James 4:3-6

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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.” ~ James 4:3-6

Today, we return to James' portrait of genuine faith. Genuine faith in the God of the Bible is a necessity for us to gain the wisdom of God. In James 1-3, James has established the necessity of gaining God's wisdom for the believer in Christ. Our trials aid us in the gaining said wisdom. Having given several litmus tests which enables us to determine whether our faith is truly in the God of the Bible, in today's text, James underscores the reason we miss God in everyday life.

In v.3 of today's text we read, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

Our greatest enemy in life is the flesh which is the evil desires that are yet within us, even though we are "born again." And, when we are controlled by the flesh, according to 1 Peter 2:11, the war within our souls is heightened, making it difficult for us to be motivated to pray in a biblical way. This is why James identifies our motives in this verse as wrong.

In Matthew 7:9-11, we discover God knows when we ask with wrong motivations. And, when we are motivated by our flesh, our hearts are in further danger of being further infected by the flesh. And, God never gives us something that does not align with His will for our lives. We do not arrive upon a vibrant walk with the Lord when we are walking in the flesh. When we walk in the flesh, we do not pray accurately. And, when we are consumed by our worldly lusts, we do not pray biblical prayers.

In v.4-5 of today's text we read, "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?"

Friendship with the world happens when we feed the flesh. And, the believer's battle is made more intense when we yield to the flesh in the slightest way. And, due to the ever abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we experience conflict within and, subsequently, without. And, the more we give into the flesh, the more our ability to recognize God and His goodness wanes. As a result, our conscience is weakened to the thinking God's thoughts and our walking in His ways. This is dangerous area for the believer in Christ, and so God becomes increasingly foreign to Him. This is why James warns us against becoming friends with the world.

Friendship with the world puts us in conflict with God. In fact, James uses the metaphor "adulterous people" to describe the unfaithfulness of some of his hearers toward God. The Jewish readers of this letter would have remembered the Old Testament story of Hosea whose unfaithful wife was a picture of unfaithfulness. This term is never used in the Scripture for Gentiles because, at that time, only Israel could commit adultery because only Israel had a covenant relationship to God. 

Not only does friendship with the world mean that we are in danger of becoming the personal enemy of God, it also demonstrates a disregard for the Word of God which is always used of God, in tandem with His indwelling Spirit, to lead us in His ways.

In v.6 of today's text we read, "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."

Here, James quotes Proverbs 3:34, twice quoted in the New Testament, here in today's text and also in 1 Peter 5. God opposes the proud, even though the proud is "born again." When we are controlled by our lusts, we will increasingly be controlled by our pride. At the root of all sin is pride. It was pride that inaugurated sin. When humility is not important to us, we are in great danger of being consumed by our pride or our lack of dependence upon God.

The word "proud" in v.6 describes someone who is exalted in his own mind. When we grow to love the world, we lose our love for God. The word "opposes" is a military word which brings the idea of God setting His troops to do battle against the proud. Of course, we never want to be at odds with the Lord. And, this is why He has given us His Word and His Spirit who are both essential at keeping us humble and dependent upon Him. Our  faith in the Lord increases as we grow in our dependence upon Him, and with the increase of our faith in Him comes His wisdom by which we are able to see His genius as He works in and through our lives. And, as a result, we are able to navigate this life for His glory because He always gives grace to those who are humble enough to admit our need for His help.

James 4:1-2

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1 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. ~ James 4:1-2

Today, we transition into James 4 where we are introduced to another test of genuine faith in the God of the Bible. The believer in Christ has two natures as a result of believing in and receiving Christ as our Savior. So, we have a constant civil war within, and if we feed the old nature, we will not experience the life of the Lord Jesus. We will not experience the life He died to give us.

When we are motivated by the values of this world, we are motivated by the fulfillment of self. When we are being defined by the flesh or the evil desires within us, we believe we will be happy if we are self-fulfilled. The problem with this approach to life is it is predicated on a false understanding of freedom.

Most believe freedom is the ability to do what we want, when we want, wherever we want. This definition ignores the fact that we are fallen and we no longer operate according to the specifications that we were created with by God. This is why when we give an inch to the flesh, we are taking miles down a long, dark and destructive road which was not intended for us by God.

In v.1 of today's text we read, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?"

Our external conflicts come from our internal conflict. The word translated "desires" in this verse is the word from which we get our word "hedonism" which is the theory that says pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of a human life. But, all external conflict in the world rises out of the uncontrollable desires of people that are not in tune with the God who created us. 

