James | Chapter 4

James 4:1-3

“The war in your members”

 

  • Introduction
  • 1 At war with ourselves
  • 2-3 Twofold consequence

 

Introduction

In James in 3:18 James gave his readers the results of Godly wisdom at work in believers when he said, “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Here in this section, he will introduce his readers to the by-product of the wisdom of the world that has produced the fruit of envy, self-seeking, confusion, and every evil thing in our lives. To do this James uses a literary technique of asking questions then answering them before the reader can. The first question is, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?” We need to remember the context of this question is addressed in the words “among you” which makes it abundantly clear that James is writing to the church, to believers and followers of Christ, when he asks, “where do wars and fights come from.” This fact ought to surprise us that as “new creations in Christ” in which “old things have passed away” that we would be addressing just such a reality. Chuck Colson wrote of a true incident in his book “The body” describing a brawl that broke out by the communion table at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Newton, Massachusetts. The fight by the communion table was between Pastor Waite and the head deacon Ray Bryson and went on over two minutes until Ray caught the Pastor on the chin with a right hook knocking him out. The irony of the location was it was there at this very spot where many of those who soon were trading punches with their fellow servants of Christ had made their commitments to Jesus. The worship director threw a hymnal that missed its target landing in the baptistry. Another person took the beautiful flower arrangement by the altar and threw it at Ray giving all around the baptism a sprinkling instead of full immersion. When the fighting members of the church were hauled into court they appeared before a Judge who was Jewish and a member of Temple Beth Shalom (The Temple of the House of Peace). He took mercy upon the combatants issuing only a stern warning that said, “I issue no charges at this point, and I urge you to work this out within your own church. Your Jesus Christ may allow this sort of thing in His followers, but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will not permit fistfights as a regular order of church service.” These kinds of things are far too common in the church that is there to glorify Christ. The number one reason people don’t have any interest in coming to church is Christians and our inability to behave like Jesus. Throughout this section we will discover that if followers of Christ continue in worldly wisdom, we can count on the fact that we will be at war on three fronts as our life’s spin-out of control.

  1. 1b At war with OURSELVES: “Do they not come from YOUR desires for pleasure that war in YOUR members?”
  2. 2a At war with OTHERS: “You lust and do not have; You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.”
  • 2b-6 At war with GOD: “Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says, “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

We will examine each of these three battle fronts that become conflicts in our lives if we continue down the road of applying worldly wisdom that makes us envious, self-seeking, confusion, and every other evil thing. Then, at a later time we will look at the antidote to this condition and how to once again get back to peace on all three fronts in verses 7-12.

Vs. 1 At war with ourselves

Vs. 1b At war with ourselves: “Do they not come from YOUR desires for pleasure that war in YOUR members?” Before James will allow the reader to answer the question he answers for them that if they continue to digest worldly wisdom by being envious, self-seeking, confusion and every other evil thing, we will find ourselves at war with ourselves! Some scholars have translated “among you” as “in you” as they insist that the war isn’t between people as much as it is a battle within a person who continues in applying worldly wisdom. The reality is that you cannot separate these two truths as a war between people is a symptom of an ongoing battle internally in our members. A person who is not at peace within themselves will never come to peace with others! James views this the opposite of most psychologists that say that our problems of not achieving peace within ourselves comes from without a person either it is “heredity” or “environmental” whereas James says that, if we stop applying worldly wisdom, we will have peace within ourselves and also begin to see peace with others. James says that mainly our problems don’t come from without they come from within and then affect others which makes those engaged in the consumption of worldly wisdom both perpetrators as well as victims. The effect of a continual diet upon worldly wisdom is that it gives an unbalanced “diet for desires of pleasures.” The Greek word for “pleasures” is “hedone” in which we get our English word “hedonism” which is defined as the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence. It has produced a philosophical theory that pleasure (in the sense of the satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life. Such a worldly philosophy adversely affects people as it makes them narcissistic believing that everything is about them and their happiness and pleasure. People becoming equally unhappy in such a pursuit for pleasures in a life that is all about them as they will be never satisfied even if they are able to temporarily capture the pleasure in their pursuit or unhappy because they aren’t able to do so. The Bible predicted such unhappiness when our lives become effected by worldly wisdom to the level where we have made it all about the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence. In Luke 8:14 Jesus speaking the parable of the sower, said of one of the seeds sown “fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” The writer of Hebrews in 11:24-25 speaking of Moses said that he learned the true value of not following worldly wisdom when he wrote, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” Moses realized that all the pursuit of the pleasures of sin was passing and would never grant him true happiness. Solomon wrote of this in Eccl 2:1-2 saying, “I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore, enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” The war in our own hearts is what is causing the wars with our fellow humans. The essence of every sin is selfishness and self-centeredness. Eve disobeyed God because she believed the lie of satan that she would become like God and in less need of Him, thus pride was behind the fall. Abraham lied about his wife being his sister because he was worried about saving his own life. Self-centeredness leads to wrong actions but also to wrong praying according to verses 2-3. Selfish hearts lead to self-centered prayers and that will cause the war on the inside to spread to a war on the outside. Saint’s, every crime ever committed in the world has come about from a desire which was first a feeling in our heart from a worldly wisdom nourished along long enough until it became an action.

Vs. 2-3 Twofold consequence

Vs. 2-3 Such a heart condition has caused a twofold consequence in our heart as it relates to prayer according to verses 2b-3.

