Drawing Close To God
Text: James 4:1-10
Introduction
1. Illustration: In 1857 there was a 46 year old man named Jeremiah Lamphere who lived in New York City. Jeremiah loved the Lord tremendously, but he didn’t feel that he could do much for the Lord until he began to feel a burden for the lost and accepted an invitation from his church to be an inner city missionary.
So in July of 1857 he started walking up and down the streets of New York passing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus, but he wasn’t having any success. Then God put it on his heart to try prayer. So he printed up a bunch of tracts, and he passed them out to anyone and everyone met. He invited anyone who wanted to come to the 3rd floor of the Old North Dutch Reform Church on Fulton St. in New York City from 12 to 1 on Wednesday to pray. He passed out hundreds and hundreds of fliers and put up posters everywhere he could.
Wednesday came and at noon nobody showed up. So Jeremiah got on his knees and started praying. For 30 minutes he prayed by himself when finally five other people walked in. The next week 20 people came. The next week between 30 and 40 people came. They then decided to meet every day from 12:00 to 1:00 to pray for the city.
Before long a few ministers started coming and they said, "We need to start this at our churches." Within six months there were over 5000 prayer groups meeting everyday in N.Y. Soon the word spread all over the country. Prayer meetings were started in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington D.C. In fact President Franklin Pierce started going almost every day to a noonday prayer meeting. By 1859 some 15,000 cities in America were having downtown prayer meetings everyday at noon, and thousands were brought to Christ.
The great thing about this revival is that there is not a famous preacher associated with it. It was all started by one man wanting to pray.
2. The Bible is very clear that if we come close to him he will come close to us. That if we seek him with all our hearts we will find him. That he stands at the door of our hearts and knocks waiting to come in.
3. However, sometimes we create obstacles that keep us from coming close to God...
A. Prayerlessness
B. Pride
C. Humble Submission
4. Let's stand together as we read James 4:1-10.
Proposition: God's desire for us is for us to desire Him.
Transition: The first roadblock that James talks about is...
I. Prayerlessness (1-3).
A. Because You Don't Ask God For It
1. "A praying man as well as a reformer of the church, Martin Luther expressed God's expectation of prayer in this way, 'As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray!'" (Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, 68).
2. And when we fail to pray it gets us in trouble, and that's the point that James makes in this passage.
3. In v. 1 James says, "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?"
A. The word quarrels refers to fighting without weapons, as in personal conflicts. These conflicts have nothing to do with quarrels with the pagan world; these are quarrels within the church, among believers.
B. James is describing a condition where a group has come to a state of war, with open skirmishes breaking out among people. Sides have been chosen, positions have been dug in.
C. In cases like this, believers have ceased being peacemakers (3:18); instead, they live in open antagonism toward one another.
D. The word fights refers to battles with weapons, an armed conflict. It was used figuratively to indicate the struggle between powers, both earthly and spiritual.
E. Obviously, disagreements will occur in every church. But when they happen, are we wise enough to understand why? Do we know their source?
F. When handled correctly, with godly wisdom, they can lead to growth. Sadly, however, some churches become permanent battlegrounds.
G. New believers find themselves in a cross fire of arguments, resentments, and power struggles that may carry a veneer of spiritual truth, but are more often simply personal conflicts between people.
H. In the process, innocent bystanders are sometimes deeply wounded.
I. Many of us know people who have been alienated from the church because of a conflict that had nothing to do with the gospel.
J. Fights and quarrels are being caused, not by some external source, but by the people’s evil desires.
K. When everyone seeks his or her own pleasure, only strife, hatred, and division can result.
L. At war within suggests a raging battle fought between the desire to do good and the desire to do evil (Barton, 1085).
4. James then answers his two rhetorical questions in v. 2 when he says, "You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it."
A. The craving described here becomes so strong that the people scheme and kill to get it.
B. The word kill can be taken as a hyperbole for bitter hatred. Instead of rethinking their desires, the people being described by James resort to jealousy, fights, quarrels, and worse.
C. Yet, for all their anxious self-seeking and antagonism in getting what they want, they still can’t possess it. Why? We learned (from getting our first tricycle or doll to driving our first new car) that fulfilled desires don’t satisfy at the level they advertise.
D. Sometimes we actually do get just what we wanted, only to discover that we still do not have what we really needed—the deep contentment that only comes when we are right with God.
E. Trusted alone, our desires will only lead us to the things of this earth and not to the things of God.
F. In summary, James’s message is: The reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. In other words, “You don’t have what you desire because you don’t desire God.” (Barton, 1085).
5. Then James adds to his statement about prayerlessness by taking about motives. In v. 3 he says, "And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."
A. Almost as bad as not asking is asking wrongly. If we misunderstand the correct use of prayer, we might not pray at all, or we might attempt to manipulate God.
B. Later, James makes it clear that, when we pray, we must humble ourselves before God (4:7). Otherwise we will not be answered.
