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Faith on Display in Facing the Enemy
Question 1:
What’s something you commonly fought over as kids?
THE POINT
You can stand triumphantly in Christ over sin, the world, and Satan.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
The leaders in the church’s preschool departments do far more than provide our children a safe place to play while we learn and worship. They also teach. Under the preschool teachers’ care, our children learn that God created the world and is watching over them. They learn that God loves them, and the church is a place where they are loved and cared for. They also learn the importance of good relationships.
One minute, two children will be sitting next to one another, happily playing with their toys. In the next minute, one of them will try to take the other one’s toy away. If she doesn’t get her way, she is fully prepared to escalate the tug-of-war into an all-out battle. Our teachers use that moment to teach important lessons about sharing, how to be kind to one another, and proper ways to resolve differences.
Preschoolers surely need to learn these lessons, but they’re not alone. Adults could use the same lessons our preschool teachers are teaching every week. James showed us that fights and quarrels are deeply rooted in our sinful human nature.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
James 4:1-3
1 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.
Conflict is everywhere. It happens on a global, national, and local scale. We experience conflict at work, in our communities, in our homes, and in our churches. Sadly, conflict can happen even when the church is thriving.
Conflict in church seems out of place. We expect believers to act in a Christlike manner, but even those who read the Bible and sing worship songs can succumb to self-centered motives. The reason is because everyone has a sinful nature that he or she must battle every day. Our sinful nature desires something someone else has that we don’t have, and it becomes covetousness. This powerful desire to obtain what others have increases frustration, dissatisfaction, and disappointment, becoming a deep-seated inner conflict. We long for more, and when we don’t get it, the inner turmoil increases. With time, our inner conflict erupts and escalates so that others are affected.
Question 2:
Where do you see the truth of these verses reflected in our culture?
James paired two words with similar meanings—“fights and quarrels” (v. 1)—to describe this eruption. This combination captures the full range of conflict intensities from bitter disagreements to a fully armed battle. Whether the conflict is subtle or extreme, it has the same source: our self-centered passions and desires.
The ultimate source of the problem is neither our inner turmoil nor our visible conflict with others; rather, it is the conflict we are having with God. If we trusted God, we would ask Him for what we really need, and we would contentedly trust Him for what He provides. But we don’t come to God, and because we don’t ask, we have inner conflict that becomes conflict with others. To break this endless cycle, we must learn to trust God enough to ask Him for what we need.
God, who will supply wisdom to those who ask (Jas. 1:5), will also provide for our needs when we ask. Just as our request for wisdom must be accompanied with an unwavering faith (1:6-8), the appeal for our needs must be accompanied with pure motives. In other words, God doesn’t give us things simply because we want them. If our requests flow out of our self-centered sinful nature, He says no. God will only answer in a way that honors Him. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13, emphasis added).
James 4:4-5
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?
A self-centered mindset is something we expect to see in the world, but not among those who follow Christ. Covetousness pulls us away from enjoying the sufficiency of Christ. When we refuse to rely on God, we are expressing hostility toward Him.
James used strong language to underscore the seriousness of the silent, incessant, destructive spirit of covetousness and the worldly mindset. Instead of calling his readers brothers and sisters, as had been his pattern in this letter, he now called them “adulterous people” (v. 4). With this change in how he addressed his readers, James was shifting from a pastoral to a prophetic tone. When James called his readers adulterous, he was using the same type of language the Jewish prophets used to confront the people about their spiritual unfaithfulness. Isaiah (Isa. 1:21), Jeremiah (Jer. 3:1-10), Ezekiel (Ezek. 16:23-43) and Hosea (Hos. 9:1) all referred to the unfaithful nations of Israel and Judah as adulterers. Like the prophets before him, James spoke directly and candidly to the people.
By using that phrase, James not only signaled how serious the issue is, but he also summarized the essence of covetousness—a desire that is not contained by godly boundaries. Like adultery, covetousness breaks trust. It breaks our trust with God as well as with His people. Covetousness and adultery share something else in common: they both impact the lives of innocent people.
Engage
RESISTING THE DEVIL
Verse 7 is a command to “Resist the devil.” However, many people in today’s world reject the idea of a supernatural enemy of humankind.
