Skip to content Doing the Right Work: How to Avoid Envy and Strife Nov 25 · 36 min ...more
Doing the Right Work: How to Avoid Envy and Strife
November 25, 2025 · 36 min
Pastor John Mark discusses the destructive nature of envy and strife within the church, drawing on James 3 and 4, and how to avoid their pitfalls.
Series "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton November 25, 2025 · 36 min · "Men's Breakfast" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark discusses the destructive nature of envy and strife within the church, drawing on James 3 and 4, and how to avoid their pitfalls. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark discusses the destructive nature of envy and strife within the church, drawing on James 3 and 4, and how to avoid their pitfalls.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Unity and Humility in the Church 0:02 Welcome to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Keaton. Join us as John Mark shares his insights with other men in his ministry rooted in the timeless truths of the gospel. Today's message will encourage you to0:14 inspire, inform, and invest in the lives of others. This is men's breakfast with your host, John Mark Caton.0:22 Hey. How many of you are for the rangers? It's okay. That's right. How many of you for the Astros? Alright. Well, I I I will tell you for those of you know, I grew up, you know, almost half of my life in Houston. I grew0:33 up an Astros fan. So, but now all my kids are Rangers fans, so I have dual citizenship, between both. I root for both. The the thing that is scary, is you if you're a Rangers0:45 fan, have you looked at the Astros run differential on the road and at home? I did. They are they have been a terrible Astros have been a terrible home team this year. Their0:57 run differential is negative 20 at home. Do you know what their run differential is on the road? They're a plus 1 59. Alright? I1:09 went to that last series just thinking that might I'm pretty sure they had a 20 run differential on the game that we went to. It was like a home run derby, for the Astros. So1:21 it's good to see. I'd love to see the Rangers win 1. I will tell you my I've been here for a long time because they haven't had 1. But here's my ultimate. As long as the World Series ends up in Texas, I'm okay.1:33 So, anyway, alright. Back to James chapter 3, guys. And we have been looking at a number of things over the last couple of weeks, fired up, to continue looking at this very practical book, by Jesus's1:45 little brother as he just kinda talks about, man, how do we put our faith into practice and what does our faith look like, in practice, in conversation. If you don't remember, we talked about the fact1:57 that, God's got some stuff for us to do. I've got some growing up to do. Man, I've got some stuff that I need to learn. These are all if you hadn't looked at them, you can go back to the podcast. You can see them and you2:08 can hear them. I've got people, that I need to deal with, that, that sometimes I don't like them. They don't like me. I've got, some good deeds to do. Talk about works and faith. Then2:20 last week we talked about our tongue. How many of you did well this last week with holding your tongue? How many of you didn't even try? I mean, let's be on. That that 3 inch muscular2:32 organ that we all have, that gets us all into trouble. If you don't remember here, as we think about our tongue, it's a tyrant. Here were the questions that I left you with last2:43 week. When you think about what you're about to say. Alright? Is first of all, is it true? Alright. I wanna make sure everything I say is absolutely true. Then I says in I said in the moment,2:55 ask yourself the question, is it beneficial? Is it gonna help somebody? Is it gonna help the person I'm about to say this to? Is it necessary? Man, sometimes something can be true, but not3:07 necessary. How many of you know? Now, it feels better. It'll still feel better to go ahead and say it. Right? But is it necessary? Do I have permission to share it? If you hear something from someone, if someone comes in3:19 and shares a prayer request with you, and and says, hey, I really wanted you to pray with me about my family or this or that. Did they give me permission to share it with somebody else? And if they didn't,3:30 man, I want to hold my tongue to make sure I'm faithful to that. And then finally, when you say it, is your motive pure? Is your motive pure in saying it and, we3:42 ask kind of the litmus test of is my motive pure? If it really makes you feel good to say it, it probably isn't a pure motive. How many of you know? That just felt good for me to say that about those folks.3:54 That's what we looked at last week. And so today, I really wanna talk to us about having some godly wisdom, making sure we don't live