How to Increase Humility

Have you ever noticed that you can speak to almost anybody and bring up the topic of common sense and talk about the lack of common sense these days, and you’ll have everyone nodding their head, often quite furiously as we all know how shocking it is that common sense has just gone out the window and no one has it any more.

The worlds gone mad!

The irony is, however, if everyone is in agreement that common sense has been lost, then why is it that the issue remains?

Let’s take a common complaint you hear about the modern world - parenting. The complaint goes, a generation ago, when a child got in trouble at school, they would go home, and the child would again be in trouble with the parent. Today, when a child gets in trouble at school, the child goes home and the parent writes a letter to the school.

Here’s the problem - ask almost any parent today and they will heartily agree - yes it’s a terrible problem.

Last year at youth group, there was a particular child that was common factor in many of the behavioural issues we had been having. Because of the problems I had a number of discussions with the parent - and it was here that I really noticed the irony of the situation.

You see, the mum bemoaned to me how parents today always side with the child, but then, seemingly oblivious to her own contradiction, ignored the evidence that her child was the one causing the problems and instead tried to argue that it was all the other children’s fault and that her child was the real victim.

Now I want to suggest that the root problem is selfishness. Our focus on ourselves blinds us to the fact that we are making poor choices.

Now I’m going to make a suggestion and you can argue with me later if you want. But I’m going to suggest that the root problem is a focus on self

It is because of selfishness that we can point to everyone else lacking common sense, while the whole time we are the ones making the poor choices.

Seeking wisdom

This message follows closely behind the message I gave last week about two types of wisdom. You see, I explored the two descriptions James gave about wisdom - one that was worldly, the other that was from heaven.

Now on the surface it is clear. The heavenly wisdom is better by far.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just commit to choosing the heavenly wisdom over the worldly wisdom and that was it?

If it was that easy, then this sermon would be redundant, as would the first half of chapter 4.

But it’s not, and as we jump into , we’ll see that he’ll explain how a big part of the problem is our lack of humility.

Central to his idea is that we can’t achieve heavenly wisdom because we are too full of pride.

So as we dive into the passage, don’t think about how everyone else fails to live wisely. To think that would entirely miss the point of the passage.

Instead, I want you to consider the ways in which your own selfishness blinds you from truly taking hold of the wisdom that comes from heaven.

The problem

So before we dive in, let’s remind ourselves of what James said of the two types of wisdom in the last half of chapter 3.

He told us the origin, the characteristics and the results of such wisdom.

Regarding the origin, we see the one comes the earth and is unspiritual and demonic. The other is from heaven.

Th characteristic of the worldly wisdom is that it is full of envy and selfish ambition - a point that he’ll pick up on in our current chapter.

Whereas the heavenly wisdom is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

And finally the result of the worldly wisdom was disorder, whereas the heavenly wisdom will result in us being made fit for God.

Fights

Now a significant aspect of all of this, is the concept of heavenly wisdom resulting in peace.

But there is a sad reality. While we can witness great examples of peace within Christ’s church, unfortunately all too often we see fighting and arguments.

James saw it in his day. It turns up too frequently throughout church history. And it certainly happens today.

And it is what drives James to ask the very pointed question: “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”

James’ language

Now before I actually explore his answer, just look at the language he is using.

The word translated “fight” is the same word used for “war”.

The word “quarrels” can sound like small bickering, but its the word “conflict”.

He says of our desires that they “battle” within us, but this word “battle” could be translated (as it is in the King James Version) as “wage war”.

He also says in verse 2: “you do not have, so you kill”. This word “kill” could also be translated as murder.

The point I’m trying to make is that James is actually using very vivid and strong language.

We can sometimes sugar coat our disagreements as not being a big deal - but it is.

And I want to suggest that it is more than just a bad look. You know, that idea that we just want to keep the peace so that people might think it is a nice place to be.

But it goes beyond that. You see, keeping the peace is actually about drawing closer to the sense of order that God is bringing about.

In one sense, it is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. start with perfect order. But introduces chaos, which essentially gets worse and worse up to .

But then from onwards, which is of course where the story of Abraham commences, we get first a promise of the peace to come, and slowly but surely, the peace and order reveal itself culminating in Jesus Christ who firmly establishes a kingdom of order.

The point I’m trying to make is that when we fight and quarrel, we are actually moving against the Biblical narrative. We are moving away from what God wants.

And so I think the strong language used by James is entirely appropriate.

They are not mere squabbles. Rather you are committing murder - particularly when we consider murder in the sense that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he said that if you are angry at your brother or sister, you are guilty of committing murder.

The cause

Well, as James asks the question, he suggests essentially the same issue I raised a moment ago. He says: “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

Now I’ve been calling it selfishness, but lets call it for what it really is - sin.

You see, we’ve all got this sinful nature, and it causes a battle within us. A battle between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of this world.

I’m sure you all know what that battle feels like.

Eating

Now time for a little confession - it’s always good to do a little confessing from the pulpit!

Well, after youth group, there is sometimes some leftover food. As the new week begins and I sit in my office doing various tasks on the computer, it’s not uncommon to get the munchies.

So I get a few chips. It always starts as just a small handful. But then once you’ve got the taste - well, suddenly my taste buds are crying - more! more!

But my head says, no you don’t need more - you’re not even hungry!

And so this battle rages. My taste buds coveting that taste sensation. My head telling me it’s bad for me.

This example might be fairly benign, but it demonstrates that internal battle.

But at the heart of the battle is selfishness. It is a battle because it is just so hard to stop.

Cause and effect

The second sentence in verse 2, outlines the process even clearer.

You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

Think about it. When you deeply desire something for your own gain, one of two things happens. Firstly, you can get what you want - but what happen then? Well, you might hope you’d become satisfied, but the reality is we just want more. And we will continue to want more and more until we get to the second option, which is we don’t get what we want. And then that coveting spirit leads us to fighting and quarreling.

You see, when you covet, there is a natural progression to fighting.

We can draw a very strong correlation between our selfish desires and the conflicts we have.

I find this a very interesting observation. You see, we more often think of our conflicts in perhaps more noble ways. What I mean is that when we enter a conflict, it is usually because we think we’re defending a value or a truth or something similar.

Now I don’t think that James is necessarily trying to characterise every conflict in the same way, certainly, there are many reasons why a conflict might begin.

But I can help but think so many conflicts could be avoided if we just put aside our self for a moment.

Selfish praying

Now, I think it would be fair to say that this link between selfishness and conflict would be true regardless of whether you are a Christian or not.

But in the last part of verse 2, James moves this into another level which effects us as Christians.

You see, as Christians we have something very special. We have a God that provides our every need.

And so it follows that we should not be in need because of God’s providence.

But James realises that this is often not the case because we don’t bring our needs to God in prayer. He says: “You do not have because you do not ask”.

But ah, you say, but I have brought my needs before God!

James hears that objection and he addresses it quickly.

He says: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives”.

You see God is there to provide us with what we want, but what he isn’t, is a genie in a bottle that is ready to grant our every wish.

I wonder how many of you have struggled with the times Jesus says words to the effect of: whatever you ask in my name, you shall receive.

We often reconcile the times he makes those statements by saying, well, yes, God will always answer, but sometimes it is with a ‘no’. But if you look closer, he is actually saying whatever you ask you will receive.

But I think this verse in actually helps us get closer to understanding the issue.

You see, as we pray, we see this mysterious interaction between God’s will and ours. They start to line up.

But when selfishness takes over, that interaction fails. God still listens, but your selfishness is hardening your heart.

And so you don’t get because what you’re asking for is not in line with what God wants.

Enmity with God

Now again, James isn’t worried about offending people with his words here and so as he continues we again see very strong language.

You see, he call them adulterous.

Remember, back in verse 2 he used the words - so you murder.

Now he’s accusing them of adultery. He is actually drawing on an allusion from the Old Testament prophet Hosea who talked of covenant unfaithfulness.

But it helps us put in perspective this problem of selfishness. It is not just a minor problem. James is linking it with murder and adultery.

Just look at what James goes on to say in verse 4: “don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?”

Spiritual battle

We are in a spiritual battle, and the easiest way in for the devil is through our selfishness. He doesn’t have to do much before he can see strongholds crumble.

All he has to do is whisper in our ear - but what about you? what about what you want?

And that leads to enmity with others and enmity with God. It’s the exact opposite to what God wants us to do. He calls us first and foremost to love God, and flowing from that to love others

It’s the first thing in our vision statement, and the rest flows from this. But if selfishness is the death of it.

Verse 5

Now I briefly want to touch on verse 5 because it’s one of those verses that tend to stump the commentators.

The big difficulty is that it begins as if it is referencing scripture, but then the statement that follows, despite the best efforts of scholars, cannot be found.

The verse is just full of conundrums for the interpreter. You see it talks about God’s jealousy, and while there is a righteous jealousy that God has for us, the context seems to imply a sinful jealousy.

One suggestion, which I believe has merit, is that James isn’t trying to quote scripture, but instead is showing the absurdity of selfishness.

