Our Speech
Have you heard the old saying that too many cooks spoil the pot? Christianity has a problem with too many masters. Many think they know what should happen in a group of people. Opinions aren't bad to collect. But at some point there has to be a decision, and that decision has to carry through and be executed. For Christians, the master is supposed to be God and Christ. We're all supposed to listen to the Holy Spirit in what we set out to do. The church would be in far better shape today if leaders in the past had done a better job of letting God be in control of the church. The current leaders need to listen better as well. That's a sad commentary, but true.
I'm sincerely disappointed that the Catholic church had gone so far afield that Luther had to nail his reformation up and branch the church into Catholic and Protestant. And that's ignoring the branches of the Catholic church at other points in history and all the myriad branches of the Protestant branch since it was first formed. All division does is give Satan an opportunity to keep people away from church because we look like hypocrites or he can convince people that they might be making the wrong choice in picking denomination A or church B. He also keeps Christians moving between churches and thus remain less effective in God's work than they otherwise might be.
It's a bad deal all around, and wouldn't have happened if we hadn't all tried to be masters and had kept God in charge of the church from the beginning. But in a rebuke to leaders - current and historical, many of the splits wouldn't have happened if the leaders themselves had allowed God to be in charge and followed His will for the church. There was far too much desire for power, control, and wealth that corrupted the church and led some to break away from false and vain teaching and doctrines.
Much has been done in the name of Christianity that God did not condone, and still doesn't. Sigh. James warned of this in James 3:1, but evidently too few heard him over the centuries.
James continues on in James 3:2-6 describing our tongues. His first statement is a profound one. If we can manage to live a life without offending anyone in what we say (or what we write), then we're a pretty perfect man. I know I fail on both counts. I don't say as much, in general, as most. But I don't have a very good social filter, being an engineer, so sometimes I'm a bit too honest in what I do say.
The political pages on awmach.com, combined with the hot topics pages, are sure to offend some or even most people. But sometimes you just need to get stuff off your chest or someone asks you something that you get tired of answering repeatedly, so in my case it ends up on the com site. I'll never be accused of being perfect. And many of those pages are there because God put a burden on my heart to speak out about some subjects. Don't kill the messenger.
Realize that what God tells us to do is the key. He's already warned us that we will be hated by at least some in the world. We can't avoid it as Christians because they hated Christ and God first (Luke 21:17;John 15:18). So if He prompts you to speak, do so. Quote His word. How we answer that hatred with our words and writings gets to the basis of James message. You can speak the truth as simply and as calmly as you can, or you can rage and shout. James points to Christ's life as an example of the first approach. Even when facing death at the hands of the Romans he didn't rage and shout (Matthew 27:11-14;Luke 23:3-9). And all too often when things were tough, the Holy Spirit simply led Him safely out of situations (John 8:58-59).
James further description of the tongue compares it to the bit of the bridle to help control a horse's direction or the rudder of a ship which helps to turn a ship's course. They are small parts, but can move things much bigger than themselves. So with our tongues. It is a small part of our body but what it utters makes a huge difference in our lives. If we don't have control of what we say or write, then we are doomed.
How many people have boasted that they can do something, but are destroyed when they are challenged to fulfill their boast? Quite a few are. How many people look religious until they open their mouths and start cursing or telling off color jokes or some other thing that makes it clear that their religion is just for show? Truly, your life's witness can be burned up based on the words that come from your mouth. Politicians forget this too often. But they are not alone. Benjamin Franklin once said:
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
And with that, let's go on to lack of control of speech.
Lack of Control of Speech
In James 3:7-12, James speaks of the nature of the tongue, making the statement that you can tame almost any wild creature, but He says that man can't tame a tongue. I think that tamed might be a stretch for some creatures, but certainly controlled would be probable. And this is a very true statement.
I thought I was in pretty good shape most of my life. I didn't say a lot, which helped. I didn't have much of a bad temper. I would grump in my head from time to time, but not much came out. Then my mom had a stroke at an advanced age and needed to move in with me as she couldn't take care of herself, being confined to a wheel chair. She was one of those I mentioned about being healed as one night God touched her and returned her sense of feeling which was missing on the left side of her body. She was free of the wheel chair, but never got to the place she could walk without a walker or holding on to something again. She lived for another couple of years after her stroke. That was a tough bit of time in my life to say the least, and I didn't always control my frustrations.
