Fire Danger: High - James 3:2-10 Series

James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or 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. 5 Likewise 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. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Introduction

Context: True Religion

One of the main purposes of the book of James is to teach us the difference between true religion and false religion. James is writing to people who understood that salvation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ. But a lot of them were confused about what true faith really is and so James writes a book describing some observations you can make of your own life that will help you discern whether your faith is true saving faith or not. And he gives us a concise summary of what to look for in the last paragraph of chapter 1. If you remember, James gave us three things to look for that are characteristic of true religion:

1) Avoiding worldliness – so we don’t become contaminated or defiled by the world

2) Loving care for the needy

3) A controlled tongue

James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

How do you know if your faith is real? True faith results in purity, love, and a controlled tongue. In chapter 2 James expanded on the love part. In chapter 4 he is going to expand on the part about avoiding worldliness. But here in chapter 3 he expands on the controlled tongue.

Review

He started by warning us about being too cavalier about becoming a Bible teacher.

James 3:1 Not many of you should be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

The consequences for sin are more severe for the teacher than for everyone else, and that’s scary, because the teacher has more occasions to sin because he has to use his mouth so much.

Striving for Maturity

2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man

One of the clearest, most evident marks of spiritual maturity is a bridled tongue. Don’t misunderstand that word perfect. Sometimes when we see that word in Scripture, we are inclined to just throw up our hands and say, “Well, that’s completely out of reach.” We think of it like jumping over the moon - something so far out of the range of possibility that it is a waste of time to even try. But that word translated perfect is the word for maturity. In fact, that is how it is translated back in chapter 1.

James 1:4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So the point is not that controlling the tongue is unattainable so why even try? The point is that the greater your maturity the more you will be able to put a bridle on your tongue. And the more success you have at bridling your tongue, the more self-control you will have in every other area in your life. Will you ever reach full maturity in this life, where you never stumble at all? No, but obviously James wants every one of us to continue to make progress in the area of controlling the tongue – otherwise why would he even bother writing this chapter? Making more and more progress in the area of controlled speech is a mark of true religion, which means no progress would be a mark of false religion. Look at how James describes the spiritually mature man in verse two.