Right Desire; Right Relationship (James 4:1-10)

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you this morning, please turn it to James 4:1-10.

We’re back in the letter of James and we’re getting towards the end of the letter and in the last two chapters of James, there are a lot of different ideas, commands, and thoughts being given by James that almost seem rapid-fire—as in, he seems to change topics quickly and he seems to be trying to squeeze in as much as he possibly can before he finishes his letter.

Because of this, it can be very easy to get sort of lost in all the details as you read through the text and it could get rather easy to completely miss the point of what he’s trying to say. To help with this—let me be abundantly clear on what his point is before we start working through the text. Jame’s whole argument in ch. 4 vv. 1-10 is this: what you desire will influence your relationship with God.

We’ll see this truth as we work through our text this morning. In the first section, we see that (1) Wrong Desire Results in Enmity (1-4) and in the second section (2) Right Desire Results in Friendship (5-10). Again, this is speaking in light of your relationship with God—meaning, when you desire wrong things, you place yourself at odds with God; when you desire right things, you place yourself in friendship with God. This should cause us to consider everything we desire with seriousness—because what we desire influences our relationship with God.

Prayer for Illumination

Wrong Desire Results in Enmity (1-4)

Let’s take a look at this first section.

James 4:1–4 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 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. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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.

Our text starts by posing a question, “what causes quarrels [or wars] and what causes fights among you?”

Note first off that he’s speaking to the local church—meaning, he’s asking this question to those who are believers and who are part of this church.

It’s like me standing in front of you this morning and asking you “what causes these fights, the bickering, the arguing in the church itself?”

Now, in this case, he’s asking rhetorically—he isn’t actually expecting an answer from them because he already knows the answer and he gives that answer by asking a second question. “Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

James is confronting an issue within the church in that the people in the church were fighting and warring against each other because their inner desires or passions are fighting within themselves.

And just to clarify, when James says passions, what he’s speaking of is inner pleasure and he means this in a negative way. The negative nature of what James means is really seen in the KJV, which renders this word as lusts and the NLT, which flat-out states that this concerns evil desires.

What James is saying is that the in-fighting, the warring, the bickering, the arguing that’s happening within the local church is happening because of their own sinful desires within themselves.

Now, in this instance, he doesn’t call out specific sinful desires with the exception of what he says in vv. 2-3, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” and then he continues with this, “you do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

James calls out two issues—wanting or desiring what they don’t have and coveting what they cannot get, which leads them into in-fighting, bickering, warring, and arguing amongst themselves—it’s their desire for what they don’t have and what they can’t get that leads them to sin.

And it’s their desire for what they don’t have and what they can’t get that’s leading them to bicker, fight, war, and argue amongst themselves.

Ultimately, what James is saying is that the whole problem is that what they want, what they desire, or what their heart is set on is causing strife within the body of Christ.

And it isn’t difficult to understand how this works—we’re all human here and we all struggle with similar issues.

Even if we’re not talking about sinful desires, we can relate to this very same issue. We all have different wants and ideas that we think would be great, but not everyone agrees.

Thus, it isn’t uncommon for people within the church to get into arguments with other people within the church—this is why we have churches in which people will argue about the color of the carpet instead of being Gospel-focused and Kingdom-minded.

James makes the argument that the whole problem is that their inner desire is causing them to sin.

And this sin is affecting their prayer—they don’t have because they don’t ask; they ask and don’t receive because they’re asking wrongly to spend on their own passions.

Because of their own inner desires, they’re arguing, they’re fighting, they’re warring amongst themselves; and ultimately they’re sinning and their sin is causing them to stumble in their prayer.

Ultimately, what’s happening is found in v. 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 is making the argument that the cause of strife within the church is inner desire that leads to sin.

And it is that inner desire that leads to sin that effects their relationship with God—their sin is rooted in their desire for the world and that desire for the world makes them enemies of God.

Now, let me clarify that when James speaks of the world, he’s being very specific in what he means. When he speaks of the world in this context, he’s literally speaking about a worldview or a mindset that is anti-God.

He’s not speaking of just the world around us, he’s speaking of the world around us that’s against God.

He’s essentially saying that when we let our inner desires tempt us and we succumb to our sin, it affects our spiritual life in that it messes up our prayer life because it messes up our relationship with God.

