Men's Bible Study (3)
Notes
Transcript
Many struggle to connect this passage to the previous pericopes.
Mainly because the previous selections deal with how we treat others.
Truly the transition from horizontal worship to the responsibility of teachers.
Matt. 18 though in a different context gives a warning about those who would lead astray.
Certainly we might look at
11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.
Essentially cattle prods that are painful yet helpful
Those who teach have a responsibility for what they teach good or bad.
Let’s look to our focal passage:
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.
5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. 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.
“Not many should become teachers”… Why?
Be mindful — there is a responsibility.
7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
The strict judgement of those who teach. — Accountability is there for those who teach. There is not much of a day when there is greater knowledge of this than today (social media clips, phone clips, parsing of every word).
There are those who sit by waiting for one to make a mistake so they can chime in. Sometimes they will chime in even without a mistake. On social media, they take clips, out of context and use them this way.
“For we all stumble in many ways...”— let’s be mindful that no one is perfect except for Jesus.
Men will make mistakes if they teach for any period of time.
Sometimes they will make bad mistakes, mistakenly.
Sometimes they will make mistakes because they are just wrong.
“if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man....”— The one who does not stumble can control the whole body...
Yet, this man is none other than perfect/Jesus.
“Bits in the mouths of horses”
“Ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder...the will of the pilot directs...” —- Two small devices that control something very large. Think about the fact that both are directed/tamed by something miniscule compared to their greatness of size.
James moves from the object lesson to the purpose lesson: the tongue.
While often this lesson is interpreted to be about the tongue period, the context stems from teaching and then flows outward.
The tongue and general can bless and encourage, but also bring disregard.
Notice the words, “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” — Thus, the writer is speaking to the natural outflow of a blaze that begins small and grows. Such can be a word, a teaching, and interaction.
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness...” — The concept here is how the tongue can corrupt and cause total issues. Stains that come about because of the fire. “Set on fire by hell.” — this is not of God. Calvin says, “a slender portion of flesh contains the whole world of iniquity.”
We can tame animals, but not the human tongue. — think of this struggle — James has already told us that we all fail at times. He is referring to this area.
