INTRODUCTION
We now return to our study of the book of James entitled: Living the Real Life: Cultivating a Faith that Works. Remember as we were working through the letter we were identifying the different ways James says that true, genuine, saving faith reveals itself. We have seen everything from how real faith responds to trials and temptations, to how real faith responds to God’s word, to how true believers treat other people, and how true believers talk. And of course, we saw the central statement in the book of James in chapter 2; namely that faith without works is dead – it is not real. We come today to the end of chapter 3 and the first part of chapter 4. We are going to take these passages together, even though our English Bibles divide them, because they are related and unified by a central thought. Follow along as I read, beginning in chapter 3, v. 13:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 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.
Contrasted here, are two types of wisdom and the corresponding lifestyles that are an outworking of each type. There is a contrast between worldly wisdom, with its accompanying worldly behavior; and godly wisdom, with its accompanying godly behavior. James, of course, encourages his readers, those Jewish Christians scattered abroad, to have a godly mindset and the appropriate godly behavior. What we are going to see, then, is the basis on which James makes his plea to these followers of Christ and what specifically these two opposing systems of thought entail. And we will notice that James calls for godly wisdom and godly living on the basis of God’s great longing for the devotion of his people. We can summarize this passage like this: God longs for the full devotion of his creatures; so we must avoid carnal wisdom, resist carnal passions, and submit to our jealous God.
We are going to start right in the middle of the passage at v.5, because it is here that our central thought is found. So let’s notice first of all that God longs for our full devotion.
GOD LONGS FOR OUR FULL DEVOTION
Chapter 4 and v.5:
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
This question that James poses to his readers comes right in the middle of his discussion on worldly and godly behavior. And this statement, in the form of a question, is especially important for us to understand. Unfortunately, this is one of the most difficult verses in James to translate from the original Greek. And so, depending upon what English Bible you are reading, v. 5 may say, for instance in the NIV, that “the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely.” Or similarly, in the King James, that “the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” In other words, those translations give this verse the meaning that our human spirits have a natural tendency toward jealousy and envy. Then there are those that see the Holy Spirit being referred to here; and so, like in the New American Standard Bible (a very good translation), the verse says that “He (God) jealously desires the Spirit (capitalized to indicate the Holy Spirit) which He has made to dwell in us.” Meaning that since believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and we are a temple of the living God, he desires us to display Spirit-filled behavior. Then, as in the ESV, which I am reading, there are those that translate the verse as “He (God) yearns jealously over the spirit (not capitalized – meaning our human spirit) that he has made to dwell in us.” Translated this way, the verse would mean that God desires complete control over our lives – over our souls. Now we don’t need to be troubled by this, and it is not our purpose to resolve this issue with any sort of finality, but we need to be aware of the problem. Because even as I read the text aloud, there were likely some of you who were reading another translation that worded the verse differently. And I am going to present my whole case on the basis of understanding this verse as it stands in the ESV. So in the interest of honesty, integrity, and clarity, we need to know what’s going on here. Having said that, I think the best way to translate this verse is like this: “Or do you think that to no purpose the Scripture says, ‘With jealousy he yearns after the spirit he made to dwell in us.’” So James is saying here that God yearns after, he longs for our souls. He jealously desires control of our lives; because he is the one who gave us our lives to live in the first place.
Now, to compound our problem, James writes that Scripture says this. No matter how we choose to translate this phrase, there is no verse of Scripture – Old or New Testament – that says what James writes here verbatim. But there are many passages of Scripture that teach the general idea of what James writes. One of the most familiar ones is found in Exodus 20:4-5:
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God…
This of course is one of the Ten Commandments. It is the second commandment: you shall not make for yourself an idol. You are not to worship or serve anything or anyone except God. And the reason that God gives here is that he is a jealous God. He has no desire to share the devotion of his people. Joshua writes the same thing at the end of his book: that God is a jealous God, and if his people forsake him and turn to idols he will judge them. We find this truth in the New Testament as well. 1 Corinthians 10:22 says that when we participate in evil activities we provoke the Lord to jealousy. So James is not quoting a specific verse of Scripture here, he’s telling his readers that the Scriptures in general teach that God is a jealous God.
