Study of James ch 3 wk 6
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· 3 viewsThe dangers of the Tongue The Tongue is a Fire
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Study of James week 6 chapter 3
Study of James week 6 chapter 3
Tonight we are starting chapter 3 of James and are on week 6 of this study.
The heading of the chapter is The tongue is a fire, or the dangers of the tongue.
We all know that our tongue can cause some great problems, by the words that we speak.
But it can also cause great joy by the way that we speak.
James had been preoccupied with the problem of false claims and deceit.
It now was time to launch the most extensive confrontations of the entire letter.
Here he addresses his brothers in the faith and offered one of the most noteworthy bits of advice for the church in the entire New Testament.
1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will 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.
James admonished them to limit the number of teachers in their midst.
Self-limitations should be established.
To be a teacher within the church is something for which one is recognized; it requires mastering the Scriptures and their application to faith and life.
James does not give the warning of judgment to others without applying it to himself.
Teachers will stand before judgment seat of Christ and be judged more strictly than others.
Their greater influence translates into greater responsibility.
Judgment here most likely does not refer to eternal separation from God; rather it suggest a through judgment of teachers before Christ.
Leadership imposes responsibility.
Verse 2 explains the need to control the tongue.
The concern is enlarged beyond the work of a teacher and includes all.
Human beings stumble in many ways.
We shows that James put himself in the category of those who made these slips of the tongue, and evidence of James’s humility.
We show our imperfection and sinfulness by committing sins of the tongue.
By the same measure we show our maturity by controlling the tongue.
Two truths should encourage us to control our tongues.
First, those who use the tongue, such as teachers, receive a stricter judgment.
Surely the prospects of an intensive examination by God should prompt a desire to use our tongues rightly.
Second, controlling our tongues provides evidence that we can control our personality.
A person who can bring the tongue under control is able to keep his whole body in check.
If we can control our tongue we can control the entire body.
The Bible does not call for silence but for a tongue empowered by the Holy Spirit and used for the glory of God.
3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
4 Look at 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.
See 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.
This section uses three illustrations to show the power of the tongue the first two illustrations picture the ability of a small object to control or influence a much larger object.
The final illustration illustrates the ability of a small item to destroy a much larger object.
The rider of a horse can use a bit to control and govern a horse.
Though a bit is small, its use gives the rider the potential for turning the animal wherever they want.
In gales and violent winds, captains use the rudder to guide the ship to safety or point it in the direction of intended travel.
Compared to the size of a ship, the rudder is very small, but its importance is controlling the ship demanded careful attention in its use.
Like the bit for the horse and the rudder for the ship, the tongue is small in relation to the body and yet has powerful potential to achieve great results, both good and bad.
It can stir up violence or promote peace.
It can crush the spirit or soothe the discouraged.
If the tongue could personally express itself, it could legitimately boast of its great exploits.
In the second part of verse 5 it shows that an uncontrolled tongue is a source of great destruction.
Just as a little flame can destroy a huge forest, a small misuse of the tongue can cause pain and agony to many.
Story about burning green swamp when mowing in 2006.
The tongue can produce ruin and may present the presence of a vast system of iniquity within our body.
Within this body the tongue can produce three results.
First, it can corrupt the whole person.
It is a source of pollution and defilement for the entire personality.
Second, it sets the whole course of his life on fire.
Course may also mean wheel.
Life may refer to birth, origin, or existence.
A misused tongue may affect the cycle of life from birth onward!
Third, the tongue is itself set on fire by hell.
This describes Satan's influence on the tongue.
By nature the tongue could serve as a divisive instrument of evil.
By grace the tongue can become an instrument of positive blessings.
We must not conclude that our tongue is doomed to be an instrument of discord and strife.
God can mold an abusive tongue into a force for good and righteousness.
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.
Here we are given four classifications of earthly animals that men have subdued or tamed: animals which can walk, fly, crawl, and swim.
These classifications represent a human observation about different types of animals rather than a scientific ordering.
In general wild animals can be brought under human control.
Although human beings can tame animals, they cannot tame their own tongues.
The tongue is a restless evil, always busy creating more mischief.
We must always keep the tongue under careful guard and never give it freedom to roam relentlessly, for it is full of deadly poison.
By committing our tongues to the power of God, we can see them use to build up and strengthen others rather than to tear them down.
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.
There in verse 9 we are given a positive and a negative use of the tongue.
The positive use involves praise to God, the highest function of human speech.
The Negative use involved cursing human beings.
Cursing refers to personal verbal abuse, perhaps arising from loss of temper in an argument or debate.
It also involves the expression of angry wishes on enemies.
It includes speech which is insulting as well as profane.
Verse 10 spotlights the inconsistency of this action.
We are sinfully inconsistent when we bless God and then curse those made in God’s likeness.
When we curse those whom God has made, we are effectively cursing God.
He is the object of both expressions.
Such a double standard is outrages.
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? Nor can salt water produce fresh.
These verse show the consistency of nature.
Both verses ask questions to which the expected answer is no.
The illustrations from nature would have been familiar to inhabitants of Palestine.
Areas around the Dead Sea contained many salty springs.
Farther north of the Dead Sea travelers could find springs emitting fresh water.
