Good morning. I’d like to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to James 4. For several weeks now we have been studying the first 5 verses of that chapter. We have been looking at the problems that these congregations have had.
They were quarreling & fighting. We’ve also seen that there is a lack of joy among many of them (due to trials) and they have been guilty of other kinds of misbehavior.
We’ve learned that at the heart of a lot of this are things like jealousy and envy. They are self-centered and materialistic. They want more stuff: It might be that they want to accumulate more toys or it could be that they are infatuated with gaining prestige and admiration. The bottom line is that they are worldly and too much tied to the pleasures of this is present world.
When it comes down to it though, they need an adjustment. They need to see God as their friend. They need to become more fond of him and be anchored in His word—being quick to hear and ready to receive that which was implanted within them. All this means is that these people need to change.
But how do we change? That’s what James addresses in this passage. He lays out here God’s master plan for our sanctification.
James 4:6-10 ESV
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Let's pray....
Introduction
There once was a woman who felt that there was one thing in her life she could not give up. It was a sinful habit and, though she was a Christian, she just couldn’t feel she could break with it. One day she came to her pastor for consultation about it. He understood that she didn’t really feel like changing, didn’t really want to change, and didn’t feel she could change.
But he pointed her to the trees outside his study. He said, “Have you ever noticed how there are always a few dead leaves clinging to the old oaks, even after all the other leaves have been whisked away? Somehow there are leaves that cling ever so tightly to those branches and are able to withstand the harshest winds and most frigid temperatures. These stubborn leaves will even keep their grip well into the spring months. But one by one, they eventually drop off. They eventually lose their grasp and fall to the ground.
“Do you know what causes that to happen? It is the new life rising in the tree. The spring sun causes the tree to come alive and the fresh buds begin to push the old deadness away.” And he said to her, “This is the way it is with you and me. When the new life of Jesus Christ permeates our being, and when the golden rays of God’s grace fall upon us, there is nothing that can’t be changed. We can give up anything, even those stubborn things that seem so very difficult to renounce.”
I don’t doubt that this woman’s story is that unfamiliar to you. I would assume that there are many right here in this congregation that know exactly how she feels. You’ve probably had similar sentiments when it comes to particular sins in your own life. They feel so much a part of you. They are stubborn and don’t seem like they will ever be removed.
But this passage is here to remind us that the deadness of sin can be whisked away. There is no stronghold too mighty to withstand the power of Christ living iwthin us.
This passage was written to remind us that real change is possible. God changes us. God sanctifies us. He continues to save us from our sin. And we can enjoy a new life, we can see new patterns of life develop. We can experience redemption from the evil that seems to dominate our lives.
We don’t have to be worldly. We don’t have to be miserable. The turmoil that exists in our churches and in our homes can be defeated.
In this passage James lays out God’s plan for change; this is the master plan for overcoming the life dominating power of sin in our lives. And if we give attention to what the Spirit says here, you’ll see that there is nothing that God cannot change.
And this is the first place that we need to begin. It is recognizing that change is possible. There is hope that redemption can be had. I want you to notice the hope God gives, right at the very beginning of our passage (6a)…
I. The Hope God Gives [6a]
It says, “He gives more grace.” You could also translated it as saying, “He gives greater grace.” I like that a little better; it gets at the original language a little closer. The word “more” in the Greek comes from the word “megas,” which is where we get our word “mega.” And in our English language, that means really big. Not just big, but absurdly big.
There’s a lottery, I think it is in PA, that is called “Mega-Millions.” It is supposed to be an absurdly big amount of money you could win. (It could also be called Mega-losers, because your odds of winning are absurdly small).
Another form of this word in the Greek is used as a synonym for the miracles and the great works of God.
So, what I’m driving at is that this word is more than just big. God doesn’t just give grace. But he gives an absurdly, almost preposterous, amount of grace. God’s grace always comes to us in monumental proportions, beyond anything we can ask or imagine. Always superseding what we deserve and always beyond what we need.
And this grace is the fundamental change agent. Ultimately, we need to recognize that there is hope for change. As a matter of fact, God is the one doing the changing. God is the primary agent of the change. God is giving the grace we need to get that change.