  1. 2b “They do not have because they do not ask”: Instead of turning to God as the giver of every “good and perfect gift”, they try to get what they want by their own schemes and self-effort. And in this practice, they further erode not only their own dependence and need for Jesus. There is no greater way to ruin our prayer life than to make every prayer about us instead of about God’s glory. The quest for things that “make us happy” causes us to lose the sensitivity to the things that are on God’s heart, and we become more and more people after our own heart instead of people after God’s heart. The prayer life that continues to ask God for things that are the pursuit of our pleasure will go unanswered which we will blame God for and stop communicating with Him all together. So, the first consequence is “No receiving because there has been no asking.”
  2. 3 “They ask and do not receive, because they ask amiss, that they may spend it on their pleasures.” The second consequence of broken communication is that “There is no receiving because the asking was done with wrong motives!” When our praying is wrong, our whole Christian life is wrong! “The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth!” People who are at war with themselves are the most unhappy people and will never become happier by the pursuit of pleasure. The prayers ought to be directed at thanking and praising God for what He has blessed us with instead of complaining about the blessings we don’t have. Our prayer life reveals the envious nature for what God in His grace has blessed others with. Worldly wisdom leads people to unhappiness and the pursuit of pleasure as the sole means of fulfilling what is missing and what is missing can only be fixed by the One person they have rejected at that moment, Jesus.

The common excuse comes against Godly wisdom is ironically, “I’ll pray about it!” Far too often the prayers of the purser of pleasure who has listened worldly wisdom is to “Tell God what He is supposed to do and then get angry at Him if He doesn’t obey our command.” Allow me to give you a fivefold checklist that can guide your communication and prayers to God so that you don’t fall into the above to consequences.

  1. James 1:6 When we pray ask in faith:
  2. John 16:24 When we pray do so in Jesus’ authority and will and not our own.
  3. 1 John 5:14 When we pray do so in “God’s will” not ours.
  4. 1 Peter 3:7 When we pray, we must first make certain that we are in right relationships to others.
  5. Psalm 66:18 When we pray, we are to have first taken our own heart to God and confessed our sin before we ask anything.

Next week we will continue this study with the look at the other two battlefields (other and God) that are the consequences of following worldly wisdom. This will be followed later by the antidote to this. You won’t to miss James words on this as it will change your life and fill you with joy.

 

 

 

James 4:1-2,11

“The Collateral damage”

  • Introduction
  • 2 Unwanted realities
  • 1a, 2a, 11 At war with others

  

Introduction

Many of you have come to me with comments about this section in James and how much it has personally spoken to you about your own hearts and given you guidance in how to determine which information stream you have been listening to. My answer to you has been an emphatic, ME TOO! We began chapter 4 by tracing James statements back to what he described as the characteristics of worldly wisdom in chapter 3 verses 14 and 16. There James said that worldly wisdom produces in the life of the person who listens to it “bitter envy, self-seeking, confusion and every evil thing”. Those characteristics in the life of the person who has been digesting worldly wisdom will take its toll upon our lives and create battlefields where there could be peace if we had applied Godly wisdom instead of worldly wisdom. Those three fronts again are.

  1. 1b At war with OURSELVES: Which we noticed last week!
  2. 1a, 2a,11a At war with OTHERS: “Where do wars and fights come from AMONG you? You lust and do not have; You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.” “Do not speak evil of one another brethren.”
  3. 2b-6 At war with GOD: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

We will examine the second of these three battle fronts today and one next week before we look at the antidote to this condition in verses 7-12.

Vs. 2 Unwanted realities

Vs. 2 There are three “unwanted realities” of a person if they have dieted upon “worldly wisdom”:

  1. Unwanted side effects: As already noted such a diet of the heart always carries with it the unwanted side effects described in verse 14 and 16 of chapter 3 as that causes the person to be, “filled with bitter envy is self-seeking, confused and consumed by every evil thing”.
  2. Unwanted consequences: As we saw last week such a diet upon worldly wisdom also causes us to be at war with our own self. Such a diet and pursuit make us unhappy and miserable people.
  3. Unfulfilled promises: Finally, we will realize that such a pursuit cannot obtain what the worldly wisdom has promised. And we are told that such a diet will cause us adversity in four key areas of human life (Pleasure, Passion, Potential and Prayer) all of which worldly wisdom promises to make better if we just listen to its lies:
  4. Unsatisfied pleasure: “You lust and do not have.” Three times in verse 2 we are told that the chief lure of worldly wisdom as James described in verse 1 as the “desires for pleasure” goes unsatisfied. Worldly wisdom promises that if you just apply its false truths you will get pleasure that will satisfy what you are longing for, but such a pursuit never fulfills. In fact, all it does is create a greater frustration and addiction for what goes unsatisfied. If we have 10 cars and we are in pursuit of worldly wisdom, we will need and 11thand 12th. If we have 10 million dollars and we are listening to worldly wisdom, we will be after 50 million dollars. Whatever our pursuit of pleasure is if it really was truly satisfying as worldly wisdom promised we wouldn’t find ourselves with any desire to continue the quest. Solomon saw such a pursuit in his life and called it vanity! The only thing such a pursuit of pleasure seems to satisfy is our desire for more and a removal of any morality or ethics to obtain it.
  5. Uncontrolled passions: “You murder and covet and cannot obtain.” It is inevitable that when our desire for pleasure is unattainable that we will up the ante to try to get what we are pursuing in worldly wisdoms lies. There are some who wish to retranslate the word for murder saying that it doesn’t fit the passage, but it does when you look at the level that our passions will go to achieve the pleasure worldly wisdom promised. Covet here in the Greek is, “You are envious and miss what you want and cannot acquire it, so you fight and murder to get it.” Unfortunately, both the Bible and the news are full of stories that prove this to be true. David murdered Uriah because of his lust for his wife Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11:2-17. Ahab murdered Naboth in 1 Kings 21:1-13 because he wanted his vineyard. Murder reveals the extreme people will go when their pursuit for pleasure goes unstratified. When we listen to worldly wisdom and allow the desire for pleasure to dominate our hearts and minds it not only becomes all we think about but soon we will begin scheming a way to obtain this ruling passion. Often this also involves eliminating those who stand in our way of reach this pleasure.
  6. Untapped potential: “You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” This also produces a spiritual condition that robs the person of their potential. Instead of turning to God who is the giver of every perfect and good gift they try to get their pleasures by their own schemes and self-effort. It robs the believer of the potential maturity and spiritual growth they could have had if they would have pursued God instead of their own pleasures.
  7. Unanswered prayer: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss.” The first problem that following worldly wisdom did in our prayer life was limit our communication as we spend more time scheming and no time seeking God. The second thing it does is limit our receiving because we are asking God only to fulfill our pleasures.

