Faith Submits

It is wonderful to be here with you. I see some blurry eyes, which maybe means there was a football game on late into the evening last night, but it's great to be here together.

Folks, if you have a Bible, please would you turn with me to the book of James and to chapter 3.

And just before we begin our time this morning, let's pause just for a moment, just to pray and just commit this time together to God together.

Let's pray.

Father, we would think of the words of that song that we sang, draw me close to you, never let me go.

I lay it all down again.

Father, we pray, Lord, that you would come and bless our time together this morning.

Father, as we turn to your words, Lord, I pray that my words would be your words.

Father, I pray that your spirit would come and would teach us from this text.

Would he illuminate, would he light up the Lord Jesus as we meet him in your word?

So, Father, that's our prayer.

And we make it through the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

So, my wife, Alex, as many of you know, is training to be a GP.

And I remember when she was studying for her practical exams, she announced that she needed a volunteer to help her as a patient doing practice interviews.

Now, we were just married at this stage.

And I was keen for her to see that she'd married an encouraging and supportive husband.

So, I put up my hand and I volunteered to act as the patients in these interviews.

And we were there for hours and hours and hours as we worked our way through this textbook.

And I think I must have played almost every patient that I could have imagined.

I mean, I played, I wrote it down, Mr. Black, the teacher who was prone to sleepwalking.

And I played Mrs. Brown, the pensioner, who was struggling to read her daily newspaper.

Now, why did we do that?

Why did we spend hours and hours and hours doing that?

Well, Alex, like any good doctor, she wanted to hone and develop the skills that she needed to get good at diagnosing.

Friends, in our verses today, there's a diagnosis going on.

This is James the doctor in full flow.

And his patient is this church that he's writing to.

Now, we've seen that over the last five weeks or so as we've studied this letter.

Together.

We've caught a glimpse of what the life of this church was like.

And it isn't coming out too good.

This is a church behaving badly.

The letter's big theme, double-mindedness.

That's been James' big push in this letter.

What is he said?

He said, stop being people who say one thing and go out and do another.

Stop being people who show such blatant favoritism.

Stop being people who pick and choose which ones of God's laws that you want to obey and those that you do not want to obey.

And stop being people who are so blasphemy and who are so destructive with your words.

But if anything, James has torn up until this point.

It's been firm, but it has been gentle.

I mean, look how he frames all of these things.

Chapter 1, verse 2.

My brothers.

Chapter 2, verse 1.

My brothers.

Chapter 3, verse 1.

My brothers.

But folks, what we see in our verses that we are about to read is that James well and truly turns up the heat.

I mean, he moves from the hug to the headlock.

And chapter 4, verse 4, look at what he calls them.

You adulterous people.

You see, James here, he's got this scalpel in.

The patient's skin peeled back.

And he's going for the root problem.

And as we look at this diagnosis, folks, what we will see is that this church isn't suffering from man flu.

This church is suffering from an infectious gangrene that, if not treated and addressed, it's going to cause this church to rot away.

So let's read our verses together.

And as we read, I wonder if you can spot James's diagnosis.

So this is James chapter 3, verses, sorry, James 3, 13 to 4, verse 12.

James 3 · chapter mention

Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but it is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure.

Then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don't they come from the desires that battle within you?

You desire, but you do not have, so you kill.

You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

You do not have because you do not ask God.

When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people.

Don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?

Therefore, any who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Or do you think the scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

But he gives us more grace.

This is why scripture says God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Grieve, mourn and wail.

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.

Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it.

When you judge the law, you are not keeping it but sitting in judgment on it.

There is only one lawgiver and judge.

The one who is able to save and destroy.

But you, who are you to judge your neighbor?

Amen.

This is God's word to us this morning.

So let's walk our way through this doctor-patient consultation process.

What are the symptoms that this church are exhibiting?

Well, we see from these verses, I think, three symptoms that this church are showing.

Symptom number one at verse 16 of chapter 3.

There is disorder and evil practice.

Now, the immediate context of verses 13 to 17 is teaching.

That's what James has been addressing in verses 1 to 12 of chapter 3.

