20th September 2009 (Trinity 15)
James 3:13 - 4:8
We are in a war – a spiritual war, in which the battle is between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. The outcome is certain: light will win, because God is light and nothing can ultimately withstand his power. However, that outcome is still in the future. At present the war is on, and there are casualties.
The forces of darkness operate on various fronts. V.15 talks about wisdom either being heavenly, or ‘earthly, unspiritual, demonic’. These correspond with ‘the world, the flesh and the devil’ (Book of Common Prayer). James talks about them all in this passage. The occasion for this is his concern about wisdom: it seems that the Christians he is writing to are competing with each other for wisdom, and using their insight to score points off each other. That’s not godly wisdom from above, James says; that’s from below. Envy and selfish ambition do not come from God! Look instead for those things that are lovely and bring harmony, as listed in v.17. That’s what godly wisdom produces, the harvest God is looking for.
James then talks in more detail about our battle against the forces of evil we have to battle against.
First he talks about the evil within us, which give rise to ‘evil desires’. Those desires fuel quarrels, and at their worst cause murder and warfare. Desires are not necessarily evil – James encourages us to ask God for the things we want. However, if our motives are selfish our desires are evil, and we cannot expect God to grant them.
Our human nature is naturally selfish, and even though we have been ‘born again’ and given a new nature by the Spirit of God through our faith in Jesus, our original nature has not gone away. The selfish desires wage war against our godly desires, and we have to reject the one and choose the other.
James’ thought about pleasures (v.3) leads him on to think about the world. In contexts like these, the word ‘world’ refers to the prevailing culture, society where God is not king. Jesus in the parable of the sower talked about life’s worries, riches and pleasures choking the word. This ‘world’ is actively against God, and promotes ungodliness; if we take on the values of the world around us we reject God, and have joined the other side.
James ends with a call for humility. Selfish pride is common in people who run after their own desires and pleasures. Far better to submit to God, and to renounce the world, the flesh and the devil. (James only mentions the devil in passing. While it is true that ultimately our battle is against spiritual forces, those spiritual forces usually work against us by the temptations of the world and the flesh, and if we resist these we are winning the fight.)
We can win! That is the promise in this passage. ‘God gives more grace’ (v.6). ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you’ (v.7). ‘Draw near to God and he will draw near to you’ (v.8).
Questions:
1) Why is humility so important?
2) Why do naughty things seem nice?