James Chapter 3

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Chapter 3 clearly shows that the tongue has the potential to:

1: Condemn James 3:1

2: Control James 3:2-5

3: Contaminate James 3:5-8

4: Contradict James 3:9-12

James 3:1 This verse is clear that teachers of the word will be under stricter judgment. Because they have the power to mislead, take God’s word out of context and to cause others to stumble Matthew 18:6 says better to have a millstone around your neck in the depth of water than to cause one of His to stumble. Have you ever heard someone teach the Bible and you think they are wise, a good and strong believer? Then you observed them in private act unchristian?  Did it cause you to doubt and perhaps even stumble? This is what verses James 3:1-2 is talking about. The teacher is held accountable for the ones they teach. It is an awesome responsibility to realize what we are entrusted with when teaching the word of God in the right way. Teachers of the word will be condemned for the mishandling of the scripture or the misspeaking of doctrine. It is a serious thing when we misrepresent God. There will be instances where it’s done accidentally. Maybe they were tired, under-prepared or simply misspoke. For example when welcoming new visitors what a big difference it would be if the preacher ended with inviting them to come back again and “worship us”:and left out one word “with” meaning to say “worship with us”. Just imagine the scandalous rumors that could cause. Always remember that they are no more perfect than we are. They may be in a position of authoritative leadership but they can make mistakes like anyone else. Don’t make instant judgments, give it a bit more evaluation beyond a misspoken word. We should pray for all who teach and share God’s word. We should pray for ourselves as we teach, witness to others and share scripture. The evil one enjoys tempting those who are God’s children and are teachers of the word. He will use what he knows are our weaknesses. The teachers in positions of authority can fall the same as any of us so they need our prayers. We do sadly see people in leadership roles purposeful mishandling of God’s word. Misrepresenting of doctrine, twisting of scripture. Woe to them as God has made it abundantly clear that they will be strictly condemned and will one day face God’s wrath and judgment. They will be exposed. The tongue can lead a person like a bit in the mouth of a horse leads them. The tongue can cause a person to follow God or cause them to follow off a cliff.

James says if we can control our tongue then we can control our entire body. Think about this for a minute, if we have a problem, sinful habits and want to do better perhaps we can begin with the discipline of controlling the tongue. In principle if we can reign in our tongue, controlling what we speak, how we speak, when we speak perhaps we can then better control the rest of our body, perhaps better control what we struggle with in our bodies as well. It begins with our tongue. Proverbs 13:3 says basically that he who guards his lips guards his life but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. Jumping to Proverbs 13:8 he says no one can tame the tongue. He’s explaining here that by nature our speech will lean toward bad use of it. We can’t fix it by ourselves but God can. We are to strive towards taming of our tongue by seeking God’s help and we are to put in the effort needed to change our speech. Quit excusing it, stop allowing other influences such as cursing when around certain people and places where we may be comfortable to do so. David understood the importance of this when he wrote in Psalms 141:3 “Lord set up a guard for my mouth, keep watch at the door of my lips.”  This should be a scripture we print and put on the fridge, memorize and pray often. 

James 3:2-12 We come to a section here where we tend to think it applies to others but not to ourselves. We have difficulty admitting that we too have used our tongue unwisely and said things we regret. We hate to face reality that we are not always careful with our words and say things we should never let cross our lips. We all stumble with our tongue. We are all guilty of this. Words do matter. A mature Christian should be able to control the whole body. It matters what we say and what we should not say. It matters how you say it and how you meant to say it. It’s not just spoken word that this can be applied to. It’s all forms of communication. In James day of 50 A.D. they relied on the spoken and written word. They didn’t have newspapers, cell phones, Facebook and social media like we do today. So for us today to understand James in proper context we must realize that this applies to all and every form of communication. It applies to talk, text, tweet, Facebook status, comments, email, letters…. Etc. Are we clear? It applies to all forms of communication. 

