James

The Tongues of Leaders

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: The Tongues of Leaders.

Genre: Sermon

Lesson: 8 of 16

Track: #26

Year:

Dictation Name: RR328N26

[Rushdoony] Let us worship God. Lord I have loved the habitation of Thy house and the place where Thine honor dwelleth. I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord, let us pray.

Oh Lord our God we thank Thee that Thou art the Lord. We thank Thee that thou art on the throne and not we ourselves, so we know our sins and our shortcomings, our unwillingness to do that which is right at times, our stubbornness, our waywardness, our self-will. But by Thy grace oh Lord Thou hast made us Thy people, Thou hast overruled our folly and governed us by Thy wisdom. Give us grace then to commit ourselves into Thy sovereign hands, and to rejoice in what Thou doest and what Thou dost command, in Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture is James 3 verses 1-5, The Tongues of Leaders. James 3:1-5. “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”

The entire third chapter of James takes up a subject he mentioned early in his letter, the problem of speech, of verbal sinning. Now as we shall see in the next two weeks what he is concerned with is far more than gossip, but with the heart of man, with his faith. The works of faith mean not only Godly action, but Godly speech. Faith without works is dead, and for James speech is a very important form of work. This was a matter of importance and a moral question. Then in Jewish society, as it is today in ours, a civilized and more or less orderly society gives people a measure of freedom, and men are more prone, because it is safer, to unleash hatred and hostility by their tongue rather than by aggressive action. In many backwards societies men are often very careful to speak guardedly because ugly words can mean their death. So speech can be sometimes a bit more restrained between people, not that it’s cleaner, it can be dirty all the time, but it’s restrained between man and man because ugly words can mean death. At least one people still have no word for “no”, it’s too dangerous.

Women have a reputation for being looser with their tongues, but this is usually true when they do not confront the word directly but do so only through a father or a husband. In other words they don’t meet face to face the consequences of what they say. Now men are, whether they are worse than their wives, more guarded in their speech usually because they come face to face with a world which can penalize them for their looseness of speech. Speech is a means of aggression and war, and it is more likely to be used as such, and safer to do so, in an orderly society.

This is why James wrote to a people who were living in an orderly context and were therefore more prone to use the tongue in aggressive ways, and it is especially true therefore for church people in our time. They are protected by the very restrained atmosphere in which they live, and so they can resort to cutting words more easily.

James begins in verse one by warning “my brethren, be no many masters” or teachers, rabbi’s, or pastors. The honor of the position is far outweighed by its liabilities, the chief of which is the greater condemnation for sins by the Lord. R.V.G. Tasker commented on this verse, and I quote “not unnaturally James follows the statement ‘faith without works is dead’ by the reminder that works are not to be limited to actions, words are also works. Indeed much of the work of the world is accomplished through the medium of words, this is particularly true of the works of teachers, hence James sounds the warning ‘let not many of you become teachers’ often the words of teachers leave an indelible impression for good and evil upon receptive and immature minds. Teachers are continually engaged in passing judgments, both moral and intellectual.”

In viewing the callings of men, whether husbands, employers, or teachers, we tend to see only the advantages of the position, not the liabilities before God and man. All of us, as either fallen men or as sinners saved by grace, offend others – James says so. We all offend, the man who does not offend by word is the mature man who has learned to bridle his tongue. But we all offend others in many ways, in many things he says. However the man who does not offend by his speech James says is a mature man because he has learned to keep his tongue in check. Speech is thus presented as a criterion of character. It is one of the key words, at the very least, that indicates what we are. It reveals what we think, both about ourselves and about others.

Because speech is a form of back stabbing it is very deadly. Our Lord speaks repeatedly of the evil of the unbridled tongue as in Matthew 12:33-37 where he says: “33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” These are words that cannot be spiritualized away, every word God will remember.

In verses 3-5 James compares the tongue first to the bit in a horse’s mouth whereby the horse larger and more powerful than a man is controlled by man. Second a large ship is directed in the face of the fiercest winds and storms by a very small helm controlled by a helmsman. Third a small fire can create a gigantic blaze and destroy much property. Speech, James tells us, is similar; its power is very, very great. In the first illustration a powerful horse is controlled by man for good and a direction given by the rider or driver. Similarly the tongue is a controlling force for good or for evil, it provides leadership or direction. To use the tongue with so noble a purpose for evil is to abuse a power given to us. Second the life of those aboard a ship is dependent in a storm especially on the helmsman; his command of the helm brings life or death to all who are on board. We must remember that in these early verses James speaks of potential teachers or pastors. Their use of the tongue can either save or shipwreck the congregation. Third, the analogy of fire is used; a small spark can burn down a house or destroy a forest.

We must again remember that James was writing to Jewish Christians who, like modern ones, had the severity of other people but in an orderly society where it was safe to speak out. In a world where you cannot be killed on the spot if you insult somebody it’s very is easy to indulge in ungodly speech.

I shall never forget the statement of someone years and years ago who had lived in the old West, and he laughed at the idea that there was shooting and killing all the time, it was very, very rare he said, extremely rare. But, he said, since everybody carried a gun you were always very polite to everyone else. Well no man will speak carelessly of someone else to whom he is speaking has a knife ready to put at his throat.

