The Ethics of Love and Unity

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.

One of the most well-known, if not the most well-known president in the history of our United States is President Abraham Lincoln. And President Lincoln being from here in Illinois, you can’t hardly go anywhere in this state without seeing his face on a sign, a billboard, or on some kind of a memorial somewhere.

Parks, landmarks, buildings, and all sorts of other things in this state are named after him. And some of the quotes that he has famously spoken, many of us know by heart.

But one of President Lincoln’s most famous quotes came from 1858 at the beginning of the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates when he was running for U.S. Senator.

These debates began at the old capitol building in Springfield and concerning the state of the Union at that time, Lincoln’s very first speech of the famous debates began with the following words: “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”

Now, given the tone of our nation at that time, we know that this divided house in which the president spoke of was in reference to the divided nature of our nation at that time, abolition versus slavery, north versus south, industry versus agriculture. And what Lincoln highlighted in that speech was that there was no possible way that the Union could possibly remain united for long with these divisions abounding.

But those words, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand” did not originate with the former president. No, President Lincoln borrowed these words and this principle from Jesus Himself.

And when Jesus spoke these words, He done so right after He had cast a demon out of a man. For right after He had done so, several Pharisees accused Jesus of being a demon Himself, Who was able to cast out demons through the power of the devil.

But Jesus states the obvious point when He says that if His strength derives from the devil and He is using His strength to destroy what the devil has accomplished, then He uses the power that He has in vain in that the devil’s house will not be able to withstand receiving self-inflicted wounds on a consistent basis.

But though Jesus originally spoke these words in the context of the devil’s evil kingdom, the principle that He speaks of can be applied to almost any setting, especially in the Church.

The Scriptures speak of the Church being a body, and if we could imagine the members of our own individual bodies fighting one another, if my hand is constantly hitting my nose, if my heel is constantly swinging back and hitting my shin, if my finger is constantly flicking my eye, then it won’t be long before my body is not good for anything.

And so, if the Church is a body, and if we are all as individual members of that body consistently hurting one another, through gossip, slander, jealousy, envy, you take your pick, then eventually the body becomes broken down and good for nothing as a result of consistent, self-inflicted blows.

Now, this isn’t just some harmless problem in this or that church here and there. No, this is a problem in pretty much all churches, and it is far from being harmless, rather, it is detrimental and sometimes even fatal to a church’s health and survival.

For this reason, as we continue our series of messages concerning the topic of ethics in James 5:7-12, we are going to be looking today at the ethics of Christian love and unity in light of the Lord’s return.

Now, when we started this series of sermons a couple of weeks ago, we pointed out and briefly discussed the first six verses in this fifth chapter of the book of James.

In those first six verses we read of how the early Christians were prone to being taken advantage of, and being persecuted by those who were not of the faith, particularly by the rich and the powerful.

But James urged these believers that in spite of the fact that they were suffering daily persecutions, it was not their duty to get back at these people or to hope for their demise, but rather, they were to be patient, and pray for those who persecuted them. Praying that God would change their hearts, and then patiently waiting either for that change of heart to come upon them or for God’s judgment to be carried out on them when the Lord returns.

So, having urged those believers to whom he was writing to, to be patient with non-believers, James now, in this verse, urges us as believers to be patient with each other. We see this in the very beginning of verse 9, where it says:

James 5:9a ESV

9a Do not grumble against one another, brothers,

So, as has been said, James exhorted these believers to be patient with non-believers, to patiently wait for the Lord to take some kind of action, and in the meantime, to not grumble about them.

Now, the verb ‘grumble’ means to: “complain about something in a bad-tempered way:”. Thus, to grumble means to become so angry about something that you react in a very noticeably impatient, unloving, almost destructive manner.

Now, James says that we as believers are not to act this way towards non-believers, not even towards non-believers who persecute us. But what about we as believers grumbling against other believers?

Well, if we are not to grumble against non-believers who neither love God nor we who love God, then obviously we who do love God are not to grumble against others who also love God.

I mean, that should be obvious. And the reason why that should be all the more obvious is because, as James says here, we are brothers. We are all of the faith. We are all on the same team.

