LESSON 6 • Submit Yourselves to God
James 4: 1-12
Boasting About Tomorrow
James 4:13-17

Introduction

In the first part of chapter 4, James shows a keen perception about what caused the early Christians to fight and quarrel. But surely times have changed, you say. Does his reasoning really apply to us in the 21st century? We know the answer already, if we stop and think about it. He tells the first century brethren why they had difficulties getting along. Today, our answers to the same issues don’t vary much from what James said 2000 years ago. It usually boils down to not getting our way, selfishness and pride. Human nature has not changed much after all. So, if we have the same difficulties today, perhaps a close reading of James’ solution to the problem is good “medicine” to prescribe in our modern era.

In the last part of the chapter, James points out the foolishness of planning things on our own and leaving God out of those plans. Here again, the problem stems from our sense of pride in being able to plan, predict and control the outcome of things. We like to feel in control of the situation and it is easy to fall into the trap of leaving God out of our plans. This often leads to boasting and bragging that James says plainly God does not like.

Outline of Chapter 4

I. Submit Yourselves to God (4:1-12)
A. What causes fights and quarrels? (4:1-2)
1. They come from the desire that battles within you. 2. You cannot have what you want. 
B. You do not ask God, or you ask with the wrong motives (4:3)
C. Friendship with the world is hatred toward God. (4:4-6)
1. The spirit which lives within us envies intensely. 2. God opposes the proud. 
D. Submit to God and resist the devil (4:7-10)
1. Submit to God.
2. Resist the devil.
3. Wash your hands and purify your hearts.
4. Grieve, mourn and wail.
5. Humble yourselves before the Lord.
E. Do not slander and judge one another. (4:11-12)
1. Don’t judge your brother or speak against the law. 2. There is only one Law giver. 
3. Who are you to judge?

II. Boasting About Tomorrow (4:13-17)
A. Plans without God are folly. (4:13-14)
1. Tomorrow is uncertain.
2. Life is but a mist.
B. Plan in accordance with God’s will. (4:15-17)
1. Say "if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this and that".
2. Do not boast and brag because it is evil.
3. Do the good you know you ought.

Contextual Overview

James addresses this writing to the “twelve tribes” scattered among the nations. This would include all Jews, wherever they may have been living at the time. James’ message is founded on the basic belief, common to the Jews, in one God. However, James more than likely had in mind all Jewish Christians who were living in Gentile areas, as well as Christians everywhere, as he wrote some twenty years after the church was established. Many of these early Christians found life difficult in their communities because of persecution and rejection by their friends and neighbors. 

James begins the book by saying that trials are part of life and that they serve to test our faith. This testing develops perseverance, which enables us to withstand trials and temptations. He continues by telling Christians how faith and action are interrelated. Subjects which he covers include: (1) the importance of controlling one’s speech; (2) distinguishing between earthly and heavenly wisdom; (3) turning from evil desires and obeying God; (4) not to depending on ones own plans (Chapter 4); (5) being patient with being one another; (6) being straightforward in ones promises; (7) praying for each other, and (8) helping each other remain faithful to God.

This could be viewed as a “how to” book on Christian living. James’ emphasis is on doing God’s will, along with developing a strong and abiding faith, as Christians live day to day in face of difficulties encountered in living for Christ.

Textual Review

I. Submit Yourselves to God

A. What causes fights and quarrels? (4:1-2)

In verses 1-12, James admonishes Christians to submit to God. He begins by asking the question, “What causes fights and quarrels?” It goes without saying that fights and quarrels among brothers are harmful to everyone involved. They have a way of reaching beyond just the parties directly involved by pulling others into the fray. Sides are taken, harsh words are spoken and relationships are shattered. With difficulties faced from outside, Christians certainly do not need to create added challenges by bickering and fighting among themselves. 

James points out some of the reasons they were fighting, including selfish desires and not getting what they wanted. We are not immune to such selfish desires. We want more possessions, more money, bigger houses, more power and prestige. If these wants go unbridled, they lead to actions which have serious consequences.

The words “you kill and covet” seem extreme. Some suggest that the words translated might be better stated “you are envious”. An early Christian might not have been guilty of actual murder, but he may have given way to feelings of hate which can lead to murder. (I John 3:15, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”)

Often we find ourselves in an internal struggle between our desires and what we know to be the right thing to do. The question is: Do we have the self-control necessary to do the right thing rather than caving in to our desires?

B. You do not ask God, or you ask with the wrong motives (4:3) 

James continues by saying that they did not have, because they did not ask God. When they did ask, they asked with wrong motives because they wanted to spend what they got on their own pleasures.

Knowing how to pray is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of being a Christian. It is so easy to become self-centered in our prayers by asking God for things we crave, desire, want, and think we need. We really do not know what to ask of God. Submitting to God in our prayer life is a constant challenge. The more frequently we come before Him in prayer, the more likely we are to allow His will to be our will and to pray that His will is done in our lives.

It is not wrong for a person to pray for God’s blessings, including things which make life pleasurable. (James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...” I Timothy 4:4-5, “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”) The key is asking with the proper motive in mind and heart. 

C. Friendship with the world is hatred toward God (4:4-6)

“You adulterous people” means those who have forsaken God. The term “adulterous” is used in scripture to indicate those who do not have a committed relationship with God. Their fidelity is in question because their faith and dependence on God is lacking. (Matthew 12:39, “He answered, ‘A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!...’ “) Their friendship with the world is hatred toward God. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James is pointing out the fact that you are either for God or you are against Him. There is no serving God while continuing to be of the world. Where is your allegiance? 

