The War Within
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Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
War, fights, conflicts are a way of life. Life under the sun, life in this fallen world. Fights, wars, conflicts can come from within, even within the pages of the Bible. From world wars to gas wars, from battles to conflicts James starts to address how to end wars, today we look at the causes of the war within.
We know what scripture says about dwelling in unity (Ps133:1) and peace (Rom12:18) with one another.
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!
and then
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
But still you can find wars, battles, conflicts within the pages of the Bible:
Lot quarreled with Abraham (Gen13)
quarrel that lead to division
Absolom warred with his father David (2Sam13-18)
War in trying to usurp the throne and kill his father
Disciples even disputed with one another (Lk9:46-48)
disputes over who will be the greatest in the kingdom
Early church conflicts
Corinthian church warring, suing one another (1Cor6:1-8; 14:23-40)
Galatian church devouring one another (Gal5:15)
Ephesian church needed to be reminded of unity (Eph4:1-16)
And the bickering women of church of Philippi (Php4:1-3)
Wars within book of James noted
I know I have mentioned lot’s of scripture thus far and have not given you, read any thus far. So I will give you some now from James, but I encourage you to read the others.
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Class wars (Jm2:1-9)
Employment wars (Jm5:1-6)
Church fights (Jm1:19-20; 3:13-18)
And finally, personal wars (Jm4:11-12) more on this next week
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Class wars (Jm2:1-9)
1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
I think you can get the jest of the passage here. a battle, war between the have and the have nots, the rich and the poor.
Class wars (Jm2:1-9)
Employment wars (Jm5:1-6)
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
Here is a passage where the workers work but the employers hold back the wages for work done. The ones who need it the most are not provided what was due to them.
Class wars (Jm2:1-9)
Employment wars (Jm5:1-6)
Church fights (Jm1:19-20; 3:13-18)
Seems that the the believers that James is addressing, the disbursed, displaced were at battle with each other for position within the church eve
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
and then a passage we recently looked at
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Class wars (Jm2:1-9)
Employment wars (Jm5:1-6)
Church fights (Jm1:19-20; 3:13-18)
And finally, personal wars (Jm4:11-12) more on this next week
11 Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
James is admonishing, teaching, correcting, so not to war with one another, or to war within. Church fights can be bitter, hateful, divisive and oftentimes they come from envy of worldly wisdom that is not from above that is not peaceable and perfect (Jm3:17-18)
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Now our passage then will get into the causes of the war within.
1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
War Within
War Within
As Christians we are not immune to battles, spiritual battles (Eph6:12); tembtation battles (Jm1:13-15; 1Cor10:13) but there can be battles within the church too. They can cause dissent, disunity and even dis-fellowship and church splits. James addresses this issue in our passage and how it impacts our prayer life too. He does not hold back.
What was the source of the problem?
Source of quarrels - your pleasure (self pleasure) (Jm4:1; 2Cor7:5; Tit3:9)
wages war against your members.
5 For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within.
and
9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
When we think of ourselves before we think of others.
Quarrels that want to take the wisdom and the peace from us (Jm3:17-18 as read before)
As Christians who live in the flesh that wages war against the spirit (Gal:5:17-21
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Look at that list, how much of that list comes from within can wage war within as well as division and dissension and disunity as well as dis-fellowship?
Here is another term used in Greek (Hedonism) (Lk8:14; Rom7:14-25)
Philosophy of self-gratification, (mad dash for immediate pleasure). Jesus even addressed the issue (Lk8:14); Paul displayed and defined the issue (Rom7:14-25)
14 “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
choked out by the flesh and the desires, pleasures of the flesh, this like. You can read more about Paul’s struggles in Rom7, but in spirit of respecting your time, I will press on.
Fleshly desires, evil influences, even when they may be subtle, in the world, we cannot be freed from them while in the flesh, but by God’s grace we can escape their domination of our lives.
What we do, or do not do with the war within impacts our prayer life and the effectiveness of our prayer life. May we remember that prayer is the biggest way we communicate with God and we don’t want to hinder that.
Results of war
Results of war
With some very strong words used, James gives a picture of the results of the war within.
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
let me rephrase it for emphatic purposes
“You want something but do not get it so you kill. You covet but cannot have what you want so you quarrel and fight.
Can frustrated, envious desire lead to murder (Gen4:2-8; 2Sam11; Mt27:18)?
Envy caused Cain to kill Able (Gen4:2-8)
Envious desire caused Uriah’s death (2Sam11)
Envy, pride is what killed Jesus (Mt27:18)
18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
Can frustrated, envious desire lead to spiritual murder (Mt5:21-22; 1Jn3:12-15)
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
You do not have because you do not ask, ask the one who wants to give liberally (Jm1:17; Mt7:7-8)
17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
and add to that what Jesus says
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
We need to ask, seek knock, but there is a condition.
You do not have for you ask with wrong motives, heart (Jm4:3)
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Ask with wrong motives, like for self pleasure as noted in (v.1).
How do we ask God? We ask in prayer. I once read
“Prayer is not magical or mechanical, it is relational”
Asking is praying and prayers are heard (Ps34:15; 1Jn3:21-22) when asked with the right heart.
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.
Rigtheous, let me go one step further on that
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
It is knowing, it is asking, it is doing the right thing, things that are pleasing in His sight. Only way we can do that is relational, we need to know Him and He makes Himself known through His Word. He gives us the tools needed for handle the war within.
Right tools for battling the war within
Right tools for battling the war within
Tools, not only does God provide them, He provides instructions to use them.
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Tool of fleeing, pursing (2Tim2:22-23)
Tool of submitting (Jm4:7-10)
Tool of seeking (Col3:1-2)
Tool of diligence w/humility (Eph4:2-3)
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Tool of fleeing, pursing (2Tim2:22-23)
22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
Flee and pursue, in looking at this does it not look like repentance, changing mind and changing direction?
Tool of fleeing, pursing (2Tim2:22-23)
Tool of submitting (Jm4:7-10)
7 Submit 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 miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Submit, resist, draw near, cleanse, purify, whew, what a list and I hope y’all are here next week when we delve more into these verses.
Tool of fleeing, pursing (2Tim2:22-23)
Tool of submitting (Jm4:7-10)
Tool of seeking (Col3:1-2)
1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Not only seeking, but seeking the right things from the right place. Things that are above, setting your mind on those things!
Tool of fleeing, pursing (2Tim2:22-23)
Tool of submitting (Jm4:7-10)
Tool of seeking (Col3:1-2)
Tool of diligence w/humility (Eph4:2-3)
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The war within that causes division, disputes, dissension has a solution, humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, love and the action of diligence.
Pursue and protect the unity; make peace not war (Rom14:19)
19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
(Unity picture- Ps133:1)
below is not on a slide, just for me to read and then expand into encouragement after it.
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!
expand on unity vs. war within, to protect the unity and the peace of the body.
(Love one another slide) prayer (exit slide)