Can you believe it? I preach or write about biblically-banned conduct, then find myself doing the very thing. Just happened again. James warns about the restlessly evil tongue, and I let loose angry words. With trepidation, then, I move to the next block of James’ letter, where he takes his scalpel for more corrective tongue surgery . . .
Do Not Judge Your Brother!
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 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? (4:11,12).
I take “slander” (or “evil” from the Greek katalaleo) to refer particularly to judging one’s brother or sister. (James repeats the word “judge” in some form six times in these four sentences.)
In what way, we wonder, are these brothers judging others? Perhaps according to their outward appearance, as James condemned earlier . . .
” . . . you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. Suppose a rich man wearing a gold ring and fine clothes comes to your meeting, and a poor man in ragged clothes also comes. If you show more respect to the well-dressed man and say to him, ‘Have this best seat here,’ but say to the poor man, ‘Stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my feet,’ then you are guilty of creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil motives” (2:1b-4, TEV).
Such judging not only slanders the poor. It also “speaks evil against the law and judges it.” If a Christian speaks evil against the law, he presumes to put himself in the place of the “only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” Hence, the cut-him-down-to-size accusation: ” . . . who are you to judge your neighbor?”
Don’t boast about tomorrow!
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins (4:13-17).
Spoken words are more than mere words. They are the “leakings” of our heart. Jesus: “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45).
What heart do the words of these merchants’ “leaks” reveal? Godless self-confidence. Deliberate and designed arrogance. More than planning; these are men whose profits make them presume to be captains of their destiny, masters of their tomorrows. So self-assured, they’re convinced they have a year for their next project, and they will “make money.”
James pops their balloon: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” Not only are they sinfully ignorant about tomorrow; they’re sinfully ignorant about their life. “You are a mist (like the early mists of the Mediterranean mountains) that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Self-assured merchants aren’t sovereign. Only the Lord is. So they should say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” Those are the words that should “leak” from the Christian’s heart.
To plan as if you hold the outcome solely in your hand is to brag and boast—and that is sin against the One who ultimately holds the outcome in his.
You wealthy, weep for coming miseries!
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you (5:1-6),
James switches to “you rich people.” Like an Old Testament prophet, h e condemns them, though they can’t hear them. “Misery” is coming on them. Not because they’re rich, but because they’re greedy and unjust. They abuse poor Jewish Christians—“the workmen who mowed your fields” are “crying out against you.” “The Lord Almighty” has heard. On Judgment Day the rich’s wealth will stack up evidence against them. Their riches will rot. They will pay for their luxury, self-indulgence and murder “in the day of slaughter.”
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Here’s my prayer. May it be yours too . . .
Father in heaven, my tongue is battered and bruised from James’ corrective surgery. But it’s surgery I know I need because my tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. I cry out for your greater grace. Enable me not to judge my brother or sister by appearances. Empower me not to brag about tomorrow as if I hold it in my hand, when I know you do. And please don’t lead me into the temptation of riches, so I need warning to weep and wail because of coming miseries. Satisfy me with yourself and the good you supply, so my tongue will be free of wailing to sing your praises and speak love to my brother. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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