Author: Ryan Hale

Martha’s brother Lazarus had died, but Jesus had gone to “wake him up”, as he had said to his disciples. When he arrived, he found Martha there with great faith. She said that she knew that God, the Father, would do anything that Jesus asked.

Jesus responded saying that she needed to believe in him, and she affirmed that she did. She believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and the One that they were waiting for, the One who was to come into the world.

So with this affirmation, Jesus reveals to her that he doesn’t need to ask his Father per se. He himself can give life directly to Lazarus:

I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

John 11:25-26

Jesus says that he is the resurrection. He is the life. Jesus is going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but Jesus is speaking of even more than that. He is speaking of eternal life, that even after we have died physically, we can continue to live spiritually – forever. We will never die. We will never pass away. We will not by lost to death, but we will have life.

But Jesus says this in the context of he himself being the resurrection and the life. Do we want resurrection? He is the resurrection. Do we want life? He is the life.

These are part of the group of statements that Jesus makes that we could refer to as the “I am…” statements. Jesus had said:

I am the bread of life.

I am the good shepherd.

I am the gate.

He will go on to say:

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And there are many more. But the point is that we can think of these things as abstractions, as concepts. We can think of each of these things as things, but Jesus identifies himself as these things. If you want to know Jesus, you know him as these things.

Most importantly, this also follows Jesus’s statement as he spoke to the Pharisees saying “Before Abraham was born, I am.”. So Jesus is not just identifying himself as these individual ideas and concepts. He isn’t limited to those things. He is much greater, much more than just these. In that case, he invoked God’s I AM statement to Moses, thus identifying himself as God himself.

The “I am” statements give identity. They show value and worth. They help us to understand who Christ truly is. They are ways to help us, with finite and limited minds, to understand Christ, God himself who comes in the form of a man to help us to see Him.

There is a saying, when it comes to making a determination over whether or not someone will live or die, that we could be “playing God”. That means, of course, that we, as human beings, make determinations about whether someone else should go on living or will not.

This frequently comes up in the medical field, possibly related to abortions or to euthenasia, or in other ways as a doctor makes a determination related to a person’s life. Someone else might say that they are “playing God” by being the one who is saying that they can determine whether the person lives or dies.

But in John 10, Jesus says that he has the authority, not only to lay down his life, but whether or not to take it back:

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

John 10:17-18

Twice, Jesus says that he is able to both lay down his life as well as take it up again.

OK, so first of all, it seems that Jesus is “playing God” by saying that he has the authority to lay down his life. He said that he is the Good Shepherd and he has the authority to lay down his life for his sheep.

Jesus, of course, is referring to giving his life, sacrificing his life, for the sake of both the Israelites as well as the Gentiles. Previously, Jesus had said that he has sheep that are from “this pen”, meaning the Israelites, but also those that are “not from this pen”, meaning the Gentiles, and he would lay down his life for both of them. So Jesus is referring to the fact that he will be giving himself for these people as a sacrifice, a payment, for the sins of each of these people.

Now, we can follow the idea that someone would have the authority to lay down their life. Whether it would be in selfless sacrifice, such as a hero that gives themselves so that others can live, or it would be a completely selfish act of suicide, we can say that someone – anyone – would have the authority over their own lives to lay it down for another.

But Jesus didn’t just say that he had the authority to lay down his life for another. He said that he had the authority to take it back up again. Jesus is referring to his resurrection that was to come. He would be killed on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, but Jesus also declares here that he has the authority to take it back up again. He has the ability, and the authority, to return back to life. Here, he declares it, and soon, he also does it.

Jesus has the ability and the authority to speak to life or death matters. Why? Because he isn’t just playing God. He is, in fact, God.

In John 8, Jesus finds himself in a long, protracted conversation – or we could probably say debate – with the Pharisees. The conversation was primarily over Jesus’s identity, although it turned into a conversation as well over the identity of the Pharisees. In short, the question was:

Who is your father, and where do you come from?

