Evaluating Your Allegiance, Part 2

In a similar vein, Leonard Bernstein was once asked which instrument was the most difficult to play. He thought for a moment and then replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

As we continue our evaluation this week of where our allegiance lies, the key component to that evaluation is humility. Just as it can be hard to find someone to be the second fiddle, so it often is hard for us as Christians to not be the one in control. We struggle to not have the last say in a situation. We struggle to perhaps stop concentrating on our failures resulting in a self-depricating mindset to life. We struggle to agree that someone may truly know how to accomplish something better than you can accomplish it. We struggle when we have sinned and admitting that sin to others and to God.

God hates pride! God desires to use the humble. It is interesting that James in this part of his letter as gone from discussing the sinfulness of selfish ambition to one’s pleasures being the source of fighting and quarrels among Christians to improper praying seeking to get what you want to disregarding God’s word.

It is after all this he explains in a direct statement that God resists the proud and give grace to the humble!

Our big idea this morning is: Humility and submission to God are foundational for the Christian’s repentant allegiance to God.

When the Christian chooses to live out humility they more naturally will obey and live out the commands God gives to us through James in James 4:7-10.

Context:

In our passage this morning we see the transitional statement from James in James 4:6 “6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”” The conjunction that James uses here but is a beautiful word. In spite of our selfish ambition, our fighting and quarrels, and ultimately our selfish and sinful pleasures, we can live godly lives. We have hope. We can live out the heavenly wisdom God desires to give us. We can live a life that has a controlled tongue. We can live a life that is not judgmental and critical toward others.

We do this through submitting our will, our plans, our desires to God and live humble before him. James begins and ends James 4:7-10 with the same concept. In the middle of these bookends are a list of imperatives for each of us to live. The sandwiching of these imperatives between the imperatives submit and humble emphasize for us that the controlling principle and fact to live these commands flow from living a submissive and humble life before God. It is this humility that avails God’s grace to live out these commands.

As we are discussing humility this morning it would be good to refresh our understanding of what it means and what the Bible references and teaches it.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Concept Summary

In the OT, Hebrew ענה (ʿnh) carries the basic sense of “to crouch” or “to bend low to the ground”—either to express submissiveness or to metaphorically describe one’s impoverished condition.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Concept Summary

Several words in the Greek NT convey the idea of humility or modesty of character.

Lexham Theological Wordbook (Theological Overview)

Humility as a state of being appears in a variety of ways. Individuals or nations may be humbled or afflicted by God as a punishment for sin (e.g., Deut 8:2; 1 Kgs 8:35) or as an encouragement for spiritual development (Psa 119:71). Humility may involve unfavorable conditions characterized by afflictions (Psa 119:107), poverty (Jas 1:9), or even imprisonment (Judg 16:5–19). Humility therefore has both positive and negative connotations. On one hand, a humble spirit produced by divine action, by one’s initiative, or by another’s action may be a profitable and enriching condition, but on the other hand, consequences that one may experience by oppressive powers, by the sinful actions of others, or by difficult social conditions may be more humiliating than helpful.

The biblical words used can be summarized to deal with being lowly, brought low, to be humble. They often relate to topics like obedience and repentance.

Philippians 2:1–10 (“1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name…”) helps us truly define humility for us. Christ chose to not use aspects of his deity and humbled himself to the will of his Father.

Humility then can be defined as choosing others and God’s will over my own.

Pride then would be a self-inflated view of one’s self and promotion of one’s own will over others and God.

We are going to evaluate our allegiance this morning by looking at what is necessary for God’s grace to defeat our selfishness and pride followed by multiple ways we in submission to God are to obey him.

All of this will show us that humility and submission to God are foundational for the Christian’s allegiance to God.

I. God’s great grace invokes a response, 6.

James gives insight to God’s jealousy over his children, over his bride the church in James 4:5. When the Christian chooses to align himself with the world and commits spiritual adultery it makes God jealous. God desires a close relationship with his church. He desires a close relationship with every Christian!

Christian, this morning are there areas of your life that are causing God to be jealous? Are you disregarding God’s Word for your own selfish gain and pleasure?

You may say that God’s expectations for you are too high. You may think that having a close relationship with God is too much work. James in James 4:6 (“6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”) delivers to us a truth that more than helps each of us Christians the ability to meet everything necessary to have a close relationship with our righteous and holy God.

