A few weeks ago, we started a year-long journey chronological study of the New Testament today. Hence the reason we are calling this message series Chronos. It's a word that means “time.” We will be journeying through time back to the start of the early church. We will be doing this by walking through the books of James, Thessalonians, Galatians and Corinthians. We will take a few detours along the way for the major Christian holidays. However, we will be opening up our bibles each week to unpack the scriptures as they were present in the early church.
We start with the book of James because it is the earliest writing determined by present day scholarly dating.
It is the first book or letter written to this new ‘church’ or gathering.
It was written by Jesus to his first half brother, James.
It was written to the messianic Jews who had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah and those first followers who weren't Jewish called Gentiles who had become aware of and believed in Jesus.
It was written to the first bad actors and their practices that were stunting the movement’s growth.
Last week we spoke about how the knowledge of the world competes with the wisdom of the Lord and our call to be peacemakers. This week continues the call to be peacemakers by diving into James 4:1-12. It’s a powerful lesson about conflict and peace. James begins with a simple question that tells us that even in the beginning there were church fights.
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“What causes fights and quarrels among you” (James 4:1)? Our current world situation makes James’s opening question as relevant in our day as in any previous generation. The whole world seems to be fighting with each other. Nations, states, communities, neighborhoods, ethnic, race, class, political parties and even Christians. This is what James is really upset about.
While fighting has been a part of every era of human history, many of the conflicts have their roots firmly embedded in our self centered nature. A nature often called "the flesh" in scripture.
Our flesh is in conflict with the Spirit, with Others and even with God himself. James reveals the heart of all conflict so let’s dive in…
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so 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.
There is a vast difference between symptoms and sources. The believers to whom James is writing were engaged in a personal war of words. Their words were the external symptom, not the cause of the fighting itself. James knows the real problem of conflict comes from within, so he asks a second question:
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“Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you” (James 4:1)?
In essence, James is saying conflict is but a symptom of a greater disease. A spiritual disease that has a common source. This is true whether we are speaking of Joe Itasca or Jane Wood Dale. It’s the same symptom in Vladimer Putin as Saddam Hussein.
James is about to get passionate. I see him screaming these next lines of scripture like a revival preacher before an altar call. Let me see if I can do this justice.
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You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, 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 he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
James reveals to us that the source of all conflict is found in our rebellious understanding of our role in God’s economy. James called this conflict between God and man a “battle within” (James 4:1). He goes on to say, “Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
James asks a poignant question in verse four- “Don’t you know?” He's expressing surprise and shock because those who had claimed to know Christ were committing spiritual adultery.
Adultery is engaging in the most intimate of activities with someone other than your spouse. It’s a betrayal of sacred trust. Spiritual adultery is worshiping another God other than our creator, redeeming and sustaining God. Worship is an intimate time of togetherness. It directs our steps and consumes our thoughts.
In our culture today, we see many other Gods - individualism, consumerism, nationalism, wealth, family, children, power, prestige and fame to name a few. Now I know, like any adulterous relationship, people try to hide the truth of their infidelity but eventually a time comes where we will have to choose between the two loves. This idea was well understood by the original audience because the Old Testament is filled with spiritual adultery.
When James wrote this letter to the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, they would have been aware that this scripture was a reference to former prophets - Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Hosea. These prophets and others had all called out or rebuked the nation for worshiping other Gods along with, or instead of the one true God.
James reminds us that God gives us strength and grace to resist the temptation to worship other Gods. However, if we find ourselves putting too much importance on worldly Gods, God is always willing to offer us forgiveness. James 4:6 says: “But he gives us more grace.” He also expands this by saying…
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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.
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
God has given us the solution to all conflicts. Whether a cosmic conflict or a family fight, there is but one true and eternal solution. It begins with humbling yourself before the prince of peace.
James expands this teaching by giving us a process that leads to peace. The words you should highlight are: submit, resist, come near, wash, and humble yourselves.
Humble yourself - Come to God and admit your fault of putting yourself in His place
Wash yourself - It’s time to get rid of anything or anyone who led you to the conflict. True repentance requires change. It is through these purges, we can move to the next step.
Come close - We move closer to God when we ask God to fill these areas we have purged with His ways and His thoughts. In filling these gaps, we are stronger the next time the liar of this world comes near.
Receive the power to resist - Please remember our fight is not with one another but with the evil one. There is a cosmic war happening all around us.
Submit yourself to His will. When James is using these words, He is using a military term that means “get in your proper rank.” The foot soldier is not asked to make decisions reserved for the General. Submission is a simple surrender. It is to say “Thy will be done” and then moving forward. Submission is a surrender to move to the winning side.
Without it, there will never be peace without the Prince of Peace. This sounds simplistic, but it is true. Christ will come again and usher in a millennium of peace when swords will be beaten into plow shears, and the lion will lie down with the lamb. Our God is the God of history, and in the midst of this cosmic chaos, he calls us to be peacemakers. We know the solution to conflict is His message of hope and peace, and as a result we must keep telling the story in word and in deed.
