Again Paul encourages us on to holy living instead of giving into our sinful nature.

Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith. – Galatians 6:7-10

Wow, what powerful words Paul uses here. He reminds the Galatians that God is not only loving and the source of this incredible grace, He is also a just God. If we as Christians continue to satisfy our sinful nature instead of responding to the Spirit God has given us, we will harvest what we our sowing – death and decay. God cannot be mocked by someone who boasts, “I prayed the prayer, my eternity is secure so I can do what feels good to me right now instead of what I know God wants me to do.” That is not the servant’s heart God wants us to respond with. He wants us to listen to the urgings of His Spirit living within us and harvest a blessing instead of a curse. He wants us to live for others because we live for Him, not live for ourselves or to please our own sinful nature.

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. – Galatians 6:1-3

Humbly and gently – let’s not miss these very important adjectives. The heart of what Paul is getting to here is that we should not be so concerned about ourselves that we don’t love our fallen brother or sister enough to lovingly help them back onto the right path. We know that God’s plan for them is to live to please the Spirit and not their own sinful nature. Perhaps your loving and kind words can help them see that they are missing God’s perfect plan for their life.

But first, Paul warns that we are to be sure we ourselves are on the right path, living to please the Spirit and not ourselves. We cannot point out the speck of dust in someone else’s eye if we have a plank in our own, right?

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. – Galatians 6:4-5

This week I have been at teen camp with our girls. We have had SO much fun and each of us has grown in our walk with God. Pastor Todd Keller has led us daily to the throne as we have studied the life of Abraham. Each service, he has given us a tangible way to respond – a physical way to show what God is doing for us spiritually. I came praying God would be with each of our teens from Pekin, but God has also spoken to my own heart and strengthened my faith.

Paul warns us not to become too proud or boastful about our walk. Then we will begin seeing our conduct, our job well done, as a result of our own strength and ability instead of a gift of the Spirit to help us live a godly life. We become drenched in self-righteousness instead of beautifully clothed in God’s righteousness.

As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God (6:14-16).

Remember yesterday? We are saved by grace through faith and not by works. It is not our observance of religious laws or our faithful attendance at church that matters – it is the transformation that God does in our lives through His Spirit when we truly empty ourselves of all of our own desires and allow Him to fill us with His. Then we receive God’s peace and His mercy; then we are a new person of God and no longer a slave to our sinful nature. Praise God!!!

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:20-21

I do not want to treat the grace of God as meaningless. Christ died on a cross so that I could experience salvation. I did not earn it. I do not deserve it. I can never be good enough on my own. This salvation is a gift from God – a gift by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This gift is available because of God’s unmerited favor on us – His grace. To begin working hard to earn my salvation is pointless and it ignores God’s grace, treating it as if it has no meaning.

Grace – what a wonderful blessing in our lives! But, just because I could never be good enough on my own to deserve God’s grace does not mean I know have an excuse to sin. Another gift from God was the Holy Spirit. He gave us the gift of His Spirit in order that our faith could be expressed in our actions. With the power of the Spirit living within us, we are able to follow the urgings of the Holy Spirit and not the urgings of our old sinful nature.

Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. – Galatians 1:4

God gave us His Son, and Jesus willingly died for us, in order that we could be rescued from evil – in order that we could overcome the sinful nature. He promised to give us the gift of His righteousness, a gift that is ours when we live by the Spirit. That’s wonderful! We don’t have to create a righteousness of our own, just as we cannot earn our salvation by good works. Instead, His gift of grace gives us the gift of His righteousness and the gift of the Spirit living within us.

But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us…What is important is faith expressing itself in love – Galatians 5:5-6

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. – Galatians 5:13-15

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. – Galatians 5:16-17a

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, LET US FOLLOW THE SPIRIT’S LEADING in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another (5:19-26).

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your gift of grace – for loving us enough to send your Son to die for our sins. Thank you for the gift of the Spirit and for the gift of your righteousness. Holy Spirit, guide my life and give me desires that are the opposite of what my sinful nature desires. Produce in me this kind of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I nail the passions and desires of my old self, my sinful nature, to your cross and crucify them there. I long to follow the Spirit’s leading in every area of my life. Amen.

