Lesson 10: Pride (In the Name of Love)

James 4:6 "But he gives us more grace.
That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

What is pride?

Elevating ourselves above God. Making more of ourselves than we ought. Placing ourselves on a higher level than other people. Sometimes, pride is elusive because we are convinced that we are "helping God" or helping other people, when in reality we are just trying to get our needs met, our way.

This verse tells us that God gives us plenty of grace to overcome our envy, craving for sinful pleasures, and the resulting quarreling that comes from it. He offers us abundant grace to respond in full devotion to Him.

Why does the verse say that we must be humle and never proud to receive God's Grace?

If we are proud, we are still putting ourselves above God and others.
It is impossible to see our sin if we are not humble.
I think that if we truly do receive or dare to comprehend grace from a Holy God, we must be humbled to our own littleness and pettyness in comparison with His majesty and awesomeness.

What does humility before God look like?

James: 7 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

Application:
When we are enmeshed in our own pridefulness, selfish desires, and self-seeking attitudes we will be unable to do this. However, as soon as we become WILLING to submit ourselves to God and His Word, the Holy Spirit will enable us to follow Him.

If you are struggling with this, pray for willingness, that God would change your heart about the matter of pride today.

More on the Outward Manifestation of Pride:

James tells us that there are three more ways that Pride and Arrogance show in our lives:
Slander, Boasting, and Oppression.

Slander and the Royal Law

11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Warning to Rich Oppressors

James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

For Thought and Discussion:

These passages really capture it all. I don't believe we could add a great deal to explaining what James is saying, because he does it so clearly. Perhaps a few application questions though:

Q- What do you think you should do if someone slanders another in your presence?

Q- Do you really believe that when you judge your neighbor you are breaking the Royal Law of God, to love Him with all your heart, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself?

Q-Is it always wrong to make plans for the future? What kinds of planning are wrong? Are you always careful not to boast about these plans?

Q- Have you ever had a position of power and influence that you have wielded over someone else, in order to have your own desires met (for prestige, recognition, honor, etc.)?

Q - Is there anyone to whom you need to be reconciled based on these lessons?

Lesson Nine: Why don't we have peace? Pt.2

Adulterous people:

4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
God.

In the Old Testament, God often describes Himself as the husband of His people. And the New Testament calls the Church the Bride of Christ. (see below for specific scripture references.)

Thus, to pursue the world's pleasure is to commit adultery against our true husband. When we do, we place our focus on things that are seen, rather than what is unseen, which is lacking faith. We love our stuff more than God. But we cannot serve both God and Mammon. Therefore, James calls this spiritual adultery, or having an adulterous heart.

But Remember -- the big point is -- He is Our Husband
(Even Though We Have Adulterous Hearts)
Surely, to be prone to spiritual adultery is very Bad News. In our culture, a husband would most likely start divorce proceedings on the spot if his wife committed adultery. In the ancient Hebrew culture of the Old Testament world, an adulterous wife would be put to death by stoning.

However, the good news is that our spiritual Husband is Jesus Christ! If we trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He is our "jealous husband." He continues to pursue our love even though we have very unfaithful hearts.

The Holy Spirit enables us to do battle with the sinful desires that rage within us against our grace-driven desire to love our Lord and Savior. God's grace through Christ ABOUNDS to us when we are willing to humble ourselves and submit to God's law and rule over our lives. When we do, this is when we are most satisfied and our Godly desires or pleasures are met in Him.

5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Supporting Scriptures:
OLD TESTAMENT-

Hosea 3:1

1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods."

Isaiah 62

Ezekiel 16

Jeremiah 31:32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them, "
declares the LORD.

NEW TESTAMENT

Eph 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27a nd to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Rev 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready."

Rev 21:2 "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."


For More Help on How to Have Peace with God, Peace with Others, and Peace Within, Visit Peacemaker Ministries:
Getting to the Heart of the Conflict
Peacemaking Principles

Lesson Nine: Why don't we have peace? Pt.1

James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill
and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not
have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because
you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

1. What causes us to fight and quarrel?
Desires that battle within us.
2. When we ask God for something, why do we often not get what we want?
We ask with wrong motives. We want something more than we want God.

Desires: Literally, "pleasures" as in v. 4:3. The Greek word hedonon gives us the word hedonism. James is not saying that pleasures of this life war against each other as though our main problem consisted in making a choice between higher and lower kinds of pleasure. Rather, they battle within us. The desires of our old man battles against our will to put aside selfishness and to serve others. This is also found in chapter 7 of Paul's letter to the Romans:

Romans 7:21 "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Application: What desires battle within you, against you? Are your desires or God the dominant concern in your life, in your specific situation where you do not currently have peace?

Examine your actions and ask God to show you the situation as He sees it. Ask God to show you your fault and where you can take responsibility. Submit yourself to God and ask Him how you can serve Him and others in the situation.