Why Do You Judge Your Neighbor?

Well, good morning again, and welcome to Pentecost weekend, as we've already had referenced by Tom. It is a blessing to be able to think about what the Day of Pentecost pictures, what it portrays, how it's connected to us. And it really is connected to us, you know, very directly, very particularly. Yet, I think it's important that we recall and that we clearly keep in mind the fact that the Holy Days, in their entirety, not just the Day of Pentecost, but the Holy Days, we're familiar with them throughout the year, from the spring and kind of early summer, like we're in now, until we ultimately get to the fall and to the conclusion of the Holy Day season for the year.

Now, these Holy Days portray God. They portray the plan of God, a plan that God is working out here on the earth, a plan that He devised before He even created Adam and Eve, a plan that has been in existence. Again, how well we understand that, and I think our understanding of that has been very low way in the past. That's kind of grown. Certainly, I'm looking back 60 years or 70 years as we look into the early part of the last century.

We weren't even thinking or knowing that we needed to keep the Holy Days. And yet, as we've come to observe those, as we've come to realize the significance, realize what the Bible reveals, and actually what Tom went over today is amazing, to see that what God really wants, and since He has a plan that He is working out, He wants to be able to emblazon upon our minds how appreciative He wants us to be.

He doesn't just want to give it to us. He doesn't just want to offer the gifts, which He is and does. But He wants that to become an integral part of the way we are. He wants that to become a part of the way that we think, the outlook that we have, the way that we actually look at each other, the way that we appreciate our calling today, and the way then that that reflects His love and His way between us and among us because we live our lives here in a perilous world because we really are in a world that is quite distressed.

I'd like to add a little bit to something that I mentioned to you here several weeks ago. I gave a sermon just regarding Matthew 7 about judge not lest you also be judged. And primarily, that sermon focused on the fact that even though we do have to make some decisions, we have to make judgments as we live our lives, we have to make decisions.

And those decisions are made primarily as we understand the Word of God. But what Jesus' statement was regarding judge not lest you also be judged was really regarding how it is that we might condemn or that we might judge or make judgments about. It is, I think, in many ways a fascinating book because it even points out that we can come to God and ask for healing.

It points out the one directive that we have that is very, at least the most direct statement about if we're sick, tells us to be anointed, tells us to look to God, to ask God for healing. And he tells us to be growing in faith in that regard. But here in James 4, it says in verse 11, so this is another instruction regarding the whole topic of judging. It says, do not speak evil against one another, brethren. Don't speak evil against one another. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another is speaking evil against the law and judging the law.

And so here it puts it very plainly that this is something that we want to learn not to do. We want to be aware of why this is not only something not to do, but how it puts us in a completely different category. Because it goes on to say, it says, he who judges others speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

Because if you are judging the law, then you're really not a doer of the law, but you're a judge. And so it kind of pulls us out of the category that we're in by making us not a doer or observer or one who expresses the love of God, but by placing us in the category of being a judge. And it goes ahead to say there is one judge. There is one lawgiver and one judge who is able to save and destroy.

Of course, talking of Jesus Christ. So he concludes verse 12 by just saying, so who then are you to judge your neighbor? And so we have to, in a sense, kind of ask ourselves, well, who am I? Who am I to judge other people?

To judge others about their actions, about their decisions, about their circumstances, maybe even regarding their relationship with God. Is that something that sometimes we consider? I think it's something that we should. I want to cover several aspects here because there are several things mentioned, not only here in the book of James, but in a couple of other places. And I hope this would be helpful to us as we think about our calling, the responsibility that God places on us, the opportunity that He gives us by calling us in this age. But by also showing us that, well, this is the way I want you to live. I want you to live understanding the love of God, understanding what it is to love others.

And a part of that is not speaking evil of others and judging others in the way mentioned here in James 4. So I want to mention four different areas here. One of them is showing partiality because that's mentioned here in James. Another one is clearly defining or just considering the way we use our tongue because unfortunately that can become a very damaging tool, a damaging instrument. Another one I'll mention is just racial prejudice because again these are ways that people judge each other.

And then finally, judging or criticizing others is simply regarding the matters of health, regarding their health. Because again, we tend to be able to do that actually quite easily. So I'd like to start with this first one, showing partiality. And you see this, if you turn back a page, probably in your Bible. Because here in James 2, you find James addressing this and just telling us that showing partiality toward others, making judgments about others regarding their physical circumstances, regarding how it is, in this case, there's talking about rich and poor.

But it also points out how we want to not show favoritism in other areas. It says, brethren, verse 1, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? James was saying, do we really reflect a belief in a favor toward Jesus Christ if we are affected by our acts of favoritism, our acts of partiality?

