Books of James & Jude - Teachers and factors in stumbling - James 3:1-4
James 3:1-4 · Bob Eckel · Jun 9, 2013
James & Jude, No. 22
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926353593143

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we're kind of in a transition here today. And I thought what I'd do is kind of just... Does this not work again? It is on. So remember a couple weeks ago this didn't work? We have to, I think, make sure the mouse is on the screen and maybe click it once or twice so it recognizes that. The mouse is on the screen. You mean this mouse? Yeah, that mouse. Just try clicking it once so that it recognizes. There you go. Okay, so let's see. Still doesn't work. Well, now it's not on. Well, it was on. There you go. We're good. Okay. He can't feel it.

So last week Roger kind of reviewed James 2 and putting I think this section into perspective in terms of the temptation agenda. I'd list it as a temptation agenda put forth in this epistle and so let's kind of take a look at that again. So the first kind of temptation is to be quick and and swift with a negative response and quick to be irritable and angry.

2. The temptation to be only hearers of the word and not doers of the word.

3. The temptation to criticize others.

4. To show partiality and favoritism.

5. The temptation to boast of our faith without works. And today's topic is temptation to misuse and not restrain the tongue. Actually, the four verses we're going to cover today are really kind of an introduction to the meat that follows. Unfortunately, I don't have to deal with the meat. Roger gets the meat. And the seventh, which will be covered a bit later, is the temptation to walk in human versus divine wisdom.

A lot of temptations that James deals with and today we're on the sixth of the list of seven that have been listed here. So let's look at this and whoops I mean the question is what's that all about? Anyway you can see on your handout that in fact let's go ahead and read why don't we read James 1 James 3 1 through 12 and we'll put it all in perspective and come back and look at the four verses. So whoever has those 12 verses in front of them please read them. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horse's mouth so that they will obey us, we jerk their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, and are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth cometh both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out of the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives? Or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh?

And I think if we could read further, the theme of the tongue does continue to some extent. But anyway, it's a reasonable place to stop. So again, just on this side, this program, again, we ran into this before, too. It's fine on Microsoft Outlook, but it doesn't seem to work as well here. But anyway, put up with that. You have your hand out there that you can read.

So, you know, as I kind of read this section in preparation for today, I decided maybe I should give up teaching. My brother let not many of you become teachers. Jeremy, Roger, Al, maybe we need to throw in the towel here, knowing that you'll receive the stricter judgment. So, you know, we're going to deal with that a little bit today about what this judgment is all about.

So, anyway, Become or be is present imperative. This is not kind of a subtle suggestion here. This is really saying pretty seriously, if you want to be a teacher, you better be with it. And again, it makes you tremor in terms of thinking about what the outcome might be.

So why is James, do you think, expressing this warning? What's in context? What's this all about? I was thinking about that, because actually I have next week's lesson, so I've been thinking about that a little bit. It seems like this is the introduction to be careful about what you say, and what more appropriate. He's going to talk about the tongue a lot after these couple of verses here. So teachers are the ones that are speaking a lot, so it seems like in context, in a way it's warning the teachers.

When you think of the fact that there weren't chapters and verses when we started out with this, that's a continuous thought. He's just talked about faith without works. And I can think of myself over my 42 years of teaching, When I came in and spoke with great authority of things I knew not. That's kind of how people with faith without works are. They boast of their faith and of their church attendance record or whatever. It doesn't have the spirit and the life to back it up.

So in the same way, teachers Sometimes people act like authorities and they don't really know. It's an atmosphere of humility that the teacher needs to surround him or herself under certain circumstances. Who's James addressing here? It's mostly the Jewish community. This is the church. I think God didn't give us the book of James simply because it was written to the Jew. I think it's for all of us. I think this is a warning. I think it's kind of a warning, isn't it?

If you're going to teach, you better be responsible. The problem here a little bit is we look horizontal. If I look at Roger's teaching, of course I can't be critical of Jeremy's. But the point is, if we think of all the teachers within Biblical Christianity, how much is partial truths? It humbles you to think about this responsibility that teachers have.

Some of the teaching may be flawed out of ignorance. It's not that we have a corner on the truth here, but we gather here in fellowship around the Lord Jesus Christ because we believe he is the center of everything in terms of biblical truth and application. It's the Lord Jesus Christ and that's Christianity. It's not a series of laws and the legalities that ultimately we need to follow. indwelled by a new creation in Christ Jesus. So James is talking to a large extent to the Jewish tradition of the teacher and what he represented or failed to represent.

