10 James 4:7-17 Draw Near to God — Wednesday in the Word

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Review

Chapter 1 – James told us to consider it joy when we face trials because trials test our faith and the process of testing our faith brings us to maturity and makes us into the kind of people we should be.

Chapter 2 – James argued that if we have saving faith and genuinely believe the gospel, it will change the way we think, the way we live, what we value and who we are.

Chapter 3 – James focuses on strife within the community. James argues that the strife results from our lack of understanding of the gospel. Growing in “wisdom from above” leads to peace and unity because we are all striving after and seeking and valuing the same thing: the word of God. Wisdom from above can be summarized in 2 basic ideas: a growing single-minded pursuit of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a humble merciful attitude toward others. I

4:7 begins the final section of the book which is basically a call to repent. Having just confronted them with the stark choice of being friends with God or friends with the world, he goes on answer the “so what” question, the bottom line and the bottom line is repent.

Passage

4:7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? 13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”– 14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. – James 4:7-17 ESV

Suppose I’ve already made a claim to faith and consider myself a believer, but now I hear what James has to say and I’m not sure my claim to faith meant anything? I don’t see the kind of change he’s talking about. What should I do?

James answers that question: Draw near to God. Submit yourself to him. Resist the lies and temptations of the devil. Stop playing both sides of the table, humble yourself, confess and repent.

The key idea in this section is humble yourself.

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: 11 James 5:1-11 Worldliness and Riches

Previous: 09 James 3:13-4:6 The Cause of Strife

Series: James: The Gospel in Shoe Leather

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