It says in verse 2, for if a person with gold rings and fine clothes come into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, have a seat here, please, and while to the one who is poor you say, stand over there or sit at my feet, have you not made distinction among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? So here's something that was pretty obvious. He was describing a situation that could easily happen in any assembly. If people came to that assembly, do those who are there in the assembly quickly make assessment, just depending on appearance of the value, of the importance, of the significance of others, and actually make judges or judgments of them that they should not do.

Verse 5, listen, my brethren, you need to keep in mind your calling. You need to keep in mind the fact that God has drawn us, He has called us into the Church of God today. He's drawn us into a relationship with Him, and He didn't do that because of our own brilliance.

He didn't do that because of all of the wonderful works of righteousness that we have been doing. He actually did that knowing that we needed help. Thankfully, knowing we needed help, knowing that if we come to acknowledge that we need help, that He has pointed a help to give. But He says in verse 5 here, listen, brethren, has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him. See, that's actually the calling that we have. Not one of being mighty and powerful, although He says in the future, I'm going to give you great authority.

I'm going to give you responsibility. But right now, I want you to remember that you are those that He would describe as being poor in this world, but rich in faith, and you are to be heirs of the kingdom. But He says in verse 6, you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name by which you are called? See, that's usually the case. You find people ignoring God and certainly ignoring the power that Jesus Christ has in the realms of those who are often very powerful, often very wealthy, and often very not aware of their need, not aware of what we even covered earlier about how they needed to rehearse how God was working with them and how He could help them.

And certainly that's something that we can keep in mind. He says in verse 8, you do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture. That you are to love your neighbor as yourself. But if you show partiality, then you commit sin, and you are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all. And the one who said you shall not commit adultery also said you shall not murder. And if you do not commit adultery, but if you murder, then you become a transgressor of the law.

So He says speak and do, or act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. We're not to be judging others and in a sense placing ourselves as a judge of the law. Here it tells us all of us are going to be judged by the law. And of course that law is a law of liberty, a law of love and concern that comes and emanates from God. And He concludes this section by saying, for judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy because mercy triumphs over judgment. We want to grow in the mercy of God. We want to grow in His nature. And a part of that nature is being able to recognize that showing partiality regarding physical circumstances with others is not wise. That is, not reflecting a right understanding of Christ living in us, nor is it honoring the law of liberty that God expects us to honor. So that's the first thing I wanted to mention. And if we go over to the next chapter in chapter 3, we find the second thing that we mention because it simply is a matter of how we speak, how we use our tongue.

Here in chapter 3, He says in verse 1, Not many of you should become teachers, brethren, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And so He was pointing out that those who are teaching need to be very conscious of trying to follow what they're saying, trying to follow what they are doing.

And yet, you know, even as I read through this, you know, it's really, it's self-incriminating. It's self-incriminating for me, and I think almost anyone who would read it, they would have to say, well, certainly as much as I would like to speak the words of life, as much as I would like to say the right thing all the time, that doesn't happen.

And so that's why this warning is here, because this warning is one of caution. And it goes on in verse 2, For all of us make mistakes, or many mistakes. And yet anyone who makes no mistake in speaking is perfect and able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. So here it says how important it is to guard our tongue. And there are many other scriptures that talk about the same thing, but this is, this is in essence maybe the most specific statements that we have about how it is, you know, that we need to guard our tongue because it can set on fire, you know, just a forest fire of difficulty.

Now, where might that happen? Well, it might happen here in church. It might happen in our interaction with other people. It might happen in our home. It might happen in our marriages. It certainly can inflame things. And I, you know, I read this, I think about it. I want to do it. And yet I also know how easy it is to forget how easy it is to be at fault in this case. And so it goes on to say if we put bits in the mouths of horses to make them obey, we can guide their whole body.

You know, that's a, you know, some of you, if you are familiar with horses more than I am, I don't really know much about horses. I recall when I was growing up, we had one horse. I grew up on a little farm, a small farm there in Oklahoma. Of course, I guess a lot of areas had lots of horses.

We had one old horse. And Dad bought him because he thought it would be fun for us three boys to ride. The horse was so mean. He was so wild. He was so, Dad was the only one who could ride him. And so the boys didn't get to ride the horse much. But I do remember a certain amount about how to get the bridle in his mouth. And that tended to curb the, you know, the feistiness quite a bit, or exaggerated it in other ways.

