James 3:1-12
Taming the Beast—Our Tongues
In the summer of 2002 there were two large wildfires, one in Colorado and the largest wildfire ever in Arizona. These were massive wildfires that burned over 600,000 acres. That is an area slightly larger than all of Vernon County. Just imagine if every single acre in Vernon County was burned to the ground. The cost to extinguish the fire is estimated at greater than $50 million and may cost $150 million to restore the scorched land. Wildfires are not uncommon in the dry summer months, but both of these fires were intentionally started by two people. The fire in Colorado was started by a park ranger who was burning a love letter from her estranger husband. The larger fire in Arizona was started by an out of work firefighter who hoped to make some money fighting the fire that he started. He was recently sentenced to ten years in prison. The Arizona fires were started when a wooden match ignited the dry grass. One small spark did all of that damage.
James
compares the tongue to a spark that ignites a forest fire. In a short twelve
verses James uses six different illustrations to warn of the dangers of a tongue
that is not under control. Indeed, he says the tongue cannot be tamed—it is a
wild beast that defies taming—the tongue is a serpent that spews deadly venom.
James wants to make it perfectly clear that the tongue is dangerous, but that it
is a vital part of the Christian life. Some people like to keep their money and
their Christian faith separate—like in this cartoon. If we could replace this
man’s wallet and instead have him sticking his tongue out of the water then it
would represent many of us. God, I believe in you, I’ll come to church—I’ll even
give you some money—but you can’t have my tongue.
God wants our tongues. God wants to sanctify our tongues, our speech, our words, and bring them under the control of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it is difficult, nearly impossible in our own strength, but unless we are willing to tell God that our tongues are off limits to his control, we need to learn to tame this beast called our tongues.
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
James begins this section with a warning to teachers, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. This principle has many applications to Christian leaders and teachers, but in this context James is warning of the use of the tongue in speech by teachers. If you are a leader and you misuse your tongue you will be judged more strictly than if you were not a leader. With leadership comes more authority but also more responsibility. Did you hear about the incident in California? Richard Riordan is formerly the mayor of Los Angeles and currently the Secretary of Education for the State of California he was at public library for a summer reading program in early July. A 6-year-old named Isis, asked Riordan if he knew her name meant "Egyptian goddess." Riordan replied, "It means stupid dirty girl." Also, did you hear the problem that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has with his tongue? At a public rally he was accusing the democrats in the California state legislature of delaying the budget by catering to special interest groups so he called them “girlie men” These men are leaders and what they say carries more weight.
You may not think that this applies to you since you are not a teacher or leader, but certainly this would apply to a parent. The words we say to our children carry immense weight in their eyes. Do we use shame and guilt? Do we yell at them or demean them in any way? Basically, are we in control of our tongues as parents? When you are with your children does your tongue turn into an untamed beast or is it under control? This verse most definitely applies to all parents—we will be judged more strictly for what we say and how we say it.
But you do not have to be in any kind of leadership position to have trouble with your tongue. If the tongue is a spark that ignites a forest fire, how many wildfires in our marriages have been set aflame by our careless words? Let’s suppose your spouse throws a verbal spark at you—what are your options? You can either add fuel to the fire and snap back with your own verbal firebrand, or you can extinguish the spark with a kind, calm word. We are pretty good at starting verbal fires but we forget that we can throw water on a verbal spark if our tongues are being tamed by God.
The potential for harmful words extends to every relationship. One commentator said it this way, “There are few sins people commit in which the tongue is not involved”. (EBC, p. 187) I checked this out for myself and did a quick run through every list of sins in Paul’s letters. Now these are by no means all of the sins which Paul refers to—these just come from five or six of his long lists in his letters. I combined all of these lists and then tried to categorize them into related groupings. Here are my results.
Idolatry: ungodly, sinful, unholy, irreligious, idolatry, witchcraft, God-haters
Harmful: envy, murder, thieves, greedy, drunkenness, slave traders
Rebellion: disobey their parents, senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless, lawbreakers, rebels
Sexual sins: adulterers, homosexual offenders, sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, orgies, perverts
As we read through the list so far most of us are probably patting ourselves on the back. We mentally check these things off of the list—“I haven’t killed anyone, stolen anything, practiced witchcraft, I’m certainly not a slave trader, I’m not homosexual and I have never been to an orgy. Hey, I’m doing pretty good!” But then we get to the list of sins of the tongue.
Sins of the tongue: deceit, malice, gossips, slanderers, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, liars, perjurers, insolent, arrogant, boastful, swindlers, hatred, discord, jealousy, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, strife, malice
Now maybe we are not guilty of all of these things, but as James said in verse two, We all stumble in many ways. Sins of the tongue are pervasive. Gossip is a big one on this list, isn’t it? Would you agree that gossip is one of the most common sins among Christians? We are curious by nature. We love to hear a bit of exciting news and then we love to spread this important news as if we had invented a cure for cancer. We like to be the center of attention.
