SNBS Are we to judge other believers James 4, 11-17

Good evening and welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Wittenbaptist Church. We are gonna finish chapter 4 of the book of James today, Lord willing. You'll see why I said that in a minute.

Judging Brothers and Sisters in Christ Without Slandering Them

And here we go. Verse 11. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks evil against a brother, judges a brother, speaks evil against the law, and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of a law, but a judge.

There is only one lawgiver and one judge who is able to save and to destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor? This section is about defaming or slandering a brother or sister in Christ. And what's clear from verse 11, it's not all type of judgments in verse 12 that James is forbidding here, but that of slandering or defaming or gossiping or you judging in the sense that you are the final judge.

If you used to play games as a kid and people got upset at the rules of a game, you would say, hey, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. Same here. We as Christians are not to judge our brothers and sisters in the sense that we are the judge.

We are to judge them in the sense that we are saying, no, but you and I are both accountable to the final judge. And these are the rules he has set out. We as Christians must humbly recognize that we are also under the law of God and not the lawgivers.

We hold each other to the law while recognizing that we are also held to the same standard. So we do judge other believers. We do not judge other believers. We do judge other believers in that we hold them to the standard that God has set for all of us, the word of God, and we call them out because God told us to do so.

We're not their judge, but we judge them based on the true judge's standard. Three examples of this. Matthew 18 should be a familiar passage. If someone's caught in wrongdoing, go to them privately. If they won't listen, take two or three.

If they won't listen, take them to the church and have them removed. 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and 2 Timothy 4, 1 through 5. I tell you what, let's just check out real quick 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. 1 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 9.

I didn't plan on going over here, but let's do it. What have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church who I am to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you.

That's a quote from Leviticus. How much more than matters pertaining to this life? So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers.

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, or idolaters, or adulterers, or men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, or revilers, or swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were, Christian, such were some of you. You were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of our God. So what's clear here is Paul is chiding them for having cases taken to court, suing each other, going before an unbelieving judge.

Why not with trivial matters have it settled within the church? So we are to judge those inside the church. That's what the Bible says here. We are to judge those inside, not outside. God judges them.

We judge inside. Okay? So, if we are to judge believers, then what is James talking about here? What's the type of judgment we cannot do here in the book of James? Well, we do not judge other believers in that we don't slander or falsely accuse, assume we are the ultimate judge, or assume we are the savior or punisher of lawbreakers.

Let's check out Ephesians 4, verse 31. Ephesians 4, verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from among you, along with all malice. Verse 32. Be kind to one another, forgiving one another, tenderhearted, as God in Christ forgave you.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Exodus 23, I was just looking at, talks about false reports. So, the type of judgment that James is forbidding here is, let's look again, speaking evil and acting as if you are the lawgiver or the one who is able to save or destroy.

That is the type of judgment we're not allowed to do. So, I judge you in that, hey man, this is God's standard, you're not living up to it. I do not judge you as in, hey, you have to live up to my standard.

That's false judgment. Clear enough? Alright, section 13 through 17. I love this passage. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.

Yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills. You ever heard someone say, Lord willing.

Creek don't rise. They get that from this passage. If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, to him it is sin.

Come now you who say today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. So, it is boasting in arrogance. It's boasting in arrogance to say with such certainty that I'm going to go do this or that without considering God.

You don't even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? That it appears for a little mist and then vanishes. This passage is about the sovereignty of God. Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases.

Psalm 115 .3. He does whatever he pleases with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of earth. Daniel 4. With all that's in the seas. Psalm 135. Isaiah 46 .9 -10 He declares the end from the beginning.

Ephesians 1 .11. He works all things according to the counsel of his will. So, how dare us as creatures made from dirt say we're going to go do this and not consider God. Not ask God. Not think about God.

How can we go through life without thinking about God? It's because we forget and don't recognize just how sovereign he is. His sovereignty is such that you shouldn't even say I'm going to do anything this or that.

I'm going to do this or that without saying only if the Lord wills. And not just saying that. Believe him. That's how sovereign we should believe God is. He's in that much control. At the end, James reminds us about the difference between the sin of commission and omission.

But they're both sinful. Sin of commission, you committed a crime. You stole or murdered or committed adultery. Sin of omission is not doing that which God commanded you to do. So, of the 613 laws in the law of Moses, we have many of them that are positive commands.

Many of them that are negative commands. When I say positive and negative, I mean some of them are you shall not. Some of them are you shall. So, the sin of commission is disobeying. It is committing one of those you shall nots.

The sin of omission is not doing that which he told you to do. So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, to him it is harmatia, sin. Whether that's not helping, not serving, not investing in someone else, not doing what you know you should do is as much a sin as stealing or lying or whatever.

Sin of Omission and the Call to Obey What God Commands

Alright, there's James chapter 4. Guys, please like, share, subscribe to these videos. Very soon, we'll have a Witton app, by the way. We already have it. We're working on it now. Witton Baptist Church app that you can feel free to download.

Like, share, subscribe. Please and thank you help us get the message out. Next week, we're in James chapter 5. Love you guys very much.