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James 3.end
April 5th 2015
Meat
Okay we left off with verse 5 of chapter 3 last week but I think we will re-read the first five verses as a means to capture all James is attempting to say.
We are going to step into some mysterious lands today and I am going to address some biblical concepts that have been used, shall we say, “less effectively,” than they could or should.
Let’s read the chapter first.
James 3:1 My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Now remember, we have to take the whole word of God in our attempt to understand it.
Here, James is pretty hard on the tongue – and he describes it when it is on its worst behavior.
This being said we also read places in scripture where the tongue (the words we speak, our communications) go a long way in bringing people the truth, in doing good, in soothing others, blessing them, and praying, etc.
The goal is to have our tongues in control of the Spirit and to remove the flesh as far away from the controls of the tongue as possible.
So again, James describes the vile propensities of the tongue run amok. In this vane he continues:
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Spoke and it was so.
God grants according to our asking – the desires of our hearts.
Mouth speaks the abundance of the heart.
Life and death in our words.
The Secret – or The Law of Attraction says that what we say and speak creates our reality.
Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
Mouth speaks the abundance of the heart.
Mouth creates our reality.
So at the end of verse five James says:
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
The imagery seems to suggest that the tongue has the ability, with just a little flame, to ignite an enormous fire.
The Greek word for matter (as in how great a matter a little fire kindleth) is (ulh) which means wood, a forest, or grove – or just plain old fire-wood.
The meaning seems to be the tongue has the capacity to ignite a massive amount of combustible material with just a little flame – that is how powerful the little member is.
Again, James is focusing on the negative power of the tongue but we’re gonna touch on the positive side in a minute.
In verse 6 the last line of verse 5 is continued and he says:
In verse five the tongue has the capacity to ignite, in verse six the tongue is a fire – a blazing forest fire in its capacity to destroy.
He adds another parallel – saying, “a world of iniquity.”
In that line the imagery appeals to an entire community or world of evil. A microcosm of evil.
In other words the tongue contains so much evil that it – in and of itself – is representative of an entire community within the human body.
And while it’s a single member, very little by comparison, it is host to a world of evil.
Think about this for a minute – there is a tremendous lesson being presented us here.
We have the entire human race. If we could quantify human evil the most numerous examples – a googolplexion of evil notions exist in the human heart or mind.
(that’s the largest number we have with a name – a 1 followed by 100 zeros).
Next in line would be evil from the mouth or tongue and the next in line would be evils of the hands or body.
I mean go back to every conversation from the fall – could we even measure all the lies, false witnesses, slanderings, scandals, gossiping, besmirchings, blasphemies, perjuries, obscenities, misdirections, misleading, unholy, impure, and outright evil utterances that have ever occurred – not to mention the damage they have caused in the mind, heart, and lives of others?
The arguments, fights, belittling, mockeries, tauntings, suspicians and on and on and on.
That’s a world of evil.
And that doesn’t even include beguiling words, lies of the salesperson, sweet nothings to seduce, overcome and manipulate or the way we can use words to twist and turn the words of others.
No wonder Jesus said, “let your communications be yes and no because the rest of it is evil.”
“The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity!
He goes on . . .
“so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
This little member can truly serve to defile the whole body and that is why James was able to say if a person has control over their tongue they would be in perfect control of the rest of their members.
It is in this verse that James uses an interesting phrase – he says:
“so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
What is this course of nature James says the tongue has the power to set on fire?
The (ASV) says:
“and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell.”
The (BBE) “putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell.
The Modern King James says:
“and inflaming the course of nature, and being inflamed by hell.”
The RSV says “and sets on fire the cycle of nature,” the (TCNT) says, “it sets the wheels of life on fire,” and is itself set on fire by the flames of the Pit, and the YLT says, “is setting on fire the course of nature,” and is set on fire by the gehenna.”
The two Greek words are “trocov” (which means wheel or circuit of things) and “genesis” which means the beginning, the course, and life itself including birth and nativity and procreation.
