Rhetorical Reckoning – Pt.3

If God’s people would take your
Bibles and turn back once again to James, we find ourselves in
chapter one. And I will note that in these
past weeks, I’ve had several people approach
me And ask me if I was talking specifically
about them. And in a sense, I am. Because
that’s what James is doing. That’s what God is doing here
in this passage. I would suggest to you that he
is talking to every single one of us. It’s a sobering passage. It’s an arresting passage. It’s
an alarming passage because it talks about our mouth and we
know that it is an occupational hazard to own a mouth to be able
to speak. We know that we have a proclivity
to offend with our God-given mouths. And so in a very real
sense, this passage is for everyone. James saw a problem in the church. We’ve talked about it in the
past weeks, that there was almost a push to speak, a push to take
positions of leadership where influence could be effected. There was an ambitious push to
the top of the leadership pole. James has addressed our speech
on a number of occasions, but more generally in the past, he
urged us in James 119 to be slow to speech, not to abstain from
speaking altogether, but just to be circumspect, careful, cautious
with our words. In 126, he urged us with the
same image that he uses here to bridle our tongues. An interesting
image, isn’t it? And then in 212, he reminded
us that we are to speak as those who will be judged by the law
of liberty. We should be cautious. We should
realize that every word is recorded. Every word we will give an account
to God. And so James sees this push. He sees this tendency to try
to put themselves in positions of leadership, to influence others,
to not just have an opinion, but to actively share that opinion. Whether it’s in a one-on-one
setting or it’s in a small classroom. or it’s before a great gathering
of people. Jesus was concerned with this
tendency as well. He saw it in his day. And James
really is echoing a concern that Jesus himself had, as we have
seen in weeks past. James is concerned about those
who would be teachers. but his concern extends to each
and every one of us. It’s the use of our mouths. If
you would, I want to go back again and read the bulk of this
chapter, verses one through 12. James chapter three, verses one
through 12. Let not many of you become teachers,
my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter
judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in
what he says, he’s a perfect man, able to bridle the whole
body as well. Now, if we put bits into the
horse’s mouths so that they might obey us, we direct their entire
body as well. Behold, the ships also, though
they are so great and are driven by strong winds, 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. Behold,
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 is 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 beasts 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 come both
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be this way. Does a fountain send forth from
the same spring both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree,
my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither
can salt water produce fresh.” James introduces this really
staggering Concern that he has that there were those in his
midst they were nudging their way elbowing their way to the
top Only to have a position of influence that was their desire
The position was so sought that there was actually contention
and strife developing in the midst of these churches and because
of those who wanted to teach, those who sought to have influence,
and the respect that came with the office, and the accolades,
and the titles. It’s really no different than
our day. Everyone has a teaching, said
Paul. Everyone has something to say. And that’s exactly what
James recognizes. And so in verses one and two,
James just really introduces the concern. And his admonition
is that there shouldn’t be many in the line to teach. There shouldn’t
be this push. There shouldn’t be this fixation
on cultivating a title and having a position and in being able
to talk one’s opinions to others. Let
not many of you, my brethren, but he doesn’t say let not any. There is a place for teaching. There is a spot. There is a need. He just says, let not many. There
shouldn’t be this sense of competition. Let not many of you become teachers
because you know, knowing that as such, as teachers, as those
who have an influence over others, as those who have a ministry,
we shall incur a stricter judgment. James puts himself in that mix. And he says that he knows well,
just like Hebrews 13, 17, that one day he will stand before
God, as all elders will, He will stand before God and give an
account of his ministry. Friends, we should be quite cautious
to even open our mouth. We should be careful. And only
after due preparation, and only after we know that we’ve arrived
