James 4:8-10, Part 3—Humble yourself
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10
Strife, contention, bitterness, jealousy, and pride. We’ve all experienced it, and many of us have probably stirred up a bit of it, ourselves. For anyone caught in the tangled web of strife, James presented a prescription—not just to be nice again—but to utterly eradicate the poison of contention from your heart.
Where do you turn when you’re in the middle of strife? What can you do to get yourself free? James wrote, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8a). He then wrote, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (verse 10).
For the believers to whom James wrote, strife had erupted due to their jealousy toward one another. It escalated to what James described as waging war, fighting, and quarreling—all over pleasures and lusts. Whatever the cause of strife between Christians, it’s never pretty; it’s never edifying; it never glorifies God.
Are you in the middle of strife—whether of your own making or due to the contentious maneuverings of someone else? Either way, draw near to God. Resist the urge to find another disgruntled commiserator. This will only add fuel to the fire.
And then, humble yourself before God, whether you started the mess or not. If you were the aggressor, you must acknowledge it before Him—you’ve sinned, pure and simple. You must admit to the Lord your full contribution toward the chaos if you want to release it—after all, you can’t give away something you never owned: own it and then give it to Him. Make amends as He directs, and after that, don’t pick it back up.
If you were the recipient of a brother or sister’s jealousy or rage, draw near to God. Pour out your heart and your hurt before Him and receive His comfort and grace as He draws near—but refuse to take on the strife. You may think that you don’t need to humble yourself if you’re the victim, but that’s not what God’s Word says. Plead your offender’s case as a beloved brother or sister; recognize that they are a joint heir of Jesus just as much you are; and as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people. Refuse to return evil for evil, cursing for cursing; but if you catch yourself slipping into bitterness, confess it as sin—don’t nurse it or pamper it. Put it to death because it’s a deed of the flesh—even if this whole thing was not your fault.
This what humbling yourself before the Lord is all about. Wherever you are on the strife spectrum, God calls you to humble yourself.
The Greek word for “humble” means to make or bring low or to abase (see http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G5013&t=KJV). Bringing yourself low doesn’t mean you belittle yourself or think of yourself as worthless. Instead, it indicates that you don’t insist on your own way—you are willing to put your desires and plans aside to minister to someone else—or to obey the Lord.
You are called to maintain an attitude of humility before the Lord throughout your life. The humble man acknowledges God in all his ways; he’s not afraid to acknowledge his shortcomings or sin, either; and he’s well aware of his continual, daily need for the Lord. The humble man seeks to obey God in all his ways.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
When you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. When you humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, He promises that He will exalt you, or lift you up. Do you have desires, hopes, and dreams for your life? According to James, humility is the way to exaltation—or to fulfillment of those dreams. As you draw near to God with a humble heart and seek Him, He will lift you up. He’ll fulfill the plans He has for you; your part is to trust Him and stay humble.
James’ people erred by contending with one another in their attempt to fulfill their desires. However, James wrote that the Lord would exalt the humble, not the most persuasive contender. In light of this, Psalm 75:4-7 is interesting: “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast; and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn; do not lift up your horn on high, do not speak with insolent pride.’ For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation; but God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”
If you’ve grown weary while facing delays in the fulfillment of your dreams, draw near to God. Resist the snare of getting jealous of others; refuse to enter into strife. Don’t let yourself fret over how long things are taking. The apostle Peter wrote a message similar to James’ when he urged, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). Timing is involved with the course of your life; therefore, press on and continue to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. In due season, He will exalt you.
There is no better place to run than to the Lord when you recognize the festering of strife or of sin in your life. Instead of covering your tracks, make tracks to God! Humble yourself before Him, and He will lift you up.
Dorothy
Read MoreJames 4:8-10, Part 2—Draw near to God
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8a
James wrote in verse 7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” He was directing his readers to confront their sinful issues and repent. He followed that with verse 8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” In these short verses, James revealed an effective pattern by which they—or anyone else—could turn their lives around.
Submission to a ruler—then and now—is typically carried out at a distance as an individual learns about and conforms to the decrees and laws of the land. As believers stand their ground in resisting the devil, they demonstrate loyalty to their Ruler—God—and choose His ways over the ways of their flesh.
But this Sovereign is neither distant nor holds Himself aloof from His people. This Sovereign promised that if His people would draw near to Him, He would draw near to them as well.
Barricades of varying kinds surround those in leadership at most levels; drawing near to them is a difficult proposition for the majority of us. We understand it—leaders are, after all, people, and they have limitations. They are physically, mentally, and emotionally unable to sit down and converse with everyone who desires an audience with them.
