The Biblical View of Judging Others

Transcript

GRM 726
4/1/2001
The Biblical View of Judging Others
James 4:11-12
Gil Rugh

I'd like to direct your attention back to the book of James. A number of years ago we studied the book of James together and then recently we have been looking at some of the material that James has relating to the subject of worldliness. He started this subject in chapter 3 verse 13 and as he drew contrast between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom or worldly wisdom. That moved right into chapter 4 where he talked about a variety of things that manifest worldliness among God's people, the quarrels and conflicts that rose among the people. Here we find very early in the life of the Church, James being one of the earlier letters of the New Testament, that significant problems of worldliness already infiltrated among God's people. As we've seen in our study of the book of Acts, very early in the life of the Church the Devil worked to try to undermine what God was doing. Part of that work, as we see in chapter 5 with Ananias and Sapphira is to work from within, using those even that are part of the Church to function in an unbiblical way. In a worldly way and so undermine the Church and bring conflict and division there.

He called them adulteresses in verse 4. He told them to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. He reminded them that pride, arrogance brings opposition from God. God resists the proud. He's opposed to the proud in verse 6 but He gives grace to the humble. Here we get to some of the very root issues of worldliness. As I begin to think more highly of myself than I ought to think, as I begin to think that I am superior, then other things begin to intrude because I've become self-focused. I begin to adjust my life for the promotion of self in a variety of ways and of course that brings me into conflict with the plan of God and the functioning of God's people.

We noted in verses 7 to 10 he gave ten sharp commands that were their responsibility to carry out. Let me just note them for you. Submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, be miserable, mourn, weep, be turned, humble yourself. Those ten commands are given in a form, a grammatical form. Note they are sharp, firm commands. Now very brief, very to the point. You can see in verses 7 to 10 ten of those come rapid fire, reminding them of their basic responsibility before God. What's really involved is an attitude of submission and humility before God so that His will might be accomplished. That involves them being willing to resist the Devil and submit to God.

That subject of worldliness is continuing through the rest of the chapter. I want to move through this because we begin to get a sense again of the variety of ways that worldliness manifest itself. Worldliness is not just limited to certain kinds of hairstyle or clothes or some of those things that get identified as worldly. I'm not saying that worldliness cannot manifest itself in some of those ways but those are not primarily the things that James focuses on. What he focuses on are things that are sometimes tolerated even among those churches that would consider themselves conservative and opposed to worldliness. He comes to one of those areas in verses 11 and 12 where he's going to talk about the matter of judging one another. You know it seems that even people who know almost nothing about the Bible can quote, "Judge not lest you be judged." That seems to be the response that is to put an end to any kind of judging of evaluating of another person - their religious beliefs, their moral practices and so on. But if you just stop and think. It is impossible to live without rendering judgments. We are constantly going through processes of evaluating and judging and we would not want to live in a world where judgments were not taking place, where certain things were judged to be wrong. Certain things were recognized and judged to be proper and correct. I realize we get into a lot of areas where we disagree with the world, but there are still areas where we do agree with thankfully. It's wrong to murder. It's wrong to do certain things that would be in general agreement. They all involve judgments. When God says judge not lest you be judged, we have to be careful do we have this in the proper context. That quote comes from Matthew 7:1. That’s what James is going to talk about now in verses 11 and 12, the matter of judging and judging others and even within the Church we must exercise care in how we conduct ourselves in judging and evaluating other people.

Now we say there were ten commands in verses 7 to 10 but verse 11 begins with a command also. It's a command given in a different form. It's a present tense command and the others were arist tense commands. But it is another command given. In the present tense he may be indicating this was a practice that was going on among them. So sometimes this kind of command is given to stop speaking against one another because of the present tense aspect of it. Put an end to things that are going on. There are certain things that you are continually doing that you must stop doing.

"Do not speak against one another, brethren." I understand that he is speaking to believers through this section. He is talking to those who are part of the fellowship of believers, who are members of the Church. He's writing to Jewish believers as we've noted as the letter begins who have been scattered in a variety of places. But they are those who are believers, who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ. That word "to speak against," that's a literal translation. It's a compound word, to speak and the word "against." So, to speak against someone, to criticize, to slander. Obviously, it has a negative characteristic or flavor about it. It's not the matter of addressing the issue of sin, where we might speak against sin. There are certain things that we do speak against. But here we are commanded not to speak against one another. This is usually viewed in the context of where you're not addressing the person personally, but this word carries that idea the person being talked about is not present and the critique and the criticism, the slander is going on, as we would say, behind their back. The speaker's purpose, intention, is to pass judgment on the person being criticized or spoken against by attacking their character. We get into the matter of their character, their motives, at what is being done. James would have no problem with addressing certain sinful behavior that needs to be corrected. But we cross the line if we get into attacking the character or motives of a person. Then we come into a realm that we have no right to be in.

