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Ambition and Worldliness

James 4:1-17

Wars consist in a state of declared aggressiveness between groups of people or nations which can last for a long time, until one of the protagonists surrenders or both make a peace treaty. Fightings are battles, struggles, disputes or discussions between individuals, groups or armies. And so wars can be a succession of fightings.

In the world political parties break up and fight between themselves, within a society one group becomes pitted against another, within a commercial or industrial enterprise capital and labour battle each other and there are internal strifes. Climbers on the social ladder step on the hands of others who seem to be obstructing their progress and are below them. It is like murder, used here largely in a figurative sense: the anger, jealousy and cruelty which this ambition generates are tantamount to murder.

This type of ambition is worldliness, and intrudes in local assemblies: this letter of James is addressed to believers.

Among believers, and even within churches, wars and fightings can tragically exist, arising sometimes due to a passionate defence of contrary points of view, or to ambition for prestige or to conflicts of interest. The "lusts that war in your members" are actually sensual pleasures, that which pleases the eyes and the ears, and the ambition for acquisition of their enjoyment. As these things are not of the Spirit, but of the world, and are part of the old nature, they never satisfy.

We are told that we should take our desires to the Lord in prayer. The answer might be to have them satisfied, denied, or refined, and we should accept the answer. If they are denied the reason may be that we are asking for the wrong thing, with the intention of spending it on our pleasures, for God knows our hearts. When denied, in a case like this we ought to be humble enough to accept the fact that we are being selfish.

Greed, covetousness and envy come from the desire for more and from jealousy of others, and is the source of bickering and strife among believers. True pleasure, however, is not found in this way, but in contentment with food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8).

The inordinate love of material things is condemned as spiritual idolatry. God wants us to love Him first and foremost, so when we love the passing things of this world, we are being untrue to Him. Covetousness is a form of idolatry, for it means that we strongly desire to have that which God does not want us to have. We have set up an idol for ourselves by valuing material things above the will of God. Therefore covetousness is idolatry, and idolatry is spiritual unfaithfulness to the Lord, or spiritual adultery.

Verse 5 "Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously'?" isn't found in the Old Testament, the closest reads: "for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you" (Deuteronomy 6:15). The Holy Spirit only came to systematically dwell in men after the baptism on the day of Pentecost.

The phrase may be being used to convey the general teaching of Scripture: the Holy Spirit whom God caused to dwell in us does not originate the lust and jealousy which cause strife, but yearns over us with jealousy for our entire devotion to Christ. But bearing in mind that capital letters weren't used in the original Greek, it is possible that it is condemning the spirit of passionate jealousy that dwells in us, the spirit of lust and envy, which is the cause of all our unfaithfulness to God.

Our nature may be wicked, but we are not left to deal with our selfish ambition ourselves: God gives more grace or strength whenever it is needed: "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need". (Hebrews 4:16).

This requires humility, recognising our own limitations and needs, and admitting that God is the Provider. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (Proverbs 3:34). Six steps are to be followed where there is true repentance from worldliness:

1. Submit to God: admitting His authority, listen to Him, obey Him in all humility.

2. Resist the devil: holding our ground before him with the Sword of the Spirit, closing our eyes and ears to his suggestions and temptations. He will then flee from us.

3. Draw near to God: in prayer asking for His forgiveness and casting our burdens upon Him. He forgives us and restores us.

4. Cleanse our hands (actions) and purify our hearts (motives, desires): in repentance forsaking sin, outward and inward. Sinners must give up evil acts, double-minded people must clean their hearts of mixed motives.

5. Be sorrowful: in sadness reflect on our wrong doing, convicted of our failure, sinfulness, powerlessness, coldness and barrenness. Humbly weep over our materialism, secularism and formalism. Godly repentance will be manifested in this way.

6. Humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord: admitting our nothingness in relation to His glory and greatness.

If we are censorious with regard to a brother, speaking evil of him, we are assuming a position of judge, and we have no right to such a position. The Lord Jesus said "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement to the Son" John 5:22. Before indulging in criticism of others, someone suggested we answer three questions:

• What good does it do to our brother?

• What good does it do to ourselves?

• What glory for God is there in it?

The greatest of all commandments is that we love our neighbour as ourselves. To speak evil against a brother is not to love him, and in this sense we place ourselves above the law: we speak evil of the law and judge the law. He who does such a thing makes himself a judge rather than one who is to be judged. He is usurping a right which belongs only to God.

Another sin of arrogance is to make self-confident, boastful planning in independence of God. The details of the example given fits a business plan as done today: time (today or tomorrow), personnel (we), place (such and such a city), duration (spend a year there), activity (buy and sell) and anticipated result (make a profit). The will of God isn't considered at all. To say "I will" or "We will" is sinful, and we have an example in the five "I wills" of Lucifer (Isaiah 14:13,14). It is wrong to assume that "tomorrow" is certain, for the future is in the hands of God. If He wills, it will happen.

We should live and speak in the realisation that God overrules our time on earth. The proper attitude of mind, whether we actually say it or not, is "If the Lord will" regarding all our plans for the future. It was expressed by the apostles (Acts 18:21; 1 Corinthians 4:19; 16:7; Hebrews 6:3). Sometimes believers employ the letters "D.V.", from the Latin Deo Volante (God willing) to express this sense of dependence on God. It is arrogance to assume that nothing is going to interfere with our time schedule, as if we were masters of our time. It is boasting, and it is evil because it leaves God out.

To know to do good and not to do it is sin: in this context to do good is to take God into every aspect of our lives, knowing that we are dependent upon Him. We are sinning if we know we should do this but fail to do it. It may naturally be extended to mean any failure to do that which is good. If the opportunity comes before us to do good, we should avail ourselves of it. When we know what is right, we are under obligation to act correctly according to our knowledge. Failure to do so is sin against God, we shall be at fault with our neighbour and we shall loose an opportunity of doing a good deed ourselves.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

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

9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";

14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.