SCRIPTURE: JAMES 4
MEMORY VERSES:
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)
“Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)
SUBMIT YOURSELVES TO GOD (vs. 1-12)
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. 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 is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says” “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit yourselves 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, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him 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?
BOASTING ABOUT TOMORROW (vs. 13-17)
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, y8ou boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
THOUGHTS:
TEACHINGS OF JAMES:
- Do not covet. (v. 2a)
- Do not quarrel or fight. (v. 2b)
- When you ask from God, ask with the right motives. (v. 3)
- Do not be a friend of the world. (v. 4)
- Do not be proud. (v. 6)
- Submit to God and resist the devil. (v. 7)
- Humble before the Lord. (v. 10)
- Do not slander nor judge your brothers. (v. 11)
- Do not boast or brag. (vs. 13-14)
- Do good. (v. 17)
James said that quarrels and disputes result from evil desires battling within us. We want more possessions, more money, higher status, more recognition. And when we don’t get what we want, we fight in order to have it. Instead of craving for more, we should submit ourselves to God and ask God to help us get rid of our selfish desires and trust him to give us what we really need.
Problems in prayer include: not asking, asking for the wrong things, or asking for the wrong reasons. When we pray, seek God’s approval for what you are asking that will correspond to His will.
Pride makes us self-centered. To cure pride, we need to humble ourselves before the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill us so that we can see that this world’s seductive attractions are only cheap substitutes that can never give us joy.
James gave us 5 ways to draw near to God.
- Submit yourselves before God. (v. 7a)
- Resists the devil. (v. 7b)
- Come near to God with clean hands and purified heart. (v. 8)
- Be sorrowful for your sins. (v. 9)
- Humble yourselves before God. (v. 10)
The central theme of the Law is LOVE. Say something good and beneficial to others instead of finding fault and criticizing others. Build people up instead of bringing them down. Do you obey God’s law of Love?
It is good to plan ahead with God’s guidance because the future is in His hands. Seek God’s will in your planning for he will never disappoint you.
Life is short. It is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Therefore we have to live for Christ and fulfill God’s plan for you.
There are two kinds of sins – sins of commission and sins of omission. We commit sin if we do bad things, but we also commit sin if we fail to do good things. James said that “Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” That is why all of us sin because even if we do not harm people, but we usually fail to do a kind act, or render a service to benefit others.