"What Causes Wars...? / The REAL Enemy"

Jas.1:13-18; 3:13-4:6

Nov.9/03 Remembrance Sunday

Soon Number One Disciple

Billy Graham said, "Envy can ruin reputations, split churches, and cause murders. Envy can shrink our circle of friends, ruin our business, and dwarf our souls...I have seen hundreds cursed by it." On this Remembrance Sunday, James the Lord's brother points out that wars and conflicts are often caused by envy and ambition, our evil desires that work themselves out with destructive consequences. Yet by choosing to be a friend of God rather than the world, we are given grace by the Lord to develop a better attitude which has positive, life-changing results.

             Our hearts are complex, and sin is subtle. Envy is one of those more discreet sins that are less obvious, especially when you're caught up in it. A bright, ambitious young student at Stanford was given a summer trip to the Far East by his parents, and while he was there he came under the influence of a group of Buddhists. They criticized his ambitious ways, telling him that he studied so hard, not to learn, but to get a better grade than his friend. He worked so hard, not to better society, but to purchase more than his peers. He dated the most beautiful girls, not to find true love, but to be seen with the most admired women. The young man admitted that it was true, and from Tokyo he called his parents and tole them he was dropping out of school and entering a Buddhist monastery.

             Six months later, his parents received this letter: "Dear dad and mom, I know you weren't happy with my decision to stay here, but I want to tell you how happy I now am. I am at peace for the first time in my life, living in an environment without competition or envy. Here we all share and life is equal. This way of life is so much in harmony with the inner essence of my soul that in only 6 months I've become the Number Two disciple in the monastery, and I think I can be Number One by June!" Hmmm -- seems that rather than overcoming envy, he exchanged one sort for another!

             As we continue our look at James' general letter to the churches, we see he sets forth two tracks in life, one negative, one positive. Both tracks begin with an Alliance, friendship either with the world or with God. This Alliance leads us to develop an Attitude, governed either by selfish and envious desires, or by God's pure and gracious wisdom. Finally, our Attitude results in definite Action: destructive if based on evil desires, but very positive and pure fruit if based on the Heavenly Father's mindset. Let's look at each of these two tracks in detail.

Envy's AAA Track

Just as in war your field of operation depends on who your allies are, so our attitudes and actions in life spring from a fundamental alliance or friendship in our souls. James describes such a negative alliance in 3:15: a so-called "wisdom" or attitude that is not from heaven but is "earthly, unspiritual, of the devil." In this alliance "you do not ask God" (4:2) - instead you rely on your own means or worldly forms of power. In 4:4 he puts the two options very clearly, with repetition for emphasis: "Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." How easy it is to become friendly with the darker side of the world, to live for short-term pleasures, instant gratification, or our own selfish interests in the long run. But James says that makes us God's enemies: we're allying ourselves with the evil one. To catch our attention he says forcefully at the beginning of the verse, "You adulterers!" Not meaning necessarily physical adultery of the sexual sort, but unfaithfulness to the God who created us and through Christ would prepare us to be a pure, spotless bride, as Eph.5(25) depicts. The world did not make us; we're not products of evolution, which is more a religious than scientific theory. God created us for fellowship with Himself, yet we all as humans have turned our backs on Him and sought to "do our own thing". We have allied ourselves with the world, devilish principalities, materialist idols. Jesus, James' brother according to the flesh, put it this way: "You cannot serve God and money." (Mt.6:25) You've to choose one or the other, if you're not serving God, then you must be an ally of the devil.

             This basic Alliance results in a distinctive Attitude. Those we associate with and imitate have a definite effect on how we think. Perhaps some of James' audience considered themselves "worldly wise", but he shows that this so-called "wisdom" really is based on the dark motives and desires inside us. 1:14 says "each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." Now notice in v.15 how the Attitude gives rise to Action, in this case negative: "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Sinful desires - the REAL enemy when it comes to wars and conflict - result not only in short-term pleasure (perhaps) but long-term pain, a downward spiral as people get trapped in destructive habits.

             For example, the dramatic rise in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as we have moved towards a sex-saturated society. Canada sounds the trumpet and rushes to the rescue of developing nations plagued by AIDS by passing legislation to make generic drugs available; while in our own county, as Alma Plant's Citizen interview reveals, there is shocking ignorance of the truth about AIDS. "In a study of high school children 60% of the boys in Grades 9&10 believe there is a cure. Many didn't think it was sexually transmitted and thought if you did get it you just take a pill to fix it." Plant says she has had students tell her they're not worried about HIV/AIDS because they are in a monogamous relationship, "Just like the one before and the one before that"!

             Desire gives birth to sin; sin gives birth to death. What a juxtaposition of terms - giving "birth" to "death". Even for those who don't contract diseases, what about the thousands of babies aborted each year as the price for our profligacy? This week President Bush signed into law a bill banning partial birth abortions, the monstrous practice by which a late-term baby is partially delivered then has its head punctured and sucked out. Within hours, a Nebraska judge took steps to limit the bill's application. Our culture chooses to be a culture of death when it serves our purposes, our fulfilling of sinful desires.

