THE BOOK OF JAMES
(“James’ Ten Commandments”) (Part 4)
James 4:7-10 (NASU)
“Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.” (James 4:9)
(A) A TIME TO LAUGH
(1) Scripture frequently exhorts Christians to rejoice, to be joyful, and to be glad. Psalm One Hundred (a portion of which hangs over the main exit of our sanctuary) says: 1“Shout JOYFULLY to the Lord, all the earth. 2Serve the Lord with GLADNESS; come before Him with JOYFUL singing” (c.f. Psalm 100:1-2). A familiar verse from Philippians chapter four says: “REJOICE in the Lord always; again I will say, REJOICE!” (c.f. Philippians 4:4) – while a lesser known verse from the Book of Psalms says: “… let the righteous be GLAD … yes, let them REJOICE with GLADNESS” (c.f. Psalm 68:3).
(2) Scripture even exhorts Christians to rejoice in the midst of trouble and trial, hardship and affliction.
For example, in His Sermon on the Mount Jesus told His disciples: 11“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12REJOICE and be GLAD, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (c.f. Matthew 5:11-12). Jesus’ disciples took His words to heart – for the Book of Acts say that after being beaten for preaching in His name, “they went on their way from the presence of the Council, REJOICING that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” (c.f. Acts 5:40-41).
The Book of James opens by saying: “Consider it all JOY, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (c.f. James 1:2). The Book of Hebrews praises those who “JOYFULLY (endured) the seizure of (their) property, knowing (they had) a better possession (waiting for them in heaven)” (c.f. Hebrews 10:34). While Paul praises the Thessalonians because they had “received the word (of God) in much tribulation with the JOY of the Holy Spirit” (c.f. I Thessalonians 1:6).
(3) As far as Scripture is concerned, any Christian who lacks joy is an anomaly. After all, the Book of Galatians says “JOY” is a “fruit of the Spirit” (c.f. Galatians 5:22) – which means (at least in part) that joy is a gift of God’s Spirit to those who belong to Christ.1 The Book of Colossians says part of “walking in a manner worthy of the Lord” includes “JOYOUSLY giving thanks to the Father” (c.f. Colossians 1:11-12) – while the Book of Psalms says: “the sound of JOYFUL shouting … is in the tents of the righteous …” (c.f. Psalm 118:15).
(4) The question is, what kind of joy are we talking about?
(a) We’re certainly NOT talking about the kind of joy that characterizes the spirit of the age in which we live2 – i.e. we’re NOT talking about the kind of joy that’s equated with enjoyment or entertainment – NOR are we talking about the kind of joy that comes from the pursuit of self-indulgent pleasure (c.f. James 4:1, 3) – what the Book of James calls “wanton pleasure” in the next chapter (c.f. James 5:5) – we’re NOT talking about the kind of joy that comes from revelry, immorality, greed, excessive eating and drinking, the accumulation of things (like cars, homes and clothes), and a host of other hedonistic activities.
(b) We’re also NOT talking about the kind of joy emphasized in some Christian circles, where it’s considered a sin not to be singing all the time – where the sincerity of a person’s faith is often measured by the size of the smile on their face – where a person’s godliness is often gauged by their grin – where it’s an almost unforgivable sin not to be bubbling over all the time.2 This kind of “joy” is often artificial and superficial.
(5) There are several aspects to the kind of joy that ought to characterize every Christian’s life.
(a) John MacArthur gives us one when he defines joy as a “deep-down sense of well-being that abides in the heart the person who knows all is well between themselves and the Lord.”1 From this we learn that biblical joy doesn’t depend on our circumstances (which are always in a state of flux) – rather, it depends on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ (which never changes, as our salvation is concerned). Biblical joy has less to do with the outward condition of our life, and more with knowing that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (c.f. Romans 5:1) – and that nothing in heaven or on earth can ever separate us from Him (c.f. Romans 8:35-39).
(b) Biblical joy also comes from doing the Father’s will. As we noted earlier, the psalmist says: “Serve the Lord with GLADNESS …” (c.f. Psalm 100:2) – while the Book of Deuteronomy says: “… serve the Lord your God with JOY and a GLAD heart …” (c.f. Deuteronomy 28:47). Jesus once said: “My FOOD is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work” (c.f. John 4:34) – while a prophetic psalm clarifies what He meant, saying that when the Messiah came He would “DELIGHT to do the Father’s will” (c.f. Psalm 40:7-8).
A TIME TO WEEP
(1) James is not at odds with this biblical emphasis on being joyful, when he tells Christians in our text to “be miserable and mourn and weep” (c.f. James 4:9) – nor is he contradicting what Scripture says elsewhere about the importance of rejoicing and being glad, when he says: “let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom” (c.f. James 4:9). On the contrary, the Book of Ecclesiastes says there is “a time to (laugh) AND a time to (weep); a time to (dance) and (also) a time to (mourn)” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 3:4).
