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Now let's jump into the show. Human beings can tame lions, tigers, bears, elephants, any animal that you can imagine. But the Bible says the one thing we cannot tame is our own mouth. Understanding the power of the tongue coming up right now on the Perry Today Show. Yeah.
You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show with your host, Dr.
Abadan Shah. If you're listening for the very first time today, Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. Welcome to the studio.
It's good to be back in the studio. We've been away for some time, going to NRB, going to Nashville, Tennessee. But no place like home. Exactly. Speaking of NRB, I'm wrapping some nice swag.
Our bomber jackets. Prey.com. Thank you, Prey. One of our best platforms gave us. We got lots of good platforms.
We got Truth Network, TBN Plus, but Prey gave us these really nice bomber jackets. Where's y'all's bomber jackets? Very swanky. Where am I today? It's not super cold outside today.
It's also kind of messy outside today. It is kind of messy. It's like you don't want to wear your nice, like swag-alicious black jacket out in the muck. It is very nice. I got to say, it looks great on all of us.
Dr. Shaw, especially you. Yellow is definitely your color. It is. It is.
Well, speaking of NRB, speaking of being back in the studio, today's verse of the day is coming to us from Mark P. out of Houston, Texas. What's the verse he sent us? The verse is James chapter 3, verse 2. For we all stumble in many things.
If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. What do you think that means? He's a perfect man. If I'm able to master my tongue, I'm a perfect man. Is he saying it's impossible?
No, I mean, he's saying perfect in the sense of the word. I'm looking here. Let me find it right here. The perfect is teleos. Teleos gives us like.
The word there has the idea of completion.
So when we say teleos, don't think of it as. Perfect in the sense of you don't make mistakes, but perfect in the sense of. Completion, maturity.
So you are not half grown, you're full grown. That's the idea behind Till Aos.
Okay, I like that.
So there's the end. Like, like eschatology, you know, these are all tell us. Has an end in mind, completion in mind. And so. That's the idea behind this maturity.
Right. He's brought to completion. Is it related to the word Tetelestai? Yeah, yeah, it's complete. It's finished.
It's done. I got it.
So all these words, and but that's uh, I think it's uh tetelista is like a Plu perfect. Yeah, like it's completely done.
So the idea behind it is a mature Fully developed person.
So until your mouth Gets in control. It doesn't matter. How Suave you are, and how smart you are, and how you make the right decisions, you're still not there. I'm sure that we all know somebody in our lives who Their mouth runs away from them. Oh, they're probably related.
They say things. I mean, I'll be transparent and say there are some times that I've said things in my life, and I'm like, why did I say that? As soon as it leaves your mouth, you're like, oh, I wish I could just grab those words and shove them right back in. Why is our mouth, why is our speech such a problem area?
Well, James is going to tell us that in James chapter 3, that it is the hardest thing to bridle, it's the hardest thing to. To direct because it runs ahead of us. It's like it's in our mind. And somehow It bypasses the guarding, the guards that keep us. In check.
It bypasses that and goes ahead and does it. It's so easy to do.
So does it? Yeah. One of the things you see, I think, a lot in, I don't know if it's as prevalent as it used to be, like in the mid-2000s, but I remember when I was in school, high school, college, a lot of people had this really, really boastful attitude about themselves. Like, I've got no filter at all. If it's on my mind, I'm going to say it.
If I think it, I'm going to say it. And the idea is, I'm just honest. One thing you'll never get out of me is like deception or sneaky. I'm just a purely honest person. But really, what they're saying is, I have zero self-control.
If that's even true. Yeah, I think they do have self-control. The same people do stop at traffic lights. Yeah. The same people do take their medicine.
The same people do dress. Up. They don't just walk out there just completely naked. Right. The whole point is: yes, I hear what they're saying, but I don't think it's completely honest.
They do have self-control. It's just right now, just having that cavalier attitude about I do what I want to do, I just don't have any guard. I mean, it comes to my mind. Here you go. No, you're being very flippant because it gives you some kind of a high.
Is there something that kind of pushed us to view that as a badge of honor, or is it just a lack of control, a lack of the ability to monitor what you're doing? Not everybody does that. Most people have some kind of a guard. We don't, we think. But we don't say say it.
We may look at any b at other people in our corner and and kind of give them that look like You know, rolling our eyes or something. We're not saying it, but we're rolling our eyes, or we're just kind of just, you know, sighing to communicate that this is how I'm really feeling, but I'm not going to say it.
So, most of us are not going to just blurt out what we're thinking, but then there are people who do it. And they're outlandish. And then there are people Who who do it because They're not able to stop themselves. That I think is a different category. And I think that's what Paul is, I'm sorry, James is talking about here in James chapter 3: is the people who.
who are not able to exercise self-control. who are struggling with their mouth. Yeah. having conversations that They catch themselves too late and go, Oh, I said it. Yeah.
Oh, I've talked about it again. Why do you think it is? Because I remember you giving this illustration a long time ago. It might have been on the show or from a sermon. But like every single one of us have some conversation that we replay in our minds.
Maybe it's even from childhood. Uh Of words that deeply impacted us, whether for the good or whether for the bad. But why do words stick with us so much all throughout our lives? I mean, it's it's again, it's hard to uh explain. I just know that it they do, but For some reason, they stay in our memory.
Is there a single conversation you can think of that if you wanted to, you could recall that conversation right now, even if from like decades ago? What I said, or what somebody else said?
Someone said to you. Yeah, there are many conversations like that. I mean, I remember conversations going back to the time I was four years old. Wow. Yeah, even three years old.
My sister and I were talking about One of my cousins' weddings and uh wedding. This was when I was three years old.
So you're going back to like 1970. I was born in 1973. 76. 76. Yeah.
1976. And I told her, I said, this is what happened at that wedding. And she was like, wow, you remember that? I said, yes. I was only three years old, maybe three and a half.
Yeah. And I remember this. Bad conversation happening and this person saying this about somebody. Wow. I remember that.
Three years old. Yeah, that's incredible. That's about 49 years ago. And I remember that conversation like. Not like it was yesterday.
I mean, it it It doesn't seem like it was yesterday, but still I remember. The words are there, yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah. And it was not directed towards me, it was directed towards somebody else.
And I was there and it was like Wow. That got said. Oh, wow. Yeah. Three years old.
I think it le that lends itself to James's point that the tongue is such a powerful force and it can be powerful in a good way or powerful in a bad way as well. Yeah, somebody said words can make people or break people. Words can bring peace or they can bring war. Words can make a nation or it can destroy a nation. Words can make you a friend, or words can make you an enemy.
Yeah, yeah. I think about a lot how. Like, if I'm having a bad day, right? You typically have self-control over who you're gonna snap on, who you're gonna aim those words at, right? Like, if you're having a bad day, you're probably not gonna bless out your boss, you're probably not gonna bless out your coworkers, but you'll probably go home to your wife or to your children.
And once that's done, right? You're like, okay, I feel better. I'm going to get myself a good dinner, sleep. Tomorrow will be a better day. But you don't think about the fact that my kid is probably going to remember that next year, five years from now.
What if that, what if that one loss of self-control with my words shapes in some way the person he's going to become for the rest of his life? Great point. Yeah. Usually the people the closest to us that catch the fallout. Yeah.
Yeah. Even if you control yourself all day. Under the worst situations. Facing people who are belligerent, hateful, you know, come out of nowhere, but you're still able to kind of control yourself and get in the right frame of mind. And man, you hit that.
curve ball right outside the park. I mean you you're you're Great. And then you get home, and something little sets you off, and you just boom. Yeah, that's happened. And you think to yourself, like, what just happened?
Why did I say that? Why did I get so upset? Why did I just go with it and keep going and keep going, keep going? And then, what just happened? Mm-hmm.
Yeah, this is why James chapter 3 is there. That's right. Yeah, I think one of the things James talks about is how devastating the consequences. of it can be. You know what I mean?
Like like the fact that your words will literally shape and impact someone's life for years to come. You don't think about that very often.
Well, in today's lesson, we're going to hopefully, by the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit, guiding us into this text. See how we can Keep that from happening. What we said about, you know, you're perfectly in control. I mean, you are rock solid. In the most difficult situations, you come out.
And you are just amazing. And then that thing happens. Hopefully, in today's conversation, we're going to learn how to not let that thing happen. Yeah. Yeah.
Because I'm going to help us there. I love it. All right, so we can begin. Yeah, let's do it.
