Faith IRL - Real Faith Chooses Humility - James 4:1–17

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Heat

up here.

Well, good morning, South Church. Are we excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning? We happy to be here. Amen. And well, hey, if we haven't met yet, my name is Danny Ortiz and I'm one of the pastors here and I want to say a little bit little bit about my life and a little story. So, my wife Bianca, we've been married for exactly actually five years as of last week. Um, and you know, we never fight, right? Like couples, we we just have disagreements. Uh, but there was a particular moment in our relationship where we had a pretty big disagreement and so big that I I don't even remember what it was about, but it was big. Um, but let me just kind of set the table for you. So, we were talking about something and I honestly I tried I asked her I was like, "Do you remember that time where we kind of got into a little bit? Do you remember what it was about?" We couldn't remember. But let me tell you a little bit about it. So, we were arguing about something, sorry, disagreeing about something. And, you know, a couple things were said and and it was just a situation that wasn't very loving, right? And I remember we got to a certain point in this conversation where I knew 100% I was wrong. I knew it. I knew it in my heart. I knew in my head that I was the issue that that whatever she said was right. Nine times out of 10 the women's right. So men, let's just listen. But I knew exactly 100% I was wrong. But there was one problem. No matter what I did, I didn't want to admit it. Right? I knew in my heart this entire time like, "Oh yeah, I'm wrong." But whatever was happening in here, something didn't want me to verbalize like, "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I'm wrong. I messed up. You're right." Right? It was as if there was this sense of just pride of of control that was like, "No, like this battle is mine. I'm going to win this. Like, I don't care if I'm wrong. I don't care if the entire ship goes down, but I will not say I'm wrong. Eventually, I did. So, we're good. We're still married. Everything's great. But I want you to think about it this way. You know how many times in our lives, right? Especially, it could be in your marriage where we fight, right? Where we have these disagreements where we have these things that that come in between us, right? It could be things as if maybe buying a new car, right? Is that a want or is that a need, right? And we fight about those things. Maybe it looks like this in in your teenagers, right? About maybe them wanting to have a curfew at a certain time. You're like, "Nope, it's my house, my roof, my rules. You'll be home by 10 p.m." Or maybe we fight and we argue and we have disagreements about the relationships that they're in, right? Friendships that they're in that we know that maybe they're pulling them away from things where they should be. Or it could look like this. Maybe in your workplace, right? You're trying to do something new. You're trying to integrate a new system, but it seems like no one else around you has a clue about what is going on, right? Or it could even be in the church, right? Let's be honest. Sometimes we disagree, we argue, we fight, right? We have quarrels that that are always amongst us. It can be preferences about worship styles. It can be maybe somebody says something to you that they shouldn't have. It could be the way that we decorate things, right? Everything I will say this, everything that we argue about, everything that that we disagree with, it stems down to one thing and that is a need to have control. Right? And I think sometimes we have the same exact reasoning with God, right? We say that we trust God. We say, "God, I have faith in you." Right? We just sing a song about it, right? We seek the Lord and we give our lives to him, right? And we say that we have faith. We say that we have belief. We say that we're trusting. You know, I heard a pastor once say it this way, trusting and believing with you, right? But one hand is open. You've probably heard me say this a thousand times. One hand is open and it is willing to receive what God has. One hand is is willing to release control of whatever it is that is in my life. Right? And this hand is open. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, right, there is one hand that is is clutching, that is holding on to control, that doesn't want to release, that doesn't want to trust, that doesn't want to follow, right? And that's because sometimes we live our life that way, right? We want to control the things that are in our life and say, "I get to do this. I get to make the decisions." You know, I've loved that we've been in this series called Faith in Real Life because the audience is very clear, right? The audience is us. The audience is believers. the audience is is Jesus people. You know, it's James is pretty strong, right? He's he's been forward. He's I think about it this way. He's swinging for the fences like he's ready to go. You know, many times we walk into into God's house and we we listen and there's things that maybe God is speaking and we can take this posture. We can take a posture of saying, "Oh, you know what? Well, that's not for me. That's for somebody else. That's for the person next to me. Maybe they're dealing with that or maybe, you know, I'll take this. This is what God has for me, but uh the rest of it I don't know if I'm ready to give up yet. But I want to encourage you this morning. Let's give up control, right? Because let let's let God speak what he wants to speak into each of our lives. So if you have a Bibles this morning, we're going to be in James chapter 4 or you can pull out your phone. We're going to be there as or it's going to be on the screen as well. But what I what I there's something very cool about this. You see, James, he starts the tension right at the beginning. There's two things that he ask us very directly. The first question is this is what causes fights and quarrels among you. Maybe you fought on the way here. I don't know, right? But God knows. But that that's what he says. He says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you?" And then the second question he says is, "Aren't those just inner desires that are stirring up inside of you?" Right? Do those things come from desires that are within you that are in your heart? So let's read this. It says this in James. It says this, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want. So 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. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means emnity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why scripture says God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. And here's the first thing I want you to fill in this morning. And it is it is real faith releases control. Right? Real faith releases control. Right? Verse one says this. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? Right? So, what what are these desires that are in us? Right? Is it pride? Is it control? Is it to want to be the the loudest voice in the room? You know, one thing I've heard is, you know, sometimes we want we want people to know that we're the alpha in the room, right? That we're the shot caller, that we're the one making decisions, right? He's saying, is that what it is? What is it inside of you that is causing you to fight, to argue, right? Is it that sense of you not wanting to let go and always wanting everything to be through me? Everything's about me. It's about what I want. It's about how I see fit. And he's saying we hold on to that control so much. And is that what is causing those desires that are in us? Right? Is it unresolved conflict? Is it fear? Right? Is it fear of rejection? Is it hurt? Is it something from your past? Is it something that maybe at one point of your life you didn't feel heard? You felt like no one cared about you. So sometimes we just come in and we just put a guard up, right? And and we want to control things because we don't want to feel the way that we used to feel. We don't want those things of the past to come back to us. But here's what I want to tell you this morning. If we never deal with the source, then we're never going to release control. Right? If we never deal with what is within, with what is causing all of this, then we're never going to release control, right? Because something in us has to change, right? So, what is it in my heart? Maybe you have to ask yourself that this morning. What is it in my heart that needs to be dealt with? Right? What is it inside of me? Is it hurt? Is it shame? Is it anger? Is it bitterness? What is it in my past that needs to be dealt with? Because if we never deal with that, we're always going to be angry. We're always going to be frustrated. We're never going to release control and have a faith that works, a faith that is an action because we're always going to want to hold on to everything instead of letting it go to God. Look at verse two. It says this. It says, "You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. That first line he says you desire but do not have. So what are your desires? Are they for me to have control? Are there for are they the desires that I want things to be done my way? Right? It's my way the highway. Right? Is it us wanting to long for something? Is it that we want status? that we want recognition, that we want possessions, that everything is around me, right? What are those desires that are in us? You know, I heard somebody say this one time, give a man power and he'll show you who he truly is, right? Is that our desire for just us to be the one that that's moving that needle forward? Right? And then James keeps going. He says, "You covet but cannot get what you want." Right? And that word covet, it simply means this. It means to yearn to possess or have, right? Am I coveting? Am I wishing that I had what someone else has? Am I wishing that I had maybe it's the house that somebody else has or the finances or the status or the respect or the recognition? Or do I wish I had maybe the control that someone else has that that they're the ones that are calling the shots, right? Do am I wanting to have what somebody else wants? And I want you to write this down. It's not your notes, but it says, but I kind of thought about it this way. It says this, "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm going to say one more time. Comparison is the thief of joy. And here's why. You know what happens is sometimes we think about what we wish we had instead of simply thanking God for what we have for what he has provided for what he has given us and we think of somebody else what somebody else has and then look at this it says this you do not have because you do not ask God. I remember talking to a friend a couple months ago and he's in a season of his life where he I mean he's honest. He was like, "Dude, I want to get married. I want to settle down. I want to buy my house." Like and he's thinking about moving. And he was kind of telling me all these things and and the perspectives and the things that he's thinking about. And and he was like, "Well, what do you think about my plans?" And I told him, "Hey, it's great to plan. It's it's great to to have a guide, right? To have a way that you want to go. Those are good things. But then I asked him this, but have you talked to God about it? Right? But have you talked to God about it? Have you have you prayed? Have you asked him, "God, what is it that you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? What do you see in my life?" Right? Are you releasing control and letting God guide your steps? Or are you wanting to hold on to control to guide your own steps? And this is what he's saying. you do not have because you do not ask God. Right? So sometimes what happens is instead of going to God and asking him where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? We think of no how can I do this right? How can I keep the ball in my own hands? How can I make this path happen? How can I make this work? I thought about it this way. I'm a I'm a big college basketball fan and Marsh Madness is right around the corner, right? We're ready for it. But, uh, I watch my school a lot, so Lance Up, CBU, and we have an amazing point guard on our team right now. And, you know, we've been having a couple games that have been pretty close. And there's a specific kind of strategy in basketball. It's called ISO or isolation. And what that simply means is the point guard or whoever your star player is, he'll get the basketball and he'll kind of just wave everybody off. He's like, "Get out of my way. Like, I got this. The ball's in my hands. I'm going to dribble this dude. I'm going to score. And we do the same thing with God sometimes, right? He's there. He's He's ready for us to to come to him and for us to ask him to be a part of our lives, right? And to be a part of our plans. But sometimes we choose in our own way to isolate God, to say, "Nope, clear the court. I got this." When God wants to be a part of every single aspect of our lives. And then verse three says this. It says when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives.

