James: Quarrels and Fights

James: Where Faith and Life Meet

Quarrels and Fights

5/6/12

Introduction

August 1999 Landover, Maryland
        100 years of Christian fellowship, unity, and community outreach ended last Tuesday in an act of congregational discord. Holy Creek Baptist Church was split into multiple factions.
The source of dissension is a piano bench which still sits behind the 1923 Steinway piano to the left of the pulpit. Members and friends at Holy Creek Baptist say that the old bench was always a source of hostility. People should have seen this coming.
        At present, Holy Creek Congregation will be having four services each Sunday. There has been an agreement mediated by an outside pastor so that each faction will have its own separate service with its own separate pastor. Since the head pastor is not speaking to the associate pastors, each will have their own service, which will be attended by fractioned members. The services are far enough apart that neither group will come into contact with the other. An outside party will be moving the piano bench to different locations and appropriate positions, between services, so as to please both sides, and avoid any further conflict that could result in violence.[1]

        I am not sure this is a true story or not, I was not able to find out if this really happened or if it is made up to make a point.  What is most disturbing to me is that whether this particular story is true no matter how ridiculous it may seem or it is not we do know it has the potential to be true.  Church splits and divisions are, unfortunately, far too common place today and throughout history.  Some of them are for good and legitimate reasons and some are downright ludicrous.  Churches have split over buildings, locations, music, sacred cows, leadership, and just plain ole stubbornness.  As I stated it is true that there are some legitimate splits (i.e. heresy preached from the pulpit, sin issues of the pastor, denomination is not holding to biblical truths and so on).  One thing is for certain though, church splits or even inner church conflicts rarely happen in a healthy manner, they are almost like a divorce.  I know of one church that split and the two churches literally divided everything in half… Each church received half the chairs, desks, office staff, and other assets. 

        Apparently church conflict is an age old thing since James is dealing with similar issues that we are continuing today.

Quarrels and Fights

Verses 1- 3:  The beginning of this chapter is not an introduction to a new topic; instead James shifts his focus to his purpose in writing previously about wisdom and the tongue.  Apparently there were struggles in this community, it seems as though people were sowing discord among the congregations.  They were starting fights and quarrels with others because they wanted their way for their own selfish reason regardless of how many people they hurt in the process (Now I know this would never happen today).  This was and is a problem because James addresses the topic and then asks the rhetorical question, “Where do quarrels and fights among you come from?”  To which he answers, “It comes from selfish desires that are at war in us.”  When we look at any unhealthy disunity or conflict in a church it is almost always a guarantee that the root of the problem is selfish desire.  Look at churches in more recent times that are at war because of the style of music that is played for the time of worship.  How ironic is that?  We argue and split over something that is designed to draw believers into the presence of God.  And it is all based in preference or selfish desire.  Some churches divide over communion, where the pulpit should be placed, should there be a pulpit at all?  We don’t want to change something because we might not like the end result even if it is from God.  Plus it doesn’t really matter if God is behind something, I don’t like it.  I have never heard someone say that but I have sure seen someone do it.  Douglas Moo writes, “The seventeenth century Jewish philosopher Spinoza observed: ‘I have often wondered that persons 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.’  Some battles to be sure, need to be fought.  But even they must be fought without sacrificing Christian principles and virtues.”[2]

        The source of these quarrels comes from one place… Our selfish desires that war within us.  Maybe to the individuals he was writing felt justified in their fights?  Maybe they thought they were noble in their efforts or zeal for something to happen or change but apparently they were not honoring to God. 

        In the second verse James expands on the nature of these sinful desires and he uses some strong language to describe their actions like envy, kill, and covet.  Now it is uncertain as to whether these people were actually killing one another out of selfish desire (which isn’t entirely improbable) but we can safely assume that he is using analogy like Jesus as he described a person as a murderer as one who hates his/her brother or sister in Christ.  A person who holds animosity in his heart towards another is just as guilty as the person who actually commits murder.  This is probably what James is suggesting. 

        All of this arguing essentially is fruitless because as they are seeking God’s counsel in all of this they are asking with wrong motives.  They were not seeking God’s will in all this they were instead seeking God to bless what they were doing.  They were probably asking for God’s stamp of approval on their selfish motives.

