WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.720 We're working our way toward the end of the book of James. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:04.639 Today we're in chapter four. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:06.639 So James chapter four, one and two. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:10.400 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:11.759 Is it not this? 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.640 That your passions are at war within you. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:16.800 You desire and do not have, so you murder. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:19.920 You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:22.879 You do not have because you do not ask. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:26.079 So let's make some sense of this for ourselves. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:29.760 Well, point number one is this is James diagnosing us, isn't it? 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.039 We're not always kind, we're not always loving. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:38.000 We do cause conflict, we quarrel, we fight, we can even murder. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.479 So James diagnoses us and then he asks, he says, like, why? 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:45.200 Like, where does that come from? 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.920 How can you be so kind in one moment and then turn around and cause so much conflict in another moment? 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.359 Where does that conflict come from? 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:54.240 Why am I not more kind at age 44? 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.719 And James says, there's an issue under the issue. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:00.320 Now, what's that issue? 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:06.400 And James says, well, actually, that issue under the other issue, that issue is you covet. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:12.000 So to covet is to crave or yearn for that which is not yours. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.040 You don't have it, somebody else has it, it's out there, you want it, you crave it, you yearn for it. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.560 So coveting leads you down a path where nothing is enough. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:31.840 And then you're not enough, and then you're not at peace, and so you're on edge, and when you're on edge, you tend to lash out at others and cause a quarrel or a conflict. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:33.599 Last spring we went to St. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:36.640 Simon's for spring break for a few days, and so we were in St. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:37.040 Simon's. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:43.040 When we were there, we discovered, I discovered, I've been talking about it for six months, the cookie at Sammy's Deli. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:51.280 I walked in, ordered some sandwiches for that lunch that day, and I saw the cookie, and I see a good cookie, I get pretty excited about it. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.040 And so I got like 10 of them, had one on the way back to the condo. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.519 It confirmed it, it's an amazing cookie. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.840 Had another one on the beach, had another one after dinner, had another one for breakfast. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.120 It's like a muffin, so you can have a cookie for breakfast. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:13.120 And then that next day, I'm on the beach, and we're at the season of life, wonderful season of life, where you don't have to watch your kids on the beach. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:19.919 I'd heard about this season, dreamt about it for years, where you get to read again, like you're reading, you're talking to your spouse. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:20.960 It's amazing. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.400 And I begin to think about that lunch that I'm gonna have, right? 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.240 Don't you love a beach lunch? 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:31.520 You know, you've been out on the beach, you walk up to wherever you're staying, you fix your sandwich and everything. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.080 Let's just take a little moment, a little break away from the beach. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:35.280 I start to think about it. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.599 I head up to the condo and I make my turkey and ham, roast beef, fresh tomato, lettuce. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.159 Just big old, big old tower of a sandwich. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.479 Put some pretzels on there, dots, of course. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:45.680 We know that's what's on there. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:55.120 So then I go to get the cookie, which I remembered seeing that morning was one of the last cookies, and it's not there. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:56.159 No cookies. 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:01.520 Cookies are gone, and immediately I am I turn into a pill. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.000 Where's my cookie? 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:06.000 Who ate the last cookie? 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:09.360 I'm like yelling from the balcony down to the beach to yaw, you know. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:11.759 Isn't that interesting? 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:13.280 You've done it, right? 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:22.000 It was the last piece of cake, you put it in the fridge, you thought about it all day, and then you got home, it was gone, and immediately you just become a pill. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:22.960 Who ate the cake? 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:24.080 That was my cake, right? 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:25.280 Like we've all done this. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:28.319 We immediately become a pill about this. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:30.639 And we lash out, right? 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.439 The craving of one thing actually fuels correlate. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:36.960 That's what James says. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.039 James says we do this all the time. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:39.599 Right? 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:44.400 Relational strife comes from a heart issue of coveting. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:46.719 We crave all sorts of things. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.159 Just this week, I listed out my cravings this week. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:55.120 Uh, again, again, uh a 1997 fully restored Toyota Lane Cruiser. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.199 I go to bringatrailer.com. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:57.680 Too much. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:59.840 I don't know if you're on that website at night. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.840 Uh a cabin in Montana, just a humble something. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:04.719 That's all I need. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.879 A Sid Mashburn blazer. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:15.120 I only wear a blazer twice a year, but I'm pretty sure that if I owned a Sid Mashburn blazer, I could be fulfilled in life. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:16.560 I only wear it twice a year. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:18.240 I don't know why I do that, but I do it. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:20.480 And you have your things, right? 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.800 You know your things. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:24.639 Crown molding. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:26.399 If only, right? 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:30.079 Because you were at your friend's house, you're like, that crown molding looked really nice. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:33.680 Like, if only our living room had crown molding. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.519 Screened in porch? 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:45.759 I mean, you you have back deck, but then you went to somebody else's house and they had screened in porch, and you just think, man, if I had a screened in porch, everything would change all of my life. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:47.040 My entire heart would change. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.040 We all have these things. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.800 Power, control, comfort, approval, those are the much deeper things. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.560 We desire something and we can't get it. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:03.600 And this is actually, James says, this is what is the beginning point of a lot of our quarreling. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:04.480 Because we're upset. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:05.920 We're not getting what we want. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.079 Now the world can look like this. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.079 This is what the world can look like. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:15.199 Um there I am, walking out of my humble cabin. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:16.800 I don't need much. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.240 A few thousand acres, Paradise Valley, Montana, humble cabin. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:23.439 It's all I really need. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.120 Not a big deal. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:36.000 And then if we live long enough, or you watch Yellowstone for five and a half minutes, the world cracks open, doesn't it? 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:38.079 It's not what it appears. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.879 I mean, they're it's all the wealth you need, right? 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:43.759 On the show. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:45.040 Like all the wealth you need. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.439 You couldn't dream of anything more. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:51.439 And they're all horrible human beings. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:57.439 And they're killing each other, they're yelling at each other, they're quarrelling, fighting, murdering all the time. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:05:59.120 Right? 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:02.720 We can actually get what we want, and it still doesn't deliver. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.160 And nobody's at peace because why? 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:07.040 Why? 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:13.519 Because all the stuff that we really want peace, acceptance, relational harmony. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:14.879 It's about the heart. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:20.560 And that's why James is saying, you're quarreling, you're fighting, but there's an issue under the issue. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:22.879 At the beginning point. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:28.000 You're wanting a bunch of stuff, and you can't get it, and you're upset. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.639 And then you go and project it onto other people. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:31.680 Verse 3. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:37.360 You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:42.720 You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:47.199 Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God? 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:56.480 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? 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.800 So point number two is this we are not always kind because we're not at peace with God. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:05.120 This is where James is driving us. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:06.079 Be a friend with God. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:08.160 God lives in you, dwells in you. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.839 That phrase of verse 2, you do not have because you do not ask. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:13.920 Now, this is not God's vending machine. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:14.480 That doesn't work. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:15.519 I don't know if you picked up on it. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.519 We all try, we've all tried it, haven't we? 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.000 Right? 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:19.120 Doesn't work. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:20.240 Never will. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:21.759 God's not a vending machine. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:31.279 This is James turning us from seeking the illusion of acceptance in the world to the acceptance we have with God. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:39.439 And until we're at peace in Christ, we're just always on the hunt looking for the next deliverer. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:44.319 And then we get there and it does a deliver, so we're on the hunt again. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:46.399 And the cycle goes on and on and on. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:52.560 Verse three is talking about that we don't actually want to receive what God gives us. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.399 Like what God actually wants to give us. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:56.079 That's not what we're interested in. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:00.079 We actually have our own passions that are not healthy. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:07.439 And that this is what breaks down the cycle of asking God and receiving from him, because we're actually interested in a whole different set of things. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:11.199 We say one thing, but we're actually self-absorbed and in love with the world. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.279 So again, the problem is the heart. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:14.800 It's our hearts. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.480 And James says we're adulterers. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:28.560 There's a strange story in the Old Testament where God tells Hosea, a godly man, to marry a prostitute woman named Gomer. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:30.959 And at first everything seems to go well. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.279 Gomer straightens out, they got a little family going, everything looks fine. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:41.360 And then Gomer returns to her old life, which is odd and very sad. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.639 And it's odd because she was provided for. 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:46.000 She had a husband. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.120 She had family. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:48.000 She was supported. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:49.039 She had children. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:51.440 What drives her to this? 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:56.080 So a little bit of context is Gomer was involved in a religion that worshipped Baal. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:06.799 And Baal was a created deity, a little g god that the people created, and in this demanded destructive practices of the people that were involved in this type of worship. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.840 Human sacrifice, the killing of children, and religious prostitution. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.159 All to satisfy the gods. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:15.279 Do this enough. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:16.960 Do more, do it again. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:19.120 You'll satisfy the gods, you'll be accepted. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:24.480 So it seems like all of this mess, she leaves her husband, she's an adulterer, she's back in prostitution. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:32.000 It could be because she's involved in this messed-up way of finding acceptance with her God. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:38.799 And we all do that when we form little g gods that we think will deliver us. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:43.200 And here's what happens when we seek acceptance through illegitimate means. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:53.120 She will look for them but not find them. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:58.240 I mean, it's also a pretty good commentary of the show Yellowstone, that one sentence. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:01.120 Like that is what's going on over and over again. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.480 I always think about the Madonna quote from 20 years ago. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.720 She was at the peak of her fame, her glory, her money. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.440 She had whatever she wanted, and here's what she said in the mid-90s. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.440 That wasn't 20 years ago, was it? 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.559 Forgive me. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:19.919 I have an iron will. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:27.200 And all of my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:31.840 I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:36.799 And then I get to another stage and think I'm mediocre and uninteresting again and again. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:41.840 My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.559 And that's always pushing me, pushing me. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:49.919 Because even though I've become somebody, I still have to prove I'm somebody. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.679 My struggle has never ended and it probably never will. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.159 Now we could get really judgmental of Madonna. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:56.720 We probably have. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.360 There's lots of material to be judgmental about, that's for sure. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:00.799 There's only one problem. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:05.600 And the problem is that in our hearts we're a lot like her. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:10.639 That's right, when we read this, you go, like, oh, I know that feeling. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:13.600 Now let's keep reading Hosea. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.440 Let's read again verse 7. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.080 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.000 She will look for them but not find them. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.200 We've all known the feeling. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:22.080 Now what happens? 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:22.879 What happens? 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:27.679 Then she will say, I will go back to my husband as at first. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:29.840 For then I was better off than now. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:31.279 Great decision. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:32.159 Good decision. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:36.720 Go back to the place where you're actually finding fulfillment, stability, security. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:38.480 Now, what's her real problem? 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.039 What's the real problem going on in Gomer? 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:42.240 Verse 8. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:55.679 She has not acknowledged that I, God, was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold which they used for Baal. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.279 Gomer's problem is ultimately a lack of inner recognition that she has a creator. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:03.919 She has a heavenly father. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:14.960 So just like James takes religious relational strife and takes us to the heart, we see here in this story we have relational brokenness because of a heart issue with the Heavenly Father. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.279 It comes to the heart, the issue under the issue. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:24.240 And God is telling the story of Hosea to tell the one great story about us and about him. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.840 See, Hosea is Jesus, and we are Gomer. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:29.600 We're the adulterer. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.919 And yet he is pursuing us and loving us in our mass. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:42.720 The end of Hosea chapter 2 becomes a love song to this weary, beat down, worn-out, rebellious woman. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.759 The whole love song is Hosea 2, 14 through 23. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:47.360 I'll read just a few of the verses. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:50.080 Therefore, I am now going to allure her. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.159 I will betroth you to me forever. 00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:00.480 I will betroth you in righteousness and justice and love and compassion. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:04.720 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.519 I will plant her for myself in the land. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.759 I will show my love to the one I called, not my loved one. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:16.399 I will say to those who called, not my people, you are my people. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.720 And they will say, You are my God. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:25.840 You see the inexhaustible grace moving toward the rebellious one, and that it creates the change. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:29.440 It wasn't her creating the change to him. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.279 It is God's inexhaustible grace to us that woos us and changes us. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:36.559 Back to James. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:38.240 Back to James 4 and 5. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:39.519 Let's reread those verses. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:45.600 You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:50.000 Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:58.960 Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:09.600 It's James's blunt, almost negative way to say, God wants to be your friend, and he yearns to live in you through his spirit. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:16.399 Point number three is this rest and peace are found in friendship with the loving Heavenly Father. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:18.399 Friendship is the word philea. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:22.000 We get the city, Philadelphia, city of love. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:22.559 Right? 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:28.480 This is a friendship love, affectionate, strong love of one friend to another. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:33.519 A couple of weeks ago, a childhood friend of mine, Kyle, his father passed away. 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:37.279 We all grew up together in Lawrenceville about an hour from here. 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:42.559 And so he actually grew up in a home just about four or five homes down from my wife, Christy. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:47.279 And so Christy and I went out to go to the visitation for his dad, Johnny. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.559 And so we walked into the funeral home, and Christy knows everybody in her hometown. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.240 So just like, you know, that's who she is. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.159 And so she's like hugging the funeral directors. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:55.600 I'm like, okay, that's what we're doing. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:56.240 We're doing that. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.240 And so then we move on in and we get in line, we start to see some friends. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:04.639 And you want to like see your friends, you hadn't seen your friends in a couple years, you want to hug them, hey man, what's going on? 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.480 Like you're in a funeral home, it's a visitation, so we're all like trying to hold it down. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:15.440 We get in line, we're working our way up, and we see Kyle and Claire and Carrie and uh Kyle's mom, Linda. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.240 And so we wait our turn and finally we see Kyle and tell him, like, I hadn't seen him in a couple years. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:26.159 I mean, this was a friend of mine who met in seventh grade, all the way through college, hadn't seen him in a couple years. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.399 I'm like, man, I'm I'm so sorry. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:30.320 Like, I miss you, I love you. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:34.639 He looks me dead in the eyes, he's like, I really miss you, like I love you. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.600 And then afterward, we're all in the in the lobby. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:46.399 My friend David, his wife Maya, my friend John, his wife Jill, Kyle comes back out, and we're all standing around arguing who really was the best basketball player. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:49.600 You know, I really felt it was me, they felt it was them. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.919 It's the same conversation we've always had. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.159 And then finally, the funeral home is like, hey, y'all gotta leave. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:57.840 Like, we're gonna close the doors. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:58.799 We wanna go home. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:15:59.679 Out you go. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:00.559 It's over. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:01.919 Like done visitation. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:02.960 Visitation's over. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:08.559 So finally we leave, we go to a restaurant, we have this little dessert and drinks, and we just talk. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:10.879 For hours we just talk, right? 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:15.200 And we do this because we are friends. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:19.200 Affectionate, strong love over time. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:28.720 We talked for hours and we laughed, and never once during those three hours, never once did I worry about being accepted. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.200 I never once was going like, how's my standing? 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:35.679 How's my standing with David? 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:37.759 Didn't do that. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:38.799 Right? 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.720 They've known me since seventh grade. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:44.799 Friends, strong, affectionate love over time. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:51.039 Friendship's that gift that we get to be who we are with somebody else and we're loved. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:53.279 And it's a strong love. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:57.759 And James says the world will never give you that. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:16:59.759 It won't. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.159 It's just gonna keep letting you down. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.039 That's the bad news. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:06.000 Right? 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.160 Okay, so that's a lot of bad news. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:13.279 Um we quarrel, like like passively, um, actively. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.440 Um we we cause fights. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:19.519 Uh we do this because we want stuff that we don't have and we can't get it. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.559 That stuff doesn't even give us contentment or joy. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:24.720 All the bad news, what's the good news? 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:26.400 Verse 6. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.200 But he gives more grace. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:32.720 There it is. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.000 But he gives more grace. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:41.680 Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:43.519 Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:45.279 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.680 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.599 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.160 And then all this is just a call to humble yourself. 