And he's been warning them as they clamber over each other, competing for the airtime that teaching is going to give them.

He says, don't rush into being a teacher.

Stop and examine your own heart before you share with everyone else your so-called wisdom and understanding.

If you can't control your tongue, then who are you kidding, thinking that you can teach other people?

And folks, the picture that we get is that in the background of this church, there's jealousy bubbling, rivalries developing, and there's restlessness building.

Symptom number two at verse 1 of chapter 4.

There is fighting and quarreling.

And this seems to be the real issue in this church.

There is a culture of bitterness, harshness.

There is finger pointing and there is folding of arms, refusing to budge.

And there is talking, talking, talking, and louder talking, leading to raised voices and raised fists.

As people insist on their own way and as they refuse to listen and reason with each other.

I mean, there is just a complete lack of love and harmony in this church.

This is a church folks who are currently at each other's throats.

Symptom number three.

Slandering and judging.

These people are gossiping.

They are going out of their way to start rumors about people that they don't like.

And they're speaking about people behind their backs.

There is developing a real condemnatory church culture.

Criticizing the speck in other people's eyes, all the while ignoring the log in their own.

And they are judging one another.

Which I think in the context means that they are deciding who is and who isn't a real Christian.

And they are speculating at the eternal destinies of each other.

Which James reminds them is a role that only God the log ever plays.

The symptoms give you the picture here folks.

This church reeks of pride and it reeks of selfishness.

This church is divided.

It is fractured.

And it is tearing itself apart.

And if it continues on the trajectory that it's on.

It's going to spectacularly implode.

Now how does James diagnose those symptoms?

Well if you look at verse four of chapter four.

You find that James the doctor is in absolutely no doubt.

That underneath the surface.

This church is suffering from worldly-itis.

Now we're back to the central idea of this letter.

Double-mindedness.

That the people in this church are talking the Christian talk.

They're doing the religious stuff.

But their hearts are yearning after the things of the world.

Not the things of God.

They are meant to be God's distinct people.

Living as a shining light in the midst of the world's darkness.

But actually.

When you lift the lid off their lives.

They're just like everyone else around them.

Same ambitions.

Same motives.

Same desires.

It was interesting studying this passage this week.

The word desire at verse two.

The original Greek is the word hedonai.

Which is where we get our English words hedonist.

Pleasure seeking.

But these people aren't seeking pleasure in God.

The picture here is that the passions of the people in this church.

Are for the things that the world has to offer them.

And I think that's what James means at verse three.

When he's talking about prayer.

That you do not have.

Because you do not ask.

So their proud and stubborn hearts simply will refuse to pray.

And then the things that you do ask for says James.

You don't get.

Now why do you not get?

Because you ask with bad motives in your heart.

Now I want you to think back to the time when you were a kid.

And you wanted to do something.

But to do it.

It required the permission of your parents.

And you'd had that conversation before with them.

And it didn't go too well for you.

But you thought that you'd give it another shot.

Just in case they happened to have changed their mind.

And you were suspiciously kind to them.

You mowed the garden.

You washed the dishes.

Your room was extra tidy.

Before picking your exact moment to ask your parents.

And then still being met with a resounding no.

That is what James is saying here to these people.

You don't ask God.

You don't pray to God about your heart's desires.

And the things that you want.

Because not only do you fear the answer that you'll get.

But you know what he's already said.

You know what he has expressly commanded.

But so great is your selfishness.

That you don't even bother to ask God.

Or stop yourself from doing it.

You just go ahead and do it anyway.

You are the rebellious teenage boy.

Who has snuck out his window to be at the nightclub with his friends.

You know what God has said about loving your neighbor.

You know what God has said about how you are to treat one another.

You know what God has said to you about coveting.

About jealously wanting the things that somebody else has.

And yet you still go ahead and do it anyway.

You are people driven by earthly wisdom says James.

And that's why he uses that phrase at verse 4.

Probably one of the strongest rebukes that we find anywhere in the New Testament.

You adulterous people.

You cheating people.

You two-timing people.

All the way through the Bible, that's how the relationship between God and his people is described.