One spring could produce only one type of water.
The farmers of Palestine produced figs, olives and grapes in abundance.
James emphasized that a tree produced its own kind of fruit.
We don’t go to a grapevine to find figs.
We do not pluck olives from fig trees.
Nature is consistent, but our tongues have never provided models of consistency.
The applications are so pointed they do not need to be made explicit.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
In the same way that printed words can inflame passions and tempers, then spoken word can arouse people to action, either good or bad.
Paul called us to use our tongues positively.
16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
In seeking to control our tongues we must admit to God our weakness, seek His help, and place relentless guard on our tongues.
God’s grace can enable us to use our tongues and our words for blessings and encouraging others.
The next 6 verses of this chapter talk about the need for wisdom in speech and life.
Believers with true wisdom avoid envy and selfish ambition and produce peace and righteousness.
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
The opening rhetorical question asks how we can show that we have wisdom.
Wise refers to someone with more insight and skill in deciding practical issues of conduct.
Understanding pictures someone of wisdom by good deeds practiced with humility.
Only obedient deeds, not mere talk, prove the presence of wisdom.
Humility refers to a submissive spirit opposed to arrogance and self-seeking.
The person with humility is not a doormat for the desires of others, but controls and overpowers the natural human tendency to be arrogant and self-assertive.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Gentle or meek there in Matthew 5:5 is translated as humility.
Jesus promised the gentle or meek they would inherit the earth.
Jesus meant a believer who relates to God with dependence and contentment will reap God’s abundant blessings.
Even when you are involved in a disagreement, you must demonstrate a gentleness and kindness of attitude.
You must banish all contentiousness and mutual accusation.
The Bible calls on all Christians to show the presence of spiritual wisdom in their lives by deeds of humility and goodness.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
False wisdom destroys unity and develops rivalry.
This section discusses the demonstration of false wisdom, the source of false wisdom, and the result of false wisdom.
Bitter envy and self ambition prove that a person is following the route of false wisdom.
Envy describes a determined desire to promote one’s opinion to the exclusion of the opinions of others.
Selfish ambition pictures a person who tries to promote a cause in an unethical manner.
This person become willing to use divisive means to promote a personal viewpoint.
Bitter rivalries develop out of these practices.
James warned that people who had envy and selfish ambition could boast about it or deny the truth.
Boasting describes the malicious triumphant attitude gained by one party over its opponents.
Those who choose to deny the truth can end yo rejecting the truth of the gospel.
Envy of Jesus led the religious leaders to deny His person and power and to plot His death.
Verse 15 uses three adjectives to describe the distinctive traits and sources of false wisdom.
First, negatively, false wisdom does not come from heaven or from God.
Its source is earthly. It belongs to the way of life of this world.
Second, false wisdom is unspiritual, belonging to the natural world and not to the supernatural world.
It comes from the mental and emotional ideas of fallen human beings.
Unfortunately, we Christians are too often guilty of using this twisted wisdom.
Finally, this false wisdom is of the devil.
Satan uses it to corrupt relationships.
Verse 16 the results of envy and selfish ambition are disorder and every evil practice.
Disorder describes and experience of anarchy and disturbance.
Such disarray affects private relationships between Christians and public meetings of believers.
Every evil practice pictures an evil from which no good can come.
People who cater to selfish ambition need never expect to develop any fruit which is godly, righteous, or helpful to others.
False wisdom promotes self-assertion and independence.
It destroys a spirit of mutual concern.
Where Christians do their own things instead of caring for one another, a community of support and mercy can disintegrate.
Paul outlined a solution for this epidemic of selfish living, telling us to look out for the interest of others.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
True wisdom is free from self-interest and strife.
Verse 17 lists eight traits or characteristics of true wisdom.
The first is purity.
People with true wisdom are pure in that they have put aside the vices of a self-seeking nature and factionalism.
This trait provides the secure foundation for all that follows.
The following five traits show the attitude of true wisdom toward other people.
Peaceable, or peace-loving which means it demonstrates a desire to promote peace between struggling factions.
Gentle or considerate refers to being reasonable in the demands it makes on others.
Reasonable or submissive indicates a willingness to learn from others by being open to reason.
Full of mercy is revealed by offering compassion to those in distress.
Full of good fruits is shown by kind actions and helpful deeds to others.
The final two traits describe the essential nature of true wisdom in itself.
It is impartial, without prejudice and unwavering in its commitments.
True wisdom is sincere, genuine and open in its approaches to others.
Jesus particularly showed His genuineness in His dialogues with Pilate.
Verse 18 concludes this section with a description of the effects of true wisdom.
True wisdom results in a harvest of righteousness, that is, a conformity to God’s will.
True wisdom also lets one experience peace, the enjoyment of harmonious relationships between human beings.
God wants His people to control their tongues and to display true wisdom.
Envy and selfish ambition can control our tongues.
When we are in love with our own ideas instead of the Lord Jesus, we struggle to promote our ideas and our success rather than promoting Him.
We can easily slide into the habit of using our tongues to belittle others, work out our own agenda, develop pockets of strife, and promote our own policies.
We can fail to love peace, respond in gentleness to others, produce righteousness, and demonstrate mercy.