Don't Judge Others

God, when he looks at us as judge, he sees the blood. So maybe if you feel tempted to start judging, you can maybe set up a filter of the blood to look through to say, is he is he bought with the price? Has he been washed? And maybe that'll be a good way to get you out of that mind frame of judging.

Hello, friends. Welcome to the Life Tabernacle Church podcast. It's an honor to be with you today. This podcast serves as our church's weekly sermon archive. Tune in each week to hear what God is speaking in our community.

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How many know how many have heard the phrase, the devil's in the details? Anybody? It's always true when the pastor takes a day off, That little things show up and that Solomon or the small foxes that's for the line, but let's not let any of these little things get in our way because I think we've got a good word for us this morning. If you will, pray with me real quick. Father, I thank you that you have given us your word, your perfect your perfect word.

I thank you that you speak to us today through your word. I think that you I thank you that you're a good God, you're a holy God, a perfect God, a worthy God, a God worthy of our praise, our adoration, worthy of all honor and glory and power. That you're a holy God. That you're a beautiful and wonderful God. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen. Sorry. I'm working on the mic a little bit to get it to sound, a little better. Thank you so much. Like I said, the little details.

I'm trying to work on this mic a little bit to get us working a little better here. How can how does it sound? Can you hear me? Praise God. Alright.

So as we know, we've been in James for quite a while. It's been kind of a marathon of James. And, not that any epistle is greater than another in the New Testament, but James feels so important to us right now, especially as we've been studying it. Important to examine. Alright.

This is why I think it's been one of my favorite series that we've done so far, since Dallas has started preaching regularly that we and we've been preaching in series. I think this has been very edifying though convicting. Amen? James is a small book, but it truly is very densely packed with with sort of nutrients that we need as a community. Right?

It's kinda like a multivitamin of a of an epistle. Five milligrams of or fifteen milligrams of exhortation, a hundred milligrams of wisdom. But it's about fifteen hundred milligrams of staunch rebuke. It's heavy on the rebuke. It's heavy on the correction.

And sometimes we can feel a kind of way when we read this. For some, this staunch rebuke can be difficult to stumble. Does anyone feel that way? Does anyone feel like it can be hard to read some of these things we see in James? I think this is especially true when James almost feels like he's talking directly at us, which is to say that he's speaking out against maybe a certain behavior or a certain thought process that we engage in or maybe we've engaged in the past.

Has anyone felt that way? Alright. It's undeniable that James deals with some content that we're not used to seeing in other in other epistles. He has some unique things that he that he addresses. Some unique things.

James deals with, the kind of stuff that when when Dallas starts preaching about it, we start thinking that he's meddling. Right? Well, with or without your permission permission, I'm gonna do some meddling as well today. It's the privilege of the preacher to meddle. But yeah.

Many people, when reading James, they feel the need to compare, James to other epistles, Paul, which is fine to do, but it's actually necessary to do to to see what how James fits into the to the rest of the New Testament. Our one big difference though is that, between Paul and James is that there is no point in James' letter, right, that, when we finish reading that section, we think back and what did he mean when he said, blamed. Sometimes Paul talks about things, especially when he gets into, like, the mysteries of God and these things, and these were were wondering, what is he talking about? Or sometimes in John's epistles, we read and think, what is he talking about? You got and then you have to go back and study and and dig into it and be guided by the spirit.

But at no point does James leave us with that question of what is James talking about? Alright. Because he is straight up and he is clear about this is what I mean. Right? He's got an horny, the elephant.

A horn elephant is faithful a 100% in what he says. We know what he means. So think back to some of these things that we've dealt with so far throughout the series as kind of a a checkpoint for what we've been through so far. Back to chapter one when he when James addressed that, if we have doubt, we must ask in faith without any doubt. For the one who doubts is like the serp of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. So James is making it very clear that if you don't have faith, you should not expect to God to give you anything. Without faith, you're not getting anything. It's clear. Right?

