06/08/2008

Do Not Speak Against One Another!

James 4:11-17

**James was the first epistle to be put into written form. It is truly amazing to see how rapidly the first century Church had deteriorated from what we read about in the book of Acts to what it was when James wrote this epistle!

**James has been addressing the things that divide a Church and destroys the unity in a fellowship of Believer’s. In our previous messages James revealed to us that the TONGUE was a major problem in every person’s life. He described the tongue as a world of iniquity that has been set on fire by hell itself!

**James concluded the last section with five commands that every believer must apply to their lives on a regular basis.

**We are commanded to Submit to God, Resist the Devil, Draw near to God, Humble Ourselves and Purify our Hearts! It was in this section that James calls these people ADULTERERS and ADULTRESSES!

**In what ways could they have been considered Adulterers and Adulteresses? Every Child of God is a product of COVENANT. The world operates on the concept of a Contract but the kingdom of God operates on the concept of a Covenant.

**Discuss marriage covenant and Church covenant parallels and how they apply to James calling them a bunch of Adulterers and Adulteresses.

**Having just rebuked them for being Covenant breakers James now calls them to task for the way that they have been treating one another.

**So in this section James is talking about two different kinds of words a Child of God sometimes uses as part of their vocabulary.

First of all James teaches us that:

I. DESTRUCTIVE WORDS VIOLATE THINGS

4:11 Do not SPEAK AGAINST one another, brethren

**James introduces this section by saying DO NOT SPEAK AGAINST ONE ANOTHER . . .

**The expression speak against is a single verb in Greek, literally “to talk (someone) down”.

 CAN I GET A WITNESS??

**This word is sometimes used of speaking against others behind their backs without giving them a chance to defend themselves, and therefore has acquired the meaning of “speaking evil against” or “slander.”

**In the New Testament it is also listed as one of those vices and sins in the sense of false accusations (Rom 1.30; 1 Pet 2.1), and at other times it is used for harsh criticism or malicious accusation (2 Cor 12.20; 1 Pet 2.12; 3.16, “abused”).

**In the present context the verb is used in the sense of to: “shoot people with words,” “harm others by whispering,” “spoil someone’s honor with evil words.”

**To speak against can also mean to: “put evil on others.” The Contemporary English Version summarizes accurately by saying: “Don’t say cruel things about others.”

**DESCTRUCTIVE words VIOLATE three things: First of all:

Destructive words violate:

A.     The PRINCIPLE of LOVE

4:11 Do not speak against one another, brethren.

**Any kind of speech whether it is true or false that runs another person down is contrary to the Principle of LOVE!

**Now notice the word at the end of the command. It is the word brethren (Do Not Speak Against One Another, Brethren), and James uses it to refers to fellow believers and is meant to be inclusive of all of us!

**James probably has in mind the words that Jesus spoke Himself when He said: A new commandment I give to you, that you LOVE one another, by this, all men will know that you are My disciples (Jn 13:34)!

**Have you ever known anybody who puts you down, slanders you, puts evil on you with their words but then say “But I Love You”? James has already said that “Out of the same mouth flows blessing and cursing . . .bitter and sweet words but . . . brethren these things just ought not to be” (James 3:10)!

**I don’t think there are many things that hurt more than hurtful, critical, mean destructive words that come from people who you are in Covenant with whether it is a spouse or a fellow Church member.

**These kinds of things had evidently become epidemic in the body of Christ because just about ever N.T. writer addresses it at some time or another in their writings to local congregations!

**One of the aspects of our Covenant Membership at TTOP is a promise not to participate in gossip or slander or back biting. We have promised that we will not participate in it by speaking it or listening to it!

**One of our favorite songs addresses this very issue. And I would like for Anthony to come and lead us in the singing of it. During this song I would like for you to go to people and let them know how much you need them and that you will never hurt them with words from your mouth!

**So James says that DESTRUCTIVE words VIOLATE the PRINCIPLE of LOVE but they also violate:

B.     The PRECEPTS of the LAW

4:11 He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law.

**The person who speaks evil against a fellow believer is actually guilty of passing judgment on (or, condemning) that Christian brother or sister. Furthermore anyone who judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

**What James is suggesting here is that slander is a form of passing judgment on a fellow Christian, and this is going beyond what is acceptable.

**The law demands that a believer love his fellow believer (see 2.8); but to slander a fellow believer is to condemn that believer, and is therefore to break the law!

**James could be talking about the Mosaic Law but since He spoke about the perfect law of liberty in 2:8 that is probably the law that he has in mind. A person who speaks against a brother or sister is violating the Principle of Love and the Precepts of the Law found in the Word of God!

**Destructive words also Viloate:

C.     The POSITION of the LORD

4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

**The second parallel argument takes the absurdity of a critical spirit a step higher, suggesting that a judgmental person sets himself not only above the Law, but above God. Says James, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (v. 12).

**God’s sovereign capacity “to save and destroy” is repeated many times in the Bible, as in Deuteronomy 32:39—“See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life.” In 1 Samuel 2:6 Hannah acknowledges this in her prayer: “The Lord brings death and makes alive.”

