Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Russia.

Hundreds of passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below.

News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident.

It wasn't a technology problem like radar malfunction--or even thick fog.

The cause was human stubbornness.

Each captain was aware of the other ship's presence nearby.

Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other.

Each was too proud to yield first.

By the time they came to their senses, it was too late.

(http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/h/humility.htm).

This is the pride and arrogant attitude that James is speaking of in this section.

He is telling us that all pride does is bring us down and make us trust in our selves more than another.

Pride makes us hate others because they are not as good as us or maybe we hate them because they are better and our pride will not allow us to admit that.

Pride not only does this to us, but it makes us play God.

It makes us do this because we begin to believe we do not need anyone else, even God.

One commentator stated, “Pride says, “God, I don’t need you.

I can handle things quite nicely by myself, thank you very much.”

At the very least, it is to claim credit for what God has done for us.

Self-exaltation—that’s pride.”

(Anderson, David R.. Triumph Through Trials: The Epistle of James (p. 173).

Grace Theology Press.

Kindle Edition.)

When we seek the worlds wisdom that James has told us not to become friends with, we are prideful.

We are because we are rejecting the creator for the created.

God desires all of us to not be prideful.

He hates pride.

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes” which is pride and arrogance, is number one, and lying, murder, wicked plans, desire to do evil, false witness, and then those who are troublemakers follow closely.

Each of these are from pride.

We do not become jealous and bitter and hateful unless we are prideful.

Therefore in Proverbs 16:5 it says that, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”

We can be assured that God hates pride and arrogance because pride and arrogance is an attitude of independence from God.

We can do it ourselves and we do not need him.

Which is why James wrote this section of Scripture between why we fight and why we should not speak evil of one another.

It is all pride and only pride that causes this grief.

Let us see what the word of God says this morning in James 4:6-10

The first thing we see in this text is that we find...

Grace and Strength Through Submission (6-7)

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

This is great news to those who have suffered under the pride and arrogance of another.

It is amazing news to us all because we know that grace can be ours if we get rid of our pride.

We can remove pride when we are saved and secure in the Lord Jesus.

When we have believed in Him for our salvation, we can remove pride because of His power working in and through us.

We can also ask God for more and more wisdom regularly because He will give it to us freely.

But we can only do this through resting in the Lord and not ourselves.

So, we see in this section that...

Grace is Better

God gives more grace than we deserve, that is for sure.

We are all evil and wicked people and most everyone wants their own way.

Pride is the cause for our adultery with the world and friendship with it.

It is the cause of our bitter fights and quarrels with others.

Pride is the cause of most all of our problems and issues in the world today.

It is because, “Pride is the dandelion of the soul.

Its root goes deep; only a little left behind sprouts again.

Its seeds lodge in the tiniest encouraging cracks.

And it flourishes in good soil: The danger of pride is that it feeds on goodness.”

(David Rhodes.

http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/p/pride.htm)

God’s grace is greater than this though.

His grace gives us the ability to uncover pride and expose it so we can ask for help to get rid of it.

When we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us we can discover the seeds of pride and remove them.

Pride is nothing more than the appearance.

It is not real it is us making an appearance of being above another.

Much like the man who has to always top everyone elses stories.

This guy does not care what you have done, he has done it too and far better than you.

So, you won the top horse at the WRCA finals.

He won top horse and top hand.

That is pride.

But it is only an appearance.

We do it because we are not comfortable with who we are.

We are not comfortable with who we are because we are not finding our identity in Jesus Christ who loved us so much He died for us.

That is your identity when you are a believer.

It is only in that identity that we can do the next important thing which is...

Taking a stand through Subordination

Submission/subordination.

This is putting ourselves under the Lord.

We admit He is our protector and we are under His umbrella.

When we decide to step out on our own, we get soaked and feel the “full force of the storm” (Anderson, Triumph, 168.

Kindle).

When we do this we open ourselves up for the attack of Satan and his minions.

When we submit to God we say in effect, “I cannot do this I need you and your strength.

Help me Lord.

Help me make it through the day.

Help me not be arrogant and prideful.

Help me to stand against the attacks of Satan.”

We give.

We surrender.

We admit we cannot do it.

We admit we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

We admit we are nothing but Christ is everything.

This is submission.

When we do this we can then stand firm against the devil and his attacks.

That is what this section means.

It means we resist the devil’s sin, pride, the devil’s beckon call to the sinfulness of independence and self-exaltation.

When we do this, he will flee because we have the power of the Lord shining forth and darkness cannot stand in the light.

Think of it like this, when you flip on a light switch, the darkness disappears.

It cannot stay with the light shining.

When we are in subordination to the Lord, we are standing firm in the light and we will make the darkness flee from us.

Not only this but in that subordination we are becoming more and more like the Lord and...

Likeness Brings Nearness (8-9)