Hooking Up with the World
James 4:4-6
I think you would agree with me when I say to you that James is not afraid to take on the tough issues in the Christian life. In the opening verses of this chapter he has met head on the issue of materialism. Keep in mind that the he is talking to believers. God's people can get off track and become prone to materialism and living for the pleasures of this world.
Then he continues and by taking up another issue in the Christian life, and it is the issue of worldliness.
Verses 4-6
What do we mean by "the world"? It is the Greek word kosmos, and it is used in a specific sense here. When the Bible says that we are not to love the world, it does not mean God's world of nature. The word is used sometimes to refer to God's world of nature. We love God's beautiful world of nature.
Nor does it mean the world of people. John 3, verse 16, says, "For God so loved the kosmos, God so loved the world." It's talking about the world of humanity. We are certainly to love the world of people the way God loves the world of people.
But when the Bible uses the word "world" in the sense in which it is used in these verses and in other places, it is using it as the world organizing itself in hostility and in opposition to God. The world is an enemy of the believer. The world is an enemy of God. "Love not the world. If any man is a friend of the world he is an enemy of God."
He is talking about those things that separate us from God. Anything which you put between yourself and your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Bible is worldly. You say, "O.K., Preacher, you're going to talk about worldliness tonight. How about naming some things that are worldly." I'm not going to do it for two reasons.
The first reason I'm not going to name some things of the world is I don't have enough time in this service to name them all. The second reason I'm not going to do it is if for some reason I didn't happen to name your particular world sin, then you would sit here very smug because I hadn't named yours.
But I do want to talk about this whole issue of worldliness. We talk about a worldly Christian. The baseball player turned evangelist of another generation, Billy Sunday, said that to refer to a worldly Christian makes about as much sense as referring to a heavenly devil. In some ways it is a contradictory term.
I don't know about you, but personally I'm convinced that some people we refer to as worldly Christians are not Christians at all. Vance Havner said, "If I see a bird that looks like a duck and acts like a duck and waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, I'm driven to the conclusion that it's a duck." When I see someone who acts like the world, looks like the world, lives like the world, and loves the world, I am driven to certain conclusions.
I think there are some people that we put in the category of worldly Christians, and the fact of the matter is that they have never received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
They are not Christians at all.
Whatever term you want to use, there is the reality that it is possible for those who are saved people, Christian people, who succumb to the sin of worldliness. In this section, James puts it in the context of the marriage relationship. So he is using the terminology here of worldliness as a lover that comes in between us and our lover the Lord Jesus Christ.
Literally he is talking about cheating on Jesus. Think about
I. The Sinfulness of Cheating on Jesus
As you move down through these verses almost word by word you will discover that first of all he sets before us the sinfulness of hooking up with the world.
verse 4
He's saying that it is a sin for believers to hook up with the world because it is a sin against love which makes ita heart problem.
When he says, "Adulterers and adulteresses," we know what that means in the marital realm. An adulterer is someone who is unfaithful to his marriage vows to his wife. An adulteress is someone who is unfaithful to her marriage vows to her husband.
That's what we find in the marital realm.
But it is also used in the Bible in the spiritual realm. The Bible talks in terms of spiritual adultery. For instance, in the Old Testament the Bible teaches that Israel was the bride of Jehovah. When Israel was unfaithful to their spiritual husband, Jehovah, and went whoring after other gods they were called spiritual adulterers and adulteresses.
In the New Testament the Bible teaches that the Church and believers are the bride of the Lord Jesus. In II Corinthians 11, verse 2, Paul says, "For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." We are the bride of Jesus Christ so when we allow anything to come between us and the Lord Jesus Christ then the Bible describes that as spiritual adultery.
Worldliness is a sin because it is a sin against love. It is a heart problem.
Not only is it a sinful matter because it is a heart problem, but it is also a sinful matter, secondly, because it is a sin against light which makes it a mind problem.
Look at verse 4 again. “Do you not know”.
