2 ½ oz of Trouble (James 3:1-12) | Adult Sunday School

The Importance of the Tongue in Practical Christianity

Well, good morning.

Good to see you.

Indeed.

Welcome everyone.

Find your seats. Let's begin our time together with a word of prayer. Our Father, we again just thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that He has consumed Your wrath for us, that He has given His righteousness to us that it might be ours in Your sight.

That we now are forgiven. We are forgiven people. And Father, as forgiven people, we now are possessed of Your Spirit and have a desire and access to the power needed to begin to live a life that is pleasing in Your sight.

Father, formerly, there was nothing we could do.

No good thing.

And yet now, everything has changed. And Lord, as we open the word together this morning, we're to be confronted with some hard truth. And I know that we will all find that we do not measure up. We thank You that Christ measured up for us.

In His name, amen.

All right.

So, let me just begin with a couple of questions to get our thoughts stirred in the right direction. Question, have you ever wondered what you sound like? Have you ever wondered what your voice sounds like?

I know that most people, they'll see a picture of themselves and they're not particularly happy with the picture they see, even though it's probably a very good likeness. Yeah, that is what you look like.

And we still love you. And have you ever wondered what you sound like? Maybe the first time you hear yourself recorded and it's played back to you and you go, oh my goodness, is that really what I sound like?

Yeah, actually, it is.

It is.

But this morning, I wanna concentrate not on the audio quality of our voice, but the character quality. The character quality. How do other people hear me? How do they hear me? Paul says in Ephesians chapter four, verse 29, let no unwholesome, or we could translate that rotten, word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment that it may give grace to those who hear.

So, does your speech confer grace? That's kind of the question. Does your voice confer grace on those who hear it? A number of years ago, Jerry Bridges wrote a book entitled Respectable Sins, Respectable Sins.

And the premise of the book, according to page nine, is this, quote, we conservative evangelicals have become so preoccupied with the major sins of society that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own, quote, refined, close quote, or, quote, subtle sins.

We fail to deal with our own refined sins, our own subtle sins, because we're so focused on the major sins all around us. In the book, Bridges has a chapter entitled Sins of the Tongue, Sins of the Tongue.

And these are the kinds of sins that are frequently overlooked or excused among believers, and I think that's because we all partake of them for one degree or another, we're all guilty. So we tend not to pay much attention to it, we sort of stick that aside.

These kinds of sins are things like gossip, or murmurings, or divisions and dissensions, backbiting, flattery, lying and exaggeration, name-calling and coarse jesting, those are some of the sins of the tongue that we are honestly pretty willing to sort of excuse or make excuse for, rather than deal with.

Well, open your Bibles to the third chapter of James, because James is not so willing to do that. We are now in the third chapter of James in our jet tour through this book. So it's James chapter three, we'll be looking at verses one through 12 together this morning.

As we've said a number of times, James is concerned with practical Christianity, that is his focus, that's the focus of the letter, is practical Christianity, and as such, he turns in detail here to the control of the tongue,.

To the issue of the tongue.

His premise is that a living faith produces internal results, and one of those areas where this can be observed is in the control of the tongue. Internal result, the fruit of redemption, shows up in the control of the tongue.

In Matthew chapter 12, verses 34 and following, Jesus said that a man's words are a revelation of his character. A man's words are a revelation of his character, and James agrees with that. In fact, just listen to how Jesus expresses that.

In Matthew chapter 12.

As I said, beginning in verse 34. Pick it up in 33. Enter, or either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil, but I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Paul says that self-control is one of the fruit of the spirit, it's a result of the indwelling spirit, and a good way of measuring a person's progress in the realm of self-control is their use of the tongue.

It is a direct measure of self-control. How do we control our tongue? You know, everybody has a responsibility to speak the word of God in one or more contexts of life. Husbands and wives speak the word of God to one another.

Parents speak the word of God to their children. Friends speak the word of God to other friends. Bible study leaders speak the word of God. Sunday school teachers speak the word of God. Pastors, elders speak the word of God.

So we all use this God-given gift of speech, and we alone possess it among all of his, you know, created realm here. We alone possess this gift, and we use it for either good or evil. And beloved, the human tongue weighs only two and a half ounces, two and a half ounces.

