COMMON - Part 6 | Josh Harris

fourth chapter today and if you read the fourth chapter of James you might find that uh some of the words James uses is pretty intense and uh if you read it enough times it still feels really really quite intense uh you might even cringe a little bit when you read it I know when I read it I was kind of like uh that's uh a bit bit harsh maybe even uh and I think there are some there's some vers in here that I think have been weaponized in the past and for me as I was working through it I had some like baggage attached to some of these verses that I felt like I carried in an unhelpful way but my hope today is that as I've been sitting with this and it's sat with me better and better that uh it'll sit with you well too and help you really see what James wants to say to us today so this chapter opens with James talking to this community of churches and in some of these churches there was division and conflict among them and uh James says to these churches he says you know where this conflict comes from right this conflict comes from with with inside you it comes from your own self-indulgence your own selfishness that's playing out between you and in in chapter 4 uh verse four we pick up here and he says adulterers which is just like wow uh some translations say say you unfaithful ones I guess that's a little bit nicer but not a whole lot he says don't you know that to be friends with the world means being enemies with God so anyone who wants to be friends with the world is setting themselves up as God's enemy or do you suppose that when the Bible says he yearns jealousy over the spirit he may dwell within us doesn't mean what it said James is using pretty strong language here I think like last week Phil talked about the the hyperbole that James uses he I think he wants to make a point because for James and I believe for God he wants us to know how much he cares that we live a healthy life connected to God and connected to each other not get caught up with the infighting and things they're going to break us down and divide us because God's always inviting us into Community with him and Community Connection with others around us unfortunately as life goes on as as we live our lives and just go through our years and days we tend to pick up patterns and habits that aren't the most healthy for us we pick up uh maybe Paul calls them patterns of the world the ways that people who don't follow Jesus have maybe adopted things like selfishness or Pride or greed or self-indulgence or comparison and he says we slip into this mindset and they become familiar with us they become friendly to us when I was growing up I had this uh like this thought that when I read this chapter that um I had to kind of isolate myself from the world like Don't drink don't smoke don't chew don't go with those that do maybe you've heard that expression from back in the day um and I I had this thought that I had to watch how much time I spent with my my school friends make sure it was less than my time with my church friends because if I spent too much time with my school friends they they're going to poison me and take me away from Jesus now I know for sure that who you spend time with does influence you that's pretty much unavoidable in life but I don't think that's the point that James is specifically trying to make here in this passage I think he's talking to these chrisan chrans these churches who've been who've been programmed who've been um influenced who've adopted these habits and values that James calls worldly that don't look like the way that we've been invited or called into and this way of living will lead to our own destruction when you read uh kind of read this chapter it can feel like very US versus them it's like these enemies and friend idea uh and I think it can feel a bit divisive but as I sat with this more and more and I thought about the what what James was saying I began to ask myself a a different question I said to myself are there things that I'm becoming friendly with so maybe you like me have uh a friend who you're a little bit too friendly with that maybe they aren't the best in influence on you maybe spend too much time with them and maybe you like me uh maybe that friend's name is moose tracks ice cream I have tried every brand in Jackson that I found to find that I love strolls brand moose tracks ice cream and every night after dinner almost we spend too much time together just me and a bowl and the more time that I spend with this bowl of ice cream the more I make my own health my enemy when I am on my Amazon app too much or on Facebook Marketplace too much I am making my budget and my bank account my enemy when I spend too much time with my anger like I was building a fence this week and smashing my hand with a hammer I make my own peace my enemy when I spend too much time with my own self-indulgence putting my own needs first I make my generosity my own enemy I think instead of James talking about the the people you're spending time with this this the people of the world I think what he's getting at is the the habits and and the the ways of operating you have in the world are you being friendly with things that are pulling you away from the ways that God invites you into I uh I had a practice for a long time that I realized as I was working on this that I'm not as good at as I used to be and so it's been a bit convicting for me but I used to always whenever I saw trash in the ground I'd pick it up even a little piece of trash and I know the world is full of trash and my one piece of trash isn't going to help really clean the world up uh but for me those 3 or 4 seconds to bend down and pick that up and put it in a trash can was orienting myself towards a practice or a habit or uh the way I was being formed into someone who's more about restoration than I am about destruction I want to be formed and shaped and programmed in a way that is more for the things of God and away from the ways of the world as Paul and and James say the unfortunate truth though is no matter how hard we try we can try all day every day we're never going to be exactly who we want to be there'll be times where I'm too lazy or tired to pick up the trash or when I'm a little bit too irritable and just hangry or when I take that container of ice cream put in the back of the freezer so else no one else can find it and only I can have the last bite because I really want it that's never happened it happens all the time uh but James says uh in verse six and I think this is the verse that really kind of like uh it's the the hinge the Crux of the whole passage he says but God gives more grace and so it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit to God and resist the devil and he'll run from you draw near to God and He will draw near to you God offers even more grace all it takes for us is humility if we resist the ways and patterns that are unhelpful un Jesus e un um what God wants for us will begin to or Orient ourselves differently toward God and when we do he's waiting and ready and wanting to draw near to us but God like God always is God gives us agency he doesn't Force us or coers us but he says in he just invites us says will you will you humble yourself will you humble yourself and I think what he's saying there is not like will you think less of