JAMES 4: 1-5
THE PASSION OF SELF-GRATIFICATION
[Romans 7:14-25]
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote of a man who was dominated
by the driving desire for self-gratification. To possess land was his
highest pleasure. Someone promised him that he could own all of the land he could walk around between sunrise and sunset on a given day. He began at a leisurely pace. However, driven by his ambition, he began to accelerate. He drove himself, sprinting faster and faster. His body blazed with fever. He stripped off his shirt and abandoned his boots. As the sun set, he flung himself toward his destination. He reached the starting line as the final rays disappeared in the west. Exhausted, he died. The only land he got was a grave, 6 feet by 2 feet.
Tolstoy’s unforgettable story underlines the raging power of the drive for self-gratification. Men and women die for their pleasures. James wrote to churches that were being divided by pleasure-seeking members. God’s wisdom gives peace (3:13-18) but the churches to which James wrote were experiencing chronic hostility and sharp confrontations. They fought, coveted, quarreled and condemned others to obtain their desires. These church members were dominated by a self-will which pursued pleasure, power and prominence rather than the Will of God. Choosing pleasure as the chief end of life is to be given over to the spirit of this world. God wants His people to live with a conscious commitment to follow His divine will.
The Westminster Catechism asserts that the chief end of man is "to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever." There is another philosophy of life which affirms that pleasure is the chief good in life and fulfillment is to be sought in the gratification of pleasure-seeking instincts and dispositions. In other words the chief end of man is the gratification of self, not the glorification of God. The English word for this philosophy is "Hedonism," a term derived from a Greek word used twice in this passage (verses 1,3). The first use in verse 1 is translated pleasures or lusts in the KJV, lets read verse 1.
I. THE SOURCE OF QUARRELS & CONFLICTS, 1.
II. THE MOTIVE BEHIND UNANSWERED PRAYER, 2-3.
III. AN ENEMY OR FRIEND OF GOD, 4-5.
Chapter 4 begins with two rhetorical questions to help us think about the source of struggles and conflicts among Christians. All wars and conflicts grow out of inter-turmoil and struggle. "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?"
As PRIVATE LACKEY’S platoon readied for front-line action, the young soldier seemed to come to a moment of truth. Turning to his close friend, he said, "Listen, Joe, if I don’t make it back and you do, would you take this letter and see that Sally gets it? Tell her of my undying devotion and that my last thoughts were of her, and that her name was the last word on my lips. And here’s a letter for Helen. Tell her the same thing."
Private Lackey’s story may be humorous, but he was asking for trouble. In James 4, we learn that conflicts can be traced back to selfishness in the human heart. The selfishness that caused the young soldier to "two-time" Sally and Helen had within it the seeds of war that made Private Lackey more than a participant in military conflict. It made him part of the cause. When selfishness is expanded to national proportions, that conflict often results in the sacrifice of our sons and daughters on the battlefield.
And so it happens. Take a serous look around, you, the world is in turmoil. Terrorists hijack ships and airplanes. Gunmen take hostages. Internal strife plagues nations. Government officials are venomously criticized. What is the underlying cause of all this unrest?
A STUDENT IN WHALES offers an answer to this question. In replying to a statement that the laboring man was responsible for the economic crisis in Great Britain, she said, "no, it’s not just the workers. They get the blame day after day, but others are at fault as well. Everyone is out for himself–the employee, the manager, the politician. The whole world is one big selfish mess!"
Isn’t this exactly what the Bible teaches? The reason for family quarrels, neighborhood feuds, strife between labor and management, and war among nations is the inherent greediness of human beings. Since everybody is seeking his own interests, sooner or later he comes into conflict with the selfish desires of others. Society will show little improvement until individuals experience a change of heart.
It is easy to hate war. But it is also easy to overlook the selfishness in our own hearts, which is the seed of all conflict. For at the heart of all conflict is a selfish heart.
The fights and quarrels mentioned here involved Christians. The plural form of both words indicates the conflicts were chronic rather than a one time incident. Like lava that smolders under the earth looking for the right place to surface so some believers burn with belligerence. Like the volcanic eruption, their bitterness and smoldering explodes.
What causes these outer conflicts? James says outer conflicts come from inter conflicts. The second part of verse 1 says the source is your pleasures that wage war in you members. Every discerning Christian knows that most church conflicts are not about building, budgets or programs at all. Often church disagreements surface because of a whole spectrum of inter-personal and inter-family frustrations.
The word translated lusts, pleasures, passions or enjoyments translates the word (h don s )from which hedonism is derived. Hedonism is the philosophy that the chief purpose in living is to satisfy self. Jesus used the word to describe people that did not mature because they were "choked by life’s, worries, riches and pleasures" (Lk. 8:14). There pleasures describes any personal goal such as money, reputation, or success which seek personal attainment before God’s will.