C. People should not be surprised when their prayers go unanswered because often their whole motive is wrong.
D. They were going to spend what they received on their pleasures (the same word as “desires” in 4:1).
E. The people’s desires were so strong that they were fighting, quarreling, and then using prayer to get what they wanted. Their motives were not to help others, but to satisfy themselves (Barton, 1085).
B. Importance Of Prayer
1. Illustration: Dr W E Sangster wrote: "If you are too busy to pray then you are too busy", and hear the words of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christians so much as our prayer life."
2. As Christians prayer ought to be as essential as breathing.
A. Matthew 6:5-7 (NLT)
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.
6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.
B. Notice that Jesus doesn't say, "If you pray," but rather, "When you pray!"
C. For the Christian prayer is not an option, but a necessity.
D. I agree with Bill Hybels who said, "you don't have time not to pray."
E. We wonder why we are so stressed out and overcome with anxiety when we don't take the time to pray everyday.
F. Paul said, "don't worry about everything, but pray about everything."
G. If you lack anything, pray!
H. If you have difficulties in your life, pray!
I. If you feel back into a corner, pray!
J. If you are overwhelmed, pray!
K. If you want to see God move in our church, pray! Because we have a God who answers prayer.
Transition: What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
II. Pride (4-6).
A. God Opposes The Proud
1. Paul W. Powell once observed: "Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful we’ll be proud of our humility. When this happens our goodness becomes badness. Our virtues become vices. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who, having told the story of the Pharisee and the publican, said, ‘Children, let’s bow our heads and thank God we are not like the Pharisee!’"
2. James shows the seriousness of pride when he says, "You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God."
A. The shocking word adulterers graphically describes the spiritual unfaithfulness of the people and intends to jar them into facing their true spiritual condition.
B. Adulterers was used in the OT as a euphemism for those who were unfaithful to God (Adamson, NICNT: James, 169).
C. These believers were trying to love God and have an affair with the world. The fact that God would express in the strongest terms possible the importance of faithfulness ought to unsettle us.
D. The word translated "world," refers not to all inhabitants of the earth, but rather to all of those who are opposed to Jesus and all that He stand for (Morris, NICNT: John, 112).
E. Biblical standards of personal, marital, and spiritual behavior are under a constant attack of erosion. We are bombarded with the message to compromise.
F. From the world’s point of view, we should be flexible, tolerant of sin, and accommodating. But it won’t work, because friendship with this world makes a person an enemy of God.
G. For believers, the world and God are two distinct objects of affection, but they are direct opposites.
H. The world is the system of evil under Satan’s control, all that is opposed to God. To be friendly with the world, then, is to adopt its values and desires.
I. These believers may indeed love God, but they are also infatuated with the benefits of this world’s system. They worship God, but they want the influence, living standards, financial security, and perhaps some of the freedom the world offers.
J. These pursuits will only undermine the generosity, caring, and sharing that should characterize Christians.
K. What then is a believer’s proper relationship to the world? Some have used biblical statements like this one from James as a basis for a radical withdrawal from the “world.” But withdrawal is not the answer.
L. Although it is true that we are called to be in the world but not to belong to this world (John 17:14), we should love the people in this world enough to give them the gospel.
M. To do so, we need to befriend them without befriending the things of this world that are opposed to God (Barton, 1085-1086).
3. James backs up his statement with Scripture. In vv. 5-6 he says, "What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”
A. We will need to rely on God’s strength to stand against such evil desires. That strength is available.
B. Quoting from Proverbs 3:34, James offers hope to those who desire friendship with God.
C. God sets himself against the proud because pride makes us self-centered and leads us to conclude that we deserve all we can see, touch, or imagine. It creates greedy appetites for far more than we need. Pride can subtly cause us to no longer see our sins or our need for forgiveness.
D. But humility opens the way for God’s grace to flow into our lives; thus, God shows favor to the humble.
E. Humility is not weakness; instead, it is the only place that believers gain courage to face all their temptations and sins with God’s strength.
F. As God gives us more grace, we realize that this world’s seductive attractions are only cheap substitutes for what God has to offer.
G. It is our choice—we can humble ourselves and receive God’s grace, or we can continue in our pride and self-sufficiency and experience his anger (Barton, 1086).
B. 7 Deadly Sins
1. Illustration: Pride is the ground in which all other sins grow. - William Barkley
2. Pride causes us to love the world more than God.
A. 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
B. It's pride that causes us to worship possessions more than the one who provided us with them.
C. It's pride that says I'm entitled to all that I have because I earned it!
D. It's pride that causes us to want things we cannot have.
E. It's pride that cause us to crave the things of the world rather than the things of God.
F. It's pride that causes us to care more about what the person sitting next to me thinks that about what God thinks.
G. It's pride that creates prayerlessness because we think that we don't need God's help.
H. Pride is not only a sin but Scripture calls it one of the 7 deadly sins, and it tells us that God hates it!
Transition: So if prayerlessness and pride keep us from God, how do we come close to God?