Ultimately, what James is saying is rather simple. The cause for all this strife in the local church is that they desire the things of the world more than they desire God.

And in doing so, their relationship with God is affected. Note how James describes this in terms of adultery, which is an Old Testament way in describing the personal nature of the relationship that we ought to have with God and what happens when we take God for granted and elevate anything above Him.

James says that desiring the world above God is spiritual adultery—a personal attack against Him.

The reality is that wrong desires can lead to a hindered relationship with God and that hindered relationship with God is a result of sin. When you desire the things of the world instead of God, you commit spiritual adultery. Now, the flip side of this is that if your heart’s desires change, then your relationship with God can change. We see this in vv. 5-10. Let’s read those verses:

Right Desire Results in Friendship (5-10)

James 4:5–10 ESV

5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 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.

In v. 5, we read this idea that’s actually rather profound. That God “yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.”

Now, there is some confusion in how this verse ought to be translated and if you read from multiple translations, you’ll see that confusion.

The confusion is over whether the word spirit is referring to the Holy Spirit or simply the spirit that God placed in man when He created man. You can see that confusion in the various translations based on whether they capitalize spirit or not.

I’m going to argue that this isn’t speaking about the Holy Spirit, but it’s speaking about the spirit of man that’s within each one of us—I base that on the fact that James really doesn’t speak much about the Holy Spirit through his letter and in my opinion, logically, this sentence makes more sense if its speaking about the spirit that God placed within us when He created us than if He was speaking of the Holy Spirit.

What that means is this, that God has a desire, a yearning, to dwell with the people that He created—theologically, this makes complete sense. After all, the whole point of salvation isn’t just to save us from the consequences of sin, nor is it to get us into heaven. The whole point of salvation is for us to be able to dwell in His presence—to come to Him and live with Him.

What this tells us is that God desires His people; He wants us. And v. 6 continues in that line of thinking by telling us that “he gives more grace,” but the grace that he gives is only to the humble.

That might cause you to pause and ask, why is it that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, but just take a second to think about it.

When you’re proud, when you’re puffed up, when it’s all about you and your accomplishments and what you’ve done—how often are you going to seek help?

If you’re proud and you’re boasting in yourself, why would you turn to God? Why would you even think that you needed Him whatsoever?

Why do you think that God opposes the proud? Because when you’re prideful, you elevate yourself above God and you essentially make yourself an idol that you worship and you think everyone else ought to worship.

So, of course, you don’t think you need God, but when you humble yourself, God gives grace.

In fact, the passage continues on that foundation of humility. You humble yourself and in your humility, you then “Submit yourselves to God,” you “resist the devil,” you “draw near to God,” you “cleanse your hands,” and you “purify your hearts.”

You come to God in humility and in your humility He gives you grace.

It’s not something that you earn, it’s not something that you work for, it isn’t something that you purchase yourself; it’s something that God gives you when in humility, you cry out to Him.

And it is in and through this grace that He then enables and empowers you to submit to Him, to resist the devil, to draw near to Him, to cleanse your hands, and to purify your heart.

Or in other words, all of these statements—that you are to submit yourself to God, you are to resist the devil, you are to draw near to God, you are to cleanse your hands and purify your hearts.

None of this is even possible except through His grace, which He gives when you humble yourself.

Or in light of the context, what James is teaching you is this: that God has a desire to dwell with you, but if your desire is for this world, you won’t get God.

God has a desire to dwell with you, but you need to desire Him in humility, and through grace He comes to you. By humbling yourself in your desire for God, Jesus reconciles you to Him and He makes you friends with God.

Now, the last two verses can be difficult to understand, particularly v. 9, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”

But let me encourage you to look at it in context starting all the way back in v. 1. The whole argument that James is making is that wrong desire leads to a messed up relationship with God; and right desire leads to friendship with God.

V. 9 is James’ call to action. Now that you know that your desires effect your relationship with God—sober up. Stop living life in revelry, stop partying, as John Bunyan would say, “stop getting distracted by the flashy tricks of vanity fair.”

Wisen up, check your heart.

And then do as v. 10 says, “humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Now, this brings us to our application for this morning and our application is precisely the same as it was for the First Century believers reading this letter and it calls us to do the exact same thing. In life, your desires make a difference. What you want reveals your heart and it affects your relationship with God. So, our application has to start with a simple question, “what do you desire?”