How would you respond if your friend made these comments? (Choose one.)
“The devil is just a myth. He doesn’t really exist.”
“If there is a devil or demons, I’m sure they bother the important spiritual people. They’re not interested in me.”
“I’m a Christian, which means I don’t have anything to fear from the devil or demons.”
“The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me.”
The conflicts caused by covetousness destroy others just as adulterous affairs hurt innocent people.
Sin converts healthy drives into destructive passions. These covetous passions are unregulated and never bring satisfaction. The insatiable desire for more never ends. Like cancer, covetousness destroys what is good and healthy around it and doesn’t stop until everything is gone.
Aligned with Jesus’s teaching that “no one can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24), James taught that covetous believers are not being faithful to God; their pursuit of worldly things “means enmity against God” (v. 4). Instead of depending on Him and trusting Him for what they need, they’ve sold out to materialism. Their inner struggle and dissatisfaction only lead to further struggles: battles with others and with God.
While some might think they can flirt with the world and still be faithful to God, James dispelled that notion. There can be no harmless flirtation with the world. It’s impossible to say to the world, “We’re just friends.” Such an attitude puts believers in the category of spiritual adulterers. Thinking like the world will always pull us away from Christ.
Question 3:
How would you describe friendship with the world?
James 4:6-10
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor 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.
We have hope! The hostility with God doesn’t have to continue. James provided guidance on how to end the war and be a friend of God. The friendship restoration begins when God’s people stop acting like He is their enemy and submit to His care and authority. God is never the problem; our sinful nature is. The solution is to stop submitting to the appetites of our sin nature and begin submitting to God by depending on Him.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that temptation or difficulty ceases. Satan will not be happy when we stop submitting to our sinful nature. So, when we experience temptation and feel the onslaught of Satan, we are to resist him. We don’t argue or debate; we “resist the devil” (v. 7). We don’t even run from him. Scripture calls us to “flee” many things—sins such as sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), idolatry (10:14), envy, love of money, and a host of other sins (1 Tim. 6:4-11)—but James called us to stand our ground and resist the devil. When we do, he flees from us!
Question 4:
What does it look like to draw near to God?
In humility we pray, and we repent of our sins. Earlier, James had reminded us that we cannot doubt and be double-minded when we pray and “expect to receive anything from the Lord” (Jas. 1:7-8); now he referred to double-mindedness in the sense of trying to live for both God and the things of the world. A heart of repentance and humility is needed when we pray, which is why James said, “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (4:8)
With clean hands and a pure heart, we see our sinfulness with new clarity. We begin to weep. But thankfully, when we mourn over our sinfulness, we experience God’s comfort (Matt. 5:4) as He draws near to us. He responds with His infinite grace.
Question 5:
What role does our group play in helping you submit to God and resist the devil?
LIVE IT OUT
How will you live out the truths of this passage and stand triumphantly in Christ? Choose one of the following applications:
Confess. If this passage has convicted you of self-centeredness, covetousness, or a worldly attitude, confess and repent. Use Psalm 51 as the structure for your prayer.
Retreat. Spend half a day in prayer. Begin with confession and submission. Ask God to guide you in planning a course of action to avoid the temptation of materialism. Evaluate the effects of what you read or watch in encouraging a worldly mindset.
Clean house. Take inventory of what you possess that reflects a worldly mindset or was purchased from a heart of materialism. This may need to be done with a spouse or family member, but consider removing those things from your life. Sell them if necessary and give the money to support mission work with your church.
Children aren’t the only ones who have to learn to overcome their impulses. In many ways, as we get older, we learn to chase after the things we covet even better. But for the child of God, there’s a better way: we can submit to God.
Teacher's Notes:
Faith on Display in Facing the Enemy
Setting: As noted previously, James was not
writing to a specific church but to believers in general scattered throughout
the region. Apparently, James had gotten word of conflict among the believers.
