James Q and A Part 2

It is ok to talk to someone about another person?

James 5:9 (ESV)

9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

James 4:11–12 (ESV)

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

When is it ok to speak about or against others, and it is not called slander or gossip?

When the information is truthful.

o 1 Timothy 5:19 - Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. We must have evidence before we make accusations. If we do not have proof, maybe we need to ask questions and seek witnesses. But don't affirm guilt till the proof is in.

Proverbs 24:28 “28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.”

Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause.

It is not always wrong to speak against someone, but there must be adequate cause first.

o Matthew 18:16 -By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. The testimony of personal witnesses constitutes evidence to be evaluated

Obviously, there are limits on our knowledge or what others have done.

When it comes to Scripture, we have an infallible revelation.

But when it comes to knowing what other people have said or done, sometimes even reliable sources may be sincerely mistaken.

But a sincere mistake is significantly different

from negligence, indifference,

jumping to conclusions,

or circulating unsubstantiated rumors.

Before we definitely accuse others, we must put forth a reasonable effort to get the facts, not just suspicions.

If you don't have the facts, investigate first.

Ask questions, gather testimony.

But don't make charges or share till we have reasonable evidence.

When the information is public.

o Jesus criticized the religious leaders for actions and motives that were public and common knowledge.

o Galatians 2:11-14 - Paul told Christians in Galatia about a sin Peter had committed in Antioch.

Galatians 2:11–14 (ESV)

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

When our motives are proper.

o We must sincerely seek to be sure our accusations are true.

o But even when we have the truth, that does not mean we are right in spreading the information.

o Some people think they can say anything about anyone as long as they feel sure it is true.

o But there is also the question of motive:

o there must be good reasons for telling bad things about others.

o Sometimes people spread stories because they want to hurt people's reputations.

o Jealousy

o * Vengeance, anger, hatred, or grudges.

o Vengeance is not just physical actions we take against others.

o One of the most common ways to take vengeance is by saying things to hurt others.

o Others harm us (or we imagine so), so we say defamatory things to "get even."

o Someone accuses us of something, so we respond, "Well, what about the time when you..."

o Sin must be rebuked.

But when we do so, we must be sure that we are motivated by concern for the sinner

and others who may be involved, not by a desire for vengeance.

o * Self Promotion

o When others oppose our views, whether in personal matters or doctrinal issues, we may seek to get some "dirt" on them to discredit them and keep others from listening to them.

o 3 John 9,10 –

3 John 9–10 (ESV)

9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

o Diotrophes loved pre-eminence.

One of his methods was to speak evil against the apostle John (note: "malicious words").

o We see this technique again and again in politics. It is sometimes called the "scorched earth policy."

o When politicians oppose one another in an election or in some policy decision, often someone leaks some personal information about his opponents or their party to make them look bad.

o Often it happens shortly before an election. (October Suprise)

o Speaking evil against others so we can win a confrontation and get our way is a form of sinful slander. Yet it frequently happens in time of conflict.

o Before we share derogatory statements about someone,

o we need to make sure our motives are pure.

o Are we speaking

§ for our own personal benefit,

§ or are we sincerely speaking for the good of the one we criticize

§ or for the good of others who really have a genuine need for the information?

o This requires serious self-examination,

§ because it is easy to attribute bad motives to others and good motives to ourselves.

I think if i could encapsulate it in one word. Redemption

When it is to protect the person from themselves.

o Sometimes we must tell others about dangerous activities they are doing when they do not listen to you.

o If they do not listen to you and continue the dangerous or bad behavior, we are told but Jesus is Matthew eight to go get reinforcements.

Matthew 18:15–16 (ESV)

If Your Brother Sins Against You

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

When it is to protect others

who may be hurt by the actions of another person

1 Corinthians 5:9–13 (ESV)

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

We can warn others about someone who is dangerous.

Paul is saying we can make judgements about people who will hurt others with the actions.

We can talk about these peoples and warn others about the people.

When it is to protect the church.

When it is to protect the reputation of the church in the eyes of others

o Going back to what Jesus said in Matthew 18,

Matthew 18:17 (ESV)

17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

There are times when we must talk about someones bad actions and sin so that the church may be protected.

Its purtity.

Its unity.

Its reputation.

When it is to protect yourself.

o Abuse

How should we conquer and confess our sin

From James 1:12-15 - How do we fight sin, temptation, and Satan?