Is it true that we are saved by the work accomplished by Jesus when He died on the cross, or is there something more necessary on our part to earn our salvation? This was a question in the churches spread across the Roman province of Galatia and it is a question we often hear among today’s churches. Paul had visited this area during his first missionary trip (Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe), and now he is addressing this question that keeps coming up – this insecurity that I must somehow earn the salvation provided for me when Jesus died on the cross.

We hear in Paul’s letter to the Galatians the same message we hear over and over again in Paul’s writings – we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works. YET, if we believe in Christ, works are to be a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This trips us up if we are not careful because it is easy to slip into a works mentality. We begin to see our salvation as a result of our works, that we are earning our eternal life, that we are good enough for God’s favor. But God’s plan is that works are a result of our growing relationship with Him – that He is able to accomplish His will and further His Kingdom through us.

Let’s hear what Paul had to say to the Galatians:

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works – no amount of good deeds can earn us heaven, no degree of self-righteousness can make us good enough. There is only one way we are made right with God and that is by faith in Jesus.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:20-21

Okay, so this is not a new message. We have heard this over and over again, yet we still find ourselves falling into a works mentality. Why is that? Paul asks the same question of the Galatians.

Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses?…After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? – Galatians 3:2b,3

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Galatians 3:11

Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. – Galatians 3:24-26

Oh, I like that analogy – when we are united with Christ in baptism, we have put Christ on, just like putting on new clothes. It is not about us “putting on” or pretending to be something we are not. It is not about creating our own new wardrobe of righteousness we produce of our own strength. There is nothing beautiful about that. It is about wearing Christ and letting His presence bring about a change in our lives; allowing His Spirit to come in and begin producing His fruit through us. Paul has more to say:

You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you – Galatians 4:10-11a

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. – Galatians 5:1

What a great reminder this morning of something we know to be true. What a great warning to stay out of the trap of an earned salvation or a deserved gift from God. I think Galatians 2:20-21 says it all. Let’s pray this verse together:

Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder this morning that my old self has been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I commit this morning to live in this earthly body by trusting in your Son, the One who loves me and gave himself for me. I never want to treat your grace as meaningless. For if simply obeying a set of rules or living a good life could make me right with you, then there would have been no need for Christ to die. Lord, forgive me for all the times I have forgotten this. I give you this day and I give you my heart. Amen.

James, the brother of Jesus, was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. When he refused to deny his faith in Jesus, he was thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple – more than 100 feet high. When he survived the fall, his enemies beat him with a club. Our hearts grieve as we think of the great suffering that took place shortly after James’ death. The early Church and those who called themselves Christians were persecuted, unjustly charged, imprisoned, tortured, and many put to death. The early Church witnessed, and no doubt many of them were killed, when Jerusalem was captured and destroyed.

We started out our study of James with the challenge to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. The weight of these words sits differently when we consider how harsh the persecution was during that time. We may go through difficult times, but it pales in comparison to what some of the writers of the New Testament letters went through. When we are going through a hard time in our lives, we are comforted by the words penned by men who suffered horrible deaths, all for the sake of Christ. Even now, many missionaries and pastors in other countries preach God’s word despite the threat of death. Why would they be willing to do for the gospel?

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ…When I am with the weak, I share their weaknesses, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. – 1 Corinthians 9:19, 22-23

How committed are we to the gospel, to winning souls for Christ? What are we willing to become in order to win the weak? This brings me to the closing thoughts of the book of James.

My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. – James 5:19-20

Listen to these same two verses in The Message:
My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

There is a sense of urgency in these verses. We were saved to serve God. How does He want to use us or what does He want to do through us today? Are we willing to open ourselves up to whatever He wants us to be for the sake of others or are we going to hold tight to this issue or that, to this right of ours or to this past hurt for which we refuse to forgive.

Dear Jesus, I am yours today. Use me however you wish. Guide my thoughts, stir my heart and fill my mouth with your words that I may be who or what you want me to be. May nothing in my life be a stumbling block to others but may I be a hand extended to those who are lost or in need of my friendship. Oh God, may we be thankful today for religious freedom and for those who have lost their lives to protect it. May we also stand strong in protecting this freedom for future generations. May we boldly proclaim your love to those around us and count it a joy when we face trials, knowing that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Amen.

