James 3
McGeeCHAPTER 3THEME: God tests faith by the tongue
James 3:1
GOD TESTS FAITH BY THE TONGUEI have written a booklet on the third chapter of James, and it has a sensational title; but my sensationalism is no greater than that of the Bible, for my title is a Bible title: Hell on Fire. We will see that that is the expression James uses here in talking about the tongue. We have heard a great deal in recent years about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and it has become sort of a sacred cow. However, freedom of the press in our day means that they can brainwash you according to the liberal viewpoint, and freedom of speech means that you can use vile language. I would like for someone to grant us freedom of hearing. I have only one mouth, but I have two ears, and I think my ears ought to be protected as well as my mouth. We need freedom of hearing today as well as freedom of speech. This chapter deals with “Freedom of Speech in God’s University,” which is another way I have labeled this particular chapter. I also like the title, “God Bugs Your Conversation.” There is no question that God has the right to bug, or to listen in on, our conversations. He has had that right for a long time, and He has heard everything that you and I have said. It is estimated that the average person says about thirty thousand words every day. (I know two or three people who exceed that number!) That is enough to make a good-sized book. In a lifetime, you or I could fill a library with the words we have said. God has that recorded, by the way, because He bugs your conversation. I suppose that the present-day movement for freedom of speech began at the Berkeley campus of the University of California some years ago. It was given coverage by the news media out of all proportion to its importance; that news coverage itself was another attempt at brainwashing. A great many taxpayers and prominent citizens were concerned that this great university, which is supported by their tax money, could be shut down and made a ridiculous spectacle by a few radicals, while the majority of the students were intimidated and their good intentions of getting an education were reflected upon. Now the problem of freedom of speech is not only out yonder in the university and in the news media, but it is in the church also. The problem in the church is the problem of gossip. Each one of us who is a Christian needs to be concerned about our freedom of speech. Just as I do with the Book of Proverbs, I liken the Epistle of James to a course in God’s university. James is the dean of God’s university as we consider this controversial subject, and he has quite a bit to say concerning the use and abuse of the tongue. We have seen in this epistle that God tests faith in many different ways. Here God tests our faith by our tongue. We want to reach up on the shelf of the laboratory of life and take down an acid to test our faith. Actually, this acid is more potent than hydrochloric or sulfuric or any other acid. The label on the bottle is “Tongue.” However, we are not talking about the chemistry of the tongue but about the theology of the tongue. James has already indicated that he was going to come to this subject. He said back in chapter 1, verse Jas_1:26,“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” He also said, “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (Jas_1:19). You have two ears, and God gave them to you so that you can hear twice as much as you can say. The tongue is the most dangerous weapon in the world. It is more deadly than the atom bomb, but no careful inspection is made of it. Some wag made the statement that it was a miracle in Balaam’s day for an ass to speak, but today it is a miracle when he keeps quiet. Someone else pointed out that it takes a baby two years to learn to talk and fifty years to learn to keep his mouth shut. The story is told of a man who had been fishing out on a pier for several hours and had not caught anything. As two women walked out on the pier, he finally pulled in a fish. It wasn’t a very large fish, and one of these two women took it upon herself to rebuke this man: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for so cruelly catching this poor little fish?” And the man, without even looking up, because he was a little discouraged anyway, said, “Maybe you are right, lady, but if the fish had kept his mouth shut he wouldn’t have been caught.” Another has expressed it this way: If your lips would keep from slips, Five things to observe with care: To whom you speak, of whom you speak, And how, and when, and where. Author unknown The importance of the tongue has been expressed in many different ways, and practically every nation has had something to say about it. I read this in Spurgeon’s “Salt Cellars” years ago: “The boneless tongue, so small and weak, Can crush and kill,” declared the Greek. “The tongue destroys a greater hoard,” The Turk asserts, “than does the sword.” A Persian proverb wisely