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Faith in Action: The Tension Within 0:02 Welcome to the men's global live stream and the fourth installment in our series, James for every man where God is building in us as his sons of faith that works.0:14 And we've been looking at the relationship between what it is that we say we're about and what it is that our life proves we're about. Remember for the follower of Jesus, it's never faith or works.0:26 It isn't that our our faith is created by our works, it's it's revealed by our works. The truth that our lives will put on display what it is that we really believe. And0:38 this week, James is gonna continue his encouragements and his challenges, for us. So let's jump right in. There was a study which was, an experiment really. It was conducted in0:50 the early seventies by a psych professor at Stanford University and the basic test was this. A kid was sat down in a room and presented with a choice. See, a1:02 single marshmallow was set down in front of them and they could either have it right then. They could eat the marshmallow or they could wait for a better treat. So they they ran this study with through1:14 a lot of children but what was interesting is that they followed the study up. They followed these kids through life. And what was interesting was what was shown by the 2 groups that1:26 were formed. Those that ate the marshmallow now and those that waited for something better. And what's interesting is not what happened to those that grabbed the marshmallow. I mean, it wasn't a 1 for 1 that these kids'1:36 lives fell apart or that they just showed a lack of self control in all things. That wasn't the case at all. What was interesting was the correlation they found between the children who were willing to wait. In their1:47 studies, they found, as a whole, these children had better SAT scores. They had higher educational achievements across the board. Most were even more physically healthy than1:59 those in the other group. And there were several other life measures showing similar outcomes. So what is that all about? I mean, what was the test really measuring? Was it just self control? Was it how much2:11 kids liked marshmallows? Was it just cost benefit? You know, like, how big is the marshmallow now? How good is the treat later? I think what they were really measuring was could these children hold intention2:24 to different and competing sets of desires? Could they sit in the tension of what they wanted right now, that marshmallow versus what they knew would be2:35 better if they could wait for the future. Well, in chapter 4, James is speaking to the dispersed believers and he's gonna instruct us on a similar lesson. But it's not just2:47 a lesson about about rewards or about the power of delayed gratification or even patience. We're gonna see how we as followers of the Lord Jesus can live in the tension between what we2:59 desires and what God desires for us. Living according to our own flesh and what it is that we want or according to god's spirit.3:11 Living for the moment versus living for the future. For what we can see versus what is unseen. It's that tension that we're gonna unpack today. So let's jump right in. Chapter 4. This is James' letter to the large church3:23 in Jerusalem beginning in verse 1. This is God's word. I'll be reading, from the New Living Translation. What is causing the quarrels and fights amongst you? Don't they come from evil desires at3:35 war within you? You want what you can't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it. So you fight and wage war and take it away from them. Yet3:47 you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong. You want only what will give you3:58 pleasure. Right away, we can infer that there are some problems in the church. I mean, James wouldn't be talking about where quarrels come from or the nature of the arguments between people if4:10 those things weren't happening. The people were fighting. I mean, the obvious reality is that there were fights, there were quarrels going on in the church that James, is writing to. So James asks a rhetorical4:22 question about where do they think these things actually come from. And they might point to the specific things that they're arguing about that might be their knee jerk reaction. But he goes ahead and4:34 answers with the second question. He says, don't these fights come from the evil desires that are at war within each of us? See right away, James is alluding to the truth that we4:46 are living within that tension. That there are things going on inside of us that are working their way outside of us that are earthly and our fleshly desires are literally at war with the4:58 things that the spirit is trying to create in us. That internal tension is having outward expression. James is reminding them that this is where everything goes5:09 bad. Do you remember back in chapter 1? James reminded us that temptation doesn't come from the external stimuli. You don't blame it on the things that are around you. He he reminded the cetacean5:21 comes from from inside of us that we have evil desires within us. And he's not he's now saying that that not only does our own sin, you know, when we're tempted start inside of us. He's5:33 saying, your problems between you and other believers begin within you. The quarrels between us begin inside us. The5:45 quarrels between us really begin inside each of us. Relationships are an inside out game. What's inside comes out when we're in relationship5:57 with somebody else. The problems that we have between the people God's placed in the spaces and places in our lives, the context that