James 4:1-12 FAITH IS SHOWN BY GODLY LIVING Faith shown by a life of unworldliness that produces humility that differentiates a believer from the world. The world is the system of things around us. The cosmos is the world that is blind and deaf to spiritual things and careless to God’s will. Unworldliness is a proof of being justified and that we are really saved and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Divisions and disputes are caused by disobedience. The enemies we must face are spoken of in the first seven verses of this chapter.
The flesh [v.1-3]: lusts simply mean desires. The flesh is human nature apart from God. It kills to obtain. It may even pray selfishly. The world [v.4-5]: Four dangerous steps: a] Friendship with the world [Jas.4:4]. b] Soiled by the world [Jas.1:27]. c] Love with the world [1Jn.2:15-17]. d] Conformity to the world [Rom.12:1- 2]. Believers who love the world are at enmity with God. The devil [v.6-7]: Pride is one of Satan’s chief tools.
Christians must use the Word of God to resist Satan. God resists the proud but gives grace to the lowly. Submit to God first. Then we can effectively resist the devil.
Conflicts between believers come from wrong desires. We need to submit ourselves to God. The problem of conflicts and quarrels among believers will always bring harm to the assembly as well as to those directly involved. The desire for status, more recognition, more authority, more possessions and envy over another person's position - even the desire for more money can set people against each other. They may even aggressively push others aside, or fight, to grab what they want. However they cannot get it unless God allows it because He is in control.
Even when we pray, the most common problems are not asking God for what is needed in the first place, or asking for the wrong things and for the wrong reasons. Allow God to change your desires to His will for you. We need to first of all to submit ourselves to His divine will and ask that our selfish interests and desires be removed. Then we can pray in faith and trust Him to do what He wants and give us what we need. The practice of prayer then becomes an integral part of one's life. It is then we will recognize it as a time of communion and fellowship with a Gracious Father. Prayer is not like going to a store with a shopping list of things we want or demands to suit our own personal desires. Rather than getting God's approval for our plans, we need the fellowship of prayer to move us into the condition of body, soul and spirit to fit into His will for us. When we pray "In His name" we are submitting to divine authority. That keeps us committed to asking and acting for the glory of God. In that way He will be glorified by the answers and results of our prayers.
Pleasure that comes from friendship with the world or at the expense of obedience to God, is sinful. Anything that hinders our fellowship with God and does not please Him is lustful, worldly sin. Pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful; pleasure from God’s rich bounty is good. James had already written, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." The cure for evil desires is humility. God gives grace for grace needed. A general teaching of Scripture is we have a tendency toward evil.
When believers compromise in order to adapt to the present world system, they are placing themselves in the position of being an enemy of God. To compromise scriptural doctrine for philosophy that comes from human thought places one in the position of being an enemy of God. If our behavior is such that we fit in with the ungodly lifestyle of the world, or if we adapt the sensual dress of the world, we step away from the fellowship of God to the self-centered position of an enemy of God. To compromise the preaching of the Gospel in order to make our message more acceptable and "seeker friendly," cheapens the truth to where it is not truth at all. Cheap substitutes for what God gives comes from the enemies of the people of God. The world, the flesh and the devil place us with those who are friends of the world and enemies of God.
In summing up the general teaching of scripture [v.5], James points out the fact that the Holy Spirit desires God's children to love Him faithfully and oppose any attitude of discontent, covetousness or envy in their hearts. God resists the proud whether they are elders [1Pet.5:5] or any other of His children. When we humble ourselves before Him and understand that all we need is what He desires for us, then we will be freed from the bondage of our own self-centered desires for the world's cheap substitutes.
To resist the devil doesn't mean we have the power to defeat him in the energy of the flesh or by our own willpower. We have the strength of Lord already in us and the word of God with us to defeat His attempts to subjugate us and defeat us. The Lord Jesus quoted scripture when He was tested - and so should we. To be "steadfast in the faith" keeps us from compromising godly living. Satan tries to win us with his influence. God has already defeated him [Rev.12:10-12] so we are to “Submit to God.” We draw near to God when we submit to Him and yield ourselves to His authority, His will and His control over us. Then we are willing to follow Him. "Submit to God" comes before “resist the devil.”
We draw near to God when we resist the devil and do not allow his temptations and attacks to turn us away from the path of godly living. When we draw near to God, the activities in which we are engaged, and with which our hearts are concerned will be pure in God's eyes. Our own desires are rejected, and by the cleansing of the word of God, we are committed to do the will of God. We draw near to God when there is genuine sorrow and repentance for sin. There is a rejection of that in which we have been involved that is not for the glory of God. We draw near to God when we choose to humble ourselves before Him. Pride is a sin of the devil and the hardest sin human beings have to overcome. It is possible for a person to even be proud of his humility. True humility realizes that any worth we have comes from God.
When one is humbled, that person is not independent nor self-centered. Guidance from God is gladly received because experiencing God's love gives worth and dignity to one's life. That dignity and an awareness of our worth in His service is because we have learned that "It is God that worketh in us, to will and to do of His good pleasure." There are five ways to draw near to God: [1] Submit to God, 4:7. [2] Resist the devil, 4:7. [3] Wash your hands… purify your hearts, 4:8. [4] Grieve and mourn, 4:9. [5] Humble yourselves, 4:10. v.10. Humbling is not acting independently, but with His power and guidance, we have worth and dignity.
Three important warnings we do well to heed in this chapter. There is the warning against pride [v.8-10]. We must have a chaste and faithful heart. We need to be serious and sober, and be serious about putting sin away. Warning against criticizing [v.11-12] is plainly stated. We need discernment but are not to judge the hearts and motives of others. We must first judge our own sinfulness so we can see clearly enough to help others. The only one with the right to judge is the One with the power to punish – namely, God. Warning against arrogant self-confidence [v.13-17], pride, criticism and self-confidence go together. The humble know how to say, “If the Lord will,” when they make plans. To boast of going someplace, setting up business and coming back wealthy is dangerous. God is the only one who knows about tomorrow. We can sin by neglect as well as by deliberate actions.
Our attitude and actions toward other people demonstrates whether there is love in us that satisfies the law. If there is not love for God and our neighbor, we are breaking God's law. Obeying God's law of love will move us to bless and build up our brothers and sisters rather than finding fault and trying to bring them down. There will always be some good and beneficial things we can say about other people that will keep me from focusing attention on that which I perceive to be a reason to tear them down. When we fail to love, we break God’s law. We are to build people up. Faith produces godly living and promotes humility.