Normally, when we think of jealousy, we think of it in a negative context. In fact, every other time this word that is translated “jealously” is used in the New Testament it is used negatively – to denote jealousy as a sinful attitude. But God’s jealousy is not like our jealousy. God feels a righteous jealousy for his people. There are many things that God does and feels that we are told not to do because we end up sinning. God is an angry and wrathful God; but he is always perfect and just in his anger. When we are angry, we are sinning 9 times out of ten. In fact, James already addressed that in chapter 1, verses 19-20 if you remember. So it is important for us to grasp then, that jealousy, in and of itself is not a sinful feeling – because God is jealous. Where sin enters is the point at which our sinful natures produce jealousy for ungodly reasons.
But God is perfectly justified in his jealousy. He has every right to be jealous for our commitment and our lives. And in v.5 that’s exactly what James writes that he is: jealous. He passionately desires control of his people. He longs for our full devotion.
Now the way James poses this question is intended to get his readers to understand why he is telling them what he is. Everything that precedes and follows that question is intended to be understood in light of the fact that God desires the commitment of his people. And James begins with the way we think. He writes in chapter 3:13-18 that because God longs for the full devotion of his people, we must avoid carnal wisdom.
WE MUST AVOID CARNAL WISDOM
V.13:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
James had just finished discussing how true believers talk, and he moves naturally into how true believers think. He writes that if anyone thinks he is wise, then let him show that wisdom, not with arrogance, but with humility. And it is as if, while James is writing this, that he ponders some of the things he had heard about the church or churches he’s writing to, and he expands on the idea of wisdom in order to differentiate between true and false wisdom. Because evidently there were people to whom James was writing that were claiming to be wise; that were claiming to be spiritually mature; that were claiming to be committed disciples, who were consumed with jealous attitudes and selfish ambition. They were only concerned with what they could get out of the church. They pursued whatever was best for them, and only what was best for them. These were the ones who blamed God for their fall into temptations. These were the ones who ignored what they heard from God’s word. These were the ones who neglected the needy and catered to the rich who came into their assembly. These were the ones who had so called faith without verifying works. These were the ones whose mouths revealed what was truly in their hearts. And yet they proclaimed to be wise and mature. And James comes at them head on by saying that they were being untruthful; and that their attitude was not revealing of genuine faith but was earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. There was nothing heavenly, nothing godly, and nothing Christ-like about their so called wisdom. Their way of thinking was perverse. It was deceiving; both to those around them and to themselves. And James warns them: do not boast and be false to the truth. Do not think for one second that you are fooling God. You may be fooling others in the church, but you are not fooling God.
Then he says if you really had the mindset that reflects godly, genuine faith, you would be pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. You would live a righteous life. So James characterizes worldly thinking – the kind of thinking that is driven by jealousy and selfishness, and tells his readers that if they think this way there is no reason for them to think they have true faith in Jesus Christ. Then he differentiates between that kind of thinking and the way they should be thinking by listing some of the things that are characteristic of godly wisdom.
And the warning here for us is the same as it was for those in the churches to whom James is writing. If we claim to be wise; if we claim to be spiritually mature, and yet our thinking is dominated not by godly virtues, but by jealousy and selfish ambitions we are frauds. If all we think about concerning anything; and particularly concerning church is “What is in it for me?” then we need a serious check-up. If our so called Christian lives are so self-centered that we won’t do anything unless it directly benefits us then we are not displaying the fruits of genuine, saving faith. But there’s more.
Not only does James confront worldly, natural, carnal, fleshly wisdom – or mindsets, he confronts the actions that correspond to such thinking. He pleads with his readers to resist carnal passions.
WE MUST RESIST CARNAL PASSIONS
Chapter 4, v.1:
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
At the beginning of chapter 3 James writes that you either talk like a believer or you talk like an unbeliever. And at the end of chapter 3, what we just read, he writes that you either think like a believer or you think like an unbeliever. Now, he writes that you either act like a believer or you act like an unbeliever. You talk the way you talk because you think the way you think, and you act how you act because you think the way you think. Look at what was going on in some of these churches: fighting, arguing, bickering, coveting, and even murdering. These actions are simply the outworking of worldly mindsets. And James writes, in effect, “Why are you acting like this?” Don’t you know that acting upon worldly passions, and aligning yourself with the worldly way of thinking and living makes you an enemy of God? And when we say “worldly” here we mean the way of thinking and living that is diametrically opposed to how God has told us to think and live.
