Go All In

Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?

What causes the most conflict in your life?

Introduction

When you get married to someone, you have things that are different in families that can cause arguments, In-laws can cause conflict, money can cause conflict, for me and Alyssa some of the things that cause conflict are the things that we say, actually not so much what we say but how we say it. Even more than how we say it, but he we pronounce it. Apparently people say things different depending upon where they are from.

Don vs Dawn

Sliver vs Splinter

Teaching

James 4:1 ESV

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

What is the source of conflict? Because our passions and desires are at war between us and the other person. That’s why conflict occurs when two people are incredibly passionate about something but in opposite directions.

Analogies

When you get into a fight with your sibling because they are playing on the switch and not sharing, what's the source? You want to play on it too, but they don’t want you on it, so you bicker and get angry and fight, and then parents get involved and everyone is grounded.

Why do wars break out? One country's leaders want to do one thing and another country's leaders disagree with it.

When parents get divorced, what's the cause? Something happened where one or both parents had a desire that went a completely different direction than each other. Ultimately, that’s caused by losing focus on pursuing God together.

Teaching 2

James 4:2–3 ESV

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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

We see some examples here that James gives:

If you desire something and don’t have it or can’t get it, hatred builds up within you and when hatred produces its ultimate end, its ripest fruit, there is murder.

You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel. You want so badly what someone else has, that you’re willing to destroy that relationship for the sake of gaining it, or maybe if you can’t have it you don’t even want that relationship to continue going.

James comes in with a truth bomb for these people: the reason that you do not have is because you do not ask. The reason you do not receive when you do ask is because you ask wrongly. You are not asking for something to benefit God and His kingdom, you’re not asking for something so that you can contribute better to the community, but you ask for something so you can use it for yourself. You’re asking in a selfish and godless way.

James 4:4–7 ESV

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. 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”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We see two polar opposites displayed here: we see that on one side we have a relationship with God, and on the other side we have a relationship with the world. What does that look like in your context? A relationship with God would look like, being baptized, regular prayer, regular Bible reading, regular church attendance, and repentance. Things that we are commanded to do. Things that we should want to do if we love God.

What about the relationship with the World? Collapsing under peer pressure because you're scared of what other people will think about you. Disrespecting your parents. Bullying someone else or putting someone else down. Prioritizing anything over God like sports, video games, and social media.

Root vs Fruit

Whenever a negative behavior presents itself in a person, there is always a deeper cause. The fruit is that negative behavior, but the root, is something deeper that is causing it. Let’s say conflict over a switch erupts in your household, the fruit is the conflict, but the root, in this case could be jealousy, selfishness, resentment. But a big summary of them is sin. There will never be conflict to arise that is the result of anything other than sin, that is the root. What kind of sin is what needs to be found out from counseling.

I want to distinguish between conflict and a disagreement. Conflict is more of a fight, the language used in James is warring out, or battling. The only reason that conflict would come up is if someone sins against someone else. Disagreements can be handled in a godly way. DIsagrements are usually the result of a lack of knowledge, if I say the moon is made of cheese and warren says, I disagree and let me tell you why, I now have more knowledge so I can come to an agreement. A disagreement can turn into conflict if sin enters the discussion. Warren I think the moon is made of cheese, well Peyton, I disagree and let me tell you why. No Warren, you don’t understand, my entire livelihood depends on the moon being made of cheese. I have dedicated my life to trying to find ways to make it to the moon so I can eat it. I’ve joined various facebook groups like cheesymoon alliance and I’m willing to fight anyone who disagrees with me.

We have now found an Idol in my life where the moon being made of cheese had ascended to the point of an Idol in my life and there is the sin.

Application

Go all In

All of these things that we do to be friendly with the world and not God happen because of one thing. We don’t submit to Him. We don’t surrender to Him. We don’t give our lives to Him. I want to tell you something, God is not about being lukewarm. You are either all in or you are all out, you know what the problem with being lukewarm is? It’s not that it's hard for God to figure it out, either you have the Holy Spirit or you don't. It’s that it makes it more difficult for the genuine believers. If you claim to be a believer, if you come to church on Sunday to play video games that's the extent of your relationship with God. The rest of the time you go home and your life is completely indistinguishable from your unbelieving friends, you can recognize a tree by its fruit.

If you're teetering in the middle, or you feel like you used to be passionate about God, and now that school has started and you're getting overwhelmed with that and friendship drama, and homework, and sports are pulling your attention in other directions other than God, I want to tell you to go all in. Don’t have a foot in the world and a foot in the kingdom of God because when Jesus comes back, that foot is going to get crushed in the door when it closes. be all in. Go all in.