James 4:1-6

Good morning! I wanted to let you all know that I will be changing our “chew on its” a little bit to make them more effective for you. We will be focusing on one passage each week so we can really chew on what the passage is saying as opposed to just “covering the material.” The whole purpose behind this devotional is not to just stuff your inbox with tons of e-mails each week that you don’t have the time to read or digest. My desire is that all of us will truly dig deeply into the Word of God, discover its life-giving truth, and then seek to live it out in our everyday lives.

Here’s how it will work. I will send you a few questions to answer each day to get us all to dig deeper into the passage we are studying. Take your time and don’t rush! Push everything else out of your mind and focus on listening to what God is saying to you! Once we have worked through the passage, I will e-mail you the “CHEW ON THIS” section later in the week to encourage you in your study.

As we take apart one passage a week, this will allow us to post discussion topics (on Facebook) as well as encourage others with the principles that God is teaching us. This will help us to fulfill Hebrew 10:24 which says, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (NLT).

Start by praying that God would open your eyes to the wonderful things in His Word through your study (Ps. 119:18). Then read the passage slowly, taking notes on what God is teaching you through His Word, and answer the questions.

As you read this week's passage, look for these words or phrases: conflicts, war, lust, ask, motives, friendship, enemy of God, the Spirit, grace, proud, and humble.


Passage for the week: James 4:1-6 (NASB)

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
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.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?”
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”


DIGGER DEEPER:


MONDAY

List all of the characteristics of God that you find in this passage (what God is like, His attributes).



What are the questions that James asks in the passage? What is the point of all of these questions?



TUESDAY

What does James mean by “pleasures?”




What does James mean by “you lust” or “you covet”? What were they coveting?



WEDNESDAY

James calls his readers “adulteresses.” Why does he address them in this way? (Hint: "friendship with the world")



James’ mentions fights and quarrels in his rebuke of his readers? What did this fighting look like?




THURSDAY

In James 1:6, James writes that prayer must be conducted in faith. What does he say about prayer in James 4:2-3? What two ways were his readers sinning in the area of prayer?


To whom does God give grace and why? Does your behavior reflect this reality?



FRIDAY

Read Luke 15:11-32. What insight does this give to the condition of James’ readers who asked that they might spend what God gives them on their pleasures?



James warns against being a friend of the world. Where else in his epistle does he speak about this? Where else in the Bible is this spoken of? (ex. 1 John 2)



Pick a verse or two from this passage and memorize it.



CHEW ON THIS:

James paints a picture of the church as he saw it: they were fighting and arguing, battling, killing (with words) and coveting. Wow! Does any of this sound familiar? Unfortunately, this picture is not too far from what we see in the church today! The church should be a place of love, encouragement, friendship, and service. However, it is our desires to please ourselves that get in the way of this. All of those who were fighting in James’ church probably felt like they were doing the right thing, but James tells them God’s perspective on the situation. The source of these conflicts is not found in their love of God but to their desires, the evil impulses that we have already learned about in James 1:14–15. The same goes for us as well!

All of this arguing is fruitless: they do not get what they want, because you do not ask God. “But I do pray!” might be your response. “You pray, but it is not effective, for your motives are wrong.” We are not seeking God’s will or God’s wisdom, but our own will. In other words, we come to God saying, “God bless my plans.” Instead of us focusing on God’s plans, our motives are wrapped up in our own desires and pleasures. God’s goal is not to give us what our own impulses demand. His goal is that we will learn to love what He loves. It is not that God does not want people to have pleasure, but that he wants to train them to take pleasure in what He knows is truly good.

In claiming to trust in God and yet living according to their own desires, James calls these people adulterers. They were being unfaithful to God and had been focusing their love on the world. When we try to become a friend of the world you are actually God’s enemy! Sure, we are still in the world as “salt” and “light,” but we are not to be of the world. At this point James talks about how God jealously longs for the spirit He made to live in us. That means that God gave to each person their spirit and He jealously longs for pure love in return (see Exodus 20:5–6). You cannot serve God and the world!

James’s argument might drive people to despair because of their sin. However, we find hope in verse 6! James claims that God offers more grace rather than condemnation, to the believer who is humble and repents. To back this up James quotes Proverbs 3:34, also quoted in 1 Peter 5:5: God does give grace to the humble! This grace that God gives is a grace that is sufficient for every struggle we are facing or any need we have.

So, let’s make our church a place where there is a genuine love for one another, a committed love for God, and a true heart of humility that will be ready receive God’s grace!


For His Name,

Pastor Stephen