cheek.
Ken: Yup, I’m getting nailed on this one, for sure. I agree, we can’t beg the point. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter was flailing his sword–the ancient world’s closest comparison to a gun–Jesus told Peter to put his sword away. That’s in John 18.
Mark: OK, so, score one point for the brother who’s against guns.
Ken: Possibly. On the other hand, Jesus told Peter to put the sword away; He didn’t tell him to throw the sword away. That would have been just as easy an order for Jesus to give. So, I’d probably make that a neutral.
Mark: OK, but how about turning the other cheek?
Ken: Yeah, there are Christian denominations that seriously practice cheek turning-today we might call it pacifism–most churches have maintained it is acceptable for God’s people to defend themselves in a reasonable way. Also, when it comes to turning the other cheek, most folks don’t pay close attention to the context of that Bible passage.
Mark: Well, that’s often the case. What else did Jesus say on the subject?
Ken: In Matthew 5, He says: “don’t resist the one who is evil… if someone sues you for your tunic, give him your coat; if someone forces you to go one mile, walk two; give to those who beg from you and loan to those who wish to borrow from you. ”
Mark: Well, most folks don’t remember to do those things. I’d suppose you’d go broke if you did.
Ken: Exactly, but with those words Jesus was establishing a higher level of living for those who wished to follow Him. Historically, we’ve probably been a disappointment to Him. At any rate, back to guns. In Jesus’ day, I suppose there were those who might have said, “Swords don’t kill people, people kill people.” Centuries before that, they would have said, “Jawbones of donkeys don’t kill people, Samson kills people.’ Jawbones, swords, guns are, by themselves, neutral items. It is in the hand of sinners where these things can take on a negative aspect.
Mark: That’s really the problem now, isn’t it?
Ken: It really is. Bad sinners, and by that I mean the crooks, the drug dealers, those who work outside of God’s civil order think of guns as tools they can use to hurt, to intimidate, to harm. There are others, folks who are also sinners, but who are, for the most part, law-abiding sinners. They look upon guns as tools to protect themselves and their families from the first group. Because both groups are composed of sinners, there is always room for error, misjudgment, and abuse. However, Romans 13 makes it clear that God grants civil authorities the power of the sword in order to defend the innocent and maintain order in the civil realm.
Mark: Yes, but that’s talking more about the police.
Ken: Maybe, but how is a shopkeeper supposed to keep the robbers entertained while he waits for the police to arrive with their guns?
Mark: Do you have an opinion? It sounds like you do.
Ken: If we were to outlaw guns and require everyone to turn them in, who do you think would obey the law?
Mark: The second group — that group of law-abiding citizens. Whereas the first group, those who use their guns outside the law to begin with, they would keep theirs.
Ken: Yeah, they’d end up being the only ones with guns. It would make the second group defenseless. Which takes us to the real question. Do God’s people have the right to defend themselves? If the answer is “yes,” I would not be in favor of gun control. If the answer is an all-inclusive, “no,” that changes things somewhat.
Mark: And where do you stand on that?
Ken: That’s a conscience item and what I believe would only be a personal point of view. But since I think I have to answer: I believe in self-protection.
Mark: Thank you Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selection for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“God’s Word Is Our Great Heritage” arr. Henry Gerike. From Jubilee by the Concordia Seminary Lutheran Hour Chorus (© 2000 International Lutheran Laymen’s League)
“Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” arr. Henry Gerike. Used by permission.
“On a Hymnsong of Lowell Mason” by David Holsinger. From If Thou Be Near by the Concordia University Wind Symphony (© 2009 Concordia University-Chicago)
“O dass ich tausend” arr. Chris Loemker. Concordia Publishing House