Worldliness (James 4:1-12)

This morning, we’re continuing in the book of James; we have about 5 more sections to go before we finish the whole letter, which puts us at a little over halfway through the letter and really what we’ve seen so far in James is this real practical, real simple way of how we are to live and walk the Christian life as true believer in Jesus Christ. James has hit up multiple topics that are all very practical in that we all either struggle with the topic that he’s talking about or we all can relate to the topics that he’s talking about—for instance, we all know what it is like to suffer and we all know what it is like to struggle with sin. Each and every one of us is guilty for reading the Bible and not actually listening to what it has to say; we are all guilty for treating others partially due to their outward appearance and we’re all guilty of not having control over what we say.

Today is no different, as James is hitting a particular topic that we all have struggled with and quite frankly most continue to struggle with and it is revealed in the actions that we take. James is focused in on a topic that we typically call worldliness today, but I do have to make a clarification before we actually read the passage and before we misunderstand what the Bible means when it says worldly. When we think of what word worldly today, we sometimes get the impression of someone who is experienced, knowledgeable, or sophisticated. They might be well-educated, well-traveled, and well-read and while that might be a definition for the term worldly, that isn’t exactly what the Bible means when it talks about worldliness and that typically isn’t what the church means when it talks about worldliness or being worldly.

No, when the Bible talks about worldliness, it is talking about a state of mind or a way of life in which the things of this world are far more important than the spiritual or heavenly world. Or put another way, the temporal becomes more important than the eternal and it becomes so much more important that someone who is considered worldly in the Bible would neglect eternity for the temporal. Now, as we read the passage for this morning, you’ll notice that James doesn’t actually use the term worldly, what he says instead is that a person is “a friend of the world,” which is simply a more poetic way of calling someone worldly.

And in calling out the issue of worldliness, James does more than just tell us not to be worldly, James in this passage will instead explain what has caused fighting within the group, namely their own desires and their worldliness and he’ll call them to repentance yet again.

Before we go any further, let’s read this morning’s passage, James 4:1-12.

James 4:1–12 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?

As we study this passage, we’re going to look at it in four sections: Vs. 1-3, will look at Desire, or what James calls Passions waring within us that causes fighting and quarreling; Vs. 4-6, will diagnose what causes our passions to war within us and ultimately cause fighting and quarreling; Vs. 7-10, will call us to repentance; and Vs. 11-12, which is sometimes taken to be an independent paragraph, but I don’t think it is actually independent of this paragraph, will give some practical advice to prevent some of the infighting that is occuring in Vs. 1.

Let’s pray and we’ll start breaking down the passage.

Passions at War within Us (1-3)

James 4:1–3 ESV

James poses yet another hypothetical question in a Socratic irony type of fashion when he asks, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?” And I say that this is a hypothetical question because he already knows the answer, “Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

And we have to stop just a moment to take a look at that word passion. Because it begs the question, is it then wrong to be passionate about something? And let me give just a brief answer, because the term passions probably isn’t the best way to translate that word

It is not necessarily wrong to be passionate about something, it really depends on what your passionate about.

If you’re passionate about God, it is good; if you’re passionate about church, just as long as it doesn’t overshadow you passion for God, it is good. You can be passionate for music and you can be passionate for art or whatever it is that you’re passionate about; just as long as your passion for art, music, or church doesn’t overshadow your passion for God.

The exception would be, if you’re passionate about sin, it is never good. If the Bible condemns it, then God condemns it and if God condemns it, for us to be passionate about it would be for us to reject what God has said about it. And I would argue that to be passionate for something that might lead you to sin, while not wrong in and of itself, is starting to push the boundaries of what is good common sense and wisdom from above.

Now, you might be wondering, who exactly would be passionate about sin and the answer is really in Vs. 1, of James 4. The word translated as passion in the ESV, is probably better translated as pleasures. And it doesn’t have the same sense of meaning as “passion” it isn’t a strong emotion or an affection or an excitement for something.

This word, that should be translated as pleasures is ἡδονή (hedone), which is the root for where we get the term hedonism from. If you’re unfamiliar with the term hedonism, it reflects a philosophical belief “that pleasure or happiness is the highest good in life” and hedonists throughout history have been known to participate in any means of self-gratification in order to achieve pleasure or happiness; including sinful means.

