Sermon Tone Analysis

“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 is a perfect man, able also 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 at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever 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, 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.

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 grapevine produce figs?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”[1]

The title of the message may cause you to respond that there is no need for a primer for the destruction of a church.

Certainly, secularists and bureaucratic functionaries do a pretty good job of assaulting the Christian Faith, with some success at destroying churches and the faith of God’s people.

However, I contend that professed Christians do a far more effective job of destroying churches than have all the antagonists we would usually suspect of such efforts.

Few of us who name the Name of Christ have ever lived up to the responsibilities imposed by the name we bear.

Our Lord commanded us to love one another, and though we know the words, we don’t know the melody.

We still go to church, instead of being the church.

We are careful to live by rules trumpeted by church leaders, all the while ignoring obedience to the few commands of the Master.

We are comfortable saying prayers, but we don’t pray.

James’ concern is that Christians can become more like the world than like the Father.

Because we live in a world of evil, without diligence, the people of God will more likely reflect the world in which we live than reflecting Him who is our Father.

Throughout the Word of God are warnings against abusing speech.

Though we occasionally encounter these passages, we don’t often embrace them.

Paul warned in the Ephesian encyclical, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving” [*Ephesians 5:4*].

These are sins usually associated with speech for which few make any excuse.

However, the same Apostle warned, “You must put … away … anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk” [*Colossians 3:8*].

Here, he named sins that are all associated with the mouth.

The warning iterates his caution in another place.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear…  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” [*Ephesians 4:29, 31*].

Our speech reveals a great deal about the condition of the heart.

Jesus warned, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” [*Matthew 15:19*].

Then He added, “These are what defile a person” [*Matthew 15:20**a*].

As James reaches the midpoint of his missive to Jewish Christians, he turns his attention to speech within the assembly of the faithful.

Ever practical, James is concerned that the believers provide a powerful witness among the pagans, fortifying their testimony with righteous lives that reflect the presence of the Living Saviour.

Nothing shows the presence of Christ more consistently nor more constantly than how we speak.

This is especially true when we are speaking of or to fellow believers.

Join me in exploring this biblical warning for us who are Christians to watch what we say and how we say it.

*A Lust for Power Will Destroy a Church* — “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 is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”

Lord Acton voiced a biblical truth in secular terms when he wrote Bishop Creighton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Power is seductive, and just because we are Christians, we are not exempt from the heady allure of power.

The central theme of this passage focuses on power and especially on providing a caution against abusing power.

The power of a teacher is first in view; then, quite naturally the generalised consideration of the power of the tongue heaves into view.

Teachers have inordinate power.

It is easy to dismiss the power of political leaders, but even a casual review of the history of mankind demonstrates the potential for evil that lies within the grasp of national leaders.

A failed Austrian architect rises to power, and because the populace does not object to his continual grasp for more power, he precipitates a horrifying holocaust on all Europe, drawing in nations far removed from that continent.

A Georgian peasant assumes power in Russia and after ascending to power visits unprecedented terror on the Soviet Republic.

History is littered with the names such as Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung—totalitarians all, who were intoxicated with power and destroyed countless millions of lives in pursuit of the acquisition of more power.

The great problem with political power is that unlike God’s power, it is capricious.

God always leads man to what is good for man and what brings glory to the Name of the Living God.

Political power serves the narrow interests of those in power, and those interests can change quite rapidly.

Political power is always exercised at the expense of others; it almost always is compelled to rely on compromise rather than principle.

Solomon traded away entire villages—inhabitants and all—to pay debts.

The British government reneged on promises to France and Czechoslovakia in an attempt to buy peace with Hitler.

The United States and Canadian governments have made and broken multiple treaties with natives, excusing their perfidy because it was in the interest of the nation.

Political power must not be equated with the cause of Christ.

In similar fashion, Christians can become intoxicated with power, imagining that through imposing their will over the life of the assembly that they are doing the work of God.

One of the great plagues sapping the energy of the churches of our Lord is the usurpation of power by people who have no accountability to anyone save their own interests.

A proverb of Solomon is worthy of our consideration in light of the cautionary statements of James.

Solomon observed, “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.

I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves” [*Ecclesiastes 10:5-7*].

According to his observation, a ruler may (in fact seems often to actually do so) appoint an incompetent individual to a position of authority while ignoring imminently qualified individuals.

Thus, slaves ride on horses while princes walk on the ground like slaves.

The result of poor judgement in appointing leadership is sorrow for the nation.

People unsuited for leadership often rise to a position of incompetence.

Solomon actually provides us with an ancient statement anticipating the Peter Principle.

This is certainly the case among the people of God in far too many instances.

People that are divinely equipped to serve God’s holy people are shunted into positions where they are incapable of making full use of their gifts and calling while individuals of lesser qualification other than overweening ambition arrogate power to themselves.

Inevitably, within a church, people who commandeer power for themselves will argue that they are acting for the good of the congregation.

However, they also tend to conflate their personal desires with the will of God.

Perhaps they simply enjoy a sense of power over others, or perhaps they seek to settle old scores, or they may even want to halt progress toward one goal in order to redirect church interest in another direction.

It is possible that their desire to control what is going on blinds them to the work God would otherwise have them do.

Regardless of motive, advancing oneself rather than waiting on God injures the work of the Kingdom.

Without question, those who teach—whether as pastors or as Bible teachers—exercise considerable influence within a congregation.

Unfortunately, selecting teachers is often an exercise in pragmatism rather than a demonstration of spiritual perspicuity.

Teachers are more often appointed out of desperation to maintain a program than accepted to teach because God has equipped them to teach.

Whenever a Sunday School class or a Bible study class requires a teacher, a committee casts about until they find someone willing to fill the role.

The entire exercise is designed to maintain what is in place rather than advancing the work of the Kingdom.

If the situation prevailing within Bible classes and Sunday School classes is dire, then the situation for the Sunday morning instruction from the pulpit is positively desperate.

Tragically, many who occupy the sacred desk are unsuited for the divine task.

Writing Titus, Paul stated that a primary qualification of those who would be appointed as an elder among the churches was to “be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” [*Titus 1:9*].

Timothy, as overseer of the Ephesian congregation, was to devote himself to teaching [see *1 Timothy 4:13*].

He was also charged to entrust the corpus of sacred doctrine “to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” [*2 Timothy 2:2*].

Indeed, “the Lord’s servant must … [be] able to teach” [*2 Timothy 2:24*].

James is not disputing what Paul has written, but rather he is anticipating the dangers inherent in appointment to the divine office of a teacher when a church has become politicised rather than acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Those who teach bear an awesome responsibility for the welfare of all who sit under their teaching.

Teachers are responsible before God for the spiritual welfare of those who follow their teaching and they are responsible before God to ensure that what is taught is healthful for those who listen.

Undoubtedly, there is a harsh judgement awaiting those who teach.

This truth should motivate us who teach to ensure that our doctrine is sound and that we speak the truth in love.

However, there is a more immediate judgement that James has in view.

In light of his letter to this point, stressing as it does practical Christianity, it seems that James is cautioning that the world watches those who teach, holding them to a strict standard of living up to what they teach.

Church leaders can either turn people toward Christ or turn them from God.

It depends in no small measure on what they teach and how they live.