Introduction:
How to Play Well With Others (James 4:1-12):
- Stop being so Self-centered . (Jas 4:1-3)
- Get Right with God. (Jas 4:4-10)
4 Things I Must Do to Humble Myself:
- I must Submit to God. (Jas 4:7a-8a)
- I must Repent from my sin. (Jas 4:8b)
- I must Mourn over my sinfulness. (Jas 4:9)
- I must receive God's Grace . (Jas 4:10)
- Stop Slandering . (Jas 4:11-12)
3 Things You Also Say When You Slander:
- "I Hate that person." (Jas 4:11a)
- "God's word means Nothing to me." (Jas 4:11bc)
Galatians 5:14 - For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
- "I should be God ." (Jas 4:12)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:47
Father, we've already studied in this part of your Word that we're not just to hear the Word, but we're to do the Word.
00:48-01:02
And I pray, Father, you would give us the faith, you would give us the power to do what your Word says.
01:05-01:07
Glorify your name above all things.
01:08-01:11
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
01:12-01:14
James chapter four, are you there?
01:17-01:21
Well, several months ago, I had two little boys come into my office.
01:22-01:25
They were at the church with their mom, and I'm not gonna say their names.
01:26-01:27
A lot of you probably know who they are.
01:28-01:31
But one is seven and one is four.
01:31-01:33
So I'm just gonna refer to them by their ages.
01:33-01:34
Is that all right?
01:35-02:10
So they come into my office and they point to the chairs in front of my desk and they say, "What are these chairs for?" And I said, "Well, those are for counseling." And they're like, "Well, what's that?" I said, "Well, sometimes people have problems with something and they come to me and I tell them what the Bible says about how to fix their problems." And the one little boy said, "Well, we need counseling." I said, "All right, hop on up." So the seven-year-old sat here, the four-year-old sat here.
02:12-02:25
And I said to the seven-year-old, I said, "All right, what seems to be the problem?" And he said, "Well, he hits me and he calls me names." Like, all right.
02:26-02:33
And I turned to the four-year-old and I said, "Then what do you think the problem is?" And he got real sheepish, kind of slumped back in his seat.
02:33-02:48
and he got this little grin on his face, and he goes, "Well, he hits me, "and he calls me names." And as soon as he said that, the seven-year-old goes, "You're a liar!"
02:50-02:50
(congregation laughing)
02:51-02:52
Well, he was more intense than that.
02:52-03:02
And I said, "All right, all right." So I shared with him, "What does the Bible say?" And we talked about that for a while.
03:02-03:06
And I said, "Now, do you think Jesus would want us "to be kind to one another?
03:06-03:11
"Or do you think Jesus would want us "to be mean to one another?" And they agreed, Jesus would want us to be kind to one another.
03:12-03:15
And I said, "Okay, let's pray." And we prayed.
03:16-03:26
And after we got done praying, amen, I got up and walked around my desk and they get up off their chairs and the seven-year-old was walking out and the four-year-old walked up behind him.
03:27-03:36
And he kind of twisted his torso He punched him in the spine, and I mean so hard.
03:37-03:43
I mean, I never could have imagined a four-year-old could hit that hard.
03:44-03:49
He hit him so hard, and the seven-year-old went face down on the ground.
03:49-03:58
And you know in those moments how time kind of stands still, all I could think of was, "How am I going to explain this to Mom?" Right?
03:59-04:16
"What were you guys doing in there?" the seven-year-old rolled over and he goes, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" And I'm like, "All right, out, out, go, go!" Because that's how counseling goes a lot.
04:17-04:28
We all agree while we're sitting in the chair and then we get our backside off the chair and we go right back to doing the thing that we shouldn't be doing.
04:30-04:34
Can't we all just get along?
04:36-04:38
No, no, we cannot.
04:41-04:49
That's all mankind has been doing since the second generation from Cain and Abel until today.
04:50-04:52
All we do is fight.
