TAMING THE TONGUE (1): ITS POWER TO DAMAGE

(James 3:1)
May 26, 2019

Read James 3:1 – At first, this verse seems out of place. Jas just talked about
faith and works. Then, from vv. 2-12, he goes on to talk about the tongue. So
why this isolated verse about teachers? Bc the primary tool of a teacher is –
words! A teacher deals in words. So, in dealing with the extreme danger of
speech, Jas starts right at the top. Teachers use words that can edify – or kill!

Like the boy who asked his soldier dad: “Did you ever kill anyone?” Dad got
quiet, then replied, “Probably – I was the cook.” Cooks can strengthen, or kill.
Same with teachers. In fact, they can cause eternal damage. Like the world-
renowned church leader who recently said, “The Lord has redeemed all of us,
all of us with the blood of Christ; all of us, not just believers. Everyone!
Even the atheists? Everyone!” That teaching can kill. Thus, James’ warning.

I. The Issue

“Not many of you should become teachers.” Is this meant to discourage

teaching? No. Jas is a teacher – “we who teach”. He’s not discouraging
teachers – he’s discouraging the wrong kind of teachers as seen by the
warning he applies – teachers “will be judged with greater strictness.” The
problem wasn’t too many teachers. It was too many unqualified teachers.

Background. Jewish rabbis were highly esteemed. But it was a closed club
that took years of education and experience to get into. And it led to excessive
pride. Jesus notes in Mt 5:7 they loved “being called rabbi by others.”

The early church provided a new outlet, with fewer safeguards, for those who
loved to hear themselves talk! Anyone with the gift of gab could make a
power play of teaching. False teaching was a problem. An egotist, seeking
acclaim saw opportunity. One commentator writes: “Power issues had
produced a glut of would-be teachers in the Jewish church.” There can
never be too many Spirit-filled, qualified teachers. Jas isn’t discouraging
people from becoming teachers, but from doing it for the wrong reasons!

II. The Instruction

“Not many of you should become teachers.” Simple statement, but let’s
expand it a bit. Who should not, and who should teach?
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 A. Who Shouldn’t Teach – Anyone doing it for their own glory.
Wrong motives are as bad as wrong doctrine. Self-gratification as a motive is
wrong. That person will be subject to greater judgment.

A student who had been to an all-night prayer vigil ran into D. L. Moody the
next morning. He said, “Mr. Moody, do you know where we’ve been? We’ve
been to an all-night prayer meeting. See how our faces shine?” Moody’s
replied was quick: “Really?” Exod 34:29: Moses did not know that his face
shone.” If you find a teacher who is too enamored with his own shining
face, you need to find another. There’re a lot of them. They’re like Neb, who
looked over empire and said, “Is this not this great Babylon that I have built?”
(Dan 4:30). God sent him to the fields like an animal for 7 years. So beware
of a preacher who says, “Is this not a great sermon I have built? Is this not a
great church I have built? Is this not a great congregation I have gathered?”
He’s in the wrong business, and many have fallen from such heights.

B. Who Should Teach – 4 characteristics of good teachers.

1. Those who are submissive to the Word – The last thing

we need is one more preacher running around using a Bible text as a pretext to
spout his own opinions – or one more seminar leader selling human wisdom –
and books – under the guise of biblical teaching. “You mean that happens?”
All the time. We need teachers who realize: “I know nothing, but the Word is
everything.” True teachers are conduits or truth, not creators of truth.

That’s what the Reformation was all about. Martin Luther said: “I bow to the
Word alone – sola Scriptura.” The church replied, “No, Martin. You must
recant. It’s the Word plus the tradition of the church. All those scholars
couldn’t have been wrong all those years. It is Scripture plus tradition – and
tradition is the stronger ” And Luther was bold enough to say, “Where those
scholars and church leaders went beyond the Word, they were wrong.” It’s a
problem that’s still with us today. Tradition as authority.

