Wars and Fightings
... Lesson 1:
"From whence come wars and
fightings among you? come they not hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye
kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war,
yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts." James 4:1-3
Our text presents to us James’ classic
paragraph on fightings and quarrels even in the Christian life!
One might say of this situation "My
brethren, these things ought not so to be." That’s
exactly what James said of our "words" in James 3:10!
Today let’s consider that phrase: "Wars
and fightings."
The noun for "wars" is (in Greek) "polemos."
It’s used 18 times in our King James New Testaments. It is
translated "war" 12 times and "battle" 5 times and "fight" 1
time. It is from a root verb that means "to bustle." The term is
usually used in a context that suggests not just one battle ...
but a protracted series of confrontations ... hence, a war! In
the Gospels, only Jesus uses the word! For example, He says in
the Olivet Discourse: "And ye shall hear
of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for
all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet." Matthew 24:6 And as one might expect, the heaviest
usage of the word is found in the Book of Revelation (9 times).
It is a Book of warfare!
Then the other noun (for "fightings") is a
little Greek word "mache." (Pronounced mak’-hay) I believe our
English word "machete" (the long cutting knife used to harvest
sugar cane or as a weapon) comes from this verb. In 2
Corinthians 7:5 Paul tells us he was constantly around such
fightings! (Our word is only found 4 times in the whole New
Testament!) Also according to Paul, certain things can "gender"
(meaning "to father") strifes (mache)! Why don’t we learn those
things and stay away from them? Here’s one of them:
"Grievous words stir up anger."
Proverbs 15:1 Spiritually and theologically one can get involved
in these fightings as well! Paul talked about them in Titus 3:9
where he used the expression "strivings (mache)
about the law!"
Also let me point out to you that both
these nouns are plural in our text! Many wars and many fightings
have occurred among James’ hearers! (Now these people are
professing Christians! It’s the same group to whom James has
earlier said: "My brethren!")
Here’s the amazing thing to me. James
accepts the fact that such behavior is common with these
Believers! James obviously acknowledges it without too much
surprise or amazement! It’s just a part of life! Men (and women)
will argue and bicker!
Of course the man of God here is going to
rebuke such behavior and give the folks the secret to overcoming
it ... but he quietly realizes its presence!
I once read where a man said "War is
normal." He believed that such fighting occurs so often we
hardly notice it anymore.
One famous American General said "I love
it (war)! I do love it so! I love it more than my life!"
I am beginning to wonder if many (make
that "most") Christians don’t love it too! I don’t mean army
against army warfare, but group against group or family against
family or person against person!
A philosopher once said "Being reveals
itself as war!" Another quipped "The state of peace among men
living side by side is not the natural state; the natural state
is one of war." In fact, during all the years of written human
history ... 14,600 wars have been recorded! That's
astounding!
War has become so "normalized" that we
mindlessly speak of gender wars, trade wars, price wars, gas
wars and even information wars!
Well, war may be epidemic. It may be
accepted. It may even be widely accepted among Christians ...
but James knows the solution to it!
And we shall find that solution as we go a
bit further into our verse. We shall do so tomorrow, Lord
willing!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
Wars and Fightings
... Lesson 2:
Notice how the Holy Spirit leads James to
word his initial question.
"From whence come wars and
fightings among you?"
Where are these wars and fightings?
AMONG the professing Christians!
The Greek preposition there for "among" is
spelled "en." It means (with the dative case as here):
in, on, by, near, by, before, among or WITHIN!
That's a pretty comprehensive description.
Fightings within us!
The pronoun "you" is "humin" in Greek and
is plural in number. James is writing to his brethren in
Christ. He is a very plainly spoken preacher!
In Romans 7 even the great Apostle Paul
examine himself! He looks deep down within his heart and
soul! His conclusion is: "For
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform
that which is good I find not." Furthermore he
surmises: "O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then
he declares: "I find then a law,
that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." (Verses
18, 24 and 21 of Romans 7!)
Let me say this again. I'm simply
echoing James! WITHIN us are fightings and wars and lusts
that must be conquered! Only the Holy Spirit can do this!
We must have His filling and power!
Those things were in Peter and James and
John ... and they will be in you and me!
Educators of the past have so realized
this depraved human condition (this "war-like" spirit) in
mankind that they declare: "War is more nearly the normal
human condition than peace!"
Listen to Paul again in a particularly
trying time of his life: "For, when
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were
troubled on every side; without were fightings, within
were fears." 2 Corinthians 7:5
And, oh, the fallout from such fighting!
