Warning Against Worldliness
Tom Shrader examines James 4:1-12, identifying selfish ambition and bitter jealousy as the root causes of quarrels and conflicts among believers. He warns that friendship with the world system creates hostility toward God, calling Christians to submit to God, resist the devil, and draw near to Him with humility. The teaching emphasizes that peace comes not from getting what we want, but from finding our satisfaction in God alone.
“When I'm sinned against, I tend to respond sinfully.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: James (2011)
Recorded: 2011
Duration: 48 min
Themes: worldliness, conflict, jealousy, humility, submission, friendship, peace, satisfaction, struggling with conflict, dealing with jealousy, caught in arguments, new believer, feeling unsatisfied, parent, mentor, young adult
Scripture: James 4:1-12, James 1:22, James 3:14-16, Philippians 3:12-14, Romans, Exodus 20:3-5, Isaiah 66:2, Isaiah 6, Ephesians 6
Theological Themes: sanctification, spiritual warfare, resist the devil, drawing near to god, works and faith, christian living, separation from world, godly wisdom
Full Transcript
Open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of James. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. Guys will give you a copy. You're welcome to take that with you. If you get a Bible from us, you can turn to page 654, and that will get you to the book of James.
Almost every week, anytime we do a book study, we remind you of the context and audience. James tells us right off in chapter one, verse one, when he's writing to these 12 tribes who are dispersed abroad, it is a letter where James is not concerned so much about us finding salvation as much as living a life that's been changed as a result of encounter with Christ. So as you read through the scripture, you'll see that word salvation or rescued or redeemed. Let me make sure we're all using the same definitions here. What we mean is saved from, rescued from, delivered from, a life apart from God.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wage of sin is death. That death is separation—that's what death means—I'm separated from Him. But the grace of God is found in faith. It's given to us and we are saved and we are redeemed. So the wage of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life that we find in one place and that's in Christ Jesus.
The Foundation of Faith
We believe there is one way that I can be in right relationship with God and that's through Christ. There's only one path that leads to Him. That salvation is I'm saved by grace, the instrument of that is faith. Religion or works or human effort play no role in my salvation.
However, once I've come into this right relationship, now there should be a life that's changed. I should see the result of an encounter with Christ. I should be able to look at your life and see that there's something different and unique about you. The key verse, chapter one, verse 22: "Prove yourself to be doers of the word, not merely hearers who dilute themselves."
The Problem James Addresses
James is addressing a problem. The problem was these people love to hear the word of God. They love, in our context, moments like we're having here. These are sweet moments. I think for those of us who get to come here every week, we forget how sweet they are.
This is a—I think Susan's only been to church once since Christmas. She just simply can't get out of the house to come to get here for this. I listen to how much she misses the stuff that you probably, I do, take for granted. The worship together. The time that over in the conference center that you've already had. The time that here in the chapel you will have, taking communion together. I ought to be able to see that if you know Christ as Lord and Savior, that it makes some difference in your life.
What we looked at last week really comes to bear in what we look at this week. So let's do a review. Let's go back, look at chapter three. Particularly verse 14, 15, 16.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
James is saying that there's two kinds of wisdom. There's the wisdom from above and there's the wisdom that's earthly. There's the wisdom that's supernatural and the wisdom that's natural. There's the wisdom that's godly and the wisdom that's demonic. He's coming to these people and he's challenging them.
He's been dealing with problems that they're having. Again, they're hearers, not doers. Apparently, they are showing favoritism toward certain people. They are ignoring the weakest among them. There may be a problem with the way they're speaking to one another. So he talks about the tongue. Then he talks about these two types of wisdom.
Now look with me at chapter three, verse 14. He said, "If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't be ignorant and so lie against the truth." In other words, he's saying, if you have selfish ambition, if you have bitter jealousy, you're making a mockery of what God says we are to be and how we're to live. "This wisdom does not come down from above, but it's earthly, natural, and demonic."
The Evidence of Earthly Wisdom
Now he said, here's the evidence of that. "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there is disorder in every evil thing." When I get somebody who's looking out for themselves, who's concerned about me, who's concerned about their own agenda, whose vocabulary is filled and dominated by singular personal pronouns—when I get somebody who thinks that way, thinks absolutely, and it's very natural. All you have to do is act naturally to have that.
