Barry Metz08/27/17

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Taming the Tongue

James 3:112

Six and a half male tongues (7 female tongues) weigh about a pound.[footnoteRef:1] Let me let that sink in. Research has revealed that there are few places more infested with harmful bacteria than the human mouth[footnoteRef:2] (and the top of our 2-3 ounce slab of mucous membrane as Chuck Swindoll calls it[footnoteRef:3] is a particularly virulent breeding ground). Supposedly more than 100 million microscopic critters live in our mouth. In fact as recent as the late 90s, one microbiologist/immunologist found evidence of 37 unique bacteria in the human mouth that microbiologists had never before recorded.[footnoteRef:4] [1: A male tongue weighs about 70 grams or .154 pounds] [2: Sermon by Daniel Akin, The Power of the Tongue, James 3:1-12; The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Volume 4] [3: As quoted by Hughes in James, Faith that Works, page 138] [4: From the sermon by Daniel Akin]

Excuse me. (rinse and gargle with mouthwash and spit out)

Would anyone like me to pass this around?

Now the purpose of my illustration was to.gross you out. But more than that it was to set the stage for the words that James uses in our passage this morning in James 3:1-12..Hell say things like, The tongue is a fire.the tongue is a world of unrighteousnessthe tonguestains or defiles our whole bodyand it sets on fire the entire course of our life.

Follow with me as I read verses 1-12

3Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Now it probably goes without saying but James is using the tongue as a stand-in for the larger topic of our speech (sort of like when we use the term wheels as a stand-in for the larger topic of our cars[footnoteRef:5]). [5: Synechdoche, part for the whole]

So whats the big idea for the passage this morning?

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In verse 1, James begins with one of his 49 commands[footnoteRef:6].Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. [6: Akin, Sermon, The Power of the Tongue says there are 54]

Now why does James single out teachers as he begins? And you might be interested to know that some people wonder if in fact this entire passage, verses 1-12, is aimed at teachers in the church. Now why would they wonder that, you ask? Well James uses the word body in verses 2,3, and 6. And you and I are familiar with the idea of using the word body to describe the church; the church is the body of Christ. So the image of a teacher steering a body , a figurative body of Christ with his tongue, with his speech, seems to parallel well a rider using a bit and bridle to steer a horse, or a pilot using a rudder to steer a ship in the direction he wants it to go.

But there are reasons to think that James general focus in these 12 verses is more broader than teachers--very quickly isnt verse 1 directed to any Christian who has a hankering to be a teacher?...and doesnt verse 2 begin, For we all stumble in many ways.?

So I join the school of those who think that whats going on here in these verses is that a concern about people wanting to teach, verses 1-2, leads James into a general warning about the tongue.[footnoteRef:7] [7: Moo]

But why does James command that not many should hanker[footnoteRef:8] to be teachers? Well I think there were some things in his context that were a bit unique. The teaching office in the early church wasnt far removed from the teaching office in the synagogue. And Rabbis (the word Rabbi means my great one)Rabbis had great status and respectif a mans parents and his rabbi were captured by the enemy, duty demanded that the Rabbi be ransomed first[footnoteRef:9] The Talmud relates a story that one year on the eve of the day of Atonement a crowd was escorting the high priest to his home. Having spied two scribes (who taught the word) the crowd left the high priest in favor of them.[footnoteRef:10] So teachers in the first century had status and prestige. And it seems that James believed that too many were seeking the status of the teacher without the necessary moral and intellectual qualifications.[footnoteRef:11] [8: to hanker--feel a strong desire to want to do something] [9: Sermon] [10: Nystrom, page 175] [11: Moo]

But James does give a reason why he urges not many to be teachers. And it has to do with judgment Look at the rest of verse 1for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

In the second half of verse 1, James could either be saying for you know that we who teach--notice he includes himself--will be judged with different, stricter criteria. Isnt it true that to the one who has been given much, much will be demanded?[footnoteRef:12] That seems to be the way the ESV interprets James words. But James could also be making the point that since teaching involves the tongue, the hardest part of the body to be controlled, teachers expose themselves to greater danger of judgment. Because they constantly use their tongue they can sin very easily.[footnoteRef:13] Admittedly the teaching setting provides temptations to every form of evil speech: being proud and dominating students, being angry and petty when ignored; being mean or flattering students[footnoteRef:14] [12: Luke 12:48] [13: Moo] [14: Johnson as quoted in Blomberg, page 153]

Verse 2 explains or gives the basis of verse 1.[footnoteRef:15] 2For we all stumble in many ways. We all make mistakes but more strongly we all sin in many areas. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says[footnoteRef:16], he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. [15: Moo] [16: Sin is universal, and the sins of the tongue are the most difficult to avoid; hence teachers run the greatest risk. (McCartney)]

Now does James believe we can become perfect in this life? No. The word perfect there could mean complete or mature. But lets not miss what James is saying, Bring the tongue under control and the whole self can be guided into well-doing[footnoteRef:17] [17: Richardson,K.A. James. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers]

The tongue controls the rest of the body.[footnoteRef:18] And James is doubtless implying, that since speech sins are the most difficult to stop, if we could stop them, then we could surely stop all the rest.[footnoteRef:19] [18: Blomberg, page 153] [19: Baker and Ellsworth, as quoted by Blomberg, page 153]

One final quote.

So difficult is the mouth to control, so given is it to utter the false, the biting, the slanderous word, so prone to stay open when it were more profitably closed, that the person who has it in control surely has the ability to keep in check other, less unruly, members of the body[footnoteRef:20] [20: Moo]

Now from this point out the passage outlines[footnoteRef:21] nicely [21: Sermon by Alistair Begg]

II. The tongue is small but powerful (vs. 3-6)

3If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

In verses 3-5a ( the first part of verse 5), James makes the point that the tongue is small but powerful for good.

Take a 1000 pound horse, James says, You can make it dance or jump.you can make it obey you by using a very small bit. The rider can guide a horses entire body with a bit and bridle. And we shouldnt miss the fact that the bit goes where? In the horses mouth. And so by controlling the animals mouth, the rider is able to maneuver the whole horse.[footnoteRef:22] [22: Blomberg, page 155]

A horse is half a ton of raw power!, someone has said,Yet, place a bridle and bit in its mouth and a 100-pound woman on its back who knows what she is doing and the animal can literally be made to dance.[footnoteRef:23] A bit in a horses mouth is small, but its powerful for good. [23: Hughes, R. K. (1991). James: faith that works (p. 137). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.]

Look at verse 4.Large ships

even driven b