JAMES
LIVING THE REAL LIFE:
CULTIVATING A FAITH THAT WORKS
GRACE FOR TEN
JAMES 4:7-10
INTRODUCTION
Turn in your Bible to James chapter 4. If you recall, last week we took a look at the end of chapter 3 and the first part of chapter 4. We talked about this worldly mindset of jealousy that James speaks against and the corresponding actions that go along with that way of thinking. James was rebuking his readers for essentially making idols out of themselves and not giving their full devotion to God. And God, he reminded his readers, jealously longed for their full devotion. He was not interested in sharing his control over their lives. Now, on the heels of this rebuke come ten imperatives; ten commands that he gives his readers. We are going to look at these commands in some detail.
But we must start where we left off last time. Before we get to vv.7-10 we must revisit v.6, where James writes:
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
The latter part of that verse, as I mentioned, is a quote from Proverbs 3:34. James says that God gives more grace and that’s why the Scripture says what it says. Now the question then, is “What does he give more grace for?” And the answer, in this particular case, is that he gives the grace that is needed to overcome jealous, worldly wisdom and living; and pursue godly thinking and living that resists friendship with the world but rather aligns oneself as a friend of God. Now, once he allows his readers a clear view of God’s grace, then he gives them things that they are to do in order to get out of this worldly lifestyle – things that they are only able to do by the great and marvelous grace of God. He writes beginning at v.7:
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.
Now the first thing he writes is this: Submit to God.
SUBMIT TO GOD (V.7)
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.
As is often the case, one of the most important words to notice in this phrase is the word “therefore”. I’m sure you’ve heard many times that when you see the word “therefore” in the text the first question you should ask is “What’s it there for?” Because “therefore” always connects the current statement to a previous one. In this case, “therefore” refers back to verse 6. Because God gives grace; and because he gives grace not to the proud, but to the humble; therefore submit to God so that you may receive grace. Now these readers already professed Christ. That’s why there was such a harsh rebuke. If no one was claiming to be a Christian then James doesn’t make any sense in rebuking the readers for non-Christian behavior. But they were claiming Christ; and no doubt some, if not most of the readers, were genuine believers. But James here, as he does throughout his epistle, is encouraging his readers to show that their faith is real by the things they do. This list here is intended to help those readers who were proving to be unbelievers by their selfish conduct. He is telling them how to get out of their current selfish, sinful lifestyle – so that they begin acting like the believers they claimed to be. So James tells these men and women who were dividing the church because of their jealous, ungodly behavior to submit to God.
The word “submit” here is a military term. It means to line up under someone who has authority over you. So the first thing these readers consumed with their own desires needed to do was to line up under God. There had to be an exchange of authority. Who were these readers obeying when they were neglecting God and pursuing their passions? They were obeying themselves. They were their own boss. They were not pursuing the purposes and desires of God and his will; they were pursuing the purposes and desires of their own wills. So there had to be a changing of the guard, so to speak. We must highlight the grace of God in v.6 here again because submission is not the natural tendency of man. Left to themselves, these readers would have never submitted to God. Mankind’s stubborn refusal to submit to someone other than himself is like the captain of a ship that was sailing during the night. The captain looked off into the distance and saw faint lights directly ahead of him. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south.” Promptly a return message was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am the captain!” And soon another reply was received: “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am seaman third class Jones.” Immediately the captain angrily sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a battleship!” Then the reply came: “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am a lighthouse.” And that ended the argument. As men and women we are helpless to submit to God on our own because our sinful nature compels us to reject authority. We don’t like being told what to do, just like the captain of the ship headed toward the lighthouse. So James compelled his readers: by the grace of God; submit to him. Hand over your authority.
Then, after telling them who to submit to and obey, he tells them who to resist and fight against. He writes: resist the devil.
