Good morning! Do you find God’s Word to be satisfying to
your soul? My desire is that all of us will
truly dig deeply into the Word of God, discover its life-giving truth, and then
seek to live it out in our everyday lives.
Start by praying that
God would open your eyes to the wonderful things in His Word through your study
(Ps. 119:18). As you answer the questions, seek to dig deeply into the Word!
As you read this week's passage, look for these
words or phrases: conflicts, war,
lust, ask, motives, friendship, enemy of God, the
Spirit, grace, proud, and humble.
Passage for the week:
James 4:1-6 (NASB)
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. 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?”
6 But
He gives a greater grace. Therefore it
says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Questions for thought: Take a few moments to
answer these questions before you go on to the next section.
List all
of the characteristics of God that you find in this passage (what God is like,
His attributes).
What
are the questions that James asks in the passage? What is the point of all of these questions?
What
does James mean by “pleasures?”
What
does James mean by “you lust” or “you covet”?
What were they coveting?
James
calls his readers “adulteresses.” Why
does he address them in this way? (Hint:
"friendship with the world")
James’
mentions fights and quarrels in his rebuke of his readers? What did this fighting look like?
In
James 1:6, James writes that prayer must be conducted in faith. What does he say about prayer in James 4:2-3? What two ways were his readers sinning in the
area of prayer?
To whom
does God give grace and why? Does your
behavior reflect this reality?
Read
Luke 15:11-32. What insight does this
give to the condition of James’ readers who asked that they might spend what
God gives them on their pleasures?
James
warns against being a friend of the world.
Where else in his epistle does he speak about this? Where else in the Bible is this spoken
of? (ex. 1 John 2)
MEDITATE ON THIS:
James paints a picture of the church as he saw it: they
were fighting and arguing, battling,
killing (with words) and coveting. Wow!
Does any of this sound familiar?
Unfortunately, this picture is not too far from what we see in the
church today! The church should be a
place of love, encouragement, friendship, and service. However, it is our desires to please ourselves
that get in the way of this. All of
those who were fighting in James’ church probably felt like they were doing the
right thing, but James tells them God’s perspective on the situation. The source of these conflicts is not found in
their love of God but to their desires,
the evil impulses that we have already learned about in James 1:14–15. The same goes for us as well!
All of this arguing is fruitless: they do not get
what they want, because they do not
ask God. “But I do pray!”
might be your response. “You pray, but it is not effective, for your motives
are wrong.” We are not seeking God’s
will or God’s wisdom, but our own will.
In other words, we come to God saying, “God, please bless my plans.” Instead of us focusing on God’s plans, our
motives are wrapped up in our own desires and pleasures. God’s goal is not to give us what our own
impulses demand. His goal is that we
will learn to love what He loves. It is not that God does not want people to
have pleasure, but that He wants to train them to take pleasure in what He
knows is truly good.
In claiming to trust in God and yet living
according to their own desires, James calls these people adulterers. They were being unfaithful to God and had
been focusing their love on the world. When we try to become a friend of the world we are actually
God’s enemies! Sure, we are still in the world as “salt” and
“light,” but we are not to be of the world. At this point James talks about how God
jealously longs for the spirit He made to live in us. That means that God gave
to each person their spirit and He jealously longs for pure love in return (see Exodus 20:5–6). You cannot serve God and the world!
James’s argument might drive people to despair
because of their sin. However, we find
hope in verse 6! James claims that God
offers more grace rather than
condemnation, to the believer who is humble and repents. To back this up James
quotes Proverbs 3:34, also quoted in 1 Peter 5:5: God does give grace to the
humble! This grace that God gives is a
grace that is sufficient for every struggle we are facing or any need we have.
So, let’s make our church a place where there is a
genuine love for one another, a committed love for God, and a true heart of
humility that will be ready to receive God’s grace!
Praying for that you would Love Christ
PASSIONATELY, Know Christ DEEPLY, and Enjoy Christ FULLY!!!
Pastor Stephen
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