So let me invite you to take out your copy of God's Word and turn to James chapter 3.
Here at the beginning of chapter 3, James begins his most significant treatment of the great need to bridle or bring under control our tongues.
This, however, is not the first time he has done so and it will not be the last.
This picks up thematically in this letter.
I amused this week about why this particular topic may have been so prominent in James' mind as he penned this letter.
And while I cannot know with certainty why, perhaps it was because he was keenly aware of his own failure in this matter.
He writes in verse 2 of chapter 3, our text today,
For we all stumble in many ways.
Recall that this James is Jesus' half-brother, the firstborn likely to Mary and Joseph.
So he's most likely the next eldest brother to Jesus.
As when Jesus' brother's names are listed, James is always listed first.
This would have been their tradition.
So he would have grown up underneath his perfect older half-brother.
And with the absence of Jesus, he would have given leadership in their family.
We can read in one occasion in Mark chapter 3, verse 20 and following.
It says,
Then he, Jesus, went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat.
And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying,
He is out of his mind.
Likely, this type of speech is being led by James, the very James that calls Jesus his Lord.
What an astounding picture of God's grace in his life.
Further, he would have grown up under this perfect older brother, Jesus.
Jesus' language would have always been perfect.
He would have spoken when he was meant to speak, and his words would have been timely and true.
He would have been silent when he should have been silent.
He never erred in this way.
Their whole household would have been familiar with Proverbs, like Proverbs 13, verse 2 and 3.
From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life.
He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Jesus would have been the only one to actually abide by this proverb.
James must have been painfully aware of this.
And so he brings a corrective exhortation to the readers of this letter.
He desires that we would grow up into maturity.
And for the first part of chapter 3, he places the use of our tongues center stage in this process of growing into maturity in Christ.
And so we're going to look at the first 12 verses of James chapter 3 over the next two weeks.
For today, we're just going to look at the first two verses.
And Lord willing, Zach Skilling is going to preach those last verses next week.
But I want to read the entirety of verses 1 through 12 for our benefit this morning.
Before I read, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.
James chapter 3, beginning in verse 1.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers.
For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
For 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.
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
Look 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.
So 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.
And 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.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed.
It has been tamed by mankind.
But no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers, these things ought not be so.
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?
Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
I think this is the most concentrated place in the scripture that the tongue is talked about.
Although it is talked about all throughout the Holy Writ.
There's much to be said about how we should and shouldn't use our speech.
The tongue, James tells us, undoubtedly has great power.
Its power is disproportionate to its size.
And some people are given more opportunity to wield this disproportionate power.
To make this point, allow me to highlight for you a great teacher.
One of my favorites, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Spurgeon is considered by many to be one of the greatest preachers since the days of the apostles.
He had preached over 600 times before he was 20 years old.
He has an exceptional mind.
In those pre-radio, pre-television, pre-internet days,
his sermons sold about 20,000 copies a week being translated into 20 languages.
The collected sermons fill 63 volumes,
equivalent to the 27-volume 9th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
It takes up a massive amount of space on a shelf
and stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity.
On average, Spurgeon preached 13 times a week.
I have a hard time pulling off one a week.
The Lord blessed his mind and his ability.
There were no microphones in his day,
so at the Metropolitan Tamarackal, where he most regularly preached,
he projected his voice so that 5,000 people could hear him week in and week out.
In his work called Preaching and Preachers,
sorry, not Preaching and Preachers,
a lecture to my students that was written to students of their pastor school,
he said,
we need not thin-chested fops.
This is why.
We need to be able to project our voices.
You can look up what the word fop means later.
He oversaw the training of 863 pastors
and aided in the planting of 200 churches in Britain alone,
and many, many missionaries went to the ends of the earth, right?
A man who had great influence as a teacher, right?
Who used the ability to speak,
to do wonderful things for the glory of God.
In juxtaposition, the world's had many terrible,
although influential leaders.
Men like Jim Jones,
who in the 70s founded the People's Temple.
In an effort to start a utopian society,
the People's Temple purchased land in Jonestown, Guyana.
But this effort ended in the coerced and forced suicidal deaths
of 909 members, right?
He did this with words.
This is how this came to pass.
And just as an interesting note,
this incident is where the phrase,
don't drink the Kool-Aid, comes from.
But they bought an off-brand called Flavor Aid.
It wasn't actually Kool-Aid at all.
All of this accomplished with the tongue, right?
Great good in the case of Spurgeon.
Great evil in the case of Jones.
And we could spend our day giving examples
of those who have spoken for the glory of God
and the good of people,
and those who have spoken for their glory
and the degradation of people.
This goes on to our day.
So let's consider James 3, verse 1 and 2
in a simple two-point outline.
Number one, the caution.
And number two, the reasons, plural,
the reasons for the caution.
So firstly, see a caution.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers.
You may recall that James is writing
to Jewish followers of Jesus Christ.
As Jews, they would have inherited a high view
of gathered worship and rabbinical teaching.
This is what would have happened weekly in the synagogue.
In fact, the title rabbi means my great one.
Kent Hughes, in his commentary on this text, writes,
rabbis were accorded the greatest respect.
One's duty to help a rabbi exceeded even their duty
to help their parents.
In fact, should a rabbi and one's father and mother
be captured by an enemy,
duty demanded that the rabbi be ransomed first.
It was considered meritorious to take a rabbi in
and provide for all of his needs.
They would have inherited this type of thinking.
In Matthew 23, verse 5 and following,
Jesus rebukes the rabbis for seeking this kind of praise.
He says,
they do all their deeds to be seen by others.
For they make their phylacteries broad
and their fringes long religious garb.
And they love the place of honor at feasts
and the best seats in the synagogues
and greetings in the marketplaces
and being called rabbi by others.
And the problem seems to be
that much of this acclaim granting to teachers
had made its way into the Christian church.
Now take a look back at chapter 1 with me
just briefly, beginning in verse 16.
Here James writes, beginning in 16,
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
It's from God coming down from the Father of lights
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Of his own will, he brought us forth
by the word of truth.
That we should be a kind of first fruits
of his creatures, right?
So there's this theme being picked up here
of us being saved by God's word.
And then he says, verse 19,
Know this, my beloved brothers,
let every person be quick to hear,
slow to speak, slow to anger.
For the anger of man does not produce
the righteousness of God.
Therefore put away all filthiness
and rampant wickedness
and receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word
and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves, right?
And he goes on to expound upon that
faith without works in chapter 2, right?
So notice in the middle of that,
this exhortation to be quick to hear,
slow to speak, slow to anger
is set between this idea being presented
that we are saved by the word
and that we are to continue by the word.
So it seems that something was happening
in the life of these churches
that he's writing to.
And I would suggest to you
that they were jockeying for position, right?
That they were trying to be heard
and that they weren't listening.
That they were becoming angry as a result.
So some of the reason that he continues
to pick up this theme throughout this letter
to guard our tongues
becomes a bit more apparent.
And this problem has persisted
in the church to our day.
Many men seeking platforms
for their glory,
not for the glory of God
and the good of the church.
An example,
this is not a thing new to our day.
Richard Baxter was a Puritan.
This is on your bulletin.
He said,
of all the preaching in the world
that speaks not stark lies,
I hate that preaching
with tended to make the hearers laugh
or to move their mind
with tickling levity
and affect them as stage players used to do
instead of affecting them
with a holy reverence
of the name of God.
Right?
Baxter is noticing in his day
that there's a type of preaching
that brings praise to men
and not praise to our great God.
And I think this is what James
is warning against in chapter one.
And then we pick that up again
at the beginning of chapter three.
So I do believe that James
is trying to dramatically limit
how many teachers we have in the church.
I don't think he's working
to cut the number way down.
In fact, I would say
the church needs more teachers.
We need men who will faithfully
handle the word of God
for the glory of God
and the good of his people.
Right?
We need to contend for the faith
once for all delivered to the saints
and we need to do it together.
Right?
We need more of this.
It is a great effort
of the ministry of any faithful church
to train up teachers
both to stay
and then continue that ministry
to the very ends of the earth.