It is said that over a million bushels of
bones (human and horse skeletons) have been harvested from the
battlefields of Europe through the years! They were
shipped to England and then ground into bone meal for
fertilizer!
I began to wonder about the spiritual
fallout from all the fights and fusses God's people have had!
Husband/Wife bones! Preacher/Church bones!
Father/Son bones! Mother/Daughter bones!
Employer/Employee bones! Church Member/Church Member
bones! Where does it all end?
One political scientist spoke of "the
constancy and ubiquity" of war! It is always happening in
all places!
In fact, military officials tell us that
truly professional soldiers (Generals and the like) can suffer
extreme emotional letdowns when war if over! One famous
American General said that he expected "a tremendous letdown" as
the war against Germany drew to a close!
I am wondering if I might have just met
some professing Christians who are also addicted to such
bickering and fighting! They can just never let go and
enjoy peace and quiet!
It is IN them! I'm telling you this
is the truth!
And mankind has so adjusted to it all ...
that he believes it to be just a normal state of life!
Hence we accept (even in our churches)
criticism, gossip, slander, secret meetings (war sessions),
rebellion and anarchy!
BUT I do believe James is soon going to
have a better idea!
The Lord always does!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
Wars and Fightings
... Lesson 3:
If any preacher ever cut right to the
heart of a matter, James did!
In his little Epistle he again and again
strikes incisive blows to old sinful pride, lust and
selfishness.
In his little paragraph about fightings
and wars, he is true to form!
He identifies the problem.
Let me give you just a part of the text:
"From whence come wars and
fightings among you? come they not hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members?" James 4:1
That little noun "lusts" translates a
Greek word "hedone!" (It gives us the English words hedonist
and hedonism.) It means "pleasure!" One lexicon says the verb
is from a root, "handano," which means "to please."
The little word is only used 5 times in
the New Testament. It is translated "pleasure" or "pleasures" 3
times and "lusts" 2 times.
The word is often used in the area of
"sensual delight" too.
James has put our own selfish desires on
the "witness" stand ... and accused them of being guilty of many
a war and conflict!
Isn't it so?
One ancient philosopher said: "Wars and
revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body
and its desires." If kept in context ... this is similar to
what James is saying.
I am NOT saying that all war is wrong! A
fight to defend a nation's liberty and freedom is a matter of
principle. The Bible has definite accounts of some wars ...
ordered by God Himself! In fact, Exodus 15:3 says:
"The LORD is a man of war: the
LORD is his name."
But personal confrontations and church
disagreements and too often national (and international) wars
are the results of man's hedonistic "lusts."
How many "gossip" sessions have been fueled
by a person's desire for superiority?
How many church power struggles have been
over a man's (or a family's) desire to rule the flock?
How many husband-wife arguments have been
allowed due to someone's desire to be right or to be
"fulfilled?"
In most of the confrontations you see ...
stop and examine the situation. See if James is not right! We
war and fight because we want something!
Lord, today, help us to learn to control our
"desires!"
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
WARS AND FIGHTINGS ...LESSON 4:
"War in our Members!" That's exactly what James' sermon
title would have been that Lord's Day! I mean the day he
preached the first verse of his fourth chapter!
Here are his exact words: "From
whence come wars and fightings among you? come they
not hence, even of
your lusts that war in your members?"
The noun "lusts" is the Greek word that give us the English term
"hedonism!" It means one's desires, strong desires,
especially desires of the flesh!
The verb "war" translates "strateuo," which means to fight a
prolonged campaign! (To make a military expedition! To lead
soldiers to war! To do military duty! To be in
active service as a soldier!) This is the source of our
English noun "strategy!" It's a present participle in the
middle voice! Christians are continually at war! And such
fighting will change them forever! (Here the change is not for
the better ... but for the worse!)
And look where this war takes place!
"In our members!"
I've tried to trace that little noun (members = "melos" in
Greek) through the New Testament this morning. It's found
there 34 times. More often than not, it has reference to
our body parts! Here is its first Bible occurrence:
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell." Jesus said that
in Matthew 5:29.
James literally says that we war in our members!
How can one's "eyes" be at war? This has reference to what
one DESIRES to see! Some of these things can be wrong! To
lust after some forbidden sight (a Bathsheba on the roof) will
cause war within the heart of a Christian, who is supposed to be
looking unto Jesus. To look at a neighbor's new boat or
remodeled house can cause war too!
