The Danger of Living Without God
The Book of James - James 4:1-10 • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 37 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Tabletalk Magazine, March 2012: The Self-Centered Life Coram Deo—Before the Face of God: Theological Narcissism (Burk Parsons)
According to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespia renowned for his beauty. His enemy, Nemesis, lured the arrogant Narcissus to a pool of water where he gazed at his own reflection and became utterly infatuated with the image in the pool, not realizing it was his own reflection. Enraptured with himself, Narcissus could not escape the beauty of his own reflection and eventually died. We are all like Narcissus. We are infatuated with ourselves—obsessed with our own image. However, we’re not satisfied merely to bask in our own importance, we want everyone around us to be as enamored with us as we are with ourselves, and, what’s more, we want God Himself to be so taken with us that He makes all His thoughts revolve around us as if we were the center and ultimate end of all His plans.
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. D. L. Moody.
God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. D. L. Moody.
D. L. Moody.
British actor Michael Wilding was once asked if actors had any traits which set them apart from other human beings. "Without a doubt," he replied. "You can pick out actors by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves."
When Mother Teresa was passing through a crowd in Detroit a woman remarked, "Her secret is that she is free to be nothing. Therefore God can use her for anything."
Today in the Word, April 2, 1993.
Read
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. 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. 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.” 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. 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? 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. 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. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James 4:1-17
Introduction:
Introduction:
People who live without God face five dangers. It stifles the prayer life. It makes them a friend of the world and an enemy of God. They neglect God’s will in their lives. It produces insult and slander of fellow believers. It produces people who plan their lives without seeking God.
People who live without God face five dangers. It stifles the prayer life. It makes them a friend of the world and an enemy of God. They neglect God’s will in their lives. It produces insult and slander of fellow believers. It produces people who plan their lives without seeking God.
According to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespia renowned for his beauty. His enemy, Nemesis, lured the arrogant Narcissus to a pool of water where he gazed at his own reflection and became utterly infatuated with the image in the pool, not realizing it was his own reflection. Enraptured with himself, Narcissus could not escape the beauty of his own reflection and eventually died. We are all like Narcissus. We are infatuated with ourselves—obsessed with our own image. However, we’re not satisfied merely to bask in our own importance, we want everyone around us to be as enamored with us as we are with ourselves, and, what’s more, we want God Himself to be so taken with us that He makes all His thoughts revolve around us as if we were the center and ultimate end of all His plans.
I. Self-Centered Living Stifles Prayer Life (vv. 1–3)
I. Self-Centered Living Stifles Prayer Life (vv. 1–3)
Main Idea: People who make their own desires the chief goal of their lives need not expect answers to prayer.
Main Idea: People who make their own desires the chief goal of their lives need not expect answers to prayer.
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.
James asks rhetorical questions to point to the the real reason for these “Christians” to have difficulty.
The Greek word translated “desires” is related etymologically to the English word, *hedonism, the philosophy that the chief purpose of living is to satisfy self.
Jesus used the same word to describe people “choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and … do not mature” ().
14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
In this passage “pleasures” described any personal goal such as money, reputation, or success, which contributes to personal accomplishment rather than God’s will.
When any strong, sinful lust is not gratified, the worldly person is prone to lash out in angry frustration, sometimes even committing murder.
Even the Pharisees, who lusted for the personal satisfaction of having a reputation for virtue and holiness, murdered the Savior who unmasked their hypocrisy.
Here we see an additional reason these believers failed to gain their desires. When they asked, they asked with wrong motives. They may have made legitimate requests, but their purpose in praying was illegitimate. They only wanted to pursue their personal pleasures.
Here we see an additional reason these believers failed to gain their desires.
When they asked, they asked with wrong motives. They may have made legitimate requests, but their purpose in praying was illegitimate. They only wanted to pursue their personal pleasures.
Scripture suggests that God listens to the prayers of the righteous (; ). Those who are upright must voice their requests in accord with God’s will (). We will not receive prayer answers from the Lord unless we ask with the right motives in accord with God’s will.
Scripture suggests that God listens to the prayers of the righteous (; ).