And he's clear again in chapter two, which we've been through. If any of you show partiality or committing sin or convicted by the law as transgressors, right, this also could not be any clearer. Growing up as a pastor's kid, I have seen a lot of things in church. I've met a lot of different people. I've seen instances where pastors and elders treat, certain members a certain way or they let them get away with certain things because of the maybe the percentage of the budget that's made up from their tithes or or whatever else.

This is sin. Showing favor to somebody, and we shouldn't be. Alright? So that's partiality. James is calling it a sin.

So that's clear. Right? Abundantly, This behavior is sinful, therefore, stopped, essentially. And that's one of the instances that we see of James doing this in his epistle. Right?

Let's focus back to James three because it's very connected to what we will address in James four eleven. So James three starting in verse six. If you'll think back to Dallas' sermon, my terrible tongue or whatever it was where he gave out the little floppy tongues. Do you remember that? Everyone remember the rubber tongues that we got?

Think back to that. Think back to what he talked about. The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles, and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our lord and father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in the likeness of god from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. Brethren, these things ought not be this way. Which that idea of ought not be this way can be kind of taken as a motif throughout James. This is the thing that's happening.

This is the thing that ought not be this way. Right? This is or even throughout the epistles in general, you talk to the Corinthians. This is what's going on in this church in in Corinth. It ought not be that way.

Right? So throughout the epistles, we see that the spirit is correcting how we live as a community. These things ought not be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brother, produce olives or a vine produce figs?

Nor can salt water produce fresh. So it it appears to me that James, throughout the book, is establishing the kingdom expectation for how we engage with one another. Alright. There is a worldly expectation of how you can engage with people. Alright.

James is saying, here is the kingdom expectation for how we ought to behave with each other. Alright. It's not just about doing the right thing or the wrong thing or, it's about how do we treat one another. How do we treat one another? That brings us then up to speed with what Dallas preached from last week, four one through 10 of pride versus humility.

Right? So then, once again, here's what's happening. You know, this ought not be this way. Some of you are quarreling. Some of you have killed each other.

Maybe that's figurative language, maybe not as we discussed last week, but this is what's happening. This ought not be that way. Right? So he talks about our need to humble ourselves before God. Right?

Our our need to humble ourselves before others. Amen? Our knee our need to draw near to God. So maybe we pray right now that, Lord, humble us before one another and before you, that we would receive what you have for us through your word. Amen.

Finally, after quite the introduction of preamble, let's look at our text for today starting at James four verse 11. James writes, do not speak against one another, brother. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judgment. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy.

But who are you to judge your name? Alright. Here in verse 11, James establishes what some call a prohibition of critical speech, which a prohibition is an order to stop doing something, or sometimes in government terms, it's the act of making something illegal, thinking back to the prohibition times when alcohol was made illegal. So this is this is an instance where James once again is telling us to stop doing this thing. It's an imperative.

Which if you remember back to English class, have types of sentences. You have declarative sentences that state facts. Alright? You have, interrogative sentences that ask a question, which we see here in verse 12. Who are you to judge your neighbor?

That's an that's an interrogative. But this is an imperative sentence, which means do this thing or stop doing this thing. Right? It's it's a it's a direction. It's an order.

It's a clear statement. Once again, James is clear. Watch. So the first part of this verse 11 is an imperative to tell us not to speak against one another, not to speak against one another, Which against in this in this text is the Greek word kataleo, which means to slander or speak evil of. To slander or speak evil of.

Slander, we know legally means like the utterance of false charges, saying something that's not true about somebody, saying they did something that they didn't do, or misrepresenting something, defaming, damaging their reputation, or making a defamatory oral statement about somebody. Are we clear? Against this slam. Right? It's not necessarily just maybe being mean or being harsh with somebody.

It may it means something in particular. It means slam. It means saying this thing that's not true. Amen? Alright.

