The Second Sermon I have written.

James 4:4

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 

Definitions:

Enmity – The spirit of an enemy. The state of being an enemy.

 

Enemy – One who cherishes resentment or malicious purpose toward another, an adversary. 

 

Friendship – Mutual regard cherished by kindred (one of the same family; related by blood) minds. 

 

     To whom is James writing this admonition?  Seven verses later he says; “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.”  So we can safely say that James is writing this statement to fellow Christians.  He also begins the book by addressing it to the twelve tribes in dispersion and telling the brothers to count it all joy when trials come.  There is little doubt that James is in fact addressing those he believed to be fellow followers and joint heirs in Christ.  This admonition forces me to think to whom do I have a kindred spirit?  Whose friendship do I seek and whose friendship do I desire?  Today I want this congregation to consider who you seek after to be your friend.  Is it God or is it the world?

 

     Now the quick and easy answer is; “I seek God as my friend, of course I sometimes fail just as every man fails but I repent and go on seeking after God”.  How hard are you seeking after God?  How much time do you spend reading His word?  Be honest.  If you lie then you lie to yourself alone for God knows the truth nothing is hidden from Him.  You may ask; “Does reading the Bible make you a Christian?” No but it does demonstrate a desire to know God more intimately and is therefore something a person who has not been regenerated would naturally do.  The natural man finds the word of God foolish or repugnant.  He sees no profit in it and if he reads it he can’t understand the truths therein because the Spirit does not reside in him. (Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds that they might understand the scriptures.) (1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this not taught in words by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.) No, reading the Bible does not make you a Christian, the frequent and fervent study of the scriptures, however, does reveal a trait that most assuredly is not natural to the unregenerate man and is therefore natural only to a child of God.  So how often do you seek God in His word? Do you read it daily, like the paper or your e-mails?  Heaven forbid you miss checking your e-mail for a day but the word of God most certainly that can wait another day or two.  I can promise you every day God grants you life and vision you read something.  What you read most frequently will most assuredly tell you something about yourself.  So what do you read most often?  I pray it is God’s word and I pray it is not just reading but deeply seeking after the truths it contains.

 

    How hard are you seeking after God?  Do you talk to God?  How often do you talk to Him?  What is the nature of your conversation?  1 Thes 5:17-18 tells us to “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  You might say it is impossible to pray continually, non stop, 24/7.  I tell you that every word that comes out of the mouth of a Christian is in fact a prayer.  Every word you utter is in the presence of the living and holy God.  What kind of prayers are you sending Godward as you drive to and from work during rush hour?  You do know that you are called by God to keep even your thoughts under control?  2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”  If you are a Christian then you are called to glorify God with all that you are including your thought and speech.  So each and every word we utter we must utter in the understanding that God is to be glorified by our speech.  Now specifically concerning the conventional understanding about prayer time, how often do you speak to God with the intention of speaking to God?  You say you love your wife, your children, your parents, your friends so how often do you speak to them?  If I spoke to my wife like this; “Honey, please give me fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner tonight, thank you.”  on Monday then on Wednesday I said; “Honey, I hope you don’t mind but I took $100 out of our savings account and blew it on something just for me and have nothing to show for it, but I know you love me and will forgive me. Thank you”  and then on Sunday I feel extra close to her and say; “Honey, you are so pretty, thank you for marrying me, lets watch the Titans beat the Jets, oh by the way, please make some finger food I’ve invited the entire adult Sunday school over to watch too. Thank you very much.”  If I only spoke to her three or four times a week just like this I promise you she would not feel very loved and our marriage would more than likely be over.  I have heard people say they don’t know how to pray or are uncomfortable praying (I understand being uncomfortable praying before a group of people out loud).  Learning to pray comes through experience, study of God’s word and sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Intimacy can only grow when familiarity is desired and made a priority.  Don’t tell me you don’t know how to be intimate with God.  The Spirit intercedes for you when you lack ability or words, Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”  If you just make the effort God’s Spirit will do the work and intercede to God on your behalf with sounds too deep for words.  Just make an honest effort and see God work in your prayer life.  What a gracious God we serve.  He literally helps us talk with Him.  Oh that He places in us a desire to speak with Him.

