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8. James 4:1-10
‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’, or so they say; and this morning, as we return to our study of the Letter of James after a short break, I hope that you are now looking forward to learning more from what the brother of our Lord Jesus writes.
As there has been a bit of a break, it might be helpful if I give a brief recap of its background. The letter itself was almost certainly written by James, the brother of Jesus, and since we know it must have been written before 62 AD when he was martyred, it must be one of the earliest of the Christian scriptures in the New Testament.
James is writing to Christian believers scattered around the Empire, many of whom are new in the faith – and let’s face it, at the time James was writing, almost everyone was pretty new in the faith, because Jesus’ crucifixion had happened probably less than thirty years beforehand! So James’ purpose in writing is to exhort his readers to stay faithful to the Lord, to live godly lives and not to revert to their previous worldly ways. Sometimes James comes across as sounding quite severe, but it is all in order to keep his readers on the right track and his guidance is always very practical.
I think all this is extremely important to remember as we read through the letter as a whole, and particularly this part of it in chapter 4. True enough, he sounds harsh in some places – for instance, when he calls his readers ‘adulterous’ in verse 4 – but there’s no doubt that his motives are pure and that he’s actually writing for their eternal spiritual benefit. So, bearing all this in mind, let’s take a closer look at this first half of chapter 4 …
Continuous conversion
The first thing that I want to pick up on is the verse I just mentioned, verse 4, which reads:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
It all sounds very dramatic, doesn’t it? But remember that many of the people he’s addressing are not longstanding in the Christian faith, so there’s still a real danger that they will be tempted to return to the ways of the world and will forsake the ways of heaven. At the end of chapter 3, James has already said:
“…if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s type of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual and demonic.”
You see, these people have accepted Christ as their Lord and they gather in His name, but their ways of thinking and their behaviour are not yet completely holy. This serves to remind us that “conversion is a continuing process” [Johnson, NIB, 1998] rather than a one-off event – and that’s the first point I want to make: conversion is a continuous process.
Within the evangelical tradition, there is a definite tendency to think of our conversion, our turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, as happening at a particular moment in time – everything before that moment is considered darkness, and everything after it is light … in an instant, then, we move from the worldly to the godly and we are changed people.
In one sense, of course, that’s absolutely true: as soon as we give our hearts to Christ, we are saved for eternal life, and we’re no longer bound by death – and we should all praise the Lord for that. But, in another way, it is a little misleading: when we accept Jesus as Lord, we do indeed move from death to life, but in no way are we the finished article, the complete Christian: you see, in this sense, our conversion from being a worldly person to being a heavenly person is an ongoing transformation, rather than something that happens overnight, and it is something that is not achieved by us, but by God Himself.
Under construction!
In Romans, chapter 12, we’re told by Paul:
“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
When I use my computer to surf the internet, I often reach some church’s or organisation’s website which says on it in large letters, “UNDER CONSTRUCTION”. The website is there and it may well have some material on it which is available to read, but it isn’t finished yet – it’s a work in progress which will look very different and will be very much better when it’s completed. Even when we become Christians, we are still works in progress, we remain ‘under construction’ – although we have embraced a new way of life, it takes a time for us to divest ourselves of all the different elements of our old way of life, and, let’s face it, being in the world can make it very difficult for us to stop being of the world. I well remember giving my life to Christ twenty-two years ago in a small Baptist church in Birmingham – that day my life was immeasurably changed for ever by God, but I wasn’t suddenly the finished article. There were still things in my life – both behaviours and attitudes – which were not right, not godly; and yet, looking back now, I can see how God – through the Holy Spirit – has been steadily transforming me into the likeness of Christ. And I’m still not there yet, because I know that this process will continue throughout my earthly life. I think we need to remember that, because I’m sure that all of us at some time or another feel despair when we fall short of God’s standards – it’s not that we should ignore or excuse our sinfulness, but, equally, let’s not forget that we continue to be “UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” So, is there anything we must do to help the process along?
Open to change?
The simple answer is “Yes!”
In his letter, James reflects Paul’s advice to the Christians in Rome: ‘let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.’ Notice the way Paul says, “Let God …” Even though it is God who does the transforming, as Christians, we need to allow Him to do that – we need to “let God”; if we choose to remain focusing on the delights and the ways of the world, rather than to look to God and desire His ways, then we’re just not allowing Him to begin the process of perfecting us.
