Kevin Taylor's Bible Study
Title:
The Book Of James, Part Five
by Kevin Taylor
This week we are going to look at James chapter three,
verses 1-12. Apart from verse one, the theme of this part of the chapter
is ‘The use and misuse of the tongue’ lets get into the word of God.
James
3 v1-12 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because
you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble
in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect
man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths
of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships
as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds,
they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
Likewise the tongue is small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.
Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue
also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts
the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself
set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures
of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame
the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With our tongue
we praise our Lord and father, and with it we curse men, who have been made
in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praises and cursing. My brothers,
this should not be so. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the
same spring? My brothers, can a fig-tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear
figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
The bible has a lot to say about the tongue; James is focusing on the misuse
of the tongue, which is just as much a problem in this day and age as it
was when this epistle was written, so much so that he wrote “If anyone is
never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man.” In proverbs chapter
18 v 21 it says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” We Christians
should set an example to the world as regards our speech, Jesus said “out
of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” and because we have the
Holy Spirit within us, this must be reflected in what we say.
I have a question for you. It is a sad fact of life that from time to time
we all have disputes. Of all the disputes you have had with people over
the years, how many have been because of what was said, rather than what
was done? Usually offence is taken because of what has been said, rather
than what was done. In the proverbs scripture above, note that it says the
power of ‘Life and death’ so it is good to know that you can use your tongue
to build up and bring ‘life’ into peoples lives.
As you are probably aware, I don’t normally recommend books other than the
bible, but today I recommend a superb book by ‘Dr Derrick Prince’ called
‘Does your tongue need taming.’ This book challenged me to the core when
I read it some years ago, Dr Prince is one of the worlds most respected
bible teaches, and this book is firmly rooted in the word of God. I would
like you to take note of your speech over this coming week, and ask the
lord to show you where improvements are needed, and I will be doing the
same. Let us take on board the following piece of wisdom out of the book
of proverbs.
Proverbs 15 v 1 “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir
up anger.”
You can be right, but handle it wrongly and create more problems than you
solve. We all need the Lords help Amen! God bless all of you, see you soon,
Kev!
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