Faithful Submission to God

James 4:1-12 Faithful Submission to God Sunday, October 2, 2022 Pastoral Prayer 1. IMB: Durga Puja, one of the largest Hindu festivals in eastern India and Bangladesh. Please ask the Holy Spirit to prompt believers to engage in the spiritual battle by praying for the salvation of their Hindu neighbors and sharing the good news with them. Pray that Hindus will see the futility of worshiping gods that cannot see, hear, or speak. May they have an encounter with the one true God who sees, hears, and knows them. Pray that many will turn from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son. 2. Sis Church: Odin First Baptist (Roger Lipe) 3. Prayer from the Middelburg Liturgy be our prayer this morning: "Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your Majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, nor the thorny cares of this life choke it. But that, as seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed. Amen." Introduction When you think of a good doctor, what do you think of? A doctor who simply deals with the symptoms of the sickness, but never gets to the root of the symptoms? Or do you think of a good doctor as one who evaluates the symptoms and labors to get to the root of the problems? If you merely want to mask the issues, you think the doctor who simply relieves the symptoms might be the good doctor. However, if you really want a truly good doctor, you want one who gets to the root of your issues to try and best help care for you. But if this is the case with a doctor, why is it when it comes to quarrels and fights that we typically only mask the issues? Rarely ever laboring to get to the very root of those issues? Thankfully James is a good doctor. He is laboring here in our text this morning to get to the heart of the issue, to its root. For he has already examined the symptoms we have of a deadly tongue that is full of hypocrisy, as well as a wisdom that is not pure and peaceable. This all shows the failure to be doers of the word and an impure religion. But now he shows us what is the root cause of all of these issues. What it is that is at the root of the ongoing division within God's people. I encourage you to take a copy of the Bible, either the pew Bible in front of you or your own copy of the Bible and open it to James 4:1. In the pew Bible you can find our text for this morning on page 855. The Main Idea of our passage, and Lord willing, this sermon is this: Pure faith submits wholly and faithfully to God. And we are going to unfold this in 3 points. 1. Spiritual Adultery 2. Godly Submission 3. Test Yourselves 1. Spiritual Adultery (4:1-4) We have been told that our tongues both praising God and cursing those in his image should not be. We have also learned that a wisdom rooted in bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is a wisdom not from above, but from Satan. But it is in both the careless use of the tongue and this false wisdom that many quarrels and fights are happening among brothers and sisters in Christ. But what is the root cause of this? That is just the rhetorical question that James turns our attention to in James 4:1. "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?" And before giving even a moment for his audience to respond here, James exposes the root. The assumption might be that the root of the quarrels and fights is something external, such as their difficult trials and sufferings. Or maybe on things the root of their quarrels and fighting is someone else being difficult. But that is not what we see at all. James teaches us here that the root problem of these quarrels and fights is not something external, but internal. The root problem of these quarrels and fights among these brothers and sisters in Christ is that their own passions are waging war within their hearts. Remember God isn't after only part of us, but our whole self. Our entire heart. But until our passions are completely renewed within us, those passions are still affected by sin within us. And that is what we are seeing here, the sinful passions of the heart are waging war within the hearts of James' audience and are causing these fights and quarrels within the family of God, amongst brothers and sisters in Christ. Passions that while at first might seem vague, but are elaborated on in verses 2-3. Coveting Look first at verse 2, it says, "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel." Their passions are the desire for what others have. For it says they covet and have not. The 10th commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai was, "You shall not covet." But what does it mean to covet? To covet is the desire of what your neighbor has; house, spouse, or anything that they have. And God's will for us in this command is best summed up in the 113th question of the Heidelberg Catechism. The question: "What is God's will for you in the tenth commandment?" And the answer is: "That not even the slightest desire or thought contrary to any one of God's commandments should ever arise in our hearts. Rather, with all our hearts we should always hate sin and delight in all righteousness." However, when we give way to our passions, to our pleasures in coveting that which is another's we sin, which is why James tells us that when we don't have, we murder to obtain. That when we cannot obtain it, we fight and quarrel in attempts to sinfully get what we don't have. Our passions rage war within us to be satisfied. And if those passions are given free reign, nothing will stop them from being satisfied. We will pursue whatever length to satisfy those desires. Such as murdering others in the example James uses here in verse 2. For the people desired the role of teacher and influencer and were willing to kill to obtain it. It is this kind of coveting that is most common within the local church. Someone who wants control doesn't have it. And their coveting leads them to fight and quarrel using their tongue to tear down the other through gossip, slander, and flattery instead of using it to edify their brother or sister. Their