Introduction: For those here who know their military history, today is a significant day.  Sixty years ago today, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France in what has gone down in history as D-Day - Deliverance Day.  Many young men sacrificed their lives that day on those beaches so that the Allied Armies could get a foothold on Europe for the purpose of defeating the Axis powers, especially Nazi Germany. I don’t know how many times I have seen those pictures of men coming ashore and seeing some shot to death as they scrambled out of the water. Thankfully their sacrifices paid off and the Allied forces won the war.  This day and those who were there are honored by people all over the world, but the sad reality is why they had to be there and die there?  Because of war.  Because a few people were greedy for power and had taken freedom away from so many.   This day and many like it down through man’s history have been glorified and grab people’s imaginations.  We must be thankful for the sacrifices these men and women made, but we can’t glorify the act of war which is never glorious.  War always brings death and destruction.  It is a necessary evil in this world of sinful human beings, but it is never glorious.  It is also very sad that many in Europe no longer appreciate the sacrifices these young men made so that the people of Europe could be free from the Nazis.  Amazingly, many today do not appreciate the sacrifice that Christ made for them on the cross.

 

My message today is not about national wars, but rather it is about personal wars among believers. Sometimes we see churches with problems and wonder why all churches can't be like the New Testament churches. The truth is --- we are! The church in Jerusalem refused to accept Paul because of his past, the church at Corinth struggled with incest, drunkenness, and lawsuits, and the church at Galatia moved from a grace oriented family to a legalistic self-righteous body! We expect ignorant people in school or sick people in hospitals! We should also expect problems in the church. James addresses in the first three verses the problem of wrangling!

 

I. The Seriousness of the Problem --- "wars and fightings among you" (v.1)

 

Wars --- refers to a settled state of fighting; a condition of animosity.

 

Fightings --- refers to individual battles within the war.

 

Kill --- Another word that could be used here would be “murder”  Where believers murdering each other in the churches that James was writing to?  It is very possible, but I believe James is referring to spiritual murder just as the Apostle John does in 1 John 3:15 “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

 

Why do these two things take place among believers?  Jeremiah 17:9 give us an answer: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  None of us is capable of understanding or knowing to what depths of depravity he or she can sink if out of fellowship with God.  And when this old nature is fed through the lusts of the flesh and the new nature is starved by lack of prayer, Bible study, and church attendance - there is no limit to what a Christian can do.

 

A. A healthy church is one of differences without division.

An unhealthy church ends up as a place where people want to war with others.

 

B. A healthy church is one of confrontation without condemnation.

A healthy church will have problems, but will not have condemnation.

A healthy church will confront those in sin but without condemnation.

 

C. A healthy church is one with accountability without animosity.

An unhealthy church will have a cloud of animosity over it.  You walk into such a church and you immediately feel the oppression and war that festers in that place among those people.  Does that sound like something God is going to be pleased with?

 

Illustration: British Lord Trafalgar had  two admirals in his navy during one of the wars between England and France who were quarreling about some matter.  Lord Trafalgar got them together and took their hands and put them together and said, "Yonder is the enemy."

 

Application: Have you considered how serious a problem of having wars and fightings within you can be?  I don’t think many Christians have.  We just go our own way and say we will let the chips fall where they may not ever thinking that God may not be pleased with how we are treating other believers.  The enemy is Satan, not each other.

 

II. The Source of the Problem --- "come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" (v.1b).

Literally --- "you are angry because you are not getting what you want."  Sounds rather childish doesn’t it?  We don’t like to hear that but in all reality that is exactly what is true.

 

They come from our lusts -- "Lust" translates the word "heedonai" from which we get the word "hedonism." Hedonism is more than sensuality; it means to get what "I" want, when "I" want it.

 

They also come from accepting the earthly wisdom that James warned about in chapter 3:14-16.  What were the two marks of such wisdom?  Bitter envy and strife.  So where does this earthly wisdom wish to take us?  Right to the first three verses of James 4. Count on it; it will do it every time.

 

But where are such lusts lurking?  James says they are in our members, and I believe this is speaking of the personal life of the believer.  Each believer has two natures - the old nature and the new nature.  They are each seeking to have the predominance in our life.  Lusts are obviously part of the old nature.

