Faith Through a Humble Heart

I hate conflict, don't you? I know some people who go to great lengths to avoid conflict, and maybe you're one of those people. But James chapter 4, which is our lesson today, does not allow us to avoid conflict because in the very first verses we have words like quarrels, fights, war, murder, nothing that we want to study, but yet here we are. Sometimes as we study James, I get the impression from him that his head is on a swivel and he's making observations about what he sees in the body of Christ. And he made observations about some people that seemed to prefer the company of the wealthy over the poor, and they were showing favoritism just like a merchant would do. And he made observations that there were some people that wanted that place of influence. They wanted to be teachers, whether or not they were called gifted or mature. And he observed that people were having problems with their tongue and with their words. And now he observes that some people are in conflict with one another, even to the point of quarreling or fighting. And rather than saying, now stop it, you need to stop this quarreling, which would only be treating the symptoms, he goes right to the source of the conflict in our lesson. Just like he went right to the source last week when we talked about where do our words come from out of the abundance of our heart. And so the source is that conflict comes from sin, and sin is born from selfishness. And when selfishness reigns in our hearts, we can expect conflict. So let's get started. James 4 verse 1,

And by the way, murder here is a hyperbole for hatred in the same way that Jesus used it as a hyperbole in the Sermon on the Mount. I really don't think that they were killing one another physically, but yet the murder in our hearts.

So we better pray. Father in heaven, we ask that you would lead and guide each one of our hearts this morning into the way that you would want us to hear and think. Lord, I pray for my words that they would represent your heart, Lord God. And we ask for your spirit to be here with us to help us to learn from the word of truth in Jesus' name, amen. So James tells us that the source of our conflict is the passions that are at war within us, and he uses words like desire and covet to help explain those passions. When he says you desire and you don't have, you covet and you can't obtain, and so that's our human condition. Our passions are the problem. Our passions rule the day. So we better find out what this word passion means here. It is the Greek word hedone. It means our desires or pleasures. It basically means we want what we want. That's our pleasures. It's the source of the English word that we have, hedonism, I don't know if that's familiar to you, but it's the word, a dictionary definition says living to get as much pleasure out of life as possible with the least pain and difficulty to enjoy yourself. That kind of sounds like something all of us want, right? So that's what our passions are, living the way we want. And so we might say that is the war within. The war with our passions is our biggest problem in life, even though we don't see it as our biggest problem. You probably didn't walk in here this morning saying my biggest problem in life is my passions. You know, for one thing in our culture, we use the word passion in a much more romantic oriented direction than this. And so that's why it's good that we should define it. But this letter was written to people who belong to God, right? People like you and me. We've already embraced the word of truth. We have asked Jesus to forgive our sins. He's living within us. The Holy Spirit is living in us. And so we should look at this and say, well, we don't have a war within because we've asked Jesus to live in our hearts. Jesus makes everything better. So there's no war here. Well, Jesus does make things better for us for eternity, but we still have a war within us in the flesh. Why do we? Because we inherited our sinful nature from our relatives, Adam and Eve. And that sinful nature, as Warren Wearsby, I love how he says, he says, it is never reformed nor removed. It remains with us all the days we live in the flesh. And so it is natural that we do, even as believers, have a war within because, well, I'm just going to show you what Paul said in Galatians 5, 17. The apostle Paul says,

And so James asked, what causes these relational conflicts? What causes the fights? Is it because one of you wants to take a camping trip and the other wants a tropical vacation? Is it because one is a saver and one is a spender? Or is it because you want the temperature at 74 and the girl in the desk next to you wants it at 66? That's not the source of the conflict. Those are symptoms of the conflict. The source of our conflict is our passions. So is it normal? Is it normal for us to be in conflict? Well, I think it's common, but I don't think we want it to be normal. I think we want a different kind of a normal. And that's what this lesson is about, finding a way to reduce or even end that war within us. So we have a word in our vocabulary that's the opposite of war. It's an antonym for war. If I would say, we don't want war, we want peace. Exactly. Okay, it's the opposite. James is a master at contrasts, at opposites. And you know that before we got into this talk about conflict, that's exactly what he was talking about. I want you to go back to chapter three, the very last sentence, James 3, 18, and I want to read that in connection with this war within.