But though that is the case, it is sad to say that sometimes some of the nastiest gossip and grumbling is found within the church, towards other members of the church.

Beloved, think of the one you have grumbled against who is a fellow member of the church, a co-heir with Jesus… you have not just slandered this person, you have slandered yourself, and the whole body for that matter in doing so.

You have been impatient and unloving and unkind to one whom Jesus died for! You haven’t just hurt some regular old man or woman; you have hurt your brother! A brother whom Jesus loved so much that He was willing to endure the agony of the cross for!

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is such a thing as correction and discipline within the church and these things most certainly should not be neglected. And the reason why these things should not be neglected is because correction and discipline within the church contributes to the overall welfare of both the individual who receives it, and the body as a whole.

But this grumbling that James speaks of here, the grumbling that is so prevalent in so many churches does not contribute to the welfare of anyone. Rather, it seeks to tear down and to leave its victim wounded.

What an awful reality that such a thing takes place in the church with such regularity that it has become commonplace!

But let us be aware of the fact that such grumbling amongst Christian brothers will not go unnoticed by He Who sees all. Let us look at the remainder of this 9th verse to see this reality, where it says:

James 5:9b ESV

9b so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

So, James says, “Do not grumble against one another, brothers… so that you may not be judged”. That sounds pretty serious, does it not?

Now, because this is addressed to believers, what this judgment consists of certainly is not a loss of one’s salvation, for that remains eternally secure, therefore, this judgment must consist of a lack of heavenly rewards for the believer who is prone to consistently commit this sin with no desire to repent of what he or she is doing.

In fact, we see over in the book of Proverbs that the Lord is never pleased with the one who grumbles against fellow believers, and thus stirs up strife within the household of faith.

Over in Proverbs, chapter 6, starting at verse 16, we read of what the author says are six things that the Lord hates, seven things that are an abomination to Him. And the very last item on that list at the end of Proverbs, chapter 6, verse 19 is what the author describes as, “one who sows discord among brothers.”

One sowing discord, starting trouble, planting seeds of bitterness and back biting among the household of faith is something that this proverb says that God is not only displeased with, it is something that He hates!

And if one who is actively doing this is found doing so when the Lord returns, he will indeed suffer the consequences of his actions.

As James declares to us here at the end of our reading, the Judge, God Almighty, He is standing at the door. What that means is that His return is nigh, it is near, it is imminent. And because His return is imminent, that means that it is time to get serious about this business of grumbling against brothers.

It was like when I went to my doctor not too long ago. For a couple of years, she had been telling me that I needed to start dieting and getting my blood sugar under control. But because I usually didn’t take what she would tell me very seriously, I would consistently decide to stay on my junk food diet, rather than do what she told me.

Then when I went to see her again not too long ago, she told me, “At this point you are a ticking time bomb. And if you don’t get serious about this, there are going to be some serious health ramifications!”

Well, that certainly got my attention, and so I finally decided to start doing something different.

In the same way, the Lord’s return is imminent, in other words, it could happen at any time. And if the sacred Scriptures tell us that we will be judged when the Lord returns if we don’t stop grumbling against fellow believers, then that is something that we have to take very seriously!

And we take it seriously by recognizing that it is wrong, and repenting of it.

You see, everyone is sorry that they have done what was wrong after they get caught and have to face the punishment for it, but repentance is different than that.

Repentance consists of recognizing that what we have done is wrong before we ever have to face the punishment for what we have done.

And we feel and express sorrow for the wrong that we have committed, not because we are going to be in trouble for it if we don’t, but because we recognize that in doing wrong, we have deeply offended a holy God.

And once we recognize this offence that we have brought before the Lord, in humility, we are appalled at the fact that we, lowly as we are, would ever dream of willfully offending the God of heaven and earth, Whose majesty extends far past anything we could ever comprehend.

True repentance says, “Who am I? How dare I willfully offend the King of glory! I deserve nothing but death for this offense!”

Beloved, may true repentance be found within this congregation for any discord that may be in our midst. May we repent, knowing that the Judge stands at the door.

Amen?