The Test of True Humility: Part 3 - James Lesson 24

 I would like to ask you to open your Bibles again to the book of James. We are on a steady pace through the hard hitting reality presented in this portion of the word of God. Today we will be looking at James 4:11-12. Read these verses.

 I want to remind you of the context of these verses. James has just finished calling us to walk in humility. We must be humble if we are to experience the greater grace God gives as we are told in James 4:6. We need this grace because of the reality of the reality of residual sin, things addressed in verses 1-5 of chapter 4. Our honest examination of our hearts revealed the need for the grace. If we are to receive the grace we must be humble. We learned what it was to walk in humility last time. Expanding the context a little further back, to walk in humility is to walk in the wisdom which is from above.

 True humility is two dimensional. Humility will bring us into submission to God. This is the vertical dimension. Verse 10 gave us the primary direction. We are to humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord. We are to be humble before God. As we saw in the last section, this humility comes through submitting to God, resisting the devil by trusting and relying on the word of God, drawing near to God and striving for holiness and godliness and having a right attitude toward sin.

 James then turns our attention toward the other dimension. The two dimensions of humility are represented in the directions of the Cross. The Cross has a vertical beam that reminds of our need to humble ourselves before God. The Cross also has a horizontal beam to remind us of the need to be humble in our dealings with one another. Our humility before God is nothing if it does not make us humble before others. The humility that results in the greater grace will, in turn, cause the humble to give grace. This grace will govern the way we deal with our brothers and sisters in the church. You should have noticed when we read this passage that James used the words “brethren” and “brother” three times in verse 11.

 If we are humble and receiving greater grace, this grace will govern our dealings with others. If humility and grace are the defining qualities of our relationship with God, they will also become the defining qualities in our relationships with others. The exercise of humility in the horizontal dimension will prevent the problem James addresses in verses 11-12.

 Let’s understanding what James is talking about in this imperative command. “Do not speak against one another.” The KJV says, “speak not evil.” Immediately we find that James has returned to one of his favorite subjects, the use and control of the tongue. He told us in 1:19 to be slow to speak in order that we might be quick to listen. He told us in 1:26 to bridle the tongue. He detailed the necessity of taming the tongue in 3:2-12. Now, he comes back to show us that the exercise of wisdom from above, and the practice of humility toward others, requires that we do not speak against a brother.

 The Greek word is “katalaleo.” It is used in 1 Peter 2:12 and 1 Peter 3:16. 1 Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” The word is translated “slander” in this verse and the idea is of being slandered as an evildoer.

 1 Peter 3:16 says, and I back up to verse 15 for context, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which your are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”

 Both of those verses speak of verbal attacks which are intended to slander a person’s character. The word means to speak with malicious intent. It includes anything spoken that causes defamation of the one about whom the words are spoken. These are words spoken to cause harm, to denigrate, to diminish someone. The noun form of the word is sometimes translated “backbiting.” To backbite is to speak behind someone’s back for the purpose of defamation, denigration, or to diminish them to others.

 This slanderous speech can and does include things like lying, including exaggerations, insinuations, and half-truths. It includes gossip, which is the telling of things that may be true, but with the intention of exposing the actions of another for the purpose of damaging a person’s reputation. All backbiting is slanderous speech. These are things spoken behind a person’s back when they have no opportunity to explain or defend themselves.

 James goes on to identify what is going on when someone slanders a brother, or speaks against another. This helps us understand the problem being addressed. He says “He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother…” James identifies the motivation behind the words spoken with malicious intent. A judgment has been made. The word “judge” is “krino” in the Greek. It means “to form a judgment or opinion as to a person, or thing, most commonly in the unfavorable and to therefore condemn. The word is translated “condemn” in Romans 14:22.

 What James is addressing here is the person who speaks with malicious intent words that defame, denigrate, or diminish others. They do this because they have looked at something in the other person’s life and they have made the judgment that the person’s actions are wrong and they deserve to be condemned. Having judged another person’s actions and motives to be against the law, this person begins to speak against, or speak evil about the person they have judged. Because the words they speak are malicious, and intended to defame, denigrate, and diminish the person, there is no love, no redeeming desire, no plan to help rescue the person from the sin. My friends, this happens all the time in the church.