So, you might look at yourself and say, “Well, this is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t have the ability to do so. I’m so sinful and I feel like the desires and the cravings I have are impossible for me to change.”
If you say that, you are right. And I applaud your understanding of man’s depravity. There is no one who is good. No one who seeks for God. And change would be impossible if you were left to yourself.
But you are not left to yourself. You can change because you have the infinite power of God at your disposal. God’s grace is given to you in such a grand—mega—supply. He gives greater grace in that your sin is powerless against it. His power overcomes sin.
It was funny, I was searching for an illustration for this this week and right as I was doing so –right as I was typing this very point on my computer—my wife came in with a water bottle that she could not open. Somehow the lid had gotten screwed on incredibly tight and there had been some kind of suction action that made it impossible for her to open.
So she came to me. And with my super human strength I popped that thing right off of there. Didn’t take any effort at all (well, hardly any effort!).
But that is a perfect illustration of what James says right here. He gives greater grace. Because of your sin you have become entrenched in a pattern of life that is evil and destructive. You may feel like there is no possible way that you can overcome these things. You might think that there is no way you can be delivered from your lifestyle—but think again. God gives his grace. He doesn’t just make it available—he gives it. He sovereignly administers it. And he gives it in such astronomical quantities that you can be assured that the change will come.
This past week I wrote in the Hopewell Weekly email about worry. Anxiety and fearfulness can be life dominating problems. They can feel like habits that simply cannot be broken. You can feel like that you are just a worrier and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s not the attitude we should have. God gives more grace. You have a lot of worry? Guess how much grace God has? A LOT more than your worry.
So right off the bat, there is this confidence booster. You shouldn’t mope or feel hopeless. You should be ready to get after conquering this sin it because there is grace.
So, here at the outset: We may even change the way we think about change. Change isn’t just possible; it is probable. We should be encouraged and seriously motivated to change because it is God at work in us.
Which brings us to our second point. So far we see the hope God gives. Now we need to talk about the means God uses.
II. The Means God Uses [6b, 10]
Change doesn’t just appear out of no where. Yes, God does a miracle through his grace to change us. But you need to understand that God operates in a certain way. And his sovereign work is not without our responsibility.
When you look at this passage, you see that there is one thing that is key to change: It is humility. This is what we see in the latter half of verse 6 and in verse 10.
Notice the connection between our humility and God’s grace. In verse 6 James starts by saying, “He gives more grace.” But then he goes on to quote this verse from the book of proverbs: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Then down in verse 10 he reiterates this idea when he says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”
So this whole passage is bracketed by humility. This, you might say, is a humility sandwich. All of it is pointing to the fact that this one trait of humility—this one virtue, is absolutely necessary if we are going to see change in our lives.
Do you want less fighting in your house? You need to humble yourself before God. Do you want to see yourself overcome worry and fear? Guess where you need to begin? You need to humble yourself before God. Grace comes only to those who are humble enough to receive it.
Think of it this way, if you are proud—if you are full of self righteousness and have an attitude where you think that you are perfectly good and without any sin, then you are never going to change. You don’t see your need to change. You don’t need grace—at least that’s what you think.
As a matter of fact, if that is your attitude, guess what? Guess what is going to happen in your life? You’re going to have more of the same. Wars, misery, poverty, fights, quarrels, all these things. I don’t doubt that it will get worse too. You won’t have the status quo misery. It will get worse and worse because God opposes the proud. You are clashing with God and it isn’t going to work out well.
I read in my own devotions this week the story of the Exodus. Pharoh wasn’t very smart, was he? His heart was very proud. He would not humble himself before God. He didn’t get any grace. God opposed him and you wince as you read how plague after plague was unleashed against Egypt. The hail crushed the crops and the livestock. Boils, flies, gnats, frogs, locusts. I’d say that the economy tanked pretty hard. He was left with nothing.
Take that as a life lesson on the need for humility.
I’ve pointed out over these last several studies points to the fact that we do need to change. The problem in this world is ME. And once we see this and become convinced of our own sin, And when we look to the Lord and call upon his name, then the change begins to happen.
