Battles Among Brethren

James on Quarreling in the Church

Alright everybody, if you would take out your Bibles and turn with me to James chapter 4. James chapter 4, we're going to look at the first 12 verses. Some of you are new, I can see a few new faces, at least I think.

We've been going through the epistle of James, going verse by verse for the last several months and we just sort of take one section at a time, read the text, explain the text and seek to make an application, that's the goal in our time together.

James is written by the half-brother of Jesus, we talked about that early on. It is a book of wisdom literature, it's similar in a sense to the Proverbs, not in structure but in content, and it mirrors in a lot of ways the Sermon on the Mount, which comes from the words of Jesus, which was the longest recorded prayer that we have of Christ.

So this is Jesus' half-brother preaching the wisdom of God to the people of God in the first century that had been dispersed. It says in the first chapter that he's preaching to the dispersion, the dysphoria, those who had been essentially driven out of the land because of their faith.

And so he's talked already about being able to withstand trials and temptations and difficulties, saying that God allows these things into our life to mature us, testing our faith and trials and all kinds of problems, that's what these things do.

He's talked about being partial in sin, he's talked about having the wisdom of God rather than the wisdom of men, he's talked about faith, being without works, as being a dead faith. So he's talked about several things, and today we're going to look at the issue of quarreling.

Quarreling. And the thing to remember about this is James is not speaking to the world in general, even though what we read today could apply to anyone, and it could apply to the world in general. James is speaking to the church, in that he's speaking to believers.

And he's speaking to believers about how they ought to behave as the body of Christ. And I think that that has gotten somewhat lost and confused in our day, because people have misunderstood the distinction between the world and the church.

In fact, the world has made its way into the church, and now the church doesn't look much different than the world. You go into the average church today, it looks more like an Ozzy Osbourne concert than it does a church.

And so people don't see the difference between the distinction between the church and the world. So when I say James is speaking to the church, a lot of people say, well what's the difference? Church acts just like the world, right?

There's just as much divorce as there is in the church as there is in the world, there's just as much hatred in the church as there is in the world, there's just as much fighting as there is in the church as there is in the world, there's just as much adultery as there is in the church as there is in the world, there's just as much drug use as there is in the church as there is in the world, there's just as much pornography as there is in the church as there is in the world.

And ultimately, those things may be true, but it ain't not supposed to be that way. That's bad English, good theology, let me try that again. It shouldn't be that way. And that's the point. I can't go out, I mean I can go out into the world and preach the gospel, but I can't go out into the world and expect worldlings to not be sinners.

You know what I mean? People tell me all the time, Pastor I saw this on the news and this person in the world was doing thus and so and it was crazy. I say what do you expect? Wretch is going to wretch, that's what wretches do.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I say do not be surprised when the world acts like the world. Be surprised when the church acts like the world. Don't be surprised when the unbeliever acts like an unbeliever, but be surprised when somebody who claims the name of brother, who claims the name of Christ, be surprised when he acts like the world, because that shouldn't be so.

See that's the difference. And that's James' point. So with that in mind, I want us to think about that as we read this text, because again if you apply this to the world it can go all kinds of different directions.

If you apply it to the church, it maintains a laser focus, a very sharp edge. And some of you are members of the church, and when I say that, let me explain very quickly what I mean. There's two ways in which a person can be a member of the church, and when I say the church, even that has to be understood.

Most of you may know this, but I never know what you know, so I want to just make sure we understand. When we talk about the church, we are talking about two different things. We're talking about the church universal and the church local.

Alright, we make a distinction. The church universal is all believers in Christ. That makes up the church universal. Everybody agree with that? Whether you're from China, whether you're from India, whether you're from Africa, whether you're right now hiding from the authorities in Iraq or in North Korea because you believe in Jesus Christ.

You are my brother in Christ, and we make up the body of Christ, amen? That's the church universal. But then we have the church local. The church local is made up of believers in covenant with one another.