So I'm not gonna ask anybody right now to raise their hand if you've done this. Right? But I do want you to think back for maybe five or ten seconds. Let's think back to a time where you have done this or maybe be honest with yourself about the fact that you probably have done this. Because it's it's likely that we've all fallen short of the glory of God in this way.

So it's not about whether or not yeah. I'm not accusing anybody of doing this, but I'm just saying I'm just saying let's be real about how we are as fallen people. I know that I've done this, and there are a lot of reasons or excuses or justifications that we create or set up to pardon this behavior. But once again, James make it makes it clear that this is not acceptable. Right?

A lot of reasons that we we make up for ourselves. A lot of excuses we give ourselves so that we can do this cycle. Maybe we maybe we mask it as a prayer request, saying something about somebody, as a prayer request, but really we're wanting to gossip or we're wanting to slander somebody. Those are the kind of excuses or justifications that, we make up. But it's not right.

It's not okay. It's not acceptable. In fact, it is sinful to say something against somebody. Alright? And just because you heard it from somebody else that maybe you trust doesn't mean it's always true.

Doesn't mean it's a fact. Just because it's something that you think is true doesn't mean it's okay or or, truthful. It's speaking against someone. Right? So before we get going too much further, I want us to take a pledge as a community.

Take a pledge as a community against this critical and slanderous speech, this hurtful destructive speech. So I'm gonna ask everyone to repeat after me, and we'll all take this together as a community. Alright? Repeat after me. I will not speak against my brother or sister.

I will instead edify them with my words. I will glorify Christ with my words, and I will depend on God's grace and strength to help me do this. Amen. So now we've agreed. Right?

Now we can hold each other accountable to say, that's speaking against somebody. We don't need to do that. Right? We're changing our mindset and perspective. We're saying we're not gonna do this Even if it's fun or salacious or interesting or intriguing, we're not going to do it because we live in the kingdom.

We live in the kingdom. We have a different set of expectations for the kingdom. Amen? How many know that the kingdom is not about the things that we do here on the earth physically or carnally? Paul says to the Romans, the kingdom of God is not eating nor drinking, but is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

So when you speak to one another, is what you're saying righteous to that person? Is it is it is it right? Is it peaceful or peaceable with that person? Is it joyful or joyous with that person? Because if it's outside of those three, likely it doesn't belong in the kingdom.

If it's something that you're saying that's prideful, it doesn't belong in the kingdom. If it's hurtful, if it's destructive, if it's demonic, which I I would argue that anything that subtracts from the true nature of god that's in us is demonic. To call somebody ugly is is to deny god's nature and that there is beautiful, perfect image that's in them. Right? To say to be hateful to someone is to is to assault the nature of God that's in that person.

Is that is this making sense? I guess I am glad for Dallas so that I I can talk about these things, and he doesn't have to be the bad guy. Because I can just as one preacher said, I can blow up or blow in, blow up, and blow out, and I can leave the mess for Dallas to clean up next week. But think about what we're saying. Is it is it a kingdom?

Is it a kingdom saying? Is it a kingdom statement? Does it glorify Christ or does it subtract from his glory? Alright. So this prohibition that James has given us, he then follows it up with an explanation.

So he says, he says, do not speak against one another as an imperative. Right? We know. That's the command, the imperative. Right?

So he's saying, stop doing this. So we can we can understand that. We can digest that. Thank you. We're not gonna do it.

But let's follow it up with some more context, and that's exactly what James does in in the rest of verse 11 and verse 12. And you can kinda break up this explanation into three segments. Right? The the statement, the clarification, and the foundation. So he states after the imperative that whoever speaks against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law. And he clarifies, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge, and then establishes a foundation for his argument here that there is only one lawgiver and judge who's able to save and destroy. So this statement, he starts with whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law. This is James' explanation for why we should not speak against one another. Because it's one thing to say stop doing it, it's another thing to explain why.

