Christian Carnality

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Christian Carnality

Contributed by Frank Gallagher on Nov 11, 2000 (message contributor)

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Scripture: James 4:1-17

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Summary: A study of James 4 which addresses carnality vs. spirituality among believers.

Christian Carnality

(James 4)

[HTML formatted version of this sermon is located at:

http://members.aol.com/abidingitw/james4.html]

(handout follows sermon text)

INTRODUCTION

Jesus Himself tells us in John 8:31-32:

31 "... If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " NAS

In John 15:7, He also tells us:

7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. NAS

Let’s take a moment to quietly confess our sins to God, so that we are in fellowship with Him and led by the Holy Spirit when we study God’s word. 1 John 1:9 promises us, that if we name our known sins to God, He always forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, even from the unknown sins we forgot or didn’t even realize we committed. Let’s pray.

Thank you, Father, for always restoring your children when we admit our sins to you. May your Holy Spirit teach us your word as we study it now. We ask these things in Jesus Name. Amen

JAMES 4

I was once in a Sunday School class at a local church. The pastor was teaching the class, and the subject was evangelism. He told a story about an unmarried couple who were living together and came to one of his church services. The pastor shared the gospel during that service, and this couple came forward and said that they had believed in Jesus Christ and were saved. Then the pastor told us that about a year later, that same couple were still living together, were still unmarried, and were still doing things like drinking and smoking. The pastor doubted that the man and woman had ever really gotten saved, because he saw no change in their lives, “no fruit” as he put it.

Since this was a Sunday School class and we were all allowed to ask questions and share our viewpoints, I had to respond to what he said. I pointed out that when unsaved persons tell us they’ve believed in Jesus Christ, but then don’t give up certain overt sins that bother us, we question whether or not their salvation decision was genuine. If the persons keep drinking, or smoking, or living with a boyfriend or girlfriend, we think that they mustn’t have really been saved. However, I pointed out to the pastor that had that same unmarried couple stopped living together, gave up drinking and smoking, but then joined his church and become the biggest gossips, maligners, and troublemakers his church had ever known, no one would question that they were born-again Christians.

That last example is the kind of believers that James is dealing with throughout his epistle, and in the first few verses of James chapter 4 which I’m teaching today. James begins in this chapter by saying,

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

Remember that, not only in this chapter, but throughout his epistle, James is talking to born-again Christians, to believers who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. James never questions the faith of these believers that has resulted in their salvation. However, throughout his letter to them, he demonstrates that their faith has not produced works, that is, has not resulted in divine good.

These believers are constantly fighting with one another, and James rhetorically asks them what the source of this fighting is. Then he answers his own question by telling them that the source is “your pleasures that wage war in your members.” What is James talking about when he mentions “pleasures that wage war in your members”? This is how James describes the Old Sin Nature that is part of the physical bodies of every person, whether saved or unsaved.

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are given a new nature, that is, we become new creations. We are told this in 2 Cor. 5:17:

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;… NIV

However, we still have our Old Sin Nature, the nature that exists in our flesh. Our old and new natures war against one another. This is the war that James refers to in his epistle. The apostle Paul, the most mature believer in Church Age doctrine, describes this same struggle in himself, a struggle we all have as Christians, in Romans 7:21-25:

Romans 7

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Paul had been a believer for 28 years when he wrote these verses in Romans 7, and he is still struggling with his two natures as we all are. One of our natures is spiritual. When we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, we are spiritual and we produce divine good works. When we fight with one another, or commit other types of sins, we become carnal. We are under the control of our Old Sin Nature, and nothing we do pleases God. We are told this in Rom. 8:8. This means that our faith is without works.

Romans 8:8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. NIV

There are seven synonyms for the Old Sin Nature in the New Testament:

Sin - The Koine Greek word “hamartia” translated in the New Testament as sin, not “sins”, refers to the OSN (Romans 5:12, 7:14);

Flesh - The Greek word “sarxz” translated as flesh, refers to the OSN, specifically to its location, in the body (Romans 8:8, Gal. 5:16, Eph. 2:3, 1 John 2:16);

Old Man (or “old self”) - “palaios anthropos” in the Koine Greek, refers to the OSN and emphasizes its origin (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9);

Carnal (or “worldly”) – “sarkinos” in the Greek, emphasizes the believer under the control of the OSN (1 Cor. 3:3);

The Body Of Sin – emphasizes the headquarters of the OSN, that it resides in the cells of the body (Rom. 6:6);

Corruptible Man – refers to the dead works of the OSN (Rom. 1:23 with Rom. 3:10-18);

Perishable Seed (or “corruptible seed”) – emphasizes the transmission of the OSN through physical birth (1 Pet. 1:23).

