I am going to read this passage again in the Message paraphrase version I hope for even greater effect:

1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. 2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way. 4-6 You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” 7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

We do not have to look far to know that we live in a MAD, MAD, MAD World!  It is more than just the title of an old movie but the sad and often tragic truth from right after the dawn of creation until now!  Some of you may have had a quarrel before you came to worship today!  I have had those in my experience. And sometimes try to make light of the fights and conflicts.

My personal favorite was the line about a guy who went to a fight and a hockey game broke out!

And there is the motto of Teddy Roosevelt that is alive and well today… “There is nothing I love like a good fight”.  Yet it appears that most of our fighting is not a good fight but normally a very bad fight that injures and harms.    You can see it on all levels.

On a global or world scale…Wars are happening now in the Near East and Ukraine and Russia.  Unrest in N Korea and China and Taiwan.

On a national scale…We have no war but there is violent crime and our prisons are overcrowded.   And we are deeply divided politically and ideologically.  Homicides and suicides are all too common and tragic.

On a personal scale…there are fights and quarrels form sea to shining sea.  Still nearly 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, and we see tragic shootings in public places and especially our schools.  I think much of this is traced to the breakdown of the home.

James is addressing fighting and quarrels that harm or injure and divide people.  Two words are used here.  One has to do with larger conflicts or what we might call wars.  The other is a more limited quarrel that is not as involved but no less painful and brings negative consequences.   We might see this as people can win battles and lose the war.  Japan won battles but lost the war.  Spanish Fort was one of the last battles of the Civil War.  The Confederacy won battles but lost the war.  So, there is a difference in these words and their meaning in the size and scope of a conflict.    Let’s look more closely at this text.

First Question:  Who is doing the fighting or quarreling?   

James writes, “what is the source of fighting among YOU”?  We can surely say that the “You” James is referring to is the church or Christians.    So, this is a message especially for believers.  It is not aimed at the world but the church, although it can apply to anyone.   Giving this background information let’s look at the real content of this teaching from James.   I want to look at the Cause, The Consequences and The Cure of Sinful desires.

The Cause…What is causing the conflict or fighting?  If you look at the larger context:

Two Causes are mentioned.  I want to list them first and then expound on each of them in the sermon today.

1 Desire, particularly sinful desires that wage war within us

2 Friendship with the World      So these are the causes of conflicts both internal and external, internal desire within us and external forces in the world.

First: Internal Desires 

The word for “desire” is “epithumia” in Greek. It can be a neutral word expressing desires that are not necessarily sinful.   We can have good desires.  We may have desires to improve our personal health to eat better and exercise.  We may have desires to improve our community life by being aware of concerns and needs and seeking ways to create a better community.  We may have a desire to be a better Christian to draw closer to God and strengthen our faith.   James is not writing to squash positive human desire.

But desires can be corrupted and misplaced.  In the KJV, the word normally used to express this negative desire is “lust”.  When we speak about lust, we might normally think about sexual lust.  We might think of biblical characters as David, Solomon or Samson who allowed their desire or passion to bring destructive consequences.  I was getting our SUV serviced recently and actually working on the sermon while in the waiting area.  They were playing music in the waiting area.  There was a song by Shania Twain… it has the words…he’s a fine piece of real estate and I’m gonna get me some land… that line sold a lot of airtime and records for her as it strikes at the heart of a common issue related to desire in our human condition. It was quite an aha moment while I was reading and studying this passage!   But the word for desire here is much broader based beyond sexual lust… these desires can be for power, position, property…you name it.   James and Paul write about lusts of the flesh which can dominate our lives. This is certainly what James is talking about here.

This goes all the way back to Eve who saw the tree and that it was good for food, pleasing to look at and what else?? Desirable to make a person wise.  All those connect with us and activate a desire within us to move away from God. As the great hymn reads, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it…There are desires in us that lust after things that we know are apart from God and that would separate us from God and God’s known will for our lives.

James picks up on this earlier when he speaks about temptation.

James 1:14: every person is tempted when they are drawn away…(and how are they drawn away?)… by their own desire…when that is conceived it brings sin and then sin brings death. But note that the negative cycle starts with our internal desire!

