Session 12 With Submission James 4:6-17 November 17-18, 2018 Summary and Goal Our scripture this week focuses on the humble and the proud. We will see distinctive attributes that distinguish the two. As we review these, we will have the opportunity to identify which of these are present in our life. Main Passage James 4:6-17 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you doubleminded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. 11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? 13 Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes way. 15 Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. Session Outline Submission 1. Our Agenda a. Submit to God b. Draw Near to God/Resist the Devil c. Humility 2. His Agenda a. Planning 3. Accountability Session in a Sentence: God will never force us to follow Him but He encourages us to know and follow His ways because that is where we can experience Victory in Him. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. v.6 Christ Connection: We see the same attitude, action, and accountability in Christ that He expects in us. He gives us repeated examples of what it means to submit to His Father s will and experience the fulfillment of His Father s promise to put all authority in His hand.
Missional : God s plan for us is washed in humility, submission, and obedience. The Holy Spirit is our Helper and will direct our steps in truth. As we walk in His ways, we will experience the power of His resurrection. We are encouraged in Philippians 3:14 to press on! I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!
Introduction In our scripture this week, God makes His attitude toward the humble and the proud very clear. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) How do we recognize a proud person? The proud person s decisions are executed only when their forecasted outcomes are most beneficial or profitable for him, They do not consider God s will nor do they take into account how their action might impact others. In today s culture, our prideful acts are like text messages that we send to God to advise Him of our plans. Our actions are always in our best interest without any regard to His will. These messages also tell God that we don t want any input from Him and we won t need His grace. What a foolish thing for us to do when Philippians 2:3-4 tells us Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. This Philippians passage defines submission and humility. 1. Our Agenda a. Submit to God Before we can have an attitude of humility, we must submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We may have heard that quite a bit, but how do we accomplish that? Our first step is to acknowledge that our inheritance from Adam and Eve is a prideful attitude and rebellious heart. Although God s instruction was clear in the Garden of Eden, we know that Adam and Eve s independent decision to eat the fruit was grounded in pride. Their decision was based on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 1 John 2:6 tells us that For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. As we can see Adam and Eve s act was a prideful disregard to God s will. The only way to step out of that hallmark of sin is to accept Jesus as our Savior. Have you confessed that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus has paid the penalty for your sin? b. Draw Near to God/Resist the Devil When we are saved, pride will still beckon us to walk in our own strength and self-interest. It is a form of opposition that the enemy will use to make us worship other things. Let s look at the temptation that Jesus faced in the wilderness in Matthew 4. After Jesus was declared the Son of God in whom the Father was well pleased, Satan tempted Him with the kingdoms of this world. Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.
As we know, Jesus responded with the truth. We must position ourselves as Jesus did with the truth. When we are saved, like Jesus we will be tempted. We must study God s Word so we know the truth. We are given the Gift of the Holy Spirit and He is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus promised us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32) As a Christian, we submit to the truth of God revealed in His Word and through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. As the truth is revealed to us, we are told to be a doer of the word. Listen to what James 1:22 tells us But don't just listen to God's Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. (The Living Translation) We draw near to God when we love Him through our obedience. Jesus said in John 14:21: 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. We also draw near to God by renewing our mind through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12:1-2 encourages us: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Christ has given us a perfect example of offering ourselves as living and holy sacrifice as He committed every aspect of His life to His Father s will. Once our minds are renewed with the truth of God, we are to obey His word. Based on the John 14:21 obedience to God s will is another way that we draw near to God. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will betod loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Obedience is also one of the strongest actions that we can take that declares that we are resisting the devil. Look at the devil s response when we resist Him. He flees! Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) 1. Is there an area in your life where you need to draw near to God through the renewing of the mind? Do you need to seek God s truth about that area and take your old thoughts captive with the truth that God reveals to us? 2 Corinthians 10:21 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ 2. Do you know the truth about your situation? Are you obeying that truth? If you answer is No can you tell yourself why you are not submitting to God?
c. Humility Look at how Jesus demonstrates humility in Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. When God s way is totally different from our ways, humility says that we will do it God s way. Humility says that we trust God ways more than our ways because His ways are higher than our ways. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. : When given an opportunity to follow God s way rather than our way,, what do you do? Example: You are in a heated exchange of words with someone and the Holy Spirit whispers this truth from Proverbs 15:1 in your spirit: A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. Which do you choose? Do you give a gentle answer or a harsh word? 2. His Agenda There is nothing wrong with planning. You might have heard the quote from Benjamin Franklin that If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail! We know this to be true. But we have to be careful about making plans without God. Our scripture warns us: Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:13-14) What does God say about planning? Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:9 The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Proverbs 19:21 Many plans are in a man s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand. We should never forget what God says about His plan for each of us. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. The question that I should always ask when I am praying about a plan that is on my heart is this Does my plan fit into His plan for me as He declares in Jeremiah 29:11? When we pray, then we wait for His answer. I have found that waiting is another way of submitting to God, drawing to Him and resisting the Devil. That doesn t mean that my flesh enjoys waiting but it helps to remember God s promise about waiting in Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary Based on God s answer, my plan should be implemented or abandoned immediately. 3. Accountability James 4:17 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. When the Holy Spirit reveals the truth, He expects us to submit to God by humbling ourselves and being obedient to Him. Under the new covenant, the motive for our obedience is love. John 14:15 5 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments God s love for us will repeat His truth many times hoping that we will submit to Him. His grace beckons us to follow Him in obedience. Although His love is unconditional, it does not discount accountability in what He expects us to do. He judges disobedience as sin when He knows that we know the right thing to do. Very simple question Are we being disobedient in any area of our life? If your answer is yes, your actions are a sign of pride. His grace is reaching out to you to submit to Him and His ways. How will you respond?