War and Peace

1. Read James 4:1-10. What hit you most from this passage and the sermon today?
2. What does James mean when he talks about faith without action, as mentioned in James 2:14? What is one major way mentioned in the sermon that we know our faith is genuine?
3. Why is community is so important for our spiritual growth?
4. How can you make yourself more open to being part of a community, especially if you find it difficult?

Prayer + Practice:

Pray this week about what barriers keep you from going deeper into community and ask God to remove them. What next step could you take to go deeper into community?

Well, good morning.

So today we are returning back to our study of James, and remember, he's the brother of Jesus, who very likely, this is the first new test, earliest book, earliest New Testament book, and as you saw, he come back into this text and he drops us right into the middle of a war zone, basically. And the language graphically depicts, like, carnage of massacre. And, you know, like many of you, I couldn't ever say that I understand war.

It's devastation.

I have no way to relate to it.

Kirk just got back from Romania, where he took a trip into Ukraine. And when he got back, or when he got back into Romania, he texted me a picture, some of the circumstances he saw, and he says, there's just nothing like being in a war zone. And then he described a little bit about what that was like when you're standing with a bunch of. When you're. He was with a thousand people at a spot in Ukraine who, whose, many of whom their loved ones are in the middle of a war and they don't know if they'll ever see him again.

So there were a number of issues there and it was just overwhelming. He tried to explain a little bit of that horror. Still hard to understand. Just as an aside, you can pray for Kirk and Violetta. Seven and a half feet of water.

Their house has been in 4ft of water while they were in Ukraine, and so they're back in town now and they've lost their house, basically. So they are dislodged and everything has to go. So they're in just a mess like you cannot believe. We have decided to put a little hurricane relief on our giving deal that if you would like to give to that to help a little bit, that's an option for you on the giving. Pray for them.

Be gone 30 days in Romania and in Africa and come home to that tough.

Well, anyway, James is going to walk us through this war zone and there will be some sort of gruesome images and we'll see some of the terrible effects of war and we'll be very surprised what's revealed to us when we go through it today. I want us to sort of prepare for that. I just want us to prepare for what it's like when we actually walk through that zone next week.

So let's start by reviewing what James is about. Let's get right back into what James is all about. And I guess if we're going to do this really quickly, the best verse to do that is 2:14, where he says, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith, but he does not do anything. So he's a sayer, he's not a doer. James will say that faith is not helpful in any way.

And so what James is doing in the book is he's pressing against. It's a great message for the church. He's pressing against what you say you believe.

As one writer said, belief without action is only profession of belief, not true belief.

So you can say you have faith, you can profess it, but not possess it.

Someone said this. I read this this week.

I'm still learning to trust what I say I believe.

That's a great thing to just tuck away in your mind right now.

Let me give you a visual of this. One of my favorite visuals. Tim Keller gave this illustration, but his wife is the one that gave it to him. It's basically Kathy's.

They lived in apartments in New York for a long time, and so they had these vending machines, you know, in the entrance ways. They used to, anyway, and they might still now, but often you'll put coins in the machine. We've all done this, and there's, and there's sort of a limbo, and there's a pause when you put your coins in, the coins are out of your hands, and they're in the machine, but they're not producing anything, you know, that momentous. And then you kind of have to pound on it.

And then you hear the coins drop, and then it produces the item. Great, great picture. You get your cheez its or your coke, whatever it is you want. So James is, this is what James is saying. I know you heard the message.

Like, I know the coin went in, it left the hands of somebody, and it went in there, but the coin hasn't dropped yet, and so nothing's produced.

James is trying to show us what wonderful goodies are available when the gospel, when the message actually drops into our lives and we start to see what comes as a result of it. Now, that message might have gone into the machine, it might have gone into your mind and heart, but it hasn't dropped yet. Don't be deceived by that. It might be in there. It's not producing anything.

James says that's useless to you or to anyone else.

Now, by the time you get to this part of James, you realize that there is at least one clear, very, very clear, important thing that ought to be coming out of your life if the coins have dropped.