04:53-04:57
I mean, you name it, we fight about it, right?
04:58-04:59
We fight about land.
05:01-05:05
We fight about the right to murder babies before they're born.
05:07-05:09
We fight about skin color.
05:11-05:14
We fight about Tickle Me Elmo.
05:16-05:19
I worked retail the year that thing came out.
05:19-05:27
I kid you not, there were people fist fighting in the aisle on Black Friday over Tickle Me Elmo.
05:28-05:29
(congregation laughing)
05:33-05:35
And when we fight, we say, "Yeah, you know what?
05:35-05:37
"Yeah, we shouldn't be fighting, but you know what?
05:37-05:42
"I'm in the right, and that person's wrong, "and that's why we're fighting.
05:42-05:45
"He's wrong!" And it's always the other guy's fault, right?
05:46-05:51
Every fight that you're in, it's always the other guy's fault, isn't it?
05:52-05:52
Isn't it?
05:56-05:56
Isn't it?
05:57-06:03
James chapter four, he says in verse one, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?
06:03-06:12
"Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" It's always the other guy's fault, right?
06:12-06:16
Well, James says, "No, it's your fault.
06:19-06:28
"You're the problem." You're like, "All right, so if I'm the problem," which that's what God said, okay, I'm the problem.
06:28-06:34
If I am the problem, how do I play nice with the people that I'm sharing this space with?
06:35-06:38
I'm so glad you asked, because that's where James takes us.
06:38-06:41
On your outline, I want you to write some things down, how to play well with others.
06:44-06:45
How to play well with others.
06:47-06:49
Number one, write this down.
06:50-06:52
Stop being so self-centered.
06:53-06:55
Stop being so self-centered.
06:57-06:59
Like, why do we fight?
07:00-07:02
Why are we constantly fighting?
07:03-07:05
Well, James tells us again, look at verse one.
07:05-07:13
He says, "Is it not this, "that your passions are at war within you?" The problem is you.
07:14-07:18
The problem specifically is your heart, according to James.
07:19-07:28
He's saying we're at war without because we are at war within.
07:30-07:31
What does that mean?
07:32-07:34
Well, he explains, look at verse two.
07:35-07:39
He says, "You desire and do not have, so you murder.
07:40-07:48
You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel." James says, "You want something.
07:49-07:53
You will stoop to any level to get what you want.
07:55-07:57
And you're like, murder, wow.
07:58-08:01
Talk about coming out of the gate hot, murder.
08:02-08:02
Like, really?
08:04-08:05
Yeah, murder.
08:08-08:21
Do you think anyone has ever killed someone because they wanted something that they had or because they wanted someone that they had?
08:25-08:30
He's there again, fight and quarrel, fight and quarrel.
08:30-08:32
James says it's selfishness.
08:33-08:35
You can go back to Harvest Academy right now.
08:36-08:38
And I bet you there are two toddlers fighting over a toy.
08:41-08:45
And you know what church, if we're honest, We don't grow out of that.
08:51-08:52
Look at the rest of verse two.
08:53-08:55
One of the most convicting verses in the whole Bible.
08:56-09:07
He says, "You do not have because you do not ask." So let me ask you, who has promised to supply everything you need?
09:07-09:08
If you know the answer, shout it out.
09:09-09:11
Who has promised to supply everything you need?
09:12-09:13
God, right?
09:13-09:14
God has.
09:17-09:22
So, why don't we go to him?
09:27-09:39
"We don't have what we want," James says, "because we don't go to God." And I have to ask you a question that I've had to ask myself many times.
09:42-09:50
How many blessings have you forfeited in your life simply because you haven't asked God for it?
09:54-09:56
And you're like, "Hang on." You're like, "Hang on there, preacher boy.
09:57-09:57
"I have asked.
09:59-09:59
"I have asked.
10:00-10:02
"And why didn't God give me what I wanted?
