James 4:1

From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your own lusts that war in your members? You lust and you have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain... Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:1–4)

Where do our conflicts really come from, and how does a jealous God respond to a wandering heart?

The Word That Discerns the Heart

In Hebrews 4 we read that the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. As we've gone through the book of James over these last several weeks, we've come to some very challenging passages from James, the half-brother of the Lord and one of the heads of the church in Jerusalem. I've received more feedback in these five weeks than in any other teaching I've done, and wrestling with these passages is not a bad thing.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be mature, thoroughly equipped for every good work. In Ephesians 2:10 we read that God has prepared good works before the foundation of the world that we would walk in them. We don't study the Scriptures merely to be entertained by them; we study God's word to be transformed and thoroughly equipped.

"He Started It!" — Where Wars Come From

James asks a question that has been asked for many years: where do wars and fightings come from among you? Many of you have walked into a room and found two small children fighting, and when you break it up, at least one—probably both—will point at the other and say, "He started it!" When I did junior high ministry here, I'd call out a kid's name just to get his attention, and he'd spin around and say, "I didn't do it! It wasn't me!" From a very young age we have a hard time taking responsibility for our actions.

Pondering this question, I went to that great wonder of modern society and typed "Why is there war?" into Google. Dozens of answers came up. One said war has always been here to settle disputes and always will be. Another said, "Because some people only understand violence; it's all they've ever known"—which is just blaming the other guy and assuming fighting is a learned trait. Another said violence is simply part of nature. Another said, "I don't know why there's war; we can make peace by communication, not killing." But not a single one of those answers consulted the Scriptures to consider what God has to say.

The Root Is in Our Own Hearts

James says, "Come they not hence even of your own lusts that war within your members?" Disputes, battles, strife—they are rooted in the evil desires within our flesh. We don't like to admit that. We blame our upbringing, our surroundings, the fact that we don't have what the other guy has. But James connects this directly to James 3:14–16: where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. We try to spiritualize our anger and quarrels, but we do better simply to confess it to the Lord as sin.

Jesus said in Matthew 15:19 that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies. Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things—who can know it? Murder begins first as an intense desire within the murderer. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows that adultery begins in the heart and murder begins in the heart. The Greek word translated "fight" here is broad—it covers hand-to-hand combat, but also the war of words: the strifes, quarrels, and wranglings that all start in your heart and mine.

You Have Not Because You Ask Not

James continues, "You lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, you fight and war yet you have not because you ask not." What is his answer to strife among the saints? If you have a desire, you ought to ask. James 1:5 says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened."

Some think it's carnal to bring our requests to the Lord, but the Scriptures repeatedly tell us to ask. Even the wicked king Ahaz feigned spirituality in Isaiah 7, saying, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord"—right after God had told him, "Ask Me and I will give you a sign." We often miss that God, as a good Father, desires to give us what we need and even what we desire when those things are in accordance with His will. In John 16:24 Jesus said, "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." And in Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." We often go without because we are unwilling or anxious to ask.

Asking Amiss

You may say, "I've asked God and He hasn't given." Notice verse 3: "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts." The word "amiss" means to ask improperly, with a wrong motive—elsewhere the word is translated sick or diseased. It pictures someone asking from a diseased heart, wanting only to spend it on sinful pleasures.

The word "consume" is the same word used of the prodigal son in Luke 15, who said, "Father, give me the portion that falls to me," then wasted his substance on riotous living. Sometimes our attitude toward God is exactly that: "Father, give me what I want," with only a desire to squander it on the flesh. But the prodigal's father couldn't read his son's heart—our Father in heaven knows our motives. He is not a genie in a bottle, and we don't come to Him like an In-N-Out drive-through.

Friendship with the World Is Adultery

That self-seeking heart is brought to focus in verse 4 with heavy words: "You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James exposes the wickedness within and calls it what it is—adultery. Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 that whoever looks on a woman to lust has committed adultery with her already in his heart. We glass over our desires—"I was just fantasizing, just daydreaming"—but James says spiritual adultery is the root of the physical act.