In Romans 8:6 we read, "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." 

According to Romans 5:8 and Hebrews 1:13, when we were not believers in Christ, we were the enemies of God. This was the case because we had rejected God's definitions of all things. That is to say, we had rejected the truth and we had embraced the lie.

According to physics, the second law of thermodynamics, alerts us that in an isolated system energy is lost over time, that things don't stay in their constant state, but they deteriorate, they degenerate over time. The day Mankind sinned in the Garden of Eden, the second law of thermodynamics was set into action. And, as a result, we are now subjected to death in all of its forms. This explains why the unsaved man's default mode is to obey his flesh. When we obey our flesh, we sin, we rebel against the truth.

When we were slaves of sin, we were trapped in one choice, the choice of the god of this world. Good for us that the Lord Jesus agreed to come and sign the edict of God to free anyone willing to receive redemption through Christ. The Lord Jesus signed that edict or covenant with His blood. In Romans 8 we are given the Christian's emancipation proclamation. It begins in Romans 8:1 with NO CONDEMNATION for the believer in Christ. And, it ends with NO SEPARATION from God. 

In v.2 of today's text we read, "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."

Even though you and I are born again believers in Christ, we can, yet, be enslaved to sin. And, at the root of all sin is covetousness, wanting what does not belong to us. Even though we have been made alive in Christ to God, we can still be slaves to our fallen, evil desires. 

The "you kill" and the "you quarrel and fight" statements in v.2 are the things that we do when our evil desires for gratification are thwarted. When the believer in Christ gives the flesh free reign, we are inviting destruction into our lives. Most often, we arrive at this place due to the fact that we have not asked God for His definitions for our lives. James has set before us a choice to submit to the will of God or to gratify our own evil desires for the pleasures of this world. He has warned us if the satisfaction of our evil pleasures is more important to us than the will of God for our lives, nothing but strife and hatred and division can possibly follow. Our souls passionately want and yet are unsatisfied, because we are not being defined by God.

Finally, it is only when believers in Christ are bound by the will of God that we experience true freedom. Of course, if we are not being defined by the God of the Bible, the previous statement makes no sense. In John 4:37 we read, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." The Lord Jesus did not point us away from Himself to a body of teaching. He called us to come to Him personally and to depend upon Him to live His life in us and through us. This is how we overcome the battle that we have with the flesh on a daily basis. This is how we realize the wisdom of God on a daily basis because the Lord Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God.

James 3:17-18

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17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. ~ James 3:17-18

Today, we return to James 3 where the main topic is God's wisdom that yields His righteousness. Having given us a look at worldly wisdom, James, in today's passage, gives us a deeper understanding of God's multi-faceted wisdom and how it is expressed in and through our daily lives.

In v.17 of today's passage we read, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."

The first expression of God's wisdom in the life of the yielded believer in Christ is it is "pure." The Greek word James uses here implies sincere and authentic character which is free from bitter envy, and selfish ambition. This purity means freedom from all defilement, including jealousy, selfish ambition and immorality. This pureness comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from our sins. As a result, God's imparted nature and rule results in the yielded believer experiencing a life free of arrogant self-promotion. 

The person who has come into a personal relationship with God and is being defined by Him is a person who is being given the heart of God. Once the believer experiences the heart of God for himself, he will begin to be motivated by pure desires which push him along in doing God’s will. The believer who is engaged in personal relationship with God hates his sin, and has a longing for that which brings pleasure to the One who has gone through Hell to redeem him.

In addition, the wisdom of God is also "peace-loving" which causes the believer to extend God's peace to others. Since the believer in Christ has peace with God and he knows the peace of God, he wants others to know the blessing of being defined by God's peace. The believer has this posture because he has come to the place where he no longer has anything to prove to God or to others. His identity is now wrapped up in His Savior's love for him.

The Greek word James uses to describe this peace is eirēnikē which literally means peace victory. This word has as its foundation gentleness which is produced by God's peace. When we have come to Christ and we have been embraced by Him, we know we have arrived in Him. The scratching and clawing to be somebody has come to an end and we are rendered gentle and humble at heart. 

Eirēnikē causes the believer to be "considerate" of those who know not God. This consideration of those not in God's family motivates him to be submissive to the will of God for the sake of the unsaved. God's wisdom causes the believer to submit to dishonor, disgrace, mistreatment, persecution with an attitude of humility, kindness, without hatred, malice, and revenge. The yielded believer in Christ is enabled to do this because he is no longer defined by the things of this world and he has nothing to lose.

