| | This time around, the material in this lesson was incredible I had a time crunch so I was forced to skip some good material and couldn't speak slowly. Still, the material was awesome and people still got a lot out of the lesson, so that's ALL that matters to me. Anyway, because I had to skip a lot, I'm posting it here (unedited with misspelling and all) with a link to facebook so that people who might have missed anything can read it for themselves. Enjoy! James 4:1-12 [Reference verses- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 | Exodus 20:5 | Ephesians 6:10-17] Introduction At the time James was writing his letter, the Jewish churches were full of strife and disorder. They were experiencing class conflicts between groups, such as the the rich and the poor. Would-be teachers fought over what was the imagined-to-be glamorous life of a Christian rabbi. And in their ambition, they became bitter with each other and boiled over with zealous envy. They were filled-to-the-brim with self ambition and longing in order to gratify their desires, which was but one cause of the churches disorder and, directly, caused every evil practice to be committed by the church congregations as a result. The quarrels among the people were shallow and hypocritical. As Schmuck taught from James 4:14-16 a couple weeks ago: They praised God with their tongues, yet went out and cursed others with the very same tongue. Worship and slander from the same source? James stressed how such a thing could not exist. Either the slander was to be absent from the “believer”, or the worship was dead. The quarrels in James’ church were not mere disagreements and grievances, the literal translation of “fights and quarrels” converts directly to “wars and fights”; in essence, this is literal fighting. Now, some translators claim that James is using a complex form of symbolism, or that he may be exaggerating to make a point, but there is no other evidence in the passage that would show he used symbolism. In fact, the envy and ambition that is portrayed in James 4 is also in James 3:16. He says that envy will lead to disorder and every sinful act. The reference in chapter 3 is so close to the text in 4 that you could reasonably say that the disorder in the church was causing the people to commit ever sinful practice; which includes literal fighting and more. Another interesting bit of information is that many of the church goers were probably former Zealots, a group of political extremists who were already accustomed to the use of violence for what they want. Aside from that, when tempers and flaring and tensions are growing ever-higher, intense bitterness can possibly lead to violence. To be clear, the reason why I just explained all that was not to add more length onto my lesson, from a first view, the difference between verbal and physical strife does seem a bit vain. The reason I am making the sort of disorder in the church clear is that I want to explain what happens when selfish ambition and lust for personal satisfaction take over. Of all the deep and theological points that are made in James 4:1-12, the most prevalent is what happens when you don’t submit to God; what happens when you strive for your own temporary glory instead of showing God’s everlasting majesty. When you become prideful in-and-out, through and through, full of nothing but a competitive hatred toward brothers and sisters in Christ. What I want to convey is that such a lifestyle is not just sin, but a deceitful anti-God state of mind. James 4:1 James starts out by posing a rhetorical question, “What causes quarrels among you?” This is an odd question when you think about it. You can point fingers and blame one another for creating tension, but that only adds to the argument, it doesn’t explain what “really” causes fighting. The answer lies in James’ next rhetorical question: “Don’t they come from the desires that battle within you?” There is reason for the attacks people aim at one another, but the reason is in their hearts. Their desires rage within themselves and conflict with those of one another. James is really revealing this to be the one-and-only reason for conflict within any church, past and present. Desires. But what kind of “desires” is James talking about? What do these angry church goers want that makes them what they are in the first place? For this I’ll go back to the Greek translation, where you find the word “desire” as “hedone”, which is where we get our word “hedonism”, the believe that pleasure is the chief end in life. So what James is really asking is more like: “Don’t your fights come from your ‘desires for pleasure’ that battle within you? The strife in the church was rooted in the congregations’ individual desires to fulfill their own worldly desires and ambition. Now, pleasure in itself is not wrong (Col. 2:20-23), but a driving desire for worldly pleasure and self fulfillment is. That’s what these people were trying to gratify. James 4:2-3 I like how James puts this: “You want something [you painstakingly lust for it] but don’t get it. You kill (yes, every evil practice includes murder) and you covet, but you cannot have what you want. [So] You quarrel and fight” This section oozes with the frustration and disappointment of unrequited pleasure seeking; which I’m sure all of you have experienced at one point or another because of pride. But the thing I want to bring up here, just to pause for the rest of the lesson, is that these people were reaching for temporary pleasures; things of this world. Glory and gratification of their pride, but even if they did obtain what they strove for, it did not satisfy them. It’s just as Solomon speaks of his pursuit for pleasure in Ecclesiastes 2:4-11. [Read- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11] The pleasures of this world and weak and fleeting, Solomon not only pleased his material desires, but his prideful ones as well “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem”, but