James 4

James 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. 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. 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? 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Source of Fighting

Your passions are at war within you

the war is between God’s will and your will

The unrighteous fight comes when what we want isn’t happening

“I don’t like ______ so I am going to stir up trouble”

or “I want _______ and it isn’t happening”

We get offended when things aren’t catering to our desire

James was addressing fighting in the church by people who weren’t getting what they wanted

Have not because you ask not

James says the reason we don’t have is:

We don’t ask

We ask wrongly

Don’t expect God to give you what you haven’t asked him for

Don’t expect him to give you something just to satisfy your flesh

Friendship with the World

We should not seek to be liked by the world

We are either friends with God and enemies of the world, or friends of the world and enemies with God.

Underlying Problem of Selfish Pride

God opposes the proud

Pride says I can and will do it myself

God will allow you to go that route but he will show you that you can’t do it yourself

God gives grace to the humble

Walking in humility says I need God to in order to do it

God will grant you the grace you need with that spirit

Pride is the root of sin

Pride indulges the flesh

Humility brings freedom from sin

Verse 7, Submit yourself to God

Bring yourself under his command

Verse 8, Draw near to God

Pursuing him is an act of humility

it says “God I need you”

You can’t just hate sin and not sin, you must be so close to God that sin isn’t on your radar

Pride causes us to judge unrighteously

verses 11-12

We are not the judge

Unrighteous judgement talks ABOUT someone, Righteous judgement talks TO someone

Pride causes us to plan our life outside of God’s will

Verses 13-16