Peace with whom? That's the point of this chapter. And I want us to get some insights from this chapter for making peace, planting in peace to reap that harvest of righteousness. This whole study is called Real Faith for Daily Life. So here's what I want us to look for. I want us to look for applications for daily life to make peace with God inside. We've made peace with him for eternity. What about daily? What about today? This is what we're going to look for, okay? So I've identified three insights. I'm going to go ahead and list them here for you. Insight number one, don't be friends with the world. Don't be friends with the world. And James begins to talk about that in verse four, as he says,

So here's our condition, girls, as we have entered into a relationship with God. We've gotten saved. We are in a relationship. His spirit is within us. As the young people would say, we have a committed, exclusive relationship, okay? But it's true, or it should be true of us, an exclusive relationship. And as this starts off saying you adulterous people, when we use the word adulterous or adultery, that may be very unsettling for us. It might be a really red button word, a word that we don't want to think about or talk about. But it seems choice here, and it does make good sense in the context of what he's talking about. It helps us understand that as we have chosen to be partners with God, if we want peace in that relationship, then we shouldn't pursue additional relationships on the side. We should be exclusive. We should be committed. As it says, God yearns jealously over the spirit he has placed within us. And so he'll push the envelope, he'll press the issue because he's jealous for us. He hovers over us jealously and wants that exclusive commitment. relationship. So what might it look like for us on a daily basis to be entertaining an additional relationship with the world? Some simple things that you would probably come up with too. What about reading, listening to, watching things that promote the values of the world when we know that they're completely in conflict with the values of the Holy Spirit within? And so that creates conflict doesn't it? What about friendships with people who we also know express the interests of the world and not the interests? And we know down deep there really are enemies with God. They are separated from God at this point in their life. What about indulging in excessive desires for more and for better and devoting our time to those pursuits when we know that the Lord has a plan for our time and the time to invest in what he wants us to invest in? So we can be at peace with God when we are careful to nurture and to protect that exclusive committed relationship with him and not make friends with the world. Okay insight number two. James tells us that we should cultivate a humble heart. Here's his words verse 6b,

Now we also have a word in our vocabulary that's the opposite of humble. If I say he's not very humble he's arrogant is a great one. He's proud. Proud is the verse that or the word that's in this sentence and pride is what comes naturally to us. That is what comes naturally but we can make a choice to humble ourselves and we need to make a choice to humble ourselves. Pride says my will be done and humility says thy will be done. It's a difference between me and thee is the difference. In verse 10 James also says

I want you to take that phrase and just tuck it aside for just a minute we'll come back to that. Humble yourselves and he will exalt you. So this chapter in our lesson is titled faith through a humble heart and I think a hallmark of a humble heart is the girl who truly believes that God knows better than she does and that might sound a little bit silly like doesn't everybody believe that? No I don't believe that every day of my life. Sometimes my actions show that I think I know the better way but a humble heart believes that God really does know best in this situation. God knows better his ways are right. As we've been studying James I've come to realize that James and Peter have said many similar things in their letters as they wrote them and so I want to just read to you what Peter said about this. First Peter 5 5

and again that same thing he may exalt you. We're setting that on the side for just a minute. So the summary is we can be at peace with God within when we choose to humble ourselves before the Lord. It's the daily practical advice for not being in conflict inside. How about the third insight? The third insight is this be smart about the devil. Be smart about the devil. Here's the words that James uses verse 7b

Peter told us that we were to be sober minded and watchful in his letter and he said it this way he says your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone that he can devour. So the truth for daily peace is to truly believe we do have an enemy the devil who is prowling around trying to tempt us. Now in chapter 1 we read yes it's true that we are tempted by our own evil desires that is true but it's also true that we are tempted by the devil and so we need to be smart rather than deceived that there is an external source that is speaking things to us that are gonna keep that conflict going. I was thinking to myself how does the how does the devil tempt us? Well thousands of ways there's no you know you can't make a list of this but I did one thing came to mind that I wanted to talk about and one of the ways I believe that the devil comes and tempts us is to try to get us to legitimize our emotions and tell us that our emotional responses that we're having right now have a foundation they're legitimate you have a right to be angry you have a right to be bitter you have a right to hold on to that hurt because look at what people have done to you and they they have some people you know what we've all had someone who was supposed to protect us supposed to love us legitimately hurt us and so the devil comes to tempt us that we should hold that he's prowling around looking for a woman to find and say hold on to that bitterness because if she holds on to the bitterness she's in chains and now he's able to destroy and so there are external voices that come from our enemy that tempt us into things that are going to keep that conflict inside of us brewing we can be at peace with God when we learn to say no to the temptations of the devil so those three insights there they represent that axis of evil that we read about in the Bible that is the world the flesh and the devil right don't be friends with the world he talked about the pridefulness of the flesh and don't be ignorant of the devil and those three enemies keep our spirit in conflict with the Spirit of God if we let them and the result is when we're in conflict inside then we're in conflict outside with people around us too what causes fights and quarrels among you is it not your passions inside the things that you desire okay so we don't want to just treat the symptoms and say you know what I've been arguing too much I just need to stop it I need some self-control yes maybe you do need self-control but again we need to go to the source last week we went to the source with our words out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks this week the source is those who make peace the source of ending those conflicts is being at peace inside peace with God on a daily basis James goes on and gives us more practical insights we're gonna start in verse 7