When you think naturally, when there's jealousy and there's ambition that's selfish—there's a good ambition, but this is selfish ambition—where that's at play, you see it. There's disorder in every evil thing. There's chaos. It makes living hard.
The Source of Conflicts
Now jump down to where we are today, chapter four, verse one. "What's the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" See how this works? Apparently, within the church, as I look at verse two and three of chapter four, I think it's eight times that he uses either the word you or your. He said, in your life, there are quarrels and conflicts.
The word quarrels from the Greek is from which we get the English word polemic. It's a general, prolonged, serious dispute or combat. Conflicts are specific battles. What he's saying is that you're at war all over, that's the quarrels, but you've got these specific battles around you. I'm assuming now they're inside the church, but also in their lives as well.
So what's causing all of that? He says, the answer's right there. "Is not the source of your pleasure that wages war within you, within the members?" Isn't that the problem? You've got this earthly, natural, demonic mindset. You're thinking that way, and then you apply it to the world around you. You can't live that way.
This is a mirror. So if you've got quarrels, conflicts, disagreements, arguments, tension in relationships around you, maybe it's at home, maybe it's in the family in general, maybe it's at work, maybe it's with your homeowner's association, maybe it's the little league, maybe it's the gym.
I went to the gym the other day. Two interesting things happened at the gym. There's a guy in there, and he's this massive guy. So he's coming through, I'm walking through, and he says, "Hey man, will you spot for me?" I said to him, "Here's the deal. I'll stay in here if that helps make you feel better, and I might be able to break the fall, but you're probably going to die or be paralyzed because if you can't do this, I mean, he's got all this weights, the bars, but I don't know."
So I'm down with my little weights, doing my little things, and there's two guys there working out, massive, huge guys, and they're working on this stuff, and next to them is a bench. In between is this water jug. So this guy comes up, takes the jug, and moves it, and this guy goes, "What are you doing?" And he said, "Well, I'm moving the jug." He said, "Well, it's my water. I can't drink it now that you've touched it." I said, "Oh, wow. I need to go home. I don't want to be around this."
So this dispute breaks out, and they're F-bombing each other, and I'm kind of in the middle of it, and the guy said, "Did you see what happened?" I said, "No, no, no." I'm pretty sure the big guy was right. That's all I can say. So you got disagreements at the gym. You got disagreements when you drive. You got disagreements in the neighborhood. Now is that you? You need to be very careful here. Not necessarily your fault, but in all those areas, the only connection is you.
The Root of All Conflicts
So what James is saying is, in this church, and in your lives of the people in it, there's quarrels and conflicts. There's disagreements. What's causing that? And he said, essentially, you want to satisfy yourself. You want to do it your way. You're selfish. You have jealous ambition, selfish ambition and bitter jealousy.
I was talking to a couple and to the guy and he said, "I know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know why you keep telling me what to do. I know what I'm supposed to do. I just don't want to do it." You see this all the time in marriages. Here's what you see. One person will clearly be wrong.
Now here's a fundamental principle. When you get this, this is going to help you understand yourself. When I'm sinned against, I tend to respond sinfully. So one party offends the other. This party that's offended, pretty soon they start to deal with it and they'll go, "I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong." Now this guy, he said, "I know what I'm supposed to do. I just don't want to do it." The offended party often hangs in there but after a period of time, the offended party will say, "I know what I'm supposed to do. I'm not going to do it."
How do you fix that? In every quarrel, what he's saying, one or both parties and the homeowner's association, at the Little League game, wherever it is, one or both parties are motivated by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. They're operating totally in the flesh and the world feeds into that. That's what we're going to look at. He says, if you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God. So the whole world fits into that.
How the World Feeds Our Selfishness
Marketers. No one understands human nature any better than those who are about marketing. So how do they market? What did, for a long time, McDonald's say? "You deserve a break today." "You deserve a break today." What's Burger King say? "Have it your way." Channel 12's running out. This is the most blatant of any of them. Channel 12's motto right now is, "It's all about you." I like that.
