The Roots Of Conflict James 4:1-6

JAMES 4:1a What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?...

SINFUL DESIRES WITHIN US ROOT #1 SINFUL DESIRES WITHIN US

JAMES 4:1-2a What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

JAMES 4:1-2a (NLT) – What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? (CEV) – Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn't it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body?

Powlison One of the joys of biblical ministry comes when you are able to turn on the lights in another person’s dark room…I have yet to meet a couple locked in hostility (and the accompanying fear, self-pity, hurt, self-righteousness) who really understood and reckoned with their motives. James 4:1-3 teaches that cravings underlie conflicts. Why do you fight? It’s not “because my wife/husband….” – It’s because of something about you…

Powlison …Couples who see what rules them – cravings for affection, attention, power, vindication, control comfort, a hassle-free life – can repent and find God’s grace made real to them, and then learn how to make peace”

Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

1 John 3:15 – Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him

Downward Spiral of Conflict… I DESIRE I DEMAND I JUDGE I PUNISH

Powlison WE judge others – criticize, nit-pick, nag, attack, condemn – because we literally play God. This is heinous. [The Bible says] “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you to judge your neighbor?” Who are you when you judge? None other than a God wannabe. In this we become like the Devil himself (no surprise that the Devil is mentioned in James 3:15 & 4:7)..

Powlison …We act exactly like the adversary who seeks to usurp God’s throne and who acts as the accuser of the brethren. When you and I fight, our minds become filled with accusations: your wrongs and my rights preoccupy me. We play the self-righteous judge in the mini-kingdoms we establish

Diagnostics… What Do I Want That I’m Not Getting? Why Do I Think I Deserve This? Do I Have any Right to Demand It?

PRIDEFUL SELF-SUFFICIENCY ROOT #2 PRIDEFUL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

JAMES 4:2b-3 You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

ROOT #3 SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

JAMES 4:4-5 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?