BIG IDEA:
DON’T USURP THE ROLE OF GOD
INTRODUCTION:
A lot of times Christians try to play God without even realizing the folly of what they are doing.
I. (:11-12) DON’T USURP GOD’S ROLE AS JUDGE
A. (:11a) When we speak against our brother we exalt ourselves as Judges of the law
“Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law;”
note emphasis on the relationship we enjoy as “brothers”
Ross: “The spirit of humility cannot exist alongside the spirit which speaks against the brethren; such censoriousness in speech leads to one of the worst forms of pride; the man who is guilty of it does not merely criticize his brother but really criticizes the Law of God, that is, no doubt chiefly the Royal Law of love (2:8).”
Vaughan: this is “another way in which the worldly mind expresses itself.”
B. (:11b) Our role is to Obey the law ourselves, not to Judge the law
“but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.”
C. (:12) The Role of Judge Belongs Exclusively to God
“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?”
Wiersbe: “James was not forbidding us to use discrimination or even to evaluate people. Christian need to have discernment (Phil. 1:9-10), but they must not act like God in passing judgment. We must first examine our own lives, and then try to help others (Matt. 7:1-5).”
II. (:13-17) DON’T USURP GOD’S ROLE AS MASTER OF OUR DESTINY
Ross: “The uncertainty and brevity of human life should lead us to humble dependence on the will of God.”
Vaughan: “In Palestine the Jews generally adhered to the agricultural life; but in the Dispersion they were frequently merchants and bankers.”
A. (:13-14) Presumption Regarding Our Future Represents a Failure to Submit to the Sovereign Will of God
1. Presumptuous Plans
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.'”
2. Limited Knowledge
“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”
3. Uncertain Lifespan
“You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”
B. (:15) Submission to the Will of God is the Proper Perspective Towards the Future
“Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.'”
C. (:16) Presumption Represents Arrogant Boasting
“But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”
D. (:17) Failure to Obey the Truth is Always Sin
“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.”