But an equally disastrous trend in our day is the appeal to human wisdom as
authority. Human wisdom is a glorious gift of God. But when we make it our
final authority for faith and practice – we’ve made an idol of it. I hear speakers
all the time use some biblical text as a pretext to advance their own ideas. For
example, when “self-image” became all the rage during the early 70’s –
psychiatrists jumped on board like this was the magic potion that would cure
all society’s ills. And the church jumped on board. Ever hear a sermon that
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said, “Jesus said, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But to do that, first you
have to love yourself. So let’s do a little work on self-image here.”

So, we told our kids they were great just for being – existing. And they
believed it. So now we have a generation that cannot compete with other
countries in standardized testing, where we used to rule the world, but they
feel great about themselves. In one survey of third-graders, when asked to list
the three greatest people they ever heard about, 40% of them said, “Me!”
Surprised? Why. That’s what we’ve been telling them for years. We forgot to
tell them the truth; that they are hopelessly flawed, yet valued beyond
measure, not just for existing but for having been created in the image of God.
And true meaning in life – comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Kids need to find their self-image from being “in Christ.” That’s the image we
all need. Brennan Manning said, “Genuine self-acceptance is not derived
from the power of positive thinking, mind games or pop psychology. It is an
act of faith in the God of grace.” We all need the gospel, not self-promotion.
John Piper says, “To make people feel good about themselves when they
were [actually] created to feel good about seeing God is like taking someone
to the Alps and locking them in a room full of mirrors.” Human wisdom is a
dead-end street. We need teachers who see God on the throne, not man – who
understand that man derives his worth from God, not the other way around.

Another example. We’re told Xns are on the “wrong side of history” when it
comes to same-sex marriage. Thousands have caved – declaring the Bible
irrelevant on the subject. But the Bible speaks in unambiguous terms and
across cultural lines. So Franklin Graham said in a May, 2014 article in
Decision, “I would rather be on the wrong side of public opinion than on the
wrong side of Almighty God who established the standard of living for the
world He created. Marriage is a biblically moral issue, not a political or
theological one.” That’s great teaching – driven by submissive to the rock of
the Word, not the shifting sand of human wisdom with a new trend every day.

2. Those who are gifted – Some aren’t. They’re more

attracted to the spotlight than bearing witness to God’s truth. God gifts
genuine teachers to make spiritual truth accessible. Spiritual gifts are spoken
of 4 times in the NT. Teaching is prominent in all 4 passages. So, teachers
must ask, “Am I gifted, or fitting a square peg into a round hole?”

How will you know? Do people respond to your teaching? Are they built up?
Do you enjoy the whole process? Is your gift age-specific? Can you creatively
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highlight spiritual truth – thru illustrations, object lessons, skits – without
entertainment becoming the focus? Do you like the task or the glory?

Students applying to Spurgeon’s seminary went thru a rigorous test – they had
to speak before him. If he found what he considered fundamental flaws of
heart, voice, or giftedness, he refused admission. He hated to see those
teaching who had no gift for it – once saying, “If some men were sentenced to
hear their own sermons it would be a righteous judgment upon them, and
they would soon cry out with Cain, “My punishment is greater than I can
bear.” True teachers are gifted by God. We must seek them out.

3. Those who are prepared – Unseen hours of prep are part

of the job description for teachers. You can go a long way on the “gift of
gab”! But without preparation, there’s no content! That’s a travesty to inflict
on unsuspecting SS classes or congregations. Gifted teachers must seek a solid
biblical education? It’s a necessity, not a luxury to put in the hours of prep,
prayer, seeking the Spirit’s help to understand, illustrate and apply the text?
That’s what it takes to be prepared.

Tozer used to tell of a farmer frustrated at his inability to teach his dog. The
town drunk offered his opinion: “Well, you gotta know more than your dog
before you can learn him anything.” Good point. The teacher must work to
dig out the treasures of the Word so there is something worthwhile to present.
It is a priceless privilege to teach the Word – but teachers must first be taught
by study and God’s Spirit before they can learn anyone else anything.

