The Power of the Tongue

James 3 and the Requirements for Teachers

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to James chapter 3. We began our study of James several months ago, but our study of James chapter 3 began about a month ago. Because we started with James chapter 3 verse 1, I did a half of a lesson on the requirements of a teacher because James 3 verse 1 says not many of you should become teachers.

So we looked at the requirements for a teacher. Then there was a week off of me because we had missionary Walter Heaton here to teach. And then I came back last week and finished the second half of the lesson on teachers.

And so tonight we're going to just continue on beginning in verse 2. So I want to read to start James 3. We're going to start with verse 1 and we're going to go all the way down to verse 12. And somebody asked tonight, you think you're going to get all the way through this?

I don't know. But I know that it's all one thought from the pen of the writer, James, from the true author, the Holy Spirit. It's speaking of one main idea and that is the power of the tongue. And he elaborates with several illustrations on that main theme.

So yeah, we might be able to make it all the way through. But if we don't, and the Lord tarries, we'll have next week and we'll do it then. But we'll try. Because again, it's one idea. The tongue and the power of it.

So let's begin with verse 1. It says, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man, also able to bridle his whole body.

If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their bodies as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird or reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and curses. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word. That is a lot of text. But I hope as you were listening to me, you followed the thread of the overarching idea that James is getting across to us tonight.

We began in verse 1, and the subject in verse 1 is a teacher of the Word. Specifically, a teacher is in view here, I believe, because their primary tool is their tongue. Where a carpenter's tool is a hammer and a nail, or a painter's tool is a brush, or a mechanic's tool might be a wrench, the tool of the teacher is his tongue, his mouth, his speech.

And so what better example to give to the people of God about the power of the tongue than to begin with the danger of someone who would be a teacher, particularly a Bible teacher, and the responsibility of using the tongue.

The Tongue as the Most Dangerous Tool in Teaching

Now I want you to note in verse 2, because some people believe verse 1 is said all by itself. James just makes a little blurb about teachers and then immediately changes context to talk about the tongue.

But if you notice at the beginning of verse 2, in the ESV, the word is for. Is that what it is in the New American Standard? Does it begin with the word for in verse 2? Y 'all have the different translations, I put them on your notes there, I don't have one with me.

All three begin with the word for. That's a transitional word, indicating that it's tying itself back to what came before it, right? So when we look at verse 2, it's not in contrast or separated from verse 1, it's a continuation of the idea in verse 1.

The context is teaching the word. And James is going to address the danger of an unbridled tongue, and as I said, there's no place where an unbridled tongue is more dangerous than the pulpit. Dr. James White, in his book, Pulpit Crimes, and if you've never read it, I would commend it to your reading.

The title is Pulpit Crimes, and he goes through several chapters looking at how the pulpit has been misused, particularly in American evangelicalism. And in one of the parts of the book, he talks about a preacher that was preaching in his church.

He used to be, very many years ago, he was a member of a large Southern Baptist congregation. Now he's a member of a much smaller church, even smaller than ours, if you can imagine. There's a very small church there in Arizona, a Reformed Baptist church.

But he used to be a part of a large Southern Baptist church, and when he was there, this man came to him, and he was studying the Beatitudes, and he was asking Dr. White, he said, I found something in a commentary that I really like, but I don't know if it's really in the text.

Can you study with me and help me determine whether or not this is really what this is saying? So Dr. White took the information, he took the commentary, he took it back into his study and did his due diligence and took back to him a very reasoned response, and he said, hey, look, it's interesting, but it ain't in the text.

It's not what this text is saying. The commentary writer has gone into left field. In fact, what's funny is any of us can go into left field. I was listening today to one of the greatest preachers in the world, and he went into left field while I was listening.

I ain't going to say who it is, and don't ask. No, he just, any one of you would know him, and he's a great pastor, but he went off in the left field, and I said, why would you do that? It was unnecessary, and I know I've done it before, and to my shame, I shouldn't.

