Okay, James for Beginners, Practical Christianity, is the name of the series. This is lesson number six in the whole series. And the title of this particular lesson, Teaching Teachers' Tongues. Teaching Teachers' Tongues. Little alliteration there, James chapter 3. I'll be putting the scriptures up on the screen, but some folks just like to follow along in their Bibles, and that's fine. We'll be at chapter 3 of James. So let's do just a little bit of review here, shall we. James is addressing Christians. And he talks about their attitude and their conduct in various situations. And those of you who have taken the course so far, those of you who have been watching online, you have profited from the series. You don't just come to Bible study to show up, you come to Bible study to learn something,
obviously, and something practical that you can apply to your own spiritual life. That's what Bible study is for. So you have profited from this series so far if you have faced recent trials with patience and joy, knowing that God is maturing your faith through these. So you've learned something if in the last couple of days something, a test, has come up, something difficult, something serious, whatever, and you didn't fall apart, you didn't get mad, and you didn't pout. You realized, hey, this is about faith here. You have profited from this series if you have faced temptation, but you have faced it with Christian action. What is Christian action? Well, we've talked about it before. Recognize that you are being tempted. Understand, oh, wait a minute, this is a temptation. I'm being tempted here. And then pray for the wisdom needed to face this temptation. What do I need to do? What do I need to understand and how will I resist? And seek help. Certainly from God, but sometimes we need another person or an institution, whatever, to get help to deal with the things that tempt us. And, of course, change your ways. Remember, I said in the previous lesson, if you're constantly being tempted by the same thing, maybe there's something you need to change. Because you seem to be getting into the way of this temptation all the time. So you've profited from this series if you've been able to face temptation in this way. You've profited from this series if you have decided to do what the word says and not just try to understand what the word says or simply tell other people what the word says, but you're actually first and foremost trying to figure out - okay, how am I going to do this now that I understand it? You've profited from this series if you have begun to treat others with equal regard, not making distinction. Remember that lesson, not black or white, doesn't matter if you're black or white, male, female, rich, poor, smart, less smart, whatever, Christians treat other people, all kinds of other people, with the same regard. We don't make distinctions between them. And you've profited from this series if you have demonstrated the sincerity of your faith by performing good works, and not just good talk. I mean good talk is okay. We all need good talk. But good talk isn't valuable unless it's backed up with good works. All right, so that's a little review of what we've been talking about so far. In chapter 3 James speaks again to Christians, but to specific Christians this time. So far it's been general - all Christians. Everybody's got to learn these things. Now he's going to talk to certain Christians in the church, those who have the responsibility to teach. What should be the qualifications and fruit of those who are, at some time or in some way, take it upon themselves to teach other people. Whether it be Sunday school or to preach or just exhorting someone, encouraging someone, taking them aside, and saying, come on, I need to show you something. I need to teach you something. I need to demonstrate something to you. What kind of qualifications do those people have? And here in James. He's not talking about formal qualifications. Do you have formal education? Do you have degrees? Do you have training? Sure, you need that if you're going into some specific ministry, but not everybody who was in the pulpit, excuse me, not only the ones who are in the pulpit are doing the teaching. You're doing the teaching too, many times in classes and devos, sometimes encouraging one another. So what are the qualifications for teachers? So he says in James Chapter 3, verse 1, first qualification is prudence. "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." Don't jump at the opportunity. Be a little prudent. Because responsibility brings accountability. Responsibility brings accountability. God will examine you as one who teaches others. God examines all of us. All of us. None of us escape His exam from time to time. And we've talked about this before, as well. He picks us up and he holds us up to the light of truth, up to the light of truth, or He puts us in the fire of trial. One way or another He's going to examine. And what's He examining? He's examining our faith, one way or another. James says for those who teach. He's going to examine you in those ways, but there's an additional exam as well. So be prudent, don't be too quick, not only to teach, don't be too quick to speak. And that brings us to the second qualification. Control of the tongue. Verse 2 he says, "For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able to bridle the whole
