The Christians' Conflict
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Announcements
Dudes night on the 18th. Ask Shawn for details.
Christmas decorations on the 19th! Not standard Youth group, but there will be cocoa and it’ll be fun to decorate together.
Pray
Pray
Review
Review
Last time we talked about boasting in wisdom, something that comes from jealousy and selfishness and humility in wisdom, peaceable, gentle, reasonable and merciful wisdom.
Introduction
Introduction
We’re almost through James! Just a couple more chapters. Turn with me to James 4:1-12. This next section we’re going to look at is about
Conflicts and Motives
Conflicts and Motives
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.
Maybe James was speaking out about specific problems in the community, but maybe not. He may just know that issues among people will eventually come up and people will argue about it.
Conflicts don’t just come because of people being together, but they come from the invisible passions within people. That’s why James is asking us to look at our hearts rather than the external causes we can quickly point our fingers at.
A Christian’s attitude shouldn’t be to argue or quarrel with one another, but to ask our loving Father for provision.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
When we pray, it should be according to God’s will.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
A Call to Repentance
A Call to Repentance
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. 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.
Just like in marriage, as believers in Christ we should be committed to only one person, Christ.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
What does friendship with the world look like?
It looks like desiring and acting with values that are against God and His kingdom.
The last verses are about repenting from that way of living.
Five takeaways from these things James is commanding:
God uses his Word, applied by His Spirit to call His people to repentance
We should call all people to repentance while realizing that apart from God’s work, no one seeks after God on their own. But we should not hesitate to passionately plead with people to draw near to God.
Although we are responsible for our wicked actions as humans, there is a demonic element in human rebellion. Remember, if the Devil had not tempted and deceived Adam and Eve, the world would not have been corrupted by sin. The devil has cunning tactics and is good at deceiving us.
True repentance involves both an inward change in our heart and a new outward behavior that is tied to that heart change.
Even though we are commanded to be joyful always (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16; James 1:2) we should grieve when we sin against God. This is a proper expression of humble sorrow.
Judging your neighbor
Judging your neighbor
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
I believe that James is summarizing what he has said here and admonishing the believers.
James is saying that believers shouldn’t judge the body. We can look at 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18 to show how we are to handle serious problems in the church.
He is saying that when we take the role of judge and accuser, we place ourselves above the law with our arrogance. When we apply the law to others in this way, through jealousy, slander, and partiality, we fail to love our neighbor, thus breaking the law.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Where two or more are gathered together…there will eventually be conflict. We should deal with conflict. There is real wickedness in our hearts. However, James is instructing us not to point our fingers at others first, but rather to ask God to law bare our own hearts. When we experience conflict we should pray before we accuse. We should confess our sins before we bring someone else's muck to the forefront. We should mourn that.
Relational conflict often rears its face in judgmental attitudes and hurtful words. We usually don’t know much about the situation of another person, their perspectives, or their motivations. We should trust God and speak in love to those who have hurt us. If we start with speaking hurtfully to them, we are acting as their judge, and executioner of their sins. Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Pray
Pray