Do Not Speak Evil Against One Another

Introduction

Good morning. If you would, go ahead and grab your Bible’s and turn to James, chapter 4.

This past Sunday evening at our night of prayer I took a few moments to read from a book that our staff is going through together. The book is called, “The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ” by Ray Ortlund.

Here’s what he says at the beginning of chapter 4.

“The gospel does not hang in midair as an abstraction. By the power of God, the gospel creates something new in the world today. It creates not just a new community, but a new kind of community. Gospel-centered churches are living proof that the good news is true, that Jesus is not a theory but is real, as he gives back to us our humanness. In its doctrine and culture, words and deeds, such a church makes visible the restored humanity only Christ can give.”

He goes on.

“True beauty makes people stop and stare. But if we do not show beauty in the way we treat each other, then in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of our own children, we are destroying the truth we proclaim.

It’s in our churches that the gospel is field-tested for real life. If people want to know what the gospel creates, are they being unfair to look to a church? I don’t think so.”

Finally, he says,

“The only answer to one culture is another culture - not just a concept, but a counterculture. A church should offer the world such a counterculture, a living embodiment of the gospel.” - Ray Ortlund

As you think about what he just said, let me quote one other person to you that I read this week.

Russell Moore posted an article to The Gospel Coalition’s website on Wednesday this past week. One day after the election. The article was titled: “What’s next for Christians in an election that won’t end.”

He speaks of the clear division that is evident in our country today. And that, regardless of who is elected, those divisions aren’t going away. In fact, with each election there is this hope on both sides that their side will prevail with a clear, excoriating defeat of their opponent so that there is clear direction and unity moving forward.

But what we’ve seen is that the divide is only widening.

And so Russell Moore, similarly to what Ray Ortland said in his book said,

“What America needs from the church right now is for the church to tell a different story - the story of a crucified, resurrected, and reigning Jesus of Nazareth, in whom all things hold together and in whom every storyline in the cosmos is ultimately summed up. That requires the ability to see, by faith, what is behind the veil of reality - a triumphant Christ who isn’t vulnerable to the upheaval of nations and cultures.” - Russell Moore.

We’ve spent almost the last three months now walking through the One Another’s of Scripture. Why have we done this? Why are there over one hundred references in the New Testament of these One Another’s?

Is it just so that we may live a more moral life than others?

I mean, really think about this for a moment. Why is there such a strong emphasis from Scripture on how we are called to live as the church?

In the Old Testament when the law was given to the Israelites through Moses, the law wasn’t just seen as a book of rules. It was seen as that which leads to life. That which leads to flourishing. That which leads to joy and relationship with God. In fact, it was these commands that were given so that God’s people would be set apart and through their joyful obedience would then draw the surrounding culture to the goodness and grandeur of God.

Deuteronomy 4:5-7, See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

God’s law, his commands lead to life. And what our world needs, what our culture needs to see, what our nation is in desperate need of is a people, set apart by God, the church, living in such a way that draws attention, not to ourselves but to the goodness and faithfulness of King Jesus.

To show the world not just a new community, but a new KIND of community as Ortlund says. A counter-cultural movement that leads people into a joy and peace that they’re searching for.

Are people searching for peace right now? Are people looking for hope right now?

Have we the church found this peace and hope in Christ? Then live now as a new KIND of community. A community that loves one another, that bears with one another, that submits to one another, that lives in harmony with one another, that serves one another and as we’ll see in our text this morning, does not speak evil against one another.

Follow along with me as I read James 4, verses 11-12.

James 4:11-12, 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. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Children’s author, Walter Wangerin in one of his short stories begins a story talking about spiders. He says, “female spiders are often widows for embarrassing reasons - she regularly eats those who come her way. Lonely suitors and visitors alike quickly become corpses so that her dining room is a morgue. A visiting fly, having become captive, will be granted the illusion of wholeness, but she will have drunk his insides so that he has become his own hollow casket.

Through tiny punctures she injects her digestive juices into a fly so that his insides are broken down and turned into a warm soup.”

He finishes his story and makes his point to us believers by saying this, “This soup she swills, even as most of us swill souls of one another after having cooked them in various enzymes: guilt, humiliations, subjectives, cruel love - there are a number of fine, acidic mixes. And some among us are so skilled with the hypodermic word that our dear ones continue to sit up and to smile, quite as though they were still alive.”

The Problem

We’re probably all familiar here with the phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

Sounds good, but can we be honest here and say, that’s not true. Words do hurt. Words do inflict pain which, for some, can last a lifetime.

My wife can build me up to go for days and days and days with a single word but she could also wreck me completely with a single word.

How many people in our lives do we know that have been deeply affected and deeply wounded through hurtful and destructive words? How many of us in here this morning have been wounded through the painful words of others?

As we observe our surrounding culture today, we see very little speech which seeks to build up but rather quite the opposite.

Okay, so what’s needed? A new KIND of community. One that lives counter-culturally.

The Command

Verse 11,

James 4:11a, Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.