The believer who is being defined by God's wisdom will be "full of mercy" which literally means to be concerned for people who suffer. These are those who have basked in the acceptance of God's mercy for them. Have you noticed yet that this description of God's wisdom parallels the beatitudes in Matthew 5? The evidence of saving faith is the presence of God's wisdom in the life of the believer. And, that wisdom describes the process of a changed heart given in Matthew 5.

As the believer yields his life to the person of Christ, he will experience the life of the Lord Jesus for himself. This will result in the believer being full of "good fruit." This fruit is the expressions of the Lord Jesus in and through the life of the believer who is yielded to Christ. He will be yielded because he is experiencing the Lord Jesus for himself. And, once he has experienced such, he inevitably will want to pass it on to others, especially those who treat him badly because they are trapped in the web of the deceitful one.

The impact of the wisdom of God also yields impartiality and sincerity in the life of the yielded believer. The wisdom of God  is without partiality, and this is the only place in the New Testament this term is used. It means to be unwavering, undivided in its commitment. There’s no vacillating, no shifting or no turning away. It means the believer is consistently committed to the heart of the One who has intercepted him. This is the person who lets his light shine consistently before men who, in seeing his good works, can glorify the Father in heaven. 

And then finally, the last description of the person who is garnering God's wisdom is he is sincere. To be sincere is to be genuine and without hypocrisy. This is the climax of true wisdom. As Christ lives His life through the yielded life of the believer, these characteristics will come through.

In v.18 of today's passage we read, "Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness."

The acquisition of God's wisdom by the yielded believer yields the fruit of God's righteousness which is re-sown by them who have experienced God and His peace for themselves. This is the law of sowing and reaping. Where we have true wisdom, the true righteousness of God will be shown. As we sow His fruit of righteousness, it will produce more righteousness. As a result, God’s wisdom will be revealed in the way we live. And, it will be out of this intimacy with Him that we will grow to love, obey and serve Him more and more. Through this natural process He will manifest Himself through our yielded lives. And, in the end, there will be no glory but only to the One who laid down His life for His friends.

James 3:14-16

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14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. ~ James 3:14-16

In today's passage, we return to James 3 where we discover whether or not we have received God's wisdom. In today's verses we discover when we give safe haven in our souls to bitter envy and selfish ambition, we give the enemy of God rightful sway in defining us. 

When we became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we then entered into the ability to access God's wisdom. We might say that our sanctification is the equivalent to gaining God's wisdom. And, once we have gained His wisdom, it will be made evident in our lives by the choices we make. God's wisdom is relating with God in a life-changing relationship, but today, we consider the devilish origins of man's wisdom.

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth."

The motivation behind false wisdom is bitter envy and selfish ambition. People who possess this world's wisdom are self-focused, and are eaten up with a bitter attitude toward anyone who threatens the world of their own creation. These who are defined by evil itself are resentful of anyone who threatens their accomplishments, status and reputation. These are those who think if anyone differs with them, well, they are evil and wrong. They also believe if anyone agrees with them, well, they are trustworthy and good.

In addition to being motivated by "bitter envy," those defined by this world are motivated by their own "selfish ambition." This means they have a personal ambition that creates antagonism with all who differ with them. The origins of this phrase "selfish ambition" was used of ladies who spun thread. This phrase eventually came to mean any work done for pay. And then it came to mean anybody who did anything for what they could personally get out of it. It entered politics and it became used of those who sought high political office, attaining their personal goals at any cost.

To put it simply, the wisdom that is not of God is selfish and self-centered. It has as its goal personal gratification at any cost. It is the goal of humanistic thinking, sociology and psychology. With it, there is no selflessness, no humility, and no love for someone else. 

In v.15 of today's passage we read, "Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."

This wisdom is earthly (of this world), unspiritual (of the flesh) and, demonic (of the devil). We see this list in other passages in the Bible as the world, the flesh, and the devil.

That which is earthly cannot crawl out of the world's locked prison of time and space. It is outside of God and all of His eternal truth. Apart from Christ, man cannot get out of this prison. Man conceives what he thinks is impeccable truth without spiritual illumination from God. Unsaved man never rises above the level of the material world, therefore all of his wisdom has the mark of the curse of man's own fallenness.

In addition to earthly, man's wisdom is unspiritual or fleshly. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, we learn the fleshly man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. All of the feelings, impulses, appetites of the worldly man are defined by the fallen, corrupted world system that is run by the diabolical one. And, man is unaware of his imprisoned state with the devil in control. 

