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James had been discussing how that faith without works is dead and of no use. That is you cannot separate true faith from obedience to God's Word. True faith always produces ACTION. If a person claims to have faith, but it does not lead them to obey more of God's Word, then their faith is dead or dormant and has done them no good at all because it's not genuine faith. In chapter 3, James seems to take another side street as all preachers tend to do, and begins to teach on the dangers of the tongue. But the subject of this chapter is actually a continuation of the previous discussion of faith. Faith always produces action, and one of the main areas that demonstrate the genuineness of true faith is a controlled tongue.

Before diving off into the dangers of the tongue, James addresses a situation in the early church that was closely related. The highest social position in the time of Christ was to be given the title of "Rabbi" which means master or teacher. The word "master" here is used in the scholarly sense of the word in that we can get a "masters" degree or the head of a school used to be referred to as "headmaster." It simply means teacher and the New KJV translates it this way. Because great teachers were held in such high regard, there were many people desiring to be known as teachers of the Bible, and in doing so were becoming teachers out of the wrong motives. This was not to say that is someone was called to teach or able to do so, that they should not fulfill that God-given role. But rather we should not desire to be teachers out of a desire for fame, recognition, respect, or money.

Teaching is one of the 5 fold ministry that God has given the church (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers). Every time the list is given (see Ephesians 4:11), pastor is always closely linked with a teacher and God often calls men to fulfill both roles. Such is it in my own life. I am not an apostle. I am not a prophet. I am not an evangelist though at times I've had to step out of my comfort zone and temporarily be used in those ways. I am a teacher by gift and a pastor by calling. My gift of teaching manifested itself gradually in my life by the love that I have for it and my love of study. I became a pastor for the one reason that God spoke directly to me and called me to do so. I assure you, that had God not spoken to me on a Tuesday night about 3 years ago and told me that I was to pastor, I would not have even considered taking this church or any other.

With the role of a teacher comes a great responsibility. In John 9:40-41, Jesus held the Pharisees accountable for their claim that they understood more than others, and taught that they would be held accountable for that claim. In other words, if you are going to teach something, you better live it, because God expects that of you.

As your pastor, I will one day have to give an account to God for everyone that passes through the doors of my ministry. That is a tremendous responsibility that I take very seriously. That is why sometimes I have to preach, teach, or give advice that is not pleasant to everyone, because I have to give the Biblical answer for the situation. I fail sometimes but I try to make it my policy to give scriptural advice, ie. . it doesn't matter what I think about a situation, but let's look at it according to God's Word. When I give an account of you before God, God's not going to care what I thought, He's going to judge my words and actions against His Word. And His Word carries weight. That's why the writer of Hebrews teaches us to obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Why? Because they watch for your souls. A pastor and a teacher are commanded by God's Word to preach the gospel and guard against false doctrine. That is the spiritual equivalent of setting up a fence to protect the sheep. A person that submits to that protection, will have the teacher or pastor to give a good account of them. But a person who wanders away from that teaching or protection will stand in judgment with that pastor or teacher or minister saying "God I taught your Word and they rejected it!" No minister that I know will ever do that in joy. For such a person judgment will not go well. Be careful of people who always have something against or run their mouth about the pastor or ANY man of God. They usually are poison. People who attack the messenger usually have a problem with the message of the message sender. Remember: if the minister is errant, then God will hold him to a higher standard and judge him. However, if he is sincere, then no matter how misconstrued people may take his actions, he usually is more worried about pleasing God than pleasing men.

Ahhhh the tongue! Everybody's favorite subject. Notice that James himself did not have his own tongue completely in control because he said "we offend." As long as you live upon this earth, you will never completely have your tongue controlled. As long as you are breathing, you will say something that you regret or not say something that you should have said, and both are just as important. James, himself, the brother of Jesus, the Apostle leader of the Early church in Jerusalem didn't have his tongue completely under control. Neither did Peter (as evidenced by the circumcision conflict). Neither did Paul (as evidenced by his harsh treatment of John Mark). It's just like righteousness. We have had it imputed to our account but we will never be completely righteous until that last trumpet sounds and mortality shall put on immortality. God is not concerned with us being perfect as much as whether or not we are growing toward perfection. When you stop changing and growing, then you begin to spiritually die.

