DIAGNOSING TROUBLE

JAMES 4:1-5

JUNE 18, 2000

 

The human body has the remarkable capacity to build up immunities against certain diseases and harmful bacteria. Immunities prevent a person from contracting illnesses though the potential for the illness surrounds him. Quite often when Americans venture to certain areas of Africa or Asia, they immediately develop illnesses, while the nationals have no trouble with the same illnesses. The same is true of people from other continents that visit our country. Over a period of time, the human body adapts to the environment and many of the bacterial quirks native to it. But those from outside do not have the same level of immunities.

 

While immunities may be true in the physical realm, they are not true in the spiritual realm. We still live in the world with all of its attending pressures and temptations. We still live in vessels of clay that are subject to sin and the imperfections of this age. Becoming a Christian does not suddenly prevent you from falling into sin. Even believers must exercise wisdom and restraint to keep from falling prey to all manner of sin. This is why the biblical writers offer so many warnings about sin, being transformed in our minds, guarding ourselves, being vigilant, etc.

 

The audience that received James' epistle was made up of various churches, all subject to the temptations and sins of this age. They struggled with getting along with each other; struggled with class distinctions; struggled with self-aggrandizing teachers; struggled with envy, selfish ambition, and disorder. Their level of internal conflict was so fierce that James exposes their bent toward fighting, quarreling, and murdering each other, though the latter likely serves as hyperbole to explain the depth of the problem. Did they realize that their behavior was unbecoming of Christians? Did they realize that the Lord "gives a greater grace" so that Christians need not live as though they were pagans?

 

I believe we would all agree that James' message in this text is not culturally irrelevant! Has there ever been a day when there has been more fighting, fussing, and fuming in churches? Those outside the Christian community often laugh and amuse themselves at the expense of so-called Christian conflict. I have known of reports of police being called out to intervene in church squabbles! Division and fractured relationships characterize more churches than not. Is there any solution to such condition?

 

All of this can be termed "spiritual trouble." In taking seriously the demands of the gospel, we must learn to diagnose spiritual trouble and take action against it. How do we diagnose spiritual trouble and arm ourselves against it? James offers lucid instructions to keep Christians walking in liberty.

 

I. Diagnosing the roots

 

The idea of "roots" suggests getting to the bottom of something. It conveys the thought of foundation or a reason or impetus for some action or condition. In this case we are concerned to understand the roots of "quarrels and conflicts" that emerge among believers. James asks the pointed question: "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" His answer comes in the form of another searching question: "Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?"

 

The word "pleasures" is the Greek term, hedone, from which we get our word, hedonistic. It can be used positively in terms of finding pleasure in godly pursuits. John Piper has written an excellent work that focuses upon the idea of being what he calls, "a Christian hedonist." By this he means that we find our greatest pleasure in the enjoyment of God [Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist]. But in the case of our text, James uses the term in its negative sense, that is, an insatiable lust or desire for something without regard to restraint or discipline. James is not suggesting that pleasure itself is wrong. We can find pleasure in a thousand different things without falling into sin: a walk, watching a sunrise or sunset, playing with our children, eating a meal with friends, etc. The problem comes when we become "pleasure-dominated" or "pleasure-oriented." Even good things can become sinful when the pursuit of pleasure for self-satisfaction without regard for God or others becomes our aim. Pleasures are fine until "allied to, and at the service of, a sinful nature. Consequently the sinful self, setting its heart on this satisfaction or that, will not allow anything to stand in its way" [Alec Motyer, The Message of James, 142].

 

What lengths will "your pleasures" go to satisfy inward cravings?

 

1. Desire

 

James intends to show the power of "pleasures" by the use of terms that suggest intense desire. Notice the language, "You lust...you are envious...you ask...so that you may spend it on your pleasures." Each term adds another twist to the insatiable desire of man to have what he wants, when he wants it and in the way he wants it. The point James makes is that becoming a Christian does not instantly cure us of this kind of desire. His use of different words serves as a literary device to awaken us to the reality of the desires bound up in our natures.

