James 4:1-6
So God’s Word, James chapter
four, verses one through 12, says this, what causes quarrels
and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your
passions are at war within you? You desire and you do not have,
so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain,
so you fight and you quarrel. You do not have because you do
not ask. You ask and do not receive because
you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous
people, do you not know that friendship with the world is
enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to
be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do
you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns
jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? but
he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes
the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Amen. This is the
word of the living God. So in our study along the way,
Pastor James, we’ll call him, the half brother of Jesus, the
leader of the church at Jerusalem, has been rather forthright And
in our Southern East, right, we say the preacher has gone
from preaching to meddling. And the book of James is a whole
book on meddling, right? He’s getting into the business,
the nitty gritty of church life. Now remember, he’s speaking to
scattered Christians all around Asia Minor, all around the Roman
Empire. They’re scattered because of persecution. And so there’s
these pockets of Christians And he’s writing under the inspiration
of the spirit to them to encourage them to live in a healthy way. Now, some of you have been to
the doctor lately and said, doc, I’ve got a problem. And so he
asked you, what are your symptoms? And in his mind, he’s troubleshooting,
right? Maybe it’s your heart. Maybe it’s your lungs. Maybe
it’s your immune system. Maybe it’s, you’ve caught this
cold that’s going around. And so he, he listens and, or
she listens and they narrow it down and they, They give you
doctor’s orders. Maybe it’s go by the pharmacy
and get this regimen of medicine. Maybe it’s to exercise or to
move this way. Or maybe it’s to come back in
in a few days and have a surgery. Maybe think a little more practically
than the human body over the last week or so when it got really
cold. We had to troubleshoot over here at the church last
Saturday. Water main froze. Somebody had cut the wire to
the heat strips that kept our water main from freezing. And
so we hadn’t in four or five years had freezing temperatures,
but we did. And so we came over here one day, flipped on the
water to see if it was running, and it wasn’t. So we had to troubleshoot,
fix that. One of the furnaces went out.
We had to troubleshoot that. So you get the idea. The doctor
troubleshoots. The plumber troubleshoots. Well,
sometimes the pastor troubleshoots. And that’s exactly what James
is doing. He’s saying to a congregation,
you’re quarreling and you’re fighting. Got two different words. They sound like synonyms. Y’all
remember what a synonym, I can’t even say it. Y’all know what
a synonym is from your English grammar. It’s different words
that kind of say the same thing. Well, that’s really not the case
here. A fight might be, let’s just give a church example. I’m
gonna have to make this up on the fly. A fight would be walking
up to the preacher after the service and saying, do you know
what you said? Well, probably. And getting a
little skirmish. You offended me or whatever.
But a quarrel, see that’d be quick, over with, hopefully.
Preacher takes you out, boom. Leprosy, like Moses when Miriam
quarreled. It would be nice to have those
powers. A quarrel is a little bit more long-term. Church quarrels. I know Bill knows what they are
because he’s been an elder. I know Charlie knows what they
are because he’s been a pastor. Church quarrels. They last a
really long time. I probably shouldn’t say what
I watch, because then it sounds like a tacit recommendation or
approval. But the other week I watched,
or this past week, I watched an episode of the Hatfields and
the McCoys. It’s really good. It’s kind of
violent. But they hated each other. And
they were at each other’s throat. And sometimes, very sadly, you
have some Hatfields and McCoys in the church. I tell the story,
and it’s a true one, it’s not made up. When I got here, one
person came to me and showed me this list of names. Preacher,
you get rid of these people, we’ll have us a church. I mean,
this really happened. And then another group came to
me and said, Preacher, I got this list of people here, you
get rid of these people, we’ll have us a church. Well, this
list corresponded with this list. If this group got rid of these
people who had their list, it would have been fine and vice
versa. And on it went, but we had factions. We had the church
choir. And then we had the people that
didn’t wanna sing in the church choir, so they started an alternate
church choir because they didn’t like our choir director. I’m
not kidding about any of this. And then we had the decorating
committee, and then we had the women’s group. We had the young
women’s group, the older women’s group, and on and on it went. And you would come to church
on a Sunday, and if you brushed up against the wall, you’d upset
the decorating committee. If you didn’t sing in the right
choir, you’d upset and on and on it went. And so when James
here says, what causes fights and quarrels among you, it ought
not surprise us that they are in the church. Um, there’s a
Twitter handle that I watch, uh, called the church curmudgeon
and the church curmudgeon is a pretend grumpy old deacon and
the church curmudgeon over, uh, December said the decorating
committee met for four hours, and they decided that they would
use red and green for Christmas. And that’s the way it is. We
get into it way too much. We get into it way too much.