And yet that's the description that you have here. And of course, he goes on to talk in a similar way about ships. Though they're so large, it takes strong winds to drive them, yet, you know, they're guided by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the pilot directs. So he points out that the bridle guides a horse, or it can bring a horse under a certain amount of guidance. And the same way with the rudder in a boat, if you have that little rudder, then you can actually go the right direction in a boat, moving the whole big huge boat in whatever body of water you might be in.

And so it points out the importance of such a small thing as a rudder or a bridle in guiding a much larger object. So also, he says in verse 5, the tongue is a small member, and yet it boasts of great exploits. The tongue actually can be used to inflame things as it's going to go ahead and say, how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.

I don't know how the fires out in Arizona got started, but it could have easily been started just by a very small fire somewhere. I think a lot of the forest fires that we have here in this country are started by lightning anyway. I don't know that they're directly set, but lightning is a way that you find forest fires being created. But of course, they start off in a relatively small way, and then you've got a huge, huge area, and apparently a very large area now in Arizona that's suffering.

It says, how great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. In verse 6, the tongue is that type of fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity. It stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.

For every species of beast, bird, or reptile or sea creature can be tamed, and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue because it is a restless evil full of deadly poison. See, now we might guard our tongue, guard our lips, and do well today. We might be successful in a day-to-day effort, and yet we don't succeed indefinitely. It's always going to be a potential that we will say or do something that will be damaging with our tongue because it says in verse 9, with it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who were made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. And my brethren, he says in the last part of verse 10, this simply should not be. He makes just a direct statement that in order to show the love of God, in order to not be judgmental toward others, a part of that is going to be guarding our lips. A part of that is going to be mindful of just how it is, or how easy it is for us to say something that is damaging. And of course, I think we should think on the other hand, well, it also is really beneficial.

To be a part of the blessing here says, from the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. We can tear down. It's easy to do. It's easy to hurt someone else. It's even easy to say something. And even if what we said was right, if the tone was wrong, then that might have discounted whatever was said. So it's very easy to be on the negative side of speaking.

And yet, it does talk about the blessings that we can extend to others, the blessings that we can encourage others with. And of course, that also comes from our mouth. So it's not saying we're not going to talk at all. It's just saying that we've got to be guarding our lips. And I think in verse 10 where it just says, this should not be so, brethren, is exactly what we have to focus on in this regard. So those two areas are areas that perhaps we can think of in regard to why would be, in a sense, judge or condemn our neighbor. The third area I wanted to mention is just racial prejudice. And I think all of us realize when we look in the world around us, and of course, all of us in this group are very similar racially. And yeah, when you look in the world around us, you've got all different types of racial tension. You've got the nation of Israel in a very, in a sense, kind of isolated area surrounded by nations of mostly other ethnicities and who are greatly at odds with the nation of Israel. And of course, that's simply one example. You have numerous other nations around the world where tension and anger and hatred is actually very, very common just because of racial prejudice. We find that with our president here in the United States today. You find a lot of conflict over the races. And of course, it's very easy to interject in any kind of argument, which it almost seems politicians are wonderful at arguing. They're not really, I don't know, I could say they're wonderful at arguing. I don't know if they're wonderful at much of anything else, but they're really wonderful at arguing and deflecting and creating problems, it seems. And yet, it is always an easy out to throw a racial comment or a racial disparity into an argument. Here in Galatians 2, you see just a small statement. I think we read this not too long ago, but I'll turn to it again. Because here it's talking about the diversity that you have in the church, and primarily that diversity was between Jews who initially were drawn and called into the church, and then Gentiles, those who would be non-Israelites.

And here in Galatians 2, it talks about a conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles. And of course, it was not being handled correctly in every situation at all. It was quite the source of conflict for many of the people in the church, the Jews not really wanting the Gentiles to be a part of the church, at least initially, not understanding what God had revealed to Peter and what God had been interjected by drawing others into the church who were not Jewish but who were of a Gentile background. But here it says, when Peter came to Antioch, verse 11, Galatians 2, I opposed him to his face, as Paul talking, because he stood self-condemned.

For until certain people came from James, from Jerusalem, with James, or from James, I guess, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles. But then after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was led to spray by this hypocrisy.

And when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the Gospel, I, Paul, said to Peter before them all, if you being a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews? Paul says he pointed this out to Peter, and of course it was something that Peter had to think about. Well, you know, what I'm doing, even though God has actually used me to bring an understanding that Jews and Gentiles both are being drawn into the church, and that the tension and the anger and the hostility one race toward another should not be there. It should not be extant within the framework of the Church of God. And yet my actions are actually contradictory to that. My actions, what he was doing was showing favoritism. It was showing a prejudice. And see, that's a serious thing, as was being pointed out, but of course it was solvable. It wasn't something that was going to be long-standing. It was going to be solvable, at least from Peter's standpoint. He said, okay, I see what I'm doing. Yeah, that's wrong. And I need to change that. And I need to reflect the fact that God is drawing Gentiles into the church, and that we all need to be accepting, actually, what you find over here in the latter part of chapter 3, is that in verse 27, as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you all have clothed yourself with Christ.