And in fact, that's the title of this message, two and a half ounces of trouble. It only weighs two and a half ounces,.

And yet there is no end of the misery.

And embarrassment that it can bring, both to ourselves and to others. It can undermine the word of God that we speak. It can bring great shame on Christ. So, here in 3 .1 to 12, I find a threefold strategy.

Here's your big idea. A threefold strategy for gaining control over the tongue. That's what we're about this morning, a threefold strategy for gaining control over the tongue so that we do not hinder our ministry of the word.

Gain control of our tongue so we don't hinder our ministry of the word,.

Because we all have a ministry of the word.

Let's listen to James. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 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.

Now, if we put the bits into the horse's mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. 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.

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a fire. 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.

For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives? Or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. A threefold strategy for gaining control of our tongues.

The first is this, and we find it in verses one to five, it's remember that the tongue is important. That's the first step of the strategy. Remember that your tongue, let's personalize it, remember that your tongue is important, it is important.

Now, James begins in taking up the topic of the tongue here by singling out those among the congregation whose ministry comes primarily through their mouth, right? Let not many of us become teachers. Notice he includes himself in this, right?

Because we will incur the stricter judgment. So he pulls himself into these, not speaking for somebody who's arrived and speaking to all of the peons that come up, he speaks as a fellow struggler in this realm, right?

We will incur stricter judgment. Proverbs says in Proverbs chapter 10 and in verse 19, when there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise. In many words, transgression is unavoidable.

In other words, the more we flap our gums, the more the likelihood we are going to say something that we shouldn't. And that should sober all of us. That should sober all of us, particularly those of us who have a tendency to be very quick to speak.

Oh, wait a minute, didn't James talk about that? Be slow to what? Speak quick to here, yeah?

Kind of a common theme here.

Beloved, a congregation that highly values the word of God will also highly value those who teach it, and appropriately so. This church highly values the word of God and thus highly values its pastor elders who teach it.

And that's good, that's appropriate. And in fact, in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul's corrective to the Corinthian assembly was that they were to earnestly desire the greater gifts, in that case the gifts of apostles, prophets, and teachers, over the more splashy of the charismatic gifts.

The teaching gifts were to be greatly desired. And I think one of the dangers for a congregation that properly exalts the teaching ministry is they can unwittingly foster unbiblical ambitions for the roles of the teacher among its own congregation.

If not careful, the position of teacher can become sought after by both men and women for those who are not equipped to such a position or called to it either. It can become the thing that everybody wants to be.

I wanna be the teacher, I wanna be the mouthpiece. But notice James says we shall incur, we shall incur this stricter judgment. In other words, all who teach will be judged upon the quality and consistency of their teaching, both its quality and its consistency.

In other words, we the teachers, as I'm standing here and I'm blabbing my mouth, I am very much feeling under the weight of this whole thing. We the teachers will be evaluated based on whether or not our words are true, whether or not our words are edifying, and whether or not our lives back up our teaching.

In other words, are we consistent? Is it the same that you see Sunday morning that you'll see Tuesday afternoon? Are we consistent in these things? Now, when will this judgment occur, this strict judgment that James warns of?

Well, I think it's at the Bema Seat. It's the Bema Seat judgment that comes after the resurrection just one verse for you, just to remind you of this in 2 Corinthians chapter five, 2 Corinthians five and verse 10, where Paul says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

You could also check 1 Corinthians three, 10 to 15, so further reference to that judgment. We don't have time to explore it all. I'm assuming that you are at least familiar with that idea. Now, notice this warning I think applies not only to the officially recognized teachers within the congregation, but also to everyone else who in an unofficial capacity set themselves in the role of the teacher.

That is those who dispense advice, those who provide personal counsel, personal advice, biblical counsel. I think it applies to us as well. Any and everyone I think can be swept up and should be swept up under this.

If you are a speaker of the word, then there is a judgment for what you say. It will be evaluated by Christ at his judgment seat, not for salvation or not, but it is a rewards judgment. And the judgment occurs according to the principle of the greater the influence, the greater the accountability.

The greater the influence, the greater the responsibility and the accountability. Those who speak for Christ are strictly accountable to God for what they say. We read this just a few moments ago in Matthew 12, 36.