But anyway, this commentary writer had gone off in the left field, and so Dr. White explained to him, no, that's not what the text means. It's not in the text. It's not in the underlying Greek language.

It ain't there. So, a few months later, this guy is preaching, and guess what he's preaching on? He's preaching on the Beatitudes, and he's preaching the same text that Dr. White had helped him understand, and he, in the sermon, now this is a couple thousand people, big church.

In the sermon, he says exactly what was not supposed to, it was not what it means. Well, when the sermon is over, he happens to be walking down a hallway, a little narrow passageway, and Dr. White just happens to catch him as they were passing each other, and the man sees him coming, and now knows he's not going to be able to avoid this opportunity of running into him, and he hangs his head, and he goes, I know, before he even got there, he said, I know, I know, but it just preaches so good.

He ain't alone, folks. There are many, many who will preach something that is nowhere near the text because it preaches so good, and again, that's the danger of the tongue. That's the danger of this whole thing, and that's what James is beginning with, that first example of the teacher.

The unwillingness to bridle the tongue is dangerous, especially from one who teaches the Word. Now, beginning in verse 2, he begins to expand that out to believers in general. So we see in verse 2, he says, for we all stumble in many ways.

Now he just identified we, in verse 1, as the teachers. If you go back up to verse 1, he says, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. So in a sense, you could say, well, the we in verse 2 is he's still talking to the teachers, but in the sense that he puts in the all, we all stumble, could mean that he's expanding it out to all believers, and for that, I would simply say it really, it applies to everyone.

So whether or not we think that he's still limiting himself to teachers or not, I know the application could certainly be applied to any one teacher or not. He says, we all stumble in many ways, and does anyone here not want to say amen to that?

Is there anybody here who doesn't stumble in any way? You've never stumbled even once? James 2 .10, last chapter, we studied this. He says, for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point is accountable to it all.

Have all of you kept God's law perfectly from the moment you got up this morning to the time you arrived here and are listening to me? You've loved the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength, all day, without fail.

So we all stumble in many ways, amen? So of course it applies to everyone. It applies to teachers, it applies to anyone. But this is what he goes on to say, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his own body.

Now this seems to be an exaggeration, hyperbole. He said we all stumble, we know that. If we could control our tongue, we could control everything. Now why does he say it that way? Because that's the hardest thing to control.

Huh? Yeah, if you control your tongue, everything else is under control because that's the hardest thing. That's sort of the point of what he's saying here. If anyone doesn't stumble in what he says, he's perfect, he's absolutely mature in everything because that's the hardest thing.

You know, you can close your eyes, but it's hard to close your mouth. You know, and that's the reality. You know, we can put our hands in our pockets, but to keep our tongue in our mouth, that's tough.

Alexander White, who was an influential minister in Edinburgh, not related to Dr. James White by the way, since I already mentioned him, his name is W-H-Y-T-E. He said this, he said, no man living has more woe than I have at myself because of my unadvised and offending words.

Now this guy was a relatively noted preacher, relatively well known and respected minister of the gospel, and yet he says, no man living has more woe than I have at myself because of my unadvised and offending words.

He says, my words that have been the most sinful thing that I've ever had to deal with. He goes on to say this, he says, however often I keep silent and however much I prepare myself before I speak, my feet will sometimes go so far from under me that I suffer some sore falls and am an offense to my best and most patient friends.

He's again, he's talking about his words, he says, my mouth has gotten me into more trouble than anything else in my life. Can we not say a hearty amen to that? I'm not begging for amens tonight, but I am, I'm just saying that quote really got to me when I read it, that he makes the point, he says, you know, of all the things that I've dealt with, all the sins that I've had to deal with, and ministers do deal with sin, y 'all.

I mean, we're not perfect. We battle sin, yeah, big ones, little ones, all kinds. But I'll tell you this, and I don't know, I don't know if Jack would agree, and I think Richard would probably agree, but maybe I'm going to, you guys are elders, I'm going to, they always get nervous, I'm sure, when I mention them.