And that's healthy community.

And James is going to use, in other words, a certain kind of community.

Now, he's been saying this all along in lots of little ways, but now it's going to become crystal clear that this is what he's driving to, and he's going to use the language of wisdom. Remember, I told you there are times when faith and wisdom overlap, and sometimes they're almost used interchangeably.

But wisdom definitely stands for what happens when the coins drop. Coin gets in there, and there's a whole different operational system that's driving your world, your perspective, your orientation. And it is definitely producing different things in your life than before.

And one of those things is better relationships relating better. Now, let's say we're preparing. So let's go to the paragraph, because when you get to chapter four, verses one to ten, you basically are at the back end, at the bottom end of a part of three that leads you into this section. And it's all about community, which is basically the center of the book. And I think the heart of what James is trying to say.

And so he's going to say, he's just going to come right out and say it. Who is wise? Like, how do we know the coins have dropped in somebody's life who really is wise and who is understanding? And he's basically going to repeat what he said in 214. Well, there's some kind of good conduct that shows up in a person's life, and he tells you kind of what it is.

We've looked at this. There's a kind of meekness that shows up, a meekness of wisdom. So whatever this operational system is, it's producing this idea of meekness. And so it's one of the things, when the coins drop, you see it. And what we define meekness as is self subduing in relationship to others.

That's a relational term. It's a relational term. It's a social skill. And basically what it means is, in relation to others, my importance and my desires take a backseat. That's the best way to really picture it.

In fact, James will give you, in the verses that follow this, the opposite picture what's being produced if the coins haven't dropped. Here's what's likely coming out. Bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boasting, lying. This is not the wisdom that comes from above. It's earthly, unspiritual and demonic jealousy and selfish ambition.

Where they exist, then there's disorder and chaos. And so what's being produced is just chaos and disorder, not the goodies that God has for us. And so James is essentially saying, if the coins have dropped, you're going to see this right here, the self subduing. And you can't see it unless you're in relationship. If you're not in relationship, you can't even see it.

This is not the kind of thing you can have by yourself. It's the kind of thing that comes alive or exists because you're in relationship with people. So you gotta hang with me on this, and I know that, and we're gonna talk about it. But let's look at the last verse, two verses of this little paragraph before we enter the war zone in chapter four. These are the last two verses.

He says this, but the wisdom from above. In contrast to that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. What should be coming down from heaven is remember these seven qualities, peace, gentleness, open to reason, full of mercy, all these good fruits, impartial and sincere, all relational, all an effort to define self subduing and meekness. Seven qualities that come out. They're all relational.

If you're not in a relationship, you can't even do them, let alone recognize that you have them or how they function in a person's life. And so here's the first use of peaceable. And then he says, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So here are, here's three times he's going to use that word. And what we're talking about with this word peace, is relational harmony, relationship focused.

So James brings us right to that relational thing before he takes us into that war zone in chapter four. So, peace. And then we're going to enter a war zone. So you got this peace and war connected to one another.

Now, we need to talk about this for a second. And maybe the best way to picture it is, so I wanted you to see it so you could see what James is saying. The peacemaker would be you or me. And then you sow. You sow into peace.

You sow into the ground of community. So you're a community maker. You're a relational maker, sowing into relationships. So this would be the community, this would be you. This would be the community that you enter.

And when you sow peace into peace, you get this harvest of righteousness.

That's what he's saying. So you have to picture community the way James is picturing it. Like, this is just, this is just, you're kind of the seed that goes into the ground of peace and produces a harvest of righteousness. All of those qualities that were up here, all of these qualities are produced when that happens. And so you kind of become seed in this image.

Now, let's just talk about that for a second.

James is essentially saying, you cannot. This is what drops out of the machine.

This is what's produced. You cannot have it if this isn't at play. And working in your life, James, is essential. You'll never change.

You'll never change apart from being deeply connected and rooted and planted into community.

And this has to be processed by us. So I want to talk about processing that again before we enter the war zone.