 How are some of the ways we fall into this trap? We do this by looking at what others do and make value judgments regarding the appropriateness of their actions. This is what was happening with the meats eaten which had been sacrificed to idols. This is addressed by Paul in Romans 14. Sometimes, those who are weak in the faith, or new believers, need to be dealt with in grace and compassion and understanding. Sometimes people just don’t have an understanding. It isn’t that they are belligerent, they are immature in the faith.

 We fall into this trap when we expect others to think, believe, and act exactly as we think, believe, and act. We decide that we are right. We render wholesale judgments about things. For example, some people judge all contemporary Christian music as inappropriate. Some condemn all translations of the Bible but the KJV.

 Another way we fall into this trap is to decide that when someone does not live up to our expectations they have to pay a price. If I don’t like what you do I will refuse to associate with you. This happens in marriage frequently. One spouse assumes wrongly regarding their spouse’s motives and get angry and render judgment, including the sentence. They impose the penalty of the silent treatment and the cold shoulder.

 James is not telling us that there is never a reason to make a judgment or speak against the sin of another. There are times, according to the word of God, when judgment is appropriate and confrontation is the right thing to do. In fact, James has made a number of judgments already, as revealed in what he has written. Flip over to James 5:19-20. How does this happen if no judgment takes place? There is always a judgment involved in determining when someone strays from the truth.

 Back in James 1 we find judgments expressed by James. James tells us that the man who lacks faith is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways. He told us that the one who is merely a hearer of the word, and not a doer, is one who has deluded himself. He told us that the one who does not bridle his tongue has deceived himself and his religion is worthless. He told us that if we show partiality we are convicted by the law as transgressors. He judged the faith void of good works as dead faith.

 James is not telling us not to confront sin. When someone’s actions are a clear and undeniable violation of the word of God, that person should be confronted in a biblical manner. If a man in this church strays from his marriage partner and gets involved with someone else, I will confront that sin. If that man will not repent I will take two or three witnesses to confirm the facts and call that person to repentance. If he will not repent we will bring him before the church to exercise church discipline. We cannot protect the purity of the body of Christ if we never make any kind of judgment. This is not judgment. God has already declared such behavior to be sinful. In Matthew 18 Jesus tells us how to handle these matters.

 James must have had in mind the words of Jesus from Matthew 7:1-6. Turn there. Matthew 7:1 says, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” People who know very little, if anything the Bible says, know the Bible says this. And sinful people, who do not want to be confronted with the sinfulness of their actions, love to quote this verse. They want to accuse you of being a sinner if you judge them for their sin. But Jesus is not saying that we should never make judgments. In verse 6 Jesus tells us not to give what is holy to dogs or to throw our pearls before swine. Discerning dogs and hogs requires that a judgment be rendered.

 Jesus was warning us that we be careful that we don’t develop the self-righteous, critical, judgmental, ugly spirit of the Pharisees. This is at the heart of James’ intent in James 4:11-12. This self-righteous, judgmental, ugly spirit of the Pharisees is illustrated many places in the gospel, but perhaps no place better than in Luke 18:9-14. Look at verse 9. The Pharisees trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt. This Pharisee’s attitude is all too common among Christians.

 The Pharisees saw it as their duty to inform everyone regarding the right way to interpret and apply the law of God to everyday life. They loved to tell others what it took to live the way God wanted people to live. The Pharisees were proud of their knowledge of the word, or the Law of God, the Torah. They were smug, self-righteous, and satisfied that they were superior to everyone else. This led them to be judgmental and condemning of everyone and everything they didn’t like.

 One good example of this happened as the Pharisees were watching Jesus and His disciples walk through a grain field on the Sabbath. (Matt. 12:1-8) The disciples were hungry so they picked some grain and ate it. The Pharisees were offended that the disciples did what was not lawful on the Sabbath. In their minds Jesus and the disciples were sinning. Jesus never sinned so obviously this wasn’t offensive to God. It was offensive to those who had determined what everyone else must do in order to obey God. They had become judges of the law. On another occasion the disciples didn’t wash their hands before they ate bread. They hadn’t observed the Law the way the “experts” thought they should have. The disciples had not violated God’s law. They had violated the earthly judge’s interpretation of how the law of God should have been applied.

 Sometimes, it is easier than we realize to become like the Pharisees. It is easy for us to look at others and judge their actions and their motives and assume on their character, when, in reality, we don’t know anything about them or their circumstances. We point a finger and forget that there are three fingers pointing back at us. We forget how easy it is for us to fall into the very thing we accuse others of doing. We almost always have a beam in our eye when we are trying to help someone else get the speck out of their eye.

