SWITCHING THE PRICE TAGS (5 OF 6)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: James 3:13, James 4:10
This content is part of a series.
Switching The Price Tags (5 of 6)
Series: Fake News
Jeff Strite
James 3:13-4:10
OPEN: Years ago, Tony Campolo wrote a book about Christianity called ''Who Switched The Price Tags''
He told about the time he and his best friend decided to break into the basement of the local five-and-dime store. They didn't plan to rob the place (Sunday School boys after all); instead, they planned to do something that was far worse for the owner. Their plan was to break in and change the price tags on everything. I don't think they actually got beyond the planning stages... but they imagined customers arriving and discovered that radios were selling for a quarter and bobby pins were priced at five dollars each.
Campolo wrote: ''With diabolical glee, we wondered what it would be like when... nobody could figure out what the prices of things really should be.''
In a store the price tags tell us the value of what we want to buy. But if someone switches the price tags, it's hard to know how valuable something is.
In the book of James, God rebukes Christians who seemingly can't read the price tags. They've lost the understanding of how valuable things should be. But now... how does God know they've misread the price tags?
James writes: ''What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.'' James 4:1-2
You see, when Christians get into quarrels and fights, something is wrong! And God tells is that THIS is what's wrong: ''You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity (''becoming an enemy'') with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.'' James 4:3-4
In other words, when Christians fight and quarrel it shows that they've put a higher value on the world THAN they have put on God. In f ...
Series: Fake News
Jeff Strite
James 3:13-4:10
OPEN: Years ago, Tony Campolo wrote a book about Christianity called ''Who Switched The Price Tags''
He told about the time he and his best friend decided to break into the basement of the local five-and-dime store. They didn't plan to rob the place (Sunday School boys after all); instead, they planned to do something that was far worse for the owner. Their plan was to break in and change the price tags on everything. I don't think they actually got beyond the planning stages... but they imagined customers arriving and discovered that radios were selling for a quarter and bobby pins were priced at five dollars each.
Campolo wrote: ''With diabolical glee, we wondered what it would be like when... nobody could figure out what the prices of things really should be.''
In a store the price tags tell us the value of what we want to buy. But if someone switches the price tags, it's hard to know how valuable something is.
In the book of James, God rebukes Christians who seemingly can't read the price tags. They've lost the understanding of how valuable things should be. But now... how does God know they've misread the price tags?
James writes: ''What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.'' James 4:1-2
You see, when Christians get into quarrels and fights, something is wrong! And God tells is that THIS is what's wrong: ''You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity (''becoming an enemy'') with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.'' James 4:3-4
In other words, when Christians fight and quarrel it shows that they've put a higher value on the world THAN they have put on God. In f ...
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