Unfortunately, this understood distance between yourself and those in leadership can bleed into your perception of the Father. God is Sovereign above all other sovereigns; because of that, you might suppose if I can’t connect with them, I sure won’t be able to connect with Him!
But God is infinite. Not only are His resources and power limitless, but so is His tender loving concern for you. He is a Leader to whom you can draw near—He will never be too busy for you; He will never overlook you in the crowd; He will never glance impatiently at His watch when He sees you approaching. No, this God is a Leader who longs to be gracious to you and waits on high to have compassion on you (see Isaiah 30:18). This is the God who will never leave or forsake you (see Hebrews 13:5). This God—and His dear Son—will always be with you, even to the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20).
If all of this is true—that the loving God is ever-present—then why must you draw near Him? It’s all about relationship. When you fall in love, you hunger to be with that person. You think about little else; you love everything about them—their face, their ways, their name—all of it fascinates you. But over time, the feelings wear down and fascination turns to familiarity. And, if not guarded against, familiarity turns to indifference.
So it is in your relationship to God—He will never grow indifferent, but you might. And it’s that indifference that can reap such damaging, disastrous—even deadly—consequences.
Therefore, James wrote, Draw near to God. To draw near—or to come close—necessitates movement. When you draw near to God, you move from one place or mindset to another—Him. You stop one behavior and begin another. You leave one activity and start another. Quite simply, this is what is involved in drawing near to God.
But what will that look like? Your attention will shift; you will turn from your computer, your TV, or your paperwork and talk to God. You will stop—for a time—your housework, your yard work, or your familiar daily routine—and let His Word speak to your heart. You will sing to Him—even if you’re not much of a singer—because you know it ministers to Him.
And as you do, He will draw near to you. And oh, the secrets that He will tell and the wisdom that He will pour out! This is how you will be able to arrest those behaviors of which you’ve become ashamed; in that close place with Him He will make adjustments within you and lead you in new ways of doing things. The greater grace and the power to overcome will be discovered in that close place of intimacy; it is there that He will reveal His heart to you.
Yes, James was writing to Christians who had yielded to habitual strife and gross carnality, yet his prescription here—Draw near to God and He will draw near to you—was written for all believers. Wherever you are in your walk with God, He beckons you: Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.
He waits.
Dorothy
Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
Isaiah 30:18
Read MoreJames 4:8-10, Part 1—James said What?!?
Draw near to God and 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 https://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 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 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 https://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
Read MoreJames 4:7—Submit and resist
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7, NKJV
The word “therefore” in this verse is a signal—it points back to what was previously expressed. Here’s what James had just written: “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble’” (verse 6). “Therefore” you submit to God 1.) because He is opposed to the proud. That means that pride—i.e. arrogance, smugness, and self-importance—cannot coexist with submission to God.
You also “therefore” submit to God 2.) because He gives greater grace to the humble. What does it mean to be humble? You acknowledge God in all your ways; you acknowledge your shortcomings and sin to Him, and you acknowledge your ongoing need of Him. You draw near to Him, you walk with Him, and you wait for Him to lead you in decisions both great and small. The humble man operates with the recognition of his enormous need not only for God, but also his need to obey Him as well.
If you as a Christian consistently choose to overlook the Word or to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, figuring that you have the safety net of grace to fall back on when you mess up (and you will), then you really aren’t submitting to God.
Therefore, submit to God.
Find out what He says about X, Y, and Z in your life. Dare to let Him correct the various areas of your lifestyle, behaviors, and activities. Let Him meddle with your thinking. And as you do, you will be submitting to God and will open the door for His greater grace to transform your life.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Although Satan was stripped of his dominion over you through Jesus’ substitutionary work on the cross, he still prowls around as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (see 1 Peter 5:8). The devil already has a tight rein over the lives of those who are lost in their sin; to him, if he can succeed in keeping their minds blinded to their need for a Savior, they’re as good as devoured. Mission accomplished, so he thinks.
But with you and other believers it’s a different story. Because God ransomed you through the shed blood of Jesus from your captivity to the authority and control of darkness, whisking you to safety and relocating you to the kingdom of His beloved Son (see Colossians 1:13), the adversary prowls, seeking to devour. He is on a mission to eliminate—or at the very least, to suppress—your vital, genuine connection to the Lord and to render you ineffective as a servant of Christ or a light to those around you. He comes as a thief and a liar to steal, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10 and John 8:44).
James directed you to resist him—not to tremble in fear, not to compromise, not to quit. You are charged to withstand him in the authority of Jesus—and he has no choice but to flee.
But first things first—submit to God. Don’t attempt to resist the devil in one area of life while you refuse God’s correction in another. Submit to God first, and then as you resist the devil, your efforts will succeed and won’t be undermined by disobedience in other areas of your life. The Lord will pour out His greater grace, and you will stand resolutely, steeped in a power greater than your own. And that will force the devil to flee.
