Worldliness in Times of Trials

This was the message I preached in our Church yesterday. James 4:1-10 gives us 4 points; out them I was only able to expound 2 points. May God give you grace as you go through it.

Some things that came in my mind right while I was preaching are unfortunately not mentioned in this message. It’s my prayer that Jesus would be exalted above all things.

Thanks for your prayers while I was preaching.

Introduction:

Monkey trappers in North Africa have a clever method of catching their prey. A number of gourds are filled with nuts and firmly fastened to a branch of a tree.  Each has a hole just large enough for the unwary monkey to stick his forepaw into it. When the hungry animal discovers this, he quickly grasps a handful of nuts, but the hole is too small for him to withdraw his clenched fist.  And he doesn't have enough sense to open up his hand and let go in order to escape, so he is easily taken captive.

This is a picture of many Christians. The devil with his crafty devices tries to trap them.  He appeals to the appetites of the flesh which can lead to their spiritual downfall.  As long as they hold on to worldly bait, they cannot escape from Satan's trap.  But he keeps on urging, "Don't let go! Enjoy the pleasure of your sin just a little bit longer!"  So, listening to the tempter's alluring voice, they continue in their evil way. Now we all have hunger and it’s not bad to have hunger. But very frequently the way we satisfy our hunger is wrong. So I want to ask you before we go any further. Are you caught up in sinful practices that are destroying your testimony and preventing you from growing in God’s grace? Stop and think about it.  Get out of Satan's trap now while you can.

This is exactly what concerned James for the worldliness of the people whom he was writing.

So, here is the title of the sermon this morning.

“Worldliness in Times of Trials.”

1.      The Origin of Worldliness: vs. 1

2.      The Description of Worldliness: vs. 2-4

1.      The Origin of Worldliness: vs. 1

In chapter 4 James begins a new topic. And the topic is worldliness; though it’s a new topic it’s closely linked with chapter 3. And similar is the case with every chapter James begins; they are closely linked with one another.

Because at the end of chapter 3 James dealt with 2 types of wisdoms. The worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. And chapter 4 is closely linked with chapter 3 because worldliness comes from the worldly wisdom.

Notice vs. 1, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you?”

Notice how James begins the 4^th chapter. He begins it by a question. “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you...?” When we look at this verse we can observe that there were quarrels and fights among the Christian believers. It seems very clear that they were fighting and quarreling with one another. Perhaps, at the same time some of them were wondering about the reason why are there is so much of quarreling or fighting? And through this statement James is opening their eyes to the reason why there is fighting against one another? Definitely the reason was not outwards it was right in front of them or more simply it was within them. And that’s what James opens his readers’ eyes in the next part of the verse.

Notice the next part of the verse James says, “…is it not this that your passions are at war within you?” by this statement James makes it clear that the origin of their fighting against one another was their heart. And James points out a particular aspect of their heart. James said the same thing in chapter 3:14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” Therefore we can conclude that it is in the heart the passions and born. It is not something that comes in from outside but from inside out. And that is what James is pointing out.

The word ‘passions’ in many other translations is called as lusts. The Greek word for lusts is ‘hedone.’ From this word you get the English word ‘hedonism’.  Hedonism means, a belief that, pleasure is the most important thing in life. And hedonist is a person who believes that pleasure is the most important thing in life.

But here we are concerned about the word ‘hedone.’ And the word ‘hedone’ has got many meanings. Such as, sensual delight, desire, lust, pleasure. Since the word ‘hedone’ means many different things; it tells us that the members in the Church were battling among themselves to fulfill their lustful desires. It’s clear that they were fighting against one another for not being able to fulfill their desires.

That’s why they were having a lot of things as their adversity. In 3:14-16 James mentioned about the worldly wisdom, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

Through these verses we can understand that James makes the heart of a man the origin of all the evil. This is exactly what our Lord said when He was on this earth. Matthew 15:18-19, “But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.”