In addition to earthly and unspiritual, man's wisdom is demonic. This is the only place in the whole New Testament where this word appears in adjective form. This means man's wisdom is influence by demons who themselves are captive to the same kind of evil system of which man is also captive. Ultimately, man's wisdom is spawned by the influence of Satan who in the garden promised a wisdom foreign to the wisdom of God. Satan always promises freedom from God. He promises that we can be God, being in the know, apart from God. What makes human wickedness so devastating is that man is smart and wicked, at the same time. And, the combination is deadly.

Satan's wisdom leads man into arrogance, immorality, self-sufficiency, and self-dependency. In fact, when God's Spirit and people, are taken out of this world, at the Rapture, all hell will break loose for seven years because evil will no longer be restrained by the presence of God's Spirit in this world. At that time, immorality and evil will be fully unleashed, and this world will be miserable to live in.

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

Chaos and disorder will rule the world. Earthly wisdom will never produce harmony, love and security because it is antithetical to God and His ways. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5, the flesh brings with it destruction. For those not right with God, there is no ability to love like God, there is no intimacy with anyone else, there is no real fellowship, no harmony, and no peace.

James 3:13

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Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ~ James 3:13

The thrust of the teaching in the book of James, one of the four the half brothers of the Lord Jesus, is how God matures our faith in Him. Everything in this book is predicated upon James 1:5 which reads, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

If we claim to have God's wisdom, that means we are doing well in the process that we entered into when we first became believers in Christ. This process is called "sanctification." In reality, sanctification is the garnering of God's wisdom or His definition of all things. As we garner God's wisdom, He will change us from the inside out. The goal of the process is NOT to get us into heaven, the goal of this process is to get heaven into us, so that others would inquire of Him who is changing us. Our sanctification is not about a better us, it is about a more prominent Christ seen in and through our lives.

In 1 Kings 4:29 we read, "God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore."

Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all others, because he asked God for it, and it was granted to him. In today's verse, James asked, "Who is wise and understanding among you?" The preeminence of this question has been proven down through the centuries through those who acquired all this world had to offer, like Solomon, who had it all and knew there was more. This is when he cried out for God's wisdom which is one's transcendent view of life. It is wisdom that enables us to recognize the good in something bad, and, it is wisdom that enables us to see something bad in something good. 

Together, the books of Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes give us the cry of the human soul for wisdom. In Psalms we have the emotional nature, which is one part of the soul function. Ecclesiastes deals with the function of the mind, the search of man's reason throughout the earth, analyzing, evaluating, weighing and concluding on the basis of what is discoverable. In the book of Proverbs we have God's appeal to the will of man and the conclusion of our subsequent choices. Proverbs is all about the things man should decide, the choices of life. It is through a careful study of these three, Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes that we truly come to understand wisdom and its beauty.

The word "understanding" in today's verse is used only here in the New Testament, and it refers to a specialist who is highly skilled in some area of knowing and doing. The specialist is the one who passes the series of tests for genuine faith in the God of the Bible. When these tests are passed, God gives to the believer His wisdom. 

In James 1, we discovered that genuine faith can be seen in how we respond to trials and temptation. Then, in James 2, how we respond to needy people. And then, at the end of James 2, we learned genuine faith is manifested in the righteous works of God in and through our lives. Then, in James 3, genuine faith is revealed through the words we use. How we live our lives reveals whether or not we possess true wisdom. Our relationship with God will be revealed by the extent to which God defines us in a given day.

James ends today's verse with these word: "Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."

Humility is another earmark of the fact that we have acquired God's wisdom. Our God-given ability to understand ourselves, God’s truth, this world, our environment, and God’s revelation comes in response to our willingness to acknowledge our need for God's help. God's wisdom comes packaged to us and is accessed by us through humility. Arrogant people do not access or display God's wisdom.

The word translated "humility" communicates the opposite of self-seeking or self-ambition. In Matthew 11:29 we read, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

True wisdom comes from God. His wisdom makes life meaningful and purposeful. His is the kind of wisdom that is pure and peaceable and gentle and full of mercy and without hypocrisy.

In Proverbs 1:7 we read, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 

To fear God is to reverentially trust Him with our lives. Wisdom begins with our respect of God, and then, He enables us to make sense out of life. When we learn to respect God, we will allow Him to define us, and, when we do this, we show that we have acquired His wisdom. 

