James Chapter 4 Part 2

 

James Chapter 4 Part 2

Warning Against Worldliness

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Jas 4:9

Be afflicted, and... This is true repentance which always brings the mercy of God if done in time—now (1Jhn. 1:7; Heb. 9:27).

Be afflicted and wretched. This is the state of those truly broken over their sin.

mourn, and weep:... God will not turn away a heart broken and contrite over sin (Psm. 51:17; 2Cor. 7:10). Mourning is the inner response to such brokenness.

This is speaking of true repentance from the heart. Worldly laughter and worldly joy must change into a true repentance for sin. The joy that comes later is from God, not worldly pleasures.

To weep, The outward manifestation of inner sorrow over sin (Mark 14:72).

let your laughter... Used only here in the New Testament, the word signifies the flippant laughter of those foolishly indulging in worldly pleasures. The picture is of people who give no thought to God, life, death, sin, judgment, or holiness. James calls on such people to mourn over their sin (Luke 18:13-14).

Ten types of sin and pleasure:

1. Wars and fightings (Jas. 4:1-2)

2. Lusts of sin (Jas. 4:1-5; Eph. 2:1-3)

3. Murders and killings (Jas. 4:2)

4. Desires—covetousness (Jas. 4:2)

5. Adulteries and other sex sins (Jas. 4:4)

6. Friendships with worldly men (Jas. 4:4)

7. Envies and jealousies (Jas. 4:5)

8. Pride and haughtiness (Jas. 4:6-10)

9. Laughter prompted by sin (Jas. 4:9)

10. Joy founded on sin (Jas. 4:9)

To be a sinner and to be truly sorry for the sin means a grieving, a mourning, and even crying for forgiveness. The new life that true repentance brings is not a life of worldly pleasures, but of Godly joy.

Recognition of the tremendous need for cleansing allows no room for merriment. Grieve (lit., “be afflicted”), mourn, and wail was James’ candid advice. Exchange merriment for mourning and gaiety for gloom (lit., “a downcast look, lowered eyes”). A contrite spirit of confession is essential for God’s cleansing.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Jas 4:10

shall lift you... Mourners and penitents used to lie on the ground and roll themselves in the dust. When forgiven, penitents arose from the earth and clothed themselves in clean and better garments.

See Psm. 75:6; Mat. 23:12, This final command sums up the preceding 9 commands, which mark the truly humble person. “Humble” comes from a word meaning “to make oneself low.” Those conscious of being in the presence of the majestic, infinitely holy God are humble (Isa. 6:5).

When we are down as far as we can go, we look up and see Jesus who gave His body on the cross that we might be lifted up. He will lift us up from the depths of despair.

Psm. 147:6 “The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.”

Advantage Of Justice

The key is humility. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. The way up is down. The lowly one becomes the lifted one. There is a marked advantage to humility — eventually it brings honor.

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. Jas 4:11

Speak not evil... Greek: katalaleo, to speak against; backbite; rail at; slander (Jas. 4:11; 1Pet. 2:12; 3:16). This refers to slandering among the different factions of Jews and the Jews against their brethren who had accepted Christ.

This means to slander or defame. James does not forbid confronting those in sin, which is elsewhere commanded in Scripture. Rather, he condemns careless, derogatory, critical, slanderous accusations against others.

speaketh evil of... Those who speak evil of other believers set themselves up as judges and condemn them (2:4). They thereby defame and disregard God’s law, which expressly forbids such slanderous condemnation.

judgeth the law:... By refusing to submit to the law, slanderers place themselves above it as its judges.

Thank goodness, we are not the judge, Jesus is. How can we judge another? We are free from sin ourselves, only because we are forgiven. Judge not, that you be not judged. The very best thing we can do is live our own life as free from sin as we can, and leave the judgment up to Jesus.

We do not fully understand the law, or grace, how could we judge fairly?

To slander and judge one another is totally incongruous to the humble spirit God desires. Furthermore, to judge another is actually a judgment of God’s Law itself. His Law is a mandate over all people. No one dares assume a haughty position over the Law. The slanderer is sentenced by the Law; the self-styled judge is jeopardized by the Law; only the humble person is honored. True justice is rendered when a believer subjects himself to God in humility and obedience.

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? Jas 4:12

lawgiver, who is... God is the one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or destroy. Man has no right to usurp this authority (Jas. 4:11-12). God, who gave the law (Isa. 33:22). He alone has the authority to save those who repent from its penalty, and destroy those who refuse to repent.

who art thou... Questions 20-21. Next, Jas. 5:13.

When we pass judgment on someone else, it is as if we think we are perfect ourselves, and we are not. I love what Jesus did when the accusers had the woman caught in adultery, and were about to stone her to death. I truly believe that Jesus wrote their sins in the sand, and that is why they left.

He had said, you without sin cast the first stone. They all had to leave, because they were not without sin.

1Jhn. 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

We Christians are justified (just as if we had never sinned), in Jesus. Jesus as Judge, decides who are saved and who are lost. He is the just Judge.

Boasting About Tomorrow

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Jas 4:13

Go to now,... This refers to traveling merchants, going from city to city displaying their wares in the bazaars (Gen. 37:25).

James does not condemn wise business planning, but rather planning that leaves out God. The people so depicted are practical atheists, living their lives and making their plans as if God did not exist. Such conduct is inconsistent with genuine saving faith, which submits to God.

This one is a fool, for he thinks he knows something that he doesn’t. He presumes he has the resources to control his destiny (Prov. 27:1; Luke 12:13-21).

