Teachers Must Live Their Teaching - James 1-3

James 3:13 (ESV Strong's)
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Teachers Must Live Their Teaching

James started chapter three with this statement:

James 3:1 (ESV Strong's)
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

He stresses that their “tongues” are dangerous.   He continues the warning by telling us, in the above verse, that the teacher’s conduct must carry the teacher’s message.  Teachers are not to be full of themselves and full of arguments to defend their teaching.  They are to be “meek” and to show “good conduct.”    The “container” of the message must be a holy and pure as the “content” coming from the container.    We have to practice what we preach.   There were many teachers in the early church who were not practicing their preaching.  Jesus confronted the Pharisees, during His time on the earth, for the same reason.   Our society does not honor “meekness” much these days.   Note what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:5 (ESV Strong's)
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

We can be meek because we know we will, ultimately, inherit the earth.  We have not reason to use power to get our points across because if we are dealing with the truth of God’s word, that will ultimately trump everything else.   We can dispense our wisdom with confidence because it is God’s Wisdom and we are just the container.