10:03-10:07
"Because I've asked." Well, look at verse three.
10:08-10:18
He says, "You ask and do not receive "because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions." Ouch.
10:18-10:31
James says, "You've asked wrongly." You're like, "Well, how can you ask wrongly?" He says, "You ask wrongly because you just wanna spend it on your passions." In other words, you're praying with a selfish motive.
10:35-10:37
Now, listen, I don't want anybody to misunderstand me.
10:39-10:42
Jesus said, "Ask and seek and knock," right?
10:42-10:52
Jesus said, "Ask and you shall receive." Jesus said, John 15, "Abide in him "and ask whatever you wish and you'll receive." All of that is true.
10:55-11:04
But if you're asking for something purely for selfish reasons, God is not listening.
11:06-11:07
(congregation laughing)
11:09-11:10
Have you ever done that?
11:12-11:13
I mean, let's be honest.
11:14-11:21
That you're like, God, God, please give me that promotion so that people are gonna start respecting me.
11:24-11:25
That's a selfish motive.
11:27-11:34
If you're like, God, I wanna be with this person, I wanna be with that girl, God, make it happen.
11:36-11:38
Maybe you're asking for a selfish motive.
11:40-11:51
Or what if I said, "God, I want you to grow this church "so that I can be the pastor of the biggest church "in the neighborhood." Wouldn't you say that's a selfish motive?
11:54-11:58
If you're like, "God, please, please, please, please, "God, let me win the lottery.
11:59-12:02
"I don't play the lottery, but somehow, God."
12:02-12:03
(congregation laughing)
12:04-12:06
You do miracles and let me win the lottery.
12:06-12:07
Why, why, why?
12:09-12:11
It's a selfish motive, isn't it?
12:12-12:18
The bottom line, James says, you aren't playing well with others because of your selfish heart.
12:19-12:20
That's what he's saying.
12:23-12:37
When all you care about is what you want, you will do whatever you think is necessary to get what you want and you will fight whoever is in the way of what you want.
12:39-12:40
Self-centered living destroys.
12:41-12:46
It destroys you, it destroys others, and it destroys your relationship with others.
12:49-12:51
Like, man, what's the solution to that?
12:52-12:53
There's only one solution.
12:54-12:56
There's only one solution and that's number two.
12:57-12:58
Get right with God.
12:59-13:03
"right with God." Look at verse four.
13:04-13:10
He says, "You adulterous people, "do you not know that friendship with the world "is enmity with God?
13:11-13:31
"Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world "makes himself an enemy of God." James says, "Listen, you got a problem with your heart "because you got a problem with God." Now, primarily, he is addressing unbelievers.
13:31-13:38
That's clear from the language he's using, but there's stuff here for all of us in this passage.
13:40-13:43
We've talked about last week, me first, wisdom.
13:43-13:47
We talked about selfish ambition and the thoughts continuing here.
13:48-13:51
He's calling it friendship with the world.
13:51-13:52
It's called worldliness.
13:54-13:59
And that is when you love the things of this world more than you love God.
14:01-14:01
That's worldliness.
14:02-14:13
And James says, "When you do that, you are making yourself an enemy of God." Now look at verse five.
14:15-14:16
This is an interesting verse.
14:16-14:31
It says, "Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has made to dwell in us." Now that is not a direct Old Testament quote.
14:32-14:35
What James is doing here, he's paraphrasing.
14:37-14:45
What he's doing is he's saying, "Hey, have you read the scriptures?" Do you know if you read the scriptures, they say that God is jealous for you.
14:50-14:56
In the Old Testament, forsaking God was compared to spiritual adultery.
14:58-15:00
You see, Israel belonged to God.
15:01-15:13
So when Israel would forsake God for idols, God compared that to a wife being unfaithful to her husband by being with another man.
15:14-15:21
That's what the whole book of Hosea is about in the Old Testament, by the way, but it comes up a lot in the Old Testament, that God says he is jealous.
