The Book of James: Putting Faith to Work! (Chapter 4:7-12)

Hello Friends!

Welcome Back! Let’s continue our journey through “The Book of James: Putting Faith to Work!”

The Book of James: Putting Faith to Work! (Chapter 4:7-12)

This week we will continue our reading of verses 7-12 in chapter 4 as we consider Submission or Slander…

If we have “studied” James’ wonderful epistle carefully up to this point, we will have “learned” that he has made us very much aware of his warnings to “us” about “unbelievers” who are within the “fellowship” of God having a worldly “wisdom” and a lustful “love” for the “world” but who are in fact – The enemies of God!

This poignant passage of “promise” from James is clearly a “Gospel” invitation for “unbelievers” to “come” to a saving “faith” in Jesus Christ! Therefore, James continues to “lovingly” warn the “professing” people in his “assembly” of whom do not pass the many TESTS of true “faith” that pleases God:

The test of “trials.”

The test of “temptation.”

The test of a right “attitude” toward the “Word of God.”

The test of “being a doer” not a “hearer only.”

The test of “purity.”

The test of “helping others in need.”

The test of “no respecter of persons.”

The test of “good works.”

The test of the “tongue.”

The test of “wisdom.”

The test of a “love for the world,”

These “salvation” commands expressed by James in this passage are directed at those who are “double-minded” and are fully governed by their inner “fleshly” lusts. With that said, let’s dig into God’s wonderful “Word” and His associated “promises” to both encourage and edify our “hearts” and “minds” in Jesus Christ – Thank you Lord!

Submission or Slander: Which one?

Since God is a “saving” God, He indeed “desires” that all men would come to “know” Him, to “worship” Him and to “adore” Him through the “knowledge” of Jesus Christ as “Lord” and “Savior” for the full “forgiveness” of “sin” just as the Scriptures declare. Therefore, here in the middle of this excellent chapter, James marshals several straight “commands” of which are one of the clearest and most precise divine invitations to “salvation” in Jesus Christ – In all of Scripture…

Humble Submission

POINTS TO PONDER: In this regard, we must acknowledge that God is Sovereign and has absolute “authority” within Himself to “choose whomsoever” He “wills” to be “saved” and did so “before the foundation of the world” as the Scriptures everywhere declare. And yet at the same time, there are also a myriad of invitations throughout Scripture in which God generally “calls” all “sinners” to respond to His offer of “salvation” through His “Gospel” message. In fact, as we discussed in past EC studies, the dual “truths” of the Sovereignty of God (Romans 8 & 9) and the Responsibility of Man (Romans 10 & 11) known as the Doctrine of Concurrence permeate God’s Word – Salvation Truth!

With those points in mind… How does an “unbeliever” become “humble” as James noted back in our previous study of this chapter in verse 6 and therefore be “saved” by God’s “grace” from our “sin” nature?

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” – James 4:6

James will now answer this eternally important question in verses 7-10 beginning with a great “Therefore“ to provide for “us” very clear instructions for the “double-minded” lost “sinners” being addressed here in this poignant passage:

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up – James 4:7-10

To begin with, the word for “submit” in the Greek is hupotasso of which means to “align one’s self” under the authority of God. It is a direct act of our will in saying NO to self and YES to His authority in our lives. Next, we are to “resist” and take a “stand” against diabolos the “devil” and he will then “flee from you” – This is TRUE spiritual warfare!

In fact, Jesus Christ Himself also warned that each of us are either under the lordship of Satan or under the lordship of God. It is “One” or the other – There's no middle ground here!

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad – Matthew 12:30

The “double-minded” lost are then instructed by James to “draw near to God” of which means to “know” Him intimately through a redeeming “relationship” with Jesus Christ. True “salvation” is a “living” communion with God through “cleansed hands” of action and a “pure heart” of affection for Him! Also, to "lament" means to feel worse before you can ever feel better as to “mourn” and “weep” over your “sins” against God. Incidentally, the Greek word for "laughter" is gelos and is used only here in the New Testament. It's a word that indicates the leisurely “foolishness” of men indulging in their wicked “desires” and “pleasures” as they willfully reject God. James then wraps up this thought with the Greek word tapeinoo which means to willfully “humble” yourself to a low position before God – And He will lift you up to ultimate glorification!   

