James - James 4:11-12

Who are you to judge another? Leave the judging with the Lord. Paul says judge nothing before the time. Instead of being judges, let's be witnesses, and let's remember that love covers a multitude of sins.

And now we pray together. Gracious Father, as always we must come to you for everything that we need. Without you we can do nothing. And we're glad, Lord, that we recognize this fact. We're glad we know our weakness and our ignorance. We're glad, Father, that we have learned, not only from your word but from experience, that we cannot accomplish your will without your power. Help us now as we study the word of God. And where it convicts, may we be honest. Where it encourages, may we be grateful. And where it admonishes, help us to be obedient. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

James 4:11-12. "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of 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 one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?"

Now James is still answering the question that he raises in James 4:1. "Where do wars and fights come from among you?" And we've had to face the sad, painful fact that among God's people there are wars and fights. Wars—that speaks of collective opposition. Fights—that speaks of individual fights and disagreements. Of course they're caused by selfishness (v. 1-2) and prayerlessness (v. 3) and then worldliness (v. 4-5). Then James tells us how to get the victory over these things. The remedy is found in v. 6-10. He gives there ten commandments for us to follow and reminds us that some changes must take place in our lives.

Now, he adds this word about slander because whenever the saints of God disagree with each other, the evidence of it usually comes in speech. People go around the fellowship, go around the neighborhood or the town slandering one another. James had had some very serious things to say about the tongue back in chapter three. The tongue's a little member. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! We've been hearing on the news about forest fires. Well, it doesn't take much; it only takes a spark and then before you know it the whole forest is ablaze. Well, all it takes in a local church or a family or a neighborhood is for someone to start talking slandering, keeping the fire burning.

In Proverbs 26, you find an interesting statement about keeping these fires burning. Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 26:20-22. "Where there is no wood, the fire goes out." Now that makes good sense, doesn't it? "And where there is no talebearer (gossip, slanderer), strife ceases. As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer (a gossip, a slanderer) are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the innermost body." He compares gossip to a tasty morsel in your mouth, but I tell you, when you finally swallow it, it's going to create poison and sickness. Well, we don't want to keep the fires burning, do we? We don't want these things to happen. And therefore he warns us not to run people down.

The Greek word here, "do not speak evil," really means do not speak down on. Don't run people down. Running people down is a common sin about which very few people get convicted. We're so used to it. It's one of those sins in good standing. Get together for a coffee break or get together out to play golf or whatever, go shopping together, and before we know it we're talking about people. You know, godly people talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and the things of the word; worldly people talk about the world and the things of the world. And we don't want to be guilty of speaking down, talking down, running down other people. Avoid it. It hurts others and it hurts yourself. Most of all, it really does damage to those who are involved in it.

Now notice the stages that are involved in this terrible sin of slander. Stage one: we stop judging ourselves. Stage two: we start judging the law. And then stage three: we start judging other people and speaking against them. Slander is not a sudden thing. It's the result of a period of decay, erosion, when we have gotten out of the will of God.

Stage one: we stop judging ourselves. "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law." You see, before we speak evil of people, we have done something else: we have stopped judging ourselves. Now it isn't wrong to try to help a brother or a sister who has sinned. Nothing wrong with that at all. The word of God makes it very, very clear that we are to help the other members of the body. Galatians 6:1: "My brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." We do have the responsibility of helping one another, but before we examine others, we must examine ourselves. Now that's the principle the Bible lays down. Before we examine others, we must examine ourselves. If we don't examine ourselves, we are not going to be able to examine others honestly.

For example, we must examine ourselves as far as our eyes are concerned. Turn to Matthew 7. Now our Lord tells us what to do in Matthew 7:1. "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you." In other words, be careful what you give; you're going to get it back. And don't come crying when people start criticizing you because you're just getting back what you've given to others. "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?" Now there's nothing wrong with examining your brother's eye if you can see. Can you imagine going to a blind oculist? "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck out of your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite!" Now why is there hypocrisy here? Because we know that we have a worse sin than our brother. So often we criticize others to cover up things that are in our own lives. So often the one in the church who is so vociferous, so outspoken in criticizing and judging others turns out to be guilty of things that are far worse. "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye." He simply saying here, nothing wrong with helping your brother get the dirt out of his eye. Nothing wrong at all in trying to bring him to a point where he can see better and he can do a better job. But you can't see to help him if you aren't judging yourself.

So let's look at our own eyes. Can we really see? Is there something in my life that is wrong? James tells us in James 3:14 we should examine our hearts. "If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth." Why do we slander others? Because we envy them. We want what they have. Let's watch our hands. James 4:8: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." I wouldn't want a doctor operating on me if his hands were dirty. So, are my eyes clear to see? Am I seeing clearly? Is my heart right? Is my motive right? Are my hands clean? Is my tongue what it ought to be? You go to the doctor and he says, "Stick out your tongue." Well, James does this. James says stick out your tongue, let me see what your tongue looks like because if our tongues are not under the control of the Holy Spirit, we're going to cause trouble. In other words, we must look into the mirror of God's word. James 1:22-25. Look into the mirror of God's word and let that word examine us first. Every day we've got to pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Notice what happens here. We start judging the law. We stop judging ourselves and then we start judging the law, which means we put ourselves above the word of God. We say, "Well, now I am a judge." But you aren't called to be a judge; you're called to be a witness. You're not called to be a prosecuting attorney. "But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy." You remember Jesus said that. He said don't fear man, but you fear Him who is able to destroy body and soul in hell. Fear God. Who are you to judge another?