15:23-15:25
Jealousy is a right to ownership.
15:26-15:32
It's the way a husband feels when another man is after his wife.
15:33-15:37
And that kind of jealousy is appropriate, by the way.
15:38-15:42
But notice James here says, "Look, you're adulterous.
15:43-15:43
"You're adulterous.
15:44-15:49
"You're unfaithful to God "because you love the things of the world "more than you love God.
15:50-15:56
"That's a problem." And in verse five, James is saying, "This is serious.
15:57-16:01
"Don't you remember that the Old Testament says "God is jealous for his people?
16:02-16:05
"Do you really wanna fire up that emotion in God?
16:05-16:26
"Do you wanna do that?" You know, if I were to see a man flirting with my wife, sending her provocative or suggestive messages, sending your gifts, we are going to have a serious problem.
16:28-16:30
You don't want to fire up jealousy in a man.
16:31-16:33
God says he is jealous for his people.
16:33-16:35
And James is saying, do you really want to fire that up?
16:35-16:36
Really?
16:36-16:37
Is that what you want to do?
16:37-16:39
You want to fire up the jealousy of God?
16:42-16:43
Not smart.
16:46-16:47
So wake up call.
16:48-16:51
James says you need to get real in your walk with God through Christ.
16:51-16:52
That's what he's doing here.
16:52-16:54
Wake up, wake up.
16:55-16:56
Look at verse six.
16:56-17:00
This is a direct quote, where he says, "But he gives more grace.
17:02-17:14
"Therefore it says," here's the quote, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." That's quoting Proverbs 3:34.
17:16-17:22
Listen, the only way you get to God is through God's grace.
17:25-17:30
And the only way that you receive God's grace is through humility.
17:35-17:38
And I have to ask you, church, have you humbled yourself?
17:40-17:41
Have you humbled yourself?
17:44-17:49
Humility is one of them terms that we use a lot, but do we really understand what it means?
17:50-17:56
Like, does that mean I just walk around and like think bad things about myself?
17:56-17:56
No.
17:58-18:01
You're like, well, I'm not really sure what it means.
18:01-18:08
Well, according to this, God gives grace to the humble, so you better be sure what it means.
18:09-18:14
And fortunately for us, James tells us what it means to humble yourself.
18:16-18:21
So on your outline, under number two, four things I must do to humble myself.
18:23-18:27
I can't overstate how important this is.
18:28-18:34
These are four things you must do, four things I must do to humble myself.
18:35-18:37
Letter A, I must submit to God.
18:39-18:40
Look at verse seven.
18:42-18:44
He says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God.
18:45-18:47
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
18:48-18:57
"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." Like, man, I hear that last verse.
18:57-18:58
You're like, wow, I wanna draw near.
19:00-19:01
I wanna draw near to God.
19:01-19:03
Well, he says, "Then you have to submit.
19:04-19:12
"You have to." You know, so often in the church, Jesus Christ is presented simply as Savior.
19:14-19:17
And people want to receive Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord.
19:18-19:20
Can he be my ticket out of hell, please?
19:20-19:22
Can he be my ticket to heaven, please?
19:22-19:24
But I don't really want him telling me how to live.
19:25-19:26
And that deal's not on the table.
19:27-19:28
He is Savior and he is Lord.
19:31-19:32
That's why he says submit.
19:35-19:37
By nature, we submit to the devil.
19:40-21:01
And coming to Christ means changing who's Lord of your life. Like, "Oh, what about the devil?" Look at this again. It says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Resist the devil. Notice it doesn't say, "Rebuke the devil." You hear that a lot, right? "You're gonna rebuke the devil! You know, I just rebuke the devil and like I'm sorry where did you get that I hear people say you're gonna we're gonna rebuke the devil what are you rebuke the devil do you realize who he is the Bible never tells you to rebuke the devil Bible says to resist the devil. He resists the devil, right? I think some people give the devil more attention than they give God. That's another sermon. It says resist him, ignore him, shut him out, pay no attention to him. Right? You know how it works with people, right? If somebody's trying to bother you and you keep giving them attention, and they're gonna keep bothering you because they realize they're under your skin and they have your attention and they're just gonna...
21:02-21:10
But if somebody's trying to annoy you and you just completely ignore them, eventually they get to the place where they're like, I'm wasting my time.
21:10-21:11
He ain't even listening to me.
21:11-21:12
This isn't even any fun.
21:13-21:15
And they go annoy someone else.
21:15-21:17
And the Bible says, that's what the devil does.
21:17-21:20
You resist him, he flees from you.
21:23-21:25
I love this where it says, I'm drawn near to God.
21:27-21:27
Do you see that?
21:27-21:28
Drawn near.
21:30-21:31
Drawn near to God.
21:32-21:33
Like, how do I do that?
21:36-21:37
Time in his word.
21:39-21:40
Fasting.
21:42-21:42
Prayer.
21:45-21:50
I think one of the biggest ways that we are to draw near to God that I think often gets downplayed is worship.
21:53-21:57
You know, we come together to sing these songs.
21:57-22:01
It's not like we're auditioning for some choir.
22:02-22:04
Why do we do that?
22:05-22:13
Because when you get a peek of what's happening in heaven in Revelation, what, four and five, when you get a curtain opened, you get a peek into heaven, what do you see?
22:14-22:19
You see everyone around the throne worshiping.
22:20-22:21
God.
22:23-22:26
You know, that's what I love to do here during worship.
22:26-22:30
I love to just sort of close my eyes and imagine myself in that scene.
22:30-22:32
Because I'm gonna be in that scene someday.
22:32-22:37
So I imagine like, I'm like rehearsing for that, in a sense.
22:37-22:45
But I'm around his throne, and I'm telling God exactly what I think about him.
22:46-22:49
That is a way that we draw near to God.
22:52-22:54
And attached to that is a beautiful promise.
22:57-23:05
It says, "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." Love that promise.
23:07-23:09
Because it's risky to draw near to someone, isn't it?
23:10-23:10
It's risky.
23:13-23:14
Because what if they reject you?
23:16-23:20
What if I want to draw near to someone and they don't want anything to do with me.
23:22-23:23
That's a horrible feeling.
23:26-23:30
And here James gives the promise, sort of like the prodigal son's dad, right?
23:31-23:34
Soon as that kid was on the way home, dad was running to meet him.
23:36-23:37
Same promise here.
23:37-23:41
Listen, you take the first step to God and he'll meet you there.
23:44-23:46
Are you willing to take the first step?
23:49-23:51
Four things I must do to humble myself.
23:51-23:55
Letter B, I must repent from my sin.
23:57-24:00
Not only do you have to submit, look at verse eight, you have to repent.
24:01-24:21
He says, second part of verse eight, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." He says, "Cleanse your hands." What are you doing right now in your life that you know dishonors God?
24:22-24:24
You know what it is.
24:25-24:26
Don't shout it out.
24:27-24:29
But what is that thing right now in your life?
24:29-24:35
You're like, I've been involved in this, I've been doing this, and I know that that's not right.
24:39-24:39
Well, stop it.
24:42-24:44
Replace it with doing what does honor God.
24:45-24:46
Right?
24:46-24:48
Like our Thai missionary Barnabas.
24:48-24:49
I love this.
24:49-24:59
Barnabas told me one time, one of the men in one of the villages was having a relationship with a woman that is, how shall we say, inappropriate.
25:00-25:14
And Barnabas goes to the man and he says, "You need to stop this relationship right now." And the man said, "You know, I'm gonna pray about that." And Barnabas said, "No, there is nothing to pray about.
25:15-25:15
Repent.
25:17-25:19
No, this is not a pray thing.
