The Tongue—A Little Package with Big Power
James 3:3-6
HFBC Sunday April 26, 2015
Rev. Rich Stratton
Introduction: I will not talk in class, I will not talk in class, I will not talk in class. On the other hand, who knows what I’ll do?
I love the Peanuts comic strips because often times they have a nice theological element to them and this one is no exception. In a funny way that most of us can identify with Lucy experiences the truth of our passage in James this morning. She recognizes that the tongue is a very powerful thing that can prove to be very difficult to control.
For several weeks we have been working our way through the very practical little letter of James in our series entitled “Living the Faith.” And this morning we are picking up where Bro. Todd left off last week in James chapter 3 which you can find on page ________ of the church Bible.
James chapter 3 is probably the most well-known passage of scripture that addresses the issue of our words and how we use them. And in our passage today James deals with the fact that words are powerful and their effects can be far reaching. Something that we know is true simply by reading the Bible and by observing the world around us.
Words carry with them a great power in Scripture. It was with words that God spoke everything into being in the very beginning, God said “Let their be…” And everything He said suddenly was. Scripture also tells us that the Words of God are so important and powerful that Jesus himself is called “the Word of God made flesh.” Throughout the Bible the power of words is seen over and over.
Words are also powerful as they come off the lips of men. People can be elevated to great heights through the use of words or they can be brought to new lows.
Take politics for example. A politician who can speak with great eloquence and is careful not to make missteps by using poorly chosen words can be propelled to the highest office in the land and the White House by the careful use of emotionally charged and powerful words like “hope” and “change.”
While other politicians can establish a lasting and jeered at legacy by making seemingly simple slips of the tongue. Our current vice president will likely be remembered as one of the most gaffe prone politicians of all time. A recent vice president will forever be ridiculed as the vice president who misspoke by saying he “invented the internet.” And yet another vice president is remembered almost exclusively because of a verbal misstep involving a single letter when he told a child that he had incorrectly spelled the word potato because he had omitted the ending “e.” For those of you like myself who are spelling challenged. Potato does not end with an “e” and it was actually the child who was correct.
So you see words have great power and words are really what our passage today is about. James uses the word “tongue,” but the fact of the matter is that the tongue in and of itself is really not the problem. It is really no more than a muscle or a piece of meat. The tongue is a tool for tasting. A tool for use in swallowing, did you know you cannot swallow without using your tongue. Some of you are trying right now and it is really pretty amusing to watch but I do wish you would wait until you get home to continue the experiment.
But most importantly the tongue is a tool for forming words. It is this function, this ability that it gives to spill out what is in our hearts and minds that makes it such an instrument of power. A power that we are going to see in our passage that can be used for good or for evil.
I hope you have found your place in James chapter 3 so please stand with me as look to the words that James has written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The words that are from the Lord our God.
3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 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 it is set on fire by hell.
Prayer
Last week we looked at verses 1 and 2 where we see James warning those who would aspire to teach God’s Word to be very careful of how we handle His Word because we will be held to a higher judgement concerning how we use and talk about the truths we find in the Bible.
And within that teaching James tells us in verse 2 that not only teachers but all believers are going to stumble, we are going to sin, and one of the most difficult types of sin to control are those that involve the use of the tongue. Those that involve the use and misuse of our words. Look again at what he says in verse 2.
For we all stumble in many things. That is again to say we all sin. Do we get that? James did, he understood what it meant to be a sinner and so did the apostle John. As a matter of fact John writes in 1 John 1:8 …
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
So we must accept the fact that we are sinners and then do everything we can to battle against that sin nature that is within us and strive as far as we can in our fallen human condition to honor God in everything we do.
And in the remaining part of verse 2 James tells us that the battle against many of our sins begins with the battle of controlling our tongue and the words that come out of our mouths.
If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
In other words. If we can succeed in the battle to overcome our tongues then we will also find ourselves much more successful in overcoming other areas of sin and temptation.
And that brings us to the first of four points that I want to talk about in our passage this morning. Those four points break down like this. The first 2 points are points of encouragement. The final 2 points are words of warning. So in our remaining time we will be encouraged in and warned about the use of our very powerful little tongues.
And our first point of encouragement this morning is this…
The Tongue can be controlled (vv. 3-4)
Look with me again at verses 3 and 4.
James begins with Indeed which looks back to what was just said in verse 2. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
So he is saying, in light of the fact that we need to get our sin nature in check we need to look at how we can do that with the tongue. And then he goes on to use two images that his first readers when he wrote the letter would have been able to easily identify with.
He says…
we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
James is using an image here that is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago to anyone who is at all familiar with horses. Because we still often times control horses the same way. When you ride a horse there are a few pieces of equipment that make the task much easier and more enjoyable and the most important one is the bridle.
