JAMES 3 YOUR TONGUE IS A DANGEROUS POWER TOOL2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: James 3 Your Tongue Is A Dangerous Power Tool

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we begin to look at James chapter 3, I would start by asking you to consider what dangerous activities did you participate in today?

I don't know if you did anything risky, something dangerous, bungee jumping perhaps, or skydiving, or, you know, getting within six feet of someone else around you, you know, those risky and dangerous behaviors. What did you do today that was dangerous? Well, if you're asking the Apostle James, he would be looking at your life and he would say, you know what, you did a lot of dangerous things today because you used your words a lot. Right?

Here in James chapter 3, I've titled the message, Your Tongue is a Dangerous Power Tool. Your tongue is a dangerous power tool. It's a powerful tool, but any power tool is dangerous.

right? We all know that, and that's why we are careful to make sure if anybody is holding a power tool that they're of an appropriate age, right? You don't give a little child an air hammer, right? Or something that, you know, they would be able to do damage to themselves or to others with. But no, when they're of full age, when they're able to handle, when there's some maturity, well, then you introduce those power tools. And

I was thinking about this as I was preparing for the message, going back to when we were, you know, dismantling and rebuilding the inside of the church and just playing back in my mind those times that I spent with Jeff McMillan teaching me to use power tools. And I remember the lessons on the nail gun and how to use the nail gun without, you know, hurting myself too much.

too badly. And, you know, it was some lessons that had to be taught. It was some respect had to be given. Now we could do much with these tools. They are very powerful, but every power tool is also very dangerous.

You could think about a vehicle, right? It's really important. That's why we have age limits on when you can start driving. You need to be able to understand there's, you know, danger if misused. If careless, it's deadly. But in the right hands, a vehicle is a powerful tool. Well, in a similar way, the tongue, right?

Our speech, our words, James says you need to appreciate the power of this tool that God has given to you. And his emphasis really is on the danger part of it. Now, we might, you know, like to kind of consider that there's maybe a more positive spin. You could, you know, put on these things and say, look how wonderful it is that God has given us such a powerful tool. And absolutely, that's true.

But the message that James is giving to us is not just about the power of the tongue, but the caution side of it. And it's important for us because we need to be reminded not to be careless with our speech. We need to be reminded not to be careless with our words and the way that we use our tongue because it is such a powerful instrument. Now,

We're talking about the tongue, but I would extend this to any kind of communication that we're able to give. And so, you know, the power of the text message, the power of the social media posts, the power of the phone call, the power of, you know, our ability to communicate. It's a powerful tool.

But we need to appreciate and understand the dangers. And so we're going to consider some of these dangers as James walks us through them here in this chapter. Beginning in verses 1 and 2 for point number 1 tonight. The tongue is dangerous because every word will be judged. It's a dangerous power tool. And it's dangerous because every single word will be judged. Looking again at verse 1, he says, My brethren...

And under severe conviction right now, I'm just going to end the message to limit my judgment. No, I'm just kidding. Verse 2. James starts out with a warning. Hey,

There are those who desire to be teachers and you need to kind of cool it a little bit. Be careful with that desire because with that opportunity comes a greater judgment. Now, I'm not going to go on into that too much at this point, but what I would just say is that, well, the rest of us, okay, if you're saying I'm not a teacher, then don't count yourself out because he says the teachers will be subject to a stricter judgment, right?

But the reality is everyone will be judged for their words. And so you can't just, well, you know, I'm not a teacher, so I don't have to guard my words. I don't have to think about what I say or exercise self-control in that area. No, Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 12, he says, That's pretty powerful to consider. For every idle word.

Imagine the Lord just kind of sitting you down and laying, you know, around you all your tweets, all your posts, all your idle words, all the things that you said and saying, okay, tell me about that one. What's going on there? What's your heart on there? And of course, the Lord knows your heart, but he's saying you're going to give an account for it. You're going to stand before the Lord and give an account for the things that you said that had no value.

And so this is one of the reasons why we need to consider and understand the danger of the tongue, because every idle word we're going to have to give and account for. And that becomes more apparent in verse 2, why it's dangerous, because he says we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

So, we have to give an account for every idle word, but also we fail a lot. And if we could be perfect with our tongue, then we could be perfect in every aspect of our life, James is saying. So, we're far from perfect. We fail a lot. We're going to have a lot to give account for. So, don't rush to be a teacher because we're already in a little bit of hot water.

right? We're already like in a little bit of a dangerous position because we fail a lot and we are going to stand before God and give an account for the things that we have said. And so we begin to see the danger right away here. The words are judged and we all stumble. And so in light of that, again, he says, let not many of you become teachers. Now, when we begin to think about this idea of becoming a teacher,

it's easy for us to connect to that concept to what's happening here, right? Standing up in front of people on a Wednesday night or a Sunday morning or at a Bible study and delivering a message in that way. And of course it applies to that arena. But I would also ask you to consider that teaching can be personal.

