LESSON #10

How To Get Grace

James 4:6-12

We need some supernatural resource to keep us from fighting! According to James 4:1-5, the problem of man is conflict (review lesson #9). What will enable us to stop fighting? The provision of God is grace. "He giveth more grace" (v. 6a). We need not fight against God or each other. We need only to receive grace from God.

What is grace? Grace is when God gives you what you don't deserve. It is the unmerited favor of God. The Bible speaks of abundant grace, fullness of grace, riches of grace, great grace, manifold grace, surpassing grace, sufficient grace and, in our text, more grace. Often, the scriptures reveal that in times of conflict, God's people were given grace. For example, Acts 4 reports persecution against the church. During this time of conflict, "great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). Another example is when Paul was being "buffeted by the messenger of Satan." He was told by God, "My grace is sufficient" (II Cor. 12:7-10). In these circumstances, having grace means having the power to endure and overcome difficulty. Instead of fighting against God and each other, God wants to give us grace, the power to endure and overcome life's conflicts. The provision or solution to the problem of conflict is that God gives grace, and more grace.

How can we be a recipient of grace? James tells us how to put ourselves in the position so that we can receive grace from God. James says that God will fight against ("resisteth") the proud but will give grace to the humble. The most destructive attitude which a person can have is an attitude of pride and arrogance. Pride is the sin which most often separates a person from God and from others. Most conflict is the direct result of pride. Pride causes conflict in marriages. We are too proud to apologize. Pride wrecks friendships. Pride splits churches. Pride starts wars. Listen to what God's word has to say about pride. Proverbs 21:4 "An high look, and a proud heart, ... is sin." Proverbs 6:16-17 "... The Lord hates ... a proud look..." Proverbs 8:13 "... Pride and arrogancy ... do I hate." Proverbs 16:5 "Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished." Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 29:23 "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." James refers to the Proverbs 3:34 in verse 6. "Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly." Peter also quotes this verse in I Peter 5:5. Thus, pride is the problem. It leads to conflict. It causes God to fight against us and keeps us from being in the place where we can receive grace to endure life's difficulties. To get grace one must be humble.

What does it take to produce humility? James gives us a list. In rapid fire sequence, without explaining all the whys, James writes one commandment after another. There are a total of 10 commandments in this list. Nine of them have to do with our relationship with God. The final commandment speaks to our relationships with each other.

Our Responsibility Toward God, 4:7-10.

Submission, v. 7a. Pride says, "Don't submit." But we must submit to God in order to be humble. Submission means that we purposely place ourselves under God's authority, we surrender our will to His.

Resistance, v. 7b. Instead of God resisting us (v. 6), instead of us being the friend of the world and the enemy of God (v. 4), instead of fighting each other (v.1), we should be resisting (fighting) the devil. Make sure you are fighting the right enemy - not God, not other Christians, but Satan! This command comes with a promise - "he will flee from you."

Get Close To God, v. 8a. We should desire intimacy with God. Salvation is not just something you get, it is a relationship you begin. It may surprise you to learn that you are as close to God as you choose to be because God promises that if you will "draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to you."

Repent Of All Sin, v. 8b-9. There are actually five commands in this verse and a half, all having to do with admitting, abandoning and abhorring sin. "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners" is a call to deal with those outward sins that everyone can see. We need to be washed. "Purify your hearts, ye doubleminded" is a reminder that sin is not just a matter of the outside, it is really a matter of the heart. We need clean hands and clean hearts. Religion is reforming the outside without renewing the inside. The Pharisees looked good and righteous on the outside but on the inside they were rotten. Matthew 23:25-28 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. The three commandments in v.9 all have to do with our attitude toward our sin. We must hate our own sin like God hates it. Psalm 97:10 "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." There should be grief, sorrow, tears, and mourning about our sins. Pride causes us to boast of our sins but humility causes us to hate our sins. Paul confessed his continual struggle with sin in Romans 7 acknowledging that (7:15) "what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I" and calling himself "wretched" (v.24).

Humble Yourself, v. 10. This is the real point of the whole list. Humble yourself and God promises to lift you up. Jesus said, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14).

If we will humble ourselves, submit to God, resist the devil, desire intimacy with God, admit, abhor and abandon sin, we will no longer be fighting against God. We will be at peace with God and in a position to receive more grace from God.

Our Responsibility Toward Others, 4:11-12.

Chapter 4 began by stating that there are "wars and fightings among us". This section ends by commanding us not to "speak evil of one another" nor to "judge" one another. Our conflicts with each other are usually rooted in our words. "Evil speaking" includes many sins of the tongue- harsh and hurtful criticism, gossip, to name just a couple. We must not pass judgment on each other, see Matthew 7:1-5. We never know all the facts and we certainly cannot know the motives of the heart. To speak evil and to judge a brother on the basis of partial evidence and probably with unkind motives, is to sin against a brother and against God. We are not called to be judges of the law, but doers of the word. God is the only Judge. He alone sees and knows all. His judgments are just and holy. We must leave the deeds of our brothers to Him, see Romans 14:4. We are to "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians. 4:15). If a brother has sinned, we should go to him personally and try to win him back (Matthew 18:15-19; Galatians 6:1-2). James is not forbidding us to be discerning or telling us to close our eyes to other people's sin. He is warning against acting as judge and jury of another. Not only must we be humble before God but also before each other if we have any hope of avoiding conflict. Perhaps the following diagram summarizes 4:1-12.

Pride ® Fighting Against God ® At war within ourselves® at war with each other ® evil speaking.

Humility before God and others ® Grace from God to overcome conflict.