we occupy really begin in each of us.6:08 And he's not just talking about major disagreements. I mean, differences in world views and large opinions and things like that. He's talking about the everyday, ongoing, backbiting,6:20 gossiping, bickering, fighting that goes on every day. He says all of it is a heart issue. And James is telling them that I'm not just looking for you guys to shake your head and6:32 go, you know what? That's true, James. That's good that's good wisdom. Thank you for that. His point is is that he's trying to bring our lives into alignment with our beliefs. So that6:44 what it is that we say we're about is what it is that we're actually about. And so in this, if we're gonna bring our relationships under the lordship of Jesus, then we've gotta bring our hearts6:56 under the lordship of Jesus. Well, we need to know what is inside of our hearts. We need to become students of our own heart. Scripture tells us to above all else guard our heart. Right? For it's the wellspring. Out of7:08 it comes all of our life. We do well to know what it is that's going on inside of our hearts. Remember James had instructed us last time that the words we speak really reveal what's7:20 going on inside of of our hearts and we need to know where we are most apt to fall to our own sinful desires. And then we need to let the spirit deal with those things. Why?7:32 Well, because when the holy spirit starts to control our lives, things start to look differently. If if if the flesh is controlling my life and that's creating problems between me and my brothers and sisters in7:44 Christ, then what happens when the spirit controls my life? Well, the spirit brings something new. My flesh repels. The spirit attracts7:56 and the spirit will always create peace with God and peace with 1 another. Peace with God and each other. Through the spirit, we find unity. Right? The flesh causes8:07 division. Like we said, the flesh wants to repel. It wants to put away because the flesh wants to take. The spirit of God brings unity. That's what he does. He brings peace. I mean, Christ brought peace8:19 between us and God once and for all on the cross. But now you and I have to choose to walk in the spirit. If we're gonna experience that ongoing peace with each other8:31 moment by moment and day by day in a real and kind of an ongoing way. I mean, look at how James breaks it down. How how our fleshly desires start to work themselves out. He says this in the text. He says8:43 that we want stuff we don't have, so we scheme and we kill in order to get it. And the word there for desire in the original Greek is the word epithomeo.8:55 And it means to set one's heart upon. Right? To long for. It carries the idea of coveting or lusting after something. I mean, this is literally everything in you9:07 is just pursuing this thing. He's saying when that's what's controlling our heart. Right, that that's revealing part of the problem. When the things that we see, right, when we allow our9:19 eyes and our through that our own our own appetites, right, to then start to direct our hands, it's not gonna lead us in a good place when we're driven by our appetites. Right? We're losing that9:31 battle, that tension that we talked about between living according to the flesh or living according to the spirit. We start losing when we start living according to our appetites. And you know what9:43 immediately happens? We start to sit and we start to compare what it is that we have and what it is that those around us have. He says that you you you there are things that you want that you don't9:54 have. Most often because you've noticed there are people in your life that have things that you don't have. But here's the problem. Comparison will never lead to contentment.10:07 Comparison will never lead you and I into contentment. It can't. Cause there's only 2 possibilities. 1, I have less than you and so my heart is moved to jealousy and10:19 envy. Or I have more than you. And my heart is moved to to pride and arrogance. It's a losing game either way. All the time, every time. And yet, marketers,10:32 advertisers have created the ultimate demand. They've sold you and I the ultimate product. Discontentment. Discontentment. You need a newer or a10:44 bigger or a faster or a shinier or a nicer fill in the blank. I mean, in fact, there's an entire industry, right, that exists just to get you and I to feel as10:56 though we don't have what we need, that we don't have what we deserve, or at least to get us to believe that if we did have those things, if we were able to add the stuff that we don't have, then life would11:08 be better. Why is it we think that everything that brings true and lasting happiness and joy can be purchased when scripture tells us the exact opposite?11:20 I mean, we see person after person who according to this report card is getting an a plus. I mean, they're winning everywhere the world is telling them that they should be winning and11:32 yet, we see the same amount of loss of broken relationships, suicide, depression. But shouldn't those stats be different? The lie that we've been sold is that if we had those11:43 things that money can give us, if we had those things that were that we're desiring, that were epithymoeing after, then our lives would be better. But we don't see that11:56 when we look around. We watch person after person who has the world by the tail fall. So it says we begin to scheme. We see the things that we want, that the12:07 things that others have and we start to scheme. That's such a gross word, isn't it? Do you remember Paul's picture about the armor of God? Right? We daily we suit up in the battle. We