Let's begin today by reading from James 3:1 (and a part of verse 2):
(1) Not many of you, teachers, should become, my brothers,
knowing that greater/more intense judgment we will receive.
(2) For in many ways, we all stumble.
One of the highest callings, for the building up of God's church, is that of a teacher. Teachers help people understand who God truly is, and what He truly wants. They help us see the blind spots in thinking, and in our life, that keep us from loving God and people the way we should. A great teacher doesn't simply explain all of this to you, but somehow manages to motivate you, and push you, to live from a higher spiritual place. You find that you leave their presence with this burning desire to do more, and be more.
The ministry of teaching is a tremendous honor, and a tremendous responsibility. Good teachers will find themselves speaking for God. They will tell you, "This is what God thinks. This is how God views this or that." Peter says, teach "as those who speak the very words of God" (1 Peter 4:11).
Great teachers will steer the whole church in the right direction. They will do their part in equipping the body, "fixing" what's broken, so that all of us can build up the church (Ephesians 4:12).
Many of us, at one point in our life or another, have sat at the feet of a truly great teacher. They finish teaching, and we feel incredibly recharged, and on fire, and ready to do great things. They teach from a familiar passage in the Bible, that we thought we knew like the back of our hand, and we marvel at how they opened it up for us in new directions. It's not just that we suddenly know the Bible a million times better. It's also that it matters, a million times more.
When you've sat the feet of a truly great teacher, there's a decent chance that you'll find yourself wanting to be a teacher, as well. You'll want to bless people, and do for others, what was done for you. You'll want the privilege, and ministry, of teaching.
If this is you, James here strikes a cautionary note. Most of you shouldn't become teachers. That would be a mistake, for most of you.
Why?
James says it's a mistake, because we all know that teachers receive a greater, or more intense, judgment.
Now, there's quite a bit of discussion about what exactly James means here (put this in the outline).
(1) One way of understanding this verse, is that James is saying that God holds teachers to a higher standard. When a teacher commits adultery, it's far more destructive than when a non-teacher does it. It tends to do far more damage to people's faith, and to the reputation of God's church. And so God expects teachers to live a cleaner, less-stained life.
(2) A second option, is that teachers are judged more harshly because of the responsibility they have for equipping the church. Let's read from 2 Peter 2:1-3 (NIV no reason):
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
The worst kind of teacher is the one who encourages wickedness. They will tell you that depraved conduct-- verse 2-- is not that big of a deal. You can live a sinful life, as a slave to sin, and there will be no consequences.
I know an Awana program where the kids were taught this: once you're saved, you can go around murdering people, and God will still give you eternal life. And at this church, what this teacher said would've been celebrated by the rest of church leadership. At this church, people are taught that all of your sins, past present and future, are already forgiven. So even in the very act of murder, or sexual immorality, or idolatry, God views you as a clean and spotless Christian in Christ.
If the church took the teacher's words to heart, what would be the end result? Terrible evil.
These are the kinds of teachers who will, in Peter's own words, bring swift destruction on themselves.
As a teacher, you can guide people, accidentally or not, to a place of spiritual apathy, or even wickedness.
Do this, and your judgment will be severe. Let's read from 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 (NIV no reason):
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
Verse 17 is the one I really want you to hear:
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
If you as a teacher "serve" in a way that destroys God's temple, God will destroy you.
(3) The third way of understanding James here, is that teachers are judged more harshly, because they have more opportunities to do the wrong thing. And the more chances you have to stumble, the more often you'll trip up (h/t Patrick Hartin).
If we cheat ahead just a little bit, all of understand that it's really easy to stumble with our mouths. We can brag, or lie, or criticize, or condemn, or mock... there's a million ways that we can stumble. It doesn't even have to always be sin. "Stumbling" isn't necessarily a sin. It could be that someone needs encouragement, and you stumble in trying to help them. Someone needs comfort, and you stumble in that.
And the more we talk every day, the more opportunities we have to say the wrong thing. Those of us who have jobs where we work alone for hours-- drivers, farmers, ranchers-- use thousands less words every day. And so we stumble less, because we talk less. People who talk for a living, or who talk in settings where lots of people listen, stumble more.