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:59.119 Be wretched and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.759 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:10.000 Point number four is this our neediness leads us to God's delight of us in Christ. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:22.960 Humble comes from the word tapano, which means to assign to a lower place, rank below others, to lower your opinion of yourself. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.720 So this isn't a call to shame. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:40.559 This is a call to the freedom of self-forgetfulness, to receive, to be a person of humility, to say, I can't find all this in the world, I can't earn it, I can't achieve it, I can't obtain it, I can't hold it, I'm gonna have to go to the Creator, the Heavenly Father, for these hard issues. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:51.680 That's where we find our steady anchors in Christ, which frees us from depending on other people for these things, or depending on that humble cabinet in Yellowstone that is gonna do it for me. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.960 We get freed from needing those things to do it for us. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:07.200 And James says, verse 7 and 8, therefore, because of that, therefore, because he gives more grace, therefore, draw near him, surrender, submit, you know, resist temptation, right? 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:14.720 All of this is a call to say, daily we receive the gospel, live in increasing confession, in his inexhaustible grace. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:20.640 And we're freed from driving, the drive to be our own saviors, or to use the world to save us. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:24.480 That verse 6 is that turning point in the entire passage. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:26.319 He gives more grace. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:31.039 This week that had me thinking about Luke 15, the prodigal son's story. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.400 I mean, what an amazing story of he gives more grace, right? 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.680 The rebellious son, he asks for his inheritance early, takes the money, runs off, lives in the world large. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:42.559 He lives big. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:48.400 He goes for it, he parties, he's spending the money, and the world is good to him there for that period of time. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:56.160 But he spends it, he parties, he wastes it all, and then there's nothing left, and he has nothing, and he's starving, and he's broken. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:58.400 The world did not deliver. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:01.440 Because the world always eventually doesn't deliver. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:05.119 It's nobody's friend, but he thinks. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:05.759 Right? 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.720 Remember, maybe, maybe the father will take me back. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:11.039 Maybe there's grace there. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.079 Remember this image by Charles Macassy? 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:15.759 I showed it a couple years ago. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:29.200 This is his artwork of the prodigal son, that worn and weary boy as he comes home, the beat-down child who is embraced by the father, who runs toward him and embraces him. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.480 And the father wraps him up in his arms. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:37.519 The father slaughters his own fattened calf to throw the party. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:45.920 Priest and author Robert Capin calls this parable the festival of death, because it's a festival of humility. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.799 The son has to die to return. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:49.920 Right? 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:52.880 Humble yourselves below the Lord, and he will exalt you. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:21:03.680 The party is because the father embraces, welcomes, pursues the son, and in the image of Christ is the sacrificed calf, so the party can actually happen. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:11.599 And the party is about enjoying the free forgiveness and the acceptance that we have in Jesus, what we're really looking for. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:16.480 And it's a party that we get to attend, and everything is provided for us. 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:23.039 Because the Father is lavish in his love, he gives more grace. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:32.400 So, to summarize, James says to move toward kindness, which we're called to. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.799 James calls it the royal law. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:36.400 To stop quarreling. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.119 We need to rid our hearts of the coveting. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:40.000 Great. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.400 How do we rid our hearts of the coveting? 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.640 Well, James says, good news. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.799 He gives more grace. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:22:02.240 See, as we rest and live from our heart, being fully forgiven in the inexhaustible grace of God to us, accepted, defined by the Heavenly Father's view of us in Christ. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:07.839 That inexhaustible grace actually does something in our heart. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:15.279 It secures us, it stables us, it fulfills us, and we are empowered to be kind to people. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:16.799 Let's pray together. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.279 God, thank you for your grace to us that is ever increasing. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:29.279 That it is inexhaustible because it is not based in our work toward you, but your work toward us. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:35.839 We sit in this room this morning humble because we know that we cause conflict. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.119 We're bitter or resentful. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:51.440 We withhold from people, or we actively project onto them all of our anger. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:58.319 And for all of this, we're sorry and confess that is not who you called us to be. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:08.640 And we confess this is true because we our hearts are wanting something that we don't have, and we haven't found our satisfaction in you. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:17.200 And I pray this morning your Holy Spirit would convict and comfort and heal, and would we be more rooted in you this morning? 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:23.519 Would we grow in the great wealth of our identity in Jesus? 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:32.720 That you are our forever friend, and you love us with an affectionate, welcoming, strong love that never ends. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:34.720 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:35.599 Amen.