What he's saying is that it is a mind problem. It is a sin against light. Christians ought to know better. He's saying you're not thinking straight. When people get into sin and when people get into a worldly lifestyle, they are really not thinking straight according to what they have been taught in the scriptures.
I don't know about you, but sometimes it grieves my own heart to think that here at a church where the Bible is faithfully proclaimed and preached and where people know better, they get themselves involved in sinful lifestyles that bring damage and heartache and remorse and shame to their lives. We know better. We know that worldliness is a sin against a Holy God.
Where did we ever get the idea that somehow you could be faithful to the Lord on one hand and you love the world on the other hand? How did we get the idea that you could love the Lord Jesus and love the world at the same time? It's just like a guy going home to his wife and saying, "Dear, I want you to know that I found this gal over here and I'm shacking up with her and I love her. But I want you to know that I love you too and I haven't forgotten you." How many nights do you think you would stay at your house like that?
The Bible talks about the sinfulness of it. It is a sin against light. It is a mind problem. He also says that worldliness is sin not only because it's a sin against love and a sin against light, but it's also a sin against liberty. It is a will problem. Did you catch that in verse 4? He says, "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?" Then look at this next statement, "Whosoever, therefore, will be." Did you notice the "will be"? He's talking here about an exercise of the will. Worldliness is a deliberate choice on the part of a Christian.
There are times when God's people get themselves in some settings or in some activity, and they do it without conscious thought and they just find themselves overcome in the moment.
I'm not talking about that. There is a time when the sheep may somehow get themselves in the hog pen. But a real sheep that has a sheep nature is not at home in the hog pen and so the sheep will get out of the hog pen.
But he's talking here about a deliberate choice. "Whosoever, therefore, will be." That's a conscious choice. You make a choice to put something between you and Jesus.
Is there anything that has come between you and Jesus? Is there anything in your life that you have put between you and the Lord? Is there something in your life tonight that you love more than you love the Lord Jesus Christ? James says that when you are hooking up with the world, I want you to understand the sinfulness of it.
II. The Seriousness of Cheating on Jesus
I indicated a moment ago that we don't think it's that big a deal. We don't think it is all that serious to be playing around with the world. I’m not sure we comprehend how serious it is to cheat on Jesus.
What makes worldliness so serious?
Verse 5 will tell you.
Worldliness is a serious matter because it is a rejection of the Lord Himself; against His Person.
This fifth verse is not an easy verse to translate. Notice it says, "The scripture says," and yet you will search in the Old Testament and you will not find this specific quotation in the Old Testament. Sometimes when you find statements like this, what's going on is that here is a statement that draws together some basic teachings of scripture. It is something that combines together several concepts of Old Testament scripture. This seems to be what's being done right here.
Some suggest that the verse is talking about the spirit inside of us left to itself apart from God is bent on evil. Therefore is yearns to satisfy itself.
But I’m not fully convinced that’s what the verse is teaching. Let me make a suggestion or two which I think will help us to understand this particular statement. I don't think the word "spirit" should be a little "s." I think it should be a capital "S." I think the reference here is to the Holy Spirit.
With that in mind, let me suggest another translation for the statement there. "The Holy Spirit, who dwells within, jealously yearns for the entire devotion of the heart." If that is an accurate translation, which I think it is, then the meaning becomes very clear.
When you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Bible says that God comes into your heart in the person of the Holy Spirit. If you are saved, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8, verse 9, says, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." So conversely, if any man has the Spirit of Christ, he is one of His. If any man is one of His, then he has the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in your life. The Lord is in your life.
The Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, jealously desires and yearns for the entire devotion of your life. What that's saying is that God is jealous for you. Our God is a jealous God. Now remember, we are talking about what Scripture says. Is that a Scriptural thought?
In Exodus 20, verse 5, it says, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them." It's talking about idols. "Nor serve them," which is talking about idols, worldliness. Then the Lord said, "For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God."