In verse 5, James asks, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely”. Saying it another way is that God longs eagerly for the spirit that He planted in us. We read in the Old Testament that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5, “...for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...”; 34:14, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”) God’s jealousy is different than jealousy of man. “God’s jealousy expresses itself in the good gifts of more grace.” Verse 6 continues by saying “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The NIV renders Proverbs 3:34, here quoted, as “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” God has always treasured those who humble themselves before Him. Likewise, God’s opposition to the proud can be found in many passages. Two examples include Proverbs 15:25, “The Lord tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow’s boundaries intact” and Isaiah 2:12, “The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)...”

D. Submit to God and resist the devil (4:7-10)

“Submit yourselves, then, to God.” (v. 7) If God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud, James is saying, in essence, God is always going to win, so why would you want to fight against Him? Instead, submit yourselves, get on God’s side, get on the winning team. The devil is hard to resist if one tries to do it alone. The devil is smart, cunning, devious, patient, strong and tireless. The odds of our being able to withstand him, based solely on ones own strength, are not good. However, if the devil recognizes that you are on God’s side, then he will flee from you. The invitation to join God’s team is always open to us and all we have to do is accept that invitation. We have to come clean because there is no place for sin on this team. But God has provided the avenue for us to “wash our hands” and “purify our hearts” through the blood of the perfect sacrifice, that of Jesus Christ. God doesn’t stop there. He also gives us the Holy Spirit to help in our daily walk and in our battles with Satan.

Submitting really means recognizing that our strength comes from God alone. If we are humble before Him, we rely on his guidance and strength and not our own wisdom and power. With the proper attitude, Satan can never defeat us and that is a most comforting thought as we struggle through this life.

Making the transition from a life of walking worldly to walking after God’s will should cause us to realize just how sinful our life has been. James says “grieve, mourn and wail”.(v. 9) Being sorrowful for our sins and past lifestyle is part of the process of repenting and turning to God; it is part of the cleansing process.

So, how do we draw close to God? We (1) submit to God, (2) resist the devil, (3) wash our hands and purify our hearts, (4) grieve, mourn and wail, and (5) humble ourselves before the Lord.

E. Do not slander and judge one another (4:11-12)

When asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was, Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40)

If we follow what Jesus is saying, we will love our neighbor and not sit in judgment against him. There is no room for slander against our fellow man to do so is to break God’s law and James has already made the case for submitting to God in verses 7-10. 

James warns that there is only one Lawgiver and Judge and that we have no right or power to make law or to judge. To attempt to do so is to assume an exalted position for ourselves, becoming proud, and we know that God opposes the proud. 

II. Boasting About Tomorrow

A. Plans without God are folly (4:13-14)

One could read this passage and conclude that we should never plan ahead. That is not the message James intends. Leaving God out of our plans is what James is warning against. We are being presumptuous to make plans without allowing for God’s will and plans to be over our own. In Proverbs 16:9 we find, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Again, in Proverbs 19:21 we read, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” There is a vast difference in making plans without consideration of God, who directs our steps and whose purpose prevails, and making plans with the knowledge that our future is in His hands. Doing the latter, we will hold our plans loosely and be better able to alter our intended course if unforeseen events occur and circumstances change.

We do not know what tomorrow will bring; we don’t even know if we will survive until tomorrow. James is pointing out the folly of getting too tied up in our plans when even our tomorrow is uncertain. Life is brief, just a mist that soon vanishes. This is a sobering thought.

B. Plan in accordance with God’s will (4:15-17)

James tells us specifically how we should plan, which is to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”(v. 15) It is interesting that he inserts the word “live” in this verse. This simply underscores his thought about the shortness of life in the previous verse. 

James warns of a trap we may fall into when we plan without consideration of God’s hand in our future. We tend to boast and brag about what all we are going to do and accomplish. We start to feel that we are wise and in charge of our future. We lose sight of the dependence we have on God and start to feel that we are doing things all on our own. James says such boasting is evil.

The last thought in this chapter is the sin of failing to do what we know to be right. We so frequently focus on sinful acts and carefully guard against those. Less often do we focus on the things we know to be good and right but which we are not doing. James says that is also a sin.


Discussion

1. Do you enjoy submitting yourself to someone else? 
2. Is it your nature to humble yourself before others? What about before God? 
3. Do you like admitting that you are wrong (or, are you never wrong)?
4. If it is obviously destructive to fight, why do you think Christians sometimes do it 
anyway?
5. How do you tend to relate and react to people? 
6. Are you tolerant, understanding, and forgiving? 
7. Do you heap praise and encouragement on others? Or, do you tend to be suspicious
of motives, looking for fault in others, and being judgmental of their actions?


References

Life Application Bible, New International Version (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., and Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House,
1991)

Dummelow, J. R., M.A., editor, A Commentary on The Holy Bible (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., Thirty-fourth Printing, 1973)

Proverbs, a NavPress Bible Study of the Book (Colorado Springs, CO:
NavPress, 1990)



Pat Bell is a former elder of the Pleasant Valley congregation, having first served during the 1970's, prior to moving to Birmingham, and again from 1995 to 2001 after returning to Little Rock following retirement as a partner with Ernst & Young. He is a graduate of Harding University and received an MBA from the University of Arkansas prior to joining Ernst & Young. He and his wife, Mary, are currently involved in an outreach ministry to Internationals in the Little Rock area, including a Sunday morning Bible class, tutoring in English as a second language (ESL) and training for US citizenship applications. He 
and Mary have three married daughters and ten grandchildren.