Draw Near To God

“Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.”  James 4:8

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a                            Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas       September 28, 2003

For those of you who have been to church each week recently, you may be especially glad to know that today we come to the end of a month-long series of sermons from the hard-hitting book of James. James is a blunt book of practical guidance for ethical living.

Back on August 17, in a sermon entitled, “Live Wisely,” I included the first half of today's passage from James. The author claims that a wise person is one who is careful about living right and being humble.

From the first chapter of James we heard about the vital necessity of putting our faith into action. James tells us to "be doers of the word, and not merely hearers."

From James, chapter 2, we learned that there are certain behaviors and attitudes that are incompatible with the Christian faith. One of those behaviors is showing partiality and favoritism, especially toward those whom we think can do us special favors. It’s a call to non-discrimination. The other behavior inconsistent with wise and faithful living is being indifferent to those in need, such as telling persons we will pray for them instead of helping them in a concrete way.

In the book of James, the issue of Christian faith involves not just what we believe about our relationship with God and each other, but also what we do with what we believe. In perhaps his most memorable statement, James declares, "Faith without works is dead."

A couple of Sundays ago, reading from the third chapter of James, we heard his scathing assessment of the damage that can be done by the words that come out of our mouths. I guess we should also add, the words that we put down in print, especially in emails.

While James concedes that the tongue cannot be tamed, we still have the responsibility to try and control it at all times. Do you remember the challenge presented at the end of that sermon? "See if you can go for 24 hours and 'speak no evil.'" So, how did you do? Did it cause you to at least think for a split second before you spoke? If not, here's the good news: there's always this week and the week after that to give it a try!

With that brief review, we come today to the second half of the third chapter of James, and full-circle with James' understanding of wise living.

In addition to putting our faith into action, treating all persons equally, and watching what we say, James adds the warning of what will happen if we let our lives become dominated by envy and selfish ambition. He says it leads to bragging and boasting, disorder and conflict.

Who among us hasn't experienced what it's like to be envious of someone else, or covetous of what others have? It may be envying someone else's good looks, or their job, and along with that coveting their money, car, house, clothes, etc. Perhaps we may be envious of someone else's talent, or intelligence, or sense of humor, or their relationships.

There is a commentary on that old lament that we're all familiar with, "Life's always greener on the other side of the hill." The comment is, "Folks, there is no other side of the hill!"And yet we continue to yearn for, and focus on, what we do not have.

James pairs envy with selfish ambition - a preoccupation with looking out for ‘number 1’ no matter who else gets hurt in the process. According to James, these are major causes of the conflict in our lives and in the life of the church. Therefore, we must always question our motives.

In a difficult and often misinterpreted passage, James states, "You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." The word "passions" in this context does not refer to simple desires or things we care about deeply, but rather it can best be described as those things we selfishly desire for our own self-gratification or self-promotion.

Envy, jealousy, selfish ambition and self-gratification are not marks of living life wisely.

Today's passage closes with verses that are also difficult. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and the devil will flee from you. Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you." Hey, didn’t we get rid of that word "submit" back in the 90's. No one submits to anyone or anything anymore, do they?

Well, here’s a serious question. What would it mean for you to submit yourself to God? Given the wide theological spectrum of those in this congregation, there would obviously be several different answers. So perhaps it’s best to leave this important question up to each of you to think about, and to answer for yourselves.

From a more evangelically conservative standpoint, there are many who get a lot of strength and hope out of thinking that when they have the power and courage to resist the devil then the devil would flee from them. The concept of resisting the devil is powerful in new ways. “Resisting the devil” can mean different things to different people depending on their life circumstances and their particular temptations. For the alcoholic, for example, it’s the devil of alcohol.

Here’s another serious question. What are the issues in your life that, if dealt with, could lead you to live life more wisely?

Well as we near the end of this sermon it may seem like we haven't even begun to address the issue presented in the title of this sermon, "Drawing near to God." So let me ask you another question. What would it mean for you to draw near to God? What would it take? What would that look like?

Well, as it turns out, ALL the things that we have addressed in the book of James are ways we draw near to God.

We draw near to God every time we:

Pray for wisdom.

Put our faith into action.

Treat all persons with equal

respect and dignity.

Speak only words that are helpful

for building others up.

Resist that which tears us down.

For then we realize that God is always near, even when we can’t recognize or don’t experience God’s presence. And so we have come full-circle, learning invaluable and practical lessons from James that can help us to live a faithful life marked by the wisdom, to quote John Calvin, that comes from “knowing God and knowing ourselves.”

Amen.