In Jesus’s case, he spoke of God being his Father. He labored to help them understand that he was doing the will of God the Father, his Father.

But he also turned the question around on the Pharisees as they claimed Abraham as their father. Abraham was the father of Isaac who was the father of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel, so the Jews looked back to Abraham as their father.

But there were two problems. First, Jesus wasn’t referring to a physical family lineage. Instead, he was talking about a spiritual lineage. The Jews were referring to the flesh. Jesus was referring to the lineage of the Spirit.

Second, Jesus pointed out that if they were sons of Abraham, they would do what Abraham did. What did he mean by that? Abraham was declared to be righteous because he believed God. But these Jews wouldn’t believe God. Here was Jesus standing before them, but he wouldn’t believe that he was who he said he was. He was claiming to be God in the flesh, but they wouldn’t believe, neither that was what he was actually saying, nor that he was actually God.

That is, right up until Jesus said that he had known Abraham, and then the scene played out like this:

“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

John 8:57-59

The Jews are incredulous: You have seen Abraham! Come on, man…

But Jesus lands the knockout punch in this conversation. He says, I was around long before Abraham. In fact, he calls himself “I am.”

What did he just say? Excuse me?…the Pharisees must have thought.

And what do the Pharisees do? They pick up stones immediately so that they can kill him.

But wait a minute. Why are they so upset? Jesus is just making this claim that he somehow knows Abraham, right? Maybe he is talking in some metaphysical calling upon Abraham, or trying to live the life that Abraham lived.

No, that’s not it. Instead, the problem, as far as the Pharisees are concerned, are these last two little words. Jesus said:

Before Abraham was born, I am!

The “I am” part here is the problem from the perspective of the Pharisees. Why? Because they just understood Jesus to say something very clearly. He just said that he is God! Jesus knew it and the Pharisees knew it. They were now speaking the same spiritual language, and because of this, they want to kill him, and immediately come with rocks to get the job done.

To understand this, we have to go back to the book of Exodus. This is a book that the Pharisees would have known extremely well. It is a part of the Torah, written by Moses, and speaks of the story of Moses. The books of Moses contain the Law, so this is the source. These are the original books from which everything is drawn.

In Exodus 3, God approaches Moses in the wilderness. There is a bush that looks like it is on fire but it isn’t really burning up so Moses goes over to see what is happening with this bush. God tells Moses that He wants him to go back to Egypt to free the Israelite people from their slavery.

But Moses is skeptical. Why would the Israelites listen to him? Why would the Egyptians listen to him? Hmm… he isn’t even a good speaker. How is he going to get this job done?

So Moses asks an important question, and God gives an important answer. Here is that exchange:

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Exodus 3:13-14

God identifies Himself as I AM. That is the name that He wants Moses to use when the Israelites ask him the name of the God who sent him.

So, let’s return now to the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus says:

Before Abraham was born, I am!

What did the Pharisees hear? They heard that Jesus just used the same name that God used to identify himself to Moses and the Israelites as Moses would go to release them from captivity.

Yes, that is exactly what they heard, but they couldn’t stand it. And because they couldn’t stand it, they immediately picked up stones to kill Jesus.

Like Moses, Jesus was there in Jerusalem to lead the people out of their slavery to sin. Jesus had even said this to the Pharisees:

“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:34-36

But as he went on to say, they had no room for him. They didn’t want Jesus’s words. In fact, they didn’t want God’s words. They only wanted their own, and so they remained a slave to sin, and their father was not Abraham, but Satan himself.

Yet it is clear that they understood what Jesus was saying. There is no doubt. They knew precisely what Jesus was saying when he said before Abraham was born, I am! They knew that Jesus was calling himself God, because that is who he is.

After Jesus had fed the 5000 and then crossed over to the other side of the lake, the crowd of people continued to follow him, hoping to make him their king. But Jesus knew their real motives. They weren’t there because they truly wanted him and what he had to offer, they wanted him to be king because he had given them free food.

Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

John 6:26

Jesus had given them food because he had compassion upon them. They had been following him while he had been healing and performing miracles and he knew that they would be hungry as they followed him…so he fed them. Simple as that.

But Jesus also knew that their motives weren’t necessarily to find God. They weren’t really trying to see what God was doing. They were trying to fill their stomachs. They were trying to be entertained. They had other motivations from what Jesus had in mind.

Jesus told them that the work that God requires is that they believe in the one that God had sent. And what do they ask for? A sign!

Hadn’t they just all received food? Didn’t they understand that there had been sign from God that had just been performed in their midst? Yes, they knew because that was the reason that they had been following Jesus in the first place. He was doing great things. Incredible miracles. But they were interested in the miracles themselves and the amazement value of them more than the one who was perfoming the miracles.

The miracles were intended to simply help confirm the words that Jesus had been speaking. They had been the confirmation that Jesus was who he said he was.

Who did Jesus say he was?

He explained to the people that he was the bread that came down from heaven. And yet the people complained because they knew him from when he was a young boy.

Yet here he was also perfoming these signs and wonders, so they couldn’t seem to figure out how best to understand him. They weren’t willing to open their eyes and see that only God could do the signs and wonders that Jesus had been doing. Only God could make the blind see, the lame walk, and the deaf hear. Only God could walk across a lake or tell a storm to be calm. Only God could drive out demons and evil spirits, healing people from their sicknesses.

But they couldn’t see it. They were blind to what was happening right in front of them. They couldn’t understand what Jesus was explaining to them. They could only see the miracle of the bread that had been given to them. They could only understand the physical, but they were unable to understand and comprehend the spiritual.

So this is why Jesus explained to them that there is a significant difference between the physical break and the spiritual bread:

Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

John 6:32-33

In the time of Moses, the Israelites received manna, a bread that would sustain them in the desert. That was, in reality, also a bread that came from God.

But now, God has given them a true bread from heaven and gives life to the world.

In the same way, God offers bread to us even today through the life of Jesus. The entire world can live if we believe in him, and for this reason, we should not simply have our fill of that which comes to us physically, but instead allow Jesus to fill us as the true bread that has come down from heaven.

Jesus had healed a man at the pool of Bethesda who had been lame and unable to walk for 38 years. From that time, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus. Not only had Jesus told the man that he needed to stand up and carry his mat on the Sabbath, thus breaking the Jewish traditions on how the Jews should act on the Sabbath, but he also began to explain his actions by saying that his Father is working even to this day.

So Jesus is saying that his Father is working, and that work of healing the man on the Sabbath, and then giving the man the command to get up, carry his mat, and walk on the Sabbath, is from his Father.

Testimony of the Jewish Leaders

But who did the Jewish leaders understand Jesus’s Father to be? They understood precisely what Jesus was saying. He was saying that God is his Father. And how do we know that Jesus was saying that? Because they not only wanted to persecute Jesus for what he was doing on the Sabbath, but now they wanted to kill him. They believed that Jesus was blaspheming, saying that he was equal with God the Father.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:16-18

So it is the accusation and the actions of the Jewish leaders that provide additional testimony and confirmation to Jesus’s words.

I bring this up because there are many Muslims today that, like parrots, repeat the words of supposed Muslim apologists who have said:

Jesus never said, “I am God, worship me!”

These Muslim apologists, and each of their followers online, then sit back and often smugly confirm to themselves that this is true.

And, of course, it is true, but it is also ridiculous.

First, they should expect that Jesus would say the exact words that they want him to say? They are working to create Jesus in their own image saying that, for them to be convinced, they need Jesus to say the EXACT words that they want him to say. In reality, even if Jesus said the exact words that they wanted, they would just create a different sentence and say that Jesus did say those words…did he?

But if we read and understand what the people who were there listening to Jesus actually understood about what he was saying, they heard him to precisely say that he is God. And we know that is what they understood because they wanted to kill him!