Jesus tells us clearly in Matthew 12:34-37 how important our words are. We will be justified or acquitted some translations say by our words and also we will be condemned by our words. I recommend you take the time to go read what Jesus had to say on the matter of our words. The first part of that is good news “Justified or acquitted” Romans 10:9-10 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead that you shall be saved” so this is good news when we confess, believe and surrender our life to him, we are saved, justified, acquitted, found not guilty through the blood of Jesus Christ. We come not by just what we believe but by surrendering our life in service to Him. We studied that in James Chapter 2 We learned that we must also connect the dots. Getting saved and going to church doesn’t make us necessarily a mature Christian. We must be fed and eat often on the meat of His word, we must spend time in communication with God, we must daily surrender in service to do our part for building up the Kingdom of God. By our words we will be justified. However, keep reading…

By our words we also bring condemnation onto ourselves. Because words matter and God is listening to our words and even more scary, he is recording and keeping record of our words. We can’t hide anything from Him. In Luke 12:2-3 Jesus also said there is nothing covered or hidden that will not be revealed and not known. What we have spoken in the dark or in private will be heard in the light or publicly. What we’ve spoken in an inner room will be proclaimed on housetops. Wow. In other words God is taking notes even when we whisper in private. A very sobering thought isn’t it? Be aware of what we say, when we say it and how we say it. Maybe that’s why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. He wants us to listen twice as much as we speak. Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying “it is better to keep your mouth shut and people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” James Chapter Three wasn’t James’s first reference to speech, he mentioned it in James 1:19 and again in James 1:26.

Considering what Jesus said in the two passages In Matthew and Luke it’s no wonder that his half brother James is so adamant here warning us about our speech and all communication. James had heard from his half brother Jesus some serious possible consequences due to our words. Imagine the discussions they may have had when James was not a believer. We need to remember that we are not excused when we are upset or angry. Walk off if you must. James and Jesus lived in the same household growing up, like with all families we can assume there were cross words said at times. James has been told by the best teacher ever in history just how important our words are and how we need to tame the tongue because there are consequences for our words. 

The tongue has such power. It can lift a person up or can destroy them. It can go through like fire and wipe out lives. Have you ever known someone that can use their tongue like a weapon? That can yield it like nobody’s business in the harshest way imaginable. They don’t hesitate or have a moment of remorse for what comes out of their mouth like a fiery dragon. Just like a small spark can start a raging forest fire, the smallest thing said can cause tremendous, even sometimes irreparable damage. Just think about it, how many times have you seen bad things said cause division between friends, church members that even destroyed churches, divided marriages, ruined reputations, destroyed business relationships, careers, there are all sorts of situations we can see the tongue has wreaked havoc in lives. James touches on this again in James 4:11-12. Here are a few more references you can look up and note in your Bible 1 Peter 3:10 and Proverbs 4:24.

We use our tongue to bless God and then oftentimes turn around and curse those who have been made in His image. There should not be contradiction in our speech. For example coming to church Sunday morning standing, lifting hands and swaying in praise to God and then go home and curse at a driver that cuts us off in traffic. Maybe curse at a neighbor, person at a store, or our spouse. That is what James is referring to right here in James 3:10-12. As a Christian this should not be. Don’t excuse it, instead change it. Is it difficult if it’s a habitual problem for you? Sure it is. You run to God for help when you are in pain, facing a trial so why not go to him asking for His help in stopping a sinful problem you have. He can you know. Many of us used to curse, maybe years ago, maybe it’s not been so long and through exposure and circumstances it soon became a habit that was almost second nature.. Many of us can give testimony of how when we were saved or for others when we rededicated our life to Jesus after a time where we had fallen away, we immediately felt convicted about our language and asked God to stop us before using bad language and help us to choose other words and to respond in love. Many can testify that God then began to prick our heart every time we would begin to use a curse word. The guilt would then be so overwhelming in our heart. Our thoughts would then go to how God would be displeased and disappointed in us. We don’t want to dishonor Him with foul language. We then began to choose different words. Before long good language habits replaced the bad habits before and therefore we quickly began to control our sinful problem. God will help us if we ask and if we truly want to make the change in our heart which will then change our behavior. None of us are perfect and like in all things we fail but by far many can say God has brought us so far on this matter. 

We need to focus more on our speech and be certain that it is used to glorify God. We need to get rid of things like sarcasm, criticism, gossip, slander, insults (even when used as a joke) those jokes hurt, it’s often not a joke to the person it’s said to or to listeners nearby. Remove also from our speech lying, berating, cursing, manipulating, deceiving. We need to get rid of those things and instead use our mouth to praise, encourage, lift up, inspire, warn, advise, teach, love, comfort, bless, affirm. It’s a choice for us. Ephesians 4:29 says “No foul language should come from your mouth but only what is good to build someone up in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” It is understandable that non believers don’t know any better, it is the responsibility of believers to share the gospel with them hoping first that they become believers and accept the saving grace of God by accepting Jesus into their heart. Then we pray that they seek God’s word for knowledge and to grow into a mature Christian. Till that happens we can’t expect them to act and speak in any other way. 