In 1 Corinthians 1:30 we read, "Christ is made unto us wisdom." When we received the Lord Jesus Christ, we received the wisdom of God. Apart from Christ, we can not access the wisdom of God. Wisdom, then, is the manifestation of the Lord Jesus in our lives through a personal relationship with God. His wisdom is manifest in and through us when He takes His truth and applies it to our lives in every dimension.

James 3:7-12

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7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. ~ James 3:7-12

Today, we continue in our study of the maturation process of the faith of the believer in Christ. The overriding purpose of the Epistle of James is to help believers get to real spiritual maturity. And, these early Christians to whom James wrote this letter were facing tremendously bad persecution. They were being intensely slandered, but James reminded them to resist stooping to the level of those who were not in God's family. To speak evil of others, even when they speak evil of us, reveals we lack the wisdom of God.

In v.7-8 of today's text we read, "7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

God gave mankind the ability to tame the animals, but man can not control the expressions of his heart. In this text, James does not say the tongue can’t be controlled, he says man can not control his tongue. The first recorded sin in the Bible, after the Fall, was Adam's accusation that God was responsible for sin. Interestingly, the first thing that happened after the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost was that all of the believers in the Lord Jesus immediately spoke of the wonderful works of God. 

In v.8 of today's text, James reminds us that the tongue "is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." The word "restless" is the same word translated "unstable" in James 1:8. The tongue is impossible to control if we are not living in submission to God's will. This explains how believers can say the most awesome thing one minute, and then, the most hellacious the next. 

James instructs us that the tongue is "full of deadly poison." A snake has a special gland in the roof of his mouth called a Jacobson’s Gland. When the snake wags his tongue, he gathers scents around him on it. Then he sticks the two tips of his tongue onto the two corresponding holes in his Jake Gland. The gland sends the data to his brain, which processes the gathered knowledge. Our tongues are not so beneficial, and in reality, the words we say are even more poisonous.

In v.9 of today's passage we read, "9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

On the one hand, we bless God, but, on the other, we curse humans. When God brought us into a personal relationship with Him, He started the process of transforming us. One of the ways He brings about our transformation is through the changing of the way we think and what we communicate. While transforming us, God gives us the capacity for new speech, and this new way to communicate reflects the presence of God in our lives. And, when we speak badly of others, we actually are informing others that we are fighting God's will for our lives.

In v.10-11 of today's text we read, "10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"

To be born again only supplies the possibility of living according to the leading of God in our lives. To be born again does not make authentic spiritual living automatic. The true Christian can, and often does, manifest phony righteousness, though he can also yield godly righteousness. The key is who do we allow to call the shots in our lives in a given moment. 

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

When we serve the enemy, it does not make sense for us to do so, although, we all do it from time to time. It does not make sense for us to understand the battle that is daily taking place and choosing to serve the enemy. James likens this to fresh and salty water coming from the same source; it just does not make sense because it is impossible for fresh and salty water to come from the same source.

When we garner God's wisdom, we will recognize and heed the lessons that even nature actively teaches us. Fig trees do not bear olives, nor do grapevines bear figs. It just doesn't happen that way. Nor should a believer in Christ curse his fellow man. That which is in our hearts produces what comes out of our lives. Critical words come from a critical heart. Destructive speech issues from a heart where the love of the Lord Jesus is a stranger.

James 3:3-6

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3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ~ James 3:3-6

In this letter, James, one of the four half brothers of the Lord Jesus, reveals to us avenues through which we can discover if our faith in the God of the Bible is maturing. The first two chapters cover growth through trials and temptations by replacing our faulty ways of thinking and living with the teaching from God's word. In the third chapter, James directs our attention to the way we speak. His goal is to get us to be controlled by the word of God like a rider controls a horse by the use of a bit. As a result of being defined by God's word, we will be able to control the way we speak to and about others. And, once we gain control over our mouths, our lives, as a whole, will be useful for God's purposes. 

In v.4 of today's text we read, "Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. "

Considering this illustration of a large ship which is steered by a small rudder, we learn that if we can just get control of the little tongue, we can have tremendous impact on others for the glory of God. In the same way that a large ship is controlled by a small rudder, when the power of God's word is applied to our speech, we will help others and bring glory to God. We must be diligent to control our words because our words have the power to control us. Learning to speak only gracious words is a titanic order. When we speak only gracious words that are selfless, we will be better positioned to control other parts of our lives. We will only be able to do this by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God.

In v.5 of today's text we read, "Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."

