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If you were born before 1990 you may remember in the early 2000s we went to war looking for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction hidden somewhere in Iraq. We never found them. The fact is that you and I have been carrying potential weapons of mass destruction around with us all this time. They are 2-3 ounces, about four inches long, and sit encaged behind a glistening array of biters, tearers, crushers, and grinders. Yep, we’re talking about the tongue. James says it is set on fire by hell itself, sort of a hell-fire missile, and without God’s help there is no human means of controlling it. But as believers in Christ we’re going to learn in James 3 now to tame it.
How often has your tongue gotten you in trouble? “Man, why did I say that? If only I’d learn to keep my mouth shut!” We launch personal wars with our tongues. “Hey, what did you say? Come here and say that.” “You better watch your mouth, buster.” Our tongues need a lot of work – refraining, restraining, retraining. We’ll have tongue trouble as long as they are driven by our sinful hearts! The reality is that most of the changes God wants to make in our lives are somehow connected to our tongues. Jesus Christ died for our tongues! As believers God calls us to use our tongues for His glory and to bless other people, but instead we use them to wreak all kinds of havoc.
James has already told us in chapter one to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Then he said if we don’t bridle our tongues our religion is worthless. In chapter two he said true, living faith is evidenced in a changed life. That is certainly true about our speech. So in chapter three he gives us a whole chapter of warnings and directions about our tongues.
This morning we’re going to look at the power and influence of the tongue. Next week we’ll see how to get control over these super-weapons hidden in their launching pads. There are four gripping facts about our tongues in these first six verses.
ACCOUNTABILITY – You are going to give an account for how you use your tongue.
James 3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
Do you realize what Jesus says about our words? Listen to Matthew 12:34, 36.
Matthew 12:34, 36 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart…. And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment.”
Our words come from our hearts and Jesus says the same thing as James – we’re accountable for what we say. So James says when it comes to teaching in the church, don’t rush into it. Teachers incur a stricter judgment. Speaking for God is a huge responsibility and privilege. Teachers in the first century drew prestige and honor, and it isn’t much different today. Some men love the adulation, the prestige, and ego strokes that teaching brings.
James isn’t discouraging those truly gifted and called to teach. But he is warning us that there’s a heavy accountability involved. God told Israel to stone false prophets. In Jeremiah 28 Jeremiah faced off with a false prophet, Hananiah. Hananiah said things the people wanted to hear. “Within two years we’ll be free of the Babylonians.” Jeremiah said, “Really? Actually, you have made these people trust in a lie. You’re a dead man.” Within the year, he died. We need teachers and we appreciate our teachers. But teachers need to be very careful and take it seriously.
Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching.” In 1 Timothy 6:3-5 Paul says if anyone teaches a different doctrine and doesn’t agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is conceited and understands nothing. I met with a local pastor many years ago. He was from a liberal denomination, so I asked him if he believed in hell. “No, I think God will bring everyone to heaven eventually.” “So you don’t believe in hell. Do your people know what you believe?” “No, I’ve never told them.” This guy will give account of his deceptive teaching. You can’t just pick and choose what you want to teach or what tickles people’s ears. You don’t play fast and loose with God’s Word or bend it to make it say what you want, like pulling rabbits out of hats. Some popular teachers base their entire ministry on finding secret codes and amazing things in the Bible no one else ever found. They draw followers like rotting carcasses draw flies.
In 2 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul told Timothy that in light of the coming judgment, “Preach the Word!” Be faithful to the Word. I couldn’t imagine facing God after a life of sharing worthless, frothy, reckless talks. 2 Timothy 2:15 should guide every teacher of God’s Word – “Study to show your self-approved to God, an unashamed workman, accurately handling the Word of truth.”
Again, this is not to discourage teaching if God calls you and the body of Christ affirms that call. Paul said new believers are not to be placed in positions of leadership in the church because they can easily be tempted by Satan and be puffed up with pride. Apollos is a great model of a younger teacher with lots of zeal who had some things wrong. In Acts 18:26 Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And Apollos accepted their teaching. Isn’t that beautiful? He was a highly gifted but eminently submissive teacher of God’s word.
SPIRITUAL MATURITY – Your tongue is a leading indicator of your spiritual maturity.
James 3:2, 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.
Here James lumps us all together in stumbling in our words. How many of us stumble? ALL! In how many ways? MANY! Preachers are no exception. I’ve been preaching since 1978 – that’s 44 years and a ton of sermons. Think of all the words I’ve delivered. I’m so glad James included himself, “we all stumble” or trip up in our words. I’m thankful God is forgiving.
But James 3:2 applies to all of us. One of the easiest ways to trip up in your spiritual life is with your tongue. Thomas Manton wrote, “Most of a man’s sins are in his tongue.” We bring sinful habits of speech with us right out of the old life, and even pick up new ones as believers. When you hang around people who are constantly griping, cussing, telling people off, watch out! No one makes you cuss, but bad company corrupts good morals! As long as we are in this body we are going to trip up in what we say and we’ll need forgiveness. This is not to excuse ourselves, but remember, all of our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. The doctrine of total depravity helps us deal with life as it really is rather than some self-righteous, perfectionistic idealism. Someone said this “perfect man” who never stumbles with his words “is nowhere to be found.”
But there is growth in how we use our tongues. As you grow spiritually, you should be learning more and more how to control that slippery muscle between your teeth. If you are succeeding in controlling your tongue, James says you will be succeeding in bridling other parts of your body. This week keep alert to your words. Is what you are saying bringing glory to God and encouragement to other people? Use the fruit of the Spirit to evaluate your words. Ask yourself, are my words loving or selfish? Joyful or grumbling? Peacemaking or arguing? Patient or irritable? Kind or cruel? Good? Faith building? Gentle? Self-controlled? As your tongue is Spirit-controlled, the rest of your body will be under the Spirit’s control.
