The Terrible Terror of the Untamed Tongue
James 3
This passage is a test to see if you are allowing God to perfect you and if you are heeding God’s Word.
Our Speech shows our Faith. Paraphrase: “I’ll show you my faith by my words. Our Speech betrays our intelligence. “Foot in mouth”
Dear Readers: And you thought there was nothing funny about the law. David Broome of Phoenix sent these questions (taken from official court records) lawyers have put to people on the stand:
Q: Was that the same nose you broke as a child?
Q: Now, doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn’t know anything about it until the next morning?
Q: Was it you or your brother that was killed in the war?
Q: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
Q: Were you alone or by yourself?
Q: How long have you been a French Canadian?
Q: Do you have any children or anything of that kind?
Q: I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture.
A: That’s me.
Q: Were you present when that picture was taken?
—Columbus Dispatch, 11-1-96, p. 2E
James 3:1, 2. The failure to bridle the tongue, mentioned earlier (1:26), is now expanded.
Goal of James? 1:4, Perfection
How do you know when God is done? James 3:2
Evidence of perfection — the mouth! I Peter 2:21, 22, “neither was guile found in his mouth.”
Matthew 12:34, 35, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
I. Controlled Tongues
II. Cultivated Thoughts
The mouth is connected to the mind
Winsome speech demands a wise source
Talks about the source of speech, vs. 11
“Out of the abundance of the heart a man speaketh,” vs. 13, 14
I. Controlled Tongues
A. The tongue is powerful, vs. 1-5
vs. 1 “my brethren,” sign a new topic is being considered
many Jewish Christians aspired to teach, (“Masters” - didoskoloi), and thereby carry some of the rank and admiration given to Rabbis. James complaint was simply that too many believers were overly anxious to speak up and show off.
Those who teach must understand their responsibility, as those who reach will be judged more strictly. Their Condemnation is greater because having professed to have a clear knowledge of duty, he is all the more bound to obey it.
3:2 James did not point a finger at the offenders without including himself, “We all stumble in many ways.” Nothing seems to trip a believer more than a dangling tongue
Spiritual maturity requires a tamed tongue
3:3-5. The Tongue is small but it is influential.
James uses three analogies to show the power of the tongue to control.
▸ The bit and the horse
▸ the rudder and the ship
▸ and the spark and the fire.
The illustration of the horse is appropriate, because the bit lies on the top of a horse’s tongue, and when attached to the bridle and reins, it is possible for the rider using that bit to easily make the horse obey. Controlling horses’ mouths controls their heads, which, in turn, direct their entire body as well. Even gentle horses, which have been ridden for many years, are not controllable without bits in their mouths.
Petite but powerful
James’s point about ships is that, compared to its overall size, a ship’s rudder is very small, yet can easily steer the vessel wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.
Largest Aircraft Carriers
The warships with the largest full-load displacement in the world are the US Navy aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower at 91,400 tons. They are 1,092 feet in length overall and have a speed well in excess of 30 knots with their nuclear-powered 280,000 shaft hp reactors. They have to be refueled after about 900,000 miles steaming. Their complement is 6,100. The total cost of the Eisenhower commissioned on October 18, 1977 exceeded $2 billion excluding the more than 90 plus aircraft carried. The USS Enterprise is, however, 1,102 feet long and thus still the longest warship ever built.
“Turned about with a very small helm,” Single individual at the helm.
James gives no specifics in saying that the tongue . . . boasts of great things. But he obviously has in mind man’s natural inclination to boast, to be self-centered, and—contrary to the claims of much popular psychology—to have a high self-image. Whenever and however the tongue boasts, it leaves a wake of destruction. It tears down others, it destroys churches, families, marriages, and personal relationships.
Whales really do communicate with each other. One whale sounded the following caution to his dear mate:
“Better watch it; when you get to the top and start to blow, that’s when you get harpooned!"
What’s true at sea is also true in our world.”
From Mongolian folklore comes this helpful little fable of the boastful frog.
Two geese were about to start southward on their annual autumn migration, when they were entreated by a frog to take him with them. On the geese expressing their willingness to do so if a means of conveyance could be devised, the frog produced a long stalk of grass, got the two geese to take it one by each end, while he clung to it by his mouth in the middle. In this manner the three were making their journey when they were noticed from below by some men.
The men loudly expressed their admiration for the device and wondered who had been clever enough to discover it. Whereupon the vainglorious frog opened his mouth to say, "It was I," lost his hold, fell to the earth, and was dashed to pieces.
Moral: When you have a good thing going, keep your mouth shut!
