STAND STRONG

God’s Word offers encouragement that fuels our faith and deepens our trust in Jesus. In this weekly podcast, Paul and Noah open the Bible in search of practical principles for standing strong. Let’s dig in!

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STAND STRONG

7.10 - James 4, Seeing God

March 17, 2025 • Season 7 • Episode 10

The pages of James 4 are full of ways we can learn about God and his character! Join Paul and Noah as they discuss God's dealings with the humble.

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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Noah: 0:30

Well, welcome back to the Stand Strong podcast. We're glad that you're with us today listening on this hopefully Monday morning. We are in the middle of our journey through James this season, Paul, and we have gotten through the first. Three chapters of James now. So we're making our way into chapter four today, and we're, we're starting the cycle back over with trying to see God in James chapter four. What can we understand about God? And you know, as we've said in the past, some of these. Some of these chapters, just because of the nature of the content, it's been a little bit more challenging to kind of look beneath the surface and, and see you know, what is it that we can learn about God and his character in these chapters? Because how did you put it, James? Is it something about being in your face? He's an

Paul: 1:18

in your face guy.

Noah: 1:19

Yeah, he's an in your face guy. And so there's a lot of application, a lot of practical stuff in here. Well, James three might have been one of the more difficult ones to kinda look under the surface and see what it's revealing about God's character. James four is probably on the opposite end of that spectrum.

Paul: 1:35

Yes. Are we really gonna only have one podcast for the God side seat? God, I mean, if you could just read, you can see how. Full Chapter four is, is with the presence and the person of God, the essence of his nature and his character, which obviously as we've talked about through this journey in James, James is doing that for a reason because he's trying to bring the people's attention back to problems he's addressing and sin in their life. Hey. Let's, let's look at God as a reference point. So that's, I'm excited about chapter four. It's really, really deep. There's a lot of good things here.

Noah: 2:12

Yes. I think it's important to say, and this is I think going to be even more explicitly needed in the next episode when we talk about seeing ourselves in applications for ourselves in this chapter. But we are still in the context of James chapter three and all that discussion about the tongue and the wise use of words and all of those kinds of things. That's, that plays into where James goes in this chapter. So if we can keep that in mind, I think it'll help us kind of understand what James is getting at in this section of the book. But. A little bit strangely, I I, one of the first things I see when I am looking at James chapter four, trying to see what can I learn about God's character here is actually all the way down in verse four. You know, getting past those, in those transitional verses about quarrels and fights among us. He says in verse four, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy. I. Of God or do you suppose it is to know purpose, that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us. God has a rightful claim. To us.

Paul: 3:26

Mm.

Noah: 3:27

And that is an extremely important, in fact, it's kind of a central point to everything else that goes on in this letter. God has a claim to us and it's greater than the world's claim on us. It's greater than our own claim to ourselves.'cause our passions are at war within us, and they'll drive us away from God sometimes. But God has a claim, a rightful claim to us, and our minds and our hearts.

Paul: 3:51

Yes. Amen. Look at just what he says in verse four. Noah enmity with God, enemy of God.

3:59

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 4:00

And neither of those. Are good. Yeah. You don't want to be so, I mean if, if I'm an enemy of God, if there's hostility between me and God in the relationship, and it's not what it ought to be, the reference point is God who has moved, not God, me who has broken faith, who's guilty of the adultery. And, and that, that was a common thing. You know, we're in James, but Jesus used a language that was very familiar to a Jewish audience.

4:31

Mm-hmm. I

Paul: 4:31

mean, so did the prophets, Jeremiah Hosea, but Jesus, in his earthly ministry, he would speak to the people and he would say, Hey, this is a very adulterous generation. Mm-hmm. And we get what he was saying. James audience knew what he was saying by labels. Adulterers. Adulterers. Yeah. And then he says, Hey, I want to ask you a question. They knew the answer to the question. Do you not know that? So yes, verse four is packed full of God and just, here's the practicality, Noah. I mean, on the application side to us, what's the relationship like between me and God?

5:10

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 5:11

Who has moved? It's never God. Right. And it's always me.