at a defensible position, We want to be right. There’s nothing
wrong with desiring to be right. There’s nothing wrong with studying
toward that end. There’s nothing wrong with believing
in your heart that you have done everything you can to know and
understand the scriptures, that you are on a position right. Nothing wrong with that. That
should be our goal. We shouldn’t be casual and careless
and flippant. But we’re going to have to answer
for it one day. We’re going to give an account. And James says
that it’s axiomatic. We know this. Let not many of
you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such, as teachers,
we shall incur a stricter judgment for we all stumble in many ways. He just basically paints the
picture of a reminder of how easy it is to offend. We offend
with our attitudes, we offend with our words, we offend with
our actions and lack thereof. It’s easy to sin. If anyone does not stumble in
what he says, he is a perfect man and he’ll make this point
over and over again. That if you can just control
the tongue, if you can take control of the tongue, bridle the tongue, Get control of your speech. Stop
so much talking. If you can only do that, you
are a perfect man. And we’ve corrected this. It doesn’t mean morally perfect. It just means mature. You have
you have reached a level of maturity that endears you as a servant
of God to others. Others are inclined to listen
to what you have to say. And then James, what James does
here, is really amazing. He paints a picture of the tongue
that really enables each one of us to slowly and deliberately
and carefully examine our hearts with regard to each of the illustrations
that he presents before us. Because each of these illustrations
is a principle, there’s a principle contained in it. That’s why I
refer to them as principled illustrations. He’s telling a story, he’s painting
a picture, and he’s using imagery to do it. But each one of these
six illustrations, there is a principle embedded. A principle embedded
that we are to consider. And we began Last week, just
looking at the first of these few, look at verse three. Just
by way of reminder, he told a little story, which he’s already used
earlier in his epistle, that of bits and bridles. Look at
verse three. If we put bits into the horse’s
mouths so that they may obey us, we direct their entire body
as well. And I pointed out that I’ve watched
the young ladies from this congregation do this very thing, to take that
piece of metal and approach a face full of teeth, gooey, drooling
teeth, and to place that bit in the horse’s mouth, and then
to get on top of that horse, and to very capably, very effectively
steer that horse around. That’s the illustration that
James uses. It’s a simple illustration, but it has a point. It has a
unique point tied to this illustration, just as a mighty horse What? 10, 20 times the size of
these little people that will get on the back of these horses
just as a mighty horse can be guided around by a bit and a
bridle and a tiny little writer. So our speech can be and should
be under our complete control. That’s the point that James is
making there in his first illustration. He’s not just telling us pleasant
stories. He’s telling us stories to remind
us that just as a horse can be controlled, so our speech, our
tongues can and should be controlled. But he has a second illustration.
And we peeked at this last week. The second illustration is in
verses four and five. This is an illustration about
a ship and a rudder. Look at verse four. Behold the
ships also, though they are so great. And he was talking about
very large ships, not a little dinghy, not a little fishing
boat. These were the large vessels
that transverse the Mediterranean and the seas. Behold, the ships
also, though they are so great, are driven and are driven by
strong winds. So now it not only talks about
the size of the vessel, but some of the obstacles that the vessel
faces, winds and waves, all contrary to the ship going where the ship
purposes to go. They are still directed by a
very small rudder. And here he ties in the size
of the rudder, just like that tiny little bit that is placed
into this huge animal’s mouth, a ship with a tiny little piece
of wood appended to the back end of that boat on a hinge is
able to direct the course of that mighty ship. Well, his point
His point is simple. Just as a huge ship is steered
by a small rudder, our tiny tongues should, by God’s grace, maintain
a purposed course in our lives. We can’t just let our tongues
go. We can’t just say whatever comes
to our mind. We’re to have a filter. We are to be circumspect. We
are to guard our mouths. We are to repent when we transgress. We are to have our speech seasoned
as it were with salt, Paul says. We are to have our speech under
control. We are to repent of slander.
We are to repent of evil speaking. We’re to put it away from us.