In those first few verses we read from chapter 4, James points out to his readers that the fights and quarrels they are experiencing are a direct result of still remaining rooted in – and focused upon – the ways of the world. When they pray, their prayers are unfruitful because their motives for praying are all wrong – they are driven by a desire for personal gain, rather than for the well-being of others.
James puts it bluntly: Don’t you realise that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God.
Now, we have to be careful about how we read this, because I’m sure it is not advocating that we completely cut ourselves off from the world for fear of being corrupted; neither do I believe it is suggesting that we take up a stance of hostility towards the world – after all, John’s Gospel tells us that “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life.” God didn’t cut Himself off from the world, nor did He hate the world, and we must surely follow His lead. But what James says in his letter is meant as a warning against being so immersed in the culture that we go along with everything the world does – it is a call to godly living, not worldly living.
So, we must continue to engage with the world, proclaiming the gospel in culturally relevant ways and demonstrating an alternative way of living, without ourselves bowing down to worldly wisdom and adopting worldly ways. I fear that this is already becoming more difficult in our society, as there is increasing pressure upon the Church to conform to worldly values and abandon the divine values which we find in the Bible. In the days ahead, we must be clear in our minds and steadfast in our hearts that the ultimate authority belongs to God and to no-one else, so let us always seek to rely upon heavenly wisdom and to follow God’s will, rather than seek the approval of the world and do its bidding. We are to be in the world, but not of the world.
James puts it like this in verses 7 and 8:
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you.
The time is surely coming when each of us will be called upon to stand up for what we believe, so let us humbly submit ourselves to God, because as we do He will be with us and will strengthen us. And let us be prepared to resist the devil in our everyday lives, by repenting of our own sinfulness, receiving God’s forgiveness, putting on the spiritual armour that Paul speaks of and living our lives for Christ; because I believe that each of us has a very significant role to play in maintaining a clear gospel message in this country.
But I want to conclude by reminding you that the victory has already been won – that Christ conquered all upon the cross and that whoever remains faithful to Him will be with Him in His glory. So let us shun sinfulness, let us love one another and let us bow down before our almighty God alone.
Amen.
‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’, or so they say; and this morning, as we return to our study of the Letter of James after a short break, I hope that you are now looking forward to learning more from what the brother of our Lord Jesus writes.
As there has been a bit of a break, it might be helpful if I give a brief recap of its background. The letter itself was almost certainly written by James, the brother of Jesus, and since we know it must have been written before 62 AD when he was martyred, it must be one of the earliest of the Christian scriptures in the New Testament.
James is writing to Christian believers scattered around the Empire, many of whom are new in the faith – and let’s face it, at the time James was writing, almost everyone was pretty new in the faith, because Jesus’ crucifixion had happened probably less than thirty years beforehand! So James’ purpose in writing is to exhort his readers to stay faithful to the Lord, to live godly lives and not to revert to their previous worldly ways. Sometimes James comes across as sounding quite severe, but it is all in order to keep his readers on the right track and his guidance is always very practical.
I think all this is extremely important to remember as we read through the letter as a whole, and particularly this part of it in chapter 4. True enough, he sounds harsh in some places – for instance, when he calls his readers ‘adulterous’ in verse 4 – but there’s no doubt that his motives are pure and that he’s actually writing for their eternal spiritual benefit. So, bearing all this in mind, let’s take a closer look at this first half of chapter 4 …
Continuous conversion
The first thing that I want to pick up on is the verse I just mentioned, verse 4, which reads:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
It all sounds very dramatic, doesn’t it? But remember that many of the people he’s addressing are not longstanding in the Christian faith, so there’s still a real danger that they will be tempted to return to the ways of the world and will forsake the ways of heaven. At the end of chapter 3, James has already said:
“…if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s type of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual and demonic.”
You see, these people have accepted Christ as their Lord and they gather in His name, but their ways of thinking and their behaviour are not yet completely holy. This serves to remind us that “conversion is a continuing process” [Johnson, NIB, 1998] rather than a one-off event – and that’s the first point I want to make: conversion is a continuous process.
Within the evangelical tradition, there is a definite tendency to think of our conversion, our turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, as happening at a particular moment in time – everything before that moment is considered darkness, and everything after it is light … in an instant, then, we move from the worldly to the godly and we are changed people.