So he's explaining, why is it that I'm telling you not to do this? Because speaking against one another means you're speaking against the law, which James says then that this means you are then judging the law. By speaking against somebody, you're judging the law. This this phrase of judging the law doesn't necessarily mean you're being judgmental towards the law, but it's like the idea that you are setting yourself up as a judicial judge of the law. To put yourself up on in into the, whatever the what do they call it where the judge sits?

I forget. But you're putting yourself as the judge in that position, and you're trying to make judicial and spiritual judgments as if you are the judge. That's what he's saying here, that you become a judge of the law. So it's not a good thing. It's not like, yeah, you start judging people, you can make yourself a judge and and promote yourself.

And now you're a judge, so that's cool. So we'll listen to you. It's not saying it's it's figurative that you are making yourself it's an he's pointing to the the irony or the hubris of the situation. The irony that that you measly person think to yourself that you can make yourself a judge. The hubris which is the pinnacle of of human pride.

Such hubris takes you so far in your pride that it destroys you. Right? It's like it's like Icarus when he got his wings in the Greek stories. Anyone familiar with that? He made these wings, was able to fly, but in his pride, in his lust, he flew too close to the sun.

The wax melted the feathers, flew off. He couldn't fly, and he plummeted to his death. That's hubris. So as as a fallen imperfect person, when you try to judge somebody, that's exactly what you're doing. You're you're putting yourself into a place that you do not belong.

Alright. This is defying the order that God has established. You are trying in your strength to take God's place as judge. So think about how that will not work for you. It's pretty straightforward.

If you try to do what God is supposed to do, it's not gonna work. If you try to do in your strength, what God is supposed to do won't work. Right? If you try to do with your finances, what God is supposed to do is not gonna work. Like, Simon the magician, whoever what his name was, he tried to buy the gift, the anointing.

That's not how it works. You're defying the order. But this idea of judgment or judging one another has a gospel foundation. We think back to Matthew seven. We all know this because a lot of people in the world like to throw this back at us.

So we're quite familiar with it. But but in Matthew seven one five, Jesus says, do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye but not notice the log that is in your own? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck.

You are yeah. He says, you hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So what James is teaching us here is is directly connected to what Jesus taught in the gospels. He's saying, if you're judging somebody, you are calling yourself a judge.

Right? And then the punishment almost the the follow-up is that it's gonna come back, that you will be judged by the same measure. So we should not that's why we should not set us set ourselves up as judges because it's gonna come back. It's a little bit of a warning for you, but it's also the root of what James is talking about. Sometimes this conversation of judgment can be confusing because there are passages where it says we we will judge them by their fruit.

Right? So we do some level of kingdom judgment, but that's really seeing, are they producing the fruit? Are they that's an accountability issue more so than setting yourself up as judge. But then James follows up then with a clarification, right, which we established here that if you judge the law, you're not a doer but a judge. James is doubling down on this idea of stepping out of the natural order of things.

Stepping down in the natural, the idea of stepping out of the natural order. If you step out of the natural order, then you're causing a problem for yourself. Right? When you become preoccupied with whether or not your brothers and sisters are following the law, you're stepping outside of god's will. So becoming a judge of the law here is not a good thing.

You should not be saying, I wanna be a judge of the law. It means that you have defied god. You have attempted to usurp his role. Right? You've attempted to usurp god as judge.

Let me remind you today right now that that you each and every one of you, you want God to be your judge. Alright? You don't want your brother to be your judge. Because when we judge one another when we judge one another, we focus on the faults and the failures of everyone else. We focus on each other's issues or problems.

Alright? We focus on what's wrong with them. We focus oftentimes on what really is just a result of sin. Right? But when God looks at us in judgment, it shouldn't be a position of a lot of times, if you're right in Christ, this should not be a position of this should not make you afraid.

You should not be afraid of God as judge. Because when God looks at us as judge, when he looks at his creation in judgment, he first sees the blood of his precious son. Alright. So when we judge one another, we're looking at what's wrong with this person. Why did they do this?

