James’ Wake Up Call
Notes
Transcript
“A Christmas Story” Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB Gun… Terrible movie… in my personal opinion…
“I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!" And several people respond to him with “You’ll shoot your eye out…” Christmas comes… he gets the BB gun and sure enough he nearly shoots his eye out… He asks and he receives… but he gets something that ultimately is not good for him… well maybe it’s fine - he lived, he can walk it off - but he also got hurt. He received it because he told everyone he wanted it.
And it reminds me of one Christmas when I was a kid - there was something that I really really wanted… I have no idea what it was now, so it wasn’t that important - but I never told either my mom or my dad that I wanted whatever it was. I think I recall telling my mom later that i was hoping that I would get whatever this was… and she mentioned to me “why did you never mention this before?” And I didn’t really have an answer. I think I just expected my parents to know what I wanted, or what I was interested in. Now God already knows what we need before we ask him - but he still desires for his children to come before him in prayer.
So in these two examples we see a similarity to our text for this morning. James teaches us that we ought to ask God for what we need, but understand that when we don’t get those things it is because it is not best for us.
So coming out of his instruction on wisdom James moves into a more strict rebuke. It reads like a wake up call. He moves from this objective to teach them to pursue wisdom from above - to them demonstrating to them that they are not doing so.
Pursue this wisdom from above… but now that we’re thinking about this… why are you fighting? And James them proceeds to instruct them in how they ought to act towards one another instead.
The main idea that James is seeking to communicate in this section is that unrepentant sin among the community of faith will lead to shipwreck - through infighting and quarreling. So put away your jealousy of other peoples things - and instead humble yourselves and submit to God.
So in ch 3 he gives his instruction concerning the dangers of jealousy and demonic wisdom.
As we read in James 3:16
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
And here he makes the connection to show how jealousy leads to disorder and every vile practice.
However, in this text James mentions two different kinds of jealousy.
Man’s sinful jealousy over someone else’s stuff, and then God’s righteous jealousy over our souls.
Man’s Jealousy
Man’s Jealousy
If you are pursuing wisdom from above, or claim to then why do you act the way you do.
So James asks a series of questions in this text.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
He is responding to issues in the church. He seemingly has caught wind of conflict between the members of the churches that he is writing to. Yet instead of saying stop fighting he get to the root issue. He doesn’t attack the symptom (the fighting) he attacks the disease. He doesn’t come at them with “stop fighting! Why can’t we all just get along?!” But instead like a surgeon he goes right to the issue and addresses that. He knows that the interpersonal issues are because of a heart issue. The passions are the heart of problem, not the people.
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.
You have conflicts among you because yours desires are messed up. You have a desire and yet you can’t get it - so you murder.
is James really addressing the issue of Christians murdering one another? Possibly, but I think that’s unlikely. As I have noted several times in this series, James is a good student of the Lord Jesus.
While some interpreters think that James is referring to Christians actually murdering each other - it seems much more likely that James is describing something similar to the idea that Jesus articulates in the sermon on the mount.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Similarly 1 John 3:15
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
So while certainly it is possible that James is describing people killing one another because of jealousy… we’ve heard of weirder things on the evening news - it seems to better fit the description to demonstrate that James is speaking of jealousy leading to hating ones brother.
Have you ever envied what someone had so much that you hated them? Or envied what someone else had to the degree that you could not stand them.
One easy example I could see of this, though may not be something relevant here - but happens in many churches in college towns - is in the example of a relationship. Two members of a church begin a dating relationship, it goes south and part ways… but how does one of those people respond when one begins dating someone else? Jealous to the point of hatred. So from that we see not so much about the difficulty of relationships in churches, but rather how easily conflict and jealousy can develop with in a community.
James does not view jealous, envy or covetousness lightly.
James isn’t really concerned with who is creating these problems.
It’s possible that James does not know of specific issues, but merely knows that when sinful human beings are in community there will be conflict. So unlike other letters - such as those that we see from Paul - James doesn’t name names but rather he identifies attitudes. The passions that they allow to burn are the cause of their conflict. The envy, the jealousy that he has already condemned in chapter 3.