But more than our internal desire, James cites the second problem to cause these negative desires.

Second:  Friendship with the World (This is termed “adultery” as we betray God’s way for the World’s way).   

The OT prophets often accused Israel of adultery because they were pledged to be faithful to worship God alone. This is the first commandment.  But they worshipped other gods from the surrounding culture.  So their idolatry, worshipping other gods, was akin to adultery, in that they were unfaithful to God.  They allowed themselves to be influenced by the culture and strayed from God.

That problem did not go away. And it is still a problem today.  From the NT, John reminds us not to love the world.

  I John 2:15f

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

When we are talking about the “world” it refers to a world system ruled by Satan.  It is the world that is opposed to God and God’s design and plan for our lives.

In the world we lust to possess or take from someone else in opposition to the mind of Christ which is longing to give.  The world will always desire to possess for itself.  The mind of Christ will always look to give for the needs of others. The world will say my desire be satisfied and the mind of Christ says…not my will but Thy will be done, Lord.

But must also remember Jesus prayed that we would not be taken out of the world…we are still in the midst of this broken world…but He prayed that we be protected from the evil one who is opposed to God.  In essence, Jesus is saying, we are in the world, but not of the world.  What does that mean? I like what one commentator said about this:

We are not to engage in the sinful activities the world promotes, nor are we to retain the corrupt mind that the world creates. Rather, we are to conform ourselves, and our minds, to that of Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1-2). This is a daily activity and commitment.    (Quote from Got Questions Webpage).   A great question to ask ourselves is:   Who are we listening to?  What sources are we allowing to influence our decisions?  Is it the world or culture?  Or is it the word of God?  Are we living by bread alone (worldly desires) or by every word that comes from the mouth of God?  

Next, I want to move quickly and look at what these desires produce.

Consequences of Sinful Desires    I want to look at 2 of them.  First,

V2 You lust and do not have so you kill      Gosh!  That sound so harsh!  But it’s so true.

Early in Genesis we find that after Eve ate the forbidden fruit and death came. Then right after that, the first murder is recorded.   Cain killed his brother Abel because of his desire to have what Abel received.

One of the more infamous stories of the OT is that of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.  Jezebel has a name that is associated with evil to this day.  I don’t think anyone is going to name their daughter, Jezebel!   King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard.  It must have been a fine piece of real estate also.  When Naboth refused to part with his vineyard (“the inheritance of my fathers”), King Ahab comes in whining to Jezebel who reminds him that he is the king, and he can have anything he wants. Then Jezebel falsely charged Naboth with blaspheming “God and the king,” which led to Naboth’s death by stoning. King Ahab then went to seize Naboth’s land. Elijah confronted Ahab in the vineyard, predicting that he and all his heirs would be destroyed and that dogs in Jezreel would devour Jezebel.  And that prophecy came to pass!  But the desire for that prized property led to murdering Naboth!

Looking at events in our own time, I mentioned from the outset, the wars in Israel and the Near East and Ukraine and Russia are over land, properties and power or control.  But if you look in a history book, you will find that there have been more wars and conflicts that result from the same sinful desires from ancient times til now.  Next, a little less intense!

V2b you are envious and cannot attain so you fight and quarrel

We learn  from an early age to push our way to the front of the line or wanting to ride in the front seat or pitching a fit if we don’t’ get it.  Or manipulating to get the bigger piece of the pie.  But it escalates to cheating on tests to make better grades or “cooking the books” in the largest business to try and increase our image above other businesses.

This even happened among the chosen disciples closest to Jesus.  They were even fighting over who was the greatest.  James and John wanted to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in his glory.  And they were fussing over who was going to sit in what place with Jesus, even at the Last Supper.   I must be careful to suggest that I am not sure I might have not done the same thing they did.

I like what Barclay’s commentary reads,

Desire/Lust is the root of all evils which ruin life and divide men.  Willam Barclay

Another great word about this is from Bishop Moberly:

Desires of various sorts are like soldiers of the devil’s army posted and picketed all over us in the hope of winning our members and so ourselves, back to his allegiance, which we have renounced in our baptism.   Lord, help us!    This leads to the last part teaching how we overcome these negative lusts and desires.