Here’s to submitted resistance!
Dorothy
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9
Read MoreJames 4:6—The power of the greater grace
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
Let’s review James 4:1-5:
- Christians can get into conflict and strife due to envying each other.
- We can become so caught up in what’s best for me that we start to view other believers as rivals.
- We can be petty, contentious, self-centered, and self-serving.
- We can prioritize our pleasures over our relationship with God.
- James called all of this friendship with the world, and whoever pursues any of these things makes himself an enemy of God—a spiritual adulteress.
This is quite a strong assessment by Jesus’ baby brother. Unfortunately, what James described in this portion of his letter is a universal temptation for all of us who are in Christ. That’s why we are warned about it in the Word of God.
Sometimes you may feel like you’ll never get certain areas of your flesh under control. At other times you may become so gripped by the outrage of strife, misperceptions, critical sniping, or back-stabbing that you want to explode or throw your hands up in disgust—who needs them anyway? You may wonder: Will things ever get any better? Is there any way out of this pit?
The way out? Grace. God’s grace is sufficient for you. He is with you in trouble; He is with you when strife rises up against you; He is with you when you are tormented by an avalanche of accusing thoughts. His grace will bear you throughout your life and will bring you safely to your eternal home. If you fall seven times, He won’t fail to lift you up, ever. If you sin against Him seventy times seven, He will forgive and then continue to do so. He loves you with an intense, everlasting love. Even if you are faithless, He will remain faithful to you. This is your comfort and your strength.
Within each of us exists a soul that must be saturated with the Word of God to overcome the temptations that abound; each of us also has a mind that must be renewed. As you pursue God in your life, if you find yourself falling repeatedly, then repeatedly get back up. Confess your sin to Him who is faithful and righteous to forgive you, and He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9). Keep pressing on; lean heavily upon Him and hold His Word close.
However, if you seek to justify your sin—whatever it may be—or to excuse yourself from needing to address it before God, you are teetering on the edge. God’s grace still exists for you, but out there on “I’ll Do it My Way Highway” or “Blame Others-ville”, you are in dangerous territory; God will have to deal with your heart before He can pour out His help. Maybe you believe that since Jesus died for all of your sins, past, present, and future—and He did—you get a free ticket to live as you want. It’s all covered, anyway; why should I get under condemnation? That’s so “before Christ”!
If this describes you, my friend, you are living in a lesser grace; you’re living in “by-the-skin-of-your-teeth” grace; you’re living in grieving-the-Holy-Spirit and arousing-the-jealousy-of-God grace. Yeah, there’s grace over there, all right—the kind of grace that enables you to pass through the fire into Heaven after everything you’ve stood for in life is consumed by the flames of judgment (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15). However, you don’t want to monkey around in that lesser grace all too long (and believe me—I’ve visited there myself—more times than I care to admit). Theologians disagree as to the limits of God’s grace when it is willfully tested on an ongoing basis; nevertheless, you don’t want to be the one to find out the degree at which “I did it my way” pushes the envelope past the bounds of God’s longsuffering.
That said, I honestly believe God suffers long with us to enable us to deal with issues about which we have grown dull or calloused. He is, after all, full of grace. But He wants us to reflect His nature to the world around us, and if we consistently choose to ignore His conviction, His Word, and His reproof, then we won’t manifest Him to anyone, no matter what we say or think.
But He gives a greater grace.
Don’t miss out on the greater grace to settle for an inferior, “get-away-with-it” grace. The greater grace is powerful stuff, straight from God, poured out through the blood of Jesus, and dwelling within you by the Holy Spirit. The greater grace grants you the power to resist that sin; the greater grace enables you to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who despitefully use you (see Luke 6:28). The greater grace empowers you to live out 1 Peter 3:9 so that you don’t repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but instead, you repay evil with blessing. This is your calling in Christ. By this, Peter wrote, you will inherit a blessing.
Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Can you see it? God wants your entire heart. He longs for you to humbly admit your weaknesses, fear, sin, anger, and anxiety to Him as they arise. He’s already aware of them; He just wants to pour out that greater grace upon your life and circumstances—even those secret concerns—so that you can experience His radical help and deliverance. The proud man refuses to deal with his sin; he denies it, ignores it, or excuses it—and he stays stuck in his mess and misses out on all that God has for him. The humble man pours out his failures and concerns before God; he takes to heart the correction given; and he receives forgiveness, cleansing, and grace in world-overcoming, abundant supply.
Why live any longer in the shadows and back alleys of an inferior, “get-away-with-it” grace? Let the Lord lovingly lift you out of that lesser place to the fresh air and sunshine of His greater grace. It will be so worth it.
Dorothy
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