JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Trusting God (James 4:1-12 NIV) 6-8-25
INTRODUCTION
The joy of perseverance to maturity
True religion
Equality in the church
Faith and works
Taming the tongue
Sowing seeds of peace
James 4:1-12 NIV
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, 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. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:1-12 NIV
Submission
A poll was taken a few years ago asking, both men and women this question, “Should wives submit to their husbands?”
In 1998, the Southern Baptists also sparked controversy with their statement that wives should "submit graciously" to the "servant leadership" of their husbands. At that time, when asked if they concurred with that statement exactly as quoted, 69% of the public disagreed.
I. SUBMISSION TO THE WORLD
James 4:1-6 NIV
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, 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. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.””
James 4:1-6 NIV
A. Fights and Quarrels
1. Desires that battle within you
B. Kill
1. Desire
2. Don't find fulfillment
C. Covet
1. Cannot get what you want
2. Quarrel and fight
D. Don't have
1. You don't ask God
2. When you ask
a. Do not receive
b. Wrong motives
c. Spend what you get on your pleasures
E. Friendship with the world
1. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
2. He jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?
3. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
F. Yet, He gives us more grace!
II. SUBMISSION TO GOD
James 4:7-10 NIV
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
James 4:7-10 NIV
Christin Ditchfield, in a recent issue of Focus on The Family magazine, writes that basically Mary took the news in stride.
“[She] didn’t demand a sign,” notes Ditchfield, “some sort of proof or additional confirmation. She voiced no complaint at the total disruption of her life. She knew now that things would not turn out the way she had planned at all.” She concludes, “But in her heart there was no resistance, no rebellion. Just a sweet, simple submission-surrender to the will of God.”
A. Submit yourselves to God
B. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
C. Come near to God and he will come near to you
D. Wash your hands, you sinners
E. Purify your hearts, you double-minded
F. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
G. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up
Submitting totally to God’s plan for us and our loved ones, is difficult to do. But, it is a must for any Christian seeking the “whatever it takes” solution to the difficult problems in life. In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss too long.” And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. “Lord,” he whispered, “you washed their feet; I will black their shoes.”
K Hughes, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, Tyndale, 1988, p. 45.
III. SUBMISSION TO ONE ANOTHER
James 4:11-12 NIV
“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:11-12 NIV
A. Do not slander one another
1. Speak against/judge them=speak against the law/judges it
B. Judging the law/not keeping it/sitting in judgment on it
1. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.
C. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor
"One hot day, Herman Trueblood, all clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, saw a sweating man and his two sons trying on a hot day to push a disabled car up an incline. Two voices started yelling at each other inside him. One said, "There is an opportunity for service; you ought to help them push." The other voice protested, "Now that is none of your business. You will get yourself all hot and dirty. Let them handle their own affair."
He finally yielded to his better impulse. He put his shoulder to the task. The car moved and kept moving. A simple thing then happened which Trueblood never forgot.
The father stuck out his dirty hand, and Trueblood stuck out his... The father said, "I am very glad that you came along. You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."
Trueblood later reflected, "Years have passed since that hot day, but I can still hear that man saying, "You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."
Source unknown.
CONCLUSION
Do not submit to the world
Submit to God
Submit to one another
Ephesians 5:21 NIV
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Ephesians 5:21 NIV
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
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