It's like a marriage.

God is the faithful, loving husband.

And he calls his people to be his faithful, loving wife.

But history would tell us time and time and time again.

That while God remains the unchanging, faithful, loving, sacrificial, gracious husband.

Who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

His people's hearts are continually flirting and desiring the things of the world.

You know the word adulterer that James uses there in the original Greek, it's in the feminine form.

And he quite deliberately does it like that.

His Jewish audience, they would know their Old Testament.

They would know their Old Testament prophets.

And so the mention of a female adulterer bring to mind Old Testament Israel.

And in particular, the prophet Hosea.

God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute called Gomer.

And Gomer's recurrent unfaithfulness so graphically and painfully illustrates

how God sees his people's constant spiritual unfaithfulness to him.

As they give him their words of love and of flattery.

But then they run off to the pagan temples down the roads.

And they worship the so-called other gods that everyone else is worshipping.

As far as God is concerned, the message is quite clear.

That idolatry is adultery.

Israel's divided hearts and double minds.

And that's what God had said to that generation of his people.

And James says that the comparisons between the two,

between that generation and this generation, they're uncanny.

Your discreet love affair with the world.

Dr. James doesn't need to run any further tests.

He doesn't need a second opinion.

For him, it is so evident by the disgusting way in which this church are behaving towards one another

that the cause is worldly items.

And folks, this is where we need to pause.

We just need to park the bus just for a minute.

And we need to sit in Dr. James' chair.

Now, if he were to do a diagnosis of your life,

if he were to get out his scalpel,

if he was to peel back your skin,

and he was to have a look inside,

what would he see in your life?

If he were to examine

what your life is like

inside these walls,

and compare it with your life

outside these walls,

what would he see?

If he was to look at your thought life,

if he was to look at your personal life,

and if he was to compare it

to the life that everyone sees,

would he see a consistent life?

Would he see consistency,

or would he see

compromised men

and women

who are riddled

with worldly items?

Now, folks,

as I've studied this passage this week,

that is the challenge.

Because,

when we look at this church,

and we see their symptoms,

are we any different?

I don't think we are that much

far removed

from what we see going on

in this church.

And can I make the observation

at this stage

that there is such a close link

between our relationship

with God

and our relationships

with other people?

That's been such a central idea

in this letter of James

already,

that there should be

a holy consistency

to the life

of God's people.

You flick back to chapter 3,

you see James saying

exactly that.

That you can't be

praising God with your lips

one minute,

and then as soon as

you get outside,

you go cursing

the same brothers and sisters

that you've just been with.

That's just not on.

Because their attitude

towards people

and our attitude

towards people,

it reveals an awful lot

about what our attitude

is to God.

You know,

if you find yourself

exhibiting

any of these symptoms,

can I encourage you

to do a self-diagnosis?

If you find yourself

bitter

towards anybody

in this church,

if you find yourself

agitated,

if you find yourself

impatient,

if you find yourself

bad-mouthing somebody

in here

or having a critical spirit,

then God tells you

right here

in his word

to stop.

To examine

your own heart

and see that

the problem

is actually

something within

that you need

to repent of

and bring yourself

to pray

that God

in his mercy

would change you.

Folks,

I know that

is so true

in my own life.

that the things

that get me riled,

the things

that get me going,

actually,

when I stop

to think about it

and when I stop

to examine

my own heart,

I realize

so often,

in fact,

all the time,

I realize

that the problem

is in here.

You know,

that seems to be

the problem

with this church,

that they are

nowhere with each

other corporately

because they are

nowhere with God

individually.

these people

always view

the problem

as being out there

and never in here

because worldly-itis

has well and truly

got under the skin

of these people.

It is rife

in the life

of this church

and if it's not

treated,

it's going to

kill this church.

So what does

James the doctor

prescribe?

For worldly-itis?

What is going to be

the thing

that will transform

the life of this

church

and it will

transform

the lives

and relationships

of the individuals

in the church?

Well,

the prescription

that James gives

is found

at verse 6

of chapter 4.

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

God's

undeserved

favor,

God's

blessing

and kindness.