Now, I'll start with what we were just talking about in the recent series, because I think you got to make sense of this before you go through there, or you'll walk through a war zone and you won't even know what James is talking about.

Remember when Jesus was praying to the Father about what he wanted most?

I want them to be unified. This is relational harmony. What else could it be?

And then he says, just as you and me have what you and I share, because they're coming into us, and it's the only way to make sense of who you are and what we're doing, and to everybody in the world, it's the only way to make sense of anything.

It's to see how my people relate to one another because of the way we relate to one another. It's the only way to make sense of it. And so, remember, we looked at this trinity thing, Father, son, and the Holy Spirit, and how they relate. And we said, this is the essence of all reality, before anything. That was, you know, again, physicists, scientists, they're all trying to get back to what all reality is made of.

You can get all the way down to string theory. String theory is ultimately going to lead you to that.

This was what was before anything, was this relationship and this community. It's what we talked about. So if God's gonna open that up and let us in it, you can't come into God without coming into community, too.

So it's the very nature and makeup of all reality.

And Miroslav Volf, who was a theologian, says, spiritually speaking, there can't ever be a foursome where you, just as an individual, decide you want to go in there and just be you and God, and there's just a us for no more. Impossible. That cannot be, because it's not even reality. This is reality. Now, I tell you, I'm reading the problem of pain.

And so right now, that's. I'm actually reading two books right now. I just want you to know I'm reading another thing besides the problem of pain, because it's what I keep bringing up to you. But I'm reading the problem of pain slow because it's a wonder. And in it this past week, CS Lewis quotes George Macdonald saying something that I think fits right here. So he quotes George Macdonald saying, God is saying to Mendez, I must be strong with my strength and blessed with my blessedness, for I have no other to give you.

So he just starts out by saying, you know, this is God saying, listen, I wish I had something else to offer. This is what I've got and I can't change. I got nothing else to give you.

Listen, that's the conclusion of the whole matter. God gives what he has, not. What he has not. He gives the happiness that there is not, the happiness that is not to be God, to be like God, and to share in his goodness in creaturely response. Or else you can be miserable if you want to, you can pick another option, but it'll be miserable.

And then he says this. I love it. If we will not learn to eat the only food that the universe grows, the only food that any possible universe can ever grow, then we will starve eternally.

Take what I'm offering or die.

That's what it means to relate to God. I'm going to give you what I have. This is what I have.

And community is at the center of that eternal reality. The first thing it is communal.

Now let's support that. Our gospel writer John produced it. And in a little letter in one John, he teases this out in multiple ways, and it kind of looks like this.

Remember what he says about eternal life? We've seen it, we heard it. So now we proclaim it to you so that you can have community. I can't give you life and not give you community. This is God saying, this is what I have.

That's what I've got to give.

And that's community. Look at that with us and with God himself. That's this picture. You cannot come in here and it'd just be the four of you. Nope.

Everybody in there we relate to now. Everybody. The whole community.

He puts us first.

What's the first mark? That you're in community with God. You're in community with others. That's the first mark. But you can't have one and not the other.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. I mean, this is what I've got. This is God's saying, this is what I have. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever relates just use the word relates there and relates well because it's love.

Let us relate well to one another. For relating is from God. And whoever relates has been born of God and knows God.

Anyone who does not relate doesn't know God, because God is relationship.

This is God saying, that's all I've got to give. I can't give you anything else. Take it or starve eternally.

If God so related to us, we ought also to relate to one another. No one's ever seen God.

If we relate to one another, God abides in us. And his relating relationship, that love, that relational ability, gets perfected in us. That's what he's hoping for. That's what he's hoping for. Come into here.

Learn to relate well. You learn to relate well. Your life will be transformed, but you are not going to be transformed in isolation.

Is not going to happen. You can come sit in here all your days, and at times you'll feel good because you can. You'll feel inspired, you'll feel motivated.

But you cannot be transformed in here.

You'll think you can. It's in relationship that transforms you. And if you've been frustrated about why you don't change, maybe as significantly, as deeply and as often as you would like, that could very well be the reason.

