Week 6 - The Book of James
As Christ
followers, Jesus is Lord over every area of our lives, and this includes our
words. Because we have been saved by Jesus, our words should reflect our new
nature in Christ. We must understand that our words are powerful and revealing.
What we say can tear down or build up, bring life or bring pain. How we speak
and what we say reflects the condition of our hearts.
James
3:1-12
Not many of you
should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be
judged with greater strictness. 2 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. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they
obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 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. 5 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! 6 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. 7 For every kind of beast
and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by
mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full
of deadly poison. 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.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), James 3:1-12.
Study Notes
In this passage,
James reveals the destructive nature of a seemingly small part of our lives.
This small part, however, can produce ruin and may represent the presence of a
vast system of iniquity within our body. Within this body the tongue can
produce three results. First, it can corrupt the whole person. It is a source
of pollution and defilement for the entire personality. Second, it sets the
whole course of life on fire. Course may also mean “wheel.” Life may refer to
“birth,” “origin,” or “existence.” A misused tongue may affect the cycle of
life from birth onward! Third, the tongue is itself set on fire by hell. This
describes Satan’s influence on the tongue.
Your Words are Powerful
Without thinking
for very long, you can probably come up with several examples of things you
wish you hadn’t said. Likewise, you can probably remember other times when
someone has encouraged you and given you strength. Our words have the power to
bless and to curse.
James used two
analogies to emphasize the tongue’s power to control. James said speech is like
small bits in the mouths of large and powerful horses. A horse obeys the
rider’s commands because of the bit in the horse’s mouth. With the bit attached
to the bridle and the reins, the rider makes the horse obey. Controlling the
mouths of horses controls their heads, which gives the rider power to guide the
whole animal.
James also likened
the control of speech to a small rudder that turns a large ship. Compared to
the overall size of a ship, the rudder is small, yet has the power to steer the
much larger vessel wherever the will of the pilot directs. Like the bit in the
horse’s mouth and the rudder on a great sea-going vessel, the tongue has great
power to control the rest of the body.
Your
Words are Revealing
Words have the
power to give pleasure and delight to the one listening. Someone once said,
“Words are the window into the soul.” A wise old man said, “What’s in the well
comes up in the bucket.” Words reveal what’s in our hearts. The point
of this section is what we hear from the Lord should change and shape the way
we speak.
If Jesus is Lord of all, He is Lord of our words. We are called to use our
words in a way that gratifies and brings honor to Him. We are to encourage and
correct one another with gentleness, love, and respect. The issue is we have no
ability to control our own tongue. Only when our tongue is mastered by the Holy
Spirit, do our words become life-giving and delightful.
God shows us our
responsibility to speak the truth in love, taking the gospel to our neighbors
and the nations. When authentic faith is present, words are used to draw people
to Christ.
Questions
for Discussion
How have you
personally felt the destructive power of words? When have you hurt someone with
your words?
How have you
personally felt the power of words to bless? When have you blessed or comforted
someone with your words?
What type of speech
do you struggle with most (gossip, judgmental, sarcastic, jealous, prideful,
etc.)?
How do your words
reveal sin, fear, lack of faith, or other issues in your heart?
How do you respond
to the fact that you can’t tame your tongue - does that make you feel helpless
or does it free you up? Explain.
How does submission
to the Spirit help us control our words?
Who
can speak into blind spots within your speech?
END
Last week, James
said that our actions prove our faith and are more important, at times, than
what we say. We don’t just say we have faith; we show it by our actions.
James was not
implying that our words are unimportant. On the contrary, this week he says
that our words are very important.
What did you do to
my sign?
I wrote the same, but
different words.
What made
her words more effective?
James 3:1-5a
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 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. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 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. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
James warned that
although it is good to aspire to teach, the teachers’ responsibility is great
because their words and example affect others’ spiritual lives.
Believers today
don’t pay much attention to sins of the tongue — gossip, slander, lying,
exaggeration.
Perhaps it’s
because we so mindlessly commit these “respectable sins” that we don’t regard
them as seriously as we do sins such as adultery or drunkenness.
Billy Graham says,
“The problems of
the world could be solved overnight if men could get victory over their
tongues. Suppose there was no anger, no profanity, no lying, no grumbling or
complaining; suppose there were no dirty stories told, no unjust criticism —
what a different world this would be!”
James says that a
man who can control his tongue can control his whole personality.
James 3:5b-8
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 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. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Here James compares
the damage the tongue can do to a raging fire – and he says that the tongue’s
wickedness has its source in hell itself.
Satan uses the
tongue to divide people and pit them against one another.
Every human being
is born with a wicked heart and an evil sin nature. Lurking within each of us
are varying degrees of hatred, bitterness, jealousy, and pride, and the tongue
takes hold of these and other destructive tendencies and strikes out, often with
a push from Satan.
We see this every
day among strangers, friends, siblings, and, worst of all, among husbands and
wives, the very people who, next to their love for Jesus, should have the most
love for each other.
What you say and
what you don’t say are both important.
Proper speech is
not only saying the right words at the right time, but it is also controlling
your desire to say what you shouldn’t.
James says no human
being can tame the tongue.
How do you respond
to that?
Does it make you
feel helpless or does it free you up?
James 3:9-12
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.
James says our
contradictory speech can often puzzle us.
At times, our words
are right and pleasing to God, but at other times they are violent and
destructive.
Maybe we are
focusing on the
wrong organ!
James says,
the tongue gives us
a picture of our basic human nature.
Matthew 12:34 says,
“Whatever is in
your heart determines what you say.”
Our mouths just
reveal what we’re really like inside.
Rick Warren once
said, sometimes I hear people say something mean or unkind, and then they say,
“Oh, I don’t know what got into me. That’s not like me.”
If not, Rick Warren
says, you do still need surgery but it’s on another organ – he says you need a
heart transplant. You need a new heart!
David says in Psalm
51:10,
“Create in me a
pure heart, O God,
and renew a
steadfast spirit within me.”
Billy Graham says,
We should ask ourselves three questions before we speak:
Is it true?
Is it kind?
Does it glorify
Christ?
There is only One
who can control the tongue.
Only by God’s
Spirit living within us can we hope to gain control over our tongues.
He convicts us when
we sin with our lips, and that conviction drives us to repent and pray for more
filling of the Spirit so we can avoid further sin. As we cling to Him and yield
to Him in obedience, He controls us more and more, including our tongues.
As Christ
followers,
Jesus is Lord over
every area of our lives, and this includes our words. Because we have been
saved by Jesus, our words should reflect our new nature in Christ.
We must understand
that our words are powerful and revealing. What we say, what we post, and what
we write can tear down or build up, bring life or bring pain.
All of this
reflects the condition of our hearts.
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