So, let’s say you have a problem with fighting and quarreling. And maybe you begin to humble yourself and examine your life. And you find that the problem is your discontent. You have not been content with the things you have and that’s causing you to have impulsive actions—such as impulsive spending or taking what belongs to your brother or sister.
That’s the first step of humility. You’ve recognized your own sin and part in the problem. Now the second step of humility is to take it to the Lord. Confess it and ask God’s help to overcome this thing. That’s humility. That’s where you’re now open to God’s grace. God will honor that. As it says here, if you humble yourself, God will exalt you.
So that is the key to sanctification. It does not begin with you pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It begins when you fall on your face before the Lord.
Now, let’s talk about the action God’ requires. What does this humility look like in detail? In verses 7-9, James lays it out. He gives us a whole plan of action to bring about the change that is needed.
III. The Action God Requires [7-9]
As I said earlier, this is a humility sandwich. Verse 6 and verse 10 talk about humility. Verses 7-9 outline for us what humility looks like. What actions accord with humility. And really it is God’s plan for change. There are 5 basic principles here—5 things that he tells us that we must do to see change come about.
First, we must commit to obeying God’s law.
A. Commit to obeying God’s law [7a]
Look at verse 7. It says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” Humility means submitting to God’s law, not your own. It means acknowledging that God’s way is the right way. The desires you have—instead of doing what you want, you are going to submit your desires to God.
So, if you have a problem with spending. You are going to submit to God and say, “I’m going to use my money in a way that pleases you. I’m not going to spend it impulsively.”
If you have a problem with anger, you are going to say, “I’m no longer going to be angry. I’m going to be compassionate and loving. I’m going to promote life, rather than take it away.”
You must identify your sin, your desire, or wherever you are out of accord with God and say to yourself, “I need to obey God here.”
Once you do that, you are ready for the next step. Once you commit to obeying God’s law, you can then develop a new pattern of life.
B. Develop new (healthy) patterns of life [7b]
This is what you find in the second half of verse 7. It says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Now, back in my charismatic days, I thought I knew what this meant. I thought it meant doing spiritual warfare and clashing with demons. And a lot of people can think of this in those literalistic kind of ways. When it says, “Resist the devil,” it sounds like you are standing in front of a red guy in tights and horns saying, “No, no no.”
But let’s think practically. What does it mean to resist the devil? It means resisting temptation, doesn’t it? And how do you resist temptation? It means avoiding contact with it. It means not giving into it. It means doing what you can to change the sinful pattern of life that you’ve developed over the years.
So let’s take the example of worry. When you worry, maybe you begin to sit and stew on things. Maybe you let things bounce around in your head to much. You need to resist the temptation to do that. So maybe you need to get something else in your head. Maybe turn on some worship music while you do the dishes. Your mind is concentrating on something good. Or maybe you can call a friend and have them pray for you and you ask them what is going on in their life and pray for it.
There are a lot of things you can do. But the point I’m making is that you are trying to break the regular cycle that you are stuck in.
If your problem is discontent, you’re going to commit to contentment and maybe try to begin to pray and list several things that you currently have that you are thankful for. Or maybe list out what you don’t have and why you are thankful you don’t have that.
See what I mean? You are resisting the temptation to give into that sin by developing a new pattern of behavior. You do that, and Satan will flee from you. That is to say, you’ll see change beginning to manifest itself.
The next thing you need to do is…
C. Engage in regular worship [8a]
That’s what you see in verse 8. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” When you pray, when you worship, when you take up God’s word, change happens. Worship—whatever form it takes— is a life changer. The more you come into contact with God, the more you will become like him. The more you draw near to God, the more he will draw near to you—that’s bible speak for change. As he draws near to you, you will be transformed.
So if you want your desires to change, you need to engage with God. Worship here each week is essential. Daily patterns of worship are key. You need to be in God’s word. Kids, get off your phones. Get in God’s word.
If you want change to come to your family, then guess what you have to do? You need to start having family worship.
So make sure you utilize the means of grace: the word, worship, prayer, singing to the Lord. God blesses these things as the instruments of fellowship and change.
So, the first step is to commit to obeying God’s law. The second thing you need to do is develop new habits. Replace the old habits with new ones. Along with that, you need to be drawing near to God in different forms of worship.