Why does God sometimes heal and sometimes not? Can our physical suffering be a result of unconfessed sin in our lives? Why does God allow tragedies to happen? Why is it that sometimes when we are praying hard for someone to make it through the night, we feel like God is unresponsive – possibly turning His back on us? We have probably all felt that way at some time, or watched someone else struggle with these things. Looking back at his letter, James has lots of great advice for us.

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. – James 1:2-4

So not anger or self-pity, but joy. I need to choose joy in even the most difficult of situations, persevering and asking our generous God for wisdom in the situation.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. – James 1:5-6a

And when you are in a situation where you feel powerless to do anything, remember there is something you can do. You can draw closer to God, spending time in His presence and giving Him your full attention. Abide in Him and then stay there. Be still and know that He is God, that He is worthy of your trust.

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

Don’t let this difficult situation be an opportunity for the enemy to get a hold of your attitude and your heart. In your grief or struggle, do not turn away from God in anger but turn towards Him in submission. Rest in His love and wisdom. Remember that there is something you can do. You can pray.

Are you hungry? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven – healed inside and out.

Make this your command practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. – James 5:13-16 (The Message).

We live in an imperfect world where sin and sickness are a reality. The consequences of generational sin are right here for all of us to experience. Jesus told us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). God is bigger than any situation pressing down around us. We CAN trust Him – we can trust Him to be with us and we can trust His heart. When you don’t feel His presence, trust in what you know to be true – HE IS THERE!

Not only is all of James’ letter good advice for us, it was good advice for him. James faced his own struggles as the persecution of the church increased. James stood before his false accusers and refused to denounce the name of Jesus – his brother but, more than that, his Savior. Perhaps He remembered the words of Jesus in that moment.

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39

Was he there or did someone tell him how Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26)

At this point, I don’t believe James saw Jesus as his brother anymore. I think He saw him as God – as the One who was willing to die for him and the One he was willing to die for, even a brutal death.

Is that how we see Jesus? Do we recognize that his death on the cross was out of his deep love for us? If so, what do we do with that recognition? Does it change the way we live our lives? Would we be willing to die for the One who died for us? Would we be willing to do anything for Him – move, forgive, switch jobs, extend grace, love the unlovable, stand for religious freedom, give our time to an elderly woman who wants someone to remember with, choose tough love, consider it joy when we go through trials and suffering…

What am I willing to do for Jesus today? What is He asking of me? Am I too busy finding my life to lose it for His sake?

The section title for James 5:13-18 is called “The Power of Prayer.” My heart responds already. Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you believe that spending time praying to God about what is going on in your life CAN make a difference? Listen to these words of wisdom from James.

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. – James 5:13-16

Hardships, happiness and sickness. The one thing these three moments have in common for me is they are often the times when I can’t figure out what to do next. I’ve gotten myself in a situation and I can’t figure out how to get out. I’m so happy and excited that I cannot contain myself and I find myself not knowing what to do next. It reminds me of that moment after an athlete or team has won the championship and they ask them what they are going to do next – “I’m going to Disneyworld!” What James is trying to show us is that we need to shout an exuberant – “I’m going to the Lord!”

Again it is that message of drawing near to God and remaining in His presence regardless of the circumstances. Then, when something tragic happens in our life such as a cancer diagnosis or hearing a doctor say “There’s nothing more that can be done,” our first response is to disagree. There is something we can do. We can pray. We can be still and know that God is God and we are not. We can trust Him in ANY situation and wait patiently for His response to our prayers. We can count it a joy to face difficult times and submit to God’s will or plan for our lives. We can confess sin and rest peacefully in Christ. As Beth Moore says, in all of these things we can deliberately engage with God – living life with God, abiding in the True Vine, drawing near to what has our attention – God [Mercy Triumphs].