You say, what do you mean by that? Our church, Sovereign Grace Family Church. You come into the church. You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You join the church. You become a covenant member of the church, which means that we have covenanted together to live together as the body of Christ under the Word of God, under the authority of the elders of the church and the leadership of the church, ministered to by the deacons, ministering to one another with the spiritual gifts God has given us, subjecting ourselves to the discipline of the church if necessary, were we to fall into continual, habitual, unrepentant sin.

That's what it means to be a covenant member of a local church. And that's different than being part of the global or universal church because now you're in a community that holds you accountable, right?

Things change because there's no accountability in the grander church, the universal church, because there's no one to call you to account. Roman Catholicism tries to do this by having one central authority figure called the Pope and that is an unbiblical model.

The single authority figure, the episkopos is what it's called, the one single authority figure is not biblical. The biblical model is that you have a group of ordained men in the local church who are shepherding the souls of the people in that church.

They are called to shepherd the flock of God that is among them. Acts chapter 20 says that, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. First Peter 5 talks about that as well. So that's the role of the local church.

You guys are part of set free. Set free is a church body. You guys go to church on Sunday, 2 o 'clock on Sunday, you go to church on Tuesdays in the evening and there's a body there. You come back here and you're discipled.

That's what this is, discipleship. It's supposed to be teaching you all the things that Christ taught. That's what he said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching all the things that I've taught you and thus this becomes essentially like a church.

There's a covenant here, if you're out of line, you are removed, right? And there's a sense in which if you got out of line here, there can be a removal from this body. So there's a sense in which this constitutes what you guys are referring as a church.

So these things apply to you here. When James is talking to the church here, this applies to you. Primarily, if you're a believer, it applies to you spiritually, but even if you're not a believer, if you're here, it applies to you in a sense practically.

So this is what we're going to talk about. We're going to read this text and we're going to see how this applies within the church. With this in mind, the church is always going to be a community of conflict because it's a community of people.

The Source of Quarrels and Fights

James chapter 4, we're going to read verses 1 -12. Alright, so James chapter 4 says this. What causes quarrels and causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and you do not have, so you murder.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. And you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever 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?

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, your joy to gloom. Come humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks 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.

There's only one lawgiver and one judge. He who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? All right, let's pray. Father, as we look over a lengthy portion of the text today, I pray that you would first and foremost keep me from error.

For Lord, I know that I am a fallible man. I'm capable of preaching error. And for the sake of your name, for the sake of my conscience, and for the sake of these men, I pray that you would keep me from that.

I pray that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit in this moment. Use this opportunity to teach your word to your people. Lord, that the reading, the preaching, and the understanding, and the application of the word of God would be in accordance with the truth and that the truth would set us free not to judge one another or quarrel one another or fight with one another, but to live at peace with one another in love and understanding, fully committed to you and to your call on our lives.

I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Now, at the very beginning of this passage, when James says, What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? You may say, well, why did he say that? Well, if you remember last week, we got to the end of chapter 3.

And the Bible, by the way, the Bible wasn't written with chapter and verses. I think you know that. But just in case you didn't, when Paul sat down and wrote the letters and James sat down and wrote the letters and Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote, they didn't stop every time they finished a sentence and say that's verse 1 and stop and say that's verse 2.

The chapter distinctions were not added until later in the first millennium. And then the verse distinctions were not added even till further later into the second millennium. So it was I think it was around 1300 that we started seeing the verse distinctions added in.

So you have these distinctions that are artificial and that cause us to disconnect the word of God from the portions that it's that it falls into. It causes us to read things out of context. People like John 3, 16, John 3, 16 is a beautiful verse, but it's not by itself.

But we take it by itself. Most of you probably quote John 3, 16. But do you know what John 3, 15 says? Do you know what John 3, 17 says? Do you know what the conversation was in which Jesus uttered those words comes to us in?