 

     Now we are also told to give thanks in all circumstances for it is God’s will for us in Christ.  You know I don’t know any professing Christians who say they doubt the Bible is true.  They all say they believe it is God’s perfect word.  Yet I see so many Christians, myself among them, who when in circumstances that are difficult question God’s fairness and love for them.  We say His word is true then doubt his sovereignty over our life, which is declared in the very word we proclaim as truth.  Oh how great a sinner I am!  Just the other night I received a call that my younger brother Roger was being admitted to the hospital with a possible aneurism of the carotid artery.  You don’t know this but Roger is, outside of my wife and children, my dearest and closest friend on this earth.  My love for him is profound.  He is my most trusted spiritual advisor this side of heaven.  I immediately went before the throne of God in tears and with great earnest.  Asking for God’s intervention and immediate healing.  I even became as bold as to demand it.  Who am I?  I know Roger is a child of God.  I know what the word of God says about our situations, Romans 8:28 “For we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  If we truly believe this verse then there is no ultimate calamity for the Christian.  If I truly believe this verse than I must place my brother in God’s hands and trust that God truly will work it all out for His glory and our good.  So I repented and did just that.  Roger is going to be fine by the way, despite my arrogance.  If there was ever a verse of scripture for the Christian to live his or her life by it is Romans 8:28.  Think about it, if we truly believe this it would virtually eliminate fear.  It would eliminate doubt and embolden us to be mighty warriors for our God.  We claim to believe God’s word and live as though we have never heard of it.  I am telling you I know because I do this very thing each and every day myself.  I fear and I doubt.  I lean on my own strength and understanding not trusting in God’s.  I confess I am a great transgressor in this and pray God forgive me and strengthen me.

 

     How hard are you seeking after God?  Do you do His will?  Do you put feet and hands to your faith?  Do you see a need and fulfill it or just say I will pray for you?  James 2:15-17 says; “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace be warm and filled.’  Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?  So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  James is telling us that the true Christian can not allow another brother or sister in the Lord to be in want and be OK sitting on the sidelines waiting for God to do something for those in need.  The true Christian will act when a need is noticed.  The true Christian will seek out a means or source of help for those in need or will become that source themselves.  Another thing to consider is that the true Christian will not seek glory for this action but allow God to be glorified by the actions.  The fewer people aware of your faithful work the better for you.  Remember what Jesus said about giving to the needy in Matthew 6 verses 3 and 4: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  There are many reasons why your giving should be done as secretly as possible.  One is because we are so sinful and full of pride that we will be quick to take credit for the good deed done.  Is this so bad?  Yes, for we will carry it too far and take pleasure in the praise of others and not in being used by God.  Every one of us enjoys flattering words.  But from where did the good come that enabled us to do this deed?  Any good in us comes from God.  From where did the means come that allowed us to meet the need?  What do we have that has not been given to us by God?  Everything we are and have is His.  So what reason do we have to take pleasure in doing good?  For this reason, that Him who reigns on high determined to use you and I to accomplish a blessing on another brother or sister this is our pleasure, to be used by God.  We should Praise God for meeting the need of one in want and knowing that apart from God we would have done nothing to assist someone in need, by doing this we acknowledge our dependence upon Him and His grace.  Another reason to do your good work in secret is so that the one being blessed can direct the praise towards God for meeting the need in their life.  If they see you meeting their need they will, without thought, first thank you for meeting that need when the thanks and glory belong to God.  They may also feel indebted to you when the only one they need feel a debt to is God.  Do not rob those in need of their blessing and duty to thank God for meeting their needs.  Do not dare to accept the praise that rightfully belongs to God.  No good deed has ever been done apart from the sovereign hand of God moving those involved to meet the need.  This includes deeds done by reprobates headed for hell.  God is sovereign over them as well.

     How hard are you seeking after God?  Anyone involved in any real relationship will tell you that they have made sacrifices to be in that relationship.  Let us consider Jesus’ own description of one who is His friend; Luke 14:26 Jesus says “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Of course in this verse Jesus is telling the crowds the cost of true friendship to Him.  If you truly love Christ, as you are scripturally required to, the end result will be that everything else will pale in comparison and others who once were considered friends and family may now be at enmity with you.  The lost can’t understand the manifestation of holy love.  Love that seeks to rid you of yourself and replaces you with the image of Christ.  So my beloved do you love Christ like this?  To my great shame I do not.  My time is devoted to working, family, education, relaxation and a sundry of other things the world would call good and moral things.  But God’s word calls them the enemy of God because I have given them priority over God.  They are in fact my idols.  Are they yours as well?  Remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10: 41 and 42 “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” What Martha was doing was it wrong in and of itself?  No, but Jesus said only one thing was necessary and Mary had chosen it.  What did Mary choose?  It was not salvation it was, rather, to be close to Jesus and to learn from Him.  It was sanctification that Mary was after.  It was a deeper more intimate friendship with Christ.  This alienated her own sister and made her indignant.  Martha at that moment was at enmity with Mary.  Yes there is a cost if you are to be a friend of Jesus. 

     Jesus says in John 15:14-15 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” 

What is the greatest command according to Christ?  Matthew 22:37-40 And He said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”  My next statement you may disagree with but I believe what I am about to say is 100% accurate.  There is not a person here today who has ever loved the Lord our God with all their heart, soul, and mind for even 15 seconds let alone on a regular basis.  And if we take the good Samaritan parable to mean that everyone we come in contact with is our neighbor and we are to love them as we love ourselves, we only fall a far greater distance away from obeying His command.  How can we be friends of Christ then?  How can we who will never love God as we are commanded to and thus always falling short of obeying His commands, the requirement to be His friend, ever be His friend?  Consider John 15: 14-15 one more time, Jesus says “You are my friends if” and again He says “I have called you friends.”  Who was Jesus saying this to?  His disciples including Peter, John, and even Judas.  Did these men love God as commanded?  No they did not.  Peter only a short time later would deny Jesus three times and Judas would betray Him outright.  What did Jesus call Judas after the kiss of betrayal? Matthew 26:50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.”  While Judas was not acting as a friend Jesus still called him a friend.  Judas most certainly was not loving Jesus at this moment.  Jesus was still extending His grace to His betrayer.  Each of us has thought how horrible Judas was yet behave just like him.  Yet there is God’s grace screaming to us friend!  There is God’s offer of eternal love and friendship reaching through our sins of selfish desire to rescue the unwilling from eternal alienation from God.  God calls us friend not because we can keep His commandment to love Him but because His son kept the commandments for us.  His son, even while experiencing the wrath of God His Father, never stopped loving His Father supremely.  While He took upon Himself the punishment we deserve for not loving God, He loved God through and in the punishment.  God has chosen to see the perfect love of Christ when looking on those He calls friend.  You and I will always fall short in ourselves to be friends with God.  We could never reach God.  Praise be to God that He has reached down to us.  To manifest His glory He has called us friend who have no right to be thus called.  You can not earn His friendship, it is bestowed upon you.  Pray to God that you may be granted grace and that you are counted among the chosen He calls friend.  Earnestly search His word and spend much time in prayer.  Trust in the Lord who alone can call and make you His friend.  It is for His glory that he saves us and calls us friend.  It is His grace he extends to those who will eternally be called His friend.  It is His work alone that takes you from being the enemy of God to being his friend.  How dear a friend indeed is He who snatched us from the wrath of God to the love of God!

Advertisement