Along these lines, but pushing it farther, let me read something from Luke Timothy Johnson (James, 263):
"Teachers particularly are vulnerable to failures in speech, not only because their profession demands of them that they speak more than others, and that they must do so in public and before a frequently captive audience, but because such a setting provides temptations to virtually every form of evil speech: arrogance and domination over students; anger and pettiness at contradiction or inattention; slander and meanness toward absent opponents; flattery of students for the sake of vainglory."
It's easy for teachers, over time, to decide that their words are more important than anyone else's. That when they speak, they are automatically worth listening to. That they are right.
There's dangers, and risks, to being a teacher.
So for most of us, becoming a teacher would be a mistake. There are lots of responsibilities that come with it. There's lots of things that can go really wrong, both for you personally, and for the church as a whole (Matthew 18:6). It's an honorable ministry. It's a privilege to serve God by teaching. But it's not for most.
James then strengthens verse 1, with a "for" statement in James 3:2 (that's what "for" statements do-- their discourse function; see Steven Runge, Discourse Analysis of the Greek New Testament).
(2) For in many ways, we all stumble. ["in many ways" is focused in the Greek]
All of us stumble. And we stumble, in lots of different ways. For some of us, the ongoing battle is in areas like pride, or greed, or unforgiveness, or envy, or lust. Others of you maybe don't really struggle with any of those things-- but perhaps you show favoritism, or you don't help orphans and widows in their distress. But the bottom line, is that in many ways, we all stumble.
So James says, before you choose to be a teacher, take an honest look at your priorities in life, and how you live. If you aren't seeking first God, his kingdom, and his righteousness, your judgment will be more severe, should you become a teacher. If you aren't loving God with the entirety of who you are, and your neighbor as yourself, your judgment will be more severe. Go into teaching, eyes open to how God works.
And if you are living in a way that you don't simply stumble in sin, but instead you live in it, as a slave to Sin, for sure don't be a teacher. If you're already teaching, take a break from it. Let someone else fill in. Don't make your judgment worse. And then let us help you get out.
So James starts on this serious, sober note about how most of us shouldn't become teachers. Now, he transitions from talking about teachers, to stumbling more generally. So in many ways, we all stumble. And we are tempted to read that, and despair, or settle for spiritual mediocrity.
But James continues, still verse 2:
If anyone in word/speech doesn't stumble, this one [is] a perfect/mature/complete person, able to bridle/hold in check also his own body. ["in word/speech" focused in Greek]
Here, James zeroes in on our speech. If we can figure out how to avoid stumbling with our tongues, we will become perfect, mature, complete disciples. And then James gives us a mark of what "perfection" looks like: perfect disciples are people who can keep their entire body in check, when it comes to sin.
How can this be? How can successfully biting your tongue, mark you off as a "perfect/mature" disciple?
Let's say I'm truly committed to loving God and people. Every day, I wake up committed to this in practical, concrete ways. I look for opportunities to show mercy, and help. At the same time, I make sure to keep myself unstained by the world. I use my hands, and feet, and eyes, and ears, for good.
What I will find, when I resolve to live this way, is that my mouth is the last piece of my body that I get under firm control (h/t N.T. Wright, Bible for Everyone, James). My mouth will be the thing that still gets me in trouble, and causes me to stumble. I know I need to be quick to listen, and slow to speak, and slow to become angry. And yet I find myself opening my mouth to sin with friends, and my wife, and my kids, and my coworkers, and you. My mouth becomes the final frontier.
But this is not James's last word. James doesn't end this on a depressing note. Once I've mastered my tongue, I will be a "perfect, mature, complete," disciple, able to keep in check my entire body.
James continues, verse 3 (maybe verses 3-4 could be labeled, "the promise/potential/power of the tongue):
(3) Now, if we put horses' bits into their mouths so that they obey us, also their whole body we guide/direct.
So in verse 2, James had said that if you can control your tongue, you'll find that you can control the rest of your body. Here, he shifts the way he talks about it a little.
But in order to understand James here, I have to teach you just a little about riding horses. When it comes to riding a horse, there are three key things involved. There's the horse. There's the bit that goes in a horse's mouth. And there's you, the rider.
When you, the rider, move the reins, it shifts the bit inside the horse's mouth, and the horse turns left or right to reduce the pressure in its mouth.
The bit completely controls the direction of the horse.
How does this relate to us?
Your physical body is like a horse. Your tongue, is like a bit. And you, are the rider who determines the direction you go.