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
Those who are upright must voice their requests in accord with God’s will ().
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
We will not receive prayer answers from the Lord unless we ask with the right motives in accord with God’s will.
II. Self-Centered Living Displeases God (vv. 4–6)
II. Self-Centered Living Displeases God (vv. 4–6)
Main idea: God demands complete loyalty from His people, and He provides the grace to achieve it.
Main idea: God demands complete loyalty from His people, and He provides the grace to achieve it.
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. 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.”
James harshly called his readers, You adulterous people.
The Bible describes the act of turning away from God as spiritual adultery (see ; ).
3 But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
James charged his readers with spiritual adultery.
Friendship with the world describes a deliberate choice to follow the world.
What does that look like? Aligning ourselves with the cares and concerns of this world over the things of God.
It is an act of defiance and rebellion against God. For a Christian, this type of response resembles entering the camp of the enemy and joining his army.
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
If God makes heavy demands of his people, he supplies the grace to comply with the commands as the quotation from (quoted also in ) shows.
34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
The proud are those who turn their hearts away from God to another rival.
The humble understand and practice total dependence on God.
James assumed that believers, even though they might fall into temporary backslidings, are basically humble in that they recognize that salvation comes from God alone. Believers are recipients of the grace he is willing and able to give.
God resists the proud by opposing the life and practices of those who fail to follow him. He foils their plans and frustrates their dreams. God does not want our lives to be dominated by materialism, a search for prestige, selfish ambition, or deliberate forgetfulness of God. His aim is that we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” ().
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
III. Self-Centered Living Demands Repentance (vv. 7–10)
III. Self-Centered Living Demands Repentance (vv. 7–10)
Main Idea: Believers should submit to God by following these basic steps.
Main Idea: Believers should submit to God by following these basic steps.
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.
Look at verses 7-10: What actionable steps can we take to protect us from self-centeredness?
Submit … to God calls us to subject our wills to his control. We can submit ourselves to the Lord only when we recognize that he is greater and worthy of more honor than we. The negative side of this command urges us to resist the devil.
Resist is a military metaphor urging Christians to stand our ground against Satan’s attacks. We resist the devil when we refuse to surrender to the impulse of sin.
If we obey these commandments, God promises that the devil will flee from us.
Christ’s resistance of Satan in his wilderness temptations provided the devil no foothold in his life and eventually forced the devil to flee ().
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Come near to God involves approaching God in worship and commitment. Those who approach God in the obedience of worship find that he comes near to them. As our knowledge of the Lord deepens, we learn more fully his strength, power, and guidance for godly living.
**Wash your hands** uses the language of religious ceremony in a moral sense (see ). We cleanse our hands by withdrawing them from all evil actions and compromises. Perhaps obedience to this command called more for cleansing the outward life, while **purify your hearts** called for an inner purification (see ). The language here is soaked with words from calling for believers to have “clean hands and a pure heart.”
Wash your hands uses the language of religious ceremony in a moral sense (see ).
We wash our hands by withdrawing them from all evil actions and compromises. It is obedience to this command that cleanses the outward life.
Purify your hearts called for an inner purification (see ). The language here is soaked with words from calling for believers to have “clean hands and a pure heart.”
19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
Double-minded people follow the practices of the world while they pretend to hold to God.
Laughter shows how casually James’s readers were treating their sin. The only proper reaction to God’s impending judgment is to be wretched and mourn and weep, as is seen often in the OT.
To become humble before God demands a voluntary turning to God (see the words of Jesus in ). The picture is that of a person who falls prostrate before a powerful oriental ruler, seeking mercy.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
IV. Self-Centered Living Produces Slander (vv. 11–12)
IV. Self-Centered Living Produces Slander (vv. 11–12)
Main Idea: Human pride leads to disparaging criticism of others.
Main Idea: Human pride leads to disparaging criticism of others.
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?
Slander is critical speech intended to inflame others against the person being criticized. It involves talking against people, perhaps attacking them behind their backs. It can be truth or lie or a little of each.
In this instance Christians were slandering Christians. Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. For Christians to malign other believers is a living contradiction of the close family ties which should bind them together.
A slanderous Christian must face two charges.
