War Un-fare

James 4:1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

James continues to discuss matters of the heart, in a fashion which plops our heart out in front of us for self-examination.

“Why am I constantly in places of confrontation,” you may ask? Oh yeah, the reason is because of the selfish desire for pleasure that wars in your members. Can you argue with that? Wanna start something?

Fighting is something that comes very naturally to us. Defending our turf, and our way of life. This can be as significant as capitalism versus Nazi-ism, or as (seemingly) insignificant as which way the toilet paper spools off the roll. Are you over-the-top, or under the roll? (Sorry, didn’t mean to get you started…)

We have our way, and our way is better than their way. My way is better than your way. And my way can be better simply because it is familiar to me. I will fight to keep my way. Sometimes I will even say, “My way or the highway.”

How can human beings EVER get along? Takes a lot of policing, don’t it? And sometimes even policing doesn’t guarantee an end to the strife – because the police have their way, and…you know the rest…

Is the church the same as the rest? After all, the church is comprised of a bunch of rugged individualists - those strong enough to turn their backs on the world, and everything the world offers. (I know the world says we are mind-numbed robots who blindly think alike, but we know that’s not true, don’t we?) Won’t these rugged individualists really fight tooth and nail to maintain their Spiritual independence?

And here is where everything changes. Warfare is not to be against people, and even when it is – in the case of Biblically justifiable responsible warfare – the true enemy is not the guy in front of you. Warfare is Spiritual. And it starts with you. The war that rages in your members.

Whose side is God on? This is the question we often ask to attempt to justify our position. But a better question to ask is: Am I on God’s side?

-Pastor Bill