Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
JAMES 4:1-10 TEXT: v10 HUMBLE YOURSELVES IN THE SIGHT/LORD ETC.,
.mp3 download here
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
We have described James as being a gutsy preacher of the word/God
Someone who tells it as it is really is without fear or favour
Could be said of James, as the Sadducees said of Christ His Master:
We know that thou art true, and
teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for
thou regardest not the person of men. (Matthew 22:16)
I think James' words in v4 show that he was no cream puff type preacher
who was scared to tackle the real issues affecting the church
Things that had to be said were said and were said in such a way as to
fasten themselves upon the consciences of those who needed to hear
However, let us not think that James was a gunslinger either
He was a faithful man as opposed to a hard man
Our passage [today] shows him to be a gentle man
Or to come nearer to our theme: He was a humble man
The two are not mutually exclusive
Moses is described as being very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3)
Yet we also read of him that He was faithful in all his house (Hebrews 3:2)
You can see Moses (just like James) having to say some very tough things and yet remaining meek or humble at the same time
Even in this passage, as James exhorts his people to humility, you
still have the words of v4 (alluded to) and even words like those of v7
where there is a call to resist the Devil i.e. stand up to him and beat
him back
Obviously humility is not to be confused with compromise
5 things we must see about this call for us to humble ourselves
1) HUMILITY IS A KEYNOTE VIRTUE OF THE CHRISTIAN:
A/ There are other virtues/characteristics of the Christian which may well come to mind first and these are not to be denied
[i] Have already mentioned Faith: By faith we are saved and justified
and live the godly life: Without faith, it is impossible to please
God
"The faithful" or "Believers" are most used to describe Christians
[ii] Repentance - In Romania, the Christians are known as "Repenters"
because they were ever emphasising this needful experience:
Jesus said: Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:5)
Repentance is not to be a one off experience at our initial conversion
to Christ, but (as Luther contended) an ongoing lifelong experience
It is with repentance in mind, James calls for affliction/mourning (v9)
It must be an evangelical repentance i.e. based on the work/Christ at
Calvary and that is the only basis in which we can draw nigh/God:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)
Any other kind of repentance outside of the Cross is not unacceptable
It is a false repentance, produced by a fleshly heart and in itself to be repented off as adding sin to sin before God
B/ But here is another virtue which every Christian should be noted for:
A proud Christian (like a worldly Christian) is a contradiction in terms
Calvin defined humility: A real annihilation of ourselves, proceeding
from a thorough knowledge of our own weakness, the entire absence of
lofty pretensions and a conviction that whatever excellence we possess
comes from the grace/God alone.
With our (Biblical) views of man's depravity/man's utter helplessness
and total reliance upon the grace/mercy of God…how can we be
proud?
C/ Yet we tend to see humility as something almost optional
We tend to see it as an added seasoning in the cake, as opposed to
being one of the basic ingredients which, if missing, mess up the whole
effort
2) SUCH HUMILITY IS TO BE BEFORE THE LORD:
James puts this stipulation in for good reasons:
A/ It will prevent a false humility that is before men i.e. from the
teeth out and there only to be seen and gain made and so of no value
Such would have been any "humility" displayed by the Pharisees
Such false humility is only pride in sheep's clothing and worse than
honest pride, neither of which (when all is said/done) is
acceptable
Golda Mier (first Israeli Prime Minister) once told a visiting diplomat:
"Don't be so humble - You're not that great"
A false humility is a raging pride at its worst - avoid it like the plague
B/ When we come before the LORD, we are more enabled to see things as
they really are, as opposed to what sinful men agree them to be
What does it mean to come before the Lord?
[i] It means to judge ourselves in the light of what is written/His word:
We all know how penetrating the Bible can be
It is not just another book and should not be read/regarded as such
It comes at us (if we may use this phrase) many different ways, but always from the mouth/God via His inspired penmen
It tells us something of the Greatness/God:
Who hath measured the waters in the
hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and
comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the
Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?With whom
took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of
judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of
understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and
are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the
isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All
nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less
than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what
likeness will ye compare unto him? (Isaiah 40:12-18)
Where does that leave me as mere creature of time?
Someone who had no existence prior to 1961? Someone who will
probably leave the tiniest/imprint on this earth for a few extremely
short years and then go the way of all the earth and be gone forever
B/ It reveals to us what God requires of us in clear precepts,
supplying examples of those who perform them and warns of those who
don't
And as I read, I realise that I am more comfortable identifying with
those who fall short rather than those who faithfully perform
C/ Then I look at God as He has revealed Himself in the face/Jesus
Christ and I remember that Jesus said that He was meek/lowly in heart
I think of my relationship that I have with the Lord Jesus
I profess to be His follower - I identify myself with His very name
I am a CHRISTIAN" and yet am I meek/humble like He was?
I think not, for as I examine my own heart, I see nothing but failure
D/ I do something more than read the Bible and especially about the Lord Jesus, but I talk to God in prayer
Sometimes this is more humbling than reading the Bible
In prayer to God, I do the talking and God promises to listen
Often it is easier to let God do the talking (Bible) and me listen
But when I talk to God, I cannot bring myself to boast of what I have done or indeed of anything in myself
What can I say to the Almighty God when I have His ear?
What did others, greater than what I will ever be, say?
Isaiah: Woe is me! for I am undone;
because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts. (6:5)
Job: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (42:6)
3) WE ARE TO HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE THE LORD:
Imperative mood - a command or direction to be obeyed
A/ This must be by the very nature of the case
Another cannot humbled me, I can only do it voluntarily myself
Another may humiliate me and send me crashing to the ground
Nebuchadnezzar did not humble himself
before God and his refusal was severely visited and so we read: The
same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was
driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with
the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and
his nails like birds' claws. (Daniel 4:33)
Passage tells us that God resists the proud (v6) and you can follow the
stories of other proud men like Pharaoh, Haman, Ahithophel, Absalom,
Herod etc., and how they were toppled and humiliated…but not
humbled
B/ If we humble ourselves before/Lord, then God will not humiliate us
Same principle is established in 1 Corinthians 11:31-32
For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the
Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
4) HOW SUCH HUMILITY IS TO BE GOTTEN:
There are quite a few verbs there in vs7-10 but they are all relevant
A/ Submit yourself unto God (v7) Draw nigh to God (v8)
We are not going anywhere until we yield to God and His word
Although responsible for self humbling, yet we cannot do it on our own
It is not something which the natural man can perform…unless he submits himself to God and His word
B/ Resist the Devil (v8) The most proud being of all! The One who
thought that he would elevate his throne above the throne of God
The One who whispers proud things in the ears even of Christians
Resist him! He will target you once you yield to God and seek humility
C/ Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts (v8)
Needs to be a forsaking of the past both with a spiritual and a
practical application including affliction and mourning and weeping (v9)
I must remind you of what we said in the introduction:
This must be an evangelical experience and nothing less
Must avoid the ascetic penitence of the Church/Rome
Not talking here about self whipping of the body etc., but of a
conscious evangelical decision to yield ourselves to God on the basis
of what Christ has done for us to Calvary
We are trying to atone for past sins (Christ has done that once-for-all)
We are trying rather to live out our salvation-by-grace-alone experience
5) SUCH TRUE, EVANGELICAL HUMILITY IS GREATLY REWARDED:
He will lift you up
A/ We put ourselves down, voluntarily into the dust before
Him…He lifts us up out of the dust and exalts us in a way that
is to His own glory
Look at v9: He wants us to be afflicted, mourn and weep and forgo joy
Does that mean that we will have laughed our last laugh and will spend
our days in self enforced sorrow? Obviously not, for consider:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
B/ Consider too this verse and for being lifted up:
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32)
He will do so, not grudgingly or with any degree of shame, but with joy:
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, (Jude 24)
C/ The application is pretty clear/straightforward: In our Quiet Times
in the closet before God, let us yield to Him as directed and look for
the promised blessing that attends obedience in this manner
THE END