Wouldn't you say that in the 10 years or so, you know, well, I guess, Richard, a few years less than that, but we've been working together for seven or eight years, wouldn't you say that the vast majority of conflict that we've had to deal with started, or at least perpetuated itself by the mouth of someone?

That it was, it was hardly ever, I've never had somebody come up and say, you know, Rob punched me in the face. I've never had it happen. I've never had, you know, I mean, I ain't saying it couldn't. I'm saying, what I'm saying is, it's almost always, can you believe what he said to me?

Can you believe what she said about her? Or what she said about my child? Or what she said about my mother? Or what she said about my dress? Yeah. Yeah. It's the point of so much conflict. It's the impetus for so much division.

And James gives two examples of the power of the tongue at this point, after saying, look, if you can control this, you can control anything, because this is the most difficult thing to control. Here is the power that it wields.

The Tongue’s Small Size and Great Destructive Power

And he gives two examples. One is bits, and the other is rudders. The bit goes into the mouth of a horse, and I've never been much of a horse person. I got on a horse once, and it about scared me to death, and I'm pretty sure it scared him too.

I was, I'm not a horse guy. But I do know this, if somebody put a steel bar in my mouth and started pulling me around from behind me, I'd go wherever they asked me to go. And that's what we do to a horse, we put a big steel bar in their mouth, and we pull it to the left or to the right, and it's very uncomfortable, and so it goes to relieve that pain.

It has, a horse is a 1500 pound animal. And we move it with a little piece of metal. So that little piece of metal has all that power. The same with a ship. Think about, think about a aircraft carrier.

Well that's, I guess that's not a good example, because they're now jet propelled. Do they have rudders though? Rob, you're a seaman, or you're not a Navy man anymore, but what used to be. Do they still have rudders though, right?

Do they? Okay. I know they're, you know, they're jet propelled and everything, but they have the rudder still. This big thing that has jets and all this on it, and an airplane's a good example. Obviously they didn't have airplanes when James was writing.

But think about how much an airplane moves, just that little bit that the flap of the wing changes, you know, a few inches and the whole airplane takes a sharp left or a sharp right. And that's the point of all this, because in verse 3 it says if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies.

Look at the ships. Though they're so large and driven by strong winds, they're guided by a very small rudder and the pilot is directing it. And in my notes I just wrote a contemporary example might be the accelerator on your car.

You motivate an entire car forward with that little pedal. And you can get it from zero to 60, eventually, if you've got my truck, but with that little pedal there under your foot. Something so small in comparison to something so powerful is James' comparison here.

It's small and yet it's powerful. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts great things. How great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. Now the principle in these verses is simple. It's very powerful.

I want you to look at a Bible verse with me, because I want to dispel a myth. I'm going to write it on the screen here. I don't have a screen, I have a whiteboard. Proverbs 18 .21, look this up. If you have your Bibles, look up Proverbs 18 .21.

We'll have it read when everybody gets here, but I want everybody to look at it. Now if you've ever heard a televangelist on the television, which I don't know where any other place a televangelist would be, but if you've ever heard these guys on TV talk about health and wealth and the prosperity gospel, which is no gospel by the way.

The prosperity gospel is a hoax. But this is one of the verses that they often quote in defense of their name it and claim it theology. Rob, read it for us.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Thank you.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. I used to, I don't talk to them as much anymore, but I used to know some folks that every time something would be going on and I would say something bad, they would challenge me and chastise me.

For instance, right now, if I said this morning, I don't feel well today. My throat hurts, I have a headache, and I'm tired. They would say, don't you speak that evil over yourself. You ever heard somebody say that?

Don't you speak those lies from the devil? Right? You ever heard that? I know people who that's the way they live. And they'll quote Proverbs. They'll say, hey look, Proverbs 18 .21 says that you have the power of death and life in your tongue.

And I say now, let us be faithful to the meaning of the text. Because what it does not say, it does not say that you have the power to create or to not create something by your words. You see, the only being in the universe who can create with his words is God Almighty.