It is available

to them

if,

and there is a

massive

if here folks

that we need to

see,

if they will humble themselves before God.

If they will get down low on their knees

and repent of their selfishness.

Now, why is that the case?

Well, it's spelled out in such black and white language

at verse 6.

Now, I know memory verses have gone out of fashion,

but if you wanted a memory verse for this week,

if you wanted a memory verse for all of your life,

then can I suggest go for this one?

One of the most sobering verses in the Bible, verse 6,

that God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.

You see, what James calls for here

in the life of this church is humility.

Now, I think it's fair to say that humility

isn't an attribute that is envied in our culture.

And it certainly wasn't valued in the culture

that this church are operating in.

It's a word that was associated with lowliness,

of weakness, and of grovelling.

But James says, folks,

that that is exactly the heart stance before God.

That not only is the appropriate and right one,

but it's the one that if you adopt,

God promises that he will see

and he will shower with his grace.

And of course, this humility

that James calls for,

we see it most fully in the life of Jesus.

That Jesus humbled himself

by leaving the glories of heaven

to come down to earth to save us.

He humbled himself while he was here

by washing his disciples' feet.

And he humbled himself ultimately

to death on a cross.

Taking the punishment,

dying the death that you and I deserve to die

because of our sin against the holy God

and accrediting us with his perfect life.

The Bible uses the word righteousness.

And because of his life of humility,

because of his life of obedience,

because of his life of faithfulness

and single-mindedness,

folks, we are the recipients of amazing grace.

And not only has God saved us by his son,

but when we gave our lives to God,

the Bible would say that he adopted us

as his children.

And he put his spirit in us.

His spirit in us,

not to be a casual lodger,

not to be a roommate that we wave to on the stairs,

but right into our hearts

to be a permanent dweller.

That is the gospel.

And brothers and sisters,

can I encourage you

that if we truly capture that

with our hearts and our minds,

then it leaves absolutely no room

for us to be proud.

It leaves no wiggle room

for self-exaltation,

but rather it should produce in us

deep gratitude

and deep humility.

But James says here

that God's grace,

it wasn't exhausted

at salvation,

in salvation, sorry.

James tells his readers

that God's grace,

it is a Niagara Falls

for them to sit under

and swim in.

Because God desires

to give them

more grace.

And God desires

to give them

more of himself.

even though they look

undesirable,

and folks,

let's be honest,

even though we look

so undesirable,

God gives

more grace.

God wants

his people

for himself,

warps and all.

How good

is God?

God.

I mean,

this church

is on the brink.

But James

tells them

the wonderful truth

that God's grace

is their only hope.

But what a hope

it is.

And folks,

listen,

I don't know whether

you paid attention here

or not,

but if you haven't,

can I say that you

jump in here

and remember

this phrase.

It is a wonderful

hope,

God's grace,

because God's grace

is greater,

deeper,

and wider

than his people's

failings,

unfaithfulness,

and weakness.

God's grace

is greater.

Friends,

can I urge you

never to doubt

that God is willing

and desires

to graciously

provide the things

that his children

need.

He doesn't withhold

any good gift

that his children

need.

Not that they want,

but that they need.

But we also need

to see the warning

here

of how God

views a proud

and a stubborn

human heart.

God opposes

the proud,

but he gives grace

to the humble.

So what is the

management

of this prescription

that Dr. James

prescribes?

So how is this

humility that we've

been looking at,

how is it going to

play out in their

daily lives?

And how is it going

to play out in ours

as well?

Because James

isn't saying,

take the grace

pill and kick

back,

go to the armchair,

and everything's

going to work out.

They're going to

have to work at

this.

And if you've got

your Bibles there,

just follow with me

the imperatives

that James lists

at verses 7 to 10

of chapter 4.

This is what it's

going to look like.

Submit yourselves

to God.

So James is calling

them to bow the

knee,

raise the white

flag of surrender,

stop rebelling,

and stop resisting

God in the way

that you currently

are.

you know what

he said.

You know how he

has commanded you

to behave to one

another.

So do it.

Resist the devil

and he will flee

from you.

