STOP FIGHTING (3): ATTEND TO YOURSELF

(James 4:1, 7-10)

August 18, 2019

Read James 4:1, 7-10 -- “What causes fights among you?” We’ve seen 2
causes – the flesh inside and the world outside. Now Jas give another –
insufficient humility. We think too much of ourselves and too little of God.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was asked on his 90th birthday how he’d done
all he’d done – Civil War veteran, Supreme Court Justice and all. “What’s the
secret of your success?” Holmes replied, “The secret to my success is that at
a very early age I discovered that I’m not God.” That’s a discovery we all
need. God needs a lot less help and a lot more trust than most of us think.

Jas’ question in 4:1-12 is, “Why the fights?” 4:1-6 deal with the problem --
the Attack From Within – the flesh (1-3); and II. Attack From Without –
the World (4-6). Today we see the first of a two-part solution: III. Attend to
Yourself (7-10). How can I manage myself to avoid church battles. Jas
answers with ten commandments in 4 verses! The Ten Commandments of
unity! The primary one is his summary statement in v. 10: “Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Humble yourselves. Most
fights are about someone defending their opinions, are they not? It’s true.

But humility’s tough, right? The harder you try, the more you’re not. Soon as
you think you’ve arrived, you haven’t! True humility comes in not thinking of
self at all. So Jas gives two subordinate commands to help us – I. Reach for
God. II. Resist Satan. Do that and humility will happen while you’re not
watching. This is what humility looks like – Reach for God; resist the devil!

I. Reach for God

Jas gives 2 ways to reach for God. “Submit yourselves therefor to God.”
“Submit” (ὑποτάσσω) “to arrange under” – a military term meaning to rank
under. It highlights the authority of God and the surrender of us -- voluntarily.
“Submit yourselves.” Live out the commitment you made to Jesus as Lord.

Then v. 8: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” Draw near to
God. Treasure Him. Seek Him out. Prov 8:17: “I love those who love me, and
those who seek me diligently find me.” Isa 55:6: “Seek the Lord while he may
be found; call upon him while he is near.” You get the point. God treasures
those who treasure Him – shown by seeking Him out in His Word and prayer.
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It’s hard to give up control. But that’s God’s rightful demand. It doesn’t leave
us out, but it gets the order right. Like when I used to “drive” the tractor at age
5. Dad didn’t just hand me the keys and say “Back by 7:00.” He sat behind
me, let me steer wherever he pointed – finding joy in cooperating with his
will. So with God. So how exactly do we submit and draw near?

A. In Attitude

Jas says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded.” That’s commitment, both inward and outward. But it starts
inside – with the heart -- where we really live. Prov 4:23: “Keep your heart
with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Keep it. Be careful
what it is exposed to – what it is seeing, thinking, reading, contemplating.
Watch your heart. What is inside will eventually come out. An impure heart is
double-minded. We want God’s benefits, but we don’t want God. We want
His blessings, but we don’t want His restrictions. We want Him when we need
Him, but we want to be left alone the rest of the time. We’re double-minded.

But Jesus doesn’t allow for split loyalties. Mt 6:24: “No one can serve two
masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money”
or ambition, or a hobby, or another person, or any other idol you could name.
Rom 10:9: “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” If
you are a Xn this morning, and I trust you are, at some point in your life, you
disavowed all Lords except one. You committed to follow Jesus exclusively.

But the old self is still there, isn’t it? Warring against the Spirit: Gal 5:17:
“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit
are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other.” The temptation to
double-mindedness is constant – never relenting. Which is why Jesus also
said in Lu 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself (once
for all) and take up his cross daily and follow me.” The once for all death to
self and living for Christ requires daily renewal – not bc we lost our salvation,
but to live it out. We need a pure heart. You get that by being with God – all
the time – the devotional times, yes, but also the work and play times – always
conscious of Him and how He would view things.

An example. An old prof of mine now teaches SS at church we attended in

CA. A few months ago I got an email he put out to many friends. “Thanks to
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those who love me, who meant things so kindly. However, I was fine
Sunday, just had my head bowed, eyes closed, praying on the parking lot
when I thought I was alone, as I got my breath a bit better from climbing the
hill. I checked in with Him about the class I just had taught. I often lean
against something in my laziness, so I was leaning against the back of a car
as I prayed, and when I pray sometimes I become pretty emotional and deep
in concentration. Some dear person misread, and before I knew it people
were everywhere. I learned Paramedics had been called. Of course, I was
okay, and answered all questions and did the gestures they are trained to go
through. I went to my doctor Mon. as I promised Paramedics, though I did
not need to. I went out for lunch with people, drove the 30 min. home, have
felt fine, and today a wonderful day in special study and helping friends.
God bless you; let us all thank Him.” Do we live with God in such intensity
that people might call the Paramedics?! What a challenge. Not double-
minded, but living with God, always seeking His desire. In constant touch.

B. In Actions

Purify your hearts = stop thinking evil. And Cleanse your hands = stop doing
evil. What our purified heart urges, our hands must do. Follow through. We’ve
confessed our sin, now show the confession was real. Turn away from the sin
and toward Christ. We must let our actions follow the devotion of our heart.

“Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” You say, “Surely it is God who must
cleanse me. I cannot cleanse myself.” And that is true. That is the new
covenant, promised by God and delivered to every believer. Ezek 36: 25 I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your
uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give
you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the
heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put
my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to
obey my rules.” God gives us the new purified heart, and God gives us the
Spirit who causes us to walk in His statutes and rules. None of this will
happen without Him, and if we ask, He will do His part. Phil 2:13: “For it is
God who works in you, both to will [pure heart] and to work [clean hands] for
his good pleasure.” There is God in the background, the ultimate cause.

