“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, ⎮ And sorry I could not travel both ⎮ And be one traveler, long I stood ⎮ And looked down one as far as I could ⎮ To where it bent in the undergrowth; ⎮ Then took the other, as just as fair, ⎮ And having perhaps the better claim, ⎮ Because it was grassy and wanted wear; ⎮ Though as for that the passing there ⎮ Had worn them really about the same, ⎮ And both that morning equally lay ⎮ In leaves no step had trodden black. ⎮ Oh, I kept the first for another day! ⎮ Yet knowing how way leads on to way, ⎮ I doubted if I should ever come back. ⎮ I shall be telling this with a sigh ⎮ Somewhere ages and ages hence: ⎮ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— ⎮ I took the one less traveled by, ⎮ And that has made all the difference.”
Perhaps you’ve heard or read this poem before. It’s a fairly well-known poem written by Robert Frost. It begins with a dilemma: two roads split in a forest and the traveler does not know which road to take. The traveler knows he cannot travel both roads, it would be physically impossible.
At first, he decided to take the one that seems to have been less traveled because it seems to be grassier. But then he doubles back and realizes that they’re both actually equally worn because of the way the leaves appear to not be stamped down.
He remarks that he could have just as easily gone back and chosen the other path, but then he was wise enough to know that since way leads on to way, he would probably never go back. And so, ultimately, he chose the path less traveled, and he says that this choice made all the difference.
I love the simple complexity of this poem. Yes, I realize this seems like a contradiction. It’s complex because of all the different thing the traveler has to consider in choosing a path to travel, but ultimately, it’s a simple choice: the path to the left, or the path to the right.
The simple choice is seen in our next passage in James as well. Let’s look at James 4:3-10. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” NASB
Just like the poem from Robert Frost, there are two choices here, that though there may be a lot of thought that goes into making a decision, the choices are simple: choose friendship with the world or choose friendship with God. There are only two choices. There is no third path.
This is very similar to a passage from Matthew 7:13-14 during Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus talks about the wide road and the narrow road. So this is a concept, the concept of two choices, that was familiar to James’s Christian readers.
However, James isn’t necessarily talking about the choice of choosing salvation through Christ or not choosing salvation. Remember, James was addressing those who were Christians, they’d already chosen salvation through Christ. What is at the heart of the choice is holiness. The Christians James was writing to, even though they had chosen salvation through Christ, were struggling to live a life that was Christ-like, especially given the trials that they were facing. They were choosing to live like those in the world, even though they knew and loved Jesus.
Once again, we see that this is incredibly relevant to us today. There are many in the western church who know and love Jesus, but struggle to live a life honoring to Him every day in the face of the trials of life. James makes it clear though, that this choice to live in holiness for the Lord is an important choice.
James stresses the importance of this choice by making the choice very simple: “Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This is what James gives as the simple choice. If you want to be a friend of the world, living as the world does, you become an enemy of God.
He also stresses the importance of this choice by using very shocking language. He uses these words that would have been offensive to his Christian readers: adulteresses, hostility toward God, enemy of God, you sinners, you double-minded. James’s language is meant to offend them, it’s meant to help them understand how serious it was that their behavior wasn’t in line with the righteousness of God. He was wanting them to choose against hypocritical wisdom and deeds and choose the things of God that we talked about last week: peace, love, gentleness, purity, sincerity, etc.
James has a moral outrage at sin. It is disgusting to him, and he can’t stand the thought of sinning against the Lord. James wants all Christians to adopt this aversion to sin. No Christian should be okay with bearing the name of Christ, yet acting like the world. James’s choice that he talks about here says the two are at odds, you cannot be loving God while being a friend of the world. If you love the world, you are an enemy of God. You cannot have both, you must choose one.
James then says, “Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (4:5-6)
James talks about God’s jealousy, which sometimes throws people off? What does it mean that God is jealous, or here, that he jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us? Hasn’t James just spoken against jealousy in the previous chapter? Yes, he has, but we have to understand that the jealousy of God is different than the jealousy of men. Human jealousy is rooted in selfishness and it is defined by wanting what is not yours. God’s jealousy is desiring that which rightfully belongs to Him but is not acting like His possession.
We can see this kind of jealousy in the Old Testament with the Israelites. They were God’s people, called by Him as His people, set apart for Him for His purposes. Yet they often did not act like they belonged to Him, and this is when we see God’s jealousy. He wanted them to desire to be in a rightfully relationship with Him with the same depth of passion as He desired to be in relationship with them. He desired for them to belong wholeheartedly to Him, and no other.
In the New Testament, we read this, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NASB. Or this, “You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of people.” 1 Corinthians 7:23, NASB. Or this, “He gave himself for us. By doing that, he set us free from all evil. He wanted to make us pure. He wanted us to be his very own people. He wanted us to desire to do what is good.” Titus 2:14, NIRV. Or this, “ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:18-19, NIV.