25:19-25:26
This is a repent thing." He's right.
25:26-25:31
"Cleanse your hands." He also says, "Purify your hearts." Purify your hearts.
25:32-25:34
Your favorite sin, what's your favorite sin?
25:36-25:39
That sin that you just love the most, you need to hate it.
25:40-25:41
You need to see it for what it is.
25:41-25:43
And that takes us to the letter C.
25:44-25:45
Four things I must do to humble myself.
25:46-25:47
I must mourn over my sinfulness.
25:48-25:50
Look at verse nine, dial in here.
25:52-25:57
Verse nine, he says, "Be wretched and mourn and weep.
25:59-26:04
"Let your laughter be turned to mourning "and your joy to gloom."
26:06-26:06
(congregation laughing)
26:10-26:13
No one ever talks about this.
26:16-26:22
Like when's the last time you heard anybody talk about mourning over your sin?
26:23-26:24
Nobody talks about that.
26:27-26:29
It's like, get over it, move on, shed that burden.
26:32-26:36
Listen, this is a key element in coming to Christ.
26:38-26:40
It's mourning over your sin.
26:42-26:49
It's realizing how ugly and disgusting your sin is.
26:51-26:53
Seeing it for what it is.
26:54-27:00
He says your laughter, turn it to mourning, your joy, turn it to gloom, laughter and joy.
27:00-27:02
That's how sinners view sin.
27:03-27:06
It's laughter and joy, right?
27:07-27:10
Ha ha ha, hee hee, high five, so funny.
27:11-27:15
Who I slept with, who I ripped off, who I humiliated, hee hee hee.
27:16-27:17
The things that I've watched.
27:19-27:21
Heaven help me, the things that I've laughed at.
27:24-27:30
James says the sin that you used to brag about, the sin that you used to celebrate.
27:33-27:35
You gotta see it for what it is.
27:35-27:37
And when you do, it'll crush you.
27:43-27:45
Have you mourned over your sin?
27:47-27:48
I mean, have you ever done that?
27:49-28:00
Have you ever just sat down and looked at your own selfish sinfulness and just mourned.
28:00-28:01
Have you done that?
28:08-28:14
If you ever sat down and considered, who has my sin hurt?
28:19-28:24
People that I've been intimate with and discarded because I got what I wanted.
28:27-28:32
people who have trusted me and I've lied to them and I've ripped them off.
28:35-28:38
My life, my life has been about me.
28:41-28:45
Making myself happy, doing whatever it takes to get what I want.
28:48-28:50
Using people.
28:52-28:55
What kind of legacy is that?
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Maybe it's not just mourning the sins that you've committed, but mourning the sins that result from what you didn't do.
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You know, I look at my wife and I think how often I've failed to be the husband that she's needed me to be.
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And I look at my kids, I look at my two sons and I'm like, I haven't been the dad that you've always needed me to be.
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Because I make some pathetic excuse, I'm too tired, I'm too distracted, I'm too annoyed, I'm too selfish, and sinful is my problem.
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That's my problem.
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Have you mourned over your sin?
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And I just flip through life, and I do whatever the heck I wanna do, and I disregard my creator, oh, until I need something, and then I pretend to be real religious.
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And I think of Jesus Christ, innocent of any wrongdoing.
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But he came and was willing to die in my place, and not just die, to suffer the most horrible, painful, humiliating death known to man.
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spit on and mocked and beaten and nailed to a cross and hung to die slowly so people could still mock him.
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Not for anything that he did.
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He did all that because of what I've done.
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While Jesus was on the cross, he literally experienced the pain of hell as he bore the wrath of God that I deserve.
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Can you really take such an inventory and not mourn?
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Have you done that?
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What are the things I must do to humble myself?
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Letter D, I must receive God's grace.
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I must receive God's grace.
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Look at verse 10.
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All in favor of some good news right now?
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Oh, nobody.
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Well, you're in the wrong place because here it comes.
