JAMES
LIVING THE REAL LIFE:
CULTIVATING A FAITH THAT WORKS
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER
JAMES 4:11-17
INTRODUCTION
James chapter 4 is where we turn to today. We will be looking at the last part of chapter 4. Now, remember the first 10 verses of chapter 4 are a call to abandon the selfish, sinful lifestyle that so many of James’ readers were caught up in. We saw last time the ten commands James gave in order to bring his readers out of that way of living. They were to submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, cleanse their hands, purify their hearts, be wretched, mourn, weep, turn their laughter to mourning (which is to say they were to repent), and humble themselves before the Lord. Coming right after these commands is more rebuke of attitudes and actions that were contrary to the kind of living James was calling for. In light of his command for the readers to humble themselves before the Lord, he addresses the issues in the church that were a result of prideful living. He has already stated that God opposes the proud. So now he addresses specific issues. Of course, the selfish ambitions and longings of the latter part of chapter 3 and the first part of chapter 4 go hand in hand with the prideful thinking and living in our passage today, but there is a nuance of emphasis here. That nuance is the teaching that they were not the masters of the things they thought they were the masters of. And by way of application, we are not the masters of the things we often think we are the masters of. Let’s read our text then, and see what they thought they were the masters of, but weren’t. And accordingly what we are not the masters of; though we may think we are. Beginning at James 4:11 James writes:
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
We can divide this passage into two separate thoughts. The first thought comes in vv.11-12 and the second in vv.13-17. Both concern the readers thinking they were masters over something that they weren’t. Firstly, let’s consider in vv.11-12, that James tells his readers: you are not the master of your neighbors’ lives.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR NEIGHBORS’ LIVES (VV.11-12)
Let’s take a look at what these believers were doing and what James reprimands them for. The first thing he writes under this heading is: you are not the master of your neighbors’ lives: so don’t speak evil against them.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR NEIGHBORS’ LIVES:
SO DON’T SPEAK EVIL AGAINST THEM (V.11)
He writes in the first part of v.11:
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.
The word that is translated as the phrase “speak evil” is an interesting word. It literally means “to speak against”. Some translations render it “slander” as in “do not slander one another.” But really the meaning is broader than that. Slander is to say things that are not true about someone who is not around in order to defame their reputation. For instance, if a women is jealous of all the attention a colleague is getting at work and she goes around the lunch room telling all of her girlfriends that Jane Doe has been sleeping with the boss in order to get ahead on the job and there is no truth to such a story – that is slander. But this concept of speaking against is more than that. This would also include saying things that are absolutely true but saying them with the wrong attitude or motive. For example, that same jealous woman might notice that Jane Doe is flirting with the boss a little but rather than express genuine concern privately she begins making comments to others about Jane’s behavior in order, not to help Jane, but hurt her. We all know that even things that are true can be said at the wrong time and in the wrong ways. That’s what this word means. Don’t speak about your brothers and sisters in Christ with impure, malicious, defamatory motives – whether what you’re saying is technically true or not.
