Big Idea: We can pridefully boast about ourselves or be humble and let God lift us up.
Have you ever been in a fight? I don’t mean a little argument, but a physical fight. There’s an old saying that someone went to a fight and a hockey game broke out! People love the excitement of a fight. For years boxing was hugely popular and then wresting. Now Ultimate Fight Club and MMA are all of the rage—literally! I was in a fight—once. I believe it was seventh grade. Recess. I’m not sure how it happened, but I found myself hitting this classmate on the playground—my best friend in the class! It didn’t take long for a crowd to grow around us, most of them cheering for me because of the two of us unpopular kids, I was slightly more popular, I guess. It was a bizarre experience to discover my fists hitting the body of my friend.
We are continuing our series on the book of James, a letter written by Jesus' half brother to people around the world who were among the first followers of Jesus. We have spent many weeks looking at the first three chapters which brings us to chapter four.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. (1-2a)
Often fights break out because someone wants something that the other person has, be it a car, a loved one, money, or even freedom. We quarrel over the dumbest things sometimes, don’t we?
One of the fundamental problems we have is trusting God. We have a desire and then we take matters into our own hands to get that desire met.
We love to be in control...so much so that we accuse people being control...freaks. As Frank Sinatra famously sang, he wanted to do things “my way.”
If you think that fighting and quarreling and selfishness and greed are mere products of our USAmerican culture, think again. They have been going on for thousands of years.
James continues
You do not have because you do not ask God. (2b)
Think about that for a moment. You do not have because you do not ask God. Have you ever done this?
Sometimes I get so frustrated because after trying to fix my headache with Advil I realize I never even gave God a chance to heal me through prayer.
Instead of waiting for direction about a decision, I love to charge ahead and then ask God to bail me out when I realize the stupidity of my choice.
What’s the point here? It says pretty clearly that we do not have because we do not ask God.
What do you want? Pray about it right now.
Before you print and frame James 4:2 and hang it on your wall and post it on Facebook, let’s continue to read…
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (3)
Does this need an explanation? The question is not merely what do you want, but why? Is it to bless others? Is it to glorify God? Or is it merely for your own pleasure.
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (4)
Ouch! God has been challenging me and many of us that we are to live radical lives, holy lives, set apart lives, lives different than our world. James states it pretty clearly here. You can be a friend of God or a friend of the world. You can serve God or yourself. It’s all about God…or all about you. The amazing thing is that we get to choose!
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble." (5-6)
Where does it say that?
The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. (Proverbs 3:33-34)
Why does God oppose the proud?
It all goes back to the meaning of life? The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way:
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
The meaning of life is to glorify God. It’s to honor God. That’s what the Bible is all about—God! Some people will say it’s all about God loving us, but that’s not it. God does love us, but He loves us so that we will love and glorify Him.
Have you heard about Cat & Dog Theology? It goes something like this:
Cats see their owner feeding them and caring for them and conclude that they must be god.
Dogs see their owner feeding them and caring for them and conclude that their owner must be god.
It’s no accident that the first of the Ten Commandments was no other gods. I used to think it strange that the second one was similar—no idols—yet God wanted to be abundantly clear: He is God and we are not. If that weren’t enough, what’s the third commandment? Do not misuse God’s Name. Who does He think He is?
God opposes the proud because they have violated the first two or three commandments. It’s all about you, or it’s all about God. It’s all about the world, or it’s all about God.
James then gives ten instructions, his own ten commandments:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (7-10)
Did you catch all ten?
Submit yourselves to God.Resist the devil.Come near to God.Wash your hands.Purify your hearts.Grieve. Mourn.Wail.Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves.
This is not exactly the pathway to the American Dream, is it? Several of those commands have probably made you uncomfortable. They make me uncomfortable! It’s not that we are to be depressed, but we are to treat our sin seriously as God does. God wants us to worship and follow and glorify Him and to pursue our own agendas is satanic! Yes! The only way to resist the devil is to draw near to God. You can’t have it both ways.
What I love about this passage is the ending. James doesn’t leave us filled with sorrow. He says
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (10)
This doesn’t mean we’ll all be rock stars, but it does mean that as we glorify God, He will bless us. We can either exalt ourselves or let God exalt us.
Do you remember verse six:
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble." (6)
It’s counter-intuitive. It’s counter-cultural. Pride is deadly. It declares that I am god rather than allowing God to be God.
Earlier we sang about “our God.” Our God is awesome, our God is greater, our God is stronger..than who? Than me. Than you!
The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
King David, perhaps the greatest and most powerful man on the planet, wrote
My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. (Psalm 34:2)
…words echoed twice by the Apostle Paul, the most prolific writer of the New Testament…
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31)
But, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 10:17)
It’s all about you…or God. Your choice.
You can listen to the podcast here.Tags: Pride, Boasting, Fighting, Conflict, James 4:1-10