Now look at the second half of verse 8. It says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” The focus here is that there is a comprehensive reform, reaching all the way to your internal life.
D. Focus on internal dynamics of your sin [8b]
Cleanse your hands (that’s the outward reform), purify your hearts (that’s the internal reform). And the internal is reinforced by the idea of being “double minded.” In other words, there are conflicting thoughts in your mind.
So, if you are a yeller, you are going to commit to not yelling. You are going to try and develop new patterns of life where you do not scream at your wife or kids. But you not only need to cleanse your outward act of yelling, you need to cleans your heart. You can stop yelling, but you might still be resentful. You are still kind of yelling on the inside.
Cleansing of the heart is what is needed. You deal with every dimension of the sin. You take a comprehensive approach to deal with every manifestation and form of it. Whether it be external or internal. If there are other sins attached to this one particular sin, you make every attempt to have a whole sale purge of every evil associated with it.
So along with the yelling and the resentful attitude, you make an attempt to be compassionate, loving, and cheerful. You not only hold your tongue, but you train that tongue to be peaceable and speak kindly. So every evil associated with the yelling is attacked; every internal and external is undergoing reform.
The point of this is that we want real change. And real change is inward change.
The last step that James mentions has to do with developing real remorse and coming to terms with just how evil your sinful pattern of life is (or was).
E. Develop real remorse & acknowledge with how evil it is [9]
Look at verse 9. He says, “Be wretched, and morn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
Now does this mean that James wants you to be glum all the time? No, of course not. He’s talking about the change that needs to occur with regard to your sinful pattern of life. You need to understand how wretched it is and you need to truly have sorrow and sadness over it.
What you need to understand is that you can change, but not be truly grieved by your old way of life. You may still rejoice in your old patterns of sin.
Years ago I taught a Bible study for addicts. It was a recovery study. And they would get to talking about their old drinking habits and they’d talk about how much they could guzzle and how crazy they would act after getting high. They were looking back on that with fondness and basically boasting—reveling in the things they did.
Instead of seeing these things as heinous sins and looking back with disgust, they were taking joy in it and laughing about it.
Now, let me give you a different example. The guys I have taught at the prison, I’ve almost never heard them talk about the crimes they committed or the old life that they lived prior to coming to the prison and coming to Christ. The few times they have, it has always been with a sense of shame and disgust.
They have a very different attitude towards their past. Their laughter has turned to mourning.
That’s the attitude James says we need to have towards our sinful patterns of life. Change means changing out attitude towards the sin. It is no longer something that should bring us joy. It should not be a laughing matter or something we joke about. It should be cause for sorrow and sadness.
So there you have it. Those are the 5 things James says are essential to change. Those are the five things we must do:
If you do those 5 things, you’ll be a humble person. And this kind of humility will produce change. It is guaranteed. That is God’s sure fire way to becoming more obedient and finding greater peace in your life.
Conclusion:
Mike is one of the fellows from the prison that is the exception. I have heard about his former life and what brought him to prison. But he wasn’t really talking about that specifically. He told me that he had committed a double homicide. He had shot and killed both his parents.
But he told me it because he was talking about the counsel he got after he came to the prison. After he was arrested and sentenced, he started meeting with a pastor. Through those meetings he came to realize that he was a bitter man. He was resentful of his parents for the way they had treated him throughout his life. He felt that they had robbed him of certain things in life and he was bitter at how they had treated him over the years. He had become dominated by anger and restent.
But he came to realize that this had been wrong. He realized that he didn’t deserve to be treated well and that he should not have lived his life in the shaddow of his parents treatment (no matter how bad it was). He understood that this grudge had come to dominate his life.
And he told me that as he began to confess these things and seek the Lord, he began to change. He even said, “I began to experience joy in my life; real joy. And I’ll tell you, it is pretty hard to have joy in this place [i.e. the prison].”
This is the power of grace. Once you do humble yourself and see that evil lurks within you, and you chose to take action against it, the Lord does cause newness of life to come.
May God give us the same grace to work towards the same kinds of change in our own lives.
