The World’s Most Dangerous Profession - James 3:1-2 Series

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

Introduction: We Talk a Lot

How many books do you read in a year? Can you imagine reading over 130 books/year? That’s a book every two to three days. If you did that, you would be taking in quite a bit of information, wouldn’t you? I give you that number because even though very few people read that many words, that is about how many words all of us are speaking. If all of the words that an average person speaks in a year were put into print, it would fill 132 books. It is incredible to stop and think of how much we talk. God is a self-revealing, communicating being. And He made us in His image, and so every one of us has a powerful drive to communicate.

We are not like the animals. Animals can’t speak. They can communicate a few very basic things about being hungry or in danger or whatever, but most people, if they were only able to communicate as much as an animal communicates, would go insane. God created us in such a way that each one of us is a fountain of words. It’s true, some fountains are gushing quite a bit more than other fountains, but even really quiet people speak millions of words. We have been studying through the book of James, and in chapter 3 James addresses the world of our words. And we find right away that our world of words is a world of trouble.

Warning: Not Many Should Teach

Why Warn about Teaching?

He starts the chapter with what seems at first to be a very strange command.

James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers

The word presume isn’t in the Greek – literally it is just not many of you should be teachers. The reason I say that sounds strange is because everywhere else in the New Testament teaching is held in such high esteem. In 1 Timothy 3:1 Paul says that if a man desires to be a pastor, that is a noble desire. If you want to be a preacher, that’s good. The task that you are desiring is a noble task. Teachers and preachers are described in Ephesians 4 as God’s gift to the church. Teaching is an absolutely essential component of church life. Jesus spent his entire ministry going around teaching and preaching, and then He commissioned His Apostles to go out and preach. And He commissioned all of us to teach in the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

One of our most fundamental duties as Christians is teaching – every one of us.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom

All of us are to do some teaching on an informal basis, and those who are called into leadership in the church have a special responsibility to teach. According to 1 Timothy 3:2, no one is allowed to be an elder in the church unless he is able to teach.

God Wants the Teachers to Be the Overseers

A lot of churches stumble over that, because there are some really skilled leaders and administrators out there who don’t have the gift of teaching. And it seems like it makes such good sense to let those people lead the church and fulfill the governing, overseeing aspect of church leadership. So often, men who are gifted teachers are kind of mediocre in the areas of administration and organization and decision-making and oversight. And so a lot of churches say, “Why not just let the teachers teach and let other men take care of oversight of the church?” But that is not God’s design. God wants the teachers to be the overseers because knowledge of God’s word is more important than administrative skill when it comes to decision-making and oversight of the church. That is not to say that management ability is unimportant. God requires that for elders as well. They need to prove their management ability by managing their homes well, so God does require some management ability for a pastor. But by far, the greatest emphasis in Scripture falls on the teaching. In Acts 6, when the Apostles’ administrative responsibilities started to interfere with the Ministry of the Word and prayer, guess which one got delegated – administration and organization. Teaching is the priority. The exhortations for church leaders to be faithful in teaching and preaching in the ministry of the Word are as solemn as they come. When Paul wants to exhort Timothy to be faithful in preaching, listen to how serious his charge is: