11-30-2024, 06:07 PM
This chapter continues from the previous in marking out the implications of peace with God. The Talmudic culture of Judaism encouraged carping and competing, jockeying for social position by climbing on the backs of your own covenant people. James points out that the source of this attitude is the flesh, not the Spirit of God. Everyone was looking out for themselves, and nobody was looking out for the one thing God demanded they do: build up the covenant community of faith. God supplies all our needs, both material and notional. Play the role He appoints for you and stop catering to your self-centered fleshly nature.
Give it any name you like, but serving your worldly flesh is idolatry, poking God in the eye. This world is meant to serve His glory, not yours. Does His Spirit live in you? Then He owns you; don't provoke Him by giving your devotion to lesser deities. His gifts are higher than theirs. He demands that we always walk in humility; you will not like what He gives to arrogant fools. You must come to Him in full feudal submission. Only then can He drive the Devil out of your life.
Your intellect is just part of the flesh. The burden is on you to decide that your heart must reign over the flesh, so that there aren't two masters trying to run your life. Compel the flesh to submit to the mastery of your spirit; the only reason you have a spirit is because God's Spirit resides in you. The Devil wants to prove that this was a futile gesture -- don't support his cause. Grieve over your sinful nature and rein in your arrogant flesh. Only when you have emptied yourself like Christ did on the Cross can you discover what exaltation God has for you.
What is the single greatest manifestation of that humility? That you will love each other as Christ loves us. This is the Law of Christ, His Covenant with us. He died on the Cross for believers, and you are just one of many. Don't knock each other down; the others do not need your approval in order to serve Him.
Judaism made a big deal out of elevating men to a position as judge. It seemed like the ultimate attainment was to be regarded by your fellow Jews as someone fit to judge others under the Talmud. That's not how it worked under the Covenant of Moses. James hearkens back to this in pointing out that judges were appointed to examine deeds and divine priorities, not people. It's the same under Christ. Learn to discern what meets His priorities and stop trying to judge people. Otherwise, you enter into the sin of the Pharisees, who perverted God's justice and made it about people. They dared to judge the revelation of God by some foreign idolatrous standard. Leave that wickedness behind.
James wanted Hebrew believers to break the bad habits of boasting Jewish businessmen. They would talk about how they were going to conquer the Gentiles economically by engaging in business, all under the false assurance that God commanded them to plunder the nations. God isn't like that. If He sends you out into the world, it's for His glory, and any trading you engage is just the means to travel. Your mission is to go out and find the other members of God's Elect family, not plunder the world.
Don't boast about your business acumen and your wealth. Rather, boast in the Lord's providence in using you for His business. If you didn't understand that before, you do now, and you are accountable to Christ for obeying.
Give it any name you like, but serving your worldly flesh is idolatry, poking God in the eye. This world is meant to serve His glory, not yours. Does His Spirit live in you? Then He owns you; don't provoke Him by giving your devotion to lesser deities. His gifts are higher than theirs. He demands that we always walk in humility; you will not like what He gives to arrogant fools. You must come to Him in full feudal submission. Only then can He drive the Devil out of your life.
Your intellect is just part of the flesh. The burden is on you to decide that your heart must reign over the flesh, so that there aren't two masters trying to run your life. Compel the flesh to submit to the mastery of your spirit; the only reason you have a spirit is because God's Spirit resides in you. The Devil wants to prove that this was a futile gesture -- don't support his cause. Grieve over your sinful nature and rein in your arrogant flesh. Only when you have emptied yourself like Christ did on the Cross can you discover what exaltation God has for you.
What is the single greatest manifestation of that humility? That you will love each other as Christ loves us. This is the Law of Christ, His Covenant with us. He died on the Cross for believers, and you are just one of many. Don't knock each other down; the others do not need your approval in order to serve Him.
Judaism made a big deal out of elevating men to a position as judge. It seemed like the ultimate attainment was to be regarded by your fellow Jews as someone fit to judge others under the Talmud. That's not how it worked under the Covenant of Moses. James hearkens back to this in pointing out that judges were appointed to examine deeds and divine priorities, not people. It's the same under Christ. Learn to discern what meets His priorities and stop trying to judge people. Otherwise, you enter into the sin of the Pharisees, who perverted God's justice and made it about people. They dared to judge the revelation of God by some foreign idolatrous standard. Leave that wickedness behind.
James wanted Hebrew believers to break the bad habits of boasting Jewish businessmen. They would talk about how they were going to conquer the Gentiles economically by engaging in business, all under the false assurance that God commanded them to plunder the nations. God isn't like that. If He sends you out into the world, it's for His glory, and any trading you engage is just the means to travel. Your mission is to go out and find the other members of God's Elect family, not plunder the world.
Don't boast about your business acumen and your wealth. Rather, boast in the Lord's providence in using you for His business. If you didn't understand that before, you do now, and you are accountable to Christ for obeying.