What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. 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.
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You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? 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 the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."
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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.11
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?We live in a world full of conflict. I don’t think anyone would deny that fact.
This past December, a missionary was speaking at Calvary Assembly of God, near Flint, Michigan, and as he was describing the way they persecuted Jesus, a little 6-year-old girl, who was sitting on the front row, shouted: "How could they do that to my Jesus?" I guess she just couldn’t understand how people could be so unfeeling and cruel. Just two months later she would find out when she went to her classroom at Buell Elementary School. You see, "Kay-Kay," as she was known, a little girl who liked to sing Christian songs and would run to greet relatives with warm hugs at church, would be shot dead by a classmate, a boy with a pistol he brought from home.
What a terrible tragedy! Yet, this is just one of the most recent in a long list of similar tragedies. We read about them almost daily. And perhaps the most tragic thing of all is that these acts of violence are merely a reflection of what is in every human heart. All of us must struggle with attitudes of hostility in our own hearts. There are times when we want to lash out. There are times when we want to strike out at someone else in anger.
This is nothing new. This kind of thing has been going on since the beginning of time. In the over 3100 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 8% of the time or a total of 286 years, and over 8000 treaties have been made and broken. At the beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, we find conflict and violence. Because of evil attitudes in his heart, Cain killed Abel. And today we are still fighting, quarreling and even killing another.
Why is that so? James even asks that question. What causes fights and quarrels among you? It is certainly a relevant question. It is as relevant today as it was when James wrote his letter. We will see the answer in just a moment.
But there is another question that is relevant as well. It is this: In all of our fighting, do we have the real enemy identified correctly? In other words, are we fighting the right fight? I don’t believe we are. Most people, in their anger and frustration, are lashing out at whatever or whoever is in front of them. They are lashing out at whatever is closest. Even Christians, who should know better, often fight the wrong fight.
How can you avoid being drawn into the wrong fight? Let’s look at the difference between the wrong fight and the right fight and see what we can do to assure that we fight the right fight.
As Christians, we are aware that we are engaged in a very real warfare. We are engaged in a warfare against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. We are fighting against God’s enemy, Satan. And we are fighting for the souls of people. The Satan is our adversary, and he has marshaled his devilish and demonic army in a serious and sinister attempt to destroy Christianity and the Christian Church. He will use any strategy necessary in order to win. One such strategy he often uses is to incite the children of God to war with one another, thus diverting their attention from the real foe.
It’s hard to win the war abroad when there is civil war at home. But this is Satan’s strategy. The real fight is not against each other. When we find ourselves fighting with one another, it should be a red flag that indicates something has gone really wrong.
Unfortunately, conflict in churches among Christians is not uncommon. James was addressing it in his day. He tells us why it happens. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? James is telling us that our desires lead to conflict with others. The source of conflict lies within us. Our desires are the problem. They put us at odds with one another. He tells us that we quarrel and fight, even kill and covet. In verse 11, he exhorts us not to slander and judge one another. Why do we do these things? We do them because of the selfish and prideful desires in our own hearts.
Our desires lead to conflict with others and our motives lead to frustration with life. What are these motives? They’re selfish in nature. In verses 2 and 3, James says: You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Our motives are self indulgent in nature. We want things. We want to have — to possess. In our desire to possess, we want to take. We want to get it ourselves. There is a certain self-sufficiency about our efforts. We don’t want to depend on God. We don’t want to ask him for what we need. And when we finally do ask him, we don’t receive what we want because our motives are so selfish. We want what we want simply for our own pleasures. So we become frustrated with life. We become angry.
Finally, our lifestyles lead to hostility with God. James tells us we have become God’s enemy because our priorities are wrong. In fact, we have chosen friendship with the world over friendship with God. Look at verse 4: You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Friendship with the world is a result of misplaced priorities. Our first priority should be following God. Our lifestyle, or the way we live our lives, is simply a reflection of our priorities. Priorities are those things that are important to us. If God is important to us, we will live for him. If material things are important to us, we will seek to get all of them we can. We will live for what the world can offer us. Madonna was not the only material girl living in a material world. There are lots of material girls and guys. Are you one of them?
If your life revolves around your own selfish desires, your own desire to possess, your own self image, your own needs, and your own prideful self-sufficiency, you will always be fighting the wrong fight. Your life will be one of conflict. Life will be frustrating and a struggle. You will be at odds with people and with God. Don’t fight this fight. Don’t fight the wrong fight.
What is the right fight? We have identified wrong fight — the wrong battle. What is the real battle? The real battle is with our own selfish desires and sinful pride. James himself is quoting from the Scripture (Proverbs 3:34) when he says in verse 6, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Pride and selfishness go hand in hand. Where you find pride you will also find selfishness.
The real need is for humility. James tells us in verse 10: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Now, it seems to me that we have a choice here. We can choose to go on in selfish pride or we can choose to humble ourselves. The way of humility leads to receiving the blessing of God. Why don’t more people walk that way?
