Introduction
In this blog we will be looking at a passage from the book of James. This book was written by the James who is described in Matt. 13:55 as the half-brother of Jesus. James, along with the rest of Jesus’ family, didn’t believe in him during His earthly ministry. However, he was likely convinced of His half-brother’s deity during one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances described in 1 Cor. 15:3-7.
James 4:1-10
1What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? 2You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4You Adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship toward the world is hostility toward God? So, whoever want to become a friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. 5Or do you think that it is without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely? 6But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
7Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you? 8Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
In this passage James is writing to address conflict in the churches. But, in reality, the problems that he addressed and the principles that he laid out are good for everyday life today as well.
Disputes in this world
Our disputes in this world come from pursuit of our selfish passions. We are without joy in our lives because there is a conflict raging in each and every one of us. What we want to do and what we ought to do are in constant tension. Because we are all sinners and unable to keep the law, we are ever in a battle with our own selfish pride.
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Selfishness is lacking consideration of others or being only concerned about one’s own profit or pleasure. Sinful Pride is having an excessively high opinion or feeling of importance of oneself. Together, they are described by John Maxwell as a pride based on self-centeredness. In other words, we are unable to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind and we are unable to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40) because we are ever focused on what WE want.
Our Difficulties in Life
A significant number of the difficulties that we face in life are a direct result of us giving in to our own selfish pride. It also drives virtually all the problems that we have in our relationships with others. This cascades into the disputes and fights that we have both in the church and in the world. Being in a healthy relationship is consistently considering what is good for the other person. This is what drives the sincere acts of kindness and gratitude that we express. The pinnacle of this is love which is the holding of another’s well-being above your own.
We do not have because we do not ask
What’s missing is our trust and reliance on God. This is what James means by “We do not have because we do not ask. We ask and don’t receive because we ask with wrong motives.” We often don’t have the peace, growth, and provision that God provides. Sometimes we’re too doubting to ask. Other times we are too consumed with doing things under our own power to seek God’s help. Then there are times that we do ask when our motives are based on our own selfish desires instead asking to fulfill the desires of Christ and to glorify the Father in heaven.
There is a price that we pay for this. There is a God-sized hole right in the middle of each and every one of us. This hole was created by original sin in the garden when we ripped ourselves away from God by rebelling and going our own way. It is from this void that our psychological and spiritual problems originate. When we try to fill it with temporary worldly things, like sex, drugs, alcohol, and other vices, our problems tend to grow exponentially.
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However, the empty space inside us that we are trying to fill with the temporary high from these vices can never truly be filled by them. This is why pursuit of these vices inevitably leads to a downward and destructive spiral of more and more. Only God can truly fill this void because it is a space within us that was made by Him and for Him and Him alone. It can only be satisfied through restored relationship with God.
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Friendship with the World
This self-seeking attitude that we carry is what James calls “friendship with the world”. He calls this hostility toward God. Don’t mistake this for some sort of dislike or hatred of non-Christians. In fact, it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with us. James here is referencing our normal self-centered state. Our sinful desires don’t match the Holy desires of Christ. If we seek to remain in sinfulness, then we by definition do not seek God. When we come to Christ, we cannot remain the same. We must be changed.
Jesus tells us in John 3:7 that “we must be born again”. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:29 that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ. This means that the transforming power of God’s Holy Spirit begins to work change in us. This change moves our desires from a focus on self to a focus on glorifying God. Our identity is no longer in self or the world, but it is in Christ Jesus who lives in us (Gal. 2:20).
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Envies Intensely
James says that God desires this so much so that He “envies intensely (CSB)” or “jealously longs for (NIV)”. It’s similar to when God says, “I am a jealous God” in the first of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:4). This doesn’t carry a negative connotation like our typical thoughts about envy or jealousy.
We envy for things that do not belong to us. God lovingly made us, and we are His (Ps. 100:3). He made us to be in relationship with Him. He desires this so strongly that He was willing to die for us. The words “envy” and “jealous” communicate the strong desire that God has for us to remain faithful to Him in words that we can understand. To not substitute the lesser things in place of Him.
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His grace is sufficient
His grace is sufficient to overcome our unfaithfulness if we let Him. It is the grace of God that gives us the eternal hope of eternal life in His presence. But He resists the proud because is it this selfish pride that leads us to pursue our fallen, sinful natures that rip us away from Him. But if we humble ourselves and put Christ first in everything we do, then our desires will be transformed to match His desires. He will strengthen those who sincerely seek Him.
V7-8 Submit to God
James next tells us directly to submit to God and to resist the ploys of the devil. He is telling us to resist temptation. When we look back on the Garden of Eden, we see that the serpent didn’t tell them to fall down and worship him, though he would like this deeply. His ploy was to deceive them into thinking that they could be like God. This is ultimately what we desire because of our selfish pride. We desire to be gods unto ourselves. To be lord of our own lives as if there is not a higher power that we must be accountable to.
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He calls those who doubt “double minded” (James 1:8) because we claim to believe on one hand but then carry constant doubt on the other. We say we believe but often behave as if we do not. But James tells us to humble ourselves and to submit our wills to God’s will. This is the solution to the conflict within us and in our daily lives.
Not telling us to be miserable
In verse 9, James isn’t telling us that we have to be miserable to be Christians. He is telling us to be sorry for our sinfulness and unfaithfulness. When we are changed by Christ, we are no longer happy with offending Him with our sin. This is a part of the transformation that occurs within us through the work of the Holy Spirit. We begin to resist and turn away from our sinful natures. We turn away from our selfish desires and we humble ourselves before Him.
When we do these things, we are able to draw near to God. And God stands waiting on us. For it’s not God that moves, it’s us. He hasn’t left us; it is we who have left Him. When we turn back to Him and reach out our hands, He grabs onto us and helps pull us toward Him. God waits on us to turn back to Him because He doesn’t force us into His presence against our will. When we decide that we desire that our wills align with God’s, He begins to make it happen through His Spirit working in us.
Your Challenge
So, the challenge for us is to turn away from our sin, humble ourselves, and sincerely reach out to God.
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Blessings