The Human Tongue (Part A)

Well, the rule, and there are rules, for any teacher, be it to an assembly from a pulpit or just in the classrooms where we find ourselves, able to teach. First rule is to practice what you teach. Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The next step is to teach that which is true. Now, we're talking about the Scripture. We're focusing on Scripture teaching.

It's true for any, it applies anywhere else, of course, but this is what we want to stay focused on. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of James.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of James, Chapter 3, as he begins his message, the human tongue. Verse 1, he says, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment, which, as I read, I say, what am I doing here? I didn't know that.

Of course, I knew that. I didn't have a choice because to turn away from one's calling is to receive, I think, an even stricter judgment. Better to face things as they are than try to get away from them. But he says again his typical word, my brethren. He says it over and over throughout this hard-hitting letter.

He's speaking the truth, and he wants them to know he's doing it in love. Anyone here a perfectionist or you consider yourself a perfectionist? You better be careful with other people who aren't perfectionists, that you do not become a tyrant, a bully, that you do not become the problem in your quest for perfection. But on the other side of that, all of us are to pursue a state of maturity and development in Christ as perfect as we can get it. And so this important reminder to any who would quote from the letter of James to correct another, my brethren, softens the tone. He's saying, I'm not going to get away from what's true and what we need to hear, but I'm not trying to hit you over the head with it to hurt you.

Again, the proverb, faithful are the wounds of a friend, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. He says, let not many of you become teachers. Well, because teachers do a lot of talking. The tongue is very much a part of this. He hasn't gotten to that yet. He's mentioned the tongue already earlier in his letter.

He's going to, again, develop it in a moment, but he is moving into this subject. He starts with the teachers, and he doesn't have false teachers in mind. The other apostles deal with that, Peter and John and, of course, Paul. He is dealing with those who are sincere in the church.

Uncalled ones often try to line themselves up with those who are called, and this creates a problem. Well, the rule, and there are rules for any teacher, be it to an assembly from a pulpit or just in the classrooms where we find ourselves able to teach. First rule is to practice what you teach. Be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. The next step is to teach that which is true. Now, we're talking about the scripture. We're focusing on scripture teaching, and it's true for any.

It applies anywhere else, of course, but this is what we want to stay focused on. Another rule, a part of it, but not entirely, is that passion and sincerity to teach is not enough. Just because I really, really love the scripture, and I love the word of God, and I love telling people about it, that doesn't mean you should necessarily be teaching it, not in the formal sense of the word.

Yes, you should be preaching it, not the same thing. The early church closely followed the pattern laid down by the synagogues. They did not follow it entirely. For example, they didn't meet on Saturdays, Sunday mornings to mark the day that the Lord rose from the dead, yes, and also to make the distinction.

We're no longer Jews spiritually, ethnically, perhaps, but not spiritually, and so in following this pattern of the early synagogues, they had an open platform policy, where pretty much in the synagogues, any rabbi or person of distinction could enter into their pulpit and speak. Jesus did this. Paul the apostle took advantage of it. It had good things, good parts, and bad parts to it, but the early church got a little carried away in their grace, if you will.

Well, we're all saved, and we all have something to applaud the Lord Jesus for, and we're all equal. We can all hear from each other, and they took this upon themselves. They began to bring problems soon afterwards. This teaching in the assembly, well, of course, it did attract some who wanted the status of the rabbi to be recognized as someone of some position, someone important. Jesus warned about this in Luke chapter 20. Beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes. Love greetings in the marketplace, the best seats in the synagogues, the best places and feasts, who devour widows houses, and for pretense make long long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation. Anybody here like long prayers?

I've got a stack of them, if you'd like. There are those that just want the attention. They want the status, and they have to be filtered out. They'll do harm to a congregation in many ways, but back to this becoming a problem in the early church, Paul had to give clear guidelines to Timothy and to Titus and our beloved church at Corinth, the Looney Tune Church. Now, again, I always have to say not all of them were so, but they had seemed like a double portion. First Corinthians 14, Paul asked this question of the Corinthian church. How is it, brethren?

I don't think his brethren was as soft as James. A little satire, and how is it, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. There was this sort of push one another out of the way so that you could get into the limelight.

You could get the exposure. I have experienced this kind of Christianity, this free-for-all. I've got something to say, and I don't find it edifying. I found it un-edifying, where it was not so much about what is the Lord saying, what is he doing, who has he appointed, but it became more of look how spiritual I am. So there are standards for pastors, and the apostles had to begin to deal with this because it became a problem in the church. Other things became problems. Our beloved communion table was abused by the early Christians, and they had to get that fixed too, and hopefully good church leaders have been fixing problems throughout the ages whenever they surface. And so he says, let not many of you be teachers. You all can't teach. It is narrowed down to those who are called by God, not those who are moonlighting or think they have the aptitude or are self-appointed.

