James Part 8: If the Lord Wills

I'm excited about this fall and what the Lord is doing and where He is taking us. Alright, James chapter 4. I'm going to do a little review as we pull ourselves into another gut punch from James—he doesn't pull punches.

Two weeks ago, Luke talked about the tongue. His paraphrase, which I think is perfect, was that the mouth and the tongue are gateways to Hell. How easily can our mouths produce curses? It happens so easily. James even says that if you can tame the tongue, you're perfect. Essentially, no one can truly tame it.

Last week in chapter 4, we talked about the selfishness that produces quarrels and fights among us. Our self-centeredness and arrogance cause destruction in our relationships—both with others and with God. It hinders our prayers and our relationship with the Lord. At the core of it all is selfishness.

But, in the middle of chapter 4, James pauses and says, "But He gives more grace." Applying that to chapter 3, where Luke discussed the destructiveness of the tongue, we see that despite our failures, God offers grace. James also tells us to resist the devil.

Let me emphasize something here: in most cases, when Satan lies to us, we don't even realize it. We don't physically hear or see him; instead, we hear our own voice or the voices of people from our past—like our parents or teachers. It takes discernment, humility, and a continuous pursuit of Jesus through prayer and His word to discern these lies. We have to know the truth to resist the devil, just as Jesus did using the Word of God.

We, too, must resist the devil by drawing near to God. A big part of resisting the devil is choosing to humble ourselves before God, and He will exalt us.

Now, let's dive into the second half of chapter 4 and the first part of chapter 5.

Verse 11: Do 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. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Now, one of the things I realized this week is that I put a lot of thought and prayer into how we divided up this sermon series through the Book of James. It seems that no matter how much I put into it—how much thought and reading I invest in these sermon series—there’s always at least one time where I realize I got it wrong. These verses belonged in last week's sermon. Not that it really matters, because it’s all the Word of God, but this little section of verses here would have fit better in last week's sermon.

But we’re going to deal with it anyway. We talked last week about this self-centered arrogance that causes quarrels among us. James now, right here, makes it very specific: we speak evil and judge our brothers and sisters.

In our call to worship just now, David told us a story about Jesus going to dinner. A woman came in repentance, and there was a Pharisee. Something was happening in that story—what was happening? Capital H, right? Big church word: hypocrisy. That’s what James is talking about here. He’s talking about hypocrisy.

Jesus talked about judging people, right? In Matthew chapter 7, he says, "Don’t judge, or the manner through which you are judged, you will be judged." But then he goes on—what does he say? He says, "Don’t just go and take the speck out of your brother’s eye. First, go take the log out of your own eye." He doesn’t say, "Don’t judge your brother." He says, "Take care of yourself."

That’s what was happening with the Pharisee in our call to worship. There was no repentance in his heart, no introspection, no measuring of his own actions, his own life against the Word of God and the holiness of God. He placed himself in the seat of the judge, the seat of the lawgiver, and condemned this woman. That’s what Jesus is talking about, and that is what James is talking about.

We have to understand as Christians—have any of you ever heard the words, "Don’t judge me"? Anybody ever said them? Those words are words of judgment. They are words of hypocrisy, just as much as the words we see from the Pharisee to the woman. We are placing ourselves as judge over that person who we think is judging us. It’s no different. It’s hypocrisy.

What we are called to do is live lives of humble repentance before our God so that we can help one another in their blind spots as well. Take the log out of your own eye so that you can see properly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. What’s the point there? We don’t want blind people doing heart surgery. They cause lots of damage and don’t help anything. Me going to my brother to help him with a speck in his eye when I’ve got a log in my eye is going to cause a lot of damage. I can look back over my life and see myself doing this in situation after situation—whether as a friend, a father, a husband, or yes, as a pastor.

You and I are called to humble ourselves, and this takes many forms. Guys do this through blunt force trauma; women tend to do it through cutting gossip and slander. And I’m not being critical of women; I’m just saying that’s the way it tends to happen. We’re like, "You’re an idiot," right? And women are a little more discreet about it, but it’s the same. It’s destructive.

