Author Archives: Phillip

Tues 30^th June  –  Read James 4:4-6:

V4: Spiritual adultery – often God’s charge against His people in the OT – is professing to know and serve God while letting other things have the place in our hearts and lives that should be His alone. In OT Israel’s case it sometimes meant literally serving ” other gods” but here James is speaking of conformity to the ways and desires of the unbelieving world, and so to cultivate a relationship that makes them unfaithful to God, and so at enmity with Him.

V5-6:  The “quotation” of v5 is in fact not a specific OT verse, but seems to be offered as a summary of what God’s Word teaches about such “spiritual adultery” – that the Lord is a “jealous God” in that He will not share His people’s hearts with another – those He has given His Holy Spirit to dwell within them. Yet in our weakness and all too common proneness to such divided hearts, there is the wonderful promise of v6 “ He gives more grace!” – grace that we do not deserve, but which is all-sufficient. But proud hearts that seek their own will, not His, will not know the experience of that grace. We must come to Him in humble faith to receive the fullness of His supply.

Mon 29th June – Read James 4:1-3

V1:  James is concerned about division and – apparently – bitter dissention among those he writes to. He seems to feel this is a widespread problem. Remember this is a circular letter to various groups. It is certainly something we must always guard against – Satan loves to divide believers against each other, and so spoil the witness of a church. Typically, James addresses this in stark terms, and declares it is caused by their “passions” – literally, their pleasures, but clearly he means sinful desires which are given way to, and he says not only do such passions divide them and cause fights ( probably not literally, but it has been known, of course, and brought shame on the Lord’s Name ) but they also reflect turmoil within them ( the “double-mindedness” of James 1:8) which then leads to turmoil with each other.

V2:  These desires lead to coveting what others have ( remember what Paul says in Romans 7:7.) and causing such bitterness that James even uses the term ” murder” – again, probably not literally, but think of the Lord’s own words in Matthew 5:21-22. Do we take such verses seriously, as we ought to? They fail to bring what is in their hearts to God – not bringing their desires into submission to His will – instead they resent and think ill of each other.

V3:  And even if they do pray, that prayer is in the wrong spirit and receives no answer, for they are seeking to do their own will, not God’s. Does our prayer sometimes have the sub-text ” MY will be done”? Such a prayer will not receive an answer.

Sat 27th June –  Read James 3:17-18

V17: In blessed contrast, he turns to ” the wisdom from above”, the wisdom God gives to those who truly ask Him (again, James 1:5.) Such wisdom, in its effect and fruit in our lives is pure, and shows all the characteristics declared in this verse. We see echoes of some of the Beatitudes here, and also of what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23.) This God-given wisdom, by His own grace in our hearts and lives, is the answer to the things James has rebuked in the previous verses. We must not look to or trust in our own efforts, but to God’s work in us by His Spirit.

V18: And in the life that knows and shows the peace God gives in Christ, a life like Christ’s own, which is called blessed in Matthew 5:9, the 7th Beatitude, James declares that such a Christ-like walk will produce ” a harvest of righteousness”. But that harvest itself is the work of God’s grace in us, of course. Only in Christ can we be fruitful Christians. (John 15:4.)

Fri 26th June – Read James 3:15-16

V15: Such lives are far from the godly wisdom he is speaking of – rather they respond to the very opposite impulses, following the way of the world, – a broken world, estranged from God -(“earthly, unspiritual”) – but more, yielding to Satan’s temptations, and so “demonic”, inspired as it were by the Devil himself. How we need to heed such warnings as 1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6:11, and be on our guard.

V16: He seems to feel a particular need to rebuke the sins here -“jealousy and selfish ambition”, but he warns that they lead to many other kinds of sin. Truly, sin begets sin, once it has a grip on a believer’s life, there is a downward spiral. Only the grace of God can give us the victory, but always remember, it is already won, by the finished work of Christ.

Thurs 25th June – Read James 3:13-14

V13: Addressing his readers – and us – directly, James asks who regards themselves as wise, as having good understanding ? (we should remember James 1:5 here.) Let them show it by their Christian lives, by walking in obedience and faith, by God’s grace – this would be true wisdom
in practice – and let it be with “meekness” – humility, for it is always and only from God, and by His enabling grace.

V14: Verses like this may make us wonder if James is addressing true believers, or directing them to unbelievers who may be in their assemblies, but I think it best to see them as warnings to believers of our own weakness and failings (remember 1 Corinthians 10:12.) And where professing Christians do display the things he speaks of here, jealousy, ambition, selfishness, let them not deny it and boast of their obedient lives, for they deny by this the truth they profess to live by. James ” pulls no punches”, and constantly challenges us as to our Christian walk.

Wed 24th June – Read James 3:9-12

V9: And how inconsistent our use of our tongue can be – we “bless God” – in praise and prayer and thanksgiving and worship – yet in the next breath we may ” curse people” – not necessarily literally, but to speak ill of them in so many ways – and those we so malign are ” made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26.) Can we not see the irony of this?

V10: So, our mouths can be properly used and sadly abused. This should not be so. These verses may seem very simple, even obvious, but may none of us “skim them” or take them glibly. They challenge us all.

V11: Such inconsistency is really ” against nature”, where the same source of water cannot produce both fresh and salt water.

V12: Similarly (in an image used by Jesus Himself in Matthew 7:15-18) fig trees or vines cannot produce the fruit of a different plant, but only that which is proper to themselves – so it should be with our use of our tongues as Christians, but sadly so often we are inconsistent. Again we see how much in this letter does recall the Sermon on the Mount. Was James there, we might well ask?