One day a woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist to the electric coffeepot he had in his hand. It seemed that he was being electrocuted. So - intending to jolt him away from the deadly current - she whacked him with a plank that had been left by the back door, breaking his arm in two places.
She later she found out that - up until that moment - he had been happily listening to his iPod.
APPLY: iPods are the newest craze in music appreciation.
(show iPod on overhead)
Launched by Apple Computers in 2001 the iPod is a personal entertainment center. It measures only about 2 1/2 inches wide by 4 inches tall – and is about ½ inch thick. But in this little box you can store your entire musical library and play any song on demand. What used to be stored on hundreds of CDs, and LPs… or 8 tracks now can be carried in your shirt pocket.
And you can listen to this music just about anywhere.
You can keep it in your pocket and run the music to your ears via little earplugs
OR you can adapt it to run thru your car sound system.
OR you can buy a devise that will play your music thru a full scale sound system.
It is truly a marvelous music machine.
But wait – there’s more!
In the latest iPods, you can store and play several movies or TV shows.
Or, you can play games, or you can surf the internet.
With the proper knowledge and software, you can even turn this iPod into
• a cell phone
• a tazor
• or an etch-I-sketch
Now, all this entertainment doesn’t come cheap.
There are several different models on the market right now.
The cheapest runs around $150, but the more advanced models can cost between $300 & $500 depending upon the amount of memory you want.
As you can imagine, I won’t be buying one of these anytime soon but if I really wanted this little item… if I wanted the satisfaction this box promises… that’s what it’s going to cost!
Here in chap 4, James is telling us the same thing is true in getting satisfaction in this world. If you want true satisfaction - if you want everything all in one box - there’s going to be a price.
There are many in this world who think satisfaction is based upon how much “Stuff” you have.
The more toys… the more joys.
Or as someone once declared: “He that dies with the most toys wins.” That’s what Christmas has come to mean to some many people.
But toys don’t bring happiness
Stuff can’t fill your lives… just your closets.
The THINGS of this world might keep you entertained, but they can’t give true satisfaction.
And that’s what James is trying to tell us.
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want...” Jas 4:1-2
What James is declaring is this:
The endless pursuit of STUFF/ THINGS/ TOYS only serves to make you irritable. It causes you to get into quarrels and fights.
If you could just take the satisfaction you really want from all that STUFF, and you could put it ALL in a little box and carry it around with you all day, then you might be able to be truly happy and satisfied.
Well, fancy that – that’s what James says you can do.
You don’t need all the STUFF.
What you just need God.
If you have God… what else could you possibly need?
It’s like owning an iPod.
If you have that little box why would you need all those CDs stacked in the corner.
But, there is a price for having God in your life.
Look again at James 4:4-9
“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
But he gives us more grace.
That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
If you want God… there’s a price to be paid:
• The Price: You have to turn your back on this world.
• The Price: You have to chose God over anything this world can give you.
• The Price: You’ve got to surrender yourself and your pride to God.
Jesus put it this way: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mt 16:24
One of the most interesting things about the iPod (to preachers like me) is how it’s spelled:
It isn’t IPod.
It’s iPod.
It’s a little ‘i’… not a big one.
In fact, that’s the focus of this entire sermon series:
i- Surrender
i- Serve
i- Give
i- Live
In order to obtain the satisfaction God wants to give you and I, we need to transform ourselves into little “i”s. We need to focus not so much upon ourselves and what we want… as upon God and what He wants.
Now, that’s not as simple as it may sound.
That kind of humility doesn’t come naturally to us.
ILLUS: Several years ago the New York Telephone Company made a detailed study of telephone conversations to find out which word is the most frequently used.
Can you guess which word that was?
It was a personal pronoun "I." "I.." "I."
I was used 3900 times in 500 telephone conversations.
We like ourselves.
We like to look at ourselves
ILLUS: If you go into the lobby of a big building, you’ll sometimes find the walls filled with mirrors. They often do that because they’ve discovered that people complain less about waiting for slow elevators when they’re occupied looking at themselves.
We like to talk about ourselves.
ILLUS: One of the surest ways of starting a conversation with someone is to ask them about themselves.
In fact one of the main things this world encourages us to do - is to center attention on ourselves
• Socrates said, "Know yourself."
• The psychiatrist says: "Express yourself"
• Many Counselors will say: "Love yourself.”
• The hedonist says: "Enjoy Yourself."
• The waiter will tell you: "Indulge yourself."
• The Personnel manager advises you: "Assert yourself."
• The health aid companies will advertise: "Take care of yourself."
• Leisure time industries will tell you: "Pamper yourselves."
Only Jesus says: "Deny yourself"… deny yourself … deny yourself.
So how do we do that?
How do I surrender my pride?
How do I deny myself?
Well, first – James tells us there’s a way to KNOW if your pride has taken over. There’s a red flag you can watch for that tells us “I’M IN CHARGE HERE” - not God. And whenever we see this red flag in our lives we’ll know that something’s wrong.