Now what law is he talking about here? I think he's talking about the law of love. Leviticus 19:18. The Jews that heard this epistle read would have known these verses. Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." Now that's Old Testament law and it's also New Testament scripture. The law of love. In fact, he calls this the "royal law." James 2:8. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you do well." You see, if you put yourself above the law, then you are a law-maker instead of a law-obeyer. Now you and I cannot put ourselves above the law. If we put ourselves above the law, we are going to be in a place where we are taking the place of God.

I suppose there was a problem in the church between the Jews and the Gentiles. Romans 14:1-15:33 illustrate this. The Jews came out of a legalistic background of what they could eat and what they couldn't eat, and certain days were special to them. The Gentiles came out of a different background and of course they clashed. The Gentiles said, "Well, in Jesus Christ we have freedom. You can eat what you want to eat." And the Jews say, "Well, we've been brought up and our conscience tells us not to eat these things." And so there was conflict. And yet James calls this the law of liberty. James 2:12. "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty." It's a law that sets us free when we obey God's law.

Now, when we start judging the law, we start taking God's place. We think we are God. There's a frightening statement in Psalm 50:16. "But to the wicked God says: 'What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit.'" Now Psalm 50:20: "You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son." Then God goes on to say, "These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you." You see, we become God. "But I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes." We become a law unto ourselves and we start becoming dictators. By the way, that's where cults come from. We start getting above the word of God. We are the ones who apply the word of God to everybody else, but we don't apply the word of God to ourselves.

Stage one: we stop judging ourselves. We aren't honest with God. Stage two: we start judging the law. We decide where the word of God applies to the lives of other people. This leads us to the third stage: we start judging our brother, which is slander and false accusation. And this is a wicked sin. Slander and false accusation. Moses said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Whenever we go around slandering our brother, we're bearing false witness. David wrote in Psalm 15:3. He's talking about who is going to make it to God's tabernacle. "He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his neighbor." Talking about other people.

The book of Proverbs talks about this, one of the sins that God hates. Proverbs 6 talks about that. These things that God hates and one of them is those who bear false witness against a brother. Proverbs 10:12: "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins." Paul warns about this in Romans 14, doesn't he? That classic passage about the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:10: "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us shall give account of himself to God." I'm not going to have to give an account for you, or you for me. "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way."

And so all of the Scripture warns against this awful sin of slander, speaking evil against one another. When we do this, we're playing right into the hands of the devil. James said in verse seven, "Resist the devil." Well, the devil is a slanderer. His name, diabolos, means a slanderer. The unsaved people are slanderers, aren't they? They speak evil against us. 1 Peter 2:12. So when I slander, I'm acting like the devil and I'm acting like the unsaved. But love covers.

Proverbs 17:9 tells us that. "He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates the best of friends." Peter had the same thing to say, and so did the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote this to the Ephesians: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor (that means loud quarreling), evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ also forgave you." Throughout the word of God, we are told to use love to cover a multitude of sins. And if we do that, God will bless us. But if we go around repeating things, speaking evil of our brother, we stop judging ourselves, then we get worse. We start judging the law and the Bible no longer speaks to us the way God wants to speak to us. Then we start judging our brother and we create problems in families and in churches and Sunday school classes and in this world. Therefore let's just obey this. Who are you to judge another? Leave the judging with the Lord. Paul says judge nothing before the time. 1 Corinthians 4:5. Instead of being judges, let's be witnesses, and let's remember that love covers a multitude of sins.

[Interview:]
Up next, Warren joins Arnie Cole, CEO of Back to the Bible International, to answer a few questions about his life these days.

Warren, have you written any books or studies lately?

Yes, I'm always writing. My primary publisher is Baker Books, and sometimes they say, "How about a book on this?" or sometimes I say, "Well, what do you think of this idea?" It's like a family situation. Yes, I've done a lot of writing. Sometimes three books a year have come out.

That many!

That doesn't make me a great writer, it just means I've got more time than other people. I enjoy writing because these books are going to be speaking long after I'm gone.

Oh, that's right. You did a commentary on the entire Bible, didn't you?

Well, we covered the entire Bible in the "Be" series, and that's out in two big volumes. But there is a Bible; it's called "The Transformation Study Bible." The purpose of the Bible is to transform us from being what we were to what God wants us to be, to be more like Jesus. And it was a challenge to go through all 50 of the "Be" books and pull out the heart of it and get it into the footnotes so that when they read that verse, they can read the footnote and say, "Oh, now I understand." But it isn't just explanation; it's motivation. Too many study Bibles are just full of facts.

That's right.

And I didn't want that. And I said let's, we have to motivate the people. It hasn't set the world on fire, but I have had enough response to it that people have said, "This is what I've been looking for."

Must have taken a long time to put that together.

Well, I had the assistance of a very intelligent and godly man up in Wheaton, Illinois. And his gift is to take big slices of Scripture and put them into chewable forms. And he's the one who divided things up for me. We just simply had to take the "Be" books and try to get the wealth out of it on the page.

Oh, I thought it was excellent.

Well, I'm glad to hear that.