James 3:1 My Brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation
When I was about six years old, my grandfather bought me a horse, a little Welsh Arabian. The Welsh meant he was kind of stocky and the Arabian meant that he was a little explosive, which could be good, but many times it was bad. I ended up in the air many a time with that horse.
I remember once riding home from the East Pasture and I had a clip in the reign that connected to the bit in the horse’s mouth, which gives you control over the horse. Somehow it got unclipped and there was a power struggle between me and my horse, who would have the reigns and the control and who the bit would actually guide. The sum and substance of it was that I was dragged for about twenty feet through the mud and learned a valuable lesson.
There is a struggle every day for control. With a horse you have a bit in his mouth for the purpose of control. If you don’t have that bit, you don’t have that control. A lot of us want to reign over others when we have failed to bridle ourselves. That is the point of James 3.
Verse 1 says, “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” The word “master” there means “teacher.” If you are in a place of influence or authority, the more you say and the more publicly you say it, the more you are accountable before God Almighty in many ways. So, it says, “Be not many masters.”
You find here a struggle. All of us want control. When I was holding the reins, I wanted to reign over my horse, but I didn’t have the bit so I didn’t have the control. We often do this with other people. We want to be sovereign over ourselves, and this oftentimes leads us to want control over other people. We think the more we can extend our sovereignty out beyond ourselves, the more control we can have over ourselves. There is always a struggle for control.
One thing you learn from James is that control begins from the inside out. I can’t reign over others if I won’t bridle myself. Way back in James 1 the Bible says, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, he deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” So, control begins from the inside out. It goes something like this: you control your tongue therefore you control yourself, and then you have influence perhaps over other people like a teacher would. But you must have control of yourself first.
Verse 2 says, “For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also able to bridle the whole body.” Then he gives the example of a horse’s bit and a ship’s helm. Both a bit and a helm are so small and in such positions as to be invisible, but in both cases those little pieces of equipment control the entire body of the horse and the ship. In fact, both transport either the rider or passenger in any direction the bit or helm directs. Likewise, if I can’t control my own tongue, how can I control my life? If I can’t control my life, what business do I have influencing other people?
Verse 13 says, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” Here it is not talking about words or what you know; it’s talking about actions with a wisdom that is gentle.
He goes on to say in verses 14-15, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” This wisdom is confined to this earth, it is not legal tender anywhere else; it is sensual, based upon the senses; and ultimately the source is the devil. It has never been easier to deceive people about what they know they have seen than right now. None of us in our right mind would say, “I know it is true. I saw it on the internet.” You may have seen or heard it, but that does not mean it is true. So, this wisdom that leads to envying and strife is not of God.
The Bible goes on to say that the wisdom that comes from above “is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” So, wise is as wise does. The bottom line is that control begins from the inside out. It begins by me controlling my own tongue and therefore myself, which will lead to having influence over others. We all want to be masters or teachers to other people, but if you can’t stop your own tongue and steer your own ship, then you are in trouble.
The thing is, you don’t have the capacity to control yourself. That is why the Bible says you need wisdom that is from above. You need God animating you to do what you cannot and would not do. This control begins from the inside out, not your controlling others, but allowing God to control you, your tongue, your life, and through you being a help and blessing to other people.
I recall reading a story as a kid by Rudyard Kipling about a bunch of British officers sitting around a large table for a meal with their hostess. The conversation was about the superiority of manly courage, grace under fire, how men had it but usually women did not. As this conversation was going on, the hostess quietly motioned for an attendant to come over. She whispered a few words, and subsequently the attendant got a bowl of milk, sat it outside the open veranda door, and slipped away. A moment later, a huge king cobra slithered out from underneath the table over to the milk outside on the veranda, which was the bait. The attendant quickly shut the door. The guests gasped, then were relieved, and then were incredulous. They said to the hostess, who obviously had baited the snake out from under the table, “How did you know there was a snake under the table?” She replied, “I felt him slither across my feet.” At the very moment when they were having a conversation about who had more grace under fire, this woman demonstrated grace under fire. She demonstrated control, not by having some overt authority, but by controlling herself and making a decision that may have saved the lives of several at that table.
I have no business reigning over others if I will not bridle myself. Bridle yourself and then help others. Realize that the only way you can do that is from the wisdom that comes from above.