{"id":6342,"date":"2015-04-09T01:59:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T01:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6342"},"modified":"2015-04-09T16:46:45","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T16:46:45","slug":"james-59-dont-complain-against-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6342","title":{"rendered":"James 5:9\u2014Don\u2019t complain against each other"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.<\/em> James 5:9<\/p>\n

James wrote, \u201cBe patient. Strengthen your hearts. The coming of the Lord is near\u201d (see verse 8). He was girding believers for long-haul Christianity in the face of gross misrepresentation and ill-treatment. And then he admonished, \u201cDo not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The fledgling Church, arising on the scene in a hostile world, found herself under assault. In light of this, James advised the believers to be vigilant in three areas: \u201cBe patient. Strengthen your hearts. Do not complain against one another.\u201d This thought is enormous\u2014and it’s probably bigger than any of us have imagined.<\/p>\n

To navigate effectively and with integrity in the midst of a \u201cChristophobic\u201d environment (the direction in which our culture appears to be heading), you must exert patience and strengthen your heart. This is so you can outlast every strategy the enemy throws at you while you wait expectantly on God. But of equal importance is this: you must zip your lip when it comes to your brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n

Being patient and strengthening your heart makes sense as a firm defense against both\u00a0the schemes of the devil and those who seek to undermine your faith. But James revealed that what you say about fellow believers is equally as vital when it comes to standing solidly in Christ in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. In other words, if your lips are loose about your brethren, you weaken yourself<\/em>. You make yourself<\/em> vulnerable to diabolic schemes without even realizing it. You give the devil an opportunity (see Ephesians 4:26-27).<\/p>\n

Jesus said, \u201cA new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another<\/em>.\u201d He then went on to say, \u201cBy this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another<\/em>\u201d (see John 13:34-35). Remember, Jesus commissioned you and me to make disciples of all nations (see Matthew 28:19), but how will they know for sure that we really do represent Him? According to the Lord, it\u2019s by the love we have toward one another. Since this is so, how can someone who shreds<\/em> disciples with their words make <\/em>disciples\u00a0by their example? Who would want to be a disciple of that <\/em>kind of bitter, fault-finding, contentious \u201choly\u201d person?<\/p>\n

When people see the love of Jesus demonstrated among believers, they have something very real to think about\u2014something which can turn their cynicism into faith. If they choose to reject the truth in the face of God\u2019s love in action, then they have no one to blame but themselves. But if they reject what they see in the church due to the back-biting and accusations they\u2019ve witnessed within our ranks, then we believers have played a part in their ultimate destruction.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t get counsel about issues with others; it doesn\u2019t mean that you must embrace an \u201canything goes\u201d attitude when it comes to sin in the Church; it doesn\u2019t even mean that you must accept everything you hear from every pulpit. It simply means that you are to treat your brothers and sisters with love and respect as joint heirs with Christ.<\/p>\n

However, if you realize that you’ve been keen to blab about\u00a0someone’s irritating quirks, sinful indiscretion, or even what you perceive as someone\u2019s imbalanced grasp of the truth, sober up. James is talking to you\u2014you have positioned yourself to be judged.<\/p>\n

The coming of the Lord is near; the Judge is standing right at the door. The apostle Peter, writing about the end of our age asked, “What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?<\/em>” (See 2 Peter 3:11.) And the writer of Hebrews declared, “…let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,\u00a0not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; <\/em>and all the more as you see the day drawing near<\/em><\/strong>” (Hebrews 10:24-25; emphasis added).<\/p>\n

It makes sense then, as the age comes to a close, that Satan will seek to stir up complaint, indignation, bitterness,\u00a0and outrage\u2014believer against believer<\/em>. First, if he can lure us off of our prayer post by distracting us with petty offenses, he will effectively strip away any threat or restraint we pose to his agenda. Oh, we may rant and rail about the wicked trends of this dark generation; but if we refuse to walk in love with one another, we forfeit the power of God moving on behalf of our prayers for the culture\u2014because faith works through love (see Galatians 5:6).<\/p>\n

And secondly, as the Lord’s return draws near, Satan is seeking to block the light of the gospel from the unbelieving. When we lose ourselves in pettiness and strife, looking down our noses at other believers, the love of God is nowhere to be found among us. If\u00a0lost men and women search for Him and turn to us for help as we stew in indignant pettiness\u2014they won’t find Him. Our strife will block His light.<\/p>\n

If you persist in complaining against another Christian, you do so at your own risk. Instead, trust God with the whole situation. Repent for not releasing your concern to Him before now, and forgive that person for their offense. Then purpose to walk in love.<\/p>\n

The Judge is near; He is standing right at the door.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world<\/em>. Philippians 2:14-15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. James 5:9 James wrote, \u201cBe patient. Strengthen your hearts. The coming of the Lord is near\u201d (see verse 8). He was girding believers for long-haul Christianity in the face of gross […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[110,111,112,113],"class_list":["post-6342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james-5","tag-christophobia","tag-do-not-complain-against-one-another","tag-love-one-another","tag-the-judge-is-standing-at-the-door"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6342"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6347,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions\/6347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}