Turn boasting into belief

In addition to conflict and a judgmental spirit among the brethren, bragging was also apparently prevalent. James gave an example of a boastful statement, struck a condemnatory sentence on such boasting, and offered a practical solution for boasting.

Statement Of Boasting

James’ attack was direct. Now listen is literally, “Go now.” It is the same construction found in Jas. 5:1, a colloquial phrase used only by James in the New Testament. The interjection both goads the reader and gains his undivided attention. The offender attacked by James is a fairly typical businessman who makes his plans apart from God. He is self-assertive in his travel plans: we will go to this or that city; self-confident in his time schedule, spend a year there; and self-centered in his trade relationships, carry on business and make money. To carry on business is from a compound verb (emporeusometha, from en, “in,” and poreuomai, “to go”) from which the English word “emporium” has come. It is related to the noun (emporos) which could be translated “merchant,” “trader,” “drummer,” or “one who goes in and gets the trade.” A vivid picture of the Jewish merchant James tried to correct is a go-getter salesman out drumming up business for the bottom-line objective: “Make money!”

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. Jas 4:14

know not what... James exposes the presumptuous folly of the practical atheists he condemned (in verse 13), those who do not know what the future holds for them (Luke 12:16-21). God alone knows the future. (Isa. 46:9-10).

It is even... This is practically what James said of the rich man in Jas. 1:10-11.

a vapour, that... This refers either to a puff of smoke or one’s breath that appears for a moment in cold air. It stresses the transitory nature of life.

We see from this, that we do not even know whether we will be alive tomorrow or not. Our life is of God. We are born when and to whom the Lord has planned for us to be. Our death is the same. There is an allotted time for each of us to die.

We leave this house of flesh when the breath of life that God put in it leaves. We leave at the time that God has chosen, and not at our own choosing. We leave not one second before our allotted time.

Man’s days are numbered as the hair on his head. Let me share what Jesus had to say about this very thing. This is about a rich man, who had no idea he was about to die. He had a very big harvest, and we will see what he did with his abundance.

Luke 12:17-20 “And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” “And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.” “But God said unto him, [Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

We do not have control of how long we live, God does. Make good of today, it may be the only day you have.

Sentence On Boasting

To the selfish hustlers James simply stated, Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. Man’s plans are always tentative. His plans are not his own. Time is not his own. In fact, life is not his own. James then fired another of his famous questions: What is your life? The answer is a mist (“vapour, a puff of steam”). Believers need this godly perspective on their earthly sojourn. Among other things, it blasts boasting right out of the selfish, proud quagmire from which it emerged.

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. Jas 4:15

If the Lord... The true Christian submits his plans to the lordship of Christ.

and do this,... This verse teaches that God does have something for Christians to do and that they should plan accordingly. James condemns only elaborate planning that omits God (Prov. 16:9).

It is a very rash statement on our part to say what we will do tomorrow. Only God knows if we will be alive tomorrow. The only truthful statement we can make is, if it is the Lord’s will, I will do it.

Solution For Boasting

The key to avoiding boasting is to maintain a godly perspective. Instead of making big plans on the human plane, one must expand his view to include God in the picture. In place of vain boasting one should say, If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. These are not so much words to be used like some charm but a realistic attitude that affects all of one’s being and behavior.

But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Jas 4:16

in your boastings... Boastings here consist of bragging on buying and selling from city to city and what one will do here and there. One should always say, "If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (Jas. 4:15). This would demonstrate personal faith in God and His providence instead of one’s own abilities. All such boasting is of evil intent.

Arrogant bragging about their anticipated business accomplishments.

Why should we boast? We know that God has control over everything and everyone. Then where is there room for boasting. We do not control even our own life and death. Knowing this, we should be humble above all men. To think of our self too highly is sin. In fact, it is the same sin that got Lucifer thrown out of heaven.

To make sure his readers understood, James reiterated that to boast and brag… is evil. Self-centered bragging must be replaced by God-honoring trust. The cure for boasting is belief.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Jas 4:17

to do good... Here requires including God in one’s plans. Omitting God is not merely bad planning; “it is sin”.

This is saying that not only the bad things we do are sin, but we can sin by omitting to do good. Sin is anything displeasing to God. When we know to do good and do not do it, it is displeasing to God. Then, it is sin. The sin here, is in full knowledge, so that would make it worse.

it is sin... Greek: hamartia, missing the mark. Translated sin 172 times (Jas. 4:16; Mat. 1:21; etc.) sinful (Rom. 8:3); and offence (2Cor. 11:7). The implication is that they also did what they shouldn’t do. Sins of omission lead directly to sins of commission.

It is likely that Jas. 4:1-17’s concluding sentence, Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins, is related not only to the matter of boasting but also to all the advice given thus far in the epistle. “Then” (lit., “therefore,” oun) supports this contention. James’ readers could not plead ignorance. The letter abounds with exhortations to do good. To fail to comply is clearly sin.

To attain spiritual maturity a believer must do the good he now knows. He must stand confidently on God’s Word even in trials and temptations. He must compassionately serve his brethren without prejudicial favoritism but with practical faith. He must speak carefully with a controlled tongue and wise, cultivated thought. He must submit in contrition to his all-powerful Father, Lawgiver, and Judge with a humble spirit, just action, and a trusting heart. He must be what God wants him to be, do what God wants him to do, speak as God wants him to speak, and sense what God wants him to sense.