That truth is—God’s grace! God’s grace is so much greater than our sin! Paul in Romans 6:1–5 (“1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,”) helps us see the power of God’s grace over sin! Our new walk in Christ is made possible from God’s grace. We do not need to sin in order to receive God’s grace!

God is rich in mercy and grace and love and supplies this all to his children to his church willingly and to the very level we need to meet his demands. Augustine said this about God’s grace, “God gives what he demands.”

With this said, James brings God’s grace into the discussion through quoting Proverbs 3:34 (“34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the afflicted.”) James uses a different wording here but alludes to this truth from Proverbs. The truth being that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. James is telling his audience and thereby us, God’s sustaining grace is enjoyed only by those that willingly admit their sinful failure and humble themselves whereby admitting they need God’s grace.

The arrogant and proud will only receive resistance and opposition from God. You may be sitting here this morning and you have been frustrated that some aspects of your life are not going well and it seems no matter what you do it does not seem to be doing anything to accomplish the task or fix a problem.

I pose this question, are you humbly submitting the situation to God? It is very possible that God is hindering this in your life because you are living selfishly rather than humbly.

Is there a relationship with someone that you are not right with each other and no matter all the ways YOU have tried to fix it, THEY JUST WONT RECONILE! Have you taken a step back to see if honestly your pride is part of the problem? Your passions and desires, your selfish ambition will only keep the fighting and the quarrels going. Your speech may be only casting water on the oil fire and making it worse?

If we want God’s sustaining grace in our life we must humble ourselves before God. It is through this humility that we can then obey God in a variety of other ways that he desires. It is here James expands on this truth of humility and submission. He lays out a series of commands for the Christian to live. Each of these are impossible to obey when we are living in selfishness and pride. They require submission and humility.

We are now going to look at each of these commands that God’s grace can and will help us sustain in obedience.

Verses 7a and 10 though not exact same wording do truly carry a similar concept. These commands are again sandwiched between submission and humility. It is a command to repent of sin.

The organization of these commands seem to have some connection to each other. They seem to be thematically placed together. For our study this morning we are going to place them into 4 groups—Resist/Draw, Wash/Purify, Grieve/Mourn/Wail, and let laughter-mourn/joy-gloom.

Peter in his writing in his first letter states similar truths in 1 Peter 5:5–9 “5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”.

The truth of the connection of God’s grace to humility and pride clearly spanned throughout the early Christian church and carried a sense of a call to flee sin and live righteously. James was written around 45 AD and 1 Peter was written somewhere in the 60’s AD some fifteen years after the letter from James.

II. We repent by resisting Satan and drawing to God, 7-8a.

As we start looking at these imperatives, a theme comes to the forefront—repentance. James has been discussing the selfish living that causes quarrels and fights and ultimately hostility toward God. In these commands from submission to humility, repentance can be seen and it begins by resisting the influence of Satan in your life. Temptation comes from your own evil desires. We cannot say “the devil made me do it.” We are drawn away of our own desires (James 1:14 “14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”).

The verb translated “resist” means “to stand against.” It has also been translated “oppose” or “withstand” (see, e.g., Acts 6:10; Rom. 9:19; Eph. 6:13). Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000), 193.

When James is telling us the command to resist, we must stand against the influences and pressures Satan places in our lives. There is no middle ground in the Christian’s battle for godly living against Satan.

James makes an awesome promise of Satan fleeing when we stand against him. Victory is possible! Satan’s power cannot overcome the power of God. When we stand against him in the power of the Spirit, he flees. He knows that he cannot defeat the power of God (Matthew 4:1-11 - Live by the Word of God).

However, if pride is ruling and you are not submitting to God Satan will not flee and you are not only living as Satan wants you to live you are in hostility toward God James 4:4.

Submission and humility are key. The second part of this sanctifying truth of resisting Satan and living righteously is we must be drawing near to God. This drawing to God is a lowering of oneself before God and living in obedience to God. It is submitting your pleasures and desires to God and his lordship of your life.

