Only the Dose
There was a man named Paracelsus who was a Swiss physician, alchemist, and early figure in toxicology who lived from 1493 to 1541. He came up with this principle, “Sola dosis facit venenum.” It’s a Latin phrase that means…
“Only the dose makes the poison.” – Paracelsus
Paracelsus made an observation that was revolutionary in the medical community in his day and time. He discovered that the same substance could heal or kill depending on the amount given.
This is a principle that is easily understood today, and when it comes to medicine, physicians pay careful attention to dosage. A doctor might increase or decrease the dosage of a certain medication you’re on in an effort to give you the best health benefit, but they are also keenly aware of how much is too much.
The same principle that is true in medicine can also be true with our words.
The Power of Our Words
Sometimes we have to say hard things, have hard conversations, speak hard truths. And if we are measured in our approach, those words, while difficult to hear, can bring help and healing to a person, to a relationship, or to a situation. But if you overdo the dosage, you can bring harm instead of healing!
If you’re a parent, you probably know what I’m talking about! I know, on more than one occasion, I’ve said too much to my kids, and it didn’t really matter if I was right or wrong; the dosage was too much, and words that might have been intended to help did more harm than good!
Words can be used to heal and to harm. But it’s not just the dosage, it’s not just the amount of words, it’s the way in which we use our words that counts.
We are living in a world where it seems like people have forgotten how much weight their words carry. Instead of being slow to speak and quick to listen, we are quick to speak and slow to listen.
That’s a recipe for disaster, no matter if we’re talking about a marriage relationship, a parent/child relationship, a church relationship, a school relationship, a work relationship, or even on a larger scale in our community or on a national level.
Whenever we are quick to speak and slow to listen, whenever we forget the power of our words and the weight our words carry, our words can do more harm than good.
But here in this place, in God’s church, it ought not to be this way.
A Welcome Warning
This is precisely the point James is trying to share in his letter written to Christians living in the first century. James was a leader in the early church in Jerusalem. He was a person deeply devoted to prayer. He cared deeply about the unity of the church. And he understood the weight words carry.
Listen to what he writes starting in James 3:1-2.
1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
James gives a warning to all of us who are “teachers in the church.” And here’s the reason for the warning: James, who is himself a teacher in the church, understands the weight that words carry.
It’s a warning we should welcome. James understands that it’s not only WHAT we say, but HOW we say what we say that matters. And… he knows that we all make mistakes, none of us are perfect, we’re not always going to get it all right, no matter how hard we try.
For James, if we could control our tongues, if we could control our words, if we had that power, that ability, then we could be perfect in every way. We could control our whole body, keep our whole body in check, if we could control our tongue.
But he also knows, even though the tongue is among the smallest of our body parts, it’s the most difficult to control.
Hard to Control
James says, for example… think about it this way…
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
The tongue may be small, but it is mighty. Our words have incredible power.
How many of you have ever said something, and you meant it one way, but it came out another way?
I’ve done that! We’ve all done that!
Years ago, when our youngest daughter Emma was 2 or 3 years old, we had this girl in our youth group who just loved our Emma to death. One of their connections, one of the things they had in common, was their name. This teenager’s name was also Emma. Well, for our daughter, that was a little confusing. So the teenage Emma needed a nickname. So our Emma, our little Emma, called the teenage Emma Big Emma! Well, that’s not exactly a flattering nickname for a teenage girl! Lol! She meant it one way… as in, you’re bigger than me. But… it came out another way!
James wants to remind Christians that our words have incredible power. He writes…
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
Those are strong words. “…the tongue is a flame of fire… for it is set on fire by hell itself.”
Think about that.
In his translation of this passage, Eugene Peterson says it this way in the Message:
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
Words have power. Words carry weight. What you say matters. How you say what you say matters.
Image of God
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.
Pause. We will keep reading in a minute, but let’s hit pause right here. James reminds us of something we sometimes forget. We have the awesome opportunity to use our words to honor God AND… to honor the image of God in others.
We sometimes forget, don’t we, that every person is a person created by God, in the image of God, for the glory of God. The fact that every person is created in the image of God is a fundamental belief of our faith. This is why we feel strongly about things like abortion. This is why we feel strongly about things like gender. We believe that in the beginning…
“…God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1.27
If we believe that, really believe that, why would we ever say anything unkind about another human being created in the image of God? Why would we ever say anything untrue about another human being created in the image of God?
If we believe and we feel so strongly that this is true, and this IS true, James says it should change the way we talk to and about other people who, like us, are created in the image of God.
Every person is a person created in the image of God for the glory of God.
So every person is a person of immeasurable worth!
We have to guard what we say about others. And how we say what we say about others. We must be impeccable with our speech. Because we are called to honor God with our words. And we are called to honor others, and the image of God in others, with our words. Always. At all times. No matter what!
