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“On Pride And Presumption” • 5.27.18
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- The book of James is written to
a group of Jewish exiles, who had initially been a part of the church of
Jerusalen that was birthed on Pentecost.
- They were forced to flee when
Saul began his persecution of "The Way." James, with no other
Pastoral recourse, penned this letter to them, as they re-settled in their
respective home areas.
- We are picking up a thread
today, which begins in chapter 3:13.
James is warning them not to give into natural wisdom as they re-engaged in
worship communities.
- They were to steer clear of
embracing worldly attitudes, especially in employing their zeal in a harsh way
or campaigning with others to force their own agendas through.
- This is where tension with one
another and alienation from God come from! God cannot bless a church or a
person who decides that they are going to be governed by worldly wisdom.
- Instead, James commands them to
humble themselves before God, to fall in behind His lead, and to draw near to
Him in intimacy, knowing that He would lift them up!
- That is the picture of what it
means to be humble. Today, we are going to look at what the fruit of a proud
life looks like, and just how inconsistent it is for God's people. Verse 11.
Text
•
James 4:11,12 : "Do not speak evil of one another,
brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil
of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of
the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are
you to judge another?" : James is not telling his
audience not to report evil when it is committed by a brother. This injunction
is less about reporting facts and more about interpreting them.
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This is less about what is blatantly wrong and more about what is
hypothetically wrong.
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A person committed to this is spreading their opinion about what a person
should or shouldn't be doing! The NIV and the NLT employs the words "slander" and
"criticize" respectively.
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The grammar further indicates that this is a repeatable command. They might
have heard it like this: "Don't make a habit of speaking evil against one
another!"
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We need to be careful with our opinions and wise in how we speak about one
another. Are we looking for the best in their actions? Are we looking to build
them up with our words?
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When James talked about needing to reign in our tongues, this would be one area
that would require the shortest leash!
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When a person does this, what does their action communicate about their place
before God?
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The person who engages in slander or criticism seems much more concerned about
others than himself! In fact, he speaks evil of the law and judges the law.
What does that mean?
•
James 4:11b (NLT): "If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing
and judging God’s law." : The law of liberty, that
which is laid out before us in the New Testament, is the standard by which all
men will be judged.
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We are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbor
as ourself. God will one day reward Christians based upon their obedience to
these commands.
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If I have to point out another person's perceived flaws, have I come to believe
that the law isn't working? Has it failed to do it's work? Does the law need my
input and help?
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Going further, have I come to believe that the Holy Spirit who drew me to
Christ, who enables my gifting and who empowers me to walk with Him, cannot do
the same with that person?
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Friends, the Holy Spirit has never failed and His use of the law written in the
hearts of God's people has been doing a wonderful job since it's inception. Why
would He need my commentary?
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When I make other people's actions or inactions my business, I am forgetting my
position before the law, as one that will be judged as well!
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The law is not my hammer to use against another. It's God's mirror to expose
the flaws in me!
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If you've taken an inordinate interest in how others are living out their
calling before God, you have misunderstood your position and misapplied the
purpose of the Law!
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I'm a sinner and with regard to my view of it, the law doesn't apply to them,
it applies to me! Before I have a moment to look in upon another's adherence to
the Word, am I doing it?
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Are there things that I am avoiding? Are there commands that I am ignoring? Are
there precepts that I've conveniently set aside? That should be our main
concern! Are you a doer?
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Aside from that, a critical person has moved into another category that they do
not belong in and it's uncomfortable, because the only person that belongs in
that category is the Lawgiver Himself!
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God alone has the ability save or to destroy! That is the function of God's use
of the law. My observations about another person voiced in a critical way have
no redeeming effect.
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I cannot destroy or save them. I have no power for either. I can only do damage
with my assessments, which at best, are built upon limited knowledge and lame
preconceptions!
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Turn in your Bibles to John 21. The
scene is post resurrection, the location is the sea of Galilee. Jesus and Peter
are having a chat about Peter's new role among the Apostles.
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Peter is to feed the Lord's sheep until he dies a death that will eventually
amount to being crucifixied upside down. While Jesus is telling him this, Peter
is thinking about another person.
•
John 21:20-22 : "Then Peter, turning around, saw the
disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the
supper, and said, 'Lord, who is the one who betrays You.' Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, 'But
Lord, what about this man?' Jesus said to him, 'If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?
You follow Me.'" : Jesus is busying talking
with Peter about Peter and Peter is concerned with John! "What about
him?" Jesus replies to him and us, "What is that to you?"
