Tasting the Gruel of Love

That’s Me in the Front of the Picture?

Dr. Larry Thorson
March 22, 2009

James 4:1-10

This is the fourth week of Lent, the season when we try to remember the reasons why we need a savior as we get ready for Easter. I have had students and adults say to me “I’ve never sinned.” I always act surprised and say “Never?” “Nope, never”, they say. Then I say “So you don’t need a savior then?” “Nope, God accepts me just as I am”. Hmm. “Have you ever driven 40 in a 35?” “Have you ever talked on your cell phone while driving…lately?” “Have you ever over eaten?” I got you all on that last one.

Probably the main reason people say they’ve never sinned is because they’ve redefined what sin is or have a false picture of who they are and who God is. If you use a little imagination anyone can sound pretty sinless, even the guys in prison. “I mean, I haven’t killed anybody”. “I’ve been faithful to my wife”. But look in the mirror and the mirror doesn’t lie.

The Book of James is our mirror during this season because it’s really good at showing us what we actually look like. Each week we’ve been studying a different chapter of James and each chapter looks at a different false picture we have of ourselves and of God. Today we’re in the fourth chapter of James where we read about a new false picture in verses 1-10…

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. 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 is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

What causes fights and quarrels among us? James says they come from our own “desires that battle within us”. There’s actually a real combat battle going on within your brain everyday. Yet when I look at you, you look so gentle and peaceful sitting there.

In the original Greek language that James wrote in he says this battle is caused by having too much “heed anon”. That’s the Greek term for Hedonism; which means living for pleasure. Another word for “heed anon” is “narcissism”, which means to love oneself too much. Narcissus was a Greek mythology god who was transfixed by his own image when he looked into a pond. Because of this transfixion he was never able to enter into a meaningful relationship with anyone else. Narcissism: to be preoccupied with oneself. Our fights and quarrels are caused by being too preoccupied with ourselves.

Dr. Jean Twang, a professor at San Diego State University analyzed 16,000 college students by giving them a narcistic personality inventory. When asked what motivated her to do this study she said, "I would go on to MySpace and there is a little icon that reads, I love me.". The slogan of YouTube is "broadcast yourself." She saw narcissism everywhere. Her research center asked the younger generation what they felt their generation's most important goals were and 80%, or 8 out of 10 said 'getting rich' and only 4% responded 'becoming more spiritual.'

President Obama on his southern California trip last week said that it was a culture of greed not just individual cases that led companies like AIG to pay out those massive unjustified bonuses while asking tax payers for a handout. Last week it was politically acceptable to sound tough against AIG and Freddie Mac. Congress even voted last week to tax the greed right out of those stinkin’ greedy mega bonus winners at AIG. Ok, but what about the rest of us? Are we the only ones exempt from being greedy? I don’t think so.

One day Peter and Jesus were having a conversation about what was really important in life because Peter wanted to be number one in the kingdom behind Jesus. So Jesus said to him, "Peter you have your mind set on the things of human beings instead of the things of God." In other words a me-first choice is basically the best way to cut yourself off from God's favor. Let me make this clear, you can never cut yourself off from God, because God holds on to us, but the best way to probably feel an opposition from God in this life is to live in that me-first philosophy.

Think about Jesus when he was tempted in the wilderness. The devil said to him after he had spent forty days fasting "Make these stones into bread." Jesus said in so many words, "I reject self-sufficiency." Okay then the devil said take a swan dive off the temple. Jesus replied "I reject testing God and misusing his word." Okay, "Well here are all the kingdoms of the world, all the glitter, all everything, you can have it all if you will just bow down and worship me." Jesus said "I reject worshipping anything other than the Lord God Almighty. I reject buying into the lie of wealth, power and status."

Everywhere I turn, everywhere, someone tells me how much of their invested savings have been lost in the greed of corporate America. The only people I know who didn’t lose anything are people who didn’t have any invested money but now they’re losing their jobs because the people who used to have investment money don’t have money to spend. Greed is a vicious cycle.

