Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

During the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry won a decisive victory over the British Navy on Lake Erie. His communication of that victory to his superiors has become the stuff of legends:

We have met the enemy, and they are ours.

Many years later, in 1970, cartoonist Walt Kelly appropriated the phrase for an Earth Day poster, changing it to “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

As we come to our text, we need to notice the military language James uses, which leads one to think of the first example above: “wars”, “fights”, “to war” (this last coming from the Greek root for “soldier”).

The goal of warfare is the utter destruction of the enemy. And wars within the church are no exception. Over the years I have been party to many situations within the local church where interpersonal conflicts were tearing the congregation apart. On these occasions, it is common to hear someone opine “Satan is really attacking our church!” While I am not inclined to completely discount demonic activity, today’s text clearly indicates that our focus should be elsewhere.

Put simply, James here echoes the cartoon possum from the ’70s –