The specific details of the conflict are not described. For James, the details didn’t matter. He wanted to define
the source. For no matter what issues
led to the differences, no matter the details of the conflict, James was
convinced the source was likely the same. It was personal pride and
a worldly spirit that had become pervasive among them. Until those spiritual
matters were settled, conflict would continue to surface. Hence, the root
problem was their flawed relationship with
the Lord. The believers would never know victory over
sin, the world, and Satan until they first resolved the issue of their
relationship with God. That would happen only through humble confession and
repentance. That having been addressed, they could set aside the selfish
desires that had caused a fracturing of the fellowship and know the joy of
living victoriously in the Lord.
Click the link above for the YouTube Video of the Interview
Regardless of how much wealth or status a
person has acquired, people all over the world still try to fix their
challenges the same way.
No matter how much protection you have from
outside threats, no one can protect you from yourself.
The problem is not outside; the problem is
inside.
We are all the source of our own conflict.
James says that fights and quarrels are deeply
rooted in our sinful human nature.
And it can lead us to do unspeakable things!
James says we must take lustful, worldly, and
prideful thoughts to the Lord every day – it’s the only way.
James 4:1-3
What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 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. When you ask, you do not
receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures.
I.
Our sinful nature keeps us in conflict; repent of
it.
What kind of desires are battling within us?
James explains that these quarrels result from
evil desires battling within us – we want more possessions, more money, higher
status, more recognition, more control. When we want it badly enough to fulfill
these desires, we fight to do so. Instead of aggressively grabbing what we
want, we should submit ourselves to God, ask God to help us get rid of our
selfish desires, and trust Him to give us what we really need.
James says that the most common problems in
prayer: not asking at all, asking for the wrong things, and asking for the
wrong reasons.
Do you talk to God at all?
When you do, what do you talk about?
Do you ask only to satisfy your desires?
Do you seek God’s approval for what you already
plan to do?
Your prayers will become powerful when you
allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to His will
for you. 1 John 3:21-22
The desire to please ourselves results in
conflict and dissension with others. The path to spiritual peace is the path of
repentance — admitting the source of our spiritual and interpersonal conflict. God
does not honor prayers that are prayed from a wrong or selfish motive.
Checking Our Hungers before God: Listen, what comes out of you is because of
what is in you. Your habits come from your heart. James addresses the matter of
the heart, the motivation of the heart, and the maturity of the heart. Your
heart is the source of your faithfulness. That’s why it is imperative that you
practice a daily quiet-time, wherein you spend unhurried time with God in the
Word and prayer. Doing this gives Him the space to use His grace to transform
your heart.
James 4:4-5
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. Or do you think
Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has
caused to dwell in us?
II.
The world is hostile to God; reject
it.
What does friendship with the world look like?
Being the world’s friend means being God’s
enemy. The Holy Spirit of God within us yearns that we be committed to Christ
not the world. Reject the world by submitting to the Scriptures and the Spirit.
Checking Our Humility before God: James is warning us against worldliness. He
is cautioning us against carnality. James warns that when you are friends with
the world, you are enemies with God. You can’t love the world and love the Lord
at the same time.
Jesus made this clear in the Sermon on the
Mount, He said “you can’t serve two masters” (Matt. 6:19-24). So, he exhorts us
to avoid friendship with the world and avoid functioning like the world. May
the Lord help us be light in darkness and not compromise because we’re consumed
by the culture.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a
pleasurable life. God gives us good gifts that He wants us to enjoy. But having
friendship with the world involves seeking pleasure at others’ expense or at
the expense of obeying God. Pleasure that keeps us from pleasing God is sinful;
pleasure from God’s rich bounty is good.
Does my friendship with the world involve
seeking pleasure at others’ expense or at the expense of obeying God?
V. 5: This verse may mean that because of our
fallen nature, we have a tendency toward envy. James is not quoting a specific
verse or passage – he is summing up a teaching of Scripture. See Romans 6:6-8
and Galatians 5:17-21 for more on the human tendency toward envy and
discontent.
James 4:6-10
But he gives us more grace. That is why
Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 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. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your
laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up.
What are specific actions we can take to resist
the devil?
What does it mean to submit to God?
III.
Satan is
the enemy; resist
him.
How can you come near to God?
How can you come near to God?
James gives 5 ways:
- Submit to God, yield to His authority and will,
commit your life to Him and His control, and be willing to follow Him.