body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires." So what does he say about the control of the tongue? Well, first of all he said, it's very easy to sin with the tongue. It's a hard thing to do. And he says, a man who controls the tongue demonstrates his overall maturity and self-control since if a man can control the tongue, usually he can control the rest of the body. Again, why? Well because it's so easy to sin with the tongue. It's so easy to stumble into foolish talk. So easy to stumble into gossip, lies, mean-spirited speech. So many ways you can sin with the tongue. So he's saying, if a man is able to actually control the tongue, there's a pretty good chance he's able to control other parts of his body, other parts of his mind, other parts of his action. And he gives an example, the rider controls the horse by controlling the bit; the captain of the ship controls this large ship simply by controlling a small part of that ship. So it's the same, he makes that comparison with human beings. And so, the mature man controls the whole body by controlling the tongue. And this is the kind of man you want as a teacher, man or woman, in various circumstances in the church, both find themselves teaching from time to time. Now it's necessary to do this because an uncontrolled tongue is very, very dangerous. And he talks about that in verse 5 and 6. He says, "So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." Pretty strong words. So he, again, making an analogy. Before it was the bit in the horse and the rudder on the ship, now a small spark, he says, causes a great -
a small little spark, causes a fire that will burn down an entire forest. And he's saying here, the comparison, a small part of your body, the tongue, it can set you on fire and send you to hell. Fire with fire, the imagery. And why? Because no other part of the body can get us into as much trouble as the tongue. I mean, it helps plants in, it encourages sin, it joins in sin, a defends sin, it spreads sin to others. And so, the tongue causes a lot of destruction. The tongue is also dangerous not only because it causes lots of destruction, it's dangerous because it's hard to control. He says, "For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison." Again, he's giving examples. The animal kingdom has been tamed, he says. We've got great lions that are tamed by lion tamers. And all kinds of animals that have been tamed and put into the service of human beings. But, he says, the tongue, nobody is able to completely tame. It's very hard. And the evil that it produces cannot be stopped once it begins. We know that. We've all heard the example, you go up a tall tower, you bring a big pillow, feather pillow, you cut it and just shoot the all the feathers out, you let them all out, the wind is blowing. And then the job is to try to get all those feathers back into the pillowcase. Well, no. Well, that's what the tongue does. Just one little story, one little misunderstood thing goes from one person to another, and pretty soon, it's - you can't take it back, even if you want to. Or an insult, it doesn't even have to be words. Just the arch of an eyebrow. It's like, huh and people they keep insults for a long long time. Hey, that stuff stays forever. Or a lie. How many lives have been ruined because of a lie? Again, all with the tongue. So the tongue causes destruction, it's hard to control. And then he says, it also destroys our witness as Christians. He says, "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh." So it destroys our Christian witness. We bless - and imagine a Christian, you're Christians and you're praying on Sunday and brother so and so is leading the prayer, and oh a beautiful prayer. God, lovely words, lovely sentiments in it, and then the following week the same brother goes to the football game and here's that brother cursing up a storm. Screaming at the referee, you aught to be horsewhipped. Using vulgar language in public. James is saying, can we do that with the same mouth - praise God, and then all kinds of junk comes out of our mouths. People judge you and what you're associated with as evil, if evil comes out of your mouth. So a person who cannot control the tongue is not fit to teach anyone anything. Even endanger himself of causing more harm than good. So here James talked about some of the necessary qualifications of teachers: they need to be prudent, they need to be able to control the tongue. Now he mentions the fruit that these good teachers need to produce. So Christian teachers must not only be prudent, must not only be able to control the tongue, they need to produce spiritual fruit as well. You can tell a tree by its fruit, same with teachers. Their fruit will be a witness for them. And he continues along this line in verse 13 he says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior, his deeds, in the gentleness of wisdom." So what are the fruits here that he mentions in verse 13? Well, good behavior. Let him show with this good behavior, moral behavior, right? I mean, it's a terrible thing, we're all sinners, we're all weak right, but if a minister of a church, right, if the minister of a church has an affair, never mind an affair is something that goes on a long time. Let's say he just slips up one time and it's found out and he goes and he tells the elders, oh I slipped up. And he tells the church. That guy's career is over. He's done. Now, if you're a mechanical engineer for General Electric, well, that'll hurt you at home, but you won't lose your job over that. Right? So James is saying, you want to be a teacher? You need to be prudent. Watch your tongue. And the fruit that you need to bear? Good behavior. I had a young guy work for me who was starting out to be a minister many many many years ago.