as a dirty and vile thing. Our mouths should be a testimony
of the salvation that we claim, right? There’s a third principle. And believe it or not, even as
shocking as this verbiage is, there is a point There is a point,
a principle to this illustration that we find in verses five and
six. These are what one said some
of the hardest words for a Christian to read because they are so acute. They go right to the heart. Remember
that little verse sharper than any two edged sword. You’re going
to feel it. You’re going to feel it. The third principle illustration
is a spark and a fire. Look at verse five. So also the
tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great
things. Behold, how great a forest fire
is set aflame by such a small fire. 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. You say, what principle could
I possibly derive from that graphic illustration? Just as a tiny
spark can set a massive forest ablaze, our careless words can
be equally devastating. Let’s look at this passage. Basically,
the tongue, our speech, can be used for good or for evil. We’ll
come to that later this morning. The fact that something is small
has no limiting effect. Just as a bit can be placed into
a horse’s mouth and a rudder can direct a large ship, so the
tongue in the mouth of a person, though it’s the smallest member,
can have a massive impact. Whether it’s a bit or a rudder
or a spark, the tongue is likened to all of those in its relative
size. Look at verse five. He just says
so plainly, so also the tongue. The horse’s mouth is compared
to the size of its body. The ship’s rudder is compared
to the size of this massive ship. And even though these small elements
are referenced, they exert a great control. In some cases, in the case of
a horse, it’s a positive effect. In the case of the ship, the
rudder exerts a positive effect. In the case of the fire, however,
the metaphor begins to change, doesn’t it? The whole tenor of
this passage begins to turn. And he aims to point out that
even though this element is small, it is not insignificant. And
just as a spark can ignite an entire forest, so also the mouth
can bring great trouble. The tongue isn’t an independent
member. Whatever the tongue does will
affect the entire body, every part of the body. The tongue
can be held guilty for wrongdoing, and the tongue can bring blessing
that affects an entire church. As one said it, little as it
is, yet it claims truthfully enough to be the accomplisher
of great things. And he isn’t doubting, James
here, he isn’t doubting that the tongue can declare and boast
of great and mighty things. It can instill wild passions. It can excite high hopes. It
can rouse flagging energies to bright activity. And you’ve heard
these great speeches throughout our lives that from time to time
can really motivate us. I think he even acknowledges
here that occasionally we’ll hear a great sermon that really
seizes hold of our hearts and our minds. But he closes with this, yet
in the vast majority of cases, the tongue is ungoverned and
exercises much of its power, not for good, but for evil. He
says much of the time, how sad is that? Much of the time, the
tongue is just off on its own, doing its own thing, saying what
it wants to say, and it’s creating havoc wherever it goes. It’s not an unfounded boast.
The achievements are great, even if they are greatly evil. One of the tendencies that we
have in the use of our tongues is just to talk too much. There’s
an adage in sales that when you get the sale, what? Stop talking. There’s a tendency, though, in
life to just let our tongues go, just to let them out of the
pen and let them roam freely. And then at the end of the day,
if we were to pause and to review the conversations
that we’d engaged in, to review the words that had come out of
our mouth, to review the thoughts that we’d said, the lies that
we’d told, the slander that we’d committed, the gossip that we
had fomented, in a single day. What would we do? Would it be
a heart of repentance? The sad thing is we don’t even
take review so many times. We don’t even ponder to think
what it is that we’ve said. We don’t think about the consequences
of the words that have come out of our own mouths. And that’s
what James is turning this little illustration to suggest here
that the tongue is like a spark in a forest. How much of our words are like
those sparks? How much of our words are not
good and beneficial, not gracious, not kind, not biblical, How much
of our words are just like so many careless sparks? Look at verse five. So also the
tongue is a small part of the body. James acknowledges that. It’s not like our bicep. It’s
not like our brain. It’s not like the body itself. It’s a tiny little member. And yet it boasts of great things.
Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire.”
And see, now what James has done, he has begun to engage in pointing
out the disastrous, the terrible results that come from the careless
use of our mouths. It’s an interesting word that
he uses here. for forest, it really just means lumber, stacks
of wood. It could be piles of wood. It
could be a lumber yard. But here he just, he speaks of
the forest almost indiscriminately. How much wood gets burned up
is what he says. How great of a forest, how much
timber And if we begin to look at it practically here, it’s
all that that forest stands for. And we’ve seen the devastating
effects in our own state, that a fire just isn’t the end of
it, because then comes the standing deadwood, and then comes the
floods, and then comes the silt that fills the rivers and the
lakes. It’s not just the fire. But it’s the loss of all that
material. That’s what James points to. And he says the tongue in
its destructiveness causes that kind of devastation. A couple of years ago, there was
a, of all people, a forest ranger. You’ll remember this. She had
had a rough breakup. And so as the account goes, she
went to a fire ring in the midst of the hills and burned what
was said to be a Dear John letter from her husband. And as the story unfolds, ashes
from that letter blew in the wind and landed and started a
fire. And whether she was actually
trying to become a hero Or she actually intentionally started
the fire thinking that she could put it out and therefore achieve
some kind of hero status. It’s all conjecture. But she started through her burning
of this Dear John letter in a little fire ring that blew the ashes
into the dry tinder brush. She started the largest fire
in Colorado history. the Hayman Fire. It burned for weeks. In 2002,
it was the largest fire ever recorded in our state, 138,000
acres. Hundreds of firefighters battled
the blaze. The estimates of the cost of
that fight, the fight alone was $40 million. burned 133 homes. It caused at least one death.