You know, in Matthew chapter 28, the Great Commission, the Lord calls us to make disciples and to teach them to observe all the things that I commanded you, he said. And so in that sense, we are all called to be teachers. We are all called to make disciples. In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12, the author of Hebrews kind of rebuked the disciples

the people reading the letter, he said, by this time you ought to be teachers. And so there's a little bit of balance here. There should be some maturity so that you are able to teach, but also you need to have a bit of caution that you don't rush into that role of teaching and put yourself in a situation where, well, you're storing up stricter judgment for yourself.

Teaching can be personal activity that happens just between you and someone else. Teaching can be counseling. Teaching can be telling people, you know, what we think the Lord wants them to do. There is an important thing that we need to consider in our words because as we instruct others, we put ourselves in a position of authority and it puts us in that spot of being held to a higher standard by the Lord.

And so we are to be teachers, but we need to be careful. We need to be cautious and understand the danger in teaching. Now, the danger in teaching, we might get the wrong idea in this. He says, The Lord is not saying here, because, you know, while you're up there teaching, you might say the wrong verse reference. And so...

You know, God's going to come back and say, look, you know, you didn't do a good job. You gave out the wrong verse reference. Now, that's not what he's talking about here. The danger is sending people in a direction that God doesn't want for them. The danger is speaking on behalf of God something that God is not actually saying. The danger is telling people that God wants something for them that God doesn't want for them. And here we might stop and say, well, how can I know what God wants for them? And that's the point, right?

Unless God actually shows you and speaks to you or that it's, you know, something that is clearly revealed in his word, we need to be careful not to take that position of authority and speak on behalf of God when we don't know what it is that God has for them. This is a great danger in teaching that we need to watch out for. Giving instruction that God is not actually giving.

Commentator Matthew Henry says,

And so it's a word of caution for us to be careful because our idle words will be judged. We'll have to give an account for them. And there's a danger in teaching our own opinions, to instruct or to disciple in our own ways and not in the ways of the Lord. Another danger to consider in this, 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, Paul warns Timothy about those who will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap up for themselves teachers who

who tell them things that they want to hear. There's another danger in teaching in that we want to deliver the news that people want to hear. And there's a temptation to veer away from what God has actually said to deliver a pleasant message, to bring forth something that would be received well. And again, that would put us in that position of having to give an account for things that God has not actually said. And so it's a powerful tool that God has given to us.

but it comes with some danger because every word will be judged. Well, moving on to verses three through five, we get the second point to consider tonight, and that is it's dangerous because it's so powerful. The reason why it's dangerous, James is saying, is because it has so much power. It can be so effective and useful. In verse three, he says, "'Indeed, we put bits into horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.'"

Here James gives us three illustrations to illustrate the power of the tongue in proportion to the rest of the body.

He shows how something small makes an impact that is far greater disproportionate to its size. Again, this is an important reminder because we might be fooled into thinking it's not so impactful. It doesn't matter so much. But he says, let me give you a couple of illustrations. First of all, the horse's bit. It's the bit they put in the horse's mouth to be able to control the horse and turn it the direction that the rider wants to go.

Now the bit for the horse is small. It's just that little pin. It's five or six inches long. The horse is big, right? A thousand pounds, two thousand pounds sometimes. Like it's this huge animal, but this little tiny six inch piece of metal has such an effect that it can direct the horse where it doesn't want to go. It can direct the horse any direction the rider chooses.

And that scale is what James is highlighting here. It's so small, but it has such a big impact. The second illustration he gives to demonstrate this concept is a ship's rudder. He says, look at the ships. They're large. They're driven by fierce winds. I was looking at one battleship. As an example, it was 4,700 feet long. And the rudder on this battleship was eight and a half feet long.

So think about that, eight and a half, right? That's shorter than this stage, but then 4,700 feet, I can't even understand how to describe that number, right? Like how far, okay, it's 200 feet from the sanctuary to the house. Now do that, you know, it's just crazy, right? It's this huge ship and the rudder's like this little size of the stage, right?

This little tiny thing. And think about the context. Out in the ocean, right? With waves and currents. And James mentioned fierce winds. There's all this opposition. But this huge vessel can be directed and steered by this little rudder. It's tiny but mighty. Like Richard on Sunday, right? Tiny but mighty. Small but mighty.

