James 3:1-12

1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.

2 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.

3 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

6 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.

7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race.

8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;

10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.

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Key Verse:

James 3:2

"For we all stumble in many ways. If any one does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well."

THE TAMING OF THE TONGUE

INTRODUCTION

A. Historic background

The believers to whom James addressed his epistle were tempted to think of faith in only an intellectual, antinomian sense. He has been endeavoring to tell them that faith is a moral commitment to the truth that the mind affirms to be true. We are responsible to obey it personally. It was easy for teachers to think of the faith only as a set of propositions to be shared like so much objective and impersonal information. But Christian teachers cannot teach the faith like one would teach mathematics. We are responsible to obey the truth that we teach. Therefore no-one should proceed in mere human enthusiasm to be a teacher, knowing that we have the greater accountability. The more we know, the more we are responsible to live and obey. To be qualified as a true teacher, he must demonstrate in word and conduct that he himself has been taught the truth.

B. Current background

It is fashionable in intellectual and academic circles to treat the Bible and the Christian faith "objectively." Personal commitment is viewed almost if not altogether as a fault, a bias. It is possible to earn a doctorate in Theology, with an emphasis in Christology, and yet not love the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to remind ourselves and all such that truth is for obeying. Truth contains imperatives, and our obedience to those imperatives is called faith. In conducting Bible studies, our aim should be not only to understand the Bible but also to live it in our speech and conduct. A clear example occurred in my graduate studies in Social Science. I was enrolled in a course in Criminology and Delinquency. In the middle of the quarter the professor was arrested and charged with public indecency.

I. What is a mark of a perfect teacher? (3:1,2)

A. To be a teacher of revealed truth carries with it a great responsibility. In view of the fact that "faith without works is dead," then teaching the truth without living it means that the teacher is spiritually dead. Such teaching is dead. They who teach the truth will have a greater accountability, for by teaching it they are professing to know it and by professing to know it they are accountable to live it.

B. All of us are liable to stumble. We stumble in many ways, the worst of which seems to be in our words. Because the tongue seems to be the worst offender and the easiest in which to stumble, the person who can bridle the tongue can bridle the rest. That is the mark of the completed man, the man qualified to teach.

II. Who can tame the tongue? (3:3-12)

B. The Bible has much to say about this. Jesus said "For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." (Matthew 12:37. See the context). In Proverbs 13:3 we read, "The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; the one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin." And Peter admonishes us, "For let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile." (1 Peter 3:10).

C. Words are irretrievable. The story is told of a person who hurt an acquaintance very deeply by his words. In time he apologized. The friend forgave, but sought to impress the consequences of the harmful words. Taking a feather pillow, he went to the window and emptied its contents into the wind. Turning to the offender he said, "I forgive you, but you will no more be able to recover the harm done by your words than you are able to recover all those feathers."

D. As a small match can destroy a forest, so a tongue out of control can destroy a life. It defiles the whole person, and it is kindled by hell itself.

E. In the beginning God gave man dominion over earthly creation. But one thing mankind can never tame--the tongue. The reason for this is that it speaks "out of that which fills the heart" (Matthew 12:34). And so long as the heart is evil, the tongue will be poisoned.

F. This is seen in its duplicity. Here again, James is warning against one of the tendencies of an antinomian "faith." In it he implies that a tongue that blesses God and curses man is not in reality offering true blessing to God. No matter how degraded a person might become, that person still carries the image of God. If we speak lightly of man, therefore, we cannot truly speak greatly of God. In Romans 12:14 Paul admonishes, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not."

G. The story is told of a philosopher who told his servant to go to the market and buy the worst thing there. The servant did so and brought back a tongue and served it.

H. If we bless God and curse men, we are not acting right, for we are assuming to ourselves that which belongs only to God. We may warn of God's curse upon the ungodly, but we do not originate it. Such cursing reveals a moral perversion. The tongue cannot be tamed until the heart is cleansed. Only God can do that.

I. Here again we see the unity of moral action. No one can go in opposite directions at the same time. If a fountain is sending forth sweet water, the source must be sweet. But if it begins sending forth polluted water, the source must be polluted. The sweet water is poisoned by the bitter water that flows with it, and the entire flow is corrupted. How tragic when this happens in the moral and spiritual realm. It reveals an impure heart, for if the heart is pure so will the mouth be pure.

J. Just as a tree or plant cannot produce fruit inconsistent with its own inner nature, so the tongue cannot produce other than what is in the heart.

K. Here we see the kind of works that James is calling for. He is emphasizing works that flow from the right source (faith), and not works as an assortment of unrelated and detached acts (legalism).

CONCLUSION

Someone said that the tongue is a subject that is in everybody's mouth. All of us are affected by it. Each one of us has a tongue with the potential for great good or great evil. How we use it will reveal the state of our hearts. No amount of pretence can prevent that revelation, because no man can force the tongue into subjection if the heart is stimulating it. The only way for the tongue to be subdued and brought into order is for Christ to control the heart. We are reminded of James's earlier statement in 1:26 that an unbridled tongue reveals the vanity of one's religion, no matter how much a person professes "faith." Saving faith will redeem the tongue.

A lady in a Pentecostal prayer meeting was seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Someone asked her, "Are you seeking tongues, Sister?" "No," she replied, "I'm trying to get rid of forty feet of the one I have."

A sanctified tongue and a sanctified heart go together.

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POINTS TO PONDER:

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1. How can we tell whether we are called of God to be teachers of His word, or whether we are motivated only by human eagerness?

2. How do people "stumble" in what they say?

3. How does the tongue defile the entire body?

4. What does it mean to "tame" the tongue? Why has the human race not been able to do so?

5. What does "ought not" in verse ten mean?

6. How does this lesson relate to the larger subject of faith?