JAMES 3:7-12
NATURAL MAN’S TAMELESS TONGUE
[Psalm 140 / Mt. 12: 33-37]
If you have been to a circus, you have likely seen some impressive animal acts. A trainer enters a large cage filled with lions and tigers, putting them though routines that include jumping through hoops of fire. Bears ride motorcycles; chimpanzees engage in boxing matches; and elephants stand on their heads. Yet for all mankind’s power to tame wild animals, no one apart from God can control their tongue. The tongue tameless.
Not only is the tongue tameless but it is also shameless. It is capable of blessing God on Sunday and cursing persons, who have been made in God’s likeness, on Monday.
Against nature’s consistency, this duplicity of the tongue is particularly tragic. No spring of water issues from the same opening both fresh and brackish water, neither does a fig tree yield olives, nor a grapevine, figs. Indeed, this consistency in nature underscores the shamelessness of the tongue that at one time issues the sweet water of divine praise and at another, the brackish water of cursing men. "Friends, these things ought not so to be" (Jas. 3:10).
The power of speech is one of the greatest powers God has given us. With the tongue, man can praise God, pray, preach the Word and lead the lost to Christ. What a privilege! But with the same tongue he can tell lies that could ruin a person’s reputation, break a heart or send a soul into eternity without Christ. Since each of you will spend ten years of your life talking - it is of utmost importance that we submit our tongues to Christ and give Him control over their use (CIT).
I. THE TAMELESS TONGUE, 7-8.
II. THE SHAMELESS TONGUE, 9-10.
III. THE FORKED TONGUE, 11-12.
Verse 7 proclaims mankind’s ability to some extent tame every species of animal life. "For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race."
The tongue is not only like an uncontrolled fire. It is also like an untamed beast. Every type or species of the four classifications of animals have been subdued or tamed by man. At creation man was given "dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth (Gen. 1:28)." This dominion has been retained by fallen man. James does not say that all the animals have been tamed for certainly no one ever tamed a rhinoceros or an alligator but that animals from all types have been tame, such as parrots, elephants, charmed snakes, and porpoises.
Do you remember Flipper? The famous porpoise starred in one of the most popular television series of the 1960’s. He was fictional, but Tuffy was real. Tuffy served as a member of the United States Navy’s program Sealab II, off the coast of San Diego during the summer of 1966. He carried the mail between the surface and the crew, 205 feet below. He transported tools and even served as a lifeguard when one of the crew pretended to be lost. Humankind has tamed the apparently untamable creatures of the sea. Yet, people never have learned to subdue their tongues.
Verse 8 states that the tongue rebels against being tamed. "But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison."
The tongue of natural man defies all attempts to subdue it, to bring it under control. This is evidence and proof of the immense and mischievous power of the tongue.
The Greek word for tame, meaning "to overpower," "to subdue," "to conquer," was used of bringing oxen under the yoke, of breaking in wild horses, and so on. Men can control great beasts yet cannot control the small tongue. It is an evil incapable of being quieted by natural man.
No one can tame it because it is a restless evil, an unruly, unsteady, staggering reeling evil (with the instability of a double-minded man, 1:8). Lighting upon one subject and then another, ever stirring up evil. Worse yet, the tongue is full of deadly poison. See Ps. 140:3. Like the poison of a serpent the tongue is loaded with the venom of hate, of death-dealing gossip and half- truths. One does not need to look very far to find victims of its activity. The natural tongue is an ungovernable instrument of wickedness, incapable of being restrained. It wounds affections, blasts character, ruins peace, and even in many cases destroys life itself. Many droop and die, pierced by its fatal poisonous arrows.
Children love the circus, but are often afraid of the tiger. They have no reason to be, however, because the huge old cats have been tamed and are caged. Often hopelessly overweight, and I suspect it no longer have any teeth, along with its lion friends, the striped beauty goes through its routine in meek subjection.
You can tame a tiger, a lion, a leopard, a cheetah, and other wild animals, especially if you work with them from birth. But according the Bible, you cannot tame the human tongue. James wrote, "It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."
Then is the tongue a lost cause? No. Despite the destructive potential the Bible offers us no excuse for acquiescing to is evil (Eph. 4:29). Though you can not win the battle for the tongue in your own strength, God can give you victory over your tongue. When the tongue is surrender to God for His use He will give us the ability to control it and use it for His glory. The tongue cannot be tamed by man but can be tamed by God. The Holy Spirit will give us increasing power to monitor and control what we say the more we surrender its use to Him, so that even when we are offended the Spirit will remind us of God’s love, and we won’t react in a hateful manner. When we are criticized the Spirit will healingly touch the hurt and we will find the strength not to lash out. When you win the battle for the tongue it becomes a mighty tool for winning the lost and building up the people of God. The important thing, of course, is the heart for "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mt. 12:34). If the heart is filled with hurt and hate satan will fire up the tongue. But if it is filled with love, God will use the tongue to light a fire like that of Pentecost where many were brought to a saving and sanctifying knowledge of Jesus Christ.