Probably not. And most people don't because they know the verse, not the passage or the context. The same thing with this. If you look at verse 18 of chapter 3, it says a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

So that's the that's the verse leading into the next verse. And James is talking about sincerity, mercy, goodness, and fruits that are impartial and sincere. He's talking about peace and peacemaking. Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, right?

So we we know the call is to be men of peace. The call is to be and by the way, when I say that, that does not mean to be men of weakness. Jesus was not a weak man, though he was a man of peace. Oftentimes it takes a lot more strength to be the man of peace than it does to be the man of violence.

Because the man of violence can allow his emotions to take over and attack and quarrel and fight. And when it's all over, he's got bumps and bruises. But no real effort was expended except for swinging hands and throwing the lips, throwing words.

But the man of peace has to take and hold back his emotional desire to lash out. He has to stand back and take stock of who he is in Christ and actually stand firm in what's true, rather than just letting his emotions and his flesh take over.

It's much more difficult to be a man of peace than a man of violence. And so he's called us to be here, ones who make peace. And then verse 1 of chapter 4 comes right after that and says, what is it that stops the peace?

If you're called to be men of peace, what is it that causes quarrels and fights? Because, by the way, that's the opposite of peace, isn't it? The opposite of peace is war. The opposite of peace is quarrels.

The opposite of peace is fighting. You're called to make peace. So now let's dive in, James says. Let's dive into the question, what causes you to not be men of peace? What causes you to not be men of God's peace?

And Thomas Hobbes wrote something. I wrote a paper in one of my classes. I think it was sociology class. I was writing on the subject of war and what causes war, and I came across this very interesting quote.

And I've kind of kept it in my mind for years. It says this. He said, if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, those two men become enemies. Let me say that again.

When two men desire something that they both can't have, those two men become enemies. Whether it's that they both want the same woman, they both want the same property, two nations want the same land, two nations want the same oil, two nations want the same minerals or goods, crops, whatever it be, nations become enemies.

Men become enemies when there's something they both want but they both can't have it. That leads to hatred. You have a cell phone and I don't. I deserve that and you don't. You have more grits with your eggs and I wanted those grits.

Now I'm getting ridiculous, but you understand. Whatever it is. Yes, but again, what is that? I want the ability to demand that my beliefs are put at the top of the table in yours aren't. I want my beliefs respected and yours not.

Or at least my beliefs get more respect than yours. My beliefs get put at the top. So what causes quarreling and fighting among you? What you want. You have to have whatever it is and you don't care about the other person.

You're willing to put your needs before their needs, your wants before their wants, your position before their position and you're willing to say to them, I am more valuable than you. If not with your mouth.

With your actions. Do you want to say something brother? Okay, alright. I didn't want to over talk you there. So it says, so he asks, what is it that causes the quarrels? It goes on to say, is it not this?

That your passions are at war within you. What's a passion? Something you want. Something that you want. Your passions are at war within you. That causes fights with other people. You think it would be causing fights with you, but that's not the point.

You're not fighting with yourself. Your passions that are within you are causing the fights with other people because your passions don't line up with their passions. They want something that you don't want or they want you to do something you don't want to do.

And so you're angry. Then he goes on in verse 2, he says, you desire and do not have, so you murder. That's pretty harsh. Because I imagine most of you, I'd like to think all, but I don't know. Most of you are probably not murderers.

At least not in the physical sense. But what does Jesus say about murder? Matthew chapter 5, right? He says, you've heard it said, thou shalt not commit murder, but yet I say unto you, he who hates his brother without cause, he is a murderer.

So now can I say, is everybody in here a murderer? Yeah. Well, praise God for your attempt to find a loophole. But can't we all say that we've hated and thus have not exempted ourselves from the sixth commandment?

The sixth commandment says, thou shalt not commit murder. And the Jewish community in Jesus' time felt pretty good because most of them had never taken a life. Jesus comes along and says, I know you've never taken a life, but you've never hated anybody without cause.

You're the murderer. And everybody goes, wait a minute, now he's talking about me. Before you were talking about all those rugged murderers, those hate-filled men. Now you're talking about me. You ever wonder why Jesus got crucified?

