When War Breaks Out In The Church MESSAGE 11 OF 17 in Expository Series from the Book of James JAMES 4:1-12 NIV

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1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 23, 2009 MESSAGE 11 OF 17: Practical Wisdom For Daily Living Series from the Book of James CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister When War Breaks Out In The Church MESSAGE 11 OF 17 in Expository Series from the Book of James JAMES 4:1-12 NIV As we continue with our study of the Book of James, I would like for you to turn in your Bibles to James the fourth chapter, and let s read verses one.two..and three. READ: JAMES 4: 1-12 P R A Y E R ************************************************************* I N T R O D U C T I O N The wedding guests have gathered in great anticipation; the ceremony to be performed today has long been awaited. The orchestra begins to play an anthem, and the choir rises in proper precision. The bridegroom and his attendants have gathered in front of the chancel. One little saint, her flowered hat bobbing, leans to her companion and whispers, Isn t he handsome? The response is agreement, My yes, the handsomest. The sound of the organ rises, a joyous announcement that the bride is coming. Everyone stands and strains to get a proper glimpse of her beauty. Then a horrible gasps explodes from the congregation. This is a bride like no other.

2 In she stumbles. Something terrible has happened. One leg is twisted,; she limps pronouncedly. The wedding garment is tattered and muddy; great rents in her dress leave her scarcely modest. Black bruises can be seen welting her bare arms; the bride s nose is bloody. An eye is swollen, yellow and purple in its discoloration. Patches of hair look as if they had actually been pulled from her scalp. Fumbling over the keys, the organist begins again after her shocked pause. The attendants cast their eyes down. The congregation mourns silently. Surely the bridegroom deserved better than this! That handsome prince who has kept himself faithful to his love should find consumation with the most beautiful of women----not THIS! HIS BRIDE..THE CHURCH..HAS BEEN FIGHTING AGAIN! ********************************************************** Any Christian who has ever been in a fighting Church knows it is one of the most gut-wrenching.heartbreaking unpleasant experiences one can go through. I still bear the emotional scars of having been through such an experience. And I am keenly sensitive to the fact this Church has also been through such an experience. And I think you would agree, you have never been the same since. The New Testament certainly doesn t lack for examples of Churches in conflict. * There was all kinds of conflict in the Church at Corinth. Some church members were following Paul, some were following Apollos, some were following Peter, and a few were trying to follow Christ. Paul spends a great deal of his first letter to the Corinthians addressing the issues that divided them.

3 * There was conflict in the Church at Galatia. In the first chapter of his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul rebukes them for having abandoned the sound doctrine of the gospel in favor of some false teachings taught to them by false teachers who came through Galatia after Paul left. * There was conflict in the Church at Philippi. And Paul specifically names two feuding women who were at the core of the problem, one was Euodia, the other was Syntyche. * In the Book of III John, John addresses Gaius, an elder in an unnamed Church, about the problems being caused by a man named, Diotrophes, who was trying to usurp authority over the whole Church. And now here in tonight s scripture text JAMES begins this fourth chapter with a very soul-searching question: vs. 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Did James have a specific Church in mind when he wrote this? Perhaps. But had he mentioned a specific Church it might be easy for us to dismiss this as, Well he s talking to them, not us. I believe the Holy Spirit inspired James to word this in such a way that it could apply to ANY CHURCH, ANY WHERE at ANY TIME. Having been through Church conflicts before I know quite often we never stop fussing and fighting long enough to ask this all important question: What is causing us to fight and quarrel amongst ourselves? What s this really all about?

4 You see when WAR breaks out in a CHURCH it usually starts with a problem involving two people..and because they refuse to work out their differences, they start dragging others into the disagreement, until it eventually spreads throughout the whole congregation. Then everyone gets so blinded by their emotions and tempers that they lose sight of the real issues. And if you were to ask each Church member, what s all this fussing and fighting about..nine out of ten of them couldn t even tell you. Well I don t know. So and so says this and so and so says that. I really don t know what its all about. Well JAMES tells us what its all about. Look again at VERSE 1 verse 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don t they come from your desires that battle within you? Pay very close attention to that word within. Any time a conflict breaks out in a Church, you can be sure the conflict originated inside the heart or hearts of the people who are right in the middle of the problem. You see, when an individual is NOT at peace with GOD..he is NOT at peace with himself. And when one is NOT at peace with himself, he cannot be at peace with his brothers and sisters-in-christ. ************************

