James

James 4: More grace for the humble

Begin in prayer

Before James 4 speaks about fights and pride, please ask the Lord to show your family what He gives to the humble. Ask Him to show you that God gives more grace, and to point your eyes to Christ.

But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You resist the proud and give more grace to the humble. Help us to see Jesus, and make us more like Him. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The bitter jealousy James has exposed now appears in fights, driven by desires at war inside his readers. They covet, murder and ask for things to spend on their pleasures, making friendship with the world hostility toward God. God gives more grace, and James calls these sinners to submit, resist the devil and draw near with cleansed hands and hearts. They must mourn over sin and humble themselves before the Lord, who will exalt them. Pride also speaks against a fellow believer and claims to control tomorrow, though life is a vanishing vapor. James calls them to honor the one Lawgiver and make their plans under the Lord's will, doing the good they know.

As you read James 4, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble who draw near to Him.

James follows quarrels back to desires that demand satisfaction and even turn prayer toward selfish pleasure. He calls friendship with the world adultery, because a divided loyalty betrays God. The Spirit who lives in His people yearns jealously, and God gives more grace. Grace therefore meets sinners with a call to submit, resist the devil and draw near. Clean hands and pure hearts belong together, since changed actions alone cannot hide a divided love. Slander also reveals pride, for it places a neighbor beneath the speaker's judgment and sets the speaker above God's law. Merchants display the same pride when they claim a year of profit without acknowledging who holds their breath. Through Christ, the humble may approach the God who holds both forgiveness and tomorrow in His hands.

How does James 4 show us that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble who draw near to Him?

Fights come from wrong desires in the heart.

The desires that cause fights also corrupt prayers, so people ask to spend what they receive on pleasure. James names coveting and murder among the fruits of that inward war. He calls friendship with the world hostility toward God.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

James says that God gives more grace (verse 6). Then he says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Grace is greater than the sin James has described. The humble come to God as sinners with nothing to offer.

God draws near to those who draw near to Him.

James tells sinners to be subject to God, to resist the devil and to draw near to God (verses 7 and 8). God will draw near to those who draw near to Him. James tells them to mourn and to humble themselves before the Lord (verses 9 and 10). The command to purify the heart shows the need of sinners, because only the Lord can make a heart clean. He alone is the Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy (verse 12).

Only the Lord knows tomorrow, so we say “If the Lord wills.”

The merchants plan a city, a year and a profit, though they cannot secure tomorrow's breath. Saying “If the Lord wills” acknowledges that both living and doing depend on Him. Boasting about controlling the future is evil, and refusing known good is sin.

Memorise

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble

James 4:6

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, where have I been proud, and have I asked Jesus for His grace?

James asks a hard question. Where do the fights come from? They come from desires that war inside a person. James says that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

But then James says, “He gives more grace.” God resists the proud, yet He gives grace to the humble. And where does that grace come from? It comes from the cross. The One who is able to save and to destroy sent His Son, and Jesus took the place of His people and carried their sin. His sacrifice is finished, and it is fully sufficient. On the third day the tomb was empty, because God had raised Him.

So humble yourself, and come. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Draw near to God through His Son, and God will draw near to you. In Christ there is forgiveness for the proud who bow down, and grace greater than all their sin.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God gives more grace to the humble, and that Jesus bore the sin of His people. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Please also say sorry to them when you have been proud, so they see what it is to humble yourself.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for the grace He gives to the humble, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Lord Jesus, thank You for the cross, where You carried the sin of Your people. We are sorry for our pride. Please give us grace, and help us to trust You and not our own plans. Amen.