Good morning, Veritas. How we doing? Good to see you all. If we haven't met, my name is Jordan. I get the privilege of being our college pastor here. So I am not a college student, but if you want to feed me, I'm willing. Thought about shaving this morning just to actually look like a high school senior and see if I could squeeze by as a college student. But you may or may not know this about me. I'm a foodie. I love food. If you wanted to ask me what my hobies were, in fact, I think it's actually on our website when it's know, you have to fill out your bio. What are your hobies? I include food as a hobby. And this last week, I was in Lafayette, Indiana with a group from our church, and I figured, hey, new place means a new opportunity to try a different restaurant. Anybody with me, like, when you travel, it's like, hey, let's find somewhere new to eat. We're not sticking with the chains. We're going to find something local. And I love reviews. All about reviews. So if I'm going to find somewhere that I want to eat, I'm going to hop on yelp. I'm going to read the reviews, maybe look at Google reviews. But I think what I've found out over time is that you can't always trust a review. Sometimes it's just somebody that's hypercritical. They had one bad experience, and those are the people that tend to be the keyboard warriors, right? Like, why else would I leave a review unless it was a one star experience? But then you also have businesses that incentivize reviews. So it's like, hey, leave a good review and we'll take 20% off your next purchase. So then you have the people that are just leaving a good review to save money, and it's like, what can I even trust? Some of these seem really subjective. So at one point in my life, I'm not going to tell you how long ago it was because you would judge me. I came up with a restaurant rating system, and this is from me to you, free of charge. Okay. It's called the facts. Food, atmosphere, cost, timeliness, and service. The facts. You might want to write that down. No. It's a relatively foolproof system in leaving a review for a restaurant that's accurate and not subjective, but objective. But there is one problem. If you get this review system in the hands of somebody that doesn't have good taste, right. I think about the idea of if my kids were to be the ones leaving a review of a restaurant, it would not be valid because they don't understand what good food is, right. They could have an amazing meal in front of them and they would say, because it's not Oscar Meyer or chicken nuggets. And so if you have an underdeveloped or undeveloped palate, it's like, hey, your review not viable. It's not valid. We're just going to throw it out. And this morning what we're going to be talking about is judging. And we're not talking about judging food or restaurants. We're talking about judging people. Judging people. And this is a popular yet often misunderstood topic within Christianity, Christianity and culture. This idea that to be a Christian is to be judgmental, right? That's a common reputation of the church. Unfortunately, we're seen as hypercritical, hypocritical, judgmental. It's actually led to these pushback phrases. Maybe you've said them, or certainly you've heard them. Who am I to judge? Who are you to judge? Maybe only God can judge me. Whoa. Okay. We'll talk about that today. And yet, if we're honest, though, we know that these problems are raging. We still have a judgment problem, don't we? We're still pretty judgy when it comes to other people. We're quick to come to conclusions about others. We're quick to talk about others in a way that's problematic. And this is not just a 2024 problem. James is going to talk to us about it. It was raging in their church. And what he wants us to know is we have a perspective problem. It's like, I would say, my kids have a palate problem when it comes to judging restaurants. James wants us to know we have a perspective problem when it comes to judging people. We're not seeing clearly. And this makes our judgments not valid or not viable. So what do we need to see clearly? What are we missing? How do we get right perspective when it comes to appropriately judging people? That's where we're going to be. James chapter four would invite you to open up your Bible with me. I'm going to be a couple different spots this morning, but primarily in James chapter four. We've been back in this book since the second week of January, picked back up after a little break through the Advent season. And since James three, we've been talking a lot about the tongue, right? This is an evil member of our body. It's set on fire by hell. We're unable to tame our tongues. And he's been talking to these early jewish christians saying, hey, you have a speech problem. You're cursing one another, you're quarreling with one another. And it's not just your tongue. Your tongue is connected to your heart. You have a heart problem. You're treasuring the wrong things. You're focusing on yourself. You are proud and arrogant. And then last week, Jake was able to teach us. I think his words were that it was one of the sweetest closed fist punches you'll ever receive. And I can agree anybody with me, that was tough. It was sweet and a punch in the stomach. But James was writing to get this early church to turn from spiritual adultery and to repent, to practice true repentance. And the promise of this text is that God gives more grace. He gives grace to a people that have turned their back on him and run away. But who is that grace promised to? Those who humble themselves, those who will repent and become humble before God, there is a promise of grace. And here's where James picks up starting in verse eleven. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. Do not speak evil against one another. Do you think this is important to James? It is. Imagine you were just sitting under this teaching all in one bout. It's not spaced out over weeks where you teach two verses at a time and you just keep hearing you have a speech issue. You have a speech issue. You have a speech issue. Is this important, church? Yes, this is very problematic. He's calling these jewish Christians to repentance before God and he's saying, hey, if you have repented, if you sought vertical reconciliation, here's what ought to be happening. This must impact how you're relating to one another. It has to. If you're going to get right with God, you have to be right with one another. You have to stop speaking evil against one another. But you might be thinking, what does that mean, speak evil? Like, I don't know that I've called anybody a name here. I haven't really gotten into many verbal arguments that know, gotten to the stage of yelling yet. What's going on here? Well, James'use of speak evil is actually quite broad and that's problematic for people like you and me. Evil speech could be unjustified speech against someone, false accusations, the condemning of others, gossiping, criticizing, talking others down through unkind or unhelpful statements. How's that been? Yikes, right? I don't think there's a single soul in this room. Who says I haven't done that before? We have spoken evil against one another. And what's challenging is you don't have to lie or name call to be guilty of this. Think of two ways that we violate this frequently. The first is that we're overcritical. We're just overcritical of people. We've gone to extra biblical standards of how we judge people. We start to pick them apart based upon what they look like, their appearance, what do they wear, what do they look like? We judge people based upon their personality. They're loud, they're annoying, they're quiet. Fill in the blank, anywhere in between. We judge people based upon their giftings or maybe lack thereof. Maybe you did that on the front end worship set, right? You're like, wow, they're making a joyful noise to the Lord. But I would really like it if they'd stop singing. Right? Maybe we judge people based upon their connections, whether that's a family name, people that they've befriended, maybe the school that they've gone to, or the workplace that they're at. You just quickly criticize. And with that, we're also overly assuming. We're not just over critical, we're over assuming. So we look at people's actions, we look at their day to day, and we're just really quick to jump to conclusions. Oh, they must really think they're a big deal. Oh, they must be really greedy. They must be really selfish. They are really rude. It's like, oh, do you know them? Have you talked with them? Have you gotten to the root of what's going on in their life? Do you know their intentions? In most cases, the answer is no, we don't. We just write it in. And James is saying, this type of judgment is not valid. Stop doing it. Stop over criticizing. Stop over assuming this is not to exist in the church of Christ. Stop it. You're not seeing clearly. And James is saying, this is a big deal, not just in the fact that he's brought it up time and time again. He actually builds on this statement. As we continue, verse eleven says, 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're not a doer of the law, but a judge. So what James is doing is he's starting to get beneath the surface. I remember taking statistics in college, and it was always frustrating when you got the wrong answer because it wasn't as simple as just going up to the word problem and figuring it out. It was like 20 steps. You're asking the question, which step did I get off? Right? And we're not working that far back in this process. And James is saying, oh, here's where you made a mistake. You're not taking God at his word. You're not seeing people the way that you should because you're not seeing God's word the way that you should. Now to James original audience again, jewish Christians, they had to know James was pointing them back to Leviticus 19. Very common reference point for these jewish christians, the Torah, looking back at God's spoken word, to Moses calling Israel to holiness. Here's what Leviticus 19 says. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. James is saying, guess what? You're disobedient. You're disobedient to the law. And you might step back and say, okay, Leviticus. Though, really, are we still doing that Leviticus thing? Well, the hard part is Jesus doubles down on this. Matthew 22. A lawyer comes to test him, and he says, hey, which commandment is the greatest? Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 22. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law in the prophets. Like when you speak down to people, you are not loving them. You're not loving your neighbor as yourself when you're over critical and over assuming, when you're speaking falsely against them, when you're tearing them down, saying you're violating the law. In fact, even in James, he's referred to this already once before, James two eight, when he was confronting them on partiality and favoritism. He says, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. Were they doing well? They were not doing well. He's saying, you are violating the royal law. But it's much more than that. This word that James uses in our text today is you're making yourself a judge of the law. It's not just that you're violating it. You are calling yourself a judge of the law. In other words, you are denying its authority. Now, I have several little kids at home. My two oldest boys are old enough to kind of reason with me, and we've talked frequently about a house rule in the Howell household, which is the kids don't touch the light switches. All right. Just chaos. And just this weekend, one of my kids goes, and he's flipping the light switches. And so I came to him, and I said, hey, buddy, what's the house rule about the light switches? And he says I shouldn't touch them. I was like, you're right. Weird. Funny how we figured this one out. So here's the problem. My kids know that they shouldn't touch the light switches, but whether or not they believe that that has authority over them is actually shown in what they do. And what my kid showed me is, I know this house rule, but it just doesn't apply to me. I'll touch the light switch when I want to. To place yourself outside of scripture's authority to say, this command doesn't matter to me. So James is telling us, he's like, if you want to speak evil against your brothers, against other people, here's what you're saying. The command to love other people just doesn't apply to you. Sure, it might apply to other people, but no, you're bigger than that. And we do this all the time. All the time. I mean, he's speaking specifically here about judgment, but I want to give us just a couple more to think about, primarily because they messed me up. So. Philippians 214, do everything without complaining. Does that one apply to you? You would judge over that one. How about James 516? Confess your sins to one another. Can think of so many of us that are like, well, I'm already confessing to God. Why do I have to go confess to other people? Because God's word tells you to confess your sins to one another. How about this first? Thessalonians 411. Seek to live quiet lives, mind your own affairs, and work hard with your hands. Does that one apply to you? It does. But what actually shows me that you think the word of God is authoritative is if you are letting it dictate your life, your behavior. So whenever we disobey, it's not just that we're violating the law. We're saying it doesn't matter to me. I am authoritative over the Bible. I got to say, you're wrong. You're wrong. This word is authoritative. And when it comes to judging others, James wants us to know we're guilty. We're guilty. We're stepping outside this call to love one another. And what he is primarily speaking about here is what I would call, and this isn't new to me, sins of commission, meaning we do the thing that we know we shouldn't do. We're speaking evil against others. We're judging others. When we know that we're not supposed to do it. That's wrong. Can we all agree with that? Like, do not speak evil. It's right there that's wrong. However, this topic of judgment in the church, I think it's worth talking about a little bit more because judging is not always wrong. And if you want to get into it, like go to one corinthians five and read verses twelve and 13. Paul is actually telling believers in Corinth, hey, don't judge the people outside the church. God will deal with them. But who do you need to judge those inside the church? There is a command to judge one another inside the church. Now, what he's not talking about is being overly critical, overly assuming, speaking falsehood and slandering. He is saying we are called to care about one another's holiness. And I think this is another way that we in the church have gotten judgment wrong. The same underlying sin, issue of pride, the pride that wants to puff ourselves up and tear others down, is actually the same thing that can prevent us from being obedient to judging one another the way that we're supposed to. To call people out for living in sin and to point them back to Jesus. We're terrified to do this. We're terrified to take God at his word. In Matthew 18, which says, if you see a brother living in sin, or if you see a brother sin against you, go and tell it to them. The goal that you may gain your brother, that you may see them repent and walk in faithful obedience. We're called to do this, but it's sometimes in this way that we practice sins of omission. We don't do the thing that we should because we're afraid of what it might cost us. What are they going