STAND STRONG
STAND STRONG
7.11 - James 4, Seeing Ourselves
James 4 begins with an intensely pointed question: "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?" What follows is a section of Scripture that clearly illustrates the importance of having a humble heart.
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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/
Ooh, what a wonderful day. Mm-hmm. And it is great to be back in the studio. It's good to be with Noah. Always good to be with Noah. When we get to get into the text and just bounce ideas back and forth, Noah and I get, we get to read ahead, plan ahead, think ahead. So not everybody is able to do that. So some are in real time. They're opening up, they're finding James Ford, Noah to follow us today. Yes. Last week we, we wanted to see God. And I think we did, we just opened it up to see God better. And today we want to see ourselves in the context of our journey through James. And we're in chapter four.
Noah:That's right. James chapter four. And tell you what, James chapter four starts with a bang. I mean we've already said James. He, he says it like it is, he doesn't hold back. But man, the the beginning of James chapter four just kind of smacks you across the face. Because whether or not you want to accept what he's saying, he's saying, here's how it is. Mm-hmm. Let, let me lay it out for you. And in, in this case, what he's drawing the picture of is a heart that is out of control.
Paul:Oh, I love that. Yes. Jot that down. Somebody write that down. A heart that's outta control. But how so?
Noah:I agree with you. Well, so he, he, what's funny is he doesn't start with the heart. He starts with the out the outward symptoms, right? He says, where do these quarrels in these fights come from? And then he says, where it's coming from is your passions and your desires and these things that you want, but you can't have. And because you can't control these passions and desires, and this covetousness, this is where all the quarreling, all the fighting, all the wars are coming from just straight to the heart. This is what an uncontrolled heart looks like. A, our passions and our desires lead us down. Paths that we would've thought were unimaginable. Things that we never thought, thought we would've done, never thought we ever could have done. We will do when we do not control our hearts.
Paul:Yeah. Where's the source? I mean, that's, that's what makes the, the word of God so valuable is we're not, we're not gonna deal with symptoms. We're gonna deal with the problem. And James is like, okay, the origin of your, and all our discussions about quarrels and fights, you know, different translations, vary, wars, fights, quarrels, conflicts. Was it a physical verbal. Political disputes, we have them safe. People don't always act like safe people. Yeah. And look at the world we're in today, man. People feel such an, an entitlement.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:And everybody says, Hey, I have a voice and I get to use it, and now I'm angry. Yeah. Bad combination. So look what was going on in the first century. We've, we've just mastered it and I'm a part of the, we in the 21st century, and James says, I can tell you what is the source of the origin, what's the problem? Why are you people fighting and destroying one another? Yeah. It's a people problem. It's a heart problem.
Noah:Yeah. You know, the thing is the, the problem is so prevalent that. Even people who reject God and reject his word can see there's a problem. Mm-hmm. People are constantly at each other's throats and, and people throughout the years have tried to come up with, you know, ways to fix it. To fix humanity to fix the problem that all the different, and everyone has their ideas of, well, here's how we can somehow achieve some sort of peace, some sort of beautiful communion. People have tried to create these secluded societies where that's the case and. You know, just a few minutes ago before we hit record little behind the scenes for, for everyone listening Paul was putting his hands in the air, as I jokingly sang the lyrics to John Lennon's. Imagine it was,
Paul:it was pretty good, by the way. And so I was moved. My hands are in the air waving. Like I just, but anyway,
Noah:yeah, so, but my, my point is this. People have observed the problem throughout history and everyone thinks that they have some idea of what the solution is. John Lennon's included. Oh, no. Religion, somehow, you know, that would fix the problem. Yeah. But what you said just a moment ago, save people don't always act like saved people. Mm-hmm. And that's part of what, anytime we try to remove God from the situation. We are gonna end up with the wrong answer, and that's in, in this case. That's part of why we start with God when we're trying to observe. James chapter four. Last week we talked about where can we see God. Well, in this case, we have to see God I. Because if we don't see God and his intention for our heart and his intention to control, for us to control our passions and our desires, and really to submit those to him, mm-hmm. If we don't see all of that, we're not gonna see the solution to the quarrels and the fights and, and all of those. Things that are there in verse one.