And what James is saying here, is that the quarreling and fighting among the people within the church is caused by these pleasures, which could be these sinful, self-indulgent pleasures that are warring within them or as the KJV translates it, these pleasures are “your lusts that war [with]in your members”

So, to answer who would be passionate about sin? Well, it would be those who utilize self-gratification including sin to achieve pleasure or happiness. Those who have pleasures warring within them and succumb to the pleasures are naturally more passionate about the pleasure than they are about God.

James is making the statement that quarrels and fighting are results of these pleasures that war within us and then he expounds on what these pleasures cause to happen, Vs. 2a “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”

You desire and do not have, so you murder. — James starts by pointing at desire in the sense of envy.

The word desire is translated as lust in the KJV and NASB, which isn’t just a sexual desire, but it even gives a sense of longing or craving. In other words, it is a form of discontent brought on by sinful jealousy towards other people. And he makes the statement that, in this craving or this lust or desire, since they don’t obtain what they’re longing after, they murder.

And commentators look at this in two different ways. Because you might have the question, “is James making the statement that the believers in this church are guilty of murder?”

And some commentators believe you can justifiably believe that James is talking about religious zealots based on the simplest reading of the verse and that in their religious zeal for God, they have been murdering those that disagree with them, but whenever you read a passage like this, you have to take into consideration the context and I don’t think the people would have literally been murdering each other, because the Roman government would’ve stepped in if that was the case.

And in the context of this verse so far, it could very well be that James is just trying to explain the ultimate direction that desire in the sense of envy leads. That in their sinful desire, they will eventually murder

And that actually gives us a profound impression that murder can very well be the ultimate result of envy if envy is taken to the extreme.

James says, “You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”

And in this statement, he’s explaining that in their unrighteous jealousy for what their brothers or sisters have, they fight and they quarrel

Which if both of these statements are referring to the ultimate ends of their respective sinful actions, this statement expresses the ultimate result of covetousness, in that covetousness leads to fighting and quarreling

The difference is, that they’ve already begun fighting and quarreling because of their covetousness; whereas, if this understanding of Scripture is correct, they have yet to start murdering each other due to their sinful envy.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary makes this statement to try and clear up the verse, “James is warning his readers about just where their envious desires might lead them if not checked in time. James’s [sic] readers are not yet killing each other. But “fightings” and “wars” are already in evidence among them; and, if covetous zeal goes unrestrained, the danger of actual violence is real.” (184)

When we look at the verse as a whole, we see that the inner desire to have, whether that having is to have material possessions, positions of authority, or whatever it may be (we don’t really know), but whatever it is, the inner desire that wars within us to have

Is causing fighting and warring

And may ultimately end up with murder.

And James then suggests in 2b-3, that all of this could be avoided, with a simple approach—prayer. James then says in 2b-3, “You do not have, because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend on your pleasures.”

They don’t have what they want because they simply do not ask—and in this case, it really is on them for not asking.

This phrase, actually reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:7-9 about prayer, in which Jesus says, “ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone.”

And in James’ case, the people aren’t receiving anything because they simply do not ask, or “they ask and do not receive because they ask in order to spend it on their own pleasures.”

Which tells us a key aspect of prayer and about God—God is not a magic genie that simply gives us what we want when we ask for it.

And with this addition in Vs. 3, “they ask and do not receive because they ask in order to spend it on their own pleasures” gives us incite into why God doesn’t always answer our prayers.

Now let me be clear, this is not always going to be why doesn’t answer prayer—there are other reasons as to why God wouldn’t answer prayer and we can discuss that at another time

What I’m saying right now, is that God will not answer prayer that is motivated by our own sinful pleasure. What type of prayer is this?

Prayer for material luxury is typically motivated by our desire to have what we cannot afford.

Prayer that is motivated by pride whether that prayer is for prideful reasons or the request is a request for prideful reasons, typically will be unanswered

Prayer for selfish reasons are typically unanswered

And there are many more examples of sinful pleasure that can hinder prayer, but for lack of time let’s jump back to the passage.

These people are praying for their own pleasures and the Bible tells us that their prayers to spend it on their own pleasures results in them not receiving what they ask for

No, our prayers are to be motivated by the will of God, like 1 John 5:14 says, “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”

So prayers that are motivated by sin or motivated by our own pleasure, will remain unanswered

And James goes further, by making an abrupt and harsh statement against the people themselves. He calls them out for their fighting and warring against one another, he points out that the whole issue could be fixed with prayer and yet their prayers aren’t answered because their prayers are motivated by their own pleasure; and then he makes this statement in Vs. 4-6, that reveals the real issue behind all of this. The real issue behind the fighting, the sinful desires, the prayers motivated by their own pleasure is this:

Worldliness is Enmity with God (4-6)

James 4:4–6 ESV

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.”

James calls them “adulterous people,” which is a very Old Testament way of calling them out on their lack of faithfulness towards God.

Remember, throughout the Old Testament, when God would confront the Israelites for their sins, he would accuse them of adultery—that the Israelites were committing adultery against God and the Israelites were (and I say this with no disrespect and no lack of honor towards God), but the Israelites were essentially cheating on God

Which is exactly what James is calling out these Christian believers for, as well. He calls them out for their lack of faithfulness towards God by accusing them of essentially having an affair with the world.

And remember, in this instance when James accuses them of having a “friendship with the world,” the sense is that they’ve changed their way of life from seeking after God, and learning spiritual things to being focused on the temporal world. To these believers, this current world was more important to them than the spiritual world to come and we can see the results of that through their infighting and through their sinful desire.

The issue is that this worldliness puts oneself at odds with how God wants us to behave and to think and to act, so much so, that James makes the statement that to be friends “with the world is enmity with God.”

To be more interested in the temporal life and to allow that interest to lead us into sinful desire and sinful pleasure is to put ourselves at odds with God and to place ourselves as enemies against God, which let me remind you; that God in his vast love for us, sent his son to die on a cross for the sins of mankind in order to reconcile us to himself—he sent Jesus Christ in order that we can be redeemed from out of the bondage of sin

Which is exactly why the prime example of us being unfaithful towards God is adultery—it is an extremely personal attack on the very nature of God for us to believe in him, believe in his redemption, and believe in the reconciliation that he has offered us and for us to continue thinking like, acting like, and longing for the things of the world.

We shouldn’t be surprised that to be friends with the world, then makes us enemies of God. Because to be friends with the world, to be transformed into the likeness of the world is exactly what God through Jesus Christ saved us out of and yet that is exactly what these people that James is writing to, is doing.

It is their lack of desire for God and their desire for the world that is the core or root problem that results in quarrels and fights, it is their lack of desire and their desire for the world that results in their pleasures at war within them, and it is that lack of desire for God that results in all of the sins that James mentions.

But here’s the deal, in Vs. 5, James is starting to turn the conversation around. And in Vs. 5, James says, “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’?”

Despite the ESV putting quotations around this phrase, this actually isn’t a quotation from Scripture. This is almost like a summary of the entire Bible in that one of the key purposes throughout Scripture is for the Bible to explain to us that God desires us.

And in his desire for us, or as James says, his “jealousy over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us,” which could either refer to the Holy Spirit indwelling us or the spirit that he gives us at birth and I lean towards thinking that it is the spirit that he gives us at birth because God yearns for all to believe and call on the name of the Lord, which implies that he yearns for people that aren’t indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

But regardless of whether this is speaking of the Holy Spirit or the spirit which he gives all of mankind, James reminds us of the claim of God on every person in that he reminds us of the jealousy that God has towards us—which reflects even the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:5, in which God tells us that “[we] shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”

He is seeking us and he is searching for us because he desires that relationship with us

Which gives us the impression that since he has given us all of him; he expects us to give him all of us.

Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship

Psalm 36:4a, “Delight yourself in the Lord.” To delight yourself in the Lord means to find your peace and fulfillment in him alone. Our whole being is to delight in him.

Not to mention, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Which gives a pretty distinct impression that every part of us is supposed to love him.

He wants all of us because he gives us all of him.

Which is why, in Vs. 6, “but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’”

The word we translate as but can also mean and or now, so this is not a contradictory statement to the previous point, but rather an additional statement.

He gives us all of him; and yes, he expects all of us and yes, he expects all of us to desire him and yes, seek after him, which in and of itself is a pretty daunting task, but he gives more grace.