The term “draw” in the OT often referred to approaching God in worship. Within our context it does not seem to fit that understanding completely because it is also used here by James to refer to God drawing to us. God does not approach to worship us. Hosea 12:6

Hosea 12:6 (NASB95)

6 Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.

seems to better help us understand what James is talking about here. God desires us to draw to him in submitting our life in repentance and righteousness. He promises to restore us in Christlikeness. When we go to God in prayer we are submitting our will to Him ready to hear God’s will for how we are to live and serve him. We know that God draws near to us and his Spirit intercedes for us.

The drawing James speaks of is a “whole-hearted return to God” (Heibert, 237).

James desires the Christians he is writing, to have a wonderful relationship with God. The positive command he begins the verse with is “draw near to God.” The idea of worship as referenced with this language in the OT and Hebrews once is most likely due to the context not what James is saying. Jesus has never changed his position in relation to his love for you as his child. It is our pride that gives reason for us to humble ourselves and live in obedience so that we draw closer to God. I have heard it explained that as we take a step toward God, he will step toward us. This is a wrong way of understanding this text and at God’s character. God never changes. We are the ones that change. I like how one commentator explained it. He did so by using one of the most tear-jerking passages of scripture. In Luke 15 we have the parable of the prodigal son. The father in this story is full of love and concern for his two sons to do well in life and to receive their inheritance. It comes to that day where he gifts to each son their inheritance. We know that one son stays home and based on what we can tell from scripture was wise with it. The other son took his new found riches and enjoyed life to the fullest until he ran out of the money and relized the life he was living was empty and void of love, family and friendship. He came to understand that his riotous and pleasure seeking life was empty and void of God. He repents from his sin and chooses to go home and face his father. He once again wanted to draw near to his father and experience a loving and fulfilling relationship with him. He was ready to admit he was wrong and had sinned against his father. Here is the beauty of this story...the Father welcomed him with open arms.

This is wonderfully pictured in Luke 15:20 “20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20 NASB95

20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

This is what it means here for God to draw near to us--he receives us with open arms. Part of this process of repentance involves acknowledging your sin and divided heart. To draw near to God we cannot live wanting both God and the world.

II. We repent by cleansing our lives from sin, 8.

The prodigal son understood the worldly filth he was living in. He came to see the sin he had in his life. Christian, if we are going to live in harmony with God we must live lives of godliness and not worldliness. We must live in a way that is submissive to God. We must lower our assessment of ourselves and realize that apart from God we will sin. When we refuse to resist Satan and let the Spirit of God control our lives we are choosing pride and hostility to God as a way of life. The author of Hebrews speaks to great lengths the danger of living apart from God. He describes our God as a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29 “29 for our God is a consuming fire.”)!

James provides this imperative for repentance. We must cleanse our hands! Sin has polluted the world. The impact of sin is all around. How is sin impacting your life this morning?

James uses strong language. In the Greek here James omits the articles and possessive nouns. The phrase literally reads “wash hands, sinners; and purify hearts, double souled!” James does this for emphasis! James was being blunt and to the point! He is speaking to believers in this passage and is not speaking of the unbeleiver.

Do you need a wake-up call this morning? Have you forgotten how serious your sin is before God? Sin is departing from godliness. It does not matter the “level” of sin or the “egregiousness” of the sin. Sin is sin and hinders the fellowship of you and God. Unwilling to repent of sin displays your pride before God. We try and justify sin all too much. We at times even grow callous to sin where we do not even feel its effects.

When you go to get a pedicure or manicure the process invloves exfoliation of the dead skin cells. The purpose is to treat your hands and restore them to a healthier condition. IN the store you can buy a pumice stone that you can scrub your feet with and help to soften and heal the callousness you may have on your feet.

Christian, conviction is dulled when spiritual callousness is present. No Christian enjoys the process of conviction because it spiritually hurts. You may never get a physical manicure or pedicure but spiriutally, it is dangerous to allow yourself to be hardened to God’s precepts and will.

James demands that repentance take place in your life and part of that process is cleansing and purification. We cannot live a part of both worlds—God and the World! We can only joyfully live in a world where we are constant and current in our repentance and spiritual cleansing.

Stop living wanting the best of the godly and ungodly! There is truly no best with the ungodly but only the deceptive best. Stop wavering and vacillating between righteous and unrighteous!

Repentance involves both the inward and outward! No aspect of our behavior can go unrepentant. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts! Live in a single-minded allegiance to God!

