James 4

James 4:1

James is not interested in how great we talk. He’s interested in how straight we walk. After establishing this firmly in chapters 1 and 2, we saw him back up somewhat in chapter 3 to say that although what we say does not eclipse what we doour words still make an impact. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks,” Jesus declared (Mat_12:34). So here, in chapter 4, we’ll see James deal with the issue of the heart. The reason we put down other people, gossip about other people, fight with other people is because we want something from other people. It can be as stupid as thinking, Talking about that guy will make me look better to this guy. Yet the only way to get what our heart really craves is not to prey on others, but to pray to the Father.

James 4:3

“I do pray,” you may say. “But I don’t get what I ask for.” That’s because you’re asking amiss. Prayer is not giving orders. It’s reporting for duty. And once a person finally understands that prayer is not man saying, “Bless the business; bring in the money; solve the problem,” and God saying, “Aye, aye, Captain,” his prayer life will be revolutionized. Prayer is saying, “Father what do You want to do in my life? I want You to do what You see is best for me because I get mixed up so easily.” I walked into his room during his nap to find one-year-old Peter-John lying on his back, eagerly reaching for an object dangling just inches above his head. Living in a rustic cabin in the woods at that time, we were sometimes surprised by the visitors we would have. And this particular afternoon was no exception, for I was surprised indeed to see the object for which Peter was so intently reaching was a black widow spider. We’re just like Peter-John. We lie on our beds or kneel beside them and, through prayer, grab for things we think would be so wonderful, failing to realize they are nothing but black widows. Therefore, every bit as exciting to me as prayers God does answer are those He doesn’t answer because I know I’ll see that what I thought was so intriguing and tantalizing will prove to be poisonous and deadly. Oh, may we learn not to give orders or grab spiders, but to do what Jesus did in the Garden: to submit to whatever the Father has for us.

James 4:4

Because the Father looks at the world system and sees corruption and danger, pollution and problemsif we continue to reach for the trinkets of the world, we’ll be at odds with God.

James 4:5

“Lusteth to envy” means “guards jealously.” In other words, the Spirit of God that dwells within us wants the very best for us. When we talk about grieving the Holy Spirit, we must understand the Spirit is grieved not because we’ve hurt Him, but becauseseeing what’s ahead for us if we continue on the path we’re onHe hurts for us. If you’re a dad, you can understand this… Your sixteen-year-old daughter can’t stop talking about him. So finally a week or two later, he shows up on his Harley in black leathers, a marijuana joint hanging out of his mouth, a swastika tattooed on his arm, a patch over his eye, a flask of whiskey in his pocket, a Playboy bunny on his shirt, saying, “I like your daughter.” Although your daughter says, “Isn’t he dreamy?” you know he’s nothing but a nightmareand that she’ll be hurt badly if she gets on his Harley and goes down the road of life with him. That’s how the Holy Spirit feels when He sees us getting on the back of some Harley we think is dreamy. He’s not mad at us, not disappointed in us, not hurt by us, but jealous for us as a dad is for his daughter.

James 4:6

Even when I’m asking for the wrong thingsgrabbing for spiders or dreaming of HarleysGod gives more grace to resist the temptation and/or to recover from the situation because where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Rom_5:20). Although God has grace to give to us to resist the temptation or to recover from the situation, there’s no room for pride. Who is the proud person? Barometers predict storms by measuring air pressure. Prayer-ometers indicate pride by measuring prayer pressure. If I don’t pray in a given day, it is the ultimate indication of pride because it is the proud person who says, “I don’t need to pray about it. I can handle it.” Oh, I may not be cocky like Dennis Rodman or Mike Tyson, but if I’m not praying, I’m every bit as proud as they are because prayerlessness is the truest indicator of pride.

James 4:7

How many of you have ever had a hard time getting to Bible study, but somehow got there? I commend you because had you succumbed to those pressures, you would have faced them again and again. You see, gang, because Satan isn’t omniscient, because he can’t read your mind or see into your heart, he’s dependent solely upon trial and error to see what works. Therefore, if he sees that a headache will keep you from worship and Bible study, guess what will happen. You’ll have headaches perpetually. If he sees that your kids acting up causes you to pull back, stay home, and not be where you should be, he’ll have found the key to slowing down your walk. I am convinced that many people experience unnecessary hell in their homes or trials in their lives because they don’t understand this verse. They don’t realize that if they resist the devil, he will indeed flee. Behind the cyclone fence of a house I used to jog by regularly was a little mousy dog. Every time I ran by, this little yapper would start at one corner of the yard and snap and bark at me the entire length of the fence. He’s crazy! I used to thinkuntil it hit me one day that the only reason he was running alongside me barking noisily was because he thought he was winning. He thought he was chasing me away. So he did this over and over again because he thought it was working. Satan is the same way. The Bible says that when we see him, we’ll say, “Is this little yapper the one who troubled the whole earth?” (see Isa_14:16). How can we stop him? By resisting him. One day, I just stopped and roared at the yappy little dog. He put his tail between his legs, rolled over on his back, and started shaking. At that point, the front door opened, and a lady peeked out, saying, “Pastor Jon?”! Resist the devil and he will flee from youjust as surely as did that little mouse of a dog!