So what are our motives? Are they to glorify ourselves? Are they to make our name known? Are they for for us to to get what we want to govern our own life? To be more comfortable? Or even let me flip it this way. Are our own plans sometimes to not even have to rely on God anymore and say, "Nope, I get to do this from now on." Right? That's what he's saying. He's saying when you ask, you do not receive because you ask in the wrong way. Right? Our prayers don't become God, if it's your will, if this is what you want to do, right? I'm going to give you my dreams. I'm going to give you control of my life. I'm going to give you the desires of my heart. And you know what? What a lot of times happen is instead of God being the God of our plans, we become the God of our plans. Right? Our prayers aren't God, may your will be done. Our prayers become may my will be done. Right? And the biggest thing about that is we're not giving God control to do what he wants to do. We want to take matters into our own hands and do it our way. Right? do it my way, how I want it to be done. So, I want to ask you this. How do you pray? Right? Maybe you need to analyze that in your life this week. How do I pray? Are my prayers for me to have control or my prayers for God to be the one that has control? Are my prayers aligned to God's will or am I simply asking God to align his will with mine? Right? Right? And I think we know the answer of what we should be doing. We should be aligning everything and giving our control to God. I heard a story once about a woman who prayed and and you know she had faith and and she believed in God. And the story goes a little bit like this that you know she was she was driving on the highway once and uh and I don't know where you know she heard a like a pop and she was like you know what what happened and she pulled over and turns out she had a flat tire and so she got back in her car she started praying and and her prayer was God would you please send someone my way that can help me fix this right so she prayed she waited and she waited a Couple seconds went by, a couple minutes went by, and then she saw this man on a motorcycle coming by, right? And this guy had a super nice leather jacket on, tattered up, right? He looked rough and tough, but but he could tell that something was wrong. So he he went over, pulled over, and got out of his bike and walked over and he was like, "Hey man, like anything I can help you with? Like is everything okay?" And she said, "Oh, no, no, like AAA's on the way. Like we're good. Like don't worry about it. They're coming." So this guy got back in, drove off. This lady got back in her car and you know, she prayed. She's like, "God, I really really need someone to come and and help me right now." Like, "I'm I'm I'm calling out to you like, please bring someone that can help me." So then weather started to kind of turn, right? It started to rain and it started to pour down pretty hard. And then same thing, she saw another guy coming in in a pickup truck and he pulled over. Same thing. He walks out of her his car and he walks over to her and but there was a problem this time. His English was pretty broken and they couldn't quite understand what they were saying. And as soon as she saw that, she just went like this, like, "No, no, I'm good. Like, my husband's coming. He's going to come help me." The guy got back in his car and left. Right? While God may have answered her prayers, right? He had provided exactly what she needed, but because it didn't look the way or feel the way that she wanted, instead of releasing control and letting God answer the way that he wanted to, she was like, "Nope. If it doesn't look like how I want, if it doesn't feel like how I want, if it's not the exact description of what I want it to be, then she didn't receive it." Right? You see, God is is ready and he's open for us to give us what we need. But sometimes we are the ones that because we want to hold on to the control, we're not allowing God to do and place the things that he wants to place in our lives. Right? You see, the purpose of prayer is not to persuade God. It's to align our will with his. Right? Sometimes I hear people talk about this and they say, "Well, you know what, Daniel? It seems like God never answers my prayers. It seems like the more I ask, right? The word of God says, "Ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door will be open." And it seems like I've been doing those things, but but I it seems like nothing happens like God doesn't hear me. It seems because your motive matters as much as your request, right? So, are my motives again for me to have control or for God to have control? Look at verse verse four. It says this. It says, "Friendship with the world means enmity against God." Remember the first time I read this and I thought to myself,"Well, I don't know if that makes sense, right? Didn't God say that he created the world and that everything in the world was good?" Right? But what he mean, what James is talking about here is is the values of the world, right? He's talking about the things that are in the world that are going to separate us from God, right? It could be pride, it can be sin, right? It can be controlling things, living life on my own terms, like living life in my own way. He's saying our allegiance can't be split. We can't have a foot here living in the world and then have a foot here living for Jesus. He says you have to choose. Are you going to be a friend of the world or are you going to choose to be a friend of God? And I don't know about you, but I want to be a friend of God. I I want the God that that that is full of power, that is full of of grace to be walking with me. And look, it uh it says this in Corinthians, it says this, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you, right? When he talks about this, he's saying that God's spirit lives in us." Look at verse five. It says this, he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us. You see, what has