 

Let me ask you two questions:

 

A. Can you worship when things don't go your way?

Churches make decisions but sometimes those decisions do not always go the way that everyone in the church may like.

We should get "onboard" once the decision has been made.  Strong believers will make their feelings and opinions known but will go on once the decision is made; they will refuse to worship the Lord with God’s people. 

 

What do you do when things are not going your way at church or with other believers?

 

B. Can you serve when things aren't as you desire?

 

Illustration: Peanuts - Lucy and Linus - Lucy comes in room and demands TV channel be changed. She threatened him with her fist. "What makes you think you can walk in here and take over."Linus asks her what right she has to come into the room and demand that he change the channel. Lucy raises her hand and says, "These five fingers. Individually they are nothing. But when I curl them together like this into a single knit they form a weapon that is terrible to behold. "What channel do you want?" Linus asks  Turning away he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can't our guys get organized like that?"

 

The truth is: Many people in churches where they do not get their way, get organized and rebel against what they do not like.  God is not pleased with such an attitude.

 

III. The Scope of the Problem --- "ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain" (v.2-3).

People seem to always rationalize their desires to do what they want to do.

 

A. With other people --- we kill their reputations and character by gossip and slander.

You don't even have to say bad things about people, just how you say it - it can still kill their reputation.

 

Here is an acrostic of the word “Think” that I hope will help us think before we speak about others, all others.

 

·      T—Is it true?

·      H—Is it helpful?

·      I—Is it inspiring?

·      N—Is it necessary?

·      K—Is it kind?

 

Illustration: Yiddish forklore offers a telling tale about gossip-makers. One such man had told so many malicious untruths about the local rabbi that, overcome by remorse, he begged the rabbi to forgive him. “And, Rebbe, tell me how I can make amends.”

The rabbi sighed, “Take two pillows, go to the public square and there cut the pillows open. Wave them in the air. Then come back.”

The rumormonger quickly went home, got two pillows and a knife, hastened to the square, cut the pillows open, waved them in the air and hastened back to the rabbi’s chambers. “I did just what you said, Rebbe!”

“Good.” The rabbi smiled. “Now, to realize how much harm is done by gossip, go back to the square...”

“And?”

“And collect all your feathers.”

 

B. With God --- we pray but we "ask for ourselves."

 

How many times have we asked God for something that we really wanted and knew in our heart that it was a selfish thing we asked for? Probably more times than we want to admit.  God does want us to pray, and God will not answer if we do not pray.  That is for sure, but the problem here is that they only asked God for things so they could “consume it upon your lusts.”  Rather than praying for something that could bring honor and glory to God, or to bless another, these believers, and many today, pray selfishly for God to give them something.

 

Illustration: O Lord, thou knowest that I have my estates in the city of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased an estate in the county of Essex. I beseech thee to preserve the two counties of Middlesex and Essex from fire and earthquake; and I have a mortgage in Hertdordshire, I beg of thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county. As for the rest of the counties, thou may deal with them as thou are pleased." - John Ward, British Parliament

 

Ÿ         Rather than praying for health in order to serve, we pray in order to feel better.

Ÿ         Rather than praying for money in order to give, we pray in order to spend.

 

This pattern of selfishness infects everything that is done --- thus wars and fightings.

 

Though we may not now be a place of fightings and wars, we need to ask God to keep us from becoming a place of fightings and wars.  We need to pray for other churches where there are wars and fightings within, for they are part of our Body as well, and what affects them affects us as well.

 

Conclusion: Are you at war with other believers?  Is there bitter envying and strife in your heart toward somebody in this church or elsewhere?  Are there unresolved issues between yourself and another?  Have you been seeing a decided decrease in answered prayers in recent times?  If this is true for somebody here today then you need a D-Day in your life.  You need to be delivered of that selfish sin.  You need to confess that sin and get things right with those you have been fighting with.  As your pastor, I do not know of any such situations but I am only human and cannot know all things, nor need to know all things.  I simply declare to you what God’s Word says here.  Let’s put war away from us once and for all.