Inner Struggles James 4:1-12

(James 4) 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 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. 5 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"? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.“

(James 4) 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:1-3 What are the reasons for your disputes and fights in the Christian community? Are they not caused by: 1)Your desires to satisfy your bodily pleasures that are fighting within (Hedone). 2)Your inordinate, misplaced – deepest needs, but cannot fulfill it (epithumeo).... So you kill relationships along the way. 3)Your zealous anger when compared to others (Zeloo). Many of us don’t even ask God to satisfy our appropriate desires, because we have been disappointed and thinking that God does not care. But the reason why God has not answered is because we have asked for the wrong thing or asked for the wrong reason – to satisfy our inordinate personal needs or desires.

5 Common Issues 1.Under-motivated 2.Asking the Wrong questions with the wrong motives

Common Issues & Community 1.Under-motivated 2.Asking the Wrong questions with the wrong motives 3.Bodily pleasure (hedenism) 4.Our misplaced/ inappropriate deepest longing (epi-thumeo) 5.Our need to compare (zoloo – covet)

How do you see others? 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Easier to judge others than working on myself The Journey of transformation brings humility

Solution (James 4) 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Submit in humility

Submission in Humility 1.Self-reliant : Don’t Ask 2.My Will Be Done: Asking the Wrong thing or with the wrong motive 3.Bodily pleasure: Good Things twisted 4.Our misplaced and inappropriate desires 5.Significance based on Comparison 1. Dependence on God 2. God’s Will Be Done: Submitting our needs & desire under constant examination 3. Good things God’s way & His boundary 4. Christ, our deepest longing 5. Significance base on God’s View of Us

Discussion Questions Out of the 5 reasons for our inner struggles, which one can you identify in your life? How does it manifest itself in your relationship with God and other people? 1.Under-motivated 2.Bad questions or wrong motives 3.Bodily pleasure 4.Our misplaced deepest longing 5.Our need to compare/ Covet

Discussion Questions How can our view of other people reveal our need to justify ourselves? Give us an example in your life where it is easier to condemn others than to look at our own inner struggles. How would submission to Christ transform you and what you are struggling with? Why is it so difficult?