The Heart of the Matter
James writes,
10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
And right there, James gets to the heart of the matter, doesn’t he?
It’s not right that blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. For James, it defies the laws of nature. Fresh water doesn’t come from a salty spring! A fig tree doesn’t produce olives!
James is getting to the heart of the matter when it comes to our words. The heart of the matter is the heart!
If the source of the water is saltwater, you’re going to get saltwater.
BUT… If the source of the water is fresh water, you’re going to get pure, fresh water.
If the source of the fruit is a fig tree, you’re going to figs.
BUT… If the source of the fruit is an olive tree, you’re going to olives.
SO… James is asking, What’s the source of your words?
The heart of the matter is the heart. And you can tell what’s IN your heart by examining what comes FROM your heart.
Words can be used to heal and to harm.
But it’s not just the dosage, it’s not just the amount of words, it’s way in which we use our words that counts.
And the way in which we use our words reveals what’s in our hearts.
So can I just ask you, What’s in your heart?
What’s in Your Heart?
In 2000, there was a movie based on a true story staring Julia Roberts entitled Erin Brockovich.
Erin Brockovich was a legal assistant with no formal training who uncovered a huge cover-up in Hinkley, California. From the 1950s through the 1960s, a company called PG&E, Pacific Gas & Electric, was dumping wastewater containing chromium-6 into unlined ponds, and over time, it leaked into the town’s groundwater.
The people living in Hinkley had no idea that their water was contaminated. What they did know was that for some unknown reason, people living in their town were struggling and dying. The residents were unknowingly drinking and bathing in the contaminated water supply, and it was having a terrible impact on their community. More and more people were suffering from cancer, from miscarriages, and from other illnesses. And nobody knew why.
That is, until Erin Brockovich came along. She discovered documents that not only proved that PG&E knew about the contamination of the water supply, but that they had covered it up in order to turn a profit. The case resulted in a settlement of $333 million in 1996, the largest of its kind at the time.
What the people living in Hinkley, CA, didn’t know was that the source of their water was contaminated. And that it was killing them.
In the same way, let me just ask you… What wells are you drinking from daily?
You may be sick and not know why. You may be angry and not know why. You may be upset, afraid, depressed, lonely, and not know why. Your words might be filled with rage, and you don’t know why. If the well you’re drinking from daily is being contaminated, you’re going to get sick.
The way in which you use your words reveals what’s in your heart.
Different Wells
Truth is, we are all drinking from a lot of different wells every day. Some of those wells may be contaminated, or at least, not good for you. Even then, in small doses, it may not harm you. But remember, the poison is determined by the dose.
The wells we drink from have different names. Social media, music, movies, shows, news, TV, texting, books, websites, and the list goes on and on.
If you’re constantly drinking in content from your social media feed, from news that’s designed to aggravate and frustrate rather than inform, from friends who are negative and more focused on bringing you down than lifting you up, then I can predict what’s going to bubble up in your life. And you can, too. I can predict what kind of fruit is going to grow on your tree. And you can, too.
Today, I want to remind you, call you, challenge you to drink deeply from the well filled with Living Water. So that as you strive to live the Gospel, you live out life-giving words.
Today, let me encourage you.
Let your words give life.
Honor God and His image in others with your words.
Who Needs Encouragement?
How do we do that? By filling our hearts and lives with the love of God. So what comes from us, the words that come out of us, are life-giving words.
Let me encourage you to do that today.
Truett Cathy is well known for starting a little restaurant called Chick-fil-A. He was also well known for being a tremendous encourager. As the story goes, he once asked someone this question: How do you know if someone needs encouragement? The person responded, I don’t know.
Truett said: If they’re breathing!
The people around you, if they’re breathing, they need words of encouragement. Your words have power. Your words carry weight. What you say matters. How you say what you say matters. The heart of the matter is the heart. And you can tell what’s IN your heart by examining what comes FROM your heart.
James finishes this thought with these words…
17 …wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
For James, we can’t control our tongues. But we can control what comes into our hearts. If we fill our hearts, our lives, with living water, if we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, then we don’t have to “control” our tongues because what comes from us will honor God AND honor the image of God in others.
The heart of the matter is the heart. May we drink daily and deeply from the well of God’s Word. May His Holy Spirit fill our hearts. And may that be evident from the life-giving words that flow from us as we seek to live out the Gospel.
Today, I would suggest that Paracelsus was mostly right when he said, “Only the dose makes the poison.”
The idea is that in medicine, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
However, I would say that when it comes to speaking life-giving words to each other, there’s no such thing as too high a dose! We all need encouragement. We all need to be on the receiving end of life-giving words.
Just imagine what that would be like, to be able to gather in this place every week and be so encouraged because we were so committed to building each other up. Because we are so committed to being filled up with the Word of God, the Spirit of God, that what spills out of us are life-giving words to those around us that honor God and honor the image of God in those around us.
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