James 3:1-12 - Oil and Water

I eat a lot of salads. Typically this is my way of trying to stay healthy and keep my weight under control. So many lessons I could unpack with my journey with weight and eating, but that will take me down another rabbit trail. Today’s rabbit trail has more to do with the oil and water or the salad dressing of vinegar and oil. They do not mix! When those two ingredients are in a jar together, you can see how they separate an will not blend. You also see it on your salad if you add them individually, they come in contact with each other, and then separate. This is the visual I have while reading today's passage from James. Let me start at the end of today's reading and work my way backward. 

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭3:9-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We use our tongue to praise God, our Father, and then turn around and curse a person who was made in his very image! This should not be, right? Oil and water are basically what James is guiding us towards, this holiness and evil do not blend; they separate and come out of us. I could use example after example, and I could call myself out in such huge ways in this area, the complete and utter hypocrisy in me and what I witness regularly. Help me understand how we can praise God our Father, and then go on a political rant about the republicans or the democrats? How can we glorify God our Father, then comment on a Facebook post about our previous president Obama and dog pile him for some conspiracy theory junk? Or, praise our God and then completely dog pile on our current President Trump? I could keep going, but let me shift this to race relations? Praise God our Father, and then use our words to slander our black community, or have sidebar racial slurs in closed rooms? Or, praise God our Father and then lump our police officers into one category and talk about them like they are all criminals?

Again, I could keep going with the complete and utter hypocrisy that we all see, and more than likely in one-way participant in daily. James calls this out, the big and the small alike, “My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”  Why does this happen, why do Christ-followers get caught up in the hypocrisy and struggle with the oil and water of our words? I am reminded yet again of the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” - ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

James is telling us the same thing with our words, and he unpacks that here in v6.

“And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Literally, hell itself is causing fire, leaving a massive path of destruction and devastation in its wake. Hell, the force of Satan is doing this and must be stopped. Remember, our struggle is against the powers of darkness, spiritual forces of evil, and that rear up and control our tongue. Look at these examples that James gives earlier in the chapter. 

“When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭3:3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A bit in a horse's mouth, or a rudder on a ship. Both of these examples have something controlling them, right? The bit in a horse's mouth is connected to a leather strap that someone is controlling while sitting on the horse. The same is true of the rudder of a ship; it is controlled by someone who is sitting in the captain's seat, turning the wheel. So, who is sitting in the seat of your ship, who is riding the horse and holding the leather strap guiding the bit of your life?

Our words the flow out of our mouths are a representation of where we are with our relationship with Christ. Audit them, what is flowing out is it more like dirty, grimy oil full of residue and evil, or are they more like pure and filtered water flowing out offering life and abundance? The hypocrisy we see every day in ourselves and others should repulse us, it should make us want to vomit and repent. The nature and character of the Lord and Father, how we praise Him, and desire to follow Him with our lives should not be able to curse or bring judgment and slanderous words on other human beings. 

“We all fail in many areas, but especially with our words. Yet if we’re able to bridle the words, we say we are powerful enough to control ourselves in every way, and that means our character is mature and fully developed.” - ‭‭James (Jacob)‬ ‭3:2‬ ‭TPT‬‬

We are not and will never be perfect this side of heaven. Allow that to bring some peace. We will fail with our words, we will fall short, so praise and thank God again for his grace and favor. But at the same time, may we see this impurity in our own lives, may we see the oil and water within and call it out, become self-aware of the hypocrisy within and not be ok with it. Change and transformation in these areas can start with self-awareness and repentance. Lord, draw us to you and show us the areas in our lives where we have these impurities, where we are hypocrites, and refine in us the areas needing to be refined. May we honor you with our words, and may out of us flow more pure water, and the life-giving words that bless you. Amen