Taming of the Tongue (James 3:1-12)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to James 3:1-12.

As we continue in our series through James, he hits on a specific topic in the passage that we’re working on today that I know everyone in this room struggles with. Now, you might ask, “how could I possibly know that you struggle with it” and I have two answers: (1) the text itself tells me that everyone struggles with it and (2) I’m not dumb and neither are you.

I know that everyone in this room struggles with this particular issue not because of education or training or reading books, but rather from 12 years of ministry experience. Over the past twelve years of working with youth, working in addictions ministries, pastoring churches, and being a chaplain—the number one thing that has stayed consistent is that sometimes (regardless of your age, your specific struggles in life, your job, or your socio-economic status)—sometimes we all say things that we shouldn’t.

I’m not just talking about saying something by accident (i.e., flubbing up what you meant to say). And I’m not just talking about the instances when you might let a three or four letter word slip out when you get cut off while driving or when you stub your toe against your dresser.

What James has in mind concerns everything that you say and it reflects what Jesus says in Matthew 12:36-37 Jesus says, “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless [idle, empty] word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Or in other words, what you say matters—even if you said it flippantly, without concern, or even if you didn’t mean what you said.

I think I’ve captured your attention.

As we study James 3:1-12 together, we’re going to break it into two parts (1) The Danger of an Uncontrolled Tongue (1-5a) and (2) Examples of an Uncontrolled Tongue (5b-12). James speaks at length about just how dangerous the tongue is, just how hard it is to control, and why it’s important for us to keep an eye on what we say. I fully anticipate this sermon to be convicting to the majority of us because as I said, we all struggle with saying what we shouldn’t say.

Prayer for Illumination

The Danger of an Uncontrolled Tongue (1-5a)

Our text starts with James making a statement that provides the foundation for this text and then he explains the meaning of this statement. Let’s start in v. 1.

James 3:1–5 (ESV)

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5a So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

The statement is that not many should become teachers.

In particular, what James is thinking of is teachers within the local church context—that not many people within the church should be teachers. And he provides his primary reason for this statement at the end of v. 1, “we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

The idea at hand is actually rather simple—that those who become teachers within the local church are going to come under greater scrutiny because of their responsibility within the church.

And I think it’s rather simple to see why that would be the case. Those who are charged with teaching within the local church context are the ones who are in charge of disseminating the Word of God to the people in the church—if they get it wrong, then the church will likely get it wrong; if the teachers get it right, then the church will likely get it right.

It makes sense that those who are charged with teaching are going to face higher judgment when the result of faulty teaching can lead to people straying from the faith.

This is the part of the reason as to why the New Testament emphasizes the need to not tolerate false teaching within the church.

False teaching is like a poison that seeps into the local church and destroys the body from within.

James says that not many should be teachers because those that teach will face a stricter judgment than those who don’t and I think you can see (very easily) why that it is the case primarily.

Nevertheless, he does continue in the same line of thinking. Except he lays aside the idea of teachers teaching within the local church to focus more into the issue of the tongue.

Vv. 2-4 expands on this idea of limiting who can teach, but in this instance he doesn’t focus necessarily on the idea of teaching, but rather on the idea of speaking—what we say.

In v. 2, he bluntly states that we all stumble in many way, “and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, [he’s perfect], able . . . to bridle his whole body.”

Or in other words, in life we all struggle—and in the living of life, we realize that the things that make life hard tend to make sin easy.

And we all stumble when it comes to the various sins that tempt us in life and there’s one struggle that we all have in common regardless of who you are, what you do, or what your job is.

We all struggle in what we say and James is so assured of this, that he makes a statement that might sound hyperbolic (an exaggeration), but really, it’s just the truth.

If someone doesn’t stumble in what he says, he’s perfect.

Now, James gives two examples of the power of the tongue and though we may not have direct experience with these examples, I think they’re common enough that they’re simple to understand. James says that the tongue is like:

The bit that we put in a horse’s mouth to control their bodies—something small is able to control something so large and powerful.

Or the rudder of a ship that controls the direction of the vessel—something small is able to control something so large and seemingly unmoveable.

