Whose Friend Are You?
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
James 4:1–12 – Doing the Word: Directions for life to a scattered church from The Letter of James
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – August 16, 2020 (am)
This text opens addressing a subject that is as familiar as it is disturbing, as common as it is uncomfortable. James has been talking about the tongue and how difficult it is to control—impossible, in fact (3:8)—but what refreshment can result in the lives of those whose [tongues] are brought under the influence of the wisdom from above! (3:17-18) Such people even begin to refresh everyone around them!
In this next section, however, today’s text, we see from the start what happens in the lives of those who don’t ask for the wisdom of God in the midst of their trials. We see what’s included when disorder and every vile practice (3:16) break out in the church. The church gets caught in a tug-of-war between two worlds. There are two paragraphs; we’ll take them separately, one at a time, and unevenly, but pretty much in proportion to their role in this passage.
The Tug of Two Worlds and the Toll That Takes – 1-10
On the heels of 3:17-18, 4:1-2b is jolting: 3:17 … the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. … The wisdom from above, which is the believers’ inheritance in Christ, is surely not what’s being displayed, much less enjoyed, in James’ congregation! Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition (3:14), passions (1), [covetous desires] (2), were being nurtured in the hearts of these brothers [and sisters] (11) and it was showing in their relationships with one another.
We don’t know what these folk were [quarreling] and [fighting] about, but we know Christian brothers [and sisters] can [argue] about anything! We see that still today. And it’s a big part of what makes this passage uncomfortable and disturbing. We can [quarrel] and [fight] about big things like theology and doctrine or small things like start times and schedules.
In seasons of trials we can [quarrel] and [fight] about causes and response strategies and procedures. We see that during this COVID season and how hard it is to be patient and forbearing with everyone else’s understanding of and responses to the virus. And I must say that these days are giving us unique insight into the period of the judges in Israel when everyone did what was right in their own eyes! (Jud.21:25)
I don’t really need to list the things that Christians can [quarrel] and [fight] about; we all know them. And they’re unbecoming of us. They start at home, especially on Sunday mornings, but they seep over into the body. And the closer we get in relationship to one another the easier it is to [quarrel] and [fight]! We [quarrel] with those we love! We [argue] with those we adore! It’s a sure sign of our fallen humanity! So, we can’t help ourselves! But we do it because those are the people with whom we feel most comfortable, most at home. With strangers we mind our Ps and Qs! But with family we let our hair down! Our [covetous desires] and passions just leak out of us when let down our relational guard, when we put aside pretense. That’s when our hearts show through; our truer desires gain a voice. They seize control of our [tongues] and they speak. We’re often ashamed of what others hear us say, but we want what we want so we say it!
But we say it, I believe, not fully realizing what we’re revealing about ourselves, or with whom we’re taking sides. We just don’t realize the implications of what we’re doing, so James is opening our eyes here! 2 … You do not have, because you do not ask. Remember 1:5? The wisdom of God you lack is yours for the [asking]! 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. This could trip us up; didn’t James say God gives generously without [finding fault] (1:5). Yes. But too often we’re not [asking]for wisdom, for God’s best. We’re asking for the thing we want, or have decided we need. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? What does this mean? When we’re the ones deciding what we want, or need, we’re living like the world. We’re adopting its ways. We’re devising our own strategies of satisfaction, then we’re finding that satisfaction in [this] world. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. That’s what we’re revealing about ourselves!
This isn’t what God [wants] for us! This isn’t what He made us to desire and to enjoy. But we’re caught up in this tug-of-war between two worlds! We ensnared in double-minded trap! We do long for God; we know what we’ve received from Him! But we’re also still in the flesh and we long for the things of [this] world. We’re just not confident that the wisdom of God is going to satisfy us like the shiny prizes we see all around us!
But our God meets us in this struggle! In v.5, which is very hard to translate and harder yet to know which OT text is being quoted, James assures us that our God is with His people, enabling faithfulness, enabling friendship with Him, granting us grace upon grace in our battle!
