Introduction - I don’t want to be an alarmist.  Something dangerous lurking around here today.  It’s a fire. A world of unrighteousness. A restless evil. Is set on fire by hell. Stains the whole body. Sets the course of life ON FIRE. Is full of deadly poison. NO PERSON CAN TAME IT!  What is this deadly thing? Let’s read James 3:1-12 to find out. Pray.  

1) Warning Against Becoming Teachers (v. 1)The text says: 1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.  Taken in context, knowing the remaining 11 verses of this passage are all about the tongue, the reason for the warning is clearly because of the stricter judgment for teaching. Certainly, what James is not saying here is that we shouldn’t aspire to be teachers, to teach the Word, to teach in church, etc. When you look at the whole of scripture, that can’t be what it means. Why? Because Timothy tells us to aspire to become an elder, an overseer, and part of that role is teaching, is a good thing. Also, God calls many to become pastors, teachers, apostles, disciples. Teaching is a spiritual gift. So what is James saying then? He’s saying if you use many words, you will be judged by them. You will be held accountable for what you teach. You will be held to a higher standard if you’re in the role of teaching, especially when teaching Scripture. This should be terrifying to those of us who teach.

2) Small Objects Can Affect Large Objects. I have the sense in reading this that James is anticipating an objection from his audience and is countering it by providing evidence. The objection would be, “Come on, James. The tongue is so small, what harm can it do?” James gives two powerful examples of things unrelated to the tongue: The first is of a horse and rider. The second is of a ship. The comparisons are not explicit, but implicit. James is alluding to the fact that like the tongue, the bit we place into the mouth of a horse and the rudder of a ship are able to control these much larger objects. I want to go back to the horse and rider for a moment. I was thinking about this one in particular. When a horse is bridled, that means the rider make the horse turn right or left, gallop, ride faster, or stop. I can’t help but think this is instructive for us. If a horse is bridled, the whole body is under control. James says as much in v. 2  if our tongue is bridled, we should be able to control the whole body. Certainly that would mean the type of language we’re using, and whether to talk at all. If a bit can be put into service to stop the horse, or make the horse move forward, it seems that we should have similar control with our words.  For probably most of us, that would mean we would want to probably do a little less talking. I think experience probably teaches us that it’s TALKING that gets us into trouble. That’s fairly obvious, so I won’t belabor the point. Nevertheless, that bridle can mean to cause things to move or not move. So a bridled tongue could mean to speak or not speak. Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us, ⁸ Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.^[c] 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. For some of us, a bridled tongue MIGHT mean we need to USE the tongue rather than keep silent. For some, we’ve just found it’s easier to stay quiet about something we feel deep inside we need to not be silent about. Illustration from James and Katie Party. Then James changes the argument from general – that small things can steer larger things—to comparing the tongue to a FIRE. Not just a fire, but a small fire that can burn down an entire forest. You get the sense that James is really wanting to paint a picture. What happens in a fire? It causes serious  destruction. It causes harm. It is extremely dangerous to all that is around.

Awful Rhyme We Teach Kids. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. False. Flies in the face of both reality and scripture. James is making a comparison to words being like a FIRE! Fire not only harms, but it can kill! So that little song people like me were taught when we were kids? It’s garbage. Get rid of it. Let’s look at what God, through Solomon says about it. Proverbs 18:21 – Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 12:18 says, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Danger of Words. Discuss Reckless speech. Reckless – Mens Rea. General explanation of mens rea in criminal law. Example of a Specific Intent Crime (juxtaposition of recklessness). Explain Recklessness. Lit Cigarette out the window. Reckless speech - Heart check.  But there is FLIPSIDE to that verse. Proverbs 12:18 says, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Example of Former Church Member. Watch the healing happen with an apology. It gave LIFE to her. Okay so can we put to bed that lie of stick and stones? Words are a dangerous thing. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The tongue is a fire – how great a forest fire can be set ablaze by it? Reckless words pierce like a sword. So what can we do about it?

3) We Cannot Tame the Tongue.  Every kind of beast has been tamed by man. Shamu as example. So James is telling us that yes, every animal can be tamed by humans, but we cannot tame the tongue. So do we throw in the towel? Should we just spew out whatever we want? No! James says it shouldn’t be this way! We’ll get there. Just be patient. We cannot tame the tongue.  Look back at verse 8. It says “no man can tame the tongue.” Praise the Lord it doesn’t say the tongue cannot be tamed. There is something to be said for the fact that we cannot tame our own tongue. More on this later – Hang Tight. The Tongue Reveals - Last week, Thom took us through the end of James 2. We were reminded that we are saved by grace through faith. But there should be an outpouring of works that shows we are saved. In other words, if we are followers of Christ, it should be evident to others. There’s an idea here that we need to pay attention to. James is telling us our tongues can also reveal. [Jas 3:9-12 ESV] 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.  Our speech indicates the nature of our heart. And that is something James very likely heard his brother, Jesus, say. Matthew records these words from Jesus - [Mat 12:33-37 ESV] 33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Jesus and James are locked arm in arm here saying this to us: The heart reveals what is inside of it through your words. Colloquialisms examples. Educational examples. 

The heart reveals what is inside of it through words.  We reveal ourselves through our speech. Speech in intimate relationships. He’s saying, look back at verse 9: With this same mouth, we end up blessing God and yet we curse those who are made in the image of God. James is concerned about what we say and to whom we say it. There’s good reason for that. James grounds the objection in the Imago Dei. God created us to be eternal beings, made in God’s likeness. In The Weight of Glory S. Lewis put it like this: "It is a serious thing to...remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors."  So How Is Any of this good news?

4) This IS Good News.  The tongue is a fire and it’s dangerous. We can’t tame the tongue. When my tongue is out of control, that means something is going on inside that needs attention. Gospel Presentation. 

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