2024-10-27 San Jose CRC - sermon only - Gil Suh

 ​ Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of James, chapter 4, verses 1-2, which can be found on page 979 in your pew bibles, up on the screen, or also in your bulletin.

Submit yourselves to God. 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 enmity 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.

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.

Brothers and sisters do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.

But you, who are you to judge your neighbor? This is the word of the Lord. Amen.

Today is a little longer than usual, so stay with me because the message is for you. After the worship, the coffee and cookies are waiting for you. So, pray with me one more time.

Lord, thank you so much for bringing us here to be part of this wonderful service, that we can witness some of our members stepping up to serve, and also Lord Ben's making a profession of faith.

Now Lord, we want to hear your word. Speak to us. We are here to listen. Holy Spirit. Help us to understand what you have to say to us in Christ's name. We pray. Amen.

We are all born with natural desires. The most basic one is the desire for food and milk. We don't need to teach newborn babies to desire their mothers' milk, right? Babies are born with that desire. So, the desire for sustenance is a sign of life. We'll be very worried if babies don't desire milk.

On the contrary, Having no desire for food is usually a sign of impending death. It is true. In the weeks and days before someone's death, the dying person will gradually lose interest in food. As the body slowly shuts down, the feelings of hunger go away. It's interesting. We are born with a desire. We die without desire.

So, in our life journey between birth and death, in between, we come to have all kinds of desires. Certain wants and needs, and desires for learning, winning, and success. They all motivate us and energize us. So, we openly talk about these desires, and we even act on them. However, some desires can get us into trouble if we act on them openly.

Think about greed, jealousy, lust, revenge, fame, power. We have them, but we don't openly talk about them. And rather, we struggle, or pursue them secretly.

And those who take faith and relationship with God seriously, we feel that somehow we first need to deal with or clean up these closet desires, I'll call it closet desires, before we come to God. So we struggle with these secret desires in our hearts and minds. And we just somehow struggle.

And we don't realize actually there are deeper desires beneath those closet desires. In other words, if we have these desires that are not so open and not so like, oh, you know, I want to share with the world, but maybe underneath those desires, there are actually true and deeper desires. A famous line in a novel published in 1945 by Bruce Marsha in this novel called The World of Flesh and the Father Smith. Maybe you have heard that. The man who rings the bell of the brothel unconsciously does so, seeking God.

Maybe, you know, this brothel is a kind of old term. Even maybe today. Those who maybe, you know, check or look for pornography. Maybe unconsciously does so, seeking God. How is that possible? Even beneath our desire for power or revenge may lay a desire for peace and justice.

Instead of acting on this revenge or power, we may need to pursue it in different ways. If actual desire, deeper desire is for peace and justice. The Bible actually talks about different kinds of desires, too. So today's text starts with this question and answers that question with another question. So here's the first line.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? That's the question. Now answer. Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? Now here, the word desire is, I usually try not to use Greek, but this is a hiddenon. A hedonism. Have you heard of the hedonistic? That's from that word. It has a negative connotation. So here, James meant by using this word selfish pleasure and lustful passion. And he used the same word in verse 3. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. So English translates, you know, pleasure, but it's the same word.

So these desires in us, and among us, James says, cause fights and quarrels, arguments and conflicts. But now, that's the sort of bad part. But in verse two, the word desire appears again, but in the verb, right? It says you desire but do not have. You desire, but do not have. But here, the word for desire is a different word in Greek. It can mean either kind of general wish, or longing, or lust, or those hidden ones, depending on what you seek. So, for example, Paul used this word in Galatians 5:17 this way, For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit. That's bad. But the spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh. That's good.

So James point is this. Let me just, you know, okay, okay. You talk a lot about desire. What does it mean? What is it trying to make? So his point is this. You desire wrong things or you desire right things for wrong purposes.

So they become misguided desires.

Because if desires are natural, it's creational, God created. But we are the ones who use those desires, twist them, and then desire wrong things or the right things.