saith, “A lengthy tonguean early death”; Or sometimes takes this form instead, “Don’t let your tongue cut off your head.” “The tongue can speak a word whose speed,” The Chinese say, “outstrips the steed”; While Arab sages this impart, “The tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.” From Hebrew wit this maxim sprung, “Though feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.” The sacred writer crowns the whole, “Who keeps his tongue doth keep his soul!” All of these sayings are very wise. I believe fervently that the most dangerous thing in the world is the tongue. I think the church is more harmed by the termites within than by the woodpeckers on the outside. Someone has put it like this: “Thou art master of the unspoken word, but the spoken word is master of you.” In other words, my friend, once you have said it, it is beyond your control. All of that is preliminary. Let us look now at what James has to say concerning the tongue Masters means “teachers.” James is saying that a teacher has a greater responsibility, and the reason for that is the grave danger of teaching the wrong thing. I am absolutely amazed and overwhelmed at the way so many Christian folk fall for all kinds of teaching, particularly that which has to do with prophecy. All a teacher needs today is a glib tongue. People are accepting all kinds of methods and cults and “isms”; yet many of these teachers, as far as the total Word of God is concerned, are absolutely ignorant. I rejoice in home Bible classes, and I think they have filled a real vacuum that existed, but I find that some of the leaders are teaching all kinds of vagaries, giving the wrong interpretation of Scripture. They need to know more of the Word of God than they do. The ease with which people fall for their teachings has ministered to a great deal of conceit and pride on the part of many teachers. One young fellow that I had the privilege of leading to Christ has gone off on a tangent in his teaching. I tried to get him to study the Word, but he did not. He has now started a class, and he is very glib of tongue. Someone in his class went to him and said, “Do you know that what you have taught is contrary to most Bible teachers and especially to the man who led you to the Lord?” The young man replied, “Oh, Dr. McGee?
Well, maybe he needs to correct his theology.” Well, frankly, maybe I do. I am amazed the more I study the Word of God. The thing that discourages me is that it reveals my ignorance, not my knowledge. I realize I have a long way to go, but the young man who made that statement has even farther to go. However, he does not recognize his own ignorance. I am reminded of what a preacher said of another young man who had just started out in the ministry. When someone pointed out his prideful attitude, the preacher said of the young man, “Yes, he thinks he is the fourth person of the Trinity.” It is so easy for a preacher or teacher to become proud. The tongue is very dangerous. James is saying here, “My brethren, be not many teachers.” Don’t think that the minute you become a child of God you can start a Bible class and teach the Book of Revelation. “Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” Frankly, it is frightening to realize that God will judge us for the way in which we teach His Word, and we will be under His condemnation if our teaching is wrong. My friend, the more opportunity you have to give out the Word of God, the greater is your responsibility to God Himself.
James 3:2
“For in many things we offend all” means that in many ways we all stumble. All of us dothere is no exception to that. “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.” The word perfect means he is a full-grown Christian as he should bejust as a baby grows up, becomes a little child and matures to full adulthood. James says the perfect man is “able also to bridle the whole body.” In other words, if he can control his speech, he can control his entire body, in fact, his whole life. The tongue lifts man from the animal world. It keeps him from being a gibbering ape or an aping parrot. Man is not an inarticulate animal or a mockingbird. Man can put thought into words; he can express himself; he can be understood; he can communicate on the highest level. The tongue is a badge which you and I wearit identifies us. It is the greatest index to life. It is the table of contents of our lives. Our tongues give us away; they tell who we are. Quite a few years ago I was rushing with my wife and little girl from a conference at Salt Lake City to a conference in the San Francisco Bay area. As we came over the High Sierras and Donner Pass, we stopped at a little townI don’t even know the name of itand pulled into a filling station. I stepped out of the car and said to the young man there, “Fill ’er up!” That’s all I said, but as I was looking out at those mountains and the lovely scenery, I became conscious that he was eyeing me. Finally, I turned to him and smiled. He said to me, “Are you Dr.