James’ idea is that the tongue is like those two smaller objects and the comparison isn’t that the tongue has the ability to control the body, but rather, the tongue has the ability to do great things just like a rudder controlling a large vessel or a bit controlling a horse’s body.

And what James means by stating that the tongue can do great things isn’t necessarily that the tongue can do morally good or bad things, but rather regardless of it’s used for good or bad, it has a tremendous effect. And that tremendous effect can be good or bad.

In the remaining eight verses, James then gives multiple examples of how powerful the tongue is before giving his exhortation to the readers. Look at the end of v. 5-12.

Examples of an Uncontrolled Tongue (5b-12)

James 3:5–12 (ESV)

5b How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James gives a potent example of the tongue and the tremendous effect that it can have by describing it as a fire that sets ablaze a forest.

And though we might not be overly familiar with how a forest fire cuts through a forest, we do have some experience at the devastating effects of a forest fire.

Remember, over the past few weeks, the large amounts of smoke that covered our communities as a result of the forest fires in Canada?

The Canadian government has estimated that over 22.2 million acres of forest has burned over the past few months (for reference, the whole state of Pennsylvania is just over 29 million acres of land.

Now, think of how devastating those fires are and what it must of been like to be able to witness the fires in person—we hundreds, if not thousands of miles away right now and yet we experienced the effects of those fires.

What James is saying, is that the tongue has power just like a roaring fire.

And in the context of James, he’s arguing that believers—those who actually believe in Jesus are allowing their tongues to set fires of complete unrighteousness.

That the tongue is staining our bodies, it’s setting on fire the entire course of life and the fire that our tongues are setting are from hell itself.

Now, that’s very strong wording and it might sound excessive, but let me ask you to consider the words that you’ve used recently and contrast that to Ephesians 4:29 “29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

How much of what you say is corrupt—filled with sin. Whether that’s cursing, swearing, cussing, or whatever you call it in your home; or if its vulgar in its content; or if its simply just mean towards other people.

I think if we’re all honest, we find that we probably speak more corruption than what we would readily admit to those around us. And utilizing the illustration that James gives—if we were all honest, we would all probably admit that we’re spreading destructive fires with our tongue more than we’d ever want to admit to anyone else.

James then continues by contrasting the power of the tongue with God’s creation. He makes the statement in v. 7 that “every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but not human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

Again, these words might seem harsh, but if we just look within our own use of language and we’re honest with ourselves, I think we would look at these verses and recognize that James is absolutely correct.

And we can see it in how we use our tongues, in how we speak to other people, and we can see it in how they respond to the way that we speak to them.

And I am assured that there are plenty of times in all our lives, when we can hear the words that we say and recognize that what we said was just evil and full of deadly poison.

If we’re all honest with ourselves, there are plenty of moments in which I’m sure we’ve said something and in some cases instantly regretted saying it because we realized just how corrupt it actually was.

Our tongues are so dangerous and so filled with wickedness that James points to the hypocrisy of it all in vv. 9-10a, “With it [meaning our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessings and cursing.”

James makes it simple—when you utilize your words in ways that aren’t right—in this case, when you curse people with your tongue, you’re utilizing the tongue, which God made to speak against people, who God made in His image.

Or in other words, you’re utilizing a part of you to do something that it wasn’t actually made to do—you’re utilizing your mouth to sin.

And the hypocrisy is this—that you’re utilizing your mouth to sin while still trying to bless God. Or in other words, you’re coming to church—you’re singing worship songs that are meant to help you praise Jesus; and then you’re turning around and your cursing people. See what the problem is?

The problem is that your tongue isn’t meant for cursing people; it’s not meant to tear other people down, it’s meant for what Ephesians 4:29 states for building up and for giving grace; and it’s meant for what Psalm 51:15 says, “15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”

The mouth that God gave you isn’t meant for sin—it’s meant to speak in a way that encourages and it’s mean to praise God in a way that brings Him glory.

It’s meant to build up and to worship.

Yet, James makes it clear that we all struggle with what we say and despite knowing what we ought to say, instead, we curse people who are made in God’s image all the while blessing God.

