But He Gives More Grace [James Study Week 9, James 4:1-12]
When I started this series, it didn’t occur to me that I’d be writing about fights, quarrels, taming the tongue, and similar subjects during such a tense, chaotic year. I spent time studying the book of James earlier in the year, and I wanted to dive deeper into it. It’s practical, convicting, and essential for the Church. But I did not realize from the outset how relevant and how personally convicting this short book would be. Honestly, if I knew how much I’d have to wrestle with James’ words in my own life and the responsibility of sharing them on my blog, I’m not sure I would have undertaken this project.
Thankfully, God knew I needed this, and it’s sure been a humbling process. I found that to be especially true as I studied this section.
What Causes Quarrels and Fights?: James 4:1-5
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! 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. 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"?
James 4:1-5
Bring Your Desires Before God
James just finished talking about how true wisdom is shown by being peaceable and gentle. It’s shown by being merciful and impartial. A harvest of righteousness, he says, is “sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:18). Then he turns here to directly address the very real and damaging problems his audience faced—and we face, too.
Why are you all at each other's throats? he asks (my paraphrase, of course). Because your desires are fighting an internal battle in your soul, and that internal battle is wreaking havoc on the external community.
I’ve seen this in myself this year. There are dreams and goals and desires that I have that are unrealized at this time in my life. Maybe they’ll happen someday, or maybe they’ll never happen. But I’ve noticed that even when my desires themselves aren’t bad, my pride, impatience, and selfishness can feed off those desires if I’m not careful.
Many of the desires we have can be for good things. I’d love to write a book someday, and am working towards that. I don’t think that desire is bad at all. BUT, I can easily grow bitter, frustrated, and even angry when my dream is delayed or someone else gets that book deal. I can grow resentful of my kids, thinking, “If I just didn’t have to feed them 78 times a day, I could work on this book proposal and maybe make more progress.”
That may be true to some degree (my kids always seem to want to eat!). But the point is, am I submitting my desires to God? Am I actually asking him and trusting him with the answer? Am I bringing my desires to write before him and seeking him daily as I work towards book writing?
Maybe the book writing example doesn’t fit what you’re wrestling with, so insert your own. A spouse, sleep, a meaningful job, an income that supports my family, a child, etc. James here is likely referring to money, at least in part. He addresses wealth quite a bit in his letter, but I think the broader theme still fits. You want something, you don’t get it, and quarrels and fights ensue.
I’m focusing on good desires here, not because our sinful desires don’t need to be talked about, but because many of us forget that when our good desires go unchecked, they can lead to sin. We need to confess our sinful desires and ask God to transform us. But we also need to submit our good desires to him, lest the evil one sneak in and whisper to us that, like Abraham and Hagar, we should just make it happen. Or we grow bitter toward those who have what we want. Or, like the disciples, we start arguing over who’s the greatest rather than cultivating true Christian community.
“God may not act like we wanted him to, but we can trust that whatever he does will be for our good and his glory.”
When James here talks about murder, it’s likely that he’s using the term the way Jesus did in Matthew 5. He’s not necessarily talking about literal murder (although that could be part of it). He’s referring more to the harm we do to each other when we don’t get what we want. We’re murdering each other in our hearts. We’re not loving our neighbor. We want something, we don’t get it, so we fight about it.
In the community of faith, this should not be.
Why do we do this? One commentator writes, “When James says, ‘You do not have, because you do not ask God,’ he points to their general prayerlessness as another indicator of their spiritual condition. They have intense desires that are promoting relational havoc in the church, and yet the desires find no answer because they have ceased to go to the source of real fulfillment—God himself.”[1]
That’s convicting to me. When we bring our desires before God, he hears us. He may say no. He may say wait. He may reveal to us that our desires are not his, and we need to shift our perspective and thinking. He will not help us promote selfishness in our hearts, but he will help weed out that selfishness.
But when we commit our way to the LORD, when we trust him, he will act (Psalm 37:5). He may not act like we wanted him to, but we can trust that whatever he does will be for our good and his glory.