he counted it all as folly. The only true source of joy is God, and it’s a joy which lasts forever. Only these people over looked that and settled for the meager things that are simply sugar-water compared to God. Then James tells about why they do not get what they want. None of these people who quarreled turned to God for anything; they were just too darn prideful to submit to Him! Many tried to obtain on their own, unleashing their rage on others in hopes of grasping satisfaction. Others “prayed”. Right here you may be confused, “why would you say they didn’t turn to God, they prayed didn’t they?” Well, not entirely. As we’re about to learn, God blesses the humble but opposes the proud. When the church goers prayed, they didn’t submit to God or his will, they wanted him to give so that they may enjoy what he gives them and get the glory for it. They were prideful and un-submissive; their motives were based solely on themselves and nothing else, they only wanted to benefit themselves and spend gifts on their own pleasures. James 4:4-5 James now strikes right at the heart of the pleasure-dominated believers. There focus lies in the world, so James speaks out against the world. “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” This goes to say that those who have simply fallen in with the hedonistic lifestyle to the world are enemies of God. Now, one thing that sticks out to me is the word “anyone”. What gets me is that this word can imply Christians to be enemies of God just as any unbeliever. To me that was sort of a weird statement: followers of Christ being his enemy. “No, no! That can’t be right!” And this is a tough concept. It took me a while to figure it out until I realized that the peoples’ friendship with the world was ultimately rooted in their pride, and everyone is prideful. I think Clive Staples Lewis says it best when he describes pride as the Great Sin, saying that it is the ultimate anti-God state of mind. And that makes perfect sense here in the context of this passage in the Book of James. Pleasure seeking and pride totally leave God out of the picture, pleasure seeking says that I want for myself, and pride says I want the glory too. In those two things, there is no trace of submission to God, and if you do not submit, you are passively rebellious. And of course rebelling is opposition of God, which relates to being an enemy. So, after all that, it is clear that it is possible for a Christian to be an enemy of God. And this happens when we make idols of the things in the world, when we make priorities that don’t include God; when we are not submissive! But that state of rebellion does not last in true Christians, sooner or later, by God’s grace, we will be humbled and that’s when more grace from God comes in! But before I can elaborate on that wonderful grace, I must touch on verse 5. Kent Hughes says this passage is the most difficult to understand out of the rest of James, and that this verse is the most confusing. Now, I’m going to over look the debate that exists over this verse. From 3 commentaries, I noticed at least 9 different interpretations, but in context with the rest of this passage, I find one to be the strongest. My NIV Bible has some foot note things on the bottom of the page that were quite a bit of help. In this, the word Spirit is capitalized to directly refer to the Holy Spirit that resides within believers. It also says longs “jealously instead” of “envies intensely”. This may sound like the same thing… and that’s because it is, but what is so important about that is how the word “jealously” kind of spurred my mind in to thinking about the Old Testament. In fact, James used the word “Scripture” in verse 5, and at the time of James their Scripture was the Old Testament. What I’m saying is that this “jealousy” that is referred to must have something to do with God’s jealousy of idols, which fits this passage perfectly. [Read- Exodus 20:5] The spirit is in fact the Holy Spirit that God has put in us, so that when we turn from him to things of this world, the Spirit he has given us will long for God because he is a jealous God and he longs for us to find joy in him and not the weak pleasures of the world. And this is what brings me to the most incredible part of the passage! James 4:6- Grace heaped upon grace upon more grace This part is also hard to understand and I’m glad to say that it is not because it’s hard to look at verse 6 logically, but because it is impossible to look at verse 6 logically! The content we are given in verse 6 is incomprehensible to us because it not only speaks of God’s grace, but the grace the he heaps upon grace, and the more grace he gives us over that! Whatever the rut we fall into God gives us the grace we need. Now this is not saving grace, already having the Holy Spirit means we have already received that grace, this grace literally means “greater grace” and there will always be greater grace! Isn’t that such a comforting thought? This means that no matter what, God will always give us grace that will abound! This goes for sin as well, in our case the sin of indulging in worldly pleasure and pride. Romans 5:20 says that “where sinned increased, so did grace”. In fact, we need this grace for everything in our lives, and God supplies it. Remember the song “Amazing Grace” it refers to both the grace of knowing him AND the grace that God passively supplies all the more. “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” There is always more grace, and with that said, it is beyond our comprehension to know just how much need this grace and how much we need God. Every facet of this “grace” is enough to make my head spin! And all the more, by this, there is a humbling sense that comes over me. Why rebel against something you need so badly? Now, even the thought of finding joy in wealth and self-glory seems so lowly and pitiful. Why? Why look to such meager things for pleasure rather than