James 1:12–15 (ESV)

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Say no to sin and yes to God.

James 4:7–8 (ESV)

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Christians have been trained to fight sin the same way teenagers were taught to fight drugs in the 1980s.

Both have been markedly ineffective.

Nancy Reagan started her famous campaign against drugs with a simple slogan: “Just say no.”

In response, a Los Angeles–based movement called D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

began producing education seminars in schools around the country.

These high-energy, high-intensity high school programs usually resulted in kids signing a pledge to say no to drugs and gangs.

Part of the program consisted of showing students a variety of drugs and detailing their effects in the hopes of scaring kids off.

However, a scientific study of D.A.R.E.’s effectiveness in getting kids to stop using drugs proved the campaign was unsuccessful.

Not only was “Just say no” an overly simplistic and practically useless strategy,

but by displaying and describing the wild effects of the narcotics, drug use actually went up in suburban areas.

Students in suburban districts were usually unfamiliar with different drugs.

This mystery led to fearful abstinence.

Once the drugs were cataloged and characterized, however, the mystique was dropped. D.A.R.E.’s campaign made drugs approachable.[1]

The mistake many people make in quoting this verse out of context is that they tend to separate into two actions what is meant to be a singular whole.

Just because you “resist the devil” does not mean you automatically “draw near to God.”

Fighting sin with a no is only part of the battle.

You may be resisting, but you are not drawing near.

There is no yes in your battle plan.

A no does not automatically produce a correct and equally opposite yes.

Saying no to a cheeseburger doesn’t mean you will say yes to a salad.

Saying no to sin does not mean you will say yes to God.

The good news is, the opposite is very true.

A yes does automatically produce a correct and equally opposite no.

Saying yes to a salad does mean you have said no to a cheeseburger.

Saying yes to God means you have said no to sin.[2]

But if we look at this verse in its fuller context, we see that the command has far more to do with saying yes to God than it does about saying no to the devil. The command to resist the devil is sandwiched between commands to say yes to God. How do we become motivated to resist the devil? By first submitting to God with a yes to his grace. Where do we run after resisting the devil? Back to God so that he can draw near to us with the truth of who we are in him.

When we think that saying no to sin will implicitly satisfy our hearts in God, we are setting ourselves up for a cosmic disappointment.2 This disappointment, since it was created by depriving ourselves of a sin, will lead us back to satisfying ourselves with a sin. We may resist the devil so that he flees from us, but that does not mean we will draw near to God so that he will draw near to us (James 4:7–8). Saying no to sin will not bring about our yes to God.

The reason why saying no is ineffective is because we are not built to say no to things we want to do—our hearts are wired to follow our wants. I

f your heart loves a particular sin, you are hardwired to say yes to it.

Conversely, you are hardwired to hate the idea of saying no to it.

We are built to follow our desires.

Our affections, what we love and hate, work on our will to create true action.

All the no strategy tries to do is speak directly to our will, directly to the yes or the no.

It is no better than the law. It tries to restrict from the outside instead of reform from the inside. We need a way to say yes to God.[3]

When you only say no ,

You will prohibit yourself from one action,

yet leave the desire of the heart unaffected, unexamined, and unfulfilled.

Your heart will abhor the vacuum you’re attempting to create

and will work so viciously on your will that the same desire will act out in an entirely different manner. (when quitting smoking you tend to eat more and become addicted to food. Drug addicts replace hard drugs with smoking)

When you, for the sake of your faith,

dam up the sexual activity,

accumulation of wealth,

or vainglory of applause,

your heart will still be seeking approval.

Where will it find it if all its external routes have been blocked off? It will turn inward and satisfy its hunger on your own religious observance, unless you say yes to God.

Romans 6:12-14 “12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Thomas Chalmers says

Affections can only be replaced; they cannot be canceled.

Affections are only changed when something more affectatious is presented to the heart and found acceptable.

The way we are called to fight sin is by being overwhelmed with the presence of a far greater satisfaction,

a more excellent source of pleasure,

a far-exceeding fountain of joy.

Indeed, as I have already said, you cannot truly deal with the negative unless you are at the same time doing the positive. 

The way to get rid of the defects is to cultivate the virtues. 

To use a well-known phrase of Thomas Chalmers (see his sermon below), what we need is to apply the “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”.