Yeah, see, that's what he's saying. That's natural, earthly, demonic thinking when I say it's all about me. What about my rights? What about me?
The Destructive Cycle of Desire
When he gets to verse 2 and 3, he starts to deal with this, and he said, "You lust and do not have." That word lust is not just sexual, there's part of it. He's talking about these human natural desires. You have these desires and you don't have, you don't get what you want, so you commit murder. He's not talking about actual murder. He's talking about hateful, destructive behavior.
You're concerned about reputation and prestige and gratification, and so you'll do anything, even if it's destructive, to get them. You want relief. You want to feel good. You're thinking about today, right now, immediate.
We're going to see, and this is really weird because we got 35 minutes left, but just give you a tip of next week. Next week is when he really gets into this idea of thinking ahead. He says, "Come now, you say, 'Tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city and engage in business there for a year and make a profit.' You don't know what life will be like tomorrow. You're just a vapor."
The Temporariness of Life
So you're sitting in Tokyo. I mean, I just see this. You're sitting out, and you're going, "Gosh, this is great. I love living on the beach," and all of a sudden you see a 30-foot wave coming at you. The temporariness of life. We tend to think, "What about me?" And what James is going to say to us is, that's a complete anti-God state of mind.
He said, you have these things that you desire, but you don't get them, so you commit murder. You're envious. You can't obtain, so you fight, and you quarrel. Your response is to create a problem. I'll pout enough until I get it. Kids are perfect examples of that. I'll pout, I'll moan, I'll walk around. Church is an amazing place to see it. It's unbelievable to me, because it's like, you
I can see you all sitting out there. I can see you. I can watch your kids. I can watch you walk across campus. There's some of them I just want to pop right in the head. They have this attitude. They sit there with an attitude. They mope around. They don't want to be here. I get it. I don't want to be here either, but I'm here. So suck it up and listen.
You can see it all over. I can just see it. You see a wife, and you can just see bitterness. I walked into a women's ministry about a year ago, and I said, "You know that gal over there?" And they said, "Yeah." I said, "What's her problem?" She said, "Why do you think she has a problem?" I said, "Oh my gosh. She screams 'stay away from me.'" She had a problem, and you see it.
It's all about you, and my offense, and how I've been hurt. Sometimes that's true and legitimate, but often it's just that your pride or ego got in the way. So you fight, and you quarrel, you pout, you argue, you do whatever you're going to do to get your way. If you can't get your way, you're going to make sure everybody else is miserable.
Two Groups of People
James says something really interesting here at the end of verse 2, and seems to reverse himself in verse 3. He says, "You don't have because you don't ask." Verse 3: "You ask and you don't receive." So apparently there are two groups of people.
There are some who have these desires, but they've just never taken them to God. You have this desire, whatever it might be, for whatever reason. Maybe you think God's not interested in it. Maybe you think it's not worthy of His time. I don't know. For whatever reason, you don't pray about it. He says, "Well, gosh, pray about everything. There's nothing wrong with praying."
Then He says, "And then you ask and you don't receive." So then you have some who are praying, and you don't receive. The reason is your motives are wrong. You ask for yourself. You ask to have something so that you can spend it on you. You ask that a situation will be remedied for your own benefit.
Wrong Motives in Prayer
There are people I know who genuinely pray, "God save my husband, God save my wife, God save my kids." But when you prod a little, they want them saved so their life will be easier. "Save my kid, and it won't be a hassle. Save my husband, and he'll get off my back. Save my wife, and maybe I'll get through to her somehow."
So even good things we ask for—we are so immersed in pride, and ego, and selfishness, that it's almost impossible to get that out. In every situation, at every moment, with every person, you are either ministering to them or manipulating them. You're either trying to minister to them, and serve them, and edify them, and encourage them, or you're trying to manipulate them into getting them to do something you want them to do.
The Difficulty of Self-Awareness
James is coming after them, and He's coming right after them. I'll just add to this: it's very hard to see yourself accurately. I don't know anybody who's a golfer, who plays regularly, who doesn't think they're a better golfer than they really are.