(2) Any Christian who does not find something in this fallen world to “mourn and weep” (c.f. James 4:9) about is either deliberately ignorant or callously indifferent to what’s going on around him. Paul said believers are to “rejoice with those who rejoice, AND weep with those who weep” (c.f. Romans 12:15) – and there are a lot of people, both inside and outside the fellowship of Christ’s church, who are “weeping” for various reasons.
Job defended himself (in part) against the accusations his friends made against him – i.e. that his troubles were the result of his sin – by asking: “Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?” (c.f. Job 30:25) – in other words, he empathized with the grief of others by weeping and grieving with them.
David made a similar statement in Psalm Thirty-Five, saying: 13“… when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer kept returning to my bosom. 14I went about as though it were my friend or brother; I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother” (c.f. Psalm 35:13-14). David was clearly commiserating with these people – nor (in this instance) was he speaking about his friends, but rather those who turned out to be his enemies.3
(3) The Book of Revelation says the time is coming when God will “wipe away every tear from (our) eyes” – that the time is coming when “there will no longer be any mourning, or crying” (c.f. Revelation 21:4) – but, now is NOT that time. Right now there are times when it’s appropriate to “laugh” and “dance” – AND, there also times when it’s appropriate to “weep” and “mourn” (c.f. Ecclesiastes 3:4). James is talking about the latter when he says: “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom” (c.f. James 4:9).
A TIME TO REPENT
(1) The question is, what does James want us to “be miserable and mourn and weep” about (c.f. James 4:9)? When should we stop “laughing” and start “mourning” (c.f. James 4:9)? When should we let “our joy be turned to gloom” (c.f. James 4:9)? John Blanchard reminds us this whole section is directed at Christians “who (according to the larger context) are (completely) out of step with God”2 – which is just a polite way of saying these Christians have been sinning against God. That’s why James begins chapter four (c.f. James 4:1-4) by calling his readers “murderers” and “adulterers” (vs. 2, 4), even though he’s probably speaking metaphorically. He’s certainly NOT speaking figuratively, however, when he says they’ve been “fighting and quarreling” with one another (vs. 1-2) – that they’ve been lusting and coveting after things others have they don’t (v. 2) – that they’re being driven by sensual “pleasures” (vs. 1, 3) – that they’ve been praying from “selfish motives” (v. 3) – and that they’ve been trying to straddle the proverbial fence by being “friends with God” and “friends with the world” at the same time (v. 4).
(2) When we Christians sin against God, what are we supposed to do? Aren’t we supposed to confess our sin to the Lord (c.f. Psalm 38:18; James 5:16; I John 1:9)? And isn’t confession supposed to be accompanied by repentance (c.f. Isaiah 55:7)? Repentance isn’t something we do one time in order to be saved (c.f. Mark 1:15) – it’s also something we need to do on a regular basis. Hence, even though the Book of Job opens by telling us he was a “blameless and upright” man (c.f. Job 1:1), it closes with him telling the Lord: “I repent in dust and ashes” (c.f. Job 42:6). And even though Scripture describes David as “a man after God’s heart” (c.f. I Samuel 13:14), some of his most memorable (and most helpful) psalms are those where he confessed his sin to God and repented (c.f. Psalm 32:1-5) – after which he invariably experienced God’s full cleansing and forgiveness.
(3) When Christians sin against God (as all of us do), we are to repent of those sins. And that’s what James is exhorting us to do in this morning’s text – repent. True repentance involves certain things – including admitting that we have sinned – confessing those sins specifically, not generically – and turning away from those sins (in part, by asking Christ to help us refrain from repeating them).
True repentance also involves an emotional element – specifically, it involves genuine sorrow for what we’ve done. Nor are we talking about being sorry because we got caught – or being sorry that we hurt the people around us. Rather, we’re talking about being sorrowful for having offended and grieved our Heavenly Father – we’re talking about being sorrowful for having grieved the One who died to save us, namely Jesus our Savior.
(4) It is this aspect of repentance – this heart-felt sorrow for sin – that James has in mind when he says (in our text): “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom” (c.f. James 4:9).
A TIME TO STUDY (OUR TEXT)
(1) The first command in our text (and sixth overall) is: “Be miserable …” – the NIV says, “grieve”, while the NKJV says, “lament” (c.f. James 4:9).
(a) The Greek word (“talaiporeo”) James used has to do with “suffering hardship or distress”4 – and then (by extension it means) to be broken, or to feel wretched about one’s circumstances.5 In this instance, these feelings of misery and brokenness are not because of poverty or sickness – or because of divorce, or being passed over for a promotion. They’re because of our sin against God. In fact, the word James used describes the same feelings the tax collector in the temple was going through, whom Jesus said was “unwilling to (even) lift up his eyes to heaven, but (stood off to the side) beating his breast, (and) saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’” (c.f. Luke 18:13). That man was in agony over his sin.
