The Peace-Stealers - Part A

In James chapter 4, we have three doors that steal a person speaks three wars that are going on right now all over the world. All three of them are peace Steelers all three of them will make your life and all three of them need to be ended in when they are handed the result last there are wars going on all around spiritual and those battles can drain and overwhelmed connect with Skip Heitzigs of today as he explore some of the things that can steal your peace and how you can guard against right now want to tell you about a resource that shines light on the rapidly shifting landscape of the Middle East impact you New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg is now based in Jerusalem and he's releasing the new nonfiction book enemies and allies I traveled with Joel to the middle of the cities to meet with Kings Crown Prince. We sat together on the east lawn of the White House for the signing of the historic Abraham accordance and I previewed his new book enemies and allies. I can tell you it contains never before published quotes behind closed door meetings with some of the most powerful and mysterious leaders in the Middle East. You will want to read enemies and allies by Joel Rosenberg includes insights and analysis. The authors conversation controversial leaders in the world is she leaders meet's house. Come meet the most interesting consequence leaders enemies and allies by Joel Rosenberg insights and analysis from the authors conversations with some of the most controversial leaders in the world will send you a hardcover copy of enemies and allies. Thanks for your gift of $35 or more to give. Visit connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888 James chapter as we get into the message with Skip Heitzigs. We all know that war is a fact of life as long as urban humans on the your there have been wars on the Simon Jenkins is a British author noted every generation has its roar.

So my dad's generation was a World War II generation mine was the Vietnam War was really up up for my brothers were my older brothers in more modern times the goal for the Afghanistan war.

Every generation has its wars.

According to the Wall Street Journal, they said were has shaped the world we live in, and is still shaping many parts of the globe. That's a sad truth to contemplate that people and generations and nations get defined by the wars that they fight in the 20th century. It's estimated that 108 million people have been killed in wars but that throughout history both soldiers on the battlefield and people who are not on the battlefield would get killed as a result of war is 3,500,000,000 people I know the system number number for a lot of us, but that is the sad reality that we throughout our history have managed to kill 3,500,000,000 human lives.

Now some wars are more famous than others. All of us could rattle off a list of ones that we know about, but I bet there are some wars you've never heard of. For example, there is a war that's called the pig war. The pig war was a war in 1859. It was really an argument over a slaughtered pig that nearly led to a full-scale war between the United States and England. So here's our workers an island off the coast of Washington called the San Juan Island and at that time it was the home to settlers both from Britain and from America one day a paid a British pig that that it had like an English accent or anything, but was owned by the Brits was a black door went rampaging through an American farmers potato field and the response was the Americans called the Army in a general was dispatched to assess the situation. He and his troops declared San Juan Island BUS property, all of it. So here you have a partly settled by the Brits partly settled by the Americans general comes and says not, it's all ours but I didn't bode well with the Brits. They sent a fleet of naval ships to surround the island.

That's all closer got there was a standoff for weeks until they finally settled, so I just I just want to say right now that I would hate to be the guy says yeah I thought in the pig war is like the big war that the pig war.

I here's another one called the war of the stray dog.

I dislike the titles. One of the stray dog. There was a long hostility between two nations Greece and Bulgaria came to a head in October 1925. What happened is a Greek soldier was shot as he was crossing into Bulgaria chasing his runaway dog, so they killed him because he had crossed over into their country.

Okay that's bad but what's worse is how Greece responded to that Greece invaded the country of Bulgaria over the fact he got so bad that the league of Nations had to intervene to stop that invasion and that potential war adults for one more up on the screen just because I like the title of this called war of Jenkins ear. In 1738 I a man by the name of Jenkins, Robert Jenkins. He was a British sailor on a mariner stands in front of the British Parliament in London with a severed ear he claimed was his ear. I decomposing severed ear. Now you know sometimes these politicians of the that's just so off the chart. Take care and have a meeting with it. So he pulls his ear out. He claims that his ear had been severed by Spain by a Spanish soldier 70 years prior saw me just say if you're holding onto your ear for seven years, you have bigger problem and he's he's holding it up and he says that this is done by Spanish soldier Spain and England for four decades had not gotten along, but they used the incident of Jenkins ear to go to work war with Spain and war was formally declared by the Brits on Spain were of Jenkins ear crazy right sometimes there are wars that are thought better, not even against nations that are not against people there a war of things or activities or ideologies. We we talk about a war of ideas we talked about the war on drugs or the Cold War or here's one more. I wish we would bring back is called the gas wars in the 1960s, when gas incidentally was $0.28 a gallon, bring that war back so it was, but basically gas station general lowering the price 1/4 of a Santa hat facet I sent Tina to compete with other one.