And he then wraps up this idea by first saying, “these things ought not to be so” and then by utilizing rhetorical questions to drive home the point. V. 11, “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”

Or in other words—what’s happening is this: instead of utilizing your tongue for what it’s meant for, you’re utilizing your tongue to curse people, to sin. To speak unrighteousness and to tear down.

But what James is saying is simple—if you are genuinely a believer in Jesus, you’ve repented of your sins, you’re following Him as seen in your confession through baptism—your tongue, the way you speak ought to have changed.

But hearing this brings forth a great question—because if you’re following along, you might have noticed something. James literally just said that no human being can tame the tongue and that those who can control their tongues are perfect. And yet, he ends this paragraph by stating that as Christians, we ought to have tongues that have been changed—tongues that have essentially been somewhat tamed. So, what’s the deal? And this is where our application comes into play.

Application

In this passage, James insists that Christians are utilizing their mouths to speak in ways that are contrary to how believers ought to speak—they’re using their mouths to curse others, to speak corruption, to proclaim unrighteousness. And James makes it abundantly clear that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be—Christians ought to speak differently, but he says it in a way that might be confusing at face value. No one can tame the tongue, but you shouldn’t speak like this. Those who can control their tongues are perfect, but we all struggle to control our tongues. So, what’s the deal? Let me answer that in three ways, which will be our application:

First, remember that this is written to believers—thus, what James is saying here only applies to those who believe.

Meaning, if you’re an unbeliever here this morning, you trying to clean up your language for whatever reason:

Whether it’s to make your mom proud of you or to sound like a more put-together person, really doesn’t make a difference. You cannot earn your salvation by speaking in a different way. That’s not how it works.

This really applies to every sin. An unbeliever trying to live a sinless life is like a fish trying to live out of water—it cannot and will not happen.

As an unbeliever, cleaning up your language will absolutely do no good when it comes to eternity, you would still be unsaved (not to mention the fact that James has already told you that it’s impossible to control your tongue).

If you’re an unbeliever this morning, this is your application. Nothing you can do will earn your salvation and that includes trying to clean up your speech.

What you need to do is repent of your sins, call on the name of the Lord, believe in your heart, and confess your faith through baptism.

As an unbeliever this morning, your application is to trust in Jesus. And if you find yourself this morning actually doing this for the first time, please don’t hesitate to talk with me or Pastor Tim before you leave. We want to help you start your journey as a Christian right.

Unbelievers, you need to repent and believe.

Second, because this passage is written to believers, you realize then that when James says you can’t control your tongue—he’s speaking about believers not being able to control their tongue, even though they still shouldn’t being blessing and cursing—they should only be blessing.

Now, it is important to note that each time James points to the lack of control when it comes to our tongues, he does point out that it’s difficult and really impossible for a human being to control the tongue.

This implies that the only way for us to gain some sort of control over our tongue isn’t by trying harder or by working to achieve our goals or by taping our mouths shut.

The only way to gain any sort of control over our tongue is found in Jesus.

And I think the best way to explain why there is that struggle with trying to control your tongue is to remind you of what Jesus says in Matthew 12:34 “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

Or in other words, why is it so hard to control our tongues? Because our tongues reflect what’s in our heart. And Jeremiah 17:9 says “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately [wicked] sick.”

We can’t perfectly control our tongues because our tongue reflects our heart and our heart is desperately wicked and yet, James still says that your mouth should not pour forth blessings and curses.

So, how do we exercise any control over our tongues? We slowly start gaining control over what we say when we actively choose to follow Jesus.

And as we continue to seek Jesus, the Holy Spirit develops the fruits of the Spirit within us. And as the fruits of the Spirit mature within us and our hearts change from being only wicked continuously, our tongues will then start to reflect the change in our heart.

Or in other words, what James is saying is this: the tongue, how you speak is a test of your heart. It’s like a barometer or like a litmus test—it reveals what’s in your heart.

Thus, our application is actually really simple. How you speak reveals what’s in your heart. So, when you find yourself speaking in a way that is unrighteous—when you tear down, when you curse, when your swear, when you cuss, when you try to hurt others with what you say. You need to stop and check your heart. Something isn’t right and that’s not how you’re supposed to speak as a Christian. When you speak in a way that doesn’t build up or give grace—check your heart for sin and repent when necessary.

Pastoral Prayer