First, one who practices slander speaks against the law. The law that a critical Christian misrepresents is the law of love (see ). Christians are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. The slanderous Christian fails to do this.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Second, one who practices slander judges the law. With a fault-finding attitude I set myself up as a judge. I neglect God’s law, thus declaring that it is a bad law and worthy of being removed. God calls Christians to keep the law, not to sit in judgment on it. When we slander our neighbors, we show our opposition to the law of love and imply that we are exempt from observing it.
God is the only Lawgiver and Judge, the one able both to save and destroy. Only God has the ability to enforce his laws and carry out his purposes. He allows no human being to share his role. A slanderous Christian attempts to play the role of God. God has no pleasure in those who practice slander.
Christians can easily come to the conclusion that we are free to show critical attitudes toward those who do wrong. The Bible warns us to leave this judgment with God. Only God has the competence to find and punish those who break his laws. Our calling is to respond in supportive love rather than biting criticism.
V. Self-Centered Living Produces People Who Ignore God’s Will (vv. 13–17)
V. Self-Centered Living Produces People Who Ignore God’s Will (vv. 13–17)
Main Idea: We commit ourselves to discover the will of God as we make our plans for the future.
Main Idea: We commit ourselves to discover the will of God as we make our plans for the future.
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. 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. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Far too often we make plans and goals and expect God to fall in line with them.
Holman New Testament Commentary: Hebrews & James E. Self-Centered Living Produces People Who Ignore God’s Will (vv. 13–17)
This paragraph warns against such self-centered planning. Worldly living does not always show itself in hatred for God. Sometimes it appears in the form of disregarding God as we plan life’s daily activities.
This paragraph warns against such self-centered planning. Worldly living does not always show itself in hatred for God. Sometimes it appears in the form of disregarding God as we plan life’s daily activities.
First, we have no sure knowledge of the future. We do not know whether tomorrow will produce a catastrophe or a visitation of God’s grace. Even though we do not know the future, we so often act as if we are secure. We forget that we may be here for a moment and then gone. By failing to accept this fact, we demonstrate arrogant self-sufficiency.
Second, we do not understand the nature of human life which is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Life is both uncertain and brief.
James accused his readers of boasting and bragging. Brag describes the arrogant assumption they could handle the future as they wanted to do independently of God. Our boasting is to be in the Lord himself, in the blessings he gives us, and in the experiences which cause us to know him better.
Paul boasted in his weaknesses that allowed the power of Christ to rest on him (). He gloried in the cross () because it represented the action which brought the blessings of God’s salvation to lost sinners.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
VI. PRINCIPLES
VI. PRINCIPLES
A description of the right attitude (v. 15)
An explanation of their present evil attitude (vv. 16–17)
VI. PRINCIPLES
VI. PRINCIPLES
• We sometimes scheme and fight to obtain what God would give us if we would only ask.
• God yearns for us to give him our undivided allegiance.
• God exalts those who humble themselves before him.
• Only God has the ability to judge and evaluate our motives.
• Seeking the will of God must be the goal of our personal planning.
• We must beware of sins of omission as well as those of commission.
PRINCIPLES
• We sometimes scheme and fight to obtain what God would give us if we would only ask.
• God yearns for us to give him our undivided allegiance.
• God exalts those who humble themselves before him.
• Only God has the ability to judge and evaluate our motives.
• Seeking the will of God must be the goal of our personal planning.
• We must beware of sins of omission as well as those of commission.
APPLICATIONS
• Don’t ask with wrong motives, or you will not get your requests from God.
• Seek grace from God to love him with your whole heart.
• Resist temptation, and God will enable you to overcome it.
• Don’t slander other believers, for in so doing you set yourself above God’s laws.
• Be concerned not only about what you do but also about what you fail to do.
VII. APPLICATIONS
VII. APPLICATIONS
• Don’t ask with wrong motives, or you will not get your requests from God.
• Seek grace from God to love him with your whole heart.
• Resist temptation, and God will enable you to overcome it.
• Don’t slander other believers, for in so doing you set yourself above God’s laws.
• Be concerned not only about what you do but also about what you fail to do.