Living Out Our Faith Submissively - James 4:4
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Introduction
Introduction
This evening we right back to James 4. Tonight’s verse is James 4:4. However, before we dive into it, let’s begin by reading the entire paragraph first and then we will get right into this evening’s study.
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Already we have discovered that our root problem is our sinful flesh. It is what drives us to “lust.” There are two Greek words used in this paragraph for lusts. They are used in conjunction with another painting a clear picture of how our flesh works against us. Our flesh is driven by an intense passion for selfish pleasures. One Greek word for “lusts” means an intense passion which can be used for good or bad. The second Greek word for “lusts” simply means “pleasures.” Thus, we understand how each of us possess within us an intense passion to satisfy our own gratification. It is a battle that wars in our members. As it does, it becomes then the source of all battles both within and without.
From there, we learned how lust causes things to escalate. We becomes so consumed with pleasing ourselves that we will go to some extreme measures to get what we want. Hence, we kill, fight, and war. Unfortunately, we are never satisfied. This scenario is especially bad for the believer. We have a Heavenly Father Who loves us having promised to take care of all our needs. All we must do is put Him first. Therein lies some our problem. Too many times we make what we want first in our lives instead of Him and His righteousness. However, if we would simply submit to His will, He is more than willingly to answer our prayers. We have not because we ask not.
Then, last week, we learned how sometimes we ask and we do not receive. Again, the issues is lust. There are times we turn to God for answers, yet, we do so that we might “consume it upon our lusts.” For that reason, the Holy Spirit notes that we “ask amiss.”
One of the things that I wanted to share last Sunday evening and was unable to do so was this thought. My father-in-law, Eugene Nichols, preaches a great message centered on this verse. He developed a list of things that causes us “ask amiss.” In his message, he uses the word “amiss” as easy acronym to remember. Here are some things that cause us to ask amiss.
A - Anger (sinful anger)
M - Mate (not having a right relationship with our mate)
I - Idolatry (placing other things before God)
S - Self (selfish requests)
S - Sin (any sin in general breaks our fellowship with God)
It is not an exhaustive list by any means. However, it is a simple way for us to quickly examine ourselves ensuring that we do not “ask amiss.”
All this bring us to our verse for this evening’s consideration. Note with me James 4:4
James 4:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
GRAMMAR STUDY
GRAMMAR STUDY
You can break this verse/sentence into three basic sections.
First, there is the exclamation that begins this sentence.
James 4:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
The second section is a question.
James 4:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
The third and last section answers the question with a very logical conclusion.
James 4:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Grammatically, we see five verbs. Three of them are being verbs [is, be, and is]. The other two are notable action verbs. The verb “know” means to know by perception. Pilate used this word in his remarks given in Matthew 27:65
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
This was his response to the Jews as they requested that he place a guard at Christ’s tomb. Pilate responded by giving them their request and then noted they were to “make it as SURE as” they could. In other words, do whatever they needed as they perceived need to be done. Thus, in our text, the same thought occurs. The Holy Spirit says, “Know ye not.” In other words, have you not understood through your own perception that any person who is a friend of the world is enmity with God?
The other notable verb here is the word “will.” In English, we understand this to be an auxiliary or helping verb. However, in the Greek, this word denotes “desire.” In fact, it goes deeper than just desire. It has the idea of deliberately willing, wishing, or desiring to do something. Consequently, the text reads “whosoever therefore will [deliberately desires or wills to] be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
As for nouns, there are a whole host of them in this verse. Right from the beginning, the Holy Spirit calls us “adulterers and adulteresses.” He uses some powerful language to arrest our attention. These two words are from the same Greek word. The only difference being gender. Essentially, an adulterer is one who is sexually unfaithful to their spouse. However, it is used in a more spiritual sense here. Throughout all of Scripture, God has used the marriage relationship and unfaithfulness in marriage as description of His relationship with those with whom He has a special relationship. For example, in the Old Testament, we see this sort of descriptive language in His relationship with Israel.
15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
These two verses are only examples of many verses in the Old Testament attesting to God’s relationship with Israel. He loved them as a husband loves his wife. Yet, despite God’s love, Israel quite often breached their relationship with God through their idolatry - their love affair with false gods. We will come back to that thought in a bit as we consider how God sees His relationship with us as believers in the same light.
The other nouns are the words “friendship,” “enmity,” and “friend.” As for “friendship” and “friend,” both are love words. I say love words because there are three basic words for “love” in the Greek New Testament. There are the words “eros,” “phileo,” and “agape.” The Greek word “eros” depicts sensual and fleshly love that is all about self gratification. “Phileo,” on the other hand, is often described as “brotherly love.” It has the idea of “loving as well as being loved.” Then there is the word “agape” which most are familiar with as a word for love. “Agape” love is sacrificial and we see used often as a description of God’s love. In our text, the word “friendship” and “friend” is the word “phileo.” Thus, we are talking about a love expressed with thought of receiving love in return. Remember it is “loving as well as being loved.” Again, we will explore this more in a moment.
