In the early Church there was civil war. There were internal wars that required James to write his letter. How do we sort this out?

1 – Get right with other Christians (vs. 11-12)

• Surely “brethren” ought to live together in love and harmony! See Psalm 133:1.
• Humbling ourselves and getting right with God must result in our getting right with other people; we must not speak evil of one another and not judge our brother.
• James rightly guards us against the illusion that we might be right with God, yet evil towards our brother; as John says, ” he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” See 1 John 4:20.
• When we judge our brother, we put ourselves in the same place as the law, in effect judging the law – which we have no authority to do, for There is one Lawgiver – so who are you to judge another? Quote: “He who wants only friends without faults will be without friends!” Quote: “The faults of others are like headlights on a car. They always seem to glare more than your own.”
• Remember the law of echoes. We get in return exactly what we give!

2 – Watch out for arrogance (vs. 13-16)

• James rebukes the kind of heart that lives and makes its plans apart from a constant awareness of the sovereignty of God, and with an overestimation of our own limitations Quote: “Some people who never touch intoxicating drink are nevertheless dead drunk with pride, and the wild use of their lips reveals their self-intoxication.”
• We are asked to consider the fragility of human life, and the fact that we live and move only at the permission of God; James will not discourage us from planning and doing, only from planning and doing apart from a reliance on God.
• It is nothing but sheer arrogance that makes us think that we can live and move and have our being independent of God; this boastful arrogance is the essence of sin: a prideful independence, the root of all sin as was the case with Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-15) and Adam (Genesis 3:5-7) James knows that it is far easier to think about and talk about humility and dependence on God than it is to live it; yet he makes the mind of God plain: as we know these things, we are accountable to do them.

3 – What happens when you do not exercise faith (vs. 17)

• Fights and wars break out (vs. 1-3) Wars and fightings break out, and the direct cause is a lack of prayer. Prayer is an example of faith. Prayer is the most perfect expression of faith, because prayer is the manifestation of dependence upon God. James traces this whole matter of wars, fightings, arguments, and disagreements among us to a lack of prayer. What if you do not exercise faith? What if you are a Christian, but you do not live by faith, believing continually what the Lord Jesus has said and done. What happens?
• The love of the world will come in (vs. 4ff). When you stop believing what the Scriptures say, you will find yourself being drawn to the lies and the alluring illusion of the world around. You will start thinking that “things” matter, and that keeping up with the Joneses is the most important part of your life. Your money will start going in that direction; your time and thoughts will be invested in those things, and you will soon find yourself drifting into a state of concern only for this life, for the acceptance of others and you will live like this perfectly conformed to the world.
• Critical judgement (vs. 11).
• Presumptuous assurance – Arrogance (vs. 13) Why? Don’t you know that you have no assurance for tomorrow at all, that your life is like a breath of air that is gone just like that? You ought to recognise that only God can permit plans for the future like that and carry them out. In other words, do not get to thinking you own all of life! A young student once came to me and he said, “I don’t need this Christianity. I’ve got all it takes to live life — I don’t need God.” I said, “That’s strange; tell me, are you running your diaphragm right at this moment?” He said, “What do you mean?” “Well,” I said, “Your diaphragm is operating — are you the one who’s operating it? Have you commanded it to work?” “Well no,” he said, “it takes care of itself.” “No,” I said, “it doesn’t. Nothing takes care of itself; someone’s running it. Have you ever thought how much of your body’s activities operate quite apart from your will, and what you’re dependent upon them for just the very next moment?” And then I told him the story of my friend who was back in Washington, D.C. during World War II, and he wanted to go by plane from Washington to New York. It was in the days when you needed a priority for air travel, so he went into the ticket office and said to the girl, “I want to get a ticket for New York.” She said, “Do you have a priority?” And he said, “I didn’t know you needed one; how do you get it?” And she said, “Well, if you work for the government or for the airlines, I could give you one.” And he said, “I don’t work for either one of them. But I’ll tell you who I do work for — I work for the One who owns the air that your airline flies its planes through!” And she looked at him rather strangely, and said, “Well, I don’t think that’s good enough to get you a priority.” He leaned over, and in his characteristic way, he said, “Did you ever think what would happen if my boss shut off your air for ten minutes?” She said, “Just a minute, I’ll see what I can do,” and in a moment she was back and gave him the priority, and said, “You can go right aboard.” You can’t get much higher authority than that!
• Backslider (vs. 17) Quote: “People become lost not by design, but because they become involved in their own patch of grass and nibble themselves out of sight” Do you have things in proper perspective? Are you seeking more self-significance or more humility before God? Does God’s will factor into your planning, or are you living the life of practical atheism? Is your bottom line money, or is your bottom line the salvation of your soul? We don’t know what tomorrow may hold. So that means today is the day to submit to God. Today is the day to seek his forgiveness. Today is the day to pray. Today is the day to worship him. Today is the day to share Christ with that friend. Today is the day to humble thyself in the sight of the Lord, for He will lift you up. Today is the day to end the war! Today is the day to make peace.

Categories: James