Seeking Godly Wisdom

James 3:13-18 | Seeking Godly Wisdom This morning, we continue in our sermon series we've called "Faith Works" in the letter of James. If you want to find the book of James, you will find it between Hebrews and the Peters towards the end of your Bibles. We will be in chapter 3 today, verses 13-18. Many weeks ago, I did an in the bag message with the kids. Interestingly enough, I think I received more positive feedback from that than I did the sermon ... nevertheless, we played a game call "this or that." Arguably one the best games of all time. In that game, I asked the kids to pick between two things, such as blue or red or cats or dogs. Generally speaking, those choices are meaningless to the larger scale of our lives on earth, and of course eternity. But, as life goes on, we all make choices and decisions that will impact us long term, including our faith, and how we live out our faith. This morning, we will speak to how we live out our faith as we study this next section in the letter of James. Please follow along in your bibles or on the screen as I read James 3:13-18. 13 WHO IS WISE AND UNDERSTANDING AMONG YOU? BY HIS GOOD CONDUCT LET HIM SHOW HIS WORKS IN THE MEEKNESS OF WISDOM. 14 BUT IF YOU HAVE BITTER JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION IN YOUR HEARTS, DO NOT BOAST AND BE FALSE TO THE TRUTH. 15 THIS IS NOT THE WISDOM THAT COMES DOWN FROM ABOVE, BUT IS EARTHLY, UNSPIRITUAL, DEMONIC. 16 FOR WHERE JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION EXIST, THERE WILL BE DISORDER AND EVERY VILE PRACTICE. 17 BUT THE WISDOM FROM ABOVE IS FIRST PURE, THEN PEACEABLE, GENTLE, OPEN TO REASON, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUITS, IMPARTIAL AND SINCERE. 18 AND A HARVEST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS SOWN IN PEACE BY THOSE WHO MAKE PEACE. After careful reading of this passage, I'd say that it is not a complicated passage. Frankly, it's quite simple to understand what the primary topic is. So, I'd like you to take another look at the passage and share out loud what you think this passage is focusing on. Yes, that's right: wisdom. In this short passage, the term "wise" or "wisdom" shows up 4 times. The letter of James is a great follow up to the book of Proverbs, where we spent some 7-8 weeks on earlier this year. And, as you may recall, when we opened that series, we spoke about this idea of "wisdom" quite a bit. The way we defined it then was wisdom is "God enabled skill for living." Since James is Jewish, he is speaking from a Jewish or Hebrew mindset and is addressing Jewish Christians. This is important because it should guide our understanding of the word "wisdom" in James' writing. While the "western" idea of wisdom is characterized by knowledge, the Hebrew understanding of wisdom is characterized by skill. So, what we can say here about James' application of this word is that he is speaking to his audience and encouraging them to put this knowledge into practice. In other words, James is teaching us about how to apply our faith. We've already seen this all throughout the letter already. As Pastor Pat pointed out last week, we've seen that our maturity as disciples of Jesus is manifested through our trials, our victories over temptations, our intentions and how we go about doing God's Word, how we treat others equally, by doing good works, and last week the matter using our tongues to build people up, not to destroy. This section is tied in directly to what we saw last week. The "you" in verse 13 is the same "you" in verse 1. So, in this chapter, James is instructing us that one, we must rely on God to tame our tongues, and two, we must rely on God's wisdom. You may have already guessed it, but here is the main idea from our passage this morning: A mature disciple seeks wisdom from God. For the rest of our time this morning, I want to discuss these ... TWO TYPES OF "WISDOM" ... then, for each of these, I want to address two things: 1. What does it look like? 2. What is its result? Finally, we'll close our morning by discussing two ... STEPS TO LIVING WISELY Let's begin with the first type of wisdom: 1. Worldly wisdom. a. What does this look like? i. First, it is important to see where this type of wisdom comes from. We see in verse 15 that the source is: 1. Earthly 2. Unspiritual 3. Demonic ii. Your translations may read sensual or of the devil, but the overarching idea here is that the source is worldly. So, what's the danger here? 1. In 1 John 2 we get a good idea of what this looks like. John tells us: 15 DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD OR THE THINGS IN THE WORLD. IF ANYONE LOVES THE WORLD, THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN HIM. 16 FOR ALL THAT IS IN THE WORLD-THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH AND THE DESIRES OF THE EYES AND PRIDE OF LIFE-IS NOT FROM THE FATHER BUT IS FROM THE WORLD. 