Slices
Prepare
Sit quietly as you pray: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Open your hands to receive the Holy Spirit afresh today.
Bible passage
Submit yourselves to God
4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that 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.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against 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 favour to the humble.’
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 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 your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11 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 neighbour?
Explore
This is a tough passage and as usual James doesn’t mince his words. Speaking of war (v 1) and adultery (v 4) as metaphors for the state of our Christian communities is meant to be uncomfortable. Sadly, we have all experienced discord, hostility and self- seeking behaviour within our churches. The source of this strife comes from our internal battle zones as we wrestle with the temptation of worldly pleasures. How easy it is to put our own desires before those of God.
Peter warns that the devil is like a prowling lion waiting patiently for his prey, moving quietly and unseen (1 Peter 5:8). Similarly, we need to be alert and on guard to ward off the devil (v 7), who, like the lion, targets our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Both war and adultery leave devastation in their wake. James paints a picture of spiritual adultery destroying our relationship with God (v 4). The only remedy is to submit ourselves to God (v 7). This doesn’t mean sitting back and doing nothing, but instead intentionally joining the defence line in the battlefield. How amazing that God is jealous for his Spirit within us (v 5), and when we draw close to him in active submission, God promises us the grace to resist the devil and all temptation.
Respond
Pray for unity within your own church family, asking the Holy Spirit to intervene where there is discord or hostility.
Deeper Bible study
‘Follow God’s example … and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.’1
Despite the chapter break, James is pursuing the same thought as in our reading yesterday, as he continues to address how the two kinds of wisdom are worked out in the community.
James describes a community that is as far from a demonstration of true wisdom as it is possible to get (vs 1–5). Discord, fights and quarrels appear to be the norm. The problem has its roots in the desire of some in the community to be friends with the world – but this is not a neutral friendship. It is a statement of one’s position vis-à-vis God. James uses an Old Testament metaphor with which God castigated his people for failure to live as he commanded – the metaphor of adultery.2 The remedy for this is given in verse 6 with a quotation from Proverbs 3:34, emphasising the humility that should characterise Christ’s followers. How is that humility demonstrated? Through ‘a staccato barrage of short commands’3 and obedience to these (vs 7–10), the believer can stop being ‘double-minded’ (v 8), draw near to God and see his or her life and community transformed.
Running as a thread throughout Scripture is the importance of community. That thread continues in James as he highlights the behaviour that enhances and does not fracture community life. It is true that community life is not necessarily easy. In the West, at least, we need to lose our focus on individualism and realise that we all, wherever we are located, are called to be part of a community. Community life needs to flourish. What are you doing to enhance your community life? What might you be doing that fractures the community? Look again at verses 7–10. Are you living this way?
‘The Christian is saved not in isolation but as a member of the community.’4 Pray that your life will enhance the community of which you are part.
1 Eph 5:1,2 2 Eg Hos 1–3; Isa 57:3; Ezek 16:1–34 3 Blomberg and Kamell, James, p185 4 Kallistos (Timothy) Ware, b1934
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Numbers 28,29; Psalm 31
Pray for Scripture Union
Zoraida Ali-Smith, PA to the Director of Mobilisation, is working on updating the SU archive, and needs volunteers to help her; pray that they will be found. Pray too for Zoraida as she finalises plans for the SU retreat in May.