yourself but will you admit to the the way things truly are in your life will you accept your own reality and for a lot of my life when when I read this passage it was easier for me to develop a try harder mindset like if I could just resist the devil hard enough I could make him flee if I could just close my eyes and say say devil no and like kind of peek my eye open and see if he's still there or not and then try harder again and if I did that enough and if I drew near to God in just the right way that God would draw near to me but I think if you think about this verse uh in the context of um what are you becoming friendly with are the practices you have in your life is the way you're oriented the way you're living your life are you practicing ways do you have habits in your life that are drawing you closer to God or resisting what the devil has for you are you practicing things that are making you a friend of God or a friend of the darkness that's in your life what I've learned is the way that you hit the target in life the way that you don't miss the Mark is to actually aim for the Target it's not to say don't miss the target it's to try and hit the target it's not a journey away from from The Vices in your life saying please don't do that please don't do that but instead it's a journey toward virtues and the things that God is inviting us into and when we pursue The Godly things pursue selflessness pursue um putting others needs before our own that in itself is an act of resistance against the darkness that wants to um come after us and as we pursue the these practices and patterns these programs they help form us and shape us into people that look like we fit into God's circle of friends can we hit the mark every time no unfortunately we don't we won't do it perfectly but God has more grace James says and he always invites us continually to pursue a path of Friendship with him and James Goes On and he says make your hands clean you Sinners he's really intense James he says make your hearts pure you double-minded lot make yourselves wretched mourn and weep let your laughter turned to mourning and your joy to sorrow humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you I know that comes off really harsh it feels like wow James but I think what he's do he's elaborating on what it means to embrace humility when you truly Embrace uh the reality of Life there is an emotional response to accepting the way life is and I think what he's asking is will you acknowledge your true reality of life you accept accountability for the way things are will you be honest about the fact that you often put your own needs above the needs of others and when you accept this fact there is an emotional feeling response that follows that I think uh I have a great example for this it's what I would call the Sheepish wave and I'm sure you know what it is you've probably actually done it just don't know what it's called yet but imagine for a second you're driving through a parking lot or down a street and someone isn't looking and they almost hit you and they slam their brakes on and you look at them and they look at you and in your mind you're like this person is an idiot do they not see me here do they know how to drive maybe you're holding back some curse words if the kids are in the back seat but then they look at you and you look at them you make eye contact and they give you this hand up head down shoulders up this move it's like it's the acknowledgement of o oops that was me or if you're walking across the sidewalk and someone slams their brakes on and they almost hit you and they you look at them you're like what are you doing and they they give you the hand up shoulders up head down sheepish wave it's like oh okay that my my bad my bad or you have the fourway stop and then you start to go and someone tries to take your spot and go when it's your turn to go and they slam their brakes on you're like it's my turn and they give you the the Sheepish wave they're like nothing changed in the scenario like nothing is new about what happened but because they're willing to accept a little accountability except that this is the what actually happened it was my fault all of a sudden you at least externally have a little bit more grace for that person and they can acknowledge the way things are that they were at fault you're able to show them some more grace when they give you that sheepish wave they might still feel like an idiot to you or they still might feel like uh they aren't the best driver but that acknowledgement really changes the scenario I think the reason this wave works is because we know that on the whole like mostly in our life if we'll take some accountability most people will offer Grace to us now if you have grown up with or been part of a family or a community that doesn't have any Grace your tendency is to live in fear you're unable to own up to or be truthful about the way things actually are and I think that's why James In this passage brings up Grace first before he talks about accepting Our Truth says but God offers more grace more grace in the ways we missed the Mark Grace enough that we don't need to live in fear that we can actually be accountable and live up to the truth of Our Lives can actually put others needs above our own maybe so my encouragement for you today uh firstly is this start by accepting that God has Grace for you that might be a hard thing for you maybe you've never even considered that but God does have Grace for you it's already been made available it's already open to you you just need to accept it maybe for you each morning you want to pray God would you help me to believe or receive that you have Grace for me would you show that to me and help me to realize that it's there and if you're in a place where you feel like you can receive God's grace if you can believe that to be true in the Deep parts of who you are maybe you could ask himself ask God to show you to see yourself how you actually are are there patterns or habits or have I been programmed in ways that am I becoming too friendly with things that don't align with the life that God hopes for me and wants for me and is inviting me into and it maybe if you can be honest about that and if you feel like that's a place for where you can live in and be your reality maybe lastly you could ask God just show me are there ways where I'm putting my own needs above the needs of others that's causing or creating that Division and maybe tell someone own up to them and say hey this is a way that I put my own needs before yours and and in turn offer them the opportunity to show you some Grace the way God has shown us Grace I want to close today by reading a quote from an author named Henry now and he says people who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness but they choose not to live in it the claim that the light shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and a little bit of light can dispel a lot of Darkness they Point each other to flashes of light here and there and remind each other that they reveal the hidden presence of God they discover that there are people who heal each other's wounds they forgive each other's offenses share possessions Foster the spirit of community celebrate the gifts they've received and live in constant anticipation of the full