Tyrone Arthur

James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

I wonder how often we as believers just disregard the word of God. I have said it before and I will say it again when we ignore God’s word, it is only the one who discounts it, that suffers loss. It is a simple truth that cannot be ignored. So the encouragement is to heed the voice of God. It is a simple instruction with clear warning; do not grumble against one another. Our mind immediately runs to accusing others and excusing ourselves, we believe we have grounds to gripe. Do we? I am not so sure we do. Paul tells us to imitate Him as he imitates Christ. The lord Jesus was without fault and would have been justified to defend His honour, but we know very well that when he was reviled He reviled not! He had every right to retaliate and yet He held his peace. I must confess the war rages on in my members (flesh), it wants to point a finger at others at times, yet when I do it is always to my own detriment. I need to stop it, as it will be good for my spiritual growth. So let us stop grumbling, right now, whoever you are and wherever you are. If we refuse to heed the counsel of God’s word then look at the text, “so that we may not be judged.” But it is not a brother or a friend or even an enemy that will judge, but the Lord himself and “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.” “The judge is standing at the door. If we have grumbled then let us seek forgiveness, if we find ourselves still grumbling, may God equip us to find grace and to repent. We must!

Let us consider the communion we have around the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord. This is an ordinance that the Lord requires from us. (Baptism is the other requirement for a believer). We are to break bread as often as we would remember Him. If I had my own way, I would love nothing more than for believers to gather around a table with wine/grape juice and some bread, every second or third day would be good and in a prayer and fellowship structured meeting to remember His great sacrifice. Once every fortnight seems somewhat stretched. Let us dissect a few truths from Paul’s teaching on the subject found in 1 Corinthians 11... He starts by mentioning “that in the same night He was betrayed.” It is interesting that Paul mentions this because when we think about what Judas did and we look at his motive, it is obvious to see that he was thinking of himself before the purpose and cause of the Lord. Paul then goes on to instruct us that we need to eat and drink discerning the Lords body and if we do not to discern His body we will be guilty. Guilty of what you may ask? Guilty of judgement, the same judgement we will be guilty of if we grumble against our brother. It is exactly the same train of thought that Paul and James have. I will not go into any detail now, concerning the body of Christ, suffice to say that we are the members of the body of Christ; (1Corinthians 12:27) “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

Therefore, we all need one another whether we like it or not. Just as your physical body has need of the heart, lungs and kidney to keep us alive and healthy. So we need one another and more than that we need to give place to one another above our own wants and needs. When this starts to happen and God equips his entire saints to love how beautiful the sight will be, how glorified God would be. If we do not heed the counsel of God’s word in this area of our lives, remember we will suffer the judgement and reproach, not only from man but from God Himself.

(1Corinthians 11:27-30) Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

God views this so seriously that Paul tells us that if we do not give place to one another in love and we do not examine ourselves and judge ourselves. What do we judge? We judge to see if we are treating the members of the body in love. I will not say more than this, you yourselves will be able to examine your own lives and how you behave and act to others in your church. Look at how God will judge, “that is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” Rather serious wouldn’t you agree?

Let me confirm this truth by using one more scripture and let’s look at how the Lord taught us to pray. (Matthew 6:12) “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

I prayer my heavenly Father that you would continue to be patient with all your children and please forgive us for erring in this area of our lives. But, teach us to be more like our Saviour for His beauty when beheld is too beautiful for words. Help us be eager to search out grace from your throne of grace, to help in time of need.

Now to all of us how hold to this hope, remember our hope, be strong and vigilant and stand on the word of God. The day is coming when all those who will love His appearing will meet Him in the clouds in the air and what a day that will be.

Signing off

Tyrone