When Dreams Come True
James 4:1-10 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Intro: A New England pastor and a rabbi were having a conversation one day over lunch. The N.E. pastor proudly proclaimed, “One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence”. He thought that the rabbi would be very impressed by this. To his chagrin, the rabbi responded, “I understand your pride. One of my ancestors signed the Ten Commandments.” [Chris Talton, sermoncentral.com]
One of the problems with pride is that there will always be someone who can best you.
-James deals with some basic human problems in today’s reading: namely pride and selfishness. People are often tempted to take matters into their own hands in order to achieve their desired outcome. They will fight and kick and scream until they get their own way. Sometimes people will even kill to get their own way! Once again we turn to the historical setting to which James was responding. There was a tremendous amount of political unrest and dissatisfaction among the Jewish population. They had grown weary of the oppression of Rome and wanted to do away with these swinish Gentiles who would presume to rule over them. Their plots of violence against Roman forces were easy enough to justify. After all, hadn’t God promised this land to them from the time of Abraham? They figured it was time to take back what was rightfully theirs no matter how many lives they had to take in the process.
-So James strikes back with some strong words to oppose this anger-driven uprising, showing that their dreams of repossessing the land were way off base. God was doing something different that did not include violent uprisings. Certainly God had led Israel to defeat numerous enemies in the past, but those who are led by the Spirit of God cannot always look to the past for their cues. We can learn from the past, but must learn to trust God in the present and the future. He will plant dreams in our hearts and bring them to reality, not by might or human power, but by the power of His Holy Spirit. And that is where we are headed today.
Prop: Our greatest dreams will come true when we get close to God and give our hearts to Him.
TS: As we seek God and ask Him to lead us and help us, there are some pitfalls we must avoid. Let’s look at several of them, realizing they will hinder our dreams and prayers from being fulfilled.
I. How not to get your prayers answered (1-5)
1. Follow your inner selfish desires (1)
-One crime fighting group did a study on the growth of crime [The Minnesota Crime Commission] reported a startling conclusion:
“Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it — his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch. Deny him these once, and he seethes with rage and aggressiveness which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is dirty, he has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children — not just certain children — are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal — a thief, a killer, or a rapist.” [Dan Jackson, A Winnable War- sermoncentral]
-When a person responds to the love and forgiveness of God and humbles themselves in repentance, they are supposed to give up their own ways of doing life and receive God’s ways and His leadership. That means they are no longer driven by what they want, but are motivated by what God wants: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” “Not my will, but your will be done, Lord.”
-So if you don’t want to get your prayers answered, then by all means follow your inner selfish desires and just do what feels right to you.
2. Fight and Quarrel to get what you want (1-2)
-Another way to be sure you don’t receive answers to your prayers is to fight and quarrel, trying to force your will in a situation. Go ahead and stomp on other people to get to the top. Only invest in those who might prove to be an asset to you as you pursue your dreams. Don’t waste your time with the small people or those who disagree with you. After all, you are right and everyone else is wrong. So go ahead and push the envelope, argue, be abusive, controlling, and overbearing. Use violence as needed.
3. Covet (2)
-We’ve been told by our culture that we can have anything we want if we set our mind to it. You’ve got to know what you want and have the drive to go after it! Just dream about it. Drool over the possibilities and think how this one thing will make all of your dreams come true.
-It doesn’t matter that the thing that you want so badly does not belong to you. All you have to do is take it from them.
-King Ahab was a wicked king in Israel, and he decided he wanted Naboth’s vineyard that was near his palace. He offered Naboth a fair price but Naboth did not want to part with the land that had been passed down to him from generations earlier. Well, Ahab started pouting about it and his wife, Jezebel, devised a scheme to help Ahab get what he wanted. Her plan was to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing the king and God and then have him killed. Then the vineyard would be Ahab’s for the taking. So now we move from coveting to murder.
4. Kill for what you want (2)
-So everything went as planned, and Ahab got his pretty little vineyard. When you want something, you’ve just got to go after it, regardless of the cost.
-Well, this got God’s attention, so he sent Elijah to Ahab to pronounce judgment upon him for his wickedness. God told him he would destroy his entire family and that dogs and birds would get the leftovers. Ahab got an answer all right, but it was a bit more than he bargained for. [1 Kings 21]
-More about Ahab in a moment.
5. Do not ask God to help you (2)
-You do not have, because you do not ask God. Did you know that God answers all of our prayers? (Yes, No, and Wait).