a life of strife. And we're gonna see that's what James turns4:06 to. He talks about strife in the church. And now kind of a background of what James is talking about is remember James became a leader in the church in Jerusalem. And he saw a lot of strife in4:18 the church and primarily what he saw in strife in the church as the gospel went out. Remember, all of a sudden the gospel was no longer just for the Jews. It started being for the Gentiles, right?4:30 And you had this battle between these Jewish believers and these Gentile believers. What did the Jewish believers want the Gentile believers to do? Start following the law. Right? And they would4:42 talk about them and say, man, you can't be spiritually mature because you don't eat this way and you don't do this and you don't act this way. You don't have the ceremonial washing. And then the gentiles are looking at4:53 them saying, well hang on. Paul says salvation is grace and faith alone and now all of a sudden you're telling me I can't eat this and I can't eat that and I've grown up eating this5:04 and I've grown up eating that. And remember even in the Galatian church, if you remember Paul is out there, he's led these Galatians to the Lord. And remember Peter showed up.5:16 Peter shows up and all of a sudden when he's with the Gentiles, he lowers his guard and he begins to act like a Gentile, a Christian Gentile. But then when the Jews show up,5:28 Peter goes all Jew on them. How many of you remember that? And it says there was a large if you go look at Galatians chapter 2, it says there was a large argument. Basically, Paul called him out.5:40 Paul looked at Peter and said dude, you are a hypocrite. When you're around these kind of people, you act this way. And when you're around these kind of people, you act this way. And Paul just5:52 flat out lit Peter up and said dude, you're a hypocrite. You are beginning to act like the people that you are with and so they went back to Jerusalem6:04 and they basically had a debate. And you had those in the Jerusalem church who was saying, you know these Gentiles, some of them some of them said, you know, no, these Gentiles need to start acting more like Jews. And6:15 Paul's sitting there going, no, I got an idea. Why don't we have them act like Jesus? How many of you know we'd all be better if that happened? Right? And so James in a backdrop of seeing a church that is exploding6:26 realizes this, that we are gonna reach people that are not like us. Right? That's the gospel. Right? We're gonna reach people from different countries, different states, different places, different backgrounds. We're6:38 gonna reach people in a church that they've grown up in church, We're gonna reach people in a church that they've grown up in church all their life. Right? I mean, if you could get to heaven by works, that's the that's6:49 the guy, but you can't. How many of you know someone that, man, they they just they're just good through and through. Right? We know those. And and then there are other people like Hill House. Right? That7:01 that we're shocked at the amazing grace of God every day, aren't we? Right? And and you just have to put up with people. Right? And so that's what James is doing the7:13 backdrop. He's really saying, listen, when we talk about real faith, not only do I have some trials I need to go through, I've got some people I don't necessarily like. I've got some stuff that I need to learn. But when7:23 we get into the latter part of James chapter 3, he really says, listen. If we're gonna have unity in the church, we've got to get rid of all the envy and strife. Now, let me tell you what he's7:34 not saying. He's not saying compromise biblical truth. He is not saying compromise theology. He is not saying compromise7:46 any law that is clearly written out in scripture. But what he is saying is guys, we want to put our personal preferences aside for the good of the church.7:58 Does that make sense? That means we need to love people like Jesus loved them, man. We we think about those times many times when Jesus would be in a house with a bunch of tax collectors and sinners and the Pharisees8:10 would look at him and say, what are you doing? He goes, man, the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. The more we are like Jesus is the more we'll have that mindset.8:22 That if someone is different than us, if someone shows up and they don't look or act like I think they ought to look or act like. First question is, man, have they met8:34 the risen savior? Because if you go all the way back to James, remember James was a doubter of his brother? Remember they thought we'd look the first week. They they thought Jesus was crazy. They8:45 said, man, you know, he's nuts. There were times that he was preaching in the synagogue. And remember the family and the friends came