put on the armor of12:19 God and we talk about being able to stand firm against what? The schemes of the devil. And it says here that we scheme when we start to12:31 think that it's on us to get what we need for ourselves by any means necessary. We become schemers.12:44 It says we don't stop there. It says that after that, that we're willing to kill. That we're willing to kill. But the problem in the early church, and I'm guessing the problem in your life, is12:56 not with rampant murder. But what the people were killing to get what they wanted, they were killing relationships. They were killing their13:07 witness to the world that so desperately needed to look to the church and see a group of people that were living differently. And why is it that James says that we don't have what we don't want?13:20 He spelled it out for us. He said it right there. You don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. Well, it begs the question then. How are they trying to get their needs met? The same way that we13:32 do. They go after it with human effort. Oftentimes without seeking the counsel of God as to whether or not they or we should go after those things and then not submitting our13:43 methods as to how we're going to get those things to the Lord. And maybe the church that he's writing to just like us didn't ask God for the things that they desired because the things that they13:55 wanted were not things that the Lord would want to give them. And they knew it and we know it. You know, when my kids were little, they'd ask me for stuff all the time. All the time. All day long. Daddy, can I have14:07 this? Daddy, can I have that? Daddy, can I have this? It was endless. But then there were times they would not ask for things. You know what it was? When they knew I would say no.14:19 When they knew I'd say no. When they know that I would say no because the thing they were asking me for was either not good for them or something that would not lead them towards God or14:31 towards others. That it was something that would actually harm them. If it was something they knew, I'd say no to. And if we're really honest, oftentimes, I think the things that were slow to take before the Lord, the14:42 things that were slow to ask him for, they're not things that are gonna move his kingdom forward. They're not things that are gonna move us towards other people in love. They're not even things that are beneficial or14:52 even right. And so, we don't ask God for those things. We go after those things ourself. But if I was your enemy, I would do whatever15:04 I could to keep you from taking your desires and requests to God. I would wanna stop that conversation. Right? Like a tactical general, I would wanna take out communications between you and your commanding15:16 officer so that you could receive no orders from headquarters. But what if you and I kept those lines open? What if in honesty, we took every desire before the lord, laid it at his15:28 feet, confessing it, putting it out to god and saying, lord, is this something I should desire? Is this something I should exchange the time that you've given me on this earth in order to acquire? Will this lead me15:38 towards you? Will this lead me towards people? Will this help to build your kingdom, Lord? If not, help me. And if it is, please bless me with it, Lord. And I think our desires15:50 would be exposed in our asking. Like James said, we usually ask for only what will give us pleasure. We ask for things that just make us feel better. You know, these few16:02 verses are really getting at the big idea of contentment. You know, that truth that you and I look to the stuff that's in our life. The things that are in our lives, our jobs, our money, the16:14 fun, the travel that we we go on or maybe even the people in our lives. Our friends, spouses, maybe even our church. And we look to those16:25 things to bring us contentment. They look to those things to fill us up. And then sometimes we get frustrated with them and say, you're not you're not doing your job. You're not filling me up. We look to the things God16:35 has given us to provide the joy, the satisfaction, the purpose that only he promised to give us. We want the things God offers, but not in the way that God desires16:47 to offer them. Don't believe me? Fair? Check this out. How many of you would say you wanna be patient people or honest people? How many of you would say, I16:59 wanna be a person who's known for being radically generous? I wanna be known as someone who who honors his spouse or her even when when they're not around, when they're not lucky. I wanna be a person who can be counted17:11 on. I wanna be brave. I wanna be courageous. I wanna be calm under fire. I'm guessing that all of you are nodding your head saying, yes. I wanna be that kind of a person, but do we17:23 ever ask for the situations that would produce those things in us? Lord, make me patient. Okay, Dusty. But that means that you're gonna have to wait.17:36 That you're gonna have to persevere and that you're gonna have to trust me. Lord, make me honest. Okay. But that means that the next check is gonna be bigger than it's supposed to be17:48 and you're gonna have to hand it back. Lord, help me to honor my spouse. Okay. But that means you're gonna be in situations where there's gonna be opportunities to not Lord, make me brave. Keep me18:00 calm and if I see where this is going. But remember what James said, your motives are all wrong when you ask. You only want what will give you pleasure. You want those things without being willing to go through the18:12 seasons that will create those things in us. James keeps talking