God? Why not submit to God! This is his grace, that by the grace he has given us through the Holy Spirit, no matter how far we fall, as Christians, we will always be carried back through his grace, we will be humbled by his grace, and just as verse 6 says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”, once we are humbled by how great his grace is, he gives us even more grace! It’s mind boggling! And now, every bit of logic I have within me is screaming out: “Why! Why do you have even a thread of pride or self-content? Submit to God! That’s where the real pleasure lies!” James 4:7-10- Submit yourselves to God This is such a beautiful text! Just submit yourselves to God; James says it plain and simple. He then tells us what to do in order to submit. Resist the devil. You cannot do this alone, the devil is far more powerful than any mere human. What we need is something to combat him, some kind of weapon… say, the armor of God! [Read- Ephesians 6:10-17] There is no way for Satan to overcome the armor of God, once it is there, evil will have no option but to flee. From there you must come near to God, you must focus on him and in doing so he will come near to you. The rest of verse 8, in essence, is calling you too rid yourselves of those worldly desires and all other sin, basically for repentance and for you to change your ways and set yourself straight. But verse 9 is very interesting. As I’m talking about pleasure and joy, this says turn your joy to gloom and laughter to mourning. “How can this be? What does it mean?” Well, this does not contradict. The joy it referred to was the weak and temporary joy you find in the world, this is asking that you realize the world is simple and fleeting, yet God is beyond our comprehension and has showered us with grace upon grace. The “laughing to mourning” is talking about laughter with no reason behind it, something that involves no happiness but is a vain laugh that attempts to stir joy in vain. You may not understand what that kind of laughter is, but I know I do, my friends at school were the embodiment of it, and they took nothing seriously, they wouldn’t listen to a word I had to say about the Gospel. If you never take anything seriously, you are not going to be humbled because you are outside of basic reason. So turn that laughter to sorrow, because instead of laughing in delight, you wasted your time on futile things. So submit yourselves to God in light of his boundless grace that he has lavished upon us! James 4:11-12 This brings us back to the beginning of the passage. On how the church goers did not submit to God and because bitter and envious instead and grew further from him as a result, and that’s if they knew him at all to begin with. What James is saying in verse 11 is that you are not to judge others because doing so rebels against the Law and is a sin, and not only are you sinning, but you are putting judgment upon yourself. This is all straight forward. There is only one Law giver, there is only one Judge, and he can either save or destroy. But we are nothing, so who are we to slander each other. Application My application that I have to all of you is to submit to God in every way and in every aspect of your lives. Turn your hearts from the pleasures of this world and look to him for your only source of hope and joy, for he is the only one who gives true hope and true joy! In doing so I am asking you to flee from pride because that’s where I see the real problem is all of this. The root of the quarrels are he selfish desires, the root of the selfish desires is pride. Going back to C.S. Lewis and his statement that I quoted earlier, that pride is the complete anti-God state of mind, he has more to add. I’m going to read a segment from a book of his, because he perfectly explains the true condition of pride and not the less common egotistic “I’m so great” pride we usually think of [read segment of Mere Christianity] Pride is competitive and caused strife among the churches. The examples C.S. Lewis uses to explain pride sounds like some of the characteristics the Christians in James’ time might have not only had, but had been full of. So I’m asking you to search yourselves of this pride that C.S. Lewis describes. One, for the reason that we can avoid the struggles of the early church (and many churches that exist today) and be unified as a single body devoted to worship. Second, so that you may realize your state and so that you may submit to God. If you could only realize the grace upon grace upon grace heaped upon grace that God has showed us. The love he has for us which has become an example to our own love, it’s just as I said in my last lesson: and we love because he has shown us love. We will not need to worry about the presence of bitterness if we submit ourselves to God because we will love as a result; envy and malice will not exist. So my question is: Why? Why would you strive any longer for the meager things of this world? Don’t you understand all that God has done and WILL continue to do! He gives us grace! So much grace and in such a way that we will never understand! And that’s what gives me comfort. This is where words fail me and I fail you all by trying to explain the very depth of God’s love; it is unimaginable to us, and what I already know is so incredible! Yet there is no way to even begin to understand it. And now I’m thinking about the love and joy that we will know in Heaven. The blessing that God has given us, the grace he has shown by setting everything up like this. Why? Again I find my heart crying out: “Why settle for this world? God has given you so much and is going to give more! Focus on God and submit to him! Get rid of your darn pride and find pleasure in God!” So, for encouragement to all of you Christians: God has shown you so much grace, and there is more to come! And once you realize that, you won’t need James 4 to submit, you’re just going to do so anyway because God is so amazing! |