I witnessed two healings in 2010 – Mulu from Ethiopia prayed in her native tongue for my mother-in-law to be healed of her 4th stage breast cancer and Neneye from Cali, Columbia prayed for a young boy who was about to be diagnosed with autism. Both prayed with a confidence and passion I have never witnessed before. Both have committed their lives to spending HOURS every day in prayer, soaking in God’s presence and then remaining in His presence as they live out their lives. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (5:16b). I now know what that means and I long to serve God as faithfully as these women have. I don’t want to have to go to God when I’m in trouble or happy or sick – I want to already be there!!!

Let’s step back a little and look at the whole passage together, but this time in The Message.

Are you hungry? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven – healed inside and out.

My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God. – James 5:13-20

We cannot give up praying. In every situation, I want to rest in God’s presence – looking to Him for what is next, and for the strength to face it and the peace to rest in it.

Lord, only you know what is ahead for me today. Father God, I long to already be in your presence and drawing from your strength so that you can equip me with everything I need. Remind me today of the power of your prayer. Teach me how to be still and know that you are God and I can trust you. Teach me patience to wait for your response and teach me joy in any situation. I submit to your perfect plan. Savior, forgive me for my sins and help me to rest peacefully in your presence. Amen.

It is good that we are starting out our day in God’s presence, inviting Him into our day, because He is the only one with THE PERFECT PLAN for us today – the plan that offers us prosperity, hope and a future. To follow through on James’ advice from last week, let’s start our day by submitting to God and whatever plan He has for us. Let’s draw near to God so that He and He only has our full attention. Then the response of our heart will be – not my will, God, but Yours!

Now listen you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live or do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. – James 4:13-17 (NIV)

I am a planner. I like it when my life is rolling out just the way I expect it to. I feel most comfortable when I feel like I am in control of my circumstances. I desire for God to be in control of my life, but I want the result of that control to look just like I expected it to – MY PERFECT PLAN. Yet, in those moments when the future seems uncertain or scary, I am comforted by these Scriptures:

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book before a single one of them began. – Psalm 139:16

We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:10

From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” – Acts 17:26-28

These verses strike me right where I’ve been for the last 4 years. I had my plans all laid out – plans to raise my girls in Normal, plans to work for Living Alternatives for many more years to come, plans to stay close to my family, plans to grow old with my Church friends. But God had different plans – He had “appointed times” and boundaries of where I would live. My faith was most definitely put to the test when God moved us to Texas. Would I submit to God’s plan?

I did and we settled into a new life in Texas. We fell in love with the new church, new community and many new friends God gave us. We fell in love with the culture of Dallas and, again, I started laying my plans out. Then God reminded me that He is the One who holds the plan. Again, my plans were shaken when God moved us out of our new comfort zone into the next phase of our life. A new decision lay before us, one in which we had to decide between our plans and God’s plans.

On the other side of that decision, I have to say there is no better place to be than in the center of God’s will – right where He wants me to be. But He continues to challenge me even today. Am I starting to lay down my own plans for today or will I trust Him and seek His will for how He wants to use me today or tomorrow or the next day. In submission, I need to draw near to Him, staying focused on Him, asking for wisdom, and seeking Him.

Listen here, you who say “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise, you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. – James 4:13-17 (NLT)

I can’t ignore that last verse – If there is good that God has asked me to do and I choose not to do it, I am sinning. I can avoid God today so that I don’t have to take the chance that He will ask me to do something I don’t want to do OR I can submit and draw near to God. This is the great part – If I draw near to Him, He will draw near to me. Oh, how I love to be in God’s presence! It’s worth the risk. 

So the opposites continue. It’s either our way or God’s way; pride or humility. We are either God’s friend or God’s enemy – that is what we are when we choose to be a friend of… Yesterday we ended this sentence with “the world” – we are either God’s friend or a friend of the world. Let’s be honest with ourselves today and state what it usually comes down to for us – we are either God’s friend or our own friend. It’s either God’s way or our way. We either let God be our source of joy or look for ways to provide joy for ourselves. Right?

James has already challenged us in this chapter by pointing out that we struggle with not getting what we want, praying with wrong motives because we want it our way. This is an issue of pride – thinking we know what is best. Today James gives us the solution to this inner struggle – submission to God.

