Walking through James (11)

Choosing not to judge each other...

We all make judgment calls each and every day. Often, we can make a judgment about others without the eyes of Christ.

I’m thankful that we serve a compassionate God who is full of mercy and compassion. He is slow to anger and abounds in love. Lord, help us to see people as you do.

Tonight, I want to start with a quick story called

BEFORE YOU JUDGE

Steven Covey recalls riding on the New York subway one Sunday morning. It was a quiet time with many simply reading the paper, resting, or thinking quietly to themselves.

But the quiet was shattered when a man and his children entered the car Covey was sitting in. The man sat down and appeared impervious to the noisy and rambunctious children who began to disturb the other passengers.

After a few moments Covey could take it no longer. He turned to the man and said, "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control them a little more?"

It brought the man back to consciousness of the situation, Covey goes on to say, which caused the father to say, "Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital an hour ago where their mother died. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either." Covey goes onto say that he saw and experienced the situation from an entirely different perspective after that and sought to help the man.

Let’s read read our Scripture from

James 4:11–12 NLT

11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

When I was growing up, I remember hearing the statement, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all,”

Don’t speak evil against each other...

James 4:6 NLT

6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Speaking evil against each other can be so…tempting. When we slander which is telling lies about other people or speak evil, do we do it to make ourselves look better at the expense of others.

1 Peter 2:1 NIV

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.

When we speak evil about each other or if we gossip, sometimes gossip might even be the truth or it might start with the truth, but if we are doing anything that brings disunity to the church or even in a larger sense, the community. It can break friendships and cause a great divide in a church.

I came across this statement, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” (SC)

Our words are powerful. They have the power of life or death. The question is this, how are we going to use our words?

James 3:3–6 NLT

3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

Proverbs 17:28 NLT

28 Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.

When we criticize and judge each other, we are actually

Criticizing and judging God’s law...

According to James, the Royal Law is,

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

What’s the Golden Rule?

We had a motorbike that had a sticker, “Do unto others and then split.”

Matthew 7:12 NLT

12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

I believe that if each of us will choose to live by this rule, we would see a lot of kindness, and we would probably hear a lot less chatter.

At times, we might think that if I tell a funny joke at the expense of somebody else, people will like me, and yet what do we really gain? We wouldn’t want somebody else to do that to us.

James 4:11 (NLT)

11 ...If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.

According to James, it’s not our job to pick and choose what applies to us. We are called to obey the Law.

If we slander, we are bearing false witness, or in other words, we are lying. If we are criticizing and judging others, we aren’t walking in love.

John 15:12–17 NIV

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

God’s commandments aren’t hard, He calls us to obey Him, but He also empowers us to obey.

Let’s look at verse 12.

James 4:12 NLT

12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

James doesn’t really give us an option.

Only God has the right to judge and He’s the one who saves or destroys.

Matthew 10:28–33 NLT

28 “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. 32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

So God alone is the judge. He knows us even better than we know ourselves.

Psalm 139:1–14 NIV

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Since only God has the authority to judge, let’s change the direction of our words.

Satan wants us to use our words as swords to cut people down, but God wants us to use our words to strengthen and build each other up. Let’s be quick to speak the truth but let’s speak the truth in love. If we need to correct each other, let’s do it gently. Instead of talking about others, let’s pray for others. A friend of mine used to say, “Go to the throne, not the phone.”

Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

As we close tonight, let’s approach the throne of grace.

Let’s pray!