Her asking me questions in the middle of the night, awakening me multiple times a night, knowing the next day would start at 0615 was pretty stressful. As her mind further declined, just the stress of having to repeat answers over and over, especially late at night, wore me down. Stress and lack of sleep are a bad combination. So even if you think you have a handle on things, realize that God may try to teach you some patience along the way. When He does you might realize you have a long way to go.
I will say this. The Holy Spirit is the only way you will get control of your temper and your emotions and your tongue. I think there's a reason why a prayer language is one of the signs people look for in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The tongue is hard to tame, and if you can let God have control of your speech completely, you'll find it easier to control your speech at other times.
I would say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit doesn't have to be evidenced by immediate speaking in tongues. I know that in Acts 2 it was, and some other places in the Bible it is. But really, in Acts 2, God chose to use speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues to allow evangelism to occur with all the foreign people in Jerusalem. It had an immediate purpose, as it always does. I'm fine with people showing the baptism in the Spirit in any manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit. We need God working in our lives in every way possible to combat Satan. We shouldn't focus on just the voice gifts.
But James does go on and give a few other dichotomies about the tongue. We bless God with it. And then we turn around and curse men who are made in the image of God. What's up with that? If there is both blessing and cursing coming out of your mouth, you have a problem you need to deal with. Think of natural things. It is impossible for a fountain to give forth bitter and sweet water. It is impossible for a fruit tree to bear some other kind of fruit than what is natural. If you find your mouth spilling forth good and bad words, then that isn't a natural state you should have as a Christian. You've been saved. Pray for God's change in your speech patterns so that only good flows from your mouth.
Divine Wisdom
James finishes up this chapter in James 3:13-18 talking about wisdom. Wisdom partially flows from what we say, because generally we realize that people have wisdom based on what information they convey, whether by word or writing. It can be by acts that we do as well. I remember a story told about me as a child where I was playing with the cords on the venetian blinds pulling them up and down at my grandparents home. Mom was yelling at me trying to get me to quit, but I was fascinated with them. Grandpa just got up and took the cord and put it out of my reach. Wisdom in action.
James challenges everyone who is wise, while already saying that God gives wisdom liberally in James 1:5, to use wisdom to both control the tongue and also to let your conversation be filled with God's wisdom. We need that more and more today.
Know that wisdom is different than knowledge. Knowledge gives information or facts about something, a person, an event, or other item of interest. Wisdom gets into the how's and why's of something or some happening. Wisdom shows how to apply knowledge correctly, or if it should not be applied at all.
But we are also warned to not envy each other for what God has given us. A lot of control of the tongue goes to pot when envy is stirred into it. If you find that you are in a conversation that is degenerating into strife and bitterness, leave the conversation so you don't make Christianity look bad. Conversations that devolve to arguing and strife are devoid of wisdom from God on one or both sides.
Even if you are sure you are right, there is a time to stop and let God deal with the heart of your listeners instead of plowing on. It seems like today, we've forgotten this. Yes, time pressures exist and are worse than in the past. We feel that God may be returning in our generation, and perhaps tomorrow, so there is a desire to set as many things right as we can. But when we lose the Christian character and conversation of Christ, we aren't going to convince anyone of anything.
Christ's wisdom is as described in James 3:17. It is peaceable, gentle, and full of good things as stated in the verse. Would the members of all political parties and everyone in government be filled with such wisdom. But it would also be good if all of the branches of Christianity were filled with that wisdom as well. Maybe we could start working together for Him a bit better and increase the number of Christians far beyond where we are today. If we could just have a conversation with wisdom that didn't make people actively not want to be a Christian it would be a big step forward.
By our fruits we will be known. Righteousness is shown when we are peacemakers. That doesn't mean we have to roll over and not defend what we know to be true. But we need to go about it in a better way that doesn't offend and push away those who need to come to Christ.