Taming the Tongue - James 3:1-12

[Music] we're continuing on now in our study through the book of James and in this letter that James the half-brother of Jesus wrote to early Christians and to us today by the inspiration our Holy Spirit as we come now to chapter 3 we're going to begin with the first couple verses and in this section of James chapter 3 the focus will mainly be on the power and the responsibility of the tongue the tongue being here a symbol for the words we say the the words we speak it's really all about our speech and the tongue is the picture of that you'll see exactly what we mean let's get into it here now James chapter 3 beginning at verse 1 my brethren let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment for we all stumble in many things if anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body or the whole body first thing we notice as we come to James chapter 3 verse 1 is he gives this sort of startling statement at least I got to say it's startling to me someone who is a Bible teacher he says let not many of you become teachers James had a very sober admonition to anybody who would become a teacher in the church that those people who desire to have some kind of responsibility for teaching God's people and being preachers Proclaimers of God's Word they must take that responsibility very seriously because they have a greater accountability they shall receive notice the phrasing he uses here in verse 1 we shall receive a stricter judgment I think that probably it's true that those of us who among God's people feel called to teach and preach the Bible we probably take it too lightly we don't consider the cost of this position in terms of accountability please remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 beginning at verse 48 jesus said this to whom much is given from him much will be required and to whom much have been committed of him they will ask the more in other words the more knowledge you have the more accountability are the more access to knowledge you have the more accountability you have just a simple idea very strong that the more a person either is given or has access to the greater accountability they have this applies very directly to those who would be teachers and preachers among God's people and this should also remind us that what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 what James says right here in James chapter 3 it should remind us that being a teacher in God's church is much more than having a natural gift of teaching it's even more than having a spiritual gift of teaching there is an additional element of character that is rightly expected of of those who teach and preach and proclaim God's Word God's people have a right to look at those who teach and by the way I'll say this very strongly don't have the right to expect perfection in life but they do have the right to expect a higher standard you know maybe in James's day it was kind of popular to be a teacher maybe there are a lot of people who wanted to do it he says no I need to warn you you are gonna face God on that day of judgment whatever kind of judgment you have for the judgments of works that you've done for how you serve Christ you are going to face a stricter judgment we should expect that teachers are gonna be tested more in this life and that they're gonna be judged more strictly let me read you a quote from Adam Clarke relevant to this he says this quote their case is awful they shall receive greater condemnation than common sinners they have not only sinned in thrusting themselves into that office to which God has never called them but through their insufficiency the flocks over they have assumed the mastery perish for lack of knowledge and their blood will God require at the watchman's hand end quote from Adam Clarke Adam Clark there is simply trying to explain the very heavy responsibility that someone has and by the way notices it's a funny phrasing I don't say funny in the sense of amusing it's just sort of an interesting phrasing that's used here in verse one knowing that we James counts himself among those people who will receive this stricter judgment knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment apparently there will be degrees of judgment there will be degrees of strictness not every believer is going to be judged according to exactly the same standard because two more who is given more will be required and that is true if anywhere it's true among teachers among God's people now going on into verse two I like how James continues he says for we all stumble in many things you see the greater accountability of teachers is especially sobering it's especially of note knowing the weaknesses that we share in common I mean after all we all stumble teachers included a man or a woman does not become a Superman or superwoman just because they start teaching the Bible and teaching it well look I can tell you that after many decades of teaching the Bible I know that people have a tendency if you can teach a Bible study especially if you can occasionally teach a good Bible study people will think that you're more spiritual than you actually are it's just the way good but listen we all stumble in many things now by the way there's a few different words in the ancient Greek language that could be translated stumble this particular word according to the commentaries that I've read it doesn't imply a fatal fall but but something that just kind of hinders somebody trips them up and hinders their spiritual progress so James isn't saying that we all fall away we all reject Jesus no he's saying we all stumble James included himself among that but please notice this James did not excuse his stumbling nor will he excuse our stumbling we know that we all stumble but it doesn't make us to say well who cares about stumbling it makes us instead to say we're all weak we need to run to Jesus our Savior we need to find our refuge in him and we need to press on trusting Jesus Christ for a closer and better walk with Him one that is hopefully marked by less stumbling now this kind of brings in a second idea in verse two if I could reason verse 2 from the beginning it says for we all stumble in many things if anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man able also to bridle the whole body you see having brought up this idea that we all stumble now James is going to go on to