So, verse 1. It says, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
Now, here. James is talking to Teachers, in the sense of Bible teachers, or people who are leading that community, that church. Um to help people follow Christ. You know, remember, James is probably the first book written. Wow.
That's what a lot of people believe, that this was the first book written, because the theology in the book is very cut and dry, very basic. It doesn't get into all the nuances about walking in the Spirit or baptism representing my death, burial, and resurrection with Christ or eschatology. I mean, it doesn't get into all those details.
So it seems like It's very much we just left the The Old Testament way of thinking, and now we are in the New Testament. Not that the Old Testament was wrong, but we were simply waiting for the Messiah, but now we found him. You think this is why a lot of new Christians flock to James because it is very cut and dry? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think so.
But what James says here is that let not many of you become teachers in this growing community or communities. You needed teachers. And a lot of people must have stepped up and said, Hey, I've been studying the Old Testament since I was a kid. I got this. I got this.
You're looking for a Sunday school teacher. I'm the man or woman. I know this Jesus, and I can find Jesus all over the Old Testament. I am ready. And James tells them, You will have a stricter judgment.
Yeah. Have you experienced that in church life? People coming to you and saying, Hey, if you're looking for Bible school teachers or Sunday school teachers, I'm your man. I wish they would come for Bible school teachers. No, no, they want to have a class, they want to unload all that they learn from.
You know, listening to John MacArthur or David Jeremiah. Or Charles Stanley, they just, they've been doing this for a while. Yeah. So they just want to unload on somebody. Yeah, it's rare that they'll come and say, I'd like to volunteer for VBS.
But they will absolutely say, I need to teach a class. Right, right. I have gifts. I mean, I just feel sort of unused. It's like, Okay.
Sure. But even James is hitting on something that I think even the secular world would agree: that we put way more weight on the words of our leaders. Like their words. in a sense, I guess you could put air quotes around this, but matter more. Maybe they have a a deeper impact is a better way to say it.
Absolutely. Because what you say as a leader impacts people far more to do far more things, positive or negative. And so God is saying, I will judge you far more than the average person. Yeah. because your words are powerful.
That's right. And then it says, where we all stumble in many things. Verse 2: If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man. We just talked about this. Telos.
able also to bridle the whole body.
So, if you can control your words, your entire body is under your control. Our words, our words. Control our actions. True.
So if you get your words in check, You will get your body in check. Wow. But if your words. Are not in check, your body's gonna follow. There's a progression.
I remember you put it this way one time where you put that, you know, affairs don't happen. In a hotel room. You don't bump into someone and then all of a sudden you're having an affair. You start flirting. You start saying things that you know are a little bit across the line.
It's almost like I remember I used to do this, not in a like a lustful way, but I would make jokes. to try to see what everyone thinks. And if everyone's cool with this, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep talking about this. I think that's something that people do is they'll say things and it can be framed as a joke or it can be framed as humor, but it's really to test the waters to see, is everyone cool with this?
Yeah. Your words are, we need to treat them with the gravity that James writes about. We need to treat them with the seriousness that James talks about. It's not just running off in the mouth. It's not just saying mindless phrases and sentences.
Your words can... can shape the world around you and can shape your perception of the world around you, including your perception of yourself. Whether you talk to and about yourself, you'll start to believe those things. And one of the things that I know that you're very big on, Dr. Shah, is as a team, before we start doing things, before we start rearranging things or making plans or sending out emails, as a team, we come together and talk.
And I think that's maybe you can speak on that is that the us sitting down and talking is what's going to drive the action of whatever it is we're trying to accomplish. Absolutely. At one time, I didn't think that was very important. Even when I was an administrator, that's actually when I began to learn the importance of talking. Because prior to that, it was like, just do it.
You know what to do. Just go and do it. Just you're wasting time. We're sitting here talking. We're wasting time.
That's how I used to think. And then I watch leaders who were ahead of me.
Now some were not good enough leaders and I didn't need to follow them, and I didn't follow them. But then there were leaders who were good. and people followed them. And they accomplish things. They were not like.
Top-notch leaders doing great, great thing, but they were leaders. In their sphere of influence. And I was like, what is it that they're doing? And one of the things I noticed is their speech, the way they talked to the people, and the importance of talking. That that And not only informed their people, but it also Motivated their people, it also.
um guided them To achieve something, and they did. And I had more knowledge, I had more passion, I had all these things, and yet. Even with my position, I couldn't get my people to do that.
