I’m sure you’ve probably heard of the Hatfields and McCoys-those two famous feuding families from the hills of Pikesville, Kentucky. What you may NOT know is that their decades-long feud began in the early 1870’s with a dispute over a pig. I’m not sure what aspect of the pig they disagreed about-but these two families must have been serious about their pork because words and blows were exchanged and battle lines were drawn. Then a court battle over timber rights escalated the tension between the two clans and by 1888 bullets were flying. Before it was all over at least 12 people were dead.Well, this week a news story reported that the descendants of the Hatfields and McCoys are at it again but this time their dispute has to do with tourism. You see, the McCoy family wants to run paid tours of “feud sites” and to do this they need public access to a graveyard where three of their bullet-ridden ancestors are buried. The problem is, in order to get to this particular cemetery, tourists would have to walk or drive over Hatfield land and this is something the Hatfields don’t want. I don’t think this particular disagreement will come to shooting-but both sides are sure to exchange costly legal volleys in the courts of Pikeville, Kentucky.
Now, when we hear about the Hatfields and McCoys, most of us entertain a sort of mental sneer. We think, “How immature-how foolish it is for people to quarrel like that-especially in this day and age!” And if those kind of thoughts are going through your mind at the moment-then think again, because the truth is many times we are just as foolish and immature. Now-you and I don’t usually shoot each other over pork loin-but we do engage in verbal battles. In fact it almost seems as if it is our nature to fight first and ask questions later.And this begins very early in life-I mean almost as soon as we are able to relate to others we begin to quarrel with them about this or that. When I was about 5 and my brother Jon was 3 we fought over a pencil and things got so heated that he implanted the tip of that pencil in the top of my head-necessitating a trip to the emergency room. I’m sure you had similar squabbles with your siblings-over who got to play with what toy or who got to use the bathroom first or who got to wear whose clothes. In fact, parents some times feel like powerless UN Peace-keeping troops trying to keep their kids from killing each other.
And we don’t grow out of this tendency toward fighting over foolish things. Some of my fellow pastors have told me about grown men and women-husbands and wives-whose entire marriage relationship deteriorated to the brink of divorce because of an argument over something as foolish as where to take a vacation or whose job it was to take out the garbage.
And unfortunately this tendency to feud and fight is even seen in relationships between Christians-people who claim to follow the Prince of Peace. I’ve heard of believers that quarreled over everything from what color to re-stain their church’s pews to which style of worship was best. This week I read about a church that fought over how to dispense the wine when they celebrated Communion. One group favored the use of a common cup while others preferred using multiple cups. The disagreement escalated until the church was divided into two camps: the “one-cuppers” and the “many-cuppers” and they could not agree so the church split right down the middle. Several years ago here at Redland I thought we were going to lose members over which Sunday School class got what donuts. In fact the quarreling got so bad that the pastoral staff felt it was best to stop getting donuts all together. I can’t believe we were ever that immature! Can you? I mean a donut is just a donut!
As I was thinking about Christians fighting and quarreling with each other one other example came to mind-something I studied about in seminary. In church history I remember reading about a famous-or should I say infamous-pastor named J. Frank Norris. Has anyone ever heard of him? Rev. Norris was a very popular preacher in Fort Worth, Texas in the 1920’s and he LOVED conflict. He was always feuding with someone about something or other. The best example of this was seen in one of his sermons which was entitled, “The Ten Worst Devils in Fort Worth Texas-Names Given.” Can you imagine seeing that printed in the bulletin when you come into church one Sunday?
Well, this sermon lived up to its title and one of the “devils” Rev. Norris mentioned in this message was the current Roman Catholic mayor of Fort Worth. Afer Norris commented from the pulpit that the mayor wasn’t fit to be the manager of a hog-pen, one of the mayor’s friends threatened Rev. Norris by phone. Not getting any satisfaction, he came over to Norris’ office in the church. After a heated argument, Rev. Norris pulled a revolver out of his desk and shot the man dead. A jury let him off, saying it was self-defense-and I wasn’t there of course so I can’t say whether or not this was a fair and just trial. I mean the guy may have attacked Norris with a knife or something…but I never have figured out why a pastor would need to keep a pistol in his desk. The only “weapon” we’re supposed to use is the Sword of Truth!