However as a Christian we should expect a different behavior and for us to at least want to do better. Yes we are still sinners and will fail but we have the Holy Spirit in us. We have the help readily available to us to do better, to be better followers of Jesus. We should know better than to dishonor God with what comes out of our mouths. I am shocked sometimes when having a conversation in church with someone and they don’t even blink or realize that they cursed in the course of the conversation. It was such nature to them that they didn’t flinch or give thought that first they’re in church and second the Pastor was standing right there. Just minutes earlier they were saying Amen and praising God. No one calls them out and yes we all sin in different ways but wow, the fact that they have no self awareness blows my mind. At the same time we must realize that it’s so common to them in their life that they don’t even realize they’re doing it. They have zero accountability that it is wrong. If they would be called out they’d brush it off with quips about they’re not perfect and are sinners like everyone else. They’d also be the one astonished when their child cussed at them and punish the child without an ounce of guilt or remorse for being the source where their child learned it. Undoing bad words in our vocabulary is hard, I get that. Cussing is no different than any other sin, true, but don’t we need to strive toward stopping all sin in our lives? Of course we do. 

James 3:13-18 God’s wisdom. James here is differentiating between heavenly wisdom from God above and earthly wisdom. Essential wisdom from God and demonic wisdom from the earth. Earthly wisdom is when people are wise in their own eyes. Earthly wisdom presents as being envious. What is the difference between envious and jealous? Envy is coveting what someone has or who someone is. Covet is when we yearn to possess or have something. Jealousy is being bitter that a person has it or bitter about who they are. James said that earthly wisdom creates in a person envy and selfish ambition, self seeking in all things. Constantly looking for ways to prosper even if it includes taking advantage of others. Being boastful needing to be known for what you own, what you give and what you do for others and especially what you do for God. James says this behavior is unspiritual and demonic. We can’t pass this off as doing good deeds as a Christian because our reasons for doing it is anything but for God. 

He first describes a person with earthly wisdom who thinks they are wise but is full of envy and is self seeking. A person who is never content, coveting, always trying to get ahead at the expense of other people, they’re making decisions that benefit self over others. James said people may call that wisdom because those people get results. They get ahead, often not by their own work or by putting forth their own effort but by playing on the sympathy and generosity of others to get things handed to them. Taking gifts not as treasures but with thoughts of ways to self prosper. It’s really earthly centered because God is not just concerned with the ultimate destination we try to arrive at but God is also concerned about the journey, about the way we lived. He’s also concerned about how we lived, how we achieved, how we related to people along the way. It’s more important to God than just getting there. Isaiah 5:21 says “Woe to those who consider themselves wise and judge themselves clever.” People can be clever, manipulative, deceptive to get what they want from someone and inch their way to success. People may marvel in their wisdom. They may go on and on being boastful about their possessions and accomplishments. They will often become desperate for accolades and be disappointed and even get angry when it doesn’t come. They will be envious and jealous when others who are truly more deserving are praised and they are not. God is not impressed. This is not wisdom at all. This is not of God. When a person has that kind of earthly wisdom they will have confusion and constantly be in search of peace.

Whereas heavenly wisdom or wisdom that is from above is evident in the lives of people by fruit. James lists eight things that will be on display in the life of someone who has heavenly wisdom. They will be pure, they will be peaceable, gentle, willing to yield or be submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, with impartiality, with sincerity and without hypocrisy. Wisdom from above will manifest itself in these eight ways. A person with earthly wisdom may try to fake Godly wisdom but with the information given to us here in James we should be able to easily spot the difference. James tells us that we should exercise wisdom from above. If these eight things mark your life then you may be walking in Godly wisdom, if not and your behavior and life lines up,more with the person described in earthly wisdom then you need to ask yourself where are you getting your wisdom from. Proverbs 4:7 says “Wisdom is supreme, so get wisdom…” are you asking yourself now how to get wisdom? The answer is back in James 1:5 “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him.” We all need wisdom and all of us can always use more wisdom from above. There is a caution in James 1:6-8. “But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like a surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from The Lord. Being double minded and unstable in all his ways. We are to believe that if we ask that He will give us the wisdom we need. James 3:17-18 show us how we should be if we are living in wisdom from God. Look at your life and your actions honestly. Are they evidence of God’s wisdom?