By: Gen. Jim – 6/29/24
James begins with an epistolary greeting (1:1) as he directs his epistle to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion. In chapter 1 he puts forth WARNINGS, calling some adulterers (4:4). From 4:1-5:6 James contrasts between godliness and worldliness, something that we all need to pay attention to.
Concerning “adulterers” (Greek, “moichos”), James points out “that friendship with the world is enmity with God.” He goes on to write, “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (v.4).
How many today are enemies of God thinking they are BLESSED of God? The Bible conveys for us that the covenant (salvation) is as a marriage between God and His people. Those who break covenant are considered “adulterers” (see Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 3:6-10; Hosea 2:2 et al.).
I realize in our present generation of easy believism, “Come as you are, stay as you are,” “Jesus loves you no matter how in the Hell you live,” “God is crazy about you!” We don’t’ even know that our friendship with the world is evil in God’s sight. We tend to think that all this separation from the world is archaic, something that crazy, religious zealots preached and practiced.
Did you know that Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mannon” (Matthew 6:24 NKJV). “Mammon” (Greek, “mamonas” = (fig.) wealth, avarice (defiled), meaning anything we consider of any value (like the world and things in and of the world – see 1 John 2:15-17).
I know we all who are born-again know this (or should), but we just don’t think it really matters seeing we live in a time and generation that “stuff and things” are all about us. How many have fallen in love with the world and things in the world while claiming to be His bride?
James quotes from Exodus 20:5 (“For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”). When he writes v.5: “Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the Scripture says, God yearns jealously for the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us?” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible). (See also Deuteronomy 4:24; Zechariah 8:2).
Besides calling “sinners” and “double-minded” (4:8), James is not writing to pagans, but to believers that have gone awhoring after the world.
Friendship with the world is equivalent to the adoption of this hedonistic philosophy as one’s own. It is to live an egocentric, self-indulging, parasitic life, indifferent to the consequences of such a life on oneself or on others. (Jesus makes reference to such a “foolish, worldly” life in Luke 12:16-21).
God wants us in pursuit of TRUTH, not TRASH!
He is not against pleasure or riches per se, but against the lust of them. Illegitimate P/R will separate us from Him/Them. While the Bible lays out for us what pleases/displeases God, one can live an ultra-puritanical ascetic life – self-denying, austere – and still displease God (pride, dislike of others etc.). We’ve got to stay focused and balanced. God wants us to have joy (“xapa”, Greek), a legitimate pleasure. God and “the world” are antinomies between which no compromise is possible; the choice between them is the terrible responsibility of every individual.
Lusting for and loving the world is considered “adultery” in God’s eyes. Not only adultery, but “idolatry.” If we have a “god” or a “goddess” in our lives as Christians, we are walking on thin ice! If we cultivate a relationship with the world (after we’ve been saved from the world), we have become idolaters. Yet how many (millions!) Christians (churchgoers) are of a worldly spirit, have worldly companions, and their lives governed by worldly maxims? This is not to say we can’t be around worldly people and things; but we must guard our hearts against adultery/idolatry. When the world gets into the church, the church becomes as Jesus says in Matthew 23:25 a cup and dish full of extortion and self-indulgence! He says it may be whitewashed outwardly, but full of DEATH and UNCLEANNESS inwardly (v.27).
How many beautiful small and mega churches are nothing but sepulchers of spiritual death? How many members are ALIVE in Christ and how many are DEAD in trespasses and sins? How many are actually separated, consecrated, dedicated unto God and His will? How many are sanctified, walking in the Spirit or opposed to those who walk after the flesh? (Galatians 5).
We’re called out of the world and called into Christ’s kingdom. We’re called to be consecrated as was the Son of God (see Hebrews 7:28; 10:20). Hebrews 7:28 uses the Gk. word “teleioo,” which means “to complete, i.e. (lit.) accomplish, fulfill (make) perfect.” The NKJV uses the world “perfected” as opposed to the KJV which uses “consecrated.”
Hebrews 10:20 speaks of Jesus, “who consecrated for us,” a different Gk. Word (“egkainizo”), meaning “to renew, i.e. inaugurate, dedicate.”
God wants our WHOLE conduct changed not merely a portion. The problem is, most do not consecrate their WHOLE being to the Lord. They save a portion for themselves, hence, we are profane, unclean. This is the true notion of “qadash,” (in Hebrew) and (“άγιαξω”) in Greek. The thing or person consecrated/separated is considered to be HOLY, and thus to be God’s property; and then He hallows it/him or her to Himself.
[Note: A double sanctification is well expressed in Sohas, Levit. Fol. 33, Col. 132, on the words, “be ye holy, for I the Lord am holy.” You see, a man or woman sanctifies themselves on the earth, and then he/she is sanctified from heaven. A double-minded person is not acceptable to God (James 4:8). We must be single-minded].
James tells us, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (1:8). Some versions use “double-soul.”
In short, God wants our minds and hearts to be single on earth and in heaven. This is the GREAT PROBLEM in church la la land today. Churchites want to be His yet they love the world. Rabbi Tanchu, fol. 84, on Deuteronomy 26:17 (“Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His judments, and that you will obey His voice.”), said: “Behold, the Scripture exhorts the Israelites, and tells them when they pray, “lo yiyeh lahem shetey lebaoth,” that they should not have two hearts, one for the holy blessed God, and one for something else.”
Is it any wonder that today’s church is so SINFUL? Having a double-mind stops us from progress in Divine things.
As the world (USA included!) grows more and more sinful and hostile, the church should counter its advance. But, sadly, the church has become the world to a greater or lesser degree. The forces of HELL are within the church, hence “shape-shifters” are being birthed, trained up for imitators, false/fake (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
If you are double-minded/heart, repent today!!!