JAMES - index 

Introduction  Lesson 1  Lesson 2  Lesson 3  Lesson 4  Lesson 5 

Lesson 6  Lesson 7  Lesson 8  Lesson 9  Lesson 10  Lesson 11

LESSON 7:

James 4:1-10

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom.

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Key Verse:

James 4:10

"Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

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THE SOURCE OF CONFLICT

INTRODUCTION

A. Historic background

The Jews of that day were very volatile. It did not take a lot to precipitate a mob action. Passions were strong. Some of the Jews were called Zealots, including one of Jesus's disciples. It is not unlikely that some of this same spirit manifest itself among the Jewish believers, or at least by some who associated themselves with the Church. Perhaps there were family members of believers who were in "church" but not in Christ. Yet their behavior affected the spiritual life and witness of the Church. Could it be that someone in this category had actually committed murder in a fit of frustrated passion, and James uses this shocking event to drive home the truth about the source of conflict? It is certain that James calls some of his addressees "sinners." He warns the whole Church that they need to stop cultivating the friendship of the world and to separate themselves to God. The tone of this passage and of other passages in the epistle suggests that some unregenerate people had become accepted and acceptable in the church.

B. Current background

Human nature has not changed. The world is as full of strife as it has always been, perhaps more so. This spirit of the world creeps into the Church, particularly when unregenerate people are accepted in the Church as Christians. We see the slogan, "If it feels good, do it." This sums up the attitude of the age. Passions have generated tremendous momentum. It is so easy for believers to be swept along by it, to accept this as "normal." Multitudes of professed Christians know nothing of the moral imperatives of true faith and of the personal discipline that truth imposes on us. It is not too much to say that the average Christian lives pretty much according to his or her feelings, sometimes without realizing it. This is the cause of conflict.

I. Where is all the fighting coming from? (4:1-3)

A. James has already given us a clue in 1:14. We all have emotions. Emotions were given to us for beneficial purposes. The desire for food is helpful, and loss of appetite is a complaint. But when the desire for food takes control, the sin of gluttony is committed.

B. We all have emotions, some of them very strong. It is when we surrender to them that we sin. When we voluntarily and deliberately give some desire or combination of desires control, we become the slaves of those desires. By turning those desires loose to seek their own demands, we literally send them "off to war." They begin fighting for gratification for its own sake. This is hedonism, pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Paul spoke of this as "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" (Romans 7:23). And in 1 Peter 2:11 the apostle warns believers. "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul."

C. This is Satan's playground. Someone asked C. M. Ward, "Do you believe in a personal devil?" C. M. Ward replied, "I've been to too many church business meetings not to believe in a personal devil." Sad, but true.

D. Lust is never satisfied. Again, quoting C. M. Ward, "If you put pleasure at home plate, the cost keeps getting higher ever time you go around the bases." Frustrated unfulfilled lust leads to conflict, the ultimate of which is murder. Lust disregards others, because it seeks first and foremost itself. It is willing to sacrifice others to itself. Thus, sinners "sell people across the counters of their own lusts." Lust always desires more than it can obtain, leading to fighting and quarreling. This is why the pursuit of pleasure never leads to happiness. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Oh, the joy of the release from the pain of slavery to self-indulgence! This is the true freedom, found only in Christ.

E. Selfishness seeks its object by carnal strife. Being incompatible with God, it does not rely on God. Generally, when people seek their own way, they leave God out of the picture. Even when sinners pray, they are merely seeking to enlist God in the cause of selfishness. Our prayer-motive is vital. The world (to say nothing of the Church) is cursed with self-centered religion. In some cases whole religious and ecclesiastical systems exist mainly as a moral basis for social and political ends. Most of the religion of the world is an attempt to use God for our own purposes. Such people pray to themselves (Luke 18:11). God cannot answer selfish prayers.

II. What is spiritual adultery? (4:4,5)

A. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin" (2 Corinthians 11:2). Jews familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures were aware that unfaithfulness to God, particularly idolatry, was often denounced as adultery. So it is for believers.

B. The simple fact is that Christ deserves and demands our loyalty. The lusts of this world are hostile to Him and to all good. Surrendering to a lustful world, a world in rebellion against God, is a breach of loyalty to Him. We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). By joining ourselves to this present self-centered world system we thereby render ourselves (or are thereby rendered) an enemy of God.

C. James has not left the main theme of his epistle. He is still speaking of true faith and the fact that true faith acts right. Here he emphasizes the loyalty of faith to the truth and to the God of truth.

D. John states it thus in 1 John 2:15--"Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." We cannot pursue two opposite and mutually exclusive goals at the same time. We are reminded of Demas, who forsook Paul, "having loved this present world." (2 Timothy 4:10).

III. Does God have a remedy? (James 4:6-10)

A. God gives a grace that is greater than the pull of the world and greater than the appeal of the flesh. But who receives this grace? Only the humble. Grace is not "irresistible." The proud will not receive it. They are in enmity against Him and He is arrayed against them. Grace is sufficient for all who will to serve God. James has not left the subject of faith, for this grace is by faith (Ephesians 2:8), and faith submits to the truth.

B. God's grace is greater because the Father is greater than all (John 10:29). If verse five says that our human spirit longs enviously, then the greater grace is meant to imply greater than the lustful longings of the human spirit. Who or what can conquer within me? The grace of God!

C. No one can successfully resist the devil who has not first submitted to God. A young man was under deep conviction of sin, but he was reluctant to come to God for fear that he could not resist temptation. His minister assured him that his responsibility was to trust Christ as his Savior, and Christ would give him the grace to overcome. He surrendered and lived an overcoming Christian life in Christ. Many will not come to Christ because they do not have the moral strength to resist temptation. This is pride. If they would humble themselves, they would receive the grace that is greater than their temptations. Faith is still the subject. Faith receives grace in humility.

D. The Old Testament priests were said to draw near to God (Exodus 19:22). The gospel principle is that humility before God puts us into such a relationship with Him that He can exalt us. So as believer-priests (1 Peter 2:5,9) we are invited to draw near to God. As we do, God draws near to us. The action is simultaneous. God is always drawing near to man (Acts 17:27), but man draws back. The moment we cease drawing back, the divine initiative puts us closer to God.

E. The cleansing of the hands (action), and the purifying of the heart (motive), is an echo of Psalm 24:4--"He who has clean hands and a pure heart."

F. Now the writer addresses the sinner. No relationship with God is possible if the life is unclean or the heart is disloyal. Doublemindedness here is a moral problem. James 1:8 describes it as instability of heart that results in instability of life. It is a lack of steadfastness with God. Such are commanded to repent, to stop playing with the truth. True faith is stable, for it is a fixing of the heart onto the truth.

G. The repentance called for is a deep breaking up of the heart before God. It is true godly sorrow for sin (see 2 Corinthians 7:10). Its action is the result of an awareness of "the presence of the Lord," and not merely a sense of regret for what sin has done to us. In every true revival, the deep sorrow for sin has been the result of a renewed awareness of the holiness of God. We need this consciousness of the "presence of the Lord." Only then are we in a state where God can exalt us.

CONCLUSION

There is a struggle going on. The Christian life is a warfare. Galatians 5:17 describes it this way: "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." We overcome by faith (1 John 5:4), as both Paul and John tell us. James tells us what it is that we overcome and the necessity of overcoming it, as well as emphasizing that this faith that overcomes operates in humility and submission to God. Certainly no one would maintain that faith is being exercised in arrogance and pride. Grace is given to the humble, and that grace is greater than the evil we are commanded to surmount. So the emphasis is not on works, but on how to receive grace.

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POINTS TO PONDER:

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1. In verse one, to what does the word "members" refer?

2. Pleasure in itself is not sinful. When, then, does pleasure "wage war"? Why is this the source of conflict?

3. Are selfish people ever satisfied? Why?

4. When you pray, what is your most important concern?

5. In your opinion, do most professed Christians live to make God happy or are they more concerned that God make them happy?

6. It has been said that to be happy we must be holy. Do you agree? Why?

7. What do you think verse five says? Where is the quotation found in Scripture?

8. Do we have to draw near to God before He will draw near to us?