Testimony of the Scriptures

In addition, as Jesus was speaking with the Jewish leaders, trying to explain to them who he is, he continued to speak of the Father and his role as the Son. But he makes an interesting statement that the Father won’t judge them, but instead it will be the words of Scriptures, the words that Moses wrote that speak about him that will accuse the Jews because they haven’t believed in Christ.

And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

John 5:37-40

“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

John 5:45-47

Jesus is pointing out that the Scriptures point directly to him! That which Moses wrote speaks of One who would come. But they don’t believe and follow what Moses wrote, so how could they understand and believe that Jesus is the One who is to come. Jesus is saying that the Scriptures themselves give testimony to who he is.

Evidence through testimony

Throughout Jesus’s life and ministry, we see that there are several types of evidence that speak to Jesus’s identity. Nicodemus had already spoken to the evidence that Jesus was from God because no one could have, otherwise, performed the signs that he had been doing unless God were with him.

So the signs and wonders, the miracles that Jesus had been performing, were testifying to Jesus’s identity.

Then we see that the Jewish leaders themselves testified through their actions as to the meaning of Jesus’s words. Jesus spoke of his own identity but what was more was what they had understood of Jesus’s words.

And finally, we see that Jesus explains that the Scriptures written by Moses, the Torah, spoke – and continue to speak today – of Jesus himself.

John the Baptist, for some time prior to Jesus becoming known, had been calling the Jewish people to repentance in preparation for the Messiah who was to come. He had set himself up out in the wilderness at the Jordan River and people would come to him and John would preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As the people would repent from their sins, the action that confirmed their repentance was to be baptized in the river. So John would baptize them, and this was his work, preparing the way for the Messiah who was to come, who was Jesus.

As it turned out, Jesus would also go out to the Jordan River where his disciples would baptize people who would come to Jesus to hear him and to receive forgiveness. John’s disciples, though, had become jealous. They had been with John, doing the work that John had been given to do, but now Jesus had moved in with his disciples and were doing the same thing.

John, don’t you see? Jesus and his disciples are over there baptizing too!

They weren’t happy. This was supposed to be their thing. Their work. This was their area, but this other guy – this interloper – was trying to do the same work…and right there in their area! Who did he think he was?

My goodness, how often do I hear this same thing, even today?

But, we have our church here in this area, and these interlopers have come in and setting up their church in this same city!

I heard this same sentiment recently. A church where I had presented and trained a disciple-making strategy had said that their definition of church planting was to plant churches where there aren’t any churches. And in one sense, I, of course, completely agree with that idea. We need churches, geographically, in the areas where there are no churches.

On the other hand, I think that the statement actually betrays this same attitude that John’s disciples had. What is the real concern? The real concern is that the other churches will “steal” their people. And if the people go to another church, the initial churches miss out. Miss out on the people. Miss out on money. Miss out on prestige.

Meanwhile, if we look around, we see that the number of people who are actually following Christ are few and instead of developing a plan, developing a strategy for those that are lost, we are more preoccupied with trying to hold on to those who are saved. Instead of sending our people to go reach more, we try to maintain what we have.

But I love John’s attitude in his response when his disciples come to report what that interloper – Jesus – and his disciples were doing.

To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

John 3:27-30

John doesn’t concern himself with his status. He doesn’t concern himself with the number of disciples that he has. His concern is that more people will know Christ. His concern is that the Kingdom of God will continue to grow. If John becomes less because Jesus becomes greater, John is greater.

I pray that this will continually be our attitude, that Christ would become greater while we become smaller. I pray that our plans would reflect this, that more people would be sent

As Peter is writing to the churches throughout the area that is modern-day Turkey, he finishes his letter with an appeal. He says that he is making his appeal to fellow elders, those that are leading the churches, to watch over their flocks, caring for them, leading and guiding them.

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

1 Peter 5

But at the end, Peter says something interesting. He says that there is a Chief Shepherd who is yet to appear. Who is Peter speaking of? He is, of course, speaking of Jesus.

