Living Faith: Separating from Worldliness - Part I

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This is the 7th sermon in a series of messages through the New Testament book of James. This sermon covers verses 1-12 in chapter 4 of James and speaks about the worldly trait of conflict and strife.

Written Excerpts:

James 4:4 ^(NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Introduction:

Today we are continuing a sermon series that I started 7 weeks ago on the book of James in the New Testament. I titled the series Living Faith for two main reasons:

1. In the entire letter, James provides “down-to-earth,” practical advice on how to live out our faith. Faith clearly applies to real life in the real world.

2. In the 2^nd chapter, James tells us that there is such a thing as “faith that is dead.” Therefore, we conclude that genuine faith is a “living faith” when it is backed up by works of faith that confirm it.

So today we continue the series by studying chapter 4, and we learn that Living Faith means…

Separating from Worldliness (4:1-5:6)

If you have a copy of the outline I have created for this study, you will notice the 6^th main point of the outline shows that the section on separating from worldliness includes all of chapter 4 and up to v.6 of chapter 5. I am sure we will not have time to cover the entire section today, so I plan to just focus on part of chapter four.

Paul wrote to the Romans and admonished them:

Romans 12:2 ^(NKJV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….

In one of His prayers, Jesus described his disciples like this: John 17:14 ^(NKJV) … they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

There is a phrase we hear often that probably originated from this verse: They were in the world, but not of the world. These are just a couple examples of what the Bible teaches concerning the need to separate ourselves from the influences and values of the ungodly world we live in.

Erwin Lutzer, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, said: “Worldliness twists values by rearranging their price tags.”

The primary reason we conclude that James is addressing the issue of worldliness comes from verse 4. James 4:4 ^(NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

If worldliness means adopting the value system and moral standards of the ungodly environment we live in, then it certainly applies to numerous topics that James doesn’t even talk about. But, he does address 3 different issues in this letter and we will look at one of those today with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

A.  Worldliness includes conflict and strife. (4:1-12)

The first matter James addresses relating to worldliness is the problem of conflict and strife. He uses the words, “wars” and “fighting.” Other translations use the words, “quarrels and conflicts.” Any “list” of traits of worldliness certainly should include fighting/conflict/strife.

1. The source and result of strife is revealed. (1-2)

James identifies the source of all the strife – it is the inward lusts, passions and desires that people have inside their hearts.

“wars/fighting” – first word indicates broader and bigger conflicts while the second word refers more to smaller or single disputes. (Overall war vs. individual battles.)

(Tyndale N. T. Commentaries) In a metaphorical sense, however, both words could describe violent verbal disputes…. And since disputes of this sort are almost always accompanied by harsh words, criticism and slander, the misuse of the tongue that James castigates (cf. 3:1-12; 4:11-12; 5:9) probably arose from these disputes.

“lusts that …” – lusts = pleasures; same word that our English word “hedonism” stems from.

“war in your members” – they go “on the warpath” in our lives resulting in fights with others.

(Lenski New Testament Commentary) He is dealing with the personal animosities, quarrels, factions, etc., that disgrace the Jewish Christian membership itself.… when passions are given free rein in Christian congregations, we see the members tearing each other in all manner of fights, each person or each faction seeking only its own ἡδοναί [pleasures].

v. 2 - James is probably not literally talking about murder, but equating anger, hatred, etc. with murder much like Jesus did and like we also find in: 1 John 3:15 (NKJV) Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 

Result? “You have not because you ask not.” In spite of all the conflict, these people still do not have what they seek, and the reason is because they haven’t asked the main one that can satisfy our longings – God.

While Chapter 3 directly addresses the misuse of the tongue, here in chapter 4 James digs deeper and speaks to the motivation behind such verbal wars and fighting that was taking place.

2. The cause of strife is described. (3-5)

With language that compares their passions to the kinds of lusts that bring about infidelity in a marriage, James describes their worldly pleasure-seeking. In v. 2 he says they haven’t asked, so they don’t have. Now in v. 3 he goes on to identify why they haven’t received what they may have asked for – it is because they asked for the wrong reasons.

