Verse 1
In these first two chapters of James, the author James will often throw out the phrase, my brothers or beloved brothers when he is challenging them in a particular area.
James 1:16 he writes, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.”
James 1:19 he writes, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…”
When he uses the word brother he is speaking to them as a brother in Christ but he is also speaking to them relationally. He is saying, I am know this is hard to hear but I say this because I care for you. You are my brother.
And so in chapter 3 verse 1 he makes another statement “not many of you should become teachers” and then he adds “my brothers” and what he is saying is, ‘I know I just made a very blunt and maybe even hurtful statement” but I am saying this because I love you and care for you and want to see you mature in your faith. I want to see you be someone who should be teaching.’
Now this can seem like a strange statement especially since Jesus commands us to teach.
In the Great Commission he calls us to make disciples and part of disciple-making is teaching people to obey the commands of Jesus. And even before the Great Commission, God had instructed the Israelites to teach the next generation of the commands and truths of God. Teaching, instructing, and discipling is at the heart of being a disciple of Jesus.
But then James makes this statement: “not many of you should become teachers…”
And it is almost like James is saying, “not many of you should love, not many of you should serve, not many of you should share the Good News of Christ.”
When James wrote this statement, he didn’t write it as verse 1 of chapter 3. This is the continuation of his greater theme of being people who are living out a persevering faith. In chapter 2, James was challenging us to be people who have a steadfast faith in Christ that is made evident through how we live. When we come to chapter 3, James is continuing this theme of living out our faith. And one of the most outward evidences of our faith is our words.
How we speak to one another is evidence of our relationship with Christ. Do you regularly use harsh and angry words, sarcastic and biting words, demeaning and degrading words, profane and filthy words? These words reflect an immature faith or as James might say, a dead or inactive faith. As we mentioned last week, a tree is made known through its fruit. One of the fruits of our lives is our words and they reveal the health, the maturity, the vitality of our relationship with Christ.
This is the challenge of James – faith in Christ without the works of Christ is dead. And so in chapter 3, James continues this theme. When James makes the statement about not many people being teachers he is not discouraging people to become teachers because as we mentioned, that is central to being disciple-makers. But rather he is calling out immature Christians who are quick to teach the truths of God without having actually obeyed the truths of God.
He is saying in a very blunt way, I have been hearing how you have been living and not many of you should become teachers—not now. Do not just hear the word of God and begin to teach it. But rather, obey the word of God, be transformed by the word of God and then out of obedience to the word of God begin to proclaim it.
Chuck Swindoll makes this observation: “No other section of the Bible speaks with greater clarity and impact on the potential destructive power of our words. We might summarize this powerful passage in the form of a question: “If you say you believe like you should, why do you say things you shouldn’t?”
James is not just speaking to immature Christians but there is applications to everyone who teaches. He writes, “for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
These are weighty words for everyone who steps into a teaching role whether with kids, youth or adults. Whether in small groups or large group. You will be judged in how you teach God’s words. There is a seriousness to teaching.
Verse 2
One of the challenges of teaching the perfect truth of God is that our lives will not always match what we are teaching because we are all sinners. And there are going to be times that we stumble. And we are not always going to do what we say we should do.
Some of the saddest stories of Christians are those of children of pastors who saw dad proclaim one thing on Sunday mornings and then live very differently way at home. They saw a dad speak of love within the walls of the church and then live a life of anger at home. And this inconsistent faith created confusion within the children leading some to say if that is what it means to be a Christian, a pastor, I don’t want anything to do with it.”
Verses 3-5
In verses 3-5, James gives several examples of the power of the tongue.
James makes a point about control. A horse is a large animal and yet is controlled and led by bits placed in their mouth and a large ship is controlled and directed by a small rudder. In the same way, the tongue is a small part of our body and yet it shapes and directs our entire life.
The question James is asking through these illustrations is: do you have control of your tongue? Now of course, the reference to the tongue is a reference to our words. Do you have control over your words?
There are some people who are disciplined in what they eat, disciplined with their time, disciplined with physical exercise, disciplined with their money and yet they are undisciplined with their words harming people around them, bringing ruin to relationships and even bringing ruin to their reputation.
There are many people who are careless and undisciplined and unwise with their words and it impacting their entire life and they are being controlled by their words.
And so James tells us in verse 3 that like a small bit controlling a horse, a small rudder controlling a ship, a tongue can make a great impact and do great things. We have all seen where our words have been used to build people up, call people to action, to cast vision, to implement change.
Many of the great movements of history began with an individual using their words to inspire a group of people or a nation to action. Words can be extremely powerful for good but they can also be extremely selfish. And that is the example that James uses. The tongue can be used to boast, to build oneself up, to flatter oneself, to make oneself seem greater and more important than they are.
And when we use our words in a selfish way our words become destructive.
Verse 6
When we think of a forest fire, what does it do? It destroys everything in its path? Beautiful healthy trees are destroyed, homes are destroyed and even people are killed. James says our words can be a world of unrighteousness. The New Living Translation says a whole world of wickedness.
What James is trying to express with this image of a forest fire and a world of unrighteousness is that there is so much damage and destructive that can happen through our words. If you were to think about some of the great pain that you have had in your life, I imagine that many of those painful moments are related to words that were spoken to us: words of rejection, words of betrayal, words of indifference, words of hatred, words of belittling and words of deception.
People who have experienced emotional and physical abuse from parents or spouse or loved ones have said that the worst kind of abuse is not the physical abuse (which is obviously horrific) but the worse kind of abuse is the emotional abuse where you are torn down by words. Emotional abuse crushes your heart and your spirit shaping your very identity and self-worth.
James says not only can our words destroy others, but our selfish, wicked words our corrupt our own selves. You are not only destroy others you are destroying yourself as verse 6 said our words are “setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell.”
The direction of our life can be set by how we speak. Our reputations are often established by what we say. Our words are revealing to everyone around us, who we truly are as our words come from our heart.
And so James says that when we live life using wicked words to destroy others, we are living life as an instrument of a Satan. This is what James means when he says “set on fire by hell.” If you use words to speak of immorality, if your words are vulgar, if you use words to gossip, to slander, to betray, to harm, hurt, you are being a tool of Satan as he seeks to destroy.