If Vs. 5b, refers to God’s jealousy for us (which in the context, I believe it does), then Vs. 6a, emphasizes that his grace is completely sufficient to meet his requirements,

His demand for all of us might seem extraordinary, but our God is also merciful, gracious, and all-loving and he provides all that we need to meet his demands

Augustine, “God gives [us] what he demands [from us],” but we must come to God, not in a prideful attitude, because God opposes the proud. In order to receive that grace that he wants to extend to us, we have to be humble. We have to understand the lower position that we inhabit in comparison to him.

So, in all this: James has explained that all of this fighting amongst the believers is due to the conflicting inner desires that they have; the conflicting inner desires are all a result of their lack of desire for God and rather their desire for the world, but there is hope in Vs. 6, “he gives more grace to the humble,” and in Vs. 7-10, James explains what these believers need to do in order to obtain that grace:

James’ Call to Repentance (7-10)

James 4:7–10 ESV

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.

He explains to them that in order for the fighting to end and in order for the inner desire to stop warring against itself, our desire needs to change to that of God. In other words, we need to desire God more than we desire the things of the world

But first, we have to repent. Because anytime we place anything above God—in the case of James’ letter he has mentioned their desire of the world, we’ve created an idol of the object that we place above him. The first thing that we ought to do, whenever we realize we’re in any type of sin, is to repent, and that’s exactly what James tells them to do

Repentance begins by “[Submitting] yourselves therefore to God”—to submit yourselves means to put yourself under God or to put yourself into submission of God. The idea is that we need to stop resisting God and place ourselves in a subordinate position to him.

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”—This echoes what Paul says numerous times, to be sober minder, to put on the armor of God, and what the author of Proverbs tells us to do, to run from sin. James tells us to resist the devil, but not only are we to resist the devil; in doing so, the devil will run from us—which is a unique perspective, because sometimes we think of the devil as an all-powerful being, when in reality only God is an all-powerful person. The Satan, while intimidating, cannot usurp authority over God, which means that God is and will always be in control.

We are then to Vs. 8, intentionally draw near to God—by cleansing our hands and purifying our hearts. We are to be wretched and mourn and weep. We are to let our laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom and all of this is to show a sort of “godly grief.”

We are to take seriously the nature of our sins and what it means for our sins to be forgiven—in this era, which we typically call the church age, we tend to think that our sins aren’t a big deal.

Part of this is simply because sin itself is deceitful and it makes us think that it really isn’t that big of a deal

Part of this is simply because Satan and the demons are tempting us with our sins and Satan himself is the great deceiver, which means we’ll typically fall for his tricks if we aren’t proactive in rejecting him (like James 4:7 says)

And part of this is because we no longer offer sacrifices for sin—one of the images or ideas that James is trying to point out in his brief exercise of repentance is the office of the High Priest in the Old Testament, particularly on Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement.

And on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would put on special clothing, cleanse himself and offer sacrifice for his sins. Then he would offer sacrifice for the sins of Israel

And there were a series of other events that happened on this day, such as the sacrifice of one goat while the other goat symbolically took the sins of the people and was released as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

But for the people, the Day of Atonement was one in which they would observe a somber reflection on their sins: they would “be wretched and mourn and weep. They would mourn and they would experience the gloom that James is calling all of us to experience

And they would do all of this with the idea that their sin is such a tremendous issue that the only way of dealing with that sin is for the sin to be covered in blood and for them to experience true godly grief that leads to repentance from sin.

I’m mentioning the Day of Atonement because in our church age, in which we tend to misunderstand the vile nature of our sins, we typically don’t have the same objection to committing sins, we don’t recognize how terrible our sin truly is and we need to change that for two reasons:

Understanding how terrible our sin is might slow down the rate at which we “acceptably” sin, or in other words, if we recognize how much effort is needed for something to atone for one of our sins (no matter how minor we think it is), maybe, we will slow down in committing those sins

Understanding how terrible our sin is and understanding that the only reason we have salvation is by the grace of God through Jesus’ substitutionary atonement on the cross, might cause us to understand the great love that he has for us and would hopefully motivate us to love him more.

And then James in Vs. 10, reminds us that we are to humble ourselves before the Lord.

He sandwiches the idea of repentance with the need for humbleness and I think the implication is fairly straightforward, that true repentance requires us to be humble

Why is that? Why does true repentance require humility? Because pride in and of itself is typically sinful, but not only is pride typically sinful, pride will prevent us from recognizing that we have an issue that needs to be settled by someone else.