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The Apostle Paul echoes this very same sentiment in Romans 14:4, when he reminds the Roman believers that a servant
stands or falls before his master!
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What happens with God's fellow servants is meaningless to us, save that we
would offer our love and our hands to them in support! James asks, "Who
are you to judge your neighbor?"
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As we begin to close this section, can I suggest a little experiment to begin
our week. As you know, it's incredibly easy to be critical of others, while at
the same time, extending grace to ourselves.
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Would you join me in reversing that trend this week? The criticism that you
would use toward others, turn upon yourself. The grace you would extend to
yourself, release toward others!
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See how that changes your perspective this week. That's the kind of mindset
that builds the body of Christ up in love.
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Worldliness breeds pride, which looks for a way to be superior to others and
presumption, which exposes a heart that lives apart from God! Verse 13.
•
James 4:13-16 : "Come now, you who say, 'Today or
tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell,
and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is
your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away. Instead
you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your
arrogance. All such boasting is evil." : It's
such a free conversation. These people have control over their time. They could
move today or tomorrow.
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They have control over their destination. They can move wherever they please.
They control how long they will stay and what they will do there.
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They're pretty sure of themselves because, even given the incredibly short
time, they will make a profit!
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What is the difference between how these people are talking and how the world
talks? There isn't any difference and James wouldn't mention it if he had
overheard non-Christians talking.
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The people that James is addressing have supposedly given their lives to God!
It is inexcusable to talk in such a flippant, godless manner!
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What is amazing is that they think, having given their lives and hearts to God,
that they have a chance of making a profit without Him!?
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It's God who gives you and I the power to excel in our workplace. This set of
statements is both godless and ignorant of just how quickly a life can change!
-
James lets them in on the secret. "You don't know what tomorrow will
bring, much less next year!" You don't even have a clue as to whether or
not you will be alive! Your life is like a vapor!
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I don't know that James was thinking exactly of King David's words in Psalm 39 but listen to how they fit
together with this passage.
•
Psalm 39:4,5 : "Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days,
that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
and my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor." : What a difference in speech? Lord, make me to know my end and
what is the measure of my days and how frail I am! That's a humble way to think
about life!
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Our lives can change on a dime. Consider what unexpected events may come up on
a given day that consistently change the course of people's lives.
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A major injury sustained at work. A mysterious illness that comes out of nowhere.
An accident on the way home. A job that no longer requires your service.
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These are things that happen every day. This doesn't even account for the
changes that come in other's lives that you are connected to.
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Perhaps you will not sustain the injury, but your child or spouse does. That
illness is not yours to endure, but is in fact your Father or Mother's. You
don't know what will happen tomorrow!
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Even if you did, you also have no idea how quickly it could all be gone! Your
life is a mist that is visble for a moment and gone the next! A Christian
should never be presumptuous.
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We should bathe our words in this language: "If the Lord wills!" This doesn't mean that you should say,
"The Lord wills" mechanically after every sentence! James doesn't
mean this.
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We should however, speak in ways that clearly indicate our submission to God
and our willingness to go where He guides and provides for us! Anything else is evil boasting! Verse 17.
•
James 4:17 : "Therefore, to him who knows to do
good and does not do it, to him it is sin." :
Because God calls us to forsake our pride and presumption, the person then that
has that knowledge, but fails to apply it, finds themself in sin.
-
Most theologians refer to this as the "sin of ommission." It is knowing
that something good must be done and then failing to do it. Consider the
context.
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If you know that pride is out of place but fail to correct the way you consider
others, you are in sin. If you know that presumption is a failure to glorify
God, but fail to alter your course, you are in sin.
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It is never enough for a believer to know the right things to do if that does
not cross over to affirmative action! If you have listened and understood, I
warn you, it's right for you to plan to act!
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Anything less is a sin before God! James shifts his thought now to the logical
outcome of those that have lived in this philosophy.
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The people of God have been tempted to walk down this path, but there are those
that actually have walked down this path. He speaks to them in chapter 5.
•
James 5:1-6 : "Come now, you rich, weep and howl
for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your
garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a
witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up
treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which
you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened
your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not
resist you." : James, in prophecying about their
future, hopes to shake the disease from God's people!
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He wants them to see their end, that they might definitively choose another!
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James looks down the corridor of time and sees the rich, not as they are today,
but as they will be! Today, they are celebrating their lives apart from God and
they are quite content without Him.
