Passage: James 4:1-12
Intro: Find a story about a good church fight
1) we like to think the church is beyond this type of behavior, but it is, after all, full of people.
2) and where there are at least 2 people, there is going to be trouble.
Il) seminary student went out to candidate, came back with the report that a fight had broken out on church lawn after service, between adults!
3. we are going to see the why of this tendency, and what we can do about it.
4. the passage has a very harsh ring to it, but the problem is huge because each of us bear it in our flesh.
5. the problem is real, the need for correction is real, the consequences of ignoring this problem are eternal.
6. so let’s start where James does. What is the problem?
I. The Problem is My Master…Me!
1. v1, outward fights and battles, words=war and the battles that make up the war.
2. James asking a very basic and important question.
3. where do these wars comes from?
Il) hear our children squabbling, we come up and say, “What’s this about?” In other words, what has transpired that led to hair-pulling, name-calling, wrestling match.
4. this “acting out” is the manifestation of something deep inside a person that cries out for expression.
Il) Pinewood Derby years ago, Paul Taylors reaction to winning.
5. we fist pump, rise arms over head, dance in the end zone.
6. our “desires” have been met; we have won! And if we lose, we pout!
7. it feels good to win! Satisfies need to be recognized, to succeed, even to dominate others.
8. of course, when I need to win, that typically means someone else has to lose.
Il) 2 friends went camping the woods, and over first cup of morning coffee, saw a grizzly coming at full speed. One guy starts to put on tennies, other guy wondered if he thought he could outrun the bear. “No, and I don’t need to. I just have to outrun you!”
9. each of us have this “me first” flesh demanding to be served.
10. if left unchecked, it will do the strangest things that in retrospect are incredibly stupid.
Il) Oct 14, 2003, games six of NLCS, Cubs and Marlins, Cubs leading 3-0, 1 out in top of the 8th. Foul pop to left field, near the stands, Moises Alou is under it, but Steve Bartman grabs for the ball, and ends up with it. Marlins go on to score 7 runs in the inning,
PP Bartman fielding the ball
11. why would he do it? V2Flesh says, “Me want ball”, and reason goes out the window.
12. maybe we even pray for something?
13. v3, the asking is with wrong motives, (a correct rendering by NIV because of the “iva” clause.)
14. we sanctify by asking God for it, but the ultimate purpose is satisfying our own needs and desires.
Il) I am like most pastors, I want to please people. But “people pleasing” is really pleasing my self’s need to be liked and recognized as a “great guy”
15. and James calls this behavior adulterous, a love affair with the way the world does things.
16. we laugh it off, believe the universality of the problem means it must be all right.
Il) Tom Sine quote, “World Christian magazine. Don’t believe it? Listen to how many sermons on TV are about “being a champion” or “success”
17. the problem, my friends, it that we are at the beck and call of our master, who is me. What can we do?
II. The Solution: Switching Masters
1. saw last week, we are called to embrace the servant role.
2. more than just “be a servant,” because that can be faked.
3. it is a turning away from the demands of the flesh, the tyranny of self-interests.
4. to let go of the pride that requires recognition and appreciation, the self-pity that wonders why I’m doing this job and no one else is.
Il) I wonder if Chuck Swindoll is doing this today?
5. the need to be needed, to be compensated in some way other than the promised “well-done” of our Master.
6. to not have to win, to give up the need even to be respected, to be listened to!
7. to embrace the servant heart means to do what God calls me to do, what God calls me to suffer, even when that task or job or is done in a quiet corner without the fanfare that self requires.
8. and the insatiable self, if serving quietly without demand for recognition, will wonder if my lack of need for recognition is being recognized for the sterling Christian characteristic that it is!!
9. it is walking in the bloody footprints of Jesus Christ, wanting only the approval of His Master, His Father.
10. to turn away from the intense envy of our flesh, and embrace the sweet contentment of a servant whose only concern is doing the masters will.
11. to, as v7 says, submit to whatever God calls me to do and be, and resist the persistent cry of the flesh and the devil to make sure I “get what I deserve for all the work I’m putting in.”
12. we try desperately to have it both ways, but James makes it clear that it is one way or the other.
13. vv8-9 make it clear that the break must be clean, deep, pure.
III. The Result: A Greater Capacity to Serve
1. we love v10, because we love that “lift you up” part.
2. we see it tied into success.
3. may I remind us that when God lifted Jesus up, it was on a cross.
4. the grace that God promises us in v6 is not more money or more recognition.
5. it is an incredible ability from God to be freed from the demands of the flesh and serve God for His approval alone.
6. certainly our Lord, rejected by the very ones He came to save, was found by God to be infinitely useful.
7. but Jesus would have been a worthless servant had He been a slave to His own self-interests.
8. so let’s get our eyes off what the other guy is doing or not doing. Vv11-12
9. stop judging others and leave it to God to do that.
Il) “We are like the little boy who was showing his kindergarten picture to a visiting neighbor. He began pointing out and describing each classmate. “This is Robert, he hits everyone. This is Steven, he never listens to the teacher. This is Mark, he chases us and is very noisy.” And then pointing to his own picture, he said “And this is me; I’m just sitting there minding my own business.”
10. we will know that we are growing in this area when we are able to serve without reward, recognition, applause of men.
Conc. 1. perhaps you have seen yourself as I have in this passage.
2. the road to mature servanthood may look very long.
3. aren’t you glad we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us?
4. He will provide the power, and frankly, life itself will provide endless opportunities to test our resolve to follow in Jesus’ footprints.