I don’t know about you, but hearing about all this fighting and feuding among Christians makes me agree with evangelist Billy Sunday who once said, “It’s amazing God is doing as well as He is with the crowd He has to work with.” And the unfortunate truth is we ARE all a part of this crowd of quarrelers. Each of us have this tendency toward fighting over foolish things and if you’ve ever wondered why, I mean, if you’ve ever snapped at your kids or your spouse or your neighbor or co-worker or the Christian in the next pew-if you’ve ever snapped at them over some little thing and thought, “Where did that come from? Why did I say that?” Then I would advise that you pay close attention this morning as we study the fourth chapter of the book of James, because in this text God uses James to help us understand this troublesome aspect of our character. In fact not only does James tell us WHY we behave like this and WHAT happens when we do, He also tells us HOW we can stop it-what steps we can take to quit quarreling.
Now, in case you’ve forgotten, last fall we started a sermon series on the book of James and this morning we’re picking up where we left off before Christmas. We’ve got two chapters to go. So, take your Bibles and turn with me now to James 4:1-10.
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.
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 Scriptures say without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely?
6 – But He gives us more grace. This is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 – Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 – Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 – Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 – Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Did you catch James’ comment about REASON behind our feuding? It really very simple.
1. It is because we don’t get what we WANT!
Look at verse 2 again, “You want something but don’t get it. You cannot have what you want-so you covet and quarrel and fight and kill.” President Abraham Lincoln once walked down the street with his two sons, both of whom were crying. A passerby asked, “What’s the matter with your boys Mr. President?” Lincoln replied, “Exactly what is wrong with the whole world. I have three walnuts and each boy wants two.” Well, you and I are just as selfish as Lincoln’s sons-but these days we WANT far more than just a couple walnuts.
According to a survey taken back in 1900, Americans WANTED 72 things but considered 19 of those things important. A similar survey in 1950 revealed that Americans WANTED 496 things and considered 96 to be essential. And I know for a fact that the “want and need” list has been increasing ever since because even in the last 30 years we have added lots of things to the list-things we have to have now that we got along fine without 30 years ago-things that we now consider absolutely essential to life: cell phones, answering machines, computers, e-mail, credit cards, a TV in every room of the house, a DVD player and a VCR, two or more cars per family, and homes several times as large as they used to be. You see? In just three short decades we have come to believe that all these things we didn’t use to have are now a must in order for us to survive.
I was thinking this week of the closet Sue and I had in our bedroom when we first got married. I was attending Southern Seminary in Louisville and we lived in what is called Seminary Village.
It was an apartment complex the seminary had bought years ago for students to live in. The apartments in the village were originally built in the 1940’s as “luxury” apartments and the master bedroom closet in these “luxury” dwellings wasn’t any wider than this pulpit. Back then, that small of a space was considered big enough for a husband and wife to store all their clothes and shoes. Well, as you know, these days master bedrooms have two walk-in closets-each twice as big as the entire bathroom in our first home. This tells me that we now believe we NEED far more CLOTHES than people did in the 40’s-which doesn’t make sense. I mean if you factor in global warming we should “need” less clothes-right? This is just one more example to prove the fact that each of us is continually, selfishly seeking to accumulate things. We are never satisfied with what we have.
By the way, this self-centered WANTING doesn’t just include material things like clothing. No-we yearn for non-material things like prestige and power as well. And when we don’t get what we want-then, just as James says quarrels and disputes ensue and people get hurt. It’s like that old B. J. Thomas song lyric, “Using things and loving people. That’s the way it’s meant to be…because loving things and using people only leads to misery.”
