James 4- A Peacemaker not a Troublemaker

To begin with we’re going to cover James 4 there are three important things 1. Three Wars. 2. Three Enemies and 3. Three Admonitions So let’s get started. In James 4:1-4 Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. 2 You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God.3 Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.

Let’s talk about those Three Wars that are going on and why. Verse 1 says that James’ church was fighting and coveting. From the NCV 1. Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you. James is addressing folk in his church congregation that were fighting among themselves and warring among themselves.And it’s all because of coveted jealousy. Jealousy is a terrible thing.

It was because of their selfish lustful desires that cause them to be covet. I don’t care what you have it’s yours! and not mine. You’ll remember that lesson when I told you’ll about seeing that black Aston Martin 007 car in Los Angeles about a month ago, and the Lord said don’t lust over other people’s stuff. because I gave you your Corvette.

Well James is addressing this lust problem again, James is addressing the danger of having a personal war within that is ultimately causing a war without in the church. Because whatever is truly in you, eventually it will come out. James is saying that they are fussing and fighting and warring in the church.

They were fighting each other because they didn’t have the peace of God present in the church. Most of the time the peace of God is absent in the church when the people in the church don’t have personal peace and contentment.

Let me make something crystal clear, I don’t want what you have. I am not competing against you. and I am happy with what God gave me. And James says 2 You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God.

It’s got people that are so jealous of you until they’re willing to hurt you because of their jealousy. A great man by the names of Joe Gales told me a long time ago Rev Allen don’t you let nobody make you defeat your purpose in life. And I never forgot it.

Then James say that sometimes very interesting about his congregation James said “they have the wrong motives when they pray to God”. Look at verse 3 Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures. Verse 3 says that even when we pray our prayer is corrupted by our own lust, our own spirit of competition, our own desires, our own rivalries, and our own wars. God is not going to hear a corrupted prayer. God is not going to honor a jealous prayer.and God will not honor a selfish prayer.

You’ll remember in 1 Samuel 1 when Peninnah had all those children for Elkanah and poor Hannah couldn’t have children and Peninnah would tease Hannah. And one day when the family went to church at Shiloh the bible says Hannah prayed a seemingly selfish prayer, until she said “Lord if you grant me a male child, I’ll leave him here all the days of his life for the service of the Lord and no razor will come to his head.” Hannah’s motive was pure even in her scornful moments and the end result was pure.

When we say I want God to do this for me or I want God to do that for me, the question is why? Is it to give God glory or for self aggrandizement? James is saying in verse 3 that we’ve got to have the right motives even in our prayer especially in our prayer.

And then 2.there are the Three Enemies in James 4:4-7

4 So, you are not loyal to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. Anyone who wants to be a friend of the world becomes God’s enemy. 5 Do you think the Scripture means nothing that says, “The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone”? 6 But God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says, “God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” 7 So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will run from you. In verse 7 James is quoting Proverbs 3:34 Surely he scorneth the scorners:But he giveth grace unto the lowly.

Let’s unpack verses 4-7 In verse 4 James is saying that our first mistake is when we try to become friends with the world’s system. Friendship with the world is our first enemy. being friend with worldliness is the first sign that your connection with God is getting weak It’s getting weak 3x and sometime its cut off altogether.

Because the terms enmity and adultery and adulteresses in verse 4 is saying that James’ the church was not loyal to God! even worst they are friends with the world. This makes them enmity against God. Enmity in the Greek vernacular is the word ECHTHRA ECK”-THRAH which means hateful it means they were haters and it means hostility and opposition. Get this nah “In this case the hateful behavior the hostile behavior and the behavior of opposition is against God!”

And this is never going to be ok with the Holy Ghost because verse 5 says Do you think the Scripture means nothing that says, “The Spirit that God made to live in us wants us for himself alone”? What does this means in practical terms? Well here it is, “so You want all the amenities of heaven like love and grace and mercy and and protection and peace and blessings and healings and even eternal life but! you want dibble and dabble in the den with the devil sometimes… because you want money, social status, clout, and power. And the Holy Ghost says naw! you don’t get your cake and eat it too, especially if you got to be on both sides of the fence.

