Title: Sweet and Bitter Water / James 3:1-12
Contents Sweet and Bitter Water / James 3:1-12
Sweet water and bitter water (James 3:1-12)
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Last week, I read a book called "3rd grade in high school is hard even in America." The author of the book is Seung-Woon Kim, who moved to the United States in 1985 and majored in metallurgical engineering at Polytechnic University, and is working as a teacher at a public high school in New York. In the book, he talks about the actual state of American education, his experiences as a teacher, and stories related to American education with Koreans in the form of essays.
I had a child named Jeffrey, who had just immigrated to the United States for six months. Her parents were wealthy and spoke English well, so they decided to live in New Jersey, and Jeffrey enrolled in a taekwondo school near the neighborhood. The reason is because I've been told that American kids don't look down on powerful kids. Jeffrey, a fifth grader in elementary school, had already received a black belt in Korea.
A month after I started school, there was a talent show. Most of the other children showed off their chess by singing, dancing and playing instruments. It was Jeffrey's turn. He led the students at the dojo to the stage and demonstrated side kicks and brick breaking. The final highlight was to step on a student's back and jump up to smash a pine board in the air. From that day on, Jeffrey became a star.
Then one day, I was sitting around lunch with my friends in a restaurant. We were talking about giving and receiving. At that time, Jeffrey was talking about Popeye, and his friends, who did not understand what he meant, laughed at him. Angry Jeffrey clenched his fists at Michael, who laughed the loudest and made fun of him, and said the same thing he did in Korea. "I will kill you!" Then Michael sat quietly at the table and that was it.
However, the next day, Michael did not attend school, and instead his mother and a lawyer came to the principal and threatened to kill Michael because of a black belt from Korea, so he was afraid and could not attend school. I did. And only after expelling Jeffrey and ensuring his safety could Michael be sent back to school. If no action is taken, he said he would sue the school and the Ministry of Education.
A common joke, “You're dead” is what caused the problem. Fortunately, Jeffrey's mother speaks English well, so she went to Michael's house with flower baskets and gifts, apologized a hundredfold and solved the problem.
It is said that a Korean man was arrested for saying "I'm going to kill" in a hurry and was released on bail of $50,000.
In Korea, when children get caught smoking at school, they say, "You bastard, if you smoke one more time and get caught, you'll die!" It ends with "You don't have to smoke." But in the US, you have to say, "Peter cigarettes are bad for you. But if you want to smoke, smoke outside of school." If you say, "You idiot die," in the US, you will be sued and taken away immediately.
How are we supposed to say the text? It explains why you need to be careful with your words. Let's look at the text.
1. Anyone can make mistakes in their words.
Verse 2 says, "All of us make many mistakes, and if anyone makes no mistakes, he is a perfect man."
Horses travel faster than hands or feet. That's why the word suddenly goes out before the hand or foot goes out. I think the bullet leaves the muzzle and flies off after the gun "bangs". However, it is said that the gun sounds after the bullet hits the target. For a target 10 km away, the bullet takes only 25 seconds. The speed of a horse is also comparable to that of a bullet. If the bullet is hit incorrectly, it will be a misfire, and if the horse makes a mistake, wars and quarrels will occur.
Verse 3 speaks to people who make a lot of mistakes because they speak quickly and quickly. “Gag your mouth and move your whole body,” and the way to stop a riding horse is to put a gag in its mouth and tying the reins to the horse to control its behavior. If you grab the reins and pull and slow it down, the gag will force you to follow.
Even wild horses can't move if they're only gagged. A large double also steers with one key. If I brid my mouth with faith, character, and virtue, I can't say anything rudely.
2. The tongue is like fire.
Verse 5 says, “The tongue is a small member.” The length of the tongue is often referred to as "three inches". It means a small body that is only three inches tall. But the work is great.
The tongue has the ability to speak and taste. If the tongue is stuttered, it stutters, and if the tongue is hardened or cut, it is impossible to speak. On the other hand, the tongue distinguishes between bitter, sweet, salty and sour. But just like there is color blindness, there is tasteblind. It is blindness to not be able to distinguish the taste. There is a disease in the tongue.
