James Series (12)

James 4:10–17 CSB

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. 15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.

 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

OUR WILL AND GOD’S WILL

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it. [1]

 Being humble means not acting like you're the boss of everything.

It’s saying, “God, I need You. I can’t do this on my own.”

It’s not bragging, not showing off, and not thinking you’re better than others.

It’s like bowing your heart to God and saying, “You’re in charge, not me.”

Imagine you’re playing a game and someone else wins. Instead of getting mad or saying, “I’m better than you,” you say, “Good job!” That’s being humble—kind, gentle, and okay with letting others shine.  Admit your sin and eradicate pride. Riding God’s elevator to the top always starts with a trip down . It isn’t as if our humility earns the grace of God. Humility merely puts us in a position to receive the gift He freely gives. As we come as sinners before the holy God we appropriately humble ourselves before Him. Then He will lift us up, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and grace – the unmerited favor of God – always lifts us up.

In this passage James has powerfully described both the duty and the blessing of repentance.

In these verses, James gives an illustration of what humility requires. It demands a change in how you speak of others. Don’t criticize. Don’t speak about a fellow believer with the intent of doing harm rather than providing help. The one who defames and judges a brother or sister defames and judges the law (4:11). How? Jesus said the great commandments are love God and love your neighbor as yourself (see Mark 12:28–31). So if you judge your neighbor, you’re judging the law that commands us to love others. You’re saying to God, “I refuse to do that.” But there is one lawgiver and judge, and you’re not him! The Lord is the one who will pass judgment at the appropriate time. So who are you to judge your neighbor? (4:12). As the saying goes, “There but for the grace of God go I.” That brother you criticize could have been you. As God has shown you grace and mercy, practice grace and mercy.[2]

Do not speak evil of one another: Humbling ourselves and getting right with God must result in our getting right with other people. When we are right with other people, it will show in the way we talk about them. So we must not speak evil of one another and not judge our brother.

Speak evil translates the ancient Greek word katalalia. “Katalalia is the sin of those who meet in corners and gather in little groups and pass on confidential information which destroy the good name of those who are not there to defend themselves.”

 This sin is wrong for two reasons. First, it breaks the royal law that we should love one another. Second, it takes a right of judgment that only God has. When we judge our brother, we put ourselves in the same place as the law, in effect judging the law. This is something that we have no authority to do, because there is one Lawgiver – so who are you to judge another? This is an extension of the same humility that James writes about in this chapter. When we have proper humility before God, it just isn’t within us to arrogantly judge our brother.

We move into verse 13 now which is kinda a new heading that my Bible calls it my will vs. Gods will.

God hates pride; therefore, James continues to confront his readers’ arrogance. If spoken in modern English the phrase Come nowwould be “You’ve got to be kidding me.” These believers had plans for the future and had sketched in the details fairly specifically. They had a timetable (today or tomorrow), a location (such and such a city), a schedule (a year), a plan (do business), and a determined conclusion (make a profit).

4:14 Let’s be clear: God is not against making plans. But it’s one thing for a believer to make plans and another to think himself sovereign over them. After all, you do not know what tomorrow will bring.These people didn’t allow for contingencies. They were definitive, had an air of self-sufficiency. But life has too many variables for you to guarantee your tomorrow. God’s kingdom agenda is assured because he’s an omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful) eternal King. Your agenda is uncertain at best. You’re like vapor that vanishes. Here for a moment and then gone.

4:15–17 You must acknowledge that your plans fall within a larger, controlling reality: the will of God (4:15). So make your plans

 Prov 16:9 9 A person’s heart plans his way,

Proverbs 16:9 CSB

9 A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

but the Lord determines his steps[3]

 but then submit them to the Lord for approval. God is excellent at interrupting plans. To do something “if the Lord wills” is not a pious phrase but a philosophy of life. Jesus’s “food” was doing the will of his Father

 John 4:34 My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them[4]

John 4:34 CSB

34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.

 so put it on your menu. To accomplish his will in your life, God will interrupt your program. Will you humble yourself and accept it? Or will you boast in your arrogance about your future? (4:16–17).[5]

we’ve heard James’ call—not just to humility, but to holy surrender. We’ve seen the danger of planning without prayer, of speaking without grace, of living without the Lord’s leading.

Your life is a mist. A vapor. Here for a moment, then gone. But in that mist, God can move mountains. In that vapor, He can breathe revival.

So today, don’t just hear the Word—do it. Don’t just say “Lord willing”—live like He’s Lord.

Lay down your calendar. Lay down your control. Lay down your pride. And rise up in the power of submission.

Because when you humble yourself before the Lord… He will lift you up.