You just can't have that harvest of righteousness if you're not sowing into community.

We do have to spend some time in the war zone speaking exactly to what that means, and we will do that. But let me give you just a little personal note right here. Just stop right here.

I am imagining how that sounds to you, and I'm going to give you a little window into how it sounds to me.

I'm sitting in my office this week thinking to myself, you're going to make me talk about community again, James. I mean, my goodness, everywhere I look in this book, I got to talk about community. I need a new topic. I'm running out of things to say about it, and you're probably thinking, please don't talk about community again. We have been talking about community for 30 years in this church.

If you go through my files right now, if you walk into the office, back part of the office where I am, and you open all the files of all the sermons I've given in 30 years, because I hand write everything, by far the most I've talked about in there's community, it's because I can't open a book in the New Testament and not encounter it. I just. You can't do it. Put your finger down anywhere. And we're going to be talking about community.

And I know it's very easy to say, it's very easy to feel, and I hate being in this position to some degree that, well, you know, a pastor has to talk about community. He won't have a church if he doesn't talk about community, and he won't have a job if he doesn't talk about community. That's a frustrating realization. Well, I know why he's talking about getting marinated. He wants us to be there.

I get it.

That's not why.

So I'd love to talk about something else.

And here's the other reason why. Because I'm just like you. There are just times when just relationships are just dad gum too exhausting, and they're just too hard and, hey, been down that road, been hurt. Don't want to be in there again.

I get it. They will take everything you have. That's why this whole language, all this language. Let's see if we can find it here. All this language.

This is farming. Farming is hard work. Sewing is hard work. You know, when I taught you this, my neighbors had spent a few months, and I sent you. I showed you a picture when we were in this text of my neighbors who decided to build, you know, make this garden.

It's a pretty significant area that they used in their backyard to create this garden. And for a little while, I mean, I watched the work, the work to get it. Just he and his wife, just the two of them killing themselves to create this. And it was. I just.

I marveled at the work. And then pretty soon, this harvest was coming. He could note, keep all the fruit of this thing. He was growing 20 different things in there, and they were just coming out like crazy. Remember I told you they're giving us zucchini, the zucchinis coming out your ears.

He can't control the harvest, but the work that went into it was overwhelming. So I go way up for the summer, and I come back half expecting to see a watermelon the size of, you know, my car out in his garden.

And I'm home for a week and a half. I don't see anybody out there. There's nobody out there. So, you know, and I told you I had an encounter with him not too long ago. So I asked him, what's going on?

Well, his wife had gotten in a car accident and hurt her back, and they couldn't put in the work. And then they realized they might not be able, going forward, to continue to put in that work.

That's what it looks like now.

I was mowing the yard yesterday and happened to glance over. I don't see him out there anymore, and it's just growing back over with grass.

No more sowing, no more harvest.

That's how it works.

So I asked him about it, and he said, you know what I think we're going to do? I think I'm gonna actually go get a bunch of boards, and we're gonna build a little thing above it and plant stuff in that and try to grow there, because dealing with this ground is just too hard.

I don't know how all that works. I told him, I'll help him carry all the boards back there. He wants to carry because she's got them. Be able to carry all the boards. You got to come to church with me, but I'm going to handle.

I'm going to. I told him, I said, I'll come to church with you, and I'll haul every board back there with you if you do. I'm not touching a board if you don't come to church with me. This is what I told him.

He said, okay.

And, you know, that's what some of us have done. Sort of backed off of community. We avoid community. It's just going to overgrow. And then we'll come up with our own little way of growing.

You know, we'll come up with our own easier way to have a relationship with God, and we'll avoid the hard work.

That's what a lot of people attend church do. Don't get me connected to anybody in there. I just want to come. Go. Leave me alone.

And I'm telling you, you can't have it both ways.

So I understand why you catch yourself on whether or not you want to try that again. So I get it.

