James 4:11

NASB: 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.

The Message: Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honouring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. 

James here is not telling us not to judge, i.e. to confront sin, but is talking about when we pull someone apart, picking  at their motives, their lifestyle, criticising them for the things they have done or left undone.  It’s  those times when we hear what someone did or said, and we sit there in condemnation.  After all, we would never have done that or said that, we know that is a sin, specifically forbidden in the bible, how could they have done that, when it says…..  I am sure you know the type of thing I mean, although, naturally, each of us would never be guilty of this......

Right, yes, that is easy to say but how often do we truly hear what someone has done and that little voice inside pipes up in shock, horror, and amazement that they could have actually done that or said that?  It is so easy to be critical of others, to assume that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what had happened, we would never to something as bad as that.  We actually judge that person and James is telling us here that by doing this, we are judging the law, effectively setting ourselves up as better than God since it is His law on the first place.

Just look at the words of Jesus:

Matthew 22:35-40 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?  Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two command.'  (NIV)

If we are loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, and loving our neighbour as ourselves, then we wouldn't be critical of others.  We wouldn't  sit there in condemnation, probably without even knowing all the facts and circumstances.  Instead, we would accept our brother or sister for what they are, warts and all, just as we would hope to be accepted by others.  Yes, confront the sin, the blatant (or even the not so blatant) wrongdoing, but to sit there criticising, pulling someone apart because of their lack of morals, lack of self control, inability to keep their mouth closed or whatever we may consider to be the problem is in all reality only the pot calling the kettle black.

Matthew 7:1-5 Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (NIV)

And just look at the same verses in The Message:

Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbour's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole travelling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.

That puts a whole different meaning to the words of Jesus, doesn't it ?  Are we "playing a holier than thou part" when we criticise others, find fault with what they do or say?  Do we nit pick everything others do so we can make ourselves feel better, tell others about the things so and so has done or said so they can gain an appreciation of just how good we are, and how rotten that other person is?

It is really so easy to do this, even when we don't mean to.  It is far easier to be critical of others, to see their faults, their failures than their successes, the things they do well despite their struggles, their circumstances.  We need to look at others through the eyes of Jesus, not the eyes of the devil.  Jesus looked at the woman caught in adultery and did not condemn her.  He looked at her with eyes of love, compassion, mercy and told her to go and sin no more (John 11:1).  Jesus looks at us, and others, with the eyes of love, but the devil looks with eyes of hate.

How are your eyes going to look today?  Will you choose to look on others, no matter what they have done or said, with eyes of love, or are you going to look at others through the eyes of the devil, with hate, judgment and condemnation in your heart?

….in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  (Matthew 7:2, NIV)

James 4:10

NIV: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The Message: Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

This is a admonition to remember exactly who we are in the overall scale of things.  We are men and women, created by God, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, in the earth and heaven above.  We need to get on our knees more, to be less full of our own self importance but full of the love and grace of God, to let His glory shine through all that we do, not our own feelings of self worth.

So it is a case of getting things into perspective, of realising that we are so minuscule, so unimportant by comparison to God that we are really not worth considering.  Yet God in all his graciousness and mercy has chosen to love us, each and every one of us, no matter who we are or what we have done. 

Psalm 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (KJV)

Imagine that!  It doesn't matter who we are, what our position in society is, whether we have a high powered job, a menial, low paid job,  or even no job at all.  We can have pots of money, or no money at all, we can be the most hardened criminal or the person who always obeys each and every rule to the nth degree.  We can be totally full of pride and be self centred, not caring about anybody else, or we can be the equivalent of Mother Theresa to those in need.  Whoever and whatever we are, whatever we have done, good or bad, God loves each and every one of us. 

The Father of all mankind, the one who created the heavens and earth, fish and fowl, plants and trees, who put the stars in the sky, the planets in their orbits, He is the one who chose to love each and every one of us.  He is so great, so awesome, so powerful, so amazing, so majestic, so full of authority and power, with dominion over everything, the one for whom nothing is impossible, and yet, from all the things He could do, He chose to create us, to give us life, and to love us. 

It's a case of looking at things in perspective, seeing just how mighty and awesome God is in comparison to us.  How He could and would never do anything bad, yet look at what each one of us does every day - lying, cheating, committing adultery, losing our tempers, being selfish and self centred, having no thought or care for anyone else…. the list goes on and is never ending of all the mean and rotten things we each do. 

When I think of the majesty of God, of all that He is, and has done, and just how much He loves me, I am in awe, absolute awe.  For who am  that God should so love me?  Who is man, that God should have created the earth for us to live in? 

No wonder James tells us to humble ourselves.  For it is only by humbling ourselves we can truly appreciate who God is and He has done, all that He can do, for He is worthy to receive the honour, the power and the glory.   For when  we humble ourselves, we are not putting our self first, our wants our needs, thinking of ourselves as more important than we really are.  It is easy to become full of our own self importance, filled with a sense of our own worth.  After all, we spent all those years at college gaining those qualifications, or all that time in that job learning all those essential skills that others struggle to grasp.  We have a nice house, paid for with the work of our hands, a loving family.  Maybe we have a successful and growing ministry, or are a gifted prophet that people look up to and respect, or maybe we have a position of standing in the community, we are respected by the townspeople and when we talk, others listen.

It is so easy to become filled with self importance and when we do this, where is God?  We end up pushing him to one side as we think more highly of ourselves than we should and God ends up being totally ignored. 

Obviously, this doesn't happen overnight, we are not humble one day and proud and conceited the next.  But how often do we do something and feel pleased because we did a good job, especially if it is something that others were having problems with?  What about if we do something and it is as fi we were born to do it?  Maybe we are a natural speaker and we can really inspire those to whom we are speaking.  Perhaps we are able to pray such powerful prayers others are humbled and in awe of our capabilities.  Or maybe we are a gifted teacher and can explain the most intricate of problems in such a way that everyone can understand. 

But who gave us the ability to speak in public clearly and concisely, the gift of intercession, the skill of being able to explain things to others without making them feel like an idiot?  All gifts come from God, and He is the one who deserves the praise, the reward, not us, for all we are doing is using something that He gave us.

We need to keep things in perspective, not get too big for our own boots and to humble ourselves before the Lord, and then He will lift us up.