James 3:1–18 | 2nd August 2026

Good morning everyone. If you could

please turn your Bibles to the book of

James, chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

Let's read.

Not many of you should become teachers,

my brothers,

for you know that we who teach will be

judged with a greater strictness.

For we all stumble in many ways, and if

anyone does not stumble in what he says,

he is a perfect man, able to bridle his

whole body. If we put bits into the

mouths of horses, so that they obey us,

we guide their whole bodies as well.

Look, the ships also, though they are so

large and are driven by strong winds,

they are guided by a very small rudder.

Whether the will of the pilot directs,

so also the tongue is a small member,

yet it boasts of great things. How great

a forest is set ablaze by such a small

fire. And the tongue is a fire, a world

of unrighteousness. The tongue is set

among our members, staining the whole

body of life, setting on fire the entire

course of life and set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of

reptile and sea creature can be tamed

and has been tamed by mankind, but no

human being can tame the tongue. It is a

restless evil full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our Lord and Father,

and with it we curse people who are made

in the likeness of God. For the same

mouth come blessing and cursing, my

brothers, these are things ought not to

be so.

Does a spring pour forth from the same

opening both fresh and salt water? Can a

fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a

grapevine produce figs? Neither can a

salt pond yield fresh water. Who is wise

and understanding among you? By his good

conduct, let him show his works in the

meekness of wisdom. But if you have

bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in

your hearts, do not boast and be false

to the truth. This is the wisdom that

comes down from above.

But it is unearly, unspiritual, and

demonic. For where jealousy and selfish

ambition exist, there will be disorder

and every vile practice. But the wisdom

from above is first pure, then

peaceable, then gentle, open to reason,

full of mercy and good fruits, impartial

and sincere, and a harvest of

righteousness is sown by peace by those

who make peace. Let's open in prayer.

Dear heavenly father, I thank you for

your word. I thank you that your words

are wonderful. Lord, I pray that as I

speak now, it is not my own words, but

Lord, it is yours. Lord, no matter what

I can say, Lord, it is not nearly

anything compared to your word. And I

pray, Lord, that your word will speak

now in your holy name. Amen.

What are famous words that you remember?

All throughout time, history can be

remembered through famous words and

speeches. You might remember the words

from Martin Luther King's famous speech.

I have a dream that my four little

children will one day live in a nation

where they will not be judged by the

color of their skin but the content of

their character. Or you might remember

Patrick Pierce's words outside the GO,

Ireland through us summons her children

to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

The words we say are powerful. They have

lasting effect and they can be words to

spark change. They can be words to

encourage and they can also be words to

discourage.

Here carrying on from last week, we are

looking at how works should be the

outworking of our faith. But now we will

see how our words show the inward

condition of our heart.

So what do our words do? James in this

passage is trying to show the power and

the impact of our words, how they affect

us, how they affect the people around

us, and how they affect our relationship

with God.

Last week, Peter showed us how our works

can show the inward reflection from our

faith. It says in James 26,

"For as the body apart from the spirit

is dead, so also faith apart from works

is dead." This showing us again that

genuine faith is reflected outwardly

through our works, but it is not what

saves us. This week we are looking at

why James focuses on the tongue and how

it must be controlled. James starts by

reflecting on the teachers of the church

and their speech. And again, this is

likely due to the power and the

influence that their words have and

possibly even cases of slander speech

from teachers which we don't know. But

later in James 4, he references this

division in the church, which is why

here he starts with the teachers.

And while all of us aren't teachers, and

while not all of us will be called to

that, in one capacity, we will all be

called to teach. Some will be called to

serve in youth and kids ministry. Some

to teach their families, some to teach

their kids. And also, we're called to

teach everyone in our evangelism to

others.

Now, what do we share with the original

hearers? While we don't all strive to be

teachers like they do, we all tend to

learn and lean on our own wisdom and

believe we are all wise, but our fallen

nature makes it impossible for us to

bridle our tongue,

which then leads us to unrighteousness.

Just like James readers struggled to use

words full of wisdom and

unrighteousness,

we too kindle destructive fires with our

words. Now there's three main takeaways

I want us to walk away with today. The

first is that the tongue is powerful.

Secondly, our tongue can also be

dangerous. And lastly is wisdom that

tames our tongue.

Let's read James 3:1-5 again.

James 3:1–5

Not many of you should become teachers,

my brothers, for you know that we who

teach will be judged with greater

strictness. For we all stumble in many

ways, and if anyone does not stumble in

what he says, he's a perfect man also

able to bridle his whole body. If we put

bits into the mouths of horses so that

they obey us, we guide their whole

bodies as well. Look, the ships also,

though they are so large and are driven

by strong winds, they are guided by a

very small rudder, whether the will of

the pilot directs. So also the tongue is

a small member, yet it boasts of great

things.

Carrying on from last week, again, we'll

be looking at the outworking of our

faith. But now we'll see how these words

do affect the inward condition of our

heart. We see teachers here were very

important in the early church especially

to the Jewish church that James is

writing to. It was seen as a position of

power. But some of the traditions from

the rabbi transferred over to the Jewish

church making this position one of envy.

Meaning that a lot of unqualified

teachers who were just seeking the power

and the position were looking for these

positions. Verse one, the words from our

teachers are powerful. That's because

they guide us. They meet us when we are

in tough times. They preach God's word

to us faithfully. And this is why every

week, even as we just did, we are asked

to keep those who are preaching in

prayer. Because those whose role it is

to teach the congregation, meaning our

elders, it is a tough task and it's not

one that they take on lightly because

they guide us with their words. And it

is our responsibility to pray for them

as they guide us. And we would pray that

God would give them the words to say.

And with that also comes the

responsibility.

Why? Because for what they teach, they

will be judged with greater strictness.

This is why James is saying this. Also,

we know they are believers because he

addresses them as brothers. Meaning that

James sees them as fellow believers. But

James is saying this likely because at

the time again people strive to be

teachers.

The reason he's focusing on their tongue

is because of the importance of the

words that they say how they affect so

many people. And while even those of us

who are not called to the position too,

we still also struggle guarding our

tongue. The tongue is powerful. It can

build one another up but it can also

tear each other down. And on this side

of eternity, we will always struggle

with this.

Verse two reminds us that we all

stumble. Teachers stumble. We all

stumble. And if we don't stumble and we

can control our tongue, as we see, no

one can. Romans 3 tells us that we all

sin and we all fall short of the glory

of God. Jesus is the only perfect man.

He never sinned. It says in 1 Peter 2

1 Peter 2:22

verse 22, he committed no sin, neither

was deceit found in his mouth. He is the

only man able to fully control his

tongue and his actions. And James grew

up with him. He saw firsthand what it

looks like to have full control over

your words and your actions. But we

don't need to be discouraged when we

look at this because as we strive for

holiness, we remember that our

righteousness is fulfilled in Jesus.

He then uses these illustrations to

point us to how the tongue actually

guides our whole body, but also how such

a small thing such as the tongue

controls the entirety of our body.

James uses these pictures in verse three

and verse four to show us that these

small things have so much control with

the horse and the bit. If you've ever

stood next to a horse and you've seen

the sheer size and the power that they

have, yet we've learned how to train

them so well. They go wherever we want.

They can come to us if we call. We can

train them in any way.

And when James writes about the massive

ships being steered by tiny rudders, it

actually reminded me of when I used to

row and there' be four of us and we'd

pull as hard as we could. But no matter

what, the person who controlled the

rudder controlled the entire boat. No

matter where we wanted to go or how hard

we tried, whoever controlled the rudder

controlled the direction we went. Or

even if you look across the river into

Cove and you see the huge cruise ships

coming in, those huge ships weigh

thousands of pounds and thousands of

tons and all that mass is being steered

by a small rudder. That is your tongue.