 

No two of us are exactly alike. Our pleasures vary. Some desire fame or reputation. Others desire material possessions. Some long for a dominating position over others; others have insatiable sexual cravings. "Pleasures" can be applied in a multitude of ways. But the problem of pleasure is still the same: it controls us, drives us, overrides our good sense, destroys our relationships, and ultimately ruins us.

 

Back to James' question: "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" Why do you, as Christians living together in the Christian community, maintain constant conflict? The word, "quarrels," points to long-running battles existing among people, while "conflicts" speaks of the individual fights. Why both the long-running fights and even the short-term squabbles among Christians? The 17th C. Jewish philosopher, Spinoza, wryly observed: "I have often wondered that persons who make boast of professing the Christian religion-namely love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men-should quarrel with such rancorous animosity, and display daily towards one another such bitter hatred, that this, rather than the virtues which they profess, is the readiest criteria of their faith" [quoted by Doug Moo, TNTC, 138]. Ouch! What a biting statement from an unbeliever looking in on Christians! James tells us, we cannot point the blame on the meanness of the world or the problems in society. The blame for conflicts and quarrels falls upon our own pleasures.

 

2. Disappointment

 

But pleasures, when attempting to fulfill outside of a passionate satisfaction in the Lord, ultimately lead to disappointment. Notice how James pictures it: "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious 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 with wrong motives." In each case, attempts are made to satisfy one's own pleasures, but no fulfillment can be found: only disappointment.

 

It appears that James' intention is to call to mind the shocking reality that no matter how vigorously or ruthlessly we pursue our pleasures, outside of our relationship to Jesus Christ, pleasures cannot satisfy us. The pleasure-dominated ambitions of life only leave us with the most unsatisfying disappointments. Let me read the words of one who sought pleasure in excesses, wealth, prominence, possessions, and sex.

I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under the heaven the few years of their lives. I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men-many concubines.

 

Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them, I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun [Ecclesiastes 2:1-11].


3. Retaliation

 

"Frustrated desire leads to violence," comments Doug Moo [140]. That is exactly what James warns concerning pleasure. When our pleasures have lost a sense of focus upon the Lord and the beauty of what he has provided for us, all manner of verbal, emotional, and even physical violence can follow. "Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel." Keep in mind that James is exposing the problems of conflicts in the church. How have they come about? The disappointment of unfulfilled pleasures has led to a retaliatory conquest of anyone in the way. Alec Motyer is right in stating, "All our desires and passions are like an armed camp within us, ready at a moment's notice to declare war against anyone who stands in the way of some personal gratification on which we have set our hearts" [142].

 

We ask, "Do you mean that even believers can do such a thing?" Indeed, all we need do is remember David's pleasure-seeking affair with Bathsheba and the consequential retaliation that fell upon Uriah, his own family, and the nation.

 

The roots of spiritual trouble, with all its attending conflicts in the church, can be found in our unrestrained, undisciplined pleasures. Do you realize that even as believers you are capable of all manner of harm if you leave your pleasures unchecked?

 

II. Discerning the condition

 

But how do we get to this sort of position as believers? James offers help for discerning the condition that leads to unchecked, unrestrained pleasures.

 

1. Prayerlessness

 

With all of the lusting, envying, and desiring, James explains: "You do not have because you do not ask." The implication is that rather than finding the Lord to be his chief delight and the provider of all that he has, the Christian slips into a pattern of self-dependence and prayerlessness. He desires, envies, and clamors with all manner of sin to have what he wants. But James explains that had he not failed in neglecting prayer, he would have a deeper satisfaction than he ever imagined.

 

We must be careful at this point from drawing wrong conclusions. First, James is not offering prayer as a panacea for all the ills of society. The huge billboards that urge us to "Try Prayer," lack any Scriptural foundation. We are never told to "try prayer," as though it was one of many tools in our box that might be found useful. Prayer is first and foremost communication in relationship to the living God. It presupposes that a relationship has been established through the crucified and risen Lord, opening the way to God, and enabling us to commune with him (Heb. 10:19ff.). We do not get to the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

 

Second, we are not to resort to prayer as a substitute for repentance or obedience. Offering a few words of prayer may not be difficult for the one who would find deep repentance more objectionable. I remember years ago sitting in a room with men who had literally ravaged their church. The main culprit suggested that the men all gather on their knees and pray. Pious sounding prayers were offered. Afterward, some of the men were thinking that all their problems were over because they had prayed on their knees. I left shaking my head because I knew the deepest need was first repentance, then passionate prayer. But in this case, prayer was only a vapid substitute for the more needed work (Isa. 59:1-2).

