Sermon Tone Analysis
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This section of James addresses two issues with which we are all familiar: violence and violated relationships.
The question he asked over 1900 years ago is still being asked today at every level of society, /"What is the source of all the fights and conflicts among us?"/
Why are children killing children?
Why do husbands beat up on their wives?
Why do we tend to hurt those we love the most?
In the book Love Must Be Tough, James Dobson, recorded an illustration that graphically demonstrates how deeply these issues are affecting society.
He tells of a sixth-grade teacher who gave her class a creative writing assignment.
Each was asked to complete a sentence that began with the words "I wish."
The teacher expected the boys and girls to express wishes for bicycles, dogs, television sets and trips to Hawaii.
Instead, /twenty/ of the thirty children made reference in their responses to their own disintegrating families.
A few of the actual responses were as follows:
* I wish my parents wouldn’t fight and I wish my father would come back.
* I wish my mother didn’t have a boyfriend.
* I wish I could get straight A’s so my father would love me.
* I wish I had one mom and one dad so the kids wouldn’t make fun of me.
I have three moms and three dads and they botch up my life.
* I wish I had an M-1 rifle so I could shoot those who make fun of me.
/Love Must Be Tough, /page 13.
Although James specifically had in mind the conflict that leads to battered congregations and split churches, his words apply equally well to abusive families and broken homes.
The same passions that lead to church disputes are at the root of all conflicts.
Affairs of the heart, whether against God or a spouse, are remarkably similar.
Following the steps James prescribes for dealing with these issues in the church will also extend their benefits into our homes and society.
I.
The Source of Conflict – Verses 1-3
*A.
Selfish Passions (1-2a)*
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Universal desires /– lusts that war in [our] members/.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, the Bible states that they died.
They became independent creatures cut off from the life of God.
From that point forward, they had to find life from /within/ themselves.
They had to satisfy their own desires.
The desire to be somebody.
The desire to have security.
The desire to be loved.
The desire to do something worthwhile.
Instead of resting in contentment with all their needs supplied by God, they entered a struggle to find life where it doesn’t exist.
How often have you heard someone say, "You haven’t really lived until you’ve ______."
"I’ll be happy when I become _______; when I have ______; when I have experienced _______."
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Unfulfilled desires – /ye have not …cannot obtain …ye have not/.
Our inability to fulfill these desires leads to frustration and hostility.
James says, /"Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war."/
Frustrated by people and circumstances, we lash out at those around us.
We become willing to hurt and destroy in an effort to meet our needs.
After all, since we are all competing for the same things, we will do anything to eliminate the competition.
We envy what we think others have, grieve as long as we don’t have it, and continually struggle to find a way to get it.
*B.
Sinful Prayers (2b-3)*
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Asking not.
Prayerlessness is a symptom of our independence.
/I /am going to do things /my own /way.
/I/ will decide what’s best for /me/.
/I/ am perfectly capable of running /my own/ life.
This is such a little thing; /I/ can handle it myself.
With the statement /"Ye have not because ye ask not,"/ James gives us a vital reminder.
As long as we look for fulfillment in life from any source other than God, the conflict will never cease.
We will never be content with who we are, what we have, where we are headed, or what we have done.
We will continue to feel frustrated and others will be hurt.
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Asking amiss.
*To ask amiss is to ask with the wrong motive*.
Instead of a prayer yielding to God’s plan and purpose, it is a prayer to gratify our own desires.
It is an attempt to put a spiritual "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" on our struggle to satisfy our own desires.
If God were to answer such prayers, it would only serve to strengthen us in our independence.
How would you finish this sentence (honestly): For to me to live is _________.
Is life for you defined as a job, a goal, a possession, another person?
Or can you honestly say that life for you – the fulfillment of all your desires – is Jesus Christ.
Not to be like Christ.
Not to serve Christ.
But to receive from Him all you need.
Are you still struggling to meet your own needs – fighting, warring, crushing the competition – or have you learned to rest in His sufficiency?
II.
The Seriousness of Compromise – Verses 4-6
*A.
It resembles adultery (4-5)*
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It is infidelity.
Verse 4
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Adultery occurs when one person looks outside the exclusive relationship of marriage to get his emotional and sexual needs met.
A third party is added to the relationship that does not belong.
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Spiritual adultery occurs when Christians look outside their relationship to God to get their needs met.
A third party, /the world/, is invited into the relationship.
* /The world/ refers to the philosophies and practices that fallen men have devised in their effort to live apart from God.
Thus, they are against God (anti-God).
* To embrace the world (especially in this context of fulfilling our desires), is like inviting a hated rival into the marriage bed.
* When we crave acceptance from the world, we reject God and set ourselves against Him as though we were His enemy.
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It is insensitivity.
Verse 5
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James reminds us that the Holy Spirit, the very Person of God, lives within us; and He is jealous of our relationship with Him.
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When we look to any other source to meet our needs, we are treading on the feelings of our lifelong companion, the divine Comforter.
*B.
It reveals our arrogance (6)*
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The meaning of grace.
Most Christians have a good understanding of grace as it applies to salvation.
They understand that /God did something for them/ /that they could never do for themselves/.
He erased their sin debt.
He gave them a righteous standing before God.
He made them spiritually alive so that they could enjoy intimate fellowship with the Father.
We tend to be a little more fuzzy-minded when it comes to grace in the Christian life.
We tend to view grace as God /covering up/ for our failures, or /helping/ us to do or endure difficult things.
Somehow we fail to understand that grace in the Christian life still means /God doing for us that which we could never do for ourselves/ – which is everything, because Jesus said, /"Without me, ye can do nothing."/
James writes, /"God gives more grace."/
He is ready to take control of our lives, meet our needs, put an end to our struggles – to become everything we need for /life/, the thing Adam lost in the Garden.
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