by Ms. Anastasia Rebello
James 4:1-4:6
The above verses can be divided into 3 parts
- Human pleasure or God’s will
- Friendship with the world & enmity with God
- Factor’s in Developing Friendship with God
Human pleasure or God’s will (James 4:1-3)
James is setting before his people a basic question –whether their aim in life is to submit to the will of God or to gratify their own desires for the pleasures of the world. He warns that if pleasure is their policy of life, nothing but STRIFE, HATRED & DIVISION can possibly follow. He means that the feverish search for pleasure issues in long-drawn-out resentments which are like wars, and sudden explosions of enmity which are like battles.
“I am not responsible for the turmoil in my life. It’s not my fault.” (vs. 1)
About the time that James was writing this book, there was a great deal of turmoil that was going on in Israel and the near East. The Jewish people had grown tired of the occupation by the Romans in their nation. They were fed up with these gentiles controlling their lives. So insurrections and small bloody battles began to pop up all over the area. The Jews justified their actions by claiming that their motivation for doing this was to bring honour to God and free His land from these ungodly people. And if there were other Jews who didn’t agree with their practices, well they became the enemy, and if they stood in the way, then they too would die. But that’s ok; their actions were justified. After all, if the Romans didn’t want to die, they shouldn’t have come in and invaded in the first place. It’s their fault; my cause is just.
James writes this passage specifically to counter that kind of thinking. He says that the wars that they were entering into were no one’s fault but their own. They were fighting because they wanted something, not because God had told them to. They wanted their land back. They wanted control. They wanted self-respect. They were allowing an internal battle – the war that raged within them – to become an external battle.
Fighting’s on the outside are always a reflection of fighting’s that are going on in the heart. When we look for the causes behind the wars that happen on earth and the wars that happen in our churches, our prayer groups and the wars that happen in our families, it is easy to lay the blame on external reasons. But the true cause is the condition of our own heart and the desires that it possesses. “I want something, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it. My desire for something becomes more important to me than my peace”.
Paul spoke of this kind of internal struggle in Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. And then again in
Gal 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Each of us has a war waging inside of us. That war is caused by the desires that we have. The way that we choose to fulfill those desires and the level of control that we allow them to have in our life determines whether or not that war on the inside is going to lead to a war on the outside.
For eg: A husband and wife agree to make a major purchase. Maybe it’s a new car, a bigger house, or a faster computer. They both know that they do not have the resources to make it work, but they can finance it. And oh, how nice that new car or bigger house would make their life! They want it so badly! So they buy it and as expected, it brings great joy to their life . . . until the reality of the bills begins to face them. They get more and more “past due” notices in the mail, and the stress level rises at the same rate as the stack of bills does. Everybody gets on edge. The parents begin to yell at the kids and at one another. They blame the power company and the gas company and one another for their rising debt. They fight and argue. They lay the blame at the feet of the car company for putting those ads on TV or at the feet of the computer company for offering that tempting rebate when all the time, the real blame lies at the feet of their own desires. It was their own personal desires that created the situation, which has now led to fighting and anger. But their pride will not allow them to admit that they were at fault, so they keep laying the blame at everyone else’’ feet which prevents them from ever solving the problem.
The New Testament is clear that the desire for the pleasures of the World is always a threatening danger to Spiritual life. The ultimate choice in life lies between pleasing oneself and pleasing God; in a world which men’s first aim is to please yourself, it is a battleground for savagery & division.
Friendship with the world & enmity with God (James4:4ff)
For us to become a friend of the world breaks the heart of our God, who sent His Son to die for the church. The ecclesia (church) the ones called out of the world. In the world Yes! Of the world NO!
If we are in perpetual spiritual adultery we find ourselves tolerating more and more of the world. People eat, drink, get engaged, marry and die, like they have always done, not understanding that to be a friend to the world makes one an enemy of God. Continued Spiritual adultery is not done accidentally, it is a way of life lived deliberately. If we do this than all scripture is spoken in vain, because we cannot serve God and the Devil. The word James uses here for “friendship,” which comes from the Greek verb phileo, which means, “to love,” is found nowhere else in the New Testament. The word phileo is seen throughout the Scriptures to describe love. But unlike agape, another Greek word for “love,” which is best described as the kind of love that involves the act of sacrificing oneself to the object of that love; phileo is an emotional, deeply affectionate feeling for someone or something.
A person cannot claim to love God and know God while, at the same time, he or she is giving his or her emotional and affectionate love to a perishing, sinful world. Again we read in John’s first letter, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (I John 2:15-16).
There are no shades of grey, here. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t insist on living your life according to your will and desires and claim to be a follower of Christ. You can’t be a part-time Christian. If you profess to be a Christian, yet the fruit of your life shows that your commitment is to the world and to your own pleasures and desires, then you should honestly consider whether or not your faith is genuine
Friendship with the world and friendship with God is like oil and water—the two do not mix. You can’t be both at the same time. You will either be one or the other.
A hard truth that James is teaching here is that if you claim to be a follower of Christ, yet you consistently live your life in such a way that says, “I am a friend of the world,” the only person you are fooling is yourself. And if you are here today and this applies to you, James is calling for you to repent and turn to God.
Believe me you may lose acquaintances or lose family, but "what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Take heart many have decided that the world and all that it has to offer is not worth the eternal loss of their souls and they have become friends of God, and as a result enemies of the world. This was the Key verse which changed Ignatius of Loyala life. (founder of the Jesuits). I don’t know what you tolerate or what you do not, but I know what God tolerates and what He does not.
Factor’s in Developing Friendship with God" James 4:7-10
- In developing your friendship with God: you must choose to be honest with God! (SUBMIT)
This is the first building block with any relationship because complete honesty about your faults and your feelings will open arms and hearts.
How does Job get God’s attention? Through humility and truthfulness!
Every great man and woman in God’s word became great through their complete honesty and openness with God!
- You must choose to obey God in faith. (ACCEPT)
John 15:14 Jesus said, You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
We must obey God, not out of duty, fear or compulsion but because we love Him!
A great opportunity may come only once, but small opportunities surround us every day!
Luke 2:51. So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself.
The first 30 years of Jesus’ life can be summed up by saying, “He lived obediently with them…”
- You must choose to value what God values! (RESIST THE DEVIL)
This is what friends do-they care about what the other cares about; they show interest!
Romans 12:9-15 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10) Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another; 11) not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12) rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13) distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15) Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
What does God care about the most? The redemption of His people!
- You must desire friendship with God more than anything else! (COME NEAR TO HIM)
Psalm 27:4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
James 4:8a NLT Come close to God and God will come close to you…
THE FOUR STEPS IN A NUTSHELL
- SUBMIT
- ACCEPT
- RESIST THE DEVIL
- COME NEAR TO HIM