the idea that let me tell you a way that it is combo common for people to stumble it's common for them to stumble by what they say now isn't this true don't we have a big problem today in ongoing among the people of God and among the culture at large where people just speak in an intemperate manner they say things they shouldn't say they type things into their social media that they shouldn't type and what James is saying here is if anyone does not stumble in word he is a perfect man this is a good way to measure spiritual maturity for teachers and really for everybody in the body of Christ I mean after all James is talking about the idea of Bible teachers and preachers having a stricter accountability well this is one place where you would expect that they should have a stricter accountability you you should expect someone who teaches the Bible someone who preaches God's Word you should expect that they would have a greater governance over their tongue than somebody who doesn't they should just be more careful about what they say isn't this a just an obvious evident point I mean after all if you're going to use your mouth if you can use your tongue to proclaim the wonderful glorious gospel the beautiful truth of God to exposit the scriptures and explain them to people should cursing and lies and ill speech come from that very tongue I don't think so of course nobody does you see Jesus demonstrated in Matthew chapter 12 that words are often the revelation of a person's inner character therefore to not stumble in word shows true spiritual maturity now we're not trying to say and I don't think James tried to say either that this is the only measure of spiritual maturity that's worthwhile or important there are other measures of course but this is an important one and this is one that is especially relevant to teachers and preachers who because of what they do with the words they speak they have so much more opportunity to sin with their tongue with the words that they say I mean it's possible to stumble in word about yourself you boast you exaggerate you give very selective reporting you know kind of making yourself the hero of every story listen that can be the stumble inward can it not we can also stumble inward about other people we're not talking about herself we're talking about other people and we stumble in word through criticism through gossip through slander through cruelty through two-faced it nests through anger or through flattery in insincere words that are meant to gain favor before other people know brother and sisters it is very easy for us to sin by what we say and James is saying that that this is an important measure of somebody's walk with God now this leads into verse three where he speaks in a very powerful way about the power of the tongue you'll see what I mean as I read verses three through six here in James chapter three here we go indeed we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body look also it ships although they are so large and driven by fierce winds they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things see how great a forest a little fire Kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell wow there is a lot for us to unpack in those four verses first let's go back to the beginning verse three again the biggest theme here is talking about the power of the tongue and the responsibility of the tongue and and how we especially people who are teachers had have special regard for speaking what's right now look here at verse three he says we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us you know what the bit is in the horse's mouth you know the bit is that little thing that goes in the horse's mouth and by it they can pull and guide and lead the horse any way they want a small bit in the mouth of a horse can control a big strong horse a horse that is much bigger and stronger than the person who's holding the bit along the same analogy he says here in verse four that a small rudder can turn a large ship you know what the rudder is the rudder is that little instrument at the back of the ship in the water that's like a little blade and it's used to turn the ship one way or another now even so when we have control over our tongue it is an indication that we have control over our self whoever can control the tongue can remember this phrase from verse two that we just looked at a moment ago whoever can control the tongue can bridle the whole body and the whole Ellis tration James making ears very plain the bit is relatively small in the horse's mouth the rudder is relatively small compared to the ship but yet if they are not controlled the horse is out of control the ship is out of the control and your tongue is small compared to your whole body there's lots of things in your body that are bigger than your tongue your and your biceps your legs your foot you got on and on lots of organs and your buddy there's lots of things in your Bobby body that are bigger than your tongue however however something as small as the tongue can have a tremendous power in your life for either good or evil that's the whole point now notice this as well you don't solve the problem of an unruly horse by keeping it in the barn you don't solve the problem of a hard to steer ship by keeping it tied to the dock in the same way we may find it tempting to take a vow of silence to control our tongue but that's not God's purpose God's purpose now look I suppose we could all do with speaking less James has already talked to us about that in the first couple chapters how it's wise for us to speak less and listen more but ultimately speaking the the real thing we need to do is not stop speaking but to let the Holy Spirit of God fill us and control us and walk consistent with the Holy Spirit so that we would speak what we should speak and not say what we should avoid saying now I want you to consider one other thing about this just brilliant spirit inspired picture here think of the idea of a bit in the horse's mouth right you got that picture and then you also have the picture of the rudder that's stirring stirring steering the ship what's really the factor in both of those things the factor is who or what holds the reins of the horse who or what directs the rudder now you could say this if you want to make the analogy going to what we say going to the tongue you could say some people have no hand