So I was like Something is missing. Oh wait, I'm not talking to them. They're not talking to me. Because I am uh almost um the word. the need to talk.
Because I think talking is a waste of time. I think talking is a way to avoid doing the real work. And then, once I understood that, yeah, there are times that I've talked longer than I should have talked, and there are times that. But tangent and and got off the rails. But most of the time I look back I see yeah.
There was a need to talk and that's why we talked. And look at the success now. Don't misunderstand. Our success is not because we talk or I talk. Our success is because God's blessing us.
But this is one of the ways it happens. That's right. Yeah, it has driven our actions, the things that we talk about. Once we're all clear and we're on the same page, it's easier to put those things into action. One of the things that we were looking at at NRB, Dr.
Shah, is I was really paying attention to how established, successful leaders communicated, how they talked, especially from the stage. That was something that you and I had talked about prior to NRB, and we were going there to see it and how people respond to it. Because I know from the stage, especially when you're opening up in worship, it's easy to fall into just old patterns. Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? Clearview Church.
All right. Good to see everybody. Everybody doing good? Everybody ready to worship? And you don't realize when you go back and watch the stream, it's like, I'm wasting time.
Nobody's listening. And that was one of the things that I think was really helpful to see how established leaders talk. Yeah. And James gives us two examples here about leading your words, leading your actions. You know, you're talking in the context of worship.
Apply that to any part of your life: parenting, marriage. Neighborhood Co-workers Politics Business Sales. anywhere. Sports field, There there there is Your words are directing your actions and the actions of others. Yes.
Yeah. So what do you want them to do? Yeah. Then check your words. It makes me think a lot about one of the lessons that we do with our leadership students through the John Maxwell Leadership.
Curriculum. It's three lockers of leadership. And imagine like so lockers stacked one on top of the other. There's position-based leadership, which you're going to do what I tell you to do by virtue of who I am to you.
So your boss, your parent, a position. The next is production-based leadership, and that's based on a goal that we're trying to achieve. Like you're listening to me because I'm driving us toward this end goal, whether it's a product or whatever. And then the last one, and the most sustainable long-term, is permission-based leadership by virtue of who I am. You're gonna, in our relationship together, you're gonna listen to me.
And so it says that you can, you can dip into the other lockers, production-based leadership or position-based leadership. You can lean on those, but the one that is truly successful is permission-based leadership. And the only way to achieve that is by talking, is by having that relationship, building that rapport with the people who are following you, because then they don't just care about. The end goal they care about you as a leader, and you as a leader care about the people. I've seen that, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, James gives us two examples of that. One is of a horse in his bridle. And the other one is a ship and its rudder. Right. The horse, it says, indeed we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us.
And we turn their whole body. If you don't like the direction that your church is going, Start paying attention to what you're saying. Good point. Wow. Yeah.
If you don't like the direction your marriage is going, Start Checking the content. of the words you're speaking and that's good. If you don't like the direction your children are going, if you don't like the direction your business is going. Start listening to how you speak, what you speak. Yeah, there's a great, uh, there's a great reel that just came out, I think, this week of you, and it's from a sermon that you did either last week or a couple of weeks ago, where you said, basically said that to the church.
There's no wonder that reel is blowing up right now. But it's basically you saying, you know, preaching is easy. I can get up here and I think you said I can heat up an old biscuit and serve it to you. But what we're doing here at Clearview, where we're preaching the word, we are getting into the word, we are taking care to dissect all of these Greek words to get at the heart of the matter, that's difficult. And I think people at Clearview, and I think the more people see us on Pray and TBM Plus, they resonate with that because they know that.
It is easy to get up there and just say words. And you can even make the words sound good, but it's not easy to pick the right words that matter and will change people's lives. And ultimately, if I just get up there and say what I've been saying for a long time, or just in the moment, haven't done my research, haven't studied, wasted a lot of time on the phone or on television or just hanging out or sleeping. If I'm doing that and not doing the hard work, Yes, the words may make some traction, but it's not going to be what it needs to be in the long term. Because Eventually people figure out that you're just Just occupying space.
You're just. Collecting a paycheck. Yeah. You're just coasting.
