The War Within
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Title: “The War Within”
Scripture: James 4:1-6
Occasion: Freeway Sanford
Date: June 20, 2023
Scripture Transitions Sermon Title|Quotes |Emphasis| Illustration
PRAY
Ephesians 1:2 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Read James 4:1-6
Today sermon is entitled:
“The War Within”
You will never be able to avoid conflict.
There is conflict in friendships.
There is conflict in marriages.
There is conflict in ministry.
Some of us are carrying around some serious wounds that we have received from conflict, and others are carrying around serious guilt because of the damage we have done to others in conflict.
I wish I could tell you that conflict doesn’t happen in the Church, but I can’t.
The Word of God is clear that the war that is going in this Text is not a war that is simply waging outside of these doors, but inside of these doors.
This is a war within.
Both within us personally, and within us corporately.
Sometimes for new Christian’s we can be shocked by conflict in the Church.
I know I was when I first encountered it.
I thought everybody at church got along and never had anything bad to say about each other.
Well, I was wrong.
Mind you, what was the last chapter about: Taming the tongue.
James 3:9 (ESV)
With [Our Tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
Yeah, that’s clearly talking about Church people.
Now there are two things that I need you to know about this text in light of what I just said:
We shouldn’t be surprised when conflict arises in the Church.
Because of Sin.
There will always be tares among the wheat. Unbelievers among believers. This is what this text is about.
James also helps us see that the Church SHOULD BE DIFFERENT from the world.
Church should be holy and set apart. (Personal and Corporate Holiness)
We should do our best to identify real faith from fake faith for the sake of our witness. (The epistle of James is all about how to spot real faith from fake faith)
It should be clear as day to those on the outside that our friendship is with God and not with the world.
When our friendship (loyalty, love) is with God, our friendships (loyalty and love) with each other will be filled with unity, life, love, truth, and grace.
Therefore, if conflict is inevitable in the Church, we must examine the text today to understand the root cause of this conflict and how we can become a community of true Christians with real, living faith, that works through conflict with grace and truth for the world to see what friendship with God looks like.
We will navigate the text in 3 ways:
The Root of Conflict.
The Symptoms of Conflict.
The Solution to Conflict.
Let’s start with verse 1 look at the root of conflict.
The root of the war within:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
As you think about your most recent conflict, I want you to just take a moment and ask yourself:
What happened?
Why did it take place?
If there is a recurring conflict, why is it keep happening?
What’s going on?
I know that our natural sinful instinct is to answer these questions by pointing the finger to other people.
They are the problem.
They did this and they did that.
If they weren’t so unreasonable, or demanding, or more thoughtful and considerate, then there wouldn’t be a problem!
Our typical answer to James question would be that other people are to blame for OUR conflicts.
James WILL NOT let that happen.
James is clear as day: The issue isn't everyone else, it’s you!
The problem is not out there; it is in here-in us.
James points out here to us that the heart of the problem is the problem of our hearts.
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?
James points out here that at the heart of every conflict is a problem of the heart.
The bible informs us that we are all born with sinful hearts.
Out of our sinful hearts flow evil desires.
Our sinful hearts cannot go against its natural desires.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
The nature of our heart apart from Christ is spiritually dead, and It loves evil. It loves self. It loves power. It loves money. It loves the world.
That’s why James uses this word “passions” it means deep pleasure!
Within the heart of every unbeliever is a deep pleasure for self.
We desire with great affection - for power and for glory.
We want what we want when we want it and we will do anything we can to get it.
Really how far will our carnal desires take us?
How far are we willing to go to get what we want?
This leads to my second point: The symptoms of conflict
James says,
James 4:2 (ESV)
You desire and do not have, so you murder.
You will kill to get what you want!
Sin, friends, always takes you farther than you want to go.
The point James is making here in verse 2 is that this war within always comes with casualties.
When you are hell bent on getting whatever you want when you want it, it is deadly.
You will do whatever you can to have your desires fulfilled.
You will hurt yourself, and you will hurt others.
Example of my brother Steve.
Verse 2 i sobering.
I don’t think people find themselves initially wanting to kill anyone for what they want, but this is a prime example of the evil of our hearts.
James is sobering us up here and showing what we are capable of doing to have our sinful desires met.
Example of David and Uriah.
We will go so far as to kill in order to get what we want.
James 4:2 (ESV)
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
We will go to great lengths to get what our evil hearts desire.
The point here for us is this: We must never underestimate the sinfulness of our hearts.
It is easy to point the finger at other people and say they are the problem.
But James is causing us here to look inwardly at our hearts.
Look closely at the sinfulness of your heart tonight, and ask yourself:
How has my sin, my selfish desires, my pursuit for my own pleasure caused conflict? Caused war in my life? In the Church? In prayer?
James makes a very interesting insertion here in v2-3.
James 4:2–3 (ESV)
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.
So James says, that our sinful hearts not only affect the way we interact with others, but it greatly impacts our relationship with God.
The first sign of that impact is prayer.
Or should I say prayerlessness.
Sam Albert says this in his commentary about this verse:
Prayerlessness is a sign that someone is trying to run things in their own strength, for their own sake, and under their own authority.
Prayerlessness arises from a sense of independence from God—so that instead of praying about our desires, we indulge them.
Rather than trusting in the Father, who delights in giving good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11), we ourselves decide what is good and seek to gain it through our own efforts.
I often say this, that prayer reveals where your heart is.
So a lack of prayer in your life reveals that it is in fact you and not God who is running the show.
A heart that is bent on getting what it wants try's to manipulate anyone in its path.