             3:14 has a warning for those who "harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts" - more indicators of a devilish attitude. What action results? V16 says, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." The more depraved we become, the greater our moral slippage as reflected in legislation, the more disorder results (including rocks thrown through windows of vehicles) and the greater the cry for policemen, rather than prevention. Those afflicted by envy can't stand to see another person get ahead, or have a benefit. Fishermen know that one never needs a top for crab baskets -- why? If one of the crabs starts to climb up the side of the basket, the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down!

             It's the first 3 verses of chapter 4 that describe best the cause-and-effect relationship between Attitude and Action. (I'll follow the suggested punctuation of commentator Robertson.) "What causes wars (KJV) and quarrels among you? [Action] Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?" [Attitude; the inner strife of our desires erupts into actual physical conflict] "You want something but don't get it [Attitude - so] you kill [Action]. You covet but can't have what you want, so you quarrel and fight." Our motives are wrong, asking so we can spend what we do get on our pleasures. James is emphasizing that our evil Attitude - resulting from our basic Alliance - works itself out in destructive Actions.

             A mailing from Africa Inland Mission describes how deadly our competitive nature becomes when lethal weapons are put in the hands of young people in northern Kenya. "In less than a generation the pastoral Pokot people and their neighbours have gone from protecting their herds with spears to outfitting their young men with cheap, reliable and deadly automatic rifles...In some areas of Africa an AK-47 assault rifle can be bought for as little as $6, or traded for a chicken or sack of grain." In early 2001, some Pokots were carrying on the "almost-ceremonial tradition of cattle raiding" on a rival settlement when youth opened fire, killing 47 people, and burning the village. Just as James says, out of our desires and coveting come fights and killing.

             Genesis 6:5 is a sobering comment on the state of human nature coming from an ancient time just before the great Flood, but sadly too true even today: "The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." Man's anti-God alliance resulted in evil inclinations or attitude and wicked actions. Sin is deadly - don't try to downplay its destructiveness. Paul describes its deceptive dastardliness in Romans 7(9-11), introducing temptation through laws which were designed for good: "Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death."

             "What causes wars...?" James asks. This week communities will take time to remember those who gave their lives to defend our freedoms in the wars of last century. What caused those wars? The Penguin Atlas of World History describes the conditions in 1912 giving rise to World War I this way: "A critical international situation developed: supported by Russia, Serbia demanded access to the Adriatic; Italy opposed this. Italy wished to annex Albania...Greece protested against the occupation of the Dodecanese by Italy. Austria-Hungary objected to any kind of increased power for Serbia or Italy while it backed Bulgaria.Russia, concerned for the last of her Balkan allies and for her policies towards the Straits, looked with apprehension at the pressure exerted by Bulgaria on Serbia and Turkey." Additional factors: "Conflicts generated by power politics within the European state system; armament race of the great powers; Anglo-German naval rivalry...[conclusion] None of the states was willing to abandon its aims to preserve the peace." Doesn't James sound bang-on? "You covet, but can't have what you want, so you quarrel and fight."

             The same reference book describes Hitler's goal at the beginning of World War II as the "conquest of additional living-space [lebensraum]". Sounds innocent enough! All he wanted was "piece" - a piece of Sudeten, a piece of Czechoslovakia, a piece of France, a nice big hunk of Poland...why stop there? Call it envy or selfish ambition, it definitely led to "disorder and every evil practice." Hitler's "living-space" translated into slavery for Dutch people like John Wesselink: the newspaper article says when he was 13 years old the German soldiers came and made him work for them by digging holes in the ground, so that if American pilots started firing, the Germans could jump in the holes and hide. Wesselink worked 7 days a week, but counted himself fortunate because he could still live with his family rather than be sent to Germany. From Hitler's unholy Alliance developed fascist Attitudes and devastating Actions.

Good Fruit from the Godly

But James' letter is not all negative. There is a clear alternative - a better type of "wisdom" from another source. 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from [where?] the Father of the heavenly lights" - God is the One who offers a truly GOOD alliance. James goes on to say, "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." Faith in the gospel message is what makes us a new creation, bringing us to birth, a better birth than sin's deadly conception. "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creature - the old has gone, the new has come!" (2Cor.5:17) When we trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour for us personally, as an individual on a 1:1 basis, a heavenly alliance is forged with radical outworking. Attitudes are transformed. Actions are changed to the point James can say we're a kind of "firstfruits", a sign to others of what God can do in people's lives. How can this happen, when we are all born sinful? 4:6 says God "gives us more grace...God...gives grace to the humble." When we acknowledge the darkness and struggles and failures of our soul, admitting our need of help, God shows Himself gracious: He forgives our sins, covering them and washing them away by the blood of Christ His Son, blessing us with the Holy Spirit as proof we're now His sons and daughters. Grace to the humble. It's not earned, it's free; grace can't be bought or deserved. We just need to stop strutting proudly like a peacock long enough to humble ourselves, turn our life over to Him and receive it.

             One Christian who discovered God's grace was FB Meyer. He often preached at a conference of DL Moody's in Massachusetts and always drew great crowds. But when the equally famous G Campbell Morgan began preaching at the same place, his stirring Bible studies attracted larger audiences. Meyer confessed to some of his close friends that he was tempted to feel envious of Morgan. He added, "The only way I can conquer my feelings is to pray for him daily, which I do." Humbling himself enough to intercede for the other fellow is how he found God's help.

             Another way James refers to the Source to whom we can Ally ourselves is in 3:17 where he talks of "the wisdom that comes from heaven..." That is, from God; you didn't catch that there because James, being a devout Jew, almost unconsciously finds ways to avoid speaking God's name directly. When he says "wisdom that comes from heaven" it's a polite way of meaning "God's wisdom". Just as Jesus often referred to "Him who sent me" or some other roundabout way of referring to God when speaking with His disciples.

             From the Alliance comes an Attitude. What's a godly mindset look like, if not bent on envy and ambition? Look at the list in 3:17. The attitude God gives is "first of all pure [we choke right away on that first one! yes, he said, pure]; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." How'd you like to hang around that kind of person instead of a Hitler or Ridgway? It's an interesting exercise to compare James' description of God's brand of "wisdom" here with Paul's list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Gal.5(22f). Trying to match up as many as possible, I get:

(James) (Paul)

pure self-control

peace-loving peace

considerate patience

submissive gentleness

full of mercy love, kindness

good fruit goodness

sincere faithfulness

...all except "impartial" in James' and "joy" in Paul's lists; yet some commentators emphasize the differences between James and Paul rather than the common truth they share.

             James gives purity priority, he says God's wisdom is "first of all pure". Guys, gals, we're called to be holy, not to stay mucking about in mental or fleshly slop. Let's clean up our moral act so Christ's reputation isn't smeared. God's will is for us to be sanctified and to help us in that He gives us an indwelling Counsellor or guide, the Holy Spirit. There are lots of peace-niks today, not enough pure-niks. Robertson comments, "But clearly great as peace is, purity (righteousness) comes before peace -- peace at any price is not worth the having."

             Significantly for Remembrance Day, James adds in 3:18, "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." Attitude (peace-oriented) results in Action (a harvest of righteousness). Jesus was a peacemaker. But the resolution He brought didn't come cheap - it cost His whole life. Col.1(20) says God was pleased through Christ "to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Eph.2(15) notes how Christ brought unity to sharply-divided Jews and Gentiles "by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace..." Peacemaking comes with a high cost; for Jesus, in bringing us peace with God and our fellow man, that cost was extracted painfully from His own flesh, His precious blood is the price that bought us back from evil's grip for God's grace.

             James underscores the Action that results from Attitude in 3:13: "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." Real conversion results in different behaviour out there on the street, when the rubber meets the road. A life that is obviously good, actual deeds done not just benevolent thoughts. Christians should be the most service-oriented group in any community - even though that's not our primary purpose. It's just that, when God makes us "considerate", that results automatically in "mercy and good fruit". Deep inner transformation begets notable outward action.

             To sum up this section, let's use Paul's words from Romans 6(11-13) and 8(13,6) -- I think you'll find these two early theologians had a common approach to our Alliance, Attitude, and Action. "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness...For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live...The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." Two tracks - two alliances, two very different outcomes.

Bane or Blessing?

In closing, Erwin Lutzer has pointed out that "Envy is rebellion against God's leading in the lives of his children.It's saying that God has no right to bless anyone else more than you." If indeed we are on the receiving end of God's grace, and "every good and perfect gift is from above", others will be able to sense God's goodness through our manner and conduct. Rather than being envious and taking from others, we'll be full of mercy and good fruit, bringing a blessing rather than being a bother.

             Hank Ten Pas was another native of Holland who recalls the ending of the Second World War. The Brussels man says their home "was on one of the main paved roads leading to the border and because of its location many German soldiers stopped at his house ordering his mother to cook them some food because they were so hungry." In departing the area, the soldiers used dynamite to blow up a bridge and numerous trees, stalling the Canadian soldiers. The force of the blast knocked out the windows in the family's house.

             When the Canadian liberators arrived, these soldiers were hungry too, but they brought food and asked his mother to cook it for them. The soldiers also brought jam, chocolate and all kinds of nice treats that his family hadn't had for a long time. Ten Pas recalls, "What a day it was with lots of tears of happiness."

             And what kind of person do our actions reveal us to be -- ordering others around or asking them instead? Blowing out their windows in alliance with Apollyon the Destroyer, or bringing all kinds of good things from the Father of heavenly lights? It all begins when we seek the new birth to resolve the battle of desires in our hearts. Humbly discovering God's grace, we're changed to be peacemakers rather than warmongers. Let's pray.