Take what Jesus said, go into the center of Jacksonville and just start reading it. Take the Sermon on the Mount. Don't add anything to it. Don't embellish it. Don't exegete it. Just go and read it with a microphone right in front of the Jaguar Stadium.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. For not everyone who says, Lord, Lord. I'm sorry, I missed it. He says, start it over.

Those, many will come unto me in that day and say, Lord, have we not done many mighty works in your name and done miracles in your name and cast out demons in your name? And yet I will say unto them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Just say that part. See how long you're popular. Preach that and see how long you remain popular. So Jesus is preaching. Go ahead, brother, you can ask. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. Okay, I don't want to get too far off track.

It said in Proverbs 28, a man burdened by blood guilt will be a fugitive until death. When I read that, I know the footnotes were not written by, they're written by man. Yeah. The footnotes said until death is literally, yeah, until death is literally to the pit, the innocent should be rescued from death but not the guilty of shedding innocent blood.

Is that still?

Okay, a couple things. I would have to look at the, to give you a good answer, I would have to look at the passage. I'd have to think about it. I don't want to just spit off something. I will say this, though.

It just happened to be in my devotional reading this morning as I was going through. I was reminded, because I'm in Numbers, reminded about the fact that God had set aside places for people who had spilled blood accidentally, the cities of refuge and things like that.

There was a different economy at that time for people who did crime. There weren't jails in the ancient world as we have jails today. They had cities of refuge for that. The death penalty was a lot more practiced then than it is now.

When I say economic, I mean overall understanding of how crime was dealt with was a little different at the time of the Proverbs. I can't give you a good answer as to how that would apply to today other than to say that all guilt and any guilt can be forgiven in Jesus Christ.

So if you have hurt somebody, if you have killed somebody, and you can come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He's a better Savior than you are a sinner. And so if you have hurt somebody, if you have killed somebody, you can still be forgiven.

That's as good as I can do without spending more time in the text. Yes, sir. I'm talking about a thousand years before Paul. I'm talking about ancient Israel in the time of Moses. 1 ,500 years. Yes, at the time of Paul, there was jails.

There was the Roman jails and those things. And there was a much different economy. What he's talking about and what you're talking about are two different time periods as far as historically. It's fine.

In ancient Israel, we see nothing in the Old Testament about jails. That's the point I'm talking about is in those times of Moses and things. I'm sure there was some type of restrictive placement, but we just don't have that in the text.

And so that was my point is to simply say the economic difference of how things were handled then, much different than today. But you're right. In the time of Paul, there's jails. In the time of Peter was in jail, Paul was in jail, all these men.

But this is after you have the Greco-Roman Empire and all those different things, so much different historically. So coming back again to verse 2. You desire you do not have, so you murder. Have you ever had that happen in your life?

Have you ever been in a conflict with somebody and you hated them because they had something you wanted? Or they wouldn't give you something you wanted. You hated them. And so James is talking about that.

He says you murder. And then he says you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. It's all going back to the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue is you want what you want. And remember, he's talking to believers.

This is what kills me, is he's not talking to the rank unbeliever. He's not talking to pagans. He's talking to the church. And he's saying to the church, you fight because you don't have what you want.

How dare you name the name of Christ and be such pugnacious, selfish brats. That's what he's saying. And then he says this, you do not have because you do not ask. Now let me say this about that. Many a word-faith proponent has taken that one, not even verse, it's a half a verse, taken that one line and says, all you got to do is ask.

Just reach out for what God has for you and take a hold of it and bring it in. You have not because you ask, not just ask. I was doing more of a, sort of a, sort of a, what is that, Christian Cathedral guy is kind of who I was thinking of.

Well, who's the Christian Cathedral guy? Schuller, Robert Schuller. Power, power, prayer, power, positive thinking, all these crazy things. And they use this verse and say, you have not because you ask not.