Paul encourages
in 1 Timothy chapter three
and verse one,
the saying is trustworthy.
If anyone aspires
to the office of overseer,
reading their elder or pastor,
he desires a noble task.
Many have used this passage
in James chapter three
to make a case
for the solo pastor, right?
The extremely educated,
extremely gifted.
But we believe
that the faithful church
will have plurality leadership
or at very worst
be striving for
a group of men
that can faithfully
teach the word.
We believe this
because we see
the titles given
for the teachers
of the churches
of the New Testament
given in plural.
I would encourage you
if you're not so sure
about this plurality leadership thing
to search the New Testament
and look for all the places
that these titles are given.
They are given in plural.
One example,
Titus 1.5,
Paul writes to Titus,
this is why I left you in Crete
so that you might put
what remained into order
and appoint elders
in every town
as I directed you.
These churches
needed elders still
and Titus is to go about
this work
of finding these men
qualified by God.
Today,
we are installing
a new teacher
for our congregation,
T.J. Fisher,
who, to be clear,
has been serving you
as an elder
for quite some time,
but we like to do
these formal things
where we recognize
these individuals formally.
It's an installation.
Some people might call it
an ordination.
The caution for T.J.
in this text
is not
to be a teacher
for fame.
That's the caution here.
T.J. ought not be hearing this
and going,
I think I need to
jump out a window.
But that he would come
with the proper attitude
to the work.
To not seek a platform
for the sake of his own name,
but rather for the sake
of the name
of Jesus Christ.
To recognize
that we will be judged
for everything that we say
and that the teacher
is given
more opportunity
to say things
that will be heard
and heeded.
And this is James
caution
that we approach
the task
with humility,
with great care.
Jesus died
for the church.
You are precious
and need to be cared for
with the teaching
that is provided.
So that's
the caution,
right?
I don't want you
to hear James saying
this church needs
to get massive
and I'm going to be
the only person
who teaches.
Praise the Lord.
That is not
the case.
What he's saying
is that there's a way
in which we ought
to approach the task
of teaching,
but to be clear-minded
about what it means
for us to be teachers.
And so,
secondly,
he gives three reasons
for the caution.
Three reasons
for the caution.
first,
divine judgment.
It says in the last part
of verse one,
for you know
that we who teach
will be judged
with greater strictness.
Why might a teacher
be judged
with greater strictness?
Because the teacher
has been entrusted
with this role
of teaching,
right?
It's a valuable,
it's a precious task
to take up.
Jesus says in Luke 12,
48,
the last part of it,
everyone to whom
much was given
of him,
much will be
required.
And from him
to whom they entrusted
much,
they will demand
the more.
So,
we'll be judged
with a greater strictness,
but this judgment
is not an absolute
and eternal judgment.
Praise be to God
that teachers also find
their acceptance
before him
and the person
and work
of Jesus Christ.
I'm thankful
that the eternal state
of my soul
depends not on
my success
or failure
as a teacher,
but on the completed,
perfect,
sufficient work
of Jesus Christ.
But,
we will give
an account
for everything
that we do
and everything
that we say,
just like
everyone
will.
But in this case,
the place
that's given
to us
is to affect
others,
to bring about
change for
good
or possibly
for evil.
people.
So,
we ought to be
careful
with our words,
whether in public
or in private,
whether we're
carrying out
a teaching task
or talking
in between.
We ought to be
humble
and quick
to repent
if we err,
always valuing
the truth.
I have said
many times
that I desire
to be true
and consistent.
I really want
to be both.
I want to be
true all the time.
Right?
But if I ever
have to choose
one,
I will choose
the truth.
Right?
I'm not going to
double down
on a falsehood.
Just admit
that I'm wrong
and keep us
moving together
in the right
direction.
It is a fearful
thing to open
up God's word.
Many of you
do this
in various ways,
week in
and week out
and we ought
to always
approach it
with a sense
of trembling.
I have said
that the Sunday
that I stop
trembling
to open up
God's word
will be the last
Sunday I preach
God's word.
Right?
May God always
work in those
who teach his word
a humility,
a reverence
for the task
that we have
before us
because we
will be
judged.