The tendency here is to do and say these sorts of things concerning people we don’t like. And the same was true of the readers of this letter. They were fighting and quarreling over things and naturally they were also speaking evil against each other. It’s easy to avoid speaking against people that you get along with. But if you haven’t figured it out by now, there will be people in the church body that you do not get along with. That’s okay. We are not required to be best friends with everyone. But we are called to show Christian love and consideration. So whether or not we like a person, we are told not to speak against them; not to use harmful speech in order to hurt them or their reputation. And the reason for this is given when James tells his readers:
The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Here he writes, in essence: you are not the master of your neighbors’ lives: so don’t put yourself above the law.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR NEIGHBORS’ LIVES:
SO DON’T PUT YOURSELF ABOVE THE LAW (V.11)
What happens when we speak evil of our brothers and sisters is that we are ignoring what God’s law says about how we are to relate to one another. And by ignoring God’s law we are saying we don’t need to obey it. In doing that, we are attempting to put ourselves above God’s law. The law, here, refers to the general testimony of Scripture concerning how we are to treat one another. But there are no doubt specific passages James has in mind. One he has already quoted in this letter, Leviticus 19; where Moses writing on behalf of God says:
16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people…17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart…18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge…but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Although the Gospel probably hadn’t been written yet, Christ’s words in Matthew 7 were also most likely on James’ mind:
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”
When his readers were speaking out against each other and judging each other they were disobeying God’s clear direction to the contrary. But let’s be clear what we are and are not talking about here. When Scripture says that we are not to speak against our brothers and sisters or judge them, it does not mean that we never tell anyone that what they are doing is wrong. The issue here is not evaluation but condemnation. Scripture repeatedly calls us to be wise and discerning; to be able to distinguish right from wrong. And it never calls us to ignore sin. In fact, quite the opposite is the case in Matthew 18, where Jesus says:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
There are times in which people who refuse to give up a gross sinful lifestyle are to be disciplined and excluded even from the church until they repent. In our culture today it is very common to hear the phrase “Don’t judge me.” People say this when their conduct is labeled as wrong by another person. What they mean is “Don’t tell me I’m sinning.” That is not what the Bible means when it says “Do not judge.” As I said, the issue is not evaluation but condemnation. In other words, James is not telling his readers to have no sense of right and wrong; of righteousness and sin. He is telling them not to condemn other people with their words. There is a difference. I can look at a couple who is involved sexually outside the bounds of marriage and say that they are sinning. What they are doing is wrong. And I can tell them that in a loving and concerning way. But what I am not to do is verbally abuse them because of their actions. I am not to be unnecessarily harsh and bitter. That’s the “judging” that is in view here.
When this sort of evil speech and critical talk occurs, the person spewing this hatred is blatantly disobeying God’s command to love our neighbors. They are putting themselves above God’s law – claiming by their actions that they have no need to abide by it.
And they are also then, putting themselves in the place of God. That is the next thing James writes that they are not to do: you are not the master of your neighbors’ lives: so don’t put yourself in the place of God.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR NEIGHBORS’ LIVES:
SO DON’T PUT YOURSELF IN THE PLACE OF GOD (V.12)
In v.12 he says:
12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
By placing themselves above God’s law in disobeying his command to love their neighbors, some of these readers were putting themselves in the place of God – they were assuming authority and responsibilities that belong to God alone. James says that there is only one lawgiver and judge: and that’s God. When God judges he judges with perfect justice; and this is in sharp contrast to the condemning judging going on in these churches. And James gives God’s credentials, if you will, for being the one true lawgiver and judge when he writes that God “is able to save and destroy.” He’s saying that God is the only one with the power to enforce his law in the ultimate sense; so he is the only one qualified to judge men. This phrase is reminiscent of what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28:
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
God alone has the power to eternally save souls for heaven and he alone has the power to eternally destroy souls in hell. Now, I do want to quickly comment on this word “destroy.” It is a form of the word ἀðüëëõìé which means to kill or destroy. It does not mean to go out of existence. So neither James nor Jesus is saying that souls that do not go to heaven are annihilated. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says that those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ:
…will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…
So when the Bible talks about the destruction of the wicked it is talking about the everlasting punishment they will receive in Hell, away from the presence of God. So because God alone gives eternal life and God alone punishes with eternal death, he alone has the unrestricted right to judge men and women. This was a right that certain people, in their immense pride, we assuming they had. And James makes it clear that they were way off base. He writes, “Who are you to judge you neighbor?” That’s not your job.