Just go down the "sense" list?
What one hears can cause war too! Did you hear what
so-and-so said about you? Get ready, blows are about to begin!
What one touches can also!
Where one's feet takes him or her! "Feet" are among your
bodily members!
What one tastes can even lead to battle! My pie is better
than hers! Or one may crave the taste of that wicked old
alcoholic drink again!
Even smell! Like that of cigarette smoke! (Sickening
to some ... tempting to others!)
This almost sounds like James is describing war on a two-fold
front: War within an individual believer ... and
war between believers!
Either way, the "solution" is to get one's desires under
control! To reign in one's "members!"
And THAT, dear friend, is a life-long task!
It can only be done via the Power of the Holy Spirit of God!
Lord, help us to grow!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
WARS AND FIGHTNINGS ... LESSON 5:
James pretty well summarizes life for millions of people when he
says: "Ye lust and have not!"
(James 4:2a)
The verb for "lust" here is the Greek word "epithumeo." It
means to long for something strongly! To crave it! "Thumos"
in Greek is their word for passion! The prefix "epi" just
intensifies the meaning!
James has formed the verb so that it indicates to us habitual
lusting! On-going action! Constantly desiring
things!
Now truthfully "epithumeo" can be used in a good sense as well
as a bad sense! For example the Angels "lust" to see the
beauties of God's Grace in the lives of us Believers! ("Which
things the angels desire to look into." 1 Peter
1:12)
Jesus strongly desired ("epithumeo!") to eat the Passover Meal
with His Disciples before Calvary! Luke 22:15
But of course the word can also be used in an evil sense, as it
is in its first use in the New Testament.
"But I (Jesus) say unto you, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew
5:28
Here James undoubtedly uses it in a wicked context.
Even we believers lust for things! (Anything from a new
car or home to clothes or reputation or esteem or any one of
millions of other items!)
But James says we, even after so lusting, have not
those things we so wanted!
The verb "have" translates "echo" in Greek. It means to
have or to hold! To keep or possess!
We may get the things we so lust for ... but we don't hold to
them or keep them! They lose their value or glitter! We go
on soon to new things! The possessions we seize do not
satisfy us at all! We're soon pursuing bigger and better
things!
Or James could be saying that we are really so confused about
the things we want ... we miss the root desires of our heart!
We might think we want more money ... but really that hunger is
for security! (Which money does not bring!) Only Jesus can
bring security!
We might long for a bigger gun ... safety is our goal! But
guns do not always bring safety! (I am not against owning
guns either!) The Lord brings safety and protection!
Or it just could be that God frustrates our lusts so that we
cannot get what we think we want! Why would God do this?
To teach us that all our desires actually are only satisfied in
Him!
The Psalmist said: "All my springs
are in Thee." Psalm 87:7
David further added: "One thing
have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I
may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple."
Psalm 27:4
Now those spiritual desires CAN be met in the dear Lord!
Psalm 37:4 promises us:
"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he
shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
Glory to God!
Let's quit lusting and start longing for Jesus!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
WARS AND FIGHTINGS ...
LESSON 6:
Listen to what James says ... even to
professing Christians!
"Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot
obtain." James 4:2b
The first verb here means to kill, slay or
murder! ("phoneuo" in Greek) It is a present tense
verb too! This suggests habitual action!
But I thought, how do Christians kill?
We all obey the Commandment:
"Thou shalt not kill!" Plus
... if we did so, we'd all be in jail or worse!
James must be using the verb "kill" in the
same sense John did! "Whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15
But what could make a so-called Christian
hate someone that much?
Again, James answers. Our desires do!
The expression "desire to have" translates a
verb "zeloo" (our word "zeal") which means to be hot or to boil
(often with anger or envy)! It is translated "covet" in
the New Testament also.
Yet even with all this passion ... we still
"cannot obtain" what we really want!
"Obtain" (in Greek = "epitugchano") has the
idea of "lighting upon" something. Getting it! To attain
it!
Here's Bible proof that our lusts and wicked
passions cannot be truly satisfied! They are self
destructive and self refuting and self frustrating commodities
in our lives!
The only real One who can give us the
"desires of our heart" is the Lord God Almighty!
"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he
shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psalm
37:4
This is a pretty violent phrase James has
used here today!
God, deliver us from such behavior!
Fill us with Thy Spirit! ("But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such
there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23)
That's the very opposite of killing and
lusting and fighting!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON
7:
James 4:2 says a lot in just 4 words!
