HE PERFECT MAN AND SEPARATION
I. WARS
A. Result from lusts within
1. A man can become a slave to lusts and pleasures, and, when he does, malice and envy and hatred enter into life.
2. The basic desires are for the same things-- money, power, prestige, worldly possessions, and gratification's of bodily lusts (sensual desires).
1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
B. Have historically been a fact of life
C. Are Destructive and Sometimes Productive
1. Life 2. Liberty 3. Property
II. THREE WARS DISCUSSED BY JAMES
A. At War with Each Other (4:1. 11-12) v. 1 -- "among you"
Amplified Version
V. 1 What leads to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and
fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires
that are ever warring in your bodily members?
V. 2 You are jealous and covet --what others have-- and your desires go
unfulfilled; --so-- you become murderers. --To hate is to murder as far
as your hearts are concerned.-- You burn with envy and anger and are
not able to obtain --the gratification, the contentment and the happiness
that you seek--, so you fight and war.
1. Ps 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity!
Surely brethren should live together in love and harmony, yet
often they do not.
Biblical Examples:
a. Lot and Abraham Gen 13 -- Contention over space -- Land
b. Absalom and David 2Sam 13-18 -- Over power
c. Disciples of Christ Luke 9:46-48 -- Over position
2. Disagreements among Saints
a. Class Wars (2:1-9) -- Rich vs. Poor
b. Employment Wars (5:1-6)-- Rich employer vs. Poor Employee
c. Church Wars (1:19-20; 3:13-18)-- Teachers and Leaders
d. Personal Wars (4:11-12) -- Speaking Evil of Others
B. At War with Ourselves (4:1b-3)
1. "war in your members"
The war in the heart is helping to cause the war in the church.
(W. W. pg 120)
2. The essence of sin is selfishness.
3. Selfish desires are dangerous things.
4. Hiding the true selfish desires:
a. In Religious Activities
b. Putting God's approval on your Disobedience.
"But I prayed about it."
C. At War with God (4:4-10)
1. The root cause of every war, internal and external is rebellion against God.
Obedience to the will of God draws men together, for it is the will of
God that men should love and serve one another; obedience to the craving for pleasure drives men apart, for pleasure drives men to rivalry and competition and warfare for the same things. To obey the will of God is to be essentially selfless; to serve the will of pleasure is to be essentially selfish.
(W. B. pg. 117)
2. Relationships that declare war against God.
Amplified Version
V. 4 You --are like-- unfaithful wives --having illicit love affairs with the world--
and breaking your marriage vow to God! Do you not know that being
the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be
a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.
a. The World (4:4) -- The system of men in society that is anti-Christ. In
the sense of the world apart from God, the godlessness of the world, the world's disregard of God, the world's resentment of the a standards of God.
Friendship with the world can produce a love for the world and
then lead to a conformity to the world. The end result will be
judgment with the world.
b. The Flesh (4:1,5) -- The old nature prone to sin. Referred to as
being carnal (fleshly).
(1) In Paul Romans 7:18 -25 Read from Bible
(2) "in us" James 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture
saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Gal 5:16 -17 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:
and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
c. The Devil
1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and
the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
Pride is of the Devil and shuts itself off from God.
(1) Pride does not know its own need-- Self-sufficient
(2) Pride cherishes its own independence--Does not need man or God.
(3) Pride does not recognize its own sin-- thinks of its own goodness
A pride like that cannot receive help, because it does not know
that it needs help, and, therefore, it cannot ask.
III. EFFECTS OF THE THREE WARS ON PRAYER
A. "Ye ask not" -- Not coming to God with your needs.
B. "Ye ask.....amiss" -- The craving for pleasure in the end shuts the door of prayer.
Amplified Version
V. 3 --Or-- you do ask --God for them-- and yet fail to receive, because you ask with
wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is, --when you get
what you desire-- to spend it in sensual pleasures.
If a man's prayers are simply for the things which will gratify his desires, then his
prayers are essentially selfish, and, therefore, it is not possible for God to answer them.
Ps 66:18
IV. WINNING THE WARS WITHOUT AND WITHIN
A. Submit to God
Unconditional surrender is the only way to complete victory. If there is any area of
the life kept back from God, there will always be battles. This explains why
uncommitted Christians cannot live with themselves or with other people.
B. Resist the Devil
Eph 4:27
C. Draw near to God by:
1. Cleansing your hands
2. Purifying your heart
3. Being Afflicted? -- A voluntary abstinence from lavish luxury and effeminate
comfort. He is talking to people who are in love with the world; and he is
pleading with them not to make luxury and comfort the standards by which
they judge all life. It is discipline which produces the scholar; it is rigorous
training which creates the athlete; and it is a wise abstinence which produces
the Christian who knows how to use the world and its gifts aright. (W. B. 128)
4. Mourning sin
a. As you draw nigh unto God, your shortcomings will appear very significant - -- enough to make you want to weep.
b. As you draw nigh unto God, the shortcomings of the people and the world
around you will be enough to make you want to weep.
