Covenant Baptist Church
Sermon Guide for September 16, 2018
Why do we do have a tendency to want to tear other people down with our words?
James 4:11-12 NASB1995
Matthew 22:37-40 NASB1995
The law being spoken of is the law of loving God supremely and your neighbor as yourself.
Do not speak against one another, brethren.
To speak against means to speak falsely of another intending to harm them. It is to slander another person.
He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law…
The person who seeks to slander another person in the church or pronounces them guilty with an attitude of condemnation is actually slandering and condemning the very law of love Jesus commanded us to live by.
…but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.
When we do these things we start acting like we are judges/critics of His law; like we can determine who deserves to be loved and who doesn’t.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy;
Only One is qualified to declare the law and only One is able to determine who is right and wrong in relationship to it and that is God, the lawgiver and judge.
…but who are you who judge your neighbor?
How ridiculous is it for us to take God’s law into our own broken hearts and minds and condemn others by it?
James is not suggesting that we never admonish our brothers and sisters which is born out of love for them, not love of self.
This effort to secure our own good most often does come at the expense of others around us.
This effort to secure our own good is a clear indication we have not learned to find our value and satisfaction in the only place it can actually ever be found - in the Perfect Love of God found in Jesus.
So what do we do?
● Take an honest look at your motives:
What kinds of things to do we say about others and why do we say them?
“However, if we dare to be honest, we all know our need for radical change. We know the immense difference between our outward appearance and inner reality. Our love is more self-serving than it appears our woundedness deeper, our self-deceptions more pernicious.”
~ David Benner
Surrender to Love
● Read Surrender To Love: This step may not be for everyone but it is a tremendously helpful book in terms of helping us come to see and find complete satisfaction in The Perfect Love God has for us.
● Romans 5:6
Meditate on the fact that Paul makes it clear that God’s Perfect Love for us existed while we were still in complete opposition to God and while we were helpless to do anything to change. Ungodly (Greek: asebes) - destitute of reverential awe towards God, condemning God; void of any regard for God.
● Romans 5:8
Meditate on the fact that God’s love is not a response to the worthiness of people. God’s love for us is an expression of His nature.
● Ephesians 3:16-19
Meditate on the reality that God’s love for us is perfectly pure and we come to know it by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as He leads us into this love that is so perfect it is incomprehensible apart from experiencing it.
Remember, the only way we will become the kind of people who no longer slander and judge others is to become the kind of people who have found everything they are looking for in Jesus, The Perfect Love of God.