The bridle is a contraption made of leather straps, buckles, and usually what is referred to as a bit (now I know there are now bridles that don’t use a bit so if you are a horse expert please spare me a private lesson later). The bridle is the thing that slips over the horses head with the long reins that the rider holds onto in order to control the horse. The part of the bridle that actually affords the rider control is the bit which is a piece of metal that actually goes in the horses mouth. This bit causes the horse a level of discomfort if they do not willingly go in the direction that the rider apply pressure to the bit with the use of the reins.
James’ use of this illustration is really twofold. He is comparing the power of the small little tongue with the power of the bit. Just as a small piece of metal can exert power over something as large and powerful as a horse so to can the small little tongue exert great power over our lives. Which really serves as a bit of a warning.
But the illustration also shows us that even very strong and mighty things can be controlled if we go about it in the right way. Just as a 1000 pound horse can be controlled by a rider with the use of a small item so to can the tongue be controlled.
And James is my kind of preacher so he doesn’t stop with just one illustration. He makes the same point with a second visual picture with which his readers and we can identify with. Look at verse 4…
Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever they pilot desires.
Again we have this double picture. The tongue can be like both the rudder and the ship. It is like the rudder in that it can very easily set the course of our lives either in a good direction or in a direction of great destruction which he will look at in the coming verse.
And the tongue is also like the ship. It can seem like a powerful and out of control vessel but with the right tools it can be controlled or piloted to go where we want it to go.
James begins his warning in these two verses as he shows how such a small thing can take control but he also gives us great hope and encouragement here with the idea that we can indeed control the tongue. Notice though that he does not say that we can tame the tongue, as a matter of fact next week Bro. Todd will take us through the next verses where James says that we cannot tame the tongue. But there is a difference in controlling and taming.
The idea of taming something is to subdue it to the point that we not longer have to worry about it rising up to cause us trouble or injury. Certain animals can be tamed, for example our house cat has been tamed. We don’t have to worry about him mauling us in our sleep, that could have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t have any claws, but never-the-less we do not have any ongoing worries of a cat uprising in our home. And that is what it means to tame something.
Controlling something however is very different, it is more like a lion. You see the idea of a lion tamer is really something of a misnomer. The lion you see doing tricks in a circus or magic show is not tame. Given the opportunity the lion would devour the lion tamer. What the so called lion tamer is actually doing is using various tools to control the lion. To keep the beast from rising up and doing great harm and damage.
That is what James is encouraging us with here concerning the tongue. He is saying that even though it is powerful like a horse or a ship it can and should be controlled by those who call themselves Christians.
And James is not the only place in Scripture where we are encouraged to control our tongues. The writer of Proverbs says:
Whoever guards (or controls) his mouth (or tongue) preserves his life. He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
So the good news is control is possible! But how do we control our tongue? What can we use as a bit or a rudder to give our words direction? Let me just share a few practical ideas.
Prayer—ask God to give you the wisdom to speak only what is helpful, uplifting or edifying, and what is glorifying to Him. And ask Him to shut your mouth when you are tempted to say something that is destructive, unhelpful, or damaging. Recognize that you cannot do it alone and seek His help.
Use the model of other believers who have been successful. The puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards had a whole list of resolutions, things that he would remind himself of, that he would read through and reflect upon at least once each week. Many of these resolutions dealt with his use of the tongue and the effects of his words. Here are a couple of his resolutions:
Resolved, never to say anything at all against any body, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule;
Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call to it.
Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.
Develop your own list of resolutions and reflect upon it weekly. See if it makes a difference in how you control your tongue.
3. Practice the disciple of silence. This is one with which I struggle. I have a tendency to speak up when I should instead be silent. So I appreciate what the late professor Dallas Willard said about controlling the tongue through practicing the discipline of silence:
Practice in not speaking can at least give us enough control over what we say that our tongues do not “go off” automatically. This discipline provides us with a certain inner distance that gives us time to consider our words fully and the presence of mind to control what we say and when we say it.
So be encouraged by James! The tongue can be controlled.
Secondly be encouraged because…
II. The Tongue can boast Great Power (v. 5a)
The beginning of verse 5 really marks a swing point in how James talks about the tongue and our use of words. This is the last place that we find him giving us encouragement concerning the tongue in our passage today but like the previous verses there is still some warning involved here. Look at what he says…
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
Based on what James has just said in verses 3 and 4 concerning how we can and should control the tongue our first reading here should lead us to consider the good the tongue can do.
Yes the tongue is small and our words can be seemingly small and insignificant but their impact can be enormous.
Consider this, what do we use to share the Gospel? Paul reminds us of this in Romans 10:14:
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
The very spreading of the Gospel depends upon the use of our tongues. Sure, we might live in a way that shows that there is something different about us because we are Christians and people may take notice. But unless we use the wonderful blessing of speaking with the use of our tongues to share the Gospel that person cannot be saved because they cannot learn about Jesus Christ who is by his very own words the only way to salvation unless we tell them about Him.
The tongue can also boast great good in other ways as well. It can bring encouragement to those who need it. It can share words of love and understanding. It can impart words of wisdom, knowledge and education. The gift of speech and words is one that allows us to do great good.