Vs. 1a, 2a, 11 At war with others

Vs. 1a, 2a,11a At war with OTHERS: These verses make it clear that once a person has decided to partake of worldly wisdom that the war that started in our hearts will spread to those around us as James mentions three areas that are not in progression: Coveting is internal which will lead to speaking evil of the person we are coveting, which can if continued lead to fighting and waring and even murder as our lust for pleasure spreads. Those who God has broken-down the things that separate us, making us all “In Him’s” from the “those and them’s” all a part of the “Body of Christ” can become at war with each other, in competition against each other for what we have been given by God’s grace! Instead of love and harmony working together for God’s glory folks can become upset that someone took their seat or position. Worldly wisdom appeals to our old insecurities and lack of identity, so we become combative when we think we aren’t getting what is rightfully ours. We begin to verbalize our frustrations to other Christians that this study, this position to bless others has been taken from us. So, caught up in our own war that we have started a new war with others and are so blinded by worldly wisdom’s appeal to our fallen nature that we don’t even realize that we are totally in the old flesh nature! People at times come to me and report: “So and so was at a prayer group complaining to the prayer group that, so and so stole their position or ministry away from them.” Totally unaware of where worldly wisdom has taken them and how such a statement reveals where their heart is to all that are present and listening to Godly wisdom. Ministry that started with the heart in Godly wisdom to be a blessing to others, where at one time they didn’t care about a position, or a title has become corrupted by worldly wisdom and serving others has become about them to be seen or so they can be in authority and others can see them as spiritual and worship them to be blessed. When this kind of thing happens the fight and war is on and as soon as it has gone to speaking evil of another the body has an infection. It’s up to each of us to come alongside a person who is so blinded by worldly wisdom and loving to correct them and point out to them that worldly wisdom is what they are eating on. We all need it, none of us are immune to this, the question is will we be open to hearing that we have succumbed to worldly wisdom’s grasp of our heart so we can get back to Godly wisdoms blessings and peace? There is nothing new with this, throughout the gospel record we are told no less then 3 separate times that the disciples argued among themselves about who of them would be the greatest. At first, they seem to be unaware of what they were doing until Jesus corrects them with an illustration but later they become more secretive even after having been corrected and continue their insecurities privately hoping to avoid the correction but Jesus calls them on it and tells them that the greatest will be the least of all and the servant of all to which apparently He didn’t have any takers. These insecurities feed by worldly wisdom can pop out on so many fronts and James mentions four areas in his letter:

  1. 2:1-9 Class wars: Here it was the rich against the poor as the wealth got more attention than did the needy. The wealthy were honored the poor disgraced. It’s a disgrace when the health of a fellowship is upon class distinction instead of the common bond we have in Jesus who has loved us in spite of us not because of us.
  2. 5:1-6 Working wars: Though this was also wealthy verses the poor it also carried over into those that were business owner and those who were their employees. Some of the wealthy employers were not giving fair wages to the employees but today we can see that with powerful unions this can flip the other way as absolute power can corrupt absolutely!
  3. 3:1 Church wars: Like I mentioned above this was largely over position and authority as people wanted to be over others as to be seen as spiritual and to be waited on and compensated. They studied to teach and not to learn, and the result was not the building up of the body of Christ people were not edified instead things became combative and strife and arguments broke out. Each person was more concerned with getting their ideas out then hearing someone else’s and selfish ambition ruled their time together instead of spiritual submission.
  4. 4:11-12 Personal wars: James says that folks were speaking evil of one another and judging one another instead of loving and accepting one another. They weren’t speaking the “truth in love” as Paul had admonished later in his letter in Eph. 4:15. Instead of offering encouragement and support they were acting as rivals and criticizing. Even if it’s truthful about another we ought not repeat it to others if it is harmful instead, we should first speak to God about it before we speak to the person about it. We always must first examine our own hearts before we start on others. There are always three points of view and only one of those do we know for certain is absolutely correct: Yours, Mine and the Lords!

There must never be leader against leader, church against church, Christian against Christian as the world is watching these fights and ask, “I thought Jesus said they were to love one another not hate one another?” In John 17:20-21 Jesus prayed for the church saying, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those that will believe in Me through their word; that they ALL MAY BE ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent Me.” We belong to the same family, trusted in the same Savior; are indwelt and empowered by the same Holy Spirit, yet we are fighting with each other and war?

 

James 4:4-6a

“More Grace”

  • Introduction
  • 4-6a At war with God

 

Introduction

This morning we conclude our study of the effects of worldly wisdom that produces according to 3:14 “bitter envy, self-seeking, confusion and every evil thing” has on three relationships.

  • 1b At war with OURSELVES:
  • 1a, 2a,11a At war with OTHERS:
  • 2b-6 At war with GOD:

We will examine how such prolonged association with worldly wisdom will affect our relationship with God then deal with the antidote to this 6-12.

Vs. 4-5 At war with God

Vs. 4-5 At war with God: Few, if any, Christian would wake up one day and decide to go back to a time when they were at war with God. But that is what they are inadvertently doing when they continue to choose worldly wisdom that leads to the personal character traits of “bitter envy, self-seeking, confusion and every evil thing”. So severe is this that James puts it into terms that describe human infidelity as he calls out those who have become so engaged in the battle that they are “adulterers and adulteresses”. There rebellion against Godly wisdom has destroyed the harmony of their relationship with God and now they have conflict. How was such a breakup with God accomplished? James tells his readers that it was from a persistent cheating on God by having an active relationship with the world system with its worldly wisdom. The analogy isn’t a stretch as Paul in Romans 7:4 tells his readers that as believers we are married to Christ. The original Jewish readers of this letter were very familiar with this comparison as they needed to only read the prophets of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Hosea where each of these prophets under the Holy Spirits direction rebuked the nation of committing “spiritual adultery” by following the worldly wisdom like the pagan nations and worshipping foreign gods. Having describe the condition James moves on to tell us that such a condition of “Spiritual adultery” is begun by “friendship with the world” and by the world he means the world system that has worldly wisdom as its only influence and is anti-Jesus and anti-God. The world system that is guided by worldly wisdom that appeals to the flesh is one characterized the sacrificing of the spiritual at the altar of the material, the future at the altar of the present, the eternal at the altar of temporary, the things of God to the altar of our feelings. We can see many cases of this friendship that ends up with “Spiritual adultery”, Lot whose relative Abraham was a friend of God made the world his friend and ended up in war with others and finally at war with God. Psalm 1 reveals the gradual descent into “Spiritual adultery” when using Hebrew poetry describes the blessed man who is following Godly wisdom as the person who: Walks NOT in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful. In each of these three examples of what the Godly man doesn’t do we see a threefold progression of the gradual descent into being at war with God as first they are entertaining counsel from those spouting worldly wisdom, which then leads them to hanging around those who are habitually practicing sin to finally being so involved in worldly wisdom that they end up being a part of the group that attack those who follow Godly wisdom. Paul told Timothy that such a person becomes over time of following worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom in 2 Timothy 3:4 “traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Living in such a way as this means that we are “grieving the Holy Spirit” who lives in us and this is why James says in verse 5 “Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.” Paul described a fellow Christian Demas whom he said in 2 Timothy 4:10 “has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica.” It’s not too strong to describe a person who has made friendship of this world a greater priority than a relationship with God as being “enmity with God”. The dictionary describes “enmity” as being “the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone”. A by-product of such a war against God is that the Holy Spirit who lives in us to completely possess us, empower us and control our lives for our good and God’s glory will not be able to do so and that will make us less responsive to God’s Word that seeks to transform us into His image. I find it such an amazing blessing to realize that God is like a loving husband who so loves His bride that not only does He give her all His attention and love, but He also wants the same from her. When we live to please the old nature, we are declaring war against God.

Vs. 6-12 Nine keys to restoration

Vs. 6-10 Here in verse 6-12 James tells us what we can do to change our condition if we have been following worldly wisdom that has produced the battlefields in our hearts that has taken its toll upon relationships with ourselves, others, and God. Notice that James divides this into two sections with verses 6-10 dealing with ourselves and God and verses 11-12 dealing with our relationship with others.

            The first thing that we note is found in James words, “But He (the Holy Spirit) gives MORE GRACE.” To the person who has succumbed to worldly wisdom that has caused the personal characteristics of “bitter envy, self-seeking, confusion and every evil thing” and destroyed relationships with others and God we are told that the first thing that the Holy Spirit will grant is “MORE GRACE”! The same “GRACE” that initiated the unbeliever to receive Jesus is given to the person who has chosen to reject Godly wisdom for worldly wisdom in order to restore them back into fellowship! But this “MORE GRACE” can only be received by those who are broken from their pride and are now humble! One of the most amazing realities of the bible is that God’s grace is always available for our deepest needs and rebellions if we will be humbled and broken! Abounding grace is the only lifeline offered or needed by God to our personal rebellion. No requirements of penitence, or a few laps around purgatory. No groveling and begging on our part to do better next time. Neither does God demand that we come back and eat slop like the prodigal, no He calls the fatted calf and order a celebration because the child has come back to His grace and mercy! Instead, just as it was when we first came to God, if we are going to be the recipient of God’s grace, we will have to kill our pride and arrogance. When we proudly turned away from Godly wisdom to Worldly wisdom, we must now need to humble ourselves and kill this pride that led us away.