**Isaiah said it this way:

*         Isa 33:22 For the Lord is our Judge.  The Lord is our Lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us

**Listen to what the Lord said to Miriam:

*        Numbers 12:8 Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?

**John reminds us that one of the titles given to Satan is “The Accuser of the Brethren”.

Rev 12:10 For the accuser of our brethren…

**We are hardly ever more like the devil than when we are “speaking against one another”!

      **In Matthew 10:28 Jesus warned his followers not to fear men who could kill the body but not the soul, but to fear God “who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

**These Scriptures illustrate James’ logic here: since God is the only one who can “save and destroy,” only God has the right to judge! Therefore, for us to judge one of his creatures is to usurp a right that only God has.

**Thus judgmentalism is not only arrogant but blasphemous! This alone ought to seal our judgmental, demeaning lips for eternity!

Listen to an alternative translation for this verse is:

My friends, do not say evil things about a fellow Christian. If you do, or if you criticize [or, condemn] another Christian, you are in fact condemning God’s law of love. And if you condemn this law you are really refusing to obey it and are putting yourself above it as if you were a judge.

**DESTRUCTIVE words VIOLATE things and:

II. PRESUMPTIVE WORDS REVEAL THINGS

They reveal:

A.     The FOOLISHNESS of IGNORING God’s will

4:13-14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city…yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow”

** James immediately goes on the attack saying, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money’” (v. 13).

**His attack is specifically aimed at the materialistically focused Christian business men and women in his congregations who arrogantly mapped out their destinations and sojourns on the basis of profitability, with no reference to the will of God.

**It had not been easy for them when they first became Christians. In fact, their conversions had cost them socially and economically. But in the initial flush of spiritual forgiveness they had borne the difficulties with grace, for they hung on to Christ with everything they had.

**But as life settled down, the cares of making a living began to dominate again. They came to assume that profit and God’s will were one and the same. Soon they reverted to being self-made, self-assured men and women who, though now Christians, live as if this world is all there is.

**If they prayed in reference to their lives, it was not to ask God where and what they should do, but to ask his blessing on their plans.

**SOUND FAMILIAR??

They were so much like us or should I say we are so much like them and that is why we need to hear and heed the words of James all the more!

**We are such children of our times that we cannot conceive it would ever be God’s will that we not become rich and prosperous.

            **James is going to give us three reason why we need to be concerned with and committed to the Will of God:

1)      The COMPLEXITIES of Life!

4:13 . . . Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and . . . engage in business. . . make a profit

**Life is so complex and it involves buying, selling, traveling, making this decision and that decision but when you think about it, life is full of COMPLEXITIES that are far beyond our ability to figure it out on our own!

**Who should you marry? Should you go on this trip? Should you buy this car? Should you quit this job, apply for that job?

**If life is anything it is certainly COMPLEX and we need to know the WILL of God.

**We need to know the will of God because of the COMPLEXITIES of life but we also need to know the Will of God because of:

2)      The UNCERTAINTIES of Life!

4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow!

**James says that life is so complex and “you do not even know what your life will be like tomorrow”!

**Last Sunday our daughter’s Father –In-Law laid down to take a short nap before it was time for him to go to work. Little did he know when he laid down for the nap that he was going to lapse into a COMA!

**By 3:00 Monday morning the doctor’s had all but pronounced him dead with little or no brain activity at all. On Tuesday morning our Son-in Law walked into the room and his dad suddenly “woke up” and said hello son what are you doing here? I am late for work”!

**James says we need to be committed to the Lord’s Will more than we are to our own plans and schedules because of the COMPLEXITIES of Life and the UNCERTAINTIES of Life but also because of:

3)      The BREVITY of Life!

4:14 You are just a vapor that appears for a little while

**James says that when all is said and done that “We are just a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away”!

**If you were honest with yourself today, do you believe that you have found God’s Will for your life?

**Have you discovered your purpose for being alive?

**James says that there is the FOOLISHNESS of IGNORING God’s will but there is also:

B.     The ARROGANCE of DENYING God’s will

4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that! 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil

**If we shouldn’t speak with PRESUMPTIVE words, then what should we say? James says that you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that”!

**What does James know about God’s Will that we need to know?

First of all, James knows that the Bible teaches that:

1)      We can UNDERSTAND God’s will!

Eph 5:17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is!

Ps 103:7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel!

**The Children of Israel knew What God’s Will was but Moses Knew WHY God’s Will was what it was!

**Which one do you want to be like? Paul said that we should not be FOOLISH but we should UNDERSTAND what the WILL of the LORD is!

**Not only can we UNDERSTAND God’s Will but:

2)      We can PROVE God’s will!

Rom 12:2  . . so that you may prove what the will of God is

**We are not to be conformed to this world but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may prove what the Will of God is!

**It gets even better. We can Understand God’s Will and We can Prove God’s Will but:

3)      We can DO God’s will!

Eph 6:6 not by way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart!

**There comes the time in your Christian life that the Will of God becomes like FOOD to your belly. Listen to what Jesus said about God’s will:

Jn 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work!

**So just how complicated is The Will of God? Listen to how James simplifies it:

James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin!