Daily Scripture Reading James 3:15 - 4:17

Many modern pastors design church services to give people an emotional experience and make them feel good about themselves. That philosophy dictates that they use the Bible as a tool to accomplish those objectives.

In today’s passage we will see evidence that the Bible is not designed to merely applaud people and lift them up. Rather, many passages in the Bible are intended to mold and change us.

In the first half of chapter 3, James warned us about the power of the tongue and the difficulty of controlling it. He criticized the fact that both blessings and curses come out of the same mouth.

James 3:13 ¶ Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.

Anyone who is wise and understanding should prove so by conducting himself well.

James 3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

James 3:15 This wisdom is not coming down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

The pronoun “this” refers to bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Those traits are natural, but also demonic.

James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.

Most modern evangelical churches are designed to make people feel good and put them on an emotional high. Thus, they use the Bible as a tool to achieve those aims. The problem with that is the Bible is designed to change and mold us, not make us feel good about ourselves.

This passage in James is an example of that. In verses 13 through 16 James described people as naturally being jealous and selfish. In the following verse he teaches us what we should strive for instead.

James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, without doubting, without hypocrisy.

This verse lists 8 traits that characterize wisdom from above. There are the opposites of jealousy and selfishness. In our lives we should strive to eliminate jealousy and selfishness and pursue these 8 characteristics instead.

James 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James 4:1 ¶ What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

James 4:2 You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

Chapter 4 starts another short section where James draws a contrast between what people naturally do and what we should do. People instinctively lust and envy. Instead of asking God for what they want, they fight and quarrel.

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Even when they do ask, they ask with wrong motives. The implication in all this is that we should not lust and envy. Rather, we should adopt pure motives and then ask God for what we want.

James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God.

Don’t miss the stark and clear teaching in this verse. Anyone who wants to be friends with the world makes himself an enemy of God. Here is an example of being friends with the world.

The dominant belief in academia is that God does not exist, the world came into existence over millions of years via the process of evolution, and Christians are anti-intellectual fools for believing in God and creation. There are many within Christianity who try to meld evolution and the Bible. They teach that creation happened over millions of years; thus making the Bible conform to the timelines of secular evolutionists who are desperate to prove that humans can exist apart from God. These people within Christianity who espouse an old earth creation do so because they want to be respected by academia. If they want to be respected by secular academia, which is opposed to God, then they are trying to be friends with the world; thus, they are making themselves enemies of God.

James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

James 4:7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

In verses 7 and 8 we see another contrast between what we should and should not do. The devil’s ways are attractive, but we should resist the devil and draw near to God.

James 4:9 Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Many modern churches are designed to make people feel good about themselves and they only preach positive messages. However, verse 8 tells us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Those commands assume we need cleansed and purified. Then verse 9 tells us to mourn and cry. We should do so because of sin in general and our sin in particular.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

James 4:11 ¶ Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judge your neighbor?

James 4:13 ¶ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

This is another section where James draws a contrast between how humans normally think and the mentality we should adopt in its place.

We humans naturally make plans for our lives and believe we will be around for years to come to accomplish certain objectives.

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

We must always keep in mind that our life might change or end at any moment. There is nothing wrong with making plans, but we should do so with the understanding that our plans will only come to fruition if God allows them to come to fruition.

James 4:16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.

This is another change in perspective. People normally think sin is doing something we should not do. That is true, but James also taught that failing to do the right thing is also a sin.

Many sections of the Bible do not make us feel good about ourselves. They actually condemn the natural proclivities of humans and tell us what we should pursue in place of our natural inclinations.

What are some examples of failing to do the right thing?

What are some ways your church promotes the mentality that the purpose of church is to life people up, put them on an emotional high, and make them feel good?

What are some examples of your pastor using the Bible to teach people to eschew their natural human inclinations and adopt God’s values and priorities?

Why do many modern churches put so much emphasis on feelings and design church services to be an emotional experience instead of using the weekly gathering to teach the whole counsel of God?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”