They were quarreling & fighting. We’ve also seen that there is a lack of joy among many of them (due to trials) and they have been guilty of other kinds of misbehavior.
We’ve learned that at the heart of a lot of this are things like jealousy and envy. They are self-centered and materialistic. They want more stuff: It might be that they want to accumulate more toys or it could be that they are infatuated with gaining prestige and admiration. The bottom line is that they are worldly and too much tied to the pleasures of this is present world.
When it comes down to it though, they need an adjustment. They need to see God as their friend. They need to become more fond of him and be anchored in His word—being quick to hear and ready to receive that which was implanted within them. All this means is that these people need to change.
But how do we change? That’s what James addresses in this passage. He lays out here God’s master plan for our sanctification.
James 4:6-10 ESV
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Let's pray....
Introduction
There once was a woman who felt that there was one thing in her life she could not give up. It was a sinful habit and, though she was a Christian, she just couldn’t feel she could break with it. One day she came to her pastor for consultation about it. He understood that she didn’t really feel like changing, didn’t really want to change, and didn’t feel she could change.
But he pointed her to the trees outside his study. He said, “Have you ever noticed how there are always a few dead leaves clinging to the old oaks, even after all the other leaves have been whisked away? Somehow there are leaves that cling ever so tightly to those branches and are able to withstand the harshest winds and most frigid temperatures. These stubborn leaves will even keep their grip well into the spring months. But one by one, they eventually drop off. They eventually lose their grasp and fall to the ground.
“Do you know what causes that to happen? It is the new life rising in the tree. The spring sun causes the tree to come alive and the fresh buds begin to push the old deadness away.” And he said to her, “This is the way it is with you and me. When the new life of Jesus Christ permeates our being, and when the golden rays of God’s grace fall upon us, there is nothing that can’t be changed. We can give up anything, even those stubborn things that seem so very difficult to renounce.”
I don’t doubt that this woman’s story is that unfamiliar to you. I would assume that there are many right here in this congregation that know exactly how she feels. You’ve probably had similar sentiments when it comes to particular sins in your own life. They feel so much a part of you. They are stubborn and don’t seem like they will ever be removed.
But this passage is here to remind us that the deadness of sin can be whisked away. There is no stronghold too mighty to withstand the power of Christ living iwthin us.
This passage was written to remind us that real change is possible. God changes us. God sanctifies us. He continues to save us from our sin. And we can enjoy a new life, we can see new patterns of life develop. We can experience redemption from the evil that seems to dominate our lives.
We don’t have to be worldly. We don’t have to be miserable. The turmoil that exists in our churches and in our homes can be defeated.
In this passage James lays out God’s plan for change; this is the master plan for overcoming the life dominating power of sin in our lives. And if we give attention to what the Spirit says here, you’ll see that there is nothing that God cannot change.
And this is the first place that we need to begin. It is recognizing that change is possible. There is hope that redemption can be had. I want you to notice the hope God gives, right at the very beginning of our passage (6a)…
I. The Hope God Gives [6a]
It says, “He gives more grace.” You could also translated it as saying, “He gives greater grace.” I like that a little better; it gets at the original language a little closer. The word “more” in the Greek comes from the word “megas,” which is where we get our word “mega.” And in our English language, that means really big. Not just big, but absurdly big.
There’s a lottery, I think it is in PA, that is called “Mega-Millions.” It is supposed to be an absurdly big amount of money you could win. (It could also be called Mega-losers, because your odds of winning are absurdly small).
Another form of this word in the Greek is used as a synonym for the miracles and the great works of God.
So, what I’m driving at is that this word is more than just big. God doesn’t just give grace. But he gives an absurdly, almost preposterous, amount of grace. God’s grace always comes to us in monumental proportions, beyond anything we can ask or imagine. Always superseding what we deserve and always beyond what we need.
And this grace is the fundamental change agent. Ultimately, we need to recognize that there is hope for change. As a matter of fact, God is the one doing the changing. God is the primary agent of the change. God is giving the grace we need to get that change.
So, you might look at yourself and say, “Well, this is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t have the ability to do so. I’m so sinful and I feel like the desires and the cravings I have are impossible for me to change.”