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Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
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I must receive God's grace.
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I'm not trying to earn God's favor by works or behavior.
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I realize because of my sin and my selfishness, how hopeless I am.
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Like the passage Taylor read earlier from Isaiah six, I'm a horrible, gross garbage person and I live among garbage people.
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And that humbles me.
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And I cry out for His mercy that He has shown me through Jesus Christ.
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And here's the good news.
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When you truly humble yourself, when you really humble yourself, God doesn't pile on.
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Isn't that awesome?
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That it's not like you say, "God, God, I am such a miserable person "and I realize how sinful I am "and I realize all the people that I've hurt "and I realize, God, how I've just completely "blasphemed your name." It's not like God's like, "That's right, that's right.
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"You are trash, you are worthless." That's not what it says.
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It says, "He will exalt you." When you humble yourself, God is in the business of lifting up.
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He wants to lift you up.
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But you're not gonna be lifted up until you get down.
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So you wanna play well with others?
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Well, there's one person you better make sure that you're getting along with.
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The very top of the list, and that's God himself.
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because it's only when you're right with Him that you can be right with others.
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Finally, how to play well with others.
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Number three, stop slandering.
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I really wish the sermon was done here.
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So I feel done.
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But this is part of it.
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So I really wish that I could, this could be like its own sermon.
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Maybe it will someday.
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Number three, stop slandering.
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Stop slandering, look at verse 11.
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He says, "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers." Oh, more of that watching your mouth, right?
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Taylor just, what was that, two weeks ago?
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That was a good sermon.
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Watching your mouth, right?
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Matthew 12, 34, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
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Every time you speak, you're just showing what's in your heart.
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Then James goes back to the mouth again, and here he's talking about slander.
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Speaking evil against one another, that's slander.
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So much destruction in God's church just comes from slander.
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Like, well, what is it?
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Slander is when you talk about people in a way that makes the person that you're talking to think badly about the person you're talking about.
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That's what slander is.
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It's hurting someone's reputation.
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It's talking about someone in a way that drags them down in the eyes of someone else and making somebody think less of another person by the way that you're talking about them.
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That's slander.
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Like, hey, can you believe what a jerk he is?
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Let me tell you the stuff that he did.
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Can you believe the stuff that she said?
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She's such a nasty person.
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Can you believe?
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Can you believe?
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You can't trust her.
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All these things that we say tear somebody down in the eyes of another.
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It's slander.
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You're like, is it really that big of a deal?
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Well, there is nothing that you can do that's more satanic than slander.
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Because you go to Revelation 12, Satan is called an accuser and a deceiver.
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As an accuser, he goes before God and says, man's no good, man's no good.
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Man's no good.
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That's the accuser.
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And then as deceiver, he goes before man and says, "God's no good, God's no good." You see what Satan does?
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That's his thing.
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He's just constantly going around telling everybody how bad other people are.
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So you wanna be satanic, go ahead.
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Talk about other people in a negative way.
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I don't recommend it though, because James says, "Here's three things you also say when you slander." I'm gonna go through these quickly.
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But when you slander someone, when you're tearing someone down, these are three other things that you're saying.
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And maybe you're not mouthing these words, but James is saying, "Here's what you're really saying when you slander." The first thing, when you slander, when you're talking about someone in a negative way, what you're really saying is, "I hate that person." Right?
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He says, "You don't speak evil against one another.
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Brothers, brothers, he's talking about, specifically in the context of church, specifically we're talking about speaking evil against someone that Jesus died for.
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Wanna explain that one to him?
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This person that you are commanded to love.
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Like, well, how do I know if it's slander?
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We've got an easy test for you.
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Whenever you're talking about somebody, as soon as you say their name, As soon as you say the person's name, I just want you to imagine that person standing right outside the room and listening to every word you say.
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Would they say, "Wow, it sounds like "they really care about me." Or would they say, "Wow, I thought he liked me.
