SPEAKER_00: Alright guys, this morning we are in James chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning we will be looking at verses 1 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 4, verses 1 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: Before diving into the text, I would like to remind us of the context.
SPEAKER_00: So James is writing to Jewish believers who have fled Jerusalem because of persecution.
SPEAKER_00: So James writes this letter because of his great love for these believers, and he wants them to live out their faith during adversity.
SPEAKER_00: He wants them and us to realize that faith is not theoretical, it's not hypothetical, but faith, the Christian faith, it's very tangible, it's real, and it should be penetrating every area of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so our faith should be alive because Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_00: And so we can only imagine the struggles that these Christians had.
SPEAKER_00: They had to flee to a new area.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to provide for their families.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of them lost their jobs.
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to find a new church.
SPEAKER_00: And then they're confronted with false teaching.
SPEAKER_00: And they're being tempted to keep their Christian faith private because that's what got them in trouble back in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And so James addresses many of these issues.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen this throughout his letter when it comes to endurance and temptation and true religion in chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Then he deals with discrimination and a living faith in chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: Then he talks about controlling the tongue and seeking true wisdom from above in chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: But now, here at the beginning of chapter four, we arrive at a new issue.
SPEAKER_00: Fighting among Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Now, apparently, James got wind that Christians were not getting along.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a question that I think many of us have asked at some point in our lives, I know I have.
SPEAKER_00: And it's why in the world are Christians fighting?
SPEAKER_00: Have you guys ever thought that?
SPEAKER_00: Why are people fighting in the church?
SPEAKER_00: It's perplexing.
SPEAKER_00: It seems so ridiculous and unfitting.
SPEAKER_00: Well, today James answers that question for us.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it in three ways.
SPEAKER_00: First, he tells us the cause of conflict in verses one through three.
SPEAKER_00: Then he shows us why fighting is so horrible in verses four through six.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, he provides for us the solution or the antidote to fighting in verses seven through ten.
SPEAKER_00: And he addresses this whole issue by first asking a question in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: He says, What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?
SPEAKER_00: Now, before I go any further, let's discuss the difference between healthy conflict and sinful fighting.
SPEAKER_00: So healthy conflict is vital in church life.
SPEAKER_00: This involves constructive criticism, loving rebuke, having hard conversations.
SPEAKER_00: So there is a time and place for Christians to reason together and to challenge one another, to be objective and gracefully question why we do something a certain way and so on.
SPEAKER_00: James is not talking about any of this here.
SPEAKER_00: James is addressing unnecessary, unproductive, sinful fighting.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the words quarreling and conflict here are military terms used to describe warfare, a series of attacks to injure or kill an enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And so some things in life are worth fighting for.
SPEAKER_00: We should fight the good fight of faith, as Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6.
SPEAKER_00: We should seek to kill sin in our lives, as we read in Romans 6 last week.
SPEAKER_00: But one thing that we are not called to fight is our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, especially over trivial matters.
SPEAKER_00: So and this is what James is referring to here.
SPEAKER_00: Not productive disagreement, but sinful disputes.
SPEAKER_00: They are not fighting over legitimate, God-glorifying matters.
SPEAKER_00: They are squabbling over things that James doesn't even think is worth mentioning.
SPEAKER_00: And so he brings them and us into account.
SPEAKER_00: Church, why is there fights happening among you?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, seriously, why is there grumbling?
SPEAKER_00: Why is there backbiting and bickering among God's people?
SPEAKER_00: Of all the people on earth, we are the most privileged and blessed.
SPEAKER_00: We have been spared from the fire of hell.
SPEAKER_00: God has lavished on us his unfailing, immeasurable love.
SPEAKER_00: We now have a living hope in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: All of our sins are forgiven, paid in full.
SPEAKER_00: We have been adopted into the eternal family of God, awaiting heaven, as we anticipate the glorious inheritance that is reserved for us there.
SPEAKER_00: So why do we fight?
SPEAKER_00: Why is there conflict among brothers and sisters who will be spending in eternity together?
SPEAKER_00: Well, James tells us why at the end of verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body's parts?
SPEAKER_00: Now this is interesting because we tend to think that conflict originates from outside of us.
SPEAKER_00: The problem isn't me, it's Rick, he's being stupid.
SPEAKER_00: The problem isn't me, it's it's them.
