A LETTER FROM JAMES

Chapter 4 - PART 2

4 You adulterers! Don’t you realise 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. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:4-6 – NLT)

When James says: You adulterers! It is in reference to our faithfulness to God. The previous verses have dealt with our selfish desires and our self-deception and now James wants to deal with our loyalty and faithfulness to God. He is quite adamant that there can be no double standard; either we belong to God in totality, or we belong to this carnal world. It is a very black and white scenario and there can be no grey area here. If we vacillate in any way at all then we are being unfaithful to God and electing to join the side of this carnal world. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. ( James 4:4 - The Message)

In this day when so much is spoken and written about being culturally relevant, we need to keep these verses at the forefront of our mind. Satan is a master at beguiling us to believe we can dabble in little in this world so long as the end justifies the means. The reality is that those who belong to the Kingdom of God are a called out people who look, and are, radically different to the world that surrounds them. That is how it always has been and how it always must be, and it may well be that the church is at its most effective when it holds to this principle. When God says he is a jealous God we cannot confuse that with human ideas of Jealousy; the amazing truth that God is the lover of the souls of men … There is a sense in which love gives and demands an exclusive devotion to one person. (William Barclay)

In a world that worships at the altars of fame, fortune and celebrity, our loyalty and faithfulness to God becomes a paramount matter for those in the Kingdom of God. We are more easily beguiled than we would like to admit, and often that which was entertainment for us, can all too easily morph into the sinister shadow of idol worship.  To show how serious he was about idol worship God placed its prohibition as the very first commandment; You must not have any other god but me. (Exodus 20:3 - NLT)

Pride is one of the subtle sins even Christians try to rationalise. There is a certain distastefulness about it that is hard for many to stomach. There is a sense of haughtiness and self-admiration that tends to rub others up the wrong way. It presents itself as being self-sufficient and is often obsessed by its own goodness and sees no need for the humility needed to accept God’s salvation.

When Paul wrote the the church in Rome, he warned them about allowing themselves to be overtaken by pride and gave them sound advice on how to avoid it: Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (Romans 12:3 - NLT) There are two measures that Paul gives to his readers in Rome; the first is to have an authentic and frank evaluation of themselves; and secondly, to measure themselves against God’s standards and not that of the society that surrounds them.

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 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. 9 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. (James 4:7-10 – NLT)

James follows up his warning against pride with advice to; humble yourselves before God. Humility rarely comes easy to humanity and there is a sense in which it is a characteristic we must intentionally embrace and maintain. It requires a confrontation with our own pride and arrogance and an acceptance of our own sin and unregenerate mindset, which is decidedly self-centred and resistant to the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is only when we come to the place of being aware of the purity and holiness of God, that we can insightfully and astutely, in his light and presence, truly see ourselves and begin to develop authentic humility.

Before we can effectively resist the devil there must be an admission of our need and weakness, and recognition of our powerlessness and our sinful nature. Taking such a step enables us to access the help of the Holy Spirit and tap into God’s strength and power: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. (Isaiah 40:29 – NLT) Once Satan realises that we are totally reliant God he will flee from you.

James words are symbolical for the inner and outer part of humanity; Wash your hands symbolises physical participation and purify your hearts symbolises inner/spiritual participation. While ever one or the other, or both, are out of alignment with God we have divided loyalty.

When James uses the phrase: you sinners, he is addressing all humanity both redeemed and unredeemed, for at best the redeemed are only sinners saved by grace. The reality of salvation is; it is only as we are acutely aware of our sin, and like David acknowledge that our sin is ever before us (Psalm 51:3), that we can truly appreciate the amazingness of grace.

David’s penitential Psalm is a case study on the painful confrontation with sin and the joy of forgiveness. It begins with one of the painful and humbling experiences that we will ever encounter, that of honestly and openly before God, confronting our own sin and wrongdoing. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. (Psalm 51:3 - NKJV) I believe that it is right and proper that we never lose the awareness of our sin and wrongdoing, for that in itself will keep us in an attitude of true humility within ourselves, and before God. Awareness of one's own shortcomings and weaknesses are a sure defence against pride.

It is only in this attitude of true and genuine repentance that we can deal with one of the crippling problems facing all humanity: guilt. In this matter of guilt we need to have a realistic understanding. Once we commit sin we cannot unsin. The reality is that we cannot ignore feelings of guilt; they are part and parcel of how we were created and need to be intentionally dealt with once and for all. Unresolved guilt is a paralysing characteristic in the lives of many. Like King David our sin is always before us and the reality is that we may never escape the awareness of our sin, or some of its consequences for that matter. It is in the attitude of the penitent heart that David finds absolution for his guilt.

No human actions can cut it with God, save a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart. (Vs 17) Here is the language of true confession in which we find absolution and the removal of guilt. As a result of meaningful penitence we are delivered from guilt (Vs 14). More often than not, it is in our brokenness that God can use us. We erroneously think that being broken will be a humiliating, devastating and demoralising experience, and there is certainly an element of that if we are sincere in our repentance for sin. However, the positive side of brokenness is that it is usually a rock-bottom experience, and when we are at rock bottom there is only one direction we can go: up! The end result of this process is a sense of freedom from guilt as we move on with God. In Psalm 51:17 we find the key to truly addressing and absolving guilt.

Out of a broken and contrite heart comes cleansing that is thorough and complete – God’s promise is to cleanse from "all iniquities." Our God does not deal in partial remedies, but complete cures. His will is that all His children should be "whole" people. Even though the sin and wrongdoing have been directed against God, He completely cleanses the heart and mind that is "broken and contrite”.

Out of a cleansed heart flows a renewed attitude. When we allow God to cleanse our heart we begin to see things differently and attitudes infected by a corrupted heart begin to change. While ever the heart, the seat of the consciousness and will, is flawed, it must of its very nature result in flawed and wrong attitudes.

The promise of God is He will never abandon the truly broken and repentant seeker. When all the brokenness and humiliation are over God is still there, forgiving, accepting and sustaining the truly repentant heart.  There is a sense in which being broken can be a liberating experience for it frees us from feelings of guilt. To live in the freedom that Jesus promised; Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36 - NKJV), we need to resolve, in a concrete manner, this problem of guilt; for as long as we experience feelings of guilt we cannot enjoy the freedom Jesus promised.