Christians, we have been bought by the blood of Christ and we are God’s possession. We do not belong to ourselves. Just like with the Israelites, God desires that we will desire a right relationship with Him. He desires that we will belong wholeheartedly to Him, and no other.
G.M. Stulac says that God’s requirements of Christians is “a total, unreserved, unwavering allegiance to God rather than to the world”. This requires humility. If you are proud, you won’t rely on God. You must be humble before Him in order to be in a rightful relationship with Him, to belong to Him wholeheartedly and no other.
James pulls this phrase from Scripture, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” from several places in the Old Testament. Though he’s speaking to those who are already Christians, he makes the point again that humility is needed in the heart of Christians to be in a right relationship with God. One of the signs of a rightful relationship with the Lord is that you do as He asks. Pride will keep you from obeying Him. Humility is required.
The great thing about this, even though humility of heart can be hard, James says that to those who are humble before God, He gives grace. Grace is His favor toward us. Those Christ-followers who come humbly to Him and remain humble before Him will always receive grace that keeps us from experiencing the correction He gives to those who are full of pride.
We want to choose a right relationship with God, obviously. That’s clearly the right choice! We want holiness unto the Lord! What we do then is this: Repentance, Resistance, and Renewal.
Repentance. James talks about this in three separate verses, verses 8, 9, and 10. In verse 8 he says to cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. Here James uses two differing words to describe cleansing and purifying. He uses katharizo to talk about outward cleansing, which would be directed at what we do, and what we say. These are things that would be visible to others. And James uses hagnizo to talk about inward cleansing of the heart, which would be what we think, feel, and dwell on. These are things that aren’t visible to others, but affect us just as deeply. James makes it clear that both outward and inward should be purified. When we become aware that thoughts, feeling, actions, or words do not represent Christ, we repent.
In verse 9 James says to be miserable, mourn, weep. He talks about our response to sin. When we encounter sin in our own lives, when we become aware of it in our hearts, minds, and bodies, it should make us feel remorse over that sin! We should mourn our sin. Weep for our sin! Again, repentance.
Resistance. And James isn’t talking about Star Wars. In verse 7 he says to walk away from the devil and his things. Resist the devil and he will flee! When you come against things of the world, things of the devil, don’t give in! Do whatever it takes to stand firm and say, “no”! Sometimes that means removing yourself from situations where temptation is present, or not getting into those situations to begin with. Sometimes it means bulking up your spiritual armor and stamina if you have to stay in a situation where temptation is present so you can stand firm. In fact, I would say that bulking up your spiritual armor and stamina is the better option, and more closely resembles James’s intention when he uses the word anthistemi, which means to set yourself against. The point is, resist.
In verse 9, as we’ve seen already, James says to let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. It would be better that we live in a state of mourning and gloom in our resisting of evil, rather than live in laughter and joy from the pleasures of the world. Of course we know, that even though the pleasures of the world might seem fun, they’re not good for us! But even if they were, it would be better to resist and suffer, than give in and sin. Resist.
Renewal. Submit to God, James says in verse 7. In all things, put God’s ways above your own. Recommit to doing things His way, to living life His way, to go according to His plan. Give Him the areas of your life that you hold back from Him. Trust Him with your future. Let Him redeem your past. Renew your passion for His ways.
Verse 8 says to engizo. Come near to Him. He is tirelessly on our side. He never leaves us, and all we have to do to be close to Him is to get close! Pray. Read. Meditate. Worship. Do the things that help you come into His presence. For me, it’s going out into a quiet place in nature with my Bible and my prayer journal. I read what I had planned on reading for the day, and I spend an extended amount of time journaling in my prayer journal, reflecting on His blessings in my life and His faithfulness and goodness to me. This is how I draw near to Him. Do what helps you draw near to Him and do it as often as you possibly can. The closer you get to Him, the further away the world will become. Renew His Spirit that dwells in you!
Finally, verse 10 says to humble yourself in His presence and He will exalt you. This doesn’t carry the idea of earthly exaltation with it. God isn’t going to make you the greatest and best. He isn’t going to make you the wisest or smartest. Rather, it goes along with the idea of engizo. As you are humble before Him, as you draw close to Him, He will pull you close to Him and come close to you! Renew your humility and closeness with Him.
Christians, Church, we must live in these things, repentance, resistance, and renewal, to experience all that the Lord desires for our lives as followers of Jesus.
1. Look at Matthew 7:13-14 at the two choices Jesus gives. How are these choices similar to what James presents?
2. Which of the three “R” steps are you struggling with right now? Why do you think this is a struggle? What can you do to work through the struggle?
3. What more does 1 John 2:15-17 and Matthew 16:26 have to say about friendship with the world? Why is it important to resist the world’s temptations according to these verses?