Continuing on the Tongue

Continuing on the Tongue

James 3:14-16

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (KJV)

Last week as you may remember, James made it clear not only what the tongue can do, but what often motivates it. . He dealt with wrong behavior and here he gets more into the area of the heart, the motivations from the heart. First off he states if you have bitter envying in your heart and strife, don’t be a show off, don’t be arrogant, and don’t tell lies. He hits the crux of the matter here. For he obviously knew that people who had envy were often bitter. They had allowed a spirit of bitterness to poison them. The author of the book of Hebrews mentioned this.

Heb 12:15

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; (KJV)

You see what happens to the person who lets that root of bitterness take hold. It defiles a person. It messes them up, it pollutes them, contaminates them, opens the door for many sins. Well, James is warning everyone here. If you have that bitterness or that bitter envy, you are going to be tempted sorely to spout off egotistical statements. James says don’t be boastful. One translation refers to the bitter envying as bitter jealousy. It also refers to the strife of the KJV as "selfish ambition" in some translations. Here we can see people being defiled by the "getting ahead at whatever cost" mentality. James tells us, Don’t be guilty of doing such things.

You have no doubt met folks who are bitter and who speak against people as a result of such bitterness, and they will sometimes make boastful statements as a result. They are ambitious and competitive and willing to have the dog eat dog mentality. This is not a Christian virtue. James says, don’t tell lies and don’t boast. And he tells us where those attitudes come from-

James 3:15

15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. (NAU)

Do you see why James says the tongue is set on fire by Hell? The kind of wisdom or thinking comes from the earthly, the "natural" or "flesh" nature. It also comes from the devil. Did you ever think of the natural man as being ungodly? The natural man, you see, is not spiritual, hence encourages one to behave according to human nature which is fallen. The spiritual man is a person who is guided by the Holy Spirit and doesn’t let his human nature control him, but instead gives the control to the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you have been taught that the natural or sensual man and ways are good. Well, get back into your Bible and research this. The book of Romans is your best source of information. See, the natural man is not the saved man enlightened by the Holy Spirit and without that enlightenment, a person is bound by his sin nature. The KJV refers to the carnal man-well that is the natural or sensual man. That is the flesh and the flesh nature that is being referred to.

1 Cor 3:3

3 For ye are yet carnal{still of the flesh}: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (KJV)

What is also good in James’ statement is that he connects Satan’s activities with the natural earthly man. Even though James doesn’t go into a thorough explanation of the connection here, I will make the connection here for you clearer. Our human nature, our flesh, our sensual nature loves to work hand in hand with the devil because of the sin nature we were born with which is why is it easy to sin. But those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ honestly in our hearts and seek to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit are no longer bound by our sin nature. It’s power has been killed and a stronger power, a Holy power resides in us giving us victory over sin and sins. Jesus won that victory for us and lives in us, giving us the victory. The old self has been crucified officially with Christ and because of that we are to continue yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s leading and not our own inclinations. Our own inclinations can not be trusted, but must be checked out with scripture and the Holy Spirit to be sure they are the correct ones. At times you will find the inclinations to be from the Holy Spirit-thanks to Him living in you, but other times you will find inclinations that are not in line with Holy Spirit thinking and attitudes.

Going on to verse 16: For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (KJV)

Next time you wonder about why there is a bunch of confusion in your life, check and see if there is strife in your life, check and see if you are envying or jealous. Both things bring about confusion-the devil’s tactic-and bring about all kinds of evil actions in peoples’ lives.

Another point about the source of confusion

1 Cor 14:33

33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (KJV)

An example: the lawsuits people bring because they want someone to pay for whatever problem they have had. I injured myself a couple of months ago and it was all my fault, but I have heard several people encourage me to sue. That is foolishness. Why should someone else pay for my foolishness? But people like to sue right and left for things that are really their own fault. That, my friends, is due to envy and greed. You know envy and greed walk hand in hand.

Well, James is making it clear that Christians have no business behaving in this manner. Our speech should not be polluted by bad attitudes, and so we need to be sure that when we speak that we Christians are not spewing out bitter water instead of the sweet water of the Holy Spirit. James says in effect, check the source of what is coming out of your mouth.

May God bless you as you contemplate your heart’s attitudes and expression of them.

That’s it for today, folks. The Good News Lady