17 AND THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY ALONG WITH ITS DESIRES, BUT WHOEVER DOES THE WILL OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER. 2. The danger is that it is not of God. 3. The term "earthly" describes our natural state, the state that is separated from God. iii. Now that we see what the source of this wisdom is, we can now see what this looks like. 1. We see two things: a. Jealousy and selfish ambition. i. You see, the world and its influence drives us to us. ii. God's wisdom, as you will see here in a few minutes, drives us to Him and to others. b. We've talked about this before, but how many of us are guilty of being envious of someone because they got a new job, or a new car, or something else "good" happened to them? c. How many of us have ever told God, "I've been faithful, how come they are being rewarded and I'm not?" d. That's what this looks like in real life. James is saying that this is not characteristic of authentic faith. iv. Before I move on, careful reading reveals that verse 14 contains a command. James says to the reader, "IF YOU HAVE BITTER JEALOUSY AND SELFISH AMBITION IN YOUR HEARTS, DO NOT BOAST AND BE FALSE TO THE TRUTH" 1. I don't refer to the paraphrase bible, the Message, often, but I like how he summarized this verse: "Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom." 2. He says, don't kid yourselves, true wisdom is from above. v. So, if wisdom from the world looks like bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, then we need to explore this further by seeking to understand ... b. What is its result? i. Disorder and evil. ii. That is what the latter part of verse 16 tells us. 1. I'm sure we've all met those people whose lives are just out of control. Utter chaos. Chances are, they are seeking after the wisdom that the world offers, which as we noted earlier turns the attention back to self. 2. But this speaks to more than a busy and out of control life, it speaks to evil. a. That term from the ESV "EVERY VILE PRACTICE" can simply be translated "evil." b. It leads to evil. It leads to chaos. c. In the Creation account, we see that it is God who brought order to disorder. d. God can do that to you and me as well. For many of us, He already has. i. Psalm 19:7 says: THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, REVIVING THE SOUL; THE TESTIMONY OF THE LORD IS SURE, MAKING WISE THE SIMPLE; ii. You see, the Law (the Word) directs us. When we lose sight of that, we are then relying on the wisdom of a sinful world, one that Jesus Himself said that Satan is the prince of. e. You see, it is a matter of choice. James is clearly stating that it cannot be both. We either are following God, or we are following the influences of the world. iii. Now that we've seen the first type of wisdom, let's take a look at the other type of wisdom James addresses: 2. Godly wisdom. a. First thing we need to do is go back to verse 13. James clearly marks the foundation of wisdom. James says here that wisdom is marked by two things: i. Good conduct and meekness 1. In fact, here we see another command from James. If you are wise, show it through your works. ii. This idea of wisdom is, and as Pastor and commentator David Roper put it, "the capacity to live life as it ought to be lived." 1. It's the application and practice of our faith. b. So, let's answer the question, what does this look like? i. James gives us a fantastic list in verse 17, so let's quickly go through them using the ESV's terms and phrases: 1. Pure a. Notice how James states, "FIRST PURE" b. The designation here hints at it being primary or of most importance. c. It begins with purity because God is pure d. Purity begets pure things e. Our lives must be blameless and just and righteous. f. This is impossible with earthly wisdom, as we saw a bit earlier. Next, godly wisdom is ... 2. Peaceable a. Recall earlier, we spoke about James' culture, as a Jew. So, this idea of peace is the familiar, Hebrew "shalom." i. Shalom is a state of mind, one that's characterized by total satisfaction and peace of mind and soul. ii. One source I found describes this as "a state of mind that is satisfied and has relationships which are characterized by harmony" ... so, the question is ... does that describe our marriages, our families, our church relationships? iii. You'll see as we go through this list that these are relational in concept and practice. Next, we see godly wisdom is ... 3. Gentle a. The great Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards once said, "gentleness may well be called the Christian spirit. It is the distinguishing disposition in the hearts of Christians to be identified as Christians. All who are truly godly have a gentle spirit in them." b. Are we gentle in the manner that we deal with others? Next, it is ... 4. Open to reason a. This phrase alludes to obedience, to agreeableness, to compliance, to be teachable, to be willing to be persuaded, and to be willing to yield to another. b. This requires a humble heart. Next, it is ... 5. Full of mercy and good fruits a. Mercy could mean one is compassionate, or even empathetic in this context. b. Notice too how James puts this together. Just like what we saw from him back in chapter 2, when James says it is better to do, than it is to simply say something. The doing is the evidence of our faith. Next, it is ... 6. Impartial a. This idea of impartial is what we spoke about a couple of weeks ago in James 2:1-13. b. Obviously, this speaks to the other side of that coin. Here, James is saying that the truly wise and mature Christian is non-divisive. They tend not to stir up friction within a group. c. They have a mind of unity and agreeableness. d. Is this true in your relationships? i. We've all met those people who have to always be right or have to get to the last word or simply speaks just to speak. Finally, James says godly wisdom is ... 