James 4:6a-12

“Cures for worldliness”

 

  • Introduction
  • 6a-12 Nine keys to restoration

 

Introduction

This morning we finish this section as we have been examining the effects of worldly wisdom that produces according to 3:14 “bitter envy, self-seeking, confusion and every evil thing” has on three relationships.

  1. 1b At war with OURSELVES:
  2. 1a, 2a,11a At war with OTHERS:
  3. 2b-6 At war with GOD:

We saw the prolonged association with worldly wisdom will toll upon our relationship with God when James referred to the condition in terms of human infidelity in verse 4 where he called those people “adulterers and adulteresses”. Then we noted the amazing antidote that God grants those who find themselves in that condition in verse 6a where James says, “But He (the Holy Spirit) gives MORE GRACE.” To the person who has succumbed to worldly wisdom that has destroyed relationships with others and God we are told that the first thing that the Holy Spirit will grant is “MORE GRACE”! The same “GRACE” that initiated the unbeliever to receive Jesus is given to the person who has chosen to reject Godly wisdom for worldly wisdom in order to restore them back into fellowship! But this “MORE GRACE” can only be received by those who are broken from their pride and are now humble! God’s grace is always available for our deepest needs and rebellions if we will be humbled and broken! Abounding grace is the only lifeline offered or needed by God to our personal rebellion. No requirements of penitence, or a few laps around purgatory. No groveling and begging on our part to do better next time.

Vs. 6a-12 Nine keys to restoration

From this James tells his readers that the giving of God’s grace and our humility has nine key parts to it that are in a specific order:

  1. 7a “Therefore submit to God”: Re-relinquish control of your life to God who has given you His unmerited favor. The Greek word for “submit” is a military term that means to “take rank under another”. The person who has been under the influence of worldly wisdom to where they are in active rebellion against God will need to remember their true rank and humble themselves before God. They will need to realize that they aren’t the captain of their own ship, they need to surrender the control of their lives afresh so they can again enjoy the grace of God. There is one sure fire way to not experience the grace of God; try to earn it and think you deserve it! Such a surrender will require the person to admit without excuses that they haven’t been doing a good job of running their own life instead they have been ruining their life. Again, it is important that we not take these out of order or skip one of these 9 keys to restoration. Years ago, in bible college a fellow student was saying that each and every day he got up every morning on the edge of his bed “resisted the devil so that he would flee from him. You could tell he was quite proud of the process until another student wisely pointed out that he had misread that verse as the first part of that was “submitting to God.
  2. 7b “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” Resist the devil’s worldly wisdom and it will no longer influence you. James instructs his readers to next “resist the devil” and promises that their resistance will cause the devil to flee. Peter also made a similar promise in 1 Peter 5:8-9 when he wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” To be effective in resisting the devil you will need to do three things:
  3. Put on Christ whom Paul describes as the armor of God. Ephesians 6:10-18
  4. Devour the word of God. Matt 4:4
  5. Fervently pray and abide in Christ. John 15:7, 1 John 5:14-15
  6. 8a “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Restore worship as a priority. James had just said to “submit to God” now he admonishes to “draw near to God” In the Greek the verb “draw near” is the way the First Testament described the Levitical priests approaching God with the sacrifices. It has to do with coming close to God in order to worship Him and when we draw near to Him to worship, He draws near to us as our relational intimacy increases and we experience a deeper encounter with Him. Notice in James’s words that it is God who is first initiating as we are being wooed to Him and is inviting us to come close so that He can fill us.
  7. 8b “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” Renounce sinful actions. This phrase we remind the original readers of this letter of the priests who had to ceremonial wash their hands before they could approach the Holy Place in the tabernacle. The Psalmist said this in Ps. 24:3-4 “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.” The point James is making is that as we come back to God’s grace, we won’t be able to hold onto actions and attitudes that separate us from His grace.
  8. 8c “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Reject sinful attitudes. James calls his readers “double-minded” which is a term that means fickle and a procrastinator which describes a person who is trying to still love worldly wisdom while attempting to maintain a relationship with Christ. This vacillation will stop a person from experiencing God’s grace and what was behind Joshua’s exhortation to the nation of Israel to decide whom they would follow.
  9. 9a “Lament and mourn and weep.” React to sin with a broken heart. James’ words again would remind the original reader of the prophets who would call the nation to repentance by having them grieve as if they lose a loved one by putting on sackcloth and ashes as a sign of the loss. When Paul dealt with his sin he cried out in Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
  10. 9b “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Refrain from an indifferent attitude. James isn’t saying that a Christian should wear black and suck in their face and look sad all the time. We ought to have joy and be thankful in Jesus. But when our rebellion because we have followed worldly wisdom has separated us from enjoying our relationship with the Lord, we won’t be frivolously indifferent as if the things of this world were of greater importance than experiencing God’s grace.
  11. 10a “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Respond in humility to God’s blessings. This phrase occurs over 50 times in the bible and is referred to 100’s of times. We need to constantly be reminded that God’s blessings are not attached to our self-inflated sense of greatness. God has lavished upon us His goodness and grace in spite of us, not because of us. Paul possessed that question to the Corinthian church in 1 Cor 4:7 when he asked, “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
  12. 11a “Do not speak evil of one another.” Refuse to slander your brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the same word in verse 7 rendered there as “devil” or slanderer. So, when we are slandering another, we are at work for the devil. Any time we speak against our fellow Christians making them look bad, judging their motives and hearts, condemning them, tearing them down instead of building them up we are at the devil’s work! Paul admonished the believer in Ephesus in 4:29 to “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for edification, that it may impart grace to its hearers!”

