James 4:1-6 August 29, 1999
Submitting to God (Part 1)
Introduction
A New England pastor and a rabbi were having a conversation one day over lunch. The N.E. pastor proudly proclaimed, “One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence”. He thought that the rabbi would be very impressed by this. To his chagrin, the rabbi responded, “I understand your pride. One of my ancestors signed the Ten Commandments.”
One of the problems with pride is that there is always going to be someone who can top you. They will run faster, jump higher, win more, be more beautiful, tell a funnier story, receive more applause and go one step farther than you did. Even if no one beats your record in your lifetime, someone eventually will.
But an even greater problem with pride is that it puts you in opposition against God. There is only one who can receive glory, and when we try to steal some of His glory for ourselves, we commit the same sin that caused Satan to be cast out of heaven. That’s why the Bible says that God did not choose the wise and the beautiful and those who had everything together to do His work. He chose the weak because they would be smart enough to understand that the only way that they could ever accomplish anything of any value would be through God’s power. And so whenever something good happened, they would be forced to give all the glory to God.
But sometimes, we forget our weakness and start to allow pride to creep into our way of thinking. So God sends us reminders of what pride does and what pride says so that we will recognize it in ourselves and get rid of it before it destroys us.
This morning, we’re going to examine James 4:1-6 and see what pride says so that we can search our own hearts, find out if pride is lurking there and get God to deal with it so that He will be able to continue to use us and bless us.
PRIDE SAYS . . .
1. “I am not responsible for the turmoil in my life. It’s not my fault.” (vs. 1)
About the time that James was writing this book, there was a great deal of turmoil that was going on in Israel and the near East. The Jewish people had grown tired of the occupation of the Romans in their nation. They were fed up with these gentiles controlling their lives. So insurrections and small bloody battles began to pop up all over the area. The Jews justified their actions by claiming that their motivation for doing this was to bring honor to God and free His land from these ungodly people. And if there were other Jews who didn’t agree with their practices, well they became the enemy, and if they stood in the way, then they too would die. But that’s ok; their actions were justified. After all, if the Romans didn’t want to die, they shouldn’t have come in and invaded in the first place. It’s their fault; my cause is just.
James writes this passage specifically to counter that kind of thinking. He says that the wars that they were entering into were no one’s fault but their own. They were fighting because they wanted something, not because God had told them to. They wanted their land back. They wanted control. They wanted self-respect. They were allowing an internal battle – the war that raged within them – to become an external battle. Fighting’s on the outside are always a reflection of fighting’s that are going on in the heart. When we look for the causes behind the wars that happen on earth, and the wars that happen in our churches and the wars that happen in our families, it is easy to lay the blame on external reasons. But the true cause is the condition of our own heart and the desires that it possesses. “I want something, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it.” My desire for something becomes more important to me than our peace.
Paul spoke of this kind of internal struggle in Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. And then again in Gal 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Each of us has a war waging inside of us. That war is caused by the desires that we have. The way that we choose to fulfill those desires and the level of control that we allow them to have in our life determines whether or not that war on the inside is going to lead to a war on the outside.
Although I cannot speak of any specific examples, I know that a situation has happened. It goes something like this. A husband and wife agree to make a major purchase. Maybe it’s a nicer car, a bigger house, or a faster computer. They both know that they really don’t have the finances to make it work, but they can finance it. And oh, how nice that new car or bigger house would make their life! They want it so badly! So they buy it, and as expected, it brings great enjoyment to their life . . . until the reality of the bills begins to face them. They get more and more “past due” notices in the mail, and the stress level rises at the same rate as the stack of bills does. Everybody gets on edge. The parents begin to yell at the kids and at one another. They blame the power company and the gas company and one another for their rising debt. They fight and argue. They lay the blame at the feet of the car company for putting those ads on TV or at the feet of the computer company for offering that tempting rebate when all the time, the real blame lies at the feet of their own desires. It was their own personal desires that created the situation, which has now led to fighting and anger. But their pride will not allow them to admit that they were at fault, so they keep laying the blame at everyone else’’ feet which prevents them from ever solving the problem.
Last week, as we studied Gen. 3, we saw how God confronted Adam and Eve with the sin that they had committed. Their initial response was to hide from God. Then, once they came out into the open, they tried to lay the blame for their sin on others. “That woman made me do it” was Adam’s plea. And Eve followed in his footsteps when she said, “The serpent made me do it.” And then the serpent looked around for somebody to blame, but there was nobody left. But in the midst of their blaming others, they admitted their own failure. Adam said, “The woman you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, AND I ATE.” (Gen. 3:12) Eve did the same thing. Eve concluded her statement with those three same words – “and I ate”. They recognized that as much as they tried to blame others for the mess that they were in, they were the ones who had committed the sin and deserved the punishment.