III. Our repentance displays a godly sorrow over sin, 9.

Similar to what James is talking about is what Joel laid out for Israel regarding the Day of the Lord in Joel 2:12 “12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning;.”

Joel was calling for Israel to repent from sin. James is calling the Christian under the inspiration from God to repent from their sin. Similarly Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:10 (“10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”) calls for believers to repent and describes the attitude and heart behind repentance. It was one of sorrow without regret.

Repentance can be defined as a literal change of mind regarding sin and how one is going to act toward God. Repentance happens because of God’s grace. James starts this entire section by specifying the power of God’s grace and to whom it impacts—the humble and submissive. Repentance says that humility and submission to God is the course of action and not pride and selfish ambition. It is not quarrels and fights. It is living at peace with God and in agreement with God over my sin. It is being greived over my sin as God is greived over my sin!

How grieved over your sin are you when God shows you and convicts you? This goes to also again question the level of possible callousness toward sin you may have or maybe not even a callousness but more of a desensitization of sin?

Peter wept bitterly when Christ called out his sin. True Christians show clearly that a mourning accompanies true repentance. It may not be immediate though we should be mournful now rather than repenting and mourning over sin when Christ returns. How amazing would it be that when Christ returns you have very little to none to mourn over sin in your life!

IV. Our repentance takes sin seriously, 9.

James reinforces the first part of the verse with “laughter be turned to mourning.”

Our world mocks righteousness! Our world preaches a care-free style of living! Our world ignores the impending judgement of God. It ignores the godly for a hedonistic lifestyle.

In OT literature laughter was often linked to the “fool.” The fool in OT was someone who mocked scripture and righteous living.

My guess this morning is that not many here are openingly mocking godliness and scripture. If you are then repent for you are acting like a fool!

Rather maybe you are here this morning and the mocking and scorn is more private. It is in the seclusion of your own home, your own mind. If you and I are not careful we can slip into a casual mindset about sin. Jerry Bridges has written an entire book regarding this truth. He titled it Respectable Sins. In the book he lists 15 different sins that we as Christians tend to justify in some shape and fashion. He lists ungodliness and unthankfulness, anxiety, frustration, discontentment, pride, selfishness, impatience, irritability, anger, judgmental-ism, sins with the tongue, lack of self-control, envy, and jealousy.

Do you find yourself stained by any of these sins? We need to take sin serious in our life. It is not to be taken lightly!

The joy that James talks about is different than the Joy Paul talks about having in Philippians 4:4. James is speaking of a joy that comes from when we indulge in our sin. The two joys are night and day different. Paul speaks of joy that is rooted in Christ himself for his forgiveness of our sins. James speaks of the temporary joy that comes from indulging in sin.

True joy does not come from enjoyment in sin but from a repentance that humbly and submissively acts in obedience to God.

God gives his grace to the humble to fulfill and and obey all that he demands and asks of each and every Christian!

Conclusion

James finishes this section by stating the imperative of humbling ourselves in the presences of God and he will exalt us! What a truth!

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble!

Are you humbly submitting your life to the lordship of Christ this morning? God promises to give his grace to the humble. It is God’s grace that enables us to humbly repent of our sin.

Are you choosing to resist Satan and his influences? God promises that Satan will flee. Repentance involves standing against Satan and resisting him. Are you resisting or capitulating?

If you are resisting God wants you to draw near to him! Part of repentance is admitting your sinful behavior and owning up to your sin. It is confessing and asking God to forgive you. Are you living with the same repentant heart of the prodigal son? God is waiting with his love and the grace that he wants to give you. He wants his grace to sustain you as you repent and seek to live a godly life with cleansing your hands and choosing to live for God period.

Are you desiring to repent of sin in your life this morning but some fleshly and sinful desire is too attractive to let it go in humility and submission? God’s grace is not to be abused but his grace is their to sustain the truly repentant and desiring of godly living and relationship with God.

With that being said, how serious are you taking sin in your life? How serious do you take the sin around you? We creep into sinful living often because we do not identify the sin around us as truly sinful. We as Christians need to repent of sin not take it lightly or even laugh at it.

This morning, you and I need to understand that apart from God we are spiritually low and poor. We need God’s grace to live righteously! We need God’s grace to live submissively and humbly before God!

Humility and submission to God are foundational for the Christian’s repentant allegiance to God.

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