5. Humbling yourself -- Sometimes we hear a believer pray, "O Lord, humble me!"
That is a dangerous thing to pray. Far better that we humble
ourselves before God, confess our sins, weep over them, and
turn from them. (W. W. pg 127)
6. And Again, Watch what you say.
That is to say, the ethical demand of the Bible is that a man's words and deeds and
emotions and thoughts should all be cleansed. Inwardly and outwardly a man must
be clean, for only the pure in heart shall see God (Matt. 5:8)
D. If we obey these instruction, then God will draw near, cleanse us, and forgive us; and the
wars will cease! We will not be at war with God, so we will not be at war with
ourselves. This means we will not be at war with others. (W. W. pg 127)
V. Planning Ahead
A. Intro -- James began Ch. 4 talking about war with God, and he ends it talking about
the will of God. But the two themes are related: When a believer is out of the will
of God, he becomes a troublemaker and not a peacemaker.
1. Disastrous Plans in the Bible
(a) Lot moving to Sodom -- Where you live.
(b) David looking on Bathsheba -- What you desire.
(c) Jonah running to Tarsus -- Where you travel.
(d) Jezebel ruling Ahab -- Who you live with
2. Background on Text
(a) Jews were the great traders of the ancient world.
(b) Cities were and are founded on trade.
Modern Cities: New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Cinn., etc.
(c) These individuals addressed had plans to go to a trade center, live
and trade for a year, and get gain.
B. Three Attitudes Toward the Will of God
1. Ignoring God's Will -- The foolishness of
(a) The Complexity of Life
-- Daily activities
-- Critical, daily decisions
-- Competition for jobs, etc.
-- Senselessness of the stress
-- No direction or purpose
Nothing matters, if we are just matter.
Apart from the will of God, life is a mystery.
2. The Uncertainty of Life
(a) Proverbs 27:1 "Boast not"
Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not
what a day may bring forth.
(b) Luke 12:16-21 Read "Much goods . . . many years"
(c) Planning without God, whether we execute our plans
or not, will bring us nothing but misery. Spiros Z.
(d) This uncertainty of life is not a cause either for fear of for inaction
because of the insecurity of the future. It is a reason for accepting
and realizing our complete dependence on God. It has always been
the mark of a serious-minded man that he made his plans in dependence
on God. Commit the future and all of our plans into the hands of God. And, always remember that our plans may not be within the
purpose of God. (W. B. pg 134)
(e) Only when we are in His will can we be confident
of tomorrow, for we know that He is leading us.
(W.W. pg. 131)
Song "Many Things About Tomorrow"
3. The brevity of life
(a) Job 7:7 - 10 Read
James 4:14 vapour
Job 14:1-2
(b) We count our years at each Birthday, but God
tells us to number our days.
Ps. 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee:
verily every man at his best state isaltogether vanity. Selah.
4. The frailty of man
(a) "Man proposes but God disposes." Thomas A' Kempis
Proverbs 16:33
The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing
thereof is of the LORD.
Psalms 89:47 Remember how short my time is:
wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
Man cannot control future events. He has neither the
wisdom to see the future nor the power to control the
future. For him to boast is sin; it is making himself God.
(W. W. pg. 133)
(b) Just a heart beat away. 1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
C. Disobeying God's Will (4:17)
1. Not not knowing the will of God but knowing and choosing not to do.
2. Why do people deliberately disobey?
a. Pride -- Remember: Pride shuts itself off from God.
b. Ignorance of God's Will. He thinks he can accept or
reject. In reality, the will of God is not an option; it is an obligation.
c. Some see it as misery not mercy.
3. What happens to Christians who disobey?
a. Chastening Hebrews 12:5-11 Read
b. Losing Heavenly Rewards
c. Losing crown Rev. 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that
fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
D. Obeying God's Will (4:15)
1. A constant attitude not just a statement.
Paul was constantly aware of the frailty of life and his dependence on God.
2. The will of God is "tailor-made" for each of us.
a. Know God's Will Acts 22:14 -- The "What"
And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that
thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and
shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
b. Understand God's Will Eph 5:17 -- The "Why"
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding
what the will of the Lord is.
c. Prove God's Will Romans 12:2 "to prove by experience"
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
d. Do God's Will Eph 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers;
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from
the heart;
-- from the heart
-- not grudgingly II Cor. 9:7 Every man according as he
purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly,
or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
John 13:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I
do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter.
