October 16, 2012
WHAT WOULD GOD HAVE US CHOOSE?
James 4
Doug Tigert
Central Truth
See the importance and ways of befriending God, do not speak evil of others, and plan for the future with God's will and desire in mind.
Key Verse | James 4:4
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
James 4
Warning Against Worldliness
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions 1 4:1 Greek pleasures; also verse 3 are at war within you? 2 4:1 Greek in your members 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! 3 4:4 Or You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. 4 4:11 Or brothers and sisters 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. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come 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”— 14 yet 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Dive Deeper | James 4
I was trying to read and understand this passage when my wife told me a story about something that happened during the day between someone else and her. I immediately tried to express my thoughts on the other person's motives and the selfishness behind the actions. Then I read James 4:11 and realized that I was doing the very thing spoken of in this verse. I was putting myself in God's seat and judging someone's actions!
In verse 12, it states that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge. God calls us to be humble and to live in mutual submission with each other. We are to help restore others. I have prayed for God to give me wisdom. I want to be able to make good choices in life. I want to avoid conflict and any mistakes that are my fault. I want God to give me a free pass or a get-out-of-jail-free card. However, God wants my desires to be His desires. The only way to gain satisfaction in this life is to ask God, but we ask God for the things that we selfishly desire not what He desires.
Mathew 7:7-8 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." We must approach God in humility as stated in James 4:6: "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." And 1 Peter 5:6 adds: "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." I pray that my desire will be to honor God in my life and the choices I make.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do some not receive what they ask for?
2. What does James call those who would be a friend of the world and why?
3. Why should we be careful about the plans we make?
WEEKLY FAMILY ACTIVITY
October 15-19 (James 3-1 Peter 2)
Read James 3:1-12.
• What different things does James compare to our tongues?
• Does James mean that your literal tongue is bad or good? What is he actually talking about?
• How have you seen words be used for good? How have you seen them be used for bad?
• Is it hard for you to control your words?
• Do you take time to think about what you say before you say it?
Activity: Get a full tube of toothpaste. Discuss how the toothpaste in the tube is like words that are in your head. Next, squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube. Then, let your kids try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. It's impossible. Talk with your family about how this is like our words and that, once they are out our mouths, we cannot take them back.
Ask: Why is it important to think about what we say before we say it? How can you use your words for good and not harm? Discuss ways that you can be more careful this week about the words that come out of your mouth.