What brought this to his mind? Well, obviously there is some kind of problem going on among these believers. In verse 7 he gave the command to resist the devil. The word for "devil" there is the word "diobilos" and that is another Greek word for slander. It's not the same one used for speaking against in verse 11 but it would be a word that would carry a similar idea. The Devil is the slanderer, the one who speaks against believers. Romans 12 calls him the "accuser of the brethren." We saw that in the book of Job where in the opening chapters he is there to attack Job's motives. Not Job's conduct, not Job's behavior but his motives in what he is doing to try to discredit him even before God.

This word in verse 11 "to speak against one another" is a word that is often used in the attacks that are made by unbelievers on believers. Look over in I Peter just after the book of James. I Peter chapter 2 verse 12, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers." You see they are saying something that is not true. So that's what goes on in slander and speaking against. They are criticizing, attacking motives or behind their back saying things about people that are not true, casting a cloud over them. They would be passing on things that are hearsay. You know I heard something, and I pass it on and the effect of that is to what? Speak against this person. This is what unbelievers do to believers. They slander you as evildoers. They speak against you as those who do evil. The way we offset that is we do good deeds. We can't stop them from saying evil things about us but we can be sure they have no real foundation for what they’re saying. They can say I tell lies. I can't stop them from saying that, but I can be careful I don't tell any lies so there is no real substance to the accusation is the point. But what I want you to see here is this is the way unbelievers treat believers.

Down in chapter 3 of I Peter verse 16, "And keep a good conscience so the that in the thing in which you are slandered." There's our word again. "Those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." Unbelievers do this with believers. What happens as we've seen in the study of Acts with Ananias where Satan filled his heart to lie to the Spirit, where believers do not live in submission to the Spirit of God, that provides an opportunity for the Devil to move in their lives in such a way that they begin to do things that are more characteristic of the Devil than they are of the God whom we are to serve. James has to write to brethren and command them to stop speaking against one another, which is a mark of worldliness. You are doing the very thing that the god of this world does with his children. What happens is we allow Satan to fill our hearts in our speaking even as he did the heart of Ananias in Acts 5.

This is not a new command. It was a command given in the Old Testament. Go back to the book of Leviticus chapter 19. These Jewish believers have the benefit of the background in Old Testament Scriptures and know God's attitude toward this kind of behavior. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 16, "You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people." Very simple. You are not to go about as a slanderer among your people, speaking against them, attacking their character, spreading rumors about them. Those kinds of things. Turn to Psalms. The Psalms chapter 50. Here condemnation of those who are functioning wickedly, worldly. Verse 20. In verse 19, "You let your mouth loose in evil, your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was just like you." The danger of God does not immediately intervene to discipline us for sin, we sometimes think He is letting it go by. It's all right with Him. But He has revealed His mind on these matters clearly in the Word so let us not think that He has become like us simply because He doesn't strike us dead or immediately intervene in disciplining, judging. You thought I was just like you because I didn't immediately intervene. I will reprove you. He just will select the time.

One other passage in the Old Testament. Psalm 101. You'll see the context how this is like James. Psalm 101 verse 5, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. No one who has a haughty look and arrogant heart will I endure." I want you to see the context here. Remember in James God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. So, it's not surprising in that kind of context talking about worldliness and the manifestation of pride that he has to deal with matter of slander and judging others. That's the very context we have here. When people, what? Are arrogant in their hearts, lifted up in pride, what does that result in? Looking down on others, seeing yourself better than them and thus sitting in judgment upon them.

I received a letter very recently. A very short letter but in it I have to say it's an arrogant letter as I ever received, and it didn't address me. It was addressing something about someone else in the Body. There the person sat in complete judgment on the motives of that person. Knowing the people involved, I know there is absolutely no truth in it. That person had no compulsion at all about putting this in print and sending it to me. I appreciate they signed their name so that we can talk about this matter. But I thought we cross the line here very easily and the arrogance of it. That haughtiness that would cause someone to slander and speak against another person.