So how do you decide the path you want to take in life?
Through your tongue. Your tongue controls the path you take in life. If you snap at your boss in frustration, or complain too much at work, you might get fired, and you are forced onto a new path.
If you make a habit of criticizing your spouse, and belittling them, you will find that your marriage starts to move in ugly directions. Your spouse might mentally check out, and withdraw. Or maybe your spouse will eventually divorce you, and you'll end up on a different path.
If you're in a bar, and you insult someone, you might find that the rest of your body first ends up in a fist fight, and then ends up in a bloody pulp in the alley out back.
Your tongue controls the direction the rest of your body goes.
So the question becomes, what controls your tongue?
James says that your tongue can be taught to obey you. You are not at the mercy of your body. You are not at the mercy of an uncontrollable tongue. You can be the expert rider, who uses your tongue to steer your life in a good direction.
Verse 4:
(4) Look also [at] the ships.
Being so large, and by strong winds being driven, they are guided/directed by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wishes.
(5) Thus also the tongue, a small body part it is,
and great things it boasts.
For verse 4 to make sense, I have to teach you a little about seamanship. When it comes to ships, there are three key things involved. There's the ship. There's the rudder. And there's a pilot, or captain.
Every ship, no matter how large, and how tough the waters, goes where the rudder steers it. There are things in life that could knock you off course-- strong winds-- but the rudder is more powerful than them all. The rudder wins.
Imagine a captain who commands a ship sailing from China to Los Angeles. We all need more stuff to buy, and the captain will get it to us.
A good captain will plot his course carefully. He will use the rudder to steer the ship on a good path. The rudder dominates the rest of the ship. The rudder is legitimately a big deal, and could boast about its power. But a good captain, controls the rudder.
You, as the captain of your ship, have to make a decision about where you're going. If you take your hands off the rudder, and just let your tongue do its thing, you will make a mess of your life. You will go nowhere. Or you'll end up on the rocks somewhere.
But if you guide the rudder, what happens? You will go "wherever the pilot wishes." You get to choose your destination.
And so we find ourselves thinking again, about what we want in life. What is our goal, really? What's our objective? What do you desire?
At this point in James, we should have the answer. Our goal is to be a type of first fruits. We want to be a church that lives faithfully toward God, that obeys God's kingdom laws, that practices true religion. We want to genuinely love and care for people.
And James says, if this is really what we want, then we need to keep a firm hand on the rudder, and a bit in our mouths.
With this, we come to verses 5-8. Here, James focuses on how destructive the tongue can be, when it's left unchecked:
Look how much of a fire, sets ablaze how much of a forest,
(6) and the tongue [is] a fire.
The tongue is an unrighteous world,
being set among our body parts,
staining/defiling the whole body,
and setting on fire the wheel/course of human history (Steven Runge's gloss),
and being set on fire by Gehenna.
(7) For every species of animal and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been
tamed by the human species.
(8) Now, the human tongue, no one is able to tame-- an unstable evil, full of deadly poison.
When we sin with our tongues, we tend to do incredible, widespread damage. It's like a small fire that burns an entire forest, nearly impossible to put out. It's like a stain that spreads to cover your whole body. And the tongue is the reason human history has looked like it does, with constant wars, and violence. Sins like gossip, slander, lying, criticizing, boasting-- these are scorched-earth sins, that leave nothing but destruction behind.
My guess is that we don't usually think about the tongue, as being nearly as destructive as James does. A little bit of bragging, or lying, or gossiping-- is it really that big of a deal?
We understand that some sins are that destructive. Adultery can completely destroy your life, and your family. Pornography can completely destroy your marriage. Murder someone you get mad at, and you might never get out of jail. Abort a baby, and you will never get over it. We know that certain sins leave a terrible stain on our lives.
But my guess is that we don't view the sins that come from our mouth with the same sense of horror. We don't recognize them as being on the same level of danger, or destructiveness.
And that's, I think, what James is trying to fix here. Your tongue, left unbridled, can ruin your life, and the life of everyone around you. It will ruin this church. It's a fire, an unstable evil, a deadly poison. It's a little piece of the world, put inside your very body.
And the scariest thing about the tongue, maybe, is that it will never be tamed. It will forever be a wild animal, something you need to actively, firmly, control.