Why did they act this way? Why did they say these things? Why aren't they good enough? All these things. We're looking at what what's wrong with people.

We're looking at their faults, their failures. Anybody remember Donnie Ringle's old song that he looked beyond our he looked past our faults, he saw our needs. You remember that's exactly what Christ does. That he looked past what's wrong with us, and he sees what do we need, which is salvation, deliverance. God, when he looks at us as judge, he sees the blood.

So maybe if you feel tempted to start judging, you can maybe set up a filter of the blood to look through to say, is he is he bought with the price? Has he been washed? And maybe that'll be a good way to get you out of that mind frame to judge it. And then finally, the foundation here. The ultimate reason why we should not judge is because God is the judge.

There's one. One judge who is able to save and to destroy. So if you notice, starting in verse 13, James takes what is kind of an abrupt shift from this idea of judgment, which he's been dealing with this topic since chapter three. Right? He started with the tongue and started talking about teaching and all these different things, and he now is closing up that sandwich with verse four and eleven, eleven and twelve.

And now we shift into a different topic here in 13 where he says, come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, and engage in business, and make a profit. Yet, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You're just a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil.

Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him, it is sin. To know the right thing and to not do it is a definition of sin. So think back quickly on on everything that we've we've discussed here in James so far. All of these warnings, all of these imperatives, all of these prohibitions, all of these verses that have convicted us. Now think about this idea as verse says as verse 14 says that we don't know what our life would be like tomorrow.

Right? This is when we can get into some old school some old school holiness preaching if we wanted to that we don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. We don't know what even is gonna happen in five minutes. So that that to me sets up a mandate, an imperative to live right. This is old school Pentecostal preaching.

You know, the Lord's coming at any second. Right? We have to be right. We've all heard this growing up. And sometimes it's great preaching.

But sometimes I think we can become complacent and start to forget. We can start to forget this idea that Christ is coming for us, which James remind us, once again, convicts us, corrects us to say we do not have that much time. Alright. We do not have enough time to act this way. I'm saying I'm saying we because we are a community.

We have agreed to be a community by coming this to this church to to partake in the Lord's Supper and to live and do life with one another. We are a community. We we, as a community, do not have enough time to act this way. So then maybe you ask, what is this way? To be to be speaking slanders, we don't have enough time to do that.

With what little time God has entrusted us, we do not have enough to be slanders, to be adulterous, both maybe, relationally, but also spiritually to be adulterous because as James told us earlier, to be friend friendship with the world is enmity with God. But if you try to be in the world, you're being adulterous towards our true savior, our master, ruler, to be covetous about what other people have and we don't have. Alright. We don't have enough time for that. Alright.

To be hateful to one another. We definitely do not have enough time to be hateful towards each other. Amen? We don't have enough time to be impatient if we're waiting for God, which that seems like a paradox. But we don't have enough time to be impatient.

We don't even have we don't have enough time to be unhealthy physically, which I'm saying that to myself. I don't have enough time here to be enough. So gotta fix that. Right? We don't have enough time left to be distracted.

Consider the 10 virgins that five of them were wise, five were foolish. They all took their lamps, but only five of them brought oil with them. Right? They said, when the bridegroom was coming, right, they said, oh, we we can go. We'll buy.

And then, hopefully, by the time we get back, the bridegroom will be here, and we're all good. Right? We're all familiar with this. That's why I'm not reading the whole thing. But think about this idea that the foolish virgins were confronted with the reality they created for themselves.

They were confronted with the reality that they created for themselves. They put themselves in this position of not being ready. They made a conscious choice, oh, we will just wait and buy later, or we can go real quick and come back, and it's gonna work out. So think about the sort of reality that you're creating for yourself this morning. And I'll ask the Holy Spirit, make us aware of the reality that we are creating for ourselves.

