Faith Submits

Praise God: He gives more grace.

Friendship with God not only comes from the gracious desire of God, but also it is motivated by a longing for eternal satisfaction. Friendship with God realizes that if we seek friendship with the world now, we will experience the opposition of God in eternity. Therefore, friendship with God results in submission to the authority of God. "Submit to God," James says in verse 7. James lists nine imperative verbs—commands—that tell us what submission looks like. If we want to grow in intimacy with God, these are the things we ought to do:

Resist the Devil forcefully. This is evident in 4:7b. James wants us to stop resisting God and start resisting the Devil. It is baffling that, from the lives of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 to the lives of every one of us in the present, each of us believes the lies of the Devil. This is the essence of sin—trusting the Devil while distrusting God. Sin is believing the lies of the prince of this world that say we need some thing or person or status, 90all the while disbelieving God who says, "You need Me." Resist the Devil, and he will flee. Whatever power or influence the Devil may have, your life in Christ is far greater. When you are tempted to go to that site on the Internet, resist him. When you are tempted to speak selfishly to your wife or husband or friend, resist him. When you are tempted to anger, discouragement, doubt, pride, or worry, resist him. Resist him, and he will flee.

Seek God repentantly. In verse 8 James tells us to draw near to God, which implies that we have turned away from Him. This is a call to repent of sin and return to our gracious Lord.

Pursue purity holistically. Purity is both internal and external. James says, "Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts" (v. 8). James wants us to purify our hearts, our minds, our desires, our motives, and the core of our being. By God's grace we are to be clean inside and out.

Treat sin seriously. Verse 9 can almost sound depressing: "Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow." Those who live in friendship with this world do not see sin as a big deal. But James tells us not to be trivial with sin. Rather, we should grieve over our sin, mourning and wailing in tears over it. We need to see sin this way. Cornelius Plantinga has talked about how we have lost this view of sin:

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has noted how the awareness of sin grew in times of revival:

When was the last time you grieved over your sin before God? You may think that sounds self-defeating. What about feeling good about yourself and self-esteem? True beauty comes in verse 10, when James says, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you." When we humble ourselves before God, we don't have to lift ourselves up; He does the lifting for us.

Trust God completely. God will give you grace in your humility, and He will be the one to raise you up. You need not do that on your own.

Two Pictures of Speech

James 4:11-12

When you have been humbled before God, it inevitably affects the way you speak to others. This is where James puts a bookend on the discussion he started at the beginning of chapter 3 regarding the tongue. Worldly speech does two things. First, it discourages one another. To "criticize" is to speak against, to attack, or to slander another person. Or it can refer to speaking critically to someone else about another person. Gossip and slander will kill community. It is self-centered rather than God centered. Proverbs 6:16-18 says, "The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to Him: arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil, a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers" (emphasis added).

The second thing worldly speech does is that it dishonors God. When you slander, you put yourself above the law of God, as if it is not necessary for you to love your neighbor in the way you speak. In the process you offend the Giver of that law, who is God Himself. Obviously there are places where God says in His Word that it is right and good to confront one another in sin, which can be difficult, but this is done not out of selfish ambition or to hurt your brother, but to help him and to honor God. Criticizing does neither.

92Worldly speech discourages one another and dishonors God. Godly speech, on the other hand, encourages one another and exalts God. This is the kind of speech that ought to characterize believers—speech that demonstrates a love of God and neighbor. Out of the overflow of our hearts we want our words to glorify God and to point others to His truth. This is true wisdom. This is what flows from the one who is a friend of God and not a friend of the world.

One Prayer in Faith

O God, for the glory of Christ

amid urgent spiritual and physical need in the world,

we submit our minds, our hearts, our voices, and our lives

to You.

Reflect and Discuss