“So You Want to Teach the Bible?”
(James 3:1-2)
Series: Living the Faith (James)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
•I invite you to take your Bibles and join me in James chapter 3 (page 813; YouVersion).
We are preaching our way consecutively through the Book of James. We are preaching it verse-by-verse and today we begin chapter 3.
Many Christians are familiar with the 3rd chapter of James because they know it is the chapter where James addresses the use of our tongues, our speech. And it is helpful to note the connection between this chapter, chapter 3, with what immediately precedes it, what we studied last time.
You’ll recall from last time that James concludes chapter 2 stressing the importance of our having true Christian faith. He says a faith that has no works is a dead faith. Genuine saving faith is a belief in Christ alone as Savior and this genuine faith will bear the fruit, or give evidence of its authenticity through the doing of good works.
Good works include the “work” of our speech. Good deeds includes good words. True Christians take care to control their tongues. With that in mind, we’re going to read this morning the first two verses of chapter 3 to introduce this systematic teaching on the tongue, especially as it relates this morning to Bible teachers.
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
•Pray.
Introduction:
James chapter 3. It’s one of those chapters that is recognized immediately by Christians familiar with their Bibles. Say, “James chapter 3” and many will reply, “That’s the chapter about the peril of the tongue.” And so it is. The peril of the tongue.
You know, it is interesting that when we go to see to the doctor one of the first things he does is he asks us to stick out our tongue. And the doctor will examine our tongues. In the physical realm our tongue reveals much about our physical bodies. I am told that a coated tongue may mean we have a fever and a yellowish tongue may indicate there is something wrong with our digestive system. Examine the tongue and you can draw conclusions about one’s physical health.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. The tongue is often a spiritual indicator of our hearts. The way we use our tongue, our speech, indicates something about who we are as a person and what we think of others. Someone said the tongue is the “tattletale of the heart.”
Jesus taught as much in Matthew 15, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…For out of the heart proceed [things like] evil thoughts…lies…blasphemies (Matthew 15:18-19).”
Our use of the tongue is a reflection of our true character.
You may have followed the news story this past week of the popular ESPN reporter who was discovered to have spoken coarsely and rudely to an employee of a towing company in Virginia. She was captured on video berating this employee, just speaking to her in such a degrading way, causing many to recoil in horror at the filth and judgmental comments coming out of the mouth of this otherwise personable reporter they had seen interviewing professional athletes on TV.
Her crude and mean comments suggested that her physical looks were rather deceiving. Her words were a reflection of her true character.
By the way, it was Malcolm Forbes who said, “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” That’s something to think about.
True Christians are those who are nice to people who are in no position to repay them.
Well, James introduces us to the peril of the tongue. And he does so by first warning about the peril of teachers, teachers of the Bible. Bible teachers and preachers, by virtue of the very fact that they will be speaking a great deal of words are therefore in the greatest danger of misusing their tongues.
So, I’ve collected this introductory material under two main headings this morning as we consider the peril of teachers. You want to teach the Bible? Well, from verses 1 and 2, James provides a couple warnings to would-be teachers, warnings to aspiring teachers and preachers of the Bible. First, he warns:
1) Teachers are Judged More Strictly (1)
This comes right out of verse 1 and I invite you to look again at your open Bible before you and just read this verse again, chapter 3 and verse 1, James writes:
1 My brethren (15x in this letter), let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
So here is James warning that those who aspire to be teachers and preachers of the Bible will face a stricter judgment than those who do not teach and preach the Bible.
Now, first and foremost, James takes for granted all Christians are aware that they all will face a judgment. The very fact that he writes of a stricter judgment of Christian teachers implies that there will be a judgment of all Christians.
This is not a judgment to be confused with the judgment of unbelievers. The Bible speaks of a judgment of non-Christians at the end of the age. Revelation 20, for example, mentions the great white throne judgment, when unbelievers will be called up to stand before a great white throne and, because they are not followers of Christ, their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Consequently, as Jesus says in Matthew 7, they will hear the Lord say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
If you are not a believer, if you are not a Christian this morning, and you were to die right now you would stand before the Lord on that day of judgment and be turned away because you did not receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. There is a judgment for all those who are not in Christ. It is a judgment that results in eternal separation from God, an eternity spent in hell as just punishment for our sin.
And let me just say, then, that if you are here this morning as an unbeliever, as a non-Christian, turn from your sin and turn to Christ and be saved. This is the only way to avoid hell. There is no other way to heaven. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.” Turn to Christ and avoid the judgment upon all unbelievers, all non-Christians.
There is, however, a judgment for the Christian; a different kind of judgment for the Christian. The believer, the follower of Christ, does not fear the great white throne judgment. The true Christian will not hear Jesus say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” because the true Christian knows the Lord and is known by the Lord. The true Christian has been saved from the consequences of sin by faith in Christ. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to the believer, credited to the Christian, so that he or she stands before God “in Christ Jesus.”
As Paul says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Christians are “in Christ Jesus,” justified; positionally secure and saved.
So the Christian will not face condemnation, but the Christian will be judged regarding his or her sanctification. Entrance into heaven is not the concern here, but rather the degree of reward or loss of reward in heaven; this is the concern.
The Bible teaches that every that every Christian will give an account of himself before God (Romans 14:10, 12). Christians will receive their reward according to the way they have lived (1 Corinthians 3:8).
Paul says of Christians in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
And just as there are degrees of punishment taught in the Bible, which includes degrees of punishment in hell, so there are degrees of reward taught in the Bible, which includes degrees of reward in heaven.
This prospect of reward or loss of reward in heaven causes many Christians to wonder about that and wonder what all it means. What do those rewards look like? What kind of reward will some have that others do not have? And so on.
