Welcome to the Weekend Sermon. I want to thank everyone for your prayers. The storms did not cause problems in my area. I thank the Lord for that. People to the west of where I live did have storm damage, so please pray that they will get the aid that they need to recover. I hope that all of you are doing well.
Last week, we focused on part of James 4. We learned that we can't follow the way of the world and the way of Jesus at the same time. To follow the way of the world makes us an enemy of the way of the cross. One of the teachings of Jesus that is very appropriate on this matter is His teaching about not being able to serve two masters. Jesus said that one will either love one master and hate the other, or vice-versa. Jesus said that a person cannot serve both God and money.
Today, we want to focus our attention on verses 6 through 10 of chapter 4. There are three things I want to focus on in this section. I want us to focus on submission, resistance and humility.
James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God. In my way of thinking, this means that we are to follow Jesus as the Lord of our lives. There is a teaching that goes around in some circles that a person can accept Jesus as Savior and then accept Jesus as Lord of their lives at some other time. The way I understand the Bible, following Jesus as Lord is what is truly means to be a Christian.
In human terms, when a person accepts someone else as Lord, it means that that person is submitting to someone's leadership and direction. For instance, in the Middle Ages, a knight might pledge his allegiance to the lord of a region such as a duke or a baron. That knight would then follow the commandments of his lord.
When we come to Jesus, we are submitting to Him, we are pledging our allegiance to Him. We are moving our allegiance from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His Light. We serve a new Lord and Master, and that is Jesus Christ. That is why the first Christian creed was and is Jesus is Lord.
Submitting to Jesus as Lord means following His teachings and commandments. We follow His way of life. We keep our eyes fixed on Him, and we follow Him and do what He instructs us to do through the Word and through the prompting of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
This passage goes on to tell us to resist the devil, and he will flee from us. When we commit our lives to following the Lord Jesus, the devil doesn't like it. His intention is to cause those who follow the Lord Jesus to fall into sin and then choose not to follow Jesus anymore. He tempts the Christian in many ways. One passage in the Bible says that the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
We are told to resist the devil. We do this by staying strong in the Lord and in our relationship with Him. We gain strength to resist the devil through prayer and through the study of the Scriptures. When we know the Scriptures, we can utilize them as Jesus did to counter the temptation of the evil one.
We also resist the devil when we don't fall into this world's way of thinking. We also resist the devil actively by standing in opposition to those forces that would attempt to place people in bondage. We stand against and work to end violence, oppression and exploitation. We work to make this world a better place in the name of Jesus.
One of the greatest ways that we as followers of Jesus resist the devil is by telling others about Jesus so that they can leave the darkness and follow the light of the Risen Christ.
Finally, James tells us in verse 10 that we are to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. Then, He will lift us up. The way of the world is the way of pride and boasting. Jesus demonstrated and teaches the path of humility. He did not come to be served, but He came to serve others. That is what He calls us to do know. We are not to seek our own pleasure, but we are to seek to serve others and help them. We are to think about others and not just think about ourselves.
When we pattern our lives and actions after the Lord Jesus, we will develop a humble heart as unto His humble heart. When we humbly serve the Lord, He will reward us on that day when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. I thank the Lord that things are improving here in the United States. We still have people that need to be vaccinated. India, Brazil and the countries in Central America are still having a lot of problems with the virus, so let us all pray for them and pray that the sick will recover.
Continue to pray for peace in Israel. We also need to pray for peace in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia and Libya. I heard yesterday that there is violence in the Central African Republic, so let us pray for peace there as well.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those living in the nations of Taiwan and Djibouti.
Next week, we will continue in the book of James. I will post the verses on Monday. Starting next Wednesday or Thursday, I will start posting something different. I've been thinking a lot about the events in my life that were moments of impact. They changed the course of the rest of my life. Each week for the next few weeks in my midweek post, I will be writing about one of these events. You might call it an extended essay. May God bless you all.
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