But wait a minute… Isn’t the entire Catholic church built on the idea that Christ will build his church upon the rock, who is Peter? The papal legacy has been passed down from Peter to the rest of the popes, and have even been considered to have authority to speak and set the direction of the church here on the earth, on par with the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, based on the idea that Christ gave this authority to Peter. The pope, as the head of the Catholic church, is God’s representative on the earth, according to the Catholics, as a result of Jesus’s declaration that he would build his church upon that rock.

Right?

But it seems that Peter has a different understanding. He calls himself a “fellow elder”. Fellow, as in, on the same level. Those that Peter is writing to are leading their flocks, just as Peter is leading his. Peter is overseeing the flock that he has been given. The elders to whom he is writing will oversee theirs.

Peter is writing to instruct and encourage, not because he is in authority over them, but because he has simply gone before them. He has apostolic status and authority, that much is true. But so do several others, including Paul who was the first through the areas to whom Peter is writing.

Instead, the authority that we see here comes from One and only One, and that is from the Chief Shepherd. The Chief elder is the one that they are all waiting to see. Jesus is the one that is over all. He is the head of the universal church. And only him. No other. No mere man can lead Christ’s church, regardless of his apostolic authority. Only Christ can and will lead His church.

What is the worst that they could do?

We might ask ourselves this question if we find ourselves in a situation where we are in a position of relative strength and we are wondering what the consequences of our next action might be. What is the worst that they could do to me, we might ask, if I take this next step? If I complete this next action?

In that case, we are probably calculating that the worst is not all that bad. We are probably thinking that we are in a good position and we can move forward without significant consequences or issue.

But that is a completely different scenario from what Peter is talking about here. In this case, he has been talking to the believers to submit themselves to the government. Or he spoke to slaves to submit themselves to their masters. Or to wives to submit themselves to their husbands.

And why should each of these be submitting?

Because through their submission, through their hard work, or through their loving kindness back to the people who are over them – whether they should be over them or not, whether they treat them well or not – they try to reach those people for Christ so that they might also be saved.

But what would give Peter the right to ask people to do this? Is slavery right? Is it right that a husband would “lord” authoritatively over his wife? No, of course not. But that isn’t the point. Peter isn’t talking about rights, or even what is right. That is far from the point. He is talking about eternity.

For the sake of this person in eternity, God calls his people to reach others.

For the sake of this person in eternity, God wants his people to give themselves now for a reward that they will receive forever.

For the sake of this person in eternity, God wants his people to lay down their rights, even to lay down what is right, to make Christ known.

But how would Christ be known through these people’s actions?

Christ gave himself to reach his enemies.

Not the “good” people. Not the religious people. Not those who are part of the church, the synagogue, the mosque, or whatever other religious structure.

No, he gave himself for his enemies.

All people – I repeat – All people are, or have been, Christ’s enemies. All people have sinned. All people have rebelled against God. Whether in many ways or in a few ways. Whether other people see them as good people or not. None of the ways that man measures his sin matters. The only thing that matters is how God sees us before Him.

So Christ came to die for his enemies. He came to give himself for others. He came to give himself.

And so this is Peter’s justification. Christ did it first. Christ gave up his rights. He didn’t consider what was “right”. He thought only about eternity. He thoughts about establishing his Kingdom for eternity. He thought about the eternal future of the people – his enemies – that he came to purchase, to save and bring into his Kingdom.

And so Peter calls each of us, in our various roles, to do the same. To give ourselves for others. Citizens, foreigners, slaves, wives. Peter calls each of them to give themselves for the eternal salvation of others, and he calls us to do that for others because Christ did it first for each of us.

But we should also know that it could be bad. It won’t all be roses and rainbows. This will be difficult. This is going to be painful. But Peter says to not fear.

But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”

1 Peter 3:14

Peter says that we will likely suffer, but even if we are going to suffer, we shouldn’t fear. Why shouldn’t we fear? Because what is the worst that they can do? Remembering what Jesus told his disciples, the worst that they can do is kill the body, but they can’t touch the soul. Only God can speak to the soul and where it will go.