So the people would buy gas from them.

Then there's the war on terror all sorts of rumors that are flawed for all sorts of reasons. In James chapter 4, we have three wars that steal a person speaks three wars that are going on right now all over the world. All three of them are peace Steelers all three of them will make your life miserable and all three of them need to be ended in when there ended the result will be a lasting peace.

If they can be ended. Okay so this is the book of James, and James was written by guess who, James C. Geiser Bible students. So, James, but the question becomes which James because the New Testament has a bunch of people named James so to discount a cut to the chase probably was written by James the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or better put our the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You probably know that after Jesus was born. He was virgin born after that Joseph and Mary had normal relations and had several children that the New Testament names. One of them by the names of James. So James is writing this letter he's writing to Christians, Jewish Christians are people who have come to faith in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and he is writing because evidently church people have all sorts of personal problems as well as relational problem which is true of any church in any generation. But the theme therefore of the book of James is maturity maturity. Hee hee saying them grow up. You need to grow up in certain areas of your life, Warren Weathersby said spiritual maturity is one of the greatest needs in the church today.

Too many churches are play pens for babies instead of workshops for adults so I member my three older brothers would tell me to grow up all the time. It was their favorite mantra for me, especially my oldest brother Jim. He would see me acting a certain way and it's a cruel law and I my retort was this is me growing up is what kids my age do growing up so I'm on my way there. James is telling. This church is time for you to be growing in certain areas. So in chapter 4 were going to look at the first seven verses but three wars, the war among you, the war inside you and the war above you you going to discover something all three wars are related to each other. So first of all is the war among us look at how verse one begins. It's the simple question. Where do wars and fights come from among you, and that's a good question. Generally these wars come from, how do you go for over a pay can you declare war over due to holding ear up in Parliament where these wars come from. There's an author who decided to try to answer that question. His name is Mike Martin he's a former British soldier and he wrote a book called why we fight.

It's a whole book devoted to the reasons people go to war.

Here's one sentence out of his book, he said. Humans fight to achieve the status and belonging that he takes an approach from an evolutionary model when I don't subscribe to a he talks about biological underpinnings where people go to war to ensure their own possibility of reproduction. In other words, I want my tried to keep going. So I'll eliminate other people who would be a threat to that for that to happen.

The Guardian magazine on the other hand says this warfare provides people with semblance of psychological positivity in oppressed societies where other outlets are lacking that almost sounds noble that I get. I see why people fight for that.

But the article goes on to say in most cases wars are initiated by governments, not by populations of the worst people want to go to war.

The governments get them into this and most of the time are the result of disputes over resources and land or of a governments desire to increase its influence and power.

So it's a good question whether wars come from, but that is really is not the question of James, the question of James is not dealing with a war in general or warfare in the world. Notice how he puts his question whether wars and fights come from among you. Now that you and James mine are the believers. Where do wars come from among you Christians so scholars or common Tatars will make note of this factor try to get the nuance you notice in verse one. The difference between wars and fights see those two words of what they'll say is wars describes the underlying conflict that you might have with another person, whereas fights are the expressions in the outward expression the flareups that come one of those things come from either way. They describe a combative relationship between church members, church people were my favorites on some hundred and 33 is only three verses in that song that's not why it's my favorite song, but it begins this way. See if you remember this behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity to good good good song on the opposite is also true, behold, how bad and how pleasant it is when brethren don't dwell together in unity were instead of extending the right hand of fellowship they want to expand the right fist of fellowship. Not good unpleasant, not helpful, but here's what you need to know conflict among God's people is not new. It's been going on a long time. I could take you all the way back to Genesis chapter 13 where Abraham and Lot are at odds with each other. The patriarchs because their herdsmen had strife between them and they were at odds with each other over land rights and water rights I could take you to the New Testament in the New Testament the disciples of the Lord Jesus argued number. They argued over anybody remember what they argued over who would be the what would be the greatest in the kingdom. There are arguing over who's going to have the top dog seat in the kingdom. I'm sure that it started out sort of a jocular conversation like you're making fun of Peter Peterson or Z's document.

