James 4
Just recently our home group finished a DVD series on
marriage. It was quite an eye opener and
provoked a lot of discussion. At the end
of the series we were encouraged to take a personality test. This was to enable us to understand our
spouses better and to focus on what was right and not what was wrong J Out of the 4 categories (Peace, Perfect,
Control and Fun) peace was my top category with fun following behind. I have never liked disharmony and either want
to run from it or fix it but I never want to live in it for any length of time.
In James 4
it starts out the chapter by talking about fights and quarrels that happen
between people. Where do they come from according
to v1? They come from within us. Until we die there will always be a battle
between our flesh and our spirit, the root cause being SIN. Max Lucado in his book “come thirsty” says
that “sin sees the world with no God in it”….we might think of sin as slip ups
or missteps but God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless
actions. Isaiah 53:6 says that all of us
have strayed like sheep. We have left
God’s path to follow our own way. The
sinful mind dismisses God and celebrates its middle letter. What is the middle letter of sIn? Ephesians 2:3 says that we gratify our sinful
natures. We often do the opposite of
what we are supposed to…we hate instead of love, we look for revenge rather
than forgive, indulge our sinful desires rather than exhibit self-control.
Sin for a
season quenches our thirst but sin is like salt water, it doesn’t satisfy our
thirst for long before we want more.
When we read
these first verses of James 4 children often come to mind. It is like James is talking about someone
having a temper tantrum because they don’t get what they want. Sometimes we don’t get what we want because
we simply haven’t asked God. We have
talked about it but we haven’t gone to the One who loves to give good gifts to
His children. NB Sometimes it is good to write down what we do have from God and not
focus on what we don’t have. It changes
our heart and perspective and makes us more grateful. Anyway, back to the passage. Often times we don’t get what we want because
we ask with wrong motives. The purpose
of prayer is to get God’s will
accomplished on earth not my will
done on earth. Once we understand this
then we will be more in tune with God and start asking for the right things; the
things that God wants us to have. Praying
is not giving orders to God but it is reporting for duty. What does God want me to do?
James uses
some strong language in this passage. He
calls us adulterous people if we are friends with the world. God called the
people of Israel adulterers when they worshipped false gods and so we are also
adulterers if we worship the things of this world. If we were honest with each other what do we
put before God in our lives? Our family,
our jobs, our hobbies, our successes, our status, wealth, health what else? Pride was the downfall of Satan and can be
the downfall of us also. “God opposes
the proud but gives grace to the humble” (verse 6b). This is counter cultural. We need to go against the flow of this world.
Submission
is not often seen as a positive word and yet we see it in various contexts in
Scripture. Here in James he tells us to
submit to God. What is submission? Some synonyms of submission are obedience and
compliance. We often don’t want to be
obedient to God or be compliant with Him. It can be a battle and yet God is
asking that of us. He asks us to submit
to Him which will cure us of our worldliness.
We can’t serve two masters. We
are to flee from the Devil. The Devil
has been around for a long time. He
knows what makes us tick. He knows what
distracts us. He knows what brings us
down. He knows what buttons to
push. We need to be aware of this and
resist and run. Notice James doesn’t say
just turn the other way or stroll in a different direction but flee. That means run for your life. Let us not become comfortable with sin. Let us acknowledge what it is and deal with
it. We are called to wash our hands,
purify our hearts and to grieve the sin that is in our lives. It is serious and not be taken lightly.
In 4:11-12
we are told not to slander each other.
It is not an option. Just run
through your day today. Who did you
judge today? Whose reputation did you
tarnish today? These are hard questions
but necessary ones. James has his boxing
gloves on and he is hitting us where it hurts so we do something about it. One Pastor said that you cannot throw mud at
somebody without you yourself getting dirty in the process. Remember don’t prEy on people but prAy with
people and for people.
For those of
us who love to have a planned well organized life would do well to read the
next section more than once. I am not
however saying that planning is bad but we need to hold our plans loosely and
not boast about how great they are. This
planet we call home is just a temporary dwelling place. One day we will be moving on. If we had that idea at the forefront of our
minds on a daily basis would it change the way we plan our day? Our trust should not be in our well thought
out plan but in God whom we can trust 100% no matter what comes in our day. Let us be mindful of the time we have and use
it wisely.
James says
that if we know what is right and we don’t do it then we sin. This can be looked at in two ways; either we are
doing something we shouldn’t be doing or there is something we should be doing
but we are not doing. Sin literally
means to transgress and overstep God’s law.
We are choosing to turn from what is right to something that is wrong. Sin is a violation against God and who He
is. We would be wise to deal with our
sin on a short leash and not let it run wild.
John 16:5-16
tells us that although Jesus died and went to be with His father He left us the
Holy Spirit who is our counselor, who brings conviction, and is our guide. He will lead us to what is true and right. By reading God’s word and then allowing the
Holy Spirit control in our lives we don’t need to wander around wondering if
what we are doing is right. We will
know.
Spend a few moments in quietness just
seeking God and asking Him to show you areas in your life that need to be
opened up to him. Are the rooms in your
heart that are sealed closed? Don’t keep
these rooms in darkness let the light in.
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