Orange County observer., 1909-06-03
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INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
AiENTsyFOR JUNE g.
Subject: The Power of the Tongue.
James 3:1-12- Golden Text,
Prov. 21:23-Comnlit Verses S.
1O-Commentary on Lesson.
IlME.-A. D. go. PLACE
ExPosITION.-I. Be Not Many
Ieachers. 1-5. James does not saw
tnat no christian should be a teach
eI. out that the body Of believers
euou1u lot De q multitude of teach
ers' every one desiring to teach 9TH
o.S auu no one willing to learn from
ohas.1s On the contrary every man
snoulo pc swift to hear, slow. to
SPEAK (ch. 1:19).t God sets teachers
In the church Il Cor. 1929, Teach-
ers are one Of the gifts of the ascend.
ed Christ to His church (Eph. 4.111
The Holy Spirit bestows the r,ft of
reaching upon whomsoever He will
= Cor. 12:8-1D. The position Of
tne teacher is one no man has a right
| 70 take upon himself. If the Holy
spirit bestows that gift upon us wa
are 10 exercise 1t, but even then IN
an humility, and be more swift To
iearn from others than to instruct
olners. Ihe true church Of Christ
w1li De a multitude OF learners (f1is-
c1ples) rather than multitude Of
teachers, ready, it is true, to share
with others what they have them
selves been taught of God, but even
more eager in all teachableness to
learn from others what God has
taught them (Phil. 2:3). There was
perhaps never day in the history of
the church when this word of James
was more needed than TODAY. This
man, according to tradition. was ono
vno spent SO much time in PRAYER
tnat his knees were found to be cal
loused like those of camel bv his
much kneeling, yet this God-taught
ana noly man puts himself right
alongside the rest of us and saws. "In
many things we all stumble" How
/ unlike the utterances Of manv to-
gay VINO call themselves holy" but
VINO, Wn1le they are quite ready to
MAINTAIN that the most Of believers
Stumble gr1evously, are not willing
20 CONFESS that they themselves stun
Die IN anything much less "in many
1nlngs-" They do stumble all the
same-we all' do (cf. l Kings s:
80; Rom. 3:10; John 2:1O). This,
however. is not saying that it is nee.
essary 1or us to go on day after day
einnlng, IN the sense Of consciously
doing that which we know when d..
ing II to be contrary to the will OF
, God. This none of us need do and
none born of God will do q .Tohn ..
} - Inc tongue is the hardest part
, or the body to bring. under controI
; and the last to yield to the ron.
, stra1ning grace of God. When tha1
member Is brought into complete ar.
cord with the will Of God we may
rest assured that the grace OF Coo
mas finished Its work. A mans
words, not merely his set speeches
put MS unprecedented utterances a,
well, snow what he is in his inmos
soul Matt 12:34).
II. The Tongue is Fire, a Worlf
! OF lnIquity, 6-12. The tongue is in
. deed fire. It inf1ames anger. ant
1amll1es and societies and nations ar,
: SET IN a confiagration in conseuuenc,
= OF an untimely word (see Prov. Is
! - Judges 12:1-6; 2 Sam. .19:43: 20
2; Chron. 10:13-16; CT. 1910
Inc tongue inf1ames lust and wither
. the purity OF the maiden and con
sumes the strong man physically
, mentally and morally (Prov. 7:21
15). The tongue infiames Jealous
and destroys the beautiful tie tha
: binds together man and wife an,
leaves the home in ruins. Th
:. tongue kindles unbelief (Tit. 1:11
Cen 3:1-6), and thus burns ava
? the foundations of individual charac
! Ter, OF commercial integrity, of socia
purity and OF national security. Th
: tongue indeed is a fire, "a world O
% in1Qulty among our members" Their
IS nothing mischievous and vile tha
:, the tongue cannot do. A little fir
- VIII klnd1e vast amount of woo6
y A little fire in a broken lamp set a
: Chicago ablaze and left it in ruin.
n little word has set many home
CITY and nation ablaze, and Otter
times tnat ire will burn on throug
al eternity. The fires Of hell ar
k1nd1ed by the idle words that sc
men thinking wrong about God an
II Christ and sin and the Bible. Th
It destructive critics to-day by thei
IT professediy scholarly but really ne,
T. verse and subversive words are kinf
g ling fires OF unbelief and sin. Me
II are usually careful how they handl
= fire, but most of us are careless abor
u how we use our tongues. James tell
IS US plainly the origin Of this fire.
!: is set "cn fire of hell" Whenc
come the words that infame the in
l agination and passions, from Frenc
e literature? No, hell. Whence com
IT the words that are undermining th
q faith In the credibility Of the Bib
narratives, of those who do not thin
for themselves, but bow at the shrtn
OF culture, from German scholarship
No, hell. If any one question
J. James statement that the "tongu
$. can no man tame," he has evident]
# never tried it himself. But while n
J. man can tame the tongue, God cal
l. The best thing any Of us can do wit
n his own tongue is to bring It to ca
i and surrender its control to Hin
i How James heaps up illustrations I
show the mischief-WorEine nnwor !