And in the issue of sin, we cannot atone for our own sins, it takes humility for us to recognize this and to actually repent and allow Jesus to handle all of our sins.

To humble ourselves before the Lord means that we recognize our own spiritual deficit, we recognize our desperate need for God, and we allow him to complete a work within us.

We are to humble ourselves before the Lord and he will lift us up.

Now, before we move into application, we have two more verses that like I said, some people take to be an independent section, but I think it belongs in this section on rejecting worldliness. My reasoning for its inclusion is because Vs. 1-10, involves a lot of information concerning inner fighting amongst the church and Vs. 11-12, continues in the idea of inner fighting. Vs. 13, starts a new topic. So, logically, for me, it makes more sense for it to be included in 1-10 as an added application to vs. 1-10, then for it to be its own section or for it to be included with the next section.

Practical Advice to Prevent Infighting (11-12)

James 4:11–12 ESV

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?

James is giving an application for how his theological perspective of rejecting the world and desiring God, which ultimately should lead to no infighting should work out in the group

Naturally, even while people are being transformed from desiring worldly desires to desiring God, it doesn’t happen simultaneously. In some situations, they will still struggle with sinful desire, which is what James is trying to teach them to handle in Vs. 11-12.

“Do not speak evil against one another. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brothers, 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.” And there are a number of statements we need to make about this verse.

Do not speak evil against one another, will include a plethora of sins that range from talking trash about one another to slandering one another. This can range from gossip to false accusations. And this can simply be lying about someone or what the Bible calls, bearing false witness.

I’m sure we can think of other evil things to say against one another, but talking trash, slandering, gossiping, and false accusations happen to be on my mind because of the current political situation.

And before we claim that “we’re simply telling the truth” when we trash talk, slander, gossip, and falsely accuse people, we must realize that we are to correct each other in love—which means that there is a proper way to confront someone and that typically doesn’t include trash talk, slander, gossip, and falsely accusing people.

Not to mention, if we’re “simply telling the truth,” we need to make sure that what we’re saying and what we’re sharing on social media is actually the truth before we share it—learn what reputable news sources are (don’t quote Babylon Bee like it is the NY Times)

We are to not speak evil against one another because the one who speaks against a brother or judges his brothers, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

And this is where the verse gets confusing. What exactly is James saying here? Because it gives the impression that we aren’t to judge our brothers, but in Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, we are told that we are to separate ourselves from sinful people and even that if someone is in unrepentant sin, we are to remove them from the church. Even earlier in James and even in Matthew 7 and Ephesians 5 we are told specifically that we will know people by their fruits and to not take a part in worthless, evil deeds, but rather expose them.

So, we need to define what the Bible means when it says things like, “Judge not lest ye be judged,” because the way that people utilize the verse, even in the church, isn’t actually what the verse means and to utilize it to mean, “I can do what I want and you can’t say anything about it” is not what the verses are saying and that is not what this verse in James 4:11-12 is saying when it says, “But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

No, in the context of James 4 and in the context of Matthew 7 when Jesus says “Judge not lest ye be judged” the idea that Jesus and James is trying to portray is the same, that we are to not judge people in the sense of speaking evil about them and we are not to make judgment calls on their heart condition. In other words, when we take into account Matthew 7, James 4, Ephesians 5, Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, and large chunks of the Old Testament, it is very clear that we are not to speak evilly, so no gossip, no slander, no false accusations, but when we know for a fact that someone is in sin, Matthew 18 says that the loving thing to do is to remove them from fellowship with the church so that they can see how their sin is detrimental not only to themselves, but also the church; but in all cases of church discipline, we are required to judge whether or not a person is truly in sin and then we are to attempt to lovingly restore them into fellowship with the church.

What James is saying in Vs. 11-12, is this: judgment as a result of evil speaking from a worldly mindset is sinful and in the cases of people inacting judgment simply because they’re jealous or they don’t like someone, or for whatever reason is wrong

To slander someone in secret, to bring incorrect accusations, to trash talk someone under the guise of spiritually is sinful.

And to do so, puts us in disobedience to the law and we end up judging ourselves by the law, which is actually the purpose of Jesus Christ.