7. Sincere a. This is to literally be without hypocrisy b. This is the complete opposite of what we read earlier in verse 14. Being bitterly jealous and acting with selfish ambition leads to one being insincere in speech and in action. c. You can likely imagine as a leader and HR representative for nearly 20 years, I dealt with a lot of insincere people in speech and action. Those are marks of following after worldly wisdom, but godly wisdom is sincere. ii. These are the characteristics of godly wisdom, what that wisdom from above looks like, now let's discuss: c. What is its result? i. Peace. 1. When you look at this passage closely, you will see the contrast between verse 16 and verse 18. a. In verse 16, we saw disorder and evil, b. In verse 18, we see peace and righteousness 2. Specifically in verse 18, we see the picture of the farmer. One who sews peace and produces righteousness. So, we've seen this morning that: A mature disciple seeks wisdom from God. And really, as we've mentioned previously in our series, James seems to pull a lot of his teaching from his half-brother, Jesus. This passage is no exception. Matthew 5 records what we know as the Beatitudes. We can easily compare these godly wisdom statements from our passage today to what we see there: James 3:13 WHO IS WISE AND UNDERSTANDING AMONG YOU? BY HIS GOOD CONDUCT LET HIM SHOW HIS WORKS IN THE MEEKNESS OF WISDOM and Matthew 5:5 BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH. James 3:17 BUT THE WISDOM FROM ABOVE IS FIRST PURE, THEN PEACEABLE, GENTLE, OPEN TO REASON, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUITS, IMPARTIAL AND SINCERE. and Matthew 5:7-8 BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY. BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD. James 3: 18 AND A HARVEST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS SOWN IN PEACE BY THOSE WHO MAKE PEACE. and Matthew 5:9 BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD. These are timeless principles. Those of us who have employed these principles in our lives and with others, I assure you, have seen the fruit from them. Finally, let's close our time by reviewing two ... STEPS TO LIVING WISELY: 1. Be obedient to God's Word. a. We've seen earlier that biblical wisdom is more than accumulating knowledge and information, rather it is about being obedient to what we know. b. We saw this a couple of weeks ago. In John 14:21 we read: WHOEVER HAS MY COMMANDMENTS AND KEEPS THEM, HE IT IS WHO LOVES ME. AND HE WHO LOVES ME WILL BE LOVED BY MY FATHER, AND I WILL LOVE HIM AND MANIFEST MYSELF TO HIM. c. When we are obedient to the Word of God - which is the source of God's wisdom - then, as we saw just a couple of weeks ago, it results in growth and maturity in your walk with Christ and your relationships with God and man. d. I came across a quote this week from Pastor, Professor, and author Grant Richison, he says this: "Wisdom is the ability to look at things from God's viewpoint." Since God is revealed in the Scriptures, that is where we go. e. Commentator James Adamson said that "the first step in genuine wisdom is to know God." f. Recall the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. After the resurrection of Jesus, these two disciples were disappointed and saddened by His death. He went to them, and the account from Luke states: AND BEGINNING WITH MOSES AND ALL THE PROPHETS, HE INTERPRETED TO THEM IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. (Luke 24:27) g. So, the first thing we need to do is be obedient to God's Word. Next, we are to ... 2. Have a humble heart before God and man. a. Humility is found in the term "meekness" in verse 13. And notice how it is directly applied to wisdom. James is saying there is humility in receiving and applying God's wisdom in our lives. b. The idea of the heart is found in verse 14 as we saw there that earthly wisdom is produced by jealousy and selfish ambition. c. We can go back to the Proverbs, once again, and see that: WHEN PRIDE COMES, THEN COMES DISGRACE, BUT WITH THE HUMBLE IS WISDOM. (Proverbs 11:2) i. Humility can be described as a posture that opens us to receive God's blessings, while pride closes us off to that same blessing. These are just a couple of steps that will put us on the right track to godly wisdom, but I'd be remiss if I don't mention that this wisdom is a gift from God. One last biblical illustration. Recall Solomon. In 1 Kings 3, we see that Solomon loved and walked with the Lord. When the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, He asked Him what He would like. Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom to rule and govern the people. The Lord was pleased with this request and blessed him with wisdom. You see, Solomon didn't study, or go to seminary, he was blessed by God with wisdom. We read earlier from Psalm 19 that God can make wise the simple. I'm not calling you simple, but I'll take that designation and blessing. Earlier we mentioned that we all must make a choice. That choice is simple - at least in concept. We must choose today, the wisdom of the world, or the wisdom of God. To put it in simpler terms, will you choose today to seek self or to seek the Lord? Let's pray. 2