on the reins no hand on the rudder when it comes to their speech they say whatever comes into their mind that's not a good place now other people have a hand on the reins of their tongue or the rudder of what these the rudder of their words you could say but but they just speak according to their emotions according to their own carnal nature that's not good either what James is pointing us towards is to have the Spirit of God working through the new man directing our hands on the reins and the rudder that is our tongue and controls our words now if we fail to do this if we fail to take hold of the reins and again I'm not trying to apply for a moment that you can do this apart from the filling of the Holy Spirit that you can do this without a constant reliance upon the Holy Spirit of God but with with the hand on the reins the hand on the rudder of our words if we fail to do this what's going to be the result it can be disaster look at verse 5 see how great a forest a little fire Kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity you know I live here in Southern California and in the community that I'm speaking to you from right now Santa Barbara California we know wildfires it seems like every few years we have wildfires that burn up in the beautiful hills just just up above us here in Santa Barbara and people have to evacuate their houses and sometimes homes get burned and sometimes people lose their lives and and much land and such is burned and it's devastating to the ecology and all the rest of it and this is just what we said we understand that a very small spark a very small flame can ignite a very costly and huge and dangerous destructive fire well in the same way that tongue in our mouth it is relatively small but it is a fire it is a potential world of iniquity and that fire of the tongue has been used to burn many people and when I was little there was a children's rhyme it started even before I was little it would been around in a long time but children were told to repeat a rhyme like this sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me that's kind of a rhyme we learned when we were kids and the idea was okay yeah you know some real damage might come to you if a stick hit your arm or a stone hit your head but what somebody says to you or says about you that doesn't really harm you sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me let me tell you something that child's rhyme is not really true matter of fact the bitter pain of a word that is spoken against us can hurt us for a lifetime long after that broken bone is healed the bitter pain of a word that is spoken against you can hinder even your life you see what others say to us and what we say to others can last a long time for brothers and sisters for either good or evil that that casual sarcastic or critical remark that can inflict a lasting injury on another person but let me show you the flip side that well time even if it's spontaneous but that well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire somebody for the rest of their life oh there's power in the words that we use now there's power also we see this in our modern age something that James knew about in principle but not in how it would be worked out in technology there's power also in social media and the way the Christians sometimes represent themselves and social media man it's a disgrace it's a sin their tongue isn't being used literally but the words by their thumbs as they type in messages into their smartphones or or type on their computers or whatever it is man it is it is setting up destructive fires you know the book of Proverbs which again so many similarities but this letter that James wrote in the book of Proverbs proverbs speaks to us of the person who never considers the destructive power of his words I love this from proverbs chapter 26 verses 18 and 19 are you ready for this one like a madman who throws fryer brands arrows and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says I was only joking you know there's a lot of that isn't there isn't there a lot of deception and an carelessness and and hurtful words spoken and then we just try to just shrug it off as a light thing uh well no big deal it is a big deal it's a madman thinking that it doesn't do anything now again I want to warn you James is not telling us to never speak he's not telling you and me to take a vow of silence in many ways that would be easier than exercising true self-control over the tongue you know it's true that the bridle in the horse's mouth if it's not controlled well or not controlled I'll do a lot of damage the rudder on the ship if it's not controlled well or if it's not controlled at all can do a lot of damage the fire can do tremendous damage listen every one of those things the bridle the rudder and the fire they can do tremendous good when they are controlled properly and so when we read these words of James here in James chapter 3 we soberly considered the destructive potential of the tongue but we also very carefully consider what a wonderful tool for blessing and strengthening and edification and just Beauty the tongue can be but out of control what he says about it in verse 6 is true the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity I want you to think about it in this way there aren't many sins that don't involve talking in some way almost any sin that you can think of involves talking I like what one commentator named dick said he said this quote it is though all the wickedness in the whole world were wrapped up in that little piece of flesh and sometimes it seems like that and again all I can tell you is that James echoes the testimony of the book of Proverbs regarding the tongue listen a really fruitful study for you to do some other time is to just go through the book of Proverbs and see everything it says about the tongue the words we speak let me give you just a few other ones I already read to proverbs chapter 26 verses 18 and 19 let me read you some other ones here proverbs chapter 10 verses 19 through 21 ready for this in the multitude of words sin is not lacking but he who restrains his lips is wise the tongue of the righteous is choice silver the heart of the wicked is worth little the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for lack of wisdom there proverbs chapter 10 verses 19 through 21 speaking to us about the power of the