Come to the New Testament and I just want you to look at II Corinthians chapter 12. Sometimes we look at these kinds of sins and say oh now I think that we must be dealing with unbelievers because believers wouldn't do this. But Paul writes to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 12:20 and he says regarding his plan coming to visit them, "For I am afraid that perhaps when I come . . . I may find you not to be what I wish and maybe be found by you to be not what you wish. That perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders." There's the word that we have in James. Speaking against someone else. "Gossip, arrogance, disturbance. I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced." What's Paul’s concern? Worldliness in the Church at Corinth. What is worldliness? It manifests the character and behavior of the world in the way we think and act. I realize how do you get in there? How to begin to sort out believer and unbeliever and sometimes we can't. Some of the things that you read that are believers here you think, wow, that's a believer. Ultimately God knows but they are within the realm of those who profess to be believers here. These kinds of things need to be dealt with very directly.

In James 4, he goes on to explain what happens when you speak against a brother, you are really setting yourself up as the judge of that 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 judge of it. Here I think in the context of James' letter, as well as the context immediately as we'll see as it unfolds, what he's first and foremost has in view is the royal law of love that he mentioned back in chapter 2 verse 8, "If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well." So that issue of recognizing the true implementation of love and functioning in love. When we attack a fellow believer, speak against them, then we are setting ourselves up as judges. We are not doers of the Law that God has given but we are the judge of what God has given. God has commanded me to implement His Word in my life. But He has not set me up as the judge of the actions and motives of other people. Now in a little bit we'll talk about some of things we are commanded to judge as God's people. But the basic principle established here is clear. My prime responsibility is not to sit as your judge. I sit under the authority of the Scripture even as you do. The concern of my heart is to be functioning in love toward you as the concern of your heart is to be in function in love toward me and so among ourselves in our relationship together.

When you set yourself up as judge you now are in a very, very serious position. Because what happens? Who is the judge of all men? God. So, when I take the prerogative of being the judge to myself, I have set myself in God's seat. Now do you see where we are. The arrogance in the context of judging as we saw in Psalms, and we see the context here. God is opposed to the proud. I mean how much prouder can you get than to think that you are fit to sit in the seat of God acting as judge. The ugliest thing about it is we are talking about brethren. We are shocked enough when the world does certain arrogant things, and it almost gives you shivers as you think that is stepping into the place of God. How can they do that? But here James is addressing believers, brethren who in their dealings with one another begin to usurp the place of God. That's worldliness in the Church. Now you can be sure these believers didn't sit up and say I want to be God. That's why James has to write and unfold it to them and explain what's going on. We always have super spiritual reasons why we have the greatest insight and we really know what is best. We are the ones who really have this kind of insight.

Remember someone . . . I guess you would call it an exit interview because they were exiting this church. But they wanted to explain how they could perceive what was really going on in a certain situation and didn't again directly pertain to me. I don't want you to think I'm being defensive personally about this. But they are really evaluating and judging the motives. Of course, time would show that they really perceived things and the motives here that I was not able to see yet. Is that not sitting in the place of God? Who judges the hearts of man? Is that not something God has received for Himself? How arrogant can we be as God's people? Here we find it already early in the church’s life James has to say stop doing this.

"There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is both able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor." There is one lawgiver and one judge, and you note they go together. The One who sets down the Law, gives the command is the One who also exercises the judgment and that is God. That is the One who has the power both to save and to destroy. The One who is able to save and destroy. The One who would give the Law, the One who would sit in judgment on those who are responsible to His Law, His commands is the One who has to have power over life and death. The One who can save and the One who can destroy.