And there's no longer Jew or Greek, and no longer a slave or free, no longer male or female, but all of you are to be one in Jesus Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's offspring and heirs according to the promise. See, Abraham, you know, is actually an honored individual in the world of Christianity, and in the world of Judaism, and in the world even outside of Judaism, even today. And yet this is talking about all of us being drawn together, all of us coming to see that, well, you know, the way I view race should reflect in understanding the fact that God created all the races. And of course, right now we have a mixture of many of the blending of the major races around the world. That's not something that we can fix right now. It's not something I know that it necessarily needs to be fixed. But certainly the tension, the tension and the hatred and the animosity, see, how do we view? And maybe more so, how do we speak of those who are of a different racial ethnicity than ourselves? It's very easy, very easy to say something derogatory, very easy to say something destructive. It's very easy to say something that's damaging because often we try to categorize others. We try to categorize others and want to put them in a box, sometimes even labeling those different than ourselves negatively. That's what we tend to do. And I encourage you, again, that that's not what God certainly wants us to do. And of course, here in Galatians 3, this short section at the end of it says that we don't want that kind of making of divisive statements or divisive categories among ourselves, but to accept one another in love. That's what we want to learn to do. And so, you know, this is another section I think that we could add to what we might say is an understanding of how to not be judging others inappropriately. The last thing I'll mention is just criticizing or judging others regarding their health. Now, I point this out simply because all of us have health issues at times. All of us get sick. All of us have certain flaws in our genetics, in our eating, in our, you know, even care of ourselves. I've often, you know, I think I relate to you or I certainly have spoken to different congregations how that I clearly contributed to my broken arm. Here's some long time ago when I lived back in Lake Ozark, I broke my arm trying to dunk a basketball off of a chair, a folding chair. Not a very good move. Did that in the big building. I was about 30 some years old. I felt pretty invincible. Pat was there. The boys were there. They were kind of small. So I was going to impress them with being able to dunk a basketball. And I thought, well, I could run. And if I hit the chair just right, I'll probably be able to elevate enough to crash. That's what happened. And so I clearly contributed. And, you know, I ended up breaking my arm and having a cast on it for six weeks. And of course, the boys remember that to this day. They did not forget. And yet, see, I contributed to that particular failing. I contributed clearly to that. And I think all of us have to analyze in some ways, you know, do we contribute to even our own whatever our health problems are.

But I bring this up in that, you know, we have many, as you know, prayer requests for people who are failing as far as their health, who are older, who are in many different illnesses and diseases. You know, as almost every week we send out a whole batch of prayer requests.

And I think the thing that we want to think about is that, you know, sometimes, you know, we can read through some of those things and we can evaluate or try to decide, well, you know, wonder if they're doing the right thing. Wonder if they're doing this or that. That is actually the correct thing to do. And I don't think that that's what God wants us to do. I think he wants us simply to be praying for his mercy and help and intervention for all of these folks, because that's what we would want if it were us. If it were us, you know, we would clearly not want people analyzing, what am I not doing? And see, that's a preconditioning, rather, and it's a preconditioning that we have in the Church of God. And yet it is not. It's not an uncommon predisposition.

It's not an uncommon way to think, to think that, well, something had to cause, if I'm ill or ailing, that something had to cause that and that I need to repent of that. Because we do see references of, well, you know, we should repent of things, and I had to repent of, you know, the bad chair that I selected. That was something that I could repent of. But see, we don't want to be judgmental toward others. I'd like for us to look here in John 9, as we are going to wrap this up here pretty soon. But in John chapter 9, you find an example of a man who was born blind.

John 9 is actually about vision. It's about vision, and it's about blindness. And it talks about spiritual vision and spiritual blindness a little later on in chapter 9. But initially, it goes through an incident here with a man that Jesus healed. A man that Jesus came to and that he gave sight to. And see, what I want to point out is that it was a very common misconception during the days of Jesus that this particular man, you know, in some ways was wrong. In some way was a sinner. You could say everyone is a sinner, and yet they were saying it, and even this is not simply the disciples. It really was the Jews who were frustrated that Jesus had given this man his sight. You read through the entire account, which I'm not going to take time to do. But when you see that Jesus healed the man, you find later the man was being sought out by the Jews because they wanted, in some way, discredited him. They wanted to, in some way, discredit Jesus for what he had just done. And of course, there was nothing wrong with what he had just done. But when you see down in about verse 30, the Jews were again talking to the man. They had talked to his parents, and now they were talking to him. They said, He's of age. Let him tell you. And the man answered, Here's an astonishing thing. You don't know where he comes from, talking about Jesus. They were saying, well, we're not really sure about him. He says, you don't know where he comes from, and yet he opens my eyes. And we know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.