happened is that when we've accepted Jesus into our lives, God's spirit now lives in each and every one of us. Right? And it's important to think about this. The the way that he talks about jealousy is not being jealous. It's a it's like a covenant type of love. It's like a a spouse wanting and expecting faithfulness, right, from a spouse. Like that is the covenant love that God is talking about. That is the spirit that he is jealously earning for us, right? Because God doesn't want just a part of us. God wants everything, right? God wants all of us. And I want you to look at verse six. says this in verse 6, but he gives us more grace. That is why scripture says God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Because you see, here's what pride does. Pride tries to live life in my own way. Try pride tries to pull me away from God. Pride is saying, "I can do this on my own. I can live life how I want it. I I control things. I get to call the shots in my own life." But humility does the opposite. Right? Humility says, "I release control to you and I trust in what God can do." Right? It's not my will, it's your will. While while pride pushes God away, humility invites God in. So I want us to keep reading. I want you to turn to to verse 7. We're going to read this together. And it says this to submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will free flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hand you hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. At verse 1-6, it can kind of feel like, let's be honest, it kind of feels like a beat up, right? It kind of feels like James is saying like you guys fight because desires are in you. You you quarrel. You you covet. You want to be a friend of the world. And at the same time, you want to be a friend of God. Right? But everything that he's talking about, it comes down to one thing, us having control and not giving control to God. But here's a good thing. And here's the good news today is that he tells us how to release control. Right? James is now going to walk us through that there's a couple steps that we can take as believers to release control. Right? Here's step number one. It says this. Submit to God. Submit to God. You might be thinking, well, how do I submit to God? We can pray with surrender, right? We can say, "God, it is it is not my life. It is not what I want, but I I'm going to give my life to you." Right? It's your will over mine. And then the second step he says is we can resist the devil. Right? And in other ways, what he's saying is we have to reject everything that is going to pull us away from God. and what he wants to do. Right? Sometimes rejecting those things can be friendships. It can be relationships. It can be the things of the world. But he's saying we have to resist and reject those things in order to draw near to God. And then here's the third thing he says it is draw near, right? And how do we draw near? We can simply go to the father or we can we can spend time with God. We can be in his word, right? We're drawing near to God right now, right? by by being in his house. And then step four, he says, cleanse your hands. And that simply means admitting, God, I'm a sinner in need of a savior. Like, I'm going to go to you and and I need you to cleanse the my hands. I need you to cleanse my life. I need you to take away the things that maybe I've done that have separated me from you. And then step five is this. purify your hearts, right? Because what good is it that on the outside, right, everything can look clean, things can look polished, but on the inside, my life is is is is dirty. My life is full of sin. I I think of it this way. You know, every time I I go to the car wash, there's been a couple times where I'll go to cobblestone, I'll pass my car through twice, and on the outside it looks totally shiny. It looks awesome. But if I haven't vacuumed, my car is still dirty, right? It's not clean. And that's what he's saying is, yes, on the outside your hands can be clean, right? Everything can on the outside it can look like it's grand, like everything is awesome, but if if on the inside, if your heart is not pure, right? If you haven't allowed God's spirit to come into your heart and to cleanse your heart, then honestly, that's what matters the most. And then here's the last step. He says this, humble yourselves. Man, that can look so many different ways. I I can humble myself before the Lord. I can allow humility to invite God into my life and to have control. But sometimes I can look this way. I can allow other people to speak truth into my life even when it's hard to hear it. Right? I can allow people to to to check things in my heart, to check things in my life, to check things in the way that I'm living and tell me the truth and tell me what really it is that I need to do in order to be closer to God. You know, this is a big list, right? We may look at these things and we're like, man, that that's a lot. Those are a lot of steps. But here's the thing. These are not steps to earn God's love. There's simply steps to be back in relationship with God, right? To give up control. I want to show you something. And you know this cup here, it's I want you to think of of this as your life, right? This is your life when you've humbled yourself. This is your life when you've cleansed your hand. This is your life when when you've allowed God to to purify your heart. when you've submitted to God's will, right? This this water is it's clean, right? I can see through it. I can see you, right? This water is is full of of God's presence, of God's spirit, right? This is what your life looks like when you're walking with God. But then something happens when when I choose to become a friend of the world, right? This is sin in your life. And what sometimes happens is we allow sin because of pride, because of control, because of living life in our own terms. Sometimes we allow the sin of the world, control to come into our lives. And then look what happens.

What was once a life that was full of Jesus, what was once a life that was surrendered, that allowed God to control every single aspect of your life, now this life has become contaminated. Right? This this life is is dirty, right? God's spirit is is maybe it's in there, but it's not what it used to be. You know, sometimes we think about this and we say, Daniel, well, you know what? this is what I've been living my life every single day. Are you going to get to the point where you think of, you know, I've been living this life. Does God even love me? Will God forgive me? Am I too far gone? Have I lived life on my own terms, under my own control for too long that God can't even come into this? But let me tell you about a little something called God's grace.

Because even when I think that I am too far, God gone, even when I think that I have control, I can always release it to him. You see, when we allow God's grace to come into our lives, this is what he does.

He purifies us. He cleanses us. He redeems us. He restores us. He forgives us. and we get to be made whole again.

And let me tell you that invitation of giving God control of your life, it's open and it's available today.

I can submit to him. I can draw near. I can cleanse my hands. I can let God purify my heart. And he makes me whole again. So, I want to ask you three questions as we finish up this morning.

And the first question is this.

What desires am I letting control my life right now? Right? What desires am I letting control my life right now? Is it desire for stability that's going to turn into control? Is it a desire for success that's going to become my identity? It is is it as a desire for respect that's going to become pride? Is a desire for certainty that's going to become anxiety? And the second question is this. Are my prayers aligning with God's will or am I just asking God to align with mine? You see, and here's the thing. God wants to be in every single aspect of your life, your business, your career, your relationships, your family, your children. He wants to be part of every single thing. As long as we allow him, we have to pray. God, may your will be done. Am I seeking this because I want it or am I seeking this because this is the next thing you want for me? Am I knocking on this door because it's going to advance me forward or am I walking into a step where you want to place me? And here's the third question. Am I running towards God's grace or am I still living in my past? You know, sometimes I think that some of us feel as if grace is something that somebody else can experience, but there's no way that God is grace is is enough for for the things that we've done. And let me tell you this this morning, you are never too far gone for God. His grace is right there. It's available to you. All we have to do is release control to him. I'm going to invite you to stand this morning and we're going to sing a song. And actually, as as the team was leading this, I I thought about this. You know, there's a line in this song that that says, "I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered." Right? I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. And I wrote this down. In order to seek the Lord,

we have to give up control. Right? In order to seek the Lord, we have to give up control. Like I said, he's ready. He's willing. He wants to come into your life and transform you. But we have to give up control. We have to let him do what he wants to do. So we just bow your head as we pray this morning. Father, we thank you

for your grace.

Father, we thank you because you are a God that you want us to draw near to you.

Father, you don't want just a part of our life. You want everything in us. Father, I pray that if we need to cleanse our hands, if we need to allow you to purify our hearts, Father, I pray that we would do that today.

Father, you want a intimate relationship with us.

Father, may your will be done in our lives and not ours. Lord, I pray that you would open up our hearts to to be able to release whatever it is in us and give you complete freedom to do what you want to do, Father, to guide our steps, to guide our path, Father, to move us forward. Father, you are here. So, Lord, we love you. We thank you. And everyone said, "Amen."