The word “enmity” is a noun as well. However, later in this verse we have the word “enemy” which is not a noun, but an adjective. The noun “enmity” literally means “hatred.” It carries the idea of a deep seated hatred towards someone or something causing them or it to be your enemy. The adjective “enemy” carries the same connotation. It means the same. In both instance, the end result is enemy or adversary. In our text, it results in God as our enemy or adversary. A result not produced by God’s character or actions, but a result produced by our actions.
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION
SPIRITUAL APPLICATION
As per our custom, we always seek to answer two questions.
What is the Holy Spirit talking about?
What is the Holy Spirit talking about?
I think the best way to sum up the topic of this verse is the word “worldliness.” The essential element of this verse is our love affair with this world. He is warning us about being “friends” with the world. Any believer who is a friend of this world is, as we would say, wordly or full of worldliness.
What is the Holy Spirit saying about worldliness?
What is the Holy Spirit saying about worldliness?
There are a couple of things in this verse pertaining to worldliness. The first is as follows.
Worldliness Leads to Spiritual Adultery!
Worldliness Leads to Spiritual Adultery!
Look again at our verse.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Immediately, the Holy Spirit arrests our attention by identifying any believer who gives into their lusts and enjoys friendship with the world as an adulterer. If you recall, in our earlier consideration of the grammar, we understood the terms “adulterers and adulteresses” in spiritual sense. In the New Testament and under grace, the Lord Jesus Christ holds His relationship with us in very high regards. Often, in the New Testament, our relationship with Him is described by the closeness and intimacy of marriage. The truth is our relationship with Him can be much closer and more meaningful than marriage. We are encouraged to know and understand Him on the same level as husbands and wives. However, with Christ, the bond is so much deeper than the bond we have with our spouses. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ actually lives within us.
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
We are to live, move, and have our being in Christ and He in us. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit in God’s Word depicts us as Christ’s bride.
1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
The marriage relationship is the closest thing we have in this present world to describing the bond that Christ has with us.
Here is the point! If Christ sees His relationship with us as being deeper than even marriage, our friendship with the world is, no doubt, spiritual adultery. Spiritual adultery means we turn our love and our devotion away from Him giving it to the world. In doing so, we break our commitment to Him as turn to things that gratify our flesh. At this point, we could plug in a host of things to which we devote our love instead of Christ. Things such as wealth, possessions, positions of power, popularity, and so on it goes.
This picture of spiritual adultery demonstrates how meaningful God sees our relationship with Him. It is a relationship grounded in sacrificial love.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
If then we turn away from Christ to the things this world offers, our actions cut Him to His very heart causing great pain. Think about it this way. Christ gave up His life dying for us on the cross of Calvary at the hand of wicked men. He did everything that was needed for you and me to have eternal life saving us from eternal damnation. It came with a great cost. The price included an enormous amount of pain. Pain which included the suffering of the cross, bearing all our sins upon His body, and God’s wrath against those sins. He endured the Father forsaking and rejecting Him as He bore those sins. The pain He bore was more than any of us could every know or even understand. Yet, He willing did it all for us. However, each time we flirt with the world giving it our love and devotion, we hurt Him even more. For that reason, we must not forsake Him for the world. We must not give in to spiritual adultery by turning to the world.
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Just follow up a little further with this point. There are a number things that are associated with spiritual adultery. Things such as -
Not obeying the Lord’s commands.
17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
Worshiping Other Gods
25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them.
Sinful Behavior
39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, And went a whoring with their own inventions.
Giving Oneself to Abominable Things
30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
Forgetting or Turning One’s Back on God
4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: For the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, And they have not known the Lord.
Forsaking God
2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.
Being Ashamed of Christ and His Words
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
It is clear then that being a friend of this world will lead a believe into Spiritual Adultery. However, the Holy Spirit also warns that-
Worldliness Leads to Spiritual Hostility!
Worldliness Leads to Spiritual Hostility!
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Here the Holy Spirit once again utilizes a question as a means of highlighting another important principle. Not only does He give us the question, but He also provides the answer. At the heart of both is our friendship of the world. What does it mean to be friend of the world?
It means living for this world and all that it has to offer – houses, lands, money, position, power, popularity, and anything else that a believer puts before the Lord.
It means to desire the things of this world to the point of deceiving, lying, cheating, and stealing to get them.
It means seeking to please self instead of pleasing God.
What is crazy about all this is this thought! Everything thing in this world is temporary. It will all one day pass away. In fact, there is a corruption happening even now that it causes everything both physically and materially to erode away. Nothing in this world stands for or represents God. It is world filled with sin and corruption. It is not eternal. It is not holy. Thus, any believer who befriends this world stands against God. Think about it this way.
The impurity of this world is against God’s purity.
The unholiness of this world is against God’s holiness.
The underlying deception of this world stands against God’s truthfulness.
All the coveting of this world is against God’s heart of sacrificial giving.
Thus, to be worldly is to be an enemy of God’s will for man.
This principle is taught throughout the New Testament.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Conclusion
Conclusion