1. The Tongue is Powerful
2. The Tongue is Perverse (6-8)
A. The tongue is like an uncontrollable fire, 5b, 6
5b-6. James’s next point focuses on the tongue’s tremendous potential to corrupt and destroy. Whereas the tongue’s power to control is neutral, being capable of working either for good or for evil, the emphasis here is entirely negative. No specific problem areas are mentioned, but since the tongue is able to talk about any conceivable issue, it has the power to corrupt every conceivable issue.
Although the eidon literally means simply to see, the imperative mood and middle voice here (idou) almost give it the force of a command. Consequently, this form is often rendered “behold,” especially in dramatic narratives, in order to call special attention to what is about to be said or about to happen. The idea is, “Pay close attention.”
James is here calling attention to the great destructive power of hateful, false, heretical, or simply careless words. Like “Smoky Bear” he calls attention to the well-known truism that a great forest can be set aflame by a small fire! The smallest match or spark can grow exponentially into a blaze that destroys thousands of acres of forest, killing countless animals and often destroying human life and property.
Fire has the amazing and virtually unique capacity to reproduce itself in an almost unlimited way as long as it has fuel to burn. Like the vast majority of things, water cannot multiply. When it is poured out, no matter where or on what, it never expands into a flood. But fire feeds on itself. If there is sufficient flammable material and enough oxygen to sustain combustion, it will burn on indefinitely.
How Chicago Fire Started
On October 8, 1871, at about eight-thirty in the evening, a lantern in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, presumably kicked over by her cow, ignited the great Chicago fire. The woman was milking her cow; and there was a little lamp of oil, a little flickering flame. The cow kicked over the lamp; and the flame kindled a wisp of hay, and another wisp, until all the hay in the stable was on fire, and the next building was on fire, and the next and the next!
The fire spread over the river to the main part of Chicago and swept on until within a territory one mile wide and three miles long, there were only two buildings standing. the little flame from that lamp had laid Chicago in ashes!
½ of city
17,500 buildings
300 died
125,000 homeless
$400 M
Prov. 26:20 “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.”
Verse 6. James lists four elements of the tongue’s danger.
1. It is a system of iniquity. It is the source of unrighteous, ungodly behavior within sinful man. It breeds and give vent to every sort of sinful passion and desire. No other bodily part has such far-reaching potential for disaster and destruction.
2. It spreads out and contaminates the entire body. To modify the metaphor somewhat, the destructiveness of the tongue is like smoke that penetrates and permanently contaminates everything that is exposed to it.
3. The destructive effects of evil speech expand, not only contaminating ourselves but also everything we influence throughout the course of our life. We are known by the way we talk.
4. Most horribly it is set on fire by hell which indicates that the tongue can be Satan’s tool, fulfilling hell’s purposes to pollute, corrupt, and destroy. (Job 1:11; 1 Pet. 2)
Al Stevens
Jack Tournay
John Lewis
Hal Wilshire
Off the Wall
In 1899 four newspaper reporters from Denver, CO, set out to tear down the Great Wall of China. They almost succeeded. Literally.
The four met by chance one Saturday night, in a Denver railway depot. Al Stevens, Jack Tournay, John Lewis, Hal Wilshire. They represented the four Denver papers: the Times, the Post, the Republican, the Rocky Mountain News.
Each had been sent by his respective newspaper to dig up a story—any story—for the Sunday editions; so the reporters were in the railroad station, hoping to snag a visiting celebrity should one happen to arrive that evening by train.
None arrived that evening, by train or otherwise. The reporters started commiserating. For them, no news was bad news; all were facing empty-handed return trips to their city desks.
Al declared he was going to make up a story and hand it in. The other three laughed.
Someone suggested they all walk over to the Oxford Hotel and have a beer. They did.
Jack said he liked Al’s idea about faking a story. Why didn’t each of them fake a story and get off the hook?
John said Jack was thinking too small. Four half-baked fakes didn’t cut it. What they needed was one real whopper they could all use.
Another round of beers.
A phony domestic story would be too easy to check on, so they began discussing foreign angles that would be difficult to verify. And that is THE REST OF THE STORY.
China was distant enough, it was agreed. They would write about China.
John leaned forward, gesturing dramatically in the dim light of the barroom. Try this one on, he said: Group of American engineers, stopping over in Denver en route to China. The Chinese government is making plans to demolish the Great Wall; our engineers are bidding on the job.
Harold was skeptical. Why would the Chinese want to destroy the Great Wall of China?
John thought for a moment. They’re tearing down the ancient boundary to symbolize international good will, to welcome foreign trade! Another round of beers.
By 11:00 p.m. the four reporters had worked out the details of their preposterous story. After leaving the Oxford Bar, they would go over to the Windsor Hotel. They would sign four fictitious names to the hotel register. They would instruct the desk clerk to tell anyone why asked that four New Yorkers had arrived that evening, had been interviewed by reporters, had left early the next morning for California.
