Daddy's Daughter: A Short Summary of My Dad's Sermon

Fighting in the Church-Part 1: Pride & Prayer
James 4:1-3

Have you ever seen "Rocky?" Where do you see him? On T.V., of course. Maybe you've heard of Muhammed Ali. You might have seen him in a boxing ring. If you're married, you've probably been in a fight with your spouse once or twice. Fighting happens on T.V., in a boxing ring, in a marriage, in a family, at work, and at school. But surely fighting wouldn't happen in the church, of all places? Yes? No, say it isn't true! Yet, sadly, it is. There is fighting in the church now, and there was fighting in the church 2,000 years ago. Pastor James addresses fighting in the church in James 4.

Pastor James starts by asking, "What causes you to fight?" He then answers his question. "Because your passions are at war within you." Wow! That's pretty harsh! We don't know what those passions were, but we know that they were pleasures for themselves. James paints the bloody, frightening picture of a war going on inside them. Basically, they were concerned only about themselves.

There was another problem at the church, though. The people Pastor James was writing to were desiring and wanting in the wrong way. They were coveting. They desired what they didn't have. We, like them, could probably think about a lot of things that we don't have. We could probably fill 1,000 pages with things that we don't have. We can't focus on those things, though. In the words of Johnson Oatman Jr. "Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings; see what God hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings; see what God hath done."

One of the big problems with their coveting was their motives. There's a big difference in wanting a new truck so you can pull up to church and show off, or wanting a new truck so you can start a food-delivery service to the poor. The people Pastor James was talking to only cared about having the things for themselves. All they cared about was for number 1. James then gives them a solution to their problem: ask.

My dad says that, "We should bring all our requests to the Lord in prayer. Everything. Whether good or bad. We don't need to ask the Lord for all those requests, but we should tell them to them, even if we are not asking for them." God is not a spiritual vending machine, though. We shouldn't pop in our quarter and then wonder why our chips didn't come out. God gives us three answers to our prayers.

• Yes. God might open the door you want right away.
• No. God might instantly close the door of your choosing, but He still has a plan for your life, even if you think it's not what you want.
  
• Wait. God might want you to pursue what you want or something else, but if He doesn't open or close any doors, then wait on Him.

Finally, we need to remember not to ask wrongly, like Pastor James' audience did. We need to fall on our knees, and then our face, in humble worship of our King. He wants to hear our requests, but He also wants to hear our praises and thanks. God is our Saviour. We needn't be proud before God, because later on James says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."