I use a simple illustration.

The way the dead leaves of winter are removed from some trees

is not that people go around plucking them off;

no, it is the new life,

the shoot that comes and pushes off the dead in order to make room for itself.

In the same way the Christian gets rid of all such things as bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking and all malice.

The new qualities develop and the others simply have no room;

they are pushed out and they are pushed off.

https://www.preceptaustin.org/expulsive-power-of-a-new-affection

How do we develop these new qualities and say yes to God.

Practice the ordinary means of Grace

The Westminster Shorter Catechism provides as helpful a definition as any of the means of grace:

The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Question 88)

The wya to fight sin and say yes to God is the persistent practice of the ordinary, not new, not extraordinary, not gimmicks, or programs, but the continued practice of the the word, worship, prayer, and fellowship.

2 Peter 3:18 (ESV)

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

They help us to grow and bless God. Some are:

God’s Word

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

This will allow us to get to know God more, and as we know more about who God is, the more we love Him and the more our passion grows toward him and less about our desires. (Husband and Wife)

Corporate worship

Hebrews 10:23–25 (ESV)

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This is a place where we find encouragement in our walk with Christ. We learn from others as we fellowship with others. We see that most of us are going through the same things and we find answers from one another how to fight sin.

Prayer

Matthew 26:41 (ESV)

41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

It allows us to agree with God about our actions. Prayer allows us to come before a loving and just God to seek forgiveness and to seek help fight sin. It is where God applies the scripture to our lives and helps us to use those words to fight sin. It is also a place

the Lord’s Supper

reminds us of our sin and how costly that sin was to God. It reminds us that our sin is what put Christ on the cross. It also allows us to keep our accounts short with both God and man.

Each of these will strengthen your faith and your walk with God,

making you far less susceptible to your flesh and the schemes of the evil one.

One at a time, begin to add them to your life and exercise yourself in them.

Ask anyone who has ever exercised in any manner and they will tell you it is hard to get into shape, easy to get out of it and so it is best to maintain and stay in it.

Just like exercise is not instant, godliness and sanctification is a long process.

Confess your sin

Fighting for personal holiness should include sharing the result with others.

Every time you are tempted, you have an opportunity to confess shortcomings and celebrate victories with those you walk in accountability with.

When we fall into sinful temptations, we have an opportunity to be vulnerable with others and pray with one another.

Remember, healing comes when we confess our sins to each other.

We don’t confess sins simply to feel better but in order to experience transformation.

First, to God.

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

First, you must confess your sin to God. Forthright, honest, sincere, no minced words. This repentance and confession is what puts you right in the universe. Period. Your sin was ultimately against God, and therefore God must ultimately forgive you. “Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight” (Ps. 51:4). “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). This is the fundamental forgiveness we all need, and this forgiveness stabilizes us for any subsequent confession to other people.

Once you’ve grieved and confessed your sin to God,

don’t dwell on it. Instead, draw near to his throne of grace to receive healing mercy.

Psalm 51:10–12 (ESV)

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

I plead for mercy.

I believe Jesus was crushed and condemned for me.

His blood is my only boast.

To the one you wronged.

Matthew 5:23–25 (ESV)

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.

Then with others.

James 5:16 (ESV)

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Next, having repented and confessed your sin to God, you should then confess your sin to other men. This is a fruit of repenting to God. The aim is healing and holiness. “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

Choose someone who is mature in Christ, who can be trusted with life details,

who will battle for you in prayer, and who preferably is in your church.

This confession should also be sincere, forthright, sufficiently specific,

with no minced words or euphemisms.

It’s both unwise and unnecessary to be fully and equally transparent with everyone,

but we should be brutally honest with some trusted friends

Be honest enough to expose the sin in your heart, but general enough to not tempt your friend’s imagination by being unnecessarily graphic.

Celebrate your victories.

Finally, “mortification consists in success: frequent success against any lust is another part and evidence of mortification” (67). Again, Owen reminds us that while we cannot expect the complete eradication of sin, it should be our goal. We aim to kill sin at its root, not simply in the fruit or branches. This also means that we must cultivate the virtues that are directly against our sins.

How should we measure success when it comes to mortifying our sin?

Let us, therefore, habitually weakening our sin, fight against it with all our strength, and trust the Spirit to grant us victory.