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| JAMES LESSON #62 Ok � so you have this person and that person that literally �drive you UP the wall!� �the venture to church on Sunday morning is FAR from �peaceful� � and you�re not real happy that so and so IS somebody at work..and you�re not. Life on the home front is chaos � and the one word definition you�d give last week is �conflict.� Obviously there�s a problem. Where�s all this stuff come from? What�s the �source� of the problem? We�re supposed to be �children of God� � �joint heirs of the King� �something in this picture is �off!� James 4:1 The word �source� is not there in the Greek. The word �ek� is there. Translated, it means, �out from.� Where did these quarrels come �out from?� Where did these conflicts come �out from?� -then he answers the question. Look at the word �pleasures.� The word �pleasures� in the Greek is �Hedonai.� When you look at that word, what word do you hear? �Hedonism.� � the total self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life. If there are quarrels and conflicts at home- in business- in ministry you can know immediately where they�re coming from. It takes �two� to tangle � it takes �one� to brew, stew and pout� � whichever the case, the problem is in the heart � and the issue is self-centeredness. �being �all about me.� This verse isn�t about the conflicts that happen between a believer and an unbeliever � or about those who�ve risen against you as a peacemaker � this is talking believer to believer � brother to brother � over self-centered �me first� issues that breed division and destroy �within� the body. Whatever the conflict is, if you are �participating� you�ve got a problem internally � a self-centered, �me first� �desire� problem. It�s not the desires of others that cause the conflict. It�s that your desires and their desires don�t agree � and in terms of God�s desire in the situation? He hasn�t even been consulted! If you�re in a battle, it�s because you want it your way. If you wanted it �God�s way,� there would not be a conflict. If you�re insisting on your way � the conflict is internal. The Holy Spirit is losing control, or has lost control of you. How do you know? Because Galatians 5:22 lists the �fruit� or the �evidence� of the Holy Spirit as being, �love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control.� The quarrels you are in are not a matter of you �being in the wrong place at the wrong time.� Wrong. It�s about your heart. It�s easy to �blame� � it�s hard to �own truth� about where things are in you. I can already here it � �But you should HEAR what that person said � you should SEE what they did! They were totally in the wrong..� � in a �conflict� it�s not about who SAID and who DID � it�s about your REACTION � which is a reflection of your heart. Ugh! I�m not saying that your environment will always be good. I�m not saying that your family is not dysfunctional, that your boss isn�t a jerk, that your pastor doesn�t perform to your expectations - I�m saying that if you�re in conflict, �you� are participating � and that participation is an �active� response from your heart. Ok � so I have �desires� � I have �pleasures� as James calls them. Those �self-seeking high demand me first� moments. What exactly are some of the �pleasures� that manipulate me into wrong reactions? A big one in all of us is a yearning for �self� love � verses, love for God and love for man. Take care of me � watch out for me � focus on me- look good for me- act good, speak good � for me�When we talk about trusting the �heart� of God we come face to face with the question � in terms of �me� � who am I going to please? God � or- me? That�s an easy question to answer at church � but go out into the week � live under a dominant, controlling manipulative spouse � or a tyrant boss that ridicules and puts you down � or kids that bad mouth you and wreak havoc in your home �then ask the same question. The answer isn�t as easy. I Peter 2 talks about slaves who had horrible masters � and gives a call for those slaves to be �submissive� to those masters � not bad mouthing � not speaking back at: Submissive: yielding without resistance � Then it offers �Jesus� as an illustration of that kind of submission. When you look at the question, �Who am I going to please � God or myself � it gets right down to where you live. It�s not about whether or not I�m on page one of the bulletin or page two � or whether my attendance record at church is perfect � or whether my tithes and offerings are up to snuff�it�s about letting go of �me first� and allowing God to be in �authority� in my life. There�s that word again : �authority� Some of you cringed once again. For the longest time when I heard the word �authority� I heard the word �power� � which to me, meant, control, dominance, manipulation, force �my response? TOTAL RESISTANCE. Should I allow God to have �authority� in my life, my reaction in conflict would depend on HIS desire and direction..not my own. THAT, is a tough call. Many times, God asks us to �remain in the fire� � stay in the conflict, but don�t participate�let Me. THAT, is a tough call for obedience. I can hear it now- I DON�T WANT TO STAY IN THIS- YOU SHOULD HEAR WHAT HE SAID- YOU SHOULD SEE WHAT SHE DID- and the monologue goes on� As long as we�re blaming what�s �without� for our reaction..and/or �justifying� ourselves for our reaction based on what someone else has said or done the problem will not be resolved. The conflict begins with man, and then shifts to God � the greater problem. As you grow more deeply rooted in your �position� you�ll separate yourself from God. God wants you to �draw near� � but the tough part in that, is that in order to �draw near� you have to �own� that the problem is �within� and let God handle what�s happening �without.