When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that small donkey, he was giving them an opportunity to acknowledge that he was indeed the King of Israel, and ultimately King of the Universe. He was giving them the opportunity to submit to him as Lord of their lives. But that was not going to happen. They would not submit to him as king, in fact, they would soon crucify him with the mocking words written above his head: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Some of those who hailed him as the Messiah today would tomorrow call for his crucifixion. They would acknowledge no authority over their lives other than their own. They remained firmly seated as ruler of their own lives.
The is the same scene which is acted out in every human life. Jesus comes humble riding in our direction. We are excited and all in favor of his favors. We want to be blessed with his blessings. We are excited about how he might benefit us. We see how we might be able to use him. But when we learn that he does not come into our lives unless we surrender to his lordship, we think again about whether we want him at all.
Here is the biggest obstacle for people who face the decision about whether or not to become a Christian. This is the hardest thing of all. They would like to have the benefits of Jesus Christ being in their lives, but they want to maintain control. They want him to come in, but they want him to come into a comfortable, quiet corner of their lives — not ruling their lives. This is the decision that some people here today are facing — even people who consider themselves Christians. They want God in their lives, but they want him to come in without taking control. They want him to be their friend so they can talk to him and ask for things they need, but they do not want to surrender their lives to him. They want to maintain control of at least some areas and have them off limits to God. This is exactly why we see a rise in the number of people calling themselves Christians, while there is at the same time a decline in the moral climate of the nation and a coarsening of our values. People are supposedly becoming Christians, but without it making any real difference in the way they live.
What this does is begin to create a tremendous conflict in your life. The Bible says, “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17). A war is raging over who will be in control of your life. Some days it is God, but most days you struggle to be at the controls. A spiritual battle is going on for your soul. The conflict brings frustration and unhappiness. There is no peace in your heart. The apostle Peter wrote: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:11-12).
In the fourth chapter of James we find the problem analyzed, and then a solution presented. Let’s hear what he has to say. James says that there is a spiritual war going on inside of us, and the first thing he has to say about it is: The source of the conflict is selfishness. He writes: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 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. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:1-3). The Greek word for “pleasures” in this verse is hedonon, and is the source of the English word “hedonism.” Hedonism is the philosophy that views pleasure as the chief goal of life. To indulge in pleasure is an attempt to self-medicate ourselves from the pain of life. But when this is the way we live, pleasure eludes us and conflict arises.
Listen to the words of conflict James uses: fights, quarrels, battles and killing. The word for battle literally means “war.” A war is going on inside. God is wanting control and you are wanting control. You are fighting God. The problem is selfishness. The problem is narcissism — loving ourselves and putting our needs and wants at the center of life. You want God, but you also want your way. You want to continue to do as you please. You are double-minded. You want God, but you want to indulge yourself as well. You want pleasure. You are afraid you will have to give up something, and if it means giving up something, you would rather keep what you want than have God. But you can’t have it both ways. James says that the people who live in this way do not pray, or if they do pray they pray only selfish prayers with improper motives. They pray for God to give them their way or the things they want. But as James says, “That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:7-8). We are double-minded like the people in Jerusalem — one moment we are praising God and the next moment we are calling for his death. And James says, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).
Brent Curtis, in his book The Sacred Romance, talks about how our divided hearts try to meet the sacred longings within us by filling them with other, more readily available pleasures. He says, “Once we allow our heart to drink water from these less-than-eternal wells with the goal of finding the life we were made for, it overpowers our will, and becomes, as Jonathan Edwards said, ‘like a viper, hissing and spitting at God.’”
This leads to James’ second point which is: The result of our double-mindedness is rebellion. Resistance to God’s will for our lives ultimately leads to outright rebellion against God. When selfishness rules our lives and God comes to claim us, we find a viper within us “hissing and spitting at God.” We are now determined to have our way, even if it destroys us. We have become enemies of God. We have entertained another love and we have a divided loyalty. James says, “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. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:4-6).
The war continues as we entertain two lovers. Pop psychology says that if we just love ourselves then all will be well. But that is idiolatry. We are spiritual adulterers trying to love ourselves and the world when we were meant to love God. God has said, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5). We were made by him and for him, and he wants us. But we are busy at someone else’s house. We are trying to meet our needs our way. We want to be a part of the world instead of being a part of God’s kingdom.
