Harvest Detroit West
Sunday Sermon - James 4:1-10 -"Faithful Living in a Fallen World (Part I)”
July 28, 2024 In this week’s sermon, Pastor KRE begins his two part look at James 4 by admonishing us to beware of friendship with the world and to walk in humility before God, so that we may live faithfully in a fallen world.
[MUSIC PLAYING] We hope and pray that you are blessed by the Word of God as it's preached. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hopefully, on your way in, you were able to pick up a little cross-reference sheet that I had made out. Today, I'm going to quote and reference a lot of passages throughout the Bible. And so to help make things a little bit easier, so you're not trying to write down every single passage, I have written up what I believe should be all of the passages that I cross-reference. If you did not get one on your way out, you can certainly pick one up. I believe there's also some at the information desk. This is the eighth week of a 12-week series entitled, Wisdom from Above, where we have been working through various passages from the wisdom literature. The wisdom literature is books in the Bible comprised of a handful of books in the Bible that we've covered several passages already from Proverbs and from the Psalms. In a few weeks, Mike will return and conclude the message series from Ecclesiastes. Job and song of Solomon are often grouped with wisdom literature, but there is one book from the New Testament in Epistle that it, too, is wisdom literature, and that is the book of James. For those of you, like myself, who thrive on order and structure, I apologize. I know it may be tough to jump to the New Testament in this series for the next two weeks, and then to go back to the Old Testament for the final three. And for that, I am sorry. The original thought was for Mike to open from the book of Ecclesiastes, and then for me to conclude with the book of James, but as Robert Burns famously wrote the best laid plans of mice and men off to go awry. Several weeks ago, Jerry Simon, knowing that I'd be preaching from James, shared with me a chapter from a book noting how James is often misread as evangelistic when it is better read as wisdom. The author says, you might say that people are forcing James to sing in the wrong key. You've got him singing about how to get to heaven when he's really singing about how to live on earth. There are certainly arguments made on both sides, and there are portions of James that can be evangelistic, including the passage that we will look at today. But as you read through James, you'll find it very similar to Proverbs, in that it gives very practical instructions on how to live the Christian life. The letter of James starts off to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. From the start, James states that this letter is addressing Jewish believers who have been spread throughout the nations. They are no longer in their homeland, and now they are living amongst the unbelieving world. Why did I choose to cover James chapter 4 for these messages? The easy answer is because it's where the spirit led. But as I read through the book a couple months ago, I felt that chapters 1 and 2 are already very well known, that they've been covered many times. And I'd be preaching for two weeks, so then I was looking and drawn to chapters 4 and 5. And as I began preparing, I realized that even this was too much and that I had to hone in on just chapter 4. So will you turn with me to James chapter 4? The title I've given to these two weeks goes along with a verse that I read at the beginning from 1-1, and that is the 12 tribes in the dispersion. It could be the title for the whole entire epistle of James. My title for these two weeks is Faithful Living in a Fallen World, Faithful Living in a Fallen World. The passage today will break down into just two divisions. And we'll spend almost our entire time in the first division. These divisions are friendship with the world and humility before God. James is probably one of the most uncomfortable books to read in the Bible. If you are alive and if you are breathing, it continually says things that should be convicting to us all. This particular passage is certainly no different. One of the hardest things about preaching the book of James is to do so fully and earnestly, openly and honestly, and not be seen as a hypocrite, to be accused of not practicing what I preach. And so I lay this before you. This morning and in a week from now, I am preaching the Word of God through James. I open myself up to this very same teaching, and I am convicted by my own shortcomings. My prayer is that you will look beyond this feeble person, this feeble messenger, and listen to the Word of God. Friendship with the world, starting in James 4, verse 1. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? OK, so who's hoping that I close in prayer right now? And we can just go home. Let's read on. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet, and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask, and you ask, and you do not receive because you ask wrongly and spend it on your passions? Leading into this passage, at the end of chapter 3, James asks, "Who among you is wise and understanding?" He answers, "Let him show by his good conduct, his works, and the gentleness of wisdom." James goes on to differentiate between the one whose actions are done out of jealousy and selfish ambition against the wise. That is the peaceable, the considerate, the submissive, and the one full of mercy. Chapter 3 ends with, "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." The next line in this letter is the question in chapter 4. What is the source of quarrels and fights among you? Brothers and sisters, why is there conflict? Having just laid down the foundation of what wisdom looks like, that it's peaceable, chapter 4 opens with this observable issue. Opposing this wisdom that draws the reader to consider their own circumstances, James acknowledges that there are quarrels and there are fights in the church. In chapter 3, he states that there is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their hearts, and now he continues using this very aggressive language. The word quarrels and fights are actually softened from their original Greek where they mean wars and battles. What is the source of these wars and battles among you? In this commentary on the passage, Alec Matier says, James chooses the vocabulary of war to express controversies and quarrels, animosities and bad feelings among Christians, not because there's no other way of saying it, but because there's no other way of expressing the horror of it. He is seeing the relationship of the church through the eye of God. It is true that James is writing to a specific people at a specific time in history, but it is also clear that the application of this epistle is ever true, even for us today. Years ago, Warren W. Wiersby spoke to my collegiate choir and he repeated a famous line whose author has long been since lost. He said to live above with saints we love, that will be glory, to live below with saints we know. That's quite a different story. James is answering his own question. What causes these quarrels and fights? These wars and battles with another rhetorical question. Is it not that your passions are at war within you? We live in this world filled with sin. It is not hard to get pulled in various quarrels and conflicts. We see it all around us turn on the TV and division is shoved in our face. It's in our news on the websites that we go to. It's all over Facebook and X and TikTok. There is no getting away from the division and strife that has become part of our life, making this even worse today. In our society of plenty that we live in, that it has increased our selfishness that we can get anything we want as soon as we want it. In a fallen world susceptible to these same temptations, it is no surprise then that we, the church, have allowed this attitude and this strife and this division to infiltrate our church. Mathier continued in his commentary saying, "We are," he says inwardly, like an armed camp ready for the bugle call that will send us into battle. All our desires and passions are like armed camp within us, ready at a moment's notice to declare war against anyone who stands in the way of some personal gratification on which we set our hearts. Tasker writes, "Man's ultimate good can be described as peace." That's coming from James 3. And yet, the most obvious feature of human life as we know it is not peace but strife. Digging back into our passage, what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you, is it not that your passions are at war within you? This is not a unique thought in the Bible. In Peter's first epistle, he writes, "Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of flesh, which wage war against your soul." In Paul's letter to Galatians, he writes, "For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for those who are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things that you want to do." In Romans 7, Paul has a very open back and forth explanation of his own struggle, as he writes, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do what I do not want, but the thing I do is I hate." And then he concludes this section with very imagery of war, but I see in my members, in my body, I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive of the law of sin that dwells in my members. This word members is the same word that James is using in verse one being translated as the phrase within you. What Paul is expressing in Romans 7 as an internal struggle, James is saying that he sees this amongst the Christians that he is writing to, that in their inner passions and desires are causing them to be at war with each other. Here's the sobering thought. The word used for passions. Some may have it translated as pleasures. This word, hey, today, it's where we get the word "hedonism" from. This word is only used a few times in the Bible and it is always negative. One very noteworthy passage is from Luke chapter eight. This is the very familiar story of the parable and the sower. The farmer is throwing the seed down, trying to plant the crops. The seed falls on different types of soil. The first seed falls on a path, whereas trampled underfoot and eaten by the birds. Second, group of seed falls on the rocky soil. So it is not able to take roots and get the water it needs and so as it begins to grow it just withers and dies. Jesus explains that this parable of the seeds is about the gospel. The seeds are the gospel, the good news and the different soils are the different types of ways that people receive this good news. Some don't listen and never receive it at all. They are the first soil. Others hear the good news, but it never takes root. They are the second soil. The fourth soil is the good soil. Here the seed of the gospel is planted and takes root. It grows and yields a hundredfold. But verse seven talks about the third soil. Verse seven of chapter eight in Luke talks about the third soil. And some fell among the thorns. And