These sinful desires lay within each Christian. Ever believer finds within himself an alien army seeking self rather than God. These desires express our pre-Christian nature that is still seeking to control our lives (Rom 7:14-25). Christians will never be freed from the evil influence of these subtle selfish desires, but by God’s grace we can escape their dominion. Human nature is in the grip of self-gratification and only by walking daily in complete surrender to the Holy Spirit can we be freed.
Instead of aggressively grabbing what we want, we should submit ourselves to God, ask God to help us get rid of our selfish desires and trust Him to give us what we really need. Then we can become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. For there are really only two kinds of people. Those who are part of the problem and those who are part of the solution. As Jesus said, "He who is not for Me is against Me."
II. THE MOTIVE BEHIND UNANSWERED PRAYER, 2-3
The Bible continues analyzing the result of choosing self-gratification instead of God in verse two. You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
The word lust essentially means to desire strongly and maybe used of any intense longing. Such desire becomes lust when it is misdirected or excessive. Murder is thus the result of desiring something and not getting it.
What type of murder did James have in mind? He was probably not thinking of physical murder. The Roman Government executed murders. Jesus linked an attitude of hatred and contempt with murder (Mt. 5:21f). It describes what can happen when men choose pleasure rather than God as a way of life. When God’s law of love is disregarded, and the desire for self-gratification directs lives, men do things they never dreamed themselves capable of doing with word thought and deed. Their inner-attitude displayed in their fights and quarrels which are as offensive, to God as killing.
It indicates an extremely destructive behavior. When the lusting person cannot achieve his desired goals—whether for reputation, prestige, sexual gratification, money, power, escape through drugs or alcohol, success, possessions, the affections of another person, or whatever—the result is often catastrophic to others and always destructive of oneself.
At the conclusion of verse 2, James states the startling truth that the reason why men, after all their coveting, envying and struggling still do not possess what they desire is found in their failure to ask God. They desired satisfaction but they looked in the wrong places. They did not ask God as Jesus had taught (Mt. 7:7). They allowed their lives to be governed by self-gratifications, selfishness and greed. There is no prayer that we all need to pray so much as the prayer that we may love God’s Word and desire what He promises.
Verse 3 tells them why their prayers go unanswered. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
The correct way for Christians to have their legitimate needs met is by asking God. A common problem is not asking. Another common problem is asking for the wrong things or for the right thing for the wrong reason. God knows our heart as well as hearing our words. We may make a legitimate request but our motive may be wrong.
Self-centered believers pray but they pray just like they live. God does not answer if one’s intent is self gratification. If one’s objective is to squander or spend the answer on personal pleasure, selfish desires or the mere acquisition of material gain God says no. God listens to the prayers of the righteous (Ps. 34:15, 1 Jn. 3:21f) but He does not answer unless we ask with the right motives in accordance with God’s will.
To pray for something when we know it is not God’s will is to waste our breath. God has revealed His will in the Bible, and so our prayers must be grounded in the truths of His Word.
Too often we come to God to ask for things that He has forbidden. To ask God to bless us today, when we intend to do things we know are wrong or if we have plans to visit places where a Christian should not go, is to ask amiss. Such prayers will never be answered. It’s useless to ask God to bless our business when we indulge in shady practices or continue in worldly habits.
A little boy had the habit of sucking his thumb and was told he must stop. One evening in his bedtime prayer he was heard to say, "O God, help me to stop sucking my thumb." After a pause, he continued, "never mind, God, because I don’t want to stop sucking my thumb."
The child was more frank than most of us. If we want our prayers to be answered, we must be willing to let God have His way. The pattern for our prayers should be that of our precious Lord, who said, "Not My will, but Yours, be done" (Lk. 22:42).
Are you willing to pray like that?
[Some varieties of Christians reveal a shallow health, wealth philosophy. Some ministers teach that God wants to give people anything they dare to claim, regardless of motivation. God’s eternal Word corrects such distortion. "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we asks, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" (1 Jn. 5:14f). Do you talk to God at all? When you do, what do you talk about? Do you ask only to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God’s approval for what you already plan to do? Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to His will for you ( 1 John 3:21,22). The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven but to get God’s will done on earth. Then our prayers can be the means for being God’s blessings to ourselves and others.]
