You talk too much | You never shut up! This was a rap from Run DMC that really enjoyed (Yes, I like that old-school stuff). Its vivid metaphor of a blabber mouth is hilarious. When the cat took your tongue, I say you took it right back |Your mouth is so big, one bite could kill a Big Mac! Everyone can relate to the unpleasant cacophonic babel ad nauseum ad infinitum from mindless mouths.
If true confessions are permitted, I do catch myself speaking more than necessary. I am on the giving end of a verbal tirade rambling on about something rather than listening to the other person. Of course, I have been on the receiving of someone else’s tirade too. But no matter how flabbergasted I got, such never really justifies my own actions. My blabbering can be just as hurtful to another person.
James tells us, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (Jas. 1:19-20).1 Our silence puts us in the place to “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas. 1:21). In the New Bible Commentary, Peter H. Davids indicates: “Human anger, whether called ‘righteous anger’ or not, does not produce God’s type of righteousness. Therefore, the wise person will be slow to open his or her mouth and even slower to express anger”2
Authentic Christianity is demonstrated through the words and deeds of the devotes. One of great spiritual disciples of God’s people is control over the tongue. Being mindful of one’s own speech. Without softening the blow, James delivers this stinging admonishment: “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” (Jas. 1:26). Davids explains: “one can tell truly godly people by their lifestyle. If people have uncontrolled tongues (and so are often exploding in anger or quarrelling), all of their religious practices are worthless. They really do not love God in their hearts.”3 Unbridled speech is characteristic of a worthless religion.
If anyone supposes James is being tough on careless words, the Messiah heightens the heinousness of this error when He says: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:33-37). This is Jesus’ response to those who just accused Him of performing exorcisms according to the power of Beelzebul the prince of demons (Matt. 12:22-32). They were wrong in both words and deeds. Rather than worshipping God, they were declaring God’s work to be of the Devil. Rather than declaring the truth about Jesus, that He was the long-awaited Messiah spoken by the venerable prophets of the Old Testament, they spoke presumptuously and declared Him to be Satan’s minion.
Old Testament writers even valued the control over one’s speech. David says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart | be acceptable in your sight, | O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psa. 19:14). Likewise, Solomon tells us: “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few” (Eccl. 5:2).
Silence is a spiritual discipline. It is something to be cultivated in this earthly sojourn to paradise restored. Dallas Willard tells us: “God gave us two ears and one mouth, it’s been said, so that we might listen twice as much as we talk, but even that proportion is far too high on the side of talking.”4 Moreover, he points out that “silence and especially true listening are often the strongest testimony of our faith. A major problem for Christian evangelism is not getting people to talk, but to silence those who through their continuous chatter reveal a loveless heart devoid of confidence in God.”5 We must listen. We must choose our words wisely. Our silence allows us to quietly deflate pent up emotional rage, so we can offer a well-reasoned response with words that edify rather than destroy. “Having put away falsehood,” writes the Apostle Paul, “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:25-27).
All this is tempting to error in the opposite direction where the Christian supposes that their evangelism in public life is simply to do good deeds without intentionally seizing any opportunity to explain the content of the gospel. To justify this sort of silent evangelism, they will misquote the words of Francis of Assisi: “Share the gospel at all times, and, if necessary, use words.” However, Francis never intended to indicate that evangelism is limited to just the performing of good deeds. David Hyams explains that “Francis did not say ‘never use words,’ but to use words ‘if necessary’; thus, he did not categorically discourage verbally sharing the gospel. In fact, his very life was consumed with preaching the gospel of Christ” and that “Francis’s exhortation is not a muzzle. It was a corrective to those who undermine their verbal proclamation of the gospel by unchristian living.”6
Silence puts us in the place of receiving the instruction from the Word of the Lord. It is when the Word of the Lord has transformed us that we can be in a place to speak out what is right. James tells us:
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things (Jas. 3:1-5).
The gospel message is proclaimed from the lips of the evangelist. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ,” says the Apostle Paul (Rom. 10:17). Yet, the Christian is to be wise about words uttered. All believers are in spiritual warfare with principalities and powers of darkness. This is why Paul exhorts the church at Ephesus: “Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:18-20). It is never enough for an evangelist to be a charismatic wordsmith who can move the masses with motivating talks. The content of the message is to preserve the right doctrine about God given to us from God (orthodoxy). Duplicity in the delivery of the message is just as harmful and the name of God is defiled among the nations when the people of God fail live according to what the Good Book says (orthopraxy). Christians are to be mindful of both orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
Some might think they are socially invisible, and they suppose through disruptive speech they can agitate others to giving them their proper recognition and place in society. There is a place for speaking one’s mind but God has another way. We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Let us be silent and may the Lord speak to us in our quietness so that we can speak words of life to the rest of the world.
“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, | sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Prov. 16:24).
— WGN
- All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
- Peter H. Davids, “James,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1358–1359.
- Ibid., 1359.
- Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York: HarperSanfancisco, 1988), 164.
- Ibid. 164-165
- David Hyams, “Silent Evangelism: Misunderstanding St. Francis’s Exhortation,” Christian Research Journal, 29, 3 [2006]: https://www.equip.org/article/silent-evangelism/
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