Little, but so powerful it can control and affect so much. The third illustration he gives in verse 5 is a forest fire. And again, here in Southern California, right, that's something we're familiar with. It's just a little spark that begins it. Or maybe a big gender reveal, you know, smoke bomb that begins it. But it's this little thing. And then acres and acres and acres and acres are destroyed by this fire.

fire that begins in such a small way. And so three times, three ways, James says, look, this is good visuals to help you understand the power of your tongue. When I'm describing it as a power tool, it really is a powerful tool, like a ship's rudder, like a spark that can, you know, burn for days and weeks and months.

like a bit in the mouth of the horse. Pastor David Guzik says, what we say to others can last a long time for good or for evil. The casual sarcastic or critical remark can inflict a lasting injury, but the well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire someone for the rest of their life. There's probably some things that stick with you, right? That

You just always come back to that one thing that someone told you one time and it just, man, when the time is tough and things are difficult, that one word of encouragement given 10 years ago still just carries so much power and weight for you. We experience that. In a similar way, we experience those hurtful words, those harsh things, and how they still hurt and ache for months and years to come. This is what James is saying. It's so powerful.

It can have huge effect, huge impact on the life of those who are listening, of those who hear. And so it's a powerful tool, but you need to appreciate the danger because it is so powerful. Those mistakes, those failures can hurt for a long time to come. Well, as we move on to verses six through eight, we get the third point tonight, and that is that it's dangerous because it's hard to control.

The tongue is powerful and it can be effective for great many things, but it's so hard to control. Jumping into verse 6, he says, The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind."

but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. As James goes on, he has some pretty severe words to say about the tongue. He says, the tongue is a fire. Talking about that little spark that kindles a huge fire, that's a good picture of the tongue, James says. It's a world of iniquity. That's a pretty severe statement. The tongue itself is a world of iniquity. There is so much iniquity in the tongue

bound up in the tongue and it's positioned in such a way it defiles our whole body, James says. Again, we need to be reminded of these things. We might get lax and forget about how powerful and how vital our tongue is to our health and our standing before God. He says, look, the tongue is set in your member so that when it's filled with iniquity, it defiles your whole body.

and it sets on fire the course of nature, and it itself is set on fire by hell. I mean, that's a pretty severe thing to say about the tongue, right? I'm sure that you don't wake up and think that, man, I got to really watch my tongue today because it's set on fire by hell, right? We think less of our tongues than that. But James says, look, you need to be reminded and refreshed, renewed in your awareness of the danger that is bound up

in your communication and the things you say. And the reason why he has such severe things to say about it is because the tongue is attached directly to the heart. The tongue is attached directly to the heart. Jesus, in talking to the religious leaders in Matthew chapter 12, he says, look, how can you have anything good to say? How can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

What comes out of our mouth is the things that are in our heart. And we like to think otherwise. We like to think other people may say things, right? But the reality is what comes out of our mouth is what's in our heart. And because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, we have this problem, this kind of like, you know, direct sewage outlet right here from our heart through our tongue, through our mouth. And so it's a really dangerous problem.

power tool. Our hearts need to be right before the Lord in order for our tongues to be effective and useful for him. Now he goes on to say, look, every kind of beast and bird, reptile and creature of the sea has been tamed.

And it's interesting to think about that, right? James is talking, right? A couple thousand years ago. I mean, we're familiar with it in SeaWorld and, you know, those kinds of places. Like we see those tamed animals, like they're the wild creatures, but they do these, you know, incredible shows and everything. But even 2,000 years ago, they were able to tame these wild beasts, right?

Thinking about taming the beast reminded me of Pastor Tom giving some severe encouragement. If you ever have opportunity to take a picture next to a tiger, don't do it. It looks tame, but then it can just turn and take your face off at any time. So I haven't had opportunity to defy that instruction, but I might if I get the opportunity. Sorry, Tom.

But we tame lions, we tame tigers, we tame these creatures. And sometimes we find out they're not as tame as we thought they were. But think about all these incredible things that we can do with creatures. And yet no man can tame the tongue. No matter how effective we are at taming all these other things, no one can tame the tongue. And we all know that's true.