This command is more than just saying, “don’t slander one another.” It’s certainly part of the command, but slander is malicious speech that is untrue. It’s a false statement meant to tear down someone’s reputation. But what James is getting at here is the command to not tear down another person whether the statement is false or true.

Now I think we’ll all agree in here that slander isn’t something that should characterize us a believers. I think we’re all on the same page here. But, if something is true about someone else, why can’t we go after someone with the truth? What is James’ getting at here?

Well, what James is getting at here is the heart behind our speech.

We as human beings love a “juicy story.”

In 1991 a brand new talk show aired its first episode. It’s a show that many of us have probably at least heard of its reputation. The show was called, “The Jerry Springer Show.” Now most of us know the show as a trashy and disgusting show that aired episodes that I can’t even talk about.

But what you probably don’t know is that when it aired in 1991, it was a political talk show that had respected guests on it to talk about current issues in our culture. But the ratings were horrible and it was in jeopardy of being cancelled. So, its producer reformatted it to what it is know as today and it soon become the highest rated talk show in the U.S.

People wanted to watch the train-wreck of people’s lives.

Don’t we feel that in our hearts today? We hear something about someone else and we want the inside story. “What did they do?” “Why’d they do that?” “What are they doing now?”

The heart behind these inquisitive questions is not love for the person’s soul but rather the desire for more information which feeds our own ego or need to feel better about ourselves. It’s not a desire that has as its end goal to build them up but rather a desire to build yourself up.

Because what inevitably happens after you gain information is you spread it...”Did you hear what’s going on in so and so’s life?”

It’s right there that you are “speaking evil against one another.”

Slander, gossip, sarcasm and cutting speech are not spiritual gifts. Yet, sadly, for many, those are what they excel in. And it needs to be confessed and repented of.

James unpacks two specific heart motivations that need to be repented of that drive our desire to speak evil of others.

Self-Righteousness

Look at the rest of verse 11,

James 4:11b, 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.

He’s saying, to live in such a way where you feel the authority to always sit in critical, self-righteous judgment over another brother or sister is to exalt yourself above the law and to a position that is not yours to hold.

He’s saying that what is going on in your heart is that you don’t believe that you need to be held accountable to the commands of God but rather, you are God’s gift to everyone else to make sure they all stay in line. It’s a self-righteous attitude.

How often do people get frustrated when those in authority or leadership positions dictate to the people under them how they are supposed to live but then they themselves don’t abide by the same rules? It’s maddening, correct?

Well, that’s what James is saying we do when we sit in self-righteous judgment over others while we ourselves don’t think we need to abide by the same commands.

Now, notice my phrasing here, “self-righteous judgment.”

The reason I phrase it this way is because there is a way in which Christians are called to make judgments that fall in line with the authority of Scripture and not an authority we think we hold in and of ourselves.

Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:1-4, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is the log in your own eye?”

This isn’t a statement to not judge, but rather to understand that you are under the authority of a holy God. If you go out and judge others self-righteously, thinking that you are better than them, thinking that you’re God’s gift to humanity, thinking you have no faults of your own, Jesus is saying, wake up, you’re going to be judged for that by God himself.

So, what Jesus gets to here in the following verse is what James is teaching as well. Examine your heart.

Verse 5.

Matthew 7:5, You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

He’s not saying, “don’t judge” here. He’s saying first examine your heart, confess and repent of your own sin and then go to your brother or sister to help them remove the sin in their lives. It’s about the heart.

The difference here is that in one way we can judge others self-righteously. And in another way we can judge others understanding our own need for the gospel of grace.

Self-Exaltation

Verse 12.

James 4:12, There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Not only do we need to confess the sin of self-righteousness; thinking we are above the law of God, but we need to confess the sin of self-exaltation; thinking we are equal to or above God himself.

James makes it clear here. There is only one giver of the law. There is only one true ultimate judge of all the earth. God himself.

He doesn’t need your assistance to make sure all things are in proper working order. He reigns and rules over his creation with total and complete authority. He is the one who is able to save and to destroy.

And that phrase should awaken within us a desire to walk in right restored relationship with our Creator. There is but one true judge of all the earth. Our sin has corrupted us so that we don’t see clearly. Therefore we should strive to walk in grace, mercy and love with our neighbor, our brother, our sister.

As one puritan once wrote, “I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness.”

And then he says, “Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.”

His prayer is that he would never forget who he rightfully is; a sinner saved by God’s grace.

It’s with that heart attitude that we live with one another. It’s with that heart attitude that we live as the church amongst our neighbors and our community.

We are not a church that lives self-righteously, looking down on all the sinners around us. But rather as those who know that they have been redeemed through no work of their own but through the God of the universe who has the power to save because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

This implores us to then go love and serve one another. To go love and serve our neighbor.

This is the new KIND of community that Jesus has saved us to. This is what the world needs to see. This is what you are invited into if you are not yet a follower of Jesus.

So, let’s now remind ourselves of this new KIND of community that Jesus has purchased for us as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.