MAKING YOUR LIFE
USEFUL
Take Charge of Your
Tongue
James 3:1-12
Jerry A Collins
SCC
v
Why is the tongue a powerful
force?
v
What makes the tongue difficult to
control?
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How do we take charge of our
tongue?
There is a phrase many have used about the danger related
to the use of our words; You can remain silent and thought a fool or you
can speak up and remove all doubt. We all understand the painful
consequences of ignoring that advice. We have been the victims of someone’s
uncontrolled words and we also regret the use of those words ourselves.
People’s lives have been shaped and destroyed simply by the speech, the tongue,
and the words that have been spoken to them or by them. It is about time that we get serious about this issue. Our words, our speech
and our tongue, James will tell us is serious enough to actually effect the
course of our lives and the lives of others. James introduced this discussion
in
YOUR TONGUE IS A
VERY POWERFUL FORCE IN LIFE 1-5
Be careful about
teaching 1 He
believes that not many of you should become teachers. Teaching is a big deal in
the NT. There were teachers in the early church; teachers are special gifts to
the church; teaching is a gift of the HS; and teachers are listed third behind
apostles and prophets. It is a big part of the example Christ left for us. It
is a major part of the Great Commission. It is part of our maturity. So why
would he then say let not many of you be
teachers? Because those who used the tongue to teach would be held to a
higher, stricter judgment—that is, at the judgment seat of Christ. There is
danger associated with teaching and while there are gifted teachers Christ has
given to His church, we must not limit that to only official roles because each
of us should be teaching someone as part of our own maturity. James uses this
concept to introduce us to his insight about the dangers in the use and misuse
of the tongue.
Yet we all stumble 2
We stumble in
many ways and if this is true is just a general way it
is especially true in the use of our tongues and speech. Think about it—if it
were possible to avoid stumbling with our tongues it would actually be possible
to avoid all stumbling. Such a person, James says, would be a perfect man. The idea is that of a man without a flaw. This even works
for the benefit of controlling his whole body—to keep it from participating in
sin and its consequences and presented instead as living sacrifices. This is
emphasized 3 times vs 2, 3, 7. So much of our
stumbling in life is associated with our speech, use or words, and our tongues.
The rest of James argument makes this very plain—no such man exists because no
man can tame his tongue.
Tho small the tongue is influential
3-5 We put bits
in horse’s mouths and thereby control the entire animal. Large ships can be
controlled even in fierce winds by much smaller rudders. In both cases a very
small and seemingly insignificant attachment exerts a powerful force directing
wherever it wishes something much larger and consequential. The animal is
controlled in the exact direction the bit desires. The ship is controlled in
the exact direction the pilot desires. So, the little tongue’s capacity and
potential is massive and huge in our lives vs 5. To a
large extent our actions are determined by the things we say. It is almost as
if our tongues speaking of our great exploits cannot also refrain from boasting
about them. Combined with it’s uncontrollable nature
as well as it’s boastful tendencies, our casual remarks—not unlike a spark or
match igniting a dry forest causing massive wildfires—can touch off a firestorm
of trouble in human experience. The tongue is petite but it is powerful.
YOUR TONGUE HAS A
PERVERSE TENDENCY TO DESTROY LIFE
The tongue is fire 6
Fire burns and
that is just what our tongues produce. Why? Because he says the tongue is also
a world of iniquity. In other words,
there is no kind of evil at all which cannot be ignited in human life by the
tongue. With this dual role—of a dangerous fire and a world of wickedness—our
tongue is capable of being a member which
defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of life. Our words make
us filthy; lead us to physical acts that defile us; and inflame the entire
course of our lives by on-gong consequences they produce. You can break your
life with the misuse of your words. You can move your life forward heated and endangered by the
things you have said along the way. James tells us that
the fire igniting our destructive course of life is itself often ignited by hell. Satan does inspire evil speech
seen when Peter words were inspired by Satan Mt
The tongue is an untamed
evil 7-8 As much
as we would want to believe we can control our words, the fact is we cannot. We
have successfully domesticated all kinds of wild animals
vs 7 but no-one can claim similar success with the
tongue vs 8. Since we are incapable of such a feat in
our earthly condition, the tongue still remains a villain. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison 8. If
you are deathly afraid of snakes poisonous bite, then you should be fully
sobered by your inability to control your tendency for injecting your poisonous,
biting words which destroy life and produce death.
YOUR TONGUE IS
CAPABLE OF SCHIZOPHRENICINCONSISTENCIES
The tongue blesses
and curses 9-10 Amazing
that with our same tongues we can offer ecstatic and genuine praise to God our
Father and with it may also curse and vilify people. All of this is possible in
spite of the fact that they also bear the image of God they were created in as
we. We learn here that the image of God has not been obliterated in fallen man
even tho it is defaced by sin. This schizophrenic
inconsistency ought never to be although it will tend to be 10. The ought never to be is a clue that even
though our words can be powerful forces for perverse evil and schizophrenic
inconsistency, we must never settle for this and when our words are under
control we have proof positive of our maturity in Christ.
This inconsistent
behavior is unsuitable 11-12 First, it flies in the face of the predictability of
nature around us 11. A spring of water does not gush out bitter and fresh water
at the same time. Second, it flies in face of expectations of nature 12. We do
not expect fig trees to produce olives or vines figs or salt water fresh—of course
not! While the tongue is powerful it must be controlled; perverse it must be
corralled; schizophrenic it must be cleansed! James offers no solution except
let not many of you be teachers.
1.
The implied solution is that you are aware of the danger of the misuse of your
words. Always watching for it and keeping it in check even tho
not specifically said.
2.
Most likely, the solution is in the next section—to pursue godly wisdom. That
is, show your wisdom and knowledge by your conduct and deeds instead of your
tongue.
3.
Proverbs expresses the far-reaching consequences of our words, tongue, and
speech—death and life are in the power of
the tongue, and those who love it—the tongue—will eat its fruit—death and life!