Pride will not allow you to admit that you are guilty. The problem with that is not until you admit that you are guilty and that your sin is the result of your own internal problems can you get forgiveness and get healing for those problems. Healing can never come until the disease is properly diagnosed and treated.
2. “If you don’t contribute to the meeting of my desires, then I will walk all over you. I might even destroy you.” (vs. 2a)
How do you respond when something that you desire is out of your reach? My son responds by crying and stomping his feet. My daughter responds either by pouting or by cuddling up to her daddy until he can’t take it anymore and gives her what she wants. My wife responds by working harder until she achieves her goal. I respond by changing what it is that I want. If I want cookies-n-cream ice cream, but all that we have is vanilla, then I eat vanilla.
One way that you can respond to the desires that you have is for you to hurt and destroy the people that have what you want or who stand in the way of you getting what you want. People have been responding to their desires in this way for as long as mankind has been on the face of the earth. In Gen. 4, which is the passage that we will be looking at tonight, Cain and Abel both had a desire for the approval of God. Abel brought a blood offering from his flocks, and God accepted his offering. Cain brought an offering of the produce, which he had produced in his garden, but God refused his offering. As a result, Cain got angry with God and angry with his brother. His brother had what he wanted – acceptance and approval. Cain could do nothing to God in his anger, but he could do something to his brother. When his brother was least expecting anything, Cain killed Abel. Prior to the killing of his brother, God had given this warning to Cain: Gen. 4:6-7 “So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” The Lord had warned him about the desires that he had within him. Either he was going to master them, or they were going to master him. Cain chose to allow his desires to control him to the point that he destroyed his own brother.
David, the second king of Israel, wanted Bath-sheba. The only problem was that she was married to another man. David didn’t let that stand in his way. He hurt Uriah, Bath-sheba’s husband by having an affair with her. And then when Bath-sheba sent him that little note that said, “I’m pregnant”, David had to find a way to legitimize his relationship with her. He tried trickery, but that didn’t work. When trickery failed, he switched to treachery. He had Uriah put into a dangerous position on the battlefield and told his support personnel to pull back from him so that he would die in battle. Now that Uriah was gone, David could have Bath-sheba for his wife, and he could maintain his reputation. It wasn’t David’s desire for Bath-sheba that had him kill Uriah. David had Bath-sheba even while Uriah was alive. It was his desire to maintain his reputation that caused him to resort to murder. Uriah stood in the way of David’s goal, so Uriah had to go.
How do you respond when your desires are not met? Do you attack the people that you believe have what you want? Do you criticize them? Do you either intentionally or unintentionally seek to hurt them by talking about them behind their back and destroying their support among the people that know them? “They have what I want, and so I’m going to ruin them!!”
Do you remember the story of the Texas cheerleader mom? She wanted her daughter to be a cheerleader so badly that she hired someone to kill another cheerleader so that there would be an open spot on the squad. She reasoned that this other girl was standing in the way of her desire for her daughter to be on the squad. The only thing that she could do was to get rid of the other girl. Then her desires for her daughter could be fulfilled. Don’t stand in the way of me getting what I want; I’ll steam-roll you over.
That’s the attitude that says, “The fulfillment of my desires is more important than your life. I am the only thing that matters. Who you are and what you want is insignifigant.” You might not ever say those words, but each of us sometimes acts that way.
3. “I don’t need to ask God for anything. I’m self-sufficient.” (vs. 2b)
A few moments ago, we sang the song, “Sweet Hour of Prayer”. Did you pay attention to the words that you were singing? [read verses 1 & 2, and make comments] If you believe the words that you just sang, why would you say that the time of prayer is a sweet time for you? Could it be that it is a time that you bring all your burdens – all those things that weight you down in your everyday life – and lay them at the feet of Jesus for him to take care of them?
The Bible uses the comparison of a father/son relationship to describe our relationship to God. Just as I am very concerned about the needs of my children and want them to come to me with their requests, so our heavenly Father has often told us to come to Him with our requests. Look at Matthew 7 starting with verse 9. [read verse 9 – 11] God, our Father, is ready and waiting to listen to our requests and to grant those requests. Now look back a few verses to verse 7. [read verses 7-8] Do you get the idea that God is watching and listening, waiting for the cry of His child and that He longs to show His goodness to us? Jesus told the people of his day, “Come unto me all you that are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28) In Jer. 33:3, God gives us this challenge: Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Think about this for a minute. God deserves all the glory, right? God works in such a way to bring glory to Himself, right? God loves you, right? So what better way could there be for God to get glory to Himself and exercise His love for you than for Him to show you provisions of your needs that you could have never fathomed? In the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6), Jesus told us that our Father is fully aware that we need food, clothing, and safety. We don’t need to worry about where those things are going to come from. We trust Him, and He will provide.