McGee?” I said, “I sure am. Do I know you?” He said, “No.” I said, “Do you know me?” He said, “No. I’ve never seen you before, but up here, especially during the wintertime when we are all snowed in, we listen to you every Sunday night on the radio. We’ve been doing it for years. I’d know your voice anywhere.” I’ve had that same experience a number of times. You see, my tongue gives me away. Remember the maid who said to Simon Peter, “…thy speech betrayeth thee” (Mat_26:73)he could not deny that he was from Galilee. Your speech tells who you are; your tongue gives you away. It tells where you came from. It tells whether you are ignorant or educated, cultured or crude, whether you are clean or unclean, whether you are vulgar or refined, whether you are a believer or a blasphemer, whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian, whether you are guilty or not guilty. My friend, I am of the opinion that if you had a tape-recorded message of everything you have said this past month, you would not want the world to hear it. Now let’s put the acid down on your tongue and mine. James will first deal with the unbridled and unrestrained tongue
James 3:3
The illustration James uses here is the horse. It was David who said, “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” (Psa_39:1). In other words, David said that because he wanted to give the right kind of testimony, he would put a bridle on his mouth. My friend, there are a lot of Christians today who ought to have a bridle put on their mouths. The bridle bits are not impressive in size, but they can hold a high-spirited horse in check and keep him from running away. If you are old enough, you may have recollections of the horse-and-buggy days. I can recall seeing a horse run away, turn over a buggy, and bring death and destruction to a family. In the same way, the tongue can run away. Someone said of another individual, “His mind starts his tongue to wagging, and then goes off and leaves it.” We should not go through life like thatthere needs to be a bridle for the tongue. Now James is going to use a different illustration
James 3:4
Large ships can be controlled by a little rudder which few people even see. A fierce storm may drive a ship, but a little rudder can control it. The tongue can also change the course of our lives. Men have been ruined by the tongue; many the fair name of a woman has been wrecked by some gossipy tongue. James says that the tongue is more dangerous than a runaway horse or a storm at sea. I believe that liquor is eating at the vitals of our nation today, but did you know that the tongue is condemned more in Scripture than alcoholism is condemned? Liquor and alcoholism may bring our nation down, yet the tongue is even more dangerous than that. Pro_6:16-17 says, “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.” A lying tongue is one of the seven things God hates. The tongue can really get us into troublethere is no question about that. Again, someone has put it in words like this: A careless word may kindle strife; A cruel word may wreck a life. A bitter word may hate instill; A brutal word may smite and kill. A gracious word may smooth the way; A joyous word may light the day. A timely word may lessen stress; A loving word may heal and bless. Author unknown I was very impressed when I read General Montgomery’s farewell words addressed to the Eighth Army in Italy following World War II. He said to them, “Command must be personal and it must be verbal; otherwise it will have no success, because it is wrapped up in the human factor.” Continuing, he said this: “I often have at the back of my mind a passage from the New Testament, ‘Except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken?’” (see 1Co_14:9). That is the kind of tongue I want to have as I teach the Word of Godthe tongue that both a little child and the older folk can understand. Someone asked me one time, “How in the world can the same message bring a nine-year-old child and a university professor to the Lord?” I must confess, I do not know the answer to that question. But I do believe that God blesses His Word and that it must be taught simply. We must put the cookies on the bottom shelf where the kiddies can get them. God did not say, “Feed My giraffes”; He said, “Feed My lambs” (see Joh_21:15).
James 3:5
This is where I got the title for my little book on this third chapter of James, Hell on Fire. That is what the tongue can be and is in many cases. There are those who have questioned my use of the word hell, arguing that it is not properly translated in this verse. The Greek word used here is gehenna; it is not sheol. It refers to the valley of Hinnom where the fire never went out. This word is used only twelve times in the New Testament; the Lord Jesus used it eleven times, and James used it once. This is a correct translation: the tongue is “set on fire of hell.” It is quite impressive that James compares the tongue to a fire. I do not know whether you have ever seen a forest fire, but each summer out here in California we have an epidemic of them. They are very devastating, and many times absolutely uncontrollable; they have to burn themselves out in many instances. Fire has been, of course, one of the greatest friends of man and nature. Some historians say that civilization began when man discovered fire. When it is under control, it warms our bodies, it cooks our food, and it generates power to turn the wheels of industry. It is dangerous, though, when it is out of control. It is a tragedy when a house is on fire. You hear a siren in the night, and you know that a group of men is rushing to put out a fire. Even in our present civilization we are not able to control fires. The London fire of 1666 destroyed London. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in Chicago in 1871 and started that great and historic fire. And still today we see great devastations caused by fire. The tongue is like a fire; when it is under control, it is a blessing; when it is out of control, it is devastating. It can be a cure, or it can be a curse. In Pro_12:18 we read, “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” The tongue can be like a sword that kills, but it also can be health itself. What a picture this is of the tongue! Again in Proverbs we read, “The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness” (Pro_15:14). Let me repeat the proverb I quoted a little earlier: “Thou art master of the unspoken word, but the spoken word is master of you.” If you haven’t said it, you cannot be held responsible, but once you’ve said it, it can condemn you. I have learned through personal experience that a slip of the tongue (especially if it’s made on a radio broadcast which is heard by many) can have great repercussions. You remember that Simon Peter’s tongue betrayed him, and he denied that he knew his Lord. But on the Day of Pentecost, what was it that the Lord used? It was the tongue of that blundering, stumbling, bumbling fellow, Simon Peter. The tongue can be either a curse or a cure. Brush and forest fires scorch and blacken and are a plague. Like a fire, the tongue can burn through a church, burn through a community, burn through a town, and even burn through a nation.