Application

So, let’s do precisely what James would’ve expected his original audience to do. He starts this section by posing a question, “What causes quarrels and fights among” the people of God? We can speculate and make educated guesses on all this, but James makes it abundantly clear what causes the majority of problems in churches—sin. Sin causes the majority of problem in churches because we all struggle with the desires of our heart and when we desire the things of the world instead of God, we continuously jump into sin, which causes problems in the local church. Now, let’s look at this specifically with two specific applications:

First (and this is really a side application), let’s start with the issue of interpersonal conflict in the local church. Some of you in this room are struggling with your relationships with other people in this room. Some of you are struggling with your relationships with Christians not in this room.

James is saying that the primary cause of problems within the local church is a desire for the world rather than a desire for God. Now, consider why you’re upset with another Christian, consider why you might be bickering and fighting with other Christians:

How much of that fighting and bickering, how much of the issue is because you’re acting with worldly desire and you’re sinning against your brother or sister in Christ?

Or, in other words, is the disagreement or fighting and bickering caused by your own sinfulness? Are you acting in pride, are you responding in unrighteous anger, are you choosing to sin because you’re desiring something that you shouldn’t be?

Now, not every interpersonal difficulty that you face is the result of your own sinfulness—occasionally, its the result of their sinfulness or occasionally, it’s simply just because you don’t get along with another person, but the first place that you ought to check is your heart.

What James is saying is that part of the problem you might experience with interpersonal strife in the local church setting is simple—you’re sinning and you need to repent.

Now, that might sound a little harsh, but the reality is that if you’re in sin then you need to deal with your sin—and the only proper way to deal with sin is by repenting—you need to cry out to God through Jesus and you need to turn from your sinful lifestyle.

John Owen said that “[you need to] be killing [your] sin or [your] sin will be killing you.” And it kills you by turning your eyes off Jesus while you desire the things of the world.

If you find yourself in a situation in which your relationship with fellow Christians aren’t what they should be—check your heart for sin and repent when necessary.

Second, (and this is the main point of the passage), what you desire effects your relationship with God. This means that you need to check everything that you desire in light of the passage at hand.

Let me explain that this is not speaking of every desire that you have.

This is not speaking of desires in the sense of desiring sustenance and shelter in life. We all have a desire to have a home and be able to eat day to day.

This is not talking about a desire to be safe and secure—we all want to feel safe and secure.

This isn’t talking about things that we would consider normal and healthy desires.

This passage is speaking of desires in a different way:

This concerns desires that you have that lead to sin—and that could include a desire for sustenance or shelter or security if we elevate those desires above God.

Or it could just be a desire for sinful appetites.

And it’s when you desire sin or you desire good things sinfully that your relationship with God is hindered.

When your desire or your focus is on things other than God, your relationship with Him suffers.

Jonathan Edwards, Advice to Young Converts, “I would advise you to keep up as great a strife and earnestness in religion in all aspects of it, as you would do if you knew yourself to be in a state of nature and you were seeking conversion. We advise persons under convictions to be extremely earnest for the kingdom of heaven, but when they have attained conversion they ought not to be the less watchful, laborious, and earnest in the whole work of religion, but the more; for they are under infinitely greater obligations. For lack of this, many persons in a few months after their conversion have begun to lose the sweet and lively sense of spiritual things, and to grow cold and flat and dark.” (Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions And Advice to Young Converts, ed. Stephen J. Nichols, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 29)

Or in other words, what Edwards is saying is that typically what happens is right after we become believers, we’re passionate, we’re excited, and our desires are all focused towards God, but soon after, our desires start to shift back towards worldly things.

Both Edwards and James are arguing that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. And a lack of desire for God results in a relationship with Him that can only be described as enmity.

Friends, the whole point of salvation is so that we can live in communion with God—no wonder James is so concerned with those within the church that have decided the things of the world are better than God Himself is.

Now, consider your own heart. What you desire effects your relationship with God.

If you desire God, you’ll find friendship.

If you desire anything above your desire for God, you’ll find enmity.

Put simply, what we learn from James 4:1-10 is that what we desire influences our relationship with God. So, if you’re in a position in life where you feel that your relationship with Him is lacking; (1) check your heart, (2) figure out what you desire, (3) and if it isn’t God—repent, cry out to Him through Jesus, and learn to desire Him more than the things of the world.

Pastoral Prayer