Hopeful Submission
Notes
Transcript
As we are going through James, the main thing that James is trying to get across is that we need to be living our lives publically for the Lord. We have received the great hope of eternity that is only found in Jesus Christ. What we do now is we put that hope into action. James 1:22
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
We are all doing something. But at the center of this is not just doing, it is what you are doing. We are to be doers of the word. As we are going through James, we are seeing different areas that this applies to. Today, we are going to be looking at chapter 4 and at the center of this chapter and truly at the center of being doers of the word, we see that we must be submissive.
This is something that we naturally are adverse to. Trust me, I know. You have heard me say before, and this is something I am aware of and am working on dearly, but I really don’t like to be told what to do. I mean even down to very little things. Sometimes it is how I am approached about something, other times it is the thing itself, and then it could just be the person that is telling it to me.
But it comes down to submission. Whether this is you doing what your boss has told you to, husbands and wives submitting themselves to each other, or children doing what is expected and told of them by parents, it is all submission.
It isn’t just me that has a submission problem, it is all of humankind. Nobody likes getting told what to do or what not to do. Except for a few out there that will do whatever they are told, but even with them, you get the right person to tell them something, like maybe God himself, and they will resist.
James, in his context, is not a stranger to submission. He lived in a world that was widely underneath Roman rule. As Christianity spread, hostility towards Christians did as well. A lot of this had to do with oppression from the government.
I know that we hear people moan and whine now a days about how oppressive our government is. Come on! You were able to gather this morning underneath the name of Jesus Christ and worship and sing and fellowship together as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. No one was guarding our doors keeping us out, there were no soldiers with barricades. The government does not oppress us.
If you want to see an oppressive government, study history. Look at the Roman regime in the time of Jesus and the early church. The reason that the church was so persecuted by the Roman government was because Caesar wanted to be the one who was worshiped. He believed that he was a god. And if you denied that he was a god, then you had a target on your back.
Jesus is God. So for the follower of Jesus, to claim him to be king means that you were denying that Caesar was god. So the church was persecuted heavily. Their submission to Jesus meant resistance to a crazed man who only had worldly power. In the time of James, everyone submitted. You either submitted to Jesus as Lord or you submitted to Caesar as lord.
Even though our flesh hates the idea of submission, what if submission actually grew us closer to Jesus. I believe that James makes a great case for this in this chapter.
Our Submission to God will increase our hope
Our Submission to God will increase our hope
As a home for hope for all, we want to see everyone not only experience the hope of Jesus, but see that hope continue to increase. When God saves us, we are never expected to just stay where we are at. God takes us and moves us more and more into the image of Jesus. So with that, our love grows, our compassion grows, our knowledge and understanding grows, and our hope grows. All of this happens through our submission to God as Lord over our lives.
Are you focused on submitting yourself to God?
I think this is a very reasonable yet profound question that we should ask ourselves. It is a litmus test as to our focus on our spiritual walk with God and if we are truly trying to be like Jesus. We should look at specific areas of our lives and see how little or how much or even if we are submitting to God.
So I am going to take this chapter in James and outline 6 areas of submission that James points out to us.
Submit your Passions
Submit your Passions
We all have passions in life. Some of them are Godly passions. Maybe you want to see the church grow, you are sharing your faith with others, you are using God given talents and abilities to serve his kingdom. Those are are wonderful passions. But not all passions are necessarily Godly.
I have a passion for sitting on my rear end, finding a good tv show, and lighting up a nice cigar. Not necessarily evil but not godly either. But there are some passions that go completely against God. And those who support them are extremely passionate.
I think about our trips to Love Life in Charlotte where we stand in a prayer gap for mothers who are potentially murdering their preborn children. If you ever go, and we will have the chance soon to do that, you will see that there are many people who are there that are advocating for women to have their children killed under the mask of a women’s choice. These people are passionate about a sin that attacks the very nature of God’s creation. People are passionate.
1 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.
people who fight are passionate; if you aren’t and you get into a fight, you will lose
what causes fights is when there are two opposing forces that go against each other
let’s say that me and Brittany are trying to decide where we want to take a trip to. Just a rest and relaxation trip, no kids, no family, just me and my bride. Mountains vs. beach; two opposing forces
James equates this war to our sinfulness; desire leads to murder; covetousness leads to fights and quarrels
it all comes back to the heart; if our hearts are aligned with God, we will desire the things that he desires; and the reason that we don’t have the things we desire in our godliness is because we have not asked for them
how do you ask? through prayer; when we align ourselves with God’s desires and will, and we pray for something that is within that, within his plan, and we ask with faith, then we believe that he will give it.
story of the fiery furnace; they said they were going to ask God to deliver them, they believed that He would, Daniel 3:18 “18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.””
our passions should be submitted to God so that our passions change and line up with God and we can say like the men in the fiery furnace, even if God doesn’t, we will still submit and serve you
Submit your Allegiances
Submit your Allegiances
When I say allegiance, we ain’t talking about saying a pledge of allegiance. I am talking about the thing, that when given the opportunity, you would give up other things for. The Bible makes our relationship with God a simple one, either you are for him or you are against him.