about that tension that we started with. That tension in our hearts, that that marshmallow now or that18:23 bigger surprise later struggle. And he puts it into the context of this world. Right? This world. Now I wanna be clear. When James is talking about the world,18:35 he is not talking about the physical earth. Right? So if you love the beauty of what God created like me, if you love the oceans, if you love going hiking in the mountains, amen. Praise God. He made it all and it's very18:47 very good. He also does not mean the people of this world. John 3 16 says that god so loved the world, people of the world, that he offered his only son.18:59 So keep loving people. When he talks about the world in this passage, he's talking about the world systems, the world's priorities and the world's version of truth.19:11 That's what he's talking about. When he when he's talking about a love for the world, he's talking about the things the world values, the systems it has in place, its priorities and agendas. So read this encouragement19:22 starting in verse 4. It's more like an admonishment. You adulterers, don't you realize that friendship with the world, remember, systems and priorities makes you an enemy19:34 of God. I say it again. If you wanna be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God's. Do you think the scripture has no meaning? They say that God is passionate and that the spirit he has placed19:46 within us should be faithful to him. How heavy is that passage? He basically says that if you and I fall in line with this world, taking up its versions of the truth, its systems, what it values,19:58 that we're basically like being an adulterous spouse. It reminds us of an important truth brothers. Divided desires are dangerous.20:11 Dangerous. He says right here that love for the world makes you an enemy of God's that it's we're like spouses who are committing adultery. Right? God says that he will meet20:22 all of our needs. That if we desire him, he will fill us up. You know, Matthew 6 33 says this, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be20:34 added to you as well. He's saying, I will never give you something that will replace me in your life, including this world and what it can offer you. God is saying,20:46 don't Boys, don't you understand that that God, the creator of the universe, that the God is our creator longs jealously that he wants our whole hearts and he's not gonna be content for a20:58 part of them. So great is God's desire for us. And this passage is saying instead of responding to him and telling him, yes, Lord, you're enough. We're saying, Lord, you're sort of21:10 enough. But if you could just give me these things that I see in this world, things would be better. That kind of thinking puts me at the center of my life. Look at verse21:22 6. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Scary verse. Very black and white. Very straightforward. Because you and I treat pride like it's it's just confidence.21:34 It's just a positive self image yet this verse is saying that if I go out in pride that my god will oppose me. I don't know about you. I do not desire to be21:46 opposed by all mighty God. But the other side of this promise is that in humility, we're gonna find grace. He gives grace to the humble, but we have to choose it. Humility is21:58 never a reaction. Humility is never the natural disposition of our heart. Humility is always a decision, a choice. That's why verse 7 says, so22:09 humble yourself. Choose it. Choose the posture of humility. Humble yourself before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Wait a second.22:22 We were just talking about pride and then he says resist the devil. It shouldn't say resist pride and then you'll become humble?22:34 He's saying that so closely linked are pride and the devil himself. James isn't even making a distinction between the 2. Pride was at the core of the enemy's fall. I will22:46 ascend. I will set up my throne. I will be like the most high. I will. I will. I will. The enemy's fall was a picture of22:58 pride because he wanted to make his name great. But what James is inviting us into is loving admonition. He's correcting us. He's not ranting or yelling. He's just23:10 saying, boys make the right choice. I mean, look, he keeps reading. Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts for23:22 your loyalties divided. Again, here it is, between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you've done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, gloom instead of joy. Humble23:33 yourselves before the Lord and and he will lift you up in honor. Isn't that a beautiful promise? Isn't that just a an amazing picture of truth if we seek23:45 prestige? If we seek position and power, we end up an enemy of God. That's how the enemy of God got where he is. But if we draw close to god in humility,23:58 then he will lift us up according to his perfect plan. He will draw near to us. He meets us with grace and then he lifts us up. This seems like an obvious24:09 choice. Like I want what God wants. I want him to lift me up. I don't wanna try to elevate my own name. Shoot. I want my chief marketing guy to be God. But to lift me up for24:21 his glory, to make his name famous and that's the difference. Pride is about making my name famous. Humility is about making much of the24:33 name of Jesus. If there's anything we get from this passage, I think it's this. Humility is the hallmark of God's man. It's the call on our lives. It's where we're24:44 gonna find true and lasting life. Joy, satisfaction, contentment. The world says go up. Jesus is saying head down. You wanna be great? Be