I might come back to that in one moment I will. He says, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. He warns of judgment on this topic to others, and he includes himself. He says, we shall receive a stricter judgment. We're going to be held accountable.

This is the man that grew up in the house with Jesus Christ. And he says, I'm not beyond judgment. If I mess it up, intentionally especially, I will be held accountable. When we stop recognizing the value of accountability, we are nose diving. Satan is messing with us, and if you're one of the Christians that will not be held accountable, I feel sorry for the Christians that have to deal with you.

Don't be that person. Where is it written? When you get up in the morning, thou shall be the pain in the neck, because you will not be held accountable to scripture, to correction, to love, to the inward voice of the Holy Spirit, because you are a loose cannon, and you're going to hurt someone. Knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment does not allow the pastors to just step into the pulpit and bully people and abuse the sheep.

It is so easy to talk about your problems, what you do wrong, as though it weren't so of the speaker himself. And James makes it clear that he is not above the people. Pastorate is to be a solemn work, not a hobby.

Who would disagree with that? It needs to be a calling on your life so that you can't get away from it. Should it be any different for you as a Christian? Is there not a calling on your life to uphold Jesus Christ? To preach the gospel? To stand firm on what you believe? You bet there is.

Is there anything wrong with that? The cults do it. They have no problem taking abuse for lies. Let's take them for the truth and bring people into heaven with us. So hopefully, these strong words and stricter judgment would discourage the self-promoting individuals, those who really have not so much Christ in mind as themselves. In Hebrews, the writer says, and no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God just as Aaron. And of course, he's writing to Jews, he's talking about the calling upon the priest, that it was not a self-appointed position. Is the church supposed to be less, to follow less of a standard?

It's modified, albeit, but it's a standard nonetheless. In verse 2, he says, 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. For we all stumble, he says.

He includes, again, himself in this. A stumble has a wide range in the New Testament. It's anywhere from just an error to a great sin. Stumble leads to a fall, leads to injury.

Depends on the context, how it's used. He's going to use the same Greek word for stumble, and he has in chapter 2. He says, for whoever shall keep the whole law, yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

And there it means sin. Here, James has softened it a little bit, because there are those that will make mistakes, that are not necessarily the sin of heart, but poor judgment. And yet, all of us sin at some point or another. Some suppose that stumbling should be ignored.

Well, a little one, sometimes you have to bypass it, but not the larger ones. Accountability, we keep coming back to it. 1 John chapter 1, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him, that is Jesus Christ, a liar, and his word is not in us. I'm not looking forward to the first letter of John. I've taught it before. I've read it many times. It is hard hitting, like James is hard hitting on my flesh. But I know what's good for me, and I know it's good for the people of God, and without exception, it is the word of God. When we are considering behavior, how we perform and go through this life, what's going to happen after this life, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, lead me to the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He says in verse 2, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is perfect, complete is the Greek word, a complete man, able also to bridle the whole body. James, really? Have you ever met such a person that was perfect? Yeah, I grew up with him. My older brother, according to the flesh, Jesus, the glory, according to the spirit.

I have met a perfect one, he could say. Initially, as so many of us fail to do, James did not recognize that James did not recognize the grace in Christ. He didn't understand it.

It was something for him to oppose, to resist. He found out how wrong he was. It took death, the death of Christ, to do that. But after the resurrection, he saw, and not only did he see, but he remembered what he never heard. He never heard Jesus Christ be fresh to Joseph and Mary. He never heard Jesus lie or attack another or another in their weakness. He never heard him say something vulgar or sinful or, here it comes, without self-control. Never did Jesus have to apologize to anyone for anything. James never met anyone like him before. Neither have you and I.

Just Christ, the perfect one. And we love him and we worship him, and nothing can take that from us. In verse three, he says, indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

A horse is a big animal. Again, you know, their eyeballs alone are the size of certain cities. They're huge. And he's speaking about curbing, the influence that curbs wrong behavior or steers toward right behavior. Just a little bit.

And quite a bit of wrong can come out of the mouth of professed believers. They would have been better had that bit stayed in their mouths. It's so easy to sting another person.

Some little, you know, you think it's cute, you think you're being cute, and you say something and it strikes the other one. You would not want someone to say that of you. And I'm not saying we all do this all the time, but there are those of us who are better at it than others and let the shoe fit wherever, let it be worn where it fits.

That's how it goes. But let's be careful. Let's be careful that when we say something, Christ doesn't say, you know, you need a bit put in your mouth to keep that bitter word in you instead of letting it come out of you. These are the things that hold us. You think Christianity is messed up?