The Cure in 2 Parts: Submit to God and Resist the Devil

Submit to God

In essence this means we wave the white flag and stop trying to fight our battles by ourselves.  Simply stop fighting. ES Jones called it Victory through Surrender.  When you face an enemy bigger and stronger than you what do you do?  Go for reinforcements! You have someone stronger on your side!

I love Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress.  There is a line in that hymn which reads…did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.  Were not the right man on our side the man of God’s own choosing.  Dost ask who that may be?  Christ Jesus it is He.  Lord Sabaoth His Name. From age to age, the same. And He must win the battle.  He has already won the battle!  And He through the Spirit lives in us!   Speaking of Martin Luther, when Luther was under strong temptation and fighting internal sinful desires, he would repeat to himself, “Remember your baptism, remember your baptism”.  This is how he fought the desire to give in to the enemy and stray from God.  He would claim his position in Christ as One who would win the battle.  As we think about this in our own lives, we remember our baptism where we renounced our sins, died to self-will and desires that war against God.  Our worldly and sinful desires are drowned in the waters of baptism as we remember that Christ died for our sins.  So, as Paul writes, we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.    In other passages Paul talks about “putting to death” the lusts of the flesh that would cause us to sin and stray from God. (Romans 8:13)

As David fought the giant Goliath, he stated, “The battle is the Lord’s”.  So, we must first submit ourselves and our desires to God.  We cannot resist until we first submit to God.  Note v5 He gives us His Spirit and then in v 6 He gives us greater grace.  I think this is empowering us to overcome sinful desires that can control our lives.  Then after we submit our desire to God, we must then:

Resist The Devil

While God gives us His Spirit we must cooperate and do our part.  We must still resist. Eve did not resist and ate the forbidden fruit.  David did not resist when he saw Bathsheba.  Samson did not resist when he saw Delilah.  King Ahab did not resist when he coveted Naboth’s vineyard.   They caved into their desires, and this brought sin and death.

I know we are in football season, and I picture a running back trying to get into the endzone.  The running back takes evasive action when he can.  He puts out a stiff arm to deter the tackler and when needed he will exert all his power so that he will not be taken down before he reaches the endzone.  There is a lot of resisting happening in his action.

I recently watched the movie about Ronald Reagen.  It depicted closely his political career but more than anything his love and affection for his wife Nancy.  You will recall her campaign against drugs?  Remember? What were the lines?… “Just say, NO!”.   Many criticized that statement as being too weak or ineffective.  But it is certainly in keeping with what James is telling us.

2 last scriptures that teach this same truth about resisting.

  Titus 2:11-12 

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and in a godly manner in the present age.  

In the NIV it reads “to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly desires”.

Note again the words from the Message: Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time.

I Peter 5: 8-9 Be alert and have a sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

In the small church where I was raised was a man named Everett.  Everett was an every -Sunday Christian.  He came early and opened the doors and made sure the heat or ac was turned on correctly.  He would say very little as he was mostly a quiet man.  But every day counted in his journey.  His testimony was simply this…I aim to make heaven my home and the bible says they that endure to the end will be saved. I plan to be in that number and I am doing everything I can to stay committed to Christ.  He was submitted but also resisting and saying, “NO” to any obstacles that would prevent him from his relationship with Christ.

The ultimate example is Jesus himself.  In the Garden He fully submitted Himself to God and He resisted the desire to walk away from the bitter cup of suffering.  But he submitted and said, “Not my will but Thy will be done”.  Our salvation rests upon His action. PTL!

I am confident that each of us are facing different battles and different desires right now. Some of you here today might need to submit some things to God or surrender a need or problem and pray for greater grace and empowerment to help you resist those desires that you know oppose God, may injure yourself or others and even separate you from God.

We can pray where we are in our chairs today.  Your altar is your heart.  Let’s give God some space to speak and move in our midst as we come to this closing time today.