What causes quarrels and fights among us? The caring for ourselves before caring for others. Fighting for our own piece of the pie instead of giving our piece to someone else whether they deserve it or not. What if we could do it different? I want to share with you a story of one man who decided to do it different.

We have a lot of golfers in our church as one would expect in a retirement community located in the Sun Belt. I read a golfing story recently about PGA pro Mark Wilson who was 32 and had never won a PGA tournament in 110 previous attempts.

Mark was a math major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and when he was coming out of school he had a habit of putting his goals down on paper. His very top goal on that list was to win a PGA tournament. But after 110 attempts he was no closer to his goal when he entered his 111^th tournament in 2007, the Honda Classic at Palm Gardens, Florida. He had an incredible first round on Thursday. On Friday he was at the 5th hole and hit the ball. The other guy he was playing with made a remark saying I wonder what club Wilson used. Wilson’s caddy overheard the remark and blurted out, "It's an 18 degree" speaking about a club in Wilson's bag.

Now, you may not know, and I definitely didn't know this, to offer advice to another player is a two-stroke penalty. So Mark who is playing the golf of his life summons an official at the next hole and says, "My caddy spoke to another player" and he got docked two strokes.

After Friday night’s round the caddy was talking to reporters and was so distraught that he broke into tears because he thought he might have just caused Mark the tournament. The tournament went on the next day and eventually Mark got into a four-way playoff on Sunday. It ended in darkness and then on Monday there was just one other guy whom he was still on a playoff with. On the final playoff hole Mark sunk a 30-foot putt and won his first tournament. That victory lifted Wilson into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

Later on Monday, the caddy was talking to reporters again and he was still crying. He said that when the incident happened Mark Wilson put his arm around the caddy and he said, "Look, it's okay. It's okay. Let’s just go play some golf." And then he just relaxed and he played the best golf of his life.

How many of us in that position would have reported ourselves? I mean if it was me, I would have said, "I didn't hear anything. I think he said it was 80 degrees out here. I think that is what he said." I mean, come on, it's a one million dollar payoff for the winner. It means I get exempted from playing in the Master's. I don't have to go back to qualifying school. Please understand me you didn’t hear your pastor say humble yourself and you will win golf tournaments. I am saying that a guy who saw his goal at the top of his list for ten years in reach didn't let what he wanted seduce him and compromise his character and his integrity. I think only God can help a person do that kind of thing.

By the way according to www.wlhs.org, the website of Mark Wilson’s high school alma mater, Wisconsin Lutheran High School he’s quoted as saying “Golf is an avenue to touch people or influence people. If I stayed home because I am simply satisfied with my past success, I would be dishonoring God and the talent he has given me.” In addition to winning the 2007 Honda Classic Mark won his second PGA Tour event March 1st, 2009 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, in Mexico.

As we come to this point in our service, the question is, what is it that God wants you to get rid of? Is it your false pride. Guys we complain about women spending so much time prepping themselves but think how much time we waste keeping up our pride. “I’m sorry IF you’re hurt by what I did but…” But, nothing. You’re not God and you’re not perfect. The sooner you get that picture into your head the sooner your conflict is lessened.

You can’t buy what you’ve wanted to buy because money is hard to come by. Let me ask you? Do you need to buy it in order to be able to breathe? Do you need it to be able to eat? Do you need it to be able to put a roof over your family’s head?

What is it that you’re holding back? Is it your money? Is it forgiveness of someone who hurt you? Is it your time? Is it your trust that God can provide everything that you need? Let's enter in to a time of silence in answering that question, what does God want me to toss? Humble yourselves before the Lord, and the Lord will lift you up."

If you don’t know where you’re going to go when this life ends then admit to Jesus that you’re a sinner in need of a savior. Pray the sinner’s prayer this morning: “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a savior. I confess to you all my sins and ask you to be the master and savior of my life. Amen.”