Taming the Tongue

Good morning, continuing on in James. James wants us to be doers of the word and so he has been giving us practical ways to do just that, to do what the word says. How we can help people who need food and shelter, how we can stop showing favoritism towards one another. Really practical ways to demonstrate our faith in this world.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

Spider Myth:

The average person swallows eight spiders a year when sleeping.

Myth: Busted

This is one of the most common myths about spiders and is simply NOT true. This myth was started in 1993 when a columnist for the PC Professional included it on a list of false facts. She was trying to prove how quickly misinformation spread via email.

The words that we use have power. Even in this case, the words that were used on an email had power and spread quickly. The tongue is a different kind of body part, it is kind of weird really if you think about it. In our passage James is writing to the early church, specifically churches that have had to flee Jerusalem after Stephen is killed, but this section is so applicable to us still today that it it like James wrote it directly to us this week. Let’s read it and see what James has to say on the topic of the tongue and with words.

James 3:1–12 NIV

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Warning to Teachers

The first warning James gives is actually to teachers. People who are going to teach and preach about God. James goes so far as to say that not many of them should become teachers. Why on earth would James say that? Don’t we want as many teachers as possible? To understand this warning we have to place ourselves in the context of the early church. One of the aspects of Judaism is that rabbi’s or teachers office was highly respected. In fact, the title rabbi meant, “my great one.” This position was so important that if your parents were in need but your rabbi was in need as well, you were obligated to take care of the rabbi before taking care of your parents.

Because of this, some of that carried over into the early church towards Christian teachers. And this made that position desirable. People would take on this position not because they felt led to, but because their life might be easier if they had this power and authority in their community. So the root problem was ambition, people who wanted to be a teacher because of the perks and power that came with it, rather than serving God out of a genuine and sincere heart. This can still be an issue today though. The comparison game is strong among pastors and leaders in churches. Why can’t I preach to hundreds of people? Why don’t I get invited to speak at giant conferences? This leads the pastor/teacher to be more focused on getting ahead in a way, than actually ministering and sharing the word of God.

(Personal illustration, I didn’t want to be the pastor, I didn’t want to preach every week. I thought when I told mentors that they would agree and say I shouldn’t. But instead I got he opposite response. This isn’t to say that I am good, because I am still prone to fall into the same temptation of comparing myself to other pastors wanting to seem important when speaking. (another example is how I wanted to accept the ask to speak at a youth conference, but ended up turning it down because I wanted it to seem important.)

The Power of the Tongue

James now explains why the tongue must be controlled. The tongue is a very important part of the body. James uses three illustrations to express what the tongue is like and why it must be controlled.

(1) A bit in the horse’s mouth. The first comparison is that of a bit in the horse’s mouth. Horses obey their riders because the bit is put in the horses’ mouths and the riders pull the reigns so that the bit moves the horse. That bit is what riders use to control the whole body. This is an important observation that James is making. The bit controls the whole body of the horse.

(2) The rudder of a ship.Large ships are driven by strong waves and wind. However, though the ship is large and is tossed by the winds, it has a very small rudder that guides the boat by the will of the pilot. The first observation is similar to the first illustration. The bit controls the whole body. The rudder controls the whole ship. The second observation was implied in the first illustration but is expressly stated in this illustration. James implied that the rider of the horse has control over the animal. James now expressly states that the pilot of the ship has control over the large ship with the rudder. In both illustrations someone has control over the whole body.

(3) A small fire.The final illustration is how a small fire can set ablaze a great forest. We see this in California all the time. Someone lights a spark and millions of acres have burned because of it. It was just a couple years ago when it was thought that the fires in San Diego may burn to the ocean because the blaze could not be put out. However, the fire illustration adds one more dimension to James’s teaching. A small fire is a devastating and destructive thing.

The conclusion is at the beginning of verse 5. So also the tongue is a small member but it boasts of great things. The tongue is this small member but it gets us in a lot of trouble. A modern comparison would be that the tongue is like a steering wheel. It is small, but it controls where we go. The first important point that James wants us to take away from these illustrations is that if we can master our words, we can also master our lives. Winning the battle of the tongue goes a long way to winning all of our other battles. But this requires a heart change. Jesus taught that it is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:33-35).

Change the Heart, Change the Tongue

Matthew 12:33–35 NIV

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

So we cannot think that we will simply change our words and that will be the end of the story. We must change the heart so that we can control the tongue. By controlling the tongue we will exercise greater mastery over the other members of our body.

The Problem of the Tongue

James moves to his second point about why we need to control the tongue. The second reason is that the tongue, while small, has a very destructive power.

Not only does the tongue corrupt the whole person, but it also sets on fire and wreaks havoc throughout one’s life. Careless words destroy relationships and destroy lives. We hurt feelings and ruin relationships. We also hurt our own lives by our tongues. We get ourselves in all sorts of trouble because we are not “slow to speak” (1:19). Did you see that James says that the tongue pollutes the entire body? We need to see that our tongues are corrupting us! The words that we say corrupts our hearts. This has been James’s point. The tongue controls the body. When our tongues are foul and filthy and are not godly and pure, then our bodies will follow along. When we gossip and speak malicious words, then we become ugly people with dark hearts. When we slander people we are exposing our cold hearts. Our words darken our hearts and stain our souls.

Further, our words change people. Our tongues set fire to the course of human existence. This cycle just keeps going and going from generation to generation. Our careless words and hurtful words are harming people and setting the lives of others on fire.

Taming Animals, but not Our Tongue

James shares with us some irony in verses 7-8. Humans have been able to tame all kinds of wild animals and birds. But why are we not taming our own tongues? The tongue is more difficult to tame than any of the wild animals. The tongue is a restless evil and it is full of deadly poison. It seems that the tongue is almost compared to a venomous viper. This thought leads to the final point as to why we must control and tame our tongues.

How Should We Use the Tongue?

James observes how inconsistent we are with our tongues. With our tongues we bless the Lord, but then we curse people who were made in the very image and likeness of God. From the same mouth flows blessings and curses. How is this possible? Why do we do this? But this is most certainly what happens. One moment we can be saying beautiful, upbuilding words and at the next moment tear a person down with our words.

Let us feel force of James’s words. “My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” This is just plain wrong. This has a connection back to the double-minded person in James 1:8. We are not fully dependent and loyal to Jesus. We have not surrendered our tongue to Jesus. We have not decided to bridle our tongues. We just speak our minds. We cannot be God-focused and have a critical, filthy, or impure tongue. Our words of worship should condemn our consciences for all the things we have used our mouths for this week. How is it that our mouths are praising God when we said the kinds of things we said to other people yesterday? How can our mouths claim Jesus to be the Lord when last week we said all kinds of improper things?

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. (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)

Verses 11-12 drives a stake into our hearts. A spring cannot pour out fresh water and salt water. Also, a fig tree cannot bear olives. A grapevine cannot produce figs. A salt pond cannot yield fresh water. What is the point with all of these examples? A disciple cannot have a mouth that speaks curses, hurtful words, inconsiderate words, impure words, or words that do not build up. James’s implication is very clear. Springs do not produce fresh and salt water. Christians, true Christians, do not speak blessings and curses. Fig trees don’t bear olives and Christians do not allow their tongues to go unchecked or uncontrolled.

Action

(The power of the tongue, the tongue rarely gets tired, that is why we need to control it)