DISPROPORTIONATE INFLUENCE – Your tongue is the most influential member of your body.
James 3:3-5 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!
How is the tongue like a horse’s bit, a ship’s rudder, and a match? They are all little in size but huge in power and influence. A horse is a powerful animal, but can be guided by a bit. Alexander famously brought his horse Bucephelos under control when he positioned him so he couldn’t see his shadow. Our family went horseback riding in Texas many years ago. What fun. We were trotting along and guiding our horses exactly where we wanted to go by using the bridle and bit. But as we were going down the path through the woods, suddenly two or three huge black birds suddenly took off from some trees within a few feet of us. Those horses bolted and we hung on for dear life. It took a while to bring them under control, but the bridle and bit did it. Like a little bit in a horse’s mouth guides and steers the horse, our tongue in our mouth guides and steers our bodies.
Look how huge ships cut through the waves. And then strong winds come along and whip up those waves and the ship must be guided through them. The thing that controls a ship must be huge. James says no, a very small rudder makes it go wherever the pilot desires.
James says the tongue is like these small things – so small and yet so influential in your life. That little sliver of two ounces can do amazing things. You learn to shape it to speak words. If you’re trying to learn Spanish you have to teach it to roll your “r’s.” “Rrrrroberto.” But little as it is, it can wreak havoc and be used for the greatest atrocities known to man. We’ve all heard or been guilty of bragging about how great we are. It’s a small sliver, but boasts great things.
In verse five James reminds us, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” An immense forest can be set on fire by just a little spark. It was while I worked in construction that I learned a huge lesson about certain stains. My job was to spray stain on six-panel doors and then wipe off the stain with rags. At the end of one day, I finished the doors and threw the rags on a pile by a wall and left. The next morning I came in around 6 AM and I can only praise God for His goodness. Those rags had spontaneously combusted and only the good providence of God kept the fire contained to just that one area instead of the whole wooden building burning to the ground.
James says a little fire, maybe one match, can set a whole country on fire and bring huge destruction. The tongue is a fire, a flame thrower, leaving scorched earth all around. Just a few words fired from this flame thrower can destroy relationships, burn the hearts of little children, rip to shred marriages, blast families, churches, friendships. Maybe you’ve been singed by a fiery tongue. The tongue is little, but it can leave a war zone in its path.
OVERWHELMING DESTRUCTION – Your tongue can bring horrible destructive power.
James 3:6 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.
Commentator Lenski wrote about this verse, “Nothing stronger was ever said about the tongue.” Edmond Hiebert devotes four and one-half pages in his commentary to this verse alone. James bores in. The tongue is like a flame thrower wreaking havoc. It destroys other humans. It spouts all kinds of iniquity – a very world of iniquity. It has the power to defile, corrupt, inject spiritual poison and destroy an entire culture. Go into a university classroom and listen to the poison being injected into the young minds. And even worse is a church where the pastor is defiling and poisoning his congregation with lies – a congregation who is trusting that he’s telling them the truth.
Imagine how tongues are busy injecting false notions into children. In classrooms teachers speak and direct the thoughts of students. Imagine the propaganda being spewed into the lives of these young people – some telling elementary school children they have the right to change their gender if they want. How evil. The tongue has an overwhelming destructive power. James calls it a very world of iniquity, of wickedness, speaking from what fills the heart. A flame throwing tongue can be used to burn down a church, a business, a family, an organization.
To make matters worse, James says this tongue is set on fire by hell. Satan has no more effective weapon in his arsenal than the human tongue. Think of gossip and slander. John MacArthur quotes a sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal:
I am more deadly than the screaming shell from the howitzer. I win without killing. I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent. I never forget and seldom forgive. My name is Gossip. (Cited in George Sweeting, Faith That Works [Chicago: Moody, 1983], 76–77)
James says the tongue sets on fire the course of our lives. The word “course” has the idea of a wheel, speaking of the influence of your tongue throughout your life, from womb to tomb. How often have you said something and wish there was a string attached to your words that you could bring them back. Our words can stink up a marriage or family or church like the smell of a skunk. You may have heard the story of the gossip who spread rumors about a local merchant that hurt him and his business deeply. The culprit felt bad so he went to his rabbi to see what he could do to correct the situation. The rabbi thought for a while, then said, “Go bring me one of your feather pillows.” The poor fellow found one and brought it to the rabbi. “Now go upstairs, open your window, tear the pillow open, and shake out all the feathers into the wind.” After following orders, the rabbi said, “Now go and gather all the feathers and put them back into the pillow.” “Impossible!” “Exactly. That’s what happens when you gossip or tell a story about someone else.”
SO WHAT?
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
You’ve got a powerful weapon there in your holster. How are you using it? For life or for death? As a fountain of life blessing the people in your life or a flamethrower destroying people who get in your way? If you know Christ and have a new heart, you have a redeemed mouth, a Spirit-controlled tongue. Monitor your words this week. Are they glorifying to God and ministering to other people, or are they self-promoting and self-focused. Christ died on that cross to redeem our tongues and the hearts that drive those tongues. May God help us to speak with redeeming grace and kindness to others this week. Here’s a great verse to memorize.
Colossians 4:6, Let your speech always be with grace (encouraging), as though seasoned with salt (truthful), so that you will know how you should respond to each person (wisdom).