THE BOOK OF JAMES
(The Way of Humility - June 25, 2023)
Series Big Idea: "Genuine Christian faith is proven true through action"
Sermon Big Idea: "Submitting and drawing closer to Christ will help us conquer and avoid temptation"
Key Scripture (James 4:1-12)
How do we find true humility when humans are so prone to pride, even when we think we are getting closer to it? How do we become the kind of humble people who God says will have more than enough grace? After showing us what we need, James now shows us the way of humility.
(James 4:1-12)
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires. 4 Adulteresses! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. 5 Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously? 6 But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 7 Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers. He who criticizes a brother or judges his brother criticizes the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
James says to humble yourself before God is to acknowledge your relationship with Him and acknowledge His power. He is explaining the life of faith here. Actively responding (submitting) to God is true faith. Although God starts and enables everything between believers and Himself, the Christian’s involvement is never one-sided. Being humble before God is part of faith. Satan will tempt Christians with pride, but it is possible to resist, and he will flee.
Satan is the enemy, and his goal is to separate us from God. Believers need God’s grace in this battle to be able to resist. James uses several commands in this passage to describe how this happens. Beginning with verse 8 he explains that God will draw close as Christians draw close to Him. They draw close by separating themselves from the things of this world (cleansing their hands). They draw close by closely monitoring their thoughts and motives (purify your hearts). The closer believers are to Christ, the more aware of their habits and actions that don’t honor God. In other words, we begin to put distance between ourselves and the sins that God has revealed in our lives.
In verse 9, the words “miserable, mourn, weep, and sorrow” show the struggle of the soul getting closer to the Lord. Death takes place in repentance. James says the “laughter” of someone who refuses to see the seriousness of sin, and the “joy” in what the world must be changed to mourning over sins (Luke 6:25). Joy is part of the Christian life, but when we realize we have sinned, we must be sorrowful so that we can repent. It is in that mourning that we begin to experience God’s grace.
When we're humble before God, we realize that our worth comes from God alone. We don’t deserve God’s favor, but He lovingly has given us dignity despite our sins. Jesus died in our place on the cross. It is Him and Him alone who lifts us up. Remember the passage of Scripture from (Luke 15:11-32)? After receiving his inheritance early, the younger son became the world's best friend. He repented only after he was bankrupt. When he came back home, he grieved. The man told his father he didn't deserve to be his son. Nonetheless, he was rescued by the father. This took submission. This took humility. Humbleness before God will always be followed by Him lifting us up.
Conclusion:
James then turns his discussion concerning humbleness in the previous verses from our relationship with God to our relationship with each other. We love God by humbling ourselves before Him; we love our neighbor by refusing to speak evil of them. Unfortunately, it seems his readers were already in the habit of criticizing one another. This verse includes the sixth and seventh times James uses the words “God’s Law” in his letter. This problem among the people was breaking the ninth commandment “Don’t testify falsely against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). But even more it violates the law of Christ, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).
Because he is not loving and treating people as he would like to be treated, a believer who criticizes another believer is condemning the law. He's judging the law's legitimacy by disobeying it. He's exalting himself. Slandering each other is against God. Only God creates and enforces the law. James warns Christians against being tempted to become personal watchdogs.
Remember (James 4:6), “God resists the proud but grants favor to the humble.” Temptation is impossible to overcome without God's mercy. The temptation will crush us. Submitting to God through His Son Jesus Christ is the only way to avoid the devil's traps and disaster. Submitting and drawing closer to the Lord will give us a close, wonderful relationship and help us overcome and avoid temptation.
Pastor Beaver's thoughts and ideas are inspired by:
Holman Christian Standard Bible
English Standard Version Bible
King James Version Bible
Christian Standard Bible
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Hughes, Robert B., and J. Carl Laney. Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary. The Tyndale Reference Library. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001.
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