"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 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?' But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 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 yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." James 4:4-10
The believer fights daily against the world (the anti-God energy and thinking that is involved in the denial of God and his standards), the flesh (indwelling sin), and the devil (the stalking, roaring lion).
James 4 addresses the mindset among some professing believers who were comfortable with the embrace of the world and its anti-energy standards.
James calls for sober living, earnest obedience, and glad-hearted embrace of life; instead of the non-authentic, slap-happy, insouciant, blasé, cavalier approach to life which did not take the eternal God and the eternal truths of Scripture with utmost seriousness.
The way of the non-earnest/unauthentic:
- An empty laughter that takes little with eternal seriousness
- Speaks maliciously against others (v. 11)
- Boasts about accomplishments and their coming achievements with no thought of God’s empowering presence or eternity (v.13)
- Rejoices in accumulated wealth as they simultaneously abuse the day laborer by refusing to pay earned wages (5:1)
“We cannot attain the fullness of the Spirit without being turned inside out so that our central focus is no longer on our own growth, but the glory of God and the growth of Christ's kingdom…Faith is the main route of spiritual growth. Spiritual discipline strengthens faith by leading us to prayer and by regularly exposing us to truth, as a solar battery is charged by exposure to light. Taken alone, however, the way of discipline can encourage the delusion that spiritual renewal is a matter of individual achievement. It needs to be balanced by the awareness that we are spiritually renewed as we are refreshed by the gifts of other believers and community and as the Holy Spirit is poured out in answer to corporate prayer.” Richard Lovelace, Renewal as a Way of Life, pg. 10
Those who fight the embrace of the world:
1. Have a deadly, earnest, sober-minded, glad-hearted approach to life
2. Very careful regarding their speech (Matthew 12:37) (James 5:11)
3. Understand the precious nature of time and do not presume on tomorrow. (We are Easter people and Second Coming people.)
"Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
4. Understand that all men and women are made in the image of God and are worthy of respect and Christian love.
We live for two days: this day and that day.
Sober-hearted or Sober-minded but Glad-hearted Reminders:
- The devil is stalking, prowling, lying and wants to devour me.
- There is a “worldly system” that is anti-God and anti-biblical, and leads to destruction and death and robs its adherents of life.
- I am called to submit to the Lord and resist the devil in this daily battle for my joy.
- As I draw near, he draws near for my joy (v. 5, 8).
- Live this day in light of that day (I'm not going to presume on tomorrow, on next week, next month, or next year).
“Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of." Jonathan Edwards, Resolution 22, (d. 1758)