August 26, 2018
Morning Service

In chapter 3 James warned us of the dangers of the tongue.  He said “it is a fire a world of iniquity, an unruly evil, and full of deadly poison.”  It is definitely something we all need to be aware of and to remember his advice from chapter 1 to be “slow to speak.”  He closed the chapter with a comparison of worldly and God given wisdom.  Earthly wisdom is full of self-seeking, envy and jealousy as it tries to find happiness in this life alone.  God’s wisdom is full of gentleness, humility, mercy, good works, and peace.  As he begins chapter 4, he continues that thought of our battle against our flesh and the solution on how to line up our lives with what God desires us to be.

James 4:1-5 From where do wars and fightings among you come? Is it not from this, from your lusts which war in your members?  (2)  You desire, and do not have. You murder, and are jealous, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not.  (3)  You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts.  (4)  Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever desires to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  (5)  Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The spirit that dwells in us yearns to envy?”

·        These troubles come from the evil desires battling inside of us.  We seek worldly pleasures by desiring more money, stuff, prestige, and glory. When we don’t get what we want we fight until we attain it.  We want all the world has to offer us and try to serve God at the same time.  We even include these things in our prayers even demanding that God provide us our wants and desires even if they go against all we are taught as Jesus followers. Our prayer life may sound more like our Christmas list for Santa than a conversation with our Creator and Savior.  We pray and ask God that “our will be done.”  We believe life is all about me and God is there to help me to achieve it all. This is not how God designed our lives to be.  This is the chaos that Satan desires to bring into our lives.  There is no joy, happiness or peace here only conflict and discontent when we try to make life about me.  But God has a better way; and James explains it very well.

 

James 4:6-12  But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.  (7)  Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  (8)  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones.  (9)  Be afflicted, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.  (10)  Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up.  (11)  Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against his brother, and who judges his brother, speaks against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge.  (12)  There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you who judges another?

·        The process begins with grace; God’s unmerited favor.  We don’t deserve a second chance at a better life or a chance to start over but God offers it anyway.  He offers our sins to be forgiven and a close personal relationship with Him by accepting Jesus as our Savior.  We must believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that He is Lord and accept His gift with an attitude of humility.  What does that look like?

·        Submit ourselves to Him.  We yield our will to His by committing control of our lives totally over to Him.  This begins with a repentant attitude where we are sorry for the mess we have made of our lives and desire Him to clean it up for us.  We choose to follow Him even if He leads us down a path we would not choose for ourselves.  He is the Potter and we are the clay.  Submitting to God is placing all your chips on the table and being all in.

·        Resist the devil by not allowing him to tempt and entice us with the things of this world.  This is an active and ongoing fight that we are determined to win with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus rebuked the devil by quoting scripture, and we can too.  The promise is as we resist, the devil will flee.  Create a life style that keeps you away from situations that may cause you to be tempted, but when you are tempted trust the HS guidance.

·        Draw near to God.  We diligently seek a closer relationship with Him through a life of prayer, Bible study and obedience.  This attitude is rewarded as we take a step towards Him, He promises to step towards us.  He desires a relationship with us so much that Jesus gave His life so it would be available for us. We are commanded to ask, seek and knock and He promise to answer our prayers, be found when we need Him and to open the way for us to go.  Our faith is built on relationship not religion.

·        Cleanse our hands.  Work to remove sin and sinful attitudes from our lives living in such a way that pleases our Lord.  Repentance plays a part in this as well as we confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness from them. (I Jn. 1:9)  This is a process that we walk through working to remove the sin in our lives and replacing it with purity and righteousness.  

·         Be afflicted mourn and weep.  This again is a part of the repentance process.  We need to be truly sorry for the sin we have in our lives.  As David said, we realize that it is God that we sin against when we fall to temptations and our failure should hurt us.  It is in our brokenness that God begins to rebuild us.

·        Be humbled and He will lift you up.  Humility is vital in our walk with the Lord.  Humility shows that we recognize that our worth comes from God alone.  We humbly yield ourselves to His will for our lives.  Jesus said “whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35)  John the Baptist said “I must decrease and He must increase.” (Jn. 3:30)  By surrendering we gain victory.

·        Don’t judge your brother by talking evil of him.  When we judge others we step outside of our boundaries and are not being a “doer of the Word” but we are acting as a judge not only of your brother but the law as well.  There is only One who is Lawgiver and Judge; Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

This is the path that leads to a life of that God has planned for us.  It is a life that matters and is filled with peace, joy and contentment.  It is a life with order and purpose as we accept to play our small part in the plan our Lord has for His kingdom.  You play that part out by being a part of the body of Christ, the church.  Find a place in our fellowship that you can use the gifts God gave you to help lift up your brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are better together.  God designed it this way for a reason.  You need the church and the church needs you!  

 

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word that is laid out plainly before us and please grant to us a desire to do be a doer of your Word with a sincere and loving heart.