BS: James war part 2

At War with Ourselves

James 4:1b–3 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.

The war in the heart is helping to cause the wars in the church!

James 3:14 ESV

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

James 3:16 ESV

16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

The essence of sin is selfishness.

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 (Gen. 12:10–20).

Achan caused defeat to Israel because he selfishly took some forbidden loot from the ruins of Jericho (Josh. 7).

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Often we veil our religious quarrels under the disguise of “spirituality.”

We are like Miriam and Aaron who complained about Moses’ wife, but who really were envious of Moses’ authority (Num. 12).

Or we imitate James and John who asked for special thrones in the kingdom, when what we really want is recognition today (Mark 10:35–45).

In both of these instances, the result of selfish desire was chastening and division among God’s people.

Miriam’s sin halted the progress of Israel for a whole week!

Selfish desires are dangerous things.

They lead to wrong actions

and they even lead to wrong praying.

James 4:3 ESV

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

When our praying is wrong, our whole Christian life is wrong.

It has well been said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.

Selfishness is a root of many sins

“Thou shalt not covet” is the last of God’s Ten Commandments, but its violation can make us break all of the other nine!

Covetousness can make a person murder, tell lies, dishonor his parents, commit adultery, and in one way or another violate all of God’s moral law.

Selfish living and selfish praying always lead to war.

If there is war on the inside, there will ultimately be war on the outside.

Traits of ther selfish

People who are at war with themselves because of selfish desires are always unhappy people.

They never enjoy life.

Instead of being thankful for the blessings they do have, they complain about the blessings they do not have.

They cannot get along with other people because they are always envying others for what they have and do.

They are always looking for that “magic something” that will change their lives, when the real problem is within their own hearts.

Sometimes we use prayer as a cloak to hide our true desires.

“But I prayed about it!” can be one of the biggest excuses a Christian can use.

Instead of seeking God’s will, we tell God what He is supposed to do; and we get angry at Him if He does not obey.

This anger at God eventually spills over and we get angry at God’s people.

More than one church split has been caused by saints who take out their frustrations with God on the members of the church.

Many a church or family problem would be solved if people would only look into their own hearts and see the battles raging there.

God made us a unity; mind, emotions, and will should work together.

James stated the reason we are at war with ourselves and, consequently, with each other.