In one sense, of course, that’s absolutely true: as soon as we give our hearts to Christ, we are saved for eternal life, and we’re no longer bound by death – and we should all praise the Lord for that. But, in another way, it is a little misleading: when we accept Jesus as Lord, we do indeed move from death to life, but in no way are we the finished article, the complete Christian: you see, in this sense, our conversion from being a worldly person to being a heavenly person is an ongoing transformation, rather than something that happens overnight, and it is something that is not achieved by us, but by God Himself.
Under construction!
In Romans, chapter 12, we’re told by Paul:
“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
When I use my computer to surf the internet, I often reach some church’s or organisation’s website which says on it in large letters, “UNDER CONSTRUCTION”. The website is there and it may well have some material on it which is available to read, but it isn’t finished yet – it’s a work in progress which will look very different and will be very much better when it’s completed. Even when we become Christians, we are still works in progress, we remain ‘under construction’ – although we have embraced a new way of life, it takes a time for us to divest ourselves of all the different elements of our old way of life, and, let’s face it, being in the world can make it very difficult for us to stop being of the world. I well remember giving my life to Christ twenty-two years ago in a small Baptist church in Birmingham – that day my life was immeasurably changed for ever by God, but I wasn’t suddenly the finished article. There were still things in my life – both behaviours and attitudes – which were not right, not godly; and yet, looking back now, I can see how God – through the Holy Spirit – has been steadily transforming me into the likeness of Christ. And I’m still not there yet, because I know that this process will continue throughout my earthly life. I think we need to remember that, because I’m sure that all of us at some time or another feel despair when we fall short of God’s standards – it’s not that we should ignore or excuse our sinfulness, but, equally, let’s not forget that we continue to be “UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” So, is there anything we must do to help the process along?
Open to change?
The simple answer is “Yes!”
In his letter, James reflects Paul’s advice to the Christians in Rome: ‘let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.’ Notice the way Paul says, “Let God …” Even though it is God who does the transforming, as Christians, we need to allow Him to do that – we need to “let God”; if we choose to remain focusing on the delights and the ways of the world, rather than to look to God and desire His ways, then we’re just not allowing Him to begin the process of perfecting us.
In those first few verses we read from chapter 4, James points out to his readers that the fights and quarrels they are experiencing are a direct result of still remaining rooted in – and focused upon – the ways of the world. When they pray, their prayers are unfruitful because their motives for praying are all wrong – they are driven by a desire for personal gain, rather than for the well-being of others.
James puts it bluntly: Don’t you realise that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God.
Now, we have to be careful about how we read this, because I’m sure it is not advocating that we completely cut ourselves off from the world for fear of being corrupted; neither do I believe it is suggesting that we take up a stance of hostility towards the world – after all, John’s Gospel tells us that “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not die but have eternal life.” God didn’t cut Himself off from the world, nor did He hate the world, and we must surely follow His lead. But what James says in his letter is meant as a warning against being so immersed in the culture that we go along with everything the world does – it is a call to godly living, not worldly living.
So, we must continue to engage with the world, proclaiming the gospel in culturally relevant ways and demonstrating an alternative way of living, without ourselves bowing down to worldly wisdom and adopting worldly ways. I fear that this is already becoming more difficult in our society, as there is increasing pressure upon the Church to conform to worldly values and abandon the divine values which we find in the Bible. In the days ahead, we must be clear in our minds and steadfast in our hearts that the ultimate authority belongs to God and to no-one else, so let us always seek to rely upon heavenly wisdom and to follow God’s will, rather than seek the approval of the world and do its bidding. We are to be in the world, but not of the world.
James puts it like this in verses 7 and 8:
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you.
The time is surely coming when each of us will be called upon to stand up for what we believe, so let us humbly submit ourselves to God, because as we do He will be with us and will strengthen us. And let us be prepared to resist the devil in our everyday lives, by repenting of our own sinfulness, receiving God’s forgiveness, putting on the spiritual armour that Paul speaks of and living our lives for Christ; because I believe that each of us has a very significant role to play in maintaining a clear gospel message in this country.
But I want to conclude by reminding you that the victory has already been won – that Christ conquered all upon the cross and that whoever remains faithful to Him will be with Him in His glory. So let us shun sinfulness, let us love one another and let us bow down before our almighty God alone.
Amen.
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