We have a really, really interesting insight given to us here folks.
Of course there are a number of interpretations of what James is referring to here and we might suppose or take this phrase wheel of life with a grain of salt or with some serious reflection.
Some believe that our words revolve or circuit through generations upon generations.
Others think it means through the course of our individual lives.
We’ll come back to how I understand the phrase in a minute but in this context – the negative context – James is telling us that the evil words we use come from gehenna – the place Jesus said the Pharisees would not escape that burned endlessly – synonymously used as the image of hell.
And that they set on fire the cycle or circuit of life.
POWERFUL.
When it comes to the negative practice of language and our tongue or communications nothing could better characterize it better than the fires of hell, meaning the spirit and rancor and evil nature of it comes right out of that place.
James makes a comparison for us on the unusual nature of the human tongue, saying in verses 7-8:
7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
This does not mean that it is never brought under control, but that it is impossible to effectually and permanently subdue it. All animals can be domesticated to do things but the human tongue is too unruly.
James adds another pejorative line describing it saying – “Full of deadly poison.”
Fire. Poison. Pain and destructions from hell – a member of the body that can take the cycle of human life and toss it into burning chaos.
As an example of the tongue’s wickedness James now speaks to its hypocrisy, saying:
9 Therewith (or with the tongue) bless we (the Greek word is thank, praise, exalt) God, even the Father; and therewith (the very same tongue) curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
It doesn’t seem to be that James is speaking of one individual here but rather the ways we universally use the tongue – but nevertheless his comments do pertain to most individuals.
He adds:
10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Why? The practice goes again all of nature.
To prove it he adds (verse 11- 12) the following examples, which are supported by the word of the Lord, saying:
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
The illustrations speak for themselves – our mouths are either good or bad but truly should not be both – that is hypocrisy, a crime God seems to detest.
Remember to the church at Laodicea he said in Revelation 3:
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Verbal hypocrites must by definition be lukewarm because if they are praising on one hand, and then condemning on the other, the fire from the first, and the cold from next make lukewarmedness.
It’s part of my own personal issue with modern worship services. I feel very very self conscious singing public praises of my devotion to God – my love, my worship, proclaiming that He is my everything knowing that I fail in my interactions with His creations.
For me pleas for help and support are far more in harmony with the reality of the human experience not promises of extreme adoration and allegiance that cannot be sustained.
So James pulls from nature itself – like Jesus did – and asks:
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
The word for fountain is a hole or fissure in the earth which typically produce only fresh water.
If ever salt, it would be salt.
Likewise, he states:
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olives?
A fig-tree bears only figs.
An olive tree olives.
A salt water fountain salt water.
A good tree good fruit.
A bad tree bad.
The principle James is alluding to is ever present throughout most of life and even how we orchestrate living.
Think about it.
We have pipes that bear clean water and we have pipes that bear dirty water. We don’t mix them.
In fact we try to keep everything pure and clean separate from the things that are impure and corrupted – just to prolong and promote health.
So James is teaching a really valuable principle. But I have to admit a problem I have with the teaching and it’s not that what James says is incorrect.
I absolutely believe that controlling the tongue is really important – truly.
And I think the human tongue, like human hands, can be used – often alternately – for good or for evil. We are going to talk about the good the tongue does in a minute.
But in some ways I find the overall message a tad bit schitzophrenic – here’s why.
In James 3:2 he says:
“For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”
I mentioned last week that I do not believe this is possible for ANY human being except Jesus. We can improve but nobody is perfect with the tongue – quite the opposite.
In verse 8 James seems to agree with this, saying (after describing all sorts of animals that can be tamed):
James 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Now . . . maybe he is saying no Man can tame the human tongue (but God can). But if not the message seems to be we can tame animals of every kind but the tongue is so unique no man can tame it.
IOW, given the right set of circumstances a person WILL use the tongue wrongly.
Okay? Agreed. Sure.
But then (remember he is speaking to believers) he gives us some more illustrations (mixed metaphors, in my estimation when we consider the context) and says:
That in nature, a
fountain
or a vine
or a tree
can only bring out one product – not two or different products than what the source was intended to produce.
His implication seems to be that a tongue can ONLY produce one kind of communication OR another – but not both.
“It’s impossible,” he seems to say for a tongue to produce both good and bad, as impossible as it would be for a fig tree to produce olives or a underground spring to produce salt water and fresh.
If THIS is so, and the parallel is to the tongue, then the implication is that a good heart not only would NEVER EVER speak evil things IT COULDN’T and that a BAD HEART not only WOULD NEVER EVER speak good things IT COULDN’T.
And this is just NOT the case. It’s what makes us humans saved by grace but failing.
Now, again, James MAY be saying that the good things that come from the tongue are from the Spirit of God and the Bad things are from the flesh and if this is so then we have congruency between the topic of the tongue and trees and vines.
But if he is simply speaking of the individual believer and not dividing them up into the dualistic makeup of flesh and spirit James is essentially teaching two contradictory messages.
On the one hand he says that it is impossible for a man to tame his tongue and on the other hand he says that a true Christian tongue would and will ONLY speak good things.
And we are faced with a very tough teaching.
Additionally, and to add MORE complexity (and contradiction) to the subject, he does give an example of men speaking good and bad with the same mouth when he says we will praise God but with the same mouth curse God’s creations.
Now, we COULD see all of this this way – that man cannot tame the human tongue (but God can) and when God does then the human tongue is like a spring that only produces one type of water or a tree that produces only one kind of fruit.
If this is the case then there is an expectation being presented here to all believers that we cannot get around – the expectation would be that true Christians always, without fail, speak perfectly – and this would be an indicator that a person is a true child of God and follower of Christ . . . because a fountain CANNOT produce both.
Obviously human being tongues have (and will) always fail them so this approach to his teaching is HIGHLY improbable if not completely impossible.
Granted, instead of taking the message and all of his mixed metaphors literally, maybe we can take the intent and spirit of the message and let that rule the day.
Next week James will describe how these observances he has made all relate to people seeking to teach and the spirit that comes with good words verses the origin of the bad. And well cover this then.
But I want to speak to the otherside of our words here. As James says the tongue is “vile,” a “fire” and “a poison,” scripture points out some of the radical and miraculous things God has established that are based or related to the tongue – which again, is a metonym for the words we say, the speech we use, and the communications we share.
Now, let’s go back and take a quick look at what the Bible has to say:
We go to the beginning – Genesis – and what do we discover?
Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
In fact throughout the Genesis account God does everything through speech. He says it, speaks Words, as it were (and whatever that means in the realms of God) and things were.
I believe (could be wrong) that it was in and through His Words that God did all things and that these words of God became flesh as Jesus.
In Romans 4:17 Paul said:
“God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
This implies that He God spake (called) things that did not exist and spoke of them as if they were already in existence.
God says in Isaiah 55:11 that all familiar line:
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.”
In Ezekiel 12:25 God says:
“For I [am] the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.”
Of course there are a number of occurances in the New Testament where Jesus spake or spoke or said things and His will was accomplished.
Well, some may say, that’s God and that’s Jesus – they had the power.
First of all, we are made in God’s image.
But scripture gives us insight into the words and language we use and the power and results that come from them.
We know that when it comes to being saved Paul wrote in Romans 10:8-9
“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 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.”
To His apostles Jesus said:
Mark 11:23 – “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Tying into the concept of believing and speaking Paul says of the apostles in 2 Corinthians 4:13
“We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”
From God to Jesus to the apostles we have manifest evidence that the words they said had power to cause things to occur, to be, to appear, to change, and to even exist.
In the book of Ezekiel we read the amazing account of God telling Ezekiel to speak over a valley of bones.
Four times he tells him to speak to the bones in one stage or another and four times the words he uttered came about.
