Sermon Tone Analysis

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.