James 3:7
In my younger days, when the circus was coming to town, a group of us young folk would gather at some home, have a time of fellowship and a late dinner, then go down to the railroad yards to watch the circus come in and unload. As the parade of moving it out to the circus grounds was in progress, we would go along with it and then watch the tent being put up. One time we were even invited to have breakfast with them in the cook tent. My, what a thrill that was! Clyde Beatty was then with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, and he had charge of the wild animals. He was the one who went into the cages and put them through their paces.
We were in that tent, not as paid customers, but just watching them put up everything. Clyde Beatty went to a cage in which there were some little lion cubs; I think there were three or four of them. He took them out and began to play with them. He rolled them, and they bit at him; he grabbed them and turned them over, just having a big time with them. We went over and asked him why he did that. He said this: “I would never go into a cage with a lion that I had not brought up from the time it was a cub.
You cannot train an old lion. I begin with these little ones, and when they grow up into fine, fierce-looking young lions, I will take them into the cage with me. But they know me, and I know them.” May I say to you, you can tame a lion; you can tame an elephant, but you cannot tame the little tongue. As someone has said, “The most untamable thing in the world has its den just behind the teeth.” That’s one little animal which no zoo has in captivity, no circus can make it perform, no man can tame it. Only a regenerate tongue in a redeemed body, a tongue that God has tamed, can be used for Him. It is interesting to note that Paul said, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom_10:9, italics mine). In other words, we are to sing a duet, the tongue and the heart are to be in tune. The Lord Jesus said, “…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat_12:34)what is in the heart will come out. Someone has said, “What is in the well of the heart will come out through the bucket of the mouth.” If it is in your heart, you are going to say it sooner or later. It is interesting that when our Lord came to that dumb man, the gospel writer is very careful to say, “He touched his mouth!” My friend, if He has touched you, He has touched your mouth also.
James 3:9
The tongues which you and I have are capable of praising God or blaspheming God. As we have said before, the tongue is that which lifts man above the animal world. Man is not a gibbering ape or a mockingbird. Man can communicate with man, and he can communicate with God. When a man can sing like an angel on Sunday and then talk like a demon during the weekyou label him as you want tothe Bible calls that man a hypocrite. When I announced in the bank where I worked as a young man that I was going to study for the ministry, one of the vice-presidents of the bank called me into his office. He had been a good friend of mine, and he knew something of my life and how I had lived. He said to me, “Vernon, I hope you are going to be a genuine preacher and a genuine servant of God.” He said, “The reason I am not a Christian today is because of an experience I had during the war.” (He was referring to World War I.) He went on to tell me how the bank had set up a branch bank at the powder plant at Old Hickory outside of Nashville, Tennessee. One of the tellers there was also a soloist in a church in downtown Nashville. One Sunday as that teller came out of church, the bank vice-president overheard one of the ladies say, “You know, that man is one of the most wonderful men in the world. He sings just like an angel!” This vice-president made no comment at the time.
But that woman owned property, and she had business at the bank out at Old Hickory. She came in one day and was talking to him when suddenly they heard the vilest language imaginable. It came from the teller who had attempted to balance and he hadn’t balanced. (I was a teller for several years, and I know that this is one of the most discouraging things that can happen.) Well, when this man didn’t balance, he began to explode with blasphemies, and the lady said, “Who in the world is that?” The bank vice-president said, “That’s your soloist who sings like an angel on Sunday!” A man can bless God with his mouth, and he can blaspheme God. You can do both with the mouth you have. The Lord Jesus said that what is in the heart will come up through the mouth; you can be sure your tongue is going to say it.