Paul:Yes. The, the, the origin, the source. Where, where are the problem? My heart is the problem. Clean up the heart. Clean up the inside. So, pleasures, lust, desires, he says within you, it's the flesh.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:The flesh. And thankfully we don't have, you know, in the church, we don't have saved people who have a lust for power and position. And y'all know. Okay. You actually heard no laugh. He's looking at me like, you're crazy. We do. And he's right. We do.
Yeah,
Paul:we do. And it can be so subtle. I, it can be in me before I realize it. Like, why? Mm-hmm. Why am I so upset that I'm not getting enough upfront time? Yeah. Why am I so bothered and uneasy about the fact that, that I wasn't appointed to this role or this position? Is, is it in me? Is there a lust for power?
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Prominence in me. This covetousness, this, this becoming envious.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:James had already talked about envy. And how dangerous envy can be. It, it, it's a cancer that eats me up from the inside out.
Yes. And
Paul:this, I mean, books, a lot of books, chapters have been written with the phraseology, the desire to acquire. Mm-hmm. But we get what that means. I hadn't thought about this, Noah, to, to put a character to what picture James is painting here very early in chapter four. Look at David.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Now, what was David's issue? When we find out he's on the rooftop and he sees a woman very beautiful bathing, and he's like, I need to know more. I would like to see more. He moves into an area of covetousness, this desire to have.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:And as a result of sinning, breaking the law of God by being covetous. To my, to my best understanding. He then steals, commits adultery, has someone murdered, which is not a good thing, and he's telling lies. How many other commandments did David break because of what was in his heart that was covetous.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:We don't realize, I like, lemme say this, I don't realize sometimes what, what can be going on in my heart. Over time that has taken me further and further away from God and at the same time, I mean, that's bad enough, right? The relationship, it's not where it ought to be, but at the same time, there's little problems and quarrels and friction and f going on in the local church family or my physical family, and I'm the root cause of it.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:That's where James is going. This is pretty heavy. Here
Noah:it is. And it's coming on the heels of, don't forget where we're coming from. We're coming from James chapter three, where he was just talking about our use of the tongue and our use of our words, and he contrasts. The wisdom from above with the, the earthly unspiritual and demonic wisdom mm-hmm. That produces jealousy and selfish ambition and disorder in every vile practice. Like you said, it's a, it's almost like a domino effect that covetousness comes in and what other dominoes fall along the way? And his, his admonition is, no, we need to pursue the wisdom from above. That's peaceable, gentle, you know, open a reason full of mercy and, and, and so on and so forth. But where that brings us is how do we, how do we start? What's the domino to start that? And my suggestion would be in verse six, when it says, but he gives more grace, therefore it says, God opposes the proud. But gives grace to the humble.
Paul:Yes.
Noah:That's the domino we have to knock over. We have to change our heart through submission to God. We have to say, God, you are number one. I changing my spirit and I'm submitting to you.
Paul:Yeah, we we got, we gotta, we gotta trust in the Lord. We've gotta lean on the Lord. I mean, he's quoting from Proverbs three. God resisted proud. He gives grace to the humble Peter talks about that. We, we could just spend the rest of our time talking about the absolute essentiality of humility
mm-hmm.
Paul:And all the bad things that can happen when we're not humble people. Yeah. When I'm not desiring humility. And follow this up. Did you have anything before verse seven? Because I don't want to get you off track because the juices are flowing. I can see it.
Noah:Well, I No, go ahead. Go ahead.
