A LETTER FROM JAMES

Chapter 4 - PART 3

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? (James 4:11-12 – NLT)

What James may well be dealing with here is the temptation common to humanity, that of slander and gossip. Both the old and new testaments have dire warnings to those who choose, of their own volition, to indulge themselves in this sin. I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. (Psalm 101:5) Bear in mind that James has commenced this chapter by addressing what appears to be tension and conflict within the early church.

Nothing destroys a fellowship or community quicker that slander and gossip, be it Christian or non-Christian. Sadly, there will always be the temptation to more harshly evaluate and judge the actions of others than those of our own, and the reality is that we all too quickly fall into the role of judging the others. It is a temptation we need to be on guard against on a 24/7 basis for it reveals a less compassionate and forbearing attitude that is far from the example of Christ.

It is one of the great tragedies of humanity in which people find so much delight and unkind satisfaction; that of spreading malicious stories about others. In James 2:8 he has reminded his readers of the necessity of obeying the royal law of Jesus to love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:39). The reality is that it is humanly impossible to authentically love your neighbours and slander and gossip about them at the same time.

In the previous chapter, James has addressed the power of the tongue and given a dire warning that those who are unable to control their words are dabbling in the fires of hell, see James 3:3-6. When the tongue is uncontrolled, gossip and slander are common bedfellows and the Christian who would live the kingdom lifestyle must refrain from these two, very human, temptations. When we have truly allowed the Holy Spirit to renew our minds, we have put in place safeguards against these human and destructive temptations.

When we come to the place of criticizing and judging others we are personally evaluating and interpreting the mind of God, always a very risky practice. In a very real sense, we are placing ourselves on the same level of God and usurping his authority. James clearly brings the focus back to our own thoughts and actions when he writes: But your job is to obey the law … So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

The great tragedy of the church is that we so lightly tolerate the sins of slander and gossip, and all too often, are to ready too overlook and dismiss them as trivial or harmless. James makes it clear, as do other passages of the Bible, that they are not trivial or harmless but utterly destructive, for they not only break the royal law of love; they give us an illegitimate authority to place ourselves in God position in judging others.

13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

James goes on to help us focus our mindset on God’s will for us, rather than on the material and contemporary world that goes to make up our everyday life, where great emphasis is placed on the development and planning of our lives. However, the reality is, left purely to our own ideas we will probably get it wrong since the tendency of humanity is to sideline God and his will for our lives. There’s nothing wrong with planning and development for our lives, but we need to be continually evaluating and examining if what we plan, is in line with God’s will for us.

The strongest among us can quite easily be side-tracked and distracted by the lure of materialism; the need to achieve and possess to make us feel secure. It would seem that at the heart of humanity is a basic sense of insecurity and we look to compensate through achievement and possessions, believing that they will give us the security that we yearn. The great tragedy with all this is that those characteristics are at best, purely temporary. Jesus told the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21 to illustrate this issue.

It is only as we take God into all our development and planning that we can get a clear direction of what God wants for our lives. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 - NLT) When we truly embrace the kingdom lifestyle we are promised a future and more importantly, authentic hope.

Living within, and at the direction of God’s will is not some sort of automated tendency, whereby some mysterious and unthinking process we fall within God’s plan for us. The reality is that unless we apply our cognitive processes, and actively seek to know and understand His will for us, we will fall into the temptation of basically serving the more carnal side of our inner being. The end result is that we will find ourselves boasting about our own pretentious plans.

To truly know and actively do God’s will require some grit, effort and determination. It is not acquired along the easy street of life. Jesus warned His followers that those who chose the kingdom lifestyle would have to persistently and continuously apply themselves if they would know and do the will of God. You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 – NLT)

James’ warning here is about the human tendency to self-focused living which, in reality, is a very human and common tendency, and many good pilgrims within the kingdom lifestyle fall into its temptation. Perhaps there is the tendency here, that to make us feel good about ourselves and reinforce our self-worth, we indulge in boasting about our own pretentious plans. In the light of Biblical teaching says James; all such boasting is evil.

Much of what James has covered in this 4^th chapter has to do with the nuts and bolts part of the kingdom lifestyle. Quarrels and fights among fellow Christians, jealousy, wrong motives, friendship with the world, pride, criticism and judgement of each other, and a wrong focus and perspective on life. However, tucked away with this chapter is the counter-balance and resolution: 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you …  10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Video meditation: Nearer still nearer
https://youtu.be/XSFQa2xF7Ss