James Week 7

Sermon Transcript:

Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Thank you Joi. Well, Happy, Happy Mother's Day to those of y'all mothers that are out there. And also, you know, we just want to recognize that, you know, there's all kinds of feelings that maybe pop up on this day because of the desire to be a mom, or maybe your first Mother's Day without your mother. And so we're very sensitive to that as well. But Happy Mother's Day. Well, we, we thought about taking a break from our series on James, you know, that's perfectly acceptable. We do that sometimes, Easter and other holidays. But the more I studied this passage, the more I thought about this day, and we're going to look at James four verses one through 10, I thought about how great and a loving family we would have if we took seriously a passage like this. And so we are we're going to, we're going to be continuing in our series in James chapter four verses one through 10. And we're going to connect to themes that we've been seeing throughout the book, maybe you're aware that when you read your Bible, and it's broken up into chapter in verses, that those were not original, in the original autographs, those chapters, and those verses were put in later so that we can just find certain passages in the Bible. So that's why we study a book sometime holistically together, sometimes that's why it's good we we read the whole book, or chapter in one setting, definitely would have been that way when they read it to the early church. And so that way, we can see how things relate throughout the whole entire book. So the issue of wisdom, asking God for something's going to come back up. Maybe you remember James, chapter one, verse five, if any of us lacks wisdom, what are we supposed to do? Pray and ask God, and He will freely and generously give us all things. So give us that the issues of faith, we're always asking ourselves, right, in a situation like church, what is faith? How am I to walk in faith? James is nothing but a practical book on the issue of faith. We ended last week with really talking about that, that harvest of righteousness that we all want. We all desire that we all want to be a place where we feel like in our lives and in our family's lives, that we're rooted and grounded in God's word that we provide shade, so that people can come and rest under our branches and our wisdom that comes from God above as we live our lives faithfully to him. So that's gonna come up again today. And then the issues of the tongue. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, we literally set a little mini house on fire to show just the destruction that we know that fire in anger, the tons of fire and that anger can have in our household, it can get us into a lot of trouble. But it doesn't have to be a god has a better plan for ourselves and for our household if we will humble ourselves as we're going to see in the passage today. So James here before beginning in verse one, what is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you, you want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it. So you fight in wage war to take it away from them. You don't have what you want, because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you. Pleasure. So a lot there. That's what I told you. I think this is maybe an Abigal Mother's Day message. Because how many of us know that we're gonna have a meal at some point today, and that there's gonna be some some fights and quarrels, right? There's just, there's just gonna be right, and we're gonna sit down at a table with family and friends. And we're going to put more than two or three people in a room, we know that there's probably going to be some conflict because why what's going to happen? Somebody's gonna gonna get real upset that you're eating the last of them all day, right? They had it they had a plan, right? Your aunt had a plan for that moulage she was gonna pour the last little bit on her enchilada wouldn't be so dry the next day. Some of y'all when you sit down to eat, and you begin to think about the food, you begin to think about leftovers the next day, right? So you begin to think, okay, that ribs and brisket, they sure are good, but I hope he or she doesn't take too much because I gotta plan for that tomorrow. My grandma, she was this way. And she would literally take the leftover ribs and she would lick them and put them back on the plate to say those are my ribs. Ain't nobody taking that for tomorrow. Okay. And so I know that there are going to be fights and quarrels among us as we even eat a meal like today on Mother's Day. One of the things we need to recognize that is our desires lead to fights because they're so self centered. Whatever it is that you and I are going to quarrel and fight about today. And in the days ahead in our life, it's going to be because we're being so self centered. Think about fights that happen around the issues of money around spouses or those who are connected because they're roommates or maybe a mother daughter, Father, Son, whatever. One maybe you want something nice, right? So you maybe had this argument before we have some money He, in one style says, Okay, I want I want a nice new car, I want a nice new appliance with that money. The other one the other spouse is like, no, no, like, I want this experience like I want to go on this great vacation, it's gonna cost 1000s of dollars but but we're gonna fly everybody to this destination. And we're gonna have this nice, you know, Airbnb