If you turn you TV on and flip through the channels, it won't take you long to realize that we are at war, and that every news station available has coverage of it. Operation Iraqi Freedom, is the latest advancement of the war on terrorism. After 9/11, when the United States was thrust into this war against terrorism, President Bush made it quite clear that we were going after the terrorists with all our might, both military, and law enforcement. But he also made it quite clear that anyone who helped, harbored, supplied, supported, or in any other way aided the terrorists, were also a target of this war. Anyone who aligned themselves with the terrorists became our enemy. Right now, we are going after Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq. Whether he helps terrorists, trains them, supplies them, or whatever, whether he has or doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, matters not. The man is a terrorist himself. Of the worst kind, terrorizing his own people. As new information comes to light, things like the Russians supplying Iraq with arms and technologies, countries who were once allies, are becoming our enemies, or at least the companies within those countries. France, who may not be directly helping the terrorist regime in Iraq, may as well be, as they have made themselves our enemy by opposing the very things we stand for. But this is not a political forum, but a Bible study, so lets see what the Word of God has for us this evening.
James 4:1-8a
What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don't they come from the cravings that are at war with you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure.
Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend, becomes God's enemy. Or do you think it's without reason the scripture says that the Spirit He has caused to live in us yearns jealously? But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says; “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
There is a greater war going on than anything we have ever seen on the six o'clock news. Greater than the World Wars, Vietnam, and the war on terrorism. It is a war that involves every person who lives, or has lived on the earth. This is a war within ourselves, against our own desires. Apart from the grace of God, we desire only the world, and things of the world. But even as Christians, we still battle within ourselves against the desires of the flesh. We still long to be friends with the world we live in, but this makes us an enemy of God. Just as those who align themselves with the terrorists are enemies of the United States, those who align themselves with the world, are enemies of God.
What does it mean to desire the world?
When we desire the world, we seek the things of the world, both material, and immaterial. We want money, fancy cars, big houses, and things like fame, popularity, or whatever else it may be. We seek selfish gain, not for the advancement of the name of Christ, but to make a name for ourselves. We idolize sports figures, singers, and actors who defame the name of Christ in movies that have immoral messages, and in songs that preach a false Gospel. And the whole time we are doing all this, we claim to be followers of Christ. But as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one, and despise the other.”
We cannot claim to be a Christian, who desires only Christ and what He gives, and at the same time be craving the things of the world, which will only pass away, as John said in 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's lifestyle-is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God's will remains forever.” So we should not love the things of the world, which would be befriending it, because the world is sinful, and is passing away, but God and His ways will remain forever, as will we if we follow His ways.
I would say that in the war on terrorism, most people don't really want to be our enemies. But why not? Probably because they do not want to incur our wrath, as Al Queda and Saddam Hussein have. Because this only brings death and destruction. In the same why, I'm pretty sure that most of us don't want to be enemies with God because we don't really want to face the wrath of an omnipotent holy and righteous God. Zephaniah gives us a warning of what the day of God's wrath will be like in chapter 1 verses 14-18
The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and think darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of His jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end He will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Now I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like something I want to be a part of. I'm not trying to scare you or give you nightmares, but this should frighten us; but not to the point where we are afraid of God, but where we reverence Him, and as Christians, we rest fully in knowing that we will never have to go through that sort of thing because by His grace, He has saved us from that.
But what about those who are not Christians? How can they escape His wrath? James tells us, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So we (meaning all of us, even Christians) must humble ourselves before God. We must no longer be proud, thinking that we will go to heaven just for being a “good person.” Money and fame will not get us there either, as God said through Zephaniah, “Neither silver nor gold will be able to deliver.” It is only by the grace of God that we are saved. It is only when we humble ourselves before God, and submit to His authority that we will be able to cast away the worldly things that hinder us from a relationship with God, and indeed make us enemies of God. And when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.
What does this mean for us?
This tells us that maybe we have been fooling ourselves into thinking we are Disciples of Christ, but really we are enemies of God. Maybe we need to get rid of those CDs of music that go directly against the Word of God. Maybe we need to quit watching those movies that we know project a message that goes against the message of the Cross. Maybe we need to break up with that boyfriend or girlfriend that tempts us and causes us to lust. Maybe we need to just turn our TVs off at night and read the Bible and pray to God, and spend more time with Him than we do with Will and Grace, and our “Friends.”
For us, this means that all those worldly things that we hold so dear and think are so important, really don't amount to anything. Just as Ryan said last week, they are nothing but crap. If we desire to be friends with God, and live in His truth, then we must humble ourselves before Him, ask for His grace that we could give up those worldly desires, and draw near to Him, and in Him we will find rest, and a satisfaction that we will never find anywhere else. There is greater reward, greater treasure, in Christ and knowing Him than anything this world could ever offer us, and this is the truth that we must live in. This is the truth that has the power to change lives; ours, and those who we share it with. Live as a friend of God, casting away the worldly things that lead to death and destruction, and draw near to God, where we find eternal life, and abundant life, and treasures forevermore.