It is true, every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. They'll give an accounting in the day of judgment for every careless word we speak. How much more so for those who engage in the regular teaching ministry among the people of God.

There is a strict judgment. Verse two, for we all stumble in many ways. I'm glad for James's candidate mission here. I am very glad for this, that he is flesh and blood like me. We all stumble in many ways and he acknowledges that in a multitude of ways.

We stumble, we fall short. The word stumble conveys the picture of someone who catches a foot on an obstacle and it causes them to trip. And metaphorically, he's using this as a failure of duty, actually.

We don't speak this way often, but it is true. When we stumble frequently, it's because we didn't pick up our feet, okay? We drag our feet and we stumble. If we picked up our feet, we wouldn't stumble.

So in James's use here of this, there's a blameworthiness to the stumbling here. In other words, it's sin. We all stumble in many ways. This is not a statement of like, you know, yeah, walking along and there was this thing in front of me and I didn't see it and I tripped and fell over it.

No, no, no. I'm walking along and there's stuff all around me and I'm not paying attention and I fall. It's blameworthy, actually. And that's what James is talking about here. It's a failure of duty. It's a failure to control the tongue, to be careful of what we say.

He goes on and says, if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Everybody sins, right? Everybody sins, but the person who can avoid or limit sinning with their mouth, James says, has made considerable progress in the Christian faith.

The word perfect, I think, is better translated mature, okay? Better translated mature. The man who can limit the sin of his mouth is a man who has made considerable progress in the Christian faith. I think that's what James would say.

They're mature.

They're a mature man. They're able to control other areas of their life in which sin seeks to manifest itself. If they can keep it from coming out through the mouth, then they have made good progress in controlling sin in other areas of their life as well.

In other words, the ability to control two and a half ounces of muscle and blood vessels translates into the ability to control your whole body. Fascinating, isn't it? If we could just control this little thing, we can control a lot more.

And then he illustrates this principle in two ways. With the bit and the rudder. The bit and the rudder.

Verse three.

Now, if we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.

Fascinating.

I mean, how do you control an animal that weighs 1 ,100 pounds and is capable of running at 30 miles an hour with a 200-pound man on his back?

How do you control him?

By controlling his mouth. By controlling his mouth. I mean, it may seem obvious, but we put the bit in the horse's mouth, not under their tail, because when we control the mouth, we control the beast.

We make it conform to what we want it to do. I don't know anything about it, but I think it's just kind of like this, right? Maybe not quite that simple, but basic idea. The bit.

The bit.

Great illustration, isn't it? And then the rudder, verse four. Behold, the ships also, although 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.

Now, the ships of the ancient world actually could be quite large. According to Acts chapter 27, verses 37 and 38, the ship that was carrying Paul to Rome carried 276 passengers plus a full load of wheat.

It's a big ship.

And yet, despite the strong winds and the size of the vessel, it's able to be steered by the pilot via a small oar-like projection that is fastened to the stern of the vessel. A small rudder turns a large ship.

James uses these two natural phenomena common to everybody to say, hey, you know what? This little thing, if we could control this,.

We can control everything else.

He applies the image to the tongue, verse five. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts of great things. He says, the tongue is small, it's seemingly insignificant, and yet it has great control over your life.

And here he personifies the tongue. He says the tongue is conscious of its great power and it arrogantly proclaims its own exploits. He's taking this and he's giving it personal attributes. Any politician knows this, by the way, that a well-delivered speech can mesmerize a crowd and galvanize it to action.

And whether that action is good or evil depends on the person who gives the speech. We could compare Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill as two contemporaries that were both powerful orators, one for good, one for evil.

James continues, behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a fire. The power of the tongue and its boast is revealed in here, this final metaphor, the power of the flame. Again, he is drawing upon the small and the seemingly insignificant to affect great outcome.

He's continuing to hammer away. The tongue, it's small, it's insignificant. It does big things. He reminds his readers, it only takes a small fire, a small spark, as it were, to start a great conflagration.

Now we live here in the Northwest and we are now in fire season. We don't have to be reminded of this. It doesn't take much. And thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands of acres is incinerated from a very small fire.

So in this threefold strategy, the first is simply this. Remember that your tongue is important.

