WEBVTT 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:05.120 All right. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.880 Well, it's good to see you all here in one place at one time. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:13.119 First time we're all together in worship together. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.920 There's something about having everybody together at once that I just personally really enjoy. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:29.519 I served a church a number of years ago where we had one service and we grew to the point of two services, and I'm not so sure it was actually so good. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:39.439 But anyway, we're glad that you're here with us this morning, and I would invite you to turn, please, to James chapter 4. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:51.200 With today's section, which really is James 4, 1 through 10 or 1 through 12, depending on how you divide it up. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.159 We're only going to be dealing with the first few verses. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:59.039 Frank, by the way, mentioned this morning, Walt, I noticed there's only a couple of verses. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:03.759 And I said, Frank, you know me well enough to know that doesn't mean it's going to be a shorter sermon. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:06.799 And Frank said, Yes, I know Walt. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:23.840 With this new subject or with this new section in the book of James, the Apostle begins and he gives us a practical and pointed word. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:26.719 Actually, that's what he does throughout this epistle. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:37.439 It's one of those, if you really don't just read it, but allow it to penetrate your heart, it is pointed and practical, and sometimes it's really pointed. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:40.079 So much so that it hurts a little bit. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:44.079 And we often need that, don't we? 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:47.760 We often need to be pushed just a little bit. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.560 And that's what James is doing. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:00.719 James addresses here a problem that was prevalent, problematic, and pernicious. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.200 And if I could come up with another P, I would. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:11.120 It was a problem that was prevalent, problematic and pernicious. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.639 Pernicious means insidiously damaging and destructive. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:34.479 He's talking about, excuse me, he's talking about broken relationships between believers, the struggles that we have, and yes, we all have them, you have them, I have them, with believers. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.120 And he deals with this in a very practical way. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:51.039 Christians, obviously, we don't know completely how to live out the exhortation to be diligent to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.520 It's just not that simple, is it? 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:57.280 It's not that simple for you, it's not that simple for me. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:03.520 If you think it's simple, talk to somebody else and see how they feel about you. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:07.680 Because not everybody thinks that you're the best thing since sliced bread. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.520 We struggle with each other. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:10.159 We do. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:12.319 We just have problems with each other. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:20.000 It's a present, prevalent, and insidiously destructive or pernicious problem. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:34.560 In the verses that before us, James will talk about this problem in military terms, battles, struggles that we have. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:43.840 In this passage, we are confronted with the fact that there is a war going on. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:51.199 A war that shouldn't be taking place, but a war that exists and a war that is. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:53.120 Thank you, Ray. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:54.479 I appreciate that a lot. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:04.800 It's the wrong war. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:10.960 When we're battling with each other, we're distracted by the enemy from the real war. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:13.280 There is a war that is going on. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:24.319 There is an enemy of God and the things of God, and there's a battle that we're to be involved in, but it not it ought not to be here and among us and with us. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:25.920 And yet it is. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:29.920 And that's what uh that's what James talks about. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:40.319 Um this was true in the first century, it was true in the second century, it was true in the third century, it was true in the fourth century, all the way up to the 21st century. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:05:01.040 And what James said to a group of largely Jewish churches or churches with Jewish believers, what he said to them in the first century was not only his words, but it was through this miracle of inspiration what God was saying to them. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:15.680 And we believe that what he is saying is just as applicable today as it was to them, and the words that I am speaking are my words, and they'll likely only mess up what God is really saying. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.519 That's what I pray for all the time. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.399 God, God help me from getting in the way, because it's not my words, it's your word. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:28.800 And what what James, what God through James is saying to us, we need to hear. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:31.199 You need to hear it, I need to hear it. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:40.240 Uh Commander Oliver Perry was a famous naval officer during the War of 1812. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.120 Now, to me, the War of 1812 is not famous. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:48.480 Um, but he in his day was a very significant and famous person. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:59.920 He was responsible for building up a fleet of ships in the Great Lakes to defend itself against the invading uh the evading British Navy. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:07.120 And during an important battle, Battle of Lake Erie, he captured a group of enemy ships. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:16.879 Uh and then he declared victoriously in the following words, we have met the enemy and they are ours. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:20.879 Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:23.920 We have met the enemy and they are ours. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:37.040 In the 1960s, uh, during an era of great social upheaval, not unlike ours today, different focus, but also the tectonic plates of society were shifting. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:40.959 There was a cartoon, syndicated cartoon of Pogo. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.920 Some of you may be old enough to remember Pogo, Pogo of Oki Fanoki Swamp. 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:55.120 And through Pogo's words, the the cartoonist was giving a caricature and a message about society. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:07:01.759 So he took the words of Commander Perry, I have met the enemy and they are ours. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:08.639 And what he said is, we have met the enemy and they is us. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:11.839 We've met the enemy. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:13.600 And they is us. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.319 That's what James is saying. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:19.519 That's the diagnosis that Dr. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:25.519 James here makes when he sees what's going on in our midst. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:35.519 And the basic question of this passage, as I understand it, particularly the first three verses, is are we content or malcontent? 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:41.519 Are we content with what God gives us, with what God allows to come across our paths? 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:50.079 Are we able to place the experiences of our life in the context of a sovereign and loving God who really is still on the throne? 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:58.319 Where we then find contentment, or do we just want what we want when we want it, and we end up being malcontent. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:01.199 Malcontent with God and malcontent with one another. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:07.759 There's more to the issues of squabbles and quarrels and fighting, but there is no less than this. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:10.879 Content or malcontent? 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.000 Let me read the first twelve verses. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.519 We're only going to look at the first three. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:20.319 James speaking. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.319 God speaking through James. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:23.120 A question. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:28.800 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:30.560 Is it not this? 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:36.159 That your passions or desires are at war within you? 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.039 You desire and do not have, so you murder. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.679 You covet and could not obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:53.440 You do not have, because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:56.159 You adulterous people. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:03.600 Don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:18.799 There who forever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God, 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? 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.440 But he gives us more grace. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:29.039 Therefore he says, God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:31.759 Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.559 Verse 7, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:36.879 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:42.240 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart, you double-minded. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:44.399 Be wretched and mourn and weep. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.919 Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.320 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.279 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:04.240 The one who speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:09.120 There is only one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.679 But who are you to judge your neighbor? 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:18.320 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:27.200 James begins by describing the symptoms of the problem. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:38.080 And when he looks at this, he makes it very clear and he identifies the problem not being out there but being in here. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:45.840 Not being out there, but being in here, but also not being out there, but in here. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:55.440 As we go through this and as we think about the struggles, I would challenge you to look inside. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:58.480 Don't just look at that difficult person. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.039 Don't just look at the things that they have done. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:08.080 Look within, because James is saying the problem is at its core within. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:12.159 And we will be looking at that. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.240 He goes to the root issue. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.840 In verse 1, he identifies the root problem. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.960 And then in verses 2 and 3, he gives a diagnosis. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:29.679 He sends the lab or the report out for analysis and brings it back. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:31.679 But first, the symptoms. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:37.759 Now, the symptoms he describes as quarrels and fights among us. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:39.200 It's very interesting. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:42.639 The word he uses here is a military term. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.759 This isn't just, you know, we're not quite getting along. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:47.759 This is a military term. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.960 Fights with one another. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.000 Wars and battles. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:02.159 It's a term that was very common in Greek literature, and it's a general term for armed warfare. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:16.240 And it could be at a broad level of global, a global offensive against your enemy or your enemy's global offensive against you, or it could be very personal, hand-to-hand contact and guerrilla warfare. 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:25.440 It's this broad, general term, not just from we're struggling a little bit with each other, but we're at war with each other, is what he says. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:36.159 The fact of the matter is that we fail to live the way we've talked about in the last few weeks. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.679 Notice what the preceding verse of this passage is. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.320 There is no chapter division in the manuscripts of the New Testament. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:53.039 So he had just getting done, he had just finished talking about wisdom from above and wisdom from below. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:03.039 And verse 18, a harvest of chapter 3, a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:11.039 And then without barely a breath, he says, What causes quarrels and struggles within us? 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:31.440 And it's very clear that we're not able, not only to follow the admonition of Ephesians to be diligent to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, that we're not always and we're often not successful in living by wisdom from above, and we live instead by wisdom from below. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:41.519 And he has just gotten done saying, if you have bitter jealousy, this is verse 14 of the previous, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambitions in your heart, don't boast. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:45.919 This is wisdom that comes, this is not the wisdom that comes from above. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:53.519 Verse 16, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:00.480 Now, he says, What causes the difficulties that we face? 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:06.639 And he ultimately says the problems are within. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:13.519 This is a sad commentary on the Church of Jesus Christ. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:18.639 This has been true from the very beginning, and it is true today. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.840 The church at large as well as the local church. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:32.399 We are so often characterized, at least by outside observers, with things that are quite at contrast to the things we espouse. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:15:10.480 One person said it this way, a commentator on the church, looking through history, and he says, I have often wondered that persons who make such a boast of professing the Christian religion, namely love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men, that they should quarrel with such rancorous animosity and display daily towards one another such bitter hatred that this, rather than the virtues which they profess, is the most prevalent characteristic of their faith. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:22.480 That was said by a German secular Jewish philosopher Spinoza, talking about the church 300 years ago, 400 years ago. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:31.919 Sometimes we think, well, we just need to get back to the early church, to the good old days. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.080 We have a tendency with that ourselves. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:44.320 We may look back 10 years, 20 years, and wish for the good old days of faith evangelical free church. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:49.679 Well, you know, the good old days were not as good, in fact, as they are in our memories. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.919 They really aren't. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:59.440 But clearly, a lot of people say, well, let's just get back to the early church. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.159 Well, be careful what you wish for. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:07.840 The early church was far from glorious. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.559 In Acts chapter 6, I'm not going to turn to these. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:22.879 Just a few days after Pentecost, when there was this miraculous outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, you want a charismatic experience, go to the day of Pentecost, but then hang around for a few weeks. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.879 And what happened? 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:31.440 Well, the Greek-speaking and the Hebrew-speaking believers weren't able to get along. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.399 The one felt that they had been mistreated by the other just a few days after Pentecost. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.919 And so the apostles had to step in and find ways. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:42.879 There were reasons for it, of course. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:44.159 There's always reasons. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:45.840 There's an occasion for it. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.600 But the root is ultimately within. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:21.200 God-given, powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit was also the church, the church in the New Testament, according to the records that we have, that had the bitterest internal arguments and disputes and the bitterest carnality. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:26.079 You see, this is just the nature of our heart, your heart, my heart. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.119 2 Corinthians 12, 20. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.240 Paul was anticipating a little bit later a visit that he had to make to Corinth. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:37.279 And quite frankly, read that in its context. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:44.400 Paul didn't want to go visit the church in Corinth. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:45.599 He really didn't. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:46.880 He had had enough of that. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.039 He had been there, and it had been one of the most difficult times in his whole ministry. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.519 He didn't even want to go there because he knew there was going to be conflict. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:01.680 He was going to have to say some difficult things, and they probably wouldn't like him the way he was, and he didn't like them the way they were. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.160 This is Paul, this is the New Testament church. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:07.759 It wasn't so glorious, and it wasn't so different. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.839 Philippians chapter 4, verse 2. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:24.319 Right after this beautiful expression of the humility of Christ, who didn't regard a display of equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:37.599 Shortly after that, Paul speaks to two women in the Philippian church, Euodia and Cintici, and he said, Look at ladies, would you please start talking to each other? 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.400 That's what he was saying. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:44.720 Acts chapter 15. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:53.279 Paul and Barnabas had a bitter argument with one another over John Mark. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:57.759 Most of the translations describe it as a sharp disagreement. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.240 That's politically correct. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:08.079 It was a bitter separation between apostles. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.640 The old days were not all that good. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.279 Human nature has not changed. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:19.039 So James says, okay, what causes this? 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.480 And he goes into this. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.519 And he he points out what the source is. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.599 It's very clear. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:57.279 What he says to us is that the problem is we have certain desires within us that don't get met, and so we we tend to, instead of trusting God to have good purposes in the situations in which we find ourselves, that our our our desires cause us then to react and respond in ways that are simply wrong. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:06.960 The term he uses here for desires is that of evil desires. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:18.880 It's a word that is actually a very strong word, typically evil, typically selfish, sometimes translated as one of the common ways of translating into English this translation lusts. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:29.920 So these are not just, you know, I'd really like something, but inappropriate and inappropriately held and inappropriately expressed desires. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.759 He says that is what is the problem within. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.960 Verse 1, second half of the verse. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.400 What is the cause? 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:46.960 Is it not this that your passions, your desires, are at war within you. 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:49.599 Now, we need to be careful. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.519 Desires and needs are not inherently wrong. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:21:02.720 Sometimes we think the problem is that we have desires, and so if we could only just stifle all of our desires and forget about our needs, we would be fine. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.039 That just isn't the way we were made. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:11.119 God has planted within us desires, and those are not inherently wrong. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.599 Just go back to Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.119 They had desires, they had needs. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:15.759 They got hungry. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:18.880 It was not wrong to want something to eat. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:23.839 The cause of sin was not that they were hungry. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:36.400 The cause of what caused the fall was that they dealt with that need on the inside in ways that were out of line with what God wanted and were inappropriate. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:40.160 The problem is not needs and desires. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:44.559 I'd like to go further into that, but won't do that today. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:59.599 But your needs and wants, some of them, because of our twisted world and our broken hearts, what we see is the evil side of those, but I would just challenge you to think of every desire that there is. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:09.920 Within you that may be evil, I honestly believe, and again, we can't go into it, that has, that reflects something right and good, but has become twisted. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:16.240 So the problem is not the desires, but that our desires war within us. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:28.880 We foolishly and sinfully and arrogantly think that we know how to meet our needs and fulfill our desires, and then we go about it in all of the wrong ways. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:35.920 And that's what verses two, uh the desires themselves are not wrong. 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:49.440 Verses two and three, he takes these symptoms, he's got a little bit of tissue, as it were, and he sends it out to the lab, and now he brings back the laboratory, the pathology report. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:23:02.160 And at its core, verses two through three says we are not content with how our needs are being met, or how we are fulfilling, or our desires are fulfilled. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:11.680 It's not just that we have needs and desires, but we're not content with the way things are. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:25.279 We can't come to peace with a God who knows what he's doing and does what he will, and what he wills is always and only good. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.319 And yet we think we know better than God. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:32.720 That's where this is coming from. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:38.960 We arrogantly assume that we know what we need. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:42.480 You probably don't really know what you need. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:47.200 Do you need anything other than what God has given you? 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:54.160 Well, much within me cries out and says, I need this, and you're not giving me this, Lord. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:59.279 You see, it's it has to do with our understanding of who God is. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:15.119 We assume that we know what we need and what we want, and then we demand how our need should be met, and when it doesn't matter, when it doesn't happen that way, then we begin to take things into our own hands. 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:23.519 Now, this is described then, second half of verse 2 through verse 3, a series of statements. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.640 Uh actually three uh parallel statements. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:34.079 This is actually a difficult section for translators. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.559 I don't know if we have any of the SIL people with us yet. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:44.559 I know uh they supposedly are moving in, but um the the Greek manuscripts do not have punctuation in them. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:56.000 And so as we translate, we have to figure out what goes together and where the pauses are, and where's what we want are periods and uh commas and semicolons. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:01.599 And so if you look in different translations of these verses, they are done in all different kinds of way. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:08.319 I want to say that the ESV does an outstanding job with it, as far as I can tell, as far as I understand the text. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:10.799 There are three parallel statements. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:18.400 Um He says, You want something, you don't get it, and so you commit murder. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:32.960 Now, that sounds a little extreme, except Jesus said on the Sermon of the Mount that harboring anger and bitterness against a brother is an infringement on the command, thou shalt not murder. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:44.559 We've learned to often cover it up and not express it in its most violent forms, and not expressing it in its violent, most violent forms is a good thing. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:51.680 Far worse than feeling anger and bitterness against someone would be taking out your gun and shooting them. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:58.960 But Jesus made it very clear that when we have anger and bitterness in our hearts, it's just like murdering them. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.400 The consequences for the other person are not as bad. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:13.920 So he says, um, you desire and you don't have, so you take matters into your own hands and you murder. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:15.680 A parallel thought. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:22.480 You covet, you want something, you desire something, and you can't obtain it, so you fight and quarrel. 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:36.079 See, at the root of the fights and the quarrels among us, James is saying it has to do with us, with us, and how we handle our desires and our perceived needs. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:45.839 And ultimately, are we able to be content with the God who is, or do we feel we have to replace him and figure out how we can rule the world ourselves? 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:50.160 Because he's obviously not doing a very good job with the world or with my life. 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:54.000 Now we never say it that way, but that's what he's getting it to. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:03.359 Um the common denominator in all of this is that we want something, we don't get it, and so we take action. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:08.640 And that's at the core of the wars and the quarrels among us. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:16.799 Uh this is so familiar and so childish, and it's so familiar because we are all little kids at heart. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:21.200 But let's just pick on little ones who aren't with us in the service this morning. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:26.240 Uh, you know, what about a toddler in the nursery playing with a toy? 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:31.759 Um, another little toddler comes up, rips it out of his hands or her hands, and walks away. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:50.799 Now, the chances are pretty good that that little toddler who's just had this thing taken from him or her is going to go or, depending on his personality, budding as it is, still growing, but probably developing that way, uh, he might just take another block and go over and hit the person over the head. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:57.599 I mean, that's just what kids do because they don't know how to deal with their unfulfilled desires and their perceived needs. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:00.799 I need this block, I need this teddy bear, this is what I want. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.000 It's all that's just the way we are. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.839 Um I rarely go in the grocery store or big box stores. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:11.599 Thank you, Jane, for loving me enough to be so patient with me. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:26.640 But you walk into Walmart and my heart goes out to young mothers with two or three kids, little kids in a shopping cart, and they go by and they see something they want and they say, Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:29.200 And sometimes they do that for three aisles. 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:30.960 Mommy, mommy, mommy, I want. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:34.880 It's just the same thing. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:36.319 I want it, it looks desirable. 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.400 I think I need it, I need it. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:49.039 And wise is the parent, and boy, we didn't always get this straight with our kids, but wise is the parent that says, when they're a little older, need. 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:51.839 I need the car tonight. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:52.640 Need? 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:57.440 Um, our kids learn not to pose the question that way. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:58.880 Really? 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:00.000 You need that? 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:02.640 I don't think so, son. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.839 Um, we get our needs uh all mixed up. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:10.960 But it's not just children, not just children. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:14.079 Um you're in traffic. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:18.799 You're in one of these major Grand Forks traffic jams at the end of the days. 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:28.640 Coming from Indianapolis and the Chicago area, when I heard on the uh the news that there was a traffic jam tonight and I was in the middle of it, I thought, wow, this is a different world. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:30.559 But fair enough. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:31.279 Fair enough. 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:32.559 It's all relative, isn't it? 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.880 So you've had a lousy day at work. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:39.440 Um, you're tired, you just want to get home, you want a little bit of peace. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:44.559 Um, your job is lousy, the person in the cubicle next to yours is a pain. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:46.960 Uh, this job is going nowhere. 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:49.359 I just want to get home and I want to veg. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:54.559 I want to put a DVD in and just kind of relax or pull up Netflix. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:29:56.160 I just want to relax. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:04.480 And so I'm driving along and I'm stuck at the corner of 24th and uh Columbia, and that light never changes. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:07.680 But worse than the light is the person in front of me. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.880 This idiot, this person doesn't know how to drive. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.640 He's supposed to turn or she, but I'm not allowed to say that because I'm a man. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:23.039 This genderless driver in front of me uh does not turn when the signal is to turn. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:32.880 And so you begin to clamp the wheel even harder and tap your foot in a polite Christian way and mutter wonderful words of blessing under your breath. 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:35.680 What's the difference between that and a toddler? 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.119 There's no difference. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:38.720 That's what he's saying. 00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:41.119 Did that person make me mad? 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:41.839 No. 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:44.720 I made myself mad. 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:50.720 That's another thing that our three children had the misfortune of growing up in our home. 00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:56.480 Uh they learned not to say, he, my twin brother, he made me mad. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:05.279 Well, not all the time, but pretty frequently we would try to sit down and say, Really, did he make you mad, or did you get mad because of what he did? 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:09.279 Subtle difference, but huge difference. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:12.160 You see, there's desires within. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:18.160 Uh, I won't even talk about when things happen in a church that aren't the way you want them. 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:19.599 You you I guess I will. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:20.960 So you're in a life group. 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:24.880 And the life group is going to have to decide now, okay, what are we going to do this next season? 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:30.640 And some people want it to be a prayer meeting, others want it to be just a fellowship time, others want it to be a Bible study. 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:34.960 Every uh life group pretty much does what it what it pleases. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:39.519 Uh not necessarily what they're asked to do, but that's not unusual. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:48.480 Um and so you get this you get this conversation going, and if you're not careful, it's not just, hey, let's think together about it, but I want this from this group. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:51.039 And he wants that from that group. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:32:04.559 And if you're not careful, then there comes a division, and it may well be that you harbor bitterness about this or get upset about it long enough that when you see them out in the foyer, you tend to pass on the other side of the foyer. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:16.319 This is the stuff that marriages are shattered over, it's the kind of stuff that uh that friends separate over, it's the kind of stuff that churches uh split over. 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:23.680 Um I have never seen a church split by a doctrinal dispute. 00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:37.839 It probably happens, but what normally happens is that people can't tolerate the way other people hold their understanding of truth, but of course, my understanding of truth is correct. 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:41.680 We don't split churches over doctrine. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:47.440 We split churches by not knowing how to deal with the differences that there are among us. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:50.400 That's just the way it works. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:33:00.240 There is a deeper issue, and it relates to our relationship with God. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:11.519 Um I would suggest that the same kind of thing happens in our relationship with God. 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:19.119 Go back to verse 3, the third of these three parallel statements. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:21.920 You ask and do not receive. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:26.160 And in the context, this is talking about asking of God in prayer. 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:30.799 You ask of God and don't receive because you ask wrongly. 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:39.839 Lots could be said about that, but if we're not careful, our prayers are a list of demands for God to do what we want. 00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:44.960 And when God says no, we get upset with God. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:51.599 What is it about no that you don't understand when it comes from the mouth of God? 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:55.599 I understand that you have problems with it when it comes with Walt's mouth. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:34:00.400 But what is it about no that you don't understand? 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:05.440 That's kind of the question that we also tried to help our kids. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:08.079 Boy, our kids had a hard life. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:11.920 Son, what is it about no that you don't understand? 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.679 I understand you disagree. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:16.159 And, you know, dad could be wrong. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:17.840 I don't get it right all of the time. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:19.199 But what is it about no? 00:34:19.840 --> 00:34:22.239 Can you not take no? 00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:26.639 And spiritually, that certainly applies. 00:34:26.880 --> 00:34:35.920 You do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions, to spend what God is giving you, and it's not just money. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:39.039 We're talking in general about our relationship with God. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:42.079 But you see, we want we want God to meet our desires. 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.880 You spend it on your passions, your desires. 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:54.239 Um you you you you end up because God ultimately doesn't answer your prayers. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:56.320 You know what happens as a result of that? 00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:57.760 Prayerlessness. 00:34:58.079 --> 00:34:59.920 You get discouraged about praying. 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:10.800 Not just that you fall asleep, you and I all do that, fall asleep, but sometimes we're just we're we're just because life is not working out the way we want it to. 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:14.000 God doesn't answer your prayers. 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:23.119 Um conveniently ignoring that maybe God knows best and maybe he's got a different and a better plan for you. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:27.199 Hasn't God promised to meet all of your needs? 00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:28.639 Then how come you don't have a job? 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:30.400 Did God let you down? 00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:35.199 Or does God have a better and different plan for you? 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:54.320 Is it even conceivable that we would see the circumstances of our lives against the framework of the God who is and who is on the throne and rules and reigns and is sovereign and is involved in the details of your life and of mine and come to contentment with what God allows us to have? 00:35:54.559 --> 00:35:55.920 Is it impossible? 00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:59.440 No, that's actually the solution. 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:05.039 Um why does he allow me to be in this situation? 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:07.840 Why do I have this illness? 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:19.440 And you get you get politely in a Christian way, if we're not careful, angry, frustrated, confused with God. 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:28.400 Um other people have success in life and everything I do turns south? 00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:33.599 How come other people have a wonderful spouse and all I have is my dog? 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:35.679 Oh, wait, that didn't come out right. 00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:41.039 I'm not calling your spouse a dog, all right? 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:44.639 But how come other people get what I don't get? 00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:50.159 How does that relate to God and who God is and what God is doing? 00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:55.119 That's what this passage forces us uh to understand. 00:36:56.800 --> 00:37:02.320 As though we know better than God what we need. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:05.760 See, that's at the core of so much. 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:10.719 Now, it's more complex than this, but it is no less complex than this. 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:16.079 Do we believe that God knows what he's doing or not? 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:25.760 And can we bring that to bear with our life situation and with the people in our lives? 00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:34.639 I want to just uh wrap this up with a couple of very simple thoughts. 00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:42.159 Um I doubt you like this passage. 00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:45.039 Many things about it I don't like. 00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:46.320 Oh well. 00:37:47.840 --> 00:37:52.400 So you know what God should have said to us better than he does. 00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:56.480 I would never say it that way, but I don't like this passage. 00:37:57.519 --> 00:37:58.719 Not at one level. 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:04.079 But on the other hand, God is pointing us in the right direction. 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:06.079 Just a couple of thoughts. 00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:10.880 I'm gonna duck. 00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:15.760 My friends, let's not kid ourselves. 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:20.000 The problem is not them or out there, the problem at its core. 00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:22.880 There are problems out there, of course. 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:26.639 But your reaction to it is your problem. 00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:29.599 It's a problem within. 00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:35.760 I quoted the uh uh cartoon character Pogo, we have met the enemy, and they is us. 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:40.880 Um another uh kind of similar thing. 00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:59.039 Um, in the beginning of the 1900s, one of the major British newspapers, it was read widely uh across the country, uh, posed a serious question as the world was falling apart, what's wrong with our world? 00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:03.360 And invited the best thinkers of the day to respond. 00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:10.880 And they responded with lengthy philosophical explanations and so forth, except for G.K. 00:39:11.039 --> 00:39:12.159 Chesterton. 00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:15.679 Chesterton had a masterful response. 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:18.559