So, could this be difficult? Could it really be bad? Yes, absolutely. But do not fear. Christ is with you.

There was recently something written in graffitti on a wall here in our town. In English, you would translate it to read:

He is only forgotten if no one speaks of him any longer.

I appreciate the sentiment, I do. They placed this script alongside a picture of their friend who had passed away too young. Maybe of sickness. Maybe in an accident. Possibly something else. Who knows… Whoever wrote it wanted to honor their friend, and I can appreciate that.

On the other hand, I think that it is much more important to realize now the fragility and truly short-lived nature of our lives. For example, here is something else that I read online recently:

In 100 years we will all be buried with our relatives and friends.

Strangers will live in our homes we fought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today. All our possessions will be unknown, including the car we spent a fortune on, and will probably be scrap, preferably in the hands of an unknown collector.

Our descendants will hardly or hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us. How many of us know our grandfather’s father?

After we die, we will be remembered for a few more years, then we are just a portrait on someone’s bookshelf, and a few years later our history, photos and deeds disappear in history’s oblivion. We won’t even be memories.

Let’s be honest. That’s a much more likely scenario, right? Isn’t it true that, very soon, we probably won’t even be memories?

Yes, that is the truth. That is the reality. A few people will live on in various history books for the next few hundred years, but even for them, not much more than that. Otherwise, for the rest of us, we will be “dust in the wind”, as was once wrote in a famous pop song.

Yet we still have within us a desire to live on. We have a desire for eternity. We have a longing for forever.

Forever, in our physical bodies or in the history books, simply isn’t available to us. But forever is available to us spiritually. It is available to us through Christ.

The Apostle Peter spoke to us on this theme. Here is what he said:

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

1 Peter 1:24-25

Peter explains that our days our numbered. You can see the grass today, but the truth is that it will wither.

You can see the beautiful flowers today, but they will soon fall.

But what will live on? The word of the Lord. And that is all. God and his word will live on forever. God’s Kingdom will remain. That is what has been prophecied for millenia, and that is what came true through Christ 2000 years ago. That truth continues on to this day and will continue on forever.

God offers each of us eternal life. You can live on forever, but only if you are found in Christ. If you are in Christ, you will be given a new life, life in eternity. In this way, you will not be lost, but you will be found alive into eternity. Eternal with Christ.

What a mess. James calls out the people that he is writing to saying that they are adulterous. They have been unfaithful to their true husband, the bridegroom, Christ himself, and instead have become friends with the world.

To be adulterous means that we are unfaithful to the one to whom we are truly married. It means that we say that we are married to one and yet in our actions we have given ourselves to another. This is what James is saying that the Christians are doing. We have said that we are married to Christ, but in reality we are giving ourselves to the world. We have become adulterous, unfaithful to the one that we are married to.

So James says that this has happened to believers. We have become adulterous. We have become unfaithful. We have become friends with the world and its ways, and in so doing, we have become enemies of God.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

James 4:4

Whew… We’re supposed to be believers in Christ. We are supposed to be the bride of Christ. We are supposed to be wedded to him, and we say that we are. We have committed ourselves to him. But the reality is that we have become God’s enemies because we are sleeping around with the world.

What are the ways of the world?

Money. Power. Fame. Personal fulfillment in sex and self. These, and much more, are the ways that we run to the ways of the world. These are the ways that we put off our friendship with God, our marriage to Christ, and instead become adulterous to the things of the world.

We depend upon the world instead of upon God. We look for our problems to be resolved in the ways of the world instead of upon God. We want what WE want instead of what God wants. We think of our kingdoms above all else instead of God’s Kingdom. And this is normal for us. This is our everyday life.

And of course this is far from what God desires. This is far from what God wants for us, and that is James point. We should repent and turn back to God, leaving behind our adulterous ways and friendship with the world, instead returning back to Christ, our first love, and finding all that we need with him.