a servant. That's not the path of pride.24:57 We don't need more people who want to ascend in greatness. We want people to descend in servanthood to follow after King Jesus to head down to 1 knee with a wash basin and a towel25:10 in order that his name would be lifted up. That we'd find our contentment, our peace, our joy, our purpose, all of that is found in humbly giving ourselves away. It's the picture of the life25:23 of Jesus. You know, the world says you find all those things away from God. It's the same lie that the enemy came to Eve with in the very very beginning.25:35 You know you'd be better off on your own. You know that that God is holding out on you. There's real life apart from him. Don't trust what he said. Did he did he25:47 really say? Trust your own voice. You know your desires and your needs better. God, he's he's holding back. True life25:59 is found away from him. Come on over here, Eve. Take my hand. I'll show you. And where has the enemy left us? You know, over the last 20 years alone in the26:10 United States, the suicide rate has grown by almost 30 percent. The number of Americans living in debilitating anxiety steadily grows every single year.26:22 More than half of all marriages end in divorce. Prescription drug use is is rampant. And so all the freedom the enemy told us we'd find apart from Jesus is starting to feel a whole lot like a prison.26:35 Slavery. Slavery to sin. Slavery to fear. To our own flesh. But the answer does not lie within us no matter how much the world would try to convince us that it does. The world26:47 says choose yourself. And God says life is found in me and nowhere else and in giving yourself away like I did. The world says, amass your wealth. God says, life's26:59 not found in the abundance of possessions. The world says, pump yourself up. Again, we just saw it. God says, take the low road, I'll lift you up in my perfect timing. Jesus is lovingly reminding us27:11 through James that true life is found in him, in the person of Jesus Christ period. That our eyes would always be fixed upon him. That we would live and27:23 pursue Jesus in humility. That our eyes would not be on ourselves and our pride or on others in judgment. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus in humility,27:35 not on ourselves in pride and not on others in judgment. Look at verses 11 and 12. Don't speak evil against each other, brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other,27:47 you're criticizing and judging God's law. I love this. But your job is to obey the law. As for you, your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone who gave the law27:59 is the judge, he alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor? He's saying don't worry about the person on your left or your right.28:12 He says, I want you to keep your eyes fixed on me. I love how James points out what our role is. Right? Your job is to obey the law, not decide28:23 whether or not it applies to you or how the people around you are measuring up to it. We're so worried about holding others accountable to the law that we fail to live up to it ourselves28:36 often, daily in my life. And I love it. James closes out chapter 4 with just a gauntlet for us as God's men. Right? So strap up boys. He's gotten at the sins of28:47 pride, of judgment. He's talked about envy, and he's talks about others in this passage. But then he attacks a sin that unfortunately is rampant among God's men today. The28:59 sin of apathy. Think of verse 17. Remember, it is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not to29:11 do it. It's a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. John Stuart Mill famously put it like this. Alright. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is29:23 for good men to do nothing. Maybe the 20 23 version for you and I as God's men is the only thing the enemy needs to succeed is for God's men to stand on the sidelines and watch.29:35 Are there places in your life where you find yourself standing on the sidelines spiritually? Are you standing by idly in areas where you're seeing truth be undermined? Where you see29:47 people who are made in God's image being mistreated because our silence is quiet agreement. As God's men, let's move out.29:59 Let's move out in the power of the holy spirit. Let's do what it is that we know to be right, what the spirit has shown us to be right. And the only way that happens is if we're filled up with God's30:11 word. So this week, get into his word. Get his word into you. Read James chapter 4 again. Soak on it. Marinate it. Ask the Holy Spirit to point out places in your30:23 life where he wants to change you to look more like his son. Let's be men. So filled up with God's word that when our life squeezes, it's God's word that comes30:35 out. Amen? Let me pray for us. Heavenly father, thank you for the truth of your word. Maybe we men who who see it, who allow it to get inside of us and change us, allow us to walk30:47 away, not as those who forget what they look like, god, but allow us to to gaze into this law. Let it change our lives. Let it inform our actions this week. May we be men whose identity as god's men30:58 informs everything that we do. Move us out in love to the people that you've surrounded us with, Lord. May we be men who love the people of this world, but not the systems of this world. Not the lies being31:10 perpetuated by this world. May we move out in love for this world, Lord, that people might see you and know you and place their faith in you. In Jesus31:22 name, amen.In this video 0:00 Faith in Action: The Tension Within
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