However as the late South Western Seminary professor Curtis Vaughn points out this first part of verse 5 also serves as the beginning of James’s warnings concerning the tongue. Vaughn says this concerning the great things of which the tongue can boast:
It can sway men to violence, or it can move them to the noblest actions. It can instruct the ignorant, encourage the dejected, comfort the sorrowing, and soothe the dying. Or, it can crush the human spirit, destroy reputations, spread distrust and hate, and bring nations to the brink of war.
So a controlled tongue can bring about wonderful things that are pleasing and glorifying to God but James also wants us to be warned which brings us to our final two points…
III. The Tongue can bring destruction (v. 5b)
Look at the second part of verse 5 and the beginning of verse 6.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
Here James returns to another illustration. He wants us to picture what it looks like when just a small fire or even a little spark gets out of control. You know it only takes the smallest amount of fire to set literally hundreds of thousands of acres of forest on fire. We see this every year, particularly out west where conditions are are dry. Someone leaves a campfire unattended, or throws a lit cigarette out of a car window and suddenly a massive forest fire is engulfing everything in its path.
James is saying that the smallest words off of our tongues can have similar effects in the world around us and in our own lives.
A careless word can do great damage to our witness or to the work we are called to be engaged in for Christ.
An off color joke, a moment of lost temper, the spreading of gossip, the use of vulgar language, or the prideful remark can cost us greatly in our ability to effectively be a witness for Christ. It can quickly make us look more like a hypocrite than like a saint who is changed by a Savior.
Our tongues can also lead us to do great damage to the work of Christ and His church. As a case in point consider the unfortunate downfall of pastor Mark Driscoll. Driscoll is a supremely talented preacher, a larger than life personality, and a good theologian. But throughout the years and by his own admission he has let his tongue get the best of him and this has resulted in great damage to the church. Driscoll planted Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington in 1996. By 2014 the church had over 10,000 members and was continuing to grow but a series of vulgar and sensational remarks over Driscoll’s time as pastor finally caught up with him and as a result Mars Hill Church crumbled. Some of the many satellite locations closed their doors completely. Other shrank considerably, and others survived as congregations independent of Driscoll and one another. But in the end a great work was ultimately destroyed by the unwise use of words and a tongue that was not controlled.
Our tongues can also do great damage in other areas of our lives. We can do damage to our family relationships with the unrestrained us of the tongue. I know all to well that as a father I have the ability to with just a word or two to make my kids smile. But unfortunately I also know that I have an equal an possibly even greater ability to make them cry with a single unkind word.
With an uncontrolled tongue we have, according to James, the ability to burn the world down around us. Not only do we have the ability to do great damage in the world around us but James finally warns us that we can do great damage to ourselves.
He tells us that…
IV. The Tongue can be our downfall (v. 6)
This warning is very similar to the previous warning but with an additional and ominous component. Look at verse 6.
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 it is set on fire by hell.
This passage can get a little bit difficult to follow if we don’t remember to take it in the full context of Scripture. Look at what James says again there in the middle of verse 6
The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body…
Can the tongue really defile the whole body? Remember what we said at the very beginning today, the tongue is just a tool or a muscle that functions as an outlet for what is actually inside us. So it is not really the tongue that defiles but it is instead the means by which our defilement shows. It is the easiest place for our sin to spill over out of our bodies. So in reality the tongue is really an indicator of what is going on inside our hearts. It is a very good picture of who we are on the inside.
As a matter of fact James goes on to say that an uncontrolled tongue is set on fire by Hell. What does that mean? It means that a fiery and uncontrolled tongue may be an indicator of a deeper spiritual problem. It may even be an indicator that we are not truly following Christ and that we are still being controlled by an unrepentant and Hell bound heart.
Jesus says that out of the mouth comes the overflow of the heart. David says “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Both are pointing to the possibility that a loose and evil tongue may be cause to closely examine our relationship with Christ.
I remember a lady in a church I attended when I was young who was one of those people that bragged that her spiritual gift was telling things the way they were. As a result people had a tendency to go the other way when they saw her coming. They would get quite when she walked into a room and they would cringe when she would insert herself into a conversation. I also remember the day when she realized that her so called spiritual gift really was not a gift at all but was instead a glaring sign that she had never really trusted Christ to change her heart and give her the ability to follow him. I remember the day that she realized that her tongue was leading her toward the ultimate downfall of an eternity in hell. I remember the day that a tongue set on fire by hell was quenched and the overflow of a redeemed heart changed the way a woman spoke.
Folks, we are reminded this morning that the tongue is a powerful tool. We are encouraged that with the help of Christ that it is a tool that we can control and one that we can even use to achieve great good.
But we are also warned that if we let our tongue become too free that we can cause great damage. Damage that according to verses 1 and 2 we will be required to answer for. And we are mercifully warned that an unrestrained tongue can bring us to our own ultimate destruction. So this morning as we stand and pray I encourage you to examine how you use your tongue and to take a look at what it might indicate regarding your spiritual health.
Prayer and Invitation
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