tongue for good and for evil now proverbs chapter 12 verse 25 anxiety in the heart of man causes depression but a good word makes it glad we could make other people glad there are good words a proverbs chapter 16 verse 24 pleasant words are like a honeycomb sweetness to the soul and health to the bones amen to that then the final one I'm gonna read to is proverbs chapter 18 verse 21 if you could memorize any one proverb about the tongue about the words we use I think this would be a good one proverbs chapter 18 verse 21 death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit Wow death and life are in the power of the tongue now this gives us the great responsibility and if we want to go back to the first couple verses of the chapter especially the great responsibility that there our two teachers we get that but please check this out now he's gonna speak to us starting at verse seven about the difficulty of taming the tongue ready for this he says for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind but no man can tame the tongue it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison James makes a very interesting and I think wise observation here in verse seven he says every kind of beasts and bird has been tamed by mankind isn't it true Lions have been tamed Tigers have been tamed elephants have been tamed killer whales have been tamed I mean every kind of Beast and bird of reptile and Cretan sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind it's absolutely true but and wild animal can more easily be tamed than the tongue in fact James tells us did you see it there in verse eight no man can tame the tongue it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison you know there's something in the human spirit the human nature that God has given us that we have an incredible capacity for sacrifice and self-control every once in a while you'll hear somebody who has some radical survival story you know they're out in the woods and there's nobody else around and their foot gets caught in a bear trap and they actually and forgive the you know sort of gross peeking here but they actually have to like take out a knife and cut off their legs so that they can survive or their arm gets wedged in a rock and the only way that they can get is to amputate their own arm and make it I mean we hear these fantastic stories of incredible self-sacrifice but I want you to think that that man who's capable of cutting off his own arm so that he could survive that man same man can't tame his tongue perfectly it's an amazing thing isn't it now even though no man can tame the tongue that's exactly what he says there in verse 8 can I tell you something the tongue can be brought under the power and the control of the Holy Spirit we might say that the only power in the universe mightier than the human tongue is God himself but thanks be to God he is mightier and when we read verses like this verses 7 & 8 when we read verses like this in the book of James it tells us that no man can tame the tongue you know what it points to certain points us towards Jesus you think about it how amazing Jesus was Jesus who never sinned in a word that he ever said jesus never sinned with words he never sinned by an unkind unwise unworthy unholy thing that his tongue spoke never never and that same Jesus lives inside of the believer you know we're gonna keep making our way on and we're gonna end this study at verse 12 but I just want to remind you brother and sisters do not forget this this matter of taming the tongue is not a matter of gritting your teeth and trying harder now I'll be straight with you there's some of us we do need to try harder we just have been in a tent of tortoise we've given it very little regard we're just sort of careless we do need to take more care there's true that there's some place for that in the Christian life I'm not denying that but in the big picture please realize this that that your victory in this is not gonna come just by you trying harder your victory is gonna come by your surrender to Jesus Christ and your abiding in him and realizing two things first of all that the sacrifice of Jesus is capable to forgive you of sin even the sins that you commit by the words you say thanks be to God secondly we realize that it's only Christ in me that has the capability of doing anything like that and I should be drawing close to Jesus and letting that one who never sinned in anything that he said I should be letting that one speak to me and through me now it is true the tongue is an unruly evil full of deadly poison kinda reminds me of a story that I read about John Wesley a woman once came up to John Wesley and said John Wesley I think I know what my talent is from God you know and she's talking about this parable of the talents where a master gave talents to everybody and they're supposed to use I mean Christians use that as an illustration Jesus used it as you know God gives us talents he gives us abilities and we're supposed to use him for his kingdom so a woman once came to John Wesley and she said hey I know what my talent is I think my talent from God is to speak my mind that's what she said Wesley replied you know I don't think God would mind if you buried that talent sister isn't it true speaking for everything that just comes into our mind it's unwise it's poisonous speech as James says in verse eight but now let's move on to verse 9 and we're gonna read through to the end of verse 12 and this will be the last section that we take a consideration of in this particular study here verse 9 with it and again he's speaking about the tongue here with the words we say with it we bless our God and Father and with that we curse men who have been made in the Simla to dov God out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing my brethren these things ought not to be so does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening can a fig tree my brethren bare olives or a grape vine bare figs the snow spring yields both salt water and fresh James is just sort of here right along with us he's marveling at the contradictory nature of the tongue with my tongue I can bless my God and Father I can worship Him I can praise him and with that same tongue I can actually go out and curse people the tongue can be used for the highest calling worshiping and blessing God and it can be used for the lowest evil to curse