to think of me? What if our relationship is weird? What if it impacts our ability to go to church together? Fill in the blank. We're actually not judging sometimes the way that we're called to. I want to look at a text with you, Matthew, chapter seven. So if you have a Bible, we'd love for you to flip there. We've talked about this frequently, that James pulls much of his teaching from Jesus's sermon on the mount. And you have to believe when he's talking about judging, he has to be calling to mind Jesus's words in Matthew, chapter seven. I'm going to read this for us. Jesus says, judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. That's a problem. So if you want God to judge you based upon your hairstyle, your fashion, your ability to be outgoing, your ability to sing, you can keep judging people that way. But that's the measure that God is going to judge you with. Bad idea, right? So he says, hey, be careful over critical, over assuming. Don't judge people that way. But here's what he's getting at with his audience. This hypocritical judgment says, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own? It's a ridiculous thing. How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there is a log in your own eye? And within this speck and log analogy, this picture that he's painting for them, he's talking about confronting sin. Like, who are you to go confront a brother or sister living in sin when you're doing the exact same thing and maybe even more? You've got a giant log sticking out of your eye, and they have a little tiny speck of sawdust. But here's what he's saying. Deal with your own sin, right? He says, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye. But then, get this, he says, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. This is important for us to see, because though Jesus is teaching against hypocritical judgment, what he is not doing is saying, we have no room to confront one another. In fact, we're called to confront one another, just done in an appropriate manner. That's not hypocritical, that's not harsh, that's not overbearing, that's not over assuming. Because do you see what you have to do when you get the log out of your own eye? You have to take the spec out of your brothers. Is that a loving thing to do, church? It is. If somebody has something that's impairing their vision, that's hurting them, that's hindering their walk with the Lord, do you think that you should come to them and help them. You should. But here's what you need to know. It's personal. I mean, how close do you have to get to somebody to touch their eye? That's pretty intimate. I don't know the last time somebody touched your eye on purpose, but it's probably been a while. It's personal. It's intimate. It's where Jesus says in Matthew 18, go to them. Go directly to them. It's personal. Number two, it's going to be painful. Like when you see sin in somebody's life and you have to talk to them about it, do you think it's always going to feel good? No. It's going to hurt. Even when you do it in love, it's exposing. It shows sin that is waging war on their soul. It's going to be painful, but you have to know this. It's purposeful. It's purposeful. When you go to touch somebody's eye, you're not just poking it, right? Like, think about the precision to say, man, I want to take this spec out of your eye, and I want to do it so that you can see clearly. I love you enough. I care about you enough that I want to show you how this sin is waging war in your life. And I want to show you how Jesus is better. It's purposeful. So there is a right way to judge. And I bring this up because I think we disobey this form of judgment frequently, too. I think we frequently disobey God's word when it comes to sins of commission, saying what we shouldn't. And we frequently disobey God's word with sins of omission, not judging as we should. And either way, when we become disobedient to what God tells us to do in his word, here's what we're saying, whether you like it or not. You're saying, I am God. I am God. You are not. Your word has no authority over me. You know who does have authority over me? I'm going to go my own way. I can say what's right and wrong for other people, for my own life. And really, what we're doing is all the way back to the original sin of Genesis three, which is we're trying to take his place. You want to be God. So it's not just that you're not seeing God's word clearly. You're not seeing God clearly when you speak evil against one another, when you become disobedient, you're not seeing God correctly. Here's what James says to us. Chapter four, verse twelve. There is only one lawgiver in judge, he who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge? Your neighbor James just takes our head and shifts it, and he's like, there is only one lawgiver and judge. By the way, it's not you. It's God. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. The law maker, the law giver and the judge. He looks to eternity past and he says, hey, before any of you were here, you know who was here. God. You know who created you. God. You know who knows how you work and how you flourish best? God. You know who has spoken to you through his words so that you can know him and understand him and flourish with them. God. He is the law giver. He knows what's best for us. Who are we to determine what's best for us? We got to run back to the only one who can tell us, the Lord himself. And he's not just the lawgiver. He is the judge. Not just eternity past, eternity future. He will rule. He will reign. He is just. He is authoritative, and he will uphold justice in his kingdom. And what we need to understand is that we all will stand before him, every single one of us. Maybe you haven't heard that before, but it's true. We'll all stand before him. Paul to the church in Corinth, two corinthians five says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each 1 may receive what is due for what he's done in the body, whether good or evil. We will all stand before God as judge. And even in two verses of scripture, you have to be thinking, this is not going to go well, right? A holy, just, righteous God with little old me, right? This is not going to go well if he is a God of justice, if he punishes sin. But what's sweet in this text is that James gives us a description of this judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. That's both comforting and challenging, depending on where you're at. It's meant to bring us back, actually, to verse six, chapter four. He God gives more grace. Therefore, the word of God says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Who does God save? The humble says, if you will humble yourself, if you will see your need for mercy, if you will run back to the foot of Jesus, if you will rest in his finished work on the cross, if you will trust him not just as your savior, but as your lord and submit to his word, guess what? There is a judge who will save you. And you don't have to look any further than what was accomplished 2000 years ago on the cross when Jesus said, it is finished. Another translation for that. Paid in full. He justifies, declares righteous those who trust in him alone. Have you done that? If so, praise God. You're a recipient of mercy. But the problem is, if you haven't, if you're going to continue speaking evil, being disobedient, going your own way, paving your own path, saying God's word is not authoritative over my life, I am in control. Here's what is waiting. Judgment. It's sobering. We're meant to feel it. But this view of God as the one who is able to save and to destroy is meant to humble us. It's meant to bring us into humble submission. Write this phrase. Who are you? Who are you to judge your neighbor? It's a good question to ask. Who are you? Are you one that will be judged? Or are you someone that is saved? Either way, this ought to impact the way we relate to one another, right? We all have to come before God. We're all before him, holy and righteous. And if you are saved, you've been a recipient of great mercy. This ought to shape how you relate to your brothers and your neighbors out in the community. As I first studied this text, I came to this big idea. We'll put it on the screen for you. See God rightly, to see and speak of others rightly. And I think that that's good, that that's true. Specifically where James is going in terms of speaking evil. I think it's important to mention that. But something within me just couldn't leave it like that. Maybe because I wanted to preach longer. I don't know. Probably not. I think my problem was that James is not just talking about our speech, he's talking about our heart. He's talking about our thinking. And so I reworded this. I'm going to put the other big idea up here for you. Revere God rightly, to regard others rightly, to switch, see and speak to this word, regard, which means to consider or think of someone or something in a specified way. Now, we're actually called to change our thinking about other people. Change our thinking. One commentator wrote this on this text. Evil speech begins and lives on in the mind. It is something we say to ourselves long before we pass it on. You felt that before. I know I have. You start thinking about something that bugs you and you're telling it to yourself before you ever open your mouth to go tell it to somebody else. It's like, here's what we need to do. We need to see people differently. We need to fix our thinking. But how are we going to fix our thinking? We are going to revere God. To revere God. This word means to show devoted, differential honor to, to regard as worthy of great honor. And if you see God rightly, this is the only appropriate response. Reverence, to say, you are big, I am small, I am in need of mercy. So are my brothers, so is my neighbor. God. I want to be obedient to you. I want to place myself under your word, and I want to do so joyfully. This isn't just about seeing God, but it's about savoring God. That's what happens when you see him rightly, you revere him. So revere God rightly to regard others rightly, worship, and let that worship of God actually impact how you think about other people. And yes, speak about other people. So I want to give you guys two application points this week. One is more pointed than the other, and it's this to come before the judge. Come before the judge. Mean Paul tells us in two