James 4 Series

Opener:

Well Good Morning Church! We are so excited that you have decided to join us here this morning. What a blessing to be here worshiping the Lord together!

We also want to take a moment to welcome our online community as well. Thank you for taking the time to watch and allowing us to be a part of your spiritual journey!

If you were unable to join us last week; here is a recap of what we discussed. We talked about how teachers will be judged more strictly than others. Also, we discussed how powerful our words can be. They can either build someone up or tear them down. We were challenged to be consistent in speaking life to others. Finally, last week we talked about acquiring heavenly wisdom in our lives and that this wisdom will produce godly character in our lives.

This week we are continuing our series in the book of James. As in the past, there are several different themes that emerge in our chapter this morning. In fact, this chapter really gives us some insight as to what was happening in the early church. As any group that experiences a tremendous amount of growth, there were some growing pains. Some of these pains showed up in way of disagreements among the members. So James takes the time to address some of these issues.

As the golfer approached the first tee, a hazardous hole with a green surrounded by water, he debated if he should use his new golf ball. Deciding that the hole was too treacherous, he pulled out an old ball and placed it on the tee. Just then he heard a voice from above say loudly: "USE THE NEW BALL!" Frightened, he replaced the old ball with the new one and approached the tee. Now the voice from above shouted: "TAKE A PRACTICE SWING!" With this, the golfer stepped backward and took a swing. Feeling more confident, he approached the tee when the voice again rang out: "USE THE OLD BALL!"

I. Different kinds of wars

A. Inevitable

a. Let’s hop right into it this morning James 4:1-2 (NKJV) 4 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

b. It seems as if war or conflict is inevitable while we are here upon the earth.

c. Just look at our world today. Here is a list of all the wars that are taking place right now as I speak:

i. Ukraine Vs. Russia

ii. Israeli- Palestinian Conflict

iii. War in Yemen against the Houthi rebels

iv. Sudan internal conflict

v. Ethiopia internal conflict

vi. Armemenia Azerbaijan conflict

vii. Sahel region conflict

viii. Myanmar internal conflict

ix. Haitian gang violence

x. And I got to add one more to add: The political polarization in the United States.

d. Not only does it happen in the world, but also happens in the church. We will discuss this in a moment. Often these disagreements among believers can be bitter and severe in nature.

e. One of the major sources for quarrels and church conflict is the desire for recognition, honor, power, pleasure, money, and a position of superiority over others.

f. This satisfaction of selfish ambition then becomes more important than righteousness and doing God’s will.

g. When this occurs in a person’s life one will find themselves without the Spirit of God and outside of God’s kingdom.

B. Believers disagreements

a. When we look into the bible, it is filled with people that had various disagreements with each other. Here are some of them to name a few.

i. Lot had a disagreement with Abraham and as a result the two parted ways.

ii. King Saul had a disagreement with David and tried to kill David on a number of occasions. Turns out this disagreement that Saul had was rooted in His disobedience to the Lord.

iii. The disciples were going back and forth on which one of them would be the greatest among them.

iv. Paul had a disagreement with Peter. In fact, Paul opposed Peter for publically trying to distance himself from Gentile believers in fear of what others might think.

b. The early church

i. The early church had some problems, it had some disagreements. Just look at the book of Revelation chapter three that discusses some of them.

ii. The church in Corinth had believers suing other believers while others were disrupting their meetings.

iii. There were differences of opinion among the Jewish and Gentile believers.

iv. There was a group of Judaizers teaching that people had to abide by the Old Testament law still.