Series in James - The Cost of Unfaithfulness

 

The Cost of Unfaithfulness

James 4:4-5

The cost of unfaithfulness is great. It goes beyond the flesh of the body, to the heart and the mind, and most important to the soul and spirit. James is now drawing back to the covenant adultery (unfaithfulness) that man committed against God. So let’s read the first portion of the text, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

James knew the horrid stories of the unfaithfulness of his ancestors, and the disciplines and judgments that God brought upon them for their spiritual and physical unfaithfulness that warred against Him and to each other. They were living under Roman gentile rule, they had abominable stress and unrelenting persecution from ungodly gentiles, and an intolerable religious system dominated by the teachings of men and not of God. Yet, God had come to fight and set them free by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus upon the cross. Jesus’ own words still resonated with them, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

But the magnetism of the sinful wicked world and the carnality of the flesh continually drew the believers back into unfaithfulness to God. The harshness of the Old Testament adage, “You adulterous generation.” was still being heralded by God through James to the diaspora church. “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?” 

The Church was still trusting in the world instead of God, and using worldly wisdom to satisfy their desires and physical needs. For the world had taught them to depend on themselves for their sustenance, and trust in their own wisdom instead of seeking God for His wisdom and provision. They were becoming self-reliant and relying on the world’s wisdom. This was and had led them to not trusting in God for wisdom and understanding. For God had spoken through the proverbs to them, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” “Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life.” (Prov. 3:5-6; 6:21-23)

They had forgotten that God is a jealous God. He will not contend with the world’s ways and wisdom, He will not allow His bride to adulterate herself with the world. For friendship with the world is an enemy to God, “don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?”

God was not telling the church to shun the world, but to seek Him first. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33 NIV)

Application - Deja-Vu, how many times have we let our decisions and actions be directed not by God’s wisdom and ways, but by the ways of this world, and our friendship (intimacy) with its wicked ways and enticing words. God is still jealous for His relationship with His people. In all of our decisions and actions, do we counsel with our God, do we seek His direction of light through His Word, or do we take counsel with the world’s ways and let them direct us in our lives and how we project His name amongst the world? God is just and righteous in His decisions and He takes very seriously His relationship with the church today. 

Too many have given themselves to manipulation and manufacturing of a holiness effect in the church, and we forget that God is watching our every motive and decision. Will we submit to Him? Will we truly yield to the Spirit’s guidance and voice or befriend the world’s guidance and wisdom, looking and doing as it does? We must remember we are His, and He has put His name and seal on us! We are betrothed to Him! Adultery doesn’t just mean sexual intimacy, but spiritual intimacy as well.

Last. James drives home his point with how God longs for His people with a jealous love from scripture, “You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.”  “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].” (Ex. 34:14 NLT; Deut. 4:24 AMP) So let’s read the last portion of the text, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?” 

 For God is not jealous of us (like the world), He is jealous for His people, He longs for their relationship and restoration through salvation in His Son. He desires the best for His people and is willing to give them superior wisdom and understanding, to guide them by His Holy Spirit in the Truth of His Word. This is true love from the Father. 

James had already pointed out the selfish-ambition and envy that was bearing roots in the church. “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:14-16)

They had been seeking the world for answers and wisdom from the hearts of men, the world, and inevitably the enemy, the devil. The spirit that indwelled them since birth was the spirit that God firmly established in them. And He was jealous for it. As well He had put His Spirit in all who believed and the Holy Spirit is grieved by the infatuation and infiltration of the world’s spirit into the church’s mind, soul, and body. For God had spoken about this before to man. “And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (Gen. 6:6 ESV)

God is a patient God. He longs for his people to come to Him, but He will not tolerate those who are lured away by the world’s ways and wisdom. For this is adultery to Him. He will come first with discipline because He loves us, and then with judgment because He hates sin, its promoters, and those who are intimate in it.

Application - James knows and so do we, we are believers in Christ Jesus, the bride of Christ. There is no place for the world’s ways and loves in our lives! John the apostle said it as well, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 Jn. 2:15-17)

I did an examination on myself while reading through the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3. I found that like the Ephesus church, the most mature church amongst the early churches, I was losing my first love (as I had loved Jesus at the beginning). The remedy was to come back to His way in me in the beginning, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Rev. 2:5a) So, I came back to immersing myself in Him, His Word, and in my intimate times of prayer. I sought Jesus like a lover again, wanting Him more than anything in this world. It is rejuvenating, refreshing myself in the Holy Spirit’s guidance and not the world’s wisdom, and my love for others in the faith. I love walking in the aetherial light of God, and not in the twilight of the world’s increasing darkness.

Let us examine ourselves as Paul and Peter said, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 13:5; 2 Peter 1:3-11 ESV)

Loving God and doing God’s will and purpose should be number one in our desires and pleasures. For God's desire is for our intimate relationship with Him, and He will give us all we need and ask for according to His good will and purpose. We are coming upon Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday. So let us seek Him, love Him, and follow Him for “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.” (1 John 4:13-17)

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation for all those who have not yet received Jesus Christ for salvation. For Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. Thank you. http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com