A we ponder these words from James my prayer is that we would examine our hearts and if we determine that we have been under the influence of worldly wisdom that we apply these 9 keys to restore our hearts back to God and each other.

James 4:13-14, 16

“My Father’s world”

  • Introduction
  • 13-14, 16a Ignoring God’s will

 

Introduction

 The remainder of the 4th chapter of James the writer deals with another aspect that will derail our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ, failing to obey the will of God. Immediately it is apparent that James links this primarily to Christian businessman who clearly had the wrong attitude with regards to God’s will for them. A good portion of the problem was that this was an age of founding cities which produced economic opportunities for those people wishing to become citizens. In the case of Jewish business, it often had the “carrot” of Roman citizenship as part of the lure to get them to relocate. The founders of the city were well aware of the loyalty that accompanied Jewish business with Jewish patrons and as such that would make the relocation prosperous to all. And to the Jewish business owner they were looking at this from only what would benefit them financially without considering God’s will for their lives. Though that is clearly the context of the passage James has a much larger application point to make to all believers: Knowing WHO holds the future is FAR BETTER than knowing WHAT the future holds. God has given us great grace in not allowing us to know WHAT the future holds as the unveiling of tomorrow would causes us many moments of fear and dread at what we didn’t want to face while causing us to miss the countless blessing that each day held. And if we knew a head of time our day and hour that our life would end we would die thousands of times before we would actually die and fail to live to our fullest. Saints, attempting to live outside the will of God will cause us trouble instead of peace; the safest most joy-filled existence any Christian can have is to be right where God wants you to be! We must never forget that the will of God is never separated from the heart of God and as such, His will for us is an expression of His love towards us. To further grasp this section, we will be taking verses out of numerical sequence in order to better understand the passage. James points out that there are three possible attitudes to the “Will of God” and two of them are destructive too us and only one of them is where we should be.

  1. 13-14, 16 Ignoring God’s will: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrowwe will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Vs. 16 “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
  2. 17 Disobeying God’s will: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it,to him it is sin”
  • 15 Obeying God’s will: “Instead you oughtto say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

James will show that such disregard to the will of God for our lives will cause us to fail in three areas:

  • Planning the future without God
  • Presuming to know the future
  • Postponing what should be done today

 

Vs. 13-14, 16a Ignoring God’s will

Vs. 13-14,16 Ignoring God’s will: As mentioned the context is James addressing wealthy Christian Jewish merchants who clearly were discussing their business plans with no evidence that they had sought God’s will or prayed about their decisions. Instead, they viewed their success in life by how many times they got “THEIR WAY” in what they planned. The phrase that starts this section is the words “Come now” and is a Greek expression that means, “Now look here” and implies disapproval and urgency. James outlines their “worldly wisdom business plan” in verse 13 that included a fivefold strategy to achieving its success but disregarded four truths that could cause it to come to ruin. First the fivefold business plan according to worldly wisdom which on the surface seems quite logical and a good plan. In fact, I believe that this business plan would most likely be taught and encouraged by every major business school and small business administration as well as major corporation:

  1. Flexibility 13a “Today or tomorrow.”: The first thing we note in this worldly wisdom business plan is that it has flexibility as the plans could be implemented sooner or later.
  2. Destination 13b “to such and such a city.”: Although flexible in implementation it was specific in destination. No doubt the specific location was well thought out with specific reasons for it choosing that would give every possible advantage to achieving success.
  3. Calculation: Vs. 13c “spend a year there.”: The plan had thought out all the contingencies how long it would take for this or that, how long until it would be profitable.
  4. Purpose: Vs. 13d “buy and sell”: The Greek word used here is where we get our English word “emporium” which means a commercial center or a place for doing business. This plan was well thought out and included great detail and was not in any way haphazard.
  5. Goal: Vs. 13e “make a profit”: Finally, the plan showed that if implemented it would work and that all the above parts of the plan would achieve the ultimate goal for these Christian businessmen and that was to make money. They had counted the cost, understood the risks, crunched the numbers and were willing to make the sacrifice but what they failed to take into consideration was that “making a profit” as a follower of Christ should never have been their primary goal! No, their ultimate goal in life should have been to glorify Christ, to make Him known and to further His kingdom. It’s not that their goal was bad it was just in the wrong place in their heart and it is clear that it was as vs 13 indicates the motive and power behind this fivefold plan is “WE WILL” and there is no indication that that consulted “God’s will”. And because their plan was motivated by “their will” and not “God’s will” it was completely oblivious to four facts that had they considered God’s will they may have avoided failure.
  6. 13 The complexity of life: The very thing that made their fivefold plan so complete was also it’s weakness as it had to many moving parts that all had to come together at exactly the right time to achieve the desired outcome. Life is made up time that we cannot control, places that we are unfamiliar about, people we cannot count on all working in an environment that is beyond our manipulation. Apart from God life is a riddlewrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Ah, but when you come to Jesus you have come to ONE who is According to Col. 1:26-27 “is the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Life starts to make sense the moment we start obeying and following His will for us and even out plans when submitted to Him have a new meaning and simplicity to where we can become confident in their eventual outcome because they are about His glory and not our success!
  7. 14a The uncertainty of life: “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.” Proverbs 27:1 reminds us “not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” Here was a business plan that was projecting out a year in advance but didn’t know what would happen tomorrow! Though they lacked no confidence in their future and believed that their plans put them in control; in reality they could not see one day an ahead or change one outcome in their power. Oh, but when we submit our lives to God’s will as Isa 46:10 tells us that God, “Declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done”. Only when we are operating in the will of God can we be confident about tomorrow as we know He is leading us and not we ourselves.
  8. 14b The brevity of life: “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” This is not a question about the “origin” or “essence” of life but about the “length of life” which when compared to eternity is quantified as a vapor. There is a reason why the psalmist in Psalm 90:12 says, “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” He did not say “teach us to number our year”. One writer wrote a poem about the five stages of life saying: When I was a child, I laughed and cried and time crept. When I became a youth, I dreamed and talked, and time walked. When I became a full-grown man, time ran. Now that I’m older I grew, and time flew. Soon I shall find in passing on that time is gone! I’ve become far more aware of the brevity of life this year at the passing of my wife Donna and this study caused me to number my wives’ days which were 21,398. I then decided that I wanted to know how much of her days were my days which were 15,558. What blessed and brought me to praise God was that He had given me 73% of her days to be my days and that we will have at my going home 100% of time to be together. Apart from God’s will our plans fail to look at living at a moment of time each day and because of this we tend to “waste time” instead of “invest time”.
  9. 16a The frailty of man: “But now you boast in your arrogance.” Man’s boasting and arrogance doesn’t cover up their weakness it exposes their weakness. Apart from obeying God’s will for our lives we cannot control the future as we neither possess the wisdom or power to control our future. James goes on to say that all such boasting is sin, as we are making ourselves God.