If I wake up this morning and I say I've got a cold, I'm not going to magically create a cold. That's nonsense. So what does the writer of the proverb mean when he says death and life are in the power of the tongue?

It is very simple. And it is very true. That in your words, you have the power to build up or to tear down other people. And if you don't think that that's true, find a child who's raised by an abusive parent.

And you ask that child what he thinks of himself. And often he will simply repeat what he's been told. I'm not worth anything. I'm not going anywhere. I'm stupid. I'm ignorant. I'm dumb. Why? Because they have been torn down by their parent because the power to build up or to tear down, to give life or to give death is in our words in that context.

If every time you saw me, I said, hey stupid, how you doing? You wouldn't want to be my friend after about three times. I don't even know if you'd give me three times. That'd be the dumbest thing you've ever heard.

You'd say, Pastor, what's wrong with you? Words don't hurt. That's not true. Words do hurt. Words have great potential to hurt. And you can build... I'm going to embarrass him, but Brother Irv, I'm going to talk about you for a minute in a good way.

Brother Irv is a dear friend of mine. He's been a member of the church now for a few years. And he is one of the most encouraging men that I know with his words. He has a gift of encouragement. And every time I see him, I go away feeling better than I came.

And he speaks life into me with those words. That's what this proverb is talking about. And that's going back to what James is talking about. How powerful the tongue is. And how dangerous it is. Because I also know people who have cut me so badly with their tongues that while I am more than willing to forgive that person, the wound lays really deep.

And it hurts so bad that it's really, really, really painful. I've been cut wide open. I had a guy one time call me a low life piece of trash. He was a former church member. I bet you'd love to hear the story that goes with that.

But you don't get that one. But no, I mean, he was so angry. And he called me a low life piece of trash. That hurt. And it did not speak life to me. It spoke death to me. Did he ever apologize? No. No, unfortunately, he's not here anymore.

And has no desire for reconciliation even though we sought it. But it just, I'm just, my point is this. There are, there's so much power in the tongue. And we need to respect that power and appreciate that power.

And that's what James is trying to get across to us. Verse 6 is, I'm going to say something kind of weird. Verse 6 is clear and confusing at the same time. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, verse 6 says this, I'm just going to read it.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. That is a, that is not a clear sentence.

In one sense, it's a little, it's kind of confusing. But we know ultimately what he's saying. He's saying there that the tongue is dangerous. But he's using somewhat of an obscure language. Again, he says the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. Well, the terms world of unrighteousness, staining the whole body, setting the fire, setting on fire the entire course of life.

What it, the idea behind all of these is that the tongue is an all-encompassing destructive power. Think about, think about a fire. What does fire do? Fire destroys everything. It consumes everything.

It is, it's destructive. And how does the Bible describe judgment? The lake of fire. It's just that destructive, and that's the vision that we have of what judgment is like. I think the New American Standard Bible is more clear.

Now, I know those of you who are New American Standard fans are happy to hear me say that. But it says it a little clearer. It says, 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.

I think that's better than staining the whole body. I think it makes more sense. And set on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. Essentially, again, the tongue's power extends beyond the mouth.

The tongue's power, it's able to reach out and touch someone. It's able to reach out and hurt someone. It's able to span the distance. And it says it's set on fire by hell. That talks about where ultimately this destructive force comes from.

Every fire has an origin point. And the fire which is lit by the tongue often finds its origins in hell. We are speaking with hell in our mouths. And again, what's interesting about this particular verse is down through the textual.

I don't want to get into textual variation too much. I want to start a whole other conversation. But there's a bunch of textual variants that all find their home here. And I think the reason why is because down through the ages people have tried to make the sentence make a little more sense.

But the reality is it makes perfect sense if you just simply read it as a simple what it's trying to say. And that's the tongue is dangerous. And it is absolutely, absolutely powerful. And it has the power to reach out and hurt someone.