Paul:The verse, so he says, therefore. So in verse seven, so therefore submit to God. So, okay, here's, here's what the problem is. Here's the root of the problem. Here's what's going on. I mean, you, you can't be a friend of God and a friend of the world. You, you can't have a desire for all of these things that are gonna move you outside of a relationship with God and, and stay close to God. And you don't want to be at war with God. You don't want to be at war, right? That's a war that you will never win. You need God on your side. Yeah. And he's a God who desires to have fellowship with you. He's a God that has strength to enable you to help you.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:And so he says, therefore you submit to God. Then he says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. I wonder how many times, Noah, verse seven, we tried to accomplish the second part. Of verse seven, resist the devil without first paying attention to the submit yourselves to God.
Noah:Yes. Which the irony of that is when we try to accomplish that without submitting ourselves to God, really, that's probably just another indication of pride.
Paul:Yes.
Noah:We're gonna do this on our own and you, a few minutes ago you mentioned the idea of looking around and seeing all of the quarrels and the fights and the friction in our relationships. That sometimes we are the cause of, so often we see those and we think, no, we're the solution to that. We're gonna, we're gonna solve these problems just like we're gonna resist the devil all on our own. We're gonna solve the problem. The fact is, we are not the solution to the problem. We need the solution to the problem, and the solution is found. In humility and submitting to God, God is the source of the solution that we need. And so, yeah, we can't, we can't fool ourselves into thinking that I'm gonna resist the devil. But that, that draw ear to God, that submit to God part I'll, I'll figure that out some other time.
Paul:Yeah. I'm gonna offer this and, and I, I know this is a bit raw, but I'm offering this for people to think about. I used to struggle back earlier in chapter four. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask verse three and do not receive because you ask the new King James amiss that you may spend it on your own pleasures. Well pray to God. Well, okay, well wait a minute. Sometimes you don't have, because you don't ask. Then other times you don't receive because you're asking from wrong motives. So heart trouble, your motives aren't pure. You're, you're more selfish in your motives. You can't feel God.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:But he's been talking about, I think, in some form, the sensuality of strengthening your relationship with God.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Through prayer Now, submit to God he says. What's one way that I manifest a genuine, humble spirit of submission to God. Nobody has to tell me, Hey, did you pray today? And it's not one of those. God, thank you for my food prayers, and I'm all for thanksgiving and prayer. My point is, do I wake up every day? Having seen God, that, Hey, here's two things I know the devil's out to get me, and God's on my side. I. God, I have life today because of you and God I can get through today because of you. I need your wisdom. I need your strength. I know what your promise is. You will give more grace, but I have to humble myself and submit to you, and one of the ways I do that God, is by acknowledging I need you. Yeah, blessed are the poor in spirit.
Noah:Yeah,
Paul:I need you, God.
Noah:Yeah. So I'm gonna get you back now for all the times on this podcast that you've. Sprung a question on me without any warning
Paul:bring it on. All I have to do is say, I don't know.
Noah:So do you think what you're talking about there, do you think that that connects to verse nine here? I think, I think sometimes when we read through this passage we're, we, we read this and because we've heard it so many times, we go, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when we actually stop and think about it, you know, he says, draw near to God. And he will draw an ear to you, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, and then he says, be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. I think when we stop and pause on that, a lot of times that's the opposite of what we think where to be doing in. Relationship to God that now that we find ourselves in a relationship with God that you know, now there is only joy and peace and contentment, and here James is saying be wretched and mourn and weep. Do you think that that connects to what you were just talking about?
Paul:Absolutely. Because some, some of those that was in James' audience that he's trying to address. He, he's hitting between the eyes.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Because I can, I can envision some reading what James is writing and saying, that's not me. Mm-hmm. That's not me. I'm not a I'm, I haven't broken faith with God. I don't have sin in my heart. I'm not a cause of the problem of all these quarrels and fighting and all of this. And James says, no, you're worldly.
Noah:Yeah,
Paul:you're worldly. And so you've got some purifying to do. You've got some cleansing to do. And so when you cleanse yourself from the inside out, you call'em sinners.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:You sinners when you do that, there is a sense of. Blessed are those that mourn.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:For they shall be comforted. I need to mourn over my sins. And what will humble people do? What will genuine people do rather than being double-minded? Oh yeah, you're right. I gotta work on that. You can't straddle the fence. Right. What is genuine repentance? How does it manifest itself? So that's my way of looking at the context as it as they kind of, I hope that's answering your questions.