Wayne Grudem is helpful here in his Systematic Theology. He writes:
We must guard against misunderstanding here: Even though there will be degrees of reward in heaven, the joy of each person will be full and complete for eternity. If we ask how this can be when there are different degrees of reward, it simply shows that our perception of happiness is based on the assumption that happiness depends on what we possess or the status or power that we have. In actuality, however, our true happiness consists in delighting in God and rejoicing in the status and recognition that he has given us.
He adds, “Those with greater reward and honor in heaven, those nearest the throne of God, delight not in their status but only in the privilege of falling down before God’s throne to worship him (see Revelation 4:10–11).”—p 1145.
Well, given that there is to be a reward or loss of reward at the judgment of Christians, we return back to verse 1 and hear again James say that Bible teachers, “shall receive a stricter judgment.”
Why a stricter judgment? Because the Bible teacher and preacher is handling the very Word of God. And with greater responsibility comes greater expectations:
Jesus says in Luke 12, “Everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required (Luke 12:48).”
The Bible teacher and preacher is handling the very Word of God.
The teacher opens the Bible—God’s Word—and endeavors to teach what God says. This is a sobering task. To misrepresent God or to add to the Word something God has not said is a scary prospect.
This is one reason we are committed to expository preaching here, especially verse-by-verse preaching. Aside from its many practical benefits, verse-by-verse expository teaching is the method least likely to stray from Scripture.
The preacher opens the Bible and merely “exposes” what is in the open Bible before the people. He expounds upon the Scriptures and all the hearers may follow along and judge as to the accuracy of the exposition.
John Newton is known as the author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” But Newton was also a pastor for a number of years. He was a Bible teaching pastor. Speaking of his preaching, he said:
I count it my honor and happiness that I preach to a free people who have the Bible in their hands. To your Bibles I appeal. I entreat, I charge you to receive nothing upon my word any farther than I can prove it from the Word of God. And bring every preacher and every sermon that you hear to the same standard.—The Works of John Newton, Volume I.
There is a tremendous responsibility of Bible teachers and preachers to handle the Word of God accurately and with integrity. It is the pastor’s greatest responsibility.
Phil Newton in the periodical Reformation & Revival says, “The preacher must expound the Word of God or else he has failed in his calling. He may be a wonderful administrator, a winsome personal worker, and effective leader. But if he fails to expound the Word of God, he is a failure to his calling to preach the Word (Reformation & Revival Vol.9, Winter 2000, 19).”
James would say, “Amen” to that. “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” With greater responsibility comes greater expectations.
This is to say nothing of the responsibility of those who hear the Word of God. If God places such great stress on the teaching of the Word, what of the responsibility of those who hear, of those who listen to its teachings?
James has already said back in chapter 1, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22).”
God expects hearers to do what the Bible says. The writer of Hebrews says to Christians, concerning the role of teaching pastors:
Hebrews 13:17, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”
In addition to whether hearers listen to the Word or whether they do what it says, those entrusted with the preaching and teaching of Scripture are also open to endless scrutiny of their teachings.
Think of it! For every sermon preached or every Bible lesson taught, the preacher or teacher of the Word opens himself or herself up to totally unsolicited scrutiny and criticisms.
Just this past week, for example, a reader of one of my sermons from five years ago, back when I was in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel—and all of these expositions are online for free—but a guy emailed a lengthy question about something I had said in the sermon. From the way he posed the question, it appeared he was looking for an online argument, a lengthy back-and-forth of writing. So he received a friendly reply requesting that he call-in so we could talk about it in the interest of stewarding our time wisely. He has yet to call, but maybe he will.
But you see, handling the Word of God opens the preacher and teacher up to all kinds of questions and criticisms and comments, some helpful and some not so helpful.
Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
Teachers are judged more strictly. Second warning: You want to teach the Bible? Be warned, number two:
2) Teachers are Likely to Stumble (2)
And James is talking here about the likelihood of our stumbling in speech. Verse 2 again:
2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
We all stumble in many things. “Stumbling” is a metaphor for sinning. To stumble is to fall, to slip up.
James talks about slipping up when we talk. He is honest here in verse 2, “For we all stumble in many things.” We all sin. Then he adds, “If anyone does not stumble in word—stumble in his speech—he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”
That word “perfect” there is best understood in this context as “mature.” The one who does not stumble as much as others in word, by what he says, is the one who has a firm grasp on his tongue. He controls his speech. He or she is careful when speaking. This is a mature person who thinks before speaking and chooses words carefully, and considers how his or her words will be heard.
So, relating back to verse 1, one reason why not many people should aspire to teach the Bible is because teachers are likely to stumble. James is just being honest.
Teachers and preachers are in the business of using words to expound the Word. We teach God’s Word by using our words. And the truth is, when we speak so many words, we are likely to slip up.
This is what Solomon had in mind in Proverbs 10:19, “Where words are many, sin is not absent.”
If you are teaching the Bible, you may say things you didn’t even realize you were saying. You can sin accidentally, just saying something without thinking it through.
Mark Twain famously noted: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
This is the connection back to verse 1, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.” Think through carefully the things you are going to teach because you may unintentionally lead someone into error by saying something that is untrue.
And what James says to teachers is applicable to all Christians. We are all likely to stumble in speech.
Washington Irving said that, “a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows sharper with constant use.”
Solomon says in Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” How are you using yours? Do your words bless others or curse others?
Conclusion:
J. Vernon McGee said, “It is estimated that the average person says about 30,000 words every day.” Then he humorously added, “I know two or three people who exceeded that number!”
What if everything you said last week were audio recorded and played back this morning for the congregation?
Remember the poem I encouraged you to memorize and teach your family a few weeks back?
If you your lips would keep from slips
Five things observe with care:
To whom you speak, of whom you speak
And how, and when, and where
•Stand for prayer.
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