I'd like something easier now. All I want to do today with chapter four. So I just want to give you a glimpse of how James describes this community, because it's kind of a war zone. And all I'm going to do to do that, if you just look at the first few verses, remember, you got quarrels and fighting among you. And then, you know, war, there's a war within you.

You desire you don't have, so you murder, you covet, can't obtain, so you fight and quarrel again, you don't have because you don't ask. You got to understand all that, what's going on there eventually. And then you adulterous people, murderers and adulterers, see, most of us would consider ourselves, would never consider ourselves murderers and adulterers. What is God trying to say about community in my life? That whether I'm in it and ruining it or whether I'm avoiding it, that somehow I'm a murderer and adulterer because I wouldn't consider myself a murderer and adulterer.

Somehow my relationship to community determines whether I'm one or both of those.

And then you have. So let me show you the first half of that passage. And the yellow represents the external conflict, fighting and quarreling.

This orange here represents what's going on inside of us, inside this conflict. So James sees this external conflict, and then he sees this internal sort of dynamic. And here's another orange one. So there's all kind of internal struggles, so somehow relating to community. There's some things about me that are making that difficult.

That's what it is. God's trying to transform. It's me. Can't do that unless I get in here and do this right. And then you say, well, what are the, what's the damage done here?

Well, you got war, you got murder, you got adultery, you got enmity with God. You're in conflict with God. If you're not doing this right, he becomes your enemy. In this text, who am I really fighting? Turns out you fight this whole issue on community.

It's God you're fighting.

Oh, my real problem's with you, God. I'm going to blame all the people in community on it, but it's you. It's really you. And then it turns out, look at this. It turns out, aha.

Who's God fighting? God is actually against that attitude. I'm against community. God's against me.

And turns out I'm not actually resisting the devil at all. I got God against me, and I'm actually welcoming the devil. Think about that language. I was thinking about this, and I think it's actually true when we go through this, this war zone next week, because we'll go through and sort of try to figure out everything James is wanting to teach us in there. I can't think of a text that's more radical on community than James.

4110 cannot think of one. Even though I can tell you there's communities everywhere, and you got to deal with it everywhere.

The language used here will take your breath away.

And then whatever's going on, once you realize what's going on, when you think about how you think about community, then right here, right in this section, here comes the strongest language for repentance I've ever seen as if God was saying, I know you did this. I know you've done that, and I know you can't get over that. I'm going to tell you, your attitude toward community is the thing you need to repent from the most.

That probably wouldn't be at the top of your list. Coming in here today.

There is a kind of the answer. There's some kind of humility, by the way, that traces back to the word meek, self subduing. And you're not going to want to hear this. I don't.

It turns out the problem's me and not the community.

And that's hard to hear. And that's why walking through the war zone is really hard.

So God's got a pound on you.

So the coin drops and you finally get it, and you let him have his way in your relational world, which means you will have to stop interpreting all spirituality through the lens of individualism.

Everything is about what God wants you to do and not what you to do in, with, and through others.

If you leave that piece out, James would tell you he didn't know what you have and the coins haven't dropped.

So let me. Let me just wrap this up for today. If you're sitting in here today and you say, pete, I have to tell you, I don't feel a strong urge to be in community.

After everything you just said, I do not feel a strong urge to be in community. I get it.

That's something you have to deal with. You don't get to just go home and act like that doesn't matter. Your prayer ought to be God. You gotta help me have a passion for people that I do not have, for being close to people that I don't have.

You know, in a moment, we're gonna take communion, and not yet. So nobody panic yet. Just stay with me. But here's the thing. You cannot come to that table and decide that you only want to meet God at the table.

You got to stop coming to God and say, God, just give me what's mine, and that's all I need, and I'll go home and have the week I want to have. No, God's about to hand you something, and you have to take what he gives, not what you want.

Maybe you are in here today and you'll say, you know, I'm tired of just being inspired every week. You know, maybe a little kick in the pants, a little, hey, go out there and get them every week. You know, you leave here every week and it's just go out there and get them, and you're tired of that, and it's not working anymore. And maybe you're willing to say I need to change deeply. I'm not changing deeply.