corinthians five, all must come before the judgment seat of Christ. And you will. But you know what will help you on that day when you do more of that tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, to rightly position yourself before God in prayer and say, I understand that you are the lawgiver and judge. I understand that. I will stand before you and I will give an account. And I understand that the only way that will go well is because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, because of the great love with which he loved me, because of his incredible mercy that has been poured out on me. Lord, have mercy on me. Make that a regular part of your prayer life to think about. Two Corinthians 510, the judgment seat of Christ. And I trust that what that's going to do is just well up within you a heart that is worshipful, that treasures the gospel, and is really much more quick to extend mercy to other people. And then secondly, I want you to consider how you judge. Pay careful attention to how you're thinking about people. Would you? To actually consider, what standard am I holding people to? Am I holding them to some extra biblical standard? What's that saying about my own heart? It's probably showing pride. Okay, maybe you need to go back before the judge, right? To start to think about people in a way that honors them. And if you feel compelled to speak, I mean, Jake, brought this up several weeks ago. Would you just go talk to them instead of about them? I think that's a pretty good litmus test. Not in every situation, but in most cases, to say, if I wouldn't say this to them, do you think I should say this about them? Probably not. But there are instances where you should go talk to people. We've talked about that already. Right. Judgment. Somebody living in sin, you owe it to them to go talk to them. But I think as we do this, as we practice sound judgment, we should speak with the gospel in mind. Speak with the gospel in mind to a brother or sister who is caught up in sin. We should go to them and we should confront them in love. We should remind them of the truth of the gospel, their right identity before Christ. Yes, we should speak about their sin, but we should also say, how can I help you cling to Christ? How can I help you wage war on this sin that is waging war on you, into the outsider, to someone who does not call themselves a follower of Jesus. That's where I would just direct your attention back to one corinthians five. It's like, who are we to judge outsiders? God will judge them. Now, should we care about them? Absolutely. But should we be surprised when non christians act like non christians? No, we shouldn't. And rather than going for their throat and saying, you're wrong and I'm right, why don't we just paint them a more beautiful picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus, to share with them the hope and the riches that are found in the gospel, to evangelize not with anger, but with compassion. Consider how you judge. And as we live this out, I think the one word that comes to mind for our church would be humility. So James has been getting at time and time again that God gives grace to the humble. We would be a church marked by humility, number one before God, but number two, in relationship to other people. And I think it would be very counterculture if we'd start to live this out, not just to be a people that say, I will not speak evil against my brothers or sisters, but think about it. If other people in our church started being overcritical and oversuming, if you just shut it down, you said, hey, I don't think we should talk like that. Wouldn't that be insane? It would. It would make things really awkward. But you know who it would make much of? Jesus. It'd make much of Jesus. It would make this one of the most honoring communities you could ever dream up say we speak to people, not about people. We honor people. We don't backstab people. We point them to Jesus. We don't hold them to some extra biblical standard. And what Jesus tells us in John 13 is that all people will know that you are my disciples. How your love for one another. So it's not just that people would be compelled to belong to this type of honoring community. Though I believe that that would happen, I think it's much greater than that, that they would be captivated by the love of Jesus that has extended great mercy to every single person in this room and who can satisfy their soul. Wouldn't that be amazing? Let's pray to that end. Father, you alone are lawgiver and judge, and we confess God. I confess that I've taken your place far too often. I've picked people apart in my own pride, and I have neglected to go talk to a brother in my own pride. Please forgive me. Thank you. That you are not just lawgiver and judge, but that you are a lawgiver and judge who is able to save. We praise you for the finished work of Jesus. What great mercy and incredible grace you've extended to us. God help us to fix our eyes on you, to revere you, to worship you rightly. And from that place. We want to be a humble church that honors our brothers and sisters and points our neighbors to you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.