Five firefighters died on the way to fight the fire. The removal
of the sediment from the lakes as the years that followed were
said to cost $25 million. just to begin to restore the
rivers and streams to where they once were. There’s another example
that our California friends will remember. The Camp Fire was this past year,
it was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California
history. 85 civilian deaths, 153,000 acres burned 18,000 structures. And the cause was said to be
a spark from a transmission line. James here seizes upon one of
the most graphic illustrations in all of scripture. When he
says that our words are just like a spark. That in
the right place, the right time, something that is said quite
wrongly can create devastation equal
to that of a forest fire. It ruins people’s lives. It ruins
people’s reputations. It can destroy churches. It can
tear apart families. And that’s why James says in
verse six, the tongue is a fire. We don’t treat it like that.
In fact, it’s quite amusing to us sometimes when it’ll come
out of our mouths and we don’t wince. The tongue is a fire,
the very world of iniquity. One pastor said, nothing stronger
was ever said about the tongue. And I would suggest to you that
that’s an understatement. These words are graphic, pointed,
strong words. One pastor said, a consideration
of the structure of the sentence, the poetical form which the thoughts
are cast, throws light on the meaning from, it appears that
the first thought is resumed and expanded on these last two
lines. In other words, James is building
to a crescendo and driving home the point that your mouth is
a devastating apparatus if not under control. The idea of the tongue being
a fire is a frequent illustration in scripture. We don’t treat
the tongue that way. We don’t treat the tongue like
a blowtorch, do we? We should. Psalm 57, 4, my soul
is among lions. I must lie among those who breathe
forth fire. When was the last time you thought
of your mouth like that? Psalm 120, verse three and four,
what shall I give to you and what shall, what more shall be
done to you, you deceitful tongue, sharp arrows of the warrior with
the burning coals of the broom tree. The psalmist here at least
recognizes that his mouth was so utterly destructive. Proverbs
16, a worthless man digs up evil while his words are like scorching
fire. Proverbs 26, like a madman who
throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives
his neighbors with his tongue and says, was I not joking? For
lack of wood, the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer,
contention dies down. Like a charcoal to hot embers
and wood to a fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.” Our words
can be utterly devastating. We are a walking blowtorch. And all the time, all we have
to do is open our mouth and say the wrong thing. And we just
devastated an individual. We just devastated an entire
family. We just devastated a church,
an entire community. There’s another fire that has
been burning up in Colorado, up near Glenwood Springs for
hundreds of years. Did you get that? Hundreds of
years it’s been burning. It’s called the Coal Seam Fire.