Don't you think that this warning is really dealing with a motive? I mean, how you related this a little bit, right? I mean, was your motive wrong when in fact you may have been teaching things that you were not yet fulfilled in and or potentially ignorant of? Or do you think there was a motive to bring attention to yourself as someone educated in the word?

I mean, you know, you have to judge that yourself, although I think we're going to get into this a little bit today. You all are the judge of the Lord working through this teacher, that teacher, that teacher. I mean, the point is that the teachers put in a position to be evaluated by the body, right? And I'm going to suggest maybe evaluated by the non-body. In the secular world, haven't we all had professors who deliberately shot over our head to show us that they knew and we didn't?

In science and medicine, which is my career, ultimately what I tend to teach younger people is the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. I mean, there's no cockiness or overconfidence in science. Essentially, look at that through biblical eyeglasses and saying that God's in the business of creating this whole thing, and the more we learn about it, the more complex it seems. It gives you a different perspective than thinking from the world perspective. The more you learn, the more you know, and therefore, the more you understand. I'm actually viewing this from an opposite perspective. From the world's perspective, there is arrogance, because you've got all these people that, well, it's just a matter of knowing more.

We can fix all our problems if we just understand. That's why, like, when you have these mass shootings, all these people spend time, well, what went wrong? What happened? There's this assumption that if only we understood it better, we could prevent that from happening to other people, and it completely ignores any spiritual aspect, whatever, it's just some psychological, but that's how the world sees things.

I think it's interesting, when you ask that question, I don't know what the word teacher there is, if it has anything to do with the Jewish idea of rabbi, but we had in the previous passage this thing about partiality and honoring, and so there's already the idea that there are certain people that it's easy for us to hold in high esteem.

And for the Hebrews, the rabbi was the ultimate, was the pinnacle of society. And I wonder, when you talk about motive, if that's what he's speaking against. This idea of, I'm the rabbi, I have all the knowledge, all the answers. And he's saying, OK, if you are the person that is teaching others, it's not like, OK, you can't be touched because you're this rabbi and you know the whole Torah.

But there's going to be a lot more judgment because you're the one teaching, you're the mouthpiece of God. So, in the context of the Hebrew culture... We're going to return to that in a second with one of the cross-references I have for you. But good point, thanks Jeremy.

Knowing here is, you know, know can be interpreted three different ways in scripture. And this is Eido, which is really factual knowledge. This is not kind of an experiential kind of thing or an ultimate experiential kind of thing like gnosis or epi-gnosis. This in fact is like, you know, this is Holly and it runs into Yale. I mean the point is this is fact.

So you know ultimately that there are going to be consequences of this if you assume the role of being an educator or a teacher. You're going to receive a stricter judgment and in some translations say greater condemnation. We'll return to this here in a second. From whom is that condemnation?

Here's the question I posed a minute ago. Is this from the Lord? Or is it from the body? Or is it potentially even coming from elsewhere? What are your thoughts about this? The condemnation for for being a teacher and not being biblically accurate or having spirit-led motives in terms of teaching the Word of God? Where's the condemnation coming from? And I'm not sure there's an answer here, but just your thoughts. I would say it could come from all of those places.

In context, do you think, and remember James is talking to the church, he's talking to the teacher, potential teacher, in terms of the responsibility that underlies that task. I was wondering, Bob, only the Lord really knows the true motives of the heart, and so he's the one that can judge accurately. Others can maybe they can judge, and they may be right or they may be wrong, but the Lord is the one that ultimately knows the intent of our hearts and knows where we're at. You're right Roger, but don't you think the body, there's a responsibility to the body too, don't you, when Roger's up here teaching, whether it's Jim or Jeremy, don't you want to waive the truth that's being taught?

Is this somebody on a platform just trying to bring attention to himself? I hope not. We all introspectively need to look at that when we do teach. not to judge people outside our fellowship here, but we're here to learn truth and learn how that applies to our lives, right? And that's the process we're about.

So anyway, I think it's possible all of the above, but I think ultimately that condemnation comes from the Lord. And then I'm going to ask another question. Actually, let me get out and But I thought there was no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, right? Romans 8-1. Al, what do you do with that? There's no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus, but I'm up here teaching. What is that no condemnation to Christ Jesus? That has to do with my sin is not being held against me. It doesn't have to do with my sin.