the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And then in verse 14, and as for what went and fell among the thorns, they are those who hear. They hear the gospel, but they go on their way and they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. And their fruit does not mature. The cares and riches and pleasures of life. This is the same word that James is using. Jesus warns us that the pleasures of life are going to choke out the gospel. And now James is saying that these same pleasures of life have become a distraction. Looking back at verse two in our passage, you desire and you do not have so you murder. Is this literal or figurative? There are good and solid theologians on both sides of this discussion. Is James writing of a specific situation or is he using this as hyperbole to make a point? Those who argue that it is literal do so on the basis that it is always wise as the best to take the plain reading of the text. If James wrote the word murder, then he meant the word murder. To that point, the zealots who lived during this time under the banner of their faith used violence to oppose the Roman rule. We also have biblical examples of this very situation. David desired Bathsheba, something he did not have. And so he murdered her husband, Uriah the Hittite. Another example, of course, is the story of Naboth's vineyard in 1st King 21. Now maybe the name of Naboth is not familiar to you, but you've probably heard of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. King Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard because he was next to his palace. However, Naboth would not sell it because it was part of his heritage. So Jezebel, the king's wife, convinced her husband to carry out a plot and have Naboth killed. He desired, he did not have, and so he murdered. Now, of course, this language seems very strong. And for that, for that, in some other grammatical reasons, there are many theologians who prefer the view that this is a hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point. This would fit with Jesus' own words in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, where Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said of those old. You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable for judgment." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to that same judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Or first John three, where it says, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Whether James is speaking of actual murder and actual situations and quarrels and fights that have led to this murder, or whether he is using this language as a cautionary tale, Douglas Mu exposes the relevance of this warning when he wrote, "Verbal arguments and private violence or national conflict. The cause of them all can be traced back to the wrongful lusts to want more than we have, to be envious of and covet what others have, whether it be their position or their possessions." James brings this full circle. As he started asking what causes quarrels and fights, and now he writes at the end of verse two, "You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel." From here, James transitions from the reader's relationship with others to their relationship with God. They fight and they quarrel because they are envious of others, but they're envious of others because they're not talking to God. Picking back up at the end of verse two, you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend on your own passions. Now, desiring things is not bad, it is not wrong. In fact, the word at the beginning of verse two, you desire and do not have, that word is a neutral word and can be used to describe both good and bad. Psalm 37 says what, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." The Psalm, Psalm chapter 119 declares, "Behold, I long for I desire your precepts in your righteousness, give me life." At the end of the chapter he writes, "I long for I desire your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight." Luke 17, Jesus says, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man." But there are two conditions. Have you asked and are you asking for the right things? We know that God listens. He hears our requests. If anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him, John 931. When the righteous cry for help in the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles, Psalm 34. First John 5 says, "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything, according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked and have asked him for. God listens and he hears our requests. When we call out to him, but our heart needs to be in line with him. Are we asking rightly or are we asking with wrong motives? Is our focus self-centered or God-centered? A great template of how we can come before the Lord and can be found in Genesis 32. Setting the scene, Jacob had tricked his older brother Esau and had conned him out of both his birthright and his inheritance. Jacob fled for his life and has been away for over two decades. He's on his way back home and he receives word that his brother, the guy he had conned years ago, is up ahead with 400 men waiting to see him. Jacob is very scared and assumes that they are there to kill him. He has a large family and so he separates them into two parts. He figures as if Esau comes after one, the other one can flee. And then Jacob prays this prayer. Oh God of my father, Abraham and God of my father, Isaac. Jacob acknowledges who God is. Oh Lord, who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do good. Jacob declares God's promise. I am not worthy of the least of all of the deeds of steadfast love and all of the faithfulness that you have shown your servant. Jacob expresses his position before the Lord. For with only my staff, I crossed the Jordan and now I have become two camps. Jacob proclaims the blessings of the Lord. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. Jacob brings his heartfelt request. For I fear him that he may come and attack me and the mothers with their children. Jacob shows his humility. But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude. Jacob restates God's promises. He acknowledges who God is. He declares God's promises. He expresses his position before the Lord. He proclaims the blessings of the Lord. He brings his salvation or sorry, he brings his heartfelt request. He shows humility and he restates God's promises. This is no magic prayer. Praying this prayer does not guarantee wealth and happiness or anything else. But it is a great template to help make sure that our mind and focus is in the right place. Acknowledge who God is. Declare his promises. Express your position before the Lord. Proclaim the blessings that he's already given you. Then bring your heartfelt request. Show humility and restate the promises of God. In James, their heart was not in the right place. Verse three, you ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people, you are married to God, but you are chasing after the world. There are so many people looking for the prosperity gospel. They want to have God and they want God to make them rich so that they can have the possessions of the world. This passage flies in the face of that wrongful thinking. It calls that adultery. You adulterous people. You do not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be friends of the world makes themself an enemy of God. Understand here that the word friendship is in the biblical days was a stronger word than how we often use it so casually today. Are you identifying with the world? Are you conforming to the world? Or are you seeking after God and conforming to his likeness? Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. First John 2.15. Some have said that this is the key passage, the key verse in the book of James. That everything in this letter comes down to this point. Are you with the world or are you with God? Douglas Moon notes that this is the beginning of one of the most strongly worded calls to repent that we find anywhere in the New Testament. There is no neutral ground. You cannot be both a friend of God and a friend of the world. James is clear. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. There is no plain both sides. Verse five, or do you suppose? It is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit, that he has made to dwell in us. Before we get into the meaning and value of verse five, let me acknowledge the problem with verse five. James writes, scripture says, and then he gives us a thought that cannot be found anywhere in scripture. This is confusing. Some translations, such as the ESV, actually put quotation marks around this phrase that follows, while other translations such as the NIV don't. Some capitalize the word spirit while others don't. So what's the deal? Mater explains it well. He says, most commentators hold that James is using the formula that scripture says to refer to what is in fact not a direct quotation, but a concise summary of the mind of scripture at this point. The idea of course, being that the author is bringing various passages together into one summarized phrase to present a general teaching of scripture. As I dug into it, I found that there are a lot of other exegetical or translation difficulties with understanding this verse. And it is something that nobody can answer dogmatically. Depending on the translation of the Bible you use will impact how you read this verse. Due to a lack of clarity in James's wording, it could be referencing a spirit of envy in each human being or the Holy Spirit who is envious for each believer. Another explanation that I found falls more in line with where I currently am comes from Dan McCartney in his commentary on James. He explains that the phrase, the spirit he has made to dwell in us is a reference not to the Holy Spirit, but to the divine spirit of wisdom which God has given us. Remembering that this is not an exact quote, but a summary of thoughts from various passages, James could be thinking of Isaiah 11, 2, Deuteronomy 34, 9, and Exodus 35, 31, which all talk about a spirit of wisdom that God has imparted on man. In referencing God as a jealous God, he may have been considering Exodus 25. Deuteronomy 6, 15, or Nahum 1, 1, just to name a few. And yes, I purposely chose to reference Nahum 1, 1 because I don't think I have ever referenced the book of Nahum while preaching. This option stays on the topic then of wisdom, which started in chapter three. Taking a step back and putting this all into context, James is calling out the adulterous people who have turned from God to be one with the world. And James is saying, you can't do that. If you are friendly with the world, then you're an enemy of God and he is a jealous God and he is jealous for the spirit of wisdom that he has given you. Continuing in this passage, verse six, then shifts from this warning to take on a whole new direction. But he gives more grace. But he gives more grace. After such harsh critique and shocking words, this next line comes as a relief and an encouragement. He gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He gives more grace. This literally says, but he gives a greater grace. For those of you who are probably about 40 years old or older and grew up singing in hymns in the church, the phrase greater grace. If you're like me, probably instantly brings a melody to mind. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin. Verse five may be complex and confusing and even unsettled, but verse six is crystal clear. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. In fact, he gives greater grace. Grace is often defined as God's unmerited favor, receiving the love and kindness of God which because of our sin, we do not deserve. The passage started by asking what causes quarrels and fights, wars and battles among you. The answer was our selfish desires, our covetliness. So how do you stop these quarrels, these fights by taking on a spirit of humility and receiving God's grace? James is keeping in this military language as the word he uses here where it says, God opposes the proud, means to battle against. God is a battling against the proud. Now that is a humbling thought. Do you want God battling against you? This is scary language, but the great news is that he gives greater grace to the humble, Proverbs 3.34, though he scoffs at the scoffers, yet he gives grace to the humble. Kent Hughes says, "There is always for the believer, greater grace." This is without doubt one of the most comforting texts in scripture. The author of Hebrews in chapter four reminds us that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and that he will give us mercy and grace to help in time of need. It doesn't matter what you have done or how far you have gone because God is ready to forgive and extend his grace to you. Paul wrote in Romans five, but where sin increased, grace abounds all the more. The greatest act of pride is to turn your back on God and to say in word or in actions that you can do it on your own without God. And for that, James says, God will battle against you. But the greatest act of humility we find in our last three verses. My second division is humility before God. Verse seven, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you. James is continuing on with this military language as he literally says, enlist yourself to God. A few years ago, I was looking up the military historical records of my grandfather and my namesake, Kenneth Ertman. He was in World War II and more specifically, he was on the Western Front and in Operation Overlord. He was at the landings of Normandy. With over 29,000 deaths, it was the place of greatest casualty in US military history. While I was looking at pictures and a few other things that I could find, I came across his enlistment papers. Serial number 1068, Kenneth Ertman. Order number 1347. R-R number one, Eau Claire, Bering, Michigan. Age 22, Borne, March 28, 1918, Eau Claire, Michigan. USA. It lists my great grandfather's name and the same address. My grandfather's employer and his address. And then at the bottom, affirming that he was, that he has verified the answers and that they are true, he signed Kenneth Ertman. My grandfather now belonged to the army. Number 36408263. He was enlisted. Enlist yourself to God. Subject yourself to God. Submit yourself, therefore to God. Give up all of your rights to yourself and submit yourself to God. James provides you a list of actionable items because none of us is perfect. And the process of sanctification is just that. A process, it is a process of becoming holy. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, O you sinners. You need to stop with the selfish sinful actions and purify your hearts. You double-minded, get rid of those selfish motives. Be wretched or grieve and mourn and weep. You should be broken over your sin. We should not take part in the folly of this world. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gleam gloom because we should have a brokenness about our sin. And then we're back to where we started. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you. Peter and his first epistle who was also addressing believers in the dispersion wrote almost the same passage. In chapter five, he says, "Humble yourself therefore." Under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. Seeking someone to devour, resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever, amen. Brothers and sisters, I don't know, sorry, brothers and sisters, I don't have to convince you that we live in a sinful world. We are like the believers that are living in the dispersion. Satan's attacks are all around us, disqualifying our beliefs and our values mocking us. We are in spiritual war. James is warning us that our selfish desires and our unfilled passions are opening us up to the enemy's attacks as we engage in these quarrels and these fights, these wars and these battles amongst ourselves if we become friendly to the world and aligned with the world, we turn our backs on God and he will oppose us. But if we enlist ourselves to God, if we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will give us a greater grace and he will exalt us to himself. Let's pray. God, we are a sinful, selfish people. We come before you, open-handed, acknowledging our pride. We draw near to you asking that you will draw near to us. We submit wholly to you knowing that it is not in our own abilities, but only by the grace by your grace will we be lifted up. And so it is in your name, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. - If you want any more information about our church, you can visit our website harvestsattroitwest.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]