How would it be without the scripture? Well, you can find some churches out there. You can find out and come back and tell me. You don't. I know. But Satan will tell you, you see this high standard of God, you can't reach it.

What's the use? Become disillusioned. The word of God is not all of that. It's a lie.

Don't believe it. Just remember, you are what you eat. And if you feed on God's word, you'll be a lot better off than had you not. In verse four, he says, look 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. He mentions the fierce winds here. Although they are so large and driven by fierce winds, the power, the force, the dynamics of the sea, even under pressure, that little rudder can keep it under control so that it will respond to the pilot, to the captain. Fierce winds do not justify our losing control. Anybody can be that model Christian without pressure.

It's when the insult comes, it's when the slight happens, when you're put in second place, when someone else's skill is complemented above yours. So if you come to me and say, why was listening to this other pastor? And man, he was good. I want to hear that. Or if I mention, if you're a woman and I say, did you ever meet so-and-so?

She is one of the most beautiful women. We see that green eye. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. It does not care spit about you. You can say that from the pulpit because it makes the point stick and it's not wrong. The point that is being made here is don't underestimate the power of little things to do good or to do bad. The tongue can crush bones, the Proverbs tells us. You can use it for good to rebuke or you can use it for good to exhort and encourage, or you can be filled by hell.

But if you're sitting here and you're one of those folks that's always justifying your anger and your rage, your out of control behavior because pressure came upon you, the scripture doesn't say, okay, feel good about that. Look also at the ships. They are large and driven by fierce winds. What is your rudder's response to that? Remember Bismarck? That the Leviathan of the sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the Second World War? Britain threw everything she had at that ship. Sunk the hood. Britain's, I don't want to take too long.

This is a topic I like and I can just gobble up my time getting into this. So let me get to the point. Bismarck was faster than anything else on the sea and her guns were just as superior. She could stand at a distance and sink whole convoys. The only way, the way they got her was the airplanes with their torpedoes, and don't hold me to the technical parts because I'm rushing through this so we can get on, but it's a point that needs to be made. They hit her rudder and all the Bismarck could do after that was go in circles, and that's when they, they came upon her like a pack of wolves and they sunk the Bismarck.

But the rudder was the key compared to the rest of the ship, although the ship that size rudders pretty big, but relative to the size of the ship is very small. Be careful. Be careful about the steering of your mouth. Verse five, what comes out of it that is, even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles.

Now he gets to it. You teachers, watch out for your tongue. You speakers, you who communicate, even if you are a mute, you communicate. Watch out for the signals you send out. They come from your heart. And so the correlation between the wannabe teachers and the tongue is significant.

The correlation between the true teachers who are called and the tongue is significant. Just because God calls you to do something does not give that person that is called the right to be reckless, rude, or wrong. We are all to stand before the Lord Jesus as perfect as we can.

And so to not stumble in speech, it's a virtue that we all want. It's tremendously difficult for all of us to go again. We say, oh, they pushed my buttons. They got on my last nerve. Well, it's not your last nerve.

You got plenty more to irritate. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 2, do not be rash with your mouth. Let not your heart utter anything hastily. Well, I've never done that.

I can't identify with this. Who hasn't said something hastily, the wrong thing? Do we ever hastily say the right thing? He continues, do not let your heart utter anything hastily before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. And he goes on to say, a fool's voice is known by his many words. You see, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs have no hesitation in saying the fool does this. And we look at that and say, I don't want to be that one. I've had my time.

I've done it from time to time, and I don't want to do it again. Psalm 39, 1, I said, I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue. I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked are before me. We all, who love the Lord Jesus, read that and say, yes, I want to be the person that can restrain myself. In preparing my notes, I had to take out so many things that are true but without restraint. And just spoken out, they can come across as cruel and unnecessary, and trying to filter it down so the Bible doesn't have to filter it down, so the body is made stronger, so that the guilty are convicted, yes, but they're not crushed.

They're encouraged to work even harder yet again. No matter how many times you fall on your face, the devil cannot beat you if you keep getting up. All you got to do is get back up. What happens to those who don't? Apostasy, backsliding.

We have known people that have had tragic ends in the faith. He says, is a little member in both great things, the principle of small things causing big trouble, or small things, again, goes both ways, being a help. One ancient man of the word said, any teacher who's teaching tends to make men think less of sin as a menace to Christianity and to mankind. Amen. We have whole buildings out there of people trying to make sin appear to be something other than it is, trying to make the guilty innocent simply on the grounds of, they don't like it.

That won't work. He says, see how great a forest a little fire kindles, a flame of a match can ignite the whole forest. Church goers, you must know only you can prevent church fires. Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James right here on Cross Reference Radio.