James 4:7-10

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.

Being the very practical letter that it is, James touches on many uncomfortable aspects of our Christian lives. He particularly presses on the subtle, respectable sins that manifest themselves in the gathering of the body of Christ. Matters such as partiality, how we use our tongues, selfish ambition, and fighting in the Church are matters that we all recognize, yet, if we are honest, we hold them in a higher regard than some other sins. In James 4:7-10, James gives to us instructions concerning repentance. After addressing the issue of worldliness as being at war with God and reminding us of the jealousy of God’s love for us, James proceeds, in light of God grace in verse six, to call us to repentance. What do we do if we find selfish ambition in our hearts, misuse of our tongues, or partiality in our treatment of other people? The answer is to draw near to God. There are five essential actions we are called to take in response to the issues James addresses. Last week, we learned that we are to submit to the master and approach God’s throne. This week, we will learn three more.

The third call that James places on us is to turn from our sin. We “submit to God” and then we “draw nigh” to Him, but we must also let go of our sinful actions and motives. James’s words here draw on two things required of priests in performing their duties. They had to “cleanse” and “purify” themselves (Exodus 30:18-21; Leviticus 16:4). James uses these metaphorically here to refer to one’s actions, thoughts, and motives. The Old Testament uses this metaphorical understanding regarding one’s hands as one’s actions (Psalm 18:20; Isaiah 1:15-16). In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul calls on believers to pray while “lifting up holy hands.” The call is to clean up our actions. It is to turn from our sinful actions. The second command is to “purify your hearts.” The verb means “to make holy” or to remove impurities from something. Here it describes the sinful motives and thoughts that exist in the human heart. The worldly wisdom described in James 3:14-16 must be purged from the thought life of a Christian. Instead of reasoning, planning, and scheming according to selfishness, James calls us to purge ourselves of all such thinking. This “doubleminded” (dual-souled) way of thinking will only continue to produce the sinful actions and fighting described earlier in the letter. Drawing near to God and repentance are not just emotional feelings for James. Instead, they consist in practical actions. We submit to God by turning from sin.

The fourth call that we have in this passage is to take our sin seriously. The three actions of being “afflicted”, mourning, and weeping all have to do with genuine remorse and sorrow over our sin. Instead of laughing and joyfully carrying on in our sin, we should have true sorrow over it. Repentance not only involves the changing of actions, but it actually begins with a change of mind and heart. If a person is truly convicted over their sin, it will produce grief and shame. We cannot recognize sin for what it truly is, an offense against the all-powerful, sovereign Creator of the universe, and not be grieved over it. If there is one thing missing from the Church of Jesus Christ today that brings about great harm, it is this lack of true sorrow over sin. Proverbs 14:9 tells us that “Fools make a mock at sin.” We don’t take our sin seriously. Even in times where we confess our sins to one another, we laugh and joke about them because “we all do it.” Even the smallest of sins grieves God (Ephesians 4:30) and Christ suffered and died to pay for it. If we are truly born again and indwelt by the Spirit of God, we cannot take any sin lightly. Even the “smallest” (there are no small sins) white lie is enough for someone to suffer eternal wrath in hell because it is an offense against the infinitely holy God. Christians who can lie, cheat, steal, etc., with no remorse, grief, or sorrow, give evidence that something is terribly wrong regarding the genuineness of their salvation.

The final call that James places on us in this section is to trust in the grace of God. Understanding all else that James commands of us here should lead us to humble confession and repentance. When we are brought to that place on our face and knees before God, it is from that posture that we must then look up to the One who has immeasurable grace. We humble ourselves before Him with the promise that, if we do so, He will lift us up. God has always honored those who humble themselves before Him. The one thing that keeps people from salvation or from obedience is pride. It is ultimately our failure to admit that we are wrong that becomes our undoing. The hardest thing to do in witnessing to someone is getting them to understand and admit that they are lost. So many people have been swallowed up in the “Christian faith” and adopted orthodox theology without humbling themselves before God and truly being transformed by His grace in the new birth. Even among Christians, so many are kept from obedience and total surrender to God. We’re worried about what others will think, what our family will say, or how our friends will react. Obedience to Jesus must be put above all of that (Luke 14:26-27). We must humble ourselves before Him. In His amazing grace He will raise us up and use us for His glory. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). He not only forgives us, but cleanses us from sin.

Where do you stand before the Lord Jesus today? Do you know Him as Lord and Savior? Have you ever been humbled before Him and been born again? Is He calling you to obey Him in some area that you have struggled against Him in? If your lost today you can find salvation. If you’ve been a disobedient son, then there is grace available. Will you trust Him? “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).