Warning Against Worldliness

James 4:1–12 ESV

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Who are we living for? Ourselves or Christ?

There are only 2 options: we either live for ourselves or we live for Christ. Jesus did not live for himself but he chose to live in a manner that pleased the heavenly Father.

Unfortunately, the majority of society has chosen that the purpose of life is to please themselves. I think you’d agree that America has gone pleasure mad and pleasure seeking.

We are primarily concerned about ourselves

So what makes a Christian different than the rest of the world?

John 13:34–35 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Are we loving ourselves or are we showing the love of Christ to one another? Often times, we are living for the wrong reasons and our desires are not Godly but instead are wordly.

What causes fights among us?

1st thing - if we are fighting and quarreling among brothers and sisters than we are not pleasing the Lord.

Psalm 133:1 ESV

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

He wants us to be unified! That brings glory and pleasure to God - when we are unified.

What causes quarrels and fights?

Class problems (James 2: 2-4)

Failure to tame our tongue (James 4: 11-12)

Wicked passions (James 4: 2-3)

James 2:2–4 ESV

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Class problems - partiality toward the rich or the poor. Partiality is not becoming to the Christian. It’s ok to be partial about the type of ice cream you eat, but between the rich and poor is a sin. Partiality harbors and fuels evil thoughts. For instance…youth - does it matter who’s going to be at an event when you decide if you will attend or not? Do you make your decision based on who is going or not going?

Tame the tongue - how often do we say something we shouldn’t? How often do we contribute to spreading gossip, criticize others, or be slanderous towards other people? It’s easy to get frustrated at a situation or person and before we know it, we have just sinned with our tongues. We also can find it difficult to not be REACTIVE to a situation…example. Instead, we need to realize that we are responsible…not the person that MADE us mad

James 3:5–6 ESV

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

Wicked Passions - here a Christian knows he’s supposed to live for the Lord but he has caved to his fallen nature and lust only for his pleasure. In other words, he is living like a lost person. He has fallen into the trap of worldliness. We are warned to not fall into the trap of worldliness...

1 John 2:15–17 ESV

Do not love the world or 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 desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

God wants us to be different and not like the rest of the World. we are specifically instructed to not be like the rest of the world. Then youth…why do we spend so much time trying to fit in? Why do we spend so much effort trying to be like everyone else in the world? Adults, why are we so caught up in keeping up with the Jones? Facebook & social media make it a completion…especially around holiday events.

We are to be different - set apart from the rest of the world

The Bible offers many different ways that Christians are to be different than the rest of the world.

Be free from the cares of the world (Matthew 13)

Not gain the world at the expense of his soul (Matthew 16)

Not offend others as the world does (Matthew 18)

Not be of the world (John 15)

Shine as a light in the world (Philippians 2)

Deny the lusts of the world, live godly in the world (Titus 2)

Escape the pollution and corruption of the world (2 Peter 1)

Be like Christ in the world (1 John 4)

James 4:4 ESV

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.

We do not want to be an enemy of God. But James makes it clear…that if we are seeking after the ways of this world, we in fact are an enemy of God.

How do we refrain from worldliness?

James 4:7–11 ESV

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. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

There are conditions we must meet if we want to enjoy the benefits of His promises.

The Conditions or Commands

Submit to God (v 7)

Resist the devil (v 7)

Draw close to God (v 8)

Cleanse you hands, you sinners (v 8)

Purify your hearts, you double-minded (v 8)

Be afflicted, mourn and weep (v 9)

Let your laughter be turned into morning (v 9)

Let your joy turn into gloom (v 9)

Humble yourselves before God (v 10)

Speak no evil of one another (v 11)

The Promises

God apposes the proud and gives grace to the humble

The devil will flee from you (v 7)

God will draw near to you (v 7)

God will lift you up (v 10)

God gives us a way to conquer our evil desires and a way to not conform to the rest of this world. We must be willing to pursue after Christ and we must be willing to surrender to his authority, his love, and his guidance. If left to ourselves, we will fail and give in to sin every time. It is only through the holy spirit acting inside of us that we can rule over our evil and sinful nature.

Who do you choose to follow?

Will you decide today to be different and follow after our heavenly father? It isn’t easy…it will be difficult. You will be faced with challenges and fights. But it will all we worth it. Matthew chapter 10 talks about the persecution that comes with following Christ…but thankfully the end of chapter 10 talks about the rewards of following Christ.

The rewards are worth whatever the cost is…remain steadfast, remain diligent, and intentionally seek to be more like christ.

Philippians 1:27 CSB

Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel,

Paul tells us if there was just one thing to focus on…living a life worthy of the Gospel. That should be our focus every day. I pray that you will choose to follow Christ.