Noah: 5:16

Yes. Yeah. And that's very, very challenging for us because we, in human relationships, we have the tendency to think that we are the one that that is. I. Either consistent and unchanging, or that we're constantly positively growing and so our relationships kind of morph and move around us. We can't fool ourselves into thinking that when it comes to God.

Paul: 5:42

Yeah. I did hear you say, and for everybody's listening, y'all heard Noah say too, verse five, or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit, now I've got the new King James Capital S.

5:55

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 5:55

I think you put your cards on the table, Noah, you think that's Holy Spirit, so you're putting God in verse five. That's, that's a deep point, by the way. I, I think it is perhaps Holy Spirit, but it could be man's spirit. But first five is challenging.

Noah: 6:10

It is. I'm

Paul: 6:11

just waiting to see if you were gonna put first five as a God thing or a man thing. We'll save that for another one.

Noah: 6:17

Well, actually, so let's pause there for a minute because there, there are a couple different translations of that verse. I've only got one in front of me. I've got the ESV which phrases it as he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us. Yes. So that, that. Approach to interpreting the verse puts the focus on that God has this jealousy about, again, that comes back to his rightful claim for our spirit. Mm-hmm. That he, he has a claim on us. And when we are adulterous, when we're faithless, he yearns jealously for us in, in light of all of these passions that we've allowed ourselves to submit to other translations. Kind of turn that around. What was yours again?

Paul: 7:01

The new King James is the spirit who dwells in us. Yearns jealously. Question mark. Do you not know? Right? Do you think

Noah: 7:08

So it's interesting I here I'll put my, my cards on the table from, from my interpretation of, of if it were going to be that approach to the interpretation of the text, my understanding of it would actually be. A negative description of the, the passions and the yearning that our spirit has. Not, not capital s the spirit of God, but the spirit within us. That if we go back to verses one and two and three, the, the kinds of passions that are at war within us, our spirit desires and cannot have. So you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. So there's a spirit within us that is that is. Yearning for the wrong things, his zealous for the wrong things. But either way you interpret that and even, and even interpreting it with the capitalist that that's about the spirit of God. What it comes down to is God's rightful claim is not just to us, but it also is to the number one spot. He has the claim yes to being number one, whether it's because he's jealous for our spirit or that James is observing, our spirit is zealous for the wrong things and passionate about the wrong things either way. The point that James is making is God has the rightful claim to being number one. He is number one. He's outside of the universe. He's the king of the world. He's the creator. He's number one. And if we put anything else there. Then we're supplanting him from his rightful places first.

Paul: 8:44

Yes. And he desires relationship with us. He covets that relationship with great desire. Mm-hmm. And what, what's so encouraging, I'm just gonna put a peg here. Well, that sounded like Ricky Jenkins didn't it? And then we'll come back to that on the seeing us in the next podcast. But I just wanna remind this God's for us. He wants to help us. And so James says, oh, by the way, verse six. Mm-hmm. He gives more grace.

Noah: 9:14

Yeah.

Paul: 9:15

That doesn't mean, hey, he overlooks. The fact that you've walked away from him to serve your own desires? No. But when we seek to do his will, because we seek him,

9:27

right?

Paul: 9:27

What kind of God do we serve? Who is this God who went out of his way, invested the best that he had to, to have a covenant relationship with us, to be in fellowship with us? He is a God who wants to help us. With our flesh. Mm-hmm. And like you said, what did we just get through discussing? What did James yesterday talk about? Your tongue's gonna get you in trouble. And by the way, you never can tame it. Oh

Noah: 9:54

right.

Paul: 9:55

But God can help you. Okay. So I had this, which, how, how easy is this, Noah? Verses seven and eight, submit to God, draw near to God.

10:05

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 10:05

Submit to God, draw near to God again. Why is James saying that? We need God. Mm-hmm. What's the relationship are, are we gonna surrender ourselves to God? Are we gonna seek to draw closer to him because we need him? And all of this thing? It's hard for me to just stop and not get into the practicalities, but we'll get into that next podcast. But seven and eight are just full of references to God and how much we need him.

