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Submitted by LABOOGIE2424 on 12/12/2010 02:38 PM Flag This Paper
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"THE MOST DANGEROUS MEMBER IN OUR CHURCH"
James 3:1-12
1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 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. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 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. 5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 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. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our LORD and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
The subject before us, in these twelve verses is the dangerous weapon of the tongue. Keep in mind that James wrote this letter over nineteen hundred years ago, however it could have very easily been written to our generation. So concerned about the use, or misuse of the tongue, that James compared it to: a horse, a ship, a snake, a fire, a gushing fountain, and fruitful trees.
One of the greatest dangers, that we as Christians face, is the wrongful use of our tongue.
"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say,...