home and said, let's let's drag him home. Or it's kind of getting embarrassing. He's8:54 trying to say he's the Messiah. And and what changed everything for James was he encountered a risen brother. And so all of a sudden this James who was a9:05 doubter, James who thought his brother Jesus was crazy or or even insane. All of a sudden that James becomes a leader in the church and he begins to see this strife. And so he looks and he begins to give9:17 practical application on how we should live. So let's look at James chapter 3 and let me just kinda just start reading about the reality. He says listen, we don't want to harm9:30 our witness or the church by letting undue envy and strife show up. Here's what he says beginning verse 15. He says, who is wise and understanding among9:41 you? Let them show it by their good life. So number 1 thing I am supposed to do is not to grade someone else's life, is not to walk around with my personal grade9:53 book and say, they don't do this, they don't do this, they like this, they don't like this. That's what he said. He said, my number 1 goal is as I've learned what God wants me to do and as I've experienced10:05 God's grace, the number 1 thing I want to do is be wise and understanding among you. He said let them show it by their good life. By deeds done in humility that comes10:17 from wisdom. In other words, we want to be men that live out good deeds, that live out and walk in humility, not in arrogance or pride. Then as you continue to10:29 read verse 14, he says, but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Then he goes on verse 15, for such wisdom10:41 does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual and demonic. Now, he he he's he's talking real, isn't he? He says guys,10:53 if we are walking around lording it over other people, looking down on other people because they don't talk or look or act like us. He goes, we are not showing or11:04 demonstrating spiritual wisdom. We are showing that we are prideful and arrogant people. And he says, man that comes straight from Satan. You might wanna underline that word demonic.11:16 When you think about what was Satan's first sin, it wasn't temptation. It was pride, right? Is that he showed up, he wanted to be like God.11:28 Man, that that was the first sin. His first sin was not tempting Adam and Eve. His first sin was thinking he was better than he was. And so that's why James right here says, listen guys,11:40 if we walk in pride, if we walk in arrogance, if we look down on other people, number 1 thing we're doing, we are acting like Satan. Now, it's okay from time to time to look like11:52 Satan. Alright? But we don't ever wanna act like him. Right? And he says, man, so when we walk in humility, we look like Jesus. Now that's not weakness. That's not frail.12:05 That's power under control. Right? But he says, guys when we roll through church, we want to walk with a strength and a humility. Man, something12:17 that we says, man, we know what we believe, who we believe in, what our mission is, what our purpose is, that I want to love God, I want to love others in a powerful in a real way, but I don't wanna lord it over12:29 them. And so he says, man, we don't wanna live in such a way that we deny the truth and instead walk in a way that I look more like Satan in my arrogance and my pride. Now look at verse 16.12:41 He says, for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. Now, he's talking about in the church. And now notice those12:53 words. He says, for where you have envy and selfish ambition. Now, let's just step back and and and and just kind of put it in our own context. Man, we wanna be the kind of people that if13:05 all of a sudden everybody's serving, or we're all serving. We're coming up on the gift weekend. We'll pack 250000 meals. We'll do a lot of things. Man, Operation Christmas Child. It is all about13:17 all the month of November is is missions month here at Cottonwood Creek. The whole month. That all of a sudden someone's serving, someone's serving, you're serving, you do something and then Dave calls out 1 person and13:28 says man, thanks so much for what you did. We don't want to let Satan cause others to be envious. Is that right? Where you say, you know wait, I was serving too. I did this. Right? We don't want to have that kind of13:39 selfish ambition because here's what we know. Whatever you do, God knows. Everybody say God knows. God knows. God knows. Guys, I'm telling you God knows.13:51 Man, if you're walking with him and you're growing in your faith and man, you were just taking a step closer to God and all of a sudden you weren't serving, but now you're serving. Man, God knows. And so don't ever14:03 let selfish ambition grow up that you say, you know, man, how come they always get the praise or they always do this or they always