#1591 James 4 Wisdom About Slander

 

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Be subject 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 miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11 Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders 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. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judge your neighbor? James 4: 1-12 LSB

James 4: 1-12

V. 1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you - He gives the question and then takes them immediately to the answer, and not the one I would come up with naturally. I might summize after a time that it has something to do with my pride, but it's a work of the Holy Spirit to get me to accept that. James tells us that it's our pleasures that wage war in our members. I would say, instinctively, that it is external. It is what that person said or did to me. It is because something is unfair in that I did not receive what I think I deserved, and boy is that a slippery slope. James is saying that the war is from inside you, that there is a problem with my heart. Think of Cain and Abel, what did Abel do to Cain that deserved that type of retaliation. He envied that Abel received the Lord's blessing, and he very pridefully, from an entitled heart, expected God to accept his offering as well, though it didn't conform to God's will. Cain, like Satan, like me, anytime I sin, was saying, "Yes, God, you said this, but this is what I am going to do, and You need to be not only good with that, but elated." He apparently had a problem with obtaining an animal to offer up to God, representative of a life for a life, atonement, but he had no problem offering his brother's life to his own ego. Cain was actually angry at God, but He couldn't kill him, so he attacked the image of God in someone else. 

…5but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “ and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”…

8Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.… Genesis 4: 5-10

V. 2 You lust and do not have - I remember about 7 years ago when God crushed me, and one of the things was lust, that Jesus took it so far as to look at a woman with that intent, or to be so angry that you wished someone was dead. He equated them to adultery and murder, even though to me they were just thoughts. That started a war inside me where I asked Him for a holy hatred of such things, and the war then moved to the level of my thoughts. I started to train my eyes away from such, and it instantly bothered me, but the sensual is not the only problem. What about when I am wronged, or I am in the right? What about when I am slandered? I long for justice of course, but when does it turn to revenge, when does it exceed the crime, and am I able to forgive? I had no breakthrough with the first till I asked in prayer, but why have I not asked to hate my unforgiving spirit, why have I not asked God all the more to be my vindication, to shut the slandering mouths? As long as I have played down my gluttony I have remained fat, openly showing my disdain for the thought of it as sin. I have lost in the last year the appeal and identity that fishing once held for me. I still enjoy it, but it's not the everything to me that it once was. There was a time when I wouldn't do it because I did not have the fancy equipment that I wanted, but I got over that with God's help, but it consumed me for a long time. I want my marriage to be a beacon of hope and light for others, but I demand rather than pray. 

As Matthew Henry said "Natural desires are at rest when that which is desired is obtained, but corrupt desires are insatiable. Nature is content with little, grace with less, but lust with nothing....Our desires must not only be offered up to God, but they must all terminate in Him, desiring nothing more than God, but still more and more of Him." (Read Mt 6:33+, Ps 37:4)

A W Pink writes that worldly lusts "are those affections and appetites which dominate and regulate the man of the world. It is the heart craving worldly objects, pleasures, honors, riches. It is an undue absorption with those things which serve only a temporary purpose and use. "Worldly lusts" cause the things of Heaven to be crowded out by the interests and concerns of earth. This may be done by things which are quite lawful in themselves—but through an immoderate use they gain possession of the heart. "Worldly lusts" are "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16+). (Grace Preparing for Glory) - PA

3. So that you may spend it on your pleasures - When I was a Pentecostal I heard a whole message on you have not because you ask not, but the pastor left out this tidbit of context. We don't ask for God's glory, we don't ask in humility, but we ask to indulge ourselves. It's not wrong to do well or have nice things, but our motives aren't usually so pure as we would like to convince ourselves. Sometimes we do good because others are looking, or we want much, we say, so that we can give, but we give so we can again look like philanthropists and honor ourselves. We are not even good stewards in our giving, though we pat ourselves upon the back, did we weigh out if that was what the person really needed, or could we have helped more people if we wouldn't have dumped upon one what they did not know how to handle? Did we just add to their materialism?  

