The Book of James – Part 11:
Judging Others
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON INTRODUCTION
In the last few verses we have studied,
James, who is speaking to the Twelve Tribes as believers in Christ, as the head
of the Jerusalem Council, directs the listeners to stop living worldly lives,
placing other things such as money before morality in their lives while
claiming to be followers of God, this is a contradiction to scripture.
The scripture calls them adulterers for
doing so in Chapter 4 verse 4, and tells them to stop following their
lusts. He also tells them they need to
refocus their lives, submitting to God, and be truly remorseful for their sins
they committed against God.
In today’s verses, we read that James is
also telling them to stop judging people by the Law of Moses. It is not the Law
of Moses that holds the power to save or destroy, but God alone. When they act
as judges, using this law, they themselves are trying to take the place of God,
determining for themselves who shall be saved, and who shall be condemned.
We as followers of Christ need to remember
that although the Law reveals our sin against God, it is not the Law itself
that condemns or saves, but God alone!
When we say by the Law you have sinned, so
by the Law you are condemned, we in turn are teaching that also by the Law you
are saved, and this is not so, for no one can fulfill the Law but one, Jesus
Christ.
We need to remember that the Law was given,
not to save man, but to reveal his sin.
Therefore, it is by YOUR SIN you are condemned, and by CHRIST’S
atonement, you receive Salvation!
LAST WEEKS SERMON
Part 1 - Faith and Wisdom
Part 2 - Poverty and Riches
Part 3 - Endurance
Part 4 - Christian Living
Part 5 - Brotherly Love
Part 6 - Faith and Works
Part 7 - Taming of the Shrewd
Part 8 - True Wisdom
Part 9 - Worldliness
Part 10 - Submit Yourselves to God
TODAY’S SERMON
Part 11 - Judging Others
SCRIPTURE READING
James 4:11-12
11
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a
brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges
it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on
it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to
save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
I.
DO NOT SLANDER OR
JUDGE
a. James speaking to the Christ believing Jews
i.
They are supposed to be followers of Christ now
ii.
Jesus fulfilled the Law, and in doing so the Law has
been satisfied and is of no effect to those who are rightly in relationship
with Christ.
1. Luke 24:44 “He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was
still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in
the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
iii.
Placing the Law back on to the believers is re-bridling
them with the bondage of sin. (Romans)
b. Do not slander
i.
This may cause others (if not yourself) to want to
carry out the next step of slander, krino
(Greek for Judge)
ii.
krino means to decide
for yourself to try, condemn, punish, avenge or damn a person.
1. You make yourself
the ultimate judge, placing yourself as God.
iii.
We cannot determine another’s destination, because we
are incapable of looking at their heart.
Only God knows the heart of man, and judges it accordingly.
iv.
A godly man will share with others WHAT God’s Word says
and what they can do about it. We do not
want to attack people with the only thing that can save them...the Word.
c. This is about being a self-appointed judge of others
i.
Matthew 7:1-5 “1 “Do not judge, or you too will
be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be
judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no
attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your
brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a
plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of
your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother’s eye.”
1. I wish I had a dime
for each time someone came to me pointing out someone else’s sin, yet
completely overlooking a great sin in their own life that needed to be dealt
with.
2. You see, the Law
points out sin, and we need to examine ourselves with it. It is only when we rightly correct our own
lives, will we be able to help others correct theirs.
a. Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own
eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s
eye.”
3. Jesus never calls
us to tell people they are saved or going to hell;
4. Matthew 28:18-20 “18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20
and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you.”
II.
ARE YOU A DOER OF THE
WORD, OR SELF-APPOINTED JUDGE?
a. Why is there so
much confusion about judging?
b. Because we are told
to judge
a brothers fruit, we are told if we see a brother in sin we
are to correct him in love. Then
we read not to judge...this can cause confusion.
c. But if you step back and look at the two types of
judging, it becomes clear and easy to see the difference.
ILLUSTRATION
John Doe comes to church regularly, and
openly confesses that he IS a Christian.
John Doe is married, and his wife also attends church.
One day you are walking down the street and
you see John Doe with another woman, and they are holding hands and you see
them kiss. What do you do?
If you go to him and point out his sin in a
loving way (action of care and concern for him, his family and his soul), are
you judging him?
Absolutely
not,
you are not telling him whether or not he is going to heaven or hell, but
simply doing what God tells us to do in His Holy Word
James
5:19-20 “My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and
someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a
sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a
multitude of sins.”
Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and
sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should
restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
The first thing the brother in sin will do
is say, “Don’t judge me”, but that is
exactly what brothers in Christ are supposed to do for each other.
The Word of God tells us that if we see a
brother in sin, we are to first go to him in private, and show him his
error.
If he refuses to listen, then we are to
return with a few others from the church to speak with him in love once
more.
If he still refuses to listen, he is to see
the Elders of the church, and they will give him the opportunity to listen to
scripture.
If he still refuses to listen, then the
elders are to tell him he is not allowed to come to church until he repents.
This is so all those in the congregation
will understand that you cannot call yourself a follower of Christ, and live in sin. If he repents, then he is welcomed back into
the congregation. If he does not, then
it is still up to God on how to condemn or save him...not us.
d. In this
illustration, scripture was followed, and no one judged incorrectly.
e. We can be a doer of
the word, judge our brothers in love accordingly WITHOUT judging whether
someone will be saved or destroyed. That
is God’s job.
One of the BIGGEST problems in the
organized church today is members NOT understanding the Word of God. They DO NOT understand judging!
The church is quick to judge heaven or hell
for non-believers (Everyone is quick to
profess John 3:16, but what about John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
to save the world through him.”)
Then
the very same people will ignore the sin of a “believer”
The church has it backwards, Jesus said,
“Preach the Word to all nations, baptize them, THEN teach them to obey all that
I command.”
We need to hold ourselves accountable
FIRST, then those around us calling themselves Christ followers, and save the
heaven & hell judging for the Lord because He is the ONLY one who truly
knows the heart of man.
III.
ONLY ONE CAN SAVE
AND DESTROY
a. There is only one
Lawgiver and Judge.
b. He alone is the one
who is able to save and destroy.
c. But you-who are you to judge your neighbor?
i.
The original Greek says, “but you - who are you?” or in other words, “Who do you think you
are?”
CONCLUSION
There are two types of judging we can
do. One is commanded by God and the
other condemned.
We are commanded by Christ in Matthew
28 to teach all those who are baptized to obey what Christ has commanded,
and also to correct a brother who is sinning to save him from death (second
death).
James 5:19-20
19
My brothers and sisters, if one of
you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person
back, 20 remember this: Whoever
turns a sinner from the error of
their way will save their soul from death and cover over a multitude
of sins.
This is being a doer of the Word, and
judging accordingly as commanded by Christ.
Only God can see a man’s heart, and say
whether that man is condemned to hell or received Salvation for eternity.
If we try to tell someone they are going to
heaven or hell, either one, we are in essence trying to take the place of God,
and this is the judging we are told NOT to do!
There is only one God, and one Judge.
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