JEWELS FROM JAMES #10

"BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO"

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?" (James 4:1). This is a question that the Apostle James asked his Christian readers, for he knew it is one we can all relate to. It is the kind of question that should come from the heart of any sincere follower of Jesus who truly wants to know how to live in a way that pleases the Lord. Another way of wording this question is, "What causes all the disputes that are going on?" It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that James is talking about BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS! The definition of relationship is "the way in which two or more things or people are connected"; also "the way two or more people, groups, countries, etc., . . . talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other". Today we are going to talk about THE BREAKING UP OF RELATIONSHIPS, which we all know IS VERY HARD! Unfortunately, it occurs often. I am thinking that the majority of us have gone through a break-up of a personal relationship to some degree. Some of us may have been on the breaking up side, where we have had to let someone know that "things were not going to work out". And unless we are flat out cold hearted, that's a brutal conversation. On the other hand, some of us have been on the receiving side of a break-up, when we've had someone tell us "you're not the one", "it will never work between us", "you are a nice person, can we just be friends". Yes, many have had the "we've got to talk" talk and know that the breaking of a personal relationship is indeed hard, often hurtful. We realize that there are results and consequences involved.

You know what I am talking about. There are break-ups in friendships, in family relationships, in marriages (even among Christians), in employer-employee relationships, certainly within the political spectrum, in disputes between nations, among neighbors, and even in church families. James is showing us the causes for the destruction of personal relationships by showing us what we really need to break up with. He, nor the Bible, ever advocated the breakup of appropriate relationships among friends, familes, spouses, children, churches, etc.! But there ARE certain relationships that need to be broken off. Let's examine what James is clearly teaching here.

First, we must BREAK UP WITH PRIDE! Read with me how James hits the matter of pride head-on. "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Is it not this, that your passions (pride, lust of pleasures) are at war within you? You crave and 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to (pridefully) spend it on your own sinful passions/pleasures. 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 (God) yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us?' " (James 4:1-5). It is plain that James spoke about having problems with people and thus problems with God. When we have unresolved disputes with people we have problems with God, and when we are out of God's will, we have problems with people. Make no mistake about this truth! "Quarrels, fights and wars" are due to pride and out-of-control lusts.

Think about this: World War II had ended. On September 2, 1945 General Douglas MacArthur spoke to a waiting world from the Battleship USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, "Today the guns are silent. . .the skies no longer rain death. . .the seas bear only commerce. . .men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace. . . ." That long war had cost sixty million lives, and an estimated one trillion dollars. It came only one generation after what President Woodrow Wilson called World War I "the war to end all wars". Since World War II we have been engaged in Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq twice, Afghanistan, Iran for months now, not to speak of limited wars, political assassinations, personal revolts, riots and murders on our streets, in our schools and churches, rebellions and social revolutions, etc.

The history of this world is a war history. James brought it even closer home when he made clear that our personal stories are war stories as well, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your prideful desires that battle within you?" (James 4;1). What a very penetrating question! There are reasons for the warfare that rages within us. There are reasons for the fact that we have problems with people and with God. "We fight and we quarrel!" Why?

1) The Prideful Desires that battle within us. Abrasive words and abusive actions are expressed to one another because we are not at peace within ourselves, or with God! So we take it out on others. The word for "fights" is also translated "wars" and means a continuing state of hostilty toward someone. The word "quarrels" means outbursts of active animosity toward someone. We tend to think that peace with people is our natural state, and that conflict is unnatural. The opposite is actually the truth! Peace in our relationships is unnatural and conflict is the natural state of the human nature. That is why we need the supernatural peace of God inside so that we can live in peace with those outside as well as within ourselves.

2) Selfish Indulgence rears its ugly head and is responsible for discord. It is the targeted pursuit of personal pleasure without regard for God or for other people. Selfish indulgence stems from personal pride and selfish ambition. This is shown in the attitude, "I am going to enjoy myself in every way possible, so don't get in my way." "Desires" is really a morally neutral word; God is not some cosmic killjoy who allows us no pleasure. In fact, he "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment" (I Timothy 6:17). Pleasure is a good thing, but if its exclusive pursuit becomes our ultimate aim with no concern for God or for other people, it is perverted! When such desires are frustrated, violence often erupts. The words James used are ominous: "kill or murder and covet". We are capable of relentless rage and even murder when sufficiently angered or perturbed. We must definitely and consistently guard against unresolved unrest or discontent because that is a sure indicator that we are running on the Fuel of Emotions! We must avoid this form of pleasure or what I call a "baptized hedonism"!

Second, we must BREAK UP WITH WORLDLINESS! (James 4:4-6). James calls this "friendship with the world" and warns strongly against it. His use of the word "world" means this world's values, priorities, pursuits, ambitions, purposes, etc. James refers to the people who are "earth-dwellers, those who live for this world only" as "Adulterous People". Friendship with the world as just defined makes us an enemy of God. Here is a list of some major characteristics of those who are too friendly with this ungodly world and culture: Inappropriate interpersonal relationships inside and outside of marriage, Distrust of God and of other followers of Jesus (this is unbelief and the Bible calls it evil"), Materialism and the love of money, Sexual deviances, Spiritual Indifference/Apathy (The Bible calls it "luke-warmness"), Discontent, which has become a world-wide epidemic, Laziness, Anger, Hostility, Bitterness, Resentment, and Pride. These are ALL MAJOR INDICATORS OF GETTING TOO CHUMMY WITH THE WORLD! To choose to be a friend of this ungodly world is to make ourselves an enemy of God. "The word "make" here means "to assign". So, when we choose to make the world our friend, we literally assign ourselves as enemies of God! We declare Him to be our enemy! Very serious; it has eternal consequences!

Third, James now tells us to BREAK INTO CLEANSING GRACE - (James 4:6-10). He taught, "But He (God) gives more grace. It says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves 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 serious and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you." Breaking UP with Pride and Worldiness is only possible through the matchless GRACE OF JESUS, and it takes us purposefully breaking into His grace which cleanses and purifies! Julia H Johnson expressed it beautifully in the hymn she wrote:

"Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,

Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) was split. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin."

James explicitly taught that the proper response to the problem of Pride and Worldliness is HUMILITY! God does the giving and the forgiving, but He requires our repentance and humility! James quoted from Proverbs 3:34, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humility is not experienced without some definitive cost and it may pain our prideful humanity greatly. We must give up struggling for what we want and ask God for what He wants in and from us! The glorious result of gaining a sense of humility is the addition of more of God's grace to grow and mature into His likeness. Here is what James went on to instruct us: Submit (Yield) to God, to His Lordship and Leadership, Resist (fight against) the devil, Cleanse your hands (live a pure life outwardly - what we do, where we go and the activities we engage in), purify your hearts (live a holy life inwardly), grieve, mourn, and weep which simply means to live seriously, truthfully, without reproach, blamelessly and Biblically, obeying God and His Word, and come near to God! If you feel God is a long way off and not present, it is you that has moved; HE HASN'T! We have His promise that if we come near to Him, He will come near to us!

Are we ready to embrace and assimilate the truth of James' teaching?