- Resist the devil, don’t allow Satan to entice
and tempt you.
- Wash your hands…and purify your hearts (that is
– lead a pure life), be cleansed from sin, replacing your desire to sin with
your desire to experience God’s purity.
- Grieve and mourn and wail in sincere sorrow for
your sins, don’t be afraid to express deep heartfelt sorrow for what you have
done.
- Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will
lift you us.
Humbling ourselves means recognizing that our worth comes from God alone. To be humble involves working with His power according to His guidance, not with our own independent effort. Although we do not deserve God’s favor, He reaches out to us in love and gives us worth and dignity, despite our human shortcomings.
James saw that it was time for the people to tear
down the walls of denial and get honest with themselves before God. He
encouraged them to draw near to God in genuine repentance by experiencing
gut-wrenching sorrow for their sins: “Let there be tears for what you have
done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of
laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He
will lift you up in honor.”
James 4:9–10, NLT
“The devil I am to resist, and he will flee
from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome
me.”
CHARLES H. SPURGEON
Which is more difficult for you – resisting the
devil or fleeing from the lusts of the flesh?
Bible: Although God and the devil are at war,
we don’t have to wait until the end to see who will win. God has already
defeated Satan (Revelations 12:10-12), and when Christ returns, the devil and
all he stands for will be eliminated forever (Revelations 20:10-15). Satan is
here now, however, and he is trying to win us over to his evil cause. With the
Holy Spirit’s power, we can resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
We can stand against Satan only as we submit to
God and draw near to Him. God’s grace helps us overcome our weaknesses. A truly
repentant person will have a broken spirit before the Lord. God accepts those
who humble themselves before Him and restores them to usefulness.
Checking Our Hearts before God: James gives us some holy helpful hints on how
to walk the highroad. He says we must be constantly submitting to the sovereign
God (v. 7a), denying the devil (v. 7b), and clinging to Christ (v. 8-10).
That’s a formula for faithfulness. Daily, we must willfully rank ourselves
under God and enthrone Him as the Lord of our lives. Hourly, we must resist the
devil and deny him the space and place in our lives. And constantly, we must
humbly come to the Lord for cleansing and in commitment.
“They left like the wind…They were fleeing by
any means they could.” This is how one Ukrainian described the retreat of
Russian soldiers in the recently freed village is the southern region. Ukraine
has launched a counteroffensive against Russia, reclaiming 6,000 square
kilometers of Ukraine in September. Journalists in Ukraine describe a frantic
retreat of Russian soldiers, with food left on tables, mail scattered on
floors, and weapons abandoned. “Trucks drove through the city honking, and the
Russian soldiers climbed on and left,” according to a Ukrainian in the
reclaimed town of Balakliya. “They didn’t have a fighting spirit. They were
afraid.” In the chaotic withdrawal, Ukrainians describe other Russian soldiers,
who were left behind, desperately searching for civilian clothes to flee in. In
James 4:7, James confidently declares, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you.” When we submit to God and trust Christ, we launch a counteroffensive on
the devil. The devil cannot stand before Christ.
It’s an Age-Old Pattern
1. Sin begins with desire.
2. Desire leads to deception.
3. Deception leads to disobedience.
4. Disobedience leads to death.
James 1:14-16 /
Proverbs 7
THE POINT:
You can stand triumphantly in Christ over sin,
the world, and Satan.
Conclusion: On October 20, 2011, Daily Mail released a story about
Gordon and Norma Yeager, who had been in a bad car accident together. They had
been married for 72 years, so when they were taken to the hospital, they were
placed in the same room. While lying in separate beds, they held hands. Gordon
died one hour before Norma; however, his heart monitor was still beeping
because it was responding to Norma’s pulse. The two were so close that her
heartbeat showed up on his monitor, even though he was already dead. That’s how
it should be in our lives. We should be so close to Christ, that even though we
are dead to the world, His heartbeat shows-up on the monitor of our faith.
Conclusion
Everything
hinges on solidifying our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We do so when we repent of our sin, reject
the evil systems of the world, and resist Satan. By submitting to the Lord and
drawing near to Him, we put our faith on display.