4. Those who are obedient – We must live what we teach.

Credibility is at stake. I had a verse on my office wall, I Tim 4:16: “Keep a
close watch on yourself and on the teaching Persist in this, for by so doing you
will save both yourself and your hearers.” Strong, but sensible. What good is
it to learn the Word if you don’t obey it? Jas 1:22: "But be doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” To be a teacher you must strive
not only to hear, but to do. Otherwise – you’re just a hypocrite. We must seek
to be doers ourselves if we want to teach; and we must insure that those we sit
under as teachers are real – not entertainers, but true followers of truth.

Sidney J. Harris said, “None of should listen to a man giving a lecture or a

sermon on his ‘philosophy of life’ until we know exactly how he treats his
wife, his children, his neighbors, his friends, his subordinates – and his
enemies!” Are you watching my life? Are you watching your own as a teacher
– even if it’s just your own children and family. At one church workday, a guy
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followed the pastor everywhere he went. Someone asked, “Why are you
following Pastor Mike?” He replied, “I want to see what he says when he
hits his thumb with the hammer.” Checking him out. Looking for genuine!

Elbert Hubbard was editor of The Philistine and no Xn, but he understood
hypocrisy. Once on the front page of his magazine he wrote one sentence in
large, bold print: “Remember the Weekday to Keep It Holy!” Right!
Teachers must be the same people on Monday that they are on Sunday. They
must live the truth they teach. So who should teach? Those who are
submissive, gifted, prepared and obedient. That’s a challenging list. Any
teacher who does not feel the weight of that has no business teaching. None.

III. The Incentive

Simple. “We [Jas includes himself] who teach will be judged with greater
strictness.” That’s intended to slow us down. To sin with the tongue before 2
or 3 people is bad enough. To do so in public when speaking for God is way
worse. Teachers dare not be lazy, careless, unprepared – but rather we must
have a deep sense of the seriousness of this responsibility. Paul knew. He said
in I Cor 9:16: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” He’s saying, “I
deserve hell if I don’t get it right.”

Judged with greater strictness. So how could anyone teach unprepared –

whether it’s 5 third graders or a sermon to thousands? How could we come
unprepared? I cringe when I see that. Listen – we may not be great, but we
dare not give less than our best empowered by the HS. God demands no less.

Jews revered rabbis more than parents. Parents only gave life in this world.
The rabbi was dealing with life in the next. Teaching eternal issues is serious
business! We’ll all stand before the Bema judgment of Christ. Believers. Not
to determine heaven, but to determine loss or reward. And the strictest
guidelines are reserved for teachers. There’s no room for goofing off.

I wish our generation got this. We don’t. Our sense to eternity is warped by all
the comfort we have here. The weight of responsibility falls lightly on too
many of us. Not John Knox, greatest of the Scottish preachers, who was so
awed by the burden of presenting God’s Word accurately and clearly he wept
uncontrollably at his first sermon – had to be escorted away to compose
himself. That’s the kind of teachers we need. II Tim 2:15: “Do your best [not
your least] to present yourself to God [not to the audience, to God] as one
approved, a worker [not a slacker – a worker!] who has no need to be ashamed
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[at that stricter judgment], rightly handling the word of truth.” That’s what you
sign on for when you sign on to teach, encouraging us to get it right.

Conc – I recently heard the pastor of a megachurch say this: “I’m haunted
when I look into the eyes of my congregation and realize they are always
only two weeks away from leaving for another church.” Wow! He’d
forgotten his audience was God, not people. And he’d forgotten the
congregation is God’s, not his. Spurgeon, who preached to thousands every
week – didn’t forget: “I have preached the gospel now these 30 years and
more, but before I come to address the congregation in this Tabernacle, I
tremble like an aspen leaf. And often, in coming down to this pulpit, have I
felt my knees knock together – not that I am afraid of anyone of my hearers,
but I am thinking of that account which I must render to God, whether I
speak his Word faithfully or not. On this service may hang the eternal
destinies of many.” Spurgeon loved to teach and preach, but he never lost the
burden of the responsibility. That’s what Jas urges on every teacher.

Remember, you have an audience of one. If you are seeking the accolades of
the crowd now, you’re disqualified. On that day, only one opinion will count.
His. So prep and teach as tho He were there – bc He is! Let’s pray.