Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!

Extreme Humility

               ¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 ⁴You 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. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
   "God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.”

 ⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 ¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Discussion Questions

-Read verses 1-3.  According to James, why do people fight in the church?  Have you experienced this?

-The antidote is to ask God instead of demanding things from others.  What is the key to effective prayer, and how can we ensure that is true about our own prayer life?

-Re-read verses 4-6.  James says that the kinds of things that cause us to fight with each other come from being too committed to the value system of the world.  Do you think the choice he presents here is really as stark as it sounds?

-In verse 6, James assures us that God is willing to offer us grace if we humble ourselves, and then offers us some practical ways to do that.  Comment on what each of these mean and how to do them:

            -Submit yourselves, then, to God

            -Resist the devil, and he will flee from you

            -Come near to God and he will come near to you

            -Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your  hearts, you double-minded

            -Grieve, mourn and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

-If we do these things, what does God promise to do for us in verse 10?  How do you think he does that for us?

-Re-read verses 11 and 12.  Is a tendency toward being judgmental an indication that we need to learn to practice the principles in this passage?  Is there one of them you can practice to help you relate to others better? 

Leaders' Guide                            

Extreme Humility

James 4:1-12

This lesson explores the root causes of divisive relationships, especially in the church, and how we can practice spiritual principles that will help us to avoid them.

-Read verses 1-3.  According to James, why do people fight in the church?  Have you experienced this?

            According to James, divisive relationships were happening in the church as a result of selfish motivations. Some personal experience may set the tone for the discussion, but avoid bringing up specific personalities or talking against others (that would be a violation of the commandment at the end of the lesson!)

-The antidote is to ask God instead of demanding things from others.  What is the key to effective prayer, and how can we ensure that is true about our own prayer life?

            With this we are reminded of what Scripture ensures us repeatedly: that God is not required to give us what we want, just because we pray for it.  That is a pagan, magical worldview rather than a biblical perspective.  God is primarily interested in our hearts and our motivations, and we receive from him those things that conform to his will for us (See Romans 8:26-27, 1 John 3:21, 22, 1 John 5:14,15).  How to ensure that is a matter of discussion, but conforming our motivations to those of God’s is at its heart a lifetime process of spiritual formation in our lives.

-Re-read verses 4-6.  James says that the kinds of things that cause us to fight with each other come from being too committed to the value system of the world.  Do you think the choice he presents here is really as stark as it sounds?

            James reminds his readers that selfish motivations ultimately derive from being too caught up with the things that this world values:  money, power, fame, etc.  James here is using some very stark language, along the lines of Old Testament prophetic speech, to paint an extreme picture for us.  He is drawing on the image of the people of God as his bride, and claiming that anything other than complete faithfulness to him and his value system is akin to spiritual adultery.  Scripture never calls us to withdraw from the world that we must live in, but we can never be primarily motivated by what this world values.  There could be much to discuss in these verses, but this lesson focuses on what follows, so just use this as a brief discussion to set the stage for the practical steps James suggests next for us.

-In verse 6, James assures us that God is willing to offer us grace if we humble ourselves, and then offers us some practical ways to do that.  Comment on what each of these mean and how to do them:

            Each of these could be a lengthy discussion in themselves, so some time management will be necessary here.  Ask for brief comments or suggestions on each one.

            -Submit yourselves, then, to God

                        This is another way of saying that you are committed to God’s value system rather than the world’s.  The place to start is by knowing what that is, which comes from a knowledge of his Word.  The way to move forward is to act according to it.

            -Resist the devil, and he will flee from you

                        James affirms a real, personal spiritual force that is at odds with you.   However, he also underscores that the Devil doesn’t have any ultimate sway over you if you choose to say no to the ways in which he tries to tempt you and deceive you.  Talk about practical ways to resist his influence.

            -Come near to God and he will come near to you

                        This is biblical language for worship—a turning of your heart toward God, both personally and when together as God’s people.  God promises to “meet you half way”, if you make the effort.  What are some practical ways we can “draw near to God?”

            -Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded

                        This is the language of repentance that leads to purification.  Grace is free, but never easy: we must be willing to admit where we fail and lay that at God’s feet, especially where we have been “double-minded”, and living according to the world’s value system rather than God’s.  Daily confession of sin, as recommended by Christ in the Lord’s prayer among other places, is a place to start.

            -Grieve, mourn and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

                        Scripture affirms that real joy comes from developing our relationship to God, but when we realize our shortcomings and how those grieve him, we cannot help but grieve ourselves.  This is a natural response when we really “get it” in regards to how far we have strayed from him.  The language here might seem kind of negative, but remember that James is talking to people who have been behaving really badly toward other people in the church because their value systems are so out of kilter with God’s. 

-If we do these things, what does God promise to do for us in verse 10?  How do you think he does that for us?

            This all sounds like hard work and doom and gloom, but ultimately God always stands ready to raise us back up.  To be “lifted up” means to be put back into right relationship with God, who himself is high and lifted up.  Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we have been raised up and seated with Christ in heavenly realms, but when we muck around with the world’s values we do not experience that reality.  But that is what God wants for us: to be in a pure relationship to him, uncluttered by the selfish dysfunctions of the world.

-Re-read verses 11 and 12.  Is a tendency toward being judgmental an indication that we need to learn to practice the principles in this passage?  Is there one of them you can practice to help you relate to others better?

            These verses may seem un-related, but they really draw the circle of James’ argument closed, and once again underscore that the bottom line to this issue is about experiencing positive relationships in the church, not just some kind of isolated righteousness.  Sitting in judgment of others is one more thing which can point out our own selfish arrogance rather than the humble attitude of submission to God which James speaks of.  Try to have your group pick one thing from the list that was discussed and say how they can put that into practice in their own lives to cultivate the humble attitude this passage calls us to.