Now that word

resist, it's a

military metaphor.

And James is

telling them to

say no to

ungodliness.

Say no to

gossiping.

Say no to the

devil when he

tries to get a

hold of your

tongue.

and of your

thoughts.

But rather to

resist him and

stand firm.

Draw near to

God and he will

draw near to you.

Friends, what a

wonderful promise

that God makes

here.

That God is

lovingly

desperate

that these

running religious

rebels,

they turn to

him and receive

his grace.

love for his

returning son.

Now this is the

heart of the

loving father.

That while his

son, the

running rebel,

who had openly

rejected him to

his face, as his

son does a U-turn

and makes his way

back home, what

does it say?

The father sees

him a long

distance off and

runs out to meet

him.

such as the

father's great

love for his

returning son.

Now hear the

promise this

morning, folks,

that God makes to

us in his

words.

A word for you

this morning, if

you currently have

your back towards

God, that if you

draw near to him,

he will draw near to

you.

wash your hands,

your sinners, and

purify your hearts,

you double-minded.

Grieve, mourn, and

wail.

Change your laughter

to mourning and

your joy to gloom.

Now what James is

saying here to

these people is that

you need to get

right with God.

You should be

weeping, you

should be crying

over your sin-riddled

hearts.

And what it's

doing to this

church.

You should mourn

the state of

affairs that are

currently going on

in your church.

And as they do

these things, folks,

as they humble

themselves,

amazingly, God

will lift them

up.

God will

exalt them.

And God

will honor

them.

And why?

Why?

Because God's

grace is

greater,

deeper,

and wider

than his

people's

failings,

unfaithfulness,

and weakness.

so the patient

has been

diagnosed,

and the

prescription

has been

given.

And as we

draw our time

to our

close this

morning,

let's see

what James

says health

is going to

look like.

How do we

know this

patient is

being

rehabilitated?

So as God

pours out his

grace into

their lives

individually and

corporately,

what fruit

should they

see in

their lives?

Well, back

in chapter

one, we saw

James encourage

this church

that if any

of them lacks

wisdom, to

pray and to

ask God who

gives generously.

Now, we so

often read that

and we read it

as asking for

divine wisdom,

for guidance.

So making

life's big

decisions.

Now, of course,

there is an

application there,

but I think

James has much

more in mind

divine wisdom

for conduct.

So wisdom

for how they

are to behave

rightly towards

one another

and how they

are to live a

life that is

pleasing and

honoring to

God.

So in

contrast to the

earthly wisdom,

the disorder

and the evil

practice that

currently

characterizes

this church,

here at

verses 17

and 18,

James describes

for us what

divine wisdom

is going to

look like in

their lives.

Humble,

self-sacrificing,

peaceful,

merciful,

reasonable,

and gentle.

Wonderful

characteristics that

James encourages

them to adorn

and wear.

And we'll

finish, folks,

by reading these

verses together.

And I encourage

you, just like I

was challenged

this week in my

own life,

do you see

divine wisdom

on show in

your life?

And if you

don't,

can I ask you

to seriously

pray to God

who gives

generously

and who

gives

graciously?

Let's read

these verses

together as we

close.

But the

wisdom that

comes from

heaven is

first of all

pure,

then peace

loving,

considerate,

submissive,

full of mercy

and good fruit,

impartial and

sincere.

Peacemakers

who sow in

peace reap a

harvest of

righteousness.

Let's pray

together, folks,

as we close.

these are the

ones I look

on with

favor,

those who

are humble

and contrite

in spirit

and who

tremble

at my

words.

Father, we

come before

you, Lord,

as people

knowing that

we have

unclean

hearts.

Father, that

our thoughts

are full of

unclean

things, that

our hearts

are wicked

and deceitful.

But Father,

thank you this

morning that

you've reminded

us in your

words that

you give

more grace.

And so,

Father, it's

that grace

that we

throw ourselves

on.

Father, we

ask for that

spirit of

humility.

We ask for

that wisdom

from above as

we seek to

witness for

you, as

we seek to

live for

you in

this world

this week,

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.