Yeah.
Paul:Because he ends in verse 10. Humble yourself in the side of God, he will lift you up. I don't think it's injust to detect. He will lift you up. Who's gonna be exalted? The humble? Mm-hmm. Who will be forgiven? The truly genuine people who repent, they're changing their mind. It's a heart change. If the heart's the problem, then what is repentance? Change the heart.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:So humility. Those are bookends. Yeah. Humble yourself.
Noah:Yeah. So often we, we, when we find ourselves. Where we have to come face to face with our own mistakes and our own pride. We want to save face in some way, shape or form. We wanna repent because we know we're supposed to, and, but we also, some, to some extent want to retain, some amount of dignity might be how we, how we put it. The irony is dignity in that kind of a situation is only found in humbling ourselves and, and repentant, repenting. But that's not a pleasant process. Mm-hmm. It's gonna involve the mourning and the weeping. It's gonna involve the laughter being turned to mourning and the joy to gloom. But if we humble ourselves, not only will God give us more grace, back in verse six. But he will exalt us, leave the exalting to God.
Mm-hmm.
Noah:And we need to humble ourselves. And we also probably need to move on into the latter portion portion of James chapter four.
Paul:Wow. We knew it was gonna be hard.
Noah:Yeah. Yeah. Well I, when we get to the next couple verses, we talked about this last. Last episode a little bit because you couldn't help yourself, Paul. That's getting old. So there's, this all connects back to James chapter three, the use of the tongue the speaking evil and the judging. And the reminder that God is the, is the one law giver and judge you are not. But what I think is gonna be interesting and will help us connect to the next few verses as well is, he's saying, don't presume to take a position that is not yours.
Mm-hmm.
Noah:And that is exactly the same point as what he's going to give in verses 13 and following. Don't presume to take a position that you do not have, which coming on the heels of humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you. That's a pretty poignant. Point for us to take from it.
Paul:Yeah. He's still dealing with pride, proud people will assume a position in place that, that I want to occupy and I think I have the right. And he says, no, you've pushed God aside. Yeah. And that's only gonna create more problems for you and for others in your life. And then he moves into this still dealing, I think with the pride. That's why he said, God resist the proud. He gives grace to who? Humble people. And so he says you boast verse 16. I think it's verse 16. Yeah. Yeah. You boast in your arrogance is the new King James. Yeah. You boast in your arrogance contextually with regards to a tomorrow.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:And what is that? It's a lack of submission to God and his, I call it providential rule. Verse 15. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills
Noah:right,
Paul:therefore, to him, he knows to do good. That is through the one who knows the will of God, and he doesn't do it. It it is sin. And, and so I, I, you know, James, James is dealing with a lot in the latter. Part of chapter four. I don't know that I, I can't do it justice in what, one or two minutes. Maybe I can pick that for next week.
Noah:Right? That maybe we'll save a little bit of that for the no more than four that we'll have coming up here in just a week. In fact, let's just, let's just go ahead and table that and I'm sure that we'll select some of those things for the, for the no more than four.'cause there's a lot in those last few verses that are really, I think. They fall very well into that high impact, high application points that we like to use in those episodes. So with your permission, Paul, yes, I will go ahead and let us conclude this episode. For those who are listening, thank you for joining us on this journey through James. This has been such a wonderful experience for us. We still have. A little bit of James left. We've got one more episode here in James chapter four when Paul and I each get to bring a couple of application points, and then we'll have our three more episodes for James chapter five, where we'll be looking at the final section of this. Wonderful. A letter from James. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for encouraging us in this effort and and being a part of this journey. We pray that as you continue throughout your day and throughout your week, that God will bless you, that you will find strength in him, and that together we can stand strong.
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