do that? Man, we are a praising staff here at Cottonwood Creek. Now, we're picking14:14 staff. We'll pick on you too. Alright? Once you rise to fame at Cottonwood Creek, how many of you know our our number 1 call is to get you chopped back down. Right? That's what we love to do. We love to build you up so14:25 we can take you down. No. But Satan wants you to sit there and be envious and be prideful and be discouraged.14:37 And James says, man, for where you find envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder in every kind of evil practice. Now, so then as we roll, remember there are14:48 no chapter breaks when James originally wrote this. So as you roll from chapter 3 to chapter 4, it's still James same continuous thought. So you say, what is the source, and15:00 he's gonna talk about that, of our envy? Pick it up. James chapter 4 verse 1, he says, what is the source of our arguments or our fights or quarrels, even in the church setting. He says, what causes fights?15:13 Alright, and interestingly enough, you wanna write this down. That word fight, it has the idea of soldiers amassed for battle. He's not talking about equivalent. He's15:24 not just talking about, a little a little bitty skirmish. That word, that word fight, it's not even a fist fight. It's talking about when soldiers are armed for15:36 battle. He says wherever you find fights, and then he uses the word quarrels, that best translation for that word quarrels is defisiveness. Wherever you find15:48 groups of people in the church that are lined up to go to war with each other. He says you have quarrels. That's divisions. He says what causes fights16:00 and divisions in the church? Notice what he says. Don't they come from your desires within you? So somebody based on that verse,16:11 when you see anybody ever been in a, I I've never been through 1. They had 1 years ago at the church. Anybody ever been through a church split? I mean, a flat out church split.16:23 Alright. You wanna know what James says causes that? The desires within you. He says, the source of16:35 fights and quarrels and arguments in the church are found right in here. They're found right in here. And what do we have a tendency to16:47 do if we are envious of someone else? We wanna gather others around me that believe like me. And now what happens? We we wanna shape the information tree16:59 so it makes me look better and the other side look worse. Do you understand what I'm saying? And then if we aren't careful and we don't look for reconciliation, we amass for battle,17:12 we put on our armory. It might be self righteousness, it might be pride, it might be this or might might be that. But he says, don't ever doubt. The divisions in the church,17:24 they come from right in here. And so as you think about it, he says, what causes those fights? What causes those divisions? What causes don't they come from your desires17:36 internally within you? Remember what Paul said? He says, don't ever think you will get over this. If I think about my life spiritually and maybe your life spiritually, boy, you're up there, we're here,17:48 wherever you are. Man, put Paul way up at the top of that list. Remember what Paul said about what goes on in his hearts and his heart in Romans chapter 7? Look at he18:00 says, for I know the good does not dwell in me. That is in my sinful nature. For I have a desire, there's that same word James uses for desire. I have the desire18:12 to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I wanna do, but the evil I do not wanna do, this I keep on doing. He says, now if I do what I want18:24 to do, it's no longer who I who do it, but the sin that is living within me. What is James, what what is Paul saying? Same thing James is saying. He said, man, where do you see18:35 divisions? It's right there. It's it's right in here. So if you ever show up and and you see 2 believers that, man, they just can't seem to work it out.18:47 They cannot seem to get along. The source of the problem is usually not what they're arguing about. The source of the problem goes way deeper. Everybody say way deeper. Way deeper. It18:59 goes to the heart. It goes to the heart. It goes to desire in my heart to either man, they've hurt my feelings, they do something, or I19:11 think I'm more spiritual than I am. And we've always got to step back and say, you know what? If Paul acknowledges in this advanced stage right in the middle of the book of Romans, man, he is writing this19:22 amazing theological polemic called the book of Romans. But right there in Romans chapter 7, he says, man, but I can never forget. There's some19:34 stuff right in here that'll split me apart, that'll destroy a church, that'll hurt those I love the most. And he goes, and I have to be careful19:47 because there will even be times when I don't want to do