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.
Who has your allegiance? Because it is one or the other. Either the world has it or God has it.
worldly influence is growing constantly; rise of technology; rise of social media; being bombarded constantly with information and opinions
I am the most guilty but have you ever seen how much time you spend on your phone compared to how much time you spend in growing in your relationship with Jesus?
idea is more than just being an acquaintance; this is devotion, allegiance; this means when it comes down to it, you are going to chose one over the other
brothers and sisters all over the world are losing their lives because they are having to make a choice; who are you giving your allegiance to?
idea of cultural christianity; being a Christian when it is convenient; this is like being a double agent; pretending to work for one thing while secretly working for another
allegiance is proven in hard times(difficult situations) and it is proven behind closed doors in private
to submit your allegiance means that you cut all ties to the enemy; Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out or if your hand causes you to sin to cut it off; we have to cut these things off for our allegiance
Submit your Pride
Submit your Pride
What a better time to talk about this than right now. The world, you know the thing that you should not have allegiance to, has decided that we need to take a month to celebrate this idea of pride. They use it to promote sexual immorality. The bible is very clear about pride.
Proverbs 16:18 “18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 11:2 “2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”
Psalm 10:4 “4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.””
God is clear that pride goes against righteousness.
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”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Have you ever heard that God is a jealous God?; this is not saying that he is desiring something that he does not deserve; creator of the universe deserves all attention and worship
God is jealous of the spirit in us because he desires for us to be living by the Holy Spirit that he has given us
God gives us the Holy Spirit as a means of grace(he gives more grace); grace and pride cannot coexist;
God opposes pride, but if you humble yourself before God, he will give you grace; what does it mean to humble, submission is humility; saying that I know that I cannot do this and should not try, so Lord, I am going to let you rule my life. I am going to do the things you tell me to do and go where you tell me to go
When you don’t see God as the ruler of your life, then you see yourself as good enough to rule; That is pride; submit your pride
Submit Your Resistance
Submit Your Resistance
James starts this next part off with what I believe may be the 2nd most impactful verse of the entire book.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Give yourself over to God; be in his will, his care; idea of slavery to God; if you aren’t a slave of God, then you are a slave to sin; Sin is what gives us over to Satan; he will use forces to cause us to sin
The command is to resist; the forces that we resist are not of this world;
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
So how do we fight this, how do we resist?
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Resistance to the devil is submission to God; what you can’t do is one without the other; they are linked; but that isn’t the only command here
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
turn your hearts to Jesus; devote your entire life to him; James gives examples here
Here is the point to this and maybe this needs to be your prayer. This is a constant prayer that I try to pray but need to pray more of. Keep me close, keep me clean
explain somewhat
submit your resistance
Submit Your Judgment
Submit Your Judgment
In our Wednesday night study, we just had the opportunity to look at the sermon on the mount and see what Jesus said about judgment. I suggest you take Matthew 7 this week and see what he had to say. James too speaks to this as well.
11 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.
12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
dealing with how we speak about our brothers and sisters in Jesus; we are family; if you can’t get along here, how do you think you will do it in heaven
when you speak evil, you are acting as judge; when someone has already been absolved of their crimes by the highest court, why would you step in and attempt to pronounce a new judgment on them
taking God off of the judgment throne and putting yourself on there; are you able to save?; only the one who is able to pronounce an eternal judgment has that power
judgment vs. discernment; James will even tell us that when we see a brother in sin and go to them, we are saving them; just because someone confronts you in a loving, brotherly manner about sin in your life, that doesn’t mean that they are acting as judge
submit your judgment
Submit Your Will
Submit Your Will
I talk a lot about how God is sovereign. He has put things into motion, he is the creator and sustainer, he has set our days before us, and he even knows how many hairs you have on your head. The beautiful thing is that he has not made us into robots. He has given us the ability to make choices, what we call free will.
This morning, you woke up and you made the choice to come to church, and I am thankful you made that choice. When you leave here, there will be decisions to be made like what you are going to do this afternoon. God has given us the ability to make decisions. But how does that relate to God’s will for our lives. Let’s be very honest, there are times when God is leading us to do something and it has nothing to do with our plan. So how do we reconcile that?
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
We think we know what we want to do; life doesn’t always work out like that; maybe you have a 5 year plan or you are waiting for your 401k to hit a certain milestone but what if that doesn’t happen
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
If God wills; Lord willing and the creek don’t rise; instead of getting wrapped up in your plan, make this your mantra
this isn’t about being free spirited; plans are not evil; but what are the intentions of your plans; the point is that all that we do must be in submission to God’s plan and God’s will
Conclusion
Submit to the Lord; do this because of the increasing hope that you have in him
But first, you must submit your heart to him; (gospel presentation)
What we are dealing with may be different, but everyone has a step to take
Finish up with this very last verse in chapter 4 because it wraps up this idea of submission and how we are all, as Christians, called to submit ourselves to the Lord.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
You have heard the word of the Lord, you know what is right. If you do not do it, you are in sin. Don’t continue to be in sin. Submit yourselves to the hope that is in Jesus.
