James 4:11-17

1
James 411-17

• Mean Street

2
James

• What would change if I lived in freedom from
  worrying about what others might say?

3
James

• Key Verse But be doers of the word, and not
  hearers only, deceiving yourselves- James 122
  (NKJ)
• Review- Submit yourselves to God- vs. 7
• Get into your proper rank, know your place and
  keep it
• Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will
  lift you up- vs. 10

4
James

• Brothers, do not slander one another- vs. 11a
• Slander Katalaleite- any form of speaking
  against a person, whether true or untrue

5
James

• Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges
  him speaks against the law and judges it. When
  you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but
  sitting in judgment on it- vs. 11b
• Whats the difference between judging and
  discerning?

6

• Judging- Katakrino- condemning
• Begins with negative, critical, gossipy speech
• Does not have a redemptive purpose
• Assumes I know the persons heart
• Places me in the position of Judge
• I hope they get whats coming to them!

7

• Discerning- Krino- to separate good from evil
  (Hebrews 514)
• Begins with perceiving truth
• Has a redemptive/restorative purpose
• Sees only the fruit because perceiving the heart
  belongs to God alone
• Places me in the position of Advocate
• Jesus gives grace

8
James

• Law- "Love your neighbor as yourself" James 28
• How is speaking against and judging a
  brother/sister speaking against and judging the
  law?

9
James

• Speaking negatively (non-redemptively) about
  other people (or to those people!) places me
  above the law and judges it as unnecessary as it
  applies to me
• I make myself the exception
• In essence, it says that in this instance, I
  dont have to treat my neighbor the way Id want
  to be treated

10
James

• There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who
  is able to save and destroy. But you-- who are
  you to judge your neighbor?- vs. 12
• Only God has the power to enforce the law

11
James

• What would change in me if I werent worried
  about what other people would say is what should
  change in other people when they think of what I
  might say
• Love my neighbor as myselftreat others the way
  Id want to be treated

12
James

• Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
  mouths, but only what is helpful for building
  others up according to their needs, that it may
  benefit those who listen- Ephesians 429
• Note Context has nothing to do with cussing, but
  with lying and slander (vs. 25-26, 31)

13
James

• And let us consider how we may spur one another
  on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give
  up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
  doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all
  the more as you see the Day approaching- Hebrews
  1024-25

14
James

• Encouragement is one of the 3 purposes of a
  worship service
• Worship- to God
• Discipleship- from God
• Encouragement- in God

15
James

• Encouragement begins with being others-centered
• let us consider how we may spur one another on
  toward love and good deeds
• Encouragement is always based on truth and
  eternal perspective (what the person can become
  in Christ)

16
James

• When morning came, Jesus called his disciples to
  him and chose twelve of them, whom he also
  designated apostles Simon (whom he named Peter)
  -Luke 613-14

17
James

• For this reason I remind you to fan into flame
  the gift of God, which is in you through the
  laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a
  spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of
  love and of self-discipline- 2 Timothy 16-7