JAMES 4
Resolving Conflict

Now James makes an abrupt shift from the end of chapter 3 “And a harvest of peace is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

To 4:1 – What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

Again, we are considering what grown up faith looks like – what are the characteristics of a believer who has a mature faith?

For the most part how peaceable are brothers and sisters who are in the single digits of their maturity? For instance how peaceable are 5 and 7 year old siblings?

THE CAUSE OF CONFLICT:

WE ARE at war with ourselves:

Conflict comes out of our inner “Hedonon” (Hedonism) – sensual lusts, pleasure seeking.

- War is the fruit of illicit wants, lust (seeking things that are forbidden) brings about murder. Covetousness (materialism) results in frustration which leads to fights.

The ROOT is selfishness – lead to evil actions and evil prayers.

Covetousness (the last of the 10 commandments) can lead us to break all of the others; lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, dishonor parents, neglect the Sabbath, take God’s name in vain, idolatry, and, create another God.




V3 - “You do not have, because you do not ask GOD”… you ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives (“kakos” literally ‘evilly’)

- “But I prayed about it…” let me ask you a question…

- “How many of you like to be told what to do?”…making demands and directing God is not the same as being directed by Him… showing Him a way is not the same as follow where He leads.

The path that leads to life is narrow – often it is not the one we would choose to take… but I believe that’s the point:

If we want to offer a crown of GOLD it will be necessary to get off the beach.


- This is not saying that the reason you do not have the thing you lust or covet is because God is being a miser.

- Rather, it could be said with the inclusion of verse 4 that “a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” That when we do ask out of an illicit, evil, covetousness desire we are not asking God the Father for these things… instead we are asking the Spirit who entices people to become an “enemy of God”, namely Satan.

The issue here is that evil has the appearance of godliness but the fruit it produces is demonic;

o You pray for a relationship that will remove loneliness – to be answered by a relationship that requires you to sacrifice your body to maintain it.

o You ask for “relief” from the worries and stress of life – and it is answered through compromising your mind with the use of drugs.

o You ask for the job that will provide that earthly mansion you believe will give you significance – and it is answered with a job that takes you away from your family 5 out of 7 days.


WE ARE AT war with God:

Being a friend with the world – agreement with contrary spirits – Pride

V4 – being a friend with the world is being an enemy of God

- It begins with friendship.
- Then being “spotted” by the world (James 1:27)
- Then loving the world (1 John 2:15-17)
- Conforming to the world (Romans 12:2)
- Being condemned with the world (1 Cor 11:32)

Friendship with the world is often referred to “spiritual adultery” since we are married to Christ. In the OT this was the cause of Judah’s downfall.

V5 – Agreement with contrary spirits.

“He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us…” IS NOT a direct quotation of scripture.

- MOST likely he is referring to verse 6 – “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)

Verse 5 is difficult to reconcile for a number of reasons:

- Is the spirit the holy spirit or the human spirit?
- Is the spirit to be taken as the subject of the verb ‘yearns’ or its object?
- Is “envy” to be seen as ‘unrighteousness desire’ or as ‘righteous jealously’?

My opinion is that what James is speaking of is this:

- God cannot answer prayers asked with evil (selfish/worldly) intent because by doing so he would be contradicting Himself and the purpose of His spirit that has been placed within us.

V6 – PRIDE “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”

Pride is Satan’s great sin. God says depend on grace – Satan says depend on yourself.

Pride says, “be right” God says you have been made right… rely on my words.

The degree of your anger about “being right” equals the measure of your pride.


THE CURE FOR CONFLICT:

Thankfully James provides us with a synopsis of how to live lives that are peaceable with others (at least ones that resolve conflict appropriately) – this is not an exhaustive list but it’s at least a start:

There are 8 commandments to resolving conflict: which essentially tell us that,

We can’t stop loving people simply because we don’t agree with them.

Dietrich Bonheoffer said: “Appreciate the value of something even if you reject it.”


NOTE: Each of these are contingent upon us as individuals directing them inwardly. Not one tells us that the way to resolve conflict is by altering the behavior or spirit of another.

All 8 are in the aorist imperative tense – which is a call for a specific and definite decision. This must be a decision of will – a decision to prefer one action over another.

It’s sort of like making the decision between vanilla and chocolate ice cream – there is a choice… and each time ice cream is presented to us we must once again make a conscious choice.

Why? Wouldn’t it be easier if God forced us to prefer righteousness over evil?

- God could, but the play of our lives would be over.

God never usurps the will or the personality of the believer.

Omnipotence has its limits – “God is all powerful” but he cannot do all things.

He cannot make a round square or a married bachelor.
God can do anything… that can be done.

The world that God made is good… in which people are free to choose.

God would rather have the heart felt worship of the few instead of the robotic worship of the masses.

God cannot guarantee good - Freedom must be free - Could God make a world where people were free to choose and guarantee that everyone would choose the good he offers.

Sin is random - The effects of sin are visiting themselves randomly upon creation.

The world does not work right – Romans 8:20 – “Creation has been groaning for redemption” (the return to its rightful condition.

God allows us to CHOOSE then provides – he allows the broken creation to CHOOSE and inserts “post” event with the answer.

God is never perplexed

As believers we has said – CHOOSE – since He cannot violate Himself we must make daily decisions for righteousness

Submit – resist – draw near to God – Cleanse your hands – purify your hearts – be wretched and mourn – humble yourself – don’t speak evil.

- V7 - 1SUBMIT yourselves to God – a military term meaning “get into your proper rank” – to render obedience.

When a private acts like a general – conflict is inevitable – causalities will ensue.

Submission in the military is fulfilling the commands of a higher ranking officer – regardless of my preference. I may not think it right to perform a particular order – but I am still required to carry that order out (unless it violates God’s word).

The issue here is about “commitment” – uncommitted believers go MIA or are dishonorably discharged.


- V7b - 2RESIST the devil – “To stand in opposition to”

1 Peter tells us that to resist the devil it is necessary to stand firm in your faith.

Will power will not sustain your resistance to the devil. Only through a stronger belief in something contrary to evil will we be able to remain opposed to evil.

In other words – (aorist imperative tense) what is necessary is to make a decision of will to prefer truth over a lie.

- V8 - 3Draw near to God – “position oneself near so as to have an encounter” – the picture is of one approaching the alter of God to offer a sacrifice. Our lives are to be sacrifices to God.

The more we are like God the nearer we are to God:

For instance: AW TOZER - If I have our dog in my lap and my wife is 20 feet away – I am nearer to my wife than my Dog, because my Dog is unlike me – I am more like my wife; physically and spiritually.

- V8b - 4Cleanse your hands – an OT picture of the removal of sinful practices.

Often it is necessary to physically remove obstacles that are preventing resolution to conflicts.

We must physically position our lives so that we are not hindering the process of resolution.

- V8c - 5Purify your hearts – because the heart is the seat of faith (what we believe) this essentially says, “Stop believing lies… start believing the truth.”

Again, this is in the aorist imperative tense which is a directive to make a definitive decision.

Believing truth is not about “feeling” like it. Rather, it is willingly choosing to believe, to “honor the point” despite how I feel.

“If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?”

The value you place on the word of God will determine the power you receive from the word of God.

- V9 - 6/7Be Wretched and mourn – be sorrowful for sin, turn from sin, and make restitution for sin.

Be sober and not arrogant. Admit your fault in the conflict.

V9 – How many of you have ever laughed at sin? Yeah… that is what verse 9 is all about: “Turn your laughing into mourning” –

- V10 - 8Humble yourself – humility is not making less of yourself – humility is making more of others.

This is essentially the beatitudes of Jesus: Matthew 5:3-11


- V11 - 9Do not speak evil against one another –

“It’s not about being RIGHT – it’s about being FREE.”


It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Galatians 5:1

It’s your choice –

Are you in conflict this morning? Do you want to be right or do you want to be free?