The value of humility has been misunderstood in today’s culture. We pride ourselves on self-sufficiency. We like to hear stories of how people have actively pursued a goal and achieved it. Somehow we think that humility equals passivity. Or we think that humility equals humiliation. These notions are not true. Humility is a heart attitude of dependence upon God. It is understanding who we are and who we are not. We are people who have been created in the image of God, but we are not little gods ourselves. You have heard the expression, "Who died and left you in charge?" Well, one answer is, "God didn’t!"
So, how can we express this humility? How can we fight the real fight against our own selfish desires and sinful pride? James gives us four things we must do.
We must accept God’s will. In verse 7 James tells us: Submit yourselves, then, to God. When we submit to God we are acknowledging that his way is right. But submitting to God is more than that. It is giving him control of your life. To do that you must yield to him. Quit trying to run your own life. Put God in charge of your life by obeying him.
One of the reasons why we have so much conflict is because we have not settled our own relationship with God. We have not really decided to submit to him in practical ways. Make no mistake about this — you can’t follow Jesus without obeying him! Jesus is not the Lord of your life if you do not do what he says. And if you, as a Christian, are still trying to run your own life, you will be a miserable, unhappy, frustrated, and angry person. There is no real peace if you do not submit to God. The Spirit of God will bring conviction to your heart and you will never enjoy the peace of God until you surrender to him. So accept God’s will. Submit to God.
We must reject God’s enemy. James not only tells us to submit to God but he also tells us: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. How do you do this? How do you resist the devil?
You do it by resisting his philosophy of life. You do it by resisting what he wants you to do. You do it by resisting living by his standards. Be smart. Be on your guard. The devil is trying to trip you up. He is trying to destroy you. He is not trying to help you. He wants to hurt you.
Most Christians know they us. The problem is that they don’t recognize how the devil shows up. They’re looking for some guy in a red suit with horns and a tail. That’s not the devil! That’s just a guy going to a costume party. No, the devil shows up in ways that you don’t expect. He shows up when you are tempted to substitute other things for God. He shows up when you are tempted to stay home from church. He shows up when you are tempted not to come to the prayer gathering. He shows up when you are tempted not to read your Bible. He shows up when you are tempted not to tithe. He shows up when you are tempted to substitute activities for worship, television for prayer, giving to yourself for giving to God — doing something good for doing what is the best. When he shows up like this — resist him! Don’t give in. If you won’t give in, he will flee from you.
You must also pursue God’s presence. In verse 8 James says, Come near to God and he will come near to you. In other words, you must be proactive. It is not enough to accept God’s will and reject God’s enemy. You must actively pursue a living relationship with the living Lord.
In order to do this you must focus on those things that build or strengthen your relationship with Christ. It is so easy to neglect those basic disciplines that are essential for a healthy Christian life — things like prayer, Bible reading, fellowship with other Christians, personal and corporate worship, giving and serving. They seem so elementary, and they are. But when we feel that we have moved beyond them, we make a very serious mistake. It is like a golfer getting away from the fundamentals of his golf swing, or a baseball player getting away from the fundamentals of hitting the ball or fielding. When we get away from the fundamentals, our relationship begins to deteriorate.
Have you become too busy to work on your relationship with God? No one can do anything about it except you. What you spend your time doing is what you are investing your life in. We need to invest in eternity because that’s where we are going to spend a very long time.
There is still one another issue James addresses in this passage of Scripture. We must accept God’s will, reject God’s enemy, pursue God’s presence, and then we must receive God’s forgiveness.
Look at verses 8-10: Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Here James gives us the key to receiving God’s forgiveness.
The key to receiving God’s forgiveness is to turn away from our sin and repent of it. Remember that repentance is fundamentally a change of mind. We will never turn away from our sin until we see it for what it is — an offense to God — something that breaks his heart. God’s heart is grieved over our sin and our heart should also be grieved over our sin. The Bible speaks of this as godly sorrow. It is a sorrow that leads to true repentance. It is not the sorrow that comes from getting caught in our sin. Many people have that kind of sorrow, but it doesn’t change the way they live. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, will cause us to come to God for forgiveness.
This is where humility comes in. It is humbling to ask God for forgiveness. It is humbling to ask anyone for forgiveness. But we need to do it. We need to do it because it is the right thing to do and we need to do it because we need forgiveness. Just thing of how much conflict could be avoided if we were to say, "I was wrong, please forgive me."
Do you have conflict in your life? What is causing it? Is it your pride? Is it your selfish desire? Are you protecting your own self-image? Are you demanding your rights? Are you quarreling and fighting with people over things that do not really make any eternal difference? If you are, then you are fighting the wrong fight.
Are you willing to do something about that? Don’t let your desires bring you into conflict with others. Don’t let your motives cause you to be frustrated with life. Don’t let your lifestyle result in a hostile relationship with God. Deal with you. Humble yourself. God will lift you up. God will bless your life. He will give you his joy. Your relationship with him and with others will grow stronger. You will like yourself and others will like you too.
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