The War of the World
Notes
Transcript
James 4:1-6
James 4:1-6
Today for our text we will be in James 4:1-6 if you would like to go ahead and turn in your Bibles. If you would like a title for today I took a flyer from the old radio drama and titled it the War of the World.
Throughout the letter of James we have seen James list many things to look for to distinguish the follower of Christ from the unbeliever. James has pointed out in chapter one how the believer handles trials and temptation. In chapter 2 James deals with how we treat others and how we are not saved by our works but our faith without works is a dead faith. In chapter 3, James talks about how the believer should talk and the power of the tongue, and He ends chapter 3 talking about the difference between a Godly Wisdom and a wisdom that comes from the world and from hell. James continually contrasts the things that are found from God, and the things that can be found from the world. He continues here in chapter 4 and comes to a key indicator of saving faith; ones attitude towards the world.
“To be a friend of the world is to be what? The enemy of God. And it’s not so much that you are God’s enemy as it is that God becomes your enemy, which is far more fearful a perception.” (John McArthur)
What James shows here in the beginning of chapter 4, is the difference between a love and friendship with the world, and the love and friendship we have with God. James contrasts this, dealing with the fighting and conflict within the church among those that claim to be believers. We must look at what causes fights and quarrels among us. Why do we have disagreements and have anger towards each other? There is a reason, that James precedes this section of his letter with the discussion on the tongue and wisdom in chapter 3. As believers in Christ we are to be united with one another as the body of Christ. We are to be united with the Church around the globe, the church universal, that comprises itself of all true believers in Christ. Where denominations and backgrounds do not matter. Where pedigree and status are not seen, but where we stand together united as sons and daughter of the most high God. There are certain things that we should be on the same page about. There are doctrinal nonnegotiable’s that we must hold to. The nature of God found in the Trinity, the virgin birth, the resurrection of Christ, that Jesus is God, that we are saved by faith alone, that the scriptures are true and profitable and the list can go on. We unite on these matters of doctrine while we can disagree on tertiary matters that do not affect our salvation.
James points out in this chapter that there is a demand for the person who lives a live of faithfulness before God. That a life of faith, a lifestyle that seeks to honor God, is a lifestyle that demands submission to God. It demands that we die to our flesh and its desires, that we turn our back on the world and the things of the world. The believer resists and pushes against the wisdom and the things of the world, and they are born a new creation that seeks after the things of God.
This is the beauty of our salvation, and what the Bible means when it says we were slaves to sin but we are now slaves to Christ. It is two different meanings of the term used. In slavery to sin we have no will to resist sin. We continue to sin over and over and are not able to stop the cycle. Proverbs tells us:
11 Like a dog that returns to his vomit
is a fool who repeats his folly.
While in sin we are like that dog, we are fools, we continue to return to the very thing that made us sick. We are dead and lost, and because we are slaves to sin, we are bound in our flesh to seek after sin. To seek after the things of this world. To seek after the things that go against the very nature and heart of God. When we are set free to be slaves to Christ it is a very different life. We are dead and lifeless and God sends his Holy Spirit to breath life into our dead and broken souls. At that moment we are brought to life. We are no longer slaves to sin. Because of the work of Christ on the cross we are now able to resist sin. We are no longer bound to continue in the same cycle but we are given new hearts, renewed minds, and new desires. God grows our desires to seek after Him and the things of God and not the things of the world. We will still fall and fail but when we do we are not bound to stay fallen, but we are able to rise again and to move forward in repentance with the grace of God on our lives.
When we are slaves to Christ our desires change. The way we live changes. We are no longer bound but we are free to live a life that is full of joy and peace when we find our rest in Christ. We must intentionally walk in this freedom that we have been given. When we do not walk in this freedom, and we resort to the ways of our flesh, then we create the recipe for what James sees happening in the church here. Though they are free in Christ many are still holding to the corrupted nature of their old selves, they are still allowing themselves to be controlled by their sinful nature and selfish desires. This causes strife and contention within the church, and causes the believer to fall to sin, seeking after selfish desires, rather than seeking after God.
This is the Word of the Lord to His People
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.”
This is the Word of the Lord, Amen.
These first 6 verses can be broken down into 3 different headings.