If you say that, you are right. And I applaud your understanding of man’s depravity. There is no one who is good. No one who seeks for God. And change would be impossible if you were left to yourself.
But you are not left to yourself. You can change because you have the infinite power of God at your disposal. God’s grace is given to you in such a grand—mega—supply. He gives greater grace in that your sin is powerless against it. His power overcomes sin.
It was funny, I was searching for an illustration for this this week and right as I was doing so –right as I was typing this very point on my computer—my wife came in with a water bottle that she could not open. Somehow the lid had gotten screwed on incredibly tight and there had been some kind of suction action that made it impossible for her to open.
So she came to me. And with my super human strength I popped that thing right off of there. Didn’t take any effort at all (well, hardly any effort!).
But that is a perfect illustration of what James says right here. He gives greater grace. Because of your sin you have become entrenched in a pattern of life that is evil and destructive. You may feel like there is no possible way that you can overcome these things. You might think that there is no way you can be delivered from your lifestyle—but think again. God gives his grace. He doesn’t just make it available—he gives it. He sovereignly administers it. And he gives it in such astronomical quantities that you can be assured that the change will come.
This past week I wrote in the Hopewell Weekly email about worry. Anxiety and fearfulness can be life dominating problems. They can feel like habits that simply cannot be broken. You can feel like that you are just a worrier and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s not the attitude we should have. God gives more grace. You have a lot of worry? Guess how much grace God has? A LOT more than your worry.
So right off the bat, there is this confidence booster. You shouldn’t mope or feel hopeless. You should be ready to get after conquering this sin it because there is grace.
So, here at the outset: We may even change the way we think about change. Change isn’t just possible; it is probable. We should be encouraged and seriously motivated to change because it is God at work in us.
Which brings us to our second point. So far we see the hope God gives. Now we need to talk about the means God uses.
II. The Means God Uses [6b, 10]
Change doesn’t just appear out of no where. Yes, God does a miracle through his grace to change us. But you need to understand that God operates in a certain way. And his sovereign work is not without our responsibility.
When you look at this passage, you see that there is one thing that is key to change: It is humility. This is what we see in the latter half of verse 6 and in verse 10.
Notice the connection between our humility and God’s grace. In verse 6 James starts by saying, “He gives more grace.” But then he goes on to quote this verse from the book of proverbs: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Then down in verse 10 he reiterates this idea when he says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”
So this whole passage is bracketed by humility. This, you might say, is a humility sandwich. All of it is pointing to the fact that this one trait of humility—this one virtue, is absolutely necessary if we are going to see change in our lives.
Do you want less fighting in your house? You need to humble yourself before God. Do you want to see yourself overcome worry and fear? Guess where you need to begin? You need to humble yourself before God. Grace comes only to those who are humble enough to receive it.
Think of it this way, if you are proud—if you are full of self righteousness and have an attitude where you think that you are perfectly good and without any sin, then you are never going to change. You don’t see your need to change. You don’t need grace—at least that’s what you think.
As a matter of fact, if that is your attitude, guess what? Guess what is going to happen in your life? You’re going to have more of the same. Wars, misery, poverty, fights, quarrels, all these things. I don’t doubt that it will get worse too. You won’t have the status quo misery. It will get worse and worse because God opposes the proud. You are clashing with God and it isn’t going to work out well.
I read in my own devotions this week the story of the Exodus. Pharoh wasn’t very smart, was he? His heart was very proud. He would not humble himself before God. He didn’t get any grace. God opposed him and you wince as you read how plague after plague was unleashed against Egypt. The hail crushed the crops and the livestock. Boils, flies, gnats, frogs, locusts. I’d say that the economy tanked pretty hard. He was left with nothing.
Take that as a life lesson on the need for humility.
I’ve pointed out over these last several studies points to the fact that we do need to change. The problem in this world is ME. And once we see this and become convinced of our own sin, And when we look to the Lord and call upon his name, then the change begins to happen.
So, let’s say you have a problem with fighting and quarreling. And maybe you begin to humble yourself and examine your life. And you find that the problem is your discontent. You have not been content with the things you have and that’s causing you to have impulsive actions—such as impulsive spending or taking what belongs to your brother or sister.
