"Grace Principles to Live By!"
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But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Therefore, submit 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, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be miserable 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.
Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
In (James 4:6) we find the CURE for CONFLICT in the Church: “But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says, ‘God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
If we are proud and unrepentant, then God resists us, and we continue in conflict and strife!
However, if we humble ourselves, we receive “…greater grace!”
NOW, on the heels of this great promise of grace, James outlines a program that will enable believers to appropriate the grace of God!
In (James 4:7-12), James uses a series of IMPERATIVES/commands (eleven of them in vv.7-10) to communicate NINE KEY PRINCIPLES of God’s grace for the believer!
As we look at these principles, allow the Holy Spirit to measure your own life!
Grace Principle #1 – Relinquish Control of Your Life!– (4:7a)
Grace Principle #1 – Relinquish Control of Your Life!– (4:7a)
“Submit…” – from a Greek word meaning, ‘to take rank under.’
This is the ultimate challenge for the proud person! If a believer is UNWILLING to submit to the control of God in their life, they will never be open to the grace of God!
Jacob (James) adapts the words of his brother, Jesus! – (Luke 18:9-14)
“If I am so proud, I think I can earn my way to God, then why do I need the grace of God?”
Grace Principle #2 – RESIST the DEVIL!– (4:7b)
Grace Principle #2 – RESIST the DEVIL!– (4:7b)
“Resist the devil…” Your resistance will cause him to “…flee from you.”
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.
What does “resisting” look like?
(Ephesians 6:10-14a)– STAND! Don’t budge! Remember that Jesus is with you!
Grace Principle #3 – MAKE WORSHIP a PRIORITY! – (4:8a)
Grace Principle #3 – MAKE WORSHIP a PRIORITY! – (4:8a)
“Draw near to God…”
The first imperative was to submit to God as servants; now we are admonished to “draw near” as WORSHIPERS!
It is a picture of a priest approaching the Holy Place!
So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable
(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath,
but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever.”
Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.
When we “draw near” in worship, God promises to, “…draw near to you” (v.8b)
We are able to experience the very presence of God in our worship (both personal and corporate)!
Grace Principle #4 – RENOUNCE SINFUL ACTIONS! – (4:8c)
Grace Principle #4 – RENOUNCE SINFUL ACTIONS! – (4:8c)
“Cleanse your hands, sinners…”
Again, this instruction is reminiscent of the terminology of the Tabernacle! The priest had to wash his hands before he could approach the Holy Place of the Almighty God!
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who inquire of him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Grace Principle #5 – REJECT SINFUL ATTITUDES! – (4:8d)
Grace Principle #5 – REJECT SINFUL ATTITUDES! – (4:8d)
“…purify your hearts,” – Lit., ‘to wash off,’ or ‘wash away’
Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.
And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.
NOTE: what needs to be cleansed: “your heart!”
“…you double-minded.”– From δίψυχοι(lit., double-souled), a term that expresses vacillation!
It pictures the person who loves God AND loves the world!
(James 4:4) – This attitude will KEEP the grace of God from flowing in the life of a believer!
Grace Principle #6 – REACT to sin with sorrow! – (4:9a)
Grace Principle #6 – REACT to sin with sorrow! – (4:9a)
“Be miserable and mourn and weep…”
Jacob is like an OT prophet who calls his people to repentance by having them grieve over their sins!
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
When was the last time you wept over your sin?” When we are broken, God’s grace flows!
Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.
“Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy…”
Grace Principle #7 – REFRAIN from a FRIVOLOUS ATTITUDE TOWARD EVIL! – (4:9b)
Grace Principle #7 – REFRAIN from a FRIVOLOUS ATTITUDE TOWARD EVIL! – (4:9b)
“…Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.”
Jacob is NOT saying that a Christian’s WHOLE life should be characterized by depression!
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
The ISSUE here is our ATTITUDE toward EVIL!
In the process of “purifying our hearts” we are to no longer delight in evil!
What used to make us LAUGH should now cause us to WEEP!
Grace Principle #8 – RESPOND HUMBLY to SUCCESS! – (4:10)
Grace Principle #8 – RESPOND HUMBLY to SUCCESS! – (4:10)
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Someone has calculated that this concept appears over fifty times in the Word of God!
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time,
Grace Principle #9 – REFUSE to SLANDER YOUR BROTHER! – (4:11-12)
Grace Principle #9 – REFUSE to SLANDER YOUR BROTHER! – (4:11-12)
One of the names of Satan is the Greek term, ‘Diabolos,’ which is translated, “devil” or “slanderer!”
The chief work of the devil is to slander God’s people!
While most of us would NEVER knowingly do the work of the devil, that’s exactly what you are doing when we speak evil of our brothers and sisters in Christ!
No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.