THE TONGUE, AN UNRULY EVIL

James 3:3-12

Morning Meditation 5/3/17

Verse 3-12 says, “Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”

I suppose all of us have problems with the tongue. I have said many things over the course of the years that I wanted to take back. But words once spoken cannot be taken back. They do damage even when repentance and forgiveness have been obtained and apologies have been offered. The best thing that the Christian can do is to recognize what the Bible says about the tongue and maintain a watchful attitude toward one’s own tongue in the light of it.

Our present passage has eight things said about the tongue that I will mention in this meditation. First,

THE TONGUES SIZE IS DECEIVING

Verse 4 compares the tongue to “a very small helm” that turns a great ship. Verse 5 compares it to a “little fire” that kindles a “great matter.” James is saying that one does not need to under estimate the damage that the tongue can do. It seems such a small member of the body that it is easy to overlook the damage it can do. If one does not see this, it will probably result in carelessness.

Faith puts divine values on subjects like this. It is not up to me to reason that what I say will not cause much damage. God says that the tongue is a very small member but it is like the small helm of the ship. The small helm in the hands of the governor can guide the great ship in spite of contrary winds. The emphasis is on the power to do damage with such a small thing.

Do we think our words do not damage? You say, “But what I said was the truth. It is not wrong to tell the truth.” To show that this is wrong reasoning go to Matthew 18:15-19 and read that passage. You will find when a brother offends you, God’s way to take care of this is to keep the matter completely private if possible. Go to the brother and settle the issue between you and him in private. That way you are protecting the sinning brother from open exposure what will hurt his reputation. You are restoring the brother from the wrong he has done without exposing him publicly. I am afraid that most times when we have been wounded by a brother, we begin to talk to others about it, and it becomes the talk of the church or community, and when this happens it is distorted and what is said is seldom close to the truth. All because we did not walk by faith in God’s way of settling the matter which makes us as guilty before God as the one who did us wrong—maybe more wrong. Next,

THE TONGUE IS DESTRUCTIVE LIKE A FIRE

James says in verse 6, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity . . .” First there are good fires, the ones we use to warm by and cook our food. There are also bad fires. Our church burned in January of 1978. The insurance company ruled it a total loss. I lost all my books, an accumulation of 23 years, including ALL my sermon outlines! Now that is a BIG LOSS for a preacher. I felt the sinking feeling I know others feel when a fire destroys everything they have saved in life.

I have seen the people in southern California who are interviewed during the great fires that are headed their way, and have seen the expression of fear as they wait helplessly to see if the winds change, or the rains come, or if some means can be devised to save their homes. I have also seen the despair on their faces and hear them say, “I don’t know what we are going to do. We have lost all our earthly possessions.”

Do you know where this great fire started? It was through the carelessness of someone who flicked a cigarette out in the woods without putting it out, or, didn’t put out a camp fire. Or, it could have been done by someone deliberately. But it all started by a very small source. Millions of dollars in loss by people who were completely innocent. This is what the tongue does. It destroys. You say, “If I talk about a person, all it will do is to hurt him..” Oh no. You are a member of the church. When you sin in the use of your tongue, it will be a stumblingblock to the whole church. It will weaken the church and rob it of its power to win souls. The souls that are not won during the time of the church’s weakened condition because of the wrong use of the tongue, will be on the hands of the one who started the little fire. And God knows the one who did it, and the circumstances of the God forbidden use of the tongue.

Everyone who has a problem with the tongue needs to read what Paul says to the Church in Rome: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Rom. 2:1-3). The tongue is used to judge others. We take God’s responsibility on ourselves when we speak words of judgment against a brother. God has not given us that job (thank God). He says when we do, we become guilty of the SAME THINGS. You say, “I don’t understand that.” That’s not all you don’t understand! The truth of the Bible is not based on our ability to understand. God says, “This is the way it is,” and expects us to believe it. Next,

THE TONGUE DEFILES THE WHOLE BODY

This is stated in verse 6: “. . . it defileth the whole body . . .” The word “defileth” translates “spiloo” and comes from a root word that means, “a spot, a fault, a moral blemish, and is used of base and gluttonous men.” It is a present active participle which means that the spot or moral blemish that is the result of the wrong use of the tongue will be a continuous observable spot on the character of the person. The words “whole body” translate “holos” and mean, “all, whole, or complete.” This means that the whole testimony is destroyed, it affects the whole person. It will be a hindrance to that persons testimony until the defiling factor is removed. Next,

THE TONGUE EXPRESSES THE VILENESS OF THE FLESH

Verse 6 says, “. . . it setteth on fire the course of nature . . .” The word “course” translates “trochos” and means, “a wheel.” It is referring to the never ending cycle of the depraved nature. The wrong use of the tongue causes a sometime dormant sinful nature to arise and go wild. This can and does happen in the life of the Christian. We need to avoid triggering to action the wheel of our old sin nature. When we do, things happen that we did not intend. But the one who triggers into action the wheel of nature is responsible for the damage that the wheel does. Next,

THE TONGUE OF THE FLESH IS CONNECTED WITH HELL

Verse 6 says, “. . . and it is set on fire of hell.” Hell is the eternally consuming judgment of God upon a guilty world and fallen angels. It is put for the ultimate rebellion against God by Satan and his kingdom. Nothing good can come out of this. It is the source from which all wrong actions come. Can anything good come from the tongue that is set on fire of hell? The answer is obvious. One might say, “Well, I was wrong to say what I did, but in spite of it all, some good came out of it.” That is not what GOD SAYS. God says, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” When the tongue of the Christian is not under the control of the Holy Spirit, nothing good can come of it—if God’s Word is BELIEVED. Now many who refuse to die to the wrong use of the tongue and REJECT WHAT GOD SAYS AND REFUSE TO LET GOD’S WORD APPLY TO THEM IN THIS MATTER. They are beyond help until they are willing to “Let God be true and every man a liar.” This sin must be confessed to be forgiven and restoration starts with forgiveness. Next,

THE TONGUE CANNOT BE TAMED

This is brought out in verse 8: “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Remember James is not giving his opinion here. He is writing by inspiration of God. There was a Methodist lady that came to the church where I surrendered to preach. We used to have what is called Baptist Training Course. The leader assigned parts to be read and commented on by the people. This Methodist lady was given a part. She had been offended by the pastor and she got back at him when she gave the part. The part was on the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. After she had given her part she said, “If Stephen had minded his own business he would still be alive.” I said, “Wow, he would definitely be a senior citizen! The fact is, the Bible is God’s Word even the parts that are not in RED LETTERS! What James says about the tongue is what God says about the tongue.

God says, “But the tongue can no man tame . . .” I checked and the word “no” and the word “man” are both in the Greek text. Someone asked which part of the word NO do you not understand. The “n” or the “o”? The word “tame” translates “damazo” and means, “to tame, to curb, to restrain.” This is what no man can do to the tongue. He can’t tame it, he can’t curb it, he can’t restrain it. You say, “I do control my tongue.” You just now didn’t. You said you do what God says you don’t and can’t. The tongue is controlled by death and the death of which I speak is the death of Romans 6. But that is altogether another study. It is the death to self. Next,

THE TONGUE IS FULL OF HYPOCRISY

This is brought out in verse 10: “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing . . .” The idea presented here is one time the tongue is blessing the Lord (vs 9) and moments later the same tongue is cursing.” James says, “My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

There are those who come to church and sing the praises of the Lord (sometimes in the choir and special music) and then are heard on the job to pour forth blasphemy taking God’s name in vain. There are others who use filthy language and say, “I do not take God’s name in vain. I use a little french once-in-a-while.” Ephesians 4:29-30 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” God the Holy Spirit is grieved at the base and vulgar language that is used by His children. IT IS HYPOCRISY TO PRAISE THE LORD WITH THE SAME TONGUE ON SUNDAY THAT YOU HAVE USED DURING THE WEEK TO POUR FORTH FILTH. Next,

THE CURE FOR THE TONGUE IS TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM AT THE FOUNTAIN

James says in verse 11: “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” No it doesn’t. How can you change a fountain that sends forth bitter waters? The fountain itself has to be changed. And you can’t change what is there by nature.. Only God can do that.

Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Jesus is teaching that the source of the things mentioned in this verse is the heart. Until the heart is fixed, the symptoms may be temporarily removed but will return because the problem is not dealt with until the heart is dealt with.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”

This is a heart transplant that will never fail. God is a surgeon that has never lost a case. The man with the unruly tongue needs to come to the Lord in repentance and confession and let God forgive him and give him a new heart. If you are lost you need a new heart, if you are saved and use your tongue wrongly, you need a new start. God can and will do both if you are willing.

May God bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White