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. – James 4:7-10 (NIV)

The biggest thing that stands between you and submission is YOU. So what is God calling you to submit to Him today? Is it your health, your job, your marriage, a struggle, a temptation, a friendship, anger, a grudge…Please allow me to quote Beth Moore again:

“He gives greater grace (4:6)…simply receive…Let Jesus lighten your burden until you float to the top, youth renewed, heart restored. He is enough. Let me say it again: He is enough. When you need more, you will have more. When your woes are great, His grace is greater. When our sins our vast, His mercy is deep. We cannot exceed Him. We cannot outrun Him…So if God has greater grace and we have greater need, what is the hold up?…James 4:7 begins: ‘Submit to God’…Be deliberate in what you resist and what you draw near to…Make up your mind and your motive and set your whole heart where you want it…Put your sweet self under God. Entirely. No arms and legs kicking out to the sides. Knees to the floor. Eyes to the skies. Hands open wide. Death to your pride. Here we run aground on the reason the Devil flees. He doesn’t flee from us, Beloved. He runs from God who is standing right there over us every time we submit. Take off your shoes. That’s holy ground.” [Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs, p.140-142]

Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? – James 4:11-12

When I go back and read the first 12 verses of chapter 4, I hear this strong message: Perhaps submission to God is about our focus and attention.

Take your eyes off other people. Don’t quarrel with each other. Don’t covet what others have, wanting it for yourself. Don’t be a friend of the world around you. Don’t look at other people and sit in judgment of their actions, slandering and speaking against each other.

Take your eyes off yourself. Don’t pray with wrong motives, seeking your own pleasure. When you focus on yourself, pride becomes an issue. Whether you are dealing with self-righteousness or low self-esteem, both are caused by thinking too much of yourself instead of focusing on God. God wants us to take our attention off ourselves, letting go of our pride and self-righteousness and trading it in for humility.

Take your eyes off the rules, coming up with an organized list of things to do in order to earn your way to Heaven. Don’t study the Scripture in order to argue with it or prove it wrong or make it fit what you want it to say. Don’t use the Bible as a weapon against fellow believers. Use God’s word as a way to better know Him, understand Him and draw near to Him. Then any conversations you have with other believers will echo the heart of God, not human judgment.

In one of the first sermons I ever heard Scott preach he said that we tend to move in the direction of our attention. Think about it. If we are driving but focus our attention on something off to the side of the road, our car will begin to drift in that direction. If we are running on a treadmill but looking behind us at someone on the elliptical machine, we will most likely misstep and find ourselves flat on the floor…not that I’ve ever done that or anything

God says – Submit to me, come near to me, wash your hands, purify your hearts, be single-minded and focused on me. The farther we are from God, the easier it is to see everything that is going on around us. If we step as close to God as we possibly can, so close that He is dwelling inside of us and He has our full attention, we will free ourselves from the distractions of the world and the opinions of what our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing around us. We will lose ourselves in service to something bigger – God.

I like how The Message rephrases James 4:11-12:
Don’t bad mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

You adulterers! Don’t you realize 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. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” – James 4:4-6

Again James is not introducing a new topic here but continuing with a message he has been trying to get through in the previous chapters. He has consistently compared opposites, showing us that we cannot be two things at once. Remember these verses?

– Believe / Doubt – In 1:6-8, James calls the man who tries to believe and doubt at the same time double-minded and unstable.

– World tells us…but God – He told us to get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent. The world tells us we have a right to get angry or that it is not our fault because we were born with the tendency toward anger, but God has planted a different word in us and that word can save us if we accept it (1:20-21).

– Pure / Polluted – Religion that God sees as pure and faultless – to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (1:27).

– Rich / Jesus – Don’t show special attention to those who are rich when they are the same people who are exploiting you, dragging you into court and slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong. He started out this section by reminding them to whom they belong, that they are believers in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ (2:1-7).

– Knowing / Doing – You can’t just read the word and not do it (1:22-25); you can’t obey some of the law but not all of it (2:8-12); you can’t see someone in need and do nothing (2:16).