Noah: 10:35

Yeah. In fact, that whole section of like six through 10 ish, when, when he says he gives more grace. And that he opposes, opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble and draw near, submit, those kinds of things. The picture that's being painted is that God is eager. To restore us. He's, like you said, just a moment ago, he's, he wants to help us. He wants to aid us. He wants to help us overcome our fleshly desires and, and passions and inclinations and to bring those in submission to him. And the key trait, and again, this gets into the, some of what we'll discuss next year, the key trait he's looking for is humility.

11:15

Mm-hmm.

Noah: 11:16

He gives more grace. To the humble, he's eager, I would say, to give grace to the humble, and that that's emphasized. When you get to verse 10, it says, you know, humble yourselves the before the Lord, and he will exalt you. He wants you to humble yourself, not so that ah, you know, you're in your place now. He wants us to humble ourselves because he's eager to show us grace.

Paul: 11:40

Right, right. I love the fact that he says, if we will do this, if we will seek him, he can be found. He will draw near to us, you know? This, this idea that some people have that God's playing hide and seek. Mm-hmm. You're not gonna find me. You're not gonna find me. He's there. He's not far from any one of us. Our issue is, is not a, a lack of being able to find God. Sometimes our issue is a lack of delight, delighting in God.

12:14

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 12:15

And James says, Hey, here's your promise that you have. He will draw near to you. He will be a source of strength to you. You can resist, you can overcome this. You can be what God dreamed and desires you to be. When you move into the latter portion of chapter four, James will say some things in between verses seven and eight up to what we have in verse 12. We'll get to that, but he makes a point. Now, the new King James Noah, in verse 12 has James just shading. As a matter of fact, it fits the context, but he says there is one. Law giver.

12:51

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 12:52

So who's the law giver? Does, does the ESV have law giver and judge or just law giver?

Noah: 12:56

It has both. It says there's only one law giver and judge.

Paul: 12:59

Yeah, and, and, and I actually like the ESV there. I, I think the translators did a fair job there. If there is, well, who is that law giver and judge? Well, okay. That's who we're talking about. God, it ain't me. So I'm just stating what I think James is saying without saying it. You're not the law giver and the judge now, we'll, we'll unpack that in the next episode probably, or, or in the three when we get to choose two. But God is really good at being who he is and let him do what he's really good at. Yeah. Stay in your lane.

Noah: 13:37

Yeah, it, I, I don't think that idiom existed in, you know, the ancient. Greek here, but but that's absolutely what James is saying here. And he follows, because he follows it up with the, with the. You know, kind of rhetorical question, who are you, who are you in comparison to that? It's interesting though. It says law giver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. And certainly there is an, there ought to be a level of of sobriety about understanding that there is only one law giver and judge, it's not you. But this law give and judge is able to both save and destroy. That's something that we need to consider. That's something we need to give sober attention to, but also embedded in that is the idea that he can save. And if we back that up into the greater context of God's showing of grace to the humble, he wants to save. So we have a law giver and judge. Yes, but it's a law, law giver and judge who desires. To save you Uhhuh and that that ought to be a great comfort as well.

Paul: 14:45

Yeah, there's, okay. I told you it's so hard and I'm just, I, I'm caving to, I'm gonna have to say this, or I feel compelled. So when he mentions what he mentions in verse 12 about God being both law giver and judge, he is the one who can both save and destroy. That's pretty, pretty hefty. Thing he's saying in just one verse. And the reason he's saying that this is profound, y'all are gonna love this, is because of what he said, the verse before where he says, do not speak evil of one another. Brethren, he who speaks evil of a brethren, judges, B brother speaks evil of law, judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're no longer a doer of the law. You're a judge. And I think what James is saying is, look, you're, you're doing some wrong things. You're sinning. And I don't even know if you know why you're sinning. Mm-hmm. I don't even know if you know why you're speaking evil of others and doing this. How did James start with this idea of wars and fights? Mm-hmm. Or these quarrels and conflicts and James' point throughout chapter four where he quite often references God James is more interested in the cause of the conflict

15:59

mm-hmm.

Paul: 16:00

Than the specific forms it was taking. And, and I have some ideas about the particular forms, but James is trying to get to the root of their problem. What was their problem? It was a heart problem.