These are to be on top in the kingdom. I will be idling my head on Jesus, just as John if you throw Thomas out. He doubts everything he will be the greatest but it eventually got into a heated argument, so much so that Jesus himself had to intervene. So those are the cream of the crop. These are the disciples. Peter and Paul argued among themselves according to the book of Galatians, Paul said concerning Peter. I withstood him to his face so there's Paul getting in Peter's grill think that you're all Jewish over here with our group material Gentile over black grouper, plan the hypocrite. They had a disagreement and argument as did Paul and Barnabas. In fact, the Galatian church itself had problems. Paul wrote to the Galatians and's notice that there is biting and devouring among these people are just nitpicking at each short tempered of the Corinthians competed in spiritual gifts publicly they were taking each other. The court now.

The reason I'm bringing all this up and there are many more examples of God's people not getting along in his many many more.

The reason I'm bringing it up is because some of us have this romanticized idea of what the early church was like I I hear this all the time.

We need to get back to the purity and the simplicity of the early church ever heard that anybody says that meets the bone up on church history a little bit because when you do you go there, like us, like church of Corinth church in Galatia.

That's New Testament back that goes way back. So what went when people romanticized the early church. It was so pure it was so awesome here.

That's the good old days mentality and I discovered that the good old days is just a combination of a bad memory and a good imagination. So the church is not a society of perfect people. We, the church are a society of forgiving people, redeemed people. But yes, this is an area where we need to grow up in, because when it comes to getting along. Even among ourselves, we can act very immature.

Let's look at the immaturity of this church go down now to verse 11. When you get back to go down to verse 11 because it fills in some of the color lets us know what's happening with verse 11 do not speak evil of one another case that I was going on. Do not speak evil of one another brother, and he who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another, so now we know what is going on for some bad mouthing going on there some backbiting going on. There's some backstabbing going on among these dear saints of God.

James brings this out. He's indicting them because of it's pretty pretty straightforward language, but I want you to notice that in his indictment. He also gives the solution to the war that is among us. So, let me offer you some some advice of your if you're struggling with getting along with people in your life to give you a few steps to end wars among us. First of all, this is very practical always make it a family matter if it's with a brother or sister. It's a family matter. In fact, you'll notice that he says do not speak evil of one another, brethren, that's the plural for brothers and sisters. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges, a brother, so brethren brother brother was he doing. He's he saying I just want to remind you that were part of the same family. So keep that in mind if you're arguing with another believer. That's a brother that's a sister more than just a client more than just a customer more than just a neighbor more than just mother-in-law more than just a son-in-law more than just a weirdo in law is a brother in Christ, sister in Christ were part of the same family we have that same Savior the same Holy Spirit the lives and the lives in you and and because of that I refuse to fight you. I will fight you on a fight I will fight you will fight for you all fight with you. Given the right battle, but I will not fight you because as long as you make it a family matter. How can you, so that that's the first step. Make it a family matter.

Second, get off the judge's seat. That sort of James point here is in it. You make yourself a judge.

The following James impeccable logic is his own speak evil of one another brother. He speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But it if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law but a judge may look at this. There's one lawgiver there's one judge and it ain't you. There's one judge that's God and he's not giving his position away to you is only one know what is James mean when he says all this has what he means the essence of the law is summed up in one word what is love. Jesus said if you love your neighbor as yourself. If you love God with all your heart mind soul and strength.

That's the summary of the law. So when you slander someone you violate love and when you violate love, you are violating the very core essence of the law and when you act like a judge, you are usurping God's authority as the lawgiver. She that's his logic is just brilliant logic.

So James is not telling them to stop evaluating people because we must. He's not saying don't use discernment in situations because we bus you just think stop condemning people so make it a family matter.

Get off the judge's seat third tip. Use your mouth to heal and not that's a decision we can make before we leave this room today. From now on I will use these lips more to heal than to hurt that Skip hides his powerful message for the series give peace a chance.

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Your application for the 2022 splinter is available right now. Classes start January 10 apply to the head. Calvary church college.com Calvary church college.com is not just the absence of conflict. It's something that can only be found in the Prince of peace. When sharing the gospel message to people around the world can come to easton Jesus to global companies even more desperate for discount 890 to 1800 9218 for visit connect with.com/connect.com/donate. Thank you. Come back again. Tomorrow is Skip Heitzigs a gift to the war from among and within people and shares to find peace from the castle. Skip presentation of connection communication is changing true ever-changing time