Monday, October 3, 2011
1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
James 3:1-2
As we start out with a new week of learning from God’s Word, take a moment or two to stop and ask God to really speak through His Word to you this week.
Today’s passage starts out with James calling his audience, “my bretheren”…my brothers. James may have known some of the people who would read this specifically, and wanted to use this term to soften the blow of what he is about to say. James tells them essentially not to just let anyone teach God’s Word. The word “masters” here speaks of being teachers of the Word of God. Those who speak on behalf of God, and teach people God’s Word will be responsible for what they teach, and will be held in account for it.
James then goes on to say that we often sin against each other. He then goes on to basically say that if you don’t sin with your mouth then you may not be sinning. This isn’t to say that there are people (other than Jesus) that do not sin. He is making the point that the easiest way to sin against someone is probably with our words.
Application:
Over the next few days we’ll be talking about how our words can cause us to sin against God and those around us. Pay special attention over the next few days to the words that you say to those around you. Are they bringing life or death? Are they uplifting, or do they cause discouragement?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
Some people may bring u discouragement and some may also be uplifting u!! This is very important. And I don’t really get what the passage is saying?!? Help?
This verse is saying that some peole should not be like a teacher or like a master because then you will get kidge more strictly. And if like some judges you but like with no words the. Like he is like a perfect man or something this is what the passage is saying.
i think this passage is saying that we need 2 choose our words wisely.we need 2 stop and think “is this the right thing 2 say?” then make the right decison.u could even pray 2 God the right words 2 say! :). guys,my brother is going into the hospital 4 a few days. 😦 can u guys PLEASE pray 4 him!! he’s going thru soo much.
I agree with you girls! And I’ve been praying for your brother, Allie! 🙂
thanks alexis!!! means alot!! 🙂
That’s not good news.. Praying for Jojo! Tell him Mel said Mickey mouse needs to get better! 🙂
thanks mel!! ill tell him that!!! 🙂
No problem 🙂
already did, will continue to pray
thanks laura!! my mom says the same thing!! 🙂
This is saying that we can hurt people with our words more than anything by calling them names can hurt just as bad as physical pain.
I definitely needed this today! I’m glad we’ll be talking about this subject for the next couple days, because I struggle with it all the time.
James is saying that basically the way most people sin is with what comes out of your mouth. I agree 100%! I’ve been hurt so many times by something that someone said to me, and I’ve definitely hurt people by my words too! It just so happens that last night I hurt someone really close to me with the words I said, and I regret it very much. I realized I was wrong and asked both God and that person to forgive me, and thankfully I’ve been forgiven! But there’s seriously no excuse for hurting someone in that way. All last night I was on edge and upset thinking “What if that person doesn’t forgive me because I’ve hurt them too much?!” it kept me up all night, and I realized that if I was hurting that much by the mistake I made, I couldn’t even imagine how much it hurt the other person, probably a lot more than it hurt me! It’s so crazy how that happened last night, and now we’re learning about it! I think it’s a God-thing! 😉 But I think it really opened my eyes to how much it hurts other people, and to think very carefully before I speak! I think the application is awesome, and I’m going to pay extra attention to the words I say! This week, I hope my words can be uplifting! 😀
I believe James is saying here that it is very important how we as christians use our words. He mentions that not everyone is capable of teachong God word, but the “masters” are the teacher of God’s word, and they use their words to do so! The easiest way to sin is by our mouths. Everything comes out by our words: lies, curse words, mean words, etc. If we arent careful, people can get the wrong idea of who we are if we dont chose our words right. Im growing more & more each day, and the second i sin from my mouth i notice it, & pray to God for forgiveness (even tho i already am:)) but it shows our testimony by how we act! Remember last weeks lesson? 🙂
Words are powerful. They can be uplifting or can tear you down. “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man” Speaking harsh words is easy to do and we’ve all done it at one time or another. We need to be careful what we say cause it can be very hurtful sometimes. Before you say something check yourself. Ask yourself if God would say that to someone… would he? or should you not say that thing.. Watch what you say cause like Blake said sometimes words can hurt just as much as if someone came up and punched you.
The other part is saying “masters” or people who preach the gospel…..If you’re a teacher be careful. You will be held accountable for what you teach. Make sure what you teach is from the Bible and based on His word. “be not many masters, knowing that we shall recieve the great condemnation”
Words can be so harmful when we don’t use them in the right way. I know I’ve got myself in a pickle several times because of the words that have flown out of my mouth. During those times, I was not quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, I was slow to listen, quick to blurt out and quick to engage with rage. Because of that, I’ve resulted into some problems. Just today this girl in my class flipped out on this kid over something not even worth getting angry about. She was screaming in the middle of class and another girl told her to calm down, but she just kept going. The girl was not careful with her words which led to her actions receding in conflict. All of this would’ve never even happened, if the girl just simply said her opinion, not blowing up at the guy because, “she was right”. I know I’ve hurt my family’s feelings because of the words I’ve said. Something we all do at one time or another, but just because we all make mistakes doesn’t mean its right. Now that I teach a small group in connection class, I have to be very careful with the words I say so that I’m not being misleading or betraying Christ as someone He wasn’t. I pray every morning and every time I prepare for it that the words I speak will be the words that God has for me to say, and that they will honor and glorify Him.
Words can be twisted and changed to say so many things. Take the telephone game for example. How many people change the original sentence or it gets changed along the way depending on what others hear. This is why choosing our words carefully is so important. I don’t think just praying for the words that we say to honor and glorify Him should just occur in a teaching situation, but an everyday occurrance! We want the words we say to encourage those around us and to be uplifting, not dicouraging that bring others down. I see this happen everyday and sometimes I’m even guilty of it. Something we all need to keep in mind and pray about everyday!
Great comments, keep it up! Hope Monday was great 🙂
you always say exactly what i was thinking but in such a better way 🙂
I think what you said was great Grace! 🙂
Excellent comments today. I am not always doing this on line but i bring the paper home. Hard for me to get on computer, too tired by end of day 🙂 I think this is a great reminder. I don’t always watch my tongue for sure. I need to think before I speak. Even from a secular point of view this is recognized. My mom used to say, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say any thing at all!” I think this is a good rule of thumb. Think about how you can say something without being hurtful. It is easy to “re-act” to something especially when we are hurt or mad. We do not usually forget something that was said to us that hurt our feelings do we?
Man this is os true of me, I often offend people with just not thinking of what im saying. Like Melanie said i can be slow to listen, quick to come back and quick to rage. That is one thing im going to do this week watch what I am saying because people are watching you to see how you act and react to things.
When people call you names or make fun you just pray to God to give you the courage not to say anything bad back to them. Most of us need to practice that. Especially me.
That is a really difficult scenario Ben. Sometimes we just want to fight back!