But what causes the fights, the quick fights? What causes the
quarrels, maybe the more intense Hatfields and McCoys? What causes them? Well, James
gives a diagnosis. Is it not this that your passions
are at war within you? Oh boy, don’t you love it when
somebody sticks a finger in your chest and says, I know what’s
wrong and it’s you. I know what’s wrong and it’s
your heart. He says, is it not this that your passions These
would be your negative passions that affect your spiritual condition. They’re at war within you. Now, a lot of times we think
of the passions at war within us as the angel on this side
saying, don’t do it, don’t do it. And the devil on this shoulder
saying, do it, do it, do it. That’s kind of a humorous way
to look. at the things that are at war
within us. I think Galatians chapter five
gives us a better description and it says the spirit battles
against the flesh. The Holy Spirit within us battles
against the flesh or the remaining sin. that is in each of us. And so we have these passions
within us that war against one another. And they’re at war within
you. You see this in the life of David
when he sees Bathsheba. David is the king and he should
have been off at war with his soldiers, but he’s not off at
war, he’s up sunbathing on the roof. And lo and behold, what
does he see? Roof next door, he sees Bathsheba
sitting in her sun chair. And he says, I think that’s what
I’ll have today. And we see the inner workings
of his heart on the pages of scripture. He saw her, he desired
her, he obtained her. He committed adultery with her,
and then he sought to cover it up, which led to murder, which
led to heartache, not only for David and Bathsheba, the child
died, but Israel suffered for it as he was the king. And can
you imagine what went on in his heart? And do you think he ever
thought, you know, I really shouldn’t be doing this, it could destroy
the kingdom. Or maybe if you’re married, I shouldn’t be doing
this, I could destroy my marriage or my home life. We don’t think
that way, but the anatomy of our sins are just what James
describes here. Our passions are at war within
us. There is sometimes a battle within
us that is raging and James is going to speak on what to do
about that. But he goes on in verse two and says, you desire
and you do not have, so you murder. Ooh. He just stuck his finger
in his chest and said, why are you fighting? Why are you quarreling?
It’s cause you got these passions. You have these desires and they’re
at war within you. You desire and you don’t get
it. So you murder. Now let’s just
stop there for a minute. We don’t get what we want. And
so how does it go? We stomp our foot. You’re not
giving me what I want. You’re not giving me what I demand. And we ought to think for a moment
how self-centered that is. What’s the term we use today? Narcissistic. How demanding we
can be. And it can happen in our marriage.
We can see it in a six-year-old. You just filled up the Christmas
tree, but you missed one gift. And instead of saying thank you
clearing out Toys R Us for them? What do they say? But I wanted
a Barbie. I wanted a Ken doll. I wanted
the camper, the Barbie. I’m making stuff up now. This
did not happen in my household. But what happens when it comes
into the church? We all picked red carpet for
the blood of Jesus, and I wanted green carpet for the Garden of
Eden. Isn’t that what most church squabbles are over? It’s over
the color of carpet. Or we used so-and-so heating
and air conditioning company, and I would have preferred you
use my guy. And that’s the way it is in the church. We, as the
elders, spent the first four years watching all those fights,
the first four years of it here, watching all these fights and
quarrels and watching it just end in chaos every time. And
so in 2019, at the end of 2018, we said, enough. We’re taking
the checkbook. We’re going to simplify this.
