It Starts Small

God’s Word provides detailed explanation of Heavenly wisdom, which leads to godliness, or earthy demonic wisdom which leads to corruption.

Our scripture today starts with therefore. When we read this word, it is telling us as a result of, and we need to get the right context by looking at the scriptures above. In this chapter of James, James is calling out the adulterous generation and the ways in which they are sinning. Lets take a look:

4 What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? ² You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴ You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?

James 4:1-5

James poses a few questions:

What is the result of living by the wisdom of the world?

What should Christ followers do when they realize that is the path they have been on?

In Chapter 4 of James, we are given the answers to these questions. This passage builds upon chapter 3 and the scriptures we studied yesterday. Previously, we learned that James described the wisdom of the world:

Figure out what you really want out of life (bitter envy) and plan to get it yourself at any cost (selfish ambition). He described this earthly unspiritual, demonic philosophy as the source of disorder and all evil in the world (James 3:15-16).

James starts in chapter 4 with speaking to the Christ followers of the first century church (and us), and he was very direct. He tells them they are on a worldly, unspiritual road. He tells them this is what has caused fighting and quarrels among them. People who follow this worldly road will try to get for themselves what they want and get frustrated by the people that stand in their way, so they fight and quarrel to the point of even murdering some. Instead of trusting that they have a loving Heavenly Father to provide in His timing, worldly-minded people insist on fighting to get what they want.

James then elevates our awareness by putting a label on it: adultery.

We pause for a moment and ask ourselves, are we following the wisdom of the world while claiming to be a Christ follower?

If so, you are cheating on God with a world system of serving yourself at all costs. You can not do both. If you make yourself a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy to God.

James then writes that if in your pride, you stay on that path, God will oppose you.

⁶ But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:
God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6

As point blank as James is, we can hear the plea in his voice when he says to those caught up in the world’s wisdom: turn around! Flee the devil! Submit to God!

⁷ Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James 4:7-10

James pleas for those caught up in the world to not only turn around, flee and submit, but humble yourself by quitting your life’s work of getting what you want, and trust God to exalt you far above anything you could have done for yourself.

The fruit of a pursuit in godliness is surrendering to God every day, every moment, every situation, even second of our day. To not get ourselves caught up in what we want and forcefully taking it at any cost. To rebuke a life of bitter envy and selfish ambition.

Are you caught up in this way of living? If so, James says to turn around today!

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If you are following along in the Journal, the back pages have a table of Heavenly Wisdom vs. Corrupted Wisdom. Today’s scripture is in the first block under the column Heavenly Wisdom. If you get stuck, you can visit this page and see my example.

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