Heart Check... (James 4:1-10)
Notes
Transcript
Today we are in our 8th sermon in our series in James....
Before we get into our text today I want to ask you the question...
Where are the desire’s of your heart?
Jesus said...
21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Today, James confronts a sobering reality in his letter: the church has allowed the desires of their hearts to drift from God, in order to chase passions of the flesh.
Thus, today James will deliver a passionate appeal to the church to get back on track and live out their God given identity.
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.
Today I will be unpacking 3 points…
1. Check the desires of your heart
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.
We need to Check the Desires of the Heart...
We have to ask ourselves is our desires fueling fights and quarrel’s around us?
or are the desires of the heart bringing peace and love around us?
Last week James introduced the passage asking the question who is wise among you?
Step forward so we can examine the evidence.
Wisdom from God produces humility, purity, peace, mercy, gentleness, and sincerity.
In other words Godly wisdom produces Godly fruit.
But if you are walking in earthly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom the evidence of your life will be jealousy, selfishness, disorder, and all types of evil practices.
Now in today’s passage James introduces another question.… “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”
Which he has already answered this in the passage leading up to this chapter...
The answer of course for the fighting and quarreling is because they are walking in earthly wisdom instead of Godly Wisdom.
Ultimately, James delivers the point that earthly wisdom produces desires that bring division...
When James says… “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?” (It is a life that is marked by earthly wisdom....)
“Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”
(Passions that are fed and grown by earthly wisdom.)
These passions of the flesh stir up jealousy, and jealousy awakens a heart that craves what it does not possess....
And when this craving of the flesh begins to manifest… we begin to covet what belongs to another.
V2 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”
James is not saying that that people in the church are not actually murdering one another,
but from a place of jealousy, hate and anger for one another is beginning to grow...
Jesus said… if you hate someone in your heart, you have already committed murder. (Matthew 5:21-22)
This earthly wisdom is producing desires in your heart that are destructive.… hate… fighting… quarreling…
V2b-3 “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.
First you don’t have something because you do not ask....
Second when you do ask you do not receive because you ask from a place of selfishness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
After seeing this verse we began to believe we should get whatever we want… why… because God will give you the desires of your heart…
But we neglect the first part...
(Our desires change when we delight ourselves in the Lord.… because the heart changes....)
What are the desires of your heart today? (To feed the flesh or nourish the soul)
Here me when I say this...
The desires of the heart, determine the direction of our loyalties.
2. Check the Loyalties of your heart (1. Check the desires of your heart)
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.”
We need to check the Loyalties of our Hearts...
Have we surrender our heart to God or have we given our heart to the world?
James calls out the church by saying “you adulterous people!”
(notice He is not calling the world adulterous.… he is calling out the church...)
[You adulterous people… Israel… set apart… prophets call out Israel for whoring after the world....]
V4b “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
(Backsliding starts first with flirting with the things of the world.… it is those small compromises.… maybe not even sin)
The more friendly you get with the world, the further your heart drifts from God.
One of the biggest lie’s the enemy will tell us,
or maybe we will even tell ourselves is...
“My faith is strong enough that this… (fill in the blank… show, music, shot, drug, relationship…) won’t effect my faith… (deception starts)
But the more you go down that road… the more you become friendly and familiar with the things of the world...
James communicates how God responds to us as we become friendly with the world,
V5b “He (God) yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
Jealousy is a complex emotion… (Bible demonstrates jealousy as both Worldly emotion and Godly emotion) [Last week… jealousy from selfish ambition… jealousy God has for his children]
How do you think it makes God feel when you are flirting with the world instead of being devoted fully to Him? (Husbands being ok with your wives being friendly with other men)
We must examine our hearts to uncover the true desires within.
And if we find that those desires have drawn us away from God and led us toward betrayal of God,
it s time to turn back—to repent and realign our hearts with Him.
The beauty of God, is even when we stumble and fall,
He does not give up on us and is willing to pick us up from the ground.
But it takes humility to repent and receive God’s grace.
James 4:6 “6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””
3. Check the Humility of Your Heart (1. Check desires… 2. Check loyalty)
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.
Check the Humility of Your Heart....
Are are you willing to submit and surrender yourself before God.
It takes humility to submit your heart to God,
and declare Him Lord over your life. (Obedience to God…) [pride relying on yourself… humility relying on God.… earthly wisdom (having all the answers) vs Godly Wisdom]
V7 James tells us to Submit ourselves to God...
And to resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
(Resisting the devil is resisting the world’s value system)
[Resisting the devil is resisting your flirtation with the things of the world]
There is a real devil who’s job description is to steal, kill, and destroy…
The devil will flee when he is not welcomed...
The value system of the devil is not welcomed when you are drawing near to God.
James say’s “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
Here is the good news… you do not have to fix your life before you can draw near to God… Example…
(Jesus did not go to the cross for good people… Jesus went to the cross for broken people…)
Notice the structural order James gives...
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Elaborate…
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
(The more you draw near to God… the more you will understand your need for Him....)
Isaiah… “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.
Revelation from God brings humility… knowing we need God’s grace…
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Close...
The first beatitude Jesus gave on the sermon on the mount...
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Where are the desire’s of your heart?…
Pride and selfishness… humility and brokenness…
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
We unify
We examine
We remember
We proclaim