It's very simple. But again, if you just read it, it seems like a long kind of run-on sentence. But it's clear and confusing at the same time, as I said. In verse 7, James gives another example of the power of the tongue.

The Untamable Tongue and the Problem of Human Depravity

And this is in Taming Animals. It says, For every kind of beast and bird or reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It's a restless evil full of deadly poison.

I think that's an interesting way that he would make that connection. He says, you know what? We've tamed everything. We've tamed horses. There are people that ride elephants. One of the biggest animals in the world.

There are people who ride them. We've tamed everything. You ever go to Sea World? They tame whales. But we can't tame this little thing in our mouth. When the Bible wants to describe to us our own depravity, total depravity, what does the Apostle Paul use as the example in Romans chapter 3?

Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive, and the venom of the asp, or the snake, is under their lips. Their mouth is filled with cursing and bitterness. Now what's Paul doing there?

He's indicting all the world. Because if you read Romans 3, Romans 3 is the crescendo point of Romans 1 and 2. In Romans 1 he says, All Gentiles are sinners. I'm sorry, Romans 1. In Romans 2 he says, All Jews are also sinners.

And then by Romans 3 he says, We have already charged that both Jew and Greek are all under sin. For there is none good, no not one. There is none righteous, there is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.

And then he goes into, Their throat is an open grave, the venom of asp is under their lips, they use their tongue to deceive, and their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. That's right, it begins with that.

Now it would almost seem like at this point, James is giving us a hopeless situation, because he says very clearly, in verse 8, No human being can tame the tongue. One might say, Well if that's the case, why try?

But let me just mirror that back to you. Does anyone in here believe that you can be perfectly sinless in the flesh? Does anyone in here believe that because you cannot be perfectly sinless, that that gives you the right to sin with all abandon, and without any impunity?

No, right? We understand that there is a call to holiness. And while we know that one of the reasons why we continue to battle with the flesh is so that we will continue to trust in God, and in His grace, and that we'll continue to lean upon Him, we know that.

And yet, we know that we'll never be perfect. Same here. He's calling us to understand the danger of the tongue. He's calling us to understand that if we could perfect this, everything else would be perfect, because this is the hardest thing.

And He's saying to us, No human being can tame it, but that doesn't mean that we give up either. The only way to solve a problem, or at least fight a problem, is to identify its source. Sort of like somebody who's sick.

If the doctor won't tell you what's wrong with you, you don't know how to take any action to get over it, or to do anything about it. James is telling us where the root of the problem is with most of us.

It's our mouth. It's what's going to get us in the most trouble. It's what's going to perpetuate our biggest problems. I want to add to this a thought. Social media has allowed the tongue to become somewhat anonymous.

And in doing so, has demonstrated the very truth of what James is telling us here. That the tongue is so dangerous, because people get behind the keyboard, and they forget that their name is attached to everything they type, and they go crazy.

Just go on to some of our online sermons on YouTube, and read the comments. Oh wait, don't. Let me back up and say, don't do that. People flow out. And like I said, the computer, the internet, the social media, has allowed people's tongues to become visible.

And you read what they have to say, and black and white, and it's ugly. But here's the sad thing. I see it from people who call themselves Christians. Sometimes just as ugly. Sometimes more. And that's the real difficulty.

Sure. Absolutely.

Sure. Yep, yep. I've been guilty of two. I've gotten into those conversations, and got a little crazy. But I've also seen guys that I thought were on top of the game, and they just go all over somebody with all this on the computer.

Yeah, it's that keyboard,.

That wall of division that people think there is. Right. They don't. Because you would never, a lot of these people would never say that stuff in real life. Yeah. It's the Jerry Springer syndrome. And if you all don't, yes, I mentioned Jerry Springer.

I go get my tires fixed too, and they always have it showing in the tire place. If you go get your oil changed, and you sit down in the little waiting room, they're always showing Jerry Springer. I don't know why.

But you know what people do on Jerry Springer? They fight. Do you know why they fight on Jerry Springer? Because somebody is going to break them up. These two guys have known each other for a long time.

