Tug of War

Based on James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Life is full of tension. We are always being pulled in more than one direction. Different demands, different responsibilities, always calling for our attention. I have some errands to run, but I want to finish this book. The budget is going to be tight this month, but they never get into the playoffs. I’ve got to go see them play now There is so much I’ve got to get done today, but I am so tired. People are counting on me, but I just can’t do it. Yes, we are pulled in many directions. Life has tension, and sometimes we get close to the breaking point.

One of the big tensions we have to deal with is the tension between two kinds of wisdom. That’s what James is talking about in this passage we heard this morning. He speaks of wisdom that comes from above and wisdom that comes from below. These two wisdoms are like two anchors in a game of tug of war. You know what I mean? Each side will have their biggest player at the end of the rope. The rope is wrapped around that person. They are the ones who do the most pulling and everyone on each side is helping that anchor pull with all their might to move that flag over the line. These two wisdoms are like that anchor. We are that flag being pulled one way or another. Which direction will we go? Will we move toward the wisdom that comes from above, live out of that kind of wisdom? Or will we live by the wisdom of the world? That is the tension that we find ourselves in all the time.

The wisdom of the world is about the way of the world. “There’s a sucker born every minute.” “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.” “Never let them see you cry.” “You need to look after your own interests because no one is going to do that for you.” “If you aren’t successful, then you are a failure.” “Second place is first loser.” “New and improved is always better.” “You must adapt or die.” “Survival of the fittest.” It’s a dog-eat-dog world.”

Wisdom from above, divine wisdom, is this: “Put the interests of other above your own.” “True love is this, to give up your life for another.” “If someone strikes you on one check, offer the other as well.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” “There is freedom in service.” It is wisdom that doesn’t make sense. It is opposite of worldly wisdom or even common sense. But, after all, God’s ways are not our own ways. It is a way of living that often goes against the grain, in opposition to “how the world works.”

I was at a service once where Bishop Palmer gave the sermon. In his talk, he referenced a book on leadership written by an Anglican priest. It is a book that contrasts what the world teaches us about leadership and what God teaches. For example, the conventional wisdom for someone who enters into a new leadership position is to hit the ground running. Prepare yourself before you go in, clear about what needs to be done to move the mission forward, work with that positive feeling of the honeymoon period, move quickly. But another way is to hit the ground on our knees. Instead of coming in with your own agenda of what needs to be done, cleaning house, pushing forward, instead, enter in to the new assignment with a spirit of openness and humility, seeking direction from God, inviting your leaders to join you in a season of prayer to discover together where God might be leading.

Here’s another: conventional wisdom is that leaders should have thick skins. When you are in a position of authority, people who are hurt by a system will direct their hurt at you. People in positions of leadership are not always going to be liked and will always have their detractors and critics. So, you have to have a thick skin, to take the verbal blows so you can move forward. But maybe there is another way. Maybe leaders should have thin skins. If your skin is too thick, you throw up a wall. You are unable to be responsive to people. A thick skin is not a transparent skin. A thin skin allows for the experience of pain, makes you vulnerable, makes you human.

This is the tension: hit the ground running or hit the ground on your knees. Have thick skin or have thin skin. Which way will you go?

One time, I was at a coffee shop seated close to a couple of young women chatting about life. One of them made a statement that stuck with me. She said, “Is life about being successful, having a great career and making lots of money, or is it about how well you have loved and keeping the faith?” So well put. It crystallizes that tension we are all in. Is life ultimately about being successful or being faithful? Is it about having lots of money or is it about loving deeply? Of course, you can be rich and also deeply loving. You can have a successful career and remain a deeply faithful Christian. But in the end, what matters more? That’s the tension.

As Christians, our task, our struggle, is to submit ourselves to divine wisdom and not worldly wisdom. As we live out our lives and confront our challenges, we have to always be asking ourselves, “Which direction will I go? Whose advice will I follow?” As Christians, our desire should always be to follow God’s advice, to follow the direction we receive from Scripture, and from those who have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, who can direct us in ways that honor God.

But it is still a struggle. The wisdom of the world is all around us. The world works a certain way and we live in it, constantly being influenced by it. To strike out and follow God’s wisdom while we are in the world is sometimes like swimming upstream when everyone else is going downstream. It is so easy to get pulled in this tug of war towards living our lives as the wisdom of the world dictates. To go in the other direction takes effort. It takes discernment, of being careful about the advice you receive, and the influences that you allow to take hold in your mind and in your heart. It takes acknowledgement that what seems like the right thing to do may not be so, that what God may be calling you to do makes no worldly sense. You have to risk ridicule and misunderstanding by others. To submit to God’s way and not to the way of the world is always a struggle.

But it is the right struggle. It is the good fight. That fight is to have pure heart, a heart in which we will just one thing. That’s what an undivided heart means, to will one thing. And that one thing that we are to desire is to submit to God. We want our will to be God’s will. Our only desire is to know and do God’s will. We remember the story when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he cried out to God in prayer, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.” As Christians, we want to give our hearts, completely and without reservation, to God. This is the goal, the struggle, the good fight, in which we are all engaged as Christians.

And so, as we draw near to God, as we submit to God, to following God’s way and not the way of the world, we find that we must resist the devil to do so. We must resist the influence that the devil would have on us. By submitting to God, we must resist envy and selfish ambition, the two ways in which the devil often tries to influence us. Envy and selfish ambition, by the way, is the foundation for much of what passes for the wisdom of the world. I want what they have. I’m going to knock them down so I can get my way. I have my goals and, if it means using other people to get what I want, so be it. If it means climbing over people on my way to the top, well, it’s just business, nothing personal.

We discover that as we draw nearer to God, there is less incentive to be envious of others. As we draw closer to God, we find that our own selfish ambition loses its pull. The more we fall in love with Jesus, desire only to worship, be devoted to, and follow our Master, it does something to our hearts. It does something to our felt needs and desires. We look at our situations in life, perhaps look back to all that we fought and stewed about when we are younger, before we had drawn closer to God, and we ask ourselves, “Why was I fighting? Why did I let that person get to me? Why did I think that fight was worth fighting?”

See, the closer we draw to God, the less envious we become, the less attractive or meaningful becomes our own selfish ambitions. We discover the secret of peace, of joy, of contentment. Paul speaks of how he has had much and he has had little, but in every situation he has discovered how to be content. Paul knew that the things of this world, and the standing a person has in the world, are all temporary and can be taken quickly. But God is eternal and unchanging. God’s love and acceptance is unbending. The only security that can be truly had is the grace that God offers us. God’s love endures forever. To be with God, to keep the faith and love deeply, that is enough. To get to that place in life is a peaceful place to be.

Life will always have tension. We can resist the devil, as James tells us. But the devil, like the anchor on the other end of the tug of war rope, is persistent. To draw close to God and away from the devil is an ongoing and never-ending struggle. Sometimes we are going the direction we want to go. Other times, we get tired or distracted, and before we know it, we are moving in the wrong direction. We keep going back and forth. The good fight is ongoing. But our home remains in God. For we know that the fight is already won. It was won on the cross. Our choice is whether we will pull with God, and see this fight through to the end.