"Ye fight and war."
Of course to get the whole "context" I need
to show you the whole verse.
"Ye lust, and
have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye
fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not."
I just noticed something about those two
verbs.
One of them ("fight") is in the middle or
passive voice (both forms are identical). The other ("war") is
in the active voice.
Just how precise can one be in studying the
Bible? (VERY!)
Does its "inspiration" even involve points of
grammar? (YES!)
Is it really perfect in every way? (YES!)
The vocabulary word "fight" translates "machomai"
and means to quarrel or to dispute or to contend.
Its accompanying verb "war" is "polemeo" and
means to make war or to carry on war. (Showing hostile attitudes
in a community!)
Here is my point.
The "fighting" indicates individual battles.
It, being in the middle voice, suggests that the quarreling here
described affects the Christian doing it. (The Believer's
conscience must have been at that time still sensitive enough to
have been impacted by his sin of fighting!)
BUT by the continuation of his "fighting"
(going on and one with it) he well may have "seared" his
conscience.
For sure this kind of action will lead from
"fighting" to "warring!"
The "warring" (a constant state of fighting
and contention) is NOT in the middle voice (reflecting on the
combatant) ... but is now just in the active voice (not
necessarily reflecting any impact on the subject)!
Do you get it?
"Ye fight and war!"
The fighting (which comes first) is so new to
the so-called Christian's behavior that he is quite sensitive to
it!
But, by continuing this fighting until it
becomes war ... James' so-called Believer becomes desensitized
to his activity and pursues it relentlessly and habitually!
(Sin always "desensitizes!")
First comes the "fighting!" (Awkwardly and
squeamishly with stress on the fighter!)
Then comes the "warring" (Automatically and
without feeling!)
What a view of the progressiveness of sin!
And by the time this cycle is finished ...
one is entangled the the endless "cycle" of his sin!
This even reminds me of a Proverbs verse.
"His own iniquities shall take the wicked
himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins."
Proverbs 5:22
(I plan to write more about this verse and
the paragraph in which it sits in the next "Paragraphs in
Proverbs" study.)
We're so glad you've visited here today ...
with a Bible in your hand! You are welcome here anytime to
study the precious Word of God!
Don't ever start the "fighting" (one
Christian against another) ... then you will never have to worry
about the "warring!"
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON 8:
This is one of James' most well-known statements.
" ... Yet ye have not, because ye
ask not." James 4:2
And the amazing thing is this. James
places his words of wisdom here at the end of a "warring and
fighting" statement!
It is as if he is saying that we have
unrealized desires ... simply because we do not "filter" them
through God's program called PRAYER!
I can have anything (I really need in God's
Will) ... if I will just ask for it!
Things that are wrong, forget them!
(You can't pray and ask God for them anyway! They are outside
His will!)
Things that are permissible and approved of
God ... WHY just sit around and long for them?
Ask God for them!
Generally speaking, He has promised to grant
them!
The verb "have" translates "echo" in the
present indicative active 2nd person plural form. It
pictures my entire list of possessions. (I own nothing
proper that God did not give me anyway. James 1:17)
"Because" is the little Greek preposition "dia."
It suggests "the channel of an act!" God's channel for giving me
the genuine needs of my life is PRAYER!
And the action word "ask" is English for "aiteo,"
meaning to request something. (It often carries the idea of
asking for something with urgency!) Often in Greek it was
used with such vehemence that it was translated "require or
demand!" Here it is an infinitive (present tense, middle
voice). If we are to keep on having ... we must keep on
asking! (That's what the present tense tells us.) And the
asking will IMPACT us personally! We ourselves must do the
asking ... not just expect someone else to do it for us! (That's
what the middle voice tell us.)
So ... here is the Bible solution to all
lusts (strong desires) and arguments and battles wars among
professing Christians ... take those longings to the Lord ... in
prayer! He can (and will) grant us what we need! And
what He does not grant us ... we do not need! Forget it!
Amen, Brother Bagwell!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON
9:
James 4:3 gives us a tremendous prayer
principle!
"Ye ask,
and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it
upon your lusts."
The Greek verb for ask is "aiteo" and means
to desire, beg, crave or even to require! Here it is in the
present tense ... suggesting that the action is going on
currently. They are praying regularly! (And fighting regularly
as well! See these two earlier verses:
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not
hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and
have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye
fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.")