16:13

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 16:14

So James is saying, this is the reason you're sinning in the way or the ways that you are, it's rooted in your heart. What did he just finish saying? You gotta have humility, you gotta be humble.

16:26

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 16:26

What does pride cause us to do? Assume a position that only God is designed to occupy.

16:32

Yeah. And

Noah: 16:34

so I

Paul: 16:34

think that's why he is referencing God here. Right. And he's making it clear as law giver and judge.

Noah: 16:38

Yeah. He's making it clear you can't put yourself in that position. Well you know, the very last part of chapter four is a pretty popular, if, if that's the right word, popular section of, of James that many times is quoted in different contexts for lots of different discussions but embedded in this discussion about boasting about tomorrow. That's kind of generally the idea of that last section. Embedded into that section is this idea in verse 15 that, you know, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Now, you know, putting my cards on the table. I don't think that James is saying here that if we ever fail to say, if the Lord wills, then we are just, you know, super, we're being super prideful and, you know, I'm not saying it's a bad thing to say, Lord willing, or if the Lord wills. I don't think that's the main, I don't think James' main point is you have to say this. Yeah, agreed. You have to say these

Paul: 17:41

words. Agreed. Agreed.

Noah: 17:42

But what is, what is he communicating? What he's communicating is that God is the one who has sovereignty over life and death and over time itself. He is the, he is the one that any opportunity you receive, he's the one that provided it. He's the one that gave you that opportunity. And when you think of it in those terms. Then there's gonna be some very natural consequences, some natural applications that we have to make when we consider, okay, God is sovereign. He's the one that's in control. God is the provider of this opportunity. He's the one I owe for any good that is in my life, any opportunity I have. And so there's, there's going to be this attitude of gratitude that ought mm-hmm. To, to arise when we consider. These good things are from God.

Paul: 18:34

Yeah. If, if the Lord wills, and again, like you've referenced several times in this podcast, that this idea of pride.

18:44

Mm-hmm.

Paul: 18:44

And he had already talked about. Worldliness, that's what we typically refer to it. Mm-hmm. And I and, and I think that's fair. So he's already described the concept of worldliness friendship with the world, right? So that he connects worldliness to areas of pride that we have in us that pushes God out.

Noah: 19:07

Yes.

Paul: 19:07

So rather than, as you said that the latter part of chapter four being this James all of a sudden is completely switching gears and wanting people to have this morbid, you know, fascination, preoccupation with possible disaster.

19:21

Right.

Paul: 19:22

James is, he's bringing it back to God.

19:24

Yeah.

Paul: 19:25

Who's the focus, if the Lord was, and that, that's quite honestly that's used several times in the New Testament. Were, were people, I think the Apostle Paul mm-hmm. Does that several times, God willing or if the Lord wills

Noah: 19:39

Right. Right.

Paul: 19:40

Which I think is a good thing. I think it's saying something that we ought to, that ought to be in our hearts.

Noah: 19:45

Yes, absolutely. And yes, very much so. I think if we were to just try to draw a general. Contrast in James chapter four. Sometimes we're so quick to get into the specific applications, like what we're going to talk about in the next episode, that we lose that larger contrast that's being drawn between. Here's who God is. And here's who you are.

20:10

Yes.

Noah: 20:11

Here's the role he fills, and here's the role you fill. Here's what he's able to do, and here's what you're not able to do. And you just kind of see that same rhythm throughout the entire chapter. And therefore, I. One of the applications that runs, and James references the specific word several times. We've referenced it several times, so not to beat a dead horse, but one of the main, therefore applications we can take from James chapter four is if this is who God is, then we ought to be humble. We ought to have a spirit of humility, and that's gonna permeate all of the practical applications. We'll draw in the next episode.

Paul: 20:51

Yeah, I love it. What, so let's, let's, man, let's, let's conclude on that. I mean, I don't know how we could have a better conclusion and, and that's just, that's us reminding those who are listening with us. Who are taking the journey through James with us. That's again, our, our way of reminding. That's why Noah and I decided we wanted to start with the God, we wanna see God in this.