or hotel or place on the beach or whatever it is, we're going to do so you have what you have two competing desires in a household for how we're to spend the money. And what do we begin to do we begin to fight selfishly by using our truth as evidence why we should go with our side and not the other side. So what will you do if if you're, if you're for the day, if you're for the car side, right? What are you going to say about the vacation that your spouse wants to take? You remember that last vacation, remember what your your mom did? Remember how she acted? You want that again? Remember the kids how they how they fought and bickered, remember the rain that we had to get, remember how much money we had to spend at Disneyland and the food wasn't even that good, right? That's what you're going to do. If you want to what if you want somebody to come to your side? And then what will you do? If you're on the other side? It's like, oh, well, you know, it's like, we got this car. And yeah, I know, it dies when you turn left. But you know, whatever, we don't need a new car, right? Or I know that like it just it just collapses. I know, it makes all those knocking noises. And so what happens is that we all will take our side, and we always look with rosy colored glasses on our side, you know what I'm talking about? It's always doomsday for their side, and rosy colored glasses for our side. And so what we do is we just distort the facts a little bit. And if I don't think, don't we, but eventually we get caught, we get caught. And then what happens we get caught? Does the other person whether it's a spouse, or a friend or roommate or a co worker be like, Oh, my bad. I didn't see it that way. No, what ends up happening is what you get caught. And so what ends up happening is they bring up how you're distorting the facts. And what happens is that cycle of fighting, and quarreling continues to go on and on. And this that we think about and we live in oftentimes, we're responsible for this infighting? Did you notice this? What causes the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you and me? So a lot of times, we want to say, Well, no, he made me do it. She made me do it. Oh, if you only had to work with him or with her, or the devil made me do it. Maybe you've heard that before. But what this passage tells us and the devil is going to come up later, we're going to talk about how the devil sort of what fans the flames of our sinful desires. But rest assured church for you. And for me, that which is most likely to bring us down is that which is within our heart, we are the ones to blame. Because here's the truth of the matter is, a lot of us have what the Bible calls idols in our heart. And how do you know that

we have an idol and idol is something that you'll send to get it, or sin if you don't get it? I'll say again, an idol is something that you'll send to get it or sin if you don't get it. So that's how you know that you want something too bad. Because when you don't get your way, what will you do, you'll lash out, you'll you'll you'll use that mouth, you'll pop off in anger, you'll you'll take something that's not yours, you'll you'll put things in a different light. Why? Because you'll send to get it or you'll sin if you don't get it. Right, same way. So we all have this sort of version that goes on this narrative in our heart that it's my party, and I'll cry if I want to. I know that's an old old song, but you've probably heard it somewhere along the way. But that whole idea of like, it's my party, this is my house, this is my job. This is my money that I've earned. And so it's mine, and I'll cry if I want to when things don't go my way, I will lash out, I'll push back, I'll let you hear about it. And we follow it up with the other side of that song, you'd cry too, if it happened to you. And I'm gonna live that same song over and over again. But you guys understand that concept, right? That we then seek to justify ourselves by bringing others alongside with us? Well, if you had to be married to him, If you had to work for that boss, if you had to have that kind of child, you would have be saying this and you'd be lashing out too. So that's where these these these fights and quarrels come from. They come from the the indwelling sin that still remains in our hearts even as believers we want when we don't have so what does the Scripture say we scheme and kill to get it and so you're like back up back up pasture and nobody killed anybody. Like I know that. Like, I sometimes hate her hate him or against him or mom or dad, but I'm not killing anyone. Why do the scriptures go there? Well, keep in mind several times in the book of James, we've gone back to Jesus himself and what he said on the practical sermon on the mount to really eliminate some of these key understandings for us, because we just think we're fighting with our brother or sister or spouse or co worker. But here's what it says in Matthew five, verses 20 through 22. Jesus says on the Sermon on the Mount, but I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the Pharisees of the religious law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, what's that saying there? Those people would have thought, Man, these Pharisees, these religious teachers, they're the ones who do the best good they know the most. They're the ones if I have to surpass that there is no hope for me. And Jesus is really trying to show them Yes, that's right. Because you need Christ. He goes on. He says, You have heard