James 4:1-2
To "receive not" incorporates the Greek verb
"lambano," which means to take hold of! It is a perfectly
acceptable word to use in the context of prayer. Jesus Himself
did so! (In Matthew 7:8 He says: "For
every one that asketh RECEIVETH; and he that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.")
James' listeners are asking in prayer ... but
not getting their requests granted by the Lord!
Let me say it another way.
Here their prayers are plainly NOT answered!
Why?
We are distinctly told.
"Because" (in Greek = "dioti") here serves as
a subordinating conjunction. That means it introduces a less
important but still critical thought to the sentence. It
"links" (the job of a conjunction) the reason for their
unanswered prayers to the rest of the sentence.
So far ... they keep on asking. And they
keep on not receiving. BECAUSE they ask "amiss!"
What does that important little word mean?
In Greek it is spelled "kakos" and has the
idea of that which is bad! Or worthless! Or even injurious!
(Intrinsically so. The noun "poneros" pictures active spreading
evil.)
By translating the word "amiss" the King
James translators obviously are telling us the word means
something with "wrong aim." It "missed" its goal! Hence ...
"amiss." My dictionary says that which is "amiss" has gone
"astray."
In both John 18:23 and Acts 23:5 our word ("kakos")
is translated "evil."
Our word can also have the meaning of being
sick or diseased! (Sick prayers!)
The word is often used of the sick folks who
were brought to Jesus for healing!
That's exactly what we must do with our
"sick" prayers also. Bring them to Jesus and trust Him to fix
them!
He will!
And He does that by changing our hearts!
A heart that lusts and fights and wars and
kills will not know how to ask things humbly before God! It
will not know how to confine its requests to the limited scope
of God's perfect will! It will not know how to ask "aright!"
(Therefore it asks "amiss!")
While I must leave the last clause of our
little verse for tomorrow ("that ye may consume it upon
your lusts"), these professing Christians have become simply
prayer "consumers."
Most people today (wrongly) define prayer as
getting from God what I want!
Prayer (truly) is ...
preparing my heart to receive what God sends! (That which
is in His will!)
Think about it!
Until our desires are under control ... our
prayers can not be effective!
That's what James 4:3 is teaching us this
Tuesday in August!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON 10:
In some ways this is one of the saddest paragraphs in all the
Bible. Christians ... or at least so-called Christians
fighting and warring and lusting and consuming! And it's
all to the detriment of the cause of our dear Saviour!
I recently read a chapter in a history book about the
destructiveness of war. It was amazing! Did you know
that in Vietnam we had "daisy-cutter" bombs that could clear a
jungle or forest of all growth (to the size of a football field)
for helicopters to land? I sure didn't!
During the American Civil War (in Virginia) a huge oak tree was
cut down to the ground solely by fired bullets from Union
forces! (23 hours of vicious combat) Maybe they weren't
very sharp marksmen!
And General Sherman burned the South on his way to the Sea!
(Including Atlanta where we live.)
Did you know that "Chickamauga" means river of death?
(That battlefield in near Chattanooga, Tennessee.)
In fact during the 20th century over 62,000,000 civilians
(civilians!) perished.
And we are not even going to consider here the rapes, the
children slaughtered, the mutilated bodies or the mass graves!
I am talking about the destructiveness of war!
Plus the mental and emotional devastation must be considered!
It is said that in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war almost one third of
the casualties were psychiatric ... indicating the terrific
stress of warfare!
Ruined nerves, life-long nightmares, what used to be called
"shell shock!"
As I read those words I began to wonder about some other
"casualties!"
The damage inflicted by carnal selfish spiritual warfare!
By church arguments and fights! By folks who hated the
preacher or one group within a church despising another group!
By gossip and slander and name-calling!
By secret meetings and political maneuverings!
(All to help someone finally get what they wanted!)
God, help us!
And we too have left our strings of casualties!
Preachers who have quit the ministry!
Church folks who no longer attend anywhere.
Young people who have witnessed "church wars" and who
consequently have sworn off God and religion forever!
ALL BECAUSE OF OUR LUSTS!
So says James!
"... That ye may consume
it upon your lusts." James 4:3
What sadness!
That Greek verb "consume" is "dapanao" and is derived from the
word meaning "to devour!"
Listen to Paul: "But if ye bite and
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of
another." Galatians 5:15 (Devour means
to gobble down! Bite means to cut with the teeth!)
What destruction is left behind!
And in all this ... James (under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit) gives us the solution to the whole problem!
"Ye ask not!"
PRAY! That's what James says!
Prayer can tame our desires!
Prayer can bring peace!