It is important.

The Tongue as an Insubordinate Fire

Second, realize that your tongue is insubordinate. Verses five to eight. Realize it's important, or excuse me, remember it's important and then realize it's insubordinate. Your tongue is insubordinate.

James transitions now here from the importance of the tongue to the outcome of a person's life. In the process, he introduces a shocking series of statements about how dangerous and defiant our tongues really are.

He says they're not neutral. They're the very source of evil. They're absolutely untamable. And this penetrating assessment of human speech should drive us to the cross like nothing else. We need the grace of God available only at the cross of Christ.

Because we are riding on a whirlwind of a tongue.

Verse six.

The tongue is a fire in 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. James is speaking here of the tongue as the focal point of all iniquity.

Now, Jesus correctly locates the source of iniquity as it resides in the fallen human heart, right? Matthew 15, verse 19.

Comes out of the heart.

Out of the heart, the mouth speaks, Jesus says. James understands that too. But it's the tongue that gives voice to the evil within. That's James' point. What lies in is hidden until it passes over that tongue.

And that's why the Proverbs regularly warn about the tongue. For example, Proverbs 16, verses 27 and 28. A worthless man digs up evil while his words are as a scorching fire. A perverse man spreads strife and a slanderer separates intimate friends.

Or Proverbs 25 and verse 23. The north wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue and angry countenance. Or 26, verses 18 to 21. Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, well, was I not joking?

For lack of wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. There are plenty of ample warnings in the Proverbs about the dangers of the tongue.

Because an uncontrolled tongue has no end to the misery and heartbreak that it can cause to another person and bring on us as well. One of the ways that the tongue brings destruction is through criticism.

One of the ways the tongue brings destruction is through criticism. Remember poor Moses.

Hmm?

Poor Moses, stuck in the desert for 40 years with two million critical people. They didn't like the food, they didn't like the scenery, they didn't like the destination, and they weren't too keen on the leadership.

In short, they decided they liked it better in being a slave in Egypt. That was their conclusion. Let's go back to Egypt. You know, it is a wonder Moses survived. It is a wonder he survived. When we criticize, we assume the position of a spectator rather than a participant.

We become a spectator in church rather than a participant. Rather than coming alongside and helping, we instead sit back and vocalize our disapproval of this or that. Rather than becoming part of the solution, we become now part of a problem.

The great quote here from one commentator, he says, when young, we whine. When old, we criticize. When young, we whine. When old, we criticize. Now, if that is true, and I'm convinced it is, then whining among children is a really bad idea and ought to be corrected quickly.

Lest you raise a critical old man. If he's a whiner, he'll become a critic. For John Wesley was deeply vexed by those who enjoyed criticizing Christ's work. Once while he preached, a lady with a critical spirit glared at him and his new necktie.

After the services, she told him, quote, the strings on your tie are too long. It is vain and an offense to me. Mr. Wesley called for scissors and asked her to trim his tie to her liking. And she did so.

Then Mr. Wesley said, let me have those scissors. I hope you too will not mind a bit of correction. For your tongue is an offense to me. It is too long. If you'll just stick it out, I'll trim some off.

Only Wesley can get away with things like that, right?

Back to the text.

Verse six, the tongue is set on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. Hell here is the translation of the Greek word Gehenna. Gehenna was the place outside of Jerusalem where they burned the city's trash.

It was a place of filth, it stunk, it was disease infested. It wasn't just like they're burning paper like today's newspaper. They're burning the dead bodies, the awful from the temple and so forth. A disease infested place that's continually burning and belching a black, stinking smoke.

Perfect picture of the future place of eternal torment for all those outside of Christ. Gehenna, translated here, hell. James says the source of the destructive fire of an uncontrolled tongue is hell itself.

It is hell itself. In other words, the uncontrolled tongue is a direct pipeline to hell, a direct pipeline. It's filthy fire burns both our lives and others. And how many churches have suffered from people whose speech is more at home in hell than heaven?

You've been around, you know what I'm talking about. Verse seven, for every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. As evidence of the insubordination of the tongue, James reminds us that humanity has been quite successful in taming the animal kingdom. And yet, we still can't tame the tongue.