SPEAKER_00: They started it.
SPEAKER_00: If they wouldn't have said that, if they wouldn't have done that, there would be no conflict.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I walked into any church fight or a marital conflict, and I asked, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Almost universally, everyone points the finger.
SPEAKER_00: We literally see this in children.
SPEAKER_00: It's the most basic human response to conflict.
SPEAKER_00: You walk into a room, two kids are fighting over a toy, and you ask, Why are you guys fighting?
SPEAKER_00: And what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They point at each other.
SPEAKER_00: Well, he did this, she did that.
SPEAKER_00: It's the other person's fault.
SPEAKER_00: But James will not put up with that.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't picking sides.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't care what the fight is over.
SPEAKER_00: He is he isn't interested in who's right or wrong here, because he knows that such fighting is just a symptom of a deeper issue.
SPEAKER_00: You are fighting, says James, because you have pleasures warring in your body.
SPEAKER_00: To put simply, you are fighting because you can't get your way.
SPEAKER_00: The source of fighting is sin in you.
SPEAKER_00: You never hear that, do you?
SPEAKER_00: Jay, why are you fighting with your brother?
SPEAKER_00: Because my heart is evil, daddy.
SPEAKER_00: You never hear that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, fights occur because you have desires and pleasures and wants that are not being satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Our lives are frustrated because of unfulfilled desires and petty jealousies and personal emptiness.
SPEAKER_00: We are not satisfied in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_00: And as a result, we come to church wanting to be served, to have things go our way, to be recognized by others, to be a big fish in a small pond.
SPEAKER_00: And if any of these characteristics are present in fellowship among Christians, it is a recipe for offense and bitterness and envy and quarreling.
SPEAKER_00: And this is totally contrary to what the New Testament teaches about fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: We gather to worship the God who saved us, to delight in him, to praise his holy name.
SPEAKER_00: We gather, we can't, we come here on Sundays and throughout the week to lock arms with fellow believers, to behold the beauty of Christ together.
SPEAKER_00: We gather, as Ephesians 4 tells us, to equip the body for the works of service.
SPEAKER_00: That we would build each other up to reach unity in the faith, in the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming mature to attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not about me and my desires.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the building or the coffee.
SPEAKER_00: Who cares if the bathroom looks like a dungeon and smells like a sewer?
SPEAKER_00: It's okay that the church doesn't meet my every liturgical preference.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay that I don't get my way all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Because gathering ultimately is not about these things.
SPEAKER_00: And it's certainly not all about me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of these things are important and they help cultivate church life, but that's not why we gather.
SPEAKER_00: We gather to love God and unconditionally serve the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The goal is unity and edification, not division and fighting.
SPEAKER_00: And if the two greatest commandments are not your motivation for gathering, then you can expect frustration.
SPEAKER_00: You will find yourself picking fights with the leadership, with other Christians around you.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of showing up saying, How can I serve?
SPEAKER_00: How can I love someone today?
SPEAKER_00: How can I submit myself to authority?
SPEAKER_00: How can I worship God and give him glory?
SPEAKER_00: We come here with appetites, cravings, evil desires, which lead to irritations, annoyances, pessimism, a critical spirit, which leads to what?
SPEAKER_00: Conflict.
SPEAKER_00: Now someone might raise their hand and say, you know, fights don't happen here at Proclamation Church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't see that here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you may think that, but church fights are rarely obvious.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about fist fights and two people squaring up and putting each other in headlocks.
SPEAKER_00: Although I almost uh slapped Rick a month ago when he greeted me with a holy kiss.
SPEAKER_00: But church fights, they're often passive aggressive.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of backbiting, slander, avoidance.
SPEAKER_00: And with that in mind, I think we are all guilty of this to some degree.
SPEAKER_00: There's never been a dispute over the preparation of the meals.
SPEAKER_00: There's been no resentment on how something was handled here at church.
SPEAKER_00: You've never been offended by another Christian who said something to you in passing that maybe offended you.
SPEAKER_00: You've never been frustrated towards someone here at church, and then on your way home, you just totally bash them on your way home from church.
SPEAKER_00: Again, some conflicts are legitimate, but most of it, if I had to guess, is just squabbling.
SPEAKER_00: Pleasures within us, creating hostility towards others, placing unrealistic expectations on people fueled by a desire to see things go your way.