selfish ambitions and bitter jealousy are unleashed for the sake of obtaining what they don't have. But here is the kicker, we see there at the end of verse 2 that it says, "You (y'all) don't have, because you do not ask." You ask not & wickedly asking That's remarkable, isn't it? To think that we might not have, because we have never actually prayed for it. Or, as it points out in verse 3, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." This idea of asking wrongly aims to communicate more than poor communication, but of wicked desire, wicked intentions. Instead of coveting, Christian, we need to ask God, the giver of every good and perfect gift for all that we lack in a right manner. Entrusting that he will grant all that we need. But, at the same time, trusting him if he withholds something from us. When God withholds something from us in not answering our prayer request the way in which we think he should, he is still a good and gracious God! In his not answering, he is doing so because we are either asking wrongly and not ready or that it does not align with his good and sovereign will. Which in one sense is to ask wrongly. I think a good and right application for us as a church, in the midst of church revitalization is, are we tempted to covet what is happening in other churches? And if so, are we asking God for him to be at work here, in the right manner? Are we willing to give ourselves to regularly praying for our church to be a light in the midst of darkness? Are we willing to pray for God to make us bolder to share the hope of Christ with those who have yet to believe? Are we willing to pray that God would likewise grow us in maturity to be ready to disciple new believers if they were to join us? Or maybe on a more personal level, are we tempted to covet what others have or are doing? Maybe we are tempted to covet the influence someone else has on a particular group. Maybe the reason we do not have is because we do not ask or that we ask not for the sake of rightly desiring to influence others in godliness, to Christian maturity. But desire to have influence is wasted if it is given to one who merely desires popularity or power. The godly seek to pour themselves out not for their name's sake, but for the sake of the King. This means their aim is not popularity or power, but the building up of others, the equipping of the saints. Friends, if we are having quarrels and fights among one another, we need to examine our hearts and see what is going on within ourselves. See where our passions are raging against us and others. Asking ourselves if we are coveting and why? If we desire, but have not taken it to God in prayer, then we must ask ourselves why not? We desire enough to covet, yet we are unwilling to make the request known to God? How backwards is that? And if we are asking and not receiving, we would be wise to examine our hearts compared to the Scriptures. Asking questions like, is my heart in line with God's heart? Is what I am asking the means in which God normally works within the Scriptures? For example, returning to the example of growing the church, are we asking God to grow our church, but failing to see the ordinary means that God used to build the churches in Acts and the Epistles? God used the ordinary means of proclaiming the extraordinary gospel to others to build his church. God has always built and added to his church through the verbal proclamation of the gospel. Therefore, when we make such a request, are we seeking to be obedient to what Christ has commanded. If not, then while our motives might be pure, we are failing to do what we have been called to do. Or, maybe we ask God to make us holy without ever laboring to kill sin within our own hearts. We ask him to make us holy, but continually put ourselves in the same places to repeat the same folly over and over again, but expecting different results. Friends, it can be these type of requests that we are making, but even these are filled with wicked desires. For we ask God to do something for us without requiring anything from us. We ask God as if he were a genie, instead of a loving Father who is working to grow us to maturity. Therefore, let us ask, but let us ask with the right motives and a pure heart. We must labor to put our desires in check from asking wrongly Adulteress People For, if our evil desires are left unchecked, it will lead to our demise. That desire will tempt us like that luring seduction of the great temptress of Proverbs 7. The temptress that stands in the street, speaks of a bed covered in perfume, and uses seductive speech to persuade to follow. For when we give way to our desires, we become the adulteress who is unfaithful to our husband. For that is exactly what James calls those of us who are given over to friendship with the world. Adulteresses! So far, James has addressed his audience as brothers and sisters throughout the letter, despite their struggles. But here, in the being given over to their passions, their desires he drastically shifts gears in calling them adulteresses. Why this quick and hard change? To be given over to our desires is to be friends with the world. And to be friends with the world is to be unfaithful to God. That is, to use the language of verse 4, friendship with the world is enmity with God. In his book, Gospel Fluency, Jeff Vanderstelt writes, "When the Bible speaks of "the world" as an enemy, it is not referring to the blue and green rotating ball called Earth that we live on. The world that both James and John warns us about is the place where the rule and reign of the Devil is expressed and experienced. Satan is called the god of this world, referring to his evil reign of darkness and destruction. In this case, the world is everything that stands against the rule and reign of God."1 And it is here that lies the problem, those who have received the implanted word are not pure if they are acting like the world. They are not being given over wholly and fully to God in a faithful covenant of marriage. They are committing spiritual adultery in their unfaithful living. A