-Well, the best way to keep your prayers from being answered is not to pray. We don’t always know how to pray, and sometimes we might be asking for the wrong thing, but even that is better than not talking to God at all. At least there is a chance we will hear what He is saying to us if we take the time to talk with Him. (Refer to The Christian Athiest- Craig Groeschel). Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pray, and you’ll be sure your prayers will not be answered.
6. Ask God selfishly (3)
-This is simply using God to get what we want. Chances are, if He says no or wait, then we will quickly seek another direction. But hey, why not name it and claim it first. Why not blab it before you grab it? Maybe if you say the right words and rub the lamp, you’ll hear the voice of Robin Williams, granting you 3 wishes.
-King Solomon was one of the few who got a blank check from God. He had just offered 1,000 burnt offerings to God. In 1 Kings 3 we see that God speaks to him in a dream and says, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." So what did Solomon ask for? He said, “Lord, I’m like a little child and don’t know how to rule over all these people. Please give me a discerning heart to lead your people and help me know right from wrong.” God was very pleased with Solomon’s request for wisdom, so He said, “I’ll also give you riches and honor, since you did not consider them as important as wisdom.”
-So, go ahead and ask God for the things that will bring you pleasure and will make you look good to everyone else – but only if you don’t want your prayer answered.
7. Be more connected to this world than to God (4)
-James lowers the boom here and calls all this selfishness spiritual adultery – unfaithfulness to God. Apparently some of them had developed such a bond with the world around them that it actually made them hostile to the things of God. Or, another way of looking at this is that perhaps they didn’t feel any hatred or hostility toward God, but by adopting the selfish values of the world around them, they were drawing a line between themselves and God.
-In keeping with the imagery of adultery, James implies that they are flirting, chasing after, and becoming intimate with the world, which destroys the love relationship and the trust they once had with God.
-Where are your affections? Where are your connections? Sometimes I fear that even here in clean-air Elgin, we can allow our hearts and minds to become polluted with the pursuit of wealth and things. Instead of making a living we feel like our first duty is to achieve a certain standard of living. And if we don’t have the money for it, we can do what the rest of society does and go into debt. And we exchange much of our present and future for things that will not last or bring the desired satisfaction.
-If you want to keep your prayers from being answered, go ahead and get cozy with this world system while things cool off between you and God.
8. Be envious (5)
-The translation of verse 5 is a little ambiguous. It either carries the idea of God being envious of our wholehearted commitment to Him, or it refers to the human spirit that God put in us as being prone to selfishness and envy. I lean toward the 2nd understanding, that it refers to the human spirit, representing our fallen nature and tendency to long for what we do not have. But I’m so glad that the story does not end there! There is a small word at the first part of v.6 that gives us hope. We may battle our selfish, prideful nature, but God will help us if we ask Him and are willing to do things His way.
II. How to get your prayers answered (6-10)
1. Recognize the value of Grace (6)
-An elderly lady was driving through a rural part of Kentucky one evening around twilight when her car got a flat tire. Several cars passed by her on the side of the road. She began to fear that no one was going to stop. Finally, a man in his middle twenties pulled up behind her along the side of the road. He looked poor, and his clothes were nearly worn out. The lady was beginning to fear for her life. She knew that there were not very many cars on the road at that time in the evening. The man came up beside her window. He told her that his name was Sam and asked her if she would pop the trunk so that he could get the spare tire out. She did, and within a few minutes, he had changed her tire. The lady offered him money, but Sam simply asked that she pass along the kindness to someone else later on.
A couple of miles down the road, the lady stopped at a diner for a bite to eat. The young girl who waited on her was obviously very pregnant, but even though she had been on her feet all day, she still kept a smile on her face and a pleasant attitude. When the elderly lady left, she placed a rather large tip on the table – there were 4 crisp $100 bills underneath her napkin. On the napkin she had written, “Pass this kindness along to someone else.” The waitress could hardly wait to get home to her husband that night. He had been out of work for a couple of months now, and they had been praying about how they were going to meet their medical bills. Now they had their answer. She couldn’t wait to tell him. By the way, her husband’s name was Sam. [Chris Talton, SC]
2. Remove the roadblock of Pride (6)
-God opposes or resists the proud. Pride creates a barrier between us and God and puts us at odds with Him. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else….”
