Teaching - Father forgive us

Pulse Teaching James 3:1-12 Incase you missed youth group this week. Here was our lesson.

This week I attended the Lenten Wednesday night study. The topic was on forgiveness. I got to talk with some really cool people and hear their stories about times that they needed to forgive someone or ask for forgiveness. Something that really stood out to me was that people were angry and upset about things that someone had done or said to them and most of the time the other person didn’t even know they were upset. One word or comment spoken in anger, or the tone used in a conversation had caused so much pain that we were all holding onto. It made me stop and think about all the people I have hurt with my words or actions without even knowing it. But we do it all the time, we are careless with our words and say things we don’t mean and they end up hurting people deeply. Our words have real power and they can leave scars.

I think this is really countercultural, especially in our world right now with social media. Everyone has a platform and we are quick to share our thoughts and opinions on the latest news update or social cause. We are careless with our words and share the first thing that comes to mind and click send, post or comment without thinking twice.

In this passage from James 3:1-12, James tells us that the tongue has real power to cause harm or to do good. As you read this passage I want you to remember Jesus’ words in Luke 6:45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” This is not just about changing our actions and not saying the mean thing we want to say. This is actually about our need for a heart change.

Read the passage:

Main Points:

• The tongue is a small part of the body but it has serious power to cause harm or do good. I liked the image of how big objects are controlled by small things, for example a huge boat is guided by a small rudder under the water.

• Our words come from what is in our heart.

  • I’ve taken some classes on listening. One of the things they tell you about active listening is to hear what is beyond the words. You are trying to understand what they are telling you emotionally as well as intellectually. Because their words and the way they say it is communicating what is in their heart.

I think when we hear this passage and teaching we could walk away and think that we need to watch what we say and be more careful about our words. But that would actually be missing the point. Jesus doesn’t want you to clean up your outside and just not say the mean things you are thinking. This is what I used to think. I believed that as long as I wasn’t speaking the words out loud I was doing good. But I was wrong.

Jesus actually wants a heart change. His desire is for you to have a clean heart. When he says that out of the mouth the heart speaks, he means that your heart thinks and feels things first and then your words are revealing that. You say mean things because your heart has mean things in it. He wants to change this because we are still hurting someone even when we don’t say the words out loud. When we say it in our heart we are hurting him, we hurt Jesus. When you even think these awful thoughts, he hears them because he knows everything about you. Those mean thoughts and words are sin and the result of that sin was Jesus’ death on the cross. I said before that our words have power and they leave scars. Your evil thoughts and words are sin and leave scars on him first. Those are the scars from the nails in his hands and in his feet. Because Jesus had to take the penalty for all your sin and every careless thought or mean thing you ever said or even thought. This gives us a new perspective on the weight of our sin. We can never fully understand the horrible impact that our thoughts and words can have which is why Jesus said on the cross, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

So what does he want from us? Out of the mouth the heart speaks and our hearts are evil and corrupt by sin. We need to see the weight of that. That when I judge someone on the street, or I gossip, or make a rude comment, it’s not only hurting the other person, it’s hurting Jesus. And the weight of that sin is the scars it left on Jesus on the cross.

What he actually wants from us is nothing. But he offers us everything. He offers us forgiveness. When we recognize the weight of our sin and our thoughts and words we can confess them to Jesus and he will forgive us. He can forgive us because he has paid the penalty for that sin. And we can turn to him in faith and receive that forgiveness. We can be washed clean and filled with his Holy Spirit. We can ask God to give us new thoughts towards people, or to give us eyes to see them as his children. By faith we are changed from the inside out. The Holy Spirit changes our hearts so that we begin to think and say what God thinks and says. He gives us a new heart, and new thoughts and new words. Words that will speak life, bring peace and praise to God.