We had a lovely couple in Dallas a number of years ago. He sold his business at a loss, went into vocational Christian work, and things got rather rough. There were four kids in the family. One night at family worship, Timmy, the youngest boy, said, "Daddy, do you think Jesus would mind if I asked Him for a shirt?"
"Well, no, of course not. Let’s write that down in our prayer request book, Mother."
So she wrote down "shirt for Timmy" and she added "size seven." You can be sure that every day Timmy saw to it that they prayed for the shirt. After several weeks, one Saturday the mother received a telephone call from a clothier in downtown Dallas, a Christian businessman. "I’ve just finished my July clearance sale and knowing that you have four boys it occurred to me that you might use something we have left. Could you use some boy’s shirts?"
She said, "What size?"
"Size seven."
"How many do you have?" she asked hesitantly.
He said, "Twelve."
Many of us might have taken the shirts, stuffed them in the bureau drawer, and made some casual comment to the child. Not this wise set of parents. That night, as expected, Timmy said, "Don’t forget, Mommy, let’s pray for the shirt."
Mommy said, "We don’t have to pray for the shirt, Timmy,"
"How come?"
"The Lord has answered your prayer."
"He has?"
"Right." So, as previously arranged, brother Tommy goes out and gets one shirt, brings it in, and puts it down on the table. Little Timmy’s eyes are like saucers. Tommy goes out and gets another shirt and brings it it. Out -- back, out -- back, until he piles 12 shirts on the table, and Timmy thinks God is going into the shirt business. But you know, there is a little kid in Dallas today by the name of Timothy who believes there is a God in heaven interested enough in his needs to provide boys with shirts.
So if God calls us to pray to Him, and prayer accomplishes the meeting of our needs, then why do we not pray more? Why do people not come to God for the meeting of their needs? Coming to God means that we have to recognize how weak we are and that we are not self-sufficient. Our pride will not allow us to get down on our knees and ask God. I read a quote this week that will soon go up on our marqui. “When your knees are knocking together, get down on them, and pray.” God calls us to cast all our cares on Him, but there is something about us that feels like that if we have to go to someone else to deal with our problems, then that is a sign of weakness. We can’t handle that. We would rather try to fill our own desires our own way and wallow in our pain than go to God and obligate ourselves to Him. We have not because we ask not. God already has a way for your desires to be fulfilled without you having to step out of His will for that fulfillment. God put those desires in you; He knows best how to meet them.
An elderly lady was driving through a rural part of Kentucky one evening around twilight when her car got a flat tire. Several cars passed by her on the side of the road. She began to fear that no one was going to stop. Finally, a man in his middle twenties pulled up behind her along the side of the road. He looked poor, and his clothes were nearly worn out. The lady was beginning to fear for her life. She knew that there were not very many cars on the road at that time in the evening. The man came up beside her window. He told her that his name was Sam and asked her if she would pop the trunk so that he could get the spare tire out. She did, and within a few minutes, he had changed her tire. The lady offered him money, but Sam simply asked that she pass along the kindness to someone else later on.
A couple of miles down the road, the lady stopped at a diner for a bite to eat. The young girl who waited on her was obviously very pregnant, but even though she had been on her feet all day, she still kept a smile on her face and a pleasant attitude. When the elderly lady left, she placed a rather large tip on the table – there were 4 crisp $100 bills underneath her napkin. On the napkin she had written, “Pass this kindness along to someone else.” The waitress could hardly wait to get home to her husband that night. He had been out of work for a couple of months now, and they had been praying about how they were going to meet their medical bills. Now they had their answer. She couldn’t wait to tell him. By the way, her husband’s name was Sam.
See, God already knows our needs and our desires, and He has already planned just the right way for those desires to be fulfilled. All that we have to do is come to Him, place our complete dependence in Him, and then wait for Him to do what He has already said that He will do. Sadly, the proud man doesn’t have access to this kind of support because he isn’t willing to look to anybody but himself for the provision of his needs and desires. The only proper way for us to deal with out desires is to come to God and ask Him to meet them.
TRAN: You tell me to ask, well I have asked, and I never got what I wanted!!
4. “I’ll use God to get what I want, but don’t expect any commitment out of me.” (vs. 3)
5. “If I don’t get what I want, then I’m leaving.” (vs. 4)
6. “I’m going to have control of my life.” (vs. 5)
BUT GOD SAYS . . .
“I stand against, fight, will stop, will trip up and cause to fall those who are proud, arrogant, self-sufficient. But I will strengthen, help, befriend, encourage the ones who know and admit that they are totally dependent on me and are willing to do things my way.”