Remember what Jesus said? Well, turn back to Matthew chapter 10 and you will remember because you will see it. Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. "And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell?" That's the One who is able to save and able to destroy. It's the One who in Revelation chapter 1 has the keys of life and of death. The One in John chapter 5, God is the judge of all, and He has delegated judgment in the hands of His Son. This becomes a very serious matter when I insert myself into that which the Triune God has reserved explicitly for Himself. That is the utmost arrogance. Was that not the sin of Satan? I will be like the Most High. I will sit in throned. Oh, I wouldn't do that as a believer. But we tolerate it all the time in the church. It was going on among the believers in James today already. Note again the seriousness of the matter. It's like Ananias in Acts chapter 5. You realize . . . You lied against the Holy Spirit. You lied against God. Oh, know I just wanted to keep some of the money, and you know and look more spiritual. No, let's cut down to what it is. It's a lie against the Holy Spirit. Well here how serious . . . Well, I just wanted to offer my spiritual insight. I don't think they're spiritual. I don't think they had the right motive in what they do. I don't think in their heart they really want to glorify God. Who are you to say you know what is in their heart? You are sitting here saying that you are like God? I say well that's not what I mean. Don't make me look worse than I am. Well, you have to look at that as Scripture says you are. Until we see our behavior the way God says it is, we don't appreciate the seriousness of what we're doing. Come back to James. "Who were you to judge your neighbor?" Verse 12. As a matter of judging, we looked at a couple of the passages in the New Testament. There's one other passage I should take you to. I Corinthians 4:3, we'll see the apostle Paul's comments on this matter. "But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself." You see where you have to compare Scripture with Scripture. Because at the end of his second letter to the Corinthians you know what he's going to say? Examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Well, here he says I don't even examine myself. But he tells them to examine themselves. Well, it depends on the context of what he is talking about. Here you are talking about motives, the reason why people do what they do. I can't even ultimately give the final word on my own motives let alone yours. That's what he's talking about.

Verse 4, "I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted." Just because I can stand here and say my conscious is clear. I know of nothing which I am guilty before the Lord. That doesn't acquit me. You know why? God never made me the judge of myself. He is the judge of me. So, I am not even able to judge myself ultimately. How in the world would I ever be able to judge what is going on in your heart and mind. Yet that's what people were trying to do with the apostle Paul here. Those among the Corinthians.

What does he say in verse 5, "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; then each man's praise will come to him from God." You see what we're talking about here, the motives. Now there is a sense when believers are able to judge . . . We are going to talk more about this in a moment but while you are in this context of I Corinthians back up to chapter 2 verses 14 and following. "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" or discerned or judged. He who is spiritual appraises or judges all things. So, there is a sense in which God's people are able to exercise judgment. Again, I'll talk more about that in a moment, but I want you to see it while we're here in the context. In the same letter very close in the same letter. At one time Paul is talking about our ability to judge. At the same time, he talks about we better not be judging. One of the areas we get into here is motives, or the reason why people do what they do. One of the great flaws in psychology and that whole mess. They are going to what? Look at your behavior and then tell you supposedly why you do what you do. There we see an example of unregenerate men trying to play God. They supposedly will be able to discern why you lose your temple, why you steal, why you’re immoral. The behavior is not the issue. They want to get back and discern why. It's just another example. You will be like gods. Satan lured the woman within the Garden.

Now that's worldliness and people go to supposed secular authorities, psychologists and psychiatrists to know why they do what they do. But we understand the God of this world is in opposition to the true and living God. He is constantly trying to assert himself into that position that God has reserved for himself, and his followers do likewise. Remember Jesus said to the Jews of his day in John 8, "You are like your father the Devil. He was a liar from the beginning, and you are liars too." He wanted to be like God, and you do too.

Paul tells the Corinthians you can't look into my heart and really determine why I do what I do. In fact, I ultimately cannot examine my heart and be sure why I do that. Did I preach today solely for the glory of God. Before the Lord I say I know nothing against myself. Does that acquit me? When I stand before Him and say Gil, you know we are really concerned that those people would think well of you on your birthday, that you're getting old. He is more humble than he was when he was young. Yeah, I say am. Grown in humility. That's me. I don't know. Ultimately, the Lord knows what's in that heart. "I the Lord search the heart. I try the range," Jeremiah 17:10. I say that and emphasize it because this is one of the aspects of worldliness that becomes somewhat acceptable in the church because we put it under the guise of supposed spiritual insight. We become the psychologist for the church. We really know why so and so is doing what he's doing, and we don't have the foggiest and we really have taken to ourselves what God reserved to Himself.

