When you visit your family doctor one of the first things he asks you to do is to stick out your tongue. Then he carefully examines your tongue. Apparently our tongues reveal much about our physical bodies. I understand that a coated tongue may mean we have a fever and a yellowish tongue may indicate there is something wrong with our digestive system. Examine the tongue and you can make reasonable inferences about one’s physical health.
In a similar way, our tongues reveal much about our spiritual health. The tongue is often a spiritual indicator of our hearts. The way we use our tongue, the way we speak, indicates something about who we are as a person and what we think of others. Someone said the tongue is the “tattletale of the heart.”
We noted earlier where Jesus taught as much in Matthew’s Gospel. He said, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…For out of the heart proceed [things like] evil thoughts…lies…blasphemies (Matthew 15:18-19).” The way we use our tongues is indicative of our true character.
The good works about which James is concerned includes the “work” of our speech. Good deeds includes good words. True Christians take care to control their tongues. James goes into great detail about the misuse of our tongue in much of chapter 3, but he opens this section by first warning those who use their tongues to teach. Here’s how he puts it in James 3:1-2:
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.
James warns Christians of the peril of being teachers, teachers of the Bible. Bible teachers and preachers, by virtue of the fact that they will be speaking a great deal of words, are therefore in great danger of misusing their tongues.
Teachers are Judged More Strictly
James writes, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James warns that those who aspire to be teachers and preachers of the Bible face a stricter judgment than those who do not teach and preach the Bible.
Before we go further, note that James assumes all Christians are aware that they will face a judgment. The very fact that he writes of a “stricter” judgment for Christian teachers implies that there will be a judgment for all Christians.
This is not a judgment to be confused with the judgment of unbelievers. The Bible speaks of a judgment of non-Christians at the end of the age. Revelation 20:11-15, for example, mentions the great white throne judgment, when unbelievers will be called up to stand before a great white throne and, because they are not followers of Christ, their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Consequently, as Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, they will hear the Lord say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
There is a judgment for all those who are not in Christ. It is a judgment that results in eternal separation from God, an eternity spent in hell as just punishment for sin. This is why we must turn to Christ to be saved. Jesus is the only way to avoid hell. There is no other way to enter heaven. Jesus says emphatically: “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me (John 14:6).” We must turn to Christ to avoid the judgment upon all unbelievers, all non-Christians.
The believer, the follower of Christ, does not fear the great white throne judgment. The true Christian will not hear Jesus say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” because the true Christian knows the Lord and is known by the Lord. The true Christian has been saved from the consequences of sin by faith in Christ. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to the believer, credited to the Christian, so that he or she stands before God “in Christ Jesus.”
As Paul says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Christians are “in Christ Jesus,” justified; positionally secure and saved.
So the Christian will not face condemnation, but the Christian will be judged regarding his or her sanctification. We’ve noted this truth before. Entrance into heaven is not the concern for the believer on judgment day. His concern, rather, has to do with the degree of rewards—or loss of rewards. Every Christian will give an account of himself or herself before God (Romans 14:10, 12) and will receive rewards based upon the way he or she has lived (1 Corinthians 3:8).
To Christians the Apostle Paul writes: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).”
And just as there are degrees of punishment taught in the Bible, which include degrees of punishment in hell, so there are degrees of reward taught in the Bible, which include degrees of reward in heaven.
This prospect of reward or loss of reward in heaven causes many Christians to wonder what all it means. What do those rewards look like? What kind of reward will some have that others do not have? How can we truly be joyful if we find that we have lost some rewards?
Wayne Grudem is helpful here in his Systematic Theology. He writes:
1We must guard against misunderstanding here: Even though there will be degrees of reward in heaven, the joy of each person will be full and complete for eternity. If we ask how this can be when there are different degrees of reward, it simply shows that our perception of happiness is based on the assumption that happiness depends on what we possess or the status or power that we have. In actuality, however, our true happiness consists in delighting in God and rejoicing in the status and recognition that he has given us.