There is a jealousy which is an unwholesome and a sinful jealously. But in every genuine relationship of love there is a jealousy involved.
So the Lord is saying, "I have put my Holy Spirit in you," and the Lord says, "I have a holy jealousy for you and I want you to know that when you put anything between Me and you, I have a holy jealousy. You break my heart."
I think one of the most painful things to watch is to see a mate whose husband or wife has walked off and left them. Isn't that a painful thing? That's one of the most painful things a person could experience.
Have you ever thought about what your worldliness does to Jesus? How do you think Jesus feels when those who say that they love Him, when those who say they thank Him for what He did for them when He died and gave His life on the cross, but they put everything in the world between Him and them? What does it do to Him? It's a serious matter. It's a rejection of His person.
That's not all. It's also a rejection of His provision.
James 4:6
When you allow some worldly things to get in your life and come between you and Jesus, you not only reject His person, you not only reject His Holy Spirit that yearns for the entire devotion of your heart, but you reject the provision He has made to satisfy the deepest needs of your life.
"He gives more grace." Or we could say it this way: "He gives greater grace." Worldliness is really Christians trying to find satisfaction in the things of this world that they will only find in a relationship with the Lord.
God provides greater grace. Grace, the favor of God, provides everything that we need to be happy and joyful in our life. But the devil wants you to think that there is something out in this old world that's going to meet the deepest needs of your life.
We need peace in our heart and the world promises its peace, but God says, "I have greater peace to give you." You want joy in your life and the world promises its little false joy, but the Lord says, "I have greater joy to give you." He gives more grace. He gives greater grace.
When you are facing that temptation and when you are tempted to allow something to come between you and the Lord Jesus Christ, there is available grace. There is more grace to help you overcome that temptation.
The Bible says that you and I can come before the throne of grace boldly and that we can find grace to help in time of need. The Bible says that where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.
When we reject the grace of God it is a serious matter. When we hook up with this old world, it is a serious matter.
So there is the Sinfulness of Cheating on Jesus; there is the Seriousness of Cheating on Jesus. Then there is
III. The Senselessness of Cheating on Jesus
verse 6b
What that's saying is that when you as a Christian let something come between you and the Lord, when you let some worldly thing disrupt your relationship with the Lord, then you’re not going to win. It’s senseless because God will resist you.
"Resist" is an interesting word. It's actually a military word. It means to arrange in battle against. God arranges Himself in battle against the proud. God goes to war against the world. God is saying, "You make up your mind that you are going to go after the things of this world and you put something between you and Me, I love you so much that I'm going to do battle with you. I'm going to fight you, and I’m going to win."
That’s a senseless battle. You think you are going to win against God? God's got weaponry that you are not equipped to defend against. He's got weapons to fight you like you never imagined.
To me the classic example in the whole Bible of the statement, "God resists the proud," is the life of Jonah in the Old Testament. I want to show you how God resists the proud.
Jonah became a worldly believer. He put his own will ahead of the will of God. God said to Jonah, "Jonah, arise and go to Nineveh." But Jonah didn't want to do that. He made up his mind that he would arise and would go to Tarshish in the opposite direction. What you have is God's will and you have Jonah's will.
When a man decides that he is going to assert his will against the will of God, then a battle is about to take place. When Jonah decided to run from the presence of the Lord, then the war was on. God begins to reach into His arsenal of weaponry.
Jonah found a ship and it was going to Tarshish. He got in that ship and he thought that everything was great. "I'm running from God. I'm not going to do what God wants me to do in my life. Everything's fine." Do you know what God did? He chooses the wind as His first weapon.
In Jonah 1, verse 4, it says, "But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea." He found himself, all at once, in a storm.
That's exactly what happens to some Christians. That's why some are going through a storm in their life. It's because you have put worldly things between you and the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are out of the will of God. You're life is a storm. It is a tempest. It is raging.