SPEAKER_00: And even worse, we try to justify our disputes in the name of truth.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just standing on the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Well, standing on the truth, last time I checked, doesn't involve hurting people.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't involve slander, nor does it involve resentment.
SPEAKER_00: Standing on the truth biblically is speaking the truth in love and still loving people that disagree with it.
SPEAKER_00: And according to the truth I'm reading in Ephesians 4, it tells us to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, along with every form, every form of malice.
SPEAKER_00: But be kind, compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: So therefore, if standing on the truth is causing you to have hatred towards another brother or sister in Christ, you are not standing on the truth, but you are denying it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I hope that we can all see this morning that fighting is typically a sign that there is sin in us.
SPEAKER_00: This is a heart problem.
SPEAKER_00: And James further develops this.
SPEAKER_00: He shows us how this plays out vividly in verses two and three.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You lust and you do not have, so you commit murder.
SPEAKER_00: And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have because you do not ask.
SPEAKER_00: You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.
SPEAKER_00: So let's go through this real quick, this progression together.
SPEAKER_00: It all starts with lust.
SPEAKER_00: It's problem number one.
SPEAKER_00: There is something we want.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's the way you would like church to be ran.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're wanting to control the behavior of another Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's something that you would like the church leadership to do, but there's resistance.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're wanting more recognition.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, there's something you want, but you cannot have it.
SPEAKER_00: And so you murder, says James.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not referring to killing someone, but it's wishing someone harm.
SPEAKER_00: And because you can't obtain, you're going to cause a fight and hope to either manipulate the situation to get what you want or hurt your opponent.
SPEAKER_00: Because failure and frustration harasses the self-centered life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, all the while, James says, the whole reason you do not get what you want is because you did not ask God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the whole reason you are lusting to begin with is because you did not go to God.
SPEAKER_00: You did not ask him for his provision.
SPEAKER_00: And clearly you are forgetting that in God, in Christ, we have everything we need.
SPEAKER_00: And we need no more.
SPEAKER_00: Think of Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
SPEAKER_00: But then James expects an objection, someone raising their hand saying, But James, I did ask God.
SPEAKER_00: I prayed to him.
SPEAKER_00: I asked him.
SPEAKER_00: And God did not answer my request.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the reason nothing happened is because you asked God with bad motives.
SPEAKER_00: God did not provide because he knew that you would have used it for your own sinful pleasures.
SPEAKER_00: And God does not condone sin.
SPEAKER_00: God is not an enabler.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a description.
SPEAKER_00: We see lust, murder, envy, unbelief, neglecting God in prayer, starting fights with other Christians, and asking God for things that you will spend on sin.
SPEAKER_00: You would think we were describing an unbeliever here.
SPEAKER_00: So, church, do you see it yet?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how serious this is?
SPEAKER_00: We try to downplay fighting like it's normal.
SPEAKER_00: We are so desensitized to it, but it's so natural for us.
SPEAKER_00: But in the eyes of God, this is the reality.
SPEAKER_00: Do you realize that this is the cause of so many unnecessary church splits?
SPEAKER_00: This is the reason why so many Christians are hurt by the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is the number one reason unbelievers stand back and mock the testimony of Christ, saying we will know them by their love?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00: All because of causeless, worthless, trivial fights happening among Christians, because people refuse to gather for the glory of God, but instead gather to appease their sinful appetites.
SPEAKER_00: And James will have none of it.
SPEAKER_00: And he addresses the issue with one of the sharpest grammatical rebukes in the New Testament in verses 4 through 6.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means hostility against God?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?
SPEAKER_00: But he gives us more grace.
SPEAKER_00: That is why Scripture says God opposes the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: So he starts by calling them adulterers.
SPEAKER_00: James literally is equating fighting to adultery.
SPEAKER_00: The term literally means unfaithful or prostitution.
SPEAKER_00: So when we think of spiritual unfaithfulness, we often think of someone bowing down to an idol or following another religion.
SPEAKER_00: But in context, James is saying if you're fighting with other believers, you're being unfaithful to God.
SPEAKER_00: And now, not only that, but he goes on to say that when you fight, you are in such moments standing up and acting as if you were God's enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And what is an enemy of God?
SPEAKER_00: It's someone who lives independently from him, it's someone who seeks their own desires, and it's someone who hurts his people.