 

Third, James was not suggesting that prayer is to be used for a pleasure-satisfying shopping list. He quickly explains that even when the unrestrained person prays, he will not receive from the Lord because the whole motive of prayer is wrong.

 

The problem of prayerlessness is symptomatic of an anemic relationship to the Lord. Something is missing in the believer's devotional life; or perhaps he has harbored some sin, nurturing it in the atmosphere of prayerlessness. Or maybe the believer has been undisciplined in taking time to pray. Whatever the reason, the warning is still the same: the believer fails to have the deepest pleasures of his life satisfied when he neglects prayer.

 

2. Self-centeredness

 

But someone hearing James' epistle read, quickly responds, "But I do pray!" James refuses to be cornered: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." Some have the attitude of the prayer found among the papers of a deceased member of the British Parliament.

O Lord, thou knowest that I have mine estates in the City of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased an estate in the country of Essex. I beseech thee to preserve the two counties of Middlesex and Essex from fire and earthquake; and as I have a mortgage in Hertfdorshire, I beg of thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county. As for the rest of the counties, thou mayest deal with them as thou are pleased [Kent Hughes, quoting John Blanchard, James: Faith that Works, 170].

 

Prayer does have parameters. We are to pray freely, liberally, but our prayers are to be governed by the will of God. As Calvin wrote, "James meant briefly this-that our desires ought to be bridled; and the way of bridling them is to subject them to the will of God" [quoted by John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 249]. We are not to approach the Lord with unrestrained pleasures governing our asking. "Prayer itself," writes Alec Motyer, "...is defiled by the insistently self-centred (sic) heart, so that 'we must either cleanse our hearts or stop our prayers'" [144]. He further states, "God does not permit us undisciplined asking" [143].

 

I think that we are all challenged at this point. What is the content of our prayers? What are the governing motives? Even those things that may be good and beneficial can slip into the vein of self-centeredness. We might pray for good weather-and for what reason, that we might not have our picnic spoiled or our baseball game cancelled. The lurking problem is the issue of our pleasures rather than the pleasure of God. Subjecting our prayers to the will of God can bridle the self-centeredness of the heart.

 

3. Spiritual infidelity

 

Even more arresting concerning the condition of the heart is James' assertion in verse 4: "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?" Again, he uses a question to pique the minds of his hearers to think about their spiritual wanderings. He calls them "adulteresses," a term reminiscent of the Old Testament. Jeremiah exhorted, "'Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,' declares the Lord" (3:20). The entire prophecy of Hosea is built upon this theme of Israel being betrothed to the Lord, but found to be guilty of spiritual adultery.

 

The opposite of this claim, "You adulteresses," indicates the intimacy that is bound up in the Christian's relationship to the Lord. If James can call the wandering aside into worldliness to be adultery, then faithfulness to the Lord indicates a joyous, passionate, intimate relationship with the Lord. As Isaiah expressed it, "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the Lord of hosts; and Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth" (54:5). Paul uses similar language in Ephesians 5 when he describes Christ as the Bridegroom and the church as his bride.

 

What is the nature of spiritual infidelity? James declares that it is "friendship with the world," which implies not only a love for the world but that the world loves back. It is a growing comfort with the worldly system that is set in opposition to the Lord. Curtis Vaughan explained, "To be "a friend of the world" is to value the approval of and cherish a relationship with persons and forces which are either indifferent toward or openly hostile to God. The situation is comparable to that of a wife who would cultivate friendship with a man trying to seduce her. Such a wife becomes her husband's enemy" [The Bible Study Commentary, 86].

 

III. Developing resistance

 

Must we just simply give in to our pleasures? The underlying instruction from James helps us to see how we are to develop a resistance to falling prey to unrestrained pleasures. It helps in understanding that "we who are AD children can live BC lives" [Motyer, 147].