All right back to James. Now there are a series of instructions here and other places in the Word. Passages like Matthew 7:5, Luke 6:37-42, Romans 2:1-6, 14:4 that instruct us not to judge. But these commands do not negate about what the Scripture says about the responsibility of believers to exercise biblical judgment. Let me just put this into proper context. Otherwise, we take a scriptural truth and misuse it and so we are just as unbiblical as those who are functioning improperly on the other side. There are certain things we are commanded to judge. Number one, we are commanded to judge sin among believers. We are commanded to judge sin among believers: Matthew 18:15-20. Matthew 18:15, "If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private." You say, wait a minute, I thought it was judge not lest you be judged. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 7. Now you get to chapter 18 and He's telling us to go and reprove someone who sins. To reprove someone who sins means you've made a judgment. His conduct is sin. That's a judgment. Doesn't the world get upset about that. We say homosexuality is sin. Sex outside of marriage of any kind is sin. The world says who are you to judge? Judge not lest you be judged. But wait a minute there are certain things that God commands us to judge. He commands us to judge sin and particularly among believers. If you see your brother sinning, you go and reprove him; and there's the process of what we know of as the steps for discipline among God's people. But it involves judgment. Now again we're not judging the motives. If you see your brother and think he's having incorrect thoughts, go and reprove him. I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know what's in the heart. If you think he did what he did for an improper motive, reprove him. That's not what it says. If you see him sinning. Now I realize you can sin in your heart and mind. I can't deal with that. I can only deal with the manifestation of sin. That's why God will deal with the motives of the heart, the secret things. We are called to judge sin.

Look at I Corinthians 5. Now remember in chapter 4, Paul instructed them verse 5 of 1 Corinthians 4, "Do not go on passing judgment before the time. Wait until the Lord comes." You come to chapter 5, and you have a man who's living in immorality and Paul says in verse 3, "On my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, I have already judged him who committed this, as though I were present." Now wait a minute, I thought he just told us in verse 5 of chapter 4 not to go on passing judgment. Now he tells us in chapter 5 verse 3 he's already passed judgment. Well, you see the context. The Word of God has spoken on certain subjects that we can clearly deal with. Immorality is one of them. Immorality is sin. Not because I think so but because God says so. We deal with the action here, the sinful conduct or behavior.

In verse 12 of I Corinthians 5. "What do I have to do with judging outsiders?" That's why I said we are to judge sin among believers. What do I have to do with judging outsiders? "Do you not judge those who are within the church." That is our responsibility. Not to judge the world. It seems the Church likes to pass judgment on the world but that's not our primary responsibility. Expect the world is going to live like its father, the Devil. But we are responsible to judge those within the Church. Part of that judgment is removing the wicked man from among yourselves. That is judgment.

Look in II Thessalonians chapter 3:14, "And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame." That's a judgment. He will not obey what God said in His Word, particularly as Paul referring to the letter he just wrote to the Thessalonians. Anybody who disregards this letter, you take note of that man, and you disassociate yourself. That's a judgment. You cut yourself off from him until he's willing to correct his behavior and bring it into submission to the Word of God.

So, we are commanded to judge sin among believers. Number two, we are to exercise judgment regarding false doctrine and unbelievers. Now obviously we get to a point where I cannot see the heart, you cannot see the heart. Ultimately God will render the verdict who belongs to Him and who does not. But we are to make judgments on these matters. There's going to be wheat and tares that I cannot sort out but there's a certain clarity that we are to deal with.

Look at Matthew 7:15, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits." We are fruit inspectors. We examined the tree and the vine. We say oranges. This is an orange tree. Grapes. This is a grape vine. Apples. This is an apple tree. That's the point. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; the bad tree bears bad fruit." A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit and so on. There is to be judgment rendered. That does not mean in every single case I am able to tell. But it does not free me of my responsibility to be discerning and exercise judgment generally speaking. Even though I may come but say I can't tell in this case. But I do have a general responsibility to be discerning in evaluating and recognizing the good fruit from a good tree. Not accept the fact that there's bad fruit but they claim to be a good tree so that's all right. There is to be judgment exercised in these areas.

You can just jot down Galatians 1:8-9. What does Paul say, "If anyone preaches any other Gospel then that which I have preached to you, let him be anathema." I can evaluate, what is the Gospel they preach? If they add circumcision or keeping the Law to it. What do we say? They are accused. Who are you to judge? I'm not. I'm just telling you what God has said. He has exercised judgment already. In light of what you are doing, He says you are accursed. So, we are to exercise that kind of judgment.

Look back at I John chapter 4. All the way toward the back of the New Testament. First John chapter 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." That's exercising judgment. Those who would come and claim they would be messengers from God, teachers from God, I am to submit them to the test of Scripture because many false prophets have gone out into the world. You see the fact that we don't judge doesn't mean we just become gullible to anyone who wants to make a claim. We are to exercise judgment and discernment in these kinds of areas.