Okay, so we are judged for our walk, are we not? And that walk by faith is one that brings glory to the Lord. And that's the perfect man. Alright? But we fall short because we've got a human nature still. So the condemnation is having a right relationship to God positionally. When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he says knowledge puffs up. Follow that advice. And so you get back to that motive very quickly. Great, great answer.

Let's now turn to Romans 2.17-24.

We don't need to look at Romans 8.1, but we're going to go back and look at Romans 2.20-21 in terms of the responsibility. In fact, I'll even put that here now. Nevertheless, for the teacher, there's a greater responsibility, isn't there? And so let's read Romans 2 17-24 because I think this puts into context what James is ultimately expressing in terms of the body of Christ he's talking to. So who can read that for us?

Indeed you are called a Jew and rest on the law and make your boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness. of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, Do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your heart, excuse me, you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written, etc. Don't you think that puts this into context?

To think that James is really addressing predominantly the Jewish believer, although again, God makes no mistakes. This is for all of us, today and then too. Boy, that's really two fingers beside the nose actually into the forefront of the eyes here. So anyway, this is, I think, a really important part in terms of interpreting this appropriately. By the way, another thing about this program, the bold and the non-bold is not distinguished either. So we need to talk to somebody here to get this modified. Anyway, let's move on to verse two then.

For we all stumble in many ways. By the way, stumble can be offend, and I almost kind of like offend better. Stumble, I guess offend, same thing, but I think offend carries a little bit different interpretation. If anyone does not stumble in word, he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. So we're looking at some conditions here. Stumble might be better, as I said, translated here as offend. In what ways do we stumble or offend?

We're talking about the teacher only now? I think this could be broadly applicable, actually. In context, it's the teacher. It says if any man. Pastor. If any man. And a woman. It's usually anthropos, right? Good. Sorry, Margaret. Well, Roger, I was understanding that. I know you were. I'm not offended. What a group we have here today. It may not be a large class, but it's a vibrant one. All right, so any man, right? Or any woman. OK, so what's a stumbling or offending? Just be transparent. Well, I mean, I wonder if it's looking at the fact that teaching, if a teacher Like the pastor in Rome, somebody that rails against whatever type of sin.

And then it turns out they're guilty of that sin. Well, then people start to distrust the whole system. It's like Lance Armstrong. People are done with, whoever was interested at all in bike racing, a lot of people aren't done with it at all. If this person who is the example of integrity, we find out, no, he's been lying for 20 years, it kind of destroys our whole faith in the whole system.

And so, as a teacher, if you're not humble and, I think, honest about your own, that you're still learning, but you stand as somebody who, I know it all, I've got it all together, and then when you fall, that can cause other people to lose faith in, I think, teaching and the life that Christ has for us. Some good points there.

I guess it really goes back to the issue of motive, doesn't it? And is it possible that Jeremy and his teaching ultimately might stumble you or offend you, could be any one of us, ignorantly? I mean, is that something that ultimately he's condemned for and judged for? Are we guilty of ignorance? I guess if you're going to be teaching you can be accused of being guilty of ignorance. Because if we're expressing the truth of the word of God and we're not certain We have elders to go to. We have others to turn to.

We have commentators, which, by the way, increasingly I find less than adequate. I'm not being critical of them. It's just that commentators don't have the final answer either. In fact, I think the hard issues in terms of scriptural interpretation, the commentators are weaker on than the issues that are pretty straightforward. They don't want to comment on either because they don't really know. Yeah, but doesn't this create an atmosphere of humility around the educator? It does to me. I mean, the fact that nobody's perfectly clear on this. Hal, you were going to say something?

Just that you get back to, OK, what's the follow up on this? If I do, as Romans puts it, if I put a stumbling block, a reason for offense, in the path of someone, be he a believer or an unbeliever that I'm trying to witness to. What do I do as a follow-up? Do I confess that I made a mistake? Do I confess that I did this? Do I get back to the right relationship both with God and with Him? So it's a follow-up that determines whether this receives a condemnation or not.

If I try to pretend my way through it, Yeah, I think we're all very forgiving of a teacher who is ignorant about something and ultimately correct it and he or she admits to their lack of understanding. I mean, I think we're all very sensitive to that and forgiving. But when the motive is incorrect and they're teaching incorrect, that's an offense and a stumbling block, I think. And I think, you know, we individually have to weigh these issues.