Everybody I know—I'll use myself. I haven't touched a club since August. So if you took me out now, I don't know what I'd shoot. I'd typically be a 12, maybe a 10, some days a 14. But in my head, I'm a 2. I'm a scratch. If putts go in, I'm a scratch. If I get a break, I'm a scratch. That's how we see it.
Well in life, we see everybody else's sin and problems, but we have the toughest time seeing our own. Starting after Easter, Gateway will join us in this. Right now, Arcadia, Tempe, and Gilbert all teach the same passage of scripture every week. What happens is every Wednesday now, the guys who will be teaching on that Sunday, and other pastoral team are invited in, and we spend a couple hours just working our way through the passage. What do you see? What's that mean to you? How's that look? What is the Greek? What does that say? What are the intentions? What are the applications?
I led the one for today. We just kept coming back and going, "You know what? It's the same thing over and over again. It's always pride." That's your besetting sin. Your pride, your ego, "what about me," gets in the way.
Ambition vs. Pride
Nothing wrong—let me say it again—there's nothing wrong with ambition. Let's take a second. Go to page 367. It's the book of Philippians. I want you to see, I think Paul's a pretty ambitious guy. Philippians chapter 3. Page 637 in that Bible we gave you.
Paul is talking about himself, talking about his qualifications, talking about being literally—I mean it not in a pejorative way—a super Jew. He's talking about all that he's done. He says, "I count that but dung, compared to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Christ."
He says in chapter 3, verse 12, "Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect." Now think about this in light of ambition: "But I press on in order that I might lay hold of that for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." In other words, God grabbed me for a reason and I want to pursue His reason.
"Brethren," verse 13, "I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
He says there's my hope. Listen to those words: "I press on, I haven't obtained it, this one thing I do." The idea there is of reaching, stretching, to be the man—in his case—or woman, or student, boy or girl, that God's called you to be. At the end of the book of Romans, Paul says this: "Therefore, when I finish this work and have put my seal on..."
The fruit of theirs, I will go your way on my way to Spain. Paul is a very ambitious person. There's nothing wrong with being ambitious. The problem here is, it's selfish ambition. Paul's saying, I want to do this work because I know it's what God wants me to do and called me to do and it's best for you. You're saying, in these instances, I want what I want because I want it. And therein lies the problem. There's the collision course.
He's very ambitious, I press on, I take hold, I forget what lies behind. There's nothing wrong with us being ambitious. It's selfish ambition that's the problem.
Three Root Problems
Now, let's go back to the passage because he now begins to illustrate it. He said there's three problems here in verse 4, 5, and 6. He said, you adulterous, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. So he said, here's your number one problem, you have hostility with God.
Number two is in verse 5, or do you think that the scripture speaks to no person? He jealously desires the spirit which He has made to dwell in us. He said, here's your second problem, you're ignoring what the scripture says. And the third problem is in verse 6. But He gives a greater grace, therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. He said the third problem is, you're proud.
So get the context, what's the source of the quarrels, conflicts, difficulties, challenges among you? Well, the problem is, you're acting in a way that's hostile toward God, that's ignoring the scripture, and that's filled with pride. So go back and break them apart.
Spiritual Adultery
He uses really strong imagery here. You adulterous. So here's what Paul says, we're the bride of Christ. So he's saying, those of you, and he's speaking, let me frame it this way, he's speaking to an audience where he understands that there's some who are Christians and some who are not, some who think they are and aren't, some who are but aren't acting like it. So you apply this wherever this works. If you are indeed a true enemy of God, fighting against God, and living there, what you need is salvation. You need to come to Christ in repentance and faith. Acknowledge your sin, it's separated you from God, trust in Him. There'll be guys in the front of the chapel, and guys in the front, and gals in the front of the conference center, if you're going, what in the world did he just say? We're here after the service to talk with you.
For those of us who are Christians, he says, when you act this way, you're actually acting like an atheist. You're hostile toward God. Paul says we're the bride of Christ, and he says, but you're whoring around with the world. That's really what he says here. You're an adulterous. Don't you know that friendship, it's the word phileia that is translated every other place in the scripture as love. It's this deep, intimate connection. Your deep, intimate friendship with the world is hostility toward God. This idea and passion that you have for the world.
The World System
When he talks about the world, he's not talking about the planet or the universe, one author puts it this way. He's talking about the spiritual reality of man-centered, Satan-directed system of this present age, which is hostile to God and God's people. It refers to self-centered, godless value systems and mores of fallen mankind.
The goal of the world, now you tend to see the problem here. The goal of the world is self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction, put that in your pipe and smoke it. I'm just off today. I've been off all day. I was telling somebody everything's off today. Self-satisfaction and every other form of self-serving, all of which amounts to hostility toward God. There's the problem. This is just not complicated. The problem is you're at war with God.
Do you hear that? Self, self, self. Self-centered, self-satisfaction, self-me, what about me? As concerned about God and His creation and what about His agenda? So God created this world, this beautiful place, and we come into it, and when I act this way, we bring sin into it, the world says, look out.
Looking Out for Number One
Every night before I go to bed, I have my phone and I YouTube either a Johnny Carson, a Carnac, some of the old things, a little Eva Cassidy now, Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of my all-time favorite songs and she has got a great rendition, but Rodney Dangerfield, I love Rodney Dangerfield. So we're talking about looking out for number one. Rodney Dangerfield the other night said, I'm so busy looking out for number one, I stepped in number two. That's what we're talking about. I'm looking out for number one, I'm looking out for number one, I'm looking out for number one, look where I am. I'm in trouble.
So there's the war, there's the conflict. Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes themselves an enemy of God. It's that simple. You can't serve two masters. It's always painted as black and white, either this or that, for me, against me.
The War Within Creates War Without
So I said, here you are, loving up to the world, cozying up to the world, wanting the same thing the world wants, the same values, the same system as the world. When you think that way, you pit yourself against God. You're at war with God. So if we go back to our very connection, now here's the application. You're at war with everybody around you because you have a war within yourself.
I had, I can't remember which day it was this week, it was Wednesday. Everything Wednesday just made me angry inside, just frustrated me. It was all me. I sat down at the end, I was tense about everything. Everything made me mad. Everything frustrated me. And I knew it, and I got it at the end of the day, and I said, God, I just didn't do really well today. And the reason is, and so Wednesday's when I'm preparing for all this stuff, too. So this is the reason is I'm worried about me. And that's your job, that's not mine, I don't need to worry about me, you'll cover
So friendship with the world puts me at war with God. Their problem is hostility with God. Their second problem, verse five, is they ignore the scripture. "Or don't you think the scripture speaks with no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which He's made to dwell in you."
Keep your finger there, we're going all the way to the front of the book, page 40. It's the book of Exodus in the 20th chapter.
God Is a Jealous God
When we talk about God, if we were to do, in most instances with people, an open discussion. Let's talk about God. We'll do a word association. Let's talk about God's attributes. Well, He's loving, He's kind, He's gentle, He's long-suffering. And we'd list all these attributes of God. One of the attributes of God that rarely gets spoken of is that He's a jealous God.
Exodus chapter 20, God is about to deliver these ten commandments, and here's how it all begins: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth." Now here's the whole point of this: "You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God."
Now for some of us, that word presents problems because we think of human relationships. When I was dating Susan, unbeknownst to me, but then revealed, she was dating another guy at the same time. So we're both courting her, and I'm incapable of handling this. I'm too immature, I can't handle it, so I'm saying to her, "You've got to decide. You're either going to date me or you're going to date this guy, you can't do both." And she's saying, "Well don't make me decide," and I should have at that point known that was a problem. I'm finishing second in a two-man race, I can feel it.
But we go through this, and I was terribly jealous. So I go, is that how God is? God is jealous in that He doesn't want to share your affections with anyone else, but I was jealous because I wanted Susan. He's jealous because He wants what's best for you, which is to have the right relationship with Him. That's the jealous God that He is. And He doesn't want any idols in your life, that can be anything.
Idols in Our Lives
Susan and I met, we're dating, and I can take you to the spot. We're both in apartments at 68th and Osborne, and down that street there's a school and there's a ball field back there. We're sitting on the bleachers one night, and we're talking. You know this is back when you used to go for a walk and talk, so we're walking and talking about everything, and I stopped and I said, "You live in a tree, what world do you live in? You have no connection with the real world at all." And that's what attracted me to her.
I was attracted to her for a couple of reasons. First, physically, pure raw physical. She was a skinny little size two, she was perfect, she was exactly the kind of girl I liked. And then I started talking to her, she could talk, that was kind of a bonus I thought, a little bit of an add on. So we started talking, we started this relationship, but ultimately when I got to know her, I had to have her. Listen, because I thought if I had her it would make me happy.
She was exactly the opposite of me. I was cynical, and she was this sweet girl. And I remember walking down that aisle thinking, "I got it," but not now. And literally three months into it, I came to her and I said, "This ain't working, I'm not happy. I've given this the best 90 days of my life, this isn't working." And she came back and started her side, "Hey slick, you know, you're no bargain."
But I didn't realize it then, but I realize it now, this is really important: I was asking her to do what only God can do. See that's the problem there. The problem wasn't her, because what I've learned over 33 years is that she's an amazing wife, unbelievable mother, she's just strong, just raw courage, she's just an amazing person. So the problem wasn't her, the problem was I was asking her to do something only God can do.
Counterfeit Gods
In his book, *Counterfeit Gods*, Tim Keller writes this: "A counterfeit God is anything so central or essential to your life that should you lose it, you would feel your life is not worth living. An idol has such controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and your energy, your emotional and financial resources on it without giving it a second thought. An idol is whatever you look to and say in your heart, 'If I had that then I'll feel my life has meaning, then I'll know I have value, then I'll feel significant and secure.' There are many ways to describe this kind of relationship, but perhaps the best way is worship."
So here's what he says: you're looking to a person, place or thing other than Christ to fulfill you. We all do it. Now you have to examine your life. What are the idols in your life? Are they dominating?
So are you right now sitting there thinking, "If I had a job, then I'd be happy"? Do you remember when you had one and you were miserable? "If I get that person to date me, I'll be happy. If I get that person to marry me, I'll be happy. If I get that house, if I get that car, if I get that scholarship, if I start on the team, if I star on the team." We're out there now, we're doing T-ball now, and so Tyler's got himself into this, so he asked me to help him. So we're doing T-ball. I said something the other day I never thought I'd say on a baseball diamond: "Nice throw Zoe." I never thought I'd
So I'm watching two of these dads in particular, and I'm thinking, talk about delusion. You got a short, fat, slow, white kid—he can't hit, he can't run, he can't play, he can't catch. You yelling louder doesn't make him better. You see it all around you.
Here he is, he's a jealous guy. So that guy thinks, "If my kid becomes a major league player, I'll be happy." He's a jealous guy, he's not messing around.
Here's the last thing: if you're living that way, He's opposed to the proud and gives grace to the humble. It's not that He's neutral—He's opposed. It means literally full armament and battle ready. He's ready to take you on. He's opposed to you if you're proud, if you say, "I'm going to do it my way."
The Battle Against Pride
When you're thinking, "My, my, my," when you're thinking like the world thinks, when you're looking out for number one, when you're finding your value in your job, finding your value at school, finding your value in the team—"If I can just make the cheerleading team, I'll be the captain of the cheerleading team"—it goes on and on. We do it all the time. "If my kid can just hit that ball, catch that ball, run"—whatever it is. If you're thinking that way, He's opposed.
But He gives grace to the humble. God speaking to the nation of Israel in Isaiah 66 verse 2 says this: "To this one I look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, who trembles at my word."
The Antidote: Ten Commands
So what's the antidote to this? Verses 7, 8, 9—there's ten commands tucked in there. We'll look at them. Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil, he'll flee you. Draw near to God, He'll draw near to you. Then there's the process there: cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded. And then he says—it's like they break in three sections here—be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
It all starts with this: submit to God. Line up. That's what the word means. It's a military term. It means to rank under, to line up under, to submit voluntarily to the authority and the commands and the directives of another. It's a very difficult word, and we flinch against it.
