LESSON #7

The Taming Of The Tongue

James 3:1-12

The average person speaks about 30,000 words per day. There is a lot of talk going on! Think of all the "talk shows" on television and radio. Someone has said that it takes humans two years to learn to talk and fifty years to learn to shut-up! Some people never learn to hold their tongue. An epithet read,

"Just beneath this slab of gray

Lies Eliboba Young

Who on the twenty-fourth of May

Began to hold her tongue!"

Our tongue is the renegade member of the human body. We have more trouble controlling it than virtually every other voluntary organ! Nearly every character that we read about in the Bible struggled with controlling his tongue. Job said, (Job 40:4) "Behold, I am vile; ... I will lay mine hand upon my mouth". Isaiah said (Isa. 6:5) "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." Moses got in trouble with his words. So did Peter. Paul used our words to convince us of our sinful, depraved condition. Rom. 3:13-14 "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." Would you admit that your tongue causes most of your problems? Wherever we look, in the home, in the church, in government, in relationships, most of our problems can be traced back to the tongue.

James includes a long section in his epistle on the tongue. James' point is to express the power and potential of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21 says "life and death are in the power of the tongue." In the first fourteen verses of James 3, he lists five compelling reasons for us to control our tongue.

Reason #1 - Because Of Its Potential To Condemn, 3:1-2a.

These two verses speak of the judgment of those in teaching positions. The Greek word for "master" refers to a school master, or, in other words, a teacher. James does not want anyone to embark upon a teaching ministry in the church without a sense of the seriousness involved, with little or no thought of the implications. Many might desire the prominence, authority, and honor that goes with teaching but give little or no thought to the responsibility that goes with it. James wants his readers to restrain from rushing recklessly into the role of a teacher. Why? Because it is a much more serious matter to sin with your tongue in public than in private. The potential for condemnation is far greater for a public speaker. Teaching is a position of greater accountability. There are so many ways in which our words can "offend" (Literally, this Greek word means "to cause to stumble; to trip" - it is translated that way in Romans 11:11.) If your teaching causes someone to stumble in their walk with Christ, there is a greater judgment because the consequences of your sin is more far-reaching.

Reason #2 - Because Of Its Potential To Control, 3:2-5.

According to verse 2, our speech has the power to demonstrate our true spiritual condition, see 1:26. Jesus said that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." Our words, then, are the table of contents to our heart. You demonstrate your spiritual maturity and your self-control by learning to bridle your tongue. Think about this: Satan is not omniscient (all-knowing). Thus, he is not able to know our thoughts unless we express them in audible words, see I Kings 8:39. Once we express them, Satan has a point at which to attack and tempt us. No wonder the wise man said, "a fool uttereth his whole heart" (Proverbs 29:11).

James uses some good illustrations to show us of the power which the tongue has to control our life. Like the bits in the horses mouth (v. 3) or the rudder in a ship (v. 4) a small instrument has a great potential for control. Indeed the tongue is small but very mighty (v. 5a). See also Proverbs 13:3, Matthew 15:11; I Peter 3:10.

Reason #3 - Because Of Its Potential To Corrupt, 3:5b-6.

These verses are an exclamation of the tongue's potential for destruction. Great fires have been started when small flames were left uncontrolled. See Proverbs 11:9; 12:18; 16:27; 26:20-21. Verse 6 contains one of the strongest statements in the Bible on the perilous nature of the tongue. The tongue is the outlet for human sinfulness. It defiles the whole body and infects the world around us. The tongue is fueled from hell! It has great destructive power.

Reason #4 - Because Of Its Potential To Contend, 3:7-8.

Nature's most frightening and vicious animals have been tamed (v. 7). Lions and tigers and bears and snakes and whales all have been tamed. James lists the basic classification of animals: those that walk, fly, crawl and swim. But no man can tame the tongue! It is dangerous (unruly), depraved (evil) and deadly (full of deadly poison). Even a believer's tongue gets out of the cage and reeks havoc on humanity from time to time. It sounds utterly hopeless. But James doesn't say that the tongue cannot be tamed, only that no man can tame the tongue. Only God can tame your tongue.

Reason #5 - Because Of Its Potential To Compromise, 3:9-12.

There is duplicity and hypocrisy in the tongue. The same tongue that blesses God frequently curses those who are made in His image. The same tongue that prays and praises God at church, uses profanity in the workplace. The same tongue that sings also sins. There are so many ways to sin with the tongue: Cursing (see Ecc. 10:20), idle words (see Matt. 12:36), vain words (see Exodus 20:7), lies (see Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 19:5), gossip (see I Tim. 5:13), murmuring (see I Cor. 10:10), evil speaking (see I Peter 2:1), flattery (see Prov 26:28), swearing (see Matt. 5:23-37) and blasphemy (see Mark 3:28-29) to name a few. James illustrates this hypocrisy in verses 11-12. "These things ought not so to be!"

The point is then that true believers will be revealed by their speech.

Psalm 39:1 "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me."

Psalm 141:3 "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

Psalm 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."