The Remedy to Worldliness: Part 3 - James 4:8

The Remedy to Worldliness: Part 3 - James 4:8
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Tuesday, 08 July 2008

In our previous study, we laid the groundwork for our look at the imperatives found in verses 7 to 10 as we saw how foundational the first two were in setting the tone for the remaining imperatives. Today, we are focusing in on verse 8, which gives us a total of three imperatives, with the last two being closely related and something that James' readers would have been all too familiar with based on their Jewish background. With that in mind, with hearts and minds prepared to receive spiritual truth, let us open our Bibles and take a look at our text for today, James 4:8.

Quote :

James 4:8 (NASB) - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

As we investigate the text, a couple of things should stand out: 1) the three imperatives should be fairly clear, and 2) James is once again using harsh words in referring to his audience. We will be taking a look at both of these in our study. First, our imperatives are: "draw near," "cleanse," and "purify." These imperatives are combined with the harsh reality that James' readers are "sinners" and "double-minded." The study of the imperatives will once again encompass a word study, with "draw near" being looked at individually, while "cleanse" and "purify" will be looked at together, as the reason for this will become obvious as we progress. From there, we will look at the names that James chose to call his readers and see what implications they have for this text and the passage as a whole.

Now, the first imperative that we want to look at is "draw near," which comes from the Greek word eggizo (Strong's #G1448) and means "to bring near, approach, or to come near to." In our text, we see that James is instructing His readers that they need to draw near to God. This falls right in line with his instructions from verse 7 when he tells these Jewish believers that they need to submit to God. Please note, drawing near is much more than simply submitting one's self to God, but it is to seek and pursue after an intimate relationship with God, as this word indicates a sense of closeness in proximity and relationally. In Scripture, this phrase was first associated with the Levitical priests. At this time in history and the stewardship of Israel, only the Levitical priests were able to draw near and have a closeness with God. This truth can be seen in passages such as: Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 10:3; and Ezekiel 44:13. Later on in Old Testament Scripture and into the Church Age, the term "draw near" came to include anyone being able to approach God. In the Old Testament we can see examples of this in the psalms and prophets, such as Psalm 73:28 and Isaiah 29:13. In our present stewardship, as a result of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, we are now believer-priests who are able to have access to God on both an individual and corporate basis; Hebrews is a book that really drives this point home, as we see in Hebrews 7:19 and 10:22.

What is so important about drawing near to God? The first thing to point out is that this is an aorist active imperative. This means that we are the ones that have to carry out this action, much in the same manner that we have to actively resist and stand firm against the devil. As we stated above, this involves more than just submitting to God, but requires an act of the will on our part to do what is necessary in order to draw near to Him. The first step, after salvation of course, is to be in fellowship with God through the repentance of sins (1 John 1:9). When we have repented of our sins, we are free to fellowship with the Lord and draw near to Him, which we are able to do through prayer and Scripture reading, as well as singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16). When we do this, we can take notice of the second half of this sentence where it tells us that God will draw near to us. God desires to have intimacy with us, which is why He will draw near to us as we draw near to Him. If we would become intimately familiar with Scripture, we would see just how near God is to those who love Him, with Psalm 145:18 being an example of that.

It is through this drawing near to God that we are able to grow in our Christian walk. When we draw near, we become more familiar with the Word of God, our prayer life increases, and we come to know more about God and His infinite attributes. It is through these times of intimacy that we are able to resist the devil, as we are admonished to do in our previous verse. Without the strength of the Holy Spirit within us, which comes through time spent with God, then we leave ourselves wide open to be susceptible to the attacks of the adversary. The Psalmist says that he has hidden the Word in his heart so that he won't sin against God (Psalm 119:11), which is exactly how we are going to resist, much like Jesus in the wilderness who was able to quote Scripture to Satan to defeat each of his temptations (Matthew 4:1-11). More than anything though, drawing near to God is about having intimacy with God the Father, which we are able to do with a sincere heart and full assurance in faith (Hebrews 10:22).

Today, we only looked at only one of the three imperatives in verse 8, but there was such a wealth of information that it would have been foolish to try and squeeze it all into a single devotion. With what we have learned today, let us recognize that, as believers, we need to actively make the effort to draw near to God as a means of escaping our sin patterns. As a result of our seeking after Him, God will draw near to us, meeting with us so that we can know more about Him. Doing this gives a measure of resistance against sin and temptation; but, the most important reason for doing drawing near is to be more intimate with our Lord. In our next study, we will look at the other two imperatives in verse 8 and see how they relate to remedying worldliness and its lusts. Until then, draw near to the Lord and enjoy intimacy with Him forever.

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/daily-devotions/07-08-2008.php