Rarely ever do they attach it to verse 4 because this is actually what it should be attached to. I think the verse 4 should start, you do not have because you do not ask, and you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

He has not left the context. And the context is your passions are wrong. You don't have because you don't ask because what you are asking for is the wrong things. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

And he tells us earlier, seek wisdom. That's right. Not a Cadillac. Amen. See, you look at verse 3, it mentions passions. You look at verse 1 and it mentions passions. And both of those are connecting it.

It's all about your passions. Your fights, your quarrels. In the church, that's the problem. It's in the church. It's all about passions.

Yes, sir. Okay. Back in the Bible, they were fighting because they were fighting about stuff like if you should be circumcised. Sure. Okay. So that's what the debate is about.

Well, yes, he is going to go on and talk though about the rich and the poor. So I still think there's a material element to this too. It could be religious conversations that are happening, the question of circumcision and all those things.

And certainly that could fit within there. But I also think it could be material as well.

Well, I say that because people debate the Bible. He said you ain't supposed to debate the Bible. And then he has another verse where we do the debating. But then he says, come, let us reason. Yes. We're going to do that through the year.

Yeah. And we have to talk too about whether or not we should debate. I believe we should debate, but I think the word reason, that's what's bound up in that. We lovingly challenge each other with the Word of God.

Recently, I did a debate at the church with a man that's my friend. And we did it as brothers in Christ. And we challenged each other on the subject of the Sabbath. The debate was over the Sabbath. And so that was a question that a lot of people have.

So me and him, we debated each other, but it was in love. It was to try to hone with each other. Iron sharpens iron. And I do think that can be done properly. I think where the arguments and the fighting and the passions, that's when it's ungodly and unbiblical.

And oftentimes leads to nothing more than just two men trying to one-up each other and verbal jousting, which is no good. Yeah, verbal jousting. So he goes on to say, he's just told us, he says, you don't have because you don't ask, and what you do ask for is wrong because you're asking for the wrong thing, your passions.

Spiritual Adultery, Friendship with the World, and God’s Jealousy

Verse 4, you adulterous people. Now, let me ask you this. In the Bible, when the word adultery comes up, does it always refer to physical sex and physical adultery? No. Actually, what is more so the object?

Spiritual. Yeah, spiritual. Who's the object of our adultery almost every time? Israel. It's God. Well, Israel is called the harlot and those things because committed adultery against God. What I'm saying is though, when adulterous people, when we're called adulterous people, it's saying that we have a husband.

He is Christ. We are the church. We are the bride of Christ. And when we seek after other things, when our heart is passionate towards other things, when we're coveting and worshiping other things, we have committed adultery spiritually against our husband who is Christ.

We are the bride. He is the husband. When we seek after and passionately pursue other things, we are... It's similar to a wife who turns against her husband and goes to another man. That's the picture.

This is why God is called a jealous God. People say, well, jealousy is bad. Not from God's perspective. Because from God's perspective, if we go to anything else other than Him and give it our worship, He is right to be angry with us about that.

He is right to be wrathful with us because we have left the husband. We have left Him who is our Father. In this analogy, though, He is the one who we are in covenant with. That's the picture of the adulterous relationship.

One who breaks the covenant.

That's what I said. He's jealous. Absolutely. Yes, sir. But He's a good God because He said He's married to the backslide.

Oh yeah, absolutely. In the whole picture of Gomer and Hosea, is the picture of God telling Hosea, marry this adulterous woman? Is the picture of God and Israel? And there's a love there and a graciousness shows God's graciousness to us.

Absolutely. And so, yes, God is, as I already said, He is much greater at saving us than we are at sinning against Him. He is a better Savior than we are a sinner. So that's the thing, guys. If you ever come in here and you think you're too bad to be saved, you're right where you need to be.

The problem with most people is not that they think they're too bad to be saved, they think they're too good to need to be saved. You ask the average person on the street, you go out and say, are you a good person?

Of course I'm a good person. Can I tell you today, none of you are good people and neither am I. Nobody is good. No, not one. Romans chapter 3. No, I do. I'm saying that they can't take it. Well, they don't usually take it well, but I tell them.

