Lets open our Bibles up to James 3. I wonder if you remember a game from when you were growing up called King of the Mountain. Did you ever play that game? That was one of my favorite all-time games. In case you have not played King of the Mountain, this is the way we played it. This might not be the way you played it, but next to our house, we had a fire station; and they would heap up this snow, pile it up every winter. King of the Mountain is when one of the kids gets on top of the mountain, and then everybody takes turns trying to knock him off. You dont punch, but you push, you ram, you grab coats, and you just do whatever you can to get advantage to try to knock him off the mountain. Then you become king of the mountain until such a time as your reign is done, when somebody knocks you off. We just had a blast playing that winter after winter. Sometimes even the firemen would join in and play with us. What a good memory that is for me. I do remember the goal of King of the Mountain. It was to push everybody else down so you could be on top. Thats kind of it. You did whatever it took to get on top and stay there at your expense, and thats pretty much how the world works. Its about you, the individual, advancing yourself, building your kingdom, stepping on people along the way-doing everything you can to get to the top and stay there, however you define the top. Its contrary to what Christ has called the church to. What Christ has called the church to do-if it were a game of King of the Mountain-itd be your job to try to help people up. It would be your job to take the person who is below you and try to lift them up past where you are. Itd be a servant kind of mentality. It really wouldnt work for that game because what Christ has called the church to do is counter-culture. James says that there is a problem when we start to look like the world instead of like Christ. He calls it selfish ambition. That King of the Mountain mindset-its envy. Its saying, I dont like where you are. I want to be where you are. I dont like the fact that youre there, and Im going to try to take your place. Im going to try to advance myself at your expense because I want to be on top. I want to be the top dog. He calls that envy and selfish ambition. Hes going to say in this text that that causes conflict. That causes dissention. That causes the wars and things that we experience. He says, But a person who is serving as Christ called us to and lives the life that Christ called us to live, hes going to be a peacemaker. Hes going to be a difference-maker, so hes going to compare these two lifestyles. Were going to read through the text. Im going to give you a little bit of an outline for it, and then as weve done the last couple weeks, were going to find a person in the Scripture who exemplifies that Passage. Every time we do that, we find out that what James says is right. Then you plug these Passages into real life-what he warns us about, what he cautions us about-[and find out] its true, so lets take a look at James. Were going to back up to Chapter 3 and read it as part of our context. Remember the chapters arent in the original writings of these Books. They were added by the editors, so Chapter 3 leads into 4, and Chapter 4 is just as much connected to 3 in context, so we need to read them together. Lets back up to Verse 16 (page 1198 of pew Bibles), For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. By the way, I saw an example of envy this week. I was at the Labor Day parade, and there was a three year old next to us. It must have been her first parade because she wasnt quite getting the candy thing. Her motor skills werent advanced enough to go out there and get the candy, so she was watching in shock and amazement as-I dont know if there were siblings or friends, who they were-but they were eating candy, and she didnt have it. She did not like that one bit! She looked around, and she studied them for a bit. She realized they all had good candy, and she didnt have any; and she said (in a crying voice), I want candy!! I want candy!! Of course, they threw candy in her mouth. I turned to my kids, and I said, Well, that behavior will never be seen again. We certainly didnt reinforce that by putting candy in her face (sarcastically), but envy is I see what you have. I dont like that you have it. I wish I had it, so Im going to go after it, and that was her way to get it. Adults, were a little bit more subtle about it, usually; but we do envy nonetheless. A person might envy another persons position in their job, a co-worker. You might envy a sibling who seems to be the favorite like Joseph and his brothers. You might envy somebody in ministry. You might envy a public person who doesnt even know you, so we can envy a number of different ways. You could envy who somebodys spouse is; envy what car they drive; envy a lifestyle; envy their looks; or envy how they sing-whatever it is-but its wanting what somebody else has. He says, This is the cause of strife and conflict among you, but the wisdom that comes from Heaven is first of all pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. Now the first three [Verses] of Chapter 4, were going to call the Cause of Conflict. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Dont they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but dont 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. In other words, God is not just going to randomly give us [answered] prayers. There is a reason God just doesnt blindly say yes to a prayer. If your prayer is of selfish motivation, James says dont expect God to answer that prayer. The second set of Verses here, 4-6, is confronting. Its confrontational. Were going to confront the problem, confront compromise, which is the problem. He says, When you start to live like this instead of how Christ called you to live, that is compromise. You start to resemble the world. Before I read this Passage, when we talk about the world, theres a Greek word, cosmos, that has three different definitions. It depends on the context in which you find it. It could be the earth. We could say the cosmos is the earth. We could say the cosmos are the people of the earth-when it says for God so loved the world… That means the people of the earth. Or, it could be used to mean of the worlds system. In the context here, this is used as of the worlds system. This world system that says, Me first. King of the mountain; selfish ambition; vain conceit; vain glory; pride and envy. That is the world system that we are not to be a part of or resemble. He says in Verse 4, You adulterous people… James does not pull punches, does he? James uses some strong language here. He says, You are committing spiritual adultery if you resemble the world more than you resemble Christ-if you love the things of the world system more than you love God. …dont you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Youre actually demonstrating hate toward the one youre called to love. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God, and any enemy of God always loses. If youre Gods enemy, you lose. James is saying, Get on the right side. 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. Now some of you might ask, Well, why can God envy, but we cant? Its because this word is also translated into jealous. God is jealous for what belongs to Him. He loves us. He wants a relationship with us. We belong to Him, and He wants whats best for us. He knows whats best for us is to follow His commands. Thats entirely different than somebody who is envying something that is not theirs, shouldnt be theirs, or isnt theirs; but they want it, and its for their self-interest. God is for our interest, jealous that we love and serve Him because we were created for Him; so theyre not the same at all. The third Passage, or the third breakdown here, is the cure of the conflict. He says, Heres the cause of the conflict. Its our desires, and those desires lead us to compromise. Then James confronts that compromise, and he says that this is not to be characteristic of a Christian life. This is a wake-up call to you who think you can name the name of Christ and resemble the world rather than resembling what the church is supposed to be, the body of Christ. He says, You are acting in hatred towards God. Now heres the cure for the conflict. He says its repentance. Number one, 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… He talks about ceremonial cleansing here in a metaphoric sense. …purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourn and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. He says repentance is serious business. James is trying to get the point across that if you are resembling the world, youre living in this King of the Mountain mentality, and you think you have the world by the tail because youre professing Christ-yet youre living like the world, and you think life is good-he says, I have a wake-up call for you. You have to answer to a holy God, and you need to wipe that smile off your face. Have you ever had a coach who would come on the bus after a game you lost? Maybe you were embarrassed, or it was a close game. Whatever it was, you lost. He comes onto the bus, and guys are laughing and having a good time. What does that coach say? Wipe that smile off your face! You guys would not believe the pain youre going to be in tomorrow at practice. You have no idea how you embarrassed this school. You embarrassed me! You come on this bus, and you laugh? You think its funny? Youre smiling? We busted our tails all week to be embarrassed? Im getting mad. He said, Wipe that smile off your face. You did not represent this school! Thats kind of what James is doing here. Hes giving a lecture, saying, You who are living in the world and thinking you have everything, wake-up call. Wipe the smile off your face. You need to grieve, and whats more, you need to come into a sharp realization of your spiritual condition because your spiritual condition is not good. You are an adulterer! You are living a life of compromise! Nobody should be comfortable. Nobody should be at ease with life when youre in this situation. You have no idea what day youre going to have to answer to God, so you need to sober up. You need to get serious. This is serious stuff, James says. This is serious stuff. Hes not saying this to everybody. Hes not being Mr. Grumpy Gloom and Doom, saying to every person who is smiling and laughing, Stop that! You need to cry! You need to be sad! No, hes talking to the person who is living with selfish ambition and envy and resembling the world, You need to come to terms with how youre acting. You need to change your ways, and the only way to do that is repent. Metanoeo means to change your mind, to say the same thing and be in agreement with God and grieve it. Then God will meet you there, you will confess your sins, God will forgive you, and He will cleanse you. Then James says, I expect that your attitude and your actions are going to change. Weve been looking in the Old Testament the last couple weeks for an example. This week, were going to go into the New Testament, so thats your first clue. How many of you when you were young enjoyed magic or still do enjoy it? You enjoyed either watching good magic or practicing magic-David Copperfield or whatever? I do. But you understand when youre watching it thats illusion. You understand that its not real, and the person is not pretending that its real. Theyll tell you right off the bat, Im not going to tell you my secret, but everybody knows its an illusion. We know that guy really didnt get cut in half. We know that lady didnt really disappear. We understand that. We grasp that. There was a man in the Scripture who was so skilled at what he did that people were convinced that it was real. They were convinced that he was in some way an agent of God, that God had somehow empowered him to do what he did. Everybody-young and old, small and great-they all bought into this guys message that he was something important, that he was a big deal; and he became famous. I dont know if its right to call him an entertainer or almost a religious leader. He really had a following, and hed become quite wealthy, quite famous, and he was enjoying this prestige and carrying on this act until the Gospel came to his city. When the Gospel came to his city, he began to see real miracles, miracles that he knew were miracles: a lame man walked, a paralyzed person walked; another person who was crazy was all the sudden sane. He was like, I live here. I know these people. I know that that person really was insane, and that person really was paralyzed; and now they walk. His curiosity got the best of him, and he started following this man of God around, listening to his teaching, watching what he did; and he was thinking to himself, How can I get his power? Now, be certain, he is no longer the king of the mountain. This new guy-well call him Phil-is in charge. Hes the king of the mountain. He has the real power, and he was going to try to figure out any way he could to get it. Lets turn in our Bibles to Acts 8:1 (page 1085 of pew Bibles), And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephens death. Saul, at this point, is not Paul. He has not yet converted to Christ, so he is Saul, the persecutor of the church. He has just witnessed the first martyr, Steven. It says, On that day, great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Now, the church has been around for some time-long enough to have gone out. Jesus says, You go out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth, but they were all still in Jerusalem. They really werent obeying Christs command to reach the world with this message; but this persecution would scatter them. This persecution would do the job, so Paul, indirectly-remember hes the greatest missionary of all time-he is responsible for the first wave of Christian missionaries-theyre his persecution. Through his persecution, Christians are scattered. The Bible says rather than cower and fear when they were scattered, they preached the Word. Verse 4 (page 1087 of pew Bibles), Those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went. It tells us that Philip went to Samaria. Now Philip is not to be confused with the Apostle Philip or one of the Disciples, because Philip (as it says here, the Apostles were in Jerusalem) but this man is in Samaria. This is another Philip. This is Philip the deacon. This is Philip from Acts 6. Remember the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews had the argument, so they said, Lets get these men in here to help us? Philip was one of them, so this is Philip the evangelist; so Philip begins to share the Gospel. The Bible tells us that crowds followed him and that miraculous signs took place. It said they all paid attention to what he said. Their evil spirits came out; paralytics and cripples were healed. There was great joy in the city. Now, watching all of this is this man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great. In other words, this is real. What Im doing for you is real, and maybe there was some demonic supernatural activity going on. We cant say for sure, but thats possible. …and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, This man is the divine power known as the Great Power. In other words, he has a spark of the divine in him. There is something of God in this man, so this was his title-the Great Power. Thats how he was known. They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. So how they followed him, were not exactly sure, but it could very possibly be they followed him in a religious sense. In fact, church tradition tells us-many of the early church fathers tell us-he was the founder of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is probably the primary heresy that the church encountered, this belief that we are saved through knowledge; key knowledge saves us, so it doesnt matter how you live. It doesnt matter what you do with your body because matter is evil. The spirit is what God saves, so as long as you have this knowledge, then youre right with God; so Gnosticism was this kind of mystical religion or heresy that started that the church had to combat. Whether he was for sure or not, we cant say. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. So, remember hes wealthy. He doesnt have to go to work, so basically wherever Philip is, hes there trying to learn the secrets-how he gets this power; so he starts jumping through the hoops. Okay, maybe if I go through this ritual called baptism… You can tell Im skeptical that he believed. You can tell Im skeptical of that. I really am. I think his entire motivation was he wanted this power so he could be the king of the mountain again. If he could get this power, then hed knock Philip off; and everybody would follow him because he could do all these miracles now too. He is just astonished and amazed. So when it says he believed, I believe he believed in the power, that it was real. He was not repenting of sin. He was not becoming a follower of Christ. This is still very much envy. This is very much selfish ambition. I want what you have, and Im going to figure out a way to get it. Once I get it, I will knock you off the hill, so this is what James talked about, the cause of conflict: selfish ambition and envy. Were going to see where this is going to lead Simon. Verse 14, When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. Now this is interesting that John is on his way to Samaria. Do you remember what John had said the last time he was there? I dont know if you remember that, but in the Book of Luke, theyre supposed to ask Samaria if Jesus can travel through there. The people say no, and John, the loving Christian man that he is, says, Should I call fire down from Heaven and consume them? Jesus says, You dont know what spirit you are of. The Son of Man did not come to destroy mens lives, but to save mens lives. So now here he is going back through the same area. I wonder what his thoughts were as he was walking there because theyve now received the Gospel. Hes walking there thinking, Gee, I wanted to destroy them. That thought had to cross his mind how God had turned that whole situation around. Now when they get there, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit-possibly because even though theyd been baptized in the name of Jesus, this is all new. This is the first time that the Samaritans-anybody who is not fully a Jew-have received Christ. It could be that God was allowing John and Peter to get there so they could witness with their own eyes that the Samaritans had in fact become believers. Remember there is disdain and religious and racial prejudice between the two groups. The Samaritans dont like the Jews; the Jews dont like the Samaritans. The Samaritans are half Jew and half Gentile, and they were looked upon with disdain by the Jews; so to think that they could really belong to God and be saved, this could be one of those things where they had to see it with their own eyes. Its also not normative to receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. When you receive the Holy Spirit-when you came to Christ-probably nobody was there to lay hands on you. When the believers in Acts 2 and Acts 10 with Cornelius received the Holy Spirit, nobody laid hands on them; but God chose to do it in this way. Its like Peter and John were giving their blessing, the Holy Spirit used them, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Philip began to say, Oh, okay, so thats how you do it. Somehow they have to lay their hands, and I can tell by having Peter and John come to oversee what Philip is doing that Philip is not the top dog. Hes not the king of the mountain as I thought. This Peter appears to be the king of the mountain. He seems to be the guy who has the power. He seems to be the one, so now Im not concerned about Philip anymore. I have to get to know this Peter guy, and somehow I have to get him to put his hands on me, so he is just tired of waiting. He has seen this power manifest, so he says, How much do you need, Peter? I have money. I have deep pockets. What do you need? How much so I can do what you just did? …Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the Apostles hands, he offered them money and said, Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. His envy had blinded him. He didnt even know it was wrong. Had he saw the rebuke that he was going to get, he never would have done this. He probably said it with a smile on his face as he held the currency. You see, I have a lot! He was probably happy about it. Peter is livid! Peter is going to confront the compromise here. As James set his audience straight, as he tried to set believers-as he tries to set believers today straight who are trying to live a double life-he said, Im going to set you straight, pal. You say youre a follower of Christ, youve been baptized and all… Peter knew. I guarantee you they said, Man, we caught a big fish here. This Simon guy, hes pretty famous. He has a large following, and hes even been baptized and is following Philip around, so Peter is aware of whom he is; but he is not at all impressed or intimidated. He says in Verse 20, …May your money perish with you… The JB Phillips translation says, To hell with you and your money. That might not be far from what hes saying here. This language is as strong as you could use. Peter basically is condemning him to hell here, and he is not a happy camper. He says, …because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You thought Gods grace was for sale! Any time God gives you a gift, it is because of grace. Its not something you earn; its not something you purchase, and this is making Peter angry. There were even times in the history of the church where the church had a scam where you could buy salvation. We know thats wrong. We know that was wrong. He says, You have no part or share in this ministry. Basically he says, Youre not a believer. If youre a true believer, you wouldnt be asking what you are asking. …because your heart is not right before God. Again, this tells me, if youre a brand new believer, and your heart is not right before God, then you werent right before God. This was all about Philip, so he confronts him. What is he doing? Hes confronting for the same reason James is-selfish ambition and envy. Hes resembling the world. Hes not resembling the Christ that he claims to follow. He says, Youre in this for you, and thats not what its about. Its not about you. That's one of the big dangers of the prosperity message. Christians were saying, If you follow Jesus, youre going to be rich. Youre going to have all this money. Youre never going to get sick, so like Im going to follow Christ because of all the great things He can do for me. That's the wrong reason to follow Christ. Thats not the reason were called. Its not to advance us; its to advance Him. Its about His mission-not your little small mission, not your little small agenda, so he confronts the compromise. Now, what did James say was the cure to the conflict? Remember the conflict is not with man; the conflict is with God. Even though envy causes tension and strife amongst people, he says its really a conflict with God when youre acting like this; so Simons problem ultimately was with God. So he says the cure of the conflict Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you. Notice he is so angry that hes not even sure God will forgive this guy. I think normally he would say, If you repent of your sins, youre going to be forgiven. Peter was so livid, he was like, Yeah, you have a shot…maybe. Maybe He will. …for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin. Youve not been cleansed of sin. Your baptism was an act. Your whole following thing is an act. This is about you, and youre trying to purchase the grace of God. Shame on you! Shame on you for your compromise. Simon is shocked! He still doesnt know what hes done wrong, and he says, Well, pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me. Notice even in his repentance, he is still only concerned about himself. This is not true repentance. Simon is upset that he got caught. Hes not upset that he did something wrong that displeased God. This is not repentance. What hes basically saying to Peter is pray to the Lord. I dont know Him. You know Him. Pray to Him. True repentance is you pray to God. Youd say, Lord, Ive dishonored Your name. This is what Ive done. Ive compromised, and Ive put Your name in a bad light; and Im so sorry. So he says, Heres the cure. The cure is repentance. Now, what we need to do, church, is we need to humbly and honestly look at our lives and say, Are we playing King of the Hill? Is it about keeping Jesus as King of the mountain, or is it about us being king of the mountain? Is it about us advancing the cause of Christ and helping others up along the journey, or is it scratch, claw, push, and propel myself to the top trying to name the name of Christ and live like the world-in selfish ambition and envy? James is confronting you today if that's you. The Word of God is confronting you. The Holy Spirit is confronting you, and Hes calling you to repentance. Hes calling you to grace. Lets pray together right now. Lets have heads bow and eyes close. How many of you this morning say, Pastor, I have an area Im struggling with, an area I really am living like the world rather than following Christ? This morning, I want to repent of that. This morning I want to get sober-minded about that and begin to have my life conform. Can I see your hands because I want to pray with you? I see those hands. I see those. Thank you. Father, all around this sanctuary, Lord, those who raised their hands right now, pray this prayer with me. Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus name. I confess my sin. I want you to name that sin to the Lord right now in your hearts. Father, I have lived with selfish ambition. Ive tried to be on the thrown of my life, and Ive seen the ugliness of my sin; and I repent of it. I ask for Your forgiveness and cleansing. I recognize that my sin is spiritual adultery. Youve called me to loyalty. Youve called me to resemble Christ and not the world, so I forsake my sin. I ask that Your Holy Spirit would cleanse me, pardon me, and make me new-that I might resemble Christ and not the world system. In Jesus name. Father, if they prayed that prayer in sincerity of heart this morning, You have heard, answered, and forgiven. Lord, I pray that that area that has been such a struggle will become a place of strength to them, no longer a chink in their armor, but its been fortified and reinforced. Theyre no longer, Lord, falling prey to those temptations, for they can live in victory through the power of Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, we pray, Amen.