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"Wow, wow, that hurts." Just imagine that person's listening.
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Because when you slander, you're saying, "I hate that person, let her be." When you slander, you know what else you say?
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You say, "God's word means nothing to me." Who wants to sign up for that?
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He says, "The one who speaks," verse 11, "The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law." But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.
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He says, "When you slander someone, you're judging the law." Now, what is God's law about?
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Well, according to Galatians 5.14, it says for the whole law is fulfilled in one word.
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You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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So when you slander, what you're saying is, you know, God says I should love.
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Eh, I can do that.
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I think I'm gonna slander instead.
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Because God's word means nothing to me.
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And that's how a lot of people treat God's word, by the way, they treat God's word like it's the Chinese buffet, right?
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Oh, I'll take the general so's, I'll take the hot and sour soup.
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I don't know, I'm not gonna eat the lemon fish wedges or whatever that is.
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Oh, but I will take some, I'll take a Chinese donut or five.
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That's how some people treat the word of God.
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Like, oh yeah, I wouldn't physically murder someone.
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I don't steal.
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Slander, I'm okay doing that.
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You're judging God's word.
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Really?
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Pretty arrogant and foolish to treat God's word with such contempt.
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And finally, letter C, when you slander, what you're saying is, I should be God.
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James doesn't turn it down at all, does he?
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Just, he just keeps turning it up.
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Look at verse 12.
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He says, "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy." Now, who is that?
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Shout it out if you know.
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Who is that?
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It's got, that was a shout?
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Come on, if you know, shout it out.
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Yes!
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Wait.
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It's not you?
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It's not, oh, huh, according to this, it's not you.
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He says, but who are you to judge your neighbor?
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James says, who do you think you are?
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When you slander, you're putting yourself in the place of God.
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You're saying, God, hey, hey, God, off the throne.
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You're sitting in my chair.
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Didn't we just talk about humility?
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I mean, if the person that you're slandering is really as bad as you're making them out to be, God will deal with them.
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But on the other hand, if you're lying about someone or passing on a delicious story about how horrible someone is, or you're embellishing, or you're laying it on thick because you really wanna drag that person down in the eyes of another, what does that say about your heart?
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It says you're hateful.
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That's what it says.
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And look, you can't play well with others if you hate them.
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And you prove that you hate people when you slander them.
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So, if our worship team would make their way forward.
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James says, "Can't get along with others?
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"It's a heart problem, your heart." Take a hard look in the mirror, it's your heart.
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You're selfish, you haven't submitted to God, and you're hateful.
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The question is, what are you gonna do about that?
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Bow your heads with me, please.
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Our Father in heaven, your word certainly crushes us so that you can build us up.
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Your word takes us down so that you can exalt us.
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And Father, I pray today that your word would take us down.
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Face first in the dirt, take us down.
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Father, we confess to you that we are people of unclean lips and we dwell among a people of unclean lips.
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And we gaze at your holiness and we are crushed.
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But so often God, we just wanna get around that part And we want to celebrate the exaltation, but we're not willing to go through the humiliation.
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Father, I pray today, through the power of your Spirit, through the hammer that is your Word, you'd break us down.
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And as you lift us up, Father, Let us be people in the church, in the workplace, in the home, in the wherever, God.
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Let us be people who play well with others.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read James 4:1-12
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do you think people would rather fight for what they want than ask God for it (Jas 4:2)?
In Jas 4:3, James says when we ask God for something with selfish motives, He will not answer. How can you tell if what you are asking for comes from a selfish motive or a God-glorifying motive? If you realize you are being selfish in what you are asking for, what should you do? How does this change how you pray?
What does it mean to “humble yourself”? How do you know when you have done that? In what area of “humbling yourself” do you find the most difficult? Why? See Jas 4:7-10.
Why does James talk about slander here? How is slander destructive? What should you do if someone is slandering someone else to you?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