James continues to attack the carnality of these Christians in Chapter 4, verse 2:

2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

James accuses them of committing the most serious sins in the Bible, which are mostly mental attitude sins and sins of the tongue. Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us the seven sins that God hates most.

Proverbs 6:16-19

16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. NIV

Three of those seven sins are mental attitude sins, three are sins of the tongue, and only one, murder, is an overt sin.

Mental attitude sins such as lust and envy are the beginning of sins of the tongue and overt sins. James tells them that their mental sin of lust results in their overt sin of murder. He tells them that their mental sin of envy leads to their verbal and overt sins of fighting and quarreling.

Then James points out an irony here, that these believers want certain things really bad, but they are so carnal, that they don’t even ask God in prayer for what they want. This is a primary reason that prayer is not answered – we don’t ask! This is especially true when believers spend a lot of time in carnality, out of fellowship with God. They probably don’t even think to pray because they spend little or no time thinking about God. On the other hand, maybe carnal believers don’t pray for something because deep in their consciences they know that what they desire is far out of God’s will for them. James goes on in chapter 4, verse 3, to tell believers another reason God isn’t giving them things through prayer.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Another reason prayer is not answered – we ask with wrong motives. When believers pray, we all need to remember 1 John 5:14: "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." James tells these believers that they ask God for things with wrong motives, “that you may spend it on your pleasures.” Then in verse 4, James continues,

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Some Bible versions begin James 4:4 with the words, “You adulterers and adulteresses.” However, in the original language, the word “adulterer” does not appear. So why does James use the feminine gender to call these carnal believers “adulteresses”? The answer is simple but maybe not obvious. God calls carnal Christians “adulteresses” because they are all parts of the Church, which is the “bride of Christ”, and when that bride is unfaithful to Christ, she (the Church) is an adulteress. James then says in verse 5:

5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?

This verse is probably mistranslated in the English. A footnote in the NIV Bible gives an alternate translation that makes a lot more sense. That is, “The Spirit which He has made to dwell in us jealously desires us.” In other words, the Holy Spirit, who God has made to dwell in us, jealously desires us. He wants us to walk in fellowship with God, under His (the Holy Spirit’s) control. This is emphasized when James then says in the next verse 6,

6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

God always treats us in grace, even when we choose to live in carnality. When James says, “God is opposed to the proud,” he is referring to carnal believers whose arrogance keeps them in carnality, and out of spiritual fellowship with God. James tells carnal Christians the solution to their problem in the next two verses, verses 7 and 8:

7 Submit 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.

How do you do what James says in verses 7 and 8? Just exactly how do you:

Submit to God?

Resist the devil?

Draw near to God?

Cleanse your hands?

Purify your hearts?

These are all New Testament synonyms that James uses for Rebound, for naming our sins to God. As I taught in a previous message, Rebound is the process of returning to fellowship with God, by confessing (naming) those sins that separate you from fellowship with Him. 1 John 1:9 promises:

1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” NIV

We are told in 1 Cor 11:27-33 to be sure to Rebound before we participate in the Lord’s Table. We can be disciplined through sickness and even the “sin unto death” if we don’t:

1 Cor 11:27-33

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.

30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.

32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. NAS

Another New Testament synonym for Rebound, “lifting holy hands”, occurs in 1 Tim. 2:8:

1 Tim 2:8

I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. NIV

The first part of that verse is symbolism for spirituality. A person’s “hands” are “holy” if he or she has confessed their known sins and been “cleansed from all unrighteousness.” This is in contrast to lifting hands that are involved in “anger or disputing,” which is symbolism for carnality.

James uses some more symbolism for Rebound in verses 9 and 10. In verse 9, he uses this imagery to describe repentance, to tell carnal believers that they need a change of mind about their sins:

9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom.