Still can't tame the tongue. One writer says, because of the fall, man has lost dominion over himself.

But that was good.

When Adam fell, he not only lost dominion over the created order, he lost dominion over himself. Tongue is restless, can't be trusted.

To stay in its proper place.

It's notorious for breaking out in poisonous words. Your tongue is insubordinate.

It is insubordinate.

The Tongue and the New Nature in Christ

Third, we need to recognize when your tongue is inconsistent. Remember your tongue is important. Realize your tongue is insubordinate. Third, recognize when your tongue is inconsistent. Verses nine to 12.

With it, that is the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh. Now, even children of God, even followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, in other words, even us, can fall prey to the evil of our tongue.

We can fall prey to this. In our best moments, we bless God, and in our worst, we curse men made in his image. We can go from praising to cursing in the blink of an eye. Given the proper provocation, push the right button, that speech turns on a dime.

James here draws again upon, by the way, the book of James, one of the reasons I really do like it is because there's tons and tons of real practical illustrations and metaphors. So here, James draws upon nature and its inherent consistency.

Did you notice that?

Nature is inherently consistent, and he talks about fountains and trees and things like that, all right? An olive tree always produces olives. It doesn't produce anything but olives. If it doesn't produce olives, there's only one conclusion, it is dead, or it's not an olive tree.

Freshwater fountains only produce freshwater. That inherent consistency he uses as a basis for his exhortation here where he strongly exhorts us to bring our speech in line with our new nature in Christ.

That's the point.

Bring your speech in line with your new nature in Christ. You used to be this way, and your speech showed it. You are now a new creature in Christ. You've passed through this turnstile of salvation. It only turns in one direction.

You don't bounce back and forth. You are a new creation in Christ. Now James is saying, hey, you know what? Remind your tongue. Remind your tongue of that. Bring it in line.

How did it happen? How does it go about? What do we do? How do we do this?

I mean, I get it. We're supposed to do it by walking by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit. Going the same direction the Spirit is going. That's how it happens. Take in great quantities of Scripture so that your vocabulary changes and becomes God's vocabulary.

That's a good start. Reprogram your language so that what you speak is what God would speak. We do that by taking in great quantities of His Word so that we begin to think and speak in biblical language and categories.

Pray regularly and specifically for the Spirit's help in mastering your tongue. If you have found that your tongue has gotten you in deep water on a regular basis, then my advice is to pray regularly, and regularly by that I mean like daily, and specifically for the Spirit to help you to control your tongue, to gain control in this area.

Refuse to participate. Refuse to participate in gossip or slander or boasting. Or flattery or lying or any of the other sins of the tongue. Refuse to participate. If it's happening around you, turn and walk away.

Turn and walk away. And when you fall, not if you fall, when you fall into one of the sins of the tongue, then quickly repent and seek the forgiveness of those who were on the downside, the downstream of this behavior.

Private sins require private repentance. Public sins require public repentance. If you sinned with your tongue in the presence of others, you owe it to them to seek their forgiveness, for you have sinned against them.

Where am I at?

Fourth, I guess.

Regularly thank God for all the good things He has provided. Regularly thank God for all the good things He has provided because this will tempt the fire of discontentment and critical spirit. If we have an attitude of gratitude, we will be far less inclined to fall into the sin of discontentment, which eventuates in criticism.

So thank God.

Regularly make it a practice. Develop a heart of gratitude. Fifth, look for evidences of God's grace in other people and verbalize it to them. I would offer this particularly to parents with children.

Look for evidences of God's grace in them and then verbalize it to them without any caveats or corrections or provisos. Son, I see God working in your life, but if you only, no, no, no. Son, I see God working in your life in this area, period.

Period.

There'll be a time to talk about whatever needs to be fixed later. Look for evidence of grace. Look for them in your spouse. Look for them in your friends.

Look for them in your children.

Look for evidences of grace. Be a grace spotter. And finally, practice Ephesians 4 .29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

In other words, if you have nothing good to say, then don't say anything. I mean, that's like my mother's folk wisdom. If you don't have a good thing to say, then don't say anything at all. Yes, Mom. But pray that God would change your heart towards that person so that you could find something good to say, so that you could find an evidence of grace in them and communicate it to them to encourage them in their growth in faith.