Friend or Foe? (8 of 12)
Series: Put Your Faith to Work
Keith Krell
James 4:1-12
Back in 2010 an Idaho man was given two misdemeanor citations for keeping Western rattlesnakes in his apartment. Officials from the Department of Fish and Game say that the man had twenty-five rattlesnakes in a five-gallon pail. He had also given several away and had eaten two of the snakes. The thirty-eight year-old said that he did not know it was illegal to hunt rattlesnake without a license in the state. He also stated that he had been trying to find a buyer for the snakes, including calling a research center that milks snakes for their venom.
We may not keep literal rattlesnakes in our homes, but many of us let spiritual dangers reside there. Our five-gallon pails are often full of the sins that we allow into our lives. We may not always see their effects, but those sins can wreck havoc when we allow them to dwell with us. In James 4:1-12, the street-smart apostle, pulls no punches as he pinpoints the results of harboring sin in our lives. James barks out three commando-like orders that will help us defeat sin.
1. Identify our enemy (4:1-5). Chapter 4 begins our final major outline point: slow to anger (4:1-5:6). James kicks off this chapter with a practical problem his readers faced: ''What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you [plural]? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members [or bodies]? You [plural] lust and do not have; so you commit murder [express anger in your heart]. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures'' (4:1-3). Like many churchgoing folks, James' readers were having trouble getting along. They had ''quarrels'' (lit. ''wars,'' polemoi), referring to major church schisms. They also had ''conflicts'' (lit. ''battles,'' machai), referring to seemingly m ...
Series: Put Your Faith to Work
Keith Krell
James 4:1-12
Back in 2010 an Idaho man was given two misdemeanor citations for keeping Western rattlesnakes in his apartment. Officials from the Department of Fish and Game say that the man had twenty-five rattlesnakes in a five-gallon pail. He had also given several away and had eaten two of the snakes. The thirty-eight year-old said that he did not know it was illegal to hunt rattlesnake without a license in the state. He also stated that he had been trying to find a buyer for the snakes, including calling a research center that milks snakes for their venom.
We may not keep literal rattlesnakes in our homes, but many of us let spiritual dangers reside there. Our five-gallon pails are often full of the sins that we allow into our lives. We may not always see their effects, but those sins can wreck havoc when we allow them to dwell with us. In James 4:1-12, the street-smart apostle, pulls no punches as he pinpoints the results of harboring sin in our lives. James barks out three commando-like orders that will help us defeat sin.
1. Identify our enemy (4:1-5). Chapter 4 begins our final major outline point: slow to anger (4:1-5:6). James kicks off this chapter with a practical problem his readers faced: ''What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you [plural]? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members [or bodies]? You [plural] lust and do not have; so you commit murder [express anger in your heart]. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures'' (4:1-3). Like many churchgoing folks, James' readers were having trouble getting along. They had ''quarrels'' (lit. ''wars,'' polemoi), referring to major church schisms. They also had ''conflicts'' (lit. ''battles,'' machai), referring to seemingly m ...
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