James 4:1-12

Who is James?

Was he a believer before Jesus was crucified?

“Submit Yourselves to God”

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.

James begins to hear about conflicts taking place in this church. And asks this church of question of the cause of this conflicts.

How many of you have had conflicts in your life?

All of us of course. But have you ever been in a conflict or fight and asked yourself where it was coming from.

Have you ever had an argument with a friend or family member and you really weren’t upset with them you were mad about something else but just took it out on them?

James is asking them here, what is going on? Why are you constantly fighting and in conflict. And then he says, is it not that your passions are at war within you. The NIV says desires. that their desires were causing them to fight.

James calls them murderers because they kill for what they don’t have. They covet, or desires to have things they cannot because they can’t obtain them and this is what is causing their conflict.

James 4:4–6 ESV

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.”

Adulterous people is a term that means they are unfaithful to God. James is telling these people that friendship with the world means that they hate God.

These people had issues, but God’s grace was still available for them. And James quotes . God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

How to people act when they are proud? Think they have got it all together?

God gives us grace, if we will humble ourselves. Being Proud means we think we are always right. We put ourselves first. We think it is our way or no way. But God opposes those who are proud. He cannot be in relationship with those who are proud.

God is looking for someone who will humble themselves before him.

Humble means to have or show a low estimate of one’s importance.

Why would God want us to view ourselves of having low importance? Doesn’t the bible say that we are children of God?

God wants us to realize that we are no better than anyone else. That we rely on him to live. That every breath we breathe is literally given to us by God. In order to truly follow God, we have to put our desires and wants aside and follow him.

This church James is writing to was being led by their desires, causing them to fight. But when give yourself to God, his desires become your desires.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 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.

James 4:7–10 ESV

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.

James 4:7

This church was hurting because of their fighting. And James tells them that they need to Submit to God, and Resist the Devil. When you resist the devil and temptation, he will flee from you.

The Devil is a real being. He is not something that we should fear but something that we should be aware of.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

He is seeking us. Watching us. Waiting for the right time to attack. And he will work in anyway that he can to create separation between you and God and you and your family.

The devil likes to start conflict. Conflict is what this church was facing. In this case they were allowing the enemy to make them proud. Make it seem like they had it all together, that they knew it all, and that it was their way or no way.

People in their core do not want to be humble. We can only be humble with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit is what helps us not fall into our sinful nature or into the temptations of the enemy.

That is why James also says, Draw near to God and he will Draw near to you. When you begin to draw near to God, you will become more like him. You will realize how dependent you are on him.

You can only draw near to God when you have repented and let go of sin. He tells these people to cleanse their hands and purify your hearts.

God wants to forgive you.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we confess our sin to him he will forgive us. That is how we can become clean. James says in verse 9, to weep and mourn, we have to truly be sorry when we come to God asking for Forgiveness. WE have to mean it. We have to want to truly change.

Verse 10 says: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

If being humble means to view yourself as less important, why would god lift you up. God likes to lift up those that realize they need him.

James 4:11–12 ESV

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?

Speaking against your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is a sin. There is no way around it, it is sin.

Those who judge others adopt the role that belongs to God and God alone. God is our judge, we are not.

The Last part here says, Who are you to judge your neighbor?