The physical muscle organ that is in your mouth is not the culprit. The tongue is used to speak words and Jesus taught that the mouth speaks "out of the abundance of the heart." "Abundance" here means "full up and overflowing." The term "heart" here doesn't refer to the physical blood pumping organ but to the mind and soul and conscience of the human being. If a person feels their thoughts and desires with something continually, then it will "overflow" and the overflow comes out of their mouth.

If a person harbors bitterness and let's it stay and build and build and never deals with the problem, then even though they may try to hide it, it will eventually spew forth in the words they say. The same with unforgiveness, the same with rebellion, the same with mercy, the same with patience, the same with truth. Whatever you continually fill your heart with, then your mouth will eventually reveal. I do not want to gross you out by being to graphic, but vomiting results when a person has overfilled themselves or eaten something harmful, or is very sick on the inside. A person's words are the spiritual result of what a person has been digesting or what is going on inside. If a person has been harboring unbelief, then if shows forth later in their words. If a person is full of faith, it also shows up in their speech.

Why am I bringing this up? Because when most people mess up by saying the wrong thing or by not saying the right thing, they try to "control their tongue." Their speech is not the problem, the condition of their heart is. A tongue out of control is a sign of a heart full of desires that have not been brought into line with God's Word.

So deal with the heart. If you pray, read God's Word, and think upon things of good report and only allow yourself to listen to pure conversation, then you will speak of goodness and pure things, and your speech will not spew forth corrupt things. If you constantly feed yourself with negative reports, unbelief, gossip, strife, lusts, and spend your time getting your entertainment from watching or reading about people committing immoral and sinful acts, then your speech will betray it and so will your actions! Our battleground is the mind. That's why it's more than just coming to church 3 times a week, but you need to take time everyday to pray and read your word and you need to be careful of what you allow your eyes to see and your ears to hear. Guard your thoughts today and you won't have to worry about your tongue tomorrow! Guard those things and you won't have to worry about your actions, if your thoughts line up with the Word of God, then your speech and deed will also.

James was a master teacher, an Apostle who had walked daily with Jesus Christ in the flesh and yet he expressed genuine amazement of how much power the tongue has. Using physical examples to teach a spiritual principle was Jesus' favorite way to teach. James uses three physical examples that correspond to the tongue.

A horse is a rather large creature with immense physical strength yet a relatively small bit can be placed in it's mouth and the creature can be controlled. I've met some people that had a horse of a problem with their anger and their temper. It's hereditary, they say. My whole family is this way, there is nothing that I can do about it. Actually there is. You may feel like your natural desires and your actions are a great brute beast that cannot be tamed, but if you would control your mouth, you would find that your inherited tendicies and your anger would easily be bridled. The mouth, of course, corresponds to the heart, so if you will let God's Word change you, then your behaviour can change!

The ships of James' time were very large vessels that sailed across water driven by the wind. The governor was a small rudder attached to the back of the boat that could be turned and in doing so would change the direction of the large ship even if in a strong storm. Jesus used water to represent the Spirit of God and used wind to represent the Spirit of God coming into a human being (John 3:5, and Acts 2:1-4). As we begin to live and act as a Christian, we are spiritually setting sail our vessel upon the waters of the Spirit. We should be driven along by the winds of the Holy Ghost and our lives should be guided by the direction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide us into all truth. If we control our tongues, then we can follow the leading of the Spirit of God. A ship will follow the winds as long as the governor is kept straight and inline with the wind. We can, however, choose to steer our vessel off course even in a tremendous move of the Spirit of God. God has given us that right as a free moral agent. How do you stop following the direction of the Spirit of God? How can a person choose to go the wrong direction even when the Spirit of God is moving mightily? Simply by not having their tongue inline with God's Spirit which of course only happens by not having their hearts inline with God's Word!