But this sort of attitude was simply a reflection of what these people thought about their own lives. Some of these readers thought they were the masters of their own lives and so they could assume authority in other people’s lives as well. And James addresses this mistake as well. Not only was he telling them that they were not the masters of their neighbors’ lives, but he also told them that they were not the masters of their own lives.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN LIFE (VV.13-17)
These readers were foolish to think they ran their own lives, let alone their neighbors. James writes in vv.13-14 and also v.16 that you are not the master of your own life: so don’t pretend you’re in control.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN LIFE:
SO DON’T PRETEND YOU’RE IN CONTROL (VV.13-14, 16)
Look again at v.13:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
There is a rebuke here of businessmen, with an application for everyone. Traveling for business was not uncommon in during the New Testament time period. So certainly there would have been members of these churches who were traveling businessmen. But James’ primary concern here is not the traveling or the business, but the mindset of the people. The people who were involved in this business travel were practical atheists. They were living as if God did not exist. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the actual wording here. It’s not wrong to say “Tomorrow we’re going to go to Boston for a business trip and hopefully make some profit.” What James is getting at is that there was no room for God in their plans. So he reminds them that without God they could have no plans in the first place. He does this by highlighting the transitory nature of life. He describes life as a mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes. The readers were to be reminded of how fragile they are. They couldn’t even control whether or not they would be around tomorrow, much less a year later. They thought they controlled their own destiny. They thought they did it all themselves. They were like the famous millionaire who attended a dinner. While at the dinner he overheard a discussion on prayer. After listening for a while, the man exclaimed with a sneer, “Prayer may be all right for some of you, but I don’t need it. Everything I have today I’ve worked hard for, and I’ve earned it all myself. I didn’t ask God for anything.” A university president listened politely, then said, “There is one thing you don’t have that you might consider praying for.” Startled, the millionaire blurted out, “And what might that be?” And the educator replied, “Sir, you could ask for some humility.”
The millionaire is a perfect picture of these people in James 4. “I don’t need God for anything,” was their rallying cry. And v.16 makes it clear that this was their attitude:
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Let’s remind ourselves again of James’ main concern throughout the letter that genuine faith reveals itself in certain ways. Certainly, true believers in Christ should not make a pattern of living like God does not exist; of thinking they are ultimately in control of their lives. So then, what is the appropriate response? That comes in v.15 when James writes:
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
He’s saying: you are not the master of your own life: so acknowledge God’s sovereign rule.
YOU ARE NOT THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN LIFE:
SO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S SOVEREIGN RULE (V.15)
Mature believers in Jesus Christ understand that they can do nothing without the hand of God allowing it. We’re not talking about a magic formula that we must recite every time we talk about doing something. We don’t have to begin all of our sentences with “If the Lord wills…” But in our minds we must realize that all that we do, all that we say, all that we think, all that we feel, all that we are is governed by the supreme will of the Creator. We can’t so much as take a breath without Christ. So we must acknowledge that anything we do, we do because our gracious God has included it in his will.
One of my favorite lines in any hymn or song ever written is the line in Praise to the Lord, the Almighty; at the end of the second verse that says “Hast thou not seen, how thy desires e’er have been granted in what He ordaineth?” In other words, can’t you see how your desires and longings have been included in God’s sovereign will? And that’s true of everything. We must see and recognize that everything is, because he ordained it to be so. And sometimes it’s hard for us to not to question what’s going on; but we must trust that his ways and will is right because he is God. I’m reminded of a man who was questioning God’s arrangement of the universe. He said, “Why does God make a big tree with small nuts, and a small plant with large watermelons? It doesn’t make sense.” He was just looking for things to criticize about the way things were. And just then a nut fell out of a tree and hit him on the head; and he said, “Thank God that wasn’t a watermelon.” We must always keep in mind that we are who we are and we do what we do because God has willed it. And his will is always perfect.
CONCLUSION
We conclude then with v.17:
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Basically he’s saying “Now that you know this, there are no excuses.” Now that you know that you must never exclude God from your plans, don’t do it; because if you do it, you are sinning. So this directly refers to the haughty businessmen. But there is a general principle here. This verse describes what are called sins of omission. A sin of omission is a sin you commit by not doing something you know you should do. A lot of the time we think of a sin as being something we do; an action we take or a thought we have. Those are sins of commission. But we can be just as sinful by not doing things we are supposed to do. That’s what is described here. So there is a call here not only to avoid doing certain things but also to avoid not doing certain things. In this particular case, the call is to avoid not acknowledging God’s supreme rule in our lives. But I’m sure you can think of many applications beyond that.
So I will ask a question as I like to do, related to what we’ve seen. Are we trying to be masters of other people’s lives? Are we putting ourselves above them by the things we say and do to them? We are not the masters of our neighbors’ lives. And are we trying to be masters of our own lives? Are we giving God lip service but failing to acknowledge him in our plans and action? We must remember that we are not the masters of our own lives. We would do well to remember that very famous proverb:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