Well, never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opens the eyes of a person who was born blind. He was actually speaking some great deal of sense here to the Jews who were trying to pin him down and trying to criticize him for what Christ had done. And he says, this is amazing. This man has been able to do something that no one else could do. Only God could do this, and you don't want to believe that. And in verse 33, if this man were not from God, well, then he couldn't do anything. And so he was really testifying the fact that he was now coming to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, that he was a representative of God on earth. But the conversation is concluded here in verse 34 by the Jews saying, well, you were born entirely in sin. That's what they thought. They thought that there has to be some sin involved in the fact that you were born blind. That's what they were saying. You were born entirely in sin, and are you trying to teach us? And so they drove him out. They said, we're above you. We're looking down upon you. We're judging you. But see, their common concept was that, well, there had to be something wrong. There had to be sin involved for this man to have been blind, but they couldn't figure out and couldn't explain in any way how he could now see. So I want to go back to verse 1 because you also see that not only were the Jews, did they have that idea.

It says in verse 1 that as Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, well, Rabbi, who sinned? See, that was what they thought, too. That wasn't just the Jews who had that idea. It was all the disciples. You know, when they saw a man who was blind and they were told, well, he's been blind all his life, he was blind when he was born. And so they asked a very common question, Rabbi, who sinned? This man, did he sin, or did his parents? That he was born blind? See, they were referring to the fact, and again, a very common judgment, that, well, there had to be some sin involved. There had to be some error involved for this man to have born blind and be blind all his life. And of course, the statement that Jesus makes is in verse 3, where he said, Jesus answered neither this man nor his parents had sinned. And so he was making it very plain, at least in this particular case, that there was no sin involved at all. But that, he goes on to say, he was born blind so that God's work might be revealed in him. He said, now there was nothing that was involving sin in this particular ailment. What we find is that he has lived throughout however old he was, apparently over 18. He was of age, and so he could speak for himself. And so he had lived for a long time with blindness, not because of his own fault, not because of the fault of his parents, but in order for the works of God to be revealed, for Jesus to be able to perform this kind of a miracle. And so he pointed out that it is not just, it's an assumption that too many times we think that, you know, there has to have been something that I did or that someone else does in order to have, you know, and whenever you read so many different ailments, you know, I don't know that there's a way to detail everything that could possibly, you know, relate to whatever type of ailment we might find ourselves in. But what he pointed out is that simply the disciples should not, and that we should not, make judgments about the health of others since there's no way that we could really determine a cause, no way we could really determine the reason why a given ailment, say we even believe today, you know, that as we have different ailments, as we come to God, as we ask God for forgiveness, as we ask God for healing, as we ask God to increase our faith, we believe that certain things that we go through actually are beneficial to us, that they are helping us in that, you know, we grow spiritually, and that is what God tells us. But I think it does point out that we should refrain from making judgments about the health of others, and that, you know, even the fact that every individual is different, and even if something can be proven to be a, you know, a sound principle, you know, there could be a variation among all people about how that would be applied, and how it would be utilized, and how it would be beneficial. So everyone is different, and even if one thing works for one, then that doesn't necessarily mean it would work for another. All of us have a different background, a different makeup, and, you know, things affect us differently.

So I think it's good to keep in mind that, you know, as we pray for others, that we not have the attitude or the idea that the disciples had that, well, you know, what sin was involved. But just the fact that that person needs, as I do whenever I'm sick, that person needs the mercy of God. So I hope that maybe I'm pointing these things out, you know, that we can recall a little more about what it says here in James 4, in verse 11, about not speaking evil against one another, whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

And if we judge the law, then we're not a doer, but a judge. So there is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. And so he concludes that statement in verse 12, James 4, so who then are you to judge your neighbor? See, that's not something that God is wanting us to do. He's wanting us to be able to learn beyond that, to go beyond that. If we're going to show the love of God, we're going to have the type of concern that would enable us to be merciful and to be compassionate and to be the type of firstfruits that God wants us to be. He wants us, you know, to be a part of his family. And of course, he wants us, you know, to be yearning for others to be a part of that family, not only in this age, but clearly in the days to come. So I hope that this can be helpful as we go forward and consider the ways that we can actually show love and respect for one another.