It was not even here. So don't you be thinking it. And he had trouble. He had sexual identification issues, confusion. And he comes to me one day, and he said, I've done a terrible thing. And I said, Oh yeah, what did you do? And he said, well, I had sex with somebody I was studying the Bible with. You did what? It had just happened. Yeah, sorry. And we prayed, counseling, etc. He wasn't a ministry student after that. And I remember him saying to - again, this is way, way long time ago. I remember him saying to me, well, that's not fair. I ought to get a second chance. I said, well, maybe, again, if you worked for General Motors and you were in the shop you'd get a second chance. Maybe. You don't get a second chance here. Doesn't work that way. You get a second chance with God. He'll forgive you. You move on, yeah. But if you're going to set yourself up to be a teacher in the Lord's church, there are some things you're going to have to have a little control over. If you hit your thumb with the nail, with a hammer, and you say a bad word. Well, we're all human. But there's some things you got to have, kind of, in control. And this is certainly one of them. Good behavior, good deeds, he says, Actions done in gentleness. What does that mean? Actions done in gentleness? It means actions done without pride. Your good deeds are done because they're good. Your good deeds are done because they help other people. Your good deeds are done because you want to witness to Christ and to others that your faith is real. It's sincere. Your good deeds are not done because you want to puff yourself up. And make yourself better than everybody else. That's what he means. Then he talks about wisdom. You should, you have to have wisdom. And he mentions two kinds of wisdom. So let's read the two kinds of wisdom, good behavior, good deeds, and wisdom. What kind of wisdom? So he says, wisdom from below. That's the first kind of wisdom. He talks about, he says, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing." So two types of wisdom. One of the wisdoms is from below. What kind of wisdom is that? Well, its earthly. Means it comes from this sphere. It's natural. It's the wisdom of man not the wisdom of God. It's demonic. Why do I say demonic? Because this type of wisdom is controlled and promoted by Satan, not by the spirit of God. He says this wisdom has a certain intelligence, but beware of its fruit. Beware of its fruit. What is the fruit that the earth from below produces? Well, he mentions it: bitter, jealousy, selfish ambition. It's just all about me. Arrogance, religious zeal, but the kind that produces bitterness. It's good to be zealous, but in the church, our zeal is not competitive. Because when your zeal is competitive,
that provokes war. That's okay for a football field, but in the church our zeal promotes service to God. Iron sharpening iron. That's the kind of zeal we want. What I'm doing encourages you to try your best in what you're doing. That's the kind of zeal we want in the church. But worldly wisdom, from below, produces that kind of religious zeal and then this kind of wisdom does not produce joy or peace. He goes on to say it produces disorder and evil actions. Where these things are there is sin. Why? Because it's motivated by wisdom from below. So earthly wisdom produces a zeal for God based in pride. Teaching from this basis produces bitterness and disciples, not peace. This is a witness against the gospel, not for the gospel. Now remember, let's keep our main idea in mind here. He's describing what kind of teacher Do you want in a teacher? Okay, here I'm going to talk to you teachers, he says. You have to be prudent and you have to do this, you have to be teaching from a wisdom from above, not a wisdom from below. Because wisdom from below produces these type of things. And have we not seen these type of things in churches? I have. I've said people compete in church. Bitter arguments and fights over how to do stuff. It's never over, is Jesus the son of God. I've never seen two deacons wrestling around and being mad at each other because one of them believes that Jesus is the son of God and the other one is not sure about that. It's about who's in charge. It's about who's going to get their way. It's about this, that, well, wait. This is my territory, and you didn't ask my permission. And then, he's my guy. And you're using my guy. That stuff. Its earthly. Then he says, he talks about wisdom from above. Verse 17 he says, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." So this is the heavenly sphere, the spiritual sphere, the biblical sphere where God is in control. That's the kind of wisdom that comes from above. It's spiritual wisdom found in God's word. It's the effort to have God be in control. And what fruit does it produce? Well, he says, it's pure. In other words, you see it as such. You see it for what it is. It's peaceful. It produces peace in others. When you see a group of people working together peacefully under the leadership of an individual at a project, that person is doing a good job. He says, meek and reasonable. That's the quality of character of that individual. Not insisting on their own way all the time, not manipulative. This wisdom from above it's merciful, it's kind, it's compassionate, it's sure, meaning it's exact, it's clear, it's unchanging. Don't you like people like that? You know what you're going to get. What you see is what you get. It's great. And it's sincere. No hypocrisy here. James is saying, good teachers, aside from the prudence and good behavior, good teachers demonstrate wisdom from above. And this, here, is the criteria for that wisdom. So whenever you're in a church, in a congregation, where there's fighting and division. This group is not talking to that group. And there's a click over here and click over there, you can be absolutely sure that what's going on here and what's moving and motivating all of this is wisdom from below. People are fighting or people are trying to resolve issues or people are trying to get things done, using the tools that come from the earth, not that come from Heaven. Because the wisdom from above is obvious: pure, peaceful, meek, reasonable, merciful, sure. You can't fake that kind of stuff. Practical helps for those who want to be wise teachers, from one of the wisest teachers in the Old Testament.
James is talking about teachers. How they should be, what you should look for in them. And so, if somebody out there is saying well that's the kind of teacher I want to be. Whether I'm teaching in the nursery class or I'm teaching the adult class. It doesn't matter. I want this. Yeah, that's what I want. This is the kind of teacher I want, but James doesn't give us any information on how to do this. He just points it out. He doesn't tell us how to get there. No, if you want to know how to get there, you have to go to solomon he's the wise one who teaches. So we're going to change gears here, and we're going to see how do we become these kinds of teachers. So the training that teachers require, the qualifications that James mentions are: someone who is prudent, and someone who has tongue control, and the fruit that they produce, these teachers, is the heavenly wisdom that we've just discussed here. Sincere, peaceable, okay. All right, so how do we become these people?
Number one, listen carefully. Listen carefully. Solomon says a wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel to understand a proverb
and a figure the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and fools despise wisdom and instruction." So where do you start to be that wise teacher? Well, listen carefully when receiving instruction from God's word. That's a pretty good start right there. Why? Because he talks about the fool, right, the fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fool is the fleshly person, the person that operates with wisdom from below. And the flesh, the flesh does not want to hear. So it will usually give you lots to think about or do instead of paying attention. I'm talking about your flesh, my flesh. My flesh wants to do everything other than
read God's word. Everything but that. I don't know about you, but I try to discipline myself to read God's word every day. A portion of it. Not 30 chapters. Three or four chapters. And I'll tell you, my flash comes up.
I'm hot, my back is sore. Well, I'll do it after the thing. Well, it's the elections. I want to see what the results are. Maybe I'm hungry. Maybe we'll do that after supper, be a lot better. Well, wait a minute, I'll watch the news and then after that I'll do that. Well, I'm getting a little tired. Maybe I'll do it while I'm sick. The flesh will come up with every reason under the sun not to read God's word. Not to listen carefully to what God is saying to me. Not to pay attention. So if you want to be a wise teacher, you have to pay attention as a student and a student of God's word. Number two, respond immediately. Ecclesiastes 12 he says, "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil." That to me is the scariest passage in the
Bible right there. Every single thing will be judged.
Everything will be judged. Now this is near the end here of Ecclesiastes, after Solomon has talked about all the things he's tried in life. I've tried alcohol. I've tried beautiful women. I've tried construction projects. I've tried owning slaves. I've tried politics and power. That's pretty much what he writes about and you know what he says, it's all vanity. It's all empty. And his conclusion is right here in chapter 12, when all is said and done, what really counts? Listen to what God says and obey. This is the wisest man that ever lived. So when you hear something that requires a change or an effort in repentance in your life, do it. Do it. The word is only effective in your life if you put it into practice. The longer you refuse to obey, the harder it becomes to obey. Listening with the intention of doing. This is the - you know when he says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Not, I'm afraid of God. No. Not that fear of the Lord. Respect for the Lord. Listening with the idea, I'm listening because when I understand what it is I've got to do, the decision has already been made. I'm going to do it. Listening without intention of obeying is hypocrisy and obeying without carefully listening is foolishness. Now how do you deal with gossip? Control your tongue diligently. Remember he was saying the tongue is dangerous. How do you become one of those wise teachers? Control your tongue diligently. Romans 10:19, "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise." You cannot become wise without tongue control. Impossible. You want to be wise? Yes. You've got to read, you've got to learn, you have to have knowledge. You have to have intake. But to ascertain your level of wisdom is not based on how much intake you have, it's based on what comes out of your mouth. That's how people decide if you have wisdom or not. So how do we learn? Because James says the tongue is dangerous. You have got to control it. Well, how do we control it?
