Life Hacks - James 4
This Week’s Worship Songs:
Unstoppble God
What a Beautiful Name
Great Are You Lord
Week 1: Wisdom & Perspective
Week 2: Faith & Works
Week 3: Words & Wisdom
Today: Pride & Humility
James 4:6b
…God opposes the proud but favors the humble.
Humility is the life hack of God’s kingdom!
Definitions–
Pride: Living life on your terms.
Humility: Living life on God’s terms.
Pride
1. Unhealthy/Evil Appetites
James 4:1-4
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. 4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
2. Judgmental
James 4:11-12
Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
Matthew 7:1-5
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. 3 And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
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3. Self-Confidence
James 4:13-16
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.
What is it that dominates your appetite?
How often do you find yourself judging those around you?
To what extent is prayer a part of your plans?
Humility
1. Surrendered to God
James 4:7a
So humble yourselves before God…
Matthew 6:9-10
Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Romans 12:1
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
2. Resist the devil
James 4:7
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:4-6a
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy? 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires…
The closer you get to God, the further away from the enemy you will be!
3. Draw Close to God
James 4:8a (ESV)
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you…
Time in–
Prayer
Word
Community
4. Repentance
James 4:8b-10
…Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
How is your surrender meter?
How hard are you fighting against the enemy?
Are you moving toward God or away from Him?
Is repentance a way of life?
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**All scripture is NLT unless noted otherwise.
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