Cause of Conflict (4:1-2)
Consequence of Conflict (4:3-4)
Cure for Conflict (4:5-6)
Cause of Conflict (4:1-2)
James first deals with the cause of conflict within the church in the first 2 verses. He looks at the church and he sees a people that are divided. They are not functioning as the body of Christ they are called to be. The verses here suggest both ongoing hostility and bursts of fighting. What was the cause of this fighting and hostility? James breaks this down into two cause and affect statements.
You desire and do not have; so you murder.
And you covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel. (some translations say wage war)
When we look at these statements we can see one common reason, and that is selfishness. This conflict comes out of inner sensual lusts or pleasures. The word pleasure here is translated from the word “hedonon” which also means desires. This philosophy of man is that pleasure is the chief end of mankind. Above all else seek after what makes you happy. This is a battle that satan has been fighting in the hearts and minds of humanity for ages. The thought of the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s, if it feels good do it. Even today we are told if it doesn’t harm anyone else then you should seek after whatever brings you pleasure, at whatever cost it may bring. We are told by society and media to follow our hearts. To make sure we love ourselves first above all else. This hedonistic philosophy relates back to what we talked about in chapter 3 when we speak of doctrines of demons. It is a doctrine and philosophy that can find its creation in the very pits of hell.
There is an opposite philosophy that has been touted by the pastor and speaker, John Piper, throughout the years. It is the philosophy of practicing Christian Hedonism. This outlooks says that:
“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.” (John Piper)
This philosophy is focused at its core on emphasizing the pursuit of joy in God as the core element of the Christian life. Not pursuing joy in possessions, or careers, or relationships, but finding our fulfillment of joy in God alone.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This is the opposite of finding happiness and pleasure in self, but it is a philosophy that seeks to magnify finding the source of all our pleasure in God! We do not seek after the pleasures of this world to fulfill our lives, but we find all fulfillment in God alone.
These are differences contrasted here. Fighting and wars and even murder are being done in the name of seeking after your own pleasure, while the true follower of Christ will find the pleasure and their satisfaction in Christ alone.
There is an old hymn that was written by Fanny Crosby and the words say:
Vs 1.
Take the world, but give me Jesus;
All its Joys are but a name,
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same.
Refrain
Oh, the height and depth of mercy!
Oh, the length and breadth of love!
Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above.
Oh that this be the cry pouring out of the depths of the heart of every believer. I don’t want the things of this world, I don’t want the promises that the world gives, I don’t want to seek after the selfish desires and hedonistic pleasures this world offers, but all I need, all I want, all I desire is JESUS!!!
The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 4
“You desire and do not have.” Worldly desires, however strong they may be, do not in many cases obtain what they seek. A person longs to be happy, but he is not. He pines to be great, but he grows more ordinary every day. He aspires after what he thinks will content him, but he is still unsatisfied. One way or another his life is a disappointment. How can it be otherwise? If we sow the wind, must we not reap the whirlwind and nothing else? If a person’s desires are the longings of fallen nature, if they begin and end with self, if the chief end for which one lives is not to glorify God but to glorify self, then one can desire but will not have.
If we seek after the things of this world we will never be satisfied. We will think if I just get this next level, if I achieve this car or this job, I’ll have made it, and we will get there and find we are not satisfied. The wars and fights that are being seen come from the wrong desires in our lives that are focused on self. This focus on sin, this selfishness, is the very essence of sin.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Nine: How to End Wars (James 4:1–12)
Eve disobeyed God because she wanted to eat of the tree and become wise like God. Abraham lied about his wife because he selfishly wanted to save his own life (
We seek to fulfill the desires within us on our own, and of our own accord and thought. We fail to rely on God to do this, and James points out that we don’t have because we don’t ask. We were instructed at the beginning of James that if we lack wisdom we should ask God for it, and He will provide it. We are told in Matthew when Jesus is preaching the sermon on the mount, ask and it shall be given to us, seek and we will find, knock and the door will be opened to us.
This is not asking God for material things. This is not naming and claiming that new car or that new job. This is not commanding God to open the windows of heaven and poor out financial blessings as so many false teachers would preach. This is finding the ultimate path to fulfill desire in our lives. To find complete and utter fulfillment. It is drinking of the eternal water of life. Jesus tells the woman at the well in Samaria:
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
There is only one way to find true contentment and fulfillment in life, and that is through placing our trust in Jesus, and His promises will be the fulfillment of all of our desires and needs if we only ask. We ask God, we seek after God, we knock on the door of heaven, and we are promised that we will be given eternal life and salvation, we will find our purpose and fulfillment in Christ, and we will be adopted and brought into the family of God as Sons and Daughters of the most High God. While mans philosophy of hedonism declares that selfish pleasure is the chief end of man, the scripture informs us that the chief end of man is to glorify God, and in glorifying God we are privileged to enjoy Him forever.
Consequence of Conflict (4:3-4)
In verses 3 and 4 James deals with the consequence of this conflict. There are always consequences for all actions, and the outcome of whether the consequences are good or bad, is largely based on the action and the meaning or motive behind the action. James here points out that they ask but they do not receive, because they are asking with the wrong motive. The greek word here “kakōs” can literally mean evilly or amiss. The motives behind the asking are evil and are for selfish gain rather than God’s glory. The focus is once again on self and what can I gain, and not on how God can be glorified.
Many times we pray and ask incorrectly. Often we have already made up in our minds what we “need” or the outcome we desire, and instead of seeking after God’s will to be done, we pray that our will be done. We pray God, just do this, and if He doesn’t, we selfishly throw our own version of a temper tantrum because we didn’t get our way. Many times God may not answer our prayers in the way we think He will, with what we have specifically prayed for, or even at all. We are promised in Romans
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God works all things together for good….according to His purpose. Not according to our will, not according to our desire, but according to what He has planned, according to His will. Many times we sit and we wonder why God doesn’t always give us what we ask, while not realizing that we are asking out of selfish motives, and that what God has planned, is far greater than what we could ever think or dream. Even when Jesus was in the garden before HIs crucifixion He demonstrated the humble posture in prayer to the Father when He prayed, “not my will but yours be done.”
When people pray with wrong motives, and they don’t receive what they have prayed for, we see this turn into anger at God, anger at the people of God. They make demands of God and tell people “I prayed about it” so they can go ahead and justify their own selfish desire, but they don’t pray seeking after God. They look at God as a genie, that God is there to grant their demands, and then disappear until they need something else. These people don’t look within and see the battle that is waging inside. James says we are at war with ourselves and this war within ourselves, this failure for our mind, body, and soul to be united spills the effect of this internal war onto those around us.
It is a scary thing to see people that call themselves Christians, demand things of the sovereign God of all creation. It is only through God’s grace that so many are not struck down in their steps with the blasphemous prayers that are uttered from their lips. Instead we are told in Hebrews:
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The only reason we are able to approach the presence of a Holy God is because of our High Priest Jesus. We approach God humbly, but with confidence when we approach, to receive mercy and grace. We lift our prayers and our requests to God always praying ultimately, not our will, but our Father’s be done. We understand, from the very beginning of James, that whatever answer God gives, whatever His will is, even if HIs answer is painful, it is for His glory, and it is ultimately for our good.
James takes a different stance in verse 4. Throughout his letter he has always entreated the churches as brothers, but he now takes an Old Testament prophet stance, and calls them an adulterous people. James points out that living your life following wordly wisdom is the same as cheating on your spouse. We are the bride of Christ and the things of this world are at complete odds with God. When we follow this world we are, spiritually speaking, cheating on God. The word for friends here in the greek comes from the word “Philia” which is from a familiar Greek verb to us, “phile”, which is often translated as love in the New Testament.
It means to love in that you have an affection for or a sincere emotional attachment to the world. It implies a deep and intimate longing to be involved with the world. This is not a momentary instance in which we fall into sin, or we fail in our walk, but it is a settled affection, a strong attraction, an intimate relationship, that James is referring to here. It implies that we have commonality with the world. The word “Philia” reflects a relationship that has common interest, common concerns, common objectives, sharing of experiences.
