01/27/20 QUICK INTRO TO CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE

01/27/20 QUICK INTRO TO CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE
 
James 4:6-12 is a great passage to memorize since it addresses a wide range of practical Christian living.(DLT notes follow the passage)

James 4:6-12
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?


(DLG notes)
vs. 6
* James relates the Christian life to the grace of God. This is not a letter that aligns salvation to law keeping or legalism. Contrary to some people, the book of James belongs in the N.T., because God included it. It is God's grace and Spirit that makes the Christian life possible.
* God sets Himself in opposition to those who are proud, as in a military stance.
* God supplies more grace to those who receive and walk in the grace they already have.
 
vs. 7
* Christian grace can only be given by God, but it must be received by the believer who submits, yields, subjects to and obeys God. It is an act of will to the command and promise of God.
* God deserves, commands and expects total submission to Himself, which is manifested by resisting the devil. Those who align with God will resist the devil, just as God resists those who follow the devil.
* Christians will be targeted and attacked by the devil, but those who submit to God and resist the devil in the power of God will not be defeated by the devil. It is not empty, boasting words that defeat Satan, but unrestrained resistance to the ways of Satan.
 
vs. 8
* God invites and actually commands us to draw near to Him. It is our responsibility to draw near to God. As Jude said, we are to build ourselves up in our holy faith and we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. We are to enact the faith with which we are enabled.
* God desires to be close to us, to cleanse us, to empower us, but God allows us to freely accept or reject His grace and Spirit.
* We are cleansed by the Blood, the word, the Spirit of God, but we only receive that cleansing if we avail ourselves and surrender ourselves to that cleansing. This is what it means to, "cleanse our hands" and "purify our hearts."
* The cleansing of the hands refers to believers lives being cleansed from sinful deeds. The purifying of the heart refers to the believer being delivered from the sinful nature.
* Double minded people who have a carnal mind (from the time of birth, into the time of their new birth) and a spiritual mind (from the time of the new birth). After conversion, and before the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the two minds (carnal and spiritual) are in conflict within us. It is only when the fullness of the Holy Spirit burns and flushes out the carnal mind (sinful nature, Old Man) that we are purified and delivered from being Double Minded.
 
vs. 9-11
* We will not experience God's victory until we realize that we are hopeless and helpless without Him and His grace. This is where we must humble ourselves, lower ourselves, submit ourselves, in order for God to lift us up.
* Christians must extend love, grace, mercy, tenderness, kindness to fellow believers. We are to serve and submit to one another. We must not judge or misrepresent one another. This does not mean we accept sin, but it does mean that we do unto others as we would have them to unto us. We must extend to others the same considerations that God extends to us.
 
vs. 12
* God is the only Law Giver. We cannot add to the law of God and we cannot take away from the required moral law of God. We must not judge God's children or servants, though we must hold each other accountable for faithful obedience.