Are You A Wise Guy Series

Application: What are you fighting about and why? We need to take a good hard look at ourselves and reexamine ourselves. Are you doing things for selfish ambition or self-glorification? It’s not about us, it’s about the needs of the people around us! Humility is not thinking less of yourself but it is thinking about yourself and more about the needs of other around you! Are being wise through humility or through selfish ambitions? We can not effectively reach our to other unless we learn to get our eyes off of ourselves. A self-centered person will never reach a lost world! Are we about serving ourselves or are we going to submit ourselves to God?

Transition: Because James says, 3:13. . .

“13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

Be Wise Judgment (4:11-12)

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. 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. 12 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?

Exegesis: James is explaining the results of slander and gossip. When we slander and gossip about others we place ourselves wrong side of the Law. James is reinforcing what he just stated earlier in (James 3:5-12) about the dangerous of the tongue. We are not to judge other according to our interpretation of the Law. We are to let the Law and the Law Giver (God) do the judging. James is “shows here that evil-speaking flows from the same spirit of exalting self at the expense of one's neighbor as caused the "fightings" reprobated in this chapter (James 4:1 ).” It seems to carry with the idea of being condescending towards others, which of course follows pride that was previously mentioned. Verse 12 James is clearly speaking form the Old Testament. James with a Jewish up bring could realizing one of the oldest story in Jewish history. In Genesis 18 the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham also identifies a central aspect of God's nature as he name the Lord as the "Judge of all the earth." In fact it’s also the thematic focus of the passage as Abraham learns in the end that his questions become a rhetorical one with the answer being self-evident. The Judge of all the earth. Deuteronomy 32:35-37 and Joel 3:12 affirms Abraham proclamation that YHWH is the true Judge. John in the New Testament in his Gospel (5:27) depicts Jesus as the Judge of all men and all nations, as does Matthew's Gospel (25:31). There is little doubt as to whom James it reminding these believe of and who is the one whom they are really accountable too. As a result, he instructs them to leave the judging to God and not to take it upon themselves to judgmental towards others. This of course points to the Key Center. “13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” For judgmental dispositions is the deed of humility but that of pride mentions in the previous paragraph. Let the one who is wise show it by not judging others.