The tongue is a powerful instrument. Some have suggested that it is the strongest muscle in the human body due to its tenacity which comes from the way it is built. The tongue doesn’t fatigue, because there’s a lot of redundancy in the muscle architecture.  The tongue can tear down or it can build up. The tongue is like the tiniest spark of a flame that leaps into the largest of flames. Our words are potentially edifying or destructive.

A few years ago, I came a cross a poem by Charles Franklin Benvegar which goes like this ... 

"As I watched them tear a building down, a gang of men in a busy town, with a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell, they swung a beam and the side wall fell.

I asked the foreman, 'are these men skilled, and the men you’d hire if you wanted to build?' He gave a laugh and said, 'No, indeed, just common labor is all I need. I can easily wreck in a day or two, what builders have taken years to do.'

And I thought to myself, as I went my way, 'Which of these roles have I tried to play', am I a builder who works with care, measuring life by rule and square? Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan, patiently doing the best I can?'

'Or am I a wrecker who walks to town, content with the labor of tearing down? O Lord let my life and my labors be that which will build for eternity!'"

In v.6 of today's passage we read, "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."

Slander or gossip occurs when someone shares something about someone else that is not factual, or perhaps partially true, but results in damaging the individual’s reputation. The fruit of slander is that it damages the perception of another individual in the mind of one or more people. The fruit of slander is not sweet and it never glorifies God.

The word James used here for "hell" is gehenna. This word is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word "ge-hinnom," meaning "Valley of the sons of Hinnom." This valley south of Jerusalem was where some of the ancient Israelites sacrificed their children to the Canaanite god, Molech. Years later, Gehenna was made an unclean place used for burning trash from the city of Jerusalem. It was the Lord Jesus who first used Gehenna as an illustration of hell.

When we slander or gossip, we play right into the very deviant plan of the Devil himself. When we speak slanderous words, we set a fire that serves the purposes of hell itself. And, although, these fires will never truly threaten the advancement of the kingdom of God, souls are often caught in the cross fire. And, if we are not careful, we will encourage others to go the way of the enemy.

James 3:1-2

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1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. ~ James 3:1-2

In the epistle of James, the theme is the maturation of the believer's faith in the God of the Bible. In fact, in James 3, we are told the words we use give great evidence to whether we have maturing faith. James uses the words we use as another test of our maturing faith, because the genuineness of our faith inevitably will be demonstrated by our speech. There are not many things that reveal that our faith is mature as much as our words. James mentions the tongue in every chapter in this epistle. It is a dominant theme throughout this book.

It's been estimated that the average person speaks 18,000 words per day. That's enough to write a 54-page book! Supervising our words is essential, and we desperately need the help of God for the wisdom to know: when to speak, what to speak, how to speak and to whom we are to speak. Our words always speak louder than our religious rituals. Anyone can dress nicely and go to church, put a fish icon on the rear bumper of their car or listen to Christian music. But without a doubt, one of the greatest indicators of our spiritual maturity is our ability to have firm control over the words we speak.

In v.1 of today's text we read, "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." 

Many admire the teaching position because of the honor, recognition, and power it brings. But, it is incredibly easy to become a spiritual tyrant. And, such self-seeking honor coming from ill-intended motives is to be foreign to any true follower in Jesus Christ. Since our speech is a mark of our maturing faith, those who teach the faith are scrutinized most closely. Of course, the Lord wants us to articulate His truth. But, we do well to master the fine art of choosing our words more carefully. Few speak words that are seasoned by grace, and, because of this, speaking on the behalf of God is truly a fine art.

We have a tremendous responsibility to God when we teach at any level. This is why Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 2, "Be diligent to be approved of God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, because he is rightly dividing the word of truth." There is, rightfully, judgment and shame connected to teaching error. 

In v.2 of today's text we read, "We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check."

The phrase "We all stumble" is a comprehensive word on the depravity of everyone on this earth. There is no person who does not sin. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The word "stumble" means a moral lapse against God or a failure to do what is right. It is written in the present tense, meaning, we all do it in all kinds of ways, at all kinds of times. To stumble means we all fail to do what is right, and the tongue is one of the many means by which we fail.

When we entered into a personal relationship with God, He began the process of giving to us His heart. And, in time, He gives us new mouths and a new way to speak words which reflect His culture. This new way of talking is jeopardized in a continual fashion because it remains subject to our old way of thinking and speaking. This is James point here in v.2, and because of this, James says the only people who don’t sin with their mouth are perfect people, and, there are no perfect people on this earth.  