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel departed from the God who called them and went after the idols of the world, and God called it playing the harlot. The word "friendship" here is the Greek phileia, from phileo, brotherly love. As John says in 1 John 2:15, "Love not the world; if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." If we are friendly with the things of this world, we break that alliance with God and commit spiritual harlotry.

When we hear "enemy of God," we picture someone in blatant sin out carousing. Sure, that person is an enemy of God—but no more and no less than the secret adulterer who comes to church every week, puts money in the plate, sings the songs, hears the message, yet in their heart seeks the world all week long. Paul told the Romans (8:7) that the carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.

God Is Jealous For You, Not Of You

James asks in verse 5, "Do you think the scripture says in vain, the spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?" First, God does not speak empty words. Some people speak only to hear themselves; God speaks deliberately, and nothing in His word is without purpose.

That great sage of our age, the North American prophet Oprah Winfrey, said about a year and a half ago that she grew up in a Baptist church and in her late twenties was sitting under a charismatic minister preaching about how great and omnipresent God is. Then he said, "The Lord thy God is a jealous God," and something struck her. She thought, "God is jealous of me? Something about that didn't feel right in my spirit." And you know what—Oprah was right. If God were jealous of us, that would be wrong. If God in heaven were saying, "Look at Oprah's house in Santa Barbara, I wish I had that," there would be something wrong with God. But Oprah misinterpreted the text. It does not say God is jealous of us.

Paul echoes the right meaning in 2 Corinthians: "I am jealous over you with godly jealousy." The word "lust" in verse 5 is different from the word in verse 2. In verse 2 it means to covet with wicked passion; in verse 5, describing God's desire for us, it means to long for, to pursue with love. God lovingly longs for our affection and devotion. If you found out your spouse was in an adulterous relationship, your heart would break—not with jealousy of the other person, but with jealousy for your spouse, desiring their affection. Our problem is that we apply our own sinful jealousy, which overflows into wrath and malice, onto God. But God is not like us.

He Gives More Grace

How does God react to our spiritual adultery? Verse 6: "But He giveth more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble." Romans 5:20 says where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. God's way of dealing with our adultery is not to fly off the handle and destroy things—and aren't you thankful, because His destroying would be far more thorough than ours? His heart is grieved, as we see again and again in the Old Testament, yet He woos us back by super-abounding grace.

You may say that's foolish—give a sinner grace and he'll only dive deeper into sin. If that's your thought, read the book of Hosea this week and see how God counseled Hosea to deal with his adulterous wife. It is a powerful picture of how our God deals with us. But understand: God also resists the proud. The word "resist" literally means to arrange in battle against. The proud person who says, "I'll do whatever I want," arranges himself in battle array against God—and that is never a good idea. Pharaoh proudly set himself against God and was destroyed. On the Damascus road, God said to Saul, "It is hard for you to kick against the goads." God sets Himself against the proud, but He pours grace on the humble.

Submit, Resist, Draw Near

So what should be our response? Verse 7: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up."

The word "submit" is the same root as "resist" in verse 6, with a different prefix—it means to arrange oneself under, to subordinate, to surrender, to lay down your arms. When you see God's awesome power and how He withstands the proud, what else can you do? Lay down your arms and say, "I surrender." Then "resist the devil"—a different word, meaning to stand and oppose. Stand against the wiles of the devil in the armor of God, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, and he will flee, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" is both an invitation and a promise. If today you say God isn't drawing near to you, it's not a sign that He refuses—it's a sign that you have not done what the Scripture said in submitting to Him. And as you draw near, you will find what Isaiah found in chapter 6: he saw the Lord high and lifted up, the seraphim crying "Holy, holy, holy," and he said, "Woe is me, for I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips." When you draw near to God, you see your sin more clearly than ever before, and you mourn over it.

The Progression of the Blessed

This matches the progression of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. "Blessed are the poor in spirit"—the one who recognizes his bankruptcy, that he has nothing, enters the kingdom. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"—as you draw near, you mourn over your sin and the Holy Spirit comforts you. "Blessed are the meek"—a recognition before God that I am nothing. And then, "Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled," and God alone can fill that need. So James says: draw near, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, be afflicted, mourn and weep.

Do Not Speak Evil of One Another

Verse 11: "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother... judgeth the law... There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" Our drawing near to God in humble submission must affect how we treat others. When we slander and gossip, we become accusers of the brethren, mirroring Satan more than God. We can draw near with our lips so that everyone thinks how spiritual we are, and yet tear others down—a show of religion that exposes us as children of the devil, like the Pharisees in John 8.

The rabbis had a saying: no one can speak evil of his brother without denying God. I'll confess I do this too—judging how someone looks, talks, dresses, lives. But there is no vacancy on the judgment seat of Christ. There is one job of Judge, and it belongs to God. When you speak evil of your brother concerning something the law forbids, you judge that the law doesn't apply to you, that it's unworthy of your keeping—so you become not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

Submitting Your Plans and Your Riches

Verse 13: "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour... For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." Humble dependence on God must extend to our schedules and plans. We often say, "I'll follow You as Lord, but this part of my life You can't touch." The Proverbs show that making plans is good, but we are to yield ourselves to God in making them and then place the plans into His hands.

In chapter 5 James narrows it down: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." On the day of judgment, your gold and silver will be corrupted and their rust will be a witness against you. He confronts those who defrauded their laborers—their cries have entered the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. The rich man heaped up treasure and lived in pleasure and wantonness, yet it was not enough, and he did not plan for the day of Christ.

Be Patient and Pray

Then James turns to those under that condemnation and persecution: "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Like the farmer who waits patiently for the precious fruit and the early and latter rain, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draws near. Grudge not one against another; behold, the Judge stands before the door. Remember the prophets as an example of suffering and patience, and remember the patience of Job—for the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. And above all, let your yes be yes and your no be no; be a man and a woman of your word.

"Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray." Don't tear down another—call out to God, the Judge. "Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." If you need prayer, call the church and the elders, and we will come and pray for you. Yet not everyone prayed for is healed, and I believe this passage points beyond physical healing—"save the sick" speaks of salvation, and "raise him up" of the resurrection. It points us back to patience in trial and to the end God has in store.

Confession, the Prayer of the Righteous, and Restoring the Wanderer

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." There is healing in confession, and sometimes sin is attached to sickness—though not always. We must not be like Job's friends, telling a man his boils came from sin; Job suffered because he was righteous. God is not a tit-for-tat, quid pro quo God. Sometimes the righteous suffer, and in their suffering God is glorified.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." You may say, "But I'm not righteous"—and Paul agrees, "there is none righteous, no, not one." Yet in Christ we are clothed with His righteousness, so we can pray from a position of right standing. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not for three and a half years; he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain. So ask, seek, and knock.

Finally: "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." God is not willing that any should perish. Some seem to be followers, then go out from us—living for this world, planning to buy and sell and get gain, unconcerned about God. Whether you say they were never truly saved or that they lost their salvation, the message is identical: repent. Why argue with your neighbor about which view is right when the wanderer still needs to turn back?

Watchmen Called to Repentance

We are safe as we are in Christ—just as the manslayer was safe in the city of refuge, and Rahab was safe in the house with the scarlet cord. But there is no promise of safety if we depart from Christ; that is why Jesus said, "Abide in Me." In Ezekiel 3 and 33, God set the prophet as a watchman on the wall to call Israel back to repentance. Every Old Testament prophet did the same, and God has called you and me to be, in a sense, prophets to this nation, calling people back—because there is one Judge, appointed to every man a day to die and then the judgment.

He is an awesome and powerful God, and He is jealous for us, not of us, desiring our affection and our devotion—but against the proud He will set Himself. This is a heavy book, the book of James, but so important for the day in which we live, because we are living in similar times to James.

Closing Prayer

God, Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, and it is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to cut deep and discern between the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. Lord, it exposes wrong attitudes and wrong actions, but it also shows us how to walk and follow after You, how to have a relationship with You. We thank You, Father, that in Christ we have fellowship with You today. We thank You that You have given us grace—super-abounding grace, where sin abounded grace did all the more abound. Thank You for Your grace, and would You empower us, as we go from here today, to be those who speak grace seasoned with salt to a world that is in desperate need of seasoning. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.