III. Humble Submission (7-10).
A. Humble Yourselves
1. James answer to this sinful condition is two-fold...humble ourselves resist the devil.
2. In v. 7 he says, "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
A. Humble: this verb is regularly used of submission to human authority, but only here of submission to God. The notion here is of complete humble subjection, modeled on the pattern of Christ (Admason, 174).
B. We humble ourselves before God by recognizing both his friendship and his authority. We enter a relationship with God, not as equals, but as trusting servants.
C. Although he is not specifically defining the term, James is describing the life of faith. True faith responds to God actively rather than passively.
D. Although God initiates and facilitates all that occurs between us and him, our involvement is never entirely excluded. Personal humility before God is part of living faith.
E. "The devil, unlike the Christian, takes pride seriously, knowing that as long as he can control human pride he can frustrate God's purposes, if only temporarily...for the devil's purpose a proud Christian is of much more use than an atheist or a pagan" (Adamson, 174).
F. We can resist the Devil, and he will flee from us. Conversely, a lack of resistance will practically guarantee ongoing harassment by Satan.
G. Once we have identified the Devil as our enemy, we need to understand who he is and how he operates in order to effectively resist him. The Devil’s primary purpose is to separate man from God.
H. Destined for destruction, he wants to take as much of creation with him as he possibly can. Among the reasons we so desperately need God’s grace is that we are locked in mortal combat with a superior enemy.
I. We need God’s help to resist Satan’s separating schemes and instead draw near to God. The commands that follow, and indeed the rest of this letter, are footnotes on the above two statements. Both humility before God and resistance of the Devil are required (Barton, 1086).
J. If you've ever quoted this verse simply as "resist the devil and he will flee from you," then you have done so incorrectly.
K. If you think you can resist the devil on your own power you are sadly mistaken. Without God's help you are powerless before Satan, but with God's help you will win the victory!
3. Then James says, "Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world."
A. Originally "come close," was used of Jewish priests drawing near in worship, and then for anybody coming close to God. The rabbis used to say, "God goes out to those who approach Him" (Adamson, 174).
B. The idea of humility before God now includes the added benefit of God’s immediate response. We can draw close to God, and God will draw close to us.
C. The command to wash your hands means to purify our actions and change our external behavior. The way we live matters to God. As we draw near to God, we will become aware of habits and actions in our lives that are not pleasing to him.
D. Washing our hands pictures the removal of these things from the way we live. We must distance ourselves from the sins that God points out.
E. Similarly, the command to purify your hearts calls for purity of thoughts and motives—changes on the inside. The people could not remain hypocrites, trying to love both God and the world. Purity of heart, then, implies single-mindedness (Barton, 1087).
F. Romans 12:2 (NLT)
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
G. So how do we change our actions? By letting God change our minds!
4. James also says, "Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor."
A. As God draws near to us, we ought to sense our unworthiness. After all, we are being allowed to approach the holy, perfect God.
B. James has described a long spiritual process in the last eight verses.
i. He began by describing people in conflict with each other and within themselves.
ii. Then he described the source of those conflicts as inappropriate desires motivated in large part by trying to stay close to the world and to God.
C. Unmasking of such a life and calling believers to humility may not be a welcome message. Surrender may not come easily. Long-held desires may respond with defiance.
D. Repentance may have to include remembering how far we have broken from God’s way before we have turned back.
E. These different terms, sorrow, deep grief, sadness, and gloom, capture the struggle of a soul drawing near to God. There is a dying which takes place. This is a call to deep and heartfelt repentance.
F. The people’s laughter (scornful laughter that refused to take sin seriously) and their joy in the world’s pleasures need to be completely changed—to mourning over their sins.
G. Until this happens, there is no room for the laughter of real freedom and the joy of the Lord. The Christian life involves joy—but when we realize our sins, we must be mournful so that we can repent. Only after mourning can we move on to joy in the grace God gives us (Barton, 1087).
B. Submission To God
1. Illustration: Three boys in the school yard were bragging about who had the better father. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, and they give him $100." The second boy says, "That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $1000." The third boy says, "My Dad is even better than that. He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men just to collect all the money!"
2. In order to come close to God you must first acknowledge your need for Him.
A. 1 Peter 5:6-9 (NLT)
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.
B. We must admit that without God we are useless.
C. We must admit that without God we would have nothing.
D. We must admit our dependence upon him in everything in life.
E. We must admit that only through his power can we overcome sin.
F. We must admit that without his power we cannot accomplish anything significant in this life.
G. John 15:5 (NLT)
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
Conclusion
1. The Bible is very clear that if we come close to him he will come close to us. That if we seek him with all our hearts we will find him. That he stands at the door of our hearts and knocks waiting to come in.
2. However, sometimes we create obstacles that keep us from coming close to God...
A. Prayerlessness
B. Pride
C. Humble Submission
3. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER...
A. WHEN WE ARE PRAYERLESS WE ARE POWERLESS!
B. ANYTHING THAT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN GOD IS AN IDOL!
C. IN ORDER TO COME CLOSER TO GOD WE MUST EMPTY OURSELVES!
