Sermon Tone Analysis

*James 4:4*

*The High Cost Friendship with the World*

 

“You adulterous people!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”[1]

 

Ouch!

James is not nice!

He calls fellow Christians harsh names and he speaks far too plainly for respectable church people!

Few of us would remain for long in a church where the Pastor called us “adulterous people.”

Even if we were somewhat focused on our own wants and disloyal to the One we call “Lord,” we wouldn’t stand for such name-calling.

Pastors are supposed to be “nice.”

It says so in the Bible—doesn’t it?

Perhaps that is why we seldom witness the vigorous Christianity of the apostolic era.

When reading this letter, we need to remember that James was writing to Christians who were even at that early date drifting from their secure position as followers of the Risen Lord of Glory.

What was written to them has application to us if we are drifting and focused on our own wants.

We have grown accustomed to ease and comfort; we do not like it when we are told that we are wrong.

We are trained to soothe the errant rather than correct them.

This attitude is endemic throughout the whole of modern society; and the churches of our Lord are likewise infected with a strange virus that lulls us into complacency.

Yet, James stands astride our path as we attempt to rush headlong down the road leading to irrelevance and ultimate destruction.

*James is Addressing Christians* — “You adulterous people!”

The first point to establish in your mind is that James is writing to Christians.

His instruction has little relevance to those in the world, though they would undoubtedly benefit were they to heed his words.

James is not writing those who are identified with this dying world.

For that reason, distressed by Christians that have grown casual concerning righteousness, he addresses his readers as adulterous people.

Was James writing unsaved people, he could not address them as adulterous; it is impossible for an unmarried person to be adulterous.

Unmarried people may be lascivious, lewd, salacious, ribald, or unchaste—and if not personally engaged in such activity, the general populace has become tolerant of such activity.

In support of this contention one need but note the absence of general outrage at such degrading shows on popular television as “Mad Men” and “Desperate Housewives.”

Nevertheless, since there is no permanent commitment, unmarried people cannot be adulterous—they are not breaking a vow of monogamous chastity.

However, James is not writing about a loss of cultural mores; he is writing about the danger among the churches when Christians are co-opted by the world about them.

The redeemed of God are identified as Christ’s Bride [cf.

*Revelation 19:7*; *21:2, 9*; *22:17*].

Writing the Corinthians, Paul would inform them, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” [*2 Corinthians 11:2*].

Perhaps no better example of how Christ the Lord views His congregation is provided than that which is given in Paul’s encyclical we know as the Letter to the Ephesians.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savoir.

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” [*Ephesians 5:22-32*].

Jesus frequently employed the imagery of a wedding to illustrate and explain the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven.

For instance, on one occasion the Master told a story of a wedding feast, and He used the wedding feast as a setting to explain the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding feast.’

But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’

And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.

And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’

And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

For many are called, but few are chosen” [*Matthew 22:2-14*].

Similarly, in the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were foolish and five of whom were wise, the focus is again the Kingdom of Heaven [see *Matthew 25:1-13*].

Jesus uses the theme of a wedding when urging His disciples to maintain readiness for His return.

He said, “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.

Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!

But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” [*Luke 12:35-40*].

This message is not intended as a discourse on weddings, however.

The message is focused on God’s address to His people through His servant James; and when the Living God confronts His people as adulterous, each of us should take note.

Something in the life of those whom James addressed had earned God’s disapproval; and if we seek to continue walking with God, enjoying His favour, we will do well to discover and avoid all that displeases Him.

If we review what has preceded the text, we will discover what it was that brought James to the point of confronting these Christians, calling them “adulterous people.”

*James is Addressing Worldly Christians* — “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

The churches to which James wrote were in danger of becoming enemies of God, if they were not already in that perilous situation.

In some way, the Christians in these churches were identified as forming friendships with the world.

What does friendship with the world look like?

How does a church that has grown friendly with the world act?

To answer this question as James would have framed it, one need but review what he has written to this point.

Reviewing what James has written we see that he has identified specific attitudes and actions that reveal Christians who are markedly infatuated with the world.

James contends that the churches he writing had been infiltrated by the world.

A church that stands opposed to the world will be respected by the world, though the world will not often like what that church stands for.

However, a church that has conceded the world’s agenda will be tolerated by the world, though it cannot be respected by the world.

The changes among the Christians to whom James wrote were no doubt gradual—so subtle and measured that even those changing were not aware of the transformation.

Nevertheless, the changes were significant.

At first, the Christians were strong in their faith, standing firm against evil and willing to endure anything for the cause of Christ.

Then, as opposition and even persecution continued, the erosion of their courage became palpable.

At last the day came when they could make excuses for their failure to stand strong, justifying their concessions and even exhibiting their compromise as wisdom.

So, James reminded his readers that they must seek God’s wisdom [*James 1:5-8*] and walk in humility before the Lord [*James 1:9-11*].

He encouraged them to stand steady, supporting one another in the pressures of life [*James 1:12-18*].

They would need one another if they were to remain faithful; and they would need to lean heavily on the Word of God [*James 1:19-25*].

There had been quite enough of people knowing about the Word, though there was need for people willing to do the Word.

Religion was not merely knowing the rules; it was doing what honoured God as one showed compassion and kept himself or herself pure in the midst of a fallen world [*James 1:26, 27*].

When the church was young, the members of the Body considered one another as family.

They had stood together when persecuted, and they had shared hardship even as they encouraged one another.

They were brothers and sisters having one Father, God the Almighty.

At first, they accepted one another with respect and treated one another with dignity, regardless of social standing or wealth.

With time, they became aware of distinctions in class and in wealth and in position within the broader social community.

The transformation may not have taken as long as you might suppose, for these churches were the first generation of the movement that came to be know as Christianity.

In fact, the change can take place within a matter of months.

The churches to which James was writing were becoming discriminatory in their acceptance of one another.

They sought standing in the eyes of the world, which was a subtle way of seeking the world’s approval.

The rich and the notable were solicited to attend their services, whereas the poor and undistinguished were shunned.