James 3:11
In other words, a man can be a two-faced, double-minded, and forked-tongued individualhe can say both good and bad. But no fountain down here on this earth is going to give forth both sweet and bitter water, nor will a tree bear both figs and olives. Now the tongue reveals genuine faith, because it is with the mouth that confession is made of that which is in the heart
James 3:13
The tongue can reveal genuine faith. It can give a testimony for God. It can speak wisdom.
James 3:14
Strife and bitterness are certainly not the fruits of faith, but the tongue can stir up that kind of thing. James is making a contrast between the tongue of the foolish believer and the tongue of the wise believer. In fact, an uncontrolled tongue raises the question in the minds of others whether a man is a child of God or not. You cannot make me believe that a genuine believer can curse six days a week and then sing in a choir on Sunday. He cannot tell dirty jokes and then teach a Sunday school class, telling about the love of Jesus. That tongue which you have can do either one, but if it does both, it is that which stirs up strife. We are told here,“Lie not against the truth.” A lying tongue is one that denies the Lord during the week by its conversation.
James 3:15
James makes it very clear that strife and envying do not originate with God. They do not come from Him at allit is “earthly, sensual, devilish.” Knowledge is proud that she has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that she knows no more. Author unknown
James 3:16
An uncontrolled tongue produces envying and strife which lead to “confusion and every evil work.” Scripture makes it very clear that God is not the author of confusion. The confusion we find in the world today is a confusion brought about by the work of the Devil using that little thing, the tongue, which causes so much trouble. This verse will tie in very closely with what James has to say in the next chapter where he will define what worldliness really is.
James 3:17
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure"that is, it’s not mingled or mixed; it’s undiluted; it’s the original. It is that wisdom which comes down from God, and James clearly identifies it: it is “then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” Dr. Samuel Zwemer mentions the fact that false teaching always produces strife and envy and trouble. He says, “You cannot explain the wickedness of the world as merely human. It is human plus something, and that is why non-Christian religions are successful. They are supernatural, but from beneath.” Anything that causes divisions and strifeit matters not which church it is inis not of the Lord, you may be sure of that. You may boast of your fundamentalism, but if you are causing strife, you are sailing under false colors.
James 3:18
These are the fruits of faith. There must be righteousness before there can be peace. I wish this idea would reach the United Nations. I wish it would reach Washington, D.C., and Moscow and Peking and all the other capitals of the world. You cannot have peace without righteousness. There is a day coming, the psalmist says, when peace and righteousness will have kissed each other (see Psa_85:10). Today they don’t even know each other; they wouldn’t even recognize each other. Chapter 3 concludes the first major division of the Epistle of James in which James has dealt with the verification of genuine faith. There is a difference in faith: you can believe the wrong thing, or you can just nod your head and call that faith, but saving faith is that which produces good works. In these three chapters James has shown various ways in which God tests our faith to prove that it is genuine. First of all, God tests faith by trials. Dr. Richard H. Seume is an outstanding Bible teacher who has suffered with kidney trouble for a number of years. I would like to share with you something which he said (as quoted by Dr. Lehman Strauss in his book, James Your Brother), because I know that it comes from a preacher who is not giving us his theory or his ideas but who knows what it means to suffer. Dr. Seume wrote: Life on earth would not be worth much if every source of irritation were removed. Yet most of us rebel against the things that irritate us, and count as heavy loss what ought to be rich gain. We are told that the oyster is wiser; that when an irritating object, like a bit of sand, gets under the mantle of his shell, he simply covers it with the most precious part of his being and makes of it a pearl. The irritation that it was causing is stopped by encrusting it with the pearly formation. A true pearl is therefore simply a VICTORY over irritation. Every irritation that gets into our lives today is an opportunity for pearl culture.
The more irritations the devil flings at us, the more pearls we may have. We need only to welcome them and cover them completely with love, that most precious part of us, and the irritation will be smothered out as the pearl comes into being. What a store of pearls we may have, if we will! We saw, therefore, that (1) God tests faith by trials; (2) God does not test faith with evil; (3) God tests faith by the Word; (4) God tests faith by attitude and action in respect of persons; (5) God tests faith by good works; and (6) God tests faith by the tongue. James has made it very clear that genuine faith will be evident in the life of the believer.