That’s the first step of humility. You’ve recognized your own sin and part in the problem. Now the second step of humility is to take it to the Lord. Confess it and ask God’s help to overcome this thing. That’s humility. That’s where you’re now open to God’s grace. God will honor that. As it says here, if you humble yourself, God will exalt you.
So that is the key to sanctification. It does not begin with you pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It begins when you fall on your face before the Lord.
Now, let’s talk about the action God’ requires. What does this humility look like in detail? In verses 7-9, James lays it out. He gives us a whole plan of action to bring about the change that is needed.
III. The Action God Requires [7-9]
As I said earlier, this is a humility sandwich. Verse 6 and verse 10 talk about humility. Verses 7-9 outline for us what humility looks like. What actions accord with humility. And really it is God’s plan for change. There are 5 basic principles here—5 things that he tells us that we must do to see change come about.
First, we must commit to obeying God’s law.
A. Commit to obeying God’s law [7a]
Look at verse 7. It says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” Humility means submitting to God’s law, not your own. It means acknowledging that God’s way is the right way. The desires you have—instead of doing what you want, you are going to submit your desires to God.
So, if you have a problem with spending. You are going to submit to God and say, “I’m going to use my money in a way that pleases you. I’m not going to spend it impulsively.”
If you have a problem with anger, you are going to say, “I’m no longer going to be angry. I’m going to be compassionate and loving. I’m going to promote life, rather than take it away.”
You must identify your sin, your desire, or wherever you are out of accord with God and say to yourself, “I need to obey God here.”
Once you do that, you are ready for the next step. Once you commit to obeying God’s law, you can then develop a new pattern of life.
B. Develop new (healthy) patterns of life [7b]
This is what you find in the second half of verse 7. It says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Now, back in my charismatic days, I thought I knew what this meant. I thought it meant doing spiritual warfare and clashing with demons. And a lot of people can think of this in those literalistic kind of ways. When it says, “Resist the devil,” it sounds like you are standing in front of a red guy in tights and horns saying, “No, no no.”
But let’s think practically. What does it mean to resist the devil? It means resisting temptation, doesn’t it? And how do you resist temptation? It means avoiding contact with it. It means not giving into it. It means doing what you can to change the sinful pattern of life that you’ve developed over the years.
So let’s take the example of worry. When you worry, maybe you begin to sit and stew on things. Maybe you let things bounce around in your head to much. You need to resist the temptation to do that. So maybe you need to get something else in your head. Maybe turn on some worship music while you do the dishes. Your mind is concentrating on something good. Or maybe you can call a friend and have them pray for you and you ask them what is going on in their life and pray for it.
There are a lot of things you can do. But the point I’m making is that you are trying to break the regular cycle that you are stuck in.
If your problem is discontent, you’re going to commit to contentment and maybe try to begin to pray and list several things that you currently have that you are thankful for. Or maybe list out what you don’t have and why you are thankful you don’t have that.
See what I mean? You are resisting the temptation to give into that sin by developing a new pattern of behavior. You do that, and Satan will flee from you. That is to say, you’ll see change beginning to manifest itself.
The next thing you need to do is…
C. Engage in regular worship [8a]
That’s what you see in verse 8. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” When you pray, when you worship, when you take up God’s word, change happens. Worship—whatever form it takes— is a life changer. The more you come into contact with God, the more you will become like him. The more you draw near to God, the more he will draw near to you—that’s bible speak for change. As he draws near to you, you will be transformed.
So if you want your desires to change, you need to engage with God. Worship here each week is essential. Daily patterns of worship are key. You need to be in God’s word. Kids, get off your phones. Get in God’s word.
If you want change to come to your family, then guess what you have to do? You need to start having family worship.
So make sure you utilize the means of grace: the word, worship, prayer, singing to the Lord. God blesses these things as the instruments of fellowship and change.
So, the first step is to commit to obeying God’s law. The second thing you need to do is develop new habits. Replace the old habits with new ones. Along with that, you need to be drawing near to God in different forms of worship.
Now look at the second half of verse 8. It says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” The focus here is that there is a comprehensive reform, reaching all the way to your internal life.
