To Judge or Not to Judge

James 4:1-12English Standard Version (ESV)

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+4%3A+1-+12&version=ESV)

This is pretty cut and dry!  If we love the world more than we love God then we are going to have troubles.  The church is not exempt from this statement.  I would pretty much guess that the reason there are so many church splits is because of the world creeping into the church.  The only way the world gets in is if we begin to think the things of the world are better than the things of God. 

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world and they even chose to follow the devil’s scheme and had a desire for “more” rather than the companionship of Christ.  They wanted to be like Him in every way rather than like He made them, they wanted more.  In that one act of Adam and Eve eating of the fruit they allowed the worldly things to become more important than God.  How often do we do the same?

The last portion of this scripture has been misquoted many times.  I do believe there are those who try to play God and as a result they harm His name.  I think of a group of people who claim to be holy yet they picket at funerals of children and service men. I saw them with a sign on a street corner that read, “It is too late for you now, God hates you.”  I was furious!   Who were they, telling me, the reader of that sign, that it was too late for me, they didn’t even know me.   That sign displayed not hope whatsoever, dooms day had arrived and we were all destined for hell.   God hadn’t judged any of us that read that sign but these people had. They gave those reading the signs no need to even think about trusting Jesus, they gave them no hope whatsoever that there was a better life.  They had ultimately judged these people and had sentenced them to death.  This is what James is telling us not to do.  However, a Christian brother that sees his brother following the ways of the world should point it out and help them turn from their ways.  If we truly care for one another we will give each other the hope in Christ to helps us through any situation.  If you feel the urge to tell someone that they are wrong and need to change, first make sure of your motive.  If someone tells you that your are going down the wrong path I hope that you will assess their reason for telling you, if it is because they love you then listen.  If it is because they think they are better than you, then go to God and seek Him and make sure that you are following His ways and not the ways of this world.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila