Me, Myself, and I - But Where's God?

James 4:1-6

Hello and welcome to the Oklahoma Panhandle. Things have been interesting lately to say the least. We are in the middle of a flue and strep throat epidemic or at least for our area. A neighboring town had all of it's 7^th graders out and then it's 6^th graders. We had all of our 1^st and 2^nd grade class out last week and almost all of our Jr. high this week. And our poor boy has been sick with it for almost a week now.

We are all ready for Thanksgiving break. Our daughter is real excited, the lady who heads up our Operation Christmas Child mission is taking a group of students up to Denver to help at the distribution center.

Me, myself, and I, what a trio. These three can get a person into trouble pretty quick. When a person becomes so absorbed with themselves they push Christ Jesus into the background. Now don't get me wrong there isn't anything wrong with a little “me time.” It is only when we focus to much on ourselves that we loose a proper perspective. This morning as we are look at James 4:1-6 we see him addressing a life of self-centeredness.

“Prayer Hit List Forming” ran the title of the article. Christian leaders were urging their supporters to pray for the death of their political foes. On these prayer hit list were state attorneys general and various Supreme Court justices. Usually the offending person had taken a political position which clashed with the religious beliefs of the other side. One religious leader who practiced these “prayers for death” ordered an airplane to circle overhead in Los Angeles as a Supreme Court justice who supported abortion spoke. The plane trailed the message: “Pray for Death” and then gave the name of the justice.

Those who explained the practice said their prayers first aimed at leading their foes to repent and reform their political positions. If they did not repent, then those involved in prayer would ask God to remove them from their position of authority. If all intercession failed, then they would pray for God to take their lives.

Using a prayer “hit list” sounds like unusual Christianity. The prayers of the beleaguered disciples in Acts 4:24-30 for boldness and power to witness before their enemies sound more in line with Christ Jesus’ command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). And yet James’s description of his readers in such dark terms in Chapter 4:1-2, have had many who read it wonder whether he was describing a Christian audience.That said, I don't condone a "Prayer Hit List." Just saying. 

It seems that James’s readers claimed to be Christians, but they had the spirit of their unconverted neighbors in them. They were dominated by a self-will that pursued pleasures, power, and prominence rather than the will of God. Here in chapter 4, James rebuked their sinful ways and urged his readers to turn to God with repentance and purity.

This chapter provides some examples of the evil results of living in the worldly wisdom rather than the heavenly wisdom we looked at last week. And while disobedience to God does not always produce immediate pain, continued disobedience will cause pain and even death (eternal separation from God).

Wow! That’s pretty heavy stuff, not exactly what someone wants to hear on a Sunday morning. If the truth be told most of us would rather have our ears tickled than have our toes stepped on. But in a day and age when compromise is more and more called for, we need to be reminded what it means to live a self-centered life verses a God-centered life.

How is your prayer life? James starts out this chapter by looking at prayer or the stifling of it.

James 4:1-3

4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

1. Self-Centered Living Stifles Prayer (vs. 1-3)

(v. 1) – James uses “war” and he means just that: war or battle. And the word “fights” can also be correctly translated as strife, struggles, or quarrellings. Both of these words denote conflicts among Christians. James does not list specific conflicts, but instead goes right to the heart of the matter – cause.

Simply stated, James said we are involved in conflicts (both inner and outer) because of our desires for pleasure or lusts. The Greek word used for “desires” here is related to the English word, hedonism – a philosophy that states: the chief purpose of living is to satisfy self. Another definition is – the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life.

To worry, to want to have enough to live comfortably, and yes to have pleasure verse the alternative (pain) is human nature. Guess what even Christians have these desires; and there is nothing wrong with this as long as it is not taken to excess. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).

Where you get into trouble is when you follow your pre-Christian nature and give into those desires instead of following the will of God. While you will never be free from the evil influences of these subtle desires here on earth, God’s grace can help you escape their domination.

(v.2) – James makes three specific statements concerning the dilemma of aggressively desiring but never getting what is desired. “You lust and do not have.” The word that James uses for “lust” is different from that which he used in verse 1. Here the word means “to long for or to set one’s heart’s desire upon something or someone.” It is sometimes translated as “covet.” The word can denote a negative form of lusting such as looking “at a woman to lust for her,” as Christ Jesus warned against (Matt. 5:28).

Or it can be used positively to desire the right or godly thing, as in the statement made by Christ Jesus at the Last Supper: “I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). The problem that James is describing here is that we often desire something, but often we do not get it. 

 

In the most negative of terms, you usually covet something or somebody so much it causes you to take some kind of action. That brings James to his second statement. “You murder and covet and cannot obtain.” When a person covets, he or she often has to use evil means to get what they want such as stealing, scheming, or even killing. James gets directly to the point by describing killing or murder as the human solution to the sin of coveting. The best translation of coveting is “to be moved with envy.” Murder is the ultimate result of coveting and envying. Yet, according to James, even with murder and envy you cannot obtain what you actually want. Don’t you see the futility of sin? It promises you so much but gives you nothing. Sure, there are the pleasures of sin for the moment, but deep and lasting fulfillment can never come from sin only heartache—including lusting, coveting, and envying.

“You fight and war.” James returns to his opening statement in verse 1. The result of lusting and murdering and coveting and not obtaining is more and more conflict—fighting and warring! Although each of these words is a description of the life lived in the flesh without Christ Jesus as Lord, James is acknowledging sadly that such wars and fighting also take place within the church and among Christians. As Christians, we are plagued by a residual of our old nature. Satan knows which things bring you to lusting, fighting, conflict and he knows how to use them to trip you up.

(v. 3) – James now leads us to the most challenging problem of all. The problem of asking God for something and not receiving it because we have asked for the wrong reason or with the wrong motive. The problem with sin is the problem of missing the mark. That is the problem which James is identifying—to ask amiss. The phrase, “ask amiss,” is usually translated in the Scripture as “diseased” or “sick.” In other words, you can ask God for things with “sick” or “diseased” motives.

James identifies what the motive is. He says that we ask amiss “that you may spend it on your pleasures.” We are back to the word which we saw in verse 1. Your lusts or your desires for pleasure are not acceptable motives for prayer. They are characteristics of the flesh—not the Spirit. Like all sin, they will lead you to death rather than life. 

In contrast, John shares with us the proper motive for prayer when he writes, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Here's the thing we are to ask according to God's will, not ours. I think this puts a kink in the “name it – claim it” prosperity gospel and that is why I have trouble with it.

The focus of Christian living and the motive of prayer are the same—God has called you to forsake doing your own thing and to seek to do His will. So whose will are you living out, God’s or yours?

James 4:4-6

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

"God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble." 

 

Not only does self-centeredness stifle prayer,

2. Self-Centered Living Displeases God (vs. 4-6)

(v. 4) – James harshly called his readers, “You adulterous people.” Adulterous is symbolic language often used in the Old Testament for unfaithful people. The Greek word used for friendship is philia (fil-ee'-ah) which indicates a reciprocal relationship. “Unfaithful Christians love the world, and the world loves them.” As a Christian you can not be faithful to God and controlled by worldliness at the same time. If you are a true Christian can not coexist with evil!

(v. 5) – God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 32:16; Zechariah 8:2; 1 Corinthians 10:22), and He will not tolerate your divided allegiance. While there is some conjecture over the term Spirit in this verse, I don’t see the problem. God the Father or God the Spirit, He is God, who will not share His allegiance with another. In other words, you cannot serve two masters. Christian brothers and sisters you must serve God and God alone!

(v. 6) – James quoted Proverbs 3:34 which states, “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” The statement of James is clear, “God opposes the proud.” You cannot be living by pride and be accepted by God.

The promise is also clear. “God gives grace to the humble.” It was that promise which Christ Jesus made to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The grace of God is readily available to all who will trust in Christ Jesus and follow Him. But God opposes the proud. You must resist the devil, whose pride caused him to be kick out of heaven and be put at direct odds with God.

Once more you cannot be a friend of Christ Jesus who has over come the world and of the world which is fallen. The two are in constant opposition to each other. “Choose this day whom you will serve ...” Joshua 24:15

Conclusion: James’s readers claimed to be Christians, but they had the spirit of their non-Christian neighbors in them. They were dominated by self-will which pursued pleasure, power, and prominence rather than the will of God. James clearly tells them and us this is wrong and that you must choose either the way of the world or a relationship with God, you can not have both. When you submit yourself wholly to God through the redemptive work of Christ Jesus then you can fully experience the grace of God.

If as a Christian you slip and fall, or even find yourself backslidden, God is right there waiting for you. Waiting to wrap His arms around you and say, “Welcome back my child.”

1. What happens when you follow your pre-Christian nature and give into those desires instead of following the will of God?
2. In the most negative of terms, you usually covet something or somebody so much it causes you to take what kind of action?
3. Not only does self-centeredness stifle prayer, it what? Why?
4. Adulterous is symbolic language often used in the Old Testament for what kind of people?
5. God the Father or God the Spirit, He is God, and _____ _____ ______ His allegiance with another.