pure faith and religion is a call to serve others, to care for others. But the adulteress person desires not to care for others, to build up others, to love them well; they desire for the power and prestige of a position. To paint it another way, the Apostle Paul was critiqued by the Church of Corinth for his weakness. For they perceived that one who was strong didn't suffer as Paul suffered. Paul suffered hunger, physical alignments, was poorly dressed (1 Cor 4:11), and was weak. Therefore, the Church of Corinth sought to discredit him and his ministry. They, like those in James' day, were using the thinking of the world. And in so doing were unfaithful to the things of God. "To be impure is to be divided in your heart. Part of your heart is cleaving to God, and part of it is cleaving to something that competes with God for your desires."2 The world and its thinking are far from the ways of God. We must not think like them in allowing our natural desires to lead us. For if our desires are what lead us, we have not yet submitted to God. For to submit to God is not a partial submission, but a whole one. And it is to this submission we turn to now in our second point this morning. 2. Godly Submission (4:5-10) God does not desire only a small portion of our hearts. Ladies, who among you is going to be okay if your husband loves you and another woman equally? Men, you likewise? This is the point that James articulates in verse 5 in saying, "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'?" While this verse creates some issues because it doesn't quote a singular verse, God's jealousy for his people is a redundant theme in the Old Testament Scriptures. We see it in the following passages: ● Exodus 20:5; You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. ● Exodus 34:14; (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God) ● Deuteronomy 4:24; For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. ● Deuteronomy 6:15; for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God-lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. So while James isn't exactly quoting from a particular passage here in James 4:5, the theme is abundantly clear throughout the Torah, the books of the Law. God is jealous for his people in wanting them to be fully devoted to him alone. And this is why it is essential that we learn what it looks like to fully submit ourselves to God to be faithful to him. And this full submission starts as we recognize the remarkable gift of grace offered to us. Following the reminder of God's jealousy, we read there in verse 6, "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Despite our spiritual adultery, despite our careless use of the tongue, despite our failure to grasp a pure wisdom, God is willing to pour out his grace on us if we will humble ourselves. And who are those who humble themselves? Those who repent from sin. And while the term repent is absent here in James 4, it is the very thing being described in the call to submit to God, resist the devil, cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, and true sorrow for sin. These are essential if one is to come and take part in God's grace. Therefore it is crucial for us to understand what these steps are. First, there is the call to submit ourselves to God. To submit ourselves to God means going under the authority of God and his rule. Surrendering to all that he calls us to do and not to do, rather than following our own wicked desires. For to submit to God is to resist the devil and to draw near to God at the same time. To be a friend with the world leaves us enemies of God, but to be a friend of God is to resist the devil and be his enemy. Next, there in the 2nd half of verse 8 we read, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." True repentance leads to change in both the external, the cleansing of their hands, and the internal, the purifying of their hearts. True repentance has not taken place if both of these are not present. That is, one has not repented if he is only morally changed on the outside with no change of the heart. Nor can one say they have repented if they claim that their heart has changed, but there's no visible evidence of change on the outside. The two work together in true repentance. Lastly, we come to this call in verse 9, "Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." True repentance brings about deep sorrow and grief for our sin. This sorrow and grief are more than just feeling guilty for sin. One can come under conviction for sin and feel guilty about it, but that is not repentance. Repentance is when you feel more than just guilty of your sin, but sorrow for it. You don't just fear the consequences of your sin, you feel sorrow for the one whom you offended. Or as R.C. Sproul once put it, "True repentance reflects contrition, a godly remorse for offending God." That is why laughter is to be turned to mourning and joy to gloom in the humbling of ourselves. For it is in these moments where that true sorrow for our sin takes place. These three things of submission to God, external and internal transformation, and grief and sorrow are essential for true repentance if one is to humble themselves before the LORD. APPLICATION ● Non-believer ● Believer 3. Test Yourselves (4:11-12) In James 4:11-12, there is a return to speech and making judgments about a brother. These topics having already been hit on in other sections of the letter means that these are being used as a reminder of the issue at stake in failing to love one another well. And this reminder ultimately can serve as a test to see if we are truly repentant or if we will continue to be merely hearers of the word and not doers. The humble Christian is to not judge his brother or sister in speaking evil against them. That is, they aren't to use their tongue to tear down or destroy. 1 Vanderstelt, Jeff. Gospel Fluency. (Crossway. Wheaton, IL. 2017.) 104. 2 Piper, John. Reading the Bible Supernaturally. (Crossway. Wheaton, IL. 2017.) 269. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ James 4:1-12, Page #