The trouble with the tongue, Part 2

James 3:1-12

Fire can be terrifying. The smoke plays tricks on the eyes and manipulates the brightness of the sun. A weird red replaces the comforting yellow. It’s eerie, seemingly like something out of Dante’s inferno. As the fire gets closer, the next thing that one will notice is the sound. Forest fires roar, prairie fires whoosh. As it speeds along and hungrily devours everything in its path, the fire sings its victory song until it’s defeated.

Not too long ago in southern Alberta my grandmother, uncle and other aunts and uncles were evacuated from their small farming town because of this very threat.

James likens the damage done by the tongue to the damage done by a fire.

(Jas 3:5) Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! To illustrate the wide ranging effect the tongue has, the story is told about a young man who found out that something he was saying about someone else was totally false. By spreading the information he had caused a lot of damage. He went to his grandfather and asked how he could make things right. Grandpa took a pillow to the front porch, cut it open, and began spreading the feathers in the wind. “All you have to do is pick up the feathers,” he replied.

(Jas 3:6) 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.

Let’s look at the different ways James says that our tongue affects us.

1. He explains that the tongue is the unrighteous body part among our members; described as a world of iniquity. Of all the body parts, the tongue is the one most attached to sin. And in fact, the way someone speaks is indicative of their heart.

The tongue is a bucket that dips into the heart. Jesus put it like this: (Mat 15:18-19). But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

2. James also mentions that it also defiles or stains us. This is the exact opposite that pure religion is supposed to do; to keep us unspotted from the world.

3. He says that it and setteth on fire the course of nature. This means that the way someone speaks is indicative of their life. It means that you can track someone’s wicked tongue throughout their life. The bitter elderly person was a complaining middleaged person who was a biting and angry teenager.

4. Lastly, the way someone speaks is indicative of their fallen nature. It shows just how far we are from what God intended us to be. Our gossip, our innuendo, our flattery, our biting negative criticism and our sarcasm are all a far cry from the gracious speech that God has commanded. Our mouth proves that we are sinners.

Friends, instead of proving to the world how wicked we are, may we instead though the grace of God show them how much we have been changed.

Ryan King is pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Westville.