Worldliness and How to Fix It (James 4:4-6)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to listen to the preaching of one or more of the apostles or other biblical authors such as Mark or Luke? Paul, we might think, would deliver very logical sermons, but he says himself that he was of speech contemptible, and this affected the way some people listened to him. John, we might imagine, would be reflective in his delivery. Barnabas would be encouraging and gentle as he addressed his hearers. Of course, we cannot know what they were really like. Yet maybe we get insight into how James would preach because in this section of the letter he seems to deliver a list of one-liners, almost bullet points uttered very quickly one after another. He would have done this as a means of emphasis, of wanting to stress the importance of the point he was making.

What is the point that he is making? I suggest he is indicating that worldliness is an expression of spiritual pride because we can observe that he links the problem of the worldliness of his readers with an apparent lack of humility in their behaviour. I don’t think that combination is too difficult to understand because it is likely that those he is rebuking were attempting to justify their wrong attitudes and behaviour.

Again, we see an example of how adverse circumstances can bring about spiritual problems. James’ readers were suffering from opposition to their faith as Christians, but their sufferings were not making all of them resolute in their commitment to Jesus. Instead, their problems seemed to have brought about an opposite effect in some of them and James has had to write this letter to correct aspects of the behaviour. And we can see from his description that James thought their worldliness was very serious, maybe an indication that they were about to give up the faith.

How was their worldliness expressed?

One of the problems that we have with worldliness is that often it is limited to certain outward actions usually connected to the world of pleasure and is often little more than a list of items that we personally may not like. Our personal tastes about anything are not a guide as to what is worldly.

According to James, his readers showed they were worldly by arguing with one another and engaging in the wrong kinds of prayers. So their worldliness was expressed verbally to humans and to God. He also says that the basic cause of their worldliness was coveting something that they could not have, although he does not say what they were coveting. So their worldliness was expressed clearly by wrong words flowing out of wrong desires.

James’ assertion about worldliness is very similar to what the apostle John says in 1 John 2:15-16: ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father but is from the world.’ It is what is inside our hearts that reveals whether or not we are worldly people, even if the only one who sees it is God.

What does it mean to be worldly?

James mentions first that his readers are guilty of spiritual adultery when they become worldly. As we can read in many books of the Old Testament, this was a common way by which the Old Testament prophets such as Jeremiah and Hosea criticised the behaviour of the Israelites when they departed from God. The reason that the prophets did so was because the Israelites had been brought into a special relationship with God by the covenant he made with them at Mount Sinai when they became his privileged people and the relationship was regarded by God as sacred and he punished them severely when they broke it.

Christians are not related to God by the Mosaic covenant. Instead their contact with him is called the new covenant. It began in their experience when they believed in Jesus. One blessing that God gave to them at that time was a new heart which loved his law and delighted to practise it. The new covenant does not make them perfect, but it does make them lovers of what is good. So if they should love something else, they would not be valuing their relationship with God. If they did so, and James says that his readers were guilty of such an attitude and actions, they were despising God.

Second, Paul makes a stark contrast when he writes that a worldly person has ceased to be a friend of God and instead becomes his enemy. How would we define a friend? A friend loves at all times, says the wise man. This means that he is reliable and consistent. James is almost saying that God can depend on a true believer to think and do what is right.

What happens when a professing Christian does the opposite? God becomes his enemy. What does this mean? It means that God fights against that person and opposes what he does. Obviously James does not mean that God uses all his power against that individual. Instead, the Lord will deprive that individual of spiritual blessings and work against him in his providence. This activity of the Lord may lead such a person to consider his way and repent. That is what James wants his readers to do.

Third, why does God respond in this way? James tells us in verse 5 that God, like a jealous husband, yearns for the return of his backsliding people to a place of dedicated discipleship and service. We thought last Sunday of how the fact that the Spirit can be grieved indicated that there is an emotional life in God. And we can see another aspect of this divine emotional life in the description that James uses of God when saying that he yearns for his people, to have communion with them and to interact with them on a regular basis. It is good for us to know that God responds in this manner. If he was indifferent about it, or merely angry, what hope would there be for us. But he yearns for our fellowship and works to restore us.

It is possible to translate this verse as the New King James Version does: ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.’ If this translation is correct, then what we have here is a description of the response of the grieved Holy Spirit when we sin. James’ readers had their forms of sin and we have ours. But the response of the Spirit would be the same in both. He is full of longing that we would be fully devoted once more to the God who has saved us.

The remedy for worldliness

James makes clear that the remedy for their worldliness is the grace of God. In doing so, he also says that the amount of grace that will always be available will always be sufficient for their needs. This is a reminder that God is like a fountain in which grace is continually flowing. It is not a feature of his character that he switches off and on.

Moreover, the fact that James mentions grace to his sinning readers is an indication that God is favourable towards them, that he wishes to bless them abundantly. Of course, this is remarkable because it is grace shown towards persons who did not deserve it. They were departing from God and yet he was inviting them to return to him.

Another important aspect of God’s grace that should always be stressed is that it is free. It is impossible to buy it from God. This should be good news to people who are spiritually bankrupt. God is kind, full of mercy, desirous to share his grace with those who need it and, as far as some of James’ readers were concerned, willing to give grace to those who had despised it.

Of course, when we think about grace we should not think of a vague commodity that can somehow be weighed. No one can say that they received a stone of grace or a ton of grace. Grace does not exist apart from God. Grace is God acting favourably, so when we receive grace we receive God himself. The Holy One comes to our rescue and by the Holy Spirit and the intercession of the Son we receive grace from the heavenly Father. Receiving God’s grace is an ongoing family privilege.

But to whom does God give this wonderful supply of grace? James tells us that God gives it to the humble. This is similar to what Isaiah says in Isaiah 57:15: ‘For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”’ That verse comes in a section in which God promises to restore backsliders who would collapse under his chastisement. About such he says, ‘I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners’ (57:17-18). The implication is that humility is the evidence of divine healing. If a person is not humble, then they have not had recent contact with the heavenly Physician.

How do we show humility? By submitting themselves to God and the commandments he has laid out in his Word. God never leads us to act independently of what his Word says and he never leads those who are unwilling to follow his instructions. It is not a sign of spirituality to ignore the requirements that God has made about our individual lives, about our church lives, and about our contacts with those who are outside the church. Instead the proof that we are spiritual is that we obey his Word from the heart.

Of course, such submission should be voluntary and flow from love to God. It should also be made gratefully because we realise that he is the one who knows best and who has given us the path of wisdom in his Word. So may the Lord keep us from worldliness and enable us to be humble.