-If you want your prayers answered and see your God-given dreams come true, then pride must go! There is no room for pride in the heart of a Christ follower. But how do we get rid of pride?
3. Humbly submit yourself to God (6-7)
-This speaks of surrender. It speaks of trust. But it also speaks of gaining a glimpse of reality. We are or would be nothing without God. So why would it terrify us to give ourselves to Him? Why not submit to the One who made us and knows us better than anyone on this planet or in this universe?
-Instead of taking matters into our own hands, this humble submission calls us to place things in God’s hands, trusting Him to make all things right.
4. Resist the devil and his temptations (7)
-There are many kinds of temptations that come from the devil and his evil forces. When Satan tempted Jesus, he appealed to his hunger (turn these stones into bread). He tried to put Him to the test by having Him jump off the highest point of the temple, trusting angels to save Him. He also offered power and kingdoms of this world to Him if he would bow down and worship him (Matthew 4).
-In each case, Jesus resisted the devil by using Scripture. Satan used Scripture as well, but he twisted it to fit his own schemes.
-We are promised results if we will resist the devil. The alternative is to accommodate him or give him room to hang out in our lives. That would be destructive to us, and hinder our prayers. But if we resist him, then he must flee from us
5. Come close to God (8)
-Friendship, intimacy, love! You are as close to God as you want to be! But if you feel a deeper desire within you for more of God, don’t ignore it and don’t let it rest. Seek the Lord. Pursue Him! You will find Him when you go after Him with all your heart.
-Also realize that you might need to do something you’ve never done before to get what you’ve never had before. How close are you willing to come? Israel was afraid of God and they were happy to let Moses worry about getting close enough to God to talk.
-But as Hebrews 12:22 tells us, we’re not at the same mountain as Moses and Israel. Our mountain is not a physical place, but is a place of relationship and joy and worship, and reverence and awe. It is a place where the wall of separation has been torn down and we are able to come close to God, face to face. When we come close to Him, He comes close to us!
6. Get clean from sin (9)
-In his book Why Prayers are Unanswered, John Lavender retells a story about Norman Vincent Peal. When Peale was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit up. It didn’t taste good, but it made him feel very grown up…until he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus. “Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.” His father’s reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot. “Son, he answered quietly but firmly, “never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.” [Ted Sutherland, Sermoncentral.com]
-All disobedience to God is sin, and it puts something between us and God. So we wash our hands of the sins we have committed. We purify our hearts with the water of God’s word. As 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
7. Repent and mourn your sinful condition (9)
-This goes along with getting clean. It is part of the process. If we sense little or no need for change, then we probably won’t change much.
8. Humble yourself before the Lord (10)
-If we will see ourselves as we really are before God, so tiny and weak and unable to help ourselves, then we will begin to sense reality, which is humility. As we drink deeply from His grace, it should generate even more humility because we are so undeserving, yet so freely and richly blessed!
-As we humble ourselves, emptying out the pride, the selfishness, the anger, the idea that I deserve the best of everything, the promise we have here is that the Lord will lift us up! We aren’t supposed to lift ourselves up. Let God do the heavy lifting. The only thing we can lift is our hearts and hands and voices to the One who loves us and gave Himself for us.
Conclusion: So as we wrap things up, God is calling us to come closer. He asks us to empty ourselves of selfishness and pride and envy and desire. He wants us to ask Him for great things, but not out of selfishness. He invites us to do life with Him, not on our own. He will help us resist the devil and all his snares, but we must come close to Him. We come close by being honest with Him and talking with Him about our lives. We come close by giving Him permission to lead us and direct our lives.
-As we learn to do this with His help, we will find that dreams are coming true. He will begin to awaken within us the dreams and plans He has for us. And if we trust Him completely, He will make them happen!
I. How not to get your prayers answered (1-5)
1. Follow your inner selfish desires (1)
2. Fight and Quarrel to get what you want (1-2)
3. Covet (2)
4. Kill for what you want (2)
5. Do not ask God to help you (2)
6. Ask God selfishly (3)
7. Be more connected to this world than to God (4)
8. Be envious (5)
II. How to get your prayers answered (6-10)
1. Recognize the value of Grace (6)
2. Remove the roadblock of Pride (6)
3. Humbly submit yourself to God (6-7)
4. Resist the devil and his temptations (7)
5. Come close to God (8)
6. Get clean from sin (9)
7. Repent and mourn your sinful condition (9)
8. Humble yourself before the Lord (10)