And sometimes we don't know for sure. And back to Roger's point, I mean, it's God who ultimately does the judging. He's the ultimate judge. not we in the body. So those who don't offend in this verse are considered perfect. So I guess the question comes up before I go to the verses. What do we think of when we think of this perfect teacher? We think of Christ being the only perfect teacher. I do. But we're told that the one who doesn't offend or stumble is perfect. What's that mean? But I don't think he's saying here that There is no perfect teacher. Let's turn to the verses I have listed here.

Ephesians 3.15 Therefore let us as many as be perfect have this mind, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Ingrid said last night in a Bible study that we have the mind of Christ, right? So if in effect positionally we are perfect, we're complete, that's a better definition of perfect, I think being complete in Christ. So as we rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith teach in his wisdom, in his mind, ultimately we don't stumble, we don't offend. This isn't something we weigh. You know, gee, am I being really teaching of the Spirit today, in the mind of Christ, or am I teaching in... I mean, you can be the judge of that to some extent, but you know, we have a life to live, and that life to live in Christ is won by faith. And when I stand before you, and Roger, Jeremy, and Jim, and everybody else in this body stands before you, we trust that ultimately the faith is working out through the power of the Spirit in the new creation we are in Christ Jesus.

Usually the word that's perfect, I'm with Jeremy on this, the word teacher is like the rabbi. Many times, most of the time, the word perfect is translated here, it has to do with completeness and maturity. So if anyone is mature in Christ. Right, and maturity is another term that could be used.

But positionally we are complete. We have the mind of Christ. I don't know if it's true about you, but sometimes I wonder what that mind is, right? Where is this mind of Christ? Then in Colossians 1.28 it says, Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So that's again positional truth, but ultimately that has a conditional connection. As we walk by faith in the power of the Spirit in the new creations we are in Christ Jesus, that's complete. And that completeness transcends from heavenly places into our earthly condition. So that's where the teacher needs to be. How are we doing here? I mean, this isn't something you work at. You don't work at being complete. You are complete.

Now, by faith, do we believe God for what he's revealed? Again, I love Schofield. What's faith? It's believing what God's revealed. It's very simple and that's the best definition I've ever heard. Faith is believing what God's revealed and he says we're complete in Christ Jesus. For the teacher, her responsibility ultimately is to live by faith that what we're doing is reflecting the truth as portrayed by the Lord Jesus Christ within each and every one of us.

And those that are perfect are able to bridle the whole body, huh? Do what? Okay, so bridle. Hold and check. guide, restrain, so this bridal could be used in any one of the three ways, hold and check, restrain, kind of mean the same thing, guide I like, it's a little bit more proactive and positive.

So that's the term there, embody the individual, the self or the church here. Who are we talking about here? The body, the role of the bridal in context here. He's going to develop this topic much more as we get down the road here of the verses. He's going to talk about the bit and the rudder, so in context it would seem like self, right?

Well, here it is self for sure, and that includes the tongue. And by the way, keep in mind, this is kind of the appetizer to much more detail for the tongue to follow. And so I had to bring up tongue someplace here. Tongue is not in these four verses, but that's why we read all 12 verses up front. And, you know, this kind of relates to a very practical application. I think this is kind of a world message, too.

I mean, even people outside of Christ, in my workplace, don't use email to react to somebody's accusations. It's a cancer. And when people respond to email when something is brought up that's derogatory or putting them on the defensive, Ultimately, that's reaction, not responding. As believers, we never want to react, because react means we're not taking into consideration the way the Lord has placed something before us that's part of the growth curve of who we are in Christ.

I can't tell you how many times I have administrative roles at work and boy, when I see this, I call people on the carpet for this. Take a step back, consider what's been said, and get on the phone. Don't document in a reactionary manner how you're going to deal with this. By the way, reply to all. We've got 50 people who are now...

I'll tell you, it's happened multiple times in the workplace. So, as believers, being reactionary is never the way that God reacts. Yeah, you can say, well, Christ threw the money changers out of the temple. But that's the Lord Jesus Christ. But for us, working with the body, or working outside the body, the spirit responds, the flesh reacts. says it so nice and clearly, be slow to anger, slow to speak, quick to listen.