II. THE SHAMELESS TONGUE, (9-10).
Verse 9 addresses our irrational use of the tongue. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;
Verse 9 states both the positive and negative use of the tongue. The tongue is notoriously inconsistent, a veritable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The positive use involves blessing or praising God. The word bless is literally saying a good word (eulogoumen) but in the context of Lord and Father, it means to praise Him with love and gratitude. This is the highest function of human speech, the great end for which the human tongue exists.
Cursing refers to the abuse language of a person usually arising from a loss of temper. It includes speech which is insulting as well as profane. To curse or wish evil (kata-rometha) to someone is in effect to curse God Himself. The reason given is because men are made in the likeness of God. Even though the image of God has been sadly fractured and clouded in man’s fallen state, James indicates that man still bears the likeness of God. To curse any person is to curse God’s image in that individual. This is equal to cursing God. This is a strong motivation not to use insulting or profane speech about anyone.
Our lives and our destiny are changed by words. A giant horse is turned around with a little bit in the mouth. A tremendous ship is guided by a little rudder. A vast inferno is set afire by a little spark. All of us have felt the sting of unkind words.
A GODLY QUAKER came up to her pastor and said, "Pastor, I think, and wonder if you do also, that if one lived beautifully and walked correctly and stayed away from evil that others seeing us would be inclined to love our religion?" The pastor replied, "Sister, if you covered yourself with a coat of feathers white as the driven snow, and if you had a pair of wings as shiny as those of the angel Gabriel, there would be somebody, somewhere so color-blind as to shoot you for a blackbird."
You cannot get away from the unkind word. All of us have felt them-the sting and the hurt of them. Sometimes it can be disastrous. The same tongue that blesses God can also curse other men. But our tongue should not be one of those.
Verse 10 continues spotlighting the inconsistency of the tongues action. "from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way."
We are sinfully incongruous when we bless God and then curse those made in God’s likeness. It is abnormal for a man to bless God in prayer and praise and yet speak evil of members of God’s family. It is contrary to grace; it is contrary to nature.
A little girl sat with her ARMS WRAPPED around her father’s neck. But her mother observed that over her father’s shoulder she was sticking out her tongue at her little brother. The mother responded by saying, "Take your arms from around your father’s neck. You cannot love your father and at the same time stick out your tongue at his son." To profess love for God while reviling men made in His image is a brazen offense against God.
DIRTY WORDS have becoming commonplace. Terms that a few years ago never left the locker room are today plastered on T-shirts, printed on bumper stickers, and are brought into our homes on TV. Although it’s disturbing to hear non-Christians use bad language, we shouldn’t be surprised. God’s Spirit doesn’t live in them, and they’re not guided by His Word.
What’s even worse is that swearing and impure language can be heard among Christians. Some families are exposed to so much of the world’s foul-mouthed offerings at the movies, on DVDs, and on network TV that they lose their distaste for offensive communication.
We can’t do much about the language of people who aren’t Christians. But we who love Jesus must not stoop to the language of the gutter. Let’s keep our "tongue from evil." A foul mouth is the mark of a polluted soul.
III. THE FORKED TONGUE, 11-12.
Verses 11 & 12 illustrate the consistency within nature (and each rhetorical question expects a no answer). Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?
The illustration of the springs or fountain would have been familiar to the inhabitants of Palestine. Areas around the Dead Sea contain many springs of brackish, salty, noxious, bitter water. Farther north of the Dead Sea travelers could find springs emitting fresh, clear, sparkling artesian water. One thing never occurs in nature though, a spring never produces fresh and then bitter water from the same opening in the ground.
Verbal abusers who think they can cut down others and still praise God deceive themselves. Their praises are not genuine, but their abuses are painfully real.
James concluded his revelation concerning the tongue with an agricultural metaphor in verse twelve. Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.
The farmers of Palestine produced figs, olives and grapes in abundance. But fig trees do not produce olives and grape vines do not produce figs. The point is clear. Nature is consistent and a believers tongue should not be an instrument of inconsistency. Like produces like.
The problem of courses is not the tongue, it is the heart. Mt.15:18 says that "the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man." Proverbs 4:23 says "watch over your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life." As we fill our hearts with God’s Word and yield to the Holy Spirit, He can use us to bring delight to others and we will be like refreshing fountains and fruitful trees.
CONCLUSION / TIME FOR RESPONSE
Fruit is always marked by what tree produced it. The same family of trees produce the same kind of fruit. Likewise a believer’s words should reflect a family likeness. The heavenly Father’s heart and attitude should characterize His children’s speech.
The smallest but largest troublemaker in the world is the tongue. Small yet so potent, the tongue must be controlled. Satan fires the tongue with the flames of hell so it must be corralled. Bitter and inconsistent, the tongue must be guarded.
In seeking to control our tongues, we must admit to God our weakness, daily seek His help and hide His Word in our heart that we might not sin against Him. God’s grace can enable us to use our tongues and our words for wisdom, knowledge, encouragement and blessing. Give God your heart and your tongue each day and ask Him to use you to be a blessing to others.
