Bible Passage: James 4:7-12
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: October 3, 2021

Bulletin October 3, 2021

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Most of you will be familiar with the names Cain and Abel, those two sons of Adam and Eve.  You may recall the sad story of these two brothers from Genesis 4.  Cain developed a deep hatred for his brother, and he nursed that hatred in his heart.  The Lord God came to Cain and warned him, “Sin is crouching at your door.” (Genesis 4:7)  That’s an interesting way to think about sin.  Crouching, like a cat sneaking up on a bird.  Sin does that.  It crouches.  It waits.  It watches for the right moment to spring.

Christian, sin is crouching at your door.  This morning I am speaking about a sin that crouches and waits very patiently.  It is a sin that is very patient and pounces many times when a person has been a Christian for many years.  A person begins to sort of “go through the motions.”  Christianity begins to settle into a nice, comfy spot.  Church on Sunday mornings.  Say my prayers each day.  And there is a corresponding relaxation that happens.  There is a de-escalation in our war against the devil, the world, and our flesh.  We even begin to allow ourselves a few “guilty pleasures.”  We reason, “It’s not so bad!  Besides, I’ll be in church again on Sunday.  God’s gotta like that!”

That is a form of pride.  Not the pride that says, “I’m the greatest!”  But it is a sneaky form of pride that trifles with matters of sin and faith.  It takes neither faith nor sin too seriously.  It is that sort of pride James addresses in our text for this morning.  In fact, the opening words of our text lay it all out for us:  God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. (v. 6)  May those words, Grace for the Humble, jerk us awake, and remind us what the Christian, the Christ-like, walk looks like.

If we examine our text, we will see that James breaks Christian humility into two parts.  He speaks of humility we have toward God, and humility we have toward one another.  He begins by talking about humility toward God:  God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.  So, submit yourselves to God. (v. 7)  That word “submit” is a military term.  It means to arrange yourself among the ranks.  To fall in line.  To say, “Reporting for duty!”  A person submits willingly.  We completely get that as Christians.  We know the complete and total love and submission of Jesus to be our Savior!  Say no more.  We gladly, willingly, humbly submit to this God!

James goes on:  Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God, and he will come near to you. (v. 7b-8)  Isn’t that a wonderful picture?  We see a fleeing Devil and an approaching God.  Don’t James’ words make you think about Jesus in the wilderness when he was tempted by the Devil?  The Devil tempted and tempted.  He brought his best stuff against Jesus.  Jesus resisted, submitting perfectly to the Word and will of his Father.  Completely resisted, the Devil fled from Jesus.  The same is true for you.  Resist the devil.  He will flee.  And run to your God, and you will find him running to you with open arms.  Like the father in the story of the prodigal son!  What grace for the humble!

Humility before God further shows itself.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded people.  Lament, mourn, and weep.  Let your laughter be changed into mourning and your joy to gloom. (v. 8b-9)  Does that shock you a little bit what James calls his readers…YOU?  “Sinners…double-minded people.”  That strikes at the heart of the problem James wants to address.  He is writing to people who had lost their “sharp edge” where sin was concerned.  They were double-minded – they wanted all that Christianity has to offer, but they also wanted a little bit of the sin the world offers.

Pride hates the word “sinner.”  Friends, let us never be too proud to say, “God, have mercy on me…a SINNER.”  For that is what I am!  And if it comes to talking about my sin, it is no laughing matter.  Oh, pride loves to tell and retell stories of past sin.  For pride, sin is a hoot.  A million laughs.  “Remember the time I…?”  For the humble, sin makes us want to cry.  It makes us cry for mercy.  It makes us cry for Jesus.

Pride is okay with being double-minded.  Let us never be at peace with a divided mind or heart.  We do not have a polygamous relationship with Christ.  We do not have an open relationship with our Groom.  He is not one of many.  We only have eyes, and hearts, for him.  We are his bride; he is our everything!

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up (v. 10)  Isn’t that what we experience in every absolution?  We come humbly confessing our sin.  And the Lord comes to us.  Christ comes to us.  Christ, the one who took all our pride upon himself.  And on the cross we see what it means that God opposes the proud.  The Father opposed his own dear Son because Jesus looked like the proudest sinner ever.  He was crushed for our pride.  But the blessing of Christ’s death is spoken upon our heads – “You are forgiven!”  He lifts us up!  What grace for the humble!

Aren’t we lifted up each time we come to the Lord’s Table?  We come humbly – I have never seen anyone giggling and laughing at the Supper.  How can we giggle and laugh about our dirty hands and dirty hearts?  Only humility here!  But then it happens.  Bread and wine.  Body and blood, Given and shed.  Forgiveness and life!  What grace for the humble!  He cleanses our dirty hands.  He purifies our dirty hearts.  He helps us back on our feet. “Depart in peace.”  We can laugh again.  We can feel joy again!  Indeed, Paul knew who he was writing to when he wrote, Rejoice in the Lord always!  I will say it again, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

Humility begins in the sight of the Lord.  But it doesn’t end there.  James goes on in our text:  Do not speak against one another, brothers.  The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother is speaking against the law and judging the law. (v. 11)  That can so easily happen, can’t it?  We put on our black robes and we sit down behind our big bench, we grab our little gavel and we hold court.  We “judge” people.  I believe I am competent to find all the facts in your case and I believe I am worthy to interpret and apply the law in your case, and I even issue the verdict in your case!  We forget ourselves.  We are to be do-ers of God’s Law, not judges over it.  There is one who is Lawgiver and Judge.  And it’s not you or I.   James adds, Who are you to judge your neighbor?  He is right.  The Lawgiver gave us a different law, Love your neighbor.   He did not say, “Judge thy neighbor.”  You are my neighbor and my brother, not a defendant in my courtroom!   Humility remembers that!

As long as we live, pride will crouch at the door, and we must ever be on our guard.  But because of Jesus, the guilt of pride has been washed from you, and the power of pride has been broken.  Knowing that, believing that, we live humbly before our God, and humbly with our neighbor, experiencing each day the grace God gives to the humble.

Amen.

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