something, but I end up doing it anyway because sin is always there with me. So what does James say?19:59 Man, where you walk in and you see quarrels and envies and fights and divisions, he says, you can assume the source is in the heart. It's not in the problem.20:10 I'm gonna say that again. If you walk in, you can assume that the source is the heart. It's not just a problem. And so as you think, and maybe you're in here today20:22 and and pray praise the Lord, we have a church that is filled with unity and love and grace. But maybe if you're harboring something ill towards someone else in the church or outside the church, maybe another20:34 brother or sister, man, I want to encourage you. Before you start shaping the information to make you look better and them look worse, step back and check your heart.20:46 Because James says, probably if you're honest, the source of the problem is, in fact, your desire. Those desires that are in your own heart, that maybe your feelings have been20:58 hurt, or someone did this, or someone did that. And so what do I wanna do? I have a tendency, if I'm hurt by so and so, alright, I have a tendency to amass21:09 troops on my side. Does that make sense? Because I wanna make sure that people are on my side and not on their side. And so James says, listen. If you walk into a21:21 situation and there's not a clear biblical foundation for this fight. Alright? And Paul will tell you there are. There are certain biblical foundations for fight.21:33 But if it's really a personal preference, if it's an opinion, then the problem goes to the heart. Does that make sense? He says that's the source of it. So as wise men, remember that's21:45 what he said, the wisdom that comes from heaven in James chapter 3. He says the wise person won't immediately walk in and choose sides. The wisest, most mature person will21:57 walk in and first of all say, where's the common ground? How can we fix this? Why? Because we care about the gospel. We care about the church. We care about the witness. Man, there's nothing worse if you look22:09 out there than to hear about a church that splits. By the way, that is the Baptist church planting method. How many of you know that? It's called 1 bad business meeting. You you you go to22:21 any church in Texas or Oklahoma or Alabama or Mississippi, you wanna know why there's a second Baptist church in that city? Because they had a business meeting. Right? And at22:33 some point, they divide it up and said, we're done with First Baptist Church. We're gonna become Second Baptist Church, and we're gonna take a group of people and go over here. It just happens. And typically, in22:44 many cases, it's not theology. It's gonna be music. It's gonna be practice. It's gonna be version of the Bible. It's gonna be people that just22:56 weren't mature enough to see the high calling that is found in Christ Jesus. So guys, if if you first of all are sitting here, maybe you've got something and23:08 get someone else in here. Check your heart. That's what James, the brother of Jesus said. He says, man, I was dealing with this battle over and over and over again. They're in church in Jerusalem that some would come23:20 back from Corinth and they would say, man, we we don't need to be supporting that Corinthian church because, man, they're a bunch of nut jobs over there. And then someone said, boy, Galatians church. They're a bunch23:32 of legalists over there. And James would see all these fights and he just stepped back and said, man, what's the source? It's stuff that's in us. And so, man, if you23:44 are in the middle of envy or strife or if you see it, check your heart first. Now just go back to James look at verse 2. He says not only is the source usually our own personal desires. He says,23:56 but look at the selfishness that is involved and how it destroys our relationship with others. He says the source in here, but notice what it does to our relationships out there. Look at verse 4 of24:08 chapter 2 verse 4. He says, you desire but you do not have so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel24:20 and fight. What is he saying? What happens to my relationships? When my heart goes unchecked, he says I have a tendency to what? To desire things that I don't have.24:32 He goes, so you kill. How do we kill? He's not talking about the physical killing. You kill them with your tongue. We talked about that last week. You start talking about them. You start amassing troops on your side.24:42 Why? Because someone else has more power or they are or or or they have more popularity in the church or they have this or they have that. And you have a tendency to to draw back and begin to lob24:54 verbal bombs the other way and you kill a person's character or you kill a person's work, or you kill a person's witness. I see this a lot. I'll tell you