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.
But there’s more to this verse than that. James also speaks of God’s kindness. You envy your brother because he has something that you do not. You do not have these things that you yearn for because you do not ask for them. You envy and covet your neighbor’s status, possessions, husband or wife… rather than asking the Lord for these things.
James is by no means suggesting that God is a magic genie who gives us whatever we want. James is suggesting that their wanting is due to a lack of prayer.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
You have not because you ask not. Yet it’s also true that you may not have because it is not in accordance with God’s will (as we see from 1 John 5:14). James is focusing rather on the issue being that these people are full of envy - and failing to ask God.
So to turn this in toward us… when desire something and we don’t have it… is it because we haven’t asked God for it? Or have we asked God and it is not in accordance with his will?
When we ask God for something and he does not give it to us - it is an opportunity for us to also ask God to change our desires to be more conformed to his will. If our desires are aligned with his will he can aid us in not longer desire that thing anymore. Especially not if that thing… whether it be a possession, a status, a job, a relationship, etc. is leading us to be jealous of another in the church.
As we read in verse 3
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
God knows what you will do with what you ask for. You ask wrongly - you ask out of greed.
God loves to give good gifts to his children. But just because you think it is a good gift does not mean that it is.
And this is where the health, wealth and prosperity gospel fails. God’s greatest desire for you is not to be wealthy, or even comfortable… it is for you to glorify him. If your greatest desire is to bring glory and praise to the most glorious being then He is not going to give you things that
Parents understand this. Sometimes there is something that a kid wants, but the parents know it is a terrible idea.
Right now there is a lego set that Haddon really wants, and Vanessa and I think it’s pretty cool, but it’s really expensive… and we know that we would want Haddon to build it and keep it as a display item. Haddon however would build it, play with it, (which is exactly what kids should do with legos)…
When we decline to give our children things for their own good because we know they will misuse them. And God sometimes will decline to give us things because we will use them for greed. We will use them for our own greed… rather than for his glory. Our passions and pride rather than his praise.
God cares what we do with what he gives us.
There’s a whole lot of people out there that will try to tell you that God does not care who you marry, or what job you take, or what car you drive, or how your spend your money… yet James tells us the opposite here.
You’re covetous because you lack but the reason you lack is because when you ask God for things - you do so with the wrong motive. Your desires are out of order. You ask for things to spend on your passions.
Now I want to draw your attention to verse 4, as James begins his transition from man’s sinful jealousy to God’s righteous jealousy.
But before he fully gets there he makes a statement concerning alliances. He does this through the example of friendship. Are you a friend of the world, or a friend of God? You cannot be both.
If you are a friend of the world then you will act like James condemns in verses 1-3. If you are a friend of God - then you must put those things to death - and instead put on the things that James listed above in verse 17.
God’s Jealousy
God’s Jealousy
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.
James uses the strongest language thus far to his audience in this chapter. Though he has called them brothers previously here he is called adulteresses - he compares them to an unfaithful bride.
And this is common language in the Bible. Where God calls the people of Israel adulterers - we saw this in judges a few weeks ago in Sunday school - also very common in Isaiah, and Hosea. Here James is using that same language but to refer to those in the church who try to hold on to their sinful ways.
Just like you cannot balance some worldly wisdom with some of the wisdom from above you cannot on Sunday be friends with God, when on Saturday night you have been friends with the world. The Bible leaves no room for the kind of Christian who is only a Christian at church on Sunday morning and lives like a pagan then rest of the week.
You cannot seek to glorify God with your life - and also continue to live sinfully. This is why James uses such strong language. It is spiritual adultery.
The Church is the bride of Christ, and she ought to be faithful to Christ with her actions.
As a quick aside - this also teaches us a bit more about taming the tongue.
He has made such an strong emphasis on taming the tongue - and he will return to that in verses 11-12 of chapter 4. And yet here he is calling them adulterers. This might seem a little harsh.
