Lesson 53 November 7
4:4 Condemnation and the consequences of their worldliness.
Intro: The root cause of all wars/conflicts seen
here is rebellion against God. Sin is
lawlessness and lawlessness is rebellion against God. (1 Jn
3:4)
So as James addresses
these believers (male and female) he is pointing to those who are unfaithful
spiritually to Christ their bridegroom.
Do you not know (demands an affirmative
answer) that friendship with the
world (kosmos - orderly arrangement) is hostility toward God.
Some
Principles related to Worldliness
1. To operate with a warm and friendly attitude
toward the cosmos is to be on good terms with the enemy of God.
2. It is to adopt the worlds set of values,
(world view of life), what the world wants instead of choosing the std of God.
3. To cultivate the world's friendship implies
conformity to its
principles and aims.
4. To be controlled by the spirit of worldliness
is totally incompatible with loyalty to God. Rom 8:5-8 (diametrically opposed)
5. You can't embrace the cosmos and God -
mutually exclusive.
6. To attempt to straddle the fence is very
dangerous - just as trying
to straddle the line while driving down the road.
Significance and impact of their desire to be a friend of the world.
Therefore (oun - draws a logical
conclusion) whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of
God.
- by their choices and actions they have made themselves an
enemy of God
4:4 You adulteresses, do you
not know that friendship with the world is hostility against God? (yes
they know) Therefore whoever chooses to be a friend of the world constitutes
himself an enemy of God.
Summary 4:4
1. The
terms used like the previous ones are not to be taken literally, they're
metaphors.
2. Their
mental attitude toward the cosmos, conforming to its principles and aims became
the basis for the charge here of spiritual adultery.
3. Point
is that you cannot pursue the ways - and thinking of the cosmos and honor God
in your life.
4. In Rom
12:2 Paul makes it clear that we are not to be conformed to the vpt, the
thinking of the kosmos.
5. World
or cosmic system includes the current trends of philosophy and the traditions
of man.
6. James
warns us that to deliberately choose to become a friend of the cosmos that we
are actually taking a stand as the enemy of God.
7. The
result is "worldliness" which
is not just simply being under the sin nature's rulership & sin (a part)
there is much more involved than an occasional MAS or an isolated failure
to apply some BD, it results from
consistently thinking, and making decisions outside the DWOG.
8. James'
strong warning to these believers is designed to wake them up to the reality of
their spiritual condition - those addressed are losing the inner battle with the
indwelling sin nature and if this is perpetuated over time it will result in
their becoming an enemy of God.
9.
Severing friendship with the world is to stop living by the N&S of the
world.
10. When we live in the will of God
applying divine viewpoint know that it will bring hatred from the cosmos. (on diff paths) 1 Jn