The Denver newspapers carried the story. All four of them. Front page. In fact, the Times headline that Sunday read: GREAT CHINESE WALL DOOMED! PEKING SEEKS WORLD TRADE!
Of course, the story was a phony, a ludicrous fabrication concocted by four capricious newsmen in a hotel bar.
But their story was taken seriously, was picked up and expanded by newspapers in the Eastern U.S. and then by newspapers abroad.
When the Chinese themselves learned that the Americans were sending a demolition crew to tear down their national monument, most were indignant; some were enraged!
Particularly incensed were the members of a secret society, a volatile group of Chinese patriots who were already wary of foreign intervention.
They, inspired by the story, exploded, rampaged against the foreign embassies in Peking, slaughtered hundreds of missionaries.
In two months, 12,000 troops from six countries joined forces, invaded China with the purpose of protecting their own countrymen.
The bloodshed which followed, sparked by a journalistic hoax invented in a barroom in Denver, became the white-hot international conflagration known to every high school history student . . . as the Boxer Rebellion. —Paul Harvey
1. The Tongue is Powerful
2. The Tongue is Perverse (6-8)
A. The tongue is like an uncontrollable fire, 5b, 6
B. The tongue is like an untamed beast. 7, 8
James’s point in these two verses is simply that the human tongue is innately uncontrollable and untamable.
“the tongue can no man tame”
You can tame animals - circus
No cunning, persuasion, or influence has ever been able to silence it. Nothing but the grace of God, excision, or death, can bring it under subjection.
Like the poison of a serpent, the tongue is loaded with the venom of hate and death-dealing gossip.
Who, for example, can stand before the power of the slanderer? What mischief can be done in society that can be compared with that which he, may do?
1. The Tongue is Powerful
2. The Tongue is Perverse (6-8)
A. The tongue is like an uncontrollable fire, 5b, 6
B. The tongue is like an untamed beast. 7, 8
3. The Tongue is Polluted. (9-12)
Similar to the forked tongue of a snake, man’s uncontrolled tongue both emits praise and spews out curses.
The point is and it became more apparent is that unless you change the source you can’t change the product.
Point is you can’t control it apart from changing the heart (fountain) out of the heart
One of the strongest cases of a man using his tongue to bless God and curse man relates to Augustus M. Toplady. He blessed God with the beautiful hymn of adoration that he penned, “Rock of Ages.” It is a moving, biblical tribute to Christ and His finished work of redemption. Yet the same mouth cursed man, saying of the great John Wesley, when the latter was past 70 and Toplady a ministerial novice of only 30; “He is a lurking assassin, guilty of audacity and falsehood; a knave, guilty of mean, malicious impotence. He is an Ishmaelite, a bigot, a papist, a defamer, a reviler, a liar, without the honesty of a heathen, and impudent slanderer; with Satanic guilt only exceeded by Satan himself, if even by him. he is an echo of Satan.” Incredible, isn’t it?
9, 10
“these things ought not so to be”
Ou chrç (ought not) is a strong negative, used only here in the New Testament. The idea is that there should be no place in a Christians’s life for duplicitous speech. It is an unacceptable and intolerable compromise of righteous, holy living. When God transformed us, He gave us the capacity for new, redeemed, holy speech, and He expects us to speak only that which is holy and right.
Small and influential, the tongue must be controlled; satanic and infectious, the tongue must be corralled; salty and inconsistent, the tongue must be cleansed.
“Oh for a Thousand tongues to sing” to Bless God or curse man?
I. Controlled Tongues
1. The Tongue is Powerful
2. The Tongue is Perverse (6-8)
A. The tongue is like an uncontrollable fire, 5b, 6
B. The tongue is like an untamed beast. 7, 8
3. The Tongue is Polluted. (9-12)
II. Cultivated Thoughts, (13-18)
The key to right talk is right thought, regenerated thoughts!
The tongue is contained in a cage of teeth and lips, but it still escapes. It is not intelligence that keeps the lock on that cage; it is wisdom.
Major Osipovich, an air force pilot for the former USSR, planned to give a talk at his children’s school about peace. But he would need time off during the day to give his talk, so he volunteered for night duty. And that’s how Major Osipovich found himself patrolling the skies over the eastern regions of the Soviet Union on September 1, 1983—the night Korean Air Lines Flight KE007 strayed into Soviet air space.
Soon the Soviet pilot was caught in a series of blunders and misinformation. In the end, Major Osipovich followed orders and shot down the unidentified aircraft. The actions of an air force major preparing to talk about peace plunged 240 passengers to their deaths and sparked an international incident that pushed world powers to a stand-off.
Our talk is important. But our actions carry far more weight.
Beck: vs. 2
“a bit of love” is the only bit that will put a bridle on the tongue”
