Song of the Drunkards

JESUS FACED A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF OPPOSITION FOR HIS HARD WORDS AND UNFLINCHING DEVOTION TO YAHWEH. NO SURPRISE THEN IF WE FIND OUR NAME FESTOONED IN BARROOM BALLADS (CF. PS 69:12).

The Power of the Tongue

May 16, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Tongue

James 3:3-5 (NKJV)3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 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. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

“The pen is mightier than the sword,” is a common English proverb and its truth is attested in our passage today. Though perhaps James would have us modify it somewhat. Rather than use the word “pen” James would use the word “tongue” – the tongue is mightier than the sword. Proverbs 12:18 declares, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.” This distinction between the wise and foolish tongue is the one that James enters upon in our text today. In anticipation of detailing the abuse to which the tongue can be turned, James begins by making sure we understand the power of the tongue.

James uses three analogies to help us grasp the power, the might of the tongue. First, he compares the tongue to the gear used to control a horse – with special focus on the bit. A horse is truly a mighty animal. Anecdotes of their strength and agility abound – mine concerns a horse who particularly hated pigs. One day a lady brought her pet hog to the stables – and a large one at that. Venturing into the territory of our swine despising equine, the hog soon came to a miserable end. The horse became enraged, clamped onto the pig’s back with his teeth, and proceeded to lift the pig off the ground and shake him back and forth again and again before finally casting him aside as a dead heap of ham. Don’t underestimate what a horse can do! And now, James tells us, meditate on the wee bit of metal that we stick in the horse’s mouth – suddenly this animal capable of tossing pigs to and fro submits to his rider and goes wherever the rider desires. That bit – that small piece of metal – is just like the tongue.

Second, he compares the tongue to the rudder on a ship. Go down to the dockyards. Look at all the massive ships at anchor in the bay. Get a due sense of their size and proportion. Then glance underneath – do you see that little flap of metal, wood, or, these days, fiberglass there under the water at the stern of the ship? That’s the rudder – and it’s job is to control the direction of the entire ship. Even though it is so small, it directs the course of the ship wherever the pilot desires. That, brothers, is the tongue.

Finally, he compares the tongue to a small flame of fire. Every parent, of course, warns his children not to play with matches. But the match is so small. Why worry? Because it only takes a little spark to start a massive fire. And that spark is just like the tongue.

Notice then that James uses each of these analogies to say the same thing – though the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts great things. The tongue controls the rest of the body. Just as the bit controls the horse, just as the rudder controls the ship, just as the spark starts the fire, so the tongue controls you. What you do with your tongue is not a minor thing. If you don’t control it, it will control you. No wonder then that James tells us that the tongue is mightier than the sword.

“There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.” Have you considered fully the consequences of your words this week? Have you considered the way in which the words you speak are affecting others and even affecting yourself? Are you like one who stabs with a sword each time you speak or are you instead one who uses his tongue to bring healing – both to yourself and to others?

Let us kneel and confess that we have been prone to underestimate the power of the tongue and have used that power to evil purposes.

Extreme Teaching

April 27, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Tongue

James 3:1-5 (NKJV)1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

Having concluded his discourse on the importance of good works accompanying any profession of faith, James now addresses one species of good works that is of particular importance to him – the tongue.

Already James has admonished us to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. He has warned us that if anyone thinks himself to be religious, and does not bridle his tongue, then his religion is worthless. And now James returns to this subject to instruct his audience about the nature of the tongue and its dangers.

He begins his discourse on the tongue by addressing teachers – those entrusted with the task of using their tongue to instruct others. James warns his audience from pursuing such a calling lightly – knowing that those who do pursue it shall receive a stricter judgment. It is no light thing, James tells all of us entrusted with the responsibility to teach, to carry out that function. It is a holy calling, a serious business, one of the most “extreme” of activities. Some may very well have been tempted to pursue the calling simply for the sake of the authority which teachers in the church possess – and so he warns his readers from jumping on the bandwagon just for the kudos that come along with the privilege. Teaching in the Church is a dangerous thing.

The warning that James gives is directly connected with his burden to address the power of the tongue. And so James follows up his warning against becoming teachers with a brief explanation. He notes that we all sin in various ways and that restraint of the tongue is one of the most critical virtues to possess – leading as it does to the control of the rest of our faculties. We’ll return to this observation next week – at this point let us simply remark that James’ warning is vivid because no one is more tempted to misuse his tongue than one who is commissioned to use it.

But lest you think that you are off the hook if you have not been called to the office of teacher in the church, let me remind you that many of us are called to teach in other settings. Parents, for example, are exhorted to teach God’s commandments diligently to their children and to talk of them when sitting at home, when walking along the road, when lying down, and when waking. Likewise, those in authority are commissioned to give wisdom and direction to those under their charge. And so James’ words apply to you – if you are called upon to teach, whether formally or informally, beware lest the use of your tongue cause others – or yourself – to stumble into sin. Speak wisely, speak sparingly, speak shrewdly.

Reminded that we often fail to consider carefully the words that we speak, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

Define Your Terms

April 27, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Justification, Meditations

James 2:20-24 (NKJV)20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

The passage before us today has been the center of much controversy since the time of the Protestant Reformation. How can we possibly reconcile Paul’s statement that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law with this assertion by James that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone? Roman Catholics have consistently pointed to this text to prove Luther wrong. See, Luther, this text proves that our salvation is dependent upon our works. Indeed, Luther was himself so perturbed by this text that he called the epistle of James an “epistle of straw” and at times even recommended that it be excluded from the canon. Let us be thankful that cooler heads prevailed.

We know, of course, that there can never be any ultimate contradiction between different portions of the word of God. All works in harmony. So how do we reconcile Paul and James? Must we, with Rome, assert that our works are part of the basis for our standing with God – that God will save us because we live in a certain way? To answer with a Paulism, “May it never be!”

Whenever we are confronted with an apparent disagreement between two positions it is always good to make sure that the two are defining their terms in the same way. If George claims, “½ of all high school graduates are illiterate,” and Fred insists, “No, only 1/3 are illiterate,” then we have the makings of a great debate. However, once we discover that George defines illiterate as unable to read above a 3rd grade level and Fred defines it as unable to read at all, the debate is over – because the two statements are easy to harmonize.

Likewise with Paul and James – we appear to have the makings of a nasty argument until we realize that they use the term “justification” differently. Paul defines justification as “set right with God” and insists that a man is not set right with God on the basis of his works but solely on the basis of Christ’s righteousness – which is grasped by faith. We do not, we cannot, we dare not try to earn our salvation. Any such attempts are doomed to failure – those who attempt to do so prove themselves ignorant of God’s righteousness, seeking in vain to establish a righteousness of their own.

James defines justification differently. James defines it as “vindicated in the eyes of men” and insists that a man’s profession of faith is only shown to be genuine if his claim manifests itself in a change of behavior. The claim to believe in God means nothing if one continues to conduct himself as though God didn’t exist. Faith must show itself in works.

And so both Paul and James would put the questions to us – do you trust in the Lord? Have you been set right with Him by faith? Have you believed Him like Abraham did, such that he was declared righteous only through Christ? And, if so, have you begun demonstrating in your life that this trust is real? That you really do trust Him even as Abraham offered up his son Isaac in full reliance on the trustworthiness of God?

Reminded that we frequently mishandle the word of God and that we stand in desperate need of the righteousness of Christ, let us kneel and confess our sin to our Heavenly Father.