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Text: James 4 Review: The story of God and creation is framed in a multidimensional setting (an unseen reality which had major implications on their world). Evil, being “the inevitable consequences of choosing something/someone other than God”. And apparently, somewhere at the root of all this, is “pride”. * James offers us these portraits of pride. Pride… … is over-estimating ourselves and underestimating God. It’s to see yourself as the “axis” of life around which everything and everyone else revolves. … is about control. As a result of attempting to assume control of our own lives, we will need to ensure that everything in life works out the way that we predetermine that it should; another’s value is determined by the level of their contribution to our pursuits. Actually, it’s “exhausting”; attempting to manage people and circumstances, and it’s the basis of Jesus’ invitation toward those who are “worn out” through the process (Matthew 10:28). * An important aspect of “control” is motivation (why?) God’s exercise of control is based on an inexhaustible resource of “love”. “How can I tell if I’m a controller?” By examining yourself against the practical relational characteristics of love in 1 Corinthians 13 (i.e. “patient”- you are able to endure even when things/people don’t perform as planned; “kind”- benevolent; pleasant, as opposed to harsh or bitter (kindness always invites people to see you and life differently, as God’s kindness leads us to repentance); “envy”- over-exerting yourself in the pursuit of your desires. Apparently, love is not just a sentiment, but a governing principle in life. … is about defiant individualism. Selfish ambition is the pursuit of personal comfort at the expense of others, while vain conceit is the result of believing that you have no one to thank but yourself! … is about what we do to attempt to get attention as well as what we attempt to hide in order to avoid attention! … is amnesia of the soul; forgetting God! Hosea 13:6 “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then, they forgot me”. … manifests itself in presumption. Presumption is defined as: ‘an attitude that is boldly arrogant’, ‘taking things for granted’ (viewing blessings as ‘rights’). * Pride, in its more flagrant form, defiantly dismisses God, while pride in its more subtle form, expresses itself in a casual disregard (ignore him!) Either way, it behaves as if we have no need of God. Reflections… ►God has nothing to offer those who think they can do life without him. There appears to be only one antidote/solution to pride… humility. Peter (1 Peter 5:b-6), writing some years later than James, reinforces the same approach (both quoting Proverbs 3:34). “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble… “humble yourselves”. At issue is NOT God’s unwillingness to respond to us, but our unwillingness to ask! It just means that God cannot provide what we are unwilling to receive, because to receive is to admit that what we need comes from outside of ourselves. So, it is presented as an invitation; something that will not be done for you, but becomes the means by which you position yourself to receive the help you need. I have discovered that… I am a perfect candidate for grace! ►Submitting and resisting are the actions that we take to reverse the momentum (“come close”). To "submit" (to God) means to voluntary submit to the will of another. To “resist” (the devil) means to set against or to oppose. In a world where we are consistently encouraged to indulge ourselves and satisfy our desires, resistance seems so depriving! * In submitting/resisting, we are voluntarily adopting a new way to live and intentionally creating the momentum which will allow us to realize it. Both will require a confrontation with conflicting loyalties. The decision to change must come from us; the power to change must come from God. ►God is not opposed to our making plans, just making plans without him! (James 4:13-16) God is not opposed to “entrepreneurs”. In fact, the scripture says that we should “remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” (Deut.8:18) Proverbs 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty”. * The concern is not for wealth itself, but how you obtain it, and how you utilize it. James’ concern is for adopting the “world’s” approach to commerce and wealth; an approach that reinforces self-sufficiency and encourages us to ignore (even despise) the needs of others in the process (“I got mine, you get yours” mentality). James also suggests that we “re-think” life in the light of death. He frames it with this question, “What is your life?” James says that “life is so short and it’s easily missed! The obvious inference is that death has a way of interrupting our plans. I find that typically, death (or, serious illness) most often takes us by surprise; it catches us off-guard; we just weren’t planning on it… at least not any time soon! * I realized this week while riding home in the car from the hospital that, currently, we’re all having a “near death experience”! Ecclesiastes 7:2 “Better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting…” Occasionally, it’s healthy and helpful to experience grief; to be confronted with our own mortality. Predictability often leads to presumption. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already long ago; it was here before our time”. But, nothing combats presumption like death. Faced with death, we are faced with our limitations and the illusion of control; we realize how little control we actually had. And, we’re challenged by all of the ways that we’re “killing ourselves” in our pursuit of life; by the temporal nature of the things to which we have attached our souls! In the process, we live such embattled lives: at odds with ourselves (inner conflict; can’t seem to rest… our desires seem insatiable), at odds with others (our lack of satisfaction spilling over into our relationships), at odds with God (proceeding as if we can do life without him). * James is not saying, “Live cautiously”, he’s saying, “Don’t live so carelessly!” He is reminding us that what we believe to be true of death will affect the quality of our life. ►Self-destruction seems to be the inevitable consequence of self-reliance. ►Sin is not just about doing wrong things, but neglecting to do the right things. And, sometimes it’s about doing the right things for the wrong reasons! Could it be that we have placed so much emphasis on “not doing” what’s wrong, that we have simply chosen to “do nothing”?
►God created you to do good, not to
avoid evil! |