The Problem: Frenemies

Verse 4 – 10:  “You adulterous people!”  Some versions say, “Adulteresses!”  These are strong words used by James and have deep implications to the body of Christ.  If you recall up to this point John has referred to this group he is writing with affection by calling them “brothers” and “my dear brothers”.  Now he speaks harshly to them because in all these escapades of warring and fighting with each other they are in fact acting like the rest of the Godless world.  As Christians and the Church in particular we are to be unique because of our love towards one another.  However they are embracing the world’s ways of doing things and not God’s thus ultimately committing spiritual adultery with the world.  Spiritual adultery always ends with those involved in an adulterous affair with the world becoming an enemy of God.  Being an enemy of God however is a two Way Street as it does show God’s hostility towards the believer but also shows the hostility of the believer towards God. 

         The recipients of this letter have been living worldly lives up to this point by showing partiality to the rich, neglecting the poor, speaking negatively to others, and starting fights in the body in order to fulfill their selfish desires.  When we believers start living as the world lives we are showing where our allegiance truly lies and God will not take backseat to anything.  

        In verse 5 James cites a portion of Scripture which is not actually known to be a verse in the Bible.  According to D.A. Carson He must either be citing the general sense of Scripture, or else a book he knows about but which is now lost.^[3]  This is a particularly difficult passage to translate and understand because it could have two possible ways of reading it.  In a nutshell one reading (the NIV) may refer to the human spirit and its tendency to be envious; which is true.  However the second way of looking at it (the ESV) seems to refer God’s jealousy for his people.  God has given each of us a spirit and he jealously longs for our pure worship in return.

The Solution: Repentance

        God is always willing to give grace to those who humble themselves but He is an opponent to those who are prideful and self dependant.  Since God is willing to pour out as much grace needed James exhorts his listeners to first submit to God.  Repentance is what James is calling these people to and what God desires.  Submission is the first act of repentance; acknowledging that we are indeed dependant on Jesus.  The act of submission is one where a person resigns himself to or be put into subjection or to yield to someone.  As believers we do well in acknowledging and believing that we are not in control, God is.  The sooner we are able to submit ourselves fully to God the sooner we will see that when we do, things are on the way to how they should be.  Submission is probably one of the most difficult things because we are giving the controls of our lives over to someone else and as humans we like to feel like we are in control. 

        Secondly, we are to resist the devil and he will flee.  This can only be done in the power of the Spirit and in complete submission to God.  In repentance it is not enough to just say, “I am done sinning now let’s move one.”  Repentance means stopping what you are doing and doing the complete opposite.  Resistance is key and it is ongoing.  Just as taming the tongue cannot be done by humans alone, resisting sin and the desires of the flesh cannot be done by human will alone.  We need the power of the Spirit dwelling in and through us in order to resist.

        Lastly, we are to draw near to God.  Godliness is not attained by association.  Hanging around godly people does not make one godly.  It may give the appearance of godliness but this doesn’t matter.  After we have submitted to God, giving the Spirit dominion over our lives so we can resist sin, desire and temptation daily; we are then to draw near to God and in so doing He will draw near to us.  What does drawing near to God look like?  There is no standard formula or mold to help us draw near to him; there is however a surefire way to drawing near and that is through submission to him, allowing the Spirit to dwell in and through us and through continual communication (i.e. prayer, reading the Bible, Christian fellowship, Church, etc.).

        When we follow the words of James we see that fellowship or friendship can be restored between person and God.  We must note that this portion of scripture is not a method for salvation because there are some key components missing (i.e. faith in Jesus and public confession of sins) this is intended for restoring fellowship with God.

        Skipping down to verse 10 James returns to the act of humbling one’s self before God.  When we recognize our spiritual deficiency without God is when we truly are able to stand in humility before Him.  When we are able to stand humbly before God in spiritual poverty then and only then will God lift us up and exalt us thus victorious Christian living.

       

Conclusion

        There is a lot packed into these 10 verses and I have merely scratched the surface; but they are very practical to us in these modern (or post modern) times.  We know that church fights, splits and disunity happen.  It has happened since the beginning of the Church age.  Unfortunately it will continue throughout time.  However we have the key right in front of us in knowing how to avoid having disunity happen in our midst.  It is important for us as a church to seek unity in Christ together, to not be divisive in our words, slanderous in our talk and hypocritical in our worship.  We should not seek friendship with the world and instead be single-minded in our devotion to God.  We must be submitted to God and his will (not our selfish desires), be Spirit-driven so we can resist the devil in his attacks, draw near to God in our time of worship and in our own private times with Him and lastly be humble before the Great and Mighty King knowing our place before him and in doing this He will lift us up.

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[1] http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/stories-about-church-split.asp

[2] Moo, p. 181

^[3] Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition (4th ed.) (Jas 4:1–10). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.