I will never forget one bizarre incident of gossip. I was standing in line at a funeral home to see a member of our church whose father had passed away. Another church member saw me and in the conversation asked me if I knew about the health status of another woman in our church. This other woman had recently had a medical procedure done that was not public knowledge, but this woman was determined to find out. I said to her, “You’ll have to ask her yourself.” Do you think she was satisfied with my answer? No! Hoping to trick me into giving her the answer next she said, “She had a hysterectomy, didn’t she?” So I repeated the same thing again, “You’ll have to ask her yourself.” The woman in question gave birth to her first child about a year later so I guess this woman finally learned something. By the way, did you know that the sin of gossip is listed in Romans one alongside the sin of homosexuality? We say—“how can anyone be a Christian and also be a practicing homosexual?” We should also ask—“how can anyone be a Christian and also be a practicing gossip?” God takes the sin of gossip very seriously.
Here is a good rule of thumb in regard to gossip and its second cousin, criticism. First ask, Is it true? If you don’t know, then don’t dig around for an answer like the woman in the funeral home. Second question, Is it necessary? Is this important enough to share? Will I build up or tear down if I share? Third question, Do I have permission to share it? Would you share it if the person were standing next to you? Fourth, if there is a genuine concern, have you gone directly to the person to talk about it? Maybe you don’t have a problem with gossip yourself, but would you say it is your responsibility to stop gossip in its tracks?
James gets to the heart of the problem in v.9, With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. Do you see the fundamental issue here? How is it possible to praise God with tongues and then use those same tongues to curse or criticize one of God’s children, created in his image? In chapter one James warned about being double-minded—having a split soul that doubts God while trying to believe him. Here he is giving a warning about being double-tongued. Have you heard of the latest rage—tongue splitting? People actually choose to have their tongues surgically divided down the middle—a most disgusting practice as you can see from this picture. May I suggest that this picture is no more disgusting than what we do with out own proverbial tongues. Using our God-given instruments of speech to give praises to the Most High God. Using our words and songs to tell of our love and his greatness, then gossiping on the way home about other church members. As James said—this should not be!
Why
do we continue to engage in such duplicity? James gave the answer in v.11,
11
Can both
fresh water and salt
water flow from the same spring? 12
My brothers,
can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring
produce fresh water. Pure water cannot come from a salt spring just
as pure speech cannot come from a pure heart. The problem is not with our
tongues, the problem is with our hearts. Jesus said the exact same thing in
Matthew, What goes into a man’s mouth does not
make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him
‘unclean.’”
Sins of the tongue are a symptom of other problems—pride,
anger, fear—just to name a few. The beastly tongue can never be tamed unless
these root issues of the heart are flushed out and dealt 
with.
The solution is not to simply try harder. Trying harder only leads to
frustration. The solution is to realize that as Christians we are not salt
springs that only produce undrinkable water, but because of grace we are pure
springs. God’s purifying gift of salvation has cleansed us from all impurities.
So if sinful speech comes forth from our mouth it is as ludicrous as salt water
coming from a fresh spring. We don’t realize the depth of our salvation so we
continue to act as if we are not clean.
Does anyone know the famous hymn by John Newton? Newton wrote Amazing Grace—perhaps the most famous hymn in the English language. Newton had been a slave trader and that is one of the reasons he wrote—Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. He had an amazing turn around in his life that many historians take to be his conversion. But during this time he still served as the captain of a slave trading ship. Many people have wondered how a truly born-again Christian—what James would call a fresh water spring—could still work in the slave trade. John Newton’s own answer to this question is that he was not yet saved. Here are his own words.
“I was greatly deficient in many respects. I was in some degree affected with a sense of my enormous sins, but I was little aware of the innate evils of my heart. I had no apprehension of…the hidden life of a Christian, as it consists in communion with God by Jesus Christ: a continual dependence on him…I acknowledged the Lord's mercy in pardoning what was past, but depended chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come…I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word) till a considerable time afterwards." (http://www.desiringgod.org/library/biographies/01newton.html)
He believed God has forgiven the sins of his past, but for any future sins and growth he “depended chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come”. Compared to the rough way he lived prior to this time, he cleaned up his life in many ways. He was reading the Bible regularly and praying—he was changed in so many ways, but in looking back he did not consider himself to be a believer. He had not yet been transformed by the amazing Grace of God. He was trying harder but getting nowhere. Simply trying harder is a sure recipe for failure. You couldn’t save yourself in the first place, what makes us think we can grow in our own strength? Tell God he can have your tongue. Ask him to change it from a forest fire into a fountain of praise of encouragement.
Rich Maurer
August 15, 2004