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On that day that James foresees, they must weep and howl for the misery that
has come upon them! What they lived for was vanishing before their eyes!
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It's interesting to me that God called His people to "lament and
mourn" over their sinful condition in 4:9.
I submit that if we do this now, we certainly will not do it then!
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The godless rich have never considered their own hearts before a Holy God! This
leaves them in misery on this day of reckoning!
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Generally, riches in these ancient times were measured by food storage,
clothing and of course, precious metals. On that day, their stored food will be
utterly rotten.
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Their clothes are being consumed by moths. Their money, their valuable gold and
silver that they would travel the world to get, the profit that would line
their pockets, was now rusting away.
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This is interesting, as pure alloys aren't prone to rust naturally. But, in the
presence of God, they are worthless!
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As they visualize that, they understand that what they have lived for has
disappointed. The rust testifies against them and eats them up inside! What a
powerful statement to make!
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Think of what those riches have seen and what they can say. "Remember how
you sacrificed for me? Remember what you did to earn me? Remember how important
I was to you?"
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Now, as James' audience looks down the corridor of time, those questions are
posed not from the shiny new treasure, but the corrupted, moth-eaten closet of
forgetfulness!
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When it matters most, what you invest in will either carry you through or mock
you thoroughly! The latter will eat your flesh like fire.
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There will come a time when some will discover that their physical riches in a
financial will not translate spiritually. Unfortunately, there is a price to
pay even now!
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Where will your riches be when your children have walked away from God?
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What price will you pay to turn back time and make your priorities right,
modeling for your children the way that they should walk?
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Where will your money be when there is a diagnosis that no money in the world
can touch? Then, your riches will eat away at you! That is what they have done.
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These have stored up great riches for themselves, built upon the backs of
people who were treated poorly for the sake of their gain. They horded their
riches and defrauded their workers!
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They were poor, perhaps without labor representation, but they cried out to the
Lord of Sabaoth and He has heard their cry!
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The word "Sabaoth" is an old expression for the word
"hosts" or armies! It's not the Lord, meek and mild. It's the God
that directs the entire army of heaven!
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He has heard them and is about to act on their behalf! They have lived for
luxury and pleasure, not fully aware that they have been prepared for the
slaughter that is coming their way!
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This is an amazing consideration! I can see James looking at his people and
their envy.
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"The world isn't suffering for their beliefs! They have the freedom to go
anywhere and at anytime, for the sake of profit! Why can't we?"
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In some respect, they must have been tempted to believe that the wicked wealthy
had it better than them! They were getting everything that they wanted without
any consequence.
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Pastor James is telling them that they have it all wrong! When a lamb or animal
is fattened for the slaughter, he is separated from the herd, overfed and
treated luxuriously.
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Many farmers have mentioned that their cows are even massaged and treated to
soft music as they sleep, so as to further relax them.
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All the other cows or sheep must be incredibly envious, until they realize that
their buddy isn't being invited to Sunday dinner. He's being primed to be
Sunday dinner!
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Aren't we all guilty of the same thing? We can be thankful that ours are not
original thoughts. Before James wrote this, another man wrote similar words in Psalm 73.
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He was stumbled at the success of the rich, who had no pangs in death, whose
eyes bulged with abundance, who were always at ease.
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He thought as many of us do, that we are following the Lord in vain, keeping
our way clean for nothing. But then, Asaph came to realize the truth.
• Psalm
73:17-20 : "Until I went into the
sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so,
Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their
image." : The wicked wealthy will deserve
their sentence because of their injustice toward the righteous.
- Many had done this against God's people, but
ultimately, they did this against Christ, the Just One, in whom all of us
Christians have our life!
- They condemned Him and He did not resist
them. He didn't put up a fight on Earth. But one day, they will stand before
Him and they will not put up a fight before Him!
Conclusion
- James, I
believe shows his people this picture of the fate of the wicked wealthy, to
shock them back into reality.
- The wicked
wealthy have lived in pride and presumption. I don't even want a hint of that
in my walk with the Lord!
- If that is
the case with you, then let us mourn and weep when we are guilty of being
critical of our fellow brothers and sisters. They have access to the same law
and Holy Spirit that you do.
- Let us mourn
and weep when we are guilty of excluding God from our plans, presuming that we
know the first thing about what is coming our way.
- Gratefully,
you and I know that the best place to look is upon the face of our Lord and the
best place to be is right behind His lead! May the Lord grant us the grace to
do just that!
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