Thanks, Al, that's great. I mean, isn't this a general principle for even the world system? I mean, because the world system wants to improve the world, make it better and all this, and I think their diplomacy has got a lot to do with it. And this is, if you will, a God-given principle that is broadly applicable to the world system.

But as believers, we have no excuse here. I mean, we need to learn how to respond, which is spirit can't... by the way, responding could also be fleshly driven. I mean, you think of all the reasons why you're right and they're wrong, and you carefully consider those. I mean, sometimes you can't defend your turf, but that could be spirit-led too. We don't need to get into specific examples here. I think it's just a kind of a principle that James is dealing with here.

Remember, 1 John 1.8 still applies.

So, I mean, if in fact we do offend, we do stumble, ultimately we confess, we confess that to our body, meaning the body of Christ, we may have to confess it to the world. In fact, I think there's no better witness to the unsaved world than when we're wrong, we go to them and say we've been wrong. You know, the Christian is criticized as being hypocritical. He or she says one thing and does something else. And ultimately when something's brought to our attention where we have offended, it's a great opportunity to say we're wrong and let them deal with that however they will. The world's still looking for an honest man. That's good. The application.

James 3.13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

1 Corinthians 9.27 But I discipline my body, and bring it unto subjection, lest when I have preached to others I myself should become disqualified. So that really does apply to the teacher, doesn't it? But it applies to each and every one of us in terms of our daily walk.

Before we go to verse 3, any thoughts at all about these first two verses? Well, from what you had me read and us read in Romans 2, the world puts it, practice what you preach. If we're going to be a witness for Christ, then we need to be showing something of what that means.

And Alice, is this something we try harder at, or what's the story here? I don't know about you, but it seems that those things that keep coming up, we mentioned this last night, things keep coming up as kind of shortcomings of the flesh, they keep coming up time and time again. And the harder you work at them, it seems like the law is even more punitive in terms of trying to correct that behavior. It never wins, does it?

So this is an act of faith that ultimately we see ourselves as God sees us and by faith these things hopefully are changed over time. All right, let's read verse 3. Indeed, or behold, we put bits and horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body.

By the way, I put three and four together. My mistake on the handout. It should be three and four because I thought these two verses were very much connected. So indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

Look also at ships, although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. The reason I put the verses together, we're talking about something small turning something big. I think these two verses are very much linked conceptually.

So putting bits in horses' mouths in the ships, both are imperative language. In other words, beholder and deed. This is something that you need to do. So meaning, when you put a bit in a horse's mouth, it has a purpose, and this is something that needs to do to control the horse.

Just like putting a rudder on a ship, something you need, because the winds are going to come up, you need the rudder on the ship, so do it. Because if you don't have the bridle on the horse, he's going to run all over the place. And if you don't have a rudder on a ship, you're going to be blown about all over the seas and have a consequence that is not one that you would like. Prep, in terms of the horse's mouths, and though they'd be driven and turned about is, in terms of the shifts, is the result indicative.

This is facts. So behold, meaning indeed do this, is imperative. And the fact is, if you don't, you're going to have a horse that's running all around, or ultimately a ship that gets blown in the winds. And obey and are driven is present passive. Notice this, that these things will happen now if these things aren't done. And passive, it's not the ship's fault, and it's not the horse's fault. It's the fact that something wasn't done and this will follow. I think it's kind of neat to look at this a little bit more and dissect these couple of verses because the imperative is do it.

And if you don't, ultimately the outcome is stated in the verses. The horse will wander and the ship will be blown by fierce winds. And ships, despite being large and driven by fierce winds, are directed by a small item, the rudder. So just like the horse, the bridle is fairly small compared to the horse, the ship is also being driven by something small, the rudder. How does this all relate to us? Why these two verses in James?

Why do we need these, if you will, parallels or analogies, or if you will, metaphors? I think the metaphor is probably a better term for this. I think it's attached to the teachers, since they're right after the teachers. If the teachers are responsible for the body or who they teach, I'm not sure this is right. Is that like the bit or the rudder kind of being responsible for guiding the whole horse or the whole ship?

I like that. Good. Other thoughts here? Well, the tongue is small physically, but as the verses that are going to be taken up next week talk about the tongue starts a fire that sets the whole... world of fire, so to speak, and so it is small in terms of size and position, but it is very important in, what shall I say, what we present to the body, what we present to the world.

