James
Lesson 10
Oh, That Tongue!
Oh, that tongue! What power is in that tiny little member of our body! As a matter of fact, it has the potential of being a world in itself—a world of iniquity. But, with Jesus Christ, it can be an instrument for good. We want to look at the power of the tongue, and that is what we move into when we move into James 3. We have already done the Observation Worksheet, and we have dug into the tongue. Kay wants to take James 3 and put it into context.
James is talking about a faith that is real, a faith that is genuine. All the way through his epistle, James is showing us what genuine faith is really like. He shows us in chapter one that a genuine faith perseveres when it is tested; it does not continuously fail, but perseveres when it is tested. He shows us at the end of chapter one that a genuine faith is not one that just hears, but it is one that does what it hears. He tells us in chapter one that a genuine faith is a faith that loves and it shows. He starts that when he talks about pure religion and undefiledness [sic], and to visit orphans and widows.
Then, he moves, in chapter two, to not showing any partiality and to walking by the royal law of love. And then, at the end of chapter two, he tells us that a faith that is real has works to prove the genuineness of that faith.
Then, he tells us in chapter three, that a faith that is real is able to bridle its tongue. A faith that is real will show in what the tongue talks about—the wisdom that the tongue has. A faith that is real will have the wisdom that is from above, not a wisdom that is from beneath. As he goes through and shows us those tests of our faith (how we know that our faith is real), he comes to the subject of the tongue. As we go to James 3, he has not begun the topics of the tongue and wisdom. We see the subject introduced in James 1:26
James 1:26 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
He goes on to say at the end of James 2, that if you have a religion that says it has faith and says that it believes, but it has no works, he says what use is that? He is showing us that there is a religion that is worthless and there is a religion that is genuine. If we are like Kay, religion has had a bad connotation because when we think of religion, we think of man’s efforts to please his god, whoever that god may be. We think about different religions of the world, such as the Muslim religion, the Hindu religion, and things like that. But James is not using the word “religion” in that sense; he is using the word “religion” in a good sense. Kay relates how before she was saved, she had a religion, but she did not have a relationship. That is not the way James is talking about it. James is using the word religion in a good sense.
The Greek word for religion [sic] is threskos and it means “to be concerned with the externals of Christian service.” James is not talking about doctrine. We do not hear him discussing propitiation, expiation, justification or the sanctification that happens when we are born again. Instead, we hear James talking about the externals: that which we can see, that which can be demonstrated. He is talking about the externals because the externals demonstrate what is internal.
Today, the problem in the church of Jesus Christ is that there are a lot of people saying that they believe. Kay talks about the letters that she receives. Over and over, what she hears from so many women is that “my husband says that he is a Christian,” but that he verbally abuses his wife, that he is “sleeping around,” or he is never home, or he is out with the boys drinking, he never goes to church or opens his Bible, but he says that he is a Christian. Sometimes Kay gets letters from husbands who write and say, “My wife says she believes, but she is not interested in the things of the LORD. All she wants to do is party. She doesn’t care about the kids; she doesn’t care about the home, etc.”
James is talking about a faith that shows, a faith that is real, a faith that is genuine. He calls it religion because religion has to do with the external services, or the externals of Divine service. James is talking about the externals of Divine service and religion because externals demonstrate internals.
James 1:27 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
“Pure and undefiled religion” refers to “pure and undefiled” service; a pure and undefiled demonstration of something that is internal. Genuine Christianity, “pure religion” puts us in the world, causing us to minister to the world. Kay notes that she is writing a monthly devotional, designed to help people grow in their Christian faith. She tells how she feels that God has burdened her heart to write about America, how it is playing the harlot. As she is writing it, she is paralleling the history of America and the history of Israel. In doing this, what she has seen (studying the history of America) is that Harvard and Princeton, and all those wonderful schools were started by as evangelical outreaches to the world, to the United States of America! The hospitals were built for that! Our Founding Fathers did not have a personal faith in Jesus Christ, but a lot of them had a holy fear of God that people do not have today. What we see is the church, when the church is the church, [is that] it steps out into the world. George Whitfield, who brought revival and the great awakening to the United States of America, came here to establish orphanages. That is “pure religion.” It puts us out in the world; it gives us a burden for mankind, the burden that God has, and it is to visit widows and the fatherless. It puts us out in the world, but it keeps the world out of us. We walk in the world, but we are not of the world. “Pure religion” enables us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. “Pure and undefiled religion” that he speaks of in verse 27 is to put us in the world, to keep the world out of us, and (in verse 26) is to bridle our tongue. If we think we are religious and our religion is genuine, then we will be able to bridle out tongue.