James says
the greater
strictness
because it
has an
effect
on God's
people,
the people
that Jesus
bought
with his
blood.
The second
reason for
the caution
is our
proclivity
to sin.
He says
in the beginning
of verse 2,
for we all
stumble
in many
ways.
As I mentioned,
James seems
to be aware
of his
own
proclivity
to sin
and we
should not
think
ourselves
above this.
We are
in our
flesh
naturally
inclined
towards sin
and not
away
from it.
If we
ever do
anything
of any
merit
whatsoever,
it is a
great work
of the
grace of
God
in our
hearts.
If we
do
anything
that will
be
acceptable
before him
it's
because
he has
worked
in
us
and so
we
ought
not
arrogantly
aspire
to
position
of
teacher.
You
ought
not
think
so
much
of
yourself
that
you
think
you
ought
to
be
leading
others.
It is a
prerequisite
to become
an elder
in this
church
that you're
humble.
If I
were to
ask
a man
in our
church
to consider
the task
of being
an elder
and he
said
yeah
great
I'd
love
to
do
that
I'd
go
well
maybe
not
stop
for a
moment
and
think
I
want
men
who
go
oh
I
don't
know
because
I'm
very
aware
of
the
fickle
nature
of
my
heart
and
I
want
to
be
the
one
that
comes
to
them
and
says
no
but
you
are
doing
this
you're
already
eldering
you
lead
people
in
the
truth
and
we
want
you
good
those
who
teach
God's
word
are
to
be
surgeons
carefully
employing
it
to
expose
sin
and
to
bring
about
change
we
are
disqualified
from
doing
so
if
we
are
proud
Jesus
in
the
Sermon
on
the
Mount
Matthew
chapter
7
beginning
in
verse
3
said
why
do
you
see
the
speck
that
is
in
your
brother's
eye
but
do
not
notice
the
log
that
is
in
your
own
eye
or
how
can
you
say
to
your
brother
let
me
take
the
speck
out
of
your
own
eye
when
there
is
the
log
in
your
own
eye
you
hypocrite
first
take
the
log
out
of
your
own
eye
and
then
you
will
see
clearly
to
take
the
speck
out
of
your
brother's
eye
a
proud
man
cannot
get up
and teach
God's
word
in a
way
that
removes
the
speck
from
others
eyes
the
perspective
that
Paul
had
Jesus
Christ
came
into
the
world
to
save
sinners
of
whom
I
am
foremost
somebody
comes
to
open
the
word
of
God
to
you
their
teaching
ought
to
be
characterized
by
humility
if it
weren't
for the
grace
of
God
I
would
be
the
greatest
of
sinners
it
is
God
who
has
graciously
worked
in my
heart
he
has
rescued
me
from
myself
and
as
that
position
that
we
come
to
the
word
of
God
with
study
it
carefully
we
ask
you
to
open
it
up
with
us
and
explain
it
to
you
that
it
might
have
the
same
humbling
gracious
effect
in
your
lives
so
we
ought
to
be
careful
about
becoming
teachers
because
we
all
have
a
proclivity
to
sin
and
then
the
last
reason
that
teaching
creates
opportunity
to
sin
he
says
in
the
last
part
of
verse
two
if
anyone
does
not
stumble
in
what
he
says
he
is
a
perfect
man
able
also
to
bridle
his
whole
body
I
have
a
feeling
that
idea
is
going
to
get
picked
up
a
bit
more
next
week
hint
Zach
throughout
his
letter
James
is
aiming
us
at
Christian
maturity
and
he
makes
that
point
here
if
your
speech
is
perfect
then
you
will
be
perfect
we
are
to
be
careful
what
we
say
we
to
be
careful
when
we
speak
we
are
not
doing
that
this
side
of
glory
we
will
fail
in
what
we
speak
he's
not
suggesting
that
this
side
of
glory
we
are
going
to
be
perfect
but
that
we
must
strive
in
that
direction
the
necessity
of
teaching
God's
people
lays
bare
the
heart
of
the
one
who
teaches
it
communicates
what
they
believe
to
be
true
so
it
is
a
task
not
to
be
taken
up
lightly
I
pray
this
prayer
of
David
found
in
Psalm
19
often
when
I
prepare
to
teach
this
is
verse
14
but
the
words
of
my
mouth
and
the
meditation
of
my
heart
be
acceptable
in
your
sight
O
Lord
my
rock
and
my
redeemer
you
see
I
need
to
be
reminded
that
my
words
will
be
judged
but
more
than
that
I
need
to
be
reminded
that
ultimately
I
find
my
security
and
I
find
my
redemption
in
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
and
so
it
is
with
great
humility
the
task
is
taken
up
now
I
know
that
we
have
a
lot
of
young
men
in
the
room
who
are
considering
becoming
ministers
of
God's
word
full
time
even
perhaps
and
we
are
grateful
for
this
I'm
so
glad
for
the
people
the
Lord
has
brought
us
across
the
years
he's
brought
us
many
gifted
!