It is a tiny part of you that moves you

through life.

And the words we speak can change our

lives. They change our relationships,

our friendships. Again, it can encourage

one another. You can lift a brother up

in the words of encouragement you give

to them. That speech that I said earlier

from Martin Luther King inspired change

in a nation. Our words are powerful. So,

we must use them well.

Don't just say things you don't mean.

Encourage one another. Use your words

for good.

But while our tongue, while it is

powerful, it can also be dangerous.

Let's read verses 5 to 12.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such

a small fire. And the tongue is a fire,

a world of unrighteousness. The tongue

is set among our members, staining the

whole body, setting on fire the entire

course of life, and is set on fire by

hell.

For every kind of beast and bird of

reptile and sea creature can be tamed

and has been tamed by mankind.

No human being can tame the tongue. It

is a restless evil full of deadly

poison. With it we bless our Lord and

our father. And with it we curse people

who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and

cursing. My brothers, these things ought

not to be so. Does a spring pour forth

from the same opening? both fresh and

salt water. Can a fig tree, my brothers,

bear olives, or a grape vine, produce

figs? Neither can a salt pond yield

fresh water.

If you remember in the news about one or

two weeks ago, there was a fire in Kani.

It burned about 25 hectares of the park,

which is roughly 35 of the football

pitch outside.

And you know what caused it? It was a

disposal barbecue,

not much bigger than the Bible I have.

And that caused so much destruction.

That's how James in verse 5 and verse 6

describes the tongue. He points to it

not just as a small member, but also as

something that can grow into a huge fire

of unrighteousness if we're not careful.

This is like so many of our sins. is

something that we see as so

insignificant and small but can just be

a downward spiral into sin and hell. And

James uses such strong language here

because we too often have such a soft

view of our sin. We need to truly see

the damage and the suffering our sin

causes and the seriousness of it.

James then talks about the course of

life, meaning throughout our whole life,

our good times and our bad. A sinful

tongue can damage all areas.

When was the last time you said

something and you wish you could take it

back? You wish you never said it. Maybe

it's at work and you gossip about a

coworker and then you realize what

you've done. But now your other

co-workers see you as someone that they

can too talk around with people about.

They're you are now the person they come

to when they have people they want to

talk about. Maybe it's an argument with

a family member, a parent, a husband, a

wife that you said something in the heat

of an argument and now you can never

take it back.

Or maybe it's a friend that you were too

harsh when you were giving advice or

seeing where they're at with their faith

and they don't see you the same anymore.

Our words can be dangerous.

Something we say can affect all of our

relationships. It can damage them. It

can even destroy them.

And that's because that's what happens

when we are careless with our tongue and

we don't always take a second to think

about what we say. And this is part of

our sinful nature.

It can also affect our relationship with

God. If you remember back to our series

in Job in chapter 42, what happened to

Job's friends who spoke false words to

Job? The Lord judged them

because of the false words they spoke.

And our words matter because they affect

our relationship with God.

The words we say are powerful, which is

why we must guide our tongue because

there are consequences for the words we

say.

And when reading on in verse seven and

8, it said, "For every kind of beast and

bird of reptile and sea creature can be

tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but

no human being can tame the tongue. It

is a restless evil full of deadly

poison.

It's hard to think when we look out at

all of creation, the one thing we can't

control is ourselves. We've tamed

beasts, we've tamed creatures, but not

our own tongue." If you've been to photo

and you see the trainers inside with the

lions or the tigers and you think how

could we possibly have trained that? How

are they not just attacking them?

But we have somehow managed to tame all

beasts and all creatures yet we cannot

control ourselves

our own speech. James says throughout

this chapter as well in 8 that our

tongue cannot be tamed.

Is your speech hypocritical?

Our speech can also be very hypocritical

as it says in verses 9 and 10. We praise

God but then to our own brothers and

sisters we curse and sin against them.

