“What causes fights among us?” asks James in 4:1.
“That’s easy, James,” we reply. “Uhhh, difficult and abrasive individuals. Demanding, needy spouses and children. Miscommunication and poor listening skills. Contentious issues. Basically, the answer lies somewhere among specific people or situations.”
James answers, “No. Wrong.”
The cause of our conflicts is in our hearts, our unmet desires. These unmet desires progress from stage to stage. And so, “I want … ” becomes “I demand …” which becomes “I judge …” which becomes “I punish …” eventually causing conflicts in our relationships.
These unmet desires become idolatrous desires that eventually ruin us and our relationships with others. Ultimately, these desires damage the greatest relationship of all, our relationship with our God.
Only when we come before God and allow Him to satisfy our unmet needs are we able to find peace in our hearts with Him, with ourselves, and with others.
October 1, 2008 at 11:21 pm |
The KJV translation of James 4:1 refers to what P.John so kindly articulated as “unmet desires” to that of lust. Yes, desire may not necessarily be inherently sinful (yet still subversive in its own way since by nature it is transferable), but lust (i.e. covetous desire or “sinful” desire) most definitely is.
I was surprised by P.John’s sermon in that he seems to suggest there is a sort of psychology to sin (unmet desires -> demands -> judgement -> punishment) and that lust is the derivative cause of conflict (James is very explicit about this, lust incites wars … i.e. lust for more OIL – har har). Because I would also argue that conflict arises from our own internalized contradictions in trying to both please the world AND A-ppease God. So in this case, not “unmet” desires, but “contradictory” desires. James describes this with great effort and using a most appropriate metaphor, committing “spiritual adultery”.
Within the larger framework of James, I appreciate these verses simply because they emphasize the importance of our relationship to God – one that should also dictate how we BEHAVE towards Him, each other, and the world. As for the rest of the passage, the commandments that follow Peter’s exhortations are highly instructive and worth taking a closer look at. They offer up a series of practical steps we can take in resolving our personal conflicts with each other and thus in making our peace (no pun intended) w/God.
The high ground is always far too precious to give up.
October 3, 2008 at 6:45 am |
Thanks Dan for bringing up the aspect of conficted desires in James 4:4. And thanks pastor John for bringing to light subtle idols that very easily go unnoticed. Both are right there in scripture and both come up every day, if not every minute of life. It seems that the road to our needs being met (because we are all in need…spiriitually poor) and resolving the conflict of appeasing the world and God, comes from verse 7-10.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
(just v 7 and part of v 8 quoted)
Thanks guys…this is something that I needed to meditate on.
October 3, 2008 at 9:07 am |
Hi, Dan! Thanks for your comments, brother. Just to elaborate a bit more … the word “desire” in the NIV is actually translated from the Greek word epithumia (which is literally “over-desire”). While lust is a very accurate translation, I especially wanted to come from the approach of how this is a desire that is also elusive and unsatisfied (which is also an inherent mark of lust). I was angling this approach from 4:2-3, where James kept hammering away on this sense of their desires being frustrated and unmet.
By going with this approach, I wanted to point out that our sins of idolatry/spiritual adultery can happen in the most subtle ways. It happens more often than we think.
Also, Dan, can you elaborate a bit more on the “psychology to sin” comment? Wasn’t clear on that. Thanks, bro!
October 3, 2008 at 9:27 am |
David, it’s so true that our idols are so subtle. I think one common idol (and perhaps even more so in our day and age and in the Western world) is our desire for personal rights and entitlements.
Perhaps, as Dan pointed out, it’s more of a “lust” for rights.
“I have a right to be vindicated at all costs.” “I have a right to this time alone to ‘veg’ since I spent all morning with the kids.” “I’m entitled to spend this money any way I want since I worked so hard.” All these lead to our conflicts with God and with others.
It would be worthwhile to meditate on Jesus (and even Paul) to understand how they gave up their rights and at times even used their rights (for others and for the advancement of the Gospel).
I wonder — even as I’m typing all this in — where do legitimate boundaries (for rest, for family-care, for self-care, etc.) fit into all this?
October 5, 2008 at 9:26 pm |
@dmoon: you’re very most welcome. based on what odpcsermons says (whom i’m assuming to be P.John), i feel that pride is subsumed under this category of conflict and we often balk at this idea of prostrating ourselves before God or each other. but this is indeed as you well noted, self-evident of our spiritual deficiencies. And finally, to spin it in the other direction, to amend these deficiencies we can always “ask and ye shall receive”.
@odpcsermons: ah! i see. thank you for the explanation. i’ve re-read the verses James 4:2-3 and “elusive and unsatisfied” is verily posited into the text (it was almost funny because James seemed to be also saying that the harder you try, the harder you fall).
what i meant by there being a “psychology” to sin is that having unmet desires is not in itself an isolated event; there are certain behavioral symptoms (ie anger, grief, pride, etc) and even actions (judgement & punishment) towards each other and God that are sure to follow. But rarely, are we able to identify “unmet desire” as the cause a priori. Rather, we fail to make those connections between sin and our present or momentary conflicts.
October 6, 2008 at 9:44 am |
Thanks, Dan, for the explanation. It’s so true that we don’t make the connection between sin and our conflicts. How blind we are …
Just on a closing note (my last blog for this particular sermon post…) I think the more I’m getting older (is 37 old?), the more I see how there are a lot of sinful desires (especially idolatrous, God-displacing desires) in me that cause so much fights. In fact, the danger for me is that as I’m getting older, there are stronger feelings of entitlement/”I deserve this”edness and also of being “fixed” on my sentiments/opinions simply out of experience or life maturity — “supposed” life maturity.
How I hope to age gratefully, graciously (grace to others), and humbly.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 says , “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ‘I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.’”