The Fight

James 4

The Fight

We are in week 5 of our series, “James - A Faith That Works”.

James is a very intense book.

To some people it can be as enjoyable to read as getting a root canal.

Because even though root canals can be necessary to fix a problem with your teeth, they can be extremely painful at the same time.

James can be similar to that.

It can point out some things in our lives that we need to deal with which can be very painful but beneficial to us in the end.

It kind of destroys that theology of, because I have grace and “believe” God is real that I can just live like the world and do whatever I want to.

Last week we finished chapter 3 and talked about the importance of wisdom from above.

This week we are moving on to chapter 4.

The heading in your Bible might say, “Submit yourselves to God.”

I’m going to call this message “The Fight”

Ultimately James is going to talk about what causes quarrels and issues in our lives and how do we respond to them.

James 4:1-6 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

So James starts by asking a rhetorical question.

He asks, “what causes fights and quarrels among you?”

He then answers the question with don’t they come from YOUR desires that battle within you.

That you covet something and don’t get so you are basically willing to kill to get it.

James is once again bringing up the point of our selfishness.

That when we focus on ourselves and what WE want, bad things happen.

He then talks about how basically you are too consumed to ask for anything from God or you’re asking of things from God but aren’t getting them. WHY?

Because you ask with the wrong motive.

What motive is that?

SELFISHNESS!

And we all have different selfish desires

Everyone struggles with different things in their life.

The hard part is the enemy knows your weaknesses and will try to expose them as much as possible.

So it’s easy to say when being tempted, well I want this or this is what will make me feel good so I’m going to follow that.

But we talked about last week how if we want TRUE wisdom from God we have to approach Him with the mindset of it’s not MY will but YOUR will.

But people are so consumed by the things of this world and are giving into their selfish desires that they are missing out on what God wants to do through them.

They’re too busy living like the world to truly follow God’s plan for them.

And then James starts to get nasty with these people.

Verse 4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?”

Now when James calls them adulterous he’s not saying that they are actually committing adultery.

He’s calling them adulterous because they are trying to have two relationships.

One with God and one with the world.

Just like someone who is in an adulterous relationship.

And James is calling them out and saying, IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!

You can’t have it both ways.

He goes on to mention how God is JEALOUS for us and for His spirit to dwell in us.

Which this lines up with Old Testament scripture

Exodus 34:14 NIV “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Now we hear that and might think that’s a bad thing.

I remember hearing Oprah Whinfrey tell her story about hearing a message about how God is a jealous God.

It broke my heart to hear someone turn away from God because they misinterpret what that means.

Think of it this way.

We are the BRIDE of Christ.

As a husband do you think I am a jealous husband?

YES I AM!

As a husband I love my wife so much that I am NOT going to share her with another guy.

I want her all to myself!

And that’s the way it should be.

I think we would all agree that’s the right attitude every spouse should have.

So why is it so wrong for God to have that same attitude towards us?

God CREATED us to have a relationship with Him and he LOVES us so much that He doesn’t want to share us with the world.

HE WANTS ALL OF YOU! YOU’RE WHOLE HEART!

Because He loves you too much to share you!

I’m honored that God is jealous for me.

After really taking it to the church here James does offer a little bit of hope in verse 6

“But he gives us more grace.”

He’s saying that even though maybe you’ve been missing it lately and have had this adulterous relationship with God.

He says but he gives us more grace!

Meaning it doesn’t matter how bad it’s been, God WILL forgive you!

He follows it up with, That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

He’s saying all you have to do is LAY DOWN YOUR PRIDE and humble yourself before the Lord and you will be forgiven.

We’ve talked about this before.

Pride and a relationship with God don’t go well together.

The bible says that God HATES pride

Because again, God wants us to be totally focused on Him and not on ourselves.

And the reason for that is He knows what’s best for us.

He wants us to focus on Him for OUR benefit!

James then continues to tell us how to combat our natural desires.

James 4:7-10 NIV “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

James is telling us the key to overcoming temptation and being able to resist the devil is to SUBMIT to God.

Truly surrender your life to him.

When you do that you will be able to resist the devil.

The devil can’t force you to do anything.

And the Bible makes it clear that you won’t be tempted beyond what you can handle.

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

You can resist any temptation that comes your way.

You just have to make that decision to be strong enough to say no.

The devil can’t force you to do anything.

“The devil has no power over the Christian except the power of seduction.”

He knows how to seduce you.

That’s why we have to submit to God because He will give us the WISDOM and strength to resist.

So he says one way to submit to God is to draw near to Him.

It says to “come close to God” or “draw near to God” and he will “draw near to you”.

WHO DRAWS NEAR FIRST?

God is in heaven just waiting for us to draw near to Him.

And everytime we do, He’s right there!

The whole reason you were created was to have a relationship with God.

To draw near to Him.

God DESIRES so strongly to be in fellowship with you.

The people of Israel are a great example of this.

When Moses went to Pharaoh to tell him to let his people go, where was he taking them?

Most people would say The Promised Land.

That’s not the case.

In Exodus 5 when Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh they say to let my people go that they may throw a festival or worship God in the wilderness.

The ultimate goal was the Promised Land but He said before you go to the Promised Land you’re going to have fellowship with the Promiser!

And Egypt is a representation of the world.

God calls us out of the world so that He can have fellowship with us.

That’s why it breaks my heart when I hear people talk about how God doesn’t love them or want anything to do with them.

HE CREATED YOU BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU AND WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU.

He’s just waiting for you to draw near!

The second part of verse 8 he says, “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

James is making a strong call to the church to repent of their sins and get their hearts right with the Lord.

He calls them double-minded because their motives are split.

On the one hand they want to be a Christian and go to heaven, but on the other hand they want to give in to their natural desires and live like the world.

James is pleading with them to truly repent and keep their focus on God and not the things of this world.

Which is why he says, “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.”

He’s talking about true repentance.

When you get to that point where you just cry out and wail before God because of the things you’ve done.

This isn’t guilt and condemnation.

It’s that moment when you realize the mistakes you’ve made and you come to true repentance.

For many people it was that kind of moment that changed their life forever.

It’s a memory that they tell their friends and family about.

Which leads us to verse 10

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

That’s what that moment is of breaking down before the Lord.

It’s humbling yourself and saying God I messed up and I need you to come help me.

And when you do that He will lift you up off the ground and raise you up to becoming the person He created you to be.

Luke 14:11 “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Church, James is bringing to our attention the fact that we are in a real battle every day of our lives.

That the enemy is trying to get you to give into your worldly desires.

But you can’t have the best of both worlds.

We are called to humble ourselves before the Lord, repent from our sin, and walk in the path that God has for us.

This is the beauty of God’s grace.

That no matter how far you’ve gone and the mistakes you’ve made, you can turn to Him and He will forgive you of your sin!

No matter how far you think you are all you have to do is TURN!

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