“The word form in one way or another is used about 29 times in the New Testament. It has the idea of an emotional bonding, of a real affection. And that, I believe, is the force with which James intends to use the word.” (John McArthur)
An example to demonstrate the deep bond this word talks about is found in John
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
This is a relationship in which you would give your life for. James points out that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. This is because the things of this world are at complete odds with the things of God. To be clear, this is not James saying that we are to not be friends with people who are not Christians, though we may find it hard to do so at times if we are truly living for Christ. We are to not have a desire and a relationship that seeks after fulfillment in the things of this world. We are not to celebrate the sins of this world that are in direct contradiction to the commands of God. We see this love of the world so often in so many churches today, where they have denied the truth found in God’s Word, even denying that it is the very Word of God. This is done so that they might celebrate the very things that God says are an abomination. We are instructed in Proverbs seven things that are an abomination to God.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
We see these in the world around us in the pride people take in themselves and their accomplishments, giving all glory to themselves and none to God. In tongues that lie and slander or “fudge” the truth to make their own advantage. In a country that murders between 1500 - 2500 children every day in the abortion mills, and a world that murders around 73 million children a year with abortion. A society that has hearts that are filled with plans full of wickedness, devising all manner of evil against others. A society that runs towards evil and celebrates it in our music and our shows and embraces careers of sexual perversion. The world that lies about each other to get ahead in society and are constantly fighting with each other. Proverbs says here that it is an abomination to sow discord among brothers. Those that sow discord among the family of God are committing an abomination before God.
All of this in the world is the goal of self. Self glory, self fulfillment, self indulgence, self satisfaction. It is all completely at war with the things of God and His Word. James says that these people are hostile to God, they are enemies, they hate God. It is a statement I have heard many times and is so true that there are so many that have such an intense hatred for a God that they don’t even believe is real. This world has such a hatred of a God and most will not even say they believe He exists.
As John Calvin says, “So great is the disagreement between the world and God, that as much as any one inclines to the world, so much he alienates himself from God.”
On the opposite side for those of us who believe and follow Jesus He says we are His friends. We are His sheep. When you identify an enemy of God James is pointing out that you are identifying someone that does not believe in God, but those that believed God as Abraham did, we are told the righteousness of Christ is counted to them and they are called the friend of God. James reminds us of this in chapter 2:
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Even though we stumble and we fall into sin, even though we may be attracted by the world at times, and even though we are blind to the temptation Satan places in front of us so often, we are friends of God who love and fear Him, and long to do His will in all things. You cannot be a lover of both the world and God.
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.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
If you are friends with the world you will be an enemy of God. If you are a friend of God then you will be an enemy of the world. The world will hate you because you live, and reflect everything they want to destroy, that is found in God alone.
Cure for Conflict (4:5-6)
James then gives the cure for this conflict within, that has spilled out within the church. What is our hope? What is the cure for our adulterous ways and how can we hope to recapture our relationship with God?
Invitation to James: Persevering through Trials to Win the Crown 9. He Gives More Grace (James 4:1–6)
Our hope lies in God’s unshakable commitment to keep us intimate with him, and in the overwhelming grace he provides to make that happen
In verse 5 the internal battle between our old sinful nature and the new nature that is given by Christ is pointed out. Paul tells us about this internal war in his letter to the Galatians:
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
When we live according to our old nature, to our flesh, the Spirit of God within us is grieved by our actions. There is a jealousy between a husband and wife that is loving and holy and that is right to have. The Holy Spirit in the same way guards our heart and relationship with God. When we live to please the desires of our old nature, it is an offense against God, and one that we must quickly remedy and repent of. It is the desire of God that we worship Him with all we have. The first and greatest commandment that Jesus gives in Matthew 22:37 is:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
We are to love God with our entire being! Our heart, our soul, and our mind must all unite together and worship and love God with every breath that we breathe. Jesus told us in John:
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
It is an outpouring from the Spirit, and the truth that God has given us, that results in true worship to the Father. I thank God that His response to our failures, and the times we fall, is not an immediate rejection and banishment, but instead He pours out grace after grace to bring us back to Him. He will not allow us to remain in hostility towards Him, but the jealousy of the Holy Spirit, working in our lives, will bring us back time after time. James quotes the promise from Proverbs:
34 Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he gives favor.