Now, if in the process of the maturation of our faith, we can get to the place where we exercise self-control over what we say, we succeed. But self-control is not adamic to any of us for it is a fruit of the Spirit. So, to the degree that we die to ourselves and allow Christ to express Himself through our yielded lives, will be the degree to which we will mature. 

And, the person who controls his words will also control his body, with all of its other impulses. Since the tongue responds more immediately, more quickly, and more easily, to sin, if it were controlled, the slower-responding parts would also be controlled, because the means of divine grace applied to the greater are then also applied to the lesser.

Finally, teachers should be conscious of the weight and potential influence of what we say because words lie at the heart of our teaching ministry. To have an unreliable tongue is likely to pro- vide a destructive model for those who are taught. The potential for multiplication of influence requires an enormous amount of discernment that takes the measure of both responsibility and opportunity into account.

James 2:25-26

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25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. ~ James 2:25-26

Today, we close out our study of the second chapter of James. In this chapter, James established the argument that biblical faith is proven by the expressions of God in and through our lives. Having given us one illustration of his point on the idea that faith without works is dead, James gives us a second illustration.

In v.25 of today's text we read, "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?"

James provides us a powerful contrast between Abraham and Rahab. In Joshua 2 Rahab is presented as an example of a "righteous Canaanite." Rahab is remarkably unlike Abraham. It is also remarkable that God would use her as an example since she is introduced as a prostitute. 

Rahab lived in Jericho and she made a living at running a prostitution ring. And then, on the day God sent spies into Jericho to spy out the land, the spies stayed in the inn owned by Rahab. Through Rahab's actions of protecting the spies of God, she was considered righteous. Rahab believed all she knew about God, and it was imputed to her for righteousness. After she had protected the spies, in Joshua 2, Rahab said she had heard of God’s victory in Egypt and understood Him to be "the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath." 

Whereas, Abraham was a Jew, Rahab was a Gentile. Abraham was a man full of wisdom, but Rahab had made many foolish decisions. Abraham was at the top of the social order, while Rahab was at the bottom. Abraham received direct revelation from God but Rahab received very indirect revelation about God. And yet, in Hebrews 11 the list of the heroes of faith is given. Rahab is in the same text as Abraham. And, according to Matthew 1, Abraham and Rahab are in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. 

Rahab believed the truth presented to her and, as a result, God declared her right with Him. It was her faith that made her right with God. She was vindicated by the action she took to save the life of those spies. And, by the way, she told a lie in order to protect the spies. She had been an unbeliever for some time, and she was coming out of a culture that was quite contrary to God's. For many years, Rahab had succumbed to the prevailing immorality of her ungodly culture. She, in that context, became a believer in the God of the Bible. And, God accounted to her faith His righteousness.

That day Rahab took in those spies, she put her life on the line. Had she been found out, it would have cost her her life. She hid the spies in the attic of her Inn. And, as a result, she let the spies escape. She told the guys that came to find them that they weren’t there for she had told the spies how to escape. And, later, she protected herself by putting a cord in the window. In doing so, Rahab demonstrated her faith by works. 

In the case of both Abraham and Rahab, their faith in the God of the Bible was shown by their choices. They both put their lives, dreams and hopes on the line. That is the kind of work that is associated with true faith to varying degrees. It isn’t that we go to church, read our Bibles, and sing a few songs. It is that we are increasingly committed to God to the point that we would sacrifice our hopes, dreams and ambitions, and we would risk our own lives to be true to His faith.

In v.26 of todays passage we read, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

A body without life imparted by God is nothing but a rotting corpse. It has absolutely no value. And, so is belief without behavior, just as dead, just as decaying. When it comes down to the crux of why we live and what is most valuable to us, our faith in the God of the Bible is most valuable to us. Oh, we are growing at this, and we have been known to fail, but we are in the process. And, even failure factors into the process that sometimes includes success. I'm glad God is not caught up in the linear. 

There are times when God refines us by allowing us to fail and allowing us to fall back in our progress in our sanctification. His grace abides in the places where we see our faults and our inability to get it "right" on the first try. Our imperfections point us and others to His perfection. This, by the way, is part of our problem, we are caught up in being linear. There is great freedom in realizing that God doesn't look at our lives in a linear way. The progress in our walk with God is often non-linear. Learning to be ok with the discomforts that God allows or causes while He is writing our story is a major part of our progress. When we think we are writing our story, we are in the greatest trouble. Learning to trust that the wisdom of God transcends our finite understanding is one of the greatest keys in realizing His success in our lives. God's grace will always meet us at the door of confusion, frustration, and impatience. 

