Saturday, May 7, 2016

Speak no Evil - James 4:11-17

James 4:11
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Think about this verse, as a Christian, is there anything Godly in this behavior? What reason do we have to speak evil of one another? Are we any better than our brother?

Matthew 7:1-5
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
James 4:12
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Time and time again we want to play God, have our say, be the man, determine what is right or wrong. We judge with our own false sense of morality, reach flawed conclusions, and perhaps ruin our own, or others reputations.

God is the only one that is capable judgement, and clearly tells us as much.

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Romans 14:4
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Romans 2:1
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
This is pretty clear, and it goes along with everything we should hold dear and aspire to. Love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. We should humble ourselves, submit ourselves, do everything we do for the glory of God. We should do all things in love.

1 Corinthians 16:14
Let all your things be done with charity.
Ephesians 4:31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
1 Peter 2:1
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
So we put away our speaking evil of one another, our petty judgements, and listen to the Scripture, pay attention to God, love one another, because God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us.

Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
James goes on to warn us against presumption that we control anything, that we can do anything of ourselves.

James 4:13-14
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
We do not know what the next day will bring, we are but a vapor that quickly disappears, we are nothing without God. We can not add one cubit to our stature, or change the color of our hair.
The following verse lays it out, gives credit where credit belongs!

James 4:15
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
But by the grace and mercy of God will we, or can we do anything. We should never forget or ignore that sentiment, it should be with us at all times, in everything we do. That way we give God the honor and glory for our lives, for the accomplishments that He works.

James 4:16
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Otherwise we want the honor and glory, we take the credit, a credit that is not ours, and we knowing this: Knowing to do good, knowing to love, knowing to humble and submit ourselves to God, if we do not do these good things, we sin.

James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

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