James is telling carnal believers that they should be miserable, be mourning and weeping about the sins they are doing. He’s trying to say that the laughter and joy they show from sinning, needs to turn to sorrow at the fact that they are out of fellowship with God.

Then in verse 10, James describes Rebound through confession of sins in terms of turning back to the Lord God:

10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

If you “humble yourself” before the Lord by confessing your sins, He “exalts you”, that is, God returns you to fellowship with Him. You are again controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. You are no longer in carnality, but you are “cleansed from all unrighteousness” as promised in 1 John 1:9.

Then James tells them in the next verses how to stay in fellowship with God, how to continue to walk in the Spirit, by avoiding some of the sins they’ve been committing against one another.

11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.

James says not to speak evil against each other. The law commands this, and so James explains that by ignoring the law, we make ourselves judges of it. We say in effect that we know best, and that the law is not as good as our personal opinions or standards.

12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

James tells them in verse 12 that ultimately, God is the only lawgiver and judge, that only God can save and destroy.

For that reason, James asks them, “who are you to judge your neighbor?” This is because God provided salvation for the entire human race through Jesus Christ, and He wants all people to be saved. Those sins for which you judge other people, have already been paid for by Jesus, just as all of your sins and mine have been. God has forgiven and forgotten those sins and no longer holds them against us. Therefore, what gives any of us the right to hold another person’s sins against them.

All of our sin natures are different. We all have different areas of strength, as well as weaknesses. That’s why it’s so easy for Christians to be so judgmental of certain overt or observable sins. We are often quick to judge people involved in drugs, homosexuality, drinking, smoking, and criminal activity, because these are observable sins that others commit, but we generally don’t. Those sins are not OUR area of weakness.

However, we’re not as vocal in our condemning of verbal sins such as gossip, maligning, lying, and quarreling, because these are sins that WE are more likely to commit ourselves. The mental sins such as lust, envy, pride, and hatred are sins we can often hide from most other people.

So we need to remember that all people have struggles with their sin natures, that our struggles are different, but that God treats us all equally in grace, so we need to try to do likewise toward one another.

James continues in verses 13 through 16 by discussing the wrong priorities of believers living in carnality:

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."

14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

15 Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that."

16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

A humble believer who is spiritual realizes that God is ultimately in control and has a plan for our lives. We don’t know what every aspect of that plan is, but we realize that ultimately, we are not guaranteed another year, month, a week, tomorrow, or even another hour of today. However, believers in carnality function under the arrogance of their sin natures. They assume that whatever they want to do, they will have the time to do it. They don’t think in terms of what God’s will for them is, and that God is the one who controls the time they have left.

Lastly, James says in the final verse of chapter 4, in verse 17,

17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. NAS

James is teaching that it is not only sin to do those things that God commands us not to do. It is also sin when we know the right thing to do, but instead, we do nothing. But James uses some very interesting phrasing at the beginning and end of the verse that brings his teaching down to a very personal level. He says, “to the one who knows…to him it is sin.”

This means it’s not necessarily sin for every believer who does nothing in the same set of circumstances. God sometimes expects more from a spiritually mature believer, than He does from a Christian with limited knowledge of His word. A mature Christian may, for the very reason of his or her own spiritual growth, realize that God has equipped them and placed then in a special situation where he or she can serve God by using the gifts He’s given them, and the knowledge they’ve acquired through Bible study. By not responding and using their knowledge and gifts, it may be a sin, because he or she knew God’s will and didn’t do it.

So in chapter 4 of his epistle, James confronted believers concerning their carnality, and urged them to take advantage of the grace of God through Rebound. He urged them to change their priorities and remember that God is in control. While we can’t lose our salvation through continued carnality, we will experience discipline, loss of rewards, and miss out on the daily blessings we can enjoy through fellowship with Him.

Let’s pray.

Father, help us walk in fellowship with you each day. Give us wisdom and strength to make those decisions that glorify you. Help us to avoid carnality and to Rebound quickly when we sin, so that we can keep moving towards spiritual maturity. I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

HANDOUT:

James 4 (New American Standard)

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? [or “The Spirit which He has made to dwell in us, jealously desires us”]