The Test of True Submission
In my teaching career I've learned that when you use the word submit—submit to God—we're all right with that, because submit to God seems right. But here's how I know we don't do it well: when we're told to submit to others, or submit to the government, or submit to a husband, we rebel. That's how I know we're not in submission to God.
I remember the first time I ever taught "wife, submit to your husband." I'm driving home and I'm thinking, "That didn't go very well." So I get home and Susan said, "How did it go?" I said, "I don't know." She said, "What are you teaching this week?" I said, "Wife submit to your husband." She said, "Really, how did it go?" I said, "Like half of them didn't seem to get it."
She said, "Really, how did you teach it?" I said, "Well I don't know, pretty well." She said, "Well what did you say?" I said, "Well wives, it's pretty plain here, wives submit to their husband. It doesn't stutter, it doesn't stammer, that's what it says." She said, "Did you say it that way?" I said, "Yeah." She goes, "The problem is you." I said, "Well, I don't think so, I think the problem is these wives don't want to hear it."
Learning About Submission
Over time, here's what I've learned: wives don't want to hear it. The minute you say "wives submit to your husband," they go, "Poor man, I have a question. What if he's stupid, ignorant, and makes bad decisions?" That's the very first question every time. Every time.
So then I'll go, "You mean he's a man?" "Yes." "Okay," and that's how that starts. So "I'll submit to him if," "I'll submit to him when." You've heard me deal with this.
Just in case there's somebody here who hasn't, the second part of that whole idea is "husbands love your wives," and you can't separate those. It means to line up under. So then the question is, "Is Susan in submission to you?" I'll always say yes, and then I'll hear, "Give me an example," and I'll say, "I really can't think of one."
The reason is, it's kind of a prevail. After this much time, we've fought about everything there is to fight about, and we've either given up or changed. So there's not many things left. The submission is more of an attitude as much as a behavior. It's an attitude that says, "I'm not going to fight."
A Great Example
Great example. Years ago, I came home. I said, "I need a check." I don't have any clue—I don't do the finances. I know the buckets, I know what we give, where we give, that kind of stuff, but I don't pay bills. She likes it. I don't know if she likes it, but she does it, I don't.
So I said, "I need a check." She said, "What for?" I said, "Well, I need to buy something." She said, "Well, use your credit card." Because we use our credit card and pay it off at the end of the month. Always have a zero balance. I said, "Well, it's a little bigger than a credit card." She said, "What is it?" I said, "Well, it's an investment opportunity." She said, "Well, what is it?" I explained it to her. She said, "I don't like that."
I said, "What do you mean you don't like it?" "It doesn't sound right." "What do you mean it doesn't sound right?" "It doesn't feel right." I said, "Okay, this isn't helping me at all. It's not a matter of your heart. This is a head decision." She said, "Okay," and wrote me the check.
About two months later, I came back. I said, "I need a check." She said, "What's it for?" I said, "It's an investment." She said, "We just made an investment." I said, "Well, this is an investment to save the last investment. This is how these investments go. Leave the investing to me. I know what I'm doing." She said, "Well, what happened to the first?" I said, "Susan, I don't want to go through all this with you. Trust me." She said, "Okay," and wrote me the check.
me a check. About six months later, we're driving through town and there's this thing. And she goes, "That reminds me of our investment. How's our investment doing?" I said, "Eh, not so good. I said, you lost all your investment." She said, "Really?" And I said, "Yep." She goes, "OK."
She didn't say, "I told you so. You moron. You idiot." She didn't have to say that. I knew when I got a statement that said zero that I was stupid and dumb. See that? I submit to God. That's what I'm doing. I submit to Him.
Resisting the Devil
And then I resist the devil. You have a real enemy - angel of light, roaring lion, subtle serpent - he's out to destroy you. You resist him. How? Pray. Read God's word. Hang with God's people. Get in a redemption community. Serve. Give. Be the person God calls you to be. That's how that's done.
It's a battle. It's warfare. That's what Ephesians 6 is. Put on the full armor of God. You're at war. This is very, very difficult. So I submit to Him and I resist the devil. And in this process, he begins to flee. I find it to be only a temporary retreat, however.