This is part of growing up spiritually – understanding that God is not just some benevolent Santa Clause in heaven ready to just give us whatever we want and ask for. There is a spiritual maturity that brings us to the awareness that we ought to ask God for things that are in agreement with His will.

v. 4 “adulterers / adulteresses” - James’ use of ‘adulteresses’ thus serves to characterize his readers as the unfaithful people of God. (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)

In the OT God’s prophets often described Israel’s unfaithfulness and departure from His commands as spiritual adultery.

“friendship / enmity;” “friend / enemy” These words remind us that we cannot serve two masters, as Jesus stated. We can’t love God with all our hearts and still crave the pleasures of the world.

See the quote in the bulletin today? “We worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.”

I shared a few minutes ago a quote from Dr. Erwin Lutzer, “Worldliness is all about twisting our values and priorities.”

v. 5 “Spirit yearns to jealousy” – a reminder that God will not tolerate competing “lovers” in our hearts. The Bible tells us that God is a jealous God. Just like a truly devoted husband cannot tolerate competition for the love of his wife, neither can God tolerate competing affections for our hearts. It is either the “world” or God. It can’t be both.

3. The remedy for strife is explained. (6-10)

I’m so glad that James doesn’t just end with the sordid description of the problems that they were having. But he continues by defining what the remedy is. It can be summed up in one word – “grace.” What can be done about all the conflict, quarreling and strife? Grace! What is the solution to the problem that the Spirit jealously yearns for all of our affection when we are divided in our love? Grace! How much grace?
MORE! 

However…. God only gives grace to certain people. He freely gives grace to the humble, but He firmly resists the proud.

v. 7 – So, what should we do in light of this fact?

James promptly gives 10 imperative verbs in the next four verses. Yes, God gives grace, but He expects us to do something with it. We need to use His grace to do the things that promote deliverance.

(Imperative verbs underlined)
We need to resist the devil, submit to God and draw near to God.

v. 8 – We also need to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts.

Psalm 24:3-4 ^(KJV) Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴ He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

“double-minded” – wavering between world and God. (v.4)

v. 9 – We need to be afflicted (lament), mourn, weep and turn our laughter into mourning over the condition of our hearts that leads us to such behavior as he has been describing in verses 1-5.

Paul says, “Godly sorrow produces repentance or change. (2 Cor. 7:10)

v. 10 – We need to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. (A repeat of the command in v.7)

A total of 10 imperative verbs from vv.7-10. They admonish us to see our sins of worldly strife as God sees them and feel the sorrow and remorse that we should feel when we truly understand.

4. Admonitions to avoid strife are offered. (11-12)

James begins v.11 with another imperative command. 

“Do not speak evil” – (Lenski) All ten of the previous commands are positive; this one is negative.

These two verses seem to hearken back to the theme of chapter 3 – the misuse of the tongue, but he is still specifically dealing with the problems cited in the earlier verses of this chapter. As we said earlier, chapter 4 deals with the inner heart motivations that prompt the misuse of the tongue that is addressed in chapter 3. Here in verse 11, James is briefly restating the emphasis of chapter 3.

One author (Lenski) points out that in this context James is not appealing to the matter of love, which also would keep us from speaking evil of a brother, but he is appealing to the matter of law. Whenever any of us speaks evil of a brother [or sister], we are setting ourselves up as judges. We are not only judging the brother, but we are judging the law, because we are acting as though we are superior to God’s law which is there to protect both of us. (Lenski)

Conclusion:

In closing I want to emphasize the fact that we have been speaking about separating ourselves from worldliness. Worldly attitudes and actions are expressed in numerous ways, and this passage of Scripture has focused on the specific problem of dissention and fighting. In our next message we will be looking at two additional examples of worldliness that James addresses.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that this is just one expression. The expression is wrong and needs to be corrected, but the inherent problem in our hearts must be addressed or there will still be problems. The only way to truly separate from worldliness in our daily lives is to experience the grace of God that was mentioned in verse 6. 

When God’s grace is applied by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, it confronts the heart problems of selfish pleasure seeking, self-centeredness, and the like. His Spirit can cleanse our hearts and make us whole-heartedly devoted to Him and His will. However, it requires our earnest seeking and cooperation with God’s probing work in removing everything that is contrary to His heart.

The closing song I’ve chosen for today emphasizes the need to be holy. To be holy means to be separated from the unholy, the worldly, and the ordinary; set apart for God’s purpose.

Let us sing Take Time to Be Holy