so in addition to those three insights I want to add these four action verbs that we just read about here I'll go ahead and Adam on our slide and they are submit drawn near cleanse and mourn and so let's see how these come into play on a daily basis in a practical way to help us and the conflict inside the first one is submit and you know what this starts in our head this starts with our choice it is an intention to submit it's this Greek word who potasso we studied this when we went through first Peter it means to rank under in this case it's our choice to rank under God to submit to him to be subject to him to obey to let the Spirit of God be the boss of me rather than letting my desires be the boss of me easier said than done but it is a conscious willful choice to be under the command of God and it starts in the head but the second action verb is drawn near and to me this is much more of a heart issue it's much more tender drawn near to God it God invites us to draw near to him to be close to him again that illusion to me of a marriage relationship you draw near to the one that you are committed to the one that you love and we know that God is a holy God and that the path for us to draw near is probably connected to this next action verb which is cleanse God by his mercy will draw near to us when we deal with our sin that created the distance in the first place so being cleansed is very important to realize that drawing near James writes in this picture he has wash your hands purify your hearts I love that visual of washing your hands of course to the Jewish reader that would have been very easy to take into their mind into a picture all the sacrifices that they had seen where the first you approach the bronze basin and there is washing that happens before this sacrifice for sin is taken close to where the Spirit of God is and that's a good illustration for us this Cleansing and asking for forgiveness. Do we spiritually cleanse ourselves very often? I wonder, I wondered to myself if we if I spiritually cleanse myself as often as I wash my hair Do I wash my sins as often as I wash my hair? Something to think about and I want to be careful here because I know I've talked with enough women that I know that there's a full spectrum of women. Some women just feel like every few moments like they need to be cleansed. They have done something against the Lord and so they're over here on the spectrum But there's other women that are all the way over here on the spectrum. It's like sin? Cleansing? I don't know. Do I need that? You know, it's just not on our mind and you are the ones that we're talking to here You are the ones James is talking to here. Okay, so I want to be tender with those that are over here We're not talking to you right now. That's a different Bible study. Okay? It's the ones over here that wash their hair more often than they wash their heart Okay, that's who he's talking to because look what he says He says be wretched and mourn and weep That is our next action verb to mourn. Many people treat sin too lightly and we might even make light of it or giggle over it, but James says mourn and take it seriously Our disobedience and sin really needs to be repented of and truly brought before the Lord for the cleansing So that we can draw near to him and he will draw near to us And then one of the beautiful Byproducts when we apply these things to our life is we end up being the kind of woman that's able to Let it go and I won't break into song But just let it go. She doesn't feel like she needs to confront or correct every person around her Look at how James says it in verse 11

