The Carnal Christian

What Does God Say About Being a Carnal Christian?

Today I am going to do a quick lesson on James 4:1-10. There are multiple areas of Scripture that teach us about what it is to be a carnal Christian and although the word carnal is not used here in James we see a great example of what the carnal Christian looks like and what God has to say about it. Before we can jump into the text let’s look back really quickly at where James is at in his letter. What is really interesting about the section we are going to read today is James’ lack of words of endearment. All throughout the book he says, “my brothers, my brethren, or my beloved brethren.” As a matter of fact, he gives these terms of endearment twice in the first half of chapter three. But then his tone shifts. He purposefully holds back any terms of endearment which he had lavished on them before for an entire chapter. Why? Because he needs them to feel the weight, the seriousness, of what he is about to say.

Before this James was contrasting Godly wisdom with the worlds wisdom and he says that God’s wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, and merciful juxtaposed to the worlds wisdom which causes bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Now where we jump in, he is again going to make a contrast but this time on being friends with God and friends with the world.

CH 4:1-3 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 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. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

The War Within

Right off the bat we see James is using this “war like” language. He’s talking about these passions that WAR within us; this inner battle that says, I want what I want, I want what I can’t I have, I want to be comfortable, I want what the world has to offer and when I don’t get MY passions, I am going to fight, and I am going to quarrel with those around me. Sounds like that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition he was talking about in chapter three.

Even earlier in James 1:15 he describes how our lust or our passions, once conceived, give birth to sin and that is what’s happening here. Their passions have given way to sin.

He goes on to say. “You desire and you do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” More selfish ambition and bitter jealousy. He’s using hyperbolic language here; he’s not actually saying they were murdering each other in the early church. Later on, James begins to talk about the law. So, what he is saying their hatred for one another causes them to murder in their hearts. He says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” Is he saying here you don’t ask God for your passions, so He don’t give them; as if God is some genie? Not at all. What He is saying is there are good and right things to be asking for and you’re not asking for them. One of those things we should be asking for is wisdom James 1:5. By not asking God for the good things is self-reliance. You do not think you need the good things God gives because you have and want the things the world gives.

Praying in the Wrong Manner

He goes on to say, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

So, you don’t ask for the good things and then when you do ask, you ask with the wrong motives; for your own passion. Let’s go back to wisdom. You ask for wisdom not to make godly decisions and thus glorify God; you ask for wisdom to glorify self. To be seen to all as wise. And guess what, God says I am not going to give it. Not only are they deep in sin with their own passions they are being self-reliant and now self-seeking. The things that God gives are not about you, they are about Him and glorifying Him.

But this is where James really hits hard. This is the nucleus of his argument, He says in verse 4, “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.”

The root word here is adulteresses. You adulteresses. This is something that would have really caused them to pay attention. Go back to the Old Testament; over and over again the prophets called them adulteresses. Think back to Egypt. As soon as God delivered them, they were ready to go back to their lover. Back to the world. Jesus said you can’t serve two masters Matt 6:24. Romans 6:16 you are either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. You cannot be a friend of this world. You can not be a slave to the passions within you because when you are you are an enemy of God! He is telling us the source of your behavior is your adulteresses. You want to be friends with the world but claim the benefits of calling yourself a child of God, but you can not serve two masters.

We Belong to Him

He continues in verse 5, “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”? We have the Holy Spirit inside of us that marks us out as His. We belong to the Lord and He yearns jealously for us! So, we really think we can be the dwelling place of His Spirit and still live for this world without this warring conflict ensuing inside of us? We have this love hate relationship with the world and God says, “No, you are Mine!” He calls us to hate the world and pursue Him. We can not serve two masters. We have a jealous Master who years for us to be passionate about Him and Him alone.

What Do We Do Now?

But there is good news. James doesn’t just leave us here. He says in verse 6, “But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” He gives grace. Isn’t that beautiful. He gives more grace even though we are adulteresses. But don’t miss how we receive that grace. It says he gives grace to the humble. So we must humble ourselves. He also says God opposes the proud. Why does He oppose the proud? Because the proud oppose Him! The proud set themselves above God and say, I know more that you. I know whats best for me and that is my worldly passions.” This is the opposite of humility. So how do we humble ourselves? James tells us.

Verse 7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The first thing we must do is submit ourselves to Him. This means acknowledging His will is better than our will He knows best. Second, we must resist the devil. By putting up resistance the devil will flee from us. Why? Because there is easier prey out there. Resist means to take a stand. He doesn’t say bind Satin or beat Him up. No, He says take a stand and he will flee from you. Isn’t this a wonderful promise? But that’s not all.

James says in verse 8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Draw near to God and He will draw near to you? Does this mean God was somehow distant from us as if He drew away from us? No, He is omnipresent. He is always here. So, what does this mean? This means that when we draw near to God, we begin to recognize His nearness. Isn’t that comforting? But what else must we do. He says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” This is an outward and inward cleansing. A change of heart and a change of action. Picture the priest washing their hands signifying their cleanliness before entering the temple. Double minded. This is the same double mindedness he mentioned in James 1:8. True humility is a setting the mind upon God. Changing the heart and then the action.

Lastly and most importantly, in order to humble ourselves before God we have to be completely repentant. Verse 9 reads, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”. We have to grieve our sin. The presence of sin in our lives, our adulteress behaviors have to utterly destroy us on the inside. I know often we acknowledge our sins; this is especially true in those “little” like putting our social media time before God, we often acknowledge our sin’s but we don’t grieve them. But I tell you we will never turn away from a sin we do not grieve. This is humility. The humility that God gives grace to.

Our final verse. James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”. More good news despite our adulteresses. All selfish ambition, self-reliance, self-seeking behavior, the passions of this world make us an enemy of God. True exaltation comes from the Lord, not the world. When we humble ourselves and put away being friends with the world and embrace a true relationship with the Lord, we will be lifted far higher by God in eternity than the world could ever give us.

Our passions stem from an adulteress love of the world which make us an enemy of God. If someone were to ask us today if we are friends with the world or friends with God, I am certain we would all say friends with God. But if we looked out our bank accounts would someone be able to tell we love God? If someone were able to look at our calendar, would they be able to see your devotion to God? If someone were able to peer into your private life, when no one is watching, would they come away saying you are friends with God? If someone were able to read your private thoughts, would they be God honoring or self-reliant and self-seeking? Are you busy trying to serve two masters and therefore functioning as a carnal Christian? God knows the answer. I leave you with two things;

1.) How can you learn to hate the world which put enmity between you and God?

2.) God gives grace and forgiveness, you just have to humble yourself and repent. Are you ready?