But note the previous v. Phi 2:12: “Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling.” Work it out. God’s work doesn’t take us off the hook – not to
gain God, but to live up to the position He’s already given us. We do this

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because we want to, not because we have to, but it is on us! Jn 14:15: “If you
love me you will keep my commandments.” Those are everywhere in the NT.

Jn 13:34, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Eph 4:26b: “Do not let the
sun go down on your anger.” Eph 4:29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of
your mouth.” Eph 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives.” Eph 5:33b: Let the
wife see that she respects her husband.” Eph 6:1: “Children, obey your
parents.” Eph 6:5: “Obey your earthly masters . . . as you would Christ.” I
Thess 5:15: “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil.” I Thess 5:16,
“Rejoice always.” 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.” Jn 15:12: “Love one
another.” I Thess 4:7: “Abstain from fornication.” Col 3:23: “Work heartily
as for the Lord.” Rom 12:10: “Love one another.” Col 4:9: “Do not lie to one
another.” Phil 2:3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition.” Eph 5:4: “Let there
be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking.” Rom 12:21: “Overcome
evil with good.” I Pet 1:22: “Love one another.” These are commands,
Beloved. Anyone who tells you it’s just “Let go and let God,” has missed
something. We’re not off the hook. Yes, God has done and is doing His part.
But we have a part to play as well. And we will answer for how we did!

A ruthless businessman once told Mark Twain, “Before I die, I’m going to do
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mt. Sinai and read the Ten
Commandments aloud at the top.” Twain replied, “I have a better idea. You
should stay home in Boston and keep them.” That is the privilege we have as
those who claim Jesus as Lord. Great, He says, now act like it!

II. Resist the Devil

Now, the second part of humility. 7b: “Resist the devil and he will flee from
you.” Give an inch and he’ll be in the tent. Resist and he’ll go elsewhere.

A. In Attitude -- 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your

laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Jas borrows from
Jesus’ again. Lu 6:21b: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”
So what are we to weep and be wretched about? Our penchant to sin, Beloved.
We resist the devil by developing a true hatred of sin. We have rose-colored
glasses when it comes to this. We don’t see reality and there is a reason.

II Cor 11:14b: “for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” We

think it’ll be easy to resist Satan. We’d never rob a bank, commit murder,
commit adultery, embezzle from the company or betray a friend. We’d just
never do such things. Nor would the devil ask you to!
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Satan comes as an angel of light. He doesn’t do ugly; he looks good! How’d
he tempt Jesus – with bread, with the kingdoms, with spectacular success. He
doesn’t tempt to murder but to hold a grudge at a legit wrong. He comes in the
form of a seductive billboard, a TV set that promotes violence and immorality,
the temptation to puts kids above spouse; hobbies above worship, worldly
advantage above wisdom from above. He starts small and builds from there
until the trap is sprung. So we must learn to hate the small things – to mourn
and weep over our vulnerability – to hate sin in any and all forms.

We live on the edges, searching how close we can come to temptation without
getting burned, rather than seeking the safety of the center of God’s
commands. How much do I have to? How far can I push this flirtation without
sin? How much can I participate in the bawdy humor and nonsense of the
crowd without penalty? Too often that’s our mindset. And it’s a red flag.

We’re like the guy working under his house who suddenly yelled and shot out.
His wife asked, “What’s wrong?” He said, “I reached to pick up the crowbar
– and it slithered out of my hands.” That’s just how sin works. It looks good
– until the trap is sprung and it is revealed for the devil who promotes it. We
need to occasionally weep over sin – living a life of repentance and reflection.

B. In Actions – So, the heart of resistance is developing such a

sensitivity to Satan that we smell sin out, and hate it enough to turn away even
as we love it? But how do we do that?

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Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” We’ve come
full circle. You resist the devil by drawing near to God. Same formula it’s
always been. Time in the Word and prayer, right? The Xn disciplines. Living
in the word that knows us better than we know ourselves – that is “living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword . . . discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). We must get that Word into us. And we
must “in confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).

When Satan hit Jesus head on, where’d he go? Deuteronomy – all three
recorded times. You don’t do that unless you’ve spent some time in
Deuteronomy, right? It is the Word that Satan hates and the Word that will
send him away with his tail between his legs.

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And remember how Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Mt 6:13) – Literally, “deliver us from
the evil one.” Ask the Lord to deliver you. And don’t be give up when it
doesn’t happen overnight, Beloved. We spend years building up questionable
habits and resistance to God. Turning that around is a process, not a one-time
event. But the more we work at it, the easier becomes, the more we grow, and
the more we begin to love God and hate the devil and all he represents.
Meantime humility grow automatically.

Conc – So how do we stop fighting? By cultivating humility as we reach for

God and resist the devil. Fights involve someone protecting their turf.
Humility has left the building when that happens. Jas is urging, “Let’s bring
humility back, developing a rich devotional life, focused on Him.”

Let me give you a picture of what this looks like by a quote from Francois
Fenelon, a 17th century theologian. He said: “Tell God all that is in your
heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear
friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys,
that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them;
tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of
your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds
of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good,
your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self–love makes
you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride
disguises you to yourself as to others.” Tell God – not the other person! Do
you see how that kind of devotion removes virtually any cause for fighting
among brothers and sisters? So, together, let’s reach for God and resist the
devil. Let’s pray.