 

1. Know the nature of the world

 

The questions James asks serve as a means to focus our attention on realties that might have slipped by us. Do we realize the nature of the world that seduces the Christian into infidelity? By "the world" he does not mean the world of nature, rather "the world of men and things as estranged from God, the world as regulated by principles contrary to God's will, the world as devoted to purposes other than those of God's glory. It is thus the personification of all that is opposed to God" [Vaughan 86]. We are living right in the midst of the world, but we are not to take on its shape or color nor embrace its influence (I John 2:15; Rom. 12:1-2).

 

The carping, fighting, and quarreling behavior found in the churches James addresses looks like the world. That is his whole point! Stop and take a good look at your behavior. Does it look anything like that of Jesus Christ? Does it abound with the fruit of the Spirit? Does it appear to be a foreshadowing of heaven? Then if not, it is of the world; and Jesus Christ died to deliver you from the power of the world. The shocking reality is that friendship with the world "is hostility toward God." The believer who desires friendship with the world, that is, to have some longing to follow after the system of thought and principles that stand in opposition to God, "makes himself an enemy of God." The very one for whom Christ died, who brought him into a relationship of sonship, and made him to be a kingdom of priests to God, is now on enemy status. James does not probe this any deeper, other than to state the issue with its severity.

 

2. Grasp the dependability of the Scripture

 

The fifth verse is the most difficult to translate in this epistle and certainly one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament. I have read a number of translations and explanations of scholars on different positions. The fortunate thing is that most of the translations, though varying, end up with similar application.

 

The first statement either points back to the summary of what James has just written or precedes a summary statement of Scripture concerning the holy jealousy of the Lord. There is no way to be dogmatic on this. But what can be lost in the shuffle of translations and commentating is the arresting statement written in the present tense: "Or do you think [literally, keep thinking or keep supposing] that the Scripture speaks to no purpose." Since punctuations were a much later addition to Holy Writ, let us ponder for a moment this thought: do we really believe what the Scripture teaches? Do we think that the Bible is a nice book with nice quotes and nice ideas; or do we see it as the very Word of God spoken to us with full authority?

 

If we are going to develop resistance to the pursuit of unrestrained pleasures, then we must rely upon the dependability of God's Word. This means that we must believe, really believe, the warnings the Scripture gives about following worldly pleasures. It also means that we must really believe the promises that God gives to enable us to stand firm in the face of temptation. We cannot make any progress in the Christian life apart from the Word of God. So let us grasp something of the utter dependability of God's Word for all of daily life.

 

3. Understand the holy jealousy of the Spirit

 

The latter part of verse 5 is even more difficult to interpret. Scholars question whether "the Spirit" refers to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit given by God. Since there are no distinctions in the early manuscripts, the context must determine the meaning. I am of the opinion that since James has obviously made reference to the matter of spiritual adultery, which is a common Old Testament motif, that the reference to "jealousy" must refer to similar texts in the Old Testament as well those that fall into this same vein of thought. For instance in Exodus 20:5 when God prohibits idolatry, he explains, "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...." We typically think of the word "jealous" in a negative sense, but that is not always true in Hebrew thought. Motyer explains, "Jealousy, properly considered, is a necessary ingredient of all true love. It is, on the one hand, a ceaseless longing for the loved one's welfare and, on the other, a desire for a responsive love as intense and as loyal as the love bestowed" [149]. This is the sense that it is used in the Bible concerning the Lord.

 

I think Weymouth's translation captures the essence of the text well: "The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in us yearns jealously over us." What does that mean, especially in terms of helping us to resist unrestrained pleasures? "We are brides of Christ, and the Holy Spirit does not want us to go somewhere else to "have our needs met"" [Kent Hughes, 177]. The Holy Spirit convicts us, is grieved over our sin, and quenched by our disobedience. He yearns within us to look to Jesus Christ, not the world, to find our deepest pleasure and satisfaction

 

Conclusion

 

Our pleasures can lead to all manner of sin and destruction unless we find our greatest pleasure in the Lord. That is what James call for: a refusal to look to the world for our pleasure and instead, to cherish our relationship to Jesus Christ above all things. Do you find your pleasure in the Lord or in other things?

 

We have made the diagnosis. Now let us apply the remedy, for God gives a greater grace to resist the world than the world can pour upon us.

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