THEOLOGICAL THOUGHTS: The Greek word hamartolos for "sinners” here is used predominantly in the New Testament to refer to the unrepentant and “hardened” person who openly disregards the “law” of God with a reputation for public immorality. The Jewish “brethren” hearing James would never have assumed these “sinners” to be true “believers” because these phony people were openly “wicked” and apart from God’s “law” manifested in their “lying” lives! Again, it is important to note that this passage is approaching “salvation” from the side of our human responsibility. Yes, the “Word of God” is very clear that “salvation” is a Sovereign act of God through His “predetermined” and “predestined” purposes. However, God also demands a human response. The benefits of “grace” are not poured out freely on “us” without a requirement on our behalf. And once we are “regenerated” by the Holy Spirit, there is no such thing as an effortless life of “holiness” for the true Christian! We aren't “sanctified” and made more “holy” in Jesus Christ against our human “will” to change through full “submission” to Him. Therefore, freely “receiving” God’s “saving grace” will manifest a life of “obedience” to His Holy “commands” – Doctrine of Concurrence!

Evil Slander

In the next two verses, we find that pastor James shifts his attention back to the “brethren” and now speaks very strongly to them concerning the “evil” issue of “slander” by which is the blasphemous “sin” of defaming another “brother” in Jesus Christ:

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? – James 4:11-12

James says that “loving” each other as “brothers” in Jesus Christ is God's “law” fully summarized. And when we fail to “love” the other “brethren” we violate God's perfect standard! In other words, when you “slander” your “brother” without care, you forgo the “law” that forbids you to do so. Therefore, when you “condemn” your “brother” in Jesus Christ, you are “judging” the “law” of the ONE true “Lawgiver” and by your actions are actually “condemning” His Holy Word – You judge it unworthy of your affection!

Therefore, the “speech” of the “mouth” is indeed a true test of a “living faith,” as we have “learned” back in chapter 3 in greater detail. And in line with the words of his big brother Jesus, James echoes the exact same “truth” regarding the phony “religious” leaders. What you “speak” with your “mouth” indicates your “heart” attitude:

You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart – Matthew 12:34

OUCH! A “brood of vipers” is VERY strong language! An unrepentant and habitually “slanderous” speaking “tongue” of evil towards other people betrays an unchanged “heart” and “life” for God – Vicarious Vipers!

And Jesus continues to “rebuke” these “wicked” men in that same passage:

By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned – Matthew 12:37

Again, the reason Jesus and James could reiterate this “truth” concerning the troublesome “tongue” and maniacal “mouth” is because the “words” that you “speak” are the revealing of your “heart” of “hate” OR your “heart” of “holiness” – Condemnation or justification awaits!

In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah expressed the “guilt” and “shame” and an overpowering sense of his own “sinfulness” before a Thrice Holy God as he lamented:

So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts – Isaiah 6:5

This word “Woe” is the truest and most obvious expression of Isaiah’s own expression of his “sinfulness” for he “understood” that it is out of the “heart” that the “mouth” will “speak” of its true condition – Woe is me!

REAL REFLECTIONS: When a truly “regenerate” person willingly places his “life” under the “Lordship” of Jesus Christ, he “does” so with true “understanding” because they have “believed” in the “Word of God” and fully “trust” Him with their life. This true “believer” now “knows” and continues to “learn” in growing measure the purpose and will of Father God via the “knowledge” of the Holy Spirit’s changing power flowing in and through a “submitted” and “obedient” life to Him according to His perfect “will” – Is this true of YOU?

In closing:

For further concern of our personal “holiness” through “salvation” in Jesus Christ, someone once said of “evil” speech:

“The mouth is the tunnel through which depravity exits the heart”

And it was William Barclay who once said:

"It is a reckless man who deliberately infringes on the prerogatives of God!"

As we consider the Apostle Paul’s instructions of “submission” to the “brethren” in Ephesus, we find a very similar and familiar “call” to personal “holiness” and “righteousness” that is present in a life “lived” for Jesus Christ: 

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness – Ephesians 4:17-24

Beloved, with those solemn “thoughts” in mind, we can fervently agree with James, Paul, Isaiah and Jesus – AMEN!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

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Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

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