The third example which is not quite as obvious to us reading the KJV is the analogy of a small spark starting a tremendous forest fire. How fitting it is that we should be studying this and half of Colorado and Arizona are burning right now. One fire is burning because of a lady ranger who was responding to a call of an illegal campfire and decided to start a small fire of her own to burn a letter from her ex-husband. The other started because a firefighter wanted to be able to make a little money by working. One started when a lady decided that the rules applied to everybody but her because of her horrible past, and the other started out of greed. Those two reasons cause many huge destructive fires of hell in the spirit also! More people are destroyed because someone expressed verbally the belief that they are a special case and because of greed than any other things. "Oh that's good for you to believe, but I don't think that I need to do that." or "Well I want to do it this way, I don't care what the Word of God says." See how the examples apply?

The point is that we may be overflowing with bitterness, or rebellion, or whatever, and we say something that we regret, but oh, it was a small thing. Yet someone heard that comment, that expression of unbelief, that expression or rebellion, and the fire spreads and if left alone becomes worse in the person that heard the comment than in the person who started the spark. In Proverbs, there are seven abominations that are the worse of the worse. An abomination is a sin that God particularly detests. The list in Proverbs are the seven abominations that God hates even worse than the others.

Of the seven, three deal with the tongue and one deals with the heart from which the mouth speaks! The wording of verse 16 tells us by rules of the Hebrew language that the seventh is the number one sin that God detests! What is the number one sin that God cannot stand? A person who sows discord among the brethren! Someone who uses their mouth to plant seeds of doubt, of disunity, of rebellion. Someone who starts a spark with their tongue which causes a fire of destruction in people that hear it! Be careful of people who grumble and murmur and complain continually! They are speaking out of the abundance of their heart, and if you play with fire, you'll get burned!

In other words, the natural course of the tongue is to kindle the fire of hell. Someone who says that they do not have to control or work at controlling their tongue are allowing nature to take it's course, and the natural way for a tongue to act is evil!

Man has tamed lions, snakes, tigers, elephants, and even killer whales and seals but NO MAN has ever tamed their tongue except one that is: Christ Jesus! But here's the good news! No, you can't tame your tongue on your own, but God can tame it! That's why when the 120 followers of Christ first received the gift of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance. God took control of their tongue and tamed it and caused them to speak a language that they had never spoken before! The Samaritans received the same experience in Acts chapter 8. The Gentiles in Cornelius' house also began to speak with tongues when they received the Holy Spirit! John the Baptist's disciples in Acts chapter 19 also spoke in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit. In fact, it says in verse 6 that they spoke in tongues and prophesied! Even today when a person receives the Holy Ghost, the initial evidence is that they begin to speak in a heavenly language as the Spirit of God teaches them, and then, if they continue under the influence of the Holy Ghost, their life will be marked by the Spirit teaching them how to control their tongue! That's why James said in 1:26 that if a person seems to be religious and doesn't bridle their own tongue, then their religion is in vain. A person can receive the Holy Ghost and speak in other tongues and then not allow the Holy Ghost to lead and guide them. When a person does so you can tell by what comes from their mouth. Likewise a person can try to control their tongue by themselves without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues and it will never work, because only God can tame the tongue! And then only if we will allow Him to do so!

The flip side of this is that if we will become consumed with good things, and if we will fill our heart with purity and a love for God's Word then our speech will be a spark of revival! Fire symbolized destruction but also symbolized the Holy Ghost in scripture! Fire is God's method of changing something from one form to another. When the spark of rebellion takes over and becomes the fire of rebellion and bitterness in person's heart, it changes them from a place where God's mercy can reach them and mold them into a hardened person who has chosen to take themselves out of the reach of God. Inversely, a person who allows the spark of the Holy Ghost to grab a hold of them and consume them, will then be changed from a sinner or bitter person to the whole person that God designed for them to be! The Holy Ghost makes a difference! But God can only use your mouth to spark a fire of the Holy Spirit in someone else's life if you open it and allow good things, and pure thing, and the Word of God to flow from it. And good thing, pure things, and the Word of God will only flow from your mouth if good things, pure things, and the Word of God are placed within your heart! There is a danger to saying the wrong things and there is the danger of not saying the right things, and both are equally dangerous. The world needs to hear the truth of the Gospel message, but they will not unless someone allows God to use their mouth and speaks forth the Word. Some may reject it and some may accept it, but we must speak forth truth and refrain from lying! On our own we cannot control our tongue that way, but with God's help we can!