Monday, September 14, 2015

James 4:11-17



James 4:11  Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. James 4:12  God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

What is "Judging your neighbor"? We talk about people every day most of it is about things we did together or the fun we had etc. Then there is the other discussions, did you hear about Sally? He is a  drunken bum. These are more judgmental. What does the bible say about gossip? Rom_1:29-30; 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness and sin, of greed and hate, envy, murder, fighting, lying, bitterness, and gossip.30 They were backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, always thinking of new ways of sinning and continually being disobedient to their parents.  2Co_12:20; 20 For I am afraid that when I come to visit you I won’t like what I find, and then you won’t like the way I will have to act. I am afraid that I will find you quarreling, and envying each other, and being angry with each other, and acting big, and saying wicked things about each other, and whispering behind each other’s backs, filled with conceit and disunity. 1Pe_2:1So get rid of your feelings of hatred. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with dishonesty and jealousy and talking about others behind their backs.

Please note where Gossip lies within the world of sin. It is ranked with murder. Why would God be so upset over such disrespect? James 2:8-10 Living Bible (TLB) 8 Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s command, “You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself.” 9 But you are breaking this law of our Lord’s when you favor the rich and fawn over them; it is sin.10 And the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is.


God is love we need to remember that. It would be very difficult to love someone who has done you great harm. You may remember the sin but you are supposed to forgive it. If you use it against that person it would be breaking God's law. Jesus died on the cross to temporarily forget our sins, really? No he died on the cross to forgive our sins and whip them away to make us white as  snow. What would it be like if he were to say to God, did you hear what Dave did today? I think my life would be mostly over. I know that there are questions around things such as someone's love one dying prematurely. There is no good answer that covers all situations on things such as that. To discuss them here would make this a book instead of a blog. All I can say is talk with a pastor and listen to the bible fir guidance.

TRUST GOD IN MAKING PLANS

James 4:13-17

James 4:13  Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." James 4:14  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone. James 4:15  What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." James 4:16  Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. James 4:17  Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

Life Application New Testament Commentary James maintains the passion of the last section in this new one. The progression has moved from humbling ourselves and our relationships to God, to our future and the need to entrust it to God.
This section includes three essential facts of life that make for good planning:
1. God is in control
2. Life is a daily gift
3. All our going and doing must be carried out with the first two points in mind.
This section is not an argument against making careful plans; rather, it is a caution to submit to God, even in our planning.
There is a bottom line here. Put God in your plans. It seems to me that if you add God and your plans are blessed by him then most likely you will succeed. If you do not put God in them you are on your own. It is not that they will not succeed it is will be without God's blessing. There are many businesses that have come and gone. Would they still be there if God wanted them to be? I think yes.
4:17 Life Application New Testament Commentary. This verse sums up all of chapters 1–4 and the entire ethical problem in the whole book of James. He may be telling these merchants that they know what they should do—that is, honor God in their business practices. If they ignore that, they sin. In a broader sense, James adds these words as an admonition for all his readers to do what he has written: it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. They have been told, so they have no excuse.
We tend to limit sins to specific acts—doing wrong. But James tells us that sin is also not doing what is right. (These two kinds of sin are sometimes called sins of commission and sins of omission.) It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not tell it. It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid that person when you know he needs your friendship. We should be willing to help others as the Holy Spirit guides us. If God has directed you to do a kind act, to render a service to others, or to restore a relationship—do it. You will experience a renewed and refreshed vitality to your Christian faith.

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