RESIST THE DEVIL (V.7)
Ironically, in pursuing their own interests and desiring only the things that benefited them, these people were actually submitting to Satan. In attempting to be under no one’s authority but their own they were unwittingly placing themselves under the devil’s authority. This of course makes sense. If you’re not submitting to the true God, then there’s really only one other option: you’re submitting to Satan. Everything else we may think we’re submitting to reduces down to that. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30:
30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
It’s really very simple: you’re either with Christ or against Christ. There is no neutral ground. And if you’re against Christ then you’re with Satan – Christ’s vanquished, defeated enemy. So, of course, the command from James is to resist the devil. “Resist” here means to stand against something or someone. It is, naturally, the opposite of submitting. So they were to willingly line up under God’s authority and influence and willfully reject Satan’s authority and influence. But notice also the result of such resistance. James writes:
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
When Satan is resisted by submitting to God, to Christ, and to the truth of his word, he is powerless to do anything and so he leaves the scene. He gets away. Remember Jesus’ temptation? When Jesus resisted the devil using the truth of God’s word, the Bible says that Satan departed. He left. James says here that it is the same with those who submit to God. And I think the order is important here. Submission to God comes first; and then by necessity of that submission comes a resistance to the devil. If a person tries to resist the devil without submitting to the true God there are helpless. Ephesians 2 says that men and women without Christ are dead in their trespasses and sins and following the prince of the power of the air – that’s Satan. Satan is called the god of this world, who blinds the eyes of unbelievers. John writes that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. Unbelievers are helpless to resist him. Ah, but believers! Those who have faith in Jesus Christ and consequently the Holy Spirit dwelling within them can resist Satan and his schemes because greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world – the Apostle John says. And so Paul tells his readers in Ephesians 6 to be strong in the Lord; and to put on the armor of God so that they may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. So submission to God comes first. Then one has the power to resist the devil so that he flees. Sometimes we don’t pay the devil enough attention because we miss all that he is doing in this world; and we become complacent because we can’t see him. And he is very active in seeking to work out his schemes. But when it comes to the lives of individual believers he has no power. So James’ readers were to resist the devil. And the implication here is that Satan was the one behind all of this jealousy, and selfish ambition, and fighting. So there had to be a change.
Once that change had been made, then his readers could experience fellowship with God that is the exact opposite of being the enemies that they were in v.4. That’s what he writes next: Draw near to God.
DRAW NEAR TO GOD (V.8)
Here is a glorious invitation. In these four words we find the key to pleasures unimaginable. It’s one thing to submit to God. After all, he is God. He is the Creator of all that exists. He has every right to demand our submission. And by necessity of that we resist the devil. That’s understandable. But God is under no obligation to fellowship with us. And the fact that he invites these men and women to draw near to him is monumental.
Remember in the Old Testament, it was primarily the job of the High Priest to draw near God and offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. And there were laws upon laws and rules upon rules that regulated this process. God was to be approached in a certain way. And the reason for such specificity and complexity was that God is holy and the people were all unholy. They, like everyone else who has ever lived, were sinners. So there was a barrier there.
In the temple where the Jews worshipped and sacrificed there was a symbol of this barrier. It was a huge veil that separated the Holy of Holies – the inner part of the sanctuary where God symbolically dwelt – from the rest of the temple. No one was able to enter behind this veil except once a year: when the High Priest would enter on the Day of Atonement to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. So the people were all aware of this great barrier between God and man. But something happened to that veil on the afternoon Jesus Christ was crucified. It was torn in two from top to bottom. No human hand touched it. It was ripped from the top to the bottom by God. As one commentator notes, God was saying “In the death of My Son, Jesus Christ, there is total access into My holy presence.” There was no longer a barrier. Anyone could now access God by faith in Christ. With this knowledge as his background James writes “Draw near to God.” And again there is a response: and he will draw near to you. Once you’ve submitted to God then and only then can you have fellowship with him.
So, the million dollar question then is: “What does this look like?” How do I know that I am near to God and he is near to me? Another way of putting it is: “How do I know that I have truly submitted to God by faith in Christ and now have a relationship with him?” And there is an objective answer and a subjective answer. And I think a good passage that illustrates both sides of this is found in Romans 8. Paul has just written that Christ fulfilled the requirement of the law for us. He has removed the barrier between God and man for all those who walk according to the Spirit of God. And he writes in v.9 of Romans 8:
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…
Let’s summarize that. Paul says that anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit does not belong to Christ. Okay, so there is one aspect of our objective answer. How does someone know they are near to God and have a relationship with him? They must have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. Now, how do we know we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us? Paul mentions two things. The first is that by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, because if we are led by the Spirit of God then we are sons of God. That’s the objective answer. We know we have fellowship with God by how we live. Our sinful ways start to fade away and we begin to live in accordance with God’s word. That’s what James is calling for throughout his whole book. Show me by your life that you belong to God. The subjective part comes in v.16 when Paul writes that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. This is so subjective that I will have difficulty trying to describe it to you. When you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit has a way of letting you know you are a child of God internally. You sense him. You feel him. You know he’s there. You can feel him leading and guiding you. You can feel him giving you desires that you never had before. He causes you to long for God’s word and God’s people. He causes you to seek after God in order to know him more. And the only way you get the full effect of what I’m saying is to feel it. You know he’s there.