So, why should they invest their lives? They may do to some extent they will invest their lives. To some extent, they will do things because it benefits them. They have children, they have marriages, they have families, they have Christian lives.
So they will somehow go along and do some things. But overall, there's not going to be big changes down the road. Yeah. Good things will happen. No, they won't because.
Your words are are just Wind. Yeah, wind can move things. But if it's not properly designed, what's it going to move? Maybe move a curtain, yeah, old Coke can down the street, a couple of down the street, a bunch of straw or a tumble weed, yeah. You know, or get your hair all messed up.
I mean, yeah, wind can do some things. I'm not saying it cannot. Yeah. And maybe when your hair goes everywhere, you may look cool. Get something out of it.
The tumbleweed going across the road may make for a cool western shot. Yeah, yeah. But it's not going to change anything. But how effective is it long term? Yeah, it doesn't agree with you.
Another example that is used, we're going to have to finish this next time. Yeah, we might have to do another show for this. But at least for now, we can continue. The second example that James uses is he says in verse 4: look also at ships. although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, They are turned by a very small rudder, Wherever the pilot desires.
You know, I think about that a lot of times where we think our words are small. We think they're insignificant, but they make a huge impact on people's lives. And I know it's easy to jump to the negative, but I think even on the positive, Dr. Shah, there's been so many times where I've just rounded a corner and I hear you talking to my kids. Gavin, you are so smart.
You guys are good boys. Like, I know for us. On the surface, that's a very small, easy thing to say. But I genuinely think you are shaping my kids into becoming good men because you're stinking positively into their life. And speaking, like personally, me growing up, I didn't have, I mean, I had some, but I didn't have a ton of people telling me, you are so smart.
You can do anything you want, you are a good boy. Um and and that means a ton to me. Even though they are quote-unquote small words. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I mean, I could say the same thing about my kids, and it's. To the point now where my kids are like involved and serving in various ministries, and you always make a point to affirm that in them. Like, hey, thank you for serving. Thank you for doing this. You're doing a great job with this.
And so, my 13-year-old and 11-year-old who are involved in various ministries, they're internalizing that. Like, it's not only mom and dad see this, but it's our pastor, our friend sees this and speaks that and encourages that in us. And that is creating lasting impact in them.
So, it's not just, I have to do this because mom and dad make me. No, it's I'm a part of this and I'm blessing people as a result of it. I wish we had more time to dive into this, but before we close the show, what would you say to someone who might be working in ministry context or might be a leader in ministry context? And they're thinking, you know, I don't know when the last time I heard an encouraging word was. Wow.
I would say to people like. Those in ministry, and in fact, all of us are in ministry in some way or form. I would say, guide. your words and your words will guide you. Let me take it a step further.
By the words of your mouth, I can predict with a high level of accuracy. where you are headed.
So if you have pitiful words, You are headed towards depression. May not be full-blown clinical depression, but it will be depression. Angry words, you're headed towards violence. Mm. Yeah.
Boastful, prideful words, you're headed towards a fall. adulterous or Flirtatious words, you're headed towards an affair.
So start guiding. Your words, and your words will guide you. Amen. And of course, all of that is. In the power of the Holy Spirit, in the person and life of Jesus Christ.
Amen. That's right. Guys, make sure you come back as we're going to continue this conversation here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show anywhere podcasting content can be found.
Make sure you share it with your friends as well. Get them to listen to the episodes. And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. That's right. If you follow Dr.
Shah on iTunes, then you'll know we have a brand new show out. It's called How to Read Biblical Hebrew. Volume lessons one through four are out right now, as well as four or five vocab lessons.
So make sure you've got a lot of content to catch up on if you're just starting. But new episodes are going to be out every single week. It's a video podcast, so you can learn biblical Hebrew and learn how to read the Old Testament in its original language at your own pace. Also, big conference coming up. You want to tell them about the conference?
Absolutely. Apologetics conference right here at Clearview. We're going to be taking a look with Dr. Shah and other text critics from around the world at the Byzantine text of scripture, the Greek text behind what we hold in our hands. And it's going to encourage you and it's going to encourage.
Your confidence in the Bible being God's word. Make sure that you are here. You can register online by visiting clearviewbc.org and navigate to that events page. And if you use the promo code today, that's T-O-D-A-Y, you need to get a sweet little discount on your registration. That's right.
We can't wait to see you guys there. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview today.
