In a most helpful book entitled "The Christian in Business", John E. Mitchell, Jr., raises thought-provoking questions. Does God really belong in a man's business life? Should He be consulted regarding present and future plans?
Mr. Mitchell's answer is true to the Word:
"To say 'No' to these questions is to relegate God to a place of no importance in that very area of man's life where he spends most of his waking hours--at the store, the factory, the office, wherever he earns his living. To say 'No' is to deny the Lord the preeminent place in our lives...which He demands and, instead, to put Him on the shelf as the heathen does with his gods of wood and stone to be taken down only in an emergency. A Sunday God is no God at all."
One way to sin against the Word is to neglect it. Another way is to deny its divine authority. But there is still another method--to speak evil of a Christian brother or sister (James 4:11).
This sin is not as open and obvious as other offenses against the Word. Cloaked with subtlety, it doesn't appear to many Christian in its true light. Nevertheless, whenever a believer "speaks evil" of the brethren, he is sinning against the law of God.
God's Word is His law. The laws of God concerning relationships between members of the family of God are manifold. Scripture exhorts each believer "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). How can this spiritual unity be maintained when Christians are backbiting and slandering each other?
The Scripture commands believers to love one another. The Bible talks about the law of love because love is really the fulfillment of the law which regulates interrelationships in the household of faith. Censuring and downgrading each other is an infraction against the principle of Christian love, and Paul warns those who indulge in faultfinding, tale-bearing, and abusive talk to "take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" (Galatians 5:15).
No one is naive enough to believe we love people whom we are always castigating.
To judge a person means to form an authoritative and critical opinion about him. It implies we have full information about all the facts of the case, we have the discriminative powers to analyze correctly all the evidence, and we can come to an impartial and just decision--even so far as to determine the motives of the heart.
Since no human being knows perfectly all the extenuating circumstances that have shaped another man's course, no one can pass a final and authoritative judgment of him except the God to whom he must give account (James 4:12).
The Lord Jesus Christ has much to say about the prevalent sin of judging. He accused the people who indulge in the is vice of failing to see the huge bean in their own eye while they see the smallest splinter in their brothers eye. Such hypocrites, He said, are to correct their own errors before they are qualified to criticize others.
Critics label people as un-spiritual who do this or that or have this weakness or that; and although this may be true, the same critics tend to overlook the fact a vicious tongue and a censorious spirit are equally condemned by God.
To criticize and insult other Christians is to elevate self above others. Because we feel superior to someone, we seek to depreciate that person. By pointing to someone else's faults, we distract attention from our own. Calling attention to someone else's faults is often an attempt to cover up our own shortcomings. The comprehensive term for all of these evils is pride.
Think of the harm that has been done by the kind of pride which elevates self by discounting and scandalizing others. It splits churches, ruins the testimony of pastors and drives them from Christian service, and irreparably damages young believers.
I myself have struggled with this time and time again. I would make excuses for talking about people... "Please pray about this.. and in order to pray correctly.. here are the details of the situation"... I've heard others says... "I need to know the details of this weakness in order to give you proper counsel"... ect.
In my experience I've found this is often a cover up in order to get information to broadcast the faults of the saints. With that the polite whispers and innuendos commence. Soon they snowball into slander and libel. The sassy sounding retort which children often give to each is not bad advice for adults: "Mind your own business!"
Speaking evil against other believers is a sin against the members of the church body, against the law of love, and against God Himself, for He is the author of this principle of love.
Although it is not often viewed as such, the sin about which James writes is a form of worldliness because it partakes of the worldy character of conceit and fails to submit to the authority of God's Word.
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