Saints we are forced to close our study this morning and when we get back to the book of James, we will take up the other two options with regards to the will of God: Disobeying God’s will and Obeying God’s will.

         

James 4:15, 17

“Take My Yoke Upon You”

  • Introduction
  • 17 Disobeying God’s will
  • 15 Obeying God’s will

 

Introduction

 James throughout his letter to the “dispersed messianic believers” writes to them about what he believed was the hardest aspect of the Christian life, maturity! He spoke to them of things that would aid their maturity like trials and tribulations, reading and applying the word of God. He also wrote to them about things that would stunt their maturity like falling into the trap of thinking that what we know instead of how we live is an indication of maturity. He warned of the dangers of the tongue and of falling worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom. Then as we were last in this letter James brought out another derailment for maturity, failure to obeying God’s will for your life. We noted that the safest most joy-filled existence any Christian can have is to be right where God wants you to be! We must never forget that the will of God is never separated from the heart of God and as such, His will for us is an expression of His love towards us. We looked at the outline of the passage at the three possible attitudes towards the “Will of God”, two of them are destructive to us and one of them where we should be.

  1. 13-14, 16 Ignoring God’s will: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrowwe will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Vs. 16 “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
  2. 17 Disobeying God’s will: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it,to him it is sin”
  3. 15 Obeying God’s will: “Instead you oughtto say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

James also revealed the fruit that will happen to us if we disregard to the will of God for our lives will cause us to fail in three areas:

  • Planning the future without God
  • Presuming to know the future
  • Postponing what should be done today

 

Vs. 17 Disobeying God’s will

Vs. 17 Disobeying God’s will: It is painfully clear that James saw some as knowing the “Will of God” but chose rather to disobey it. There “sin” was not ignorance but rather “willful disobedience”. This attitude expresses far more “pride and arrogance” than mere ignorance as it says to God, “I know what you want for me, but I don’t want to do it, I know what is best for me, better than you do.”  Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:21 that “it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” The primary reason people disobey God’s will is “PRIDE” as people like to believe they know better than God and want to “drive” instead of allowing God to “direct”. Success is often the catalyst to this since a person has succeeded, they begin to believe that they are the “master of their own fate” the “captain of their own ship”. People have accomplished amazing things but the thought that apart from God they can do anything, is false! We will hear folks say things like this: “If you just believe in yourself, you can become and do anything you want.” The church in false teaching has also bought into this false narrative in pushing “false faith” that all you need to do is visualize what you want and believe, and you accomplish all that your heart desires; if you have enough of this “faith in your faith” you will gain your own will! People also act as though they can reject or accept God’s will; when in reality rejecting God’s will won’t change His will it will only adversely affect your life! We cannot have a “take it or leave it attitude” with regards to the will of God, He is our creator and loving Father and as such if we chose to disobey God’s will thinking to make Him only our savior and not our Lord, He in His love will discipline us. The devil has planted a lie into the hearts of many a believer that suggests that obeying the will of God for their life is a recipe for misery. They say things like: “If I really obey God, He’ll send me some place, or into some situation that I don’t want.” But even if a Christian chooses to disobey the will of God in an attempt to avoid the difficulties of life, what will they say when they face Him? Oh, they avoid far more blessings than they ever did difficulties. And then they will come to the loving chastening hand of the Living God where they will have a course correction back to what is best for them. What I dislike the most about course corrections is that I see all the time wasted in my attempt around what I choose not to experience only to have to experience it anyway now less the blessings of His presence for the cost of my excursion! They can also cost us the loss of eternal rewards that would have been enjoyed where neither thief, rust, nor moth can destroy. In I Corinth. 9:24-27 Paul likened it to the Greek games and a runner who had been disqualified for the rewarded crown because he disobeyed the rules of the game.

