Introductory Comments
1. It has been the most disappointing aspect of my ministry. It has at times drained me of my energy and spiritual strength. It has taken away the focus from the actual work of ministry to that of starining to keep peopel working together. It has often taken away the joy of serving God. And I’m not alone. I have heard the same comments from other ministers and I have heard the same from members of the churches I have served or worked with, including some of you. In fact, some of you can look back over the years and see how this has done major damage to the growth and ministry of First Reformed Church.
2. And yet this very problem has been one of the major evidences to me that there is a God and He is gracious and merciful. For I sometimes wonder how the church of Jesus Christ has survived nearly 2,000 years of fighting. Only by the grace of God, only because He will not let it go.
3. This fighting is not with the world or with other forces, although they are involved. The fighting is with one another. Sometimes we look at other churches and think it must be nice that they don’t fight one another. But get close to any church, and soon you will discover that not one is exempt from this problem. Someone once said that the army of God is the only army in the world that shoots each other or as some say, shoots its own wounded.
4. The fights can be over theology, polity, money, the colour of paint to put on the walls, which way the consistory should enter the sanctuary, or many other things - from those of great importance to those of no significance at all.
5. We see quarrels and fights among God’s people in Scripture. Lot quarrelled with Abraham. Absalom fought with His father David. The disciples of Jesus argued over which of them would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And in the churches in Corinth, Galatia and Philippi there were people fighting with each other.
6. Today James tells us why we have these fights and quarrels amongst ourselves.
Teaching
1. James asks us what causes these fights and quarrels among us. And instead of giving an answer, James suggests the cause and asks us to agree or disagree. Actually he is implying that the answer he provides is the right one. James uses this way of communicating often. Instead of just telling us the cause and going on, he asks us first to decide if we agree. Sometimes we have answers for peoples’ problems and we expound on these answers without first agreeing on what the problem is. People listen much more when they agree with the basic points of what we are trying to present. Also, this is a somewhat more humble way of presenting the truth to another person.
2. James suggests that the fights we have with other believers is caused by another fights or battles that occur within each individual person. The outer conflicts we have with others come from inner conflicts which we have within ourselves. The battle within us is a battle waged by our desires. These desires are translated from the Greek "hedone" from which we get the word hedoism. In each of us we have desires for pleasures or lusts. We talked about the deadly sin of lust this morning.
3. There is something important that James is teaching us that can help us with this battle. These desires or lusts are not a part of who we are but they are in the body and fight to control it. Each one of us struggles with lust - whether for sex, food, drink, recognition. Easy to say that is the way I am. I cannot do anything about it. Remember that as Christians the old sinful nature has been defeated. It no longer controls us. And yet it is still in us. But it is not us. Paul describes this very well:
Rom 7:17-23 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
As believers God has given us a new spirit.
Ezek 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And James talks about that in verse 5. As we will see later, it is through this new spirit that we are able to win these battles within us.
4. This battle is real. I see it within me. I go into a situation knowing that I might easily sin. I ask God to help me do the right thing, but then I can get upset or give in to my desires and I feel like I have failed again. And yet I see that there is victory, as we will discuss next week.
5. These desires for pleasures with us leads to sin, as we see in verse 2. James says we want something. We long for or set our hearts desire upon something or someone. We lust for. And yet we do not get it. In James 1:14 we talked about how desire and opportunity combine to become temptation that leads us to sin. Reminded of that this morning. And now James says that when we do not get what we want, we kill and covet, we quarrel and fight.
6. James probably does not mean kill in the literal sense although that is a possibility. Otherwise he would have left the sin of killing to the end as the what can be considered the worst result of our desires. By killing he probably means slander and verbal abuse of those who do have. We might kill them with our words because we covet or envy what they have. Jealously leads to a struggle for power. And soon personal rivalry involves others and we have party rivalry or groups fighting each other. Imagine people rushing down after church to get and fight for the best cookies or cake during coffee hour. We would be disgusted. And yet we can do that so easily in fighting for power, for our rights, for other things.
7. The sad thing is that after all that sinning, we still do not get what we want. Sin may give us momentary pleasure but we do not get fulfilled. We still feel short changed. The problem is that they sought to get what they wanted in the wrong way.
8. James says that they do not have because they do not ask God. Sounds simple- just ask god and you will get what you want.
Phil 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
But the people might quickly respond by telling James that this has not worked.
9. Well, James says, the problem is with your motives. God does promise answered prayer.
Mat 7:7-11 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
But notice that God answers prayer when it is according to His perfect will. That is why we start Lord’s Prayer with "Thy will be done!"
1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
10. Prayer is not a magic formula by which we control God who then grants us our wishes. Our relationship with God is based on trust. On trusting that He knows what is best for us. When our motives are wrong, it shows that we are not in tune with God. If we were close to Him than His will would be the same as our will
11. Now, we need to be careful here to not think that God is against us having pleasure in our lives. God does not just give us bread and water. He also gives steaks, and roasts and many good things that give us pleasure. Jesus enjoyed a good meal
12. But the point is that God wants to give us good things but He will not give to us when we ask only to satisfy our selfish desires and gratifications.
13. And so the problem is really in the desires or lusts. The desire lies in what it is we want.
14. And the problem comes back to which world we are living in. James calls us adulterous people. The church is the bride of Christ. When Israel worshiped false idols, they still worshiped God. They tried to live in both worlds. Are we living in the kingdom of God or in the ways of the world? When we are friends of the world we are adulterers. We are unfaithful to God, to Christ. Are we friends of a worldly system of evil controlled by Satan that is against the way of God?
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
15. When these worldly things affect our servanthood, our generousity, our love for God and others, we are trying to serve 2 masters and that we cannot do. If we are friends with the world then we are enemies of God
16. Verse 5 explains what God really desires. Hard verse to understand. Means that God jealously longs for the spirit that he amde to live in us. As said before God has given us a new spirit. He longs for that spirit, that new creation that He has made us to be. He is a jealous husband and will not and can not tolerate our adultery with the world. He longs for us to be true to Him and that can only happen through the new spirit in us.
17. We have focused on the battles within us. But remember it is this battle that cause conflicts in the church.
18. We end this passage in a note of hope. A preparation for the next message. The hope we have is that God is a God of grace and He wants to help us in our struggles. And so we need but come humbly before Him. Next time we see how we are to do this.
