Guard Your Words

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We are going to be talking about quarreling, fighting, backbiting, just talking bad about each other. So I'll have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You so much for this day. You have blessed us with Your Word. You've given us Your Spirit. And God, we pray that You would please help us to understand it. Please instruct us, Lord. We need Your help. In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, here we go. James 4, verses 11 and 12.
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren, He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge one another?
We need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what's this about? Well, there's people in the church. I don't think James's wisdom that he's speaking to the churches is just theoretical, but I think there's people who are speaking ill of each other. So the word here is catalalite, and so this is speaking against one another, right? They're quarreling, they're fighting with each other. And he's saying, that ought not to be so.
Remember, you're part of the same family. I love what Matthew Henry says on this. He says, our lips must be guided by the mouth. Our lips must be guided by the mouth. I wrote that down. Our lips must be guided by the law of kindness as well as truth and justice. Our lips must be guided by the law of kindness and of truth and justice.
See, what's going on in the church is people are fighting with each other, people are arguing with each other, people are just devouring each other with their words, right? And they're supposed to, right? say here's don't speak evil of one another brethren he who speaks evil of a brother judges his brother right and here's the thing we see that when people are entrenched in what they want and they're entrenched in their ways and they may even have theological disputes and stuff like that but what's happening is that they're literally fighting against each other instead of kindness towards one another even with their words we had just talked about the the mouth being or the tongue being an unruly evil who containment James is saying you gotta tame it right because the law was given by God.
We can think of places like Leviticus 19, where it said that we're not to be tail bearers or those who bend the truth, right? We're not to be those who are deceitful and cunning with our people. But even more so, we can think of the ninth commandment bearing false testimony against your neighbor. We need to preserve the reputation and good name of our neighbor.
Sometimes we're given over to gossip and to slander, and when we do that, When we look at someone, look down our noses at someone, we judge them, and then we speak evil against them, when it's not time to be judging. This isn't a court of law, this isn't saying, or even a church court, this isn't saying that there's a time and place in which you need to speak the truth to your brother, even about his sin, or give testimony against your brother, that's true. That's not what this is talking about. I think this is talking about petty quarreling or even slandering each other. judging one another. Well, you're tearing that person's reputation and good name down. You're gossiping against them. You're not building them up. You're not using your mouth to impart grace to those who hear.
No, no, no. And James is saying, when you do that, you're saying that the law of God that constrains your tongue You're saying it's too strict, it's too harsh, it's too severe, I don't want it, and you actually become a judge of the law rather than the doer of it. That's the type of faith that's dead, not the type of faith that's living. And so this is, I think, what James is getting at here when he's saying that whoever speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law, There's one lawgiver who's able to save and destroy. Who are you to judge another? Again, this is not talking about...
I know that there are people who say that they're Christians and they're really antinomians. They're against any type of law and they think that it's all grace and that God doesn't constrain us. No, there is a law of Christ that we follow. And so but that law of Christ is spirit infused for others good and it's not just an Excuse for lawlessness. That's not what this is getting at But this is Jesus told us to judge right way to judge the spirits But the same measure by which we judge so we will also be judged These people are backbiting and devouring each other speaking evil of one another. I May it not be so amongst us.
Do we have a heart of charity, of love towards others? Do we do all we can to promote their good name, to care for them, even when they're not around us? Do we speak good of those who are in the church? Do we speak good of those people on the other side of town at the other church, right? We may have disagreements, we may disagree on some pretty serious issues, but do we tear other people down with our words, or do we impart grace to those who hear? I think there's a great deal to be said for Christian charity, the law of kindness with our speech.
Again, right, we live in such a day where anything could be abused and anything like this could be taken by someone they are like, they're just saying you're spineless. No, they're saying you're charitable, you're loving. Doesn't mean you can't have a spine and say hard things or truthful things when they need to be said. But we don't need to be jerks with our words. Do we speak good of others? Do we uphold their reputation? So I think that's what this is about. What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I have verse 11 underlined. It's just two verses, right? So, but I got verse 11 underlined.
But what are we called to do? Well, maybe for some of us, we need to repent. We may have long habits of speaking poorly about people. Jesus comes second nature to us. James says that's not the type of faith that comes from above. That's the type of worldly wisdom that comes from below. It's earthly and sensual and demonic. We can't say whatever we want if we're going to say that we're in Christ, because He's the judge.
And so maybe we need to put away our filthy language, put away our speech, put away our sharp words, and put on love. Who is it that you've been tearing down with your words? Can you start building them up? Can you care for them, even with how you speak to them and about them?
Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would please put a bit in our mouths. Lord, you have given us the law of kindness, the law of Christ. Lord, we pray that we would be charitable and gracious with our words. Please, Father, help us. Help us to love others well. live for Your glory and not for ourselves. In Jesus' name, Amen. May the God of peace, who will give you peace that surpasses all understanding through Christ Jesus, be with you today. May you glorify Him in your thoughts, in your words, and in your deeds. I'll see you next time. Bye.