Doctors look at the tongue to diagnose disease. If there is a thick white or yellow tongue on the tongue, there is a problem with the digestive system, if the color of the tongue changes to a multicolored or earthy brown color and the bad breath is severe, you have a typhoid symptom. If strawberry symptoms are formed on the surface of the tongue, you have scarlet fever. If the tongue trembles and cannot be fixed when the tongue is sticked out, it is said to have Parkinson's disease or neurological disease.
It should be noted that health symptoms appear with the tongue. When the tongue is healthy, the whole body is healthy.
Verse 6 says, “The tongue is a fire and a world of unrighteousness. The tongue defiles the whole body among our members and sets the wheel of life on fire, and its devouring comes from the fires of hell.”
Just like a cigarette burns a mountain and burns a factory, a single mistake can ruin your personality and your community. If you take care of your tongue and don't take care of it, a big fire will start and burn you to death as well as to burn others to death.
One day, in Goethe's house, which is called a German canon, politicians, writers, soldiers, businessmen, and other lovers of Goethe's literature were gathering and talking. As time went on and conversations went on, there were rumors of natural obscenity, and some people looked down on others. Then Goethe said, "Everyone, it's okay to spill paper and food scraps. But I can't forgive other people's insults or obscenities. Pick up all those dirty words. And don't bring them back to my house again. Don't do it. To look bad on others is to pollute the air," he said.
James Gordon once said, "The greatest word is God. The deepest word is the soul. The softest word is love. The darkest word is sin. The dirtiest word is hypocrisy."
A priest was holding a mass in a church in a small rural village in Yugoslavia. A child who was a attendant accidentally dropped a bottle of wine, which shattered and spilled wine. The angry priest slapped the boy on the cheek and drove him out, saying, "Never appear in front of the altar again." Later, that child became the President of Yugoslavia, Tito. Tito never again appeared at the altar, serving as president.
The child who served the bride broke the bottle. But the priest patted the boy's head and said, "Don't worry, my son. You'll be a priest when you grow up." Later, the child became a bride who wrote the famous book "The Life of Christ".
A single word uttered with the tongue can save or kill a person. It gives hope and sometimes despair.
3. The tongue has two functions.
Verse 8 says, “The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” As I said before, if there is an inner illness, it is expressed by the tongue. The tongue of a person who is sick in the heart, sick in faith, sick in spirit will spit out poisonous words. In verse 10, it is said, “By one mouth come praise and curse.” In verse 11, it is said, “Can one hole bring out sweet and bitter water? This is a warning to point out and warn against speaking two words with one mouth.
Blessings, hymns, and prayers come from a pure heart. But cursing, accusing, criticizing, and slander come from an unclean heart. So, naturally, good prayer, good singing, good Amen, good swearing, and good criticism proves the fact that a person's personality and faith are dual.
Robert Landz once said, "Even if the words we spit out every day are not published in books, we will be held accountable for the words we say when we stand before God in the last days."
The Danish author Theodore Reinking was sentenced to death in 1646 for slandering the then-King of Denmark, Christian IV, in his book. In his final decision, the king said to him, "Choose one of two things, either chew your book and be executed, or be executed." It is said that Reinking tore up his book countless times, put it in the soup, knelt down, and chewed it all.
The tongue can either ruin itself or it can make it fun. It can destroy or build a home or a church. It could even cause war. You can either profess your faith or deny Jesus.
4. Let's choose good words.
After hearing all those words, I turned my face and asked. "Deacon, can I tell the head pastor about this?"
"Deacon, why are you saying things to me that you should never say? You only say things you should absolutely say. I am an assistant pastor who works to help the pastor. I am on the pastor's side."
If I had flirted with them at that time, stuttered and made fun of my tongue, I would not be who I am today. Until now, I have never told the pastor I was serving at that time the stories or words of those people who slandered and criticized the pastor.
I can say a thousand good words with my mouth. I can say ten thousand bad words with my mouth.
Let's pick a good word. Let's not say anything bad. Let's say good words, terminal words, delicious words, useful words, and gracious words.