4. (James 4:11-12) The solutions for strife: get right with other people
Do not speak against one another, brethren. 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. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
Do not speak against one another: As before, the secret begins with speech. In this case, it is how we speak about our brothers and sisters in the faith. James is probably referencing back to the quarrels that started when members of the church competed for positions of authority or other privileges.
James does not say do not speak against your brother. In the Greek, the phrase literally means "to speak down against". The same Greek word is translated as "slander" in 1 Peter 2:12. In other words, do not put someone down in your speech or say bad things about a fellow Christian.
James is not prohibiting legitimate criticism such as when applying church discipline or holding a brother accountable. The Bible gives clear guidance for how to address misbehavior in the body and how to deal with it privately and publicly. We are talking about speaking negatively about a brother simply because we do not like something about him or because we are disputing with him over something.
When we speak in unflattering ways against a fellow Christian, we do three sinful things:
1. We judge our brother or sister. A hateful or negative statement about others in the faith is a form of judgment against another.
2. Our speech itself is a violation of the Royal Law. It goes "against the law", which means that our harmful speech violates the law. The Law requires that we treat others with the love we show ourselves. Literally, we break the very law we are accusing our brothers and sisters of violating. We do not accuse ourselves of violating the Law; so, we should not speak badly about others in the faith.
3. We place ourselves above the law, as a judge. We pretend the rules do not apply to us. This is the sin of hypocrisy.
Of course, James sets the record straight in verse 12.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge: There is only one God, and we are not Him! We please Him when we keep His Law rather than making ourselves a law of our own.
B. A humble dependence on God
1. (James 4:13-16) A caution against an attitude of independence from God
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Come now: Notice that the two warnings given both start with the phrase, "come now". James speaks about living ignorant of God's will. But notice that the beginning of this sin is again a form of speech. We tell ourselves something in the sense that we decide what we will do without consulting God's will.
The problem here is not that we make plans. Planning is not the problem. God is a God of order and planning is a necessary discipline that leads to an orderly and productive life. In Genesis, God gave Joseph a detailed plan covering 14 years in his dream about the lean and fat cows. The issue is when we go forth with our plans.
We will go to such and such a city: The man in verse 13 is saying what he wants to do. He presumptuously decides what that plan will be without considering God's will first. When we live this way, we are not living by faith in God's word and will. We have set those things aside, and we are living in our flesh. We are making assumptions about what tomorrow holds. We are not leaning on God. We are back to acting proudly rather than humbling ourselves.
You boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil: James describes this lifestyle as arrogant and boastful. It is a kind of proud living. We have stupidly forgotten how short life is, and how quickly it can end.
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while: When we begin to plan a life without God's input, we are pretending we can direct our future. But God has numbered our days already, according to Job 14:5: "Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass."
If the Lord wills: James gives us a different plan. He says we should say, "If the Lord wills..." Let us be clear what James expects. First, notice that the process begins again with speech. Our sin is often tied to speech, and so is our obedience. But, sin does not end with speech. Out tongue is the rudder that then directs the entire ship into the rocks. Likewise, godly speech is the means to a godly outcome. It is not the end in itself.
So, James is not expecting us to go around saying, "if the Lord wills", but then we fail to act that way. I have met many Christians who use this phrase, but I wonder how often they actually live their lives according to the principle. Do we consult God's will before we make plans? Do we announce our own plans, and then we casually add "if the Lord wills".
James counsels us that we should not arrogantly declare our plans without consulting God first. If we are not in the habit of asking God for His counsel before we make our plans, then we are walking around blindly. We are forgetting that we have a very short time on Earth. We are forgetting that time will come to an end as God determines.
When the plans of our life are made independently of God's will, we are acting in an arrogant and boastful way. Remember, the issue for James in this chapter was the problem with living in an independent and prideful way. The church was seeking worldly gain. They were setting their priorities according to worldly values. Then, they were quarreling with others when their worldly pursuits were frustrated by God. So James says we should acknowledge God's sovereign will and set our plans according to that will. We should seek to conform our lives to Him in humble obedience.
2. (James 4:17) A challenge to live according to what we know in the Lord
Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
To him who knows to do good and does not do it: James knows that it is far easier to think about and talk about humility and dependence on God than it is to live it. Yet, he makes the mind of God plain: as we know these things, we are accountable to do them. Here James returns to his consistent theme throughout the letter--the idea that genuine faith is proved by action. Yet, we also see that the uncertainty of life, to which James referred to in the previous passage, should not create fear that makes one passive or inactive. The uncertainty of life should make us ready to recognize what is good and then do it.
To him it is sin: Clearly, it is sin to live our lives without consulting God's will. But in verse 17, James now says it is also a sin when we consult God's will, but we fail to follow it. This is the person who knows the right thing to do. The right thing to do is the thing that God is directing us to do. It is when we learn God's will when we see it revealed in His word or in our prayer life, but then we dismiss it in favor of our own desires. This is sin.
It is a sin of omission. We fail to do what God expects of us. Even if we do nothing, we are sinning because we did not do the right thing.
The Gospels tell us a story with much the same point in Luke 18:18-30, Matthew 19:16-30 and Mark 10:17-31. A rich young ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. After some discussion, Jesus ends his discourse by testing the man's heart with a command to sell everything and follow Him. The ruler responds by doing nothing. He just walks away. For this man, he was told the right thing to do; yet, he did not do it. This is sin.
Jesus gives a similar message in the Book of Luke in which He obeying His word with a building constructed on a firm foundation.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when the flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and had not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:46-49)
Consider the wisdom of James. We are to seek God's will. We are not to follow worldly wisdom or desires. We are to prepare ourselves for distractions and schemes conceived by the enemy by studying God's word. We are to chart a course in life based upon the will He reveals to us. We are to humble ourselves. We are to pursue a life that worships God every day. We are not to sin against our brothers and sisters.
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