Incredibly dangerous. I mean, the imperative here is brighter your tongue. Look at our bodies, I mean the tongueless weigh what, 0.1% of the weight of the body, right? But look how powerful and dangerous it can be. Remember during the war, the sign that was up every place that servicemen would congregate, loose lips sink ships.

I hadn't heard that. That's good. No, I hadn't. That's good. Of course, it's Margaret's status in the Navy. It's a Navy term. That's good, Al. I like that. It was something that if you're careless in your speech and not thinking about the impact of what you say, the result is just like a little pebble dropped in a lake. That's a good analogy, too.

We're going to let Roger do all these details in the weeks to come. And I'm so glad it's Roger. And we can be bridled, but don't need to be. And I just found a neat verse in Psalms that I was referred to by one of the commentators. It's Psalm 32, 9. Do not be like the horse. That fits, doesn't it? Or the mule. The mule. We're even going down a step here. which has no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you." So, I mean the idea, I think that's pretty applicable here, right? Don't be like a horse and mule that needs a bridle, it's not going to come, it's going to run away, right?

So, anyway, I thought that was cute. This is a nice verse out of the Old Testament. And tossed by the wind. Let's turn to this, Psalm 107, 25-27. By the way, there are many examples in scripture about ships being tossed by the wind. I mean, it's true in Christ's day, it was true for Paul, obviously, and his shipwrecks, many of them, several of them, and the Psalms was another place. So if anybody gets Psalm 107, 25 to 27. I didn't want to put this on the handout, but it's something that relates.

When he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves, they mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths. In their peril, their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men. They were at their wit's end. Just one of many examples in scripture of the winds, the fierce winds, and how they put the boat at great trial and potential devastation.

So what's the message here? I think we basically all just kind of dealt with that. The tongue is very small. It can control the body. And ultimately, it's like the metaphors of the ship on the sea. with a fierce lens, tossing it to and fro on the horse or mule without a bridle, running its own way and not being obedient. So the smallness of that controlling member is the tongue.

And again, we're going to deal with that in much more detail. What's the alternative? We talked about the perfect man. or the teacher being cognizant of his or her, women teach Sunday school, etc. So their position needs to be ultimately translated to their condition. So the perfect man doesn't live a perfect life, it's that they're mature and complete and see themselves as spirit-led to reveal the truth of the Word of God.

So Ephesians 4.29, no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, But what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? Boy, that's a good verse for teachers to take a look at and ponder on and trust and have faith in.

Galatians 6.3, for if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

And doesn't that get at motive? Remember we brought up at the very beginning here the motive of the educator, the teacher? Boy, that really is right in your face, isn't it? If our motive to teach has anything to do other than revealing the truth of the Word of God, we're ultimately needing to be responsive to this verse. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Now, keep in mind, we are nothing in the flesh, but we're something special in Christ.

And I think that's what Ephesians 4.29 indicates. So, kind of the summary of today's lesson is the only response is by faith that the Lord is working in you to do of his goodwill and pleasure. And I think The point is that the teacher is particularly responsible for being in this particular position. So we've got a little bit of time down a little bit early, but other thoughts, things to bring up about today's verses that might be in addition to what's been shared?

I think when I think of a good teacher, like all of you guys, really, I just I see how you really struggle to get it right, and talk with each other, talk to Vern, and just, and that makes me want to dig in for myself. And, you know, just dig in like the burdeens. If something doesn't sound quite right, I should be responsible to dig in and find out why, and ask questions. And I think I see that happening here, you know, just as I see you really working to accurately teach.

I think that's really, Your humble examples really speak to me. I give that to the Lord. I think it's just kind of like my workplace where I state that the more you learn the more you don't know. Teaching is humbling in a sense and there's no room for cockiness or overconfidence. But we do want to identify the truth for what it's worth and we want to, in the best way possible, share that with you and with ourselves. Remember in Romans it said we're teachers of ourselves. And the teacher really probably gets more out of the lesson than the class because he or she has spent a lot of time in preparation.

Fascinating thing. As a science teacher for 42 years, I obviously have done a lot of reading connected with science. And I'm always fascinated by the people who are really the quote, great men of science, that they knew how little they knew. I mean, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, Newton. Yeah, that's true. Whatever. It's always their disciples or followers who make great claims. But I remember one of Newton's comments that I like so much, if I've seen farther than others, it's because I've stood on the shoulders of a great man.

