“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” —Ephesians 4:31-32

One of the distinctions of Christ-followers is that they would be peacemakers. “It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which attaches to peacemakers is that ‘they shall be called sons of God,’” said John Stott. “For they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with his love.”

While the New Testament church is a pattern for us, we shouldn’t over-romanticize or super-spiritualize the character of those early Christians. The strong rebuke found in James 4 makes it clear that all was not beautiful in the early church. They had their share of selfishness, worldliness, and plenty of infighting to deal with. This caused James, the Lord’s brother, to ask, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” He is not shy to admonish that the source of their strife comes from some root of carnality—an internal war, or under-the-surface struggle with oneself.

It’s worth noting that James doesn’t seem to be bothered so much by the rights and wrongs of the various viewpoints as much as the selfish spirit and bitterness of the quarrels. That’s an important observation because we typically default to our individual rights (positions and viewpoints) in a quarrel rather than considering the way we are posturing ourselves. In that egocentric state it’s quite convenient to claim the Spirit of God supports us in our critical and combative attitude. But James warns that this contentious manner comes from “your passions at war within you.”

In this context, animosity and conflict are the result of unmet desires, covetousness, and dissatisfaction with life… “You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel”—even “murder.” Here we can look back to the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus also used murder to express more than actual killing, but also as an inward condition of heart, expressed outwardly through anger (Matthew 5:21-22). The strong usage of this word was meant to force readers to be confronted with the depth of the evil in their bitterness, anger, and animosity toward one another.

Our spiritual poverty is always a result of not leaning into God’s grace. We become self-absorbed and toxic when we fail to depend on God to meet our needs. “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.” Interestingly, the word “spend” here is the same verb used to describe the wasteful spending of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:14. It’s humbling to recognize that we can be both professing Christ-followers and functional prodigals at the same time. It’s the opposite extremes of both prayerlessness and selfish praying that produce the identical outcomes of spiritual bankruptcy. Asking amiss is what happens when we try to use prayer to get God to conform to our desires. Conversely, James wants his readers to understand that the purest form of prayer is to align our will with His, and in partnership with Him, to seek His kingdom established on earth (Matthew 6:10).

The self-indulgence of these early believers was likened to spiritual “adultery” (James 4:4). God spoke this way in the Old Testament when His people were attracted to some form of idolatry (Jeremiah 3:8-9, Ezekiel 6:9, Ezekiel 16:32, Ezekiel 23:37, and Hosea 3:1). As James saw it, their covetousness was idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and “friendship with the world.” He urges them to draw near to God, who “opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The powerful word picture of “opposes the proud” carries the meaning “to set oneself in battle array against another.”

James reminds us that grace only comes to the humble. Grace and pride are eternal enemies. Pride demands that God bless me in light of my merits, whether real or imagined. But grace will not deal with me on the basis of anything in me—good or bad—but only on the basis of who God is. It isn’t that our humility earns the grace of God. Humility merely puts us in a position to receive the gift He freely gives.

Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Sin seeks to enter, grace shuts the door; sin tries to get the mastery, but grace, which is stronger than sin, resists, and will not permit it. Sin gets us down at times, and puts its foot on our neck; grace comes to the rescue… Sin comes up like Noah’s flood, but grace rides over the tops of the mountains like the ark… Do you suffer from spiritual poverty? It is your own fault, for he giveth more grace. If you have not got it, it is not because it is not to be had, but because you have not gone for it.”

In light of the grace offered to the humble, there is only one response James is perpetuating: Submit yourselves therefore to God. This means to order yourself under God, to surrender to Him as a conquering King, and start receiving the benefits of His reign. We must also “resist the devil”—stand against his deceptions and efforts to intimidate. A famous ancient Christian writer named Hermas wrote, “The devil can wrestle against the Christian, but he cannot pin him.”

Drawing near to God means acknowledging our guilt and owning our sin. It means recognizing our idolatry and spiritual poverty, and turning our hearts in repentance. Drawing near to God means laying down our rights in a conflict and walking the path of forgiveness and reconciliation. It means that we step down from being the judge of someone else, and let God have His rightful place. It also causes us to refrain from speaking evil against one another. When we are experiencing quarrels and fights with others, or just sensing a deeply dissatisfied heart, it might be time for a spiritual checkup. Think about that as you seek to abide in Him this week.

PRAYER

God, this passage of scripture reminds us that all was not perfect in the early church. They struggled in the same way that we do today. We are all prone to bouts of idolatry, animosity, bitterness, quarreling and fighting. When we recognize these things rearing up in our lives, we pray that the Holy Spirit would show us how to submit to, and draw near to God. Thank you for giving grace to the humble. Help us to find that humility in our own hearts. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Questions for Reflection, Small Group or Family Discussion:

1. If you could ask God for anything, what would it be?
2. What do families, friends, or churches commonly fight about?
3. What is the root cause of fights and quarrels between people? (James 4:1)
4. How can a person tell when he or she has become proud?
5. How did James describe the way we should come to God? What sins of action and attitude do you need to confess to God today? What can you do this week to draw near to God?

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