INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• The issue we will examine this morning is not a particularly fun one or a comfortable one to talk about. I pray it will open our eyes to the potential problem it can become in our relationship with Jesus.
• For those who are married, do you remember your wedding day? It was an exciting day; the future looked exciting and bright. You could not imagine in that day being with ANYONE else other than your new spouse.
• Do you remember the day that you gave your life to Jesus? It was an exciting day; you knew that the future was bright and that you belonged to Jesus.
• When you were immersed into Christ, you became a part of the body of Christ, the church. You joined into a union with Christ, a union that is meant to last for all eternity.
• When your journey with Jesus started, you intentioned to be faithful to Him, but then the cares of the world start to take hold.
• The rush of life, the pressures of life, the apparent pleasures the world offers can lead one to push Jesus to the backburner.
• If one is not careful, the next thing you know our relationship with Jesus becomes a shell of what it is supposed to be.
• Jesus loses first place in our life, this happens as one tries to love Jesus and at the same time the world. As one says that Jesus is my love, they court the mistress called the world as the same time.
• We know the devastating effects a mistress can have on a marriage, but many times we do not understand the devastation that happens when we claim to love Jesus while embracing the world in our arms.
• Today we are going to look at the destruction that happens when the world is our mistress and we are going to examine at the steps we need to take to Cheat-proof our relationship with God.
• I hope we will also understand that even if we stumble, Jesus will forgive those who seek forgiveness.
• SLIDE #2
SERMON
I. When the world is my mistress it damages my relationships.
• When the world is our mistress, it damages the relationships we have, and it damages them on many levels. Let’s turn to James 4:1-2 to see the first are of damage.
• SLIDE #3
• James 4:1–2 (ESV) What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
• SLIDE #4
A. My relationship with myself is damaged.
• When one tries to profess a love of Jesus, yet try to maintain the mistress (the world) on the side, they become torn inside. There is a sense of guilt mixed in with the sense of “doing what I want” that will cause internal struggles.
• What is the source of conflict among Christians? James says these external fights are the result of an internal battle.
• They come from the desire for personal pleasure.
• The word we translate pleasure is the word from which we get “hedonism,” Hedonism is a philosophy of life that says that life pleasure is the chief goal of life.
• This word, from which we get “hedonism,” implies not the simple enjoyment of life but a mad dash for immediate pleasure that enslaves and separates one from God (cf. Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:13).
• Internally we have this battle about who we are to be faithful to, Jesus or the world. In Romans 7:14-25, Paul speaks of this battle between our spiritual desires and our fleshly desires.
• SLIDE #5
• 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV) 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
• The kind of wars and fighting just mentioned is precisely that of pleasures warring against the soul’s true interests, your said relationship with Jesus.
• You can see the signs of this battle taking place. Attendance at church starts to diminish as the battle for the soul intensifies.
• They do not want to be around God’s people, they do not want to worship Jesus because it stirs up the battle again. It is easier for the person to ignore the battle and give in.
• If you are battling inside between the world and Jesus, come to church and get some reinforcements and encouragement. Let us be there for you. Do not lose the battle!
• SLIDE #6
B. My relationship with God’s people is damaged.
• Strife with those close to you is an indication there is a problem.
• You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel
• When everyone is striving to possess the same things, life inevitably becomes a competitive arena. People trample each other down in the rush to grasp them.
• They will do anything to eliminate a rival.
• Obedience to the will of God draws men together, obedience should lead us to love and serve one another; obedience to the craving for pleasure drives men apart, for it drives them to internecine rivalry for the same things.
• Here we have the church of God, where its’ members were fighting over things that were probably not too important. (CARPET COLOR)
• When people focus on their pleasures, they forget their true mission in life.
• James says the battle within was cause folks to covet what others had.
• Covet means to “set one’s heart upon, to long for, to desire.
• This is another sign of inward problems.
• SLIDE #7
C. My relationship with God is damaged.
• When we are in this state it should obvious that our relationship with God will be hurt.
• SLIDE #8
• James 4:3 (ESV) 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
• You do not have because you do not ask. When the world is your mistress, you tend to forget that God is the provider. You start to try to figure out ways that you can do things without God.