Kay wants to take us through James and show us what he says about being able to bridle the tongue.
James 1:19 19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
If we are not slow to speak, and [are] quick to speak, our tongue might get away from us. But, if we are slow to speak, we can bridle our tongue and bring it under control.
How does anger manifest itself? It can manifest itself in violence. Another way anger manifests itself is by speaking.
James 1:20 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
And then in verse twenty-six, he talks about bridling our tongue.
James 1:26 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
James 3:2a 2a For we all stumble in many ways.
He is not saying that if we are truly a Christian, we will never fail, or fall, or stumble. We stumble in many ways. He is not saying true Christianity never stumbles or loses control of its tongue. He is saying we all stumble in many ways, but
James 3:2b 2b If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
Kay is sure we have noticed that “perfect” is a key word in James. In James 1 he says trials help us to be mature, to be a perfect person. The Greek word for perfect, teleios does not mean “without error,” or “without defect.” It means “to be mature,” “complete,” “coming to Christ-likeness,” “coming to the full stature of a man or woman of God.” In James 1 he talks about us being perfect.
James 1:4 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:17 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
James 1:25 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
James 2:22 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
He is talking about faith coming to maturity. He is talking about a faith that is real, a faith that is genuine. But he is also talking about us having these externals of religion and living in such a way that more of what we are, is more we are Christ-like. More and more we come to the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ.
In James 3:2 he says, “You’re a perfect man, a mature man, a complete man, a Christ-like man if you are able to bridle your tongue.”
James 3:2b 2b If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
James 3:10 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
What comes out is from the well within. What is in our well? Bitter water within, bitter water out here. Sweet water within, sweet water out there.
Kay tells of the biography of Amy Carmichael and how she went to India and God used her to rescue children. She rescued the widows and she rescued the orphans out of the temples where they were used for sexual practices in the worship of their god. It was terrible what they do to those children. She went to India to do this and wrote a book called If. One of the things in essence is this: if a cup is jarred, it can only spill sweet water if that is what it is filled with. She said it more poetically. If one jars a cup, what spills is what is inside. What is spilled from our mouth when we are jarred?
James 3:13 13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
Kay reminds us of James 2:18 and reiterates James 3:13. It is not just what we do, it is not just a religion that does, but it is a religion that speaks according to the wisdom that is from above and not the wisdom that is beneath.
In Psalm 15, he talks about who is going to dwell with God, who is going to live in His Holy Hill, who is going to dwell in His Presence. Kay wants us to watch, very carefully, everything that has to do with speech.
Psalm 15:1-3 1 O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? 2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. 3 He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
In other words, someone might come to Kay, or go to another person and complain about her. That other person is not going to take up that reproach because one does not take up a reproach against a friend. If they do not take up a reproach against a friend, then that person is bridling their tongue.
Psalm 15:4-5 4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.
In other words, if that friend says something with their tongue, their “Yea” is yea and their “Nay” is nay and they do not alter that. They will abide in God’s Holy Hill because they have the tongue under control.
Galatians 5:19-21 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
“Immorality, impurity, sensuality” are really “body deeds.” “Sorcery” means “the use of drugs for magical purposes.” The word [in Greek] is “pharmakeia”. “Enmities” are conflicts. “Practice” in the King James is “do” and the [Greek] word is “prasso” which means “as a habit of life.” Those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at how many of these things have to do with the tongue: strife, enmity, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, and dissensions. All of those are of the tongue.
Kay asks us, “What goes on with your tongue? Are you a peacemaker, or a divider? Do you heal, or do you destroy with your tongue?” If we are a Christian, we are able to bridle our tongue. We know why we are able to bridle our tongue because every Christian has one Resident inside of us, the Holy Spirit, which we get from the New Covenant:
Ezekiel 36:27 27 "And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
To walk in His commandments and keep His statutes is to be able to bridle our tongue. Kay asks us, with the tongue, who is controlling the horse? Who is the pilot steering, or directing the rudder? Who has the reins? Who is the pilot, the steersman who is directing the rudder? Those are two illustrations that James shows for the power of the tongue; its smallness, and its power.
James 3:3 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body as well.
Who directs the horse’s body? We direct [it]. We are able to direct because we have the Holy Spirit in us and He is our power. Kay relates how, when they first came to Tennessee, they received a horse named “Gambler.” She tells how their two young sons rode “Gambler” bare back with reins to control him. They urged her to ride “Gambler” but she was afraid, at first. They told her that all she needed to do was to “get hold of the reins and hold’em tight and you can make “Gamble do anything you want to do.” She discovered she could make the horse do anything she wanted him to do because she was directing that big old horse because she had a bit and a bridle over his very sensitive tongue.