Application:

From all of this we can understand that the problem was not outside of James’ readers. It was inside of them; it was within their hearts. Everything boils down to obedience. These people were not obedient to God even though they were going through suffering. We all have seen people who live in gross sin and then they wonder about the problems that are there in their lives. They say, “Why is there so much of trouble in my life?” the answer is right in their heart. They are not obedience to God’s word. Perhaps you might have heard this story before. Many years back Ps. Gareth was discipling a man. This boy was in an affair with a Muslim girl. She was not a believer but still this boy wanted to marry her. Ps. Gareth told him the dangers of this marriage. But this boy was on cloud nine. He insisted to get married with her and finally he married her. Many months went by, his wife gave birth to a boy. And since she has given birth to this boy she has not returned to his home. He goes on and off her house but of no use, she is not willing to come to his house. Many years back he attended our church for sometimes. But all his time in our Church we tried to teach him discipleship but he was not willing to obey God’s word. He would come to Church one Sunday, particularly on the Communion Sunday and the rest of the 4 Sundays he would vanish. On the other hand he would keep wondering why are problems in his life? The problems were in his life because he would not obey God’s Word. There will always be problems in your lives if you do not obey God’s Word. Because, many are the sorrows of the wicked.

The point I want to make here is: perhaps you might be living in utter disobedience to God’s word and may be wondering about problems in your lives. Examine your life: Am I living in obedience to God’s Word? The only remedy to this malady is to turn to Christ and repent of your disobedience and ask for forgiveness of your disobedience and turn from disobedience and obey God’s Word.

2.      The Description of Worldliness: vs. 2-4

Notice vs. 2-4, “You desire 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 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 fried with the world is enmity with God” therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

In these verses James describes various attitudes of the similar people. He says, they desired and they did not have therefore they murdered. They coveted and could not obtain so they fought and quarreled. They did not have because they did not ask. Because they asked in a wrong way; in order to spend on their passions. What comes out of these verses is that these people who called themselves believers were actually putting their eyes on the things of the world to satisfy them. They looked at the things of the world to satisfy their lives. It is obvious that they were running after the things of the world to satisfy their deepest longings.

E.g. One day Timi was asking me to get an I-Pad for him. I asked him, “Why do you need it? He said he needs it because somebody else has it. I had to sit with him and tell him that first of all you are too small to have those things. And secondly and importantly you should not look at these things for your satisfaction. You don’t need those things to satisfy you. Only Jesus can satisfy you.

And it’s so true that these people were no more looking at Jesus for their ultimate satisfaction. They were running after the things of the world.

This is exactly what James is saying here. In vs. 2 he says, “You desire and do not have, so you murder…” this simply means that his readers desired to have things that did not belong to them. And in order to get those things they murdered.

The last part of vs. 2  and the full of vs. 3 are to be treated one verse. In this James says, “…You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

In these verses we find that James’ readers were praying for things but they did not receive what they were asking for. And the reason is they were not praying in a right attitude. They were asking God for things that would satisfy their greed not their need.

And finally, in vs. 4 James calls these people as: Adulterous. What he also calls them is  as: the enemy of God.

The word Adulterous is frequently used in the Bible to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness as a nation. And it is used to describe individual people who forsake God and are faithless towards God.

E.g. Hosea 3:1, “Yahweh said to me, "Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins."  

Isaiah, 57:3, “But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute.”

The reason why James calls his readers as adulterous is because they were showing that kind of a lifestyle.

James describes his readers in two ways. A. Adulterous people. B. Enemy of God.

Application:

As I draw this point to a close. I must say that we will be very quick to judge these people. But we need to look at ourselves first. Somebody has rightly said that if you point one finger at others 3 are pointing towards you. My question to you is: what satisfies you the most? Do the things of the world satisfy you or the things of God satisfy you most?

A story is told about how an Eskimo kills the wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin.

"First the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze.  Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood."

"Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait he licks it, tasting the fresh, frozen blood.  He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare.  Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the Arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf doesn't notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his tongue nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more -- until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!"