Well, here are a couple of tips. Learn to apologize. Proverbs 29:23, "A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor." Learn to apologize. If you sin with your tongue, repent with your tongue? That is the best way to learn humility, to apologize. Learn to say I'm sorry. Learn to say, please forgive me. I spoke too soon, and what I said was unkind. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Those are hard words to say and they're very humbling. But when those words come out of your mouth the person who's listening to them is saying to themselves, This is a wise man. This is a wise woman here. If the same person says yeah, well you know, I'm sorry. You know me enough, I wasn't feeling good that day and what you said was really getting on my nerves,
but look, let's just move on. Which person, between those two, which person would you prefer to entrust anything to? Learn to hold your tongue. Proverb 17:28, "Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent." Ouch. That hurts. Learn to hold your tongue. There's not much left to say if we eliminate what is untrue, what is exaggerated, what is distorted, what is unnecessary, what is course, repetitious and stupid. If we could just remove all of those, there's not much left to say. We don't always have to say everything that passes through our mind. It's not a necessity. It's not a great need of the world to have to hear every single thought that courses through your mind. That's just a form of pride. We're thinking oh, I'm so wonderful that surely everybody wants to hear everything I've got to think about. Proverbs 18:2 says, "A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind." Learn to control, learn to filter what we say. I'm going to jump out of here and go to Philippians. Paul says, "Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things." You want to filter what you're going to say? You want to filter - you're going to write that person a letter and kind of tell them - You go filter all your words through this filter right here and then what you will send and what you will say will sound like it's coming from a wise person. A person who has control of their tongue. And then, if you want to learn how to control the tongue, learn to say the right things at the right time. Proverbs 16:21 says, "The wise in heart will be called understanding, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness." Proverbs 25 11, "like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances." Isn't it wonderful when you say the right thing, right at the right moment? Oh. it feels so good. Feels great. God has given us speech in order to praise Him, in order to bless one another, in order to communicate, and in order to express ourselves. But we need to learn to do these things in a gracious and wise, in a heavenly way. Not foolish, insincere, and course earthly way. So heavenly wisdom comes from wise teachers, and we all can become wise teachers of our children, our brethren, or others, if we learn to, as solomon says, listen carefully. Respond immediately to God's word and teachings. And learn how to control our tongue. And I want to tell you, it is the hardest thing in the world to learn how to control your tongue. People are talking and then a funny but course joke comes into your mind, and you're just waiting for a break in the action, and then your better self says no, maybe not this one, this time. You're talking, three guys together, and then a conversation comes up about something going on in the church. And one of the elders was in charge of that and maybe hasn't gotten it done or whatever, and you're waiting for your turn because you got a piece that you're going to say that's going to really point out the true weakness of that elder. The hardest thing in the world at that moment is just to go - what were you going to say Mike? No, I'm good, let's keep going. That's the hardest thing in the world. I mean, you could break a rib doing that. So James is talking to teachers about teaching and in verse 18 he summarizes the entire matter. He says, "And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." So the teaching, which is the seed, that changes the hearers for good, will be brought by a truly wise teacher. And you will know that person, because he will already bear the fruit of his teaching in his own life. In other words, he will be pure, he will be peaceful and meek, he will be self-controlled or she, and he, with his teaching, will produce these things in other people. One last slide. So who are the wise teachers? They're the ones who are able to promote in you the heavenly things that you already see in them. Those are the wise teachers. Those are the ones that you're looking for. All right. We'll stop right there. Keep going next time as we work our way through James. Thank you for your attention.