SPEAKER_00: And that is exactly what happens when we choose to fight the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And James describes this as friendship with this evil world.
SPEAKER_00: Is this not what the world says?
SPEAKER_00: Get even, kill your enemy, divide and conquer, show them you're superior.
SPEAKER_00: Do whatever you have to do to win the argument and get what you want.
SPEAKER_00: You know, to participate in this type of attitude is to be a friend of this world.
SPEAKER_00: And to be a friend of this world means that you love it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you love the world, as the Apostle John says, then the love of the Father is not in you.
SPEAKER_00: Now let that be a warning to us.
SPEAKER_00: And then James reminds his readers in verse 5 that scripture, it is not vain when it says that God jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us.
SPEAKER_00: God is not satisfied with a divided following.
SPEAKER_00: God wants our undivided attention and affection, and he will not be satisfied with anything less.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's a scriptural reality.
SPEAKER_00: We see this throughout the Bible, we see this throughout the history of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think Scripture is being nonchalant about this?
SPEAKER_00: Do you think God is fine with an open relationship?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The God we serve is a jealous God.
SPEAKER_00: He is infinitely valuable, he is altogether lovely, he is totally sovereign, and he knows that everything good, all of life, all of satisfaction, all of pleasure is found in him and nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: So he is our greatest good.
SPEAKER_00: So as Christians, when we fall back into worldliness, know this.
SPEAKER_00: God is yearning for you.
SPEAKER_00: He is wooing and fighting for you.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you let go of him, he won't let go of you.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he sealed us with his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If we are truly in Christ, then we have the Spirit of God permanently living in us, and the behavior opposed in this passage is contrary to the way that God desires his children to conduct themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but we're then reminded in verse 6 that God opposes those who are proud and he shows favor to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: So God will not allow his children to live proudly.
SPEAKER_00: That he is Lord and I am not.
SPEAKER_00: And it is also comforting to know that he shows favor to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to constantly justify myself or exert my will or take revenge on my enemies or aggressively prove to others my rightness.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to seek the highest place.
SPEAKER_00: I can humble myself.
SPEAKER_00: I can live a quiet, a gentle life knowing that God will exalt me in due time.
SPEAKER_00: It's up to him.
SPEAKER_00: God will act on our behalf and he will grant perfect justice in his timing.
SPEAKER_00: So God is either exalting us in our lowliness or he is opposing us in our pride.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is, which reality is true for you this morning?
SPEAKER_00: So then the question next is what is the solution to all this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we stop fighting?
SPEAKER_00: How do we avoid sinful conflict?
SPEAKER_00: James gives us the solution in verses 7 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Submit yourselves then to God.
SPEAKER_00: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_00: Come near to God, and he will come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
SPEAKER_00: Grieve, mourn, and wail.
SPEAKER_00: Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
SPEAKER_00: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
SPEAKER_00: So step one is submit yourselves to God.
SPEAKER_00: Stop exerting your will.
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to vindicate yourself all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to take justice into your own hands.
SPEAKER_00: Stop arguing with your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: Stop slandering other church members.
SPEAKER_00: Give all that up and place yourself under the authority and the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's step one.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're unwilling to do that, there's no point in going any further.
SPEAKER_00: Now, secondly, we're told to then resist the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And so the implication here is that when we fight, we're giving Satan a foothold in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We are listening to him way too much.
SPEAKER_00: So resist him.
SPEAKER_00: Resist his lives.
SPEAKER_00: Stop allowing him to get you all worked up and frustrated and paranoid.
SPEAKER_00: We know his schemes.
SPEAKER_00: They're nothing new.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us angry and resentful and bitter towards God and his people.
SPEAKER_00: And so resist him and he will flee.
SPEAKER_00: That's a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Next, we're told to draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: Now we should be doing this regardless.
SPEAKER_00: Just news flash, drawing near to God is what a Christian does.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we are people who draw near to God through the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But when we are fighting and being selfish and being arrogant, we need reminded of this.
SPEAKER_00: We need to hear this time and time again.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you want resolution to conflict, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you're depressed and sad and grieving, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you are angry, resentful and bitter, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you're uncertain about a big life decision, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: If you're struggling with an old sinful habit, draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: We have access through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when will we realize that most of our miseries as Christians are simply due to the fact that we're not drawing near to God daily?