And you've probably heard of Ray Comfort. Ray Comfort does this probably better than anybody in the world. You ask a person, do you consider yourself to be a good person? They say yes. Well, can I ask you a few questions to see if that's true?

Sure. Have you ever told a lie? Yes. What do you call people who tell lies? A liar. Have you ever stolen anything? Not a lot. Anything? Yeah, maybe once or twice. What do you call people who steal things?

A thief. Alright, well you've already told me you're a lying thief. You still want to argue you're a good person? Jesus said if you commit adultery, if you look at a woman with lust, you commit adultery in your heart.

So you're a lying thief, adultery at heart. You want to keep arguing that you're a good person? You're going to stand before the tribunal of God and you're going to be judged by His law. And His law is going to judge you as guilty.

You will not be able to announce yourself as a good person. You will be announced as a sinner before a holy God. And unless you have a Savior, you will be lost and damned forever. You are not a good person.

Amen. I remember one day I was at Burger King getting some food, and there was a man behind the register. I started talking to him. And I said, are you a good person? Yes. I kind of went through it with him.

And I said, have you ever looked at a woman with lust? And he said, no. And I said, are you gay? And he said, no! What's lust mean? Let me back up a second. Have you ever had inappropriate sexual thoughts about a woman?

All the time. Okay, that's lust. That's wrong. You just had to change the language a bit. Because you didn't know what it meant when I said have you ever looked at a woman with lust. I do have to keep going, but go ahead one more real quick.

Isn't there a line between... I mean, it's not wrong to look at a female and admire her. Okay, all right, all right.

This is what... I don't want to go too far down this road. Let me say this. Most of the time we go over that line. Right, right. It just is what it is. Most of the time we go over the line. But I will tell you what the definition of lust is if you want to know.

I did a whole story. In fact, one of the highest sermons... Because I put our sermons on Sermon Audio. They're recorded. They go out all over the world. People hear them. And one of the highest downloaded sermons I've ever done is called Mental Pornography.

That was the title of the sermon. That is what lust is. Yeah. When you, in your mind... You don't pluck that out. That's right. You look at this person as an object of your physical pleasure. And you know where that line is.

Saying, hey, you look beautiful today, Mrs. Johnson. That's not the same as lust. But it can easily become that, especially if it becomes a fixation in your heart. It's a thin line.

It's a thin and dangerous line. Yes, sir. I believe people can be lusting and they not even think.

Yeah, I mean the Bible talks about... Yeah, the Bible talks about sin that is the sin of unintention. We're not intentionally, not physically thinking about it. Again, this is why the blood of Christ covers all sins.

Some people say you have to know for sure that you've repented of every single sin. You don't know every sin you've ever committed because you live in a body of flesh that's dealing with these things.

And that's why we're told to take every thought captive. And so we do try to take every thought captive to Christ. And so that's the goal of life. I know that when I'm with... Be careful again. When you're in a situation where those thoughts are going to come up, you've got to be dealing with that even before you get there.

Flee. Yeah, flee. Flee temptation. Flee all those things. That's right. That's right. We're told to fight the devil and flee. The Bible says resist the devil, but flee sexual immorality. It just shows you how strong sexual immorality is.

We're not told to resist it. We're told to flee it. Stronger than the devil in that regard. All right, so let's just... Yes, sir. Can you discern someone then?

So how can you discern someone like that? It's not my job to discern it.

I don't mean that in a bad way. I don't know your heart. The Bible says I can only judge on what's on the outside. I cannot judge a man's heart. Only God knows your heart. But I do say this to a man if he comes to me and he says he's been looking at pornography, I don't have to wonder if he's lusting.

Nobody's watching it for the stories. Nobody's reading Playboy for the articles. So I mean those things, you can at least make some logical deductions based on that. If there's a man, a woman walks by and he can't take his eyes off of her, I might say, brother, are you having an impure thought?