Slander—speaking evil against our brothers and sisters—that’s born out of a judgmental, prideful heart. We do it all the time. James actually says, "You’re placing yourself in judgment over the law." Remember what the serpent said to Eve? "You will be like God, knowing good and evil; you will be able to judge." And James says, "Don’t do it. There is only one lawgiver. There is only one judge. Humble yourself. Humble yourself."

So, pride manifests itself in our relationships, as we saw last week and this week.

We continue with James addressing our plans and the uncertainty of life. He writes that we say, "Today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city." But, James cautions us that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Our lives are but a mist, appearing for a little while and then vanishing. The arrogance of assuming control over the future is foolish. Instead, we ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

This speaks to our tendency to make plans without considering God's sovereignty. It’s not that planning is wrong, but we must submit our plans to the Lord. Failing to do so is sinful, as we are arrogantly assuming control over what only God controls.

Moving into James 5, he speaks directly to the rich. James rebukes those who hoard wealth and live in luxury while oppressing the poor. He warns that the wealth they’ve amassed will rot, and their luxurious living will testify against them in the last days. The cries of the oppressed have reached the Lord. James is calling out the exploitation of workers, emphasizing that God sees injustice and will bring judgment.

In these first six verses of chapter 5, James is challenging not wealth itself, but the misuse of it—the greed, selfishness, and disregard for others. The rich here have fattened themselves at the expense of others, and this will lead to their downfall. There’s a direct call to repentance for those who live this way.

James then encourages patience and perseverance for believers who are suffering. He reminds them that the Lord’s coming is near and uses the analogy of a farmer waiting for the land to yield its crops. Just as the farmer waits patiently, so too should we. The suffering we face will not last forever, and the Lord’s justice will come.

He further encourages believers to avoid grumbling against one another during times of hardship, lest they be judged. The Judge is standing at the door. James calls to mind the prophets who endured suffering and Job, whose perseverance led to God’s blessing. In all things, God’s mercy and compassion prevail.

Finally, James urges us to be honest in our speech. Rather than making oaths, our “yes” should mean yes, and our “no” should mean no. There’s no need for swearing oaths to prove our truthfulness; instead, integrity should be evident in our everyday words.

James emphasizes the importance of prayer in all situations. If anyone is in trouble, they should pray; if anyone is happy, they should sing praises. He also encourages the sick to call on the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, and if they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

This section highlights the power of prayer, not just for physical healing, but also for spiritual restoration. James places a strong emphasis on mutual accountability, urging believers to confess their sins to one another and pray for each other so that they may be healed. He reminds us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, giving Elijah as an example. Though human like us, his fervent prayers stopped the rain and later brought it back. This demonstrates that righteous prayer can accomplish much when aligned with God's will.

In the final two verses, James concludes his letter by calling believers to action within the community. He encourages them to help restore anyone who has wandered from the truth. Bringing a sinner back from their error will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

I don't need you all right. A couple of applications as we wind this thing down. Number one: don't envy. Don't envy the rich. We live in America where we think, "Oh, if I could just become a millionaire," or, "If I could just be..." I mean, maybe that was 10 or 20 years ago. Right now, it's like, "I need, I need, I need..." I don't know what it is, maybe 10 million, right? I don't know what your number is, but if I could just get to this.

We look at the people who have that and think, "Man, life would be good if I could just have that." Don’t—whatever it is—whether it's the half notch above what you have or if it's Jeff Bezos or anything in between, don't do it. Don't envy that. Your temptation would increase.

You see what he's saying? He's not saying don't pursue the raise at work. He's not saying that. He's saying don't envy this thing.

Number two: you and I exist on both ends of the spectrum. We are the dying middle class, and you and I are now in a spot in our country where we increasingly have no say, even in our political system. It just feels like we have no say in what's going on, and you and I are increasingly being taken advantage of. It's true.

It's okay to say that—like your grocery bill now versus five years ago—moms, come on, you don’t feel taken advantage of? Absolutely. Like men, that wage that you're working so hard to bring home to take care of your family, and all of a sudden, it's just not enough. That's outside of your control. There are people who have control over that, people who could give you enough to take care of your family but choose not to, because they want more power.

You are being oppressed and taken advantage of. It's true. Be comforted. Be comforted. James actually says those who have been taken advantage of, their cries are reaching the Lord of Hosts, and He is coming back. So, take a deep breath. Be comforted.

