James 4:8-10, Part 1—James said What?!?

Draw near to God and http://objektivverleih.at/rabatt-chloroquin-verkauf/ He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:8-10

What we have here is a sandwich. The two pieces of bread are sweet; the meat in the middle is bitter. Let me explain.

James 4:8 begins with the call to draw near to God and promises that if you do, He will draw near to you as well. Sweet. James 4:10 is a reminder to humble yourself before God with the promise that if you do, He will exalt you. Sweet again.

But the meat in this sandwich is bitter. I’ve been a member of three different churches and have listened to hundreds—probably thousands—of tapes, CDs, and messages online, and have been to innumerable meetings, campmeetings, and conferences in various places, but to my memory, I’ve never heard anyone preach on the words that James wrote after “He will draw near to you” and before “Humble yourselves”.

Since these verses seem to be the elephant in the room when it comes to James’ admonition, I’d like to start with them first. Tomorrow and Friday we’ll deal with the sweet verses surrounding them.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

I counted seven tough instructions in this portion—some shocking by today’s standards—and two instances of name-calling. I’m sure that the believers to whom James wrote weren’t overly fond of this section of his letter anymore than we are today, yet what he wrote needed to be said. He was alarmed by the strife, instability, and prideful carnality among them, and in obedience to God, he took on the task of correcting them. Here we go.

Seven tough instructions:

Cleanse your hands. Your hands were created by God as instruments of fellowship, love, healing, creativity, gainful work, healthy recreation, and godly service. With your lifted hands you worship Him. Your hands can pull someone out of a pit; your hands can carry a wounded brother; your hands can help push someone up to the next level. However, many of these believers seemed to be all about me. Their hands needed to be cleansed from the myriad of selfish, antagonistic, and carnal behaviors in which they had been involved.

Purify your hearts. James had written that the wisdom from above was first of all pure (see James 3:17 and http://www.firstofallpray.com/?p=6136 ). These believers needed to purify their hearts if they wanted to draw from the wisdom of God. But how were they to do this? 1Peter 1:22 sheds some light on this: “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” In order to purify your heart, you must put emphasis on obeying the truth of the Word of God. This empowers you to operate from sincerity and love. Strife and acheter kamagra suede carnality, on the other hand, produce far different outcomes: First they create insincerity and a loveless environment; and second they reveal that you haven’t prioritized obeying the Word of truth. “...but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Be miserable and mourn and weep. These are “tough instructions” numbers three, four, and five. They are related, so they’re grouped together. Not a lot of messages are preached in the places I’ve worshipped about these instructions, but James saw fit to include them as part of the Rx needed to bring breakthrough to these believers. When taken together, misery, mourning, and weeping represent the heartfelt response of individuals who recognize the depth and dishonor of their disobedience when all the glossy veneer has been stripped away. James was not recommending putting on a show of remorse; no. He was leading these believers to look beneath their carefully-crafted façades to see the true state of their hearts. When the Light is allowed to shine in the darker places of the soul, sons and daughters of Light typically respond in this way: They are miserable, they mourn, and they weep. But when God’s Light comes in, it also brings with it cleansing and healing restoration. “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b).

Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. The list of “tough instructions” concludes with these two—numbers six and seven. Again, I haven’t heard any preaching lately discouraging laughter or joy; however, James, as a wise minister, knew what was needed to bring health back to the believers to whom he was writing. Remember, this group had fallen into patterns of contention, gross pride, and carnality, perhaps masked by uproarious laughter and gaiety—possibly at the cruel expense of others. Proverbs 14:13 states “Even in laughter the heart may be in pain, and the end of joy may be grief.” James knew that laughter and merriment had to be set aside for a time to allow the bitter truth to sink in so that healing could start. The restoration of honor and http://www.larudasalska.fr/acheter-du-cialis-a-bruges/ virtue was more important than to continue in the “feel good” anesthesia of shallow mirth.

Two instances of name-calling:

You sinners. These believers were saints by virtue of their new birth; they were new creations in Christ. But they were living in gross error and were treating one another like dirt. They didn’t need to be coddled; they needed correction. They were in sin; hence James called them sinners.

You double-minded. James had written earlier in the letter that a double-minded man was unstable in all of his ways (see James 1:8 and http://www.firstofallpray.com/?p=5620). Instability permeated this bunch, it appears. He wrote here, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” When those who are recreated by faith in Christ and made pure by His precious blood choose to live in a haze of carnality, contention, and conceit, they are double-minded. Their words about Jesus say one thing; their actions display quite another.

The good news is this: James told them that if they drew near to God, He would draw near to Him. He also wrote that if they humbled themselves before the Lord, He would exalt them. But first, as Ricky Ricardo would often say, “You got some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy.”

Dorothy