5 As we explore this scripture a little deeper let s consider these three key issues: I. THE CAUSES OF CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH vs. 2,3 II. THE CONDEMNATION OF CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH vs. 4-7 III. THE CURE FOR CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH vs ************************* I. The Causes of Conflict in The Church READ VERSES 2, 3 1. Whenever someone causes trouble in a Church it means one or more of the following is going on inside their heart. (A) One cause is UNSATISFIED PLEASURE vs. 2 vs.2a You want something but don t get it. Any time someone causes conflict within the Church there s a real good chance it is because they haven t got their way on something. illustration: When I think back on the most volatile Church conflict I ve dealt with in my ministry and I think about the individuals who were right at the heart of the conflict, it was all because those individuals didn t get their way. The ring leader, in particular, had been a long time member of the Church, as were her parents before her. She believed that entitled her to special treatment. And when she was treated no differently than anyone else, her contentious spirit grew bigger and bigger and she drug other Church members down with her.

6 illustration: I remember reading years ago about a Church in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia that split over the color of the new hymnbooks the Church had purchased. And in the middle of the night one of the disgruntled Church members took a chainsaw and cut the Church building in half. Thank goodness our Church building is made of brick! In all seriousness, I believe what happened at the Scrabble Creek Church, though extreme, serves as a warning to us as to dangers of being driven by selfish desires in the Church. (b) Another cause of conflict in the Church is UNCONTROLLED PASSION vs. 2 vs.2 b You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. Does James mean Church members were actually killing other Church members? Perhaps not physically. But remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on The Mount? MATTHEW 5:21-22 You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, Raca (Aramaic term meaning empty headed or idiot) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. but anyone who says, You fool will be in danger of the fire of hell. So many times Church conflicts are started over a personal problem between two Church members. ILLUSTRATION: When I was ministering at First Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, we had two men in the Church who hated each other, Earl Bartlett and Charlie Glover. Earl was actually one of our elders. Both men were licensed electricians. And over the years their hatred for each other grew when one would outbid the other on electrical contracts. Well to make a long story short, these two men carried the hostility they had developed toward one another outside the Church into the Church and it created a very ugly scene.

7 Now I realize sometimes we have personality clashes with people. There are some people we may find it hard to get along with. As a word of warning, don t ever allow a personal issue you have with another brother or sister-in-christ to become so contentious you damage the Lord s Church over it. (c) Another cause of conflict is UNUTTERED PRAYERS vs. 2c You do not have because you do not ask God. You will never find a praying brother or sister-in-christ in the middle of a Church conflict. When someone tries to bully his way through the Church that is a tell tale sign they have not asked for God s guidance and direction through prayer. A prayer less Christian is a dangerous Christian! (d) Another cause of conflict is UNANSWERED PRAYERS vs. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. God refuses to listen to men or women who pray with selfish motives. ILLUSTRATION: In one congregation I served, there was a mother who desperately wanted one of her sons to be voted in as an elder. Never mind he wasn t qualified and that he would not have been a good leader for the Church. She wanted her son in a key position so he could fight for personal wants and wishes in the Board Meetings. You see, she was praying for something with a selfish motive. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don t they come from your desires that battle within you? ******************************

8 Now that we have looked at THE CAUSES OF CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH, let s consider II. The Condemnation of Conflict in The Church READ verses James is making it very clear that CONFLICT within the Lord s Church is never right at any time for any reason. Does that mean we are always going to agree on everything? NO! But as brother s and sisters-in-christ we must learn to DISAGREE without being DISAGREEABLE. 2. James points out two very important truths here. Truth #1: Friendship With The World Destroys Our Fellowship With God. vs. 4 You adulterous people, don t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Now you might be thinking, what does this have to do with conflicts in the Church? Actually it has a lot to do with it! The world system is in opposition to God. How do people who live by the world system resolve their conflicts? They fuss! They fight! They go to war! When we have differences in the Church which leads to fussing and fighting and warring, what makes us any different than the world? When we fuss and fight in the Church we don t behave any differently than men who don t even know God.

9 Truth #2: Friendship With The World Denies Our Faith in God s Word vs. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely? When Christians fuss and fight they are denying everything the Holy Spirit has tried to teach us in the Word of God. The Bible tells us to LOVE ONE ANOTHER to ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER to PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER to ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER to CARRY ONE ANOTHER S BURDENS to FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER to BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER to ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER to SERVE ONE ANOTHER to ADMONISH ONE ANOTHER to BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER to SUBMIT TO ONE ANOTHER But when we allow ourselves to become divided by conflict we are denying everything the Word of God commands us to do aren t we? I think we understand now why JAMES gives such strong CONDEMNATION against allowing CONFLICTS to arise within the Church. ************************ Well we have considered THE CAUSES OF CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH. And we have considered THE CONDEMNATION OF CONFLICT IN THE CHURCH. Finally, let s consider

10 III. The Cure For Conflict in The Church vs READ: verses I am thankful that I am preaching this message at a time when our congregation is not fighting and quarreling as James says in verse 1. I am grateful I am preaching this message in a time of peace and harmony. 2. You know the best way to cure a conflict in a Church is to prevent it before it ever happens. In these verses we just read James tells us FIVE THINGS all of us can do to help preserve PEACE in the Church. (a) I can help preserve peace in my Church by SUBMITTING to GOD vs. 7 To submit means to take rank behind. You and I should take rank behind God. When we surrender the control of our lives to God we realize that what God wants for His Church ranks higher in priority than what we want. (b) I can help preserve peace in my Church by RESISTING the DEVIL. vs.7 Satan is always looking for someone in the Church through whom he can cause trouble, destroy the unity, and dampen the spirit of the Church. Most vulnerable are those who have a chip on their shoulder..an axe to grind a score to settle..or resentment and bitterness in their heart.

11 When things don t go your way in the Church or when a decision is made you don t agree with, or you develop illfeelings toward another brother or sister in the Church, you are treading on very dangerous ground, because Satan will tempt you to brood over your ill feelings so much that they consume you. And then one day those feelings will come to the surface and Satan will use you to cause great harm to the Lord s Church. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Satan can only use you if you are willing participant! (C) I can also help preserve the peace in my Church by COMING near to GOD. verse 8 Those who stir up trouble in a Church are those who are not near to God. They have neglected their prayer life. They have neglected their time in God s Word. They act independently of God s Spirit. If you and I will dedicate ourselves to coming near to God each and every day, it will minimize the chances Satan can use us to cause problems in the Church. (D) I can also help preserve the peace in my Church by DAILY REPENTING OF MY SINS. verses 8b-9 I ll never forget something Dr. Floyd Clark taught us when I was a student at Johnson Bible College. He said, Always keep a short tab with God. Now what did he mean by that? He meant don t go days or weeks or months without repenting of our sins. Before we go to bed each night we need to repent of our known and unknown sins of that day. You see, when we go long periods of time without repenting of our sins, Satan can keep his foot in the door of our heart. And as long as he can keep his foot in the door, he will look for an opportunity to use us to cause conflict in the Church.

12 (E) I can also help preserve the peace in my Church by HUMBLING MYSELF BEFORE THE LORD. vs. 10 When I get puffed up with pride and start thinking Church is all about me, I become a serious threat to the well-being of the Church. Brothers and sisters, Church is not about what you want or what I want, its about what JESUS WANTS! Its all about JESUS! Don t ever forget that truth! ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS! (F) And finally, I can help preserve the peace in my Church by: GUARDING MY TONGUE vs. 11a Brothers, do not slander one another. James keeps bringing up this issue of the tongue, doesn t he? I don t have any statistics to back this up, but I would dare say more problems are caused in the Church by individuals who cannot control their tongue than anything else. BE SLOW.TO.SPEAK! **********************************************

13 TEN LITTLE CHRISTIANS 10 Little Christians standing in line, 1 disliked the preacher, then there were 9. 9 Little Christians stayed up too late, 1 overslept, then there were 8. 8 Little Christians on their way to Heaven 1 took the low road, then there were 7. 7 Little Christians chirping like chicks, 1 disliked the music, then there were 6. 6 Little Christians seemed very much alive, but one lost interest, then there were 5. C O N C L U S I O N