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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
James 4:6
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the first five verses of chapter 4, we find James pointing out issues within the Christian church as he wrote to his brother and sister Hebrew believers.
First, in verses one through three, he went after the problem of giving more attention to personal desires and wants more than to the Lord who deserves a person’s fullest attention and devotion, the Lord who provides a Christian what they need in accordance with His will. This turning away from the Lord to a selfish approach to living which included even coveting the things that others had resulted in all kinds of unnecessary strife which include interpersonal fights and quarrels.
This was followed in verses 4 and 5 with a rebuke regarding affiliation, an affiliation that could only be with one of two entities.
The Christian church had decided to befriend the world and its ways, a world and its ways that ran counter to the Lord’s ways. This is why James makes it a point to accuse the Hebrew Christians of spiritual adultery for their unfaithfulness towards God. This choice to draw nearer the world than the Lord resulted in Christian believers living in opposition to God as enemies, especially since God made it clear that He was a jealous God and wouldn’t share adoration with anything in the world for He and He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that a person can’t serve two masters, God and money (Matthew 6:24). The same principle applies to anything else of the world as believers are expected to give the Lord their complete, uncompromising affection with absolute loyalty. This wasn’t happening in James’ time in first century A.D and it sure isn’t happening here in the twenty-first century either.
So what is to be done in the midst of so much spiritual infidelity among Christian believers?
The only solution is repentance where a Jesus follower can experience a blessed gift from God called grace. Look at our single verse today, the sixth verse of James, chapter 4:
But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
Yes, God is a jealous God who will bring His judgment and consequences on anyone who chooses to be His enemy but He is equally a God of grace and mercy and pardon and forgiveness. To experience that latter part of God, the part every single person should want to experience, note that humility is the key that opens the grace door.
For God “shows favor to the humble” and He expresses that favor by giving us grace, a grace that is greater than all our sin (Romans 5:20-21).
Need an illustration?
Jesus gave us a perfect one in the Parable of the Prodigal (or Lost) Son:
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.”
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.”
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:11-24
Here we had a son doing something that was viewed as very disrespectful in biblical times. He asked for his portion of his father’s inheritance while the father was still alive and then upon receiving it, he abandoned that father to go off and befriend the world and its ways in a distant country, quickly immersing himself in its desires while squandering his wealth.
Right after this, a great famine struck and with no money, the son was in need, so much so that he sold himself off to a local citizen who then assigned him to the fields to feed the pigs. Keep in mind that pigs were considered unclean animals to the Jews and so when we see the son at rock bottom, this only adds to it. Soon, the son longed to eat the pods the pigs were eating but ended up without even that.
It was in the midst of these circumstances when the son came to his senses and decided he would be better off returning to his father in humility with the hope that he might be able to at least join in with the slaves and be cared for as a servant.
And so that’s what he did. He didn’t expect anything from his father and wouldn’t have blamed him if he even rejected his willingness to be a slave having shown himself unworthy to be a son.
Imagine his surprise when he came within eyesight of the home he once lived in and watched his father run to him, engaging with an embrace and kisses. It certainly wasn’t what the son expected or thought he had deserved. Such was the validity of his repentance and newfound humbleness.
Now swayed by the loving, compassionate reception, the son openly confesses to his father:
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
What happened next had to be even more amazing and incredible than the initial hug and kisses. For the father would have nothing of this unworthiness the son was professing as he quickly ordered that his best robe, the one reserved for special occasions, be placed on his son along with the special ring, most likely the father’s signet ring. Sandals were also to be placed on the son’s feet so he could walk to the great feast the father was throwing, complete with a roasted fattened calf.
Where condemnation was warranted by a worldly perspective in light of the sinful actions that had taken place, the son instead was shown blessed grace that was rooted in the divine favor of his father. This was one of the main points of Jesus’ parable, a foreshadowing of what salvation looks like for every sinner who repents, commits themselves to a new move toward righteousness, and believes in Jesus as Savior.
For every time this happens, the Father runs, embraces, kisses, rains down blessings, and celebrates because a son or daughter who was once lost has become found.
While it’s absolutely true that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, it’s also true that when a sinner admits their iniquities and comes to the Father in humility, He in turn shows blessed grace that is rooted in His divine favor, an underserved and unmerited grace that only could be extended perfectly by a perfectly holy Lord.
Today and every day, let us rejoice and be glad that this is the nature of the God we serve, a God who provides a grace greater than all our sins.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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