You Adulterous People
James then pretty harshly calls out his readers. “You adulterous people!” he says. Ouch. That’s not exactly a compliment. It’s an image used often in the Old Testament, one that puts Israel in its place and helps us understand the holy jealousy of our God. Look at passages like Ezekiel 16 and the book of Hosea. Hosea was even told to marry a prostitute to demonstrate Israel’s faithlessness—and yet God, as demonstrated through Hosea, still loves his people. “How can I give up on you, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?...My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:8). God does not give up, even on his adulterous people. After calling out the sin of Israel and warning of impending judgment, God says this through the prophet:
I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them (Hosea 14:4-9).
“God does not give up on us. He does not deal with us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:10). Despite our unfaithfulness, he gives us more grace.”
He is a jealous God who deserves our lives. He deserves our faithfulness. But we’re in love with our own interests and our own gods—and when we are, we cannot simultaneously fully love our God. Jesus preaches this same message, calling out his listeners for their spiritual adultery (see Mathew 12:39, 16:4, Mark 8:38).
We cannot look to the world or our own desires to ultimately satisfy us and still be fully faithful to Yahweh. We’re an adulterous people who claim to be in a relationship with God but then like an unfaithful spouse, we try to fulfill our desires elsewhere.
But as Hosea reminds us, what a good and gracious God we have! He does not give up on us. He does not deal with us as our sins deserve (Psalm 103:10). Despite our unfaithfulness, he gives us more grace.
But He Gives More Grace: James 4:6-10
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James 4:6-10
Here, we have the solution to the relationship breakdown that James addressed in the previous few verses. How do we stay faithful to God? How do we heal the quarrels and fighting? How do we restore the brokenness of the community of faith? The answer: humble repentance.
From start to finish, God’s Word shows that he is a good and gracious God. We just saw in Hosea how Israel did not deserve anything but judgement, yet God still loves them and showers them with his grace. He does the same for us when we return to him in humble repentance.
If we stand up before God, saying, “I don’t want you, I don’t want your grace, I will do things my own way,” we’d better know what we’re saying. We’re rejecting the God of the universe—and Scripture shows that never ends well. But if instead we come before him in humility, desiring to be more like him and turn from our waywardness, he will give us grace. He promises that. He gives grace to the humble.
So why wouldn’t we submit to God? Submission means “yielding to the perspective or position of another”[2] Why are we so dang stubborn and blind that we refuse to yield to the perspective of the God of the universe? I’m guilty of this, too, and it’s ridiculous how bull-headed I can be. Why do I constantly want to do things my own way instead of God’s? Why do I want to have an adulterous affair with the world when God promises perfect love?
“Why do I want to have an adulterous affair with the world when God promises perfect love?”
Let’s submit ourselves to God in humility. Then, we will desire only what God desires. And when we do, our silly quarrels and fights in the community of faith will not seem quite so important. We’ll spend our energy on loving God and loving others. Isn’t that better than bickering and looking to the world for self-satisfying happiness that will never last?
Drawing Near to God
James then tells us to resist the devil. Turn away from the one who wants to draw you from God. Don’t listen to his lies. Don’t give into his temptations. Resist him. Then, we’re promised a result—he will flee! We have the power of Christ in us to turn away from Satan—and to cause him to run away scared. He knows he’s beat. He knows that death already did its worst. He threw everything he had at Jesus on the cross. He went all in.
And he lost.
Resist the devil, and he will flee. If that wasn’t already incredible, James then says that we can draw near to God. Despite our uncleanness, despite our adultery, we can come before the holy Creator God in humble repentance.
James here uses language reflecting the sacrificial system to show us what it looks like to draw near to God. The Old Testament often speaks of the holiness of God and the fact that the unclean and unconsecrated could not come before God. In Exodus 19, Moses was on Mount Sinai and God prohibited the people and priests from coming up the mountain where the LORD was. The mountain itself was consecrated (19:23). Later in Exodus, we read that a veil was put in the tabernacle to separate the ark of the testimony (Exodus 40:26), and there was also a water basin at the tent of meeting “with which Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feed. When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed…” (Exodus 40: 31-32). In Isaiah, the prophet cried out that he was unclean, and God cleansed him with coal from the altar (Isaiah 6:5-7). Coming into the presence of God was not an action to be taken lightly.
James, then, tells us that we can draw near to God, not because God’s grace says anything goes and God doesn’t care about our sin. Rather, we can draw near to a perfectly holy God in humble repentance. “Grace has its demands on those who would be its recipients. Grace forms even while it forgives.”[3] So we can rest in and accept God’s grace, and his grace does not keep us the way we are. It transforms us. It cleanses us. We come near to God and soak up his grace, and we leave changed.