This is who we call. And there’s no argument about
it any longer. And in fact, this year, Wayne and I were looking
at the budget numbers. And we were looking over the
last four years. We have gone from spending $55,000 a year
on our building to spending $33,000. And that’s in a busted economy. but that’s what you have to do
in a church sometimes to say, you know what? We’re not going
to fight and quarrel about this. We’re going to have some decency and just
do the basics really well. But you, you verse two, you desire
and you don’t have, and so you murder and it pops up in the
church. You didn’t pick my air conditioning guy. You didn’t
pick my carpet color, my paint color, or I got slighted over
the Sunday school class and so-and-so got to teach it instead. It becomes
so petty so quickly. So the first thing he says is,
you’ve got passions at war, and it leads you to desire and not
have, and so you murder. Now, I don’t think we’ve had
a church murder. Pretty sure. But we can sure do damage, can’t
we? We get on Facebook. So-and-so’s a meh. You know,
we get a four-year-old real quick. So-and-so’s a, you know, a poopy
head or something. Like, four-year-olds say, And we do that in the church
sometimes, maybe via character attack, character assassination.
We may not murder, but Jesus says it’s in our hearts. He goes
on to say, you covet 10th commandment, but you cannot obtain. So you
fight and you quarrel. And so we don’t get our ways,
we stamp our foots, we fight and we quarrel. We have these
ongoing Hatfield and McCoy situations. And he’s speaking here of the
church. It can happen in your marriage and in your family.
And yes, I know most of us, except you happy cruisers, got together
with extended family. And sometimes you wonder where
these people came from, what planet they were from, right?
My dad always refers to the shallow end of the gene pool. And sometimes
that pops up at Christmas. You know, you got more from grandma
than I did. Or Uncle Billy left more in his
estate to you. Why did he do that? That wasn’t
fair. And we just fight and we quarrel because we covet and
we cannot obtain. And then he says a third thing
you don’t have because you don’t ask. Boy, he’s really digging
in here. You’re not a praying person.
Your prayerlessness is a result of your covetousness. Your prayerlessness
and your covetousness are a result of your unbridled desires and
those passions which are at war in you. And he goes on to say
in verse three, you ask and don’t receive because you ask wrongly. How’s your prayer life? Oh Lord,
I pray every day. I pray for Susie because she
got to pick the paint color and I didn’t and she needs to come
to Jesus. I pray for the deacons because they picked the wrong
air conditioning guy. You see what I’m getting at.
We have a prayer life, but it’s not one that God wants to hear.
And it’s, it’s sort of, you know, sometimes that comes out, not
in our Sunday night prayer meetings, though it used to a couple of
years ago, I got prayed for out loud one time and Everybody looked
around and I looked around and it was rather interesting. But
sometimes we pray not to God, but for the benefit of others.
Dear God, Bill is being really mean to me. And Jane is not very
nice either. And Sue is so unkind. And Lord, would you just work
in their lives, I pray. Work in their lives. That’s kind
of how we operate. He’s saying you ask, but you
don’t receive because you ask wrongly. What’s on your prayer
list? What are your motives for your
prayers? Is there faith behind your prayers? Remember, James
has talked a lot about faith. Are you praying in faith? Does
God care about the carpet color or the paint color and the air
conditioning at church? I think he does, but they’re really minor.
And we never get to praying for the missionaries or we never
get to praying for the souls of the children. or the needs
of the people because our passions are so stirred up in us. Our
little pet projects are all that can come to our minds. Well,
God should not answer those kinds of prayers, should he? He shouldn’t
answer those kinds of prayers because they come from a bad
heart, no faith, and bad motives. But they also aren’t part of
his kingdom. They’re your kingdom. They’re my kingdom. And so God
should not answer those prayers, but he’s going to lower the boom.
Verse four, you adulterous people. Could you imagine this letter when it was first
read among the churches? called us adulterous people.
We love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength.
I come to Sunday school. I come to the coffee time early.