Make us aware of the thought patterns that are negatively affecting things. Alright. Make us aware of certain behaviors that we're engaging in that are causing a problem for us. Make us aware of the things that we're saying to one another that are causing a problem. Make us aware of our picture of you that's causing a problem for us.

Make us aware this morning of how we might be misunderstanding you, God. So going back back to verse 13 then, James, once again, is is warning us. He's saying, be careful about how you're living. Don't do this. Do this instead.

You know, this is how it ought not be. So as he says at thirteen, today or tomorrow, we'll go to such and such a city to spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet, we don't know what our life will be like tomorrow because we're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. So this is kind of he's he's setting up this sort of sin of presumption that we presume to ourselves that we have enough time to do this thing that we wanna do. But instead, we ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.

So when it comes to what are we planning for ourselves, what reality are we creating for ourselves, are we submitting it to his will? To say, if the Lord's hand is on this, if he if he wills this, we will do it. Are we saying that I will apologize tomorrow? I'll try to go meet them for lunch tomorrow or by or on Wednesday, I'll make a date. We'll go get lunch on Wednesday, and I'll and I'll say the things that I needed to say that the holy spirit has made me aware that I need to say.

I'll do it on Wednesday. I promise. Alright. And then Monday comes and somebody cancels me. So now what do you do?

We're just playing catch up with trying to do what the Lord has convicted us to do. So we're we can't presume that we have this much time. That's why I pray, holy spirit, make us aware of what we need to do. Make us aware of what we need to say. Maybe it's not about necessarily that you need to apologize to somebody.

Maybe you need to say, you did this to me five years ago. You said this thing to me five years ago, and it hurt me. Alright? It did not glorify Christ. It hurt me, and I've been living, and I've been trying to figure it out for five years, but I just can't.

So what at what point do you do you say something? Do you wait? You say, tomorrow or later today, I will do it. I'll say something. Or do you say, as soon as you get a chance, say, this is what the Lord told me I need to tell you.

This is how I've been feeling for ten years. Right? This is how that thing that you said affected me so many years ago. Or maybe he's making you aware of that thing that you did to somebody else, and the two of you together can figure out, hey. We will do this.

We will submit this to the Lord's will. He will guide us. He will equip us. He will strengthen us, and we'll be better for it because we've avoided this presumption of time. Alright?

We we've avoided the sin of knowing the right thing and not doing it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are truly good to us. Father, we thank you that you do speak to us. God, and you you speak to us through your word, and you speak to us by your spirit.

Sometimes you speak to us through a brother or a sister. But it's undeniable that you speak to your church today. God, right now, we open our hearts this morning to hear what you have to say because we are accepting the truth that we do not have enough time to delay, to wait. We stop saying we will do this tomorrow. And, God, I ask that you will speak to each person this morning.

And, God, I ask that as we seek forgiveness, seek reconciliation between us, God, that your holy spirit would come in like a sow and soothe those hurting places, those broken places, those dry, weary places. God, that you would be the balm in Gilead for our pain. God, you have committed us to the ministry of reconciliation. I pray that we would take up that commitment to reconcile to be reconciled, to be healed. God, pray, Lord, that we would every day depend on your grace and your strength.

And that it with every day that we listen to your voice, we become more accustomed to your voice and your expectation for us. God, that every day that we live in the kingdom, it becomes easier to do the things that you've called us to do because we've become closer to you. We've become more like you. We've become less like the world. Finally, Lord, I I thank you that you convict us, that your Holy Spirit does convict us.

I I I thank you that you convict us of our sin even. But sometimes our sin that we don't believe in, but sometimes our sins of of of saying something hurtful. You convict us of that, but also you convict us of our righteousness this morning. Right? Because we are righteous, we know that we can do this thing.

Because we are righteous, we can be loving and joyful and peaceful and kind and good. So it's not up to us in our strength, Lord, but it's up to you. And your strength that's made perfect in our weakness.