what, you can see this in25:06 pastor's conferences. Where where where you probably say, hey man, some some pastor's doing great and some pastor's this and all of a sudden you'll get a couple of pastor. But you know, you you you know25:17 why that how they do this. Right? And what are they doing? They're just kind of lobbing a bomb because they covet. So instead of celebrating, they try to kill. That's25:29 exactly what Satan wants to do. And so I would always encourage you, man, before you say something, going back to last week's tongue, before you say something about someone else, make sure, or25:41 you're listening to someone say something about someone else or someone else's ministry. Make sure you step back as a mature and wise individual before you25:53 choose size and say, is the source of the problem really their heart or is it theological? Is it their heart or is it biblical? Is it the heart26:05 or is it something real? Then look at the relationships. Are they coveting really what they have? You say, how do you answer that question? If if you see 2 groups in a fight or arguing, just ask26:16 yourself the question. Step back and say, if this guy is talking about this guy, ask yourself this question. If he had what that guy had, would he be happy?26:29 And a lot of times, you can look back and say, you know what? If I put you in their position, I think you would be happy. And that's a good litmus test of whether it's covetousness.26:40 Right? That if I think they would really love to trade places with that other person, probably goes to the heart and covetousness, and they're now killing with the tongue. So he says, you26:52 desire but you do not have so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want so you quarrel and fight. It's just easier that way. You you say, pastor,27:04 does jealousy really destroy relationships? Absolutely. How many of you remember an old testament guy named Joseph?27:17 Remember the story? If you go look, we aren't gonna put it up there, but if you go look, Genesis 37 verse 11, it tells you 1 reason that his27:28 brothers took Joseph, put he put him in a hole, sold him into slavery. Anybody know what that word is? You can go look it up, Genesis 37 verse 11. They were27:40 jealous. They were jealous of what he had. They were jealous of the coat. They were jealous of the dream. How many of you remember the dream? Okay. That wasn't the smartest thing in the27:51 world for Joseph Joseph to share the dream. How many remember that story? He rolls in there and say, hey brothers, come here. I got something great. Here's what I dreamed last night. Alright? That that I'm pretty much28:02 the king and y'all all bow down to me. That's awesome. Right? And it says from that moment on, his brothers were jealous of him.28:14 Why? Because there was something about Joseph that God said yes to. Right? Now Joseph went through some stuff. And we talked about that the first couple of weeks. To get Joseph to28:26 be number 2 in all of Egypt, next to pharaoh. How many of you know he went through some stuff? Right? I mean he was sold into slavery by his brother. Potiphar's wife28:37 lied about him, went into prison, helped elevate a couple of dudes. Well, 1 of the dudes got killed and then they forgot about him. Then he ultimately ends up in the King's Palace28:49 for the saving of many lives. At any point through that process, Joseph could have gotten jealous29:02 of the freedom his brothers had. And so guys, here's my encouragement to you. If you are going through some stuff and you find your heart bitter at someone29:14 else who seems to have more, because let me tell you what. Until the end of the story, Joseph's brothers had more than Joseph did. Do you understand what I'm talking about?29:26 Until he ultimately ends up as number 2 next to pharaoh for the sole purpose of the saving of many lives, things didn't look that good for29:38 Joseph. But he was just faithful. And so maybe there's some guys in here that, man, God is allowing you to go through some stuff because he's got a high place for29:50 you and your future. And he wants to make sure that when he puts you in that space, that he puts you in that place, that you've got the mature metal, spiritual30:01 metal that it takes to withstand the battle. Does that make sense? Because if you look through Joseph's story, it started because his brothers were jealous of him. And so jealousy30:13 will kill, it'll divide, it'll cause quarrels, it'll cause fights. And the mature man, the mature person like James will step back and he'll say, wait, wait. The source of this fight,30:26 it's in the hearts. The result of this fight is gonna be divisions and quarrels. And what are we supposed to do as people of God, men of30:38 God? Remember what Paul told the Ephesian believers? He said, diligently preserve. Somebody