James 3:1-12

Introduction

Today’s study we find ourselves in James chapter 3. James chapter 3. We’re going to look at verses 1 through 12, where James is going to tell us about the difficult task of trying to tame the tongue. Now there appears to be some hyperbole in this text because in chapter 1 and in verse 26, he said, if anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. So in chapter 1, he tells us that we must bridle the tongue. So nothing that he says in this text should lead us to the conclusion that it is absolutely impossible. He’s just telling us that the bridling of the tongue is a very difficult task, but one that we must undertake if our religion is to truly profit us.

1. Let Not Many of You Become Teachers

He begins this discussion in chapter 3, verse 1, with this common refrain, my brethren. And his advice is, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. Now James is not forbidding someone from becoming a teacher. He doesn’t say, let not any of you become teachers. He says, let not many of you become teachers. What he’s saying here is that if you want the position of teaching, that some may have viewed as this elevated position of honor, do not take that position lightly. Don’t take it as a position of honor. Take it as a position of responsibility, knowing that we’ll receive a stricter judgment. Now, in what sense will a teacher receive stricter judgment? If we look in the book of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus warns against causing one of his followers to stumble.

In Matthew chapter 18, verses 6 and 7, he says, if we cause one of his little ones, that is one of his disciples, to stumble, it would be better for a millstone to be hung around our neck and us to be cast into the depths of the sea. So this is the stricter judgment. The teacher will not only be judged by what he does, but also by what he tells others to do, by his teaching. So he will be judged by two standards of judgment.

2. If Anyone Does Not Stumble in Word

If anyone does not stumble in word, he’s a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Talking about the possibility of stumbling, or actually the probability of stumbling, he talks about the most common and the easiest way that we can stumble or sin, and that is in word, in our use of our tongues. And so he says in verse 3 to illustrate the difficulty in controlling our words or controlling our tongues, he says, indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. In other words, this small bit can control an entire large steed by simply controlling the mouth. You can control the mouth of the horse with the bit, then you can control the whole horse.

And that re-emphasizes his illustration in verse 2. If we can bridle the mouth, we can bridle the whole body. Because the mouth is the most difficult part of the body to control. Look also at ships, he says in verse 4. Although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they’re turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. And so the ship, no matter how large, is controlled by a relatively small instrument, and that is the rudder.

3. The Tongue Is a Little Member and a Fire

Verse 5, he makes the application, even so the tongue is a little member, and boast great things. Just like the bit in the horse’s mouth, just like the small rudder that controls the great ship. The tongue is a little member, but look what it can do. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. One small little match thrown out can destroy thousands upon thousands of acres of forest. And so it is with the tongue. It’s a small member in our body, but look what it can do. Wars have been started just by words that were spoken. Families have been destroyed. Churches have been destroyed just by some word spoken. Don’t ever underestimate the power that you wield in the words that you can spew out in haste or in hatred toward someone else.

The warning continues in verse 6, he says, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell. The tongue, the position and the use of the tongue makes it that powerful yet little member of our body. And it can defile our whole person. You ever known someone that looked attractive at first glance, but when you heard them talk, they became ugly. So the tongue is set among our members that it can defile the whole body, and it can set on fire the course, it can cause a forest fire, proverbally, by the things that we say, and the source of that fire is hell itself.

4. No Man Can Tame the Tongue

Verse 7 for every kind of beast and bird, reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue. It’s an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Two hyperboles in these two verses. First of all, not every creature has been tamed. And the tongue can be tamed. Remember, he said in chapter 1, verse 26, that we’re to bridle the tongue. The use of hyperbole here just shows and issues the warning. Before you rush to become a teacher, you think about the power of the tongue, and you think about the tremendous difficulty to control or to tame the tongue. It can be an unruly evil full of deadly poison. Now he illustrates some improper uses of the tongue.

5. We Bless God and Curse Men

In verse 8, no man can tame the tongue. It’s an unruly evil full of deadly poison. With it, that is, with the tongue, we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who’ve been made in the similitude of God.

We bless God, and with that same tongue we curse men.

That’s the concept that James is talking about here. The duplicitous nature of someone who would bless God with their tongue and then turn around and curse their fellow man, who he says have been made in the similitude, or we would say, made in the image of God. The scriptures condemn at least three things, three actions against my fellow man, because they have been made in the similitude or in the image of God. In Genesis chapter 9 and in verse 6, the taking, the unlawful taking of a life is forbidden because that fellow man was made in the image of God. Cannot take someone else’s life. And the reason I cannot is because they were made in the image of God. In 1 John chapter 4 and in verse 20, John forbids hating our fellow man, because again, they were made in the image of God.

And here James shows the incompatibility of cursing. So since my fellow man was made in the image of God, I cannot curse him, I cannot hate him, and I cannot kill him.

6. A Spring Is Either Fresh or Bitter

A spring is either fresh or it’s bitter. A tree is either a fig tree or an olive tree, or it’s a grapevine. Jesus had told us that we would be known by our fruit, that we could judge the heart of an individual by the action of that individual. Here James says we can tell who we are by what we say. And so blessing God and cursing our man shows us to be a hypocrite. The cursing of our fellow man, the mistreating, the misuse of our tongue toward our fellow man shows us to be that bitter spring. Thus, no spring can yield both salt water and fresh. You can’t do it.

Conclusion

Not in an acceptable way, and then curse your man with your tongue. You see the difficulty of taming the tongue, the difficulty of bridling our speech.

Because we’ll receive a stricter judgment, and we’ll be judged by the use of our tongue. A tongue that, though it is a little member, it boasts great things.

How are we using our tongue? Do our tongues properly tame, show us to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ? When we bless God, does God accept that blessing from our mouth? Because it’s consistent with the rest of our speech and the rest of our lives. Give some thought to what you say this day and this week.