It even tries to manipulate God, James says.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Example of Traie asking God for drugs to get high.
Friend, God is not your genie.
He doesn’t beat to your drum.
He is not a vending machine.
You can’t manipulate God to give you what you want.
Prayer is not about getting approval on your plans and agendas!
Prayer is fundamentally about aligning our wills to God’s will.
Sam Allbery says,
The purpose of prayer is not to try to get God to do what we want; it is actually a means by which we align ourselves to his priorities.
Part of the point of prayer is to remind ourselves of what God wants.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
David Platt once said:
“Make God’s will your want, then ask whatever you want!
But a heart that is bent towards self uses God as means to it’s own end.
A heart that is set on power, and money, and glory, and me me me will try and use God.
And to that James responds,
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.
He calls those who cause conflicts, and cause wars in and outside the Church, those who use people and God to try and get what they want-Spiritual prostitutes.
Get James’ picture here:
Think of the horror of a husband or a wife discovering their spouse in the Midst of an affair!
James Says, this is the only behavior that describes what’s going on in this passage.
Here is what James is saying here in verse 4: (I believe verse 4 is what verses 1-6 are all about)
James is helping us to understand that there will be people in the Church that will claim the name of Christ but they are not actually Christians.
They will be members of Churches.
They will serve.
They will give.
They will be at every church event.
But in the end it will be evident that their loyalty is not to God but to themselves and to the World.
James helps us to spot real faith from fake faith in the Church. (It’s really what the whole letter is about!)
The affection, the deep desire, the passions of a carnal and worldly person, James says Here, will eventually bubble up to the surface through their actions.
What actions you ask?
QUARRELS AND FIGHTS!
These people will appear spiritual and make every excuse to justify their quarrels and fights. However, James says that beneath the surface, their carnal passions for personal pleasure are driving them to cause havoc in the Church.
Verse 4 is a crossroads tonight:
You are either a friend of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (you put yourself to death tonight, your pleasures, your desires, your agendas, and replace them with Christs and find life, healing, restoration, freedom, humility) or you are a friend of the world and you find that God is not your friend but your enemy. (Consequently destruction, earthly and eternally)
Verse 4 can be worded like this:
You either love God and hate the world or you hate God and love the world.
You can’t have a foot in the world and a foot in the kingdom of God.
One cannot serve two masters.
The message version really brings home the reality of verse 4 in a very simple way:
You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. James 4:4 MSG
Today you have a choice.
Who will you choose to be friends with?
James follows verse 4 with a very interesting quote that has been debating among many theologians and pastors as to it’s meaning.
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”?
You won't find this exact quote anywhere in Scripture.
It is a compilation of biblical truths.
I believe James is saying, “that this truth that I’m about to quote is all over scripture.”
There are three ways this quotation has been understood:
(1) “the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely”;
(2) “the Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously”;
(3) “God jealously longs for the spirit he made to live in us.”
I think you can make a decent argument for both 1 and 3.
But I’m leaning more towards the first interpretation.
That all over scripture it is as clear as day, that our human spirit apart from Christ yearns for the pleasures of this world, it is filled with envy.
Right from the opening pages of scripture we are taught this:
Genesis 4:7 (ESV)
sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 26:14 (ESV)
[Isaac] had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
Proverbs 21:10 tells us,
The soul of the wicked desires evil;
his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
and of course,
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
I believe James is saying here that the scripture regarding man’s depravity and bent towards sin and the world is all over scripture.
And I think the point of the quote is this:
That to really appreciate and value the grace of God, you have to first understand the depths of your sinful heart.
You will never make much of God’s grace if you think that you are a good person.
You will never value God’s grace if you think for a second you that you deserve it.
The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)
So I believe James is bringing us to the end of ourselves here with this OT.
If we are going to see the glory and beauty of God’s grace, then we must first confess that we are wicked sinners who love the world and who love our sin and make no excuses for it.
We have to admit that the reason that there are quarrels , and fights, and destruction all around us, is because of no one else, but ME.
And once you get there my dear friend, then you can truly see and savor God’s grace.
This leads us to my final point: The solution to conflict
God says to you the most precious words of the Bible:
James 4:6 (ESV)
But he gives more grace.
This “give more grace” phrase means that God is GREATER than your sin, your passions for the world, and the grip of satan and his evil schemes!
Sometimes when you’re caught up chasing the world and all of its empty promises, you think to yourself that you are too far gone.
“That there is no way God will show me grace now.”
But James says “God gives greater grace to you my broken friend.”
The grace of God is for those who are humble enough to admit and confess today, that they are in opposition to God.
True humility starts with taking responsibility.
To accept God grace requires that you admit you need it.
Illustration of accepting grace
If you don’t accept his grace today, you are admitting that you are God’s enemy.
Worse, He is your enemy.
The incredible news of the gospel of grace that’s available to you is this:
Romans 5:6–8 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus was treated as enemy so that you might be called a friend of God tonight.
He took your place on a criminals cross, though he never committed any sin, so that you might never taste the punishment of God for your sin.
God poured out his wrath on his only son on the cross in order to make forgiveness, and grace, and mercy, and a personal relationship with God available for you tonight.
And so each of us is faced with a choice:
Will love of self draw me from God, or will love of God draw me from myself?
[God’s] Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his bolts, or a beggar his rags.
bio.thomasbrooks
Will we invite God’s opposition, or receive his grace?
There is no third option—no neutral place.
We are either friends with the world, or friends with God.
We cannot pursue both.
Today what will it be?
PRAY