James 3:3-12 - 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 very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 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.
Oohhhh, the places we could have gone with this lesson!!! This was one week we had no shortage of object lessons for the kids. We did our best to narrow them down, but couldn't pick just one. So here goes!!
We started with a game to get the kids moving and hyped about our lesson. Each youth was given a Styrofoam cup with their name on it. The cups were put on the last few rungs of a ladder. The kids stood on the other side of the room and used rubber super balls to try and knock each other's cups off the ladder. Whoever knocked a cup off, they were able to move their own cup up one rung on the ladder. If your cup got knocked off, you had to start back over on the bottom rung. The object of the game was to make it to the top of the ladder. The lesson? Sometimes, in order to make ourselves feel better than others, we feel the need to knock others down with our words. We use gossip, name-calling, lies, and boasting. We talked about how the kids felt when their cups were at the top versus at the bottom of the ladder. Yes, John and I wore helmets as we were the ones retrieving balls and moving cups.
Next, I showed the kids my Magic Gossip Box. It had a hole in each end. I put a small screwdriver in one end and pulled a large one out of the other. We did this with several objects before telling the kids that this is a great example of rumors and gossip. Often what we say about others, as it spreads, grows and gets bigger and even distorted from it's original version. We talked about how this can hurt the person who is being talked about as the rumor comes full circle.
Then I gave one of the kids a tube of toothpaste and asked them to squeeze it all out into a bowl. They passed the bowl to someone else then and we gave them a plastic knife and asked them to put all of the toothpaste back into the tube. Impossible of course, just as our words are impossible to take back once we speak them.
We next showed the kids a few YouTubes. One was a newscast on a recent community wildfire that destroyed homes, took lives, and ruined hundreds of acres of forests and property. The next YouTube was of animals being tamed and trained to do all sorts of crazy tricks. Both YouTubes were meant to illustrate James' words in James 3. We discussed how our tongues can spread just as much destruction as that wildfire and how it's harder to tame them than it is to tame and train wild animals.
We ended our object lessons with a movie clip tonight from The Pacifier. We LOVE this movie. This funny scene jumpstarted a
discussion about displaying self control in the face of peer pressure,
bullying, or temptation to shoot off one’s mouth or show off one’s “skills”.
Navy SEAL Shane Wolf (Vin Diesel) is assigned
to protect the five kids of another agent. Lt. Wolfe has just brought the Plummer kids to school. The
arrogant Vice Principal Murney, “The Murninator,” has established his dominance
as well as his disdain for these students. Lt. Wolfe is observing them at a
distance in the school yard when he sees the oldest boy, Seth, getting pushed
around by some jocks.
We asked the kids to raise their hands if they'd ever been picked on and keep them raised if they'd ever been tempted to shoot off their mouths to the
person who was picking on them. Some of the kids admitted to following through and shooting off their mouths!
In this scene, Lt. Wolfe intervenes when he sees Seth getting picked on. We picked it up there and observed how he responded to ‘The Murninator’s’
taunts.”
Jocks: Yeah, you little punk! Where’s your babysitter now,
huh?
(Lt. Wolfe pulls Seth out of the way. )
Lt. Wolfe: Enough.
Vice Principal Murney: All right, you heard the lady. Let’s
break it up, guys. Come on. Hmm?
(To Wolfe) Relax, Popeye. Boys will be boys, huh? Anyway, it’s kinda good for the Creeper (referring to Seth). Gives him a chance to punk up. Learn to defend himself.
Wolfe: Six against one?
Murney: Well, ya know, the odds are never pretty. But look at it as, like, a preparation for him…you know, the naked streets of Bethesda can be so dark and dangerous. Right, Creeper?
(Wolfe holds Seth back.)
Murney: You’re pretty quick there, frogman. I, myself, happen to be a black belt. That’s why they wanted me to be the coach of the wrestling team (strikes a karate wannabe pose, yells, and snorts). Sensei. You know what that’s called, homeboy? Total control. You alright? Hmm? Tell you what, maybe sometime you can pop by the wrestling class and, uh, show the boys how a couple of pros do it. What do you think? I’ll go easy on you.
Wolfe: I’m on duty.
Murney: You’re on duty. Oh, that’s right, you’re a babysitter. So it’s kinda like “doo-doo” duty. Don’t worry about it. We’ll do it on a day when you’re not washing your hair. (To Seth) And I’ll see you in class. (back to Wolfe) At ease. (Walks away smugly.)
We discussed the clip then and talked about bullies and people who brag about their abilities and tear others down to build themselves up. We also talked about how Lt. Wolfe responded to Murney's taunting him and how we as Christians are to respond as well.
We read Proverbs 18:21, 26:4, 21:23, 15:1-2, 13:3 to tie Scripture into all we'd shown the kids tonight. We told them to remember what they'd learned and keep it at the forefront of their minds every time they opened their mouths. We encouraged them to never be firestarters!!