We praise God and we worship him but

then we take his name in vain.

That is why James uses this illustration

in verse 11 and 12. Does a spring pour

forth from the same opening both fresh

and salt water? Can a fig tree, my

brothers, bear olives? or a grape vine

produce figs, neither can a salt pond

yield fresh water.

Why do you think when you read these

statements?

They're impossible. Of you look at these

and you think, of course, how could you

think that of course a salt water can't

produce fresh or fig tree produce

olives? It's ridiculous.

But then when we look that we're also

hypocritical, we sing our worship to

God, but then we'll go and we'll use his

name in vain constantly. We use Jesus'

name as if it's some sort of other word

or name, but not the one of our savior

or our father who we should worship and

reverence, but we use his name as if

it's just some sort of filler word

that we don't know what to say, we just

use it. or we've just become so numb to

God's name that we just troll around

almost for added effect

when we should be treating his name as

it deserves which is our holy powerful

and loving God.

Our tongue is dangerous and when we look

at these things we become almost blind

to them but we have to stay on guard

because our tongue can lead us to sin.

How could we fight our tongue? How and

what do we need to do to tame it? What

is how do we stop this small, dangerous

and powerful part of our bodies from

destroying the people around us? How do

we stop the wildfires from our tongue?

We need wisdom

and not earthly wisdom, but we need

wisdom from above. We don't need wisdom

from below. We need wisdom from God. And

this is where James now turns to. He

says we have a choice. There are two

different types of wisdom. There is

worldly wisdom and godly wisdom.

Let's read from verses 13 to the end.

Who is wise and understanding among you?

By his good conduct, let him show his

words in the meekness of wisdom. But if

you have bitter jealousy and selfish

ambition in your hearts, do not boast

and be false to the truth. This is not

the wisdom that comes from above. But

this is earthly, unspiritual, and

demonic. For where jealousy and selfish

ambition exists, there will be disorder

and every vile practice. But the wisdom

from above is first pure,

then peaceful, gentle, open to reason,

full of mercy and good fruits, impartial

and sincere, and a harvest of

righteousness is sown in peace by those

who make peace.

Just as we saw last week, works again

are the outward reflection of our faith.

And in the same way, the tongue and the

words we say are a reflection of our

heart.

And our tongue then is a sign of our

faith.

James says in verse 13, "Who is wise and

understanding among you? By his conduct,

let them show his works in the meekness

of wisdom." He gives an almost

rhetorical question as he answers it

straight away by giving us the examples

of someone with godly wisdom and how

they should act. It is shown by

someone's good works in the meekness of

wisdom.

And what is true wisdom? I know many

people now think it's intellectual

wisdom or it comes from gathering

knowledge from many teachers to gain

wisdom. Well, it's not how it's

described in scripture. In Proverbsapter

1 vers7, it says, "The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of knowledge, and fools

despise wisdom and instruction."

True wisdom is not found from earthly

wisdom, if you can even call it wisdom.

It is found when someone is in awe and

reverence of a holy God.

Where are you getting your wisdom from?

When you struggle with sin or setbacks

in your life, where do you go for

wisdom?

Do you look towards earthly things? Do

you rely on other people who are not

speaking God's word into your life? Are

you searching for answers on the

internet, through social media? Do you

turn to AI to answer your questions? Do

you use self-help books or podcasts?

Or do you go to the creator who has

known you since the beginning of time

who calls you to come to him? Do you go

to God in prayer for wisdom in what to

do or search his word that he has

graciously given us for wisdom?

James gives two paths that people can

follow. And we see here in verse 14 and

15.

But if you have bitter jealousy and

selfish ambition in your hearts, do not

boast or be false to the truth. For this

is not wisdom that comes from above, but

is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition

exists, there will be disorder. Then

down to verse 17. But the wisdom from

above is first pure, then peaceful,

gentle, open to reason, full of mercy,

full of good fruits, impartial and

sincere.