Drawing Near to God
And then He says, "Draw near to Me. And He'll draw near to you" through a process, through a prescription. It's relatively simple. Cleanse yourself. Purify yourself. How do I do that? I come to Him in repentance and faith. I confess my sin. I read His word. I meditate on His word. I love Him. And if I love Him, I obey Him. I be the man, the woman God calls me to be. I go through this process.
And then He says, in verse 9, you'll never see verse 9 on a screensaver. He says, "Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom." He's not saying there's something wrong with laughing. He's saying this: You're laughing at trivial things. You're amusing yourselves to death. You're so engaged in the flesh and fleshly desires.
The misery here is the brokenness over our sin. It's the misery over our sin. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who see God's - Isaiah 6 again, keep coming back - see God as He really is, then see myself for who I really am, and then I respond accordingly.
I draw near to Him. I begin to love Him. He draws near to me. I begin to feel His love. And now my life begins to change. "If you love Me, you'll obey My commandments." Not complicated, is it? "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. He'll exalt you." He'll exalt you at just the proper time.
Two Different Lifestyles
So He said, here are these people. They're double-minded. They're unstable. They're living earthly, natural, demonic lives. That's the mindset. The result of that is bitterness and jealousy and strife. There's discord all around them, and they are torn.
Here are somebody on the other side who, by the way, let's make sure, doesn't mean that all the discord goes away, but as far as it depends upon them, they live at peace with one another. And in the midst of the discord they find their peace, because they're not arguing with somebody over a finite thing that they think will make them happy. They're saying, "I don't find my happiness there. That's not worth going to war over. I find my happiness with God."
Don't Speak Against One Another
And He says, when you live this way, and He rounds it out in verse 11 and 12, He said, "Don't speak against one another." He said, "Don't start to treat one another this way," because when you do, you're mocking the Word of God. "Don't speak to one another this way, brethren. You're my brothers. He who speaks against a brother, judges brother, and judges the law, and the law judges him. If you judge the law, you're not a doer of the Word. You're a judge of it."
He said, "Here's this law, here's God's law. In this case, he's saying, here's what God has to say. You're not the one who is the judge and the arbiter in that, He is." And so in verse 12, He said, "There's only one lawgiver and judge, the one who's able to save and to destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor?" He's not saying we can't judge sin, we know that. But He's saying, here you are, running around in judgment and discord and hostility all around you.
Take a Look at Your Life
I'll give you the practical side of this. We started with it, it was in the middle, and it's here at the end. Take a look at your life. And the other day, I was saying to somebody, "You know, I feel, I mean, I can't even remember what the issue was, but I said, I feel like it's kind of a no-win. I feel like this group's hostile against it, and this group's hostile against the idea." And they said, "Oh, you must be right, because they're angry on both sides."
Well, I've always rejected that, because that overlooks the possibility that I'm a jerk, and that everybody's mad at me because it's me in that situation. So, if you're in the middle of this, and there's discord all around you, I'm almost positive you're the problem. And that would be pride and selfishness, bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
And the only way, because you'll never do it on your own, you will act earthly, natural, and demonic, because that's exactly who we are. But all of a sudden, we have a life-changing experience. It's called Jesus. He's the one. He's the one that can provide for you what you really want.
What Do You Really Want?
What do you want in this world more than anything else? Well, to love and to be loved, to be happy, to find peace. Oh, here you go, the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace. How would I like to be able to act with my wife, with my kids, with my employees, with my employer, with the people around me? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness. I can't do it. Oh, yeah, self-control. That comes from the spirit.
It comes from knowing Christ. It's coming from that encounter with the living God. It's what we celebrate when we get to this point of our service every week. So if you're in the conference center, Tim will be there to close that time there of worship and praise. If you're here in the chapel, Tim's
Father, thank you for Your love and grace and mercy for us. There is a battle. We want what we want when we want it. We want it our way. God, our vocabulary in our life is filled with me, my, I.
God, change our hearts and our minds. Draw us to Yourself. God, help us submit to You. Resist the devil. Help us draw near to You. You'll draw near to us. God, let us be broken and sorrowful over our sin so we can rejoice and be filled with Your Spirit.
God, we pray You would do these things, and we ask them in Christ's name, amen.