our ancestors were told, You must not murder. What's That's right. That would have been one of the 10 commandments. If you commit murder, you're subject to judgment. They're all not on Yeah, that's right. We know this. We've heard this before. But Jesus says this, but I say, if you're even angry with someone, you're subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. So what we begin to understand is we begin to understand those desires that are welling up in you and me and how we react and lash out and how we think and how we move. It's not harmless, it's not for nothing. It's what ultimately will devour us and take us down. Because why did where did the scriptures go after this? You and I are jealous what others have, we can't get it. So we fight in wage war, to take it away from them. We say War War, I'm not doing this jealousy. I'm not sure I'm really jealous of him or her. Have you seen him lately? That's the way we think. We're just trying to get along to get along. I'm just trying to survive. No, you and I have a goal. rest assure none of us are just neutral moral beings floating around in this universe. You and I have a goal. We're not innocent bystanders. In this conflict that's rising up within us, it goes all the way back to the garden, right? This isn't meant to be discouraging things mainly meant to encourage us. So we think about how we interact with our families this afternoon, this evening and the rest of our lives. But one of the things that we understand is from the garden, we understand because our ancestors made that choice, that we're not born into sin, we born with a sinful nature, and then we'll become old enough to understand right and wrong, we've chosen wrong at times. And so we're doubly condemned. That's why we need Christ. But even after we come to Christ, we're like, wait a second, though, I still had these issues. I still have these wars, in my heart, in my soul, in my spirit, and in my family, in my workplace, in my people. And so what I would just say is why does that happen? It happens, because someone is getting in the way of our pleasures, they got what it says here. That's what it says that last little thing. It says that we want our enjoyment. You and I, we often are thinking the wrong way. We're thinking about ourself, it's gonna be real clear, you're later on, but we're thinking about ourselves. Enjoyment is another name for pleasures. So what do we what do we seek and our goals? Our goal, when we get off work, maybe, okay, I just want to get home. I just want to prop my feet up. I don't want any sort of conflict. Anybody bringing me any sort of problems? And what happens to us what happens when you walk in? Problems? problems, problems, and you got to work? Same way, right? It

just hits you just hit you. As soon as you get there. You're like, no, no, I

wanted something else. And so when that something else doesn't happen, you want it to be successful. You wanted to write this out, you wanted to, you know, have this already cleaned or picked up, you wanted this sort of food, you know, for dinner or whatever you wanted this sort of leisure, you wanted this type of vacation, you wanted this kind of evening to watch this sort of show on Netflix or whatever. But you step in the way of my desires, right? What happens what happens when you cross me when you get in the way of what I want and what I wanted to do. Our tendency is to fight until we get our way. That's why James is saying that we're so powerless in our spiritual life. Because we we even when we do ask, we ask with the wrong motives. We don't we don't come at it the right way. We're not about God in His glory. We're about self and self scoring. So first thing I want us to do first point, consider the possibility you got a problem. Let's just do that. Even on Mother's Day, I get it. Consider the possibility you got a problem. So you're like, Yeah, I got a problem. It's him or her they're sitting right next to me, right? No, no, I'm gonna consider just consider right because I'm not I'm not gonna be being accusatory I don't want to hit you between the eyes or anything like that. But just consider the man there's a problem here and it might be me. Consider the possibility that you have a problem or got a problem. Because right in verse four, the scriptures are gonna hit us right between the eyes. Okay, so what does he do in verse four? How does he shift gears here in the book of James, he goes right in he says, You adulterers, adulterers is a strong that's like cheaters. I understand what that means. This is this is a big deal. And what does he say? Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again. If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think that the scriptures have no meaning they say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously as the Scriptures say, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Why does he go after this word, this idea of adulterers well think all the way back to the Old Testament, that God He created us, okay, he created us. And one of the things that happens when you're the creator is you have creator rights, and you understand this, we understand this from, you know, patterns. And we understand this from, you know, building certain things and intellectual properties, all these things, we understand that when you're the creator, you have creator rights. And that's so true with the God of the Bible is just that whole idea that that he's created, we talk a lot to our human rights. And, you