Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Rev. Mark Duer
James 4:4-10 September 22, 2024
4Do 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. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
How does a disciple of Christ live in the world and at the same time remain faithful to God's ways? The old Adam inside of us wants to live like everyone else in the worldly ways; conforming to their standards and way of life.
We face the difficult challenge to live in the world, but not be of the world. The forces of darkness are at work to derail God's chosen people and lead them into doubt and uncertainty.
We face all kinds of temptations and at times we so desperately want to have more and expensive things, because we are not content with what we have.
To be called “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” is certainly not the life to which the saints including us here today have been called.
But these sinful ways are still evident among us: bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, quarrels, fights, covetousness, and every vile practice are all present in our world, in our congregations, in our families, and, most troubling, in our hearts.
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.”
But what is the purpose of this preaching of the law by James? It is a call to repentance, with the result that the Lord lifts us up and forgives our sins?
This forgiveness is won as Jesus is lifted high upon his throne. Jesus reigns from the Cross, shedding his blood to cover all our sins. He suffers so you can be at peace. After three days the empty tomb is proof that He rose from the tomb, defeating death, and the devil once and for all.
In the Epistle for today, James drives his hearers to the realization that they have abandoned their Lord, sought to live for themselves alone, and as a result have nothing but death.
They are, using the language of the Old Testament, “adulterous people” who have become “friends of the world.”
They are “double-minded,” people who claim to be God’s people yet live as people of the world. James poses some serious questions for the Christians living in Gentile Nations.
Verse 5: Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, He yeans jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
These rebukes expose the self-delusion of thinking that God allows us to get away with living double minded lives.
Do you dwell in the desires of the flesh or live by the spirit producing good works in Christ Jesus? It's Satan who tempts us to live in the flesh, to gratify its desires and be of the world, and worldly ways.
Romans 7:15-18 “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
Galatians 5:17 “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in constant battle with are passions that are at war within us. Sometimes they get the best of us; like covetousness, wrongful desires and anger to name a few.
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
St. James shifts from law to gospel. The Scriptures do not speak uselessly, and indeed they speak a promise. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”
His gift is greater than our failure. It is upon the “humble” that God bestows gifts, upon those who repent and trust his promise.
James calls us to repentance and a new life in God who lifts up. The verses are an inclusion of repentance: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
These are the actions of the penitent, of those who can only trust the promise.
What does the act of repentance look like? Turning from the devil and toward God, cleansing and purifying, mourning and contrition.
All the actions of the covenant people of God, and also the actions of those who are now in Christ—those who do not live by their own power and strength but solely by the precious blood of Jesus.
In what does this faith consist? In being “lifted up” to new life in him. In John 12:31-32, Jesus says: “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
This new life no longer consists in jealousy, strife, quarrels, bitter deeds, etc. Rather, in Christ we are lifted up to a life that is above such self-serving and destructive behavior.
We live to serve, not ourselves, but Christ, and our neighbor. We serve in many and various ways: In our vocations, in service to a neighbor in need. You serve at ___________Lutheran Church, in the Women’s Guild and LWML, and other Offices [serving the food pantry], and serving in many other ways and sharing the gifts that God has so graciously given us.
Mark 9:35 Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last, and the servant of all."
In Christ we are lifted up to help and befriend our neighbor in every bodily need; lifted up to speak well of our neighbor and put the best construction on everything. For we have been lifted up in Christ Jesus.
We need to look no father than our baptismal promise: Titus 3:5-7 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Jesus lifts you up when you receive his true body and true blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine--and you receive forgiveness and strengthening of faith for the weeks and months ahead as you live as God's faithful children.
He lifts you up to have confidence and talk to others about what Jesus did for them on the Cross and empty tomb; forgiveness, life and peace for all the days of your life. Amen