D. Focus on internal dynamics of your sin [8b]
Cleanse your hands (that’s the outward reform), purify your hearts (that’s the internal reform). And the internal is reinforced by the idea of being “double minded.” In other words, there are conflicting thoughts in your mind.
So, if you are a yeller, you are going to commit to not yelling. You are going to try and develop new patterns of life where you do not scream at your wife or kids. But you not only need to cleanse your outward act of yelling, you need to cleans your heart. You can stop yelling, but you might still be resentful. You are still kind of yelling on the inside.
Cleansing of the heart is what is needed. You deal with every dimension of the sin. You take a comprehensive approach to deal with every manifestation and form of it. Whether it be external or internal. If there are other sins attached to this one particular sin, you make every attempt to have a whole sale purge of every evil associated with it.
So along with the yelling and the resentful attitude, you make an attempt to be compassionate, loving, and cheerful. You not only hold your tongue, but you train that tongue to be peaceable and speak kindly. So every evil associated with the yelling is attacked; every internal and external is undergoing reform.
The point of this is that we want real change. And real change is inward change.
The last step that James mentions has to do with developing real remorse and coming to terms with just how evil your sinful pattern of life is (or was).
E. Develop real remorse & acknowledge with how evil it is [9]
Look at verse 9. He says, “Be wretched, and morn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
Now does this mean that James wants you to be glum all the time? No, of course not. He’s talking about the change that needs to occur with regard to your sinful pattern of life. You need to understand how wretched it is and you need to truly have sorrow and sadness over it.
What you need to understand is that you can change, but not be truly grieved by your old way of life. You may still rejoice in your old patterns of sin.
Years ago I taught a Bible study for addicts. It was a recovery study. And they would get to talking about their old drinking habits and they’d talk about how much they could guzzle and how crazy they would act after getting high. They were looking back on that with fondness and basically boasting—reveling in the things they did.
Instead of seeing these things as heinous sins and looking back with disgust, they were taking joy in it and laughing about it.
Now, let me give you a different example. The guys I have taught at the prison, I’ve almost never heard them talk about the crimes they committed or the old life that they lived prior to coming to the prison and coming to Christ. The few times they have, it has always been with a sense of shame and disgust.
They have a very different attitude towards their past. Their laughter has turned to mourning.
That’s the attitude James says we need to have towards our sinful patterns of life. Change means changing out attitude towards the sin. It is no longer something that should bring us joy. It should not be a laughing matter or something we joke about. It should be cause for sorrow and sadness.
So there you have it. Those are the 5 things James says are essential to change. Those are the five things we must do:
- Commit to obeying God’s law
- Replace the old habit with a new pattern of obedience
- Engage in worship
- Cleanse the internal attitudes and motivations as well as the external actions
- Develop a real, godly remorse for your sin.
If you do those 5 things, you’ll be a humble person. And this kind of humility will produce change. It is guaranteed. That is God’s sure fire way to becoming more obedient and finding greater peace in your life.
Conclusion:
Mike is one of the fellows from the prison that is the exception. I have heard about his former life and what brought him to prison. But he wasn’t really talking about that specifically. He told me that he had committed a double homicide. He had shot and killed both his parents.
But he told me it because he was talking about the counsel he got after he came to the prison. After he was arrested and sentenced, he started meeting with a pastor. Through those meetings he came to realize that he was a bitter man. He was resentful of his parents for the way they had treated him throughout his life. He felt that they had robbed him of certain things in life and he was bitter at how they had treated him over the years. He had become dominated by anger and restent.
But he came to realize that this had been wrong. He realized that he didn’t deserve to be treated well and that he should not have lived his life in the shaddow of his parents treatment (no matter how bad it was). He understood that this grudge had come to dominate his life.
And he told me that as he began to confess these things and seek the Lord, he began to change. He even said, “I began to experience joy in my life; real joy. And I’ll tell you, it is pretty hard to have joy in this place [i.e. the prison].”
This is the power of grace. Once you do humble yourself and see that evil lurks within you, and you chose to take action against it, the Lord does cause newness of life to come.
May God give us the same grace to work towards the same kinds of change in our own lives.