(b) Paul used a modified form of this Greek word for “miserable” in Romans chapter seven, when he lamented the fact that he was not doing the good he wanted to do, but rather the evil that he did not want to do (c.f. Romans 7:19). Nor was this a minor problem for Paul – something he could slough off, or learn to live with. On the contrary, it bothered him so deeply that he cried out: “What a wretched man I am!” (c.f. Romans 7:24, NIV). Literally he said, “What a ‘miserable’ man I am” – i.e. “that I should sin against my God and Savior so often!”
(c) The “misery” of which James speaks – even the “misery” he commands you and me to embrace as Christians – has to do with being broken over our sin against God, and distressed over the fact we have violated one of His holy laws5 (c.f. Romans 7:12). Indeed, it’s probably not a stretch to say that the sincerity of our repentance will be in proportion to the sense of “misery” we feel about our sin.
So, when was the last time you and I felt “miserable” (c.f. James 4:9) about our sin – NOT because we got caught – NOT because of any repercussions we may have had to deal with – NOT because the person we sinned against was really mad at us – but because the words of David expressed the feeling of our own heart, when he said to God: “Against YOU, YOU ONLY, (have I) sinned and done what is evil in Your sight …” (c.f. Psalm 51:4) – “and I’m broken-hearted and ‘miserable’ (c.f. James 4:9) over it”? I’ve been miserable numerous times because of the repercussions of my sins – but I have to admit I can’t remember the last time I was utterly broken-hearted and “miserable” (c.f. James 4:9) over the fact I had sinned against God.
(2) The second command in our text says: “… and mourn …” (c.f. James 2:9).
(a) James is still talking about the emotional aspect of true repentance – he’s just using different words to make his point. Along with being “miserable” (c.f. James 4:9), the Christian who’s truly repentant will “mourn” over the sins they’ve committed5 against God and men.
(b) The Greek word used here (“pentheo”)6 carries the idea of DEEP grief and remorse7 – even a complete DESPAIR that laments6 over our sin the same way someone mourns over the death of a husband or wife, or even a close friend.
When Jesus said: “Blessed are those who MOURN, for they shall be comforted” (c.f. Matthew 5:4), this is the word He used.8 Hence, our Savior is actually encouraging us to “mourn” (c.f. James 4:9) DEEPLY over our sin, because we have His promise that when we do He will ultimately bring us comfort and relief.
(c) One writer said: “to repent is to accuse and condemn ourselves … to take God’s part against ourselves … to be ashamed and confounded by our sins …”8 Hence, when Peter realized he had denied his Lord three times, he didn’t try and smooth over the gravity of his offense by hiding behind God’s sovereignty – i.e. by shrugging his shoulders and saying, “Oh well, Jesus said I would – and I did.” On the contrary, Scripture says “he went out and WEPT BITTERLY” (c.f. Matthew 26:75) – which was indicative of the depth of his remorse.
Likewise, David once expressed the intensity of his grief over his sin by saying: 9“… O Lord … I am in distress; my eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. 10For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength has failed because of my iniquity, and my body has wasted away” (c.f. Psalm 31:9-10). Clearly David was “mourning” (c.f. James 4:9) over his sin in a very deep and painful way – and so should we, if we are truly repentant.
(3) And that brings us to the third command in our text, which says: “… and weep …” – the NIV says, “wail” (c.f. James 4:9) (in the culture in which the bible was written, people “wailed” by howling and screaming and crying out loudly – c.f. Esther 4:3; Mark 5:38).
(a) James keeps piling on words to underscore his point. Here we have yet another aspect of true repentance – namely, tears. As several writers point out, “weeping” is an outward sign of inward “misery” and “mourning”.8 Tears can be faked, to be sure – but genuine “misery” and “mourning” (c.f. James 4:9) over our sin cannot be faked (any more than genuine grief over the death of a loved one can be faked).
(b) Taken together, then, these three words – i.e. “be MISERABLE … MOURN and WEEP” (c.f. James 4:9) – call for a deep, intense, broken-hearted sorrow over the sins9 we have committed against our Heavenly Father and Savior.
(c) The question is, do these expressions of repentance find any place in your life or mine?9 For example, when was the last time we felt so “miserable” (c.f. James 4:9) about our sin that we actually shed tears? When was the last time we “mourned” and “wept” (c.f. James 4:9) over our offenses against God?