Basketball star Dennis Rodman visited a New York bookstore a few years ago to sign copies of his best-selling book, Bad As I Wanna Be. Rodman walked in with his six-foot, eight-inch frame decked in a lacy white wedding gown. He demurely lifted his veil to reveal a blond wig, two nose rings, and full makeup. You might think that people would be turned off by a male athlete appearing in drag, but thousands of fans lined up on Fifth Avenue for his autograph. It is a part of a cultural trend that makes heros out of those who are known for being bad and who rebel against all authority. It is being bad for the sake of being bad. Even if it is self-destructive, bad is good, and good is bad. And God will allow you to be as bad as you wanna be, but be sure of this: there are consequences that you will face. Trying to meet your eternal longings for intimacy, love, meaning and fulfillment with the pleasures of this world are doomed to failure and frustration — and ultimately personal destruction. Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan are recent examples.
James says that there is a spiritual war going on inside of us, and the third thing he has to say about it is: The solution of the conflict is surrender. Listen as he writes: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:7-10). James gives a series of ten commands in verses 7-10: submit, resist, come near, wash, purify, grieve, mourn, wail, change, humble yourselves. These call for an immediate response on the part of the hearer. You have been resisting God, now you must resist the devil. You have been giving in to sin, now you must submit to God. You have been full of passion for the things of this world, now you must be full of passion for God and the things of the Spirit. You have been laughing it up, now you must grieve over your sin in true repentance. Your soul has been contaminated by sin, now you must wash yourself in baptism. You have been proud, now you must humble yourself before God. James says to let your brokenness and transformed desire drive you to God. Allow a passion for God to begin to grow in your heart.
What do you do when you find yourself full of selfishness, and your soul is in rebellion against God? You surrender to him! You must make a choice. A war is ended in one of two ways. Either there is a total surrender or there is total destruction. The same is true in your life. Jesus told this parable: “Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:31-33). When you come to do battle with God be sure of this: You cannot win. You have two choices: surrender or destruction. The smart thing to do is to consider the terms of peace — total surrender. If you cannot give up everything then you cannot be Christ’s disciple. To submit to God does not mean that you give him certain parts of your life. You must give him everything. But when you give in to God, you win — when you don‘t you lose.
But this is still the difficult part. A relationship with God is an all or nothing affair. As you face this surrender, you ask yourself things like: “What will I be like if I make this kind of surrender to God? Will I be a fanatic? Will I have to become a missionary? Can I really give up this or that? Will it be worth it? Will my life be boring? I am so used to being like I am, who will I be if I do this?” The answer is: You will be exactly who God wants you to be. You will be more yourself than you have ever been. You will be a better you. You will be at peace, because the war will be over.
God is asking us to do something, but what is it that stands in our way? It is our pride. James realized this when he said, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Humility has to come before you can submit to God. Before you decided to become a Christian it was all about you. You were full of self. Now you have to put that all aside. Once you give up your pride, God will give you the grace to be a new person. The solution is a twofold action: You have to resist the devil, and then you have to submit to God. Notice that when you resist the devil he will flee from you, and when you submit to God he will draw near to you. One is running away from you, and the other is running toward you. But you have to put forth some effort. You have to resist. You have to surrender. These are deliberate actions that must take place. They will not happen if you just allow your life to drift. You have to actively and purposely follow Jesus. You need to be in the Word and Prayer. You need to obey. It will not be easy at first, but God will give you the power to overcome the things which have controlled you.
John Killinger retells a story in the Atlantic Monthly about how wild horses were tamed in the days of the great western cattle ranches: “A little burro sometimes would be harnessed to a wild steed. Bucking and raging, convulsing like drunken sailors, the two would be turned loose like Laurel and Hardy to proceed out onto the desert range. They could be seen disappearing over the horizon, the great steed dragging that little burro along and throwing him about like a bag of cream puffs. They might be gone for days, but eventually they would come back. The little burro would be seen first, trotting back across the horizon, leading the submissive steed in tow. Somewhere out there on the rim of the world, that steed would become exhausted from trying to get rid of the burro, and in that moment, the burro would take mastery and become the leader.”
That’s the way it is with us. We give ourselves to Christ, but the wild passions of our lives continue to throw us about. They rage and convulse in an effort to dominate us, so that it seems that they will never come under control. But when Jesus comes riding toward us on that small little burro, and we tether ourselves to him, the things that once tossed us about come under his control. Our surrendered heart that is now bound to Jesus becomes the master and leader of all our wild desires, and brings us home where our lives can be fulfilled in ways which we could never have imagined before.
Rodney J. Buchanan
April 17, 2011
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