It's all causing fights and quarrels among God's people. And as a result, you don't get what you really desire in your heart. And you don't pay attention to the deep and true desires beneath your immediate and burning desires. So by doing so, James said, you become friends of the world instead of God. So anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

And they call you adulterous people. So, here, the knowledge of friends is used very purposefully. Do you know why? Because think about your friends, real friends, not Facebook friends, but real friends, close friends. Close friends are those who, what, share similar interests and values, right? That is desires. So God himself has desires and longings.

Although we tend to think that, oh, desire longings are bad. No, it is not. God has desires and longing. He desires and longs for our loving relationship and friendship with him. But then, if we reject that desire and we follow the desires that are wrong things, the worldly things, we become, he said, an enemy of God, not a friend of God.

God created us in his image, and he redeemed us through his son Jesus Christ. So in verse 5, we see God who jealously longs for us. He used that word jealously long. That's the same word, verse Peter 2, chapter 2, 2nd chapter in verse 2, like newborn babies craving pure milk. You know what it's like to see the babies craving, crying out of death, their breath.

So God wants our desires to be aligned with his desires as close friends. So, the more we get to know him, the more we'll know what he wants, and our desire will increasingly reflect and align with his desire. For that purpose, he calls us to prayer. Then, we submit ourselves with all our desires to God and come near to him humbly.

That's the series of commands in this passage. The danger is when it comes to desires; this is our tendency. Also, danger is hiding and wrestling with our desires alone, secretly not talking to God about them. Maybe we may talk to our counselors or close friend. We tend to feel somehow God is not pleased with these desires.

It's okay. So I have to deal with it; I have to clean up before I go to God. Sorry, it will never happen because we will continue to struggle on our own. Out of fear. Why, why, why are we not bringing to God our desire? Out of fear of being disappointed, disappointing God, or being disappointed because if we bring this desire to God, maybe God will not do anything.

So, we may end up not having these desires at all fulfilled. Or we may fear that, oh, God's not going to approve these desires. Somehow, we feel that. You know, we know, we parents know our children often do that. Our children don't want to share what they really want with us, but only what they think we can handle.

We parents want to hear. We want to know what you are struggling with so that we can help you and share that struggle. Our Heavenly Father already knows our desires, both open and closet, closet desires. And he's inviting us to share with him as a friend. We are not to deny or hide our conflicting desires, to mind them, but to mind them and find out what is the desire beneath the desire beneath the desire.

Jesus’, you know, first question in the gospel is this. When Jesus saw two John the Baptist disciples and followed him, he asked them, he turned and asked, What do you want? Another translation is, What are you looking for? Or, What do you seek? Or, What do you desire? How would you answer now if Jesus would ask you that question?

What do you want? What do you desire these days? What desire comes quickly to your mind? What do you strive for and struggle with these days? But whatever they are, Here is an invitation and good news. We can be honest with God about those desires. He invited us to come along and spend some time with him.

As we hang out with Jesus, we can talk to him about anything, like good friends would do. So, as we process our desires, not alone, but with Jesus, we name them and surrender to him. We can experience greater freedom, peace, and love. And that's what our prayer should be about. We should not just talk about what we know that God is pleased with, but even things that maybe we perceive. God may not be pleased that I have these struggles and desires.

God already knows, and He's welcoming us to share with Him and be friends with Him. Then, our desires, as we do so, shall gradually and surely align with his desires. Then, out of those renewed desires, we'll conduct ourselves and live our lives. That's the invitation, and that's the calling for us as we enter into another week ahead of us.

Let us pray.

Right before I pray, I want to invite you and maybe quiet moments this coming week. Spend some time with God alone. Talk to him about your desires and aspirations. Fears, struggles.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your wisdom and grace, which invite us to honestly bring our desires before you. Help us to see our desires not as something to hide or suppress but as opportunities to draw near to you. Reveal to us the deeper desires beneath our wants that we might align our hearts with your will.

Guide us in turning away from desires that lead us astray and seeking those that bring us closer to you and to your purposes. As we surrender our desires to you, may we find greater freedom, peace, and joy in following your way. Draw us near as friends, Lord, so our lives may reflect your love and wisdom in all we do.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.