It’s below ground and it’s essentially a seam of coal beneath the surface
of the earth but it caught fire during one fire event and it
never went out. It continually smolders and the
point is that that is us. That’s a picture of us. It’s
always simmering beneath the surface just ready to let fly
something. It’s a destructive pattern. James will go on to call it the
world of iniquity. One pastor cataloged some of
the errors that have been attributed to the tongue in scripture. a
wicked tongue, a deceitful tongue, a lying tongue, a perverse tongue,
a filthy tongue, a corrupt tongue, a bitter tongue, an angry tongue,
a crafty tongue, a flattering tongue, a slanderous tongue,
a gossiping tongue, a backbiting tongue, a blaspheming tongue,
a foolish tongue, boasting tongue, a murmuring tongue, a complaining
tongue, a cursing tongue, a contentious tongue, a sensual tongue, a vile
tongue, a tail bearing tongue, a whispering tongue, an exaggerating
tongue. And that is just the start. When James says the tongue is
a fire, the very world of iniquity. He’s just touching the surface. Look at verse six, the tongue
is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body. Even to this day. If I walk into
a house. Even if somebody moved out or
a hotel room, even if somebody, you know, if somebody has moved
out of the house and I walk in, if there was a smoker that lived
there, I can smell it. It’s palpable to me. I remember
going home after waiting tables those years and you would just
reek of cigarette smoke as if you were the one smoking. That’s the image. That’s the
image that James is suggesting here, that the smoke itself is
devastating enough, and he hasn’t even talked about the destruction
from the fire. That smoke that just sullies
and affects everything. It defiles the entire body, he
says. What he’s talking about is the
impact of the tongues in our mouths. the moral impact that
it has. It stains and defiles everything. It ruins things. Thomas Manton, one of our heroes
of the faith, said an evil tongue has a great influence upon other
members. When a man speaks evil, he will
commit it. When the tongue has the boldness
to talk of sin, the rest of the members have the boldness to
act it. First, we think, then we speak,
then we do. Do not be deceived. A pestilent
tongue will affect other members. I had to smile this past week
that little Sam stole one of my illustrations. We were in the back playing and
he picked off a dandelion head and blew the seeds. That is an
illustration of the effect of our tongue. I paid the kids each a nickel
years ago to go out and pick the yellow flowers out of our
yard. And they did. And they came back and I paid
them handsomely and sent them back out to pick more. And I
just happened to notice as they were out there that they too
were picking the dandelion heads. Sowing more seed for, they’re
good business people. That is the effect, the unchecked
effect of our words. That those seeds from our mouths
are going to bear fruit. They’re going to plant other
weeds. Look at verse six, the tongue
is a fire of the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among
our members is that which defiles our entire body and sets on fire
the course of our life. Do you understand, I mean, do
you begin to grasp the severity of that statement? There have been those that try
to even grasp what he’s saying here, the course of our life.
One suggested it was the wheel of being. I don’t know what that
is. The whole wheel of human existence. That’s not much help to me either.
What it’s talking about is the entirety of our life. Tell a
lie in a certain sphere, or you make a crass or coarse joke in
a certain company. You make a boast. You talk back
to the wrong person. An inconsiderate, careless, slanderous
word can ruin your life. It can devastate an entire community. And so when he talks about the
course of our life, he’s talking about the entire realm of our
existence. It can touch every part of our
life, our divinely appointed course, as one described it. Robert Johnstone, Arguably now
one of my favorite commentators said this. He proceeds here to
the tongues injurious power on him as a member of society. The
life of each of us is in the world may be conceived as a circle
of influences of various kinds. Did you realize that? We each
have a series of people that we touch. Acting on the persons and institutions
around us, it is a circle in which is in ceaseless revolution. By immediate influence, the persons
also with whom, as the circle revolves, the influence comes
into contact and are fired and inflamed by it with anger, licentiousness,
covetous, malice, or any other passion according to circumstances.
His point is this. Here you are hovering about And
you are a blowtorch and you’re setting on fire everybody that
you come in contact with. Have you ever said something
just so stupid? So utterly thoughtless. You wonder where on earth did
that come from? I’ll tell you because James tells
you. This doesn’t mean that you’re
demonically possessed, but it does tell you what the source
of those evil thoughts is. The tongue is set among our members
is that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course
of our life and is set on fire by hell. The devil loves to get
you saying stupid things. The devil loves to get you slandering. The devil loves to catch you
in a lie. The devil loves to stir your
heart to say something that is going to devastate someone else.
The word literally here is Gehenna. If you know about Gehenna, bear
with us a moment. It was a valley that was just
to the southwest of the walls of Jerusalem. And it had a long
and storied history. It essentially was the city dump.
And it, like the coal seam fire, was constantly smoldering, constantly
burning the rubbish and the filth that was thrown into the city
dump. But there was a reason that this piece of land was almost
ostracized It was an unclean place to the Jews. It was a hated
place. Just a piece of ground. Because two, two of the kings,
two of the leaders of Judah. Those of you who have walked
with me for a season may remember when we did our study of the
kings. The kings of Israel, not one of them, not one king of
Israel was a good king. The kings of Judah, hit and miss. There were some really good kings
and there were some really bad kings. Ahaz and his grandson
Manasseh were among the worst. They were bad kings, dreadful
kings. Whereas Israel had no good kings,
not even one, at least Judah had a few, but Ahaz and Manasseh
were the worst. Ahaz engaged in idolatry, Baal
worship, 2 Chronicles 28. Manasseh went further even than
his grandfather had gone, and it says that he committed abominations
in the high places, altars for the Baals, Asherim, towers, statues,
all the host of heaven, witchcraft, divination, sorcery, mediums,
spiritists. It was like he was trying everything.