finish it. Do you know? The unity of30:50 the spirit. He says diligently preserve the unity of the spirit found in the church. See, we don't create31:02 unity. Now listen to this, you might want to jot this down. We do not create unity in the church. The only thing you and I can do is destroy it.31:14 See, we have unity. Man, if I if I'm a Christian brother and you're a Christian brother, through God's spirit you and I are unified. Does that make sense? In our purpose, in our heart, in everything. I31:26 don't create unity with you. Man, some of you guys have such amazingly different backgrounds than I do that you're so different, but you and I as believers have complete31:37 unity and my job is to diligently preserve it. How do I do that? James says, by making sure I don't let my heart run wild. That31:49 instead what I wanna do is constantly step back and say, what is the most important thing for me? And so go back. He says verse 2. You desire but you do not have, therefore you kill. You covet32:01 but you cannot get what you want so you quarrel and fight. Now continue to read. Pick it up. You do not have because you do not ask because when you ask you do not receive. Listen to this,32:13 because you ask with the wrong motives that you would spend what you get on your own pleasures. So if you just follow James' thought, he32:25 says wisdom, true spiritual biblical wisdom will lead me to humility not pride. Once I live in pride in humility and not pride, I will32:37 understand that when I'm in tension with someone else, the first thing I need to check is not their actions and not their words and not their deeds, it's my heart. Wisdom32:49 leads to humility. Strife or quarreling leads to not me checking their actions, but starting off by checking my heart. Then to make sure my heart is not a33:01 covetous heart. And if I don't have a covetous heart, then what does he say? If I have a covetous heart, then I'll start praying. God, give me what they have. And he says, God33:13 doesn't answer that prayer. Why? Because you ask with the wrong motives. And what is the wrong motive? To say, God, give me this so I can33:25 spend it on myself. What's the humble spirit say? God, should you give me this? I will use whatever you33:37 give me for your glory. And that's how we live with unity in the church. Guys, we wanna be wise men who look and if we see divisions and strife33:49 beginning to develop. If someone comes up and starts talking about someone else, that we step back and say, is that person and am I walking in humility? Is that person being driven by a34:01 heart that is deceitful and evil? Can I step in and mend the fence? Or do I truly need to line up for battle to quarrel because it is a biblical or34:13 a theological problem? If not, what I wanna do is check my heart, ask for forgiveness and then do what? Pray that God would give me what I34:24 need. Not so I can use it on myself, but so that I can use it for his glory. And that is the way to be a biblically mature34:37 man. And that's what James, the brother of Jesus said. So guys, as we journey forward, he says, listen. When you ask, you say, pastor, are you supposed to ask for things? Absolutely. I want you to know,34:49 it's not a mark of spiritual maturity not to ask God for things. You wanna ask God for unity in your church. You wanna ask him to bless you in your ministry. You wanna ask him to bless your family, to bless your kids, do35:01 all you let me tell you what, it is non spiritual to ask God for a raise. How many of you say amen? But why are you asking? So you can use it on yourself, or you can35:12 use it for God's kingdom? The humble person would say, God, everything I have comes from you. And I'm gonna use everything I am to glorify you. Let's pray. God,35:24 thank you so much for this day. God, thank you for the opportunity just to get down into the nitty gritty details and hear James, the brother of Jesus, talk about what he saw in the church in Jerusalem with strife and35:35 envy and difficulty, which is not that uncommon. But God, thank you for the lessons that James, the brother of Jesus, gives us that we as godly men ought to rise above35:47 it all. We ought to live with humility. We have to check the source. We can't let our selfishness destroy our relationships. Because ultimately, anything God gives us, we wanna use not35:59 for our pleasure, but for his glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. You have a great day, guys. Y'all are the best.36:07 Thank you for tuning in to Men's Breakfast with John Mark Cayton. For more information on John Mark's ministry and resources, please visit johnmarkcaten dot com. Until next time, remember, we're36:19 on this journey of life together.In this video 0:00 Unity and Humility in the Church
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