We tend to think of our decisions in present-tense terms; right here, right now! But God spans the generations. When we find ourselves discouraged because our progress doesn’t look like it is happening in a straight line, we must remember that this is no problem for God. He uses all things, including our failures, as opportunities for us to gain what we need to gain to realize His victory in our lives. Our journey is safe in His hands.

Rahab demonstrated her faith by hiding the spies before she expressed her faith in the God of Israel. Out of all of the residents of Jericho, only Rahab and her family were saved from destruction and only because she expressed her faith through an action. Belief without behavior doesn't instill the culture of God into our souls. Belief with behavior allows God to do the miraculous in and through our yielded lives. Every decision we make has a domino effect way beyond our ability to predict or control.  We can’t predict when or how, but our faith in the God of the Bible will always reap a harvest somehow, someway. And it is often when and where we least expect it.

James 2:20-23

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20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ~ James 2:20-23

We continue our study, today, in James 2 where James is making the argument that biblical faith is proven to be biblical by the biblical choices we make. Without clearly saying it, James is differentiating between justification faith and sanctification faith, although they both have the God of the Bible as their object. 

In James 2, James is highlighting the illusion of just hearing truth and not being defined by it. Faith, without transformation, is not substantive, and is rightly judged fake by others. James understood that like electricity, faith is hard to see, but when we tap into it, its effects are obvious.

Now, our faith in the God of the Bible is not known to be real to others until it is evident through our actions. James uses the word, faith, as if, it is equal to spiritual life. When he wrote, "Faith without works is dead," he meant: "Spiritual life without works is dead." His argument is: there is no real life unless it can be verified through righteous works, and these righteous works are really the fruit of God in our lives. The fruit is the evidence that God is at work in and through our lives.

In v.20 of today's text we read, "You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?"

Self-deception is the worst of all deceptions. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" True faith is revealed by the object of that faith. This is why trials are used of God in our lives to refine our faith in Him. It is what or whom we depend upon that determines the quality of our faith. In fact, there is a faith that goes far and there is one that falls by the wayside. The one that falls is not to the saving of the soul. And, the faith that goes far is to the saving of the soul.

In v.21 of today's text we read, "Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?"

Abraham is the father of those who believe in the existence of God, and who, to some degree, seek a personal relationship with Him. In Romans 3 we are told by the Apostle Paul that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham's right standing before God was not earned, it was a gift from God because of Abraham's faith. And, Paul, further in Romans 3, establishes the fact that Abraham was not made right before God by his goods works; he was justified by faith, alone.  

It seems that what James is saying in today's text something contradictory. Clearly, James is saying here that Abraham was justified by his good works. Once we put our faith in God in Christ, God granted us the gift of right standing before Him. That is justification, that is, our faith working to justify us for eternity. When we trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross, God deposited the righteousness of Christ into our account. We had been spiritually bankrupt, but now, in Christ, we have arrived to acceptability before God through Christ. So, Abraham, then, is the father of all who believe, because it was his believing that brought about righteousness. 

In v.22-23 of today's text we read, "22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend."

Abraham was justified by works before men, but what is man's opinion compared to that of God. Works are the only way anyone's faith can be seen and verified as real saving faith, that is, before the eyes of people. The basis of our rightness with God is the death and resurrection of Christ. And, the authority of our rightness before God is His promise in His Word that if we believe, we will be saved. In this chapter, James has in mind our justification before men. In Romans and Galatians, the Apostle Paul emphasizes our justification before God.

When God led Abraham up the Mount Moriah with his son Isaac and then challenged him to sacrifice him, it was nearly 50 years after Abraham first believed in God. Abraham had been walking in God's gift of justification all those previous years. On that day God led Abraham up that mountain and commanded him to slay his son, everything Abraham knew about the character of God was near to being violated in his mind. And, even though Abraham struggled at understanding it all, he was an inch away from sacrificing his son when God provided a ram in the thicket. Abraham's faith was evidenced by his works that day. There was nothing that Abraham would withhold from God, but he didn't arrive there over night. Our sanctification is a long process.

Abraham believed, unalterably, in the character of God. He believed that the God of the Bible was a covenant-keeping God who under no circumstance would ever violate His promises. Abraham was justified in the sight of God by his faith, and he was sanctified in the eyes of man by his works. And, as a result, Abraham was called God's friend. Through the process of sanctification, Abraham's soul was changed and he was granted an intimacy with God that few have ever had. His intimacy with God came as the result of his obedience which made the process of sanctification effective for it enabled him to give his heart to God.