As you well know, this is the Bible's classic sermon on the "tongue!" After seeing, lately, the hurt that one small tongue can cause so many people, I thought it would be helpful to remind us all of what the Bible says about our wicked ole tongues.
Our chapter only has 18 verses ... but they are "power packed!"
I have noticed that James describes our tongues by using 9 different "word pictures!"
Let me show you what I mean.
§ The tongue is like a "bit" in a big strong horse's mouth! That little "bit" can guide and direct that big old horse any direction the rider decides! So can the tongue give direction to our lives. It can literally steer a day toward praise ... or grumbling! It is the "bit" that points our "moods" (our very "attitudes") in whatever direction we go!
§ Secondly the tongue is like a "rudder" on a large ocean-going vessel! Here the idea is not "direction" as much as overcoming opposing winds and following a determined course! One's tongue can become so influential in life that it guides you ... even when other things would get you detracted! Profanity can become such a habit ... that even on good days the filth still flows! (Gossip or slander, other "sins" of the tongue, can also take over and successfully oppose God's good breezes of blessing!)
§ Thirdly the tongue is called a little "member" of one's body! One's "leg" can give him or her trouble! So can one's gall bladder or heart. They are all members of the body too. BUT perhaps the tongue leads the pack! We often hear of "eye" trouble ... but seldom of "tongue" trouble! It's common for folks to get their "hearing" checked ... but "tongue" checks are rare indeed!
§ Fourthly the tongue is like a fire! Fires burn! Fires spread! Fires have some source! The tongue burns fiercely ... and spreads its destruction rapidly ... and has a source too, Hell itself!
§ Fifthly, the tongue is a "world" of iniquity! Let me explain. There is a "world" of sin! (San Francisco ! Las Vegas ! New York ! Atlanta !) There is a world of science! (Georgia Tech, NASA, MIT, The Creation Research Society) There is a world of Christianity! (The Bible, Church, the Holy Spirit) And the tongue also has a world of its very own! (Jealousy, Slander, Gossip, Lying, Exaggeration)
§ Sixthly, it is a pollutant! It "defileth" the whole body! It spots and stains everything it touches with its filth! The picture is that of a "slop" jar (a portable clay pot that has served as one's commode during the night) that is spilled on someone's freshly cleaned white robe (toga)! A sinful wicked tongue spreads pollution everywhere!
§ Seventhly, the tongue is an untamed beast! (Birds can be tamed! So can snakes, sea creatures, lions and tigers too!) But no man can tame the tongue! Watch it carefully! It can attack when you least expect! Keep it caged! Don't trust it! And please don't turn your back on it!
§ Eighthly, the tongue is a poison! ("A deadly poison" says James!) Many have died through history due to wagging tongues! Paul uses the same word as "poison" here for the venom of a cobra snake in Romans 3!
§ Lastly the tongue is an inconsistent performer! It can do strange things. In the same conversation ... it can bless and curse! (Do wells send forth both sweet water and bitter? No! Do fig trees bear olives? No! Then tongues should not bless God on Sundays and curse God on Fridays!) Is your tongue that unpredictable?
Who CAN tame the tongue?
God the Holy Spirit can!
He is often in Scripture either called Wisdom or compared to Wisdom!
James uses the Wisdom motif here.
Watch.
Verse 13: "Who is a wise man?"
Verse 15: "Earthly wisdom is devilish and filled with confusion, envy and strife! (That's exactly the tongue he has been describing!)
Verse 17: "BUT the Wisdom that is from above is ... first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." He is describing the Holy Spirit ladies!
He is the Solution to the tongue problem!
How about that! Once again, the Holy Spirit comes in for the win!
The solution to the tongue (pictured by all sorts of wild beasts) is the precious Holy Spirit (pictured by a little white pure dove)!
And the Dove tames the beasts! Glory to God!
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