know, I've got my my way, and I should have the right to do this, and that, and maybe there's some room for some of that. But first and foremost, we need to think about God having creator rights and one of the things that he has the right to is he's or has the right to create us as creatures. And then jealously longed for the Spirit that He put inside of us were made in His image. So he desires for us to worship worship Him. And so what happens is, is that when we have a choice, every day of our lives every moment to either put God at the center of our world, or to put self at the center of the world, that's what it says, when when the idea of a worldly system is that when we, when we walk with God long enough, we realize we can't want and have the same things everyone else wants and has, because the Kingdom of God is in opposition to the kingdom of this world. That doesn't mean that we don't seek to have good world systems that we don't seek to have jobs, you know, in governmental positions, and all kinds of small businesses throughout the world in the country, I get all that. But it's that whole idea that how we operate is fundamentally different as believers than the way the world operates. This is one principle that you see, in terms of Jesus talking about leadership. He says, The Gentiles love to Lord their authority over someone not so with you, that you're supposed to be gentle among others, you still have to lead, but not in the same way. The world system is the concern. And because God made us you see in the Old Testament, he goes to great lengths to say that he he wants us to know that when we are for lack of a better word in bed with the world, we're adulterers, we understand this in everyday life. Nobody in this room thinks it's okay to have two three spouses in your house. Why? Because you're divided. It's not right. It's divided loyalty can't work. In the same way we can't divide our heart between God in this world. And so you see this over and over again. What is the remedy for all this, though, because we'll find ourselves there often. And what happens is, is that the more we stay there, we ultimately become men and women have pride and pride is so ugly, however, it rears its head in our lives, isn't it? That pride is always spiritual suicide. Go back to those fights and quarrels that are among us. How many of y'all would raise your hand and saying that when I reacted pridefully, it went well, for me, that was good. We had a fight in a quarrel, and I bowed up on them, I beat up on him or her. And it went well, for me. It doesn't, it doesn't go well for you in that moment. It doesn't go well for you afterwards. Pride is always spiritual suicide. Just think about that. It's always that way, and we find it and we'll struggle with it for the rest of our lives. I get that. Humility is always the answer. No, humility is not weakness. It's not letting someone walk all over you. So oftentimes, we think no, if I humble myself, or him and her, him or her, they're just gonna walk all over me. Well, no, I'm not. I'm not saying put yourself under abuse situation, I get all that. But it's that whole idea that we understand that I am not my own. I belong to the Lord. And if the Lord has asked me to do this, I can do this because I belong to another kingdom. That's why when you look at the Sermon on the Mount, there's things like, If someone asked you, If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn on the other, someone asked you to walk on my walk, too, because why? Because you and I serve another kingdom. That's the only way we can do that. Because something has got to happen in our hearts in our lives, to enable us to do that. Because you and I are thinking right now. Oh, when he or she asked me to do that, when they tried to do that. I always want to vote and I would say no, no, no, no, not today, since they're not today for in. And what we're seeing is that God can give you the grace to individually deal with that individual or other individuals and the way he would want us to respond and say the way we would want to respond. Did you see that in that passage? What does it say there in verse six? It's a very small phrase, and he gives grace generously. Oh my gosh, church, how many of us need that grace just just poured over us over and over again to be able to deal with him or her, our child our way? We're child or disobedient toddler whatever, or this person at work this, this person in my literal household in verse six says that he generously gives us the same word that he gives in terms of wisdom through prayer. So here's the way to think about it. I know we don't have a lot of water around here, but you've seen video or pictures of sailboats. And you understand that the only way the sailboat goes, especially if you don't have a little small engine, and cheatin is that with the wind. And so when the wind is against the sale, that sailboat isn't going anywhere, it's just going backwards, or it's just spinning around in circles. In the same way, if that sail catches the wind, what happens? It just flies, it just glides across the water. In the same way you and I need to understand that headwinds are against us when we are prideful. You ever felt that way? You ever tried to get somewhere at work? Or in your home or with your kid or with your parent or with your spouse, and you are being prideful? How'd that go for you? How'd it go? For me? It's it's obviously that I'm either going backwards, I'm staying in same place or I'm spinning around.