If you get out of the will of God, God will fight you with His wind, and you will find that you will be in a bigger storm than you can do anything about.
God gave him a storm. God gave him a wind. But that didn't end. Jonah is still fighting against the Lord. How senseless for Jonah to fight against the Lord. He kept fighting and do you know what he finally did? He just let them throw him overboard.
But that's not over. God now selects a great fish. Verse 17 says, "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." You ask, "Preacher, do you believe that there was a fish big enough to swallow Jonah?" Of course, I believe that. It's in the Bible. If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed a whale, I would believe that too. God can do anything He decides to do.
You can get on an airplane 15,000 feet in the air, in air conditioning, sitting there sipping on a Coca Cola. Tell me, if man can invent an airplane that can put a person 15,000 feet in the air that God can't create a fish to take care of a backslidden Baptist prophet in the Old Testament? Of course, I believe it.
There he was. Jonah decided he would jump out in the sea. What Jonah didn't know is that in that water, right under that boat, there was a thump, thump, thump of God’s specially prepared Jonah-swallowing fish..
What’s happening? God is resisting the proud. If you make up your mind to run from God and to let worldliness get into your life, then God will get you in a whale of a mess.
That's not all of it. He finally, reluctantly, did what God told him to do. God blessed this backslidden preacher, and the whole city of Nineveh got saved and it made Jonah mad.
You tell me a preacher who will have a city-wide revival and everybody in the city get saved and then get mad about it. You're pretty worldly when that happens.
What did Jonah do? Jonah went out to the edge of town and he sat under a gourd. He was happy for the gourd. In fact, Jonah loved that gourd more than he loved 120,000 lost boys and girls in that city.
That's what worldliness will do for you. Worldliness will get you interested in the gourds of life instead of the souls of people. There are some of you sitting here this very night, and you have gotten so worldly that you are now more interested in the gourds that this world can provided you than in lost people in the city of Jacksonville who need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and as their Savior.
What does God use next? In chapter 4, verse 7, it says, "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it damaged the gourd and it withered."
Do you know what's going to happen to some of you? Some of you have gotten all carried away with the gourds of life. You've gotten all interested in your little gourd. It may be a friendship. It may be some entertainment. It may be sports. It may be some little trinket you have. It may be a little car you're interest in.
It may be some house you've gotten all carried away with. You've just gotten interested in a gourd.
God resists the proud. God can send a worm and that worm can eat up the very thing that you're letting come between you and Jesus.
Then that pesky wind returned, and Jonah was so upset and so justifiying Himself that he refused to repent, and unfortunately that’s how his story ends. What was the final outcome? I don’t know, but I can tell you this: God won and God got the glory.
Either God won by being just, and letting Jonah get what He asked for. Or God won because Jonah came to understand grace.
Look at the rest of the verse in James. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
There are a lot of people who’ve been cheating on Jesus. And God is saying that what you need to do is humble yourself. Humble yourself and admit your worldliness to the Lord. Admit your spiritual unfaithfulness to the Lord and God will give you grace and God will forgive you.
I think one of the most amazing things to me is the forgiveness and the mercy and the grace of a person whose mate has had an affair. Surely God has to help a person to do that, but I have seen situations where mates have had their mate become unfaithful. They have run off after another lover, kind of like Hosea in the Old Testament.
Yet when that mate finally came to his or her senses and wanted to come back, they were willing to forgive and show mercy and grace. Only God can do that for an individual.
There may be some of you tonight that the devil has told you to go out in the world. It will satisfy you. Now you have found out that it won't satisfy you and you want to come back, but the devil's got you convinced that the Lord won't have you back. Yet, James says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
There’s an old hymn by Annie Johnson Flynt that is one of my favorites. She was orphaned as a young girl, then orphaned again by the loss of her adoptive parents, and spent the last days of her life suffering from crippling arthritis, living in a Sanitarium. But out of that life came these words:
He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
The last verse is especially fitting:
His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