  • Ignoring God’s will
  • Disobeying God’s will

Has three things that it will do if we continue along this action:

  1. Planning the future without God: This will lead us to “map out our lives” apart from His guidance and perspective. What an incredible disadvantage to try to navigate life apart from God’s direction and input. Think of what advantage we believers have to navigate life that the rest of the world apart from God doesn’t possess, He is all knowing, everywhere present, all powerful and nothing or no one can thwart His will! There have been countless movies, albeit from a worldly perspective, that has as a part of its plot a person who can go into the future and take advantage of the information. But in most of those movies they have no ability to change the outcome in their present circumstances. But when we follow God’s will, He can keep us from the things that would destroy us, take the lame, and cause them to walk, the blind to see and even the dead to rise. And as Ps 23 reminds us that even when we find ourselves in the Valley of Death, we will have no fear for He will be us. The psalmist in Ps 139:7-12 expressed such an advantage when he wrote: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. There is ZERO advantage to planning your life apart from God and every advantage by following His will for your life!
  2. Presuming to know the future: This will also lead a person into believing they know the future to which James says on verse 16 is just pure arrogance! Look at again the all the false predictions from entertainers, educators and scientists who have told us events of what will happen in the future and have been completely wrong. To attempt to calculate life apart from the ONE person who knows the End for the Beginning is fool hearty. When I asked my financial planner who is a believer how they navigate the fluctuations in the market when global events, elections etc. are constantly changing his response is that they try to constantly consider these events by realizing somethings will lose and some will gain and keep you someplace where you want to be….well I certainly felt better? Life cannot be navigated from where we are but can when we go to the ONE person who is above it all and can see every curve and every turn! Have you noticed that when you were younger, you had far more needs than you had resources? And when you have gotten older you have more resources but less faculties in which to enjoy them. Wouldn’t it be better to be guided by God to make those two work a little bit better?
  3. Postponing what should be done today: The final thing will happen when you ignore or disobey “God’s will” is that it will lead to “procrastination” which is always the greatest thief of time! With the reality that every moment is a gift we will be lease inclined to squander our days in inconsequential pursuits. Years ago for Christmas my Grandmother got me a gift that in my teens I didn’t appreciate as much as I do know in my 60’s. Inside the envelope was a card with a circle and two words inside the circle “TO IT” underneath this was the explanation: You now have a great gift for life a, “ROUND TO IT” so that you can now do what you always said you would do when you final got a “ROUND TO IT” so “GET TO IT”! With every day that passes we have less time to tell and demonstrate God’s love. As the Psalmist said in Psalm 90:12 “Teachus the number of our days that we may enter the heart of wisdom.”

 

Vs. 15 Obeying God’s will

Vs. 15 Obeying God’s will: Jesus said in John 4:34 “My Food, is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” That ought to be the heart of every believer to do and finish the work of our Heavenly Father. Paul the apostle didn’t view obedience to the will of God as chains that kept him from what he wanted most in life, but the path was to it even though following God’s will often place him in chains. When we examine our material universe, we will realize that everything operates in accordance with material laws. Obey those laws and we can achieve amazing things disobey those laws and we will plummet to the earth! Certain laws govern flight and an aeronautical engineer who obeys those laws in design and building a plane will cause those who fly to enjoy the operation of the plane. Disobey those laws and everything will come crashing to the ground. God’s will for our lives is comparable to His laws that govern the material universe. Both are specifically and personally designed so be a blessing and enhance our living in His blessings! God doesn’t have machines or robots who are called to do the same things at the same time. We don’t all have the same gifting, education, and experiences and because of this no two lives ae made in the same mold or pattern. Therefore, following God’s will is what is best for each of us individually as it is tailor-made specifically for each of us to navigate to our best advantage the life God has given each of us. When we gave our lives to Him, He placed this operating system into our hearts to empower and guide us through life so that we will get the greatest amount of joy and fulfillment out of the life He has given us in His Son. If we disobey God, our life begins to become a “grind” and if stay in a grind long enough it will become a “rut” and stay in a rut long enough and it will become a “grave”! The only difference between a “grind” and a “grave” is time and depth! Saints God love us so much that when He is not allowed to rule over our lives you can bet on the fact that He will “overrule” your life out of His love for you. The will of God is a living relationship between God and the believer that keeps us under His love continually experiencing His goodness! The believer’s relationship to the will of God is a key to maturity and following His will is not difficult to do as obeying what we know of His will always lead to Him revealing more of it on a step by step walk with Him. God doesn’t reveal His will to the curious nor the careless but to those who are ready to follow Him. Saint’s, everything in our lives is important to God because He has planned every detail. His desire is for us not only to know His will for us but to understand it as well. God wants His children to know the “why” of His plan for us as we are more than His children, we because of Jesus are His friends. Furthermore, God invites us to prove His will for us by experiencing the wisdom of walking in it. You cannot prove what you are unwilling to experience personally. So, do what God has called you to do today this moment and then repeat each and every step. Jesus said in Matt. 11:29 “Take My yoke upon You, and learn from Me.” You can’t operate in God’s will haphazardly or part way you must be all in from the heart. The secret of living in the center of God’s will is to make living in it a delight and not a duty; it is when duty is a delight that burdens become blessings. When you are obedient to God’s will, you will enjoy greater fellowship with Him then you ever knew was possible, you will grow in your faith and in His Word, you will experience a greater communication with God and because of this you will enjoy a greater quality to your life and then when it is over you will be ushered into His presence.