Prayer can even heal the hurts of the wounded!
And the GOD of all prayer alone can help us grown up and mature
the way we should!
That, after all, is James' goal for his hearers!
Let's quit fighting and start ... praying!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON 11:
I sometimes wonder if perhaps wars and fightings are not just
traits of our fallen human natures!
We are all sinners ... until "saved" by the Grace of God!
Mankind seems to be an incurable fighter!
I have even read literature praising war!
One piece suggested that it brings out the "best" in us!
It's on the death fields of battle the author suggested that we
see the most brilliant shades of love and loyalty and devotion
and bravery.
James says this kind of selfish warfare is not to be allowed
among Christians!
Look at the public's fascination with war stories and war
pictures! What "draws" man to such things?
It is said that some career fighters keep re-enlisting simply
due to the love of battle! It gives them a "high!"
Often the war literature describes the euphoria and love of
bloodshed or gruesome battle scenes!
One airman spoke of the "gorgeous" sight of an enemy bomber
splattering itself and its occupant against a mountainside!
(Of course I might feel differently too if they had been
shooting at me!)
Someone called all this "a delightful horror" or "a terrible
joy!"
We lionize it all. (Lionize = to treat as an object
of great interest or importance)
It called the good old American "fighting spirit!"
Maybe we should also call it the good old Baptist "fighting
spirit."
Look at how the kids today love the most violent games ... and
the bloodiest programs on television!
Again, we love to fight!
And James has recognized that fact in his "war" paragraph.
And He does NOT like what he sees.
In fact, he tells us how to change things!
Don't lust!
Don't fight!
PRAY!
Let God meet your needs!
And until He does ... be content!
(To fight to defend one's country and freedom is one thing!
To fight for the sheer thrill of it is another! Likewise
... to fight to defend the Faith is one thing! To fight my
brothers and sisters in Christ over selfish things is another!)
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
JAMES 4:1-3 ... LESSON 12, FINAL LESSON:
As I studied for this text, something overwhelming came into
view! I guess I was just unaware of it before now!
Person after person has begun to blame the wars and fightings
and conflicts of this world on one Person: Almighty God!
One sage said: "War IS religion!"
A psychologist noted that the Bible is full of warfare. He
emphasized the verse that declares God to be a "Man of war."
(Exodus 15:3 --- "The LORD is a man
of war: the LORD is his name.") From that
fact he "jumped" to the (not-so-obvious) conclusion that all war
is God's fault!
Excuse me! But it is apparent that James 4:1-3 is against
(at least some kinds of) war! Jesus encouraged us to be
peacemakers ... not troublemakers!
True, we are to fight the devil!
True, God did have wicked societies destroyed in the Old
Testament days. (But not until He had given them over 400
years of goodness and grace ... sufficient time to repent and
live godly!)
True, the Bible at places is a "bloody" Book. BUT that
does not mean God started all the hatred!
And do remember this ... the Lord is taking all His children
some day to a City called Heaven, a city of PEACE!
Here's the twisted thinking of many. If a religion can
accept all other religions equally ... things will be fine and
no fighting will result! (A huge jump of logic, by the
way! And an erroneous assumption for sure!)
BUT THE WORLD'S MAJOR PROBLEM IS THAT THERE ARE TWO OR THREE
RELIGIONS THAT WILL NOT ACCEPT ALL GODS EQUALLY!
And, of course, Bible believing Christianity is at the center of
his aim here!
The wicked writer says that we "exclusivists" are the cause of
all fighting and war and bloodshed!
We who believe that there is only ONE way to heaven! Only
ONE true and living God! Only ONE Holy Book!
He is wrong of course.
(By the way there IS only one way to Heaven! In John 14:6
Jesus Himself said: "I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me.")
Some today accuse us of being guilty of "raging intolerance!"
I personally believe God WAS at the head of the war against
atheistic communism!
And the war against pornography or abortion!
BUT God is NOT at the head of the wars brethren fight against
brethren down at the local church!
He is NOT in family squabbles and divorces and hatreds of all
kinds!
James 4:1-3 has taught us some valuable lessons.
Our desires make us fight!
Our desires are never truly met in that carnal fashion!
However God ... through prayer ... can meet our desires and
longings!
Bring your needs to the Lord! Don't "fight" for them!
HE (our great God) can take care of you for sure!
Additionally Christian, let me remind you that we will be at war
perpetually (constantly) against three things: The world!
The flesh! And the devil! (But NOT at war against
one another!)
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
