Introduction
In this short lesson, we are going to look at how James exalts us to draw near to God in humility. This is a continuation of the subject we introduced about fellowship with God. With this fellowship, we established how it is founded on truth.
Passage of under study: James 4:4-10
You adulterous people, a don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
The context shows us that to be friends with the world qualifies us to be called adulterous. Rather than being faithful to God alone, we convince ourselves that it is fine to be for God and for the world. However, God opposes the proud. In this sense we see pride as boasting in sin rather than in repentance, boasting in being friends with the world without a sense of God’s displeasure.
What does friendship with the world and the world mean? “friendship with the word” implies the attitude of tolerance toward worldly things and involvement in those things. The “world” in this context means the systems of this age which are controlled by the devil or anything that is against the righteousness of God.”
God’s attitude toward us when we are friends with the world
God is jealous for His glory. His ways made known to us proclaim His glory. The Holy Spirit He gave us is to be obeyed. When we are friends with the world, we are against His glory. We are against the Holy Spirit’s leadership. We consider not the majesty of the Lord. We treat Him who is holy as though He is someone common. For His glory, the Lord surely opposes us. But those who humble themselves before Him, He gives grace.
God commands us to:
A. Submit to God. God commands us to submit ourselves to Him. Submission is understood when one is in obedience to God’s command. We should delight in obeying God’s truth in order to please Him. In this way, we run away from being friends with the world.
B. Resist the devil in all his ways. When we do this we avoid being friends with the world. The enemy seeks to move us far from God by planting us in the path of sin so that he may destroy us from there. If he can cause us to swim in sin by giving us things that fulfill the pleasures of the flesh, he knows that we reap what we sow, which is destruction. As Paul said, “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8, NIV).”
The Scripture here promises us that when we resist the devil he will flee from us. Remember the Lord Jesus in the wilderness; He resisted the devil by the truth of God’s word. It is good for us to hold on to the truth by which we know that through it we are stronger than the enemy.
C. Draw near to God. Because of the displeasure that comes from God when we are friends with the world, we are to draw near to God to avoid such life. Now, this concept of drawing near to God describes the life we have through Christ by faith. Because we are saved, we are to seek to be near God by following His truth. Drawing near to God is one of the concepts that describe what fellowship with God is.
This is how we know we are drawing near to God:
- Pursue innocence in life by doing right: “wash your hands, you sinners (James 4:7).” Washing of hands implies innocence. For instance, Pilate washed his hands in the matter to do with the death of Jesus showing his innocence in the matter (Matthew 27:24). We pursue innocence in life by doing right. God is pleased with those who do right.
- Pursue a clean heart in life: “purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:8).” Purity of heart implies a clear conscious. This is a heart that is forgiven by God and led on the path of holiness by the grace of God. To be double-minded means desiring to do the things of God and of the world without seeing that it is wrong to do things that way. This situation does not promote holiness. For God requires us to be single-minded by walking only in His ways. The result of double-mindedness is opposition from God. The one in this situation cannot fellowship with God, for God resist a double-minded person.
- Pursue godly sorrow leading to repentance: “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom (James 4:9).” When we have been found guilty of our sins by God, the only thing that can remove us from the pride of life and seek help from God is when we realize our poor position in sin. We come to know that we have greatly sinned against God and we cannot do anything to earn the grace of God. Such godly sorrow leads to repentance. God forgives those who are grieved for their sins and seeks Him in repentance for their sins.
- Pursue humility before God: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:10). James shows us that the benefit of humility before God is that God will lift up the humble one. This exaltation is in regard to God’s grace shown to those who pursue innocence, clean heart, godly sorrow, and repent of their evils. This grace is seen in God’s forgiveness given. In His forgiveness, God clears our conscious hence removing us from our poor position to a position where we are lavished with His grace as we fellowship with Him.
