Jump Start # 1232

James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

  Our verse today is about allegiances. It is about loyalty and devotion. It’s about being a traitor. Contextually, James is addressing some severe heart and faith issues among the people of God.

Notice:

• They were quarrelling
• They were lusting
• They were praying with the wrong motives
• They were told to resist the devil and submit to God
• They were told to draw near to God
• They were told to humble themselves and purify their hearts

They were a mess spiritually. The opening words of our verse today are not nice words. Most folks do not like being called “adulteresses.” They were unfaithful to God. James is blunt and to the point with them. He wants them to make up their minds. Are they with God or with the world? By doing both, they were spiritually adulteresses.

The expression “friendship with the world” causes some concern and misunderstanding. It led to a system of beliefs called “Monasticism.” Taking the principles of James to the extreme and misunderstanding them, a group in the middle ages moved away from the world and lived in monasteries. More than that, they refused contact with the world. More than that, they often punished themselves because of the world. A few examples that I remember when I studied this years ago:

One guy refused to cut his hair. This was based some how on friendship with the world. He became so shaggy that children in his village thought he was a wolf and threw rocks at him. Another thought that the earth was so vile that he lived in a large bird cage suspended from a tree. Another, for some reason, tied his hand into a fist until this finger nails grew through  his hand. Some ate just enough to keep alive. Others refused marriage. They thought laughter was sinful. They avoided music, arts and all forms of entertainment. They moved away from the villages and cities and lived alone in what we now call monasteries. Their strange behavior was believed by them, to be fulfilling the thoughts of our verse today. They were not making any friendships with the world. They were not evangelistic. They closed their eyes to the needs of others. If you were not one of them, you didn’t exist.  This concept is kept alive by monks and nuns in the Catholic faith today, but not to this degree.

James is not talking about total avoidance of everyone that is not a Christian. That may sound good on some days, it doesn’t allow us to let our lights shine nor does it allow us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. The friendship with the world that James is addressing are the things that are wrong. Sinful things oppose God. You can’t walk on both sides of the street and please God. The Christian cannot do everything that his neighbor does, because some of those things are wrong. Lines must be drawn and not crossed. James is truly addressing the heart of these Christians who are showing that they are not truly converted. They cannot give up things that are wrong. They like wrong and they like God. They want to keep both. You can’t. God won’t allow that. Their practices were infuriating God. They didn’t realize that they were quickly becoming God’s enemies. The very bridge that Jesus built through the cross, the reconciliation with God, was now being torn down by their refusal to leave wrong things of the world.

I sense these words are needed more and more today. Jesus warned of wolves in sheep clothing that would affect the flock of God. Instead of running from these wolves, too many are wanting to dance with the wolves. Some like to get as close to the edge of wrong as they can. Issues with modesty, attendance, social drinking, partying, questionable movies, suggestive language are things that every family and every congregation must continually deal with. Some get it. Some don’t. Some don’t want to get it. They’ve made their minds up that you cannot tell them that things are wrong. What doesn’t help is when we run from one extreme to the other extreme. Dressing like Amish isn’t the safe alternative. Going to the pulpit with a ruler and telling women how “short” is short is making up rules that God doesn’t have. Telling someone how many sips of wine is ok or not ok isn’t the answer. James knew what the problem was. It’s a heart issue. It’s being converted to Christ. It’s being a friend of God. It’s going in God’s direction. It’s realizing that some things are not helpful to my marriage, my faith, or my influence. It’s being able to say “No,” to the world. It’s listening to God.

The monastics missed it. They lived miserable lives, hurting themselves physically while missing the point of this passage. God wants us to be His friend. Friends do things together. Friends do not hurt one another. This is very much like marriage. Once a person gets married, the dating scene is over. No flirting with others. No showing off to others. No dating others. You make a commitment and your heart belongs to one and only one. This is conversion. We’ve changed. We cannot please everyone. We must please God. Some may not like the way you dress, does God? Some may think you’re no fun because you won’t laugh at what they say nor flirt around with others? God knows. Your heart belongs to Him. As long as God is pleased, it doesn’t matter what others say.

God wants us to be evangelistic. He wants us to enjoy the world He created for us. He wants us to follow Him all the way to Heaven. God wants us to be His friend. Is it possible in this crazy world? Certainly. Is it easy? Not always. God thinks about us more than we think about Him. God is interested in us more than we are interested in Him.

Friendship with the world hurts God. It ruins our relationship with Him.

Spend time with one who is a true friend and really cares for you, that is God.

Roger