PURIFYING YOUR FAITH
Monday, March 5th 2023
Selfish Passions Cause Strife!
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
James 4:1 (NAS)
WHAT LEADS to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever warring in your bodily members?
(Amplified)
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
(KJV)
As we embark on our first corporate Fast of the year, I can imagine that you would like to go over your prayer notes and your Faithlist from The Faith Convention, you should, and you might wonder why have I not seen/done this and that?
In the next 3 days, we shall detail a few verses in James 4 as we can take and by His Spirit and the cooperation of your yielding, GOD’s Word will perfect His Will in you. Please note your cooperation CANNOT be bypassed, so use a mirror to see you better as you read this, not a lens to view others.
James begins this section like a doctor because he is aware that the external signs are only symptoms of a deeper issue, and by asking questions, he quickly diagnoses the heart of the problem which is their heart (which is the problem of ALL of our hearts)!
The doctor must first make the correct diagnosis to offer the correct cure. And remember he is speaking to believers and so these problems are clearly rearing their ugly heads in SaltCity and he wants to help them understand how a person grows up to a mature relationship in Christ.
There is a call to repentance in this verse, why? It is very easy to slip to follow earthly, unspiritual, devilish wisdom.
To give context to this, see the previous verses
James. 3
Wisdom from Above
13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and [k]selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, [l]natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and [m]selfish ambition exist, [n]there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, [o]reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, [p]impartial, free of hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace [q]by those who make peace.
Now in the verse 4, we are asked a question;
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? — Amplified = “WHAT LEADS to strife (discord and feuds) and how do conflicts (quarrels and fightings) originate among you?”
James asks the first of two sharp questions to identify the source of their strife. In your interpersonal relationships, what is it that brings about conflict and quarrels among you?
His second question will answer the first one. And remember James has been addressing his readers as my brethren (James 3:12+), so he is speaking to believers in local bodies of Christ.
The cause of quarrels is often sought in external circumstances, whereas internal lusts are the true origin.
At the end of chapter 3, James explains that false wisdom leads to disorder and every evil practice (Jas 3:16+), and that true wisdom results in good fruit (Jas 3:17+) and righteousness (Jas 3:18+). From this poetic description of wisdom expressed in general terms, James returns to practical application.
One of the simple things to catch from this text is that fights and quarrels among Believers are evidence of ungodly wisdom among us. That is to say, if you fight and quarrel often, you are not living by the wisdom that is from above, you are rather governed by sensual wisdom.
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.
Quarrels here literally refers to an armed conflict or war (opposite of eirene — peace which godly wisdom gives), it pictures the chronic state or campaign of the war.
The origin of war or of any quarrel is sometimes hard to find, but James touches the sore spot here. So quarrels here mean a state of war and the lasting resentment connected with it, while conflicts as used here picture violent personal relationships.
It is used only figuratively in the NT and is always in the plural referring to battles fought with words not weapons (although the tongue can certainly be a vicious weapon of sorts!)
In this context, conflicts refer to battles or outbursts of passion that occur during a state of war.
Quarrels refer to larger military engagements (battles or wars), whereas Conflicts typically refer to engagements between individuals or smaller groups (fights, contests).
A sword fight between two individuals is a conflict; an engagement of two armies, or even a full-scale war, is a Quarrel. The use of both terms may indicate that conflict in the churches involves both individual animosities and party antipathy.
Almost all who have such a critical and contentious attitude claim they are prompted and supported by the Spirit of GOD. James makes it clear that this contentious manner comes from your desires. “It is self-evident that the Spirit of GOD does not create a desire which issues in envying.
James does not, of course, here refer to wars between nations but to the factional bickerings in the churches, the personal wrangles that embitter church life. “Among you,” he adds, to drive the question home.
Notice that James doesn’t ask whether there are fights and quarrels among us–he assumes it. James, however, is clearly concerned about the kind of arguments and conflicts that cannot be justified. That is, they cannot be ascribed to righteous zeal but rather to selfish ambition.
It is interesting to know that the fiercest battles in our churches are seldom fought over theology. More often, they are fought over change, sometimes even the slightest change. They are also fought over personalities, over music preferences, over leadership style, over Rules of Order, and over injured feelings.
Why? James offers an interesting insight here in the first verse. It is that believers are often at war with one another because . . . Believers are at war with themselves.
James goes on to say;
Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? —
CSB = “Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you?”
NIV = “Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”
This is rhetorical and expects a “Yes, you are correct James.” So James answers his own question before they can wax eloquent (making excuses, rationalizing, etc — we never do that do we?)!
His “diagnosis” is that the strife going on externally between saints (brethren Jas 4:11+) is a reflection of the war going on internally, in their hearts. They sought to selfishly satisfy their base, carnal inner cravings!
Once again James simply validates what Jesus had taught declaring “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man., for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (Mt 15:18, 19, cf Mk 7:21–23)
Selfish Passions Cause Strife!
The source of your pleasures is more literally “out of” your sinful, sensual lusts, depicting the inner desire to get something that one does not possess and yet greatly desires to possess.
Mark it down that selfishness will always destroy peace. Think of how this principle impacts so many marriages in our day! There is only one solution and it is to kill sin before it kills your marriage.
How can you know if you are in the flesh or in the Spirit? Here’s a short checklist -
Are you conscious of a secret spirit of pride?
because of your natural gifts and abilities, love of human praise, a secret fondness to be noticed, love of supremacy, a touchy, sensitive spirit, a disposition to resent and retaliate when you are reproved of or contradicted, self-will, a stubborn unteachable spirit, harsh, sarcastic expressions, an arguing, talkative spirit, an unyielding, headstrong disposition, a disposition to criticize and pick flaws, a peevish, fretful spirit, an unpleasant sensation in view of the great prosperity and success of somebody else, a disposition to speak of the faults and failings rather than the gifts and virtues of those more talented and appreciated than yourself, given to exaggeration, etc, etc.
It’s those passionate, earthly, natural, selfish, carnal desires. When you turn it over and the controls are taken by yourself rather than the Lord, that old nature rises to the surface and it acts in this way, totally contrary to the agenda and the program the Lord has in making you more Christlike.
The statement that wage war in your members suggests that the primary site of the war is internal, but while this is true, that is not what James is addressing, for his focus is on individuals continually at “war” (with words) with each other. The internal source feeds the external strife.
Today evaluate your interpersonal relationships throughout 2023, how godly have you been? How loving have been? How forgiving are you? Elder James tells us that the state of our interpersonal relationships affects our receiving from GOD.
Take time to think on this today and pray by the Spirit every 3 hours for 15mins.
GOD bless you.
Tobore Davids