In this way we could understand the verse saying: do you really think scripture is that meaningless. Do you really think the spirit dwelling in us is making us yearn with sinful jealousy.

Now the key with any tricky verse, is allow the surrounding context guide you. And in this way, while we might struggle to understand what James is saying in verse 5, the overall message is clear. The jealousy, envy, and selfish desires in our heart is drawing us.

The Solution

So these first five verses have really helped us understand the problem. Verse 6 then forms a bridge for us, moving us from the problem to the solution.

He does this by quoting , which tells us that while pride is opposition to God, humility will bring us God’ favour.

Submission

Verse 7 starts the very straight shooting advice.

But it starts by bringing up that dirty word - submission.

Now the reason we hate this word so much is because when we think of submission, our mind quickly goes to abusive relationships.

Due to the implication that submission means handing over control, we get very wary, because, how do we know we can trust the one we are submitting to.

Sadly, there are many examples of wives submitting to abusive husbands, which gives reason to our apprehension.

But this has been the trick of the devil. He has planted these selfish desires in the minds of husbands and fathers, which taints what is often our only model for what this should look like. But our heavenly Father has not been tainted with that sinful desire. He is Holy,

We can submit to him because he will not let us down.

But the other problem we have with submission is that implies we are passive. In other words, we just sit idly, while the spiritual battle rages. But this idea is actually not present in the Greek word. If you think of the word with a war analogy, then you can think of a soldier in a war submitting to their superiors. This carries a sense of in submission, you become deeply engaged in the process.

Resist the devil

Now I tend to think that James actually has this idea of submission in the battle field, because the very next thing he tells us to do is to resist the devil. You see, if submitting is like enlisting in God’s army, then the battle is against the devil, and his first command is resist the devil.

In our own strength, that is not possible. But in the war analogy, we could say a single soldier cannot resist an entire enemy army.

But we can resist because we are part of God’s army. God wants us to be active in our involvement in this process.

Come near to God

The important thing in these instruction in verse 7 is that we keep God central, and that is exactly what James spells out for us in verse 8. He tells us the come near to God, and that he will come near to us.

Make yourself ready

But to draw ourselves close to God, we need to make ourselves ready. As James says, we need to wash our hands and purify our hearts.

Now what we really need to understand is that there are two aspects to doing this that we need to keep in tension.

Firstly, there is our part in the process. You see, we need to actively be doing all we can to stay clean, to live holy lives and just be the people God wants us to be.

But the other aspect is that God is the one that washes us clean. He is the one that is transforming us.

The trick is to hold those two ideas together.

Grieve

Now as we move into verse 9, the advice might seem strange. You see, we know that Jesus brings joy. What he did was a beautiful thing and it should make us happy,

But the advice here is to grieve, mourn and wail. To turn our laughter to mourning and joy to gloom.

Again there is a tension here that we need to hold tight. And it is a tension in the knowledge that we live in an inbetween time. A time when the victory has been won, but that sin still has a deep hold.

There is joy, but there should also be lament. The writer of Ecclesiastes says: a time to laugh, a time to weep.

While our joy reminds us of where we are going, our lament should remind us of how far we still need to go. To recognise that we do still fail - and the reality is, each of us here do still fail.

Humility

But the bottom line to it is humility. It is in humility in recognising that we don’t have all the answers. In recognises that we can’t do it on our own and that we need to Lord’s strength.

But did you notice what James actually says in verse 10. He says that when you humble yourself before the Lord, he will lift you up.

You see, this is the beauty of submission with God. It is as we lower ourselves before him that he raises us.

Conlcusion

Verses 11 and 12 in many ways can act as a conclusion to the whole matter. You see, these first 10 verses started by outlining the problem then concluded with what we should do.

The result is that we should not slander one another. As we slander one another we are actually judging the law itself. We cannot do this.

Now I recognise that we do need to defend the truth. We need to stand up for what God has revealed to us. But before we ever do that, we should spend a long time studying the first ten verses of this chapter.

You see, while we can often think we’re defending the truth, sometimes what we are actually doing is defending our own understanding. And it isn’t a very big leap for this to be much more about our own selfishness than standing up for God’s glory.

The bottom line is, we need humility. We need to stand before God and say, I am not worthy. I have not lived up to the standard you have set. I do not fully understand everything. But I am ready to stand with you. To submit to your ways, and draw myself close to you in full humility.

It’s not easy, and it can only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit, but as we humbly submit, we will start to become ready to take hold of that heavenly wisdom which James told us about in chapter 3.