and inspire men to wickedness and to those who are born again it should not be this way it is as James wrote to us in verse 10 that it should not be that out of the same mouth precede blessing and cursing think about the almost uncountable examples that we have of this in the Gospels Peters tongue confesses Jesus as the Messiah the son of the Living God and Peter's indane tongue denied Jesus with curses the same John who later on wrote little children love one another he's the one who wanted to say a word to bring down fire from heaven upon a Samaritan village we find this contradictory nature and all we can say is with right along with Jane firsthand these things are not to be so ideally the goal we should strive for what God wants to work in us by his his sanctifying developing work in our life our Christian growth is that our speech would be consistently glorifying to God and by the way one thing that this means is that we shouldn't use one vocabulary or one tone of speaking at church and then another one at home maybe another one on the job it's not I'm thinking of the person and I'll be honest I don't have any specific face or name in mind but but I know that that this is us as as people I'm thinking of the person who when they go to church it's praise the Lord bless you brother isn't it wonderful to be in the house of God hallelujah and that that person goes home and they are nothing but critical and cruel and abusive and hateful with their words in their home and then they go to their job and at their job they're telling that dirty joke at the job they're speaking to other people in the office with flirtatious words and sexually suggestive things and on and on and just as James says my brethren this should not be so it shouldn't be that we have one way that we speak at church another way we speak in the home a third way that we speak at the job no like our our mouth should be like a spring of water sending forth fresh not fresh and bitter from the same opening because ultimately this is powerful what he says in verse 12 no spring yields both salt water and fresh that's what he says in verse 12 James is pointing to the ultimate impossibility of such a strong contradiction if bad fruit and bitter water continued to come forth it means that there isn't really a contradiction the tree is bad the spring is bad don't forget what Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 12 Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 12 verses 34 through 37 that a person's words are a reliable revelation of their inner character it's entirely possible that what you are in the habit of saying is a revelation of who you are listen I I'm not trying to throw a guilt trip on anybody I'm not trying to make people paranoid about 1 or 2 bad words that they save this but I'm trying says what you are in the habit of saying is something of an accurate relevation revelation of who you are and that's why he says can a fig tree my brethren bear olives how weird that would be isn't it there's a fig tree you go up to the fig tree and by the way as I'm speaking this just outside this little office that we have in our back garden here in Santa Barbara just outside of this office as a fig tree and in the front of our yard we've got an olive tree and how strange it would be if I went out to this fig tree that's just outside this door here and I went up to that fig tree and there's all of zonix strange it doesn't work that way and so a Christian life should not bear the fruit of iniquity the fig tree should bear figs the olive trees should bear olives this is how it should be now we cannot bear this fruit to God that we should apart from the transform work of the Holy Spirit within us the basic ethic of Christianity and let's be honest this letter that James wrote is pretty big on ethics it's telling us how to live this is a very practical ethical book James is not telling us so much how to be saved he's telling us how those people who are safe should be living but don't miss this thing that this idea basically in the Christian life ethics flows from this philosophy you need to be what you are in other words if you are a new creature in Jesus Christ if you've been transformed by the Holy Spirit of God then go out and live what God has made you because fundamentally that's all we can be anyway you know you can label a fig tree olive tree it doesn't make it an olive tree you could take out your pruning shears and trim a fig tree to look more like an olive tree that doesn't make it an olive tree you can treat a fig tree as if it was an olive tree and that's not gonna make it an olive tree you can surround a fig tree with many olive trees and that's not gonna make it an olive tree you could transplant that fig tree to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and that will not make it an olive tree you know if it's going to be an olive tree it has to be because it's been born into being an olive tree and as much as anything this very practical very challenging exhortation from James because brother and sisters I hope you've received it here today I hope you've received this idea listen it is absolutely true I need through the work of the Holy Spirit in my life through his constant transforming I need to govern what I say better I need to let what I say be more of a blessing to people and less of a burden or a curse upon anybody I need that know that being the case that's only going to happen when God does his trans forming work in my life it's not a matter of me gritting my teeth and trying harder it's a matter of me looking to my savior and resting in the one who has the true power of transformation I don't have the power to transform my own life but he has the power to transform me I want to abide in him walk in him put my focus on him and and be serious about doing what he says about obeying him and then I'll see the work of God happen in my life more and more that's where we're going to end it off here at the end of verse 12 next time we pick it up at verse 13 of James chapter 3 as we continue on in our study through the book of James [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: James, Book of James, Letter of James, New Testament, Bible, Power of Words, Tongue, David Guzik, Guzik

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Length: 38min 53sec (2333 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 13 2019