There's also a warning in there for us to examine our hearts. Examine the way that we use, let's be honest, our wealth. Is the way that we use our wealth causing others to be taken advantage of? Are we contributing to a system that is broken and taking advantage of people, ourselves included? And what's the wisdom of God? What would the wisdom of God have us do in light of that?

I don't want us—I'm not letting us off the hook either, because I don't think James does. This is written to every believer everywhere to examine our own hearts.

Then, number three: be content with what you have. Proverbs 30:8 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny You and say, 'Who is my Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." In humility, run to Him. In humility, run to Him when we're making our plans, when what we have isn't enough, or when we have more than enough. Run to Him. He is our provider. He is our God. He is the giver. He is the judge. Run to Him in humility.

Again, James says this several different times, and we see it all throughout the Scriptures. But he says it specifically in this way: "God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.

James is calling us to humility. Two weeks ago, he was calling us to humility in the way that we speak. Last week, he was calling us to humility in the way that we think about ourselves and the way that it destroys our relationships with other people and with God. This week, he's calling us to humility in the way that we view wealth, and every single one of us has to do this.

Then we do it together. This is why I think giving to the Body of Christ is so important. This is why I think tithing is so important. This is an add-on, but when we're talking about wealth, one of the things I think is so important—because I've heard people say, "Well, I don't give to the church, but I give to other things." One of the reasons why I think giving to the church is so important is that you don't make the decisions about where that money goes.

We are giving up control, giving up power. We don't broadcast who gives what, so we're giving up approval. We're sacrificing financially, so we're giving up comfort. We are commanded to be generous in this way.

This is one of the reasons why I love our special offerings—because then we get to sit here together and celebrate the humility of Christ being made manifest through our physical actions in this way. He's not saying don't be rich. He's saying watch your heart. He's saying be careful.

Where is the wisdom of God in the way that we're living our lives? Ecclesiastes—all 12 chapters—are screaming this to us in different ways. Then he gets to the end. The writer of Ecclesiastes gets to the end and says, "The end of the matter, all has been heard." We've said everything. The Book of Ecclesiastes is like this really weird experiment where he goes over here—nope, can't find it there. Goes over here—nope, can't find it there. Then he gets to the end of the book and says this:

"The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Right? James has been telling us the law of liberty, the law of love. Jesus said it: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Fear God and keep His commandments, for God will bring every deed into judgment, every secret thing, whether good or evil.

God's heart for you and for me is that we would resist a false way of living. That we would understand, that we would have the knowledge in our minds and accept it in our hearts, that this way of living—pursuing these things—brings destruction.

Sometimes we see God—if we're really honest, I think a lot of us see God—sitting up here going, "If you don't do things my way, I'm going to send you to hell." But really, what God is saying is that it completely misrepresents the heart of our God and Creator.

What God is saying is, "I created you to live this way. If you will live this way in humility to Me, then you will get all that I have to offer. If you reject Me, and if you reject the way I have designed you as humanity to operate, this is what you're going to get." And we continually go like, "Yeah, God, I got it, but you know what? I think this way will work this time."

Parents, we know this with our children, right? "This doesn’t work; don't do this this way." "Yep, got it, yep, got it." And that's our relationship with God. He's asking us to grow, to mature, to believe, to see around us what's plainly true, to know, see, accept, and believe that His wisdom, His grace, His love is where we will find the things we are looking for. James is just doing it like a boxer upside the head.

So, we're going to pray. And just like every week, we're going to respond. The guys are going to pass out the cards. Write your prayer requests on those cards. Man, if you have something to confess, that you want to confess to the Body of Christ, you can write it on that card. If you have a thing that you're trying to resist, a temptation in this area, write that on there. We will pray for each other.

After they pass out the cards, the buckets are going to come up here, and you can put your prayer requests in that bucket. You can respond through generosity and put your tithes and offerings in those buckets as well. We are going to respond right now through song. Worship is a gift that we offer to God. So, let's humble ourselves before the Almighty God and let's exalt Him through song.

After the first song, I'm going to come back up here, and we are going to respond by remembering what He has done for us. We are going to respond by remembering that even though we trip and fall on our faces in this area every single day, that Jesus died, that Jesus rose again, and that you and I can rest in the assurance that when we fail, He is still faithful.