If he was alive today, he’d flip open and read the horoscope,
right? 2 Chronicles 23, but both of them.
Both Ahaz and Manasseh, as part of their idolatrous leadership,
sacrificed their own sons in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, this
place, Gehenna. Later on, the place eventually
became a dumping ground. Nobody wanted to live there.
Real estate went straight down, and the fires just burned all
the time. And James says that when we let
fly a word that is reprehensible, that is objectively offensive
to anybody around us who hears it, not a curse word, but an
evil report, a slanderous thought, a careless word, when that flies,
we betray its true source. It came from hell. One Puritan said, the evil of
the tongue, like all sin, came from Satan’s temptation of the
founders of our race. And from him it is ever receiving
fresh strength. How appalling the thought should
be to the careless talker, to the man of unchastened lips,
that his words are really Satan’s. Let me pause here. As I walked
out last week, as I stood at the door, several people as they
approached me did this. You know, that’s not a bad idea.
If you think for a moment that by opening your mouth, you’re
going to speak on behalf of the devil himself, that’s not a bad
idea. He says, the words are really
Satan’s, for which yet he himself is responsible. His utterances
are doing upon himself and those around him the devil’s work.
That when he pours forth from his lips profane or impure or
unkind language, he is in truth breathing out flames lighted
from the bottomless pit. I mean, it’s utterly shocking.
And so the principle to this entire thing is just as a tiny
little spark can set a massive forest ablaze, our careless words
can be equally devastating. And this strong language that
James uses is designed for this exact purpose. We should pause. We should cover our mouths. We
should go home and review our speech. We should be careful
to speak. Slow indeed. Because this idea that James
communicates here is the unstoppableness of this devastation that we create
when we speak. Utter devastation. One pastor began to paint the
picture. What kind of devastation? What
are the few words? What’s a little lie going to
do? By these words, a blasphemer
defies God, he utters falsehoods, the seducer pours forth destroying
flatteries, the slanderer blasts his neighbor’s good name, The
traitor spreads sedition and disturbs the peace of nations.
The tongue diffuses error, kindles strife, inflames the passions,
stimulates device, originates crime, breaks hearts, embitters
families, distracts communities, divides and destroys churches. All with a few careless words. What makes you say such horrible
things? It’s from the devil himself.
That doesn’t mean you’re possessed, but it does mean that merely
by opening our mouths at times, we end up doing the devil a favor. We end up serving the devil himself
with the delectable morsels that come from our God-given mouths. James will talk about the purpose,
the God given purpose of those mouths as we look to the passage
next week. For now, let’s examine our hearts. Our Heavenly Father. Not a single
one of us here. Is exempt. From examination by
these very pointed words. Lord, each one of us have told
lies. Each of us have boasted of foolish
things. Each one of us have downplayed
our own sin, even glorified it while railing at others. Lord
God, we have much. to examine and much as we examine
to confess. And Lord, we pray that you would
so examine our lips that we truly would be slow to speak. That
by way of maturing only by your grace, you would fit us and ready
us to be teachers. To be those who have a good word
Even a word of confrontation or rebuke of a fellow brother
or sister. That we would have something
to say and something to teach, even something to preach. Lord
God, we pray that you would do your work in each of our lives. And Lord, for any who do not
know Christ, they cannot possibly begin a process of reformation
on their speech, or any other part of their lives, you must do that work. And we
pray for them that you might save them and set them apart
for your own use. Lord God, we thank you and praise
you for James’s strong words to each of us. And we pray that
by your grace, you would grant us the ability to examine our
own tongues Confess where we need to confess, to plead for
your grace where it needs to be applied, to put out the fires
of hell, the rage below the surface in our mouth. We pray all of
these things in Jesus’ name, amen.