A perfect example of this is when Jesus said in Revelation 3:14-17 to the church of Laodiceans I know your works thou art not cold nor hot I wish that you were either cold or hot towards God. Then Jesus says because God will spue you out of His mouth, and the real reason is that “you can’t make up your mind which side you’re on.” You’re either on the Lord’s side or you’re not! That’s the truth and that’’s what James is saying to his church members. In other words the Holy Ghost ain’t taking sloppy seconds to the devil.

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This text is teaching talking and telling us that God is giving us grace, giving us another chance to straighten up. God is giving us grace, giving us unmerited favor, favor that we certainly don’t deserve. But nah grace with the understanding that another enemy could be our prideful spirit. Here’s my prayer “Lord please keep my prideful spirit in check that I submit to God whole heartedly that I might not sin against you, Amen.” Because David said Lord thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. We have to understand that if we’re going to submit to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost then we’re going to have to give up our obsessions with money, power, social status, influence, and political clout.

And here’s why if you humble yourself under the mighty Hand of God He will exalt you in due season. In essence don’t be friends with the world because the world will take us away from God. Scripture say “All that is in the world is the Lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life.” James the Just as he is called was a serious Apostolic Father. Meaning James the brother of Jesus once he became converted was a pillar of Christianity.

And so lastly James’ Three Admonitions Look at James 4:8-10 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

James is saying as he warns the church 1. Resist the devil and he’s going to flee. 2.Get close to God and God will get close to you.3.Clean your hands don’t let your hands be corrupt, crazy, crooked, or chaotic whereas you’re acting like a sinner. 4.purify your hearts and quit acting like you can’t make up your mind which direction you’re going in which makes you look like a double-minded man. Because a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways. 5.James is saying take this advice serious and put on godly sorrow and repentance and penitence and Humble yourself before the presence of the Lord. Then God will honor and raise you up.

Then there is the admonition against the tongue. Quit putting your mouth on other people. Your’re Not The Judge. It’s got people who will act as Judge and Jury concerning your life but they don’t want you to say nothing about their lives. And that statement “Do as I say but not as I do” In today’s time young people don’t want hear parents say do as I say but not as I do.

And James say quit lying on one another, and judging one another. I’ve got six month to tend to my business and six more months to leave your business alone. And James warns us about that. Too many people are trying to act like they’re all that a bag of chips a pickle and a cold drink.

Look at verse 11 Brothers and sisters, do not tell evil lies about each other. If you speak against your fellow believers or judge them, you are judging and speaking against the law they follow. And when you are judging the law, you are no longer a follower of the law. You have become a judge. 12 God is the only Lawmaker and Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor.

Listen to me Nobody likes condemnation.. Nobody wants you putting them down all the time, Nobody wants you pointing out all of their flaws, nobody wants you airing out all of their dirty laundry, pointing out all of their short comings, especially when you got just as many hang ups as I have. And God said you’re not qualified to pass judgement any way. Because God is the Righteous Judge. Then finally James says in James 4:13-17

Let God Plan Your Life

13 Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” 14 But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. 15 So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But now you are proud and you brag. All of this bragging is wrong. 17 Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning.

Saints of God Let God Plan Your Life. Things will go better for you if God does the planning. My daddy use to say “well big man we’ll go fishing in the morning if the Good Lord say the same.” I said Daddy why you say if the Good Lord says the same, He said because If the Good Lord don’t say so we’re not going nowhere. And for a long time I thought that that was just old people talk. But I read it for myself and now I know it’s godly talk.Everything I do I try to see if it’s what the Good Lord is saying to me or not. I want to be in the will of God. I don’t want to have to learn the hard way that God wanted me to go in a different direction.

Your flesh wants you to brag and boast like you can do any and everything you want, but the truth is we’ve submit to God and He will direct our paths.

Well I’m out of time but never out of word so remember James says to be peacemakers and not troublemakers alright. Next week will be James 5 if the Good Lord says the same. I love y’all and y’all come back now you hear.