Bridling the Tongue

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” (Jas 1:19-21 AV)

James has been talking about trials that come and the reason they come: to prove and purify our faith, as fire does the gold and silver. Now comes an exhortation and warning: shut up and listen.

In the midst of trial the temptation is to speak first, listen second, think last. Result, a bad thing is made far worse. This is especially true in church. Every church worth its salt has some method for solving problems and working out disputes. None of them include running from house to house, complaining and describing our hurt feelings.

In those circumstances our words take on the character of filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. The word "naughtiness" used in the King James perfectly describes the meaning of the Greek. "Naughtiness" is derived for the word "naught' which means "nothing" or "of no value." The basket of very naughty figs that Jeremiah saw were so rotten they were worth nothing, or worse than nothing. A naughty child is one whose behavior is worthless and rotten.

The phrase "superfluity of naughtiness" then is paradoxical, "overflowing with nothingness" or possessing a great deal of negative value. A perfect description of the things we say under stress if we do not remember to "be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."

We will never accomplish the work of God by the wrath of man. The wrath of man is deadly, destructive, deadly to the Christian and the church.

The elders of the church must be sensitive to the destructive character of the wrath of man, and not yield to it. They must be careful not to provoke it, and to teach people how to solve disputes, using the methods described in the bible and church constitutions. By no means must they allow people to bypass the constitutions.

The rule of Christ in the church is through those elders and deacons and ministers appointed by Him and chosen by the consent of the people. When people despise these elders and deacons and ministers and bypass their government and rule, they attack the very structure of the church and the rule of Christ in the church. This must not be allowed, for bullies then usurp the government of the church. In well regulated churches, there are lawful means to removed or suspend officers who misbehave, but no individual has the right to unilaterally resist the authority.

A person who drives through a stop sign, may not have seen the sign, and may be convinced that he is innocent of any wrong. However, if he refuses to stop when pursued by a policeman watching the intersection and tries to flee, he becomes guilty of a greater offense. If he then refuses to obey a summons to come to court and resists the officer who is sent with orders to arrest him, he has become guilty of a great many very serious offenses and be subject to a heavy fine and imprisonment. If he still refuses to submit in prison, his very life may be placed in jeopardy.

If the courts and the officers, however, refuse to enforce the provisions of the law, the very life of the society is placed in danger. The stop sign is there for a reason to protect the life of the innocent. If the rebellious person is allowed to run the sign with impunity, he endangers his own life as well as the lives of others.

Thus it is with the tongue. James is going to write a long essay on the evils of a lawless tongue [Chapter 3], but he sums up this section by saying, James 1:26 "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain."

His religion is as empty and as rotten as the "superfluity of naughtiness" that comes from his mouth. Men speak out of the abundance of the heart, and will give account for ever idle [vain] word that they say.

Musings for the New Year

My wife and I attended the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Concert for the New Year last night. The program was a pleasant variety of excerpts from old musicals [The King and I], jazz ala Louis Armstrong, marches [Suppé’s “Light Cavalry Overture”] to “The Flight of the Bumblebee” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.” Over two hours of tonal delight.

I did notice that each of the more than sixty musicians in the orchestra had a music stand in front of them and they all had sheets of music on the stands and seemed to be paying attention to them. There was also a conductor who waved his arms. The musicians seems to be paying attention to him, also. I also noted that before they began to play, the concert master stood up, played an "E" his violin and all the performers played an "E" also, to see that all the instruments were in tune. There lies the tale.

What if every musician decided to do his own thing and play his own song? Or suppose each one played the music in front of him but played it to his own beat and pitch and whenever it suited him? I spent some time meditating on that while engrossed in the music.

Do you suppose that any musician who tried such a thing, no matter how talented, would last long in the symphony? I suspect he would be fired. There may be a place for him on a street corner with a tin mug, I suppose, but not in any organized body of musicians. He might make a good living as a soloist, if that suits him, but there would be no place for him in the orchestra.

I am sure that God has as much sense as the directors of an orchestra. Even the devil has more sense than that and will not suffer his kingdom to be divided against itself with each devil doing his own thing. At least Jesus seemed to think so. One thing that is certain in every great musical performance is the discipline of the musicians.

God has provided abundantly for his church, including the way decisions are to be made. They are to be made decently and in order by those who are appointed by Him for the government of the church. Defiance of those decisions is defiance of God himself. The Bible provides for how such officers are to be chosen and guides the church in their selection.. There are various interpretations among Christian denominations as to the nature of the offices and how they are appointed, but only chaos and cacophony results if the government is defied. No church or any other organization—including those of the devil—can survive, if there are no consequences for that defiance.

To change the figure, I remember a big strong boy who came out for basketball when I was in high school. He was the best basketball player in the gym and he expected that everyone, even the coach, would respect him for it. The trouble is, he wouldn’t do what the coach told him to do, so he was kicked off the team, much to his surprise and anger. His pride kept him from playing basketball that year. He learned that there was a difference between being a coach and being a coach-ee.

Even basketball players have to work together in discipline and unity.

Paul put it this way for the church, "submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God" [Eph. 5:21] and the writer of Hebrews: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." [13:7]