In No Position to Ask
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesSUBJECT: Christian Living
TITLE: In No Position to Ask
PROPOSITION: To show three examples in the Bible where some have asked amiss of their own lusts.
OBJECTIVES: The listener should be able to understand, explain, and illustrate what asking amiss means in James 4:3. The listener should then be able to explain the one thing for which we truly need to ask.
AIM: To dissuade the brethren from asking amiss of their own lusts and encourage them to help others to ask the one question that they do need to ask.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: James 4:3 “From whence come wars and fightings among you” come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
2. About the Text:
1) James is writing to his brethren (James 1:2).
2) He is writing concerning living the Christian life in patience and faith (1:3,4).
3) Many Christians were becoming affluent and worldly; James warns them about letting their lusts get out of control.
4) Lust is what causes wars and fighting (James 4:1).
5) People war and fight because they don’t ask God for what they need and when they ask, they ask amiss.
3. Our society today is consumed with “asking amiss.”
1) We live in a “Gimme” society where instant gratification is the norm.
2) The world around us spends the majority of their time engaging in their own lusts.
3) What is “asking amiss” and what does the Bible teach in this regard? When do we put ourselves “in no position to ask?”
4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.
DISCUSSION: We are in no position to ask when we ask with a motive of . . .
I. Worldliness
1. Consider the example of the Israelites in 1 Samuel 8:1-20.
1) They had been ruled by judges for ~400 years.
2) This was God’s plan (Judges 2:16-18 “Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”).
3) The people wanted a king to be like all the nations round about them.
2. God condemned the Israelites for this request
1) He said that they had not rejected Samuel, but Him (1 Samuel8:7)
2) We read in Hosea13:11 God’s thoughts about this request: “I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.”
3) This request was generated by pure worldliness; they were “in no position to ask.”
3. How could this happen to us today?
1) When we stop following Christ because of the love of our own riches (Luke 18:18-23).
2) When we aspire to be “like the nations around us.”
3) Remember James warning, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
4) When we start becoming worldly, we put ourselves “in no position to ask.”
II. Covetousness
1. Consider the example of Ahab in 1 Kings 21:1.
1) Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard perpetually but Leviticus 25:14-28 forbad this and so Naboth refused.
2) He told Jezebel and she plotted to have Naboth killed.
3) Ahab and Jezebel murdered to indulge their covetousness.
2. God condemned king Ahab for this.
1) He said through the prophet Elijah, “And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession” And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” (1 Kings 21:19). This prophecy was fulfilled in 1 Kings 22:38
2) This request was pure covetousness; Ahab was the king. He did not lack for anything, yet he wanted what another man had. He committed murder to get that for which he was “in no position to ask.”
3. How could this happen to us today?
1) By failing to lay up treasures in heaven. “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew6:20,21).
2) By not realizing the true nature of our life. Remember Luke 12:15, “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
3) When we become covetous, we put ourselves “in no position to ask.”
III. Selfishness
1. Consider the example of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11ff.
1) The younger son wanted a shortcut to his inheritance without caring for his father.
2) He took that inheritance and wasted it with riotous living.
3) He selfishly wasted that for which he was “in no position to ask.”
2. God condemns the lifestyle of selfishness.
1) Romans 1:21-32.
2) 2 Peter 2:10-19
3. How could this happen to us today?
1) When we lose faith (unlike Moses) and choose to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews11:25).
2) When we fail to exhort one another daily (Hebrews3:13).
3) When we become selfish, we put ourselves “in no position to ask.”
CONCLUSION:
1. Have we put ourselves in no position to ask?
1) Have we become Worldly, Covetous, or Selfish…
2) Don’t put yourself in no position to ask.
2. Invitation
1) If you are a Christian this morning, and you have become like this, you may only ask of God one thing-forgiveness. He has promised that he is faithful and just to forgive us when we confess our sins to him (1 John 1:9).
2) If you are not a Christian this morning . . .
a. You are in no position to ask of God anything.
b. But God wants you to ask one question, John 4:7-15
3) Hear the word; Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing . . .”
4) Believe with all your heart; Hebrews 11:6 “For without faith it is impossible . . . .”
5) Repent of your sins (Acts 17:30).
6) Confess Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew16:16).
7) Be Baptized for the remission of your sins (Mark 16:15,16).
3. If we fail to obtain God’s forgiveness, when the final judgment comes, we will be in no position to ask for anything.