A tragic example of this misery was seen a few years ago at the World Cup tournament. Columbia had a team that had made it to the tournament largely because of one of their defenders, whose name was Andre Escobar. In one of the final games they were playing another top team-and when Escobar tried to block an opponent’s kick-he accidentally kicked it into the goal instead, scoring a point for the other team. A week later, after he returned home to Columbia, he was found shot to death. While we don’t know exactly what made someone want to shoot him, we do know someone WANTED something, and they didn’t get it. When they didn’t get it, their selfish desires led to violence and murder.
Now, I know none of us have ever killed because we didn’t get what we wanted-but I’m sure there have been times we wanted to. And I know if we were honest we’d all have to admit that we HAVE been willing participants in selfish disputes with other people. Sometimes these disputes have turned into feuds that lasted for several months or years, simply because someone’s selfish desires weren’t satisfied. If you doubt what I’m saying then watch yourself in the coming days and see if this is not true. Whenever you sense a surge of anger toward another person ask yourself, “Am I feeling this way because I didn’t get something that I wanted?” I think you’ll find out that selfish wanting is usually behind our anger. It may be your wanting something foolish or something important or even something you feel that you rightfully deserve, but the truth is we are all wanters, cravers, and desirers. From Bagdad to the board room-from the high chair to the high court-from the nuclear family to nuclear war-this principle is the same. Quarrels arise because we WANT something and we don’t get it.
And James says that one of the worst consequences for Christians who embrace this selfish attitude is that it brings our spiritual growth to a standstill by polluting our prayer life.
Look at verse 3: “When you ask God for what you want you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James knows that this selfishness can warp our understanding of the purpose of prayer so that we look at it merely as a way to get the things that what we want. It’s like the little boy who was going up to bed and as he did he turned and said to his family. “I’m going to say my prayers before I go to sleep. Does anyone WANT anything?”
Now-don’t get me wrong, we ARE to pray honestly to God about our needs and even our wants but the correct ATTITUDE to have when we do so is to seek God’s will instead of our own. We should say, “God I want this-but I know that You know if I need it or not so I’m taking this to you but trusting Your answer to be best.” You see, prayer’s main purpose is to deepen our relationship with God-not to treat Him like some kind of omnipotent genie. Productive prayer does not say, “Lord, please do what I want for me.” Instead it says, “Lord, please do what You want with me.” I love the prayer that former baseball star Bobby Richardson once prayed. He said, “Dear God, Thy will be done, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else. AMEN.”
So-James says the REASON we have this tendency to quarrel and fight is because we are all selfish wanters. We wants what we wants when we wants it! And the stark truth is-that’s the way our fallen world operates. The popular philosophy of humanity is to look out for number one. This is why, at this point, James says an amazing thing. He tells us that when Christians live this way-when we constantly quarrel as we seek to satisfy our WANTS, we change! Instead of people who seek first the kingdom of God, we become people who seek first the kingdom of the world, and when that happens…
2. …we become involved in a feud with GOD Himself.
Look at what he says in verse 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.”
You see the world says GET. But God says GIVE. The world says focus on YOUR wants. God says focus on the NEEDS of OTHERS. The world says store up treasures that moth and rust corrupt. God says invest in things that last forever. The world says HATE. God says LOVE. And I could go on and on quoting opposites because the truth is our fallen world and its purposes are contradictory to the things of God. So when we center our days around getting and wanting-and hating when we DON’T get what we want-when we conform to the ways of this world, our loving God is offended. To Him it is as if we were cheating on Him, as if we were collaborating with the enemy.
In his book A Faith That Works, B. J. Chitwood writes:
“When we become a friend of the world, we take our stand in defiance of God. And God views it as an act of an enemy…an act of espionage against Him. It is as if we were conducting guerilla warfare against the Lord. We are abiding and abetting the enemy-the same sin committed by Judas. We ask, ‘How could a man be so black-hearted as to betray Jesus with a kiss of brotherhood?’ We are aghast at this, the most infamous deed in human history. But is that deed any more treacherous than for us to name the name of Jesus Christ but to serve the camp of the enemy?”
Friends, the truth is, when we fight and quarrel and feud we ARE putting ourselves into opposition with God. We are disobeying His commands and living according to the desires of the devil. God has called us to be peace-makers-to live holy lives-lives that are different than the fallen world around us. Do you remember Jesus’ orders? “You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. [That’s the way the world operates!] But I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other.”(Matthew 5:43, Luke 6:27ff) And, do you remember the command in Philippians 2? “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
So you see, friendship with the world and friendship with God are mutually exclusionary. There is no middle ground here. Friendship with the world-satan’s domain-is hostility toward God. The fact is we can’t live with God as the Lord of our lives and conform yourself to the patterns of this world at the same time.
About years ago, a notorious gangster named Mickey Cohen ran Los Angeles much like Al Capone. Cohen handled a half million dollars every day from his gambling casinos, floating crap games, private gambling clubs, and legalized poker games. Well, he loved associating with famous people so he attended a revival meeting in Beverly Hills which was being led by Billy Graham. Cohen liked Graham’s sermon style and after the service both Graham and people on his crusade team talked to Cohen about salvation, and eventually this gangster SAID he put his faith in Jesus Christ. The news of his conversion made quite a sensation. There was only one small problem. Nothing in Mickey Cohen’s life really changed. He continued to live the life of a gangster. When his new Christian friends confronted him about this, Mickey complained: “You didn’t tell me I would have to give up my work. You didn’t tell me I would have to give up my friends.” You see, Mickey had heard of famous Christian ATHLETES and famous Christian ACTORS and Christian BUSINESSMEN-and he just assumed he could be a Christian GANGSTER. Of course he was wrong. We cannot be friends with God and the world. We can’t follow Jesus as Lord and continue to live lives of selfishness at the same time. We can’t be FEUDERS and PEACE-MAKERS. We have to choose. We have to make a conscious decision to live counter to our culture-to live our lives according to the will of God.
Okay-enough with the negative. How can we stop fighting? What can we do to neutralize this tendency we have toward selfishness and quarreling? James tells us three steps we must take.
1. First, he says we must SUBMIT to God.
Now, “submit” is a military term and it means give someone with superior rank the respect and authority that is due them. In this context James is saying we must treat God in a way that befits His rank as our superior Officer. When I was in the Army National Guard I was a lowly 1st Lieutenant and I had to learn that there is a certain protocol to follow when it comes to walking with a superior officer. My memory is a little fuzzy but I think it called for me to walk to the right and a step behind the Colonel who was our unit’s company commander. Well James is saying here that one thing we need to do to neutralize our tendency to selfishness is to walk through life in such a way that we acknowledge that God is our Commander in Chief. In other words, day in and day out we need to submit to His authority and obey Him as Lord. In this text James is ALSO saying that we need to walk in CLOSE relationship with God, so we can HEAR His orders and directives.
The story is told about a young man who applied for a job with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. His application was accepted and he was given the job of painting the white lines on a nearby roadway by hand because all the machines were temporarily out of order. The first day he painted eight miles. The second day he painted four miles. The third day he painted two miles. The fourth day he painted only one mile. In the beginning his supervisor was very pleased with his performance but as his production level began to slide, he got curious and asked the man what was going on. The young man explained, “I’m painting less and less because the paint can is getting farther and farther away.” He would have done much better if he carried the paint can with him wouldn’t he?! Well the truth is, we do better at living a Christlike life if we walk NEAR to God-in close daily communion with Him.
And I want you to notice another thing-in verse 8 James says when we draw close to God, He will draw close to us. This is a wonderful truth because it means we couldn’t possibly want to be close to God as much as He wants to be close to us. He yearns to come into our lives. As Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”
So, the first step to overcoming our quarrelsome nature is to take God up on this, and DRAW NEAR to Him. And then James says at the same time we must also PULL AWAY FROM the adversary.
