Sermon Tone Analysis

Friendship

Memories of friends

I remember scraping the driveway of snow in the the bitter cold winters with my friend Dan so we could play basketball.

Having just warned against the evils that result from jealousy and rivalry (3:14, 16), James now points out what some in his churches have seemingly allowed those motives to produce—coveting and quarreling—which resemble devotion to this fallen world rather than to God (4:1–6)

I remember he and I hauling scrap wood from wherever we could find it to make tree forts in the woods near his house

I remember road trips with my friends Adam and Micah

I still remember the inside jokes of my friends from childhood and college

Even today, when I meet people and tell them where i’m from and where i’ve lived over the years they respond, “why come to Wichita?”

And honestly outside of truly believing God called my family and I to wichita I can’t give them a good answer.

But I have a very quick answer as to why I want to stay in Wichita.

And thats because of the friendships we have here.

And its not because of the hot summer nor the windy winters

Friendship is truly a gift of God

Friendship is one of the ways God reveals himself to his people

Its

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In the Bible we see that true friends are closer than brothers

Many of your f

We see that friends are the ones who call us out when we are slipping into sin

Job says that one “who withholds kindness from a friend has forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”

Job even says that one “who withholds kindness from a friend has forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”

In other words, if you fear God, you better show kindness to your friends.”

That is how important friendship is to God.

Now, as we get into James chapter 4 this theme of friendship is like a stake I want to put into the ground in order to us understand whats going on.

There are some passages in the bible that are more difficult to understand than others, and this is one of them.

James seems to go all over the place

But i believe if we understand what he is saying about friendship with God and friendship with the world we will be able to navigate this passage the right way.

Let’s pray.

There are some among the churches James is writing to who are not living as friends of God, but rather as friends of the world.

peacemakers are friends of God

Abraham was a friend of God.

Now in Chapter 2:23 James talks about faith and works, and how through a working faith Abraham was called a friend of God.

And here in chapter 4 James is rebuking the people for being friends with the world.

Friendship in the bible is a very serious thing.

today we often view friendship as something that is

temporary not permanent

preferred but not imperative

We often think of friendship as something that makes our already formed and established lives better.

However, in the Bible friends were closer than family.

Your friends were the most important people and relationships in your life.

Your friends were your councilors, they were the ones who would sit with you for weeks to comfort you in your sorrow - like Job’s friends.

Job’s friends sat with him for a whole week before they even said a word.

friends love was so deep that he would die for you, as Jesus did for us.

a friend’s devotion was real that he would even kill for you like Hushai did for David.

a friend would sacrifice everything for you, as Jonathan did David.

friends love was so deep that he would die for you, as Jesus did for us.

When Jesus was having the last supper with James and the other disciples he said this to them...

John 15:12-

James knows the importance of being a friend of God.

Biblical Friendship truly matters

If you were offered a huge promotion with a 300% raise, but you had to move from Wichita to New York, you would either move your friends with you or you would probably say no to the job because to take it would be to leave your friends.

biblical friendship is thicker than blood, more important that money, and more treasured than life itself.

So when James says..

You adulterous people!

do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

If you chose to have this sort of love, this sort of devotion, this sort of bond with the world than you are at enmity (hostile or hatred) toward God.

This friendship covenant is so serious that to be friends with the world is to in effect, bind your heart, body and soul, to another.

To emphasize his point, James calls them an adulterous people!

The word here translated “adulterous” is in the feminine form, meaning a better translation would be, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”

“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

The reason James uses the feminine form of the noun calling them adulteresses is that he wants to harken back to prophets who called Israel as an unfaithful bride.

Israel as an unfaithful bride who desired friendship with the world.

She started to be attracted to what the world had to offer

The viewpoints and social agendas of the world started to make sense.

She began to find more security in what other nations had to offer than in the promises of God.

She became lax in worship, and sacrifice.

She grew in her neglect and ignorance of the law

And eventually she chased after strange gods, and gave herself to them.

James is seeing this same sort of behavior happening in the young churches he is writing too.

He is seeing these young Christians beginning to act like an unfaithful bride, like an adulteress, and as a good prophet he must rebuke them and call them to repentance.

In James rebuke in verse 4 he says, “Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Let me make this point, when James speaks of the WORLD he is not talking about

unsaved people -

as if you should not be friends with those who are not saved

Culture, entertainment, trends, music, hobbies, or anything like that.

(Music) James is not interested in trying to say that if you love a certain kind of music than you love the world

(Alcohol) He is not saying that if you drink alcohol than you are drinking the worlds beverage.

(Movies) Or if you go to a movie that is not a Christian movie than you are a friend of the world.

This is not what James is saying.

What James is saying when he says we should not be a “friend of the world” is that we must not love, approve, affirm, enjoy, rest in, or bind ourselves to anything that opposes character and holiness of God.

If we affirm as good that which God has called evil we have then made ourselves friends with the world.

The world James speaks of is the system of the world that stands opposed to the kingdom of God.

It is the wisdom from below that is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic

It is the kingdom of darkness

The world James speaks of is everything that stands opposed and rebels against the kingship of Christ.

So why is James concerned that these young believers are move toward a friendship with the world?

What is happening in their context that would cause James to speak with this prophetic rebuke?

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Fights, Quarrels, and Passions

James has heard that the churches are fight and quarreling among themselves.

This is not outside persecution that is causing the tension, rather its strife from within.

I think thats interesting, historically fight and quarrels from the outside actually strengthens the church, but what destroys churches is when the people fight and quarrel with each other.

And this is what James addressing… Look at

vv. 13–18 prepare the way perfectly for James’s rebuke of quarreling in the church.

So James begins with a rhetorical question, “What causes quarrels and what causes fight among you?”

What sort of quarrels and fights?

James does not care about the issue they are fighting about.

If they are fighting about the color of the carpets

or the volume of the music during worship

Rather, James is far more concerned about source of these quarrels, which are the passions at war within them