Digging Deeper
Questions:
What does it mean to be selfish? Give some examples.
How does God expect us to deal with conflict?
What is the best way to deal with the temptation of pride?
Share a personal example of when you dealt with pride and how did you deal with it?
Why is it prideful to plan your life apart from God?
What is the one truth God has spoken to you from this message?
We want to wait on God’s leading, so that we don’t act impusively or rashly but with humility and consideration of others.
Key Verses
James 4:1-3 NIV
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
James 4:7-10 NIV
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Huble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
James 4:13-16 NIV
“Now listen, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
Chad’s Full Message Notes
1. Selfishness is the root cause of conflict
James 4:1-3 NIV
Conflict is a fact of life. Not matter where you work, no matter where you go to church, no matter who you live next to, there will be disagreements and friction.**
So how do you deal with that? By being a mature Christian. You fight the temptation to push harder, argue louder, make your point for forcefully. Battle the desire to win is often a loss in God’s book. That’s why God says mans anger does not produce the righteous life God desires.
2. My pride will set God against me
James 4:7-10 NIV
That little word “resist”…..It tells me that if I want to be at odds with God, the quickest way is to be proud. Whether I’m at home, at work, or out in the world, my pride will set God against me. Fortunately, “He gives more grace.” God will always give you as much grace as you need to handle a conflict with humility, if that’s your goal. Without humility—without that recognition that you can’t stand before holy God, that you are desperate and needy before Him—you can’t come to Christ.
The Bible says submit to God and resist the devil…..Notice the order: Submit to God first, then resist the devil. Trust God to stregthen you as you actiely turn away from doing things the devil’s way. Don’t bother talking to Satan. Just turn and walk away—turn from doing things his way. When temptation knocks, don’t answer the door. God find Jesus and ask if He wouldn’t mind answering it. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”
3. It’s arrogant to plan your life apart from God
James 4:13-16 NIV
James isn’t saying it’s bad to plan in advance. However, to plan your life apart from God, as if you can guarantee how it will go, is arrogant boasting. We are finite people of limited understanding. He has the big picture in mind in His infinite knowledge and he is sovereign , so our humility is in recognizing that and trusting Him to do what is right, working all things together for good-especially when we don’t understand why our plans have fallen apart. Maturity demands that you abandon the right to run your life, reserving it for God.
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Greg Laurie said:
“James was effectively saying, “Instead of boasting of your ability to make money, and instead of making your long-term plans without any thought of God, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”
James wasn’t condemning the person who makes plans for the future. Rather, he was criticizing the person who makes those plans with no thought whatsoever of the will of God. Billy Graham was about the greatest surprise of his life—He said, “The Berevity of it.” How short/quick.