Grudem adds: Those with greater reward and honor in heaven, those nearest the throne of God, delight not in their status but only in the privilege of falling down before God’s throne to worship him (see Revelation 4:10–11).”
2As we turn back now to James’ opening words in the text above, we may ask why teachers will receive a “stricter judgment” than others. Surely it stands to reason that teachers of the Bible will receive a stricter judgment because they are handling the very Word of God. With great privilege comes great responsibility. Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel, “Everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required (Luke 12:48).”
The teacher opens the Bible, God’s Word, and endeavors to teach what God says. This is a sobering task! To misrepresent God or to add to the Word something God has not said is a scary prospect.
On a personal note this is one reason I am committed to expository preaching, especially verse-by-verse preaching through books of the Bible. Aside from its many practical benefits, verse-by-verse expository teaching is the method least likely to stray from the plain meaning of Scripture.
The preacher opens the Bible and merely “exposes” what is in the open Bible before the people. He expounds upon the Scriptures and all the hearers may follow along and judge the accuracy of the exposition.
John Newton is known as the author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” But Newton was also a pastor for a number of years. He was a Bible teaching pastor. Speaking of his preaching, he said:
3I count it my honor and happiness that I preach to a free people who have the Bible in their hands. To your Bibles I appeal. I entreat, I charge you to receive nothing upon my word any farther than I can prove it from the Word of God. And bring every preacher and every sermon that you hear to the same standard.
This is a tremendous responsibility of Bible teachers and preachers. We must handle the Word of God accurately and with integrity. It is the pastor’s greatest responsibility.
In the periodical, Reformation & Revival, Pastor Phil Newton cautions: “The preacher must expound the Word of God or else he has failed in his calling. He may be a wonderful administrator, a winsome personal worker, and effective leader. But if he fails to expound the Word of God, he is a failure to his calling to preach the Word.”
4Indeed, preaching and teaching the word of God is an enormous responsibility. This is to say nothing of the responsibility of those who hear the Word of God. If God places such great stress on the teaching of the Word, what of the responsibility of those who hear, of those who listen to its teachings?
James has already cautioned that Christians are to be “doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22).” He takes for granted that Christians are actually in a position to “hear” the Word. This is a reasonable assumption. Christians are those who are interested in hearing from God, hearing the teaching of His Word. Once they have heard it, James argues, they must “do” it, living out the truths they have heard.
Teachers are Likely to Stumble
James is talking here about the likelihood of a Bible teacher’s stumbling in speech, making a slip of the tongue. He says, “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”
Stumbling is a metaphor for sinning. To stumble is to fall, to slip up. Again, James is talking about slipping up when we talk. His honesty is refreshing: “For we all stumble in many things.” We all sin. Then he adds: “If anyone does not stumble in word (stumble in his speech) he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”
The word “perfect” is best understood in this context as “mature.” The one who does not stumble as much as others in word, by what he says, is the one who has control over his tongue. He has control over his words. He or she is careful when speaking. This is a mature person who thinks before speaking and chooses words carefully, considering how his or her words will be heard.
Teachers and preachers are in the business of using words to expound the Word. We teach God’s Word by using our words so it just stands to reason that the more words we use the more likely we are to “stumble,” to slip up, to say something erroneous or untrue. This is precisely what Solomon seems to suggest in Proverbs 10:19: “Where words are many, sin is not absent.”
If you are teaching the Bible, you may say things you didn’t even realize you were saying. You can sin accidentally, just saying something without thinking it through.
Mark Twain famously noted: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
What James issues as a warning to teachers is applicable to all Christians. We are all likely to stumble in speech. More about this in the next post.
What About You?
- What if everything you said last week were recorded and played back next Sunday morning for your church family to hear? How does this hypothetical question motivate you to live this week?
- How might a church use James 3:1-2 as a teaching tool for those eager to teach Bible studies in their church?
- What method of preaching do you believe to be least likely to stray from the meaning of Scripture? Why?
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