God's Heart for Divided Hearts

Context

James 3:13–18 ESV

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

The issue here is not wisdom per se, but the fruit of wisdom which is peace in the church. The wisdom of the world, James says, is a misplaced celebration of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in our hearts. And when there are people so engulfed in their jealousy and selfish ambition there will be unrest.

This idea is carried into chapter 4, but the focus shifts. James commends peace makers in 3:18, then in chapter 4 he addresses why the need for peace makers exists in that church.

Introduction

An autoimmune disease is a condition in which our immune systems attack our bodies. When our immune system senses foreign invaders, it send an army of cells to attack. But there are times when our immune system cannot tell the difference between enemy cells and good cells. This is what came to mind as I thought through James 4:1-12. The church James addresses was attacking itself. I don’t think anyone here is surprised that a church can have these kinds of troubles. But understanding why these issues arise in the church will prove to be helpful.

Selfish ambition, jealousy and things like that are conditions of the heart. I want to spend some time thinking through some of these conditions and end with what James exhorts the church to do to find against these conditions.

A Selfish Heart (1-3)

Not Getting Along (1,2)

quarrels, fights, murder

Quarrels: war

Fights: all kinds of conflict

Murder: kill

Question: Are the conflicts mentioned in verses 1 & 2 within or without the Christian community? How do we know?

It’s within: fights among you

The source of the conflicts

your passions or desires

Question: I don’t think we would conclude that all conflict is bad, even in the local church. What makes the kind of conflict described by James here sinful, and what would be an example of conflict that could be healthy?

The conflict here is not over concerns for truth but emerges from personal delights that are self-serving and against the truth.

Conflicts between people

lit war among your members.

Romans 12:4 ESV

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,

This church is a body, and this body is comprised of members. When the members are not behaving out of an interst for the body, and ultimately out of a concern to honor the head of the body, they body begins to attack itself.

Not Getting Along in Action (2)

Making sense of the clauses

clause #1: You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder.

clause #2: And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.

you kill, quarrel and fight are logically connected in James’ argument

These destructive behaviors are the products of their ungodly desires, which leads to envy and strife.

The frustrated desires of the members produces the strife that is eating away of the community.

Prodigal Spending (3)

Consider the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:14 ESV

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

Question: What the difference between the kind of asking James addresses here and the kind of asking Jesus commends when He said, “ask, and it will be given to you.”?

A Divided Heart (4-6)

A Violation of the covenant relationship (4)

notice the change in tone from referring to the church as brothers to you adulterous people.

The phrase adulterous people appears in the feminine form, which on the surface suggest that James is addressing the females of the church. What we need to remember is that how the relationship between God and His people is often described… as a husband and His bride.

Isaiah 54:5–6 ESV

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.

What this makes clear is that God and His people are in a covenant relationship with one another, and His people were violating the covenant through their relationship to the world.

An Unhealthy Friendship (4)

Friendship was not casual

In the Hellenistic world, friendship involved sharing all things in a unity both spiritual and physical

An enemy is hostile

Question: I think we understand that worldliness can be obvious, but how might worldliness show itself in more subtle ways in and among the church?

Consider what we have seen in this epistle so far

discriminating against people (2:1-13)

speaking negatively of others (3:1-12)

bitter envy and selfish ambition (3:13-18)

and we’ll see destructive pleasures in the first 3 verses of this chapter

A Shifting Allegiance (4)

God tolerates no rival

Worldly behavior reflects an allegiance to the world

A Treasure that Doesn’t Treasure (5)

The jealous yearning of God for His people

The reason to not flirt with the world

The reason we can be sure of the black and white distinction made in verse 4, that is, if we are friends with the world, we are enemies of God, is because God jealously years for our spirits.

Small “s”

The most natural way, in my view to understand spirit in verse 5 is as a reference to the fact that our husband, God, created us and breathed life into us (see Gen. 2:7). He did this so that we would love Him and enjoy Him. So verse 5 is saying that God made us to be His in every way (spiritually, emotionally, affectionately), and when we give ourselves in that way to the world, we reject our maker… our husband.

OT Background: see Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Zech 8:2.

The jealousy of God for His people displays His love for or His treasuring relationship to us. When we flirt with the world, we fail to treasure God because we are instead treasuring the world.

A Sufficient Power (6)

Meeting the demands of God’s jealousy

Question: If God is jealous for the hearts of His people, and His people can flirt with the world, how does His grace connect to this conflict?

James is reminding us that God’s grace is completely adequate to meet the requirements imposed on us by His jealousy. Our God is a gracious God, who gives grace, even to those who contend with divided hearts.

God gives what He demands - Augustine

A gracious exhortation (see Prov. 3:34)

God gift of sustaining grace is enjoyed by those who recognize their need for it.

Why does a church attack itself? Because it has a divided heart between infatuation with the world and a love for God, and when our loyalties to God are divided, our loyalties to one another will be as well. When we prioritize ourselves over and against God, we will do the same to one another.

A Presumptuous Heart (11-12)

a return to brothers

The Prohibition Against Speaking Evil Against One Another (11)

Questioning legitimate authority

Slandering someone in secret

Bringing false accusations

The Reason for the Prohibition (11-12)

Slandering a brother or sister in Christ is tantamount to criticizing the law (11)

Question: On what basis can James claim this?

Law is probably a reference to OT Law (See Lev. 19:16)

Neighbor at the end of v. 12 is key here. This clearly shows from where James is grounding his argument.

Leviticus 19:18 ESV

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

To slander a fellow believer contradicts the command that we love our neighbors as ourselves. This, in other words, is a violation of the law. And when we fail to obey the law, James says, we judge it. That’s why James says, if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

Judging the law is a denial of the law’s authority, and if we deny the law’s authority, then we presume to stand in judgement of it.

Slandering a brother or sister in Christ presumes on the exclusive right God possess to judge (12)

The fact that God is the only judge is evident in that only He can save and destroy people. (see Matt. 10:28)

A Divided Heart can be Restored by God (7-10)

Remember what we suggested from v. 6: God supplies what He demands. If God gives the grace to meet His claim on the lives of His people, then in our humility we will be able to possess a heart that is fixed on pleasing God.

The bookends of our victory over duplicity (6, 7a, 10)

the humble in v. 6 who are the recipients of God’s grace and the command to humble yourselves in v. 10 come from the same greek word. Humility before God is where our victory over a duplicitous heart begins and ends. The command to submit ourselves to God in v. 7 is conceptually related to humility.

resist the devil

yielding ourselves to the rule of God means that we will resist or stand against the devil’s temptations

Draw near to God

often used in the context of approaching God in worship

cleanse your hands, purify your hearts

Question: What is James commanding us to do

Repent

stems from OT imagery for priestly purity while ministering the things of the Lord.

See Ps. 24:3-4, where the Psalmist required clean hands and a pure heart to stand before the Lord.

be wretched, mourn and weep. Let your laughter e turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom

Repentance and sorrow over sin. A state of mourning over sin.