Now we do want to be careful with this because it is so subjective. Sometimes our internal feelings come, not from the Holy Spirit but from last night’s pizza. So we always look for the objective proof to go along with our internal testimony. And God’s word always directs our feelings; so that we know we’re obeying the Holy Spirit and not just our own desires.
But this is what James is calling his readers to experience by telling them to draw near to God. He’s calling them to experience a relationship with him that is validated by how they live as well as the Holy Spirit’s internal testimony.
Now, the next two we are going to take together because they are closely related: Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts.
CLEANSE YOUR HANDS & PURIFY YOUR HEARTS (V.8)
Paul here, in v.8 calls his readers “sinners” and “double-minded”. This is an indication that certain readers were not true believers. Every time the word “sinner” is used in the New Testament it is used to denote an unbeliever. So it make sense then that James has just told them to submit to God, resist the devil, and then draw near to God because even though they were claiming to have done so, they probably had not. Now these two phrases are very simple and so we will spend a short time on them accordingly. When he says “Cleanse your hands” he means to change your actions. When he says “Purify your hearts” he means change your thoughts. In other words he’s telling his readers to avoid sinning on the inside (the heart) and the outside (the hands) – things you think and things you do. James is telling them to start living like a Christian. And such living is the natural outworking of submitting to God and resisting the devil. It is the natural outworking of drawing near to God. If someone has truly surrendered to Christ’s authority and has a relationship with him then their thoughts and actions begin to change. That’s what he’s saying. And in the next four commands he gives us mindset and feeling behind this change of behavior. He writes: be wretched, mourn, weep and turn your laughter into mourning. We’ll summarize those four commands into one point: Mourn your condition.
MOURN YOUR CONDITION (V.9)
What James is calling for here is repentance. His readers were to understand the seriousness of their sinful lifestyles and condition and were to be sorry for such thinking and behavior. And really, the end of v.8 and v.9 comprise the meaning of repentance. You feel sorry for your sin and so you turn from it. In v.9 we see the sorrow and in v.8 we see the turning. The order is not so much the issue here because they are both necessary. You turn because you’re sorry. And if you’re truly sorry then you turn. Again, I think that’s rather clear.
So now in v.10 James comes full circle. He writes: Humble yourself before the Lord.
HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE THE LORD (V.10)
The more you submit to God, the closer you get to him, and the more you realize how many things you do on a daily basis that need changing, the more you will realize how unworthy you are to have any sort of relationship with him. So all that’s left for us to do is to humble ourselves. To acknowledge that he is all and we are nothing without him. Such humility becomes a primary characteristic in a believer’s life. And it is this humility that was lacking in their selfish, jealous pursuits. They were lifting themselves up on their own pedestals. And if they only knew where they really belonged they would humble themselves before God; and let God lift them up. Let God give them their worth. Let God show them their true value – a value that is found only in him.
CONCLUSION
And so to wrap it all up: James highlights the grace God gives to accomplish these ten commands. And without God’s grace the readers would go on pursuing their own selfish longings. And what I want us to understand as a body of believers is that these commands still apply to us. Even if we know Christ as Savior and we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit living within us, we must obey these ten commands. Because submitting to God is not a one time thing. Resisting the devil is not a one time thing. Drawing near to God is not a one time thing. Cleansing our behavior, purifying our thoughts, repenting of our sins and humbling ourselves before the Lord are not one time things. It’s not as if we do these things when we trust Christ and then wipe our hands and we’re done. It’s a life long process. We are constantly submitting and drawing near to God, resisting our enemy and repenting of our sin. Yes, these were the things James told his sinful, fraudulent readers to do; but these are also things that true believers continue to do after they initially come to God through Christ. So let’s take a minute, as we close in prayer, to think about areas of our lives where we’re not submitting to God; or perhaps areas where we are not resisting the temptations of the enemy; in order to make sure that we are not holding onto sins we know we need to give up.
CLOSING PRAYER