But what happens when we just show grace? Remember, grace is getting something you don't deserve? How are you able to show that because you didn't deserve it either. I didn't deserve it either. And so God He freely and generously gives us grace that acts as winds in our sails. And that's what you and I need. We need the wind to blow in our sails so that we can stop fighting and quarreling, because we live for another kingdom, we live for another world, at least to my second point this morning, which is God has enough grace for that. God has enough grace for that. I don't know what all you're going through. Maybe you're thinking of one situation, maybe thinking of several of them. Maybe you're feeling like you're getting it on multiple fronts. A lot of life is that way at times I get that. But God has enough grace for that you and I believe that church? Do we really believe that? If the cross of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ had enough grace to cover your sin and my sin, he also has enough grace to sanctify us to make us more like His Son. In the days ahead. That's what verse six says, And he gives grace generously as the scripture say, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So here's our application verses seven and following. We're ready for it. Here it is. So Humble yourselves before God. That's what we're called to do. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Remember how I said that? That the devil is real? What does he do? He takes us situations we find ourselves and he takes us fights and kills we find ourselves in and he's whispering things in our ear. Go ahead and say that, go ahead. They deserve that. Go ahead and do that. So he's fanning the flames of our inward desires leftover from our old sinful nature for believers. But what happens if we resist the devil, he flees from us? Then what happens where to draw near to God come close to God, he'll come close to you. Then he turns the page and he says some things that could be hard for us to hear this morning, wash your hands, you centers, purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. We see this over and over again, it can't work that way. Let there be tears for what you and I have done that to be sorrow and debrief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves for the Lord. And He will lift you up, in honor. Last point I wants to see this morning is this right here. Repentance is no fun, okay? anybody tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something that that ultimately is unknown is not going to work, which is that we have to understand that we come to the end of our robes when we come to finding ourselves in a mire in a pit in a messed up situation. It's so fun to be in it. It's no fun to finally admit less than I need help. That's why it says in these verses here. What does it say? Understand there'll be tears for what we've done, there'll be sorrow, there'll be deep grief, there'll be sadness instead of laughter. So we can't just laugh everything off, we can just sweep it all under the rug, that repentance is no fun. But you're not gain the sweetness afterwards. He's not such good news. We have to get to the other side of it. And that's why, you know, again, we just find ourselves over and over again. Are you sure God? Like is there another way? Like, like, you seem to say in this passage, God, that humility is the answer. And I gotta lay down my pride. How many of us who raise their hand and say, God, are you sure? Are you sure I think this might work for someone else. But this is not gonna work for me. This isn't working for me. And God is calling us over and over again. Say listen, first and foremost, if you've got anything that you know that you've done, as far as it's up to you, you might need to repent before God and others that's not gonna be fun. So not enjoyable to say you're sorry and then have to go to someone and ask for forgiveness. So he's either granted either by the way, but you and I gain the sweetness afterwards. We get into fellowship with God and Heaven, first of all, and then we get in the fellowship with others as well. Well, that's what I had to tell you this Mother's Day. I think there's there's great opportunity This day and in the days ahead to what this is nothing more than that. The second commandment loving your neighbor as yourself. We're all good at loving ourselves, right? We're all good at that. But what does it look like for us to live radical lives in obedience as Jesus said the world's like, man, what is going on with you, sister? What is going on with you brother may be true of us at Life Church. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for Your Word. We thank you for how you love us. How you care for us, how you comfort us. Father, I pray that you would come for the hearts of people right now who feel like I Ain't Got it. Father, I don't even believe in the grace. I don't believe it's enough. Father, help us to realize that you are more than enough. Help us to be men and women who freely and willingly admit I need you. I need you every hour every hour. I need you. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank you for this church. We thank you for the ability to worship here in a minute. Your great name. In Christ's name, Amen.