When was the last time we grieved deeply over a specific sin – like adultery, or lying, or skipping worship, or dishonoring our parents (c.f. Exodus 20:1-17), or harboring resentment in our heart toward a brother or sister in Christ (c.f. Matthew 5:21-24)? When was the last time we shed tears over our indifference toward God’s word – or our lack of compassion for the needs of the poor and elderly in our church family – or our lack of generosity – or our selfishness – or our prayerlessness? When was the last time we were truly broken-hearted over our attempt to be friends with God and friends with the world at the same time (c.f. James 4:4) – or our lack of submission to God (c.f. James 4:7) – or the impurity of our hearts (c.f. James 4:8)? If it’s been awhile, we probably ought to start by “mourn(ing) and weep(ing)” (c.f. James 4:9) over that!
(4) The last command in our text (and ninth overall) says: “… let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom” (c.f. James 4:9)
(a) This is another example of Hebrew parallelism, in which a single truth is emphasized by stating it and restating it in two comparable phrases.10 In this instance, “laughter” and “joy” are parallel thoughts – as are “mourning” and “gloom” (c.f. James 4:9).
(b) Earlier I made three points – i.e. that Scripture frequently exhorts Christians to rejoice – that a Christian who lacks joy is an anomaly – and that James is not contradicting what Scripture says elsewhere about being joyful.
(c) So, James is not condemning legitimate “laughter” or “joy” (c.f. Psalm 126:2; Ecclesiastes 3:4) here in the last part of our text (c.f. James 4:9). IF he’s condemning anything (and I’m not sure he is), it’s that flippant, superficial, tasteless, vulgar kind of “laughter” (c.f. James 4:9) that often accompanies the pursuit of sinful activities10 – like drunkenness, immorality, various acts of cruelty, as well as various acts of disobedience (like skipping school, eluding the police, or putting one over on the boss or commander). John Calvin called it “the flattering with which (sinners) deceive themselves, (having become) infatuated by the sweetness of their sins (while forgetting) the judgment of God.”11 That kind of “laughter” and “joy” obviously needs to be “exchanged” for the kind of “mourning” and “gloom” (c.f. James 4:9) associated with genuine repentance.
(d) What I think James is really getting at, however, is this – even though we Christians ought to rejoice over the evidences of God’s goodness to us (c.f. II Chronicles 7:10) – even though we ought to be glad for His gift of salvation (c.f. Luke 10:20, and happy to do His will by obeying His commands (c.f. Psalm 40:8) – the fact is, when we fall into sin a change ought to take place.12 When we reflect on our sin – when we begin to understand what a stench our sins are to God – we will begin to see that our “laughter” and “joy” need to be replaced by the “mourning” and “gloom” (c.f. James 4:9) associated with true repentance. If it’s true that our sins “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (c.f. Ephesians 4:3) (which they do!), then they ought to grieve us as well!
(e) James doesn’t it mention it here (at least not directly, as we’ll see in a moment), but elsewhere Scripture tells us the “misery” and “tears” and “gloom” (c.f. James 4:9) associated with true repentance don’t last for ever – that we’re not being condemned to walk around in black for the rest of our life – that we’re not going to have to wear a long somber face (as it were) forever.12
David reminds us that: “(God’s) anger is … for a moment, (but) His favor is for a lifetime; (that) weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (c.f. Psalm 30:5) – and given some of the things David went through, he should know. Elsewhere, the psalmist writes: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting” (c.f. Psalm 126:5) – and while the immediate context of that verse has nothing to do with repentance, the principle it speaks of certainly applies to what we’re talking about at this point.
If I may paraphrase James’ own words (in verses eight and ten) – those who “draw near to God” with “tears” of repentance (c.f. James 4:9, will find Him “drawing near to them” in return (c.f. James 4:8) with cleansing and forgiveness (c.f. Psalm 32:5). Likewise, those who “humble themselves in the presence of the Lord” – by means of the “mourning and weeping” associated with repentance (c.f. James 4:9) – will soon find the Lord “exalting” them (c.f. James 4:10) (as it were) by forgiving all their sins, and restoring the broken fellowship that existed between Him and us on account of our sins.
What’s not to like about that?! Why should we be afraid to “mourn and weep” over our sin (c.f. James 4:9), when the end result is going to be the “restoration of the joy of our salvation” (c.f. Psalm 51:12)?!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1MacArthur: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary;
Galatians; p. 166.
2Blanchard: Truth For Life; p. 290.
3The New Geneva Study Bible: Footnote on Psalm 35:13-
14; p. 789.
4Bible Companion Series: Strong’s Concordance; Word
#5005.
5MacArthur: Ibid; James; p. 211.
6BCS: Strong’s Concordance; Word #3996.
7MacArthur: Ibid; James; p. 211.
8IBID; p. 212.
9Blanchard: Ibid; p. 291.
10MacArthur: Ibid; p. 213.
11Calvin’s Commentaries: Vol. XXII; Commentaries on the
Catholic Epistles; The Epistle of James; p. 336.
12New Testament Commentary: James, Epistles of John,
Peter and Jude; p. 141.