This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions and Day 2 of our look
through James Chapter 4. We're going to look at verses 4 and 5 today in a
chapter that's all about God lifting us up. And we began yesterday talking about
the fact that in order for God to lift us up, we have to first face the things
that bring us down, be honest about those things.

Yesterday we talked about the fact that there's something in us that brings us
down, our own selfishness. We're never going to get to God's will and God
lifting us up by our own selfishness. Today we're going to focus in verses 4 and
5 on the fact that there's something about this world that drags us down,
something we need to be aware of.

Listen to what these verses say, James Chapter 4 verses 4 and 5, "You 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. " Or do
you think the scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in
us envies intensely?

There's something about this world that drags us down. Now what's he talking
about when he says the world? Remember we've talked about this earlier in James.

The world, that's a philosophy of life. He's not talking about the physical
world, he's talking about a philosophy of life. Life organized without God.

In fact, if I had to put this idea of the world in two words, it would be
without God. It's a without God way of living life. It's not the physical world
that we live in or the people in this world, it's this without God philosophy of
life.

Remember Jesus was a friend of sinners, he was a friend of people in the world.
So we're not talking about people in the world, Jesus was a friend of sinners
but he had no friendship with this world, with this worldly way of thinking.
It's a way of living that leaves God out.

The Bible says that all of us lived our lives this way in one time. And very
clearly James tells us here, "Friendship with the world, this way of thinking,
is hatred towards God. " He's again not talking about being friends with people
who aren't in church.

He's not talking about being friends with people who aren't yet believers. He's
talking about involving yourself in a way of living that doesn't let God in. The
question is, how do I live in this world, because we all have to, without being
a friend of the world?

Is James talking here about enjoying a beautiful day or a great meal and I can't
do that or I'd somehow be a friend of the world? Do I have to deny myself all
enjoyment of anything that God's created in this world in order to not be a
friend of the world? Not at all.

The Bible tells us to enjoy all things that God has made. Remember the world is
not referring to the things of the world but this without God way of thinking.
So to give an illustration of this, you can get on a sailboat and you can let it
drive worldly thoughts or godly thoughts.

You can let being on that sailboat drive in your thoughts, thoughts of your own
greatness and power and self-dependence and look at me, I'm in charge of my
world. Or you can allow that same experience to bring you to thoughts of worship
and gratefulness for God's creation and God's blessings. Another illustration,
you can buy an item from clothes to a car to a house with an attitude of
self-inflating pride, look at what I've been able to do on my own power.

Or you can buy that same item with God honoring stewardship. It's the way you
look at it. The Bible says that when I'm a friend of this world, when I'm living
this without God, self-inflated kind of life, the Bible says that's hatred
towards God.

Why such strong words? Because your life as a believer is all about a deep love
relationship with God. That's why these verses begin with the phrase, "You
adulterous people.

" James is reminding us here that sin is adultery. Now I know that adultery is
sin, it strikes at the heart of a relationship, of love and a family. But he's
telling us here also that sin is adultery.

All sin is, there's adultery in it, why? Because you're having a love affair
with the world, why? Because you're created to be in a love relationship with
God.

And to instead have a love affair with this world, to go chase after this world,
is in a great degree adultery in your relationship with God. All sin, these
verses remind us that all sin is sin against love, God's love for us. Our
relationship, your relationship to God is not like some distant relationship
with a king or a master and slave.

It's an intimate relationship. In fact, the Old Testament paints it often as the
relationship between a husband and wife. It's the relationship between a father
and child.

That means that when I sin, when you sin, we break God's heart. I know there's
some people out there that think somehow we make God's day when we sin, as if
God were sitting in heaven saying, "Go ahead, make my day, sin, cross the line
so I can zap you with a lightning bolt. " Nothing could be further from the
truth.

It doesn't make God's day when we sin, it breaks God's heart. He wants to live
in relationship with us. And this without God way of living life, James says
it's adultery, it's a sin against love.

He paints another picture here, he says it's making you an enemy of God. Why?
Because you're at war with God.

You see, as James writes about what this world can do to us, he's reminding us
that we just don't see how serious our sin really is. Sin is relational. Sin is
sin against God who loves us, who made us.

And we think of it as a little slip, or I'm not doing as bad as I used to do, or
I'm not doing as bad as the guy next door. That's how we tend to think of it.
But God looks at it as our relationship with Him.

And He sees our sin as us setting ourselves up on our own throne and making
ourselves an enemy of God. If I could just for a moment see my sin as God sees
my sin, I'd see how ugly it really is. God help me to see my sin as you see it,
so I could let go of it.

Sin is relational. So that's why at the end of these verses we just looked at,
the Bible says that's why the spirit that God has put in us envies intensely.
Now these verses say that the scripture says this, and a lot of people wonder
where does the scripture say this?

Because there's no one verse that says this in the Old Testament. I believe
James here is talking about the entire Old Testament. Throughout the Old
Testament we're told that God's spirit envies His people.

In fact the words "God is a jealous God" you see that often in the Old
Testament. Exodus 34, 14, "Do not worship any other God for the Lord whose name
is jealous is a jealous God. " Now before we talk about what it means to be a
jealous God, one other question people have about these verses is, is the spirit
here talking about our spirit within us, the human spirit, or God's spirit
that's been put within us?

Well I think it's God's spirit because it talks about it being put within us,
but even if it's our spirit that he's talking about here, the meaning is much
the same. God jealously looks for the devotion of our spirit, or I think the
meaning is God's spirit within us jealously works for our devotion to God. Is
that word "jealously" that bothers some of us?

It's the idea of a jealous God that gets to some of us. We have a very hard time
attributing what we would consider to be negative emotions like jealousy to God.
In fact I've heard people say, "I could never believe in a God who says he's
jealous.

" Why? Because for us, jealous means selfish. The only idea we have of jealousy
is a human self-seeking idea.

But for God, jealous doesn't mean selfish. Jealous doesn't mean petty. Jealous
means committed to his people.

If you have a daughter, you can understand this. Do you want your daughter to
marry the best man for her? Then in the positive meaning of this word, you are
jealous for her future.

You are committed to her best. That's what it means for God to be a jealous God.
He is committed to his people.

Now for some, this idea of a jealous God and misunderstanding it is just a
misunderstanding of words. But for other people, the idea that God would love
them with a jealous love is just too personal. If you want to run your own life
and ignore God, the truth is that he loves you that much.

And that personally, it's just too much to handle. And so you push back with a
lot of seemingly logical arguments, but really the truth is you're recognizing
how deeply God loves you and you're recognizing that you've pushed that love
away and what that really means. You see, as we talk to God today, take a few
minutes in prayer, I'd like to take a moment just to say, God, thank you.

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for how deeply and how personally you love
me. And if that makes you feel a little uncomfortable because of the challenge
that that love might bring into your life, admit it to him, God, that makes me
feel a little uncomfortable.

I'd rather have you be far away. But I realize you're not. So help me to really
understand what the depth of your love means and how to live in your love.

Draw from your love. Help me to recognize that for you to have a jealous love
for me does not mean a selfish love, but it means you want your best in my life,
every day of my life, all the way to eternity. God, help me to see how deeply,
how personally you love me.

Help the people around me to see how deeply and personally you love us. I pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to be talking about trusting God to lift you
up.