So let’s sort of catch up to what we have been saying so far. Our main concern is to understand that God desires the devotion and affection of his people. And there were some men and women in the churches that James was writing to, who were not giving their devotion to God but rather were giving their devotion to themselves. They were in essence making idols out of themselves. Everything that they said, thought, and did reflected a desire to promote their selfish longings and pursuits. And James, by virtue of his contrasts between earthly wisdom and living and heavenly wisdom and living, is instructing them to avoid and resist such carnality because they are aligning themselves as enemies of God. Okay?
So, what exactly was going on? The picture James paints is not pretty. There were some who only associated with the church in order to profit, whether materially or socially. There were some who were only there to gain access to the wealthy and influential people who may have come. And the sense that we get from vv.1-3 of chapter 4 is that there were some people who were only at the church in order to get things they wanted from other people. Remember in the early church it was not uncommon for people to give all they had to the church and then believers would share everything they had. So evidently there were some people who were attending only to try to gain control over these things – whether it was money, or land, or food, or livestock. And they were fighting over these things. They were fighting over material possessions. And their sinful passion for these things revealed that their hearts were not set on God but on the things of the world; and that’s why James says that if they are friends with the world then they are enemies of God.
Now we arrive back at v.5:
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
All of this rebuking of worldly thinking and living finds its force in v.5. God wants control of your life. He’s telling his readers who were thinking ungodly, selfish thoughts and acting upon those thoughts that God is jealous. He is not pleased with such things. He wants to be the focus. So, in light of this, James tells his readers to submit to their jealous God.
WE MUST SUBMIT TO OUR JEALOUS GOD
Now there is a key phrase here that I don’t want us to miss. It is found in v.6:
6 But he gives more grace.
Beginning in chapter 3, v.13 James really begins to lay it on thick; he really hits his readers hard. Why are you thinking like this? Why are you acting like this? You are acting like unbelievers. You are acting like enemies of God. You cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God at the same time. Don’t you know the testimony of Scripture? God is a jealous God. He does not share his glory. He is not willing to share your affection with anything or anyone else. And as his readers are hearing this, they have to be thinking: “Okay, tell me what I’m supposed to do. How do I get out of this pattern of selfish thinking and selfish living?” And James does not immediately give them a list of things to do. The very first thing he writes is: but he gives more grace.
Here is what he wanted his readers to understand: What God longs for, he must grant us the ability to give him. God jealously desired their devotion, but they couldn’t give it to him. James knew the truth that Joshua proclaimed to the Israelites centuries before in Joshua 24:19:
19 …“You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God.”
We must receive God’s grace if we are ever to break the bonds of worldly thinking and worldly living. And James gives his readers the best news they could have heard: he gives more grace. In other words, he has not left us to ourselves. He has not left us alone to figure out how to get out of the mess we’re in. He is not leaving our submission to him up to us. He gives us the grace to devote ourselves to him. Once again, he quotes a proverb to substantiate his point: Proverbs 3:34. The point is that God gives the grace we need to devote our lives to him.
Now after he is sure to let his readers know that it is God’s grace that enables them to devote themselves fully to his glory, then he instructs them with a series of commands. His readers would have been foolish; and we would be foolish to think that anyone can do any of what James lists next without the grace of God. He lists 10 imperatives; 10 commands:
Submit to God. Resist the devil. Draw near to God. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Be wretched. Mourn. Weep. Turn your laughter into mourning. And humble yourself before the Lord. We will take a closer look at those 10 commands next time.
CONCLUSION
But let’s summarize what we’ve seen. James rebukes his readers for having ungodly mindsets and acting on ungodly passions. He tells them that they are being worldly, unspiritual, demonic, and enemies of God. And he instructs them to dismiss these things on the basis of God’s jealous longing for the full devotion of his people. But instead of immediately giving them a to-do list, he tells them God must grant them the grace to overcome these things. Then and only then can they accomplish the list of commands he gives in vv.7-10.
So what can we as a church body take from this then? Well, we must learn the lesson that James emphasized to his readers. We must not be characterized by envious, selfish thinking. Selfish fighting and quarreling will destroy a church. And such behavior should not characterize believers. God should be the center of attention; not our own desires and longings. So let us pray that we would be the type of church members who understand that God’s glory should motivate all that we do. Let us pray for the grace to avoid carnal, selfish, so called wisdom. Let us pray for the grace to resist carnal, selfish passions. And let us pray for the grace to submit to our jealous God; that we would be able to form a body of believers that is known for its unreserved devotion to God and his glory.
