Passions at War

Sometimes we can approach Church, especially here in the South where we are so unfortunately inoculated by Church, but we see it as a commodity or a social event. It’s like gym — all of us here together trying to make our lives better and become a little healthier.

THAT IS NOT WHAT CHURCH IS. Let me just shed some light on what we are really doing here:

We are all here to FIRSTLY Glorify Jesus.

We, as Christians, have an obligation to give God what He is due.

You are not here to receive BEFORE you are here to GIVE.

Wedding band. Paula is my priority and everyone should know it.

religion vs relationship—both!

So James, who was the kid-brother of Jesus, who was NOT a believer during Jesus’ ministry, was somehow radically converted confessing Jesus - his brother - as Lord. James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Can you imagine saying this about YOUR brother? I think this right here just proves that Jesus was God. Haha!

But he writes this letter to the church, Jewish Christians, that were scattered — He’s writing this because he isn’t seeing CONSISTENCY in Christians walk.

They claim to be following Jesus - yet their actions speak otherwise. He writes:

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James 2:26 “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

You see, you are SAVED through FAITH, not of works unless any man should boast (Eph. 2:9). But that faith must be put into action!

James 2:18 “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Faith makes you justified - Works make you sanctified.

It’s great that you believe that God is real and that Jesus loves you! But what good is that if it is never put into practice? Soap can’t clean you unless you take it out of the bottle and put it to work.

Your faith MUST be lived PRACTICALLY.

We can be so guilty of compartmentalizing our faith to only work on a Sunday morning or certain situations. James is saying “NO” to that.

It is SUPER-NATURAL = Both

So we go to Chapter 4 …

James 4:1–10 (ESV)

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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. 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”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Have you ever been given bad directions?

My phone always taking me the dumbest ways

Sometimes I think we’re like my phone — Just really dumb with directions for our life. Really bad with where we’re actually trying to go with our lives

It’s like I’m the one giving God directions — instead of listening and waiting, submitting, to His prompting.

Sometimes I think it’s like we think God is helping ME try to get where I want to go … instead of going where He’s actually trying to take us.

You see - this is why some of you don’t like reading your Bible. Because you read it in an “immediate fashion.” You are reading it with the intent and expectation for God to answer YOUR questions instead of listening to what He might be telling you

So we see God and Church as a means to OUR END — instead of what God is wanting to do through us

Let me say something strong …

We Are Not Entitled to Our Dreams

It can be challenging, as Americans, not to view Christianity as something that is an ADDITION to MY LIFE. But the reality is: Following Christ, is the surrender of everything I am to Jesus.

Jesus is not self-help, workout routine, or a diet plan — He is LORD over our lives.

We view Jesus the same way we view the Gym — It is a means to better and enhance MY LIFE.

We view Him like we would a therapist — “Help me understand ME BETTER.”

Ambition that is not submitted to Him will only lead to internal and external dissatisfaction.

Reread verses 1-4a

We often live life like a Whack-A-Mole game …

When we do life OUR way - We will NEVER keep up!

don’t live life on impulse

God’s goal is not to give human beings what their own impulses demand; his goal is that human beings will learn to love what he loves. It is not that God does not want people to have pleasure, but that he wants to train them to take pleasure in what he knows is truly good. As with Christ, crucifixion comes before resurrection for God’s people (Gal. 5:24).

James understands that for us to live a CONSISTENT life - we must consistently be submitted. Every area.

Being a dad has brought such a level of clarity to my life — I’d be okay with sucking at everything, but not a dad

It’s refined my desires, my priorities.

I think sometimes we try so hard to chase everything that we don’t realize our passions are really at war within ourselves.

What’s the real motivation in my ambitions?

Am I after money? Acceptance? Approval?

Am I waiting on God or am I trying to hurry Him along to where I want to be?

Is Jesus nothing more than a gym membership to me?

The New Bible Commentary 4:1–10 The Source of Evil and Its Cure

It is not that it is hard or painful to serve both God and ‘desire’ or ‘the world’; it is impossible

Jesus said it Himself -- You cannot serve both God and Mammon. (Mat 6)

From verse 2

Desires translates the Greek word hēdonē, which means simply “pleasure,” but often with the connotation of a sinful, self-indulgent pleasure (we get our word “hedonism” from it)

James isn’t talking about your desire for a Godly husband, or to raise a family, or to be able to provide for your family.

He’s addressing those desires that lead to sin. Those “cravings” that pull you from God’s way, God’s path.

The self-righteous, self-indulgent, self-seeking desires. The desires that take the place of God

When you come to an intersection where you have to chose your way and your truth, over God’s way and God’s truth — assume YOU’RE wrong and go from there.

When God’s Word challenges you and you feel like you disagree — Assume you’re wrong.

It’s not ambition or desire or drive that James in condemning — It’s the wrong use of passion that he is striking against

He’s saying any passion sought after with an unsubmitted, unrepentant heart will utterly fail you.

It becomes nothing more than whack-a-mole

What causes your fights and quarrels?? Your hearts are unrepentant before God

The New Bible Commentary 4:1–10 The Source of Evil and Its Cure

The main part of repentance is to stop doing what one was doing and start obeying God

It’s not cutting your wrists and saying 40 Hail Marys …

Submission Comes Before Resurrection

Thank you Jesus He doesn’t work like a vending machine. I put my prayer request in - I get my prayers answered.

Thank God for not answering all my prayers — Because my passions, don’t always know what’s best for me OR what’s right.

Maybe that relationship ending was God’s doing not the devils. Maybe that promotion falling through was God teaching you something, not the devil attacking you.

We find our lives when we lay them down

A servants greatest desire is the pleasure of his Master.

Think on that …

As a servant, our goal is not to impose our will on our master, but to remain sensitive to His needs.

My prayer life … 1 hour a day, not legalistic but disciplined.

Some of us live with Jesus as our copilot. Jesus is NOT the copilot. It is the Holy Spirit that is the pilot

We have a responsibility — WE have WORKS to do. But make no mistake, there is only One who calls the shots!

We don’t take our directions from culture, from the world, we are submitted to the Lordship of Jesus

Reread verses 4b-10

The Letter of James V. A Summons to Spiritual Wholeness (4:4–10)

To submit to God means to place ourselves under his lordship, and therefore to commit ourselves to obey him in all things

The New Bible Commentary 4:1–10 The Source of Evil and Its Cure

To purify the heart is to be devoted to God alone. These actions should be accompanied by a mourning for one’s sinful state

You don’t have to exalt yourself. You don’t have to prove something to someone. You stay FAITHFUL, HUMBLE, SUBMITTED, REPENTANT, and God will exalt you.

There have been moments in my life that I’ve felt God was too slow, He was absent, He was far and I didn’t understand why …

Benjamin trying to eat rocks — I don’t let him BECAUSE of my great love for Him

Benjamin will have to learn to submit to his dad, and his dad’s truth, because his dad knows what’s best for him

Response — Submit to God’s way. Recognize where your passions might be at war.

Allow them to respond.

Submit and repent for the first time maybe — Accept the free gift of salvation!