Listen to the words of Jesus here in Matthew 12:34
34 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
If (or since) the tongue contains so much negative power in human beings, and can actually draw on the fires of hell to deliver its poison causing so much darkness and destruction, could we also say that God, since we are made in His image, has established our earth life off principles where our tongues can also produce utterly amazing results – like His words do, and Jesus words did, and the apostles words did?
In Proverbs 18:21 we read a profound passage. It says:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Here’s the idea to consider:
James, in verse 6 says that the tongue:
“sets the wheels of life on fire,” that is a negative thing. The Proverb says that,
Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.
James happens to be speaking of the capacity the tongue has to bring death, to destroy, like a wildfire.
But the tongue also has the capacity to bring life, and to set the wheel of life spinning with light.
Here’s the gig – the cycle if you will.
Jesus said:
In Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Later He said:
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth (and that, from the context means “speaks”) good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth (speaks) evil things.”
Proverbs says that
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
I believe God gives us what we desire. And what we desire abides in our heart. And our mouths speak what the contents of our hearts are all about.
Psalms 37:4 says plainly, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
But we also know from scripture that God
blesses all the earth whether we are good or evil as Jesus Himself said that, “He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.”
Putting all of this together could it be that God grants us things at times by and through our words?
That we are given the contents of our heart – whether they be good or evil?
Now, years back and continuing on into this very day there is a movement known as the Law of Attraction. It is also called the Secret.
The whole premise is based off this very biblical principle.
The LOA suggests that we create our existences by and through the words we speak and utter. If we speak negatively we will receive negativity and if we speak out of gratitude for life and positively about our circumstances AS IF THEY WERE SO the Universe will grant us the desires of our heart.
One of the major problems with the LOA is that supporters of it typically refer to the inanimate universe as the giver of good and evil according to what people say, and not God.
Another major problem with it is it is almost always applied to selfish endeavors – meaning endeavors the individual wants or desires and not endeavors God wants.
In my estimation the application is legitimate but the credits and purpose is utterly failing.
We see the influence of the LOA in name it and claim it movements. Typically they too focus on the individual and their self interest materially and not on the things God says He desires from us in scripture.
Again, a major fail and a major misappropriation of the principle or law.
But I certainly believe the Law works and I think in the end people get what they attract to themselves.
In the case of most Law of Attraction proponets, they aim for wealth and heath. Again, such things come from God according to their words and His plan (something that is often excluded from LOA people) and if a person really really wants wealthy they can contribute greatly to it coming by the approach they take to language.
But again – what is it that God wants our words to produce for us?
I would suggest that taking the whole of scripture and applying these principles that genuine Christians can use our tongues to create our wheel or cycle of life but that when this cycle is in harmony with God’s ultimate wishes, it amounts to . . . beat) . . .
The things of the Spirit.
Heavenly things.
Spiritual things.
Greater faith.
Greater hope.
Greater love.
Greater insights to Him by the Spirit.
Greater patience.
Greater longsuffering.
Greater tolerance.
Greater knowledge.
Greater capacity to be like Jesus.
A life cycle spinning on these principles in greater and greater abundance.
Notice the lack of self but the abundance of Him in this approach to our words rather than what the LOA folks and name it and claim it folks use it for.
They have their rewards.
Ours wait on high and are predicated on things of the spirit manifested in love.
What to do?
I pray these things out loud – the Words – and more and more I am learning that a man of faith does not speak of dark negative things.
He or she speaks life. Speaks truth. Says Jesus. Says love.
Such practices – if freely done and flow without manipulation go a long way in creating for us a future cycle of a life built on Light and Life and Spirit and Love rather than
Worry
Fret
Woes
Fears
Despair
Hopelessness
Indifference
Anger
Hatred
Judgements
Our words reflect our Lord. That’s the secret. And our words trust in our Lord deciding how to build for us – knowing that His thoughts for us are good and not evil and are present with an expected end.
Questions / comments.