We've all experienced that ourselves. H.A. Ironside says,

We can determine, we can try so hard. I'm going to count to 10 before I say anything, right? And no matter how determined we are, we find we cannot tame our tongue. It's so hard to control. It's so hard to control. So much so that Proverbs tells us, Proverbs 10, 19, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. The tongue is so hard to control, right?

that anytime there's an abundance of words, you can expect and you can know there's going to be sin involved in that. Now, it could be sin that's prompting the multitude of words, and perhaps, you know, that's what the proverb is talking about. But it also is saying, look, anytime there's a lot of words, you can count on it. There's going to be sin involved because the tongue is hard to control. We're not able to control it. We're not able to keep it in check. It's an unruly member, and that's why it's dangerous.

That's why we need to be careful. That's why we need to be aware of the dangers of this tool that God has given to us. Well, now verses 9 through 12 give us the fourth point to consider, and that is that it's dangerous because it is easily misused. The tongue is dangerous because

Because it's easily misused. It's hard to control. It's so powerful. And every idle word will be judged. This is quite a stack of danger that we're considering here. Verse 9. James says, look, we use our mouth to bless God.

We just did that in this time of worship, right? We had a good opportunity to open our mouths and bless God. But, you know, an hour ago, perhaps on the freeway, we were using our tongue for different purposes, right? We use our tongues to do good, to bless God. But at the same time, we use our tongue for things that are not of God, that have nothing to do with God, right?

Warren Wiersbe says, if the tongue is inconsistent, there is something radically wrong with the heart. If the tongue is inconsistent, there is something radically wrong with the heart. Again, it has a direct attachment here.

And so we're back and forth and sometimes we're in the blessed God mood and sometimes we're in the cursed man mood. And that's not right. That reflects a heart that is wrong, that has some issues that need to be dealt with, that need to be surrendered to the Lord. Now, James likes his illustrations. He goes on to give a couple illustrations here again. The first illustration in verse 11 is that of a spring. He says, "'Does a spring send forth fresh water "'and bitter from the same opening?'

Does the spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? So you go and you get a drink and it's like, oh, that's sweet water. And then you go again and you get a drink and then, oh, that's bitter water. No, that doesn't happen. It's either salt water or it's fresh water. It's either bitter water or it's clean water. It doesn't produce two different types of water from the same opening. The second illustration he uses in verse 12 is a fruit tree. Can a fig tree bear olives? No.

Can a grapevine bear figs? No. The tree bears the fruit according to the kind of tree that it is. And so there's not a saltwater and freshwater spring. It's a saltwater spring or it's a freshwater spring. It's an orange tree or it's an apple tree or it's a fig tree or it's a grapevine. And so you see that the thing that we think is, okay, you know, when I curse man, that's the part that's inconsistent. But no, no, no. It's the blessing God part that's inconsistent. Cursing man is consistent with my heart.

That's what's natural to me. You see, if a fresh water becomes bitter, like there's not like parts of it, like you just kind of go and, all right, you get that fresh water. No, no, it taints all of it. When our heart's not right, it taints even our blessings toward God. The things that we would say towards God, it affects us.

our worship. It affects our praise. It's so easily misused, our tongue. And again, that's why it's dangerous because it affects every part of us because it's bound up to our heart. At the same time, James is indicating here, this is not like this is impossible, so just give up. He says in verse 10, out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. It doesn't have to be this way.

But that's what's happening, James says. It ought not to be that way, but that's the way that it is. Your tongue is to be holy and consecrated of the Lord's uses and purposes only. Only used for the purposes of God. Devoted to the things of God. But if that's not the case, it's an issue with the heart. But that's not to say, well, I'll just give up and not do anything. No, James is saying, no, you need to deal with and address this poison.

this bitterness, this issue that is happening within. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4, 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. You see, we have the opportunity to do good, to build up, to hold our tongue and let no corrupt word come out of our mouth. We have the opportunity to do that, but we need to have hearts that are right before God.

We need to have hearts that are in tune with God. And that brings us to the final point, verses 13 through 18. The tongue is dangerous without wisdom from God. It's dangerous without wisdom from God. All of these dangers that we've been talking about, it's a powerful tool. In each of those ways, you can consider how powerful the tongue could be in the right hands of

A power tool in one person's hands might be incredibly destructive, but in another person's hand, you know, can build great things. In a similar way, our tongue in the wrong hands, that is our own hands, can be very destructive. But in the right hands, with wisdom from God, the tongue can be used to accomplish great things. Verse 13 says, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where evil and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Here, James goes on to talk about wisdom, but I would suggest to you that it's not a separate conversation. All right, let's stop talking about the tongue and let's start talking about wisdom. No, no, no, that's not what's happening here because verse 12 flows right into verse 13. He's talking about a tree bearing different kinds of fruit. Can a good tree bear bad fruit or vice versa?