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to Him in prayer with an open Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We're not spending quality time with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're drifting away from Him doing our own thing.
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens when we draw near to God.
SPEAKER_00: It's inevitable.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God who wipes away our sin in Christ and He changes the desires of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: God is in the business of crucifying sin and transforming lives.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're tired of sin, if you're weary of fighting, if your soul is sick and heavy this morning, for Christ's sake, go to God this morning and get cleansed.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he does.
SPEAKER_00: And do this, says James, in a spirit of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Do this in a spirit of godly sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't some cavalier altar call.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't something to be laughing or smiling about.
SPEAKER_00: You've sinned against the Lord Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: You've been backsliding, acting as if he was your enemy.
SPEAKER_00: So when and if you come to him this morning to clean your hands and purify your heart, grieve, mourn, weep, bow down before the King of glory and feel the full weight of your sin, the horror of your crimes.
SPEAKER_00: Be brought low, wail and cry if you have to.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody will judge you here.
SPEAKER_00: Humble yourself in what?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord will lift you up.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is not asking for our money, our works, or fleshly effort.
SPEAKER_00: He is simply asking us to recognize our sin and then come to him through Christ and agree that he is right, that we're wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And in that reality, God will uplift us.
SPEAKER_00: He will heal us and make straight our paths.
SPEAKER_00: He is a merciful God, full of grace and compassion.
SPEAKER_00: There is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in you.
SPEAKER_00: But to receive his mercy and his grace, we must come and receive.
SPEAKER_00: So just as a way to wrap this up, I want to say a few things.
SPEAKER_00: A few final thoughts on this whole subject.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that loves to fight.
SPEAKER_00: Just look at the presidential debates, the Black Lives Matter movement, Republicans, Democrats.
SPEAKER_00: It's just fleshly aggressive fighting.
SPEAKER_00: Calling your opponent cruel names, making a mockery of those who disagree with you, screaming your truth in other people's faces, and like Cain, if you're really mad, kill him.
SPEAKER_00: But we're not called to conform to the ways of this world.
SPEAKER_00: We are called to be holy and unique, set apart.
SPEAKER_00: We are called, as Hebrews 12.14 says, to seek peace with everyone.
SPEAKER_00: We are called, as Jesus says in Matthew 5, to love our enemies.
SPEAKER_00: We are called, as Philippians 2.4 says, to look after the interests of others, to build one another up in the faith, to lay down our lives for one another.
SPEAKER_00: And it is by our love that we are known as disciples of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot allow this worldly attitude to creep into the church.
SPEAKER_00: We can't afford to fight because a house divided will not stand.
SPEAKER_00: There are 59 one another commandments in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Love one another, forgive one another, care for one another, lay down your life for one another.
SPEAKER_00: Why are there so many of them?
SPEAKER_00: Because God knew that this would be a challenge for us.
SPEAKER_00: Our bent is to fight.
SPEAKER_00: Our natural tendency is to bicker and argue, to gossip and slander in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: That is my most natural response.
SPEAKER_00: But in Christ, our call is to love, and not just love those who love us, but to love those who are difficult and to live a life where we're not thinking about ourselves all the time, but to look outside of ourselves, not always concerned about my needs, but what does God want?
SPEAKER_00: What does my wife want?
SPEAKER_00: What does the church need?
SPEAKER_00: Instead of coming here trying to prove my rightness and point out every flaw and argue over tier three issues, what can I do to encourage others, meet needs, pray for people, and participate in what Colossians 3.16 describes as teaching and admonishing and giving wisdom and singing spiritual songs and proclaiming God with thankfulness in my heart for the edification of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: Love is not an option to the Christian, it is a mark of evidence that we have truly understood and have received Christ's immeasurable love for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's evidence that we have understood the cross.
SPEAKER_00: So as 1 Corinthians 13 says, you can have every spiritual gift from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You can be involved in every ministry possible, you could sell all your possessions and give all your money to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: You could even be burned at the stake for your faith, unwilling to recant the faithful testimony of Christ, holding tightly the most orthodox confession.
SPEAKER_00: But if you do not love, if you do not love, you gain absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_00: So love is not a mark of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: It is the mark.
SPEAKER_00: And so do you see, church, this morning, how unfitting it is for God's people to fight?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.