teachers
he's
brought
us
many
who
have
been
trained
and
have
become
gifted
!
Teachers
!
It's
a
wonderful
grace
for
our
church
I
tell
other
pastors
that
we
have
a
deep
preaching
bench
I'm
glad
for
that
but
I
just
want
to
say
to
you
carefully
consider
whether
or not
you
ought
to
become
a
teacher
at
the
same
time
I
would
say
the
church
needs
teachers
but
recognize
that
it
is
a
weighty
task
that
you
take
up
if
you
find
yourself
able
to
do
other
things
then
open
up
the
word
good
and
true
and
beautiful
then
perhaps
you
should
do
those
other
things
if
you
find
in
yourself
the
inclination
to
want
to
teach
for
your
namesake
and
not
the
sake
of
our
risen
savior
and
lord
perhaps
you
should
do
something
else
pray
that
God
would
work
that
desire
out
of
you
let me
give
a
couple
of
further
closing
applications
number
one
to
everybody
consider
carefully
what
you
say
and
why
you
say
it
and
I'm
sure
again
next
week
we'll
think
together
more
about
this
at
the
age
of
19
and
across
some
time
a
young
follower
of
Jesus
Christ
by the
name
of
Jonathan
Edwards
penned
70
resolutions
there
were
promises
aimed
at
God's
glory
and
his
good
many
of
these
resolutions
concerned
Edwards
use
of
his
tongue
and
I
would
like
to
read
you
just
one
of
them
this
is
resolution
31
he
wrote
resolved
never
to say
anything
at all
against
anybody
but
when
it
is
perfectly
agreeable
to the
highest
degree
of
Christian
honor
and
of
love
to
mankind
agreeable
to
the
lowest
humility
and
sense
of
my
own
faults
and
failings
and
agreeable
to
the
golden
rule
I
just
want
to
take
that
filter
of
Edwards
resolution
and
hold
it
up
to
the
pastor
twitter
verse
he
says
when
I
have
said
anything
against
anyone
to
bring
it
to
and
try
it
strictly
by
the
test
of
this
resolution
is
this
the
way
that
we
tend
to
speak
seasoned
with
salt
for
the
good
of
others
so
consider
carefully
what
you
say
and
why
you
say
it
consider
if
you
ought
to
speak
at
all
sometimes
we
just
need
to
keep
our
mouths
shut
secondly
consider
carefully
as I
said
before
any
aspiration
to
become
a
teacher
I
love
to
speak
with
you
if
you
have
any
desire
to
do
so
and
thirdly
pray
for
your
teachers
it
is a
big
it
is a
weighty
task
it
is
good
for
you
to
recognize
church
that
some
men
step
into
this
fray
they
do
it
willingly
recognizing
that
they'll
be
judged
with
a
greater
strictness
go
to
the
word
of
God
trembling
!
before
it
and
we
don't
do
it
with
perfection
but
I
want
you
to
know
that
there
is
not
a
person
that
steps
on
this
stage
that
doesn't
love
you
dearly
that
doesn't
honor
and
worship
God
and
doesn't
want
good
for
you
so
pray
for
your
teachers
and
let's
pray
together