– Praise / Curse – Just like a spring cannot produce two different kinds of water and a tree cannot bear two kinds of fruit, you can’t use your tongue to praise God and then turn around and use it to speak poorly of those He has created in His likeness (3:9-12).

– Earthly wisdom / Heavenly wisdom – You cannot have both earthly “wisdom” and heavenly wisdom (3:13-18).

Even the first three verses of chapter 4, which we discussed yesterday, flow into today’s passage. We cannot look around at the world and desire what it has to offer, then turn and ask God to bless us with these worldly pleasures. Let’s read this passage in The Message:

You’re cheating on God. 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. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” – James 4:4-6 (The Message)

So the opposites continue. It’s either our way or God’s way; pride or humility. We are either God’s friend or God’s enemy – that is what we are when we choose to be a friend of the world. What is it going to be? I think all of us desire that close relationship with God but James is warning us that the world and its influence is daily pulling us away from God. In order to stay connected to God we must daily spend time in His presence, seeking HIS way in our lives and intentionally avoiding the many ways the world attempts to pollute us.

Lord, I love you so much and my desire is to draw closer and closer to you. That you call me friend and that you pour your grace on me, these truths overwhelm me. What you give in love is far better than anything else I will ever find. Lord, show me the ways in which my attention is being drawn to earthly things instead of to you. Help me not to walk out of your presence today but dwell in you all day. Amen.

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure. – James 4:1-3

No matter what we have, there is something else we desire. I wonder if God rolls His eyes when we ask for two things that we cannot have simultaneously. Have you ever been on a road trip with kids? Our girls have asked the famous question over and over again on our many trips, “How much longer?” They long to be at our destination but they are tired of riding in the car, so they ask to make a stop. We stop, stretch our legs, maybe do a little shopping or get something to eat. Then we get back in the car and the famous question is repeated, “Now how much longer?” Well, the same amount of time as when we stopped the car! They long to be where we are headed but they also long to get out of the car, even though it keeps them from their greatest longing – to get where we are going. How often do we do the same thing in our prayer life – praying for one thing and then praying for something else that would keep us from receiving the first thing we prayed for.

I think the greatest problem that James is addressing in this passage is the heart. This is the start of a new chapter but it is really the continuation of what he has been teaching in the first three chapters. The words that we speak, the anger we display, the favoritism we show, the conflicts we have with other people, it all comes down to the condition of our heart. James uses the word “covet” and just a few verses before he is discussing the harmful habits of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition (3:14-16). It is these issues of the heart that cause our focus to be on “self” instead of others – to desire for our self what we see in others instead of getting lost in the needs of those around us. When we desire some-thing someone else has or to have power or glory for our self, it affects our relationship with others and our relationship with God. The truth is God knows our heart and our motives – good & bad.

Let’s hear from Beth Moore because she says it so much better than I can: “Nothing has the capacity to keep us out of trouble like the certainty of God’s gaze piercing through our pretense to the heart of our desires. Only He can sort out the blur of our motives. Let’s have the guts to ask Him what’s in our hearts and, when He reveals it, die to the self-gratification and live for the greater glory” [Beth Moore, Mercy Triumphs, p.133].

The book of James is hard on us. I find myself saying “ouch” over and over again as I study this letter. Are you feeling it too? Are you ready to quit? Wait, the book of James has a solution that will help us overcome all of this. First ask for wisdom before we ask for anything else that our heart desires because there is a humility that comes from wisdom (3:13). And if we lack wisdom, we can ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault – but when you ask, believe that He will give you wisdom (1:5-8). God gives us wisdom when we ask and this heavenly wisdom is “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (3:17).

In other words, when we ask for wisdom, God will give it to us and that wisdom will create in us a humility that begins to change us. We will begin to look at others and see God’s likeness (3:9). We stop showing favoritism and begin to truly love our neighbor as ourselves (2:8). With this wisdom, our heart begins to change and that affects our tongue, because what comes out of our mouth is a product of what is in our hearts. So let’s not delay. It’s time to ask for wisdom. Write down reminders where you will see them over and over again, reminders to pray for God to give you wisdom.

…Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it… – James 4:2b

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. – James 1:5-6a