A song popularized a few years ago contained this line: "Trying to love two ain’t easy to do." That’s a good way to summarize the point of this message. The point of this message is that we need to put away any other love that could be a rival to Christ.
We all know what a "two-timer" is. Someone who tries to juggle two loves simultaneously. He attempts to maintain a home & family & give the appearance that all is well, while at the same time carrying on an illicit affair.
As the legitimate partner, the adulterer’s mate has the right to claim exclusive affection & faithfulness. The "other woman" (or man) gets tired of being the other & insists that the adulterer make a choice. As every two-timer discovers, one cannot maintain two loves simultaneously.
The Bible uses the analogy of adultery to describe spiritual unfaithfulness to Christ. Jesus not only has the right to claim our first love, but he demands to be our only love.
The Lord is talking to Christians who say, "I love You with all my heart. I’m thankful You saved me. I’m thankful I’m on my way to heaven. I want to live my life for You." But come Monday morning, they run back to their other lover called the world. Is it two-timing the Lord to go out where the sinners are? Are you flirting with the world because you work with sinners, bank with sinners, or live in a neighborhood where you are surrounded on all sides by sinners? No, of course not. When the Bible talks about believers having an affair with the world, God’s Word is using the term world to describe an evil system headed by Satan that opposes God & leaves Him out.
You see, the problem is not that we work every day where sinners work. The problem is when we leave God out as we go to work. It’s not that we live in neighborhoods where sinners live; it’s that we leave God out of our neighborhoods. But at the same time, we go to church on Sunday saying to our main love, Jesus Christ, "Everything is fine." But the Lord is saying, "You tell Me one thing on Sunday, but then you leave Me sitting in the pew while you go do your thing the rest of the week. But what you forgot is I can sit in the pew & still see where you are going & what you are doing. I can sit right here & know that you have left Me out. "You are doing things I can’t do, going places I can’t go, & saying things I can’t talk about. But you come back home on Sunday telling me we’re doing all right."
God’s complaint is, "You have a friendship & an intimacy with the world, & that’s hostility toward Me. I am no fool. I know better than to be satisfied with hearing the words ‘I love You’ when there’s no reality behind them." "I know you’ve go this other lover called the world you are seeing all week." Just like any loving spouse whose faithful & exclusive love is being met by unfaithfulness, Jesus Christ reacts to being two-timed. He’s not satisfied with Sunday morning commitment.
One of the tragedies in our Christian community today is two-timing Christians who have a lover on the side; who say they love the Lord with all their heart & soul & mind & strength, but leave him out of their thoughts, out of their activities, & out of their relationships.
What we’ve got today are too many Christians who sit on the fence with one leg in the world & the other leg in the kingdom. They politely shift at the right time. When it’s time to be in the kingdom, they shift to the kingdom. Then when they are with their friends, they shift back to the world.
They want to have their cake & eat it too.
Read verse 1. One of the ways you know you are two-timing Jesus Christ is when there is a lot of confusion, conflict, & friction in your life. When you start trying to live the good life, seeking "your pleasures," you find out that you’ve got to become like the world to get what you want.
Just look in the home. I can assure you that wherever you find a husband & wife in constant conflict, it’s because both of them want their pleasure. They are arguing & both want to win.
In God’s kingdom it is different. In His kingdom, there is only one love, & he is it. And if He is the only love in the kingdom, there should be no conflict, because everything is to be done for one person.
Seeking our own pleasures has always been a problem. When you get married you have to learn to put your own pleasures aside. It’s serious stuff when God calls His people "adulteresses." Why is God getting after this thin so strongly?
Read Verse 5. Like any good spouse, God is jealous. He doesn’t want to share you with the world. Spiritual adultery is trying to love two when you’ve committed yourself to one. You can’t have two first loves. He’s jealous.
In marriage two become one. God says, "I married you and now you want to leave Me sitting here. Where are you going that I can’t go with you?" A lot of Christians want to know, "Now that I’m a Christian, what can I do and not do? Is it wrong to do this & that?" There is a very simple solution to that question. Ask yourself "Can I take Jesus Christ along with me?" Or must you say, "Jesus, You stay in the car & I will be right back"?
See, if you cannot take Christ, if Christ can’t look at it & you can’t talk about it with Him, then you need to question what you’re doing. If you have to leave your love at home all the time, something’s wrong. Jesus is jealous. He wants you for Himself. James isn’t saying, "Don’t be in the world." He’s saying, "Don’t be conformed to the world" (see Romans 12:1,2). In other words, don’t go & have a relationship with the world that Christ can’t participate in. According to verse 6 God gives us His grace. Grace is God doing for you what you can’t do for yourself. And I guarantee you, all you have to do is keep living & you are going to run into situations where you will need God to do for you what you can’t do for yourself.
There comes a time when you get in a mess that only the grace of God can deliver you out of. If your relationship with Jesus isn’t what it should be, then that grace may be mission. You are going to want Jesus to be there, but He will say, "I’m not going to be there for you when you have been cheating on Me with someone else."
No matter who you are, you will come to a time when you will need His grace. You are going to need God to do for you what you can’t do for yourself. Whether he does that or not will be determined by how faithful you’ve been in your love affair with Jesus.
So the question is, how do we make sure we’re in a position where God can bestow His grace on us? Verse 7 gives us that answer. Submission is a military term that means get in your proper rank. Privates don’t tell generals what to do. Get in your rank. Place yourself under God’s command. He is saying, "I’m in charge here. Fall in!"
Submission to God means I place myself under divine authority. It means I say, "Lord whatever You want me to do, I will do it. No matter what anyone else tells me to do, I’ll find out what You want me to do, and do it."
Resisting the Devil simply means saying no to him. The Devil is not going to just sit back & let you submit to God. The more submitted you are, the more the Devil’s going to try & break you down.
But James says there comes a point when even the Devil will run. A lot of people say, "I’m trying to get the Devil off my back. He won’t leave me alone!" Well, if the Devil’s bothering you that much, you may have a spiritual problem, because Jesus says, "If you are submitted to Me and the Devil is riding your back, there comes a point where I slap him off. I will let the Devil test you. I will let the Devil tempt you. "But when you submit to Me & hold on to Me, then I show up & say, ‘Devil, let’s move it!’"
So how do we submit? "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (verse 8a). James is talking about a relationship. A lot of men complain about what their wives are not. A guy will say, "My wife’s not this. She’s not that. She can’t do this. She won’t do that. She won’t do anything." So he goes out & has an affair. He lavishes all this special attention on the other woman. He’s alert to her every whim. Every time he sees her, he takes her to a special place. He wines & dines her. They go here & there together. And she responds, telling him he’s wonderful.
But go home & check with his wife. When was the last he treated her the way he’s treating this other woman? His wife might respond that way if he would draw near to her that way. The further away he gets, the worse she looks. He’s got to draw near. The nearer he draws, the nearer she will draw.
Jesus says: "I’m not the one having the affair. Draw near to Me & I will respond. Draw near to Me & I will draw near to you." The rest of Verse 8 says, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, your double-minded." You can’t be doing any old kind of thing any old kind of way & expect God’s blessing. What a double-minded two-timer needs to do is say to the Lord, "I’m wiping my hands of this affair with the world & moving on with You alone."
So what’s the bottom line?
Verse 10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." When you can say to Him, "Lord, I need You & I need Your grace. I’m going to love You & You alone. There is no room in my heart for anyone else," then, like a faithful spouse, He will care for you. He will exalt you in His time & in His way - & it will be glorious. Love the Lord with all their heart & soul & mind & strength everyday and everywhere.