“Friends of God and Each Other” (James 4:1–12)

“Friends of God and Each Other” (James 4:1–12)
^{Cameron Jungels/Eastside Baptist Church/Sunday AM/August 2, 2015}

James 4:1–12 (NIV)

Submit Yourselves to God

4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but 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. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud

but shows favor to the humble.” 

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ 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. ¹² 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?

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1.    Our own selfish desires are often the culprit of broken relationships and unanswered prayers (vv. 1–3).

2.    Our own selfish desires display a friendship with the world that is opposed to our friendship with God (vv. 4–6).

3.    Our own selfish desires are displayed in our hurtful speech and judgmental attitudes toward others (vv. 11–12).

4.    The solution to our broken relationships, hurtful speech, judgmental attitudes, and worldliness is humble repentance that draws us near to God (vv. 7–10).

Main Idea: Humility makes us friends of God and each other.
⦁    The humility of repentance draws us near to God in friendship
⦁    The humility of selfless deference draws us near to others in friendship.