They've hated each other for a long time. Why did they wait until they get to New York on a sound stage to fight? Because they know some giant bald-headed man is going to come separate them. If they really wanted to fight, they'd go out and fight.

Again, that's the whole social media thing. It's this idea. They're doing it, and they're doing it on display, and their foolish heart becomes truly exposed. Now that was a weird illustration. Feel free to forget that one.

I hope you can. Let me very quickly just sort of take you through verses 9 through 12, because again, it's all the same idea here. But 9 through 12 just gives another illustration. He's used the bit. He's used the rudder.

He's used the taming of animals. And now he uses an illustration similar to that which Jesus used. When Jesus talked about thorn bushes bearing figs and those things, He says you can't have bad fruit coming from a good tree, because if you did, it would be a bad tree.

If you've got a tree that's constantly producing bad fruit, it's not a good tree. And if you've got a tree that's constantly producing good fruit, you wouldn't call it a bad tree. And that's the example Jesus gives us there in Matthew 7.

Well here, James is saying the same or similar thing. He said you've got a salt pond and you've got a freshwater pond. They are not putting out the same. They couldn't. One is naturally going to influence the other.

And I know somebody who lives in Jacksonville is going to say, what about brackish water? Because we've got the St. Johns River. It's still salty. Go put it in your mouth and try to take a sip. Wait a minute.

Don't. It's nasty. It's the St. Johns River. But my point being is He's just giving us another illustration. And verse 9 really is the crux of the matter, because He says, look, that same mouth that you use to curse someone, you're using to bless God.

And that's hypocrisy. The heart of hypocrisy is a person who would say, God, I praise you and I love you and I bless you, and then look at someone God has created and say, I hate you and I wish you would die, or I wish the pox upon your family or whatever, you know, whatever you hate on someone but you love God.

What does John tell us in his epistle? The person who says he loves God but does not love his brother has not been saved. It's one of the ways that we can determine our own justification is to look at how we see other people.

Do we see people as men and women created in the image of God, boys and girls created in the image of God, or do we see them as obstacles to our happiness that we're willing to step over through or whatever to get to our happiness?

Question? Oh, yeah. How do we see other people? You know, and it's a tough question. Because inevitably somebody wants to pull a, well, what about this? What about a rapist? Or what about a murderer? Or what about anybody?

And the response is always this. The simple response is simply this. There but by the grace of God you would be. Now that doesn't mean that I don't desire justice for rapists. I do. I desire justice for murderers.

I do. I desire justice to be done. That's part of the image of God, by the way. The desire for justice is part of what makes us in the image of God. Because we desire to see justice meted out. But how does that get twisted?

Revenge. We don't want justice. We want revenge. You know why an eye for an eye is actually a limitation, not a command? Because people often say an eye for an eye is bad because you've heard that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Yes. But here's the thing. An eye for an eye is justice in its simplest form. Because I'm going to tell you, if you took my eye, I would want to kill you. I wouldn't just want your eye. I'd want everything.

That's the point, is there's justice. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. But we don't want that. Somebody cuts us an inch, we want to cut them a mile. That's the human nature.

That's what justice doesn't allow. Justice doesn't allow vengeance. Justice is a balance. Yeah. So I kind of went off the subject there a little bit, but getting back to the finality of this. He asked the question, can you have fresh water and salt water coming?

No. Can you have figs and olives coming off the same branch? No. The simple illustration is this. When we think about our tongue, what we need to think about first and foremost is, is my tongue causing me to demonstrate my hypocrisy?

Is my tongue really the demonstration that I'm not who I say I am? Are we going to perfectly control the tongue? No. But does our tongue control us? You know when he said the bit controlled the horse?

The illustration is that the tongue is controlling you. When the rudder controlled the boat, the illustration is the tongue is controlling you. Do you control your tongue or does your tongue control you?

Let me give you the application points and we'll be done. First one, James affirms that Christians are not perfect when he says we all stumble in many ways. That's something that we need to keep in mind.