With this, we come to verses 9-12. Think of these verses, as teaching the necessity of controlling the tongue:
(9) With it, we praise our Lord and Father,
and with it, we curse people-- the ones in the likeness of God having been made.
(10) From the same mouth comes out praise and cursing.
My brothers, these things shouldn't, in this way, be.
(11) A spring doesn't from the same opening pour out fresh and bitter water, right?
(12) My brothers, a fig tree isn't able, olives, to produce, right?,
or a grapevine, figs?
Neither can a salt water spring produce sweet water.
In James 1, we talked about how our goal in life is to be a single-hearted, single-minded, single-souled people. We are fully committed to God, and to each other. We live in faithfulness.
A major part of what that means, concretely, is using our mouths to do good, and not evil. Just like we can't be double-minded (James 1:8), so also we can't be double-tongued, or double-mouthed. We can't produce salt water and fresh water. We can't praise God, and use our mouths to tear people down. Nature tells us that this is impossible.
So when you speak, remember that you are talking to people who image God on earth. You are speaking to his representatives-- to people to whom God has given, authority and power, and honor. When you speak to people, there's a sense in which you are speaking to God.
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So when we look at the passage as a whole, we've seen the power and potential of the tongue. We've seen the dangers of the tongue. And we've seen the necessity of controlling the tongue.
But how do we do it? How can you learn to bridle a restless evil, a poison, a world of evil? How can you become an expert captain, and horseman?
What we've seen in James is that we have a role, and God has a role.
With our role, James assumes we have the responsibility, and ability, to bridle our tongues. We can learn to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. We can learn to choose our words carefully. We understand that even the tongue is powerful, we are stronger in Christ. So I think part of the answer is understanding that we have a genuine choice, in how we use our tongues. Part of it, is becoming more intentional about how you relate to people. Part of it is remembering you are speaking to people made in God's image. And part of it is going through life with an awareness that your tongue is always ready to do really evil things. It's like when you're shopping in a store with a 2 year old. You shop, with a constant awareness that your 2 year-old isn't trustworthy, and might wander, or knock stuff down, or throw a tantrum.
You, the captain, can choose the set the course of your life in a good direction. You, the expert horseman, can pick a path that leads to blessing for you, this church, and everyone around you. Decide which path you want, what your goal is, and be intentional about making it there.
What is God's role in this?
If we were reading Paul, I'd talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. Paul says, if you walk in step with the Spirit, you won't sin (Galatians 5:16).
But we are reading James. What does James focus on?
If you are struggling to live "in faith" toward God and people, what you lack is wisdom (James 1:5). And if you decide that you are single-minded in wanting to use your tongue to bless and not curse, you should ask God "in faith" for help. Do this, and God will give you wisdom. He will teach you to bridle your tongue, and how to use your tongue for good.
So this morning, make a decision about what you want for your life, and for this church. Let's be a kingdom people who use our tongue to bless God, and bless people made in God's image.
Translation:
(1) Not many of you, teachers, should become, my brothers,
knowing that greater/more intense judgment we will receive.
(2) For in many ways, we all stumble.
If anyone in word/speech doesn't stumble, this one [is] a perfect/mature/complete person, able to
bridle/hold in check also his own body.
(3) Now, if we put horses' bits into their mouths so that they obey us, also their whole body we guide/direct.
(4) Look also [at] the ships.
Being so large, and by strong winds being driven, they are guided/directed by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wishes.
(5) Thus also the tongue, a small body part it is,
and great things it boasts.
Look how much of a fire, sets ablaze how much of a forest,
(6) and the tongue [is] a fire.
The tongue is an unrighteous world,
being set among our body parts,
staining/defiling the whole body,
and setting on fire the wheel/course of human history,
and being set on fire by Gehenna.
(7) For every species of animal and birds, of reptiles and sea creatures, is being tamed and has been
tamed by the human species.
(8) Now, the human tongue, no one is able to tame-- an unstable evil, full of deadly poison.
(9) With it, we praise our Lord and Father,
and with it, we curse people-- the ones in the likeness of God having been made.
(10) From the same mouth comes out praise and cursing.
My brothers, these things shouldn't, in this way, be.
(11) A spring doesn't from the same opening pour out fresh and bitter water, right?
(12) My brothers, a fig tree isn't able, olives, to produce, right?,
or a grapevine, figs?
Neither can a salt water spring produce sweet water.
Proverbs 18:21:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