 Tell the story of the trip to Arnold’s and 7 Brew. Use examples of loving wife, having a quiet time, looking down my nose at those who are not as consistent in church attendance as others, and working out to take care of the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” If I were not obviously giving you these examples for demonstrative purposes only, you would look at me and ask, “When did God step aside and put you in charge of deciding how I should love my wife, or have my quiet time, or spend my Lord’s day with my family?”

 James tells us what is wrong with this kind of judgment and the evil speaking that comes from it. He says in verse 11, “He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law…” What we are doing is making ourselves the judges of the law. We are setting ourselves up as the senior resident expert on how God’s law is to be understood and applied and obeyed. This is obviously a pride problem. At the heart of a judgmental spirit is self-righteousness and pride, the very things the Pharisees were condemned for. When we judge and condemn others because they don’t, on the surface, look like us, dress like us, think like us, worship like us, act like us, or in any way fail to measure up to our standards and our expectations, we are becoming judges of the law. We are no longer doers of the law, but judges of the law.

 We are unfit judges because we are fallible. We have no business trying to do God’s job. And, we are partial in our own favor. We will not see how we are failing ourselves. We do well if we remember that we can’t judge someone else because we can’t see what is in their heart. We don’t know their circumstances. We don’t know their motives. Prov. 18:13 says, “He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.” 

 “If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.” (v.11) Judging the law means we are not a doer of the law. What does a doer of the law do? A doer of the law is a law keeper. A doer of the law is one who abides by the law. A doer of the law loves. Jesus told us that the whole law hangs on two commandments. What are they? Love God, love your neighbor. The Ten Commandments are the succinct summary of the whole law and they are divided into two parts regarding the loving of God and the loving of your neighbor.

I found this helpful from MacArthur’s commentary on this passage. “An examination of the Ten Commandments reveals them to be ten features of love verbalized. The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3), shows that love is not fickle, but single-minded, devoted, loyal. The second commandment, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth” (v. 4), further describes love’s faithfulness. Love is not only loyal in attitude, but also faithful in practice. The third command, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (v. 7), reveals love to be respectful toward its object. The fourth commandment, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (v. 8), describes love’s intimacy with or devotion to its object. The fifth commandment, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (v. 12), reveals love to be submissive to authority, here represented by parental authority. Believers are, of course, to submit to God. They are also, as Paul wrote, to “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Eph. 5:21). The sixth commandment, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13), expresses the value love places on others. In the New Testament, Jesus revealed that the true intent of this commandment was not merely to prohibit actual murder, but also the anger that can lead to murder (Matt. 5:21–22). The seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14), shows love both to be pure, and to desire purity in its object. Love would never defile another person. The eighth commandment, “You shall not steal” (v. 15), manifests the unselfish nature of love. Love seeks to give, not to take. The ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (v. 16), demonstrates love’s truthfulness. Love would never lie about its object, but rather seeks that truth be known. Finally, the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (v. 17), expresses love’s unselfish contentment. Love is content with what it has and wishes only the best for others.” 

Back in Chapter 2, verse 8 James wrote, “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” If we are not fulfilling the royal law and loving our neighbor as our self, we are not doing so well. If we are speaking against a brother and judging that brother, we are not fulfilling the royal law.

James reminds us of something that we must all remember. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge. Guess what? It isn’t you, and it certainly isn’t me. The job is way above our pay grade. The job of judge is infinitely above our ability to perform properly. The job requires the ability to look at the human heart. And the One who is able to look at the human heart is able to look into our hearts when we speak against another and judge others and He is able to see the pride, the self-righteousness, the self-interest, and all the other ugly motives that are behind our words. When we speak against another, speak evil of others, what is coming out of our mouths is what is flowing from our hearts.

We do well to remember that God alone is the Judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. He is the only One who can render perfect judgments. He alone is able to save and to destroy. James final question is piercing. “Who are you who judge your neighbor?” Who do you think you are if you are judging and speaking against your brother? You think you are God. You think you are above the law of God. You think you are justified in standing in judgment of the law of love. If this is you, you are full of pride. If you are full of pride, you are not humble. If you are not humble you are not receiving the greater grace. If you are not receiving grace, you are not being gracious to others.