I put my check in every week and I use the envelopes that
the treasurer passes out and I don’t put the wrong date in
on the wrong day and I mean start listing it. I’ve been a deacon
and elder. I’ve cut the grass. I’ve, I mean,
just on and on we can, we can go. I’m not an adulterous person,
adulterous generation. Well, it’s exactly what the prophets
of old always said about Israel. You go after other gods and you
are committing adultery against Yahweh. You, you, you, you’ve
made idols. I think of Moses coming down
from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, and he hears the
cry in the camp. And he comes down from the mountain,
and he’s got the two big stone tablets, and he’s huffing and
puffing with those things that God has just written. And he
comes down to the camp, excited to tell them about God’s law,
and they’re throwing this party like it’s 1999. And they’re gathered
around this golden calf, and he says to Aaron, what? And what does Aaron say? They
told me to. And then he says, and then they
gave me all their gold and I threw it in the fire and out popped
a calf. That’s what Aaron says. I mean,
that’s like your four year old telling a lie that you know is
just wrong, Aaron, come on. But that’s what he says. And
so they’re hooping and hollering and whooping and worshiping this
golden calf. This is who brought us out of Egypt. and they’re
adulterous. And then you go on when God plants
Israel in the promised land, he gives them Jerusalem, he gives
them kings, he gives them a temple, he gives them a place for his
presence and his worship. And over and over and over, what
do Ezekiel and Jeremiah and other prophets say? You’re an adulterous
people. And then we have Hosea. What
does God tell Hosea to do? Go down. and find an adulterous
woman and purchase her and marry her. And show Israel through
not only your words, but through your actions, marrying Gomer.”
That was her name, Gomer. marry an adulterous woman and
show my people what it means to love someone who is an adulteress. That’s how much God loves his
children. And so when he tells us you’re
an adulterous people, you have friendship with the world and
that’s enmity or hostility against God, we should know that’s the
age old problem that goes all the way back to the garden. Think
of Adam and Eve in paradise. Everything they need, including
the presence of God, and they gotta have just one more thing. And it’s the thing God had forbidden.
He says, you can have the world, but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, you shall not eat. And the day you eat of it,
you will surely die. Friendship with the world is
enmity with God. Therefore, he says, whoever wishes
to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Well,
that’s a tough statement. And he moves on in verse five.
Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose the scripture says,
he, that’s God, yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made
to dwell in us. How jealous is God for his people? He sent his son into the world
to redeem us. He could have just said, you
know what? I’ve had enough of your cheating. I’ve had enough
of your lying. I’ve had enough of your sneaking
out at night. I’ve had enough of your whatever
it is you’re doing. I’ve had enough of it. And fine,
you can just go to hell. But instead he sent his son.
And we love and enjoy and study that at Christmas time, the incarnation. We fashion our golden calves
and God sends his son to the cross. And what a comfort I think
it is for us to have James prescribe our problem, your adulterous. James prescribes our problem.
You have passions that are at war within you and it manifests
in your fighting and your quarreling and in your murdering and in
your wrong prayer life. But God gives more grace. We always have to land there,
don’t we? God gives so much grace that he can heal and help adulterers.
God gives so much grace. that those who will humble themselves
in his sight, he will exalt, he will lift up. It says there,
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. A lot of
folks don’t know where verse five comes from. It’s a quote
from the Bible somewhere. He yearns jealously over the
spirit that he was made to dwell in us. God has made us, he’s
put a spirit in us, and then when we go off living like we
want, he’s not real happy about that. We don’t know what, that’s
not a direct quote. There’s a couple places in Exodus it could be
coming from, but it doesn’t matter, it’s here, right? And James is
the Bible, so this is the Bible. But verse six comes right from
Proverbs 3, a section on wisdom. So do you want to follow God
and seek after him? Or do you want to follow your
own passions, your own desires, the world’s desires? One will
bring you great joy and happiness. The other will lead you to death. That’s the message that James
gives to the church. And so this church that’s in
disorder, it’s fragmented, it’s over-promised and undelivered
on various desires that people have, is full of strife and infighting.
And James is very pastoral, even harsh, even machine gunning, and even diagnosing the heart,
but he gives the remedy. Come to Christ. Come to God. He will help and heal you. So
let’s do pray. Lord, we do thank you for pointing
out our sins, our errors, our faults. Sometimes they’re so
obvious, we’re like, That old story, the emperor with no clothes
on. Everybody knows our sin and our
wickedness, but ourselves. And we thank you for your word
and your spirit to point these things out to us, but not to
leave us just pointed at, just diagnosed, but to give us the
solution. And so help us to run to your
grace with humility and receive your forgiveness. And may our
passions, our desires be in tune with your kingdom values. This
we do pray in Christ’s name. Amen.