Making Room For God

Sept. 27, 2009

James 4:1-5:6

Making Room For God

Main Point: We must make room in our life for God.

I went to college 6 hours away and when I came home I piled my car full of dirty clothes. One time, all my dirty clothes wouldn’t fit so I emptied them out of their bags and suitcases and such and just stuffed them all into my trunk- literally taking up every inch of space available. I’m still not sure how I got that trunk closed, or how I got all those clothes back to school!

Sometimes our lives get like my trunk- so jam packed full that we find we don’t have room for many important things. It’s like inviting Jesus to be a guest in our house- except there is no room for him to sit in the living room. It’s too full of our expensive toys and entertainment systems. We would feed Him except our dining room is stacked with bills and to do lists. We have a nice clean guest room, but we keep that clean for somebody else, so Jesus can’t stay there. All around our house is so much clutter and junk from our lives that there just isn’t room for Jesus to stay.

Jar = Our life
Big Rocks = God and our faith
Little Rocks = All the things in our life; family, job, how we spend our time
Sand = All those little details that seem to easily fill up our life

1 glass jar with big rocks first, then little rocks, then sand.
1 glass jar with sand first, then little rocks, then big rocks.

One seems to fit better than the other, doesn’t it?

When I read our passage in James to prepare for this morning, again and again I found these warnings of what life would look without God in it. You could say each of these examples is like the jar filled with sand first and I believe it will do us good to look at them separately.

1. Selfish Desires (vv.1-3)- James says we lust and do not have. We do not have because we do not ask. We do not ask because we are trying to do it ourselves.

Our family is piling into our car because it’s time to leave. My son, Joseph, likes to do his seatbelt himself. Except for sometimes, he can’t quite get it and he gets really frustrated. Now, when he’s frustrated, instead of asking for help, he just tries harder and harder until he breaks down crying in worn-out despair. That can often be us. Trying and trying with all of our might when our heavenly Father is right there with us waiting for us to ask for help.

The second problem here is that we are focused on our own selfish pleasures. If we can move from selfish pleasures to selflessly serving others, we will find that God will be helping us even before we ask Him.

2. Friendship with the world (v.4)- is equal to hostility with God. God and the world (as it is currently) are like the Montagues and Capulets in Romeo & Juliet. They’re like the Hatfields and McCoys. Being a friend of one makes you the enemy of the other.

Now this isn’t the world as in the earth, but the world as in how “the world” thinks, what “the world” does, that is, how one acts without God as their moral compass. In short, it is being friendly to a way of life that God abhors. We need to abandon our friendship with the world and pursue our friendship with God. They are not compatible with one another.

3. Pride (vv.5-10)- Submit to God. Resist the devil. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

When it’s after bedtime, and you’re little child comes back upstairs even when they’re not supposed to and you ask them, “What do you want?” and they reply, “Daddy, I want a hug,” that request will not be refused. Likewise, when we draw ourselves near to God, the One who we may call Abba, or Daddy, Father, then He will draw near to us.

For us to draw near to God, we must first humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt us. All of Scripture reveals God siding with the underdog; the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, the poor, the foreigner. Israel itself was not the mightiest, strongest, or dare I say brightest, of nations whom God could have chosen. King David was the youngest of all his brothers and was overlooked by everyone, including God’s own prophet. And yet, he is the one whom God chose to lead Israel. During a time of drought, the prophet Elijah could have sought assistance from many within his own country. And yet, God sent him to a widow in a foreign land for his food and lodging.

As we read this morning in our gospel reading, Jesus himself rebuked his disciples for sending away the children. “Let them come to me,” He said. Elsewhere Jesus said, “Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:3b-4) We need to abandon our pride and humble ourselves before the Lord. That is an action we will not regret.

4. Judging one another (vv.11-12)- I was still in High School, umpiring at the Cambridge t-ball fields. T-ball is a fun age with kids running to third base instead of first or not running at all and most of the outfielders enjoying the dandelions and butterflies. It’s not the most competitive season in a kid’s life. However, somebody forgot to tell the parents that. I made a call at first base. It was my first game umpiring and I was nervous. I saw the runner safe at first, but what came out of my mouth was “OUT!” And it wasn’t even a close call! Well, the base runner just ran back to the dugout no questions asked. The coach gave me a funny look and probably said a few things to me. But the parents went and got the commissioner. They thought this was a heinous crime and I should have to pay some sort of penance. Those parents in the stands were pretty sure they could do a better job, than me, the umpire. Speaking against one another and judging one another is really us trying to take God’s place as the one and only Judge- except for He doesn’t miss calls! Instead of judging one another, we should focus on loving one another.

5. Planning without God (vv.13-17)- Now I’m not saying I made plans without God this past week, but it probably still serves as a good example of making room for God- or Him making room on our behalf. On Monday morning, I didn’t feel so hot, so I went home early and laid down. Tuesday was our first University Lunch which I missed as I was home sleeping with a 102 degree fever and a LARGE headache. By Wednesday night, my fever had broke but I still hadn’t eaten anything substantial since my bowl of oatmeal on Monday morning. Thursday I went outside for the first time since Monday and was able to work for about 2 hours total before I was out of energy. Friday I managed to go for a walk with my family. I started being hungry but could only eat a few bites at a time. Saturday, I decided I was done being sick but still had this lightheadedness about me all day long. And today, I made it here, so I must be doing better.

I can guarantee to you that none of this was on my plan for the week. At the start of the week, I was planning on finding devotional writers and e-mail Bible Study writers for university ministry; for connecting with students whose names I had gotten the week before; with talking to the nominations committee here as well as a host of other very worthwhile activities. Instead, I watched more movies, read some books, and slept more in a week than I have in a really long time. Sometimes God chooses to slow us down before we choose to slow ourselves down. And as much as I don’t like it, I have to trust that He knows what He is doing.

Does that mean we shouldn’t plan at all? I don’t think so. But consider this: If your plan can be accomplished without God’s help, then your plan is not big enough. And if you plan without prayer, then your plan is too big.

William Carey, the great missionary to India said, “Attempt great things for God; Expect great things from God.” And since one of the movies I watched this week was a biography on Carey, seeing all the hardship and difficulty he went through in his life, I believe he would also add, and trust God along the way- even during hardships or when we don’t understand.

We don’t want to plan without God, but we want to plan with prayer, knowing that God can change our plans at any time.

6. Trusting in riches (vv.1-6)- instead of God, including piling up riches at the expense of others.

The only thing I will add to this are the familiar words of Jesus, which are never bad for us to hear as reminders, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Mt. 6:19-21,33) It’s probably quite obvious that we are not to trust in riches but trust in God instead.

There we have it:
6 warnings to not live life on our own along with 6 reminders of what making room in our life for God should look like.
1. A warning against selfish desires and a reminder to selflessly serving.
2. A warning against friendship with the world and a reminder to cultivate our friendship with God.
3. A warning against pride and a reminder to humility.
4. A warning against judging one another and a reminder to love one another.
5. A warning against planning without God and a reminder to plan with prayer.
6. A warning against trusting in riches and a reminder to trust in God.

I can’t think of a better way for us to receive these warnings and these reminders and for us to make room in our lives for God before anything else than by receiving God’s free gift of forgiveness through the act of communion. And as we come forward, invite God to take first place in our lives. Maybe it’s for the first time or the thousandth time or maybe it’s just a recommitment that you’ll keep Him in first place. I’m going to leave these two jars on the altar as a reminder of how to and how not to structure our lives to make room for God.