How to Become a Muslim
James 4:1-12
Introduction
How to become a Muslim? Did you come to the right place? I want to reassure you that I am not preaching a form of Chrislam. Chrislam is a view that puts Christianity and Islam on the same level, seeing them as equal paths to God and suggesting that they have pretty much the same message. I do not hold to that position. In fact, this sermon has nothing to do with Muhammad or the Qur’an or Arab religion. The only reason that I even mention the word Muslim is that it is a word that means one who is submitted to God. Muslims have one vision of what it means to be submitted to God, Christians have a different one. In this section, James describes for us what a life submitted to God looks like against the background of a life in rebellion to God. James describes the life of one who is envious, selfish and argumentative. The antidote to this life is a life in submission to God. We are going to look at the five pillars of a Christian submission to God.
Proper Attitude in Prayer
We would all agree that prayer is good. However, James teaches us that not all prayer is good prayer. Bad things that happen in society are often based on corrupt motives. Why do people lie, cheat and steal? Because they want something that they do not have and they are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. We can look at such people and see their faults. But what about us? We take our needs to God in prayer. Good. But what is prayer for us? For some people it is a means of manipulating God through positive confessions in order to get the stuff that we want. James tells us to check our motives. Why are we praying for what we are praying? Are we discontent with the things we have? Do we envy the possessions of our friends and neighbours and hope to be as affluent as they are? Prayer may be seen as the means to achieve these goals. But prayer was never meant to be the tools by which we keep up with the Jones. Pray for other people, for the people whose basic needs are not yet met. Pray for the salvation of loved ones. Pray for peace for those who are hurting and are grieving. Yes, you can pray for yourself. You can even pray that you will receive something material. But check your motive. Is it so you can have what you need to provide for your family or so you can impress other people with your things? Submitting to God means praying according to his will and according to Kingdom values and not according our own selfish desires.
Proper Relationship with the World
The Christian’s relationship with the world is a confusing and controversial subject. First of all what do I mean by the world? I do not mean planet earth. When the Bible speaks of the world, often what it means is the value system of society. Here is where the conflict comes between the church and society. Society’s values change very quickly. We are not talking about centuries, but rather over decades and even years. The church on the other hand receives its values from revelation from God. At times the values of society and church have overlapped some, other times not so much. So what do we do? Some Christians have seen the evils of the world and have withdrawn, staying to themselves, hoping not to be corrupted by what is around them. Others have seen the importance of reaching out to the world and so have become like the world. They wonder as they see society’s values changing that perhaps they are seeing something that we in the church are missing. Perhaps the traditional values of the Bible are just cultural and that we need to update our morality in order to keep up with the times. James speaks to this. He warns Christians about seeking friendship with the world. That is not a call to withdraw from the world. The consistent message of the New Testament is that we seek to have a positive influence on society and that must mean that we are engaging society. But we do not derive our values from society. Our morality comes from God and if that leads to some conflict, so be it. Submission to God requires a balanced relationship with society that engages it but does not compromise in order to be more appealing.
Proper Understanding of Ourselves
If Christians have trouble having a proper understanding of our relationship to the world, we equally struggle with our understanding of ourselves. Again, Christians often go to one of two extremes. Some see themselves as children of the King and think of themselves as pretty important. Some think they deserve to be rich and to live a life of comfort, after all they are royalty being adopted into the family of God. There are others who adopt a worm theology. They focus completely on their own sinfulness and unworthiness. Their thoughts are consumed with how bad they are and how much they do not deserve God’s love. They argue that no one can have a low enough self-esteem. The problem with these extremes is that they are both true. We are sinful and unworthy and we are also children of the King. The proper position is that of humility. Not a false humility where you are always beating yourself up or in boasting of your own great humility. True humility is about seeing yourself in proper perspective. We are sinners who are loved by a righteous God. We should not see ourselves as being either better or worse than anyone else. True humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. What matters are the needs of other people and the glorifying of God. If we focus on those things, humility is the natural result.
Proper Relationship With God
What is the purpose of Christianity? What we are seeking is that which was lost in the garden. After Adam and Eve sinned, God went looking for them but they hid from his presence. Our goal is to regain that presence of God. That may seem straight forward, but it is something that is often missed by religious people. Ask a religious person why they are religious. They want to be a good person. They want to be faithful to their traditions. It makes them feel better. All of those are good things, but they are the results of what we are trying to do and that is to draw near to God. James warns people to flee the devil, but not just to avoid evil, but rather so we can turn around and embrace God. This is why Jesus came into the world. The sermons were great. The miracles were great. But Jesus came to reconcile humanity to God. When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple ripped as a symbol of the new access we had to God. If you are one who submits to God, you do that not just by following the rules, but by actively seeking God’s presence.
Proper Relationship With People
So we are to draw close to God. That sounds good. There are many people who would like to do that. But at the same time, they have no patience for people. God is great because he is perfect. People are annoying because they are so imperfect. They say the wrong thing, they do the wrong thing, it is just frustrating. Their faults are just so obvious. Why not speak against them? Gossip about them and slander? After all, there must be other people who are just as annoyed by them as we are. There is one problem. Submission to God. Submitting to God is not just about how you relate to God, it is about how we relate to other people. The basic Christian confession is that Jesus is Lord. Not just Lord of our hymn singing and Bible reading and prayer. Jesus is Lord of all, including our relationships. We need to ask ourselves as we are speaking to a person or speaking about a person: “Do the words I am about to speak, point to Jesus as Lord?” When we are about to do something or refuse to do something, does that point to Jesus as Lord? Full submission to God means that we treat people the way God treats us, with grace.
Conclusion
Islam has its own idea of its five pillars. Christian submission also has five pillars. These five pillars are not things that we do that achieve salvation for us. These pillars are descriptions of what a life submitted to God should look like. Our attitudes toward prayer, toward the world, toward ourselves, toward God’s presence and toward other people should all be submitted to God. This is not a call to be religious. Many religious people miss out on all of these. Jesus died, not to make religious people, but so that by faith in Jesus, he might become our Lord and Lord of every area of our life.