James 4:8

One of my favorite verses in all of the Bible: Draw nigh to God, and He might draw nigh to you. No. Draw nigh to God, and He will sometimes draw nigh to you. No. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. That’s a promise! Don’t let anyone cast aspersions on God’s goodness or nature by saying, “I tried to get close to the Lord, but He is just so far from me.” The Bible says He will draw nighalways. People say to me, “I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to connect with God.” “I don’t believe you,” I lovingly answer, “because God’s Word says He will always draw near to us if we draw near to Him. And I have found this promise to be true, for, without fail, every time I have been serious about seeking God, He has made Himself known to me through a Scripture, in my heart, or through the body of Christ.” Sometimes, gang, we need to lovingly say to those who whine about feeling far from God, even though they claim they have tried to draw near to Him, “You’re deceiving yourself, or you’re trying to deceive me because God’s Word says that if you take the time and expend the energy to draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.” Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. When? When you’re serious about seeking Him. The idea is to be serious about it, to turn off the TV, to take some time and make an effort. Why? Not because God is saying, “Only when you mourn and are afflicted will I speak to you.” That’s not it at all. The purpose of mourning and cleansing is not so that God will speakbut to get me tuned in to the right frequency so I can hear Him already speaking. Think of it this way… Right now, Channel 10 is broadcasting all sorts of words and images. But we aren’t tuned in to the frequency. To get the picture, we’d have to take some time, bring in a TV, and put up the antenna. Would we do that to impress Channel 10 to send pictures our way? No. They’re already doing that constantly. We’d have to bring in a TV and put up an antenna simply to get us in the position to receive what’s already being broadcast from Channel 10 continually. If people don’t read this passage right, they begin to say, “If we afflict ourselves like the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, if we slash our bodies and dance in a frenzy, God will speak” (see 1 Kings 18). That’s not the heart of the Father. That’s the heart of a false god. The purpose of washing your hands and humbling your heart implies quitting your normal activities and taking some time to get tuned in to the proper frequency. Go to the park. Get away. Do whatever it takes to change your setting and say, “Lord, I’ve been tuned in to work. I’ve been dialed in to parenting. I’ve been positioned to pursue my hobbies. But now I’m taking time to hear from You because I know You’re broadcasting twenty-four hours a day, and I want to hear what You say.”

James 4:11

What law is James talking about? The law of love. Gal_5:14 says, “All the law is summed up in this one word: love.” Jesus said, “Upon loving God and loving our neighbor hang all the law and the prophets (see Mat_22:40). So here James is saying, “Don’t speak evil of any brother or sister. If you do that, you’re not obedient to the law of love.”

James 4:12

One of the greatest days in my own Christian walk was the day the Lord whispered a very simple truth into my heart that changed my entire approach to ministry and to life. He said, “Jon, you love ’em, and I’ll judge ’em.” You see, before that, I had it the other way around. I thought it was the Lord’s job to love people and my job to judge them. I can’t tell you how freeing it was to discover that I had it backward!

James 4:13

There are people who have tremendous confidence in what they’re going to do because they think they have their future all worked out. But in reality, of a group this size, statistics indicate that two of us will not be here next year. Life is a vapor. It goes oh, so quickly.

James 4:16

Putting my hope in my plans, projections, or portfolio instead of in the Lord is not only foolish. James tells us it’s evil.

James 4:17

There are those who say, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to retire there. I’ve got my future all worked out.” But when asked if they’re going to church on Sunday or if they’ll have devotions tomorrow, they say, “If the Lord wills.” Do you see the irony? “I’m going skiing next week, or on vacation in July,” we say. But regarding church tomorrow night, we say, “We’ll see what God has in store.” We have it backward! We should be saying, “I may go skiing next week if God wills. Or, I may take a vacation in July if that’s what the Lord has for me. But as for going to church on Sunday? I’ll be there absolutely!” That’s why James says, “If you know what’s right, but hide behind the excuse of waiting for God’s leading before doing it, it’s sin.”