In James day, as well as ours, they had the luxury of an orderly society, more or less orderly, and congregations were torn apart by petty talk and grievances. In Philippians 4:2 we see Paul plead with two women that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now from all we can read in the epistles the Philippian was one of the most peaceable of congregations and yet what did you have? Two women who apparently were upsetting the church with their backbiting and hostilities; too often people allow their petty likes and dislikes to prevail over the peace and unity of Christ’s congregation or of their family. James begins by speaking to leaders and would-be leaders in the church. He then broadens the scope to speak to everyone because the tongue is a problem with everyone.

In my youth an elderly pastor speaking on James 3 said that either the tongue was the last thing to be converted or else what first revealed a person’s unconverted status, he was not sure which. In any case the tongue is a serious problem. A missionary in my youth spoke of the various disease common to his mission field, it was deep in a jungle area and those diseases that were commonplace to him there were unknown to the American congregation but so common in that out of the way place to be taken for granted. When the missionary spoke about these problems it sickened his listeners but it was an accepted fact of everyday life in that jungle area. We have come to accept as an irresponsibility in speech as easily did the natives in that mission field live with strange and horrifying diseases. James is trying to shock us into an awareness that we have to keep our tongue in check.

James began with the leaders, or perspective leaders, today we too often hear of the rash and irresponsible comments of pastors and of prominent churchmen; and it is important to remember that James sees the tongue as a destructive force in all of life, in church, home, in the workplace, and society. Words like a small fire can set alight a great conflagration. Moreover God holds us to account for every idle word. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for Thy plain speaking, Thy word is truth; give us hearing ears to hear and to obey. We thank Thee that Thou hast made us Thine by Thy Holy Spirit work in our hearts, mind, and tongue, that which is well pleasing in Thy sight. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

I think one reason why James is so appropriate for time is that never before in American history perhaps, have we had a time of looser and more irresponsible speech. The deterioration in public language since about 1960 has been startling. Now this has happened more than once in culture, and it has taken a religious reformation every time to offer it. At the time of just before the reformation language had reached a new low in the kind of abusive, aggressive, and hostile speech that characterized everyone. IN fact it has been said that of all the reformation figures, on both sides Catholic and Protestant, Calvin was the one man who was very civilized and restrained in the kind of language he used. Some of them were so far out, even those who otherwise admire some of the things they did, confessed to being profoundly embarrassed by the viciousness of their language. One such person was Sir, later Saint, Thomas More, he was very much a renaissance man, and Renaissance man was given to aggression in word, thought, and deed. It was a time when people pulled weapons on each other and killed one another freely, and the language they used was as ugly and as vicious as it could be.

Well we are approaching that same condition, it is not going to be changed without a reformation. Again and again civilization deteriorated from the time of the conversion of the Roman Empire to the Reformation and each time it was a reform within the church that revivified it until it led finally to the worst under the Renaissance and the Renaissance controlled Rome and the church, and it had to lead to the explosion of the reformation.

Yes?

[Audience member] I have noticed in my generation, the 60’s, that what was most significant was the language that women my age spoke, and swearing and real guttural language became almost fashionable.

[Rushdoony] Could you speak up a little?

[Audience member] Women’s language when I was growing up in the 60’s, you know the, well I hate to call it, the so-called “me culture” but it was the 60’s generation and with the woman’s freedom became almost the freedom of language but it became very guttural, very base, and I think it even shocked men at the time that that was part of the independence and “we can do whatever we want” and I thought that was pretty significant in that maybe women do are allowed that freedom before even men because what you were talking about

[Rushdoony] Well let’s see. There’s an ironic aspect to the women’s situation in that they have with feminism insisted on equality, they’ve insisted on the same kind of protection, so that they’re unwillingly to bear the responsibility for their often vituperative language.

A friend died who was relatively young, quite a bit younger than myself, who was part of a corporation and a women was made president, a militant feminist. And never before had they had the abuse that became routine when she took the helm and if any of them tried to tell her she had no right to talk that way she only became more abusive or broke down into tears so that they were the losers in every way.

One of the problems today is that men have become very grossly loose also in their language because they live in a protected society. So many, many legal safeguards have been put in to protect everybody in their job, to penalize anybody for any mythical kind of offense, that men too are overly protected and are becoming very, very loose and careless in their language.

I’m reminded of what Robert Artera {?} wrote in the late 50’s, not that I agree with everything he wrote, but he had some good insights and it was namely this, that we live in a society that is comparable to a zoo in its protection of everybody. In a zoo the animals are protected, they’re taken care of, and he said animals in nature are not interested in sex except seasonally, once a year, whereas in a zoo it can be perpetual. And he said caged animals make a tremendous change in their nature because of that protected atmosphere. And he said, this was back in the late 50’s, we are turning man into a zoo animal and therefore he is increasingly irresponsible sexually and in other ways and we can certainly add verbally. We are living in a society of zoo peoples.

Well let us conclude with prayer. Our Father we pray that Thou wouldst make us free and responsible people in Jesus Christ. We pray that in Him we may learn that good works means also Godly speech. Give us the grace and the power to control our tongues and all things to speak with patience and with grace. Forgive us for our many, many sins with our tongues as well as with the rest of our being. And now go in peace God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.