November 29, 2015
“WHEN SIN LAYS WASTE TO CHRISTIAN LIFE”
(James 3:13-4:12, James 1:13-15)
Today I am taking us on a one-stop detour from the book of Hebrews to the book
of James. I do this because last Sunday, in Hebrews, we found out it is possible for
Christians to actively sin against God. We learned, in Hebrews 6:4-5, such sinners
were people “who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly
gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the
word of God and the powers of the coming age”. Having experienced all those
realities at a time in their lives, subsequently, they’ve been tempted, and made it
their choice to disobey God. Hebrews 6:6 tells us whenever a Christian disobeys
(and it will and does happen), these children of God, by their disobedience, are
“crucifying the Son of God all over again”, as if He didn’t die, and their sinful
behavior is “subjecting him to public disgrace”. We discovered all this last
Sunday. We left, having learned there’s a potential for believers to live lives which
bring shame to their Lord.
The folk we find mentioned in our scripture for today, in the book of James, are
born-again Christians, just like those in Hebrews! They are Jewish folk who came
to a place of recognizing Jesus as their personal Messiah! But we find James
chastising them for digressing in their behavior enough to be known, by people of
their world, as talking the talk but not walking the walk!
The Holy Spirit has guided me to a scripture passage which identifies a number of
sins which had already become evident, among church people, within twenty years
of Christ’s ascension to glory. How appalling to read of their rapidness to sin, right
after the Lord sending “another advocate” (the Holy Spirit)1. Jesus is in heaven
serving as the high priest for believers. Meanwhile, on earth, Christians who’ve
received the indwelling Holy Spirit are already practicing sin in their lives. A
number of the sins mentioned by James are ones not considered by many believers
as issues of importance to God, at all. I say this because, if they thought differently
about the sins James lists, they wouldn’t go near such iniquity! Unfortunately,
most believers tend to think about sin by classifying them. There are even some
misguided folk who were taught there is a difference between venial and mortal
sins. Most Christians avoid overt, sinful behaviors (the mortal ones), wending their
way through life, thinking they are obedient to God; while ignoring the vast gamut
of, what they consider “easily forgivable”, sinful behaviors (the venial ones) which
are present in their lives! I must completely disagree with any classification of sin
for convenience’s sake! In God’s eyes, sin, of any kind, is still sin! All of which is
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John 14:16
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why we’ve learned the heavenly Father has designated His only-begotten Son to be
our ongoing, everyday solution for any and all sin. Now, hopefully you see how
essential it is for me to refocus our thinking in a new direction this morning.
So, let’s listen to words written by a man named James. His book of the Bible is
attested by Bible scholars as one of the two earliest books of the New Testament.
The author is actually a son of Mary and Joseph. With such a pedigree, he was a
sibling of Jesus, and was raised in the same household as Jesus. He writes
throughout his letter to “brothers and sisters”. His audience is not made up of folk
who have only heard of the gospel. Rather, they are actually Jewish Christians!
Listen, to his words found in James 3:13-4:12,
“13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good
life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor
envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
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Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual,
demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find
disorder and every evil practice.
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But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving,
considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
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Peacemakers who sow peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your
desires which battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You
covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not
have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because
you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means
enmity with God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world
becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think scripture says without reason that
he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us
more grace. That is why scripture says:
‘God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the
humble.’
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Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change
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your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before
the Lord, and he will lift you up.
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Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a
brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you
judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is
only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—
who are you to judge your neighbor?”
Wow! Here we find a profound new way of thinking about Christian living, a
Christian way of life, a life of righteousness. James points out the seriousness of
focusing attention on our behavior every moment of every day! Neither ignorance
nor carelessness about our daily lives has a place in God’s thinking!
God will not tolerate those (who belong to Him) who “boast” of their ambition, or
“deny the truth” they are filled with pride. In fact, God emphasizes, this way of
thinking “does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual and
demonic”. It is repulsive behavior to Him. James also tells us, “Where you have
envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice!”
By the way, God expects His children to be “pure”; not cantankerous, “peaceloving”; not testy, “considerate”; not rude, “submissive”; not demanding one’s
own way, “full of mercy and good fruit”; not getting even, “impartial”; not
biased, and “sincere”; not exhibiting deceit. God also desires that His children be
“peacemakers”; not divisive or abrasive in relationships. All of this is but the
verses God spells-out for us in James 3.
In Chapter 4 we are also instructed to reject any tendency to “quarrel and fight”.
It is also revealed to us that, “when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get for your own pleasures”.
James follows such an accusation up by calling these wayward sinners “adulterous
people”. Wow! This is serious stuff! What do we think of this scriptural
admonition? Verses 5-6, describes for us how God jealously watches over how we
are open to the indwelling Holy Spirit leading our daily conduct, our everyday
thoughts, and our ongoing attitudes toward other folk and circumstances! We are to
make a priority of sorrowing over how easily we give in to temptation instead of
resisting the devil.
Already, in the first century, believers had become double-minded in their
approach to personal purity. They were viewed by God as slandering each other as
an everyday way of life. They showed no humility in placing God’s expectations
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for them “on the shelf”. They made it a regular practice of judging one another’s
righteousness. They played the “comparison game” by pitting their own lives,
competitively, against another’s purity. God viewed all these things as blatant sin!
Folks, God’s view has not changed!
For the purpose of clarification, I want to lead us to an earlier chapter, where James
teaches us what temptation really is. In Chapter 1:13-15 he tells us,
“13 When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be
tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when
they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire
has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to
death.”
Did you notice temptation is NOT sin? Temptation arises because of our inner
desires. If we deal with temptation, and close the door on its possibility, we will
have victory over it. If we allow it to entice us, we are on the path to give in.
Conceived desire gives birth to sin. When sin becomes full-grown2 spiritual
vitality ceases to exist. Welcome the step-by-step process leading us to actually
sin. Temptation stokes a flame of desire within us, if not dealt with such desire
becomes an enticement whereby we begin to dwell on the temptation. If still not
dealt with, the enticement will open a door to the sinful act. The end result of this
process “full-grown” is a Christian life “laid waste”.
Each temptation which is ignored will eventually take us down. The only way to
avoid the active sinfulness of the readers addressed in the Book of James is to
bring the specific temptation to Christ, our great high priest. Any of us can bring a
temptation to Him in prayer asking Him to take it away. Or as the Lord did in the
wilderness, we can quote a scripture verse and tell the tempter to “get lost”!
Substitute the temptation with thinking of the words to a Christian song, reading
scripture or quoting a scripture verse over and over again until your mind is
preoccupied with its truth instead. We can also enlist another believer who will
make a commitment to immediately pray with us for victory.
We have a great advocate: Jesus Christ, the Lord, who openly makes His presence
and involvement in our lives a reality. Remember to “Come near to God and he
will come near to you.” (James 4:8a)
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James 1:15
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