That’s because calling a spade a spade isn’t having a feral tongue.
I would also add that we do not view our sin as negatively as we should. We tend to think of our sins as “not so bad.” James language here is an accurate assessment of how heinous our sins are.
To claim to be a friend of the world, and yet also to be a friend of God is not compatible. We see that in the previous section where we consider the source of wisdom - you cannot balance wisdom from above and wisdom from below. You cannot balance friendship with the world, and friendship with God.
Now as a note, this isn’t James telling us that we cannot be friends with people who are not Christians, but rather that we cannot appeal to, love, cherish and celebrate the things that the world appeals to, loves, cherish and celebrates. We ought to seek to share the good news of Jesus, of the grace of God that James will write about in just a few verses with others - but we cannot embrace the things that the sinful world embraces.
Then James asks another follow up question, and this is where he introduces the idea of God’s jealousy…
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”?
Now verse 5 is a little strange. I showed it to Vanessa the other day, and explained some of the super nerdy language stuff around it - and she said something along the lines of “I thought you said the hardest verse in James was in chapter 3?”
The ESV makes a slight mistake here - but it’s not a translation mistake it’s a formatting mistake. There shouldn’t be quotes there - as that is not a quote that you will find anywhere in the Old Testament. James isn’t wrong though that is indeed in the Scriptures - but it is a summary statement not a quote.
We read of God’s jealousy in Exodus: Ex 20:5, 34:14.
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
Though it might seem that James is referring to the Holy Spirit - James has not referred to the Holy Spirit in this manner - rather he is referring to a human’s spirit. The spirit he has placed in us when he created us.
While you are jealous over one another and fighting because of it you have ignored that God has a righteous jealousy for you… God jealously yearns for your souls. The very thing that him belongs because he is your Creator. He has put that spirit within you - it belongs to him - so his jealousy is righteous and holy.
And for the Christian this is all the more true - as you have been bought with a price… the precious blood of Jesus.
From the catechism question that I read earlier - My only hope in life and in death is that I am not my own but I belong to God…
James then follows up in verse 6 with a wonderful verse of comfort.
God gives more grace.
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
from here until verse 12 James will emphasize humility, but I will save that for next week - and we will revisit this verse.
But I want to focus on that first sentence: God gives greater grace.
James has just gives them a strong wake up call over their conduct. He has charged them with selfishness, worldliness, jealousy, spiritual adultery, murder… And after all of this he reminds them that the grace of God is greater than all of their sins and short comings.
The grace that is found at the foot of the cross of Jesus is greater than the sins that we commit.
James has listed and demonstrated a whole list of sins that leave all of us condemned in this passage, and in the passage from last week. It might be easy to think if jealousy is condemned then who can be saved? If friendship with the world is condemned - what hope is there for me?
There is hope in Jesus. There is greater grace to be found in the crucified son of God who takes the sins of the world on himself so that their penalty might be paid and forgiven.
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As we look at this text, we should be instructed that we must protect how we interact with one another in the church so as not to become like James’ audience. We cannot allow jealousy to divide the church. Are you jealous of someone? Bring it to the Lord. Repent. Do they have something you desire? Ask the Lord.
Where do your allegiances lie? Are you seeking to be a friend of God, or a friend of the world?
Jealously, covetousness, anger, infighting, quarrels, gossip, adultery, will all lead to death… Jesus provides more grace.
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Closing Prayer:
Search us and know us O Lord. Reveal to us any wicked way that might be in us. Lead us in the way that is everlasting.
You know our thoughts, your know our needs.
Lead us to be more dependent upon you. Help us put envy, covetousness and jealousy to death. Help us to be content with what we have - and to bring our needs before you.
Wednesday Night:
Does any of James’ language seem out of place here?
Do you have a temptation to look at this text and think “well it’s not that serious?!”
Verse 6: Prov. 3:21-35 - poem.
1 Peter 5:5 also quotes this.
