WINNING THE WARS IN THE CHURCH
JAMES 4:1-10
James 4:1-10 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 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. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
INTRODUCTION: This passage of James brings us to the rapid conclusion that the inside of a church is a place of war. There is a lot of activity going on in our churches. And by James’ recollection the activity inside our churches is neither positive nor helpful to the overall ministry of the church. More importantly is that these conflicts do not come from the outside, they are not brought in by us, BUT they are contained within our own desires. For the church to thrive, inner turmoil must be treated at the root, not just the symptom.
1. THE FORMS OF HAVOC IN THE CHURCH – 4:1
a. FIGHTS
i. Literally, “states of war”
ii. Includes every part of the battle
b. Quarrels
i. Disputes or fight
ii. More of a random unintentional event
James is dealing with two types of havoc – the spontaneous one and the well planned one.
James is saying that both are present with believers and are to be dealt with biblically as believers. This we will see later in the text. Sufficient for now is the thought that Christians have aggressive acts against each other.
2. THE LOCATION OF HAVOC IN THE CHURCH – 4:1
a. “ Among You”
i. Believers are having acts of havoc in their lives, in their relationship, and in their churches.
1. Believers have individual acts of havoc
2. Believers have relational acts of havoc
3. Believers have corporate acts of havoc.
b. “They come from your desires to battle within you”
i. There are only two things that battle within us
1. Our Old Nature
2. Our New Nature
CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH COMES FROM CONFLICT IN MY PERSONAL LIFE. WHEN MY PERSONAL LIFE IS NOT LIVED BIBLICALLY, THEN MY CHURCH LIFE IS NOT LIVED BIBLICALLY.
3. THE REASON FOR HAVOC IN THE CHURCH – 4:2-3
a. We don’t get what we want
b. We do not get what we want because we covet
c. We do not get what we want because we put our desires above God
d. We do not get what we want because we ask with wrong motives (literally, we ask for ourselves)
4. THE RESULT OF HAVOC IN THE CHURCH – 4:4-6
a. We commit adultery against God – we are unfaithful
b. We have no concern for God
c. Our jealous spirit must be kept in check
i. We cannot be a friend to both God and the world around us
ii. James says we can only have it one way
iii. Our own sin nature tells us we can be loyal to God and to our desires
1. God opposes that kind of duplicity
2. God offers His grace to follow Him singularly
If you and I look down at verse 9 we read a condemning statement from James regarding our state as believers: The things that bring us pleasure are the very things that should bring us mourning and gloom.
This attitude of coveting, setting our desires above God, and asking for my own pleasure should make us GRIEVE (acknowledge and attack the sinfulness of my heart)
This attitude of coveting, setting our desires above God, and asking for my own pleasure should make us MOURN (realize the destructive nature of my sin)
This attitude of coveting, setting our desires above God, and asking for my own pleasure should make us WAIL (fully express my sorrow over these things – ie: confession)
5. THE RELIEF FROM HAVOC IN THE CHURCH – 4:7
These are all commands!
a. Submit yourselves to God
i. Make an effort to place yourself in subjection to God
ii. Put yourself in the range of God – be where the artillery of God can get you
iii. Be obedient to God
b. Resist the devil
i. Resist and oppose
ii. Set yourself against
iii. Articulate by your action that you will not believe that you can be loyal to God and to your own desire.
c. Come near to God
i. Literally bring Yourself to God
ii. “Offer sacrifices to God”
iii. The way you and I approach God today is through the Holy Spirit.
1. When is the last time you really evaluated your spiritual condition as a believer – LOOK at 4:4
d. Wash your hands
i. Clean up your outsides
ii. Stop doing the wrong things
e. Purify your hearts
i. Get rid of the stuff in your heart
ii. Concern with the insides
6. LETS LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES
a. I don’t really need to go to church today, I can, _______________________
i. Hebrews 10:25-26 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
1. Results of this
a. Neglect biblical pattern
b. Cannot serve in a ministry – you’re not here
c. Do not support your church
d. Set a poor example for friends and family
2. Relief Pattern
a. Do what God wants you to do
b. Take the time to do what you would like to do without neglecting what God wants you to do.
b. Here is one from the perspective of the church body
i. I will never forgive them for what they did to me, ….
ii. Matthew 5:24 (NIV) 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
iii. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV) 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
iv. Ephesians 4:26 (NIV) 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
1. Anger against another affects worship
2. Anger against another affect everything we do for the glory of God. What should a Christian do to the glory of God? – EVERYTHING
3. To allow our anger to go into the night is a sin against God. So, then each night we compound our anger.
v. Relief is achieved by seeking forgiveness from God and from others.
c. Here is one from my counseling – married couple comes in for counsel. The issue is children. They agreed not to have kids before marriage, now one wants to change after marriage, and it is causing problems.
i. Probably, the female in the relationship agreed to this out of her love for her partner – but AGAINST her desires, and maybe God’s desires
ii. Sometimes there are issues that prevent children. Sometimes there are issues that cause us to limit our children. But we need to be careful when as a couple we do not want to have any children. This puts TREMENDOUS pressure on the woman
iii. 1 Timothy 2:11-15 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
1. At issue here is the simple biblical principle that a woman’s greatest satisfaction and meaning in life through children.
2. Again, God gives grace in to some when Children are not possible, yet, to deny a woman the greatest satisfaction in her life, or to give up the greatest satisfaction in your life is a classic example of what James is talking about.
