God wants us to have a mature faith lacking nothing. James is gracious to give us the means to fulfill our intentions. Follow the link for the audio or read the text below.
Remember... Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.
“Draw Near” / August 8, 2010 / James 4:1-12
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
When we began this journey of James, we learned that one of the main themes of the letter was maturity in faith. In James 1:4, he desires us our faith to “be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” In short, James wants us to grow spiritually. The Letter of James focuses on spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is encompassed in our three component vision of connect, deepen and engage. At Brimfield Faith we believe to meaningfully follow Christ means we connect with Christ, we deepen in Christ, and we engage for Christ. It is a continual cycle that we repeat over and over again that propels us forward towards discovering our fullness in Christ.
The second component, deepen, we fully define as creating relationships that deepen our faith in Christ. The deepen component is about building right relationships and living rightly in the world. DIG GROUPS are the vehicle by which we are facilitating this to happen. Christianity is about relationships with God and with people. It is learning to journey with God on a regular basis. When we are growing deeper with God, we are learning to live in such a way that God acts more often in our lives. Deepen is about discovering the grace of God and the gifts of God in our lives. To deepen our faith is to live the abundant life of God. This is probably one of the hardest moves for most people to make in the Christian faith. For most people, it is easy to do acts of service, witness, and mission as we engage our faith. But to grow deeper in the love and knowledge of Christ through relationships is challenging.
IMMATURE FAITH
If you struggle to deepen your faith in Christ, you are not alone. Shallow faith is and always has been a challenge for Christians. This year as a church we are journeying towards a deeper relationship in Christ. This difficult journey is not new to Christianity. In this section of the letter, James is addressing a group of people mark with spiritual immaturity and shallow faith. Listen to the words: “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”
These are seemingly harsh words to a group of Christians struggling with maturity. Their lives are marked with fights and quarrels, poor prayer lives and unfaithful living. They have a lack of love and their faith is incomplete. For a letter that begins with a desire to people to have a mature and complete faith, there are scathing words. Because of the harshness of the words, it is important to continue reading for James’ remedy to the situation.
INTENTION WITHOUT MEANS
James is truly a teacher and so he doesn’t simply chide them. He in no uncertain terms commands them to stop but he also understands that we cannot simply will ourselves to maturity. We don’t grow simply through trying harder and good intentions. I’m thinking James might have coined the phrase, “the road to hell is paved in good intentions.” Intention without means causes us to fail. Effort without training will cause us to fall short.
Intention without means is like trying to hit a home run against a 95 mph fastball by Mariano Rivera. When you step to the plate, you can act like a major league hitter and fully intend to hit the ball, but unless you have practiced and have the proper skills you will never hit the ball. You will fail because you do not have the means to hit the pitch.
I played a lot of baseball as a kid and I used to watch hitting videos to hone my skills. This illustration of means can be seen two different approaches to the baseball swing. One video was by Jose Canseco. This was back in his heyday. This juiced up guy… Just swing real hard
Then I later went to a hitting camp over in Tallmadge. The instructor broke down the baseball swing into 10 steps or something. We would practice each of the individual component of the swing. Step, hands, etc… When we finished practicing all of the steps, we took batting practice. And you know what? I could hit the ball better because I had acquired the means. I had trained by body hit the ball. My intention became a reality because I had the means by which to accomplish it.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH - HUMILITY
Mature faith is the same way. Too often we take the Canseco approach and tell people to just hit the ball. Love your neighbor. Be more patient. Be nicer. Stop this. Start this. Let me ask you, have you ever tried to be patient in an extremely stressful situation. You can only do so long before you snap. Am I right? We cannot learn patience in the heat of the moment, just as we cannot hit a fast ball by simply picking up a bat. We must train our souls if we want to deepen our faith. We must acquire the means necessary to act upon our intentions and to fulfill the vision of a mature and complete faith. Otherwise, our faith will stay shallow and incomplete.
James understands this concept. Listen to his words of wisdom to the immature Christian: “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
To fulfill our vision of mature faith, we need the means to act upon our intention. James knows that we have a master teacher in Jesus Christ who can teach us all of the means necessary for fullness of faith. Therefore, we calls us to be humble and to “submit yourselves to God.” Spiritual maturity is learned by living life in the presence of the Rabbi, the Teacher, the Master. The only way to do this is by being humble.
Humble can be a difficult word to define. The Greek word for humility, tapeinos, conveys the sense of “to make low, small and to bow down.” It can be a tricky word. We are told to be humble but we feel there is a fine line between being humble and being humiliated. The world has a distorted view of what humility is. It is perceived as weakness and almost low self-esteem. I had a friend in college who frequently bought into this view. Dan is a talented musician: guitarist and singer. The only problem is that he didn’t know it. You would give him a complement and he would deny it…. This is not humility. Instead, humility is probably best as a full reliance of God. To be humble is to submit to the Lord and to bow down at the foot of his throne. It is to focus on serving and loving others. Humility is what allows us to live in the presence of God. This is why James calls us to humility and submission before God because he wants us to grow spiritually in the presence of God. Humility ushers us into God’s presence and facilitates spiritual growth.
SOUL TRAINING
James suggests some spiritual practices to keep us in the presence of God. Essentially, he is giving us means to become apprentices and students of Jesus. Each of these practices brings us closer to God and keep us in his presence.
#1. Resist the Devil and Drawn near to God (Resist)
#2. CONFESS YOUR SINS: Wash and Purify (Confess)
#3. Repent and make yourselves low and be lifted up. (Repent)
IN HIS PRESENCE
Every morning, I get up after Caleb and Michelle are up. After sleeping for a little while, get up and come into the living room where they are playing. One of the best times of my day happens when Caleb sees that his dad is in the room. He excitedly begins to crawl towards his daddy. As he moves towards me, I move towards him. When he reaches me, he begins to crawl up my legs. I then bend down pick him up and give him a big hug and kiss.
As children with a Heavenly Father, we would do well to begin our days in the same fashion. Beginning our day in the arms of God and allow our hearts to be touched by him is the beginning of spiritual formation. James doesn’t provide a ton of spiritual practices in this passage, but he provides the most important one: Be in the presence of God.
Caleb is learning how to live life (for better or worse) when we spends time with me. He learns right and wrong, good and bad by simply watching me and spending time with me. Spiritual growth and maturity ultimately will come through spending time in God’s presence. Through His presence, your hearts, minds, wills and desires are transformed. Instead of fighting there will be peace. Instead of unanswered prayers we will receive abundantly from God’s heart. Instead of unfaithfulness there will be faithfulness. Instead of immaturity there will be maturity. We will begin to be filled with the fullness of God if we chose to crawl into the Presence of the Lord. Are you ready to draw near to God?
Prayer… come to altar during the last song… resist, confess, repent. Rest in the arms of your Heavenly Father.
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