…12The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.… Luke 15: 12-14

You may spend it on your pleasures (hedone) - The idea of spend in context is our English word "squander" which means to to spend thoughtlessly, foolishly, extravagantly; to throw away or waste in a reckless manner. Clearly God does not not respond positively to prayers that have one's own pleasures as as one's chief goal. - PA

V. 4-6 Friendship with the world is enmity towards God - The world is proud and God opposes the proud. The world is based upon self love, self preservation, and the Spirit of God that dwells in the believer is fixed on the person of Christ, the love of Christ that is evidenced in our relationship to His children. 

Consider the accusation of James concerning the illicit love affair with the world as stated in the following paraphrase: "You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God."(James 4:4, Amplified Bible).

Being a friend of the world indicates that the person agrees with the values of the world system. The Old Testament Prophet Amos asked, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3).

V. 7 Be subject therefore to God - We forget that we were bought with a price, that we no longer belong to the ruler of this present age. Disobedience to what God says is no one's problem but my own. 

V. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you - This is only to be found in Christ, God is holy and we are not outside of the blood and life of His Son. If you are in the wrong, which I am often, and I want to be near God again, then there is only one thing left to do.

8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10

Vs. 9-10 Be miserable - Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. 

…9And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.… 2 Corinthians 7: 9-11

Vs. 11-12 Do not slander one another - If you don't know and you keep on talking then your speculation may become slander. Some will throw up with this "judge not lest ye be judged", but that means don't be a hypocrite. We are also told to judge among ourselves, to evaluate people based on their doctrine and their life. If I say something unsound then it is also a responsibility of other members of the body to correct me. We have to protect the flock from wolves, and they abound, some are rather difficult to spot, as they seem the happiest and most outgoing, but listen closely to what they say, and watch their life. Now, on the other hand, if you see a woman talk to a man, that does not mean they are having an affair. If you hear that one of the church members is a used car salesman, that does not give cause for you to spread that his is a dishonest man because all the car salesmen that you have ever met are dishonest. 

Speaking against another is an "old" sin and even Moses' own brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, spoke against him for marrying a Cushite woman (see Nu 12:1-8, note Moses' character in Nu 12:3!). And again in Numbers we find the people of Israel speaking against God and Moses by complaining about their conditions in the wilderness (Nu 21:5)! Job’s friends spoke against Job (not in the classic sense of slander which is speaking bad when one is not present), insulting, tormenting and crushing him to his face with their malicious words (Job 19:1-3).

Swindoll bluntly says that "James is suggesting that Christians who “speak against” their brothers or sisters in Christ include themselves in that biblical register of rebellious mumblers, moaning grumblers, deceitful slanderers, crushing insulters, and wicked slanderers. Not exactly the best company! Let me show you how this game works. You speak against the other person in the ears of the hearer, hoping to lower their estimate of the person—and in the process you hope to make yourself look all the better. Of course, you have to cover up your malicious intent with creative sentimentality. So, you begin your statements with “Now, stop me if I’m wrong, but . . .” or, “Now, I don’t mean to be critical, but . . .” or, “Perhaps I shouldn’t say this about him or her, but . . .” or even, “I really like so-and-so as a person, but . . ."(Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary – James, 1 & 2 Peter)

Steven Cole - YOU JUDGE SOMEONE WRONGLY WHEN YOU CRITICIZE HIM OUT OF JEALOUSY, BITTERNESS, SELFISH AMBITION, OR SOME OTHER SIN, RATHER THAN SEEKING TO BUILD HIM IN CHRIST. In other words, your motive is crucial!....Slander, which means maligning someone or damaging his reputation by sharing false or deliberately misleading information, is always sin. But the word that James uses has a broader meaning that includes any form of criticism or running someone down from selfish motives. In other words, what you are saying may be true, but the reason you’re sharing it is to make yourself look good and to put the other person in a bad light. If your motive in criticizing someone is jealousy, selfish ambition, rivalry, pride, or hatred, you are judging wrongly. (The Sin of Judging Others) - PA