2. This is what he means when he says our second step must be to RESIST the Devil.
You see when we fight and quarrel the truth is we are pleasing the adversary. We are furthering his evil purposes. You know, the truth is when we become Christians we receive a new Savior but we also receive a new enemy. When we decide to live for God we make ourselves satan’s enemy but satan is a coward. He is vulnerable. When we stand on the Word of God and make it the pattern of our lives, satan will flee from us. It’s as simple as that. Now let’s review briefly some aspects of our enemy that Brian Harbour points out in his commentary on James:
A. First of all the Bible says that satan is REAL.
I mean there IS mystery about how satan came to be and how he came to fall but there is absolutely no mystery about his presence. From the moment when he made his appearance to Eve in the Garden of Eden to the time when God will destroy him in the final consummation, the Bible teaches that satan is a real and powerful force in this world.
In his book Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis said,
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors.”
While some make the latter error and become obsessed with the devil, most of us commit the former and either in word or in practice deny the devil’s existence. Both the biblical witness and our own human experience testify to the reality of the devil. We ignore that fact at our own risk. satan is real.
B. But not only is he REAL he is also REBELLIOUS.
The Bible teaches that the devil is doing everything he can do to defeat the Lord’s work. He is our opposition. He hates us as Christians. He hates righteousness. He hates God. He hates the Bible and everything it stands for. He is out to defeat us. To do this he lies and tempts and confuses. We must never forget that. satan is rebellious.
C. Thirdly he is RELENTLESS.
In other words, he never gives up. Peter says the devil constantly, “prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
But remember-the devil is a defeated enemy. He may be strong, but he is nothing, NOTHING compared to our Lord. As 1 John 4:4 says, “Greater is He Who is in you, than he who is in the world.” The devil has no power over Christians other than the ability to make evil look attractive.
Once we submit to God, all we have to do to thwart the devil’s evil purposes in our lives is resist him. If we do, just as God’s word promises, he will flee.
3. And then, James says the third thing we must do to overcome our tendency to quarrel and fight is to REPENT of our sinful selfishness.
One thing we see here in this text is that true repentance involves FEELING BAD about our sin. Look again at verse 8-10: “Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” You see, true repentance is when we realize that our actions: our selfishness; our quarreling and fighting; is a painful affront to God that as Diana sang, Jesus DOES still feel the nails of the cross piercing His hands and feet when we fight and quarrel. As a parent, doesn’t it hurt YOU when your kids fight? Well that’s the way it is with God! And repentance involves understanding this and thinking, “My sin has hurt my loving Heavenly Father. I feel bad about that….guilty…embarrassed…ashamed and so I’m ceasing that behavior.”
This is the attitude expressed by evangelist Sam Jones around the turn of the century when he said, “Repentance means being so sorry for your meanness that you ain’t going to do it anymore.” We should MOURN over our sin because as Charles Spurgeon wrote, “There is a vital connection between soul-distress and sound doctrine. Sovereign grace is dear to those who have groaned deeply because they see what grievous sinners they are.”
Okay—we DO all have this tendency to fight and quarrel…and if you’ve ever been involved in a feud. If you’ve ever been angry with another person for any length of time, you know how unpleasant it is. It never FEELS GOOD to fight.
Well James says there is a way out of these siturations: submit to God, resist the devil, and repent of our sin, for then we will experience God’s peace-peace with Him, peace with ourselves, and peace with others.
Let us pray.
Father God,
You know how much we need the peace that You offer…and You’ve told us here in Your word how we can experience that peace-peace even while living in a world that embraces strife. I ask Father that as we begin a new year, You would help us to obey You in this. Help us to love even those who hate us…help us to turn the other cheek. Help us to be peace-makers. Help us to behave in ways that bring You joy instead of pain. Help us to truly make You Lord of our lives.
In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.
If you have a decision to make public this morning, whether it is to profess your faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, or to ask to join our church family, now is the time to do so by coming forward as we stand and sing and sharing that decision with me.