III. AN ENEMY OR FRIEND OF GOD, 4-5.
Verse 4 uses strong language to open our eyes to how God views those who follow the world instead of Him. "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
James called these believers adulteresses. Did James mean the church members regularly broke the 7th commandment? James was referring to sexual but spiritual infidelity. The concept that God’s people commit spiritual adultery resounds in the O.T. (Jer 3:1-5, 8, 13; Hosea 1:2; Ezek 23). Jesus called the Jews an adulterous generation (Mk. 8:38). The church is the bride of Christ. A worldly church or Christian with wrong priorities commits spiritual adultery against Christ. What do you pursue most passionately and fervently in life?
The image of adultery against God or Christ preserves a unique truth. When a married person commits adultery, he or she betrays a sweet, intimate, trusting relationship. To have relationship with someone other than your marriage partner is to commit the ultimate betrayal of loyalty, trust, and intimacy. The adulterer does not break the law as much as he or she breaks the heart. Faithless believers’s break God’s law. But more than that, they break God’s heart.
They are called adulterers because of friendship with the world. Friendship describes a deliberate choice to follow the way of the world. It is defiance and rebellion against God. For a Christian this type of response is siding with the enemy during war time.
Kosmos (world) does not refer to the physical earth or universe but rather the man-centered, godless value system and morals of fallen mankind. The goal of the world is self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction, and every other form of self-serving, all of which amounts to hostility toward God.
The world speaks of the organized life of mankind that denies God’s claim, of human institutions, activities, cultures, and pastimes organized without reference to God’s will. Today, one might call it "the spirit of the age." It represents the whole mixture of role models, heroes, slogans, obsessions, and ads that make up the contemporary scene minus God’s will. It expresses itself in glossy magazine ads, alluring store windows, bumper stickers, tee-shirt inscriptions, and television situation comedies. The world is energized, living, breathing, grasping, and lusting for life–minus God!
Believers must love the world of people. They not should love the world’s belief system. They must not love the world in the sense of life organized without God. Christians must not court that world’s heroes or make that world’s goals their goals. They must not wed themselves to a system that has in it the seeds of death. The word translated "friendship" (philos, elsewhere translated love) indicates affection for something; one form of the root word means a kiss. Believers must not kiss this godless age!
Nothing betrays people’s affection for the world like the way they spend their money. The average American gives less than one dollar per year to foreign missions. Who could conclude anything other than a love for this world, not a love for God’s kingdom? (Gregory, )
[A DIFFERENT DRUMMER] One of the most famous lines of the 19th century naturalist Henry David Thoreau was, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." Commenting on Thoreau’s defense of his personal oddities, Bible teacher H.A. Ironside said, "The Christian may well say this. If our inner ears have been attuned to the music of the heavens, we hear the drumbeat of the skies. Therefore, we must of very necessity seem to the world to be out of step with all that goes on down here which is contrary to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us."
Sad to say, it is sometimes impossible to distinguish those who call themselves Christians from those who don’t. They think, speak, and act like the average non-Christian. On the other hand, believers who are filled with the Spirit will not feel at home with the world’s philosophies and practices. They will resist conformity to its unholy standards, even though such a position is unpopular and may cause them to be ridiculed. They realize that as citizens of heaven, they are in the world but not of the world. They show by their conduct and attitudes the truth of that beloved old spiritual, "This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through." They march to a different drummer.
Christian , we are told to walk just as Christ walked (1 John 2:6). If we are walking "in step" with the world, we’re "out of step" with heaven. He who walks with God will be out of step with the world.
Verse 5 indicates that God does not give up on those that possess His Spirit. "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?
Jealousy is not always bad. Jealousy is protection for love, a reaction to a perceived threat to a valued relationship. Indeed, jealousy can be ugly when it is born of insecurity, possessiveness or the desire to control. On the other hand, jealousy can be a healthy response when a legitimate love relationship is threatened. Something is wrong when a husband or wife watches a mate be captured by another person without jealousy. Likewise, something would be wrong with God’s love if He watched the world seduce His people without divine jealousy.
James is asserting that God placed His Holy Spirit within believers. The Spirit is intensely concerned about any rival in the Christian heart. God refuses to share our commitment with any other rival. He wants our total loyalty and devotion. It is vitally important for us to remember that God makes great demands of His people.
CONCLUSION
People who are preoccupied with self-centered prayers have a very shallow view of God and His redemptive purpose in the world. They see Him as One who exists to provide for their wants and needs, alleviate all their suffering, and make their lives as pleasant as possible. They may get that kind of picture of God from secular novels but not from the Bible.
All attempts to manipulate a sovereign God into serving our own selfish purposes insult Him. The Bible relates selfish praying to friendship with the world, which he said is adulterous and makes one an enemy of God.
For the next few days, let’s analyze our prayers. If they are usually for our own convenience, comfort, or pleasure, it’s time to change our praying. Prayer isn’t a time to give orders but to report for duty.
