Warning Against Worldliness
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
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?
Sermon
Sermon
Asking with Wrong Motives
Asking with Wrong Motives
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
We often have the impression Early church was marked by peace and harmony
Yet within a decade or more that fades
We are often zealous when first converted but over the coming years the battle with our sinful nature comes to the forefront
Quarrels & fights (literal translation: war and battle)
This was not an occasional disagreement
“Is it not your passions at war within you?”
In time man becomes slave to the desires of his heart and seperates himself from God
Paul warns against this....
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
When God no longer rules our lives the pursuit of pleasure takes over
Peace is disrupted by frequent fights and quarrels
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.
James is blunt and pulls his punches
Their covetousness is at the centre of the cause
When man gives reign to his desires he no longer obeys the command “you shall not covet”
Why has this occured?
“you do not have, because you do not ask”
Christians fail to pray
They fail to ask God
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
James addresses that even thouse who pray fail to receive an answer
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
return...
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
“ask wrongly” - ask/demand in an evil, wicked or improper manner
Not only must we believe God will hear and answer our prayers
we must ask ourselves does it/is it (John 14)
Honour God’s name?
Further the cause of God’s Kingdom?
in harmony with God’s Will
Paul reminds us - “what does not proceed from faith is sin”
But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
return...
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
God refuses to listen to those who eargerly pursue selfish pleasures
Greed is idolatry and it is an abomination in the sight of God
God does not listen to prayers that come from a heart filled with selfish motives
Covetousness and selfishness are insults to God
Being Friends with the World
Being Friends with the World
When we drive we keep to lanes, we don’t straddle the lane. Every driver is taught to keep on his own side of the road. This is a fundamental tule for safe driving.
Nor can a Christian straddle the line between friendship with God and a friendship with the world
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
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.
“You adulterous people!
Hosea 1:2 They commited the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD
Jesus called the Pharaisees, Sadducees and Teachers of the law “a wicked and adulterous generation”
Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom (and Song of Solomon)
“Friendship with the world is enmity/hatred towards God”
Exodus 20:5 & Deuteronomy 5:9 God tells us he is a “jealous God”
“an enemy of God”
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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.
When a person purposefully turns to the world to become part of it, they have made a conscious choice of rejecting God and the Teachings of His Word
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.”
James asks whether they accept Scripture, as God’s Infaliable Word
He also asks if they consider whether they think there is purpose to the Scriptures
Peter also quotes the same quotation...
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
James reminds them that God is clear in His Word
He opposes the world and gives his bountiful 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.
Submission/Obedience
Resist the devil and he will flee from you
Preperation
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded
sinner: disregarded the law of God and flouted standards of morality
double-minded: those who love God & the world (hypocrites?)
Repentance
Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn”
“Be miserable, mourn/grieve and weep”
we grieve because of sins we have committed against God and our fellow man
“Let your laughter be turned to mouning and your joy to gloom”
We are called to true repentance
Humility
“humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you”
James reflects again (v6) on this principle
Judging a Brother
Judging a Brother
James reflects on what Jesus taught...
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to 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.
Do not slaunder on another
false charge or with malicious intent, attack the good name or reputation
Devil (diabolos) means slanderer
Slaunder is generally going around talking behind people’s backs
A slanderer generally neglects to learn the facts, avoids speaking in the presence of the accused, sets aside the law of love, and as a self-appointed judge hands down the verdict.
Blinded by sin the backbitter often is unaware of the seriousness of his doings.
The slanderer is against the person who is acccused and against God who forbids this sin by divine law.
There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
“Ultimately God is the only Lawgiver and Judge”
“He who is able to save and destroy”
He cannot allow man to assume that position that belongs to him alone.
Contrast with Catholic teaching on priests and the Pope
“Who are you to judge your neighbour?”
Love your neighbour as yourself
Not to be confused with Church discipline
Talk to the elders, about concerns or unresolved issues
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology