The faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled...

At the church where I serve we have been looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who repeatedly doubted Jesus claim to be God, but became a follower of Jesus who was the pastor at the church in Jerusalem and who was ultimately killed for believing that Jesus was God. And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus.

This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the half brother of Jesus wrote to early followers of Jesus, called the book of James, we will see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.  And for me personally, I find this timeless truth to be one of the most challenging in my life as a follower of Jesus. So let’s discover that timeless truth together beginning in James 3:1:

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

James begins this section of his letter to early followers of Jesus with a command: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren”. When James refers to teachers here, he is specifically referring to those who teach the message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible. James is specifically referring to those who would attempt to unpack and explain the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.

Now a natural question that immediately arises here is “Why would James make such a command? After all, aren’t we as followers of Jesus supposed to tell others about Jesus? Aren’t we supposed to have people who are able to unpack, explain, and tell us how to apply the message and teachings of Jesus to our lives?  So why would James say that not many should become teachers?”

That is a great question. And we see James provide the answer to this question in the second half of verse one. James explains that the reason why not many should become teachers is due to the fact that knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

Now if James was communicating this in the language we use in our culture today, this command would have sounded something like this: “My fellow followers of Jesus, not many of you should become teachers, because all of us who are teachers know that by teaching the message and teachings of the Bible we teachers are under greater scrutiny by God for what we say about God. Because we have chosen to teach the message and teachings of Jesus to others, we have placed ourselves in a greater danger of judgment by Jesus if we fail to control what we say about Jesus. As teachers, we place ourselves in greater danger of being found guilty by Jesus of not controlling our speech.”

Notice that James does not use the word you in verse one. Instead, James uses the word we. You see James placed himself in this category as one who had placed himself in greater danger of judgment by Jesus because of his desire to teach about Jesus. James recognized that if he did not control his speech when it came to what he said about Jesus, that he could be found guilty by Jesus for failing to control his speech.

And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we see James reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to the faith that works. And that timeless truth is this: The faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled. Just as it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled.

And in James 3:1-12, we will see James reveal for us four specific reasons why the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled. We see the first reason revealed for us in James 3:2. Let’s look at it together:

For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

Now when James uses the word stumble here, this word conveys the sense of losing one’s footing so as to stumble or trip. So when James says that we all stumble in many ways, his point is that as followers of Jesus, there are many ways by which we can trip ourselves up when it comes to living out the faith that works. James then explains that if anyone does not stumble in what he says he is a perfect man.

When James uses the word perfect, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be fully developed in a moral sense. And as a result of being fully developed in a moral sense, the person who does not trip themselves up with what they say are able to bridle the whole body as well. This word bridle literally means to hold in check. And it is here that we see James reveal for us the reality that the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled because our speech reveals our spiritual maturity.

The speech that is controlled reveals a spiritual maturity that is necessary for a person who wants to teach the message and teachings that make up the letters in the Bible, because those who teach the message and teachings of Jesus place themselves in greater danger of judgment if unable to control their speech.

And those who do not stumble in what they say reveal a spiritual maturity that not only keeps them from tripping up in what they say. Those who do not stumble in what they say reveal a spiritual maturity that keeps their entire life in check.

So here is a question to consider: What does your ability or inability to control your speech reveal about your level of spiritual maturity? Because our speech reveals our spiritual maturity. We see James further unpack this connection between our ability to control our speech and our spiritual maturity and our ability to control our lives in verse 3-6:

 Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

In verses three through five, we see James use three different illustrations to reveal for us the second reason why the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled. First, in verse three, James uses the illustration of a bit and a horse. Now a bit is a piece of metal or synthetic material that is placed in the back of the mouth of a horse where there are no teeth and assists a rider in communicating with the animal. A normal bit weighs from between a few ounces up to one pound.

By contrast, a normal riding horse weighs between 800-1000 lbs. Yet in spite of the huge difference between the size of a bit and the horse, James reminds the readers of his letter that "Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well." James point is that this small piece of material can cause an animal that is 1,000 times larger to follow its guiding and steering influence in its life.

Second, in verse four, James uses the illustration of a rudder and a ship. Now in maritime language, the size differential between a rudder and a ship is referred to as the rudder to ship ratio. The average rudder to ship ratio is between .016 to .035. In other words, the average surface area of a rudder is between 1.6 and 3.5 % of the surface area of the vessel that it is attached to.

Yet in spite of the huge difference between the size of the rudder and the ship James reminds the readers of his letter "Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires." James point is that this small rudder guides and steers this large ship wherever the captain of the ship intends it to go.

Third in verse five, James uses the illustration of a campfire and a forest.  On June 26 2011, some people walked away from a campfire that they had started in Eastern Arizona. And it was this abandoned campfire that started the Wallow fire in Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico that burned over 538,000 acres.

James then applies this imagery to our tongues and the speech that flow from them by stating “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!" Now if James was communicating this phrase in the language we use in our culture today, this phrase would have sounded something like this: “while the tongue is physically small, yet it accomplishes great things that it can boast about”.

James then hammers his point home in verse six by revealing the reality that in the very same way as a fire, the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body. In other words, the tongue and the speech that comes from our tongues are placed in such a position that they have the ability to stain or corrupt everything around us.

And our speech has the capacity to corrupt everything around us because the tongue is the very world of iniquity. But what does that mean? James point, simply put, is that the tongue has the power to unleash the expanse of the selfishness and rebellion that is within us upon those around us. The tongue has the power to unleash the expanse of the selfishness and rebellion that is within us in a way that corrupts and contaminates everything around us.

And it is in these verses that we see James reveal for us the reality that the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled because our speech reveals the trajectory of our lives. You see, while our tongues are small, they exert a great influence in the trajectory of our lives. And while our tongues are small, they exert the great power to corrupt everything around us.

So here is a question for us to consider: What does the content of your speech reveal about the course that your life is heading? What does what dominates your speech reveal about the direction that your life is traveling toward? Because our speech reveals the trajectory of our lives. Friday, we will see James reveal a third reason why the faith that works is revealed by speech that is controlled…