And then in verse 13, well, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in meekness of wisdom. That the fruit that is born shows the wisdom and understanding that a person has. What comes out of our mouths and of our life is the fruit of our heart.

He's addressing the heart in verse 14. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, again, it's addressing the internal heart that we have before the Lord. And he says, look, if your heart's wrong, don't boast about it. Don't lie about it. Don't try to pretend that the heart's not wrong. That kind of wisdom, he says, does not descend from above.

And without getting into all of the details about this wisdom, there's some meat there. There's a lot of meat there if you want to dig into and consider these things that James is talking about. But still connecting it to this idea that the Lord is giving us tonight about the powerful tool that he's given to us in our words, in our communication. Understanding that if we're trying to govern our communication with wisdom of this world, with our own wisdom,

then it's going to fail and it's not going to be effective because the tongue is hard to control. It's easily misused and such a powerful tool in incapable hands is incredibly destructive. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure. It's peaceable. It's gentle. It's willing to yield. It's full of mercy and good fruit. It's without partiality and without hypocrisy.

This speaks of a life that is lived under the submission of God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, And God is the only one who can do the job. God is the only one who can do the job. We can try to determine it ourselves. We can try to take care of it ourselves. We can try to handle things ourselves.

We can use man's wisdom to try to address these things, but the tongue is too powerful of a tool to leave in lesser hands. It's too dangerous to leave our words and our communication in lesser hands than the hands of God. We need wisdom from God. As we give instruction, going back to verse one, being a teacher, as we disciple, as we encourage and influence and move people in the direction that God has for them,

We need to allow God to bring our tongues into submission, to submit ourselves to him, to receive the wisdom that he has for us, that we might be pure in our words and peaceable in our words and willing to yield in our words and bringing forth things that are good and beneficial, things that edify and build up and do not destroy. Every power tool is dangerous.

but it's also powerful for accomplishing great things. God has given you a powerful instrument and you need to appreciate and understand the danger that comes along with that. Don't be careless. Don't be, you know, lacking in attention towards your communication because every idle word will be judged. Your tongue is so powerful. It makes it hard to control and it's easily misused.

So we need to make sure we submit ourselves to the wisdom from God. One final thought here from Pastor Thomas Constable. He says, any Christian can ask for the grace needed for God gives good gifts and gives them generously. There is then no justification for corrupt habits of speech in our churches today. There's no justification for corrupt speech. There's no justification for it.

Because we have what we need in asking God, right? This wisdom from above, James said earlier, back in James chapter one, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, right? And so I want to finish up tonight by just doing that. Recognizing the powerful tool that God has given to us, the danger that comes with it. We need to ask God for wisdom. That he would use our speech, our tongues, our mouth, our words, right?

for good, for his glory, that we would be submitted and surrendered to him. It starts in our heart. And from the abundance of that, our mouths will speak. Let's pray. Lord, we lift up our hearts to you tonight, recognizing these things that James has been really illustrating so powerfully. God, we can understand and see the power that is there, the danger that comes with it. Lord, I pray that you would allow these pictures to resonate in our minds and in our hearts.

for the rest of the week, for the weeks to come, Lord, that we would be keenly aware of this instrument that you've given to us and how much we desperately need to be submitted to you so that it's not used for destruction, so it's not used to fight against your plans and purposes and what you desire, so it's not used to destroy and tear down that which you want to build up. Lord, we don't want to be agents of the enemy. We want to be agents of

on your behalf, your ambassadors, speaking forth peace, speaking forth love, speaking forth things that build up. Lord, that includes correction and rebuke. It's not negating those things, but Lord, it needs to be inspired by you with wisdom that comes from you. And so Lord, would you open our eyes that we would have a better understanding of our words. Help us, Lord, to be reminded frequently to surrender our hearts to you.

that you might use our voices for your glory. I pray, God, that you would give us wisdom, great wisdom, in how we can benefit and bless and build up the people that you've placed around us. May we be your agents for good on their behalf to help them become more like you. Lord, would you empower us with your Holy Spirit?

Even as we see the example of Peter before Pentecost and the foolish things that he often said, those idle words, and then afterwards under your power, inspired by you, Lord, he was able to speak forth words of life. Lord, would you give us words of life by your spirit? Give us wisdom and forgive us, God, for misusing this incredible gift that you've given. Lord, give us self-control and discipline that we might hold back

the things that are not of you. Those corrupt words, we would not let them leave our mouth, but we'd be careful to only let out the things that build up, that edify, that are good, that are given to us by you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.