It says in verse 15, "This type of

sinful wisdom is not from God. It is

unspiritual and demonic.

Worldly wisdom is always wanting more

because it is selfish.

It is false. And we should always be

wary of those who are teaching this

because it is not from God. And while we

can't see other people's hearts, we can

see the fruit of false wisdom because it

bears itself. As James said, it leads to

every file practice.

We even see in Matthew 12 verse 33-35,

Matthew 12:33–35

"Either make the tree good and its fruit

good, or make the tree bad and its fruit

bad. For the tree is known by its fruit,

you brood of vipers. How can you speak

good when you are evil?

For out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks.

The good person out of his good treasure

brings forth good, and the evil person

out of his evil treasure brings forth

evil.

False wisdom can sound good

because it's self-centered.

Its focus on talking about ourselves, is

about elevating ourselves. But that is

false because it will eventually lead to

disorder and every vile practice.

But verse 17 and 18 shows the other path

that James gives. There is a path of

wisdom.

One that is pure, peaceful, gentle, open

to reason, merciful, bears good fruits,

impartial, and is sincere.

It is pure because it is not focused on

our selfish ambition but on goodness and

holiness.

It is not our words that we say hoping

to please or to boast in ourselves but

it is our words that speak the truth of

the gospel to one another.

How can we follow a path towards godly

wisdom?

When we are in need of wisdom, do we go

to the source of all wisdom? and we pray

for help from the almighty all- knowing

God. We read his word and when we are

feeling like we are falling into these

areas of selfishness and boasting, we

repent. We don't elevate ourselves. We

seek his wisdom.

And what is the meaning then behind a

harvest of righteousness? In verse 18,

we should think of this harvest in

righteousness in two particular ways.

First, in our own lives,

as we live in the light of the wisdom

that God graciously gives us, we become

increasingly pleasing to him in the way

that we live, we show more and more of

it by leading a life that is devoted to

him, by deeds done in humility that

comes from wisdom.

But the language of the harvest can also

be a way in which we show the work God

has done in us. Even with myself, we

live in a country that curses a lot. I

grew up doing it same as a lot of people

have. And it wasn't until I came to know

the Lord Jesus that I turned away and

was convicted and was also guided by

fellow believers in this wisdom of

guarding our tongue. And people notice

this. When you stop doing something that

you do daily, whether it's foul

language, gossip, slander, arrogance, or

any other sin. When you stop doing these

things and you give the glory to God and

his wisdom, this can draw people in and

the immense work he has done in us.

And this can be a way for us to

evangelize the day after day. Reflect

the change that Jesus has made in our

lives. And if you haven't trusted in

him, he can do that same work in your

life. All you need to do is come to him

and ask him.

So what does any of this actually mean

for us? What does it actually do for us?

Our tongue is powerful.

So we must guard it. Go into this week

aware that your words carry power and

encourage one another and point each

other to Jesus.

Our words can burn acres upon acres in a

deadly fire or our words can bring a

harvest of righteousness.

We will not be perfect, but we must seek

wisdom from Jesus, the only one who is

able to fully bridle his tongue.

And while we will stumble, we have a

savior. He lived a perfect life.

And he died so that even in our sinful

state, we could come to him for wisdom

until the very end. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, I thank you for

your word. Lord, I thank you that while

our words are powerful, Lord, your words

are perfect. I pray Lord as we look out

and we see two different types of

wisdom. We see two ways to live Lord

that we would follow your wisdom. That

we would look to you and your word. That

we would come to you in prayer Lord.

That we would seek after you day after

day.

Lord I pray for everyone here that Lord

they would read your word and be

convicted by it. that they would see the

power and the danger that can come from

the tongue

and be convicted, Lord, to follow after

you and be guided by your wisdom. Thank

you, Father, for your glorious grace. In

your name, amen.