In II John verse 10, "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, do not give him a greeting." That's a judgment. He's teaching contrary to the Word of God. I will have nothing to do with him. I don't want to be associated with him in any way. I don't even give him a greeting when I pass him lest I be identified with him.

So, yes, believers are to exercise judgment. No, believers are not to exercise judgment. It depends on the context. We are to judge to sin among believers. We are to judge false doctrine. We are to exercise judgment among believers and unbelievers. No, we are not to try to judge motives. We must be very careful about speaking against fellow believers. If there's sin, it ought to be dealt with in a biblical way. If there's a false doctrine, it ought to be dealt with in a proper way. But we don't raise a cloud of doubt about a believer. If there's sin, it ought to be clear sin and that can be dealt with in a biblical manner. Otherwise, we have nothing to say about it. I say, I don't know. I question the motivation of some people. Well, keep it to yourself. I mean certain things come up. The Devil whispers in my ear. I don't think he did that with the right motive. Well, I might have to say, “Get behind me Satan.” Because I'm not God. God knows the why of the what that he did. I don't. I'm sure there will come a time when I'll look and say, Boy, I thought they were doing that for the right motive. When God unveils the motive of the heart, I'll find it was the wrong motive, and that will go the other way.

Look at Romans chapter 2. This is in the context of judging again. Verse 1 of Romans 2 says, "You are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." But note where ultimate judgment comes from verse 16. Paul refers that day when according to my Gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Same thing he was talking about in I Corinthians 4:5. He’ll judge the motives of the heart. He'll judge the secret things of the heart. Romans chapter 14 verse 10, "But you, why do you judge your brother?" You get the idea this was a problem in the early church. Had to be addressed in the church at Corinth. Had to be addressed at the church in Rome. Had to be addressed among the believers that James is writing to. One of the ways that the Devil infiltrates among believers was a self-righteous arrogance that makes us think we are in a position to judge the motives of the heart. "Why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?" That's an aspect of judging, arrogance. Because I'm spiritually superior. In this context it was over food, the kind of food you eat, the days you observe and religious context here, food and days. They are not things that the Word of God's addressed and placed requirements on us as believers. These become matters of Christian liberty. I have no right to sit in judgment of you in your Christian liberty. If you are being immoral, we have to deal with that. If you're stealing, we have to deal with that. If you're lying, we have to deal with that. If you eat ham sandwiches, I guess that's up to you. I don't think we ought to eat ham. Well, that was the kind of issue they had been dealing with there between Jews and non-Jews. You know, can you eat pork and have a ham sandwich. It's a nonissue. You can determine for yourself not to do it or to do it. Don't try to sit in judgment on someone else.

"For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For as it written, as I live says the Lord every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God so that each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore.” We are back to where James was. We are not going to be found speaking against one another. There will be no slander. There will be nothing that will raise a cloud about anybody's thinking about someone else. Because if there is sin that is to be judged, we deal with that biblical. If there is a false doctrine to be judged, we deal with that biblically. If they are unbelievers, we deal with that biblically. These other matters. You see where God brings it back to again. Romans 14 same place James did. Don't try to take to yourself God's prerogatives. Don't try to play God among God's people. You know God brings great glory to us as His people but there is also an aspect where He says I will not give My glory to another. We need to be very careful we intrude into the place that God has reserved for Himself. That is a very, very serious matter and that really becomes the pinnacle of worldliness that infiltrates the church as the way the Devil works to undermine the work of God and to try to get God's people to oppose what God is doing. Any wonder James had to say what about the quarrels and the fights and the battles among you, the worldliness that infiltrated among God's people. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Lord, we thank You for Your patience with us even as Your children. How sad and tragic it is that we revert to the ways of the world so quickly and so easily. We find ourselves puffed up with arrogance and self-importance, thinking we are able to do what You alone can do. It becomes all the uglier because we pride ourselves in being spiritual in the doing of that. But I pray we might take to heart very seriously the matter of speaking against one another, passing judgment on one another to realize we sit under Your authority. You alone can judge the secrets of the heart. You alone can judge the motives of the heart. May we be confident and bold to exercise the judgment You have commanded us to do. May we be just as careful and just as obedient to avoid trying to judge those things which are reserved for You alone. We pray in Christ's name, amen.