Douglas Moo, “This charge shows that James is not prohibiting the proper, and necessary, discrimination that every Christian should exercise. Nor is he forbidding the right of the community to exclude from its fellowship those it deems to be in flagrant disobedience to the standards of the faith, or to determine right and wrong among its members (1 Cor. 5 and 6). James’ concern is with jealous, censorious speech by which we condemn others as being wrong in the sight of God. It is this sort of judging that Paul condemned among the Roman Christians, who were apparently questioning the reality of one another’s faith because of differing views on the applicability of some ritual laws (Rom. 14:1–13; cf. especially vv. 3–4 and 10–13).” (157)

Alright, we’re short on time, but let me give you some application to help tie this altogether.

Application

James is making a statement that quarrels and fights within the church are caused by their passions or pleasures warring within themselves. However, when he confronts this issue, his final prognosis is not the pleasures warring within them, but rather their ultimate desire for worldly things rather than the things of God.

And let me be clear, there is such a thing as fighting for what’s right within the church, but that’s not what James is talking about here in James 4.

To fight for what’s right, would be the fight for right doctrine, the fight for the right practice of doctrine, the fight against sin within the church, and the fight against leadership that is leading the church incorrectly—to fight for these things is right and the Bible teaches us that

What James is talking about is fighting and quarrels within the church that are motivated by selfish means. People are jealous and covetous and so they murder and fight and quarrel.

In the case of fighting for what’s right, by all means continue to fight, but if the fighting is motivated by selfishness, we shouldn’t be fighting.

How do we know the difference? In most cases, we can tell when we’re motivated by selfishness—we’re fighting for something simply because we like it or we don’t like the other option. In these cases, we need to be mature and seek the good of the church over our own preferences. This would include issues like clothing (unless the clothing is immodest), issues like music, issues like the order of church services

But, if the issue is involving doctrine, what we believe; we need to stand absolutely firm on it—which means that we actually have to learn doctrine in order for us to defend it and stand firm on it. That isn’t to mean that we need to know the ins and outs of every bit of doctrine, but we need to at least know the basics.

Fight for whats right, but and here’s the application point, be sure that you’re fighting for is what’s right and not for your own preferences.

If you realize that the infighting is a result of your own preferences and pleasures rather than fighting for what’s right, then it is time to repent from sin if it is sin, draw near to God; and reconcile with those that you’re fighting with.

James spends a big portion talking about worldly desire and he mentions that friendship with the word is enmity with God

So the question is this, are you more interested in worldly desire than you’re desiring God?

Are you more concerned with temporal pleasure than you are with obedience to Jesus Christ?

If you are more concerned with temporal pleasure than Jesus, let me explain to you that you are living in sin that puts you in opposition to God and James is calling you to repentance.

James makes the statement that “he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us,” which means that he earnestly desires a relationship with each and every one of us

And with relationships concerning God, God wants all of us not just a part of us—we cannot serve the world and serve God much like we cannot love God and mammon.

So, my question for you is, do you actually love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; do you desire him more than the world?

If so, does your life reflect this truth? Do your actions reflect this truth and do your relationships reflect this truth? Because James seems to imply that if we truly desire God completely, the fighting and quarreling within the church would end.

If you’ve come to realize that you don’t desire God the way that you should, then I’m calling you to repentance just like James is. “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil. Draw near to God.

Application point 2, show that you desire God through your actions. If your actions don’t prove that you desire God, then repent and draw closer to God.

And lastly, James gives a brief explanation of how to prevent some of the infighting within the church and he says this, “Do not speak evil against one another.”

Have you spoken evil about someone recently? Have you gossiped, slandered, trash talked, or falsely accused someone? Because James is teaching us that those that speak evil and judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

Here’s a very practical, simple way for you to show that you truly desire God more than you desire worldliness—repent from the sins of speaking evil about someone, if you can reconcile with that person

At the very least, recognize that to speak evil about someone is to speak evil about someone that is made in the image of God and it is to speak evil about someone that we’re told to love. And to speak evil of someone is the exact opposite of loving that person.

Show that you truly desire God in word and in deed and he gets all the glory.

So put simply, show that you desire God through your actions, show that you desire God in your word and in your deeds, and if you have to stand up for something within a church, be sure that what you’re standing for has to do with what is right and not on your own selfish wants and desires.

I’m going to pray and then we’ll close.

Closing

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