Sermon Tone Analysis

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

James 4:1-17

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.

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)

Main Idea: People who make their own desires the chief goal of their lives need not expect answers to prayer.

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” ().

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 (; ).

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.

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.

James harshly called his readers, You adulterous people.

The Bible describes the act of turning away from God as spiritual adultery (see ; ).

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.

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.

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” ().

III.

Self-Centered Living Demands Repentance (vv.

7–10)

Main Idea: Believers should submit to God by following these basic steps.

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 ().

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.”

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.