• James says that God will not bless us so that we can spend it on our own pleasures. Spend- has the flavor of wasting- we have the same word in Luke 15:14- the prodigal son who spent all his money and ended up in the hog lot.
• The craving for pleasure in the end shuts the door of prayer. If a man’s prayers are simply for the things that will gratify his desires, they are essentially selfish and, therefore, it is not possible for God to answer them.
• The true end of prayer is to say to God, "Your will be done." The prayer of the man who is pleasure-dominated is: "My desires be satisfied."
• We end up making God our enemy!
• SLIDE #9
• James 4:4 (ESV) 4 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.
• James says in very strong language that we are cheating on God when we claim love for Him and then sneak off into the night with the world.
• James says friendship with the world is hostility towards God.
• Friendship with the world means that we adopt its values, desires and philosophy. The person may have a love for God, but they are also infatuated with the benefits of this world’s system
• SLIDE #10
• Matthew 6:24 (ESV)24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
• SLIDE #11
• On a more positive note…
II. How I can cheat-proof my relationship with God.
• There are some things that we can do to help keep us in line.
• SLIDE #12
• Look at verse 7
• James 4:7 (ESV) 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
• SLIDE #13
A. Submit to God.
• Submit- soldier that is expected to carry out orders of his commanding officer
• To submit means to bring under control, to be obedient to.
• Living a life that expresses to God, not my will, but yours be done is one way to protect our relationship.
• SLIDE #14
B. Resist the devil.
• Do you know that if you resist the Devil HE WILL FLEE!
• You have power over his schemes through Jesus! RESIST AND HE WILL FLEE!
• It has been said that rivers and men become crooked by following the line of least resistance. We have to resist the devil, when we do he will flee!
• SLIDE #15
• James 4:8 (ESV) 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
• SLIDE #16
C. Draw near to God.
• What do you do if you want a strong relationship with your spouse? You draw near to him or her.
• Drawing near to God involves approaching God in worship and commitment. Those who approach God in the obedience of worship find that he comes near to them.
• As our knowledge of the Lord deepens, we learn more fully his strength, power, and guidance for godly living.
• It provides strength against temptation. When a great storm moves through a forest, the branches farthest from the trunks of the trees are the first to fall. If men would succeed against temptation let them remain near the Lord, as did John, and not follow afar off, as did Peter.
• Drawing near to God will give you unspeakable joy!
• Drawing near to God will provide safety!
• SLIDE #17
D. Let God change me.
• Cleansing the hands reminds one of the Old Testament priest who had to wash his hands before he could worship God
• We do not want to lift up dirty hands, we want the, to be clean. This denotes cleaning up what we do.
• We are called to purify our hearts. When we let God work with us our hearts can change, but we have to work with Him for it to work.
• SLIDE #18
• 1 John 3:3 (ESV) 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
• WE can accomplish this by following Philippians 4:8
• SLIDE #19
• Philippians 4:8 (ESV) 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
• Let’s look at a concluding thought in verses 9-10
• SLIDE #20
• James 4:9–10 (ESV) 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
• SLIDE #21
III. If we stumble and then we are humble God will forgive us.
• God will forgive our infidelity but in order for that to happen…
• SLIDE #22
A. We need to be willing to repent to God.
• Our whole attitude has to change. We must realize the folly of trying to walk with the world and with God.
• Morn- He demands that they should mourn, that their laughter should be turned to sorrow and their joy to gloom.
• Here, James is describing the first step of the Christian life which is taken when a man is confronted with God and with his own sin. That is a daunting experience. Isaiah was confronted by God in Isaiah 6 and was moved to action, he realized his need for God.
• 1 John 1:9
• SLIDE #23
B. A humble attitude leads to exaltation by God.
• King David in the Old Testament sinned against God a few times in his life, but David ALWAYS responded to God in humility and God ALWAYS forgave him.
• To be exalted more or less means that we have a special place with God!
• Life is not over, it can begin again!
CONCLUSION
• In this, the heart of his epistle, James speaks to the contemporary problem of the worldly Christian.
• We cannot serve two masters, much like we cannot be married to two people.