All right now you've maybe heard the analogy of if A person is carrying a cup filled with a liquid or something and you hit a bump in the road Whatever is in your cup is going to be what spills out if you're holding a cup of coffee It will be coffee that will spill out if you're holding a glass of orange juice It will be orange juice that spills out as you're hitting this bump in the road And so the same thing is true of our hearts if we our heart is filled with kindness And we hit a bump in the road it is kindness that will spill out if our heart has been submitted and humbled before the Lord it is Humility that will spill out and Humility believes that God knows best God will take care of it. I don't need to correct everyone around me. I read this week. I was reading through numbers, and I found just the fabulous illustration for this so I want to tell it to you as the community of Israel is at the base of Mount Sinai and has been for a while and Now the tabernacle has been made and all the law has been given and they take off for the first time three days journey Which is a huge Deal to do to take all those people even three days through the wilderness is a big deal I'm sure there was some bumps in the road and numbers chapter 12 begins by giving us insight Into what was inside of Aaron's heart and Miriam's heart and Moses's heart during that time I want to read it to you Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married They said has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses has he not spoken through us also and the Lord heard it And then it goes on to say now the man Moses was meek Humble he had a heart filled with humility More than all people who are on the face of the earth and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam come out you three come to the tent of meeting and The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent And he said and I imagine him here looking at Aaron and Miriam when he says this he says hear my words There's a prophet if there's a prophet among you I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision I speak with him in a dream Not so with my servant Moses. He's faithful in all my house with him I speak mouth to mouth. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Oh man did they get told and God takes off and Miriam is white as leprosy and Moses ends up interceding for her But God had confronted them the one thing that you were holding on the side is humble yourselves before the Lord and at the proper Time he will exalt you that is exactly how he dealt with Moses there Moses his heart was filled with humility and so when he hit this bump in the road what spilled out just humility He just sat and let God take care of it and God did take care of it God. You know Told these these two what was what but we also see in here what Aaron and Miriam had allowed to be Filling in their heart this I don't know what she would call it to where they had to confront him and they had to complain about him and The point is that a heart of humility doesn't spill over with criticism and correction When it hits a bump in the road it spills over with mercy and it entrusts people to the one true God Now back to this back to James here before we twist this These few verses into some kind of like tolerance of sin You know I want to point out that speaking evil against one another that phrase is not the same as speaking the truth and love And we are called to speak the truth and love They're two completely different things so when we're talking about don't judge other people we have to remember this is saying Don't speak evil against one another Galatians 6 1 tells us

so there is a big difference here in this But I think that Moses was such a great example of that speaking evil against one another because it wasn't a sin issue It wasn't a transgression. He married a Cushite wife. It was a peripheral issue. It was their opinion About what he should or shouldn't be doing plus there was an underlying Jealousy that God was using Moses Maybe in a way that they and not using him, but that's the point a humble heart lets go of peripheral things When we humble ourselves before the Lord Let's finish up verse 13 says

and that's how our chapter ends and with that section We do not want to come away with the idea Planners are bad and spur-of-the-moment people are good. That is not the point of what is being said here I am a planner and so I do not want to be thrown into the bad category The point is that we all tend to have a heart of pride that Desperately yearns to direct the course of our own life so that things happen the way we want it and when we want it and we want to approach life with strength and boldness and Confidence and intelligence and fierceness and all those things you see on motivational posters, right? And hopefully they will equal success. That is what's in our hearts and there's nothing Fundamentally wrong with those traits They're not wrong as long as they are submitted to the Lord if the Lord Wills that is the key in this But we all know that the way those things come Crashing over us from the voice of the world is not with that in tow if the Lord wills it is much more Empowering the pride in us and so we have to be careful of that The irony that James is trying to point out is that he goes you guys your life is like a mist It just appears in the scope of eternity. You're you appear and then you disappear We are so vulnerable We are so helpless as people. We need the Lord's direction. And with the Lord's direction, we can become those things, those traits. We can become, you know, successful. And maybe that's the story of Joshua as we look at that, but as the Lord wills. Okay, so we wrap up this section with the warning that a prideful approach to life that lays out the whens, the wheres, and the whys is not what God has called us to. So what has He called us to? I want to say that God has called His children to peace. He's called us to peace with Him. And that eases the conflict inside us as we submit ourselves to Him. It eases the conflict on the outside as we gain a humble heart, as we make a choice to humble our heart before Him. It's really very simple, but it is not easy. And that's why we have a lifetime to apply James chapter 4 to our lives. Lord, I thank You that You point us the way to have peace with You. Lord, I know that most of us in this room have made peace with You for eternity. But Lord, every one of us in this room needs to make choices to be at peace with You for today and peace with You for tomorrow. And Lord, we feel that conflict. We know what that's like when we are engaged in something that wars against the Spirit of God within us. So Lord, I pray that everyone here would be able to take some message to heart and truly apply it on an ongoing basis for us to have achieved that peace with You so that we can plant in peace and receive that harvest of righteousness. Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.