So, God is not [finding fault] with us in our weakness. Rather, for those who will humble [themselves] and ask, in the middle of their self-serving and self-styled but futile and failed attempts to satisfy their own [desires], He will still [give] grace! (6) He will meet us in our need, fulfilling a promise made time and again in Scripture (Pro.3:34; 1Pe.5:5): God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Did you hear that? God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble! Say it with me! There are no better words you could hear this morning! There is no circumstance in which these words are not helpful to know, to repeat, and to act upon! Whatever your trial, whatever your trap, whatever your struggle, wherever you’ve strayed, whatever your desire, whatever your need, humble [yourself], acknowledge your weakness in celebration of God’s sufficiency! Then ask, and receive His wisdom, His grace, generously [given] to all without reproach! (1:5) Then follow Him down the path of vv.7-10!
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Just surrender to Him as King! Bow before the Lord of glory (2:1) in humble repentance and faith with full assurance that He gives grace to the humble! (6) And in that grace which God supplies: Resist the devil, and you can be sure that he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God—why would you not?—and, again, you can be sure that he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners—just walk in faithful, diligent, transparent repentance—and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Isn’t it interesting that the right response to the double-mindedness which is so [destabilizing] to us spiritually (1:8) is simple repentance, [turning away from sin] and [drawing] near to God? (7-8)
There’s nothing funny or lighthearted about what’s happening here. It needs to be treated with utmost sobriety. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord—that is your only hope in your battle against the allures of [this] world and the inclinations that reside in each and every one of our hearts to indulge in those allures—10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James wraps this instruction (7-10) in the grace-strengthened arms of [humility] (6, 10) then, with them, embraces his readers in the promise of intimacy with God, [humility’s] reward (cf. 8a).
The Untamed Tongue and the Trouble That Risks – 11-12
But he still has one more word to say about the tongue that seems to set off 3:1-4:12 as a contained section of this letter (Moo 122) and, if that is so, then the longest discernible section (Osborn esvsbn). There’s no form of therefore to begin v.11 but it surely seems to be a charge that flows out of the sobering instruction we just heard. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers—none of the [cursing] we heard about back in 3:9; none of the [grumbling] we’ll hear about it 5:9. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. That’s not immediately easy to grasp. James seems to be saying that failure to do the law involves an implicit denial of the law’s authority (Moo 156). So, if the law calls you to love your neighbor as yourself (2:8; Lev.19:18), but instead you slander your brother or imply his guilt incorrectly or criticize him unfairly, you’re surely not [being] a doer of the word (1:22), but you are sitting in [judgment] of God’s law! And, if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
V.12 says you’re putting yourself in God’s place without cause. That is not for us to do. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. [It is not our job to judge one another in this way.]
Conclusion
Our job, rather, is to be hearers of the promise of v.6 and, on that basis, to be doers of the charges in vv.7-10.
I am so pleased to see how this body of believers [does] the word. GCD takes care of one another, of our community, in exemplary ways. Never take that for granted! And never try to do it in your own strength! It is God alone Who can enable you to take care of your neighbor (12) the way you do.
Next, though, is right here: being doers of the word in the way you speak, especially in the way you speak about one another. No quarrels and fights (1); no [speaking] evil against one another (11); the only [speaking] found here is that which reflects a humble heart, submitted to God, resisting the devil (7) and cleansed by God’s grace, [body] and [soul] (8).
Wouldn’t it be great to be part of such a church? Let’s take a few moments in silent prayer to respond to God, to converse with Him—He has spoken to us in His Word, now speak back to Him in prayer—from vv.6-10. Pray for yourself, then pray for this body from the promise in v.6, then the charges in vv.7-10, and 11.
Now let us close in prayer together.
Next Sunday: What Is Your Life?, James 4:13–17