When we refuse to trust God. When we fight to get our way and we ignore the will of God. When we insist that we are right. We are full of pride. We are setting ourselves up as the god of our own lives. We are ignoring the role of the true God in our lives and we are attempting to replace Him with a god of our own making and fashioned after our own ways. We are warned in Proverbs:
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
We can thank God that He does not allow us to stay in our state of prideful self reliance, but He calls us back to Him through the power of His Spirit, and He gives us grace. We are brought to humble ourselves in repentance, and we are told here in verse 6, that God has already given more grace. We don’t have to wait and hope that He forgives us once more, but He has already given more grace. Grace that leads us back to Him. Grace that softens our hardened hearts and brings us to our knees in repentant love for our God who loves us so much. God will never leave the believer where they have fallen, but He walks with us, and lifts us up, and sets us back on the path set before us.
I tell this story often, but it is such a beautiful picture of our salvation, and I dwell on it so many times. I was at a conference in Birmingham several years back, and Dr Harry Reeder was speaking on sin, more specifically besetting sins, the sins that we continue to struggle with constantly throughout our walk with God. There are many things that God delivers us from immediately, and we never struggle again, but there are some sins that we must continually hack at a little at a time to work at defeating their place in our lives.
Dr Reeder spoke of when we fall again and again, and we repent again and again, Jesus does not go to the Father each time and ask if we can once again be forgiven. Jesus goes to the Father on our behalf and He says that Stephen has fallen again, but then Christ holds out His nail scarred hands and says, but I have already paid for that sin, and Stephen has repented and is forgiven.
The grace of God is that when Jesus dies for the sins of all those that God would choose to save, He died for every sin we ever committed, every sin we are currently committing and may not even know it, and for every sin we will ever commit. When Jesus said it is finished on the cross, the complete and total payment for the sins of all those that the Father would give the Son, were payed in full for all eternity.
What a grace and a love that we never deserve, but through the mercies of God and the grace poured out through His Spirit, we are covered lavishly in the righteousness of Christ our King.
Believer’s Bible Commentary VIII. Covetousness: Its Cause and Cure (Chap. 4)
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
—Annie Johnson Flint
CLOSING
The story of the prophet Hosea reflects the love God has for an adulterous people. It is reflective of the relationship God has with the people of Israel, but can also be seen as a reflection of the relationship God has with us.
God tells the prophet Hosea to go and marry Gomer, a woman that was known for her promiscuity. Hosea obeys the Lord and marries Gomer, and eventually she abandons the marriage and returns to a life of prostitution. God then tells Hosea to go and bring her home. Hosea goes and pays her debts to the person controlling her, and brings her back home again as His wife. The people of Israel time after time turned their backs on God, walked away from truth, and worshiped the gods of other people. Time and time again God brought HIs people back to Him. Just like Hosea bringing an adulterous wife back home and restoring her to their marriage, God time and again brought the people of Israel back and restored them.
In the same way God brings us back to Him. Those who are true believers, who have truly been saved by God, will always be brought back home. They may stray, they may fall, they may run after the things of the world temporarily, but God will always restore and bring us home. His grace knows no end, and He pours it upon His people, and restores us. Our God is faithful to us, even when we are not faithful to Him.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
We turn away from the love of this world, and we turn our love and affection to our infinitely loving God who cares for us like no other.
I want to end today with the rest of the words from the hymn by Fanny Crosby I quoted vs 1 and the chorus earlier:
2
Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me,
I can sing, though billows roll.
3
Take the world, but give me Jesus;
Let me view his constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.
4
Take the world, but give me Jesus;
In His cross my trust shall be,
Till, with clearer, brighter vision
Face to face my Lord I see.
Refrain
Oh, the height and depth of mercy!
Oh, the length and breadth of love!
Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above.
Let the love and mercy of God abide in our hearts, our souls, and our minds, and let our heart cry ever be, that this world is not our home, the things of this world mean nothing, but all that we desire and cry out for, is more of Jesus!
PRAYER:
Father, let the cry of our hearts and the meditation of our minds always be fixed on a desire and a yearning for more of you. Let us not turn towards the things of this world, but let Your Spirit work in our hearts that we live our lives daily to fulfill Your will alone. Let us work to glorify You in all things and spend our lives enjoying the relationship that You allow us to have with You. I thank you that your grace is a never ending stream in our lives and that each day we can hold to the promise that there is a newness that we can walk in. We pray that You continue to keep us steadfast in condemning the things of this world that stand against You, and that we celebrate the joys and peace that are found only in You. We thank You for Your grace and mercy that allows us to now have relationship with You.
In Jesus name. Amen
BENEDICTION:
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