What’s that red flag?
James puts it this way:
“What causes fights and quarrels among you?” (James 4:1a)
“You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight.” (4:2b)
What’s the sign that we’re more filled with ourselves than God?
What’s the sign that pride has filled our lives?
That sign/red flag - is anger, quarreling, fighting to get one’s own way.
Now why would we quarrel and fight?
It’s usually when someone has stepped over the line.
They’ve crossed the boundary into OUR territory.
They’ve mistreated US … denied US our rights.
They’ve said things or done things to US that make us angry.
They had no right to treat us that way.
They had no business saying those things/doing those things to us!
How dare they!!!!!!!
(Build this sequence in intensity until you ultimately slam your hand on the pulpit).
Essentially, James is telling us that when those emotions take over - it means WE have taken over. Our pride has been offended… and we’ve forgotten God.
Now, let me share one of my favorite Old Testament story I think illustrates this.
It seems there was this 17 year old boy that God wanted to honor.
In fact, God gave this young man a couple of visions.
And in those visions, God showed this boy he would become a great man.
Why – even his family would bow down to him and honor him.
Who am I talking about? (Joseph)
Well, Joseph made the mistake of telling his brother about these dreams.
And his brothers were not happy. In fact, they were offended. They didn’t much like him anyway. He’d done a few things that rubbed them the wrong way. And to make matters worse: Joseph was their daddy’s favorite baby boy.
Frankly, his brothers hated him.
So one day, they got Joseph off by himself.
And they beat the tar out of him, threw him in a pit, and when they say a caravan of slave traders coming down the road they sold him into slavery.
For the next 17 years or so - Joseph was either held in slavery or in prison.
His brothers had robbed him of his home, family, friends, freedom.
They had no right to treat him like that!
They said things and did things to him that weren’t right.
HOW DARE THEY DO THAT TO HIM???
(pause)
How would you deal with it if someone did that to you… would you be angry?
I might be.
But how did Joseph respond?
Well, after their daddy Jacob died… that’s what his brothers were worried about.
While in Egypt, Joseph had become a very important man. God had raised him up to become the 2nd most important man in that land and he had in his hands the power of life and death. With their father dead, the other brothers decided they needed to move quickly to heal the wounds they had created… or they wouldn’t live to see the new year.
TURN TO Genesis 50:16-21
“So they (his brothers) sent word to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.’
When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said.
But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?’”
Am I in the place of God….
Am I in the place of God????
Joseph had the power… he had the opportunity… to exact his just revenge. But he refused to do that.
Why?
Because he was a humble man. He had long since learned to make himself into a little “i”.
The rest of the passage reads this way:
“’You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”
Joseph was a humble man.
He refused to put himself on God’s throne and take revenge.
Throughout his captivity, he spent more time focusing on God’s goodness and promises than he did on his brother’s wickedness. And when the time came for him to get his just revenge… he refused. They meant it for evil… but God meant it for good.
Joseph humbled himself to God… and God lifted him up.
God lifted Joseph up to be the 2nd most important man in Egypt.
What God did for Joseph was the fulfillment of what Jesus promised in Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
Because of his meekness and his humility – God lifted Joseph up and gave him a great inheritance.
But first Joseph had to surrender to God.
He had to transform himself into a SMALL “i” and allow God to be the big ‘I’.
He had to put aside his anger toward his brothers and trust God to do what was best.
And he did this because He trusted in God’s promise to Him.
In fact, the only reason he survived in his tragic world in Egypt was that he hung his entire life on that promise. He knew God was faithful and that – no matter what anyone did to him… no matter what circumstances might damage him – he would one day become a great man.
BECAUSE GOD HAD PROMISED!
Now we don’t have THAT particular promise.
But we do have this one that’s very much like it:
“… we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Do you love God?
Are you called according to His purpose?
God is telling us that if we let Him be in control; if we look to Him for our total satisfaction in life; if we come to Him and humble ourselves before Him… He will make all things work together for God in our lives.
But we must first humble ourselves before Him.
We must first sacrifice our will to His.
And when we humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up.
Ultimately, the very first step of humbling ourselves is in becoming a Christian.
* It goes beyond simply believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (though that is the most important part of becoming God’s child).
* You also must acknowledge that you’ve messed up. You’ve sinned. And you must admit to God that there isn’t a thing you can do to fix that. But He can. (Acts 3:19)
* Then you must be willing to make Him the master of your life. You must accept Him as the owner of your entire life. (Romans 10:9-10)
* And finally, you must be willing to die to your past, and allow yourself to be buried in a grave of water, and rise up to a new life. (Romans 6:1-7)
Sermons in this series:
i-Surrender = James 4:1-10
i-Serve = Luke 22:24-22:27
i-Give - Acts 4:15-4:37
i-Live = Romans 6:3-23