� Romans 7 teaches that man basically has a problem �his flesh. Look at Romans 7:18-20. Until the time that you die and exit this body � you�re going to live in it. This body has �desires� � Give me Give me Give me - Look at verses 24-25 �Who�s going to help me out of this battle � I do ok in my head � then my desires kick in and I don�t do so well � then my head kicks in and I do ok � then my desires kick in and I don�t do so well�how do I get out of this? I�m made free through Christ. It�s through the �joint effort opportunity� that I overcome � not on my own. Turn to Galatians 5:16 Notice that he does NOT say that the flesh will not desire � because that�s what the flesh does�desires. This is not not not saying that if you �walk by the Spirit� you�re not going to �desire.� Wrong. What are you supposed to do? Look at verse 17-18 Because the Holy Spirit is in �authority� over your life, you�re in a battle. The �you� � was at one time very used to calling all the shots, doing what you wanted, going where you wanted..living however you pleased. Now, there�s conflict. When you reach for something that is contrary to the �authority� that�s within you, you�ll experience a very very firm �NO!� When verse 18 says � �Walk by the Spirit� � basically it�s saying, �When you hear NO!� � shut up and don�t go there. That�s where �choice� becomes a big factor in your �reaction� to whatever conflict you�re currently battling. You still CAN walk in the flesh � and in the �growing process� many of us do on a regular basis � only to find ourselves in a deeper mess than when we started. Or- you can walk in the Spirit � not allowing that �desire� to kick in � grabbing on to the �joint effort opportunity� in obedience � allowing God to work out HIS desire THROUGH you. The pleasures (desires) that are causing the problems are coming against one another � yours don�t agree with someone else�s � they are soldiered against the other. There�s a battle happening on the outside � there�s also a battle happening on the inside. James 4:2 �Lust� is the same word here that is used in James 1:14. What�s going on here? There are desires inside you seeking to be gratified � You look at someone who has something and you want it really bad � but you can�t get it � or obtain it in any way�so internally you not only don�t want them to have it either, but you go about the orderly process of making sure they DON�T. The problem is internal. Tomorrow I want to look at several of the �desires� we battle � and the battlegrounds in which they play themselves out- For now, know this: If you�re in a conflict your �reaction� is an indication of your �heart condition.� I want to close with a short series of thoughts � that many of you may have already read or heard. As you read them, I want you to step into them for a minute and look at how much �self-indulgent-me-first� desire was put on the shelf (the second time around) : then I want you to look at the rewards in doing so. If I had my life to live over, I would have �talked less� and �listened� more. Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I�d have cherished every minute of it, and realized that the baby growing inside me was my only chance to �assist� God in the miracle. I would have invited friends over for dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would serve left-overs to a friend �just to be �with� � instead of being �somebody.� I would have eaten popcorn in the �good� living room and worried less about the dirt when you lit the fireplace. I would have taken time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth. I would have used the china for a regular meal. I would have sat cross-legged on the lawn with my children and never worried about grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching TV..and more while watching real life. I would have turned off the TV and worked at communicating. I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren�t there for a day. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn�t show dirt, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. When my child kissed me I would never have said, �Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.� I would cherish the dirty laundry � owning the privilege of blessing my family � and being thankful for an �automatic washer and dryer.� There would have been more I love you�s, more I�m listening�s. But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it. Look at it and really see it. Try it on, live it, exhaust it, and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it�pouring �me� out in order to experience others. --and more so than not, the little things you do that irritate me, would make me smile �because I�d realize, it�s those little things that make you who you are. How you react�determines your journey. Who are you pleasing? God.. Or �me� � Loving you, �copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
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