War And Peace

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

—James 4:1–12

“Where do wars and fights come from among you?” James asked. Our current world situation makes this opening question as relevant as it has been in any generation. War has existed in every era of human existence. No civilization has been untouched. Our Lord warned of “wars and rumors of wars” (Matthew 24:6). In the 5,600 years of recorded human history, approximately 15,000 wars have been fought. And as General Sherman, the Union leader who burned Confederate cities on his march to the sea, said, “War is hell.”^a

We all know the ravages of war. We might not know the fear and fatigue of being in a foxhole in enemy territory, but we know, for instance, the struggle of private wars that flare up within us as the flesh wars against the spirit. We know personal wars that have torn asunder close relationships. And there are public wars waged on a large and sometimes global scale. Whether wars are private, personal, or public in nature, they have common symptoms, sources, and even solutions.

First of all, most of us know what it is to be engaged in a private war that rages within us. Perhaps few, if anyone, will know it is taking place. But we do. Paul himself was engaged in a private war. He struggled. He fought. He framed it like this: “What I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Romans 7:15). We all have this same testimony. All too often we find ourselves not doing what we know we should and doing the very things we know we should not. Describing this internal conflict, Paul said, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:17). We have all experienced this private, internal conflict.

But we are fighting other wars as well. We also know the turmoil of personal wars. These wars crop up when interpersonal relationships become frayed for one reason or another. Our current culture is no stranger to these personal wars. Husbands war against wives. At the office, healthy competition can turn into hostile jealousies. Children war against their parents. Former friends war against one another. Almost forgotten is the admonition from Christ that if we come to worship Him and remember that someone has something against us, we should first go and be reconciled by mending the broken relationship and then worship Him (Matthew 5:23–25).

Then there are the public wars that rage around the globe, holding people hostage in encounters that have paralyzing effects. In the past it was a bit easier to identify these public conflicts because they involved nation against nation. The United States fought against Germany in the European Theatre and against Japan in the South Pacific in World War II. We engaged North Korea in the early 1950s, entered Vietnam in the 1970s, and fought the Cold War with Russia until the 1990s. But today we are embroiled in a new type of war: a war on terror. As I pen these very words, today’s news tells of a radical Islamic terror group that has just executed thirteen teenagers in Mosul for breaking sharia law. Their crime? They were watching a soccer match on television. Wars are raging all around us—some are private, some personal, and some quite public.

The Bible tells us that in the last days there will be an escalation of wars, eventually culminating in the final and climactic battle of mankind: Armageddon. It may not be a coincidence that events today—events that are potentially leading up to this final conflict—are transpiring in the exact geographical spot foretold by biblical prophets thousands of years ago. The continuing hostilities in the Middle East will never be settled at negotiating tables. The roots of this ongoing conflict are firmly planted in centuries of ethnic hatred and hostility. Middle Eastern Bedouins are no longer riding camels and firing single-shot rifles. They are flying supersonic fighter planes, manning sophisticated underground missile systems, and, in some cases, wearing body bombs. And, in their minds, all is justified in the name of jihad, or holy war.

Again, the stage may well be being set for Armageddon and Christ’s return. A growing number of Bible scholars believe the curtain is about to rise on the final act of mankind. Ours is a world standing on the brink of an apocalyptic war. So James’s question has never been more timely: “Where do wars and fights come from among you?” He is about to reveal to us war’s symptoms and its sources. But he doesn’t stop there. He provides a solution. Let’s read on.