Our sin should not be taken lightly. As James tells us, we should mourn and weep over it. We should, once again, humbly repent. But better to mourn and weep over our sin now and live in the grace of God than refuse that grace and have to answer for our sin on judgment day. If we humbly repent before God, he will exalt us—even after we’ve so often turned away (see also Matthew 23:12).
Thanks be to God!
Who Are We to Judge?: James 4:11-12
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?”
James 4:11-12
These next verses appear at first glance to be out of place. They may possibly serve as a transitional statement to introduce later themes (such as judgment in chapter 5). They also serve as a reminder of themes James has already written about, such as how we speak to one another and being a doer of the law. Whatever James’ original intent in putting these verses here, we have a great deal to learn and glean from them.
We’ve already addressed the way we speak to each other in previous weeks, but we probably need to revisit this topic daily. James tells us not to slander one other. He uses the term “brothers,” which seems to indicate again that he’s talking primarily to those within the community of faith. We shouldn’t slander anyone, but especially as followers of Christ and members of the Church, our words should be especially marked by love for God and each other.
The Greek word used here means “to speak in a harmful manner” or “to defame.”[4] A slanderer tries to tear others down. A slandered judges another person. A slanderer’s intent is not to bring others back into faith by “speaking the truth in love.” A slanderer’s intent is to hurt.
Maybe we can quickly write that off by saying, “Oh, I don’t do that.” But let’s think again. For those of us who have been around the Church a while, we know that slander can be masked as a passive aggressive prayer request. It can be masked as venting. Our gossip rips people apart, and our words hurt. Our online comments, our speech, our phrases of, “How could they possibly be a Christian and think/do/say/vote….” can be slanderous judgments we utter with no intention to build up the Church.
We disagree, we’re hurt, or we’re angry. So we tear at someone else like a lion tearing up a carcass. We hope it’ll make us feel better. We hope we’ll be satisfied once we take down our prey. But we’re not. That prey we attack is a person made in the image of God—a person, often, who is in the same community of faith. They’re a person Jesus loves, and we’re called to love. How dare we try to vindicate ourselves or coddle our own egos by ripping apart an image bearer with our hurtful words.
I’m preaching to myself here. Too often, I have uttered words that are not meant to love. They’re not meant to refine or heal. Maybe I try to justify my harsh words by saying, “Well that person deserved it.” But don’t I, myself, deserve death? And yet God has given me more grace. And more. And more.
Who am I to refuse that grace to another?
In Leviticus 19:16, God says, “You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.” Our words matter. Our motives matter. If we are not speaking in a way in front of people and behind their backs that builds them up, honors God, and loves one another, we’d better keep our mouths shut and ask for a hearty dose of wisdom and humility. Because we have broken the law. We have sinned, and we have no right to tear down others as if we were God. “James states that when we set ourselves up as critics of the law in this way, we obviously are not engaged in ‘keeping it,’ in living it out. We have moved from a place of submissive obedience to God’s law to trampling that law under our feet.”[5]
Putting ourselves above God’s law is a dangerous place to be. Only God is Judge. So we humbly repent, we submit to him, we draw near to him, and we demonstrate God’s grace and love to others along the way.
That is the call of the Christian. That is what it looks like to be doers of the law.
Lord, help us.
Reflect
Do you have unfulfilled desires that are causing bitterness or resentment to grow? Take some time this week to pray through those. Submit them before God and ask him to fulfill them, give you patience to wait, or transform your desires to be in line with his will.
How have you been guilty of spiritual adultery? (We all are guilty of this, so if nothing comes to mind with this question, keep thinking and praying that the Holy Spirit would reveal the answers to you.)
How can you draw near to God and resist the devil in your own life this week? How can you practice the humble repentance God asks of us?
When have you slandered someone? Do you need to seek their forgiveness or confess to them? Ask God to help you speak the truth in love and build each other up rather than tearing others down. (I’m convicted this even relates to how I speak to and about my kids!)
[1] Longman, Tremper, David E. Garland, et al. Hebrews—Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006, p 253.
[2] Ibid, 255.
[3] Ibid, 255.
[4] Ibid, 258.
[5] Ibid, 258.
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