And most people don't know, he spent the end years of his life studying the Bible and trying to prove it, not just to himself, but trying to figure ways to make it evident in a technical way, which of course we can't do. We can't know that much about the mind of God to be able to say how and why everything happens that we see, but it's just a wonderful thing.

I used to use the picture with my students that when you came in, you knew everything because your circle of knowledge was very small. As you learn more, your circle of knowledge expands, but so does the outside circumference of ignorance. And my purpose in teaching was to move them from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.

That's great, Al. You know, if you think about what we do here and who we are in Christ and everything, you know, the great kind of principles of the Christian faith are love and mercy and grace and faith and all these other things, but you know, the bottom line is truth is what wins.

And because truth wraps up all of those things into the bottom line, doesn't it? I mean, truth is what we're about. And by the way, grace and faith and all those other things are wrapped into that love. Paul talks about the greatest thing is love, but ultimately it's the truth that really we all seek.

That's what brought me to the Lord. I ultimately was very curious about Christianity, very critical of it actually, having grown up in a mainline. Ultimately, as I increasingly saw that The truth is what was being portrayed here. A wife who was changed by the truth. Jesus said you shall know the truth and it will set you free. And it really does when you know the truth. The only one that can get a little cocky here is Jeremy. I'm saying that because he's a mathematician.

You guys have all the answers and 2 plus 2 is always 4, right? It's in base three. It's not right. But don't you mathematicians get a little cocky sometimes? You engineers. I mean, you never, never, never. OK. No, we do. But then you have Goodell's uncertainty theory that says we actually can't prove any system in the system. So even the Heisenberg's uncertainty. Yes. That's it. That's X reaches infinity.

I always got confused by that. I mean, seriously, in what? And the thing about math, there was always a right answer to the question, right? On the exam, right? Whereas something in science, you could always question. Well, maybe not under certain circumstances, right? You know, you can prove something's true given these assumptions, but you never know those assumptions will ever be met, which is always interesting to me. Something to kind of.

I know we mentioned, this is talking, as I think we'll see in Roger's lessons, about the individual body, but it's interesting what we're talking about here, truth, and how important the tongue, how important teaching is to the body. I don't think that's the application, I don't think that's what this passage is talking about, but I don't think it's a huge leap, and certainly other passages in Scripture talk about how essential the teaching is. and to the growth of the body. And I mean, we talk about all these other churches out here, and ignorance maybe is just carelessness, but there's so much inaccurate teaching, and how important it is to the church body, how important the tongue, the right teaching, can control. Like I said, this is a little bit of a stretch, but there's other passages in the scripture that do confirm When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he spent a little bit of time talking about a proper way to communicate scripture and words from God in the assembly. But only one or two speak, and one after another, if you make sure that the message is understood clearly by the recipients, et cetera.

Well, the purpose of this section of James, just like Roger's outline last week, which was outstanding in terms of this list of temptations, this is a warning for us. This is not telling us how to teach, it's telling us in our teaching what to avoid and what's really important in terms of damaging your own relationship to the truth, but also that of many other people. So wrong teaching can be very damaging. I think some of it's done out of bad motives, and some of it's done out of ignorance.

I think we can be forgiven about ignorance, but then that's why we're at Holly Hills maybe rather than some other church. I'm not being specifically critical, but I think we're here because we want right teaching and I think you know we're privileged to be getting it and yours truly excluded but I mean the point is that I think that's that's why we we gather.

So our closest in prayer would you this morning please? Father we just thank you for the revelation that you give us through your word. Father we think of all the people down through the ages who didn't have the privileges that we enjoy. Father, we ask for forgiveness for our sometimes careless handling of your word.

Of our not realizing the blessedness that is ours of having the written word to go to, to look it up, to study, to Search for truth diligently as for a lost coin or a lost sheep. That your truth really does set us free from the law and helps us realize how great is your grace, how great is your mercy, how great is your love. What an awesome and great God you are. And Father, this little bit of your word that we looked at today, help us to take it to heart, take it, put it into action.

So we've been careful about the words that come from our lips. I mean, we heed the admonition to be quick to listen, slow to speak. You know how much I need that, and perhaps others here, too. Thanks for this time together. Thanks for the fellowship, for the truth of the word. Be with thee after service. Hope the message there to continue to speak to our hearts and minds that we might put into practice the life of the Spirit that you have given us. We pray in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen.