Conflict

Journey through James: 4:1-4

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 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. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 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. — James 4:1-4

Church conflict is not a new phenomenon. James has given a lot of instruction through the first three chapters, and now he directly asks them about the quarrels and fights that were taking place. Notice that he does not ask if there are fights and arguments; he knows that disagreements are taking place. He also does not just reprimand them for it, but he asks them to consider why they are taking place. James shows the wisdom he had learned through helping lead the early church. He got them to stop and consider what was going on. Fights and arguments do not just magically pop up; they are the result of sinful actions. 

James asks another convicting question: “Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? Church conflict arises out of uncontrolled passions. In the first chapter, James wrote about the fact that we cannot blame others for our sins. James told us that we are never tempted by God; but, instead, we are drawn away into sin as a result of our sinful desires. When these desires are unchecked, they not only lead to sin in our lives but also cause conflicts with others. 

Not all desires are sinful, but even good desires can become sinful when we let them dominate our lives. When our selfish desires become our highest priority, we begin to get angry towards anyone who stands in our way. Things can get so out of control that it leads to murder. And even if a physical murder does not take place, Jesus told us that anyone who hates his brother is just as guilty as if he committed murder (Matthew 5:21-26). John understood this when he wrote the following: 

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.— 1 John 3:15

James also states that conflict comes not only when we don’t get what we want, but it also comes when we pray and our desires are not answered. Sometimes our prayer lives can be extremely selfish. When we pray because we are seeking to satisfy selfish desires, we are prone to get angry with God and with others. When we are self-focused like this, we tend to blame God and others for our misery. This in turn leads to conflict. Therefore, if we find ourselves in the midst of conflict, we need to evaluate our hearts and our motives.

James is extremely direct—when we live like this we are living like adulterous people. We cannot seek to live for the world and also live for God. We cannot serve two masters (Matt 6:24). This builds on James’ exhortation that we should not use our tongue to praise God and then curse people who are made in His image. James is not telling us that we cannot be friends with people who live in the world. He is telling us that we should not seek to be friends with the ungodly world system. When we live for idols, we are living in spiritual adultery. The prophets in the Old Testament told the people of Israel that they were living adulterous lives when they chased idols. James does not mince his words, but at times we need a stark reminder of how offensive our sin is before God. Praise the Lord that He sent His Son to save us despite our unworthiness. 

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8