Dear Student of the Word,
It's time for us to move on to the next installment of our study of James' epistle. There are two predominant themes in this epistle and those are wisdom and words or the tongue. In this week's seven-part study, we look at what James had to say about the tongue. This is what I wrote in part five, and the entire study is available to download below:
Study Two, Part Five
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
3:1 - James now moved on to his next major theme: the tongue. This is why I am “in trouble” with the Lord when He directs me to read James. Usually I have not been using my mouth in an appropriate manner.
First, he addressed the issue of teachers. Obviously, teaching was an important part of Judaism and this importance would have been carried over to Christianity, so James warned that teachers incur a stricter judgment. Teachers must be careful what they say and teach. People open their hearts to teachers, and thus teachers have great influence. I have been guilty of teaching my opinions as “fact” or “God’s word.”
I have also had to go back and apologize on occasion for something I said publicly. A teacher must be willing to do that.
3:2 – James makes a connection between what I say and my ability to discipline my body in other ways. Do you see the connection? He called the person who can rule the tongue a “perfect” man. This word means complete or mature, not someone who has achieved moral perfection. We will never be perfected this side of heaven.
3:3-5 – James used two graphic examples of how something small in size can control something much bigger: a bit in the mouth of a horse and the rudder of a ship. What simple examples, yet how powerful was the message. You don’t have to be complicated to be a good teacher; in fact, good teachers reduce complex things to something simple that can be grasped. James watched his brother Jesus teach and emulated his style.
As I write, I am convicted of how unruly my tongue is, and how many things I say that I should not. James used one final example of the power of the tongue and that is a small spark setting a forest on fire. (They had forest fires in Jesus’ times!) I’ve burned down my share of trees in my lifetime with my tongue! Why would James have made the tongue such a major issue? Because His brother Jesus did! Jesus had something to say about the tongue:
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34)
“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them” (Matthew 15:18).
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).
“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:49).
Is God saying something to you about your tongue? What is it? What are you prepared to do about it?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.
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