Where are you getting your wisdom?
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The world or God?
The world or God?
What does our passage say about God?
God cares about the truth and He is the only source of truth.
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
God is warning us to not be false to the truth, why? Why does God care about the truth?
Let’s look at verses 15-17 of our text.
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
So ther are only to sources of truth. Let’s look at them.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Numbers 23:19 (ESV)
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
What does our passage say about people? Let’s begin in verse 13 of our passage.
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
I think we need to start with teh word meekness, what does meekness mean? I want to share the definition given by Pastor John Piper
Meekness begins when we put our trust in God. Then, because we trust him, we commit our way to him. We roll onto him our anxieties, our frustrations, our plans, our relationships, our jobs, our health.
And then we wait patiently for the Lord. We trust his timing and his power and his grace to work things out in the best way for his glory and for our good.
The result of trusting God, and the rolling of our anxieties onto God, and waiting patiently for him is that we don’t give way to quick and fretful anger. But instead, we give place to wrath and hand our cause over to God and let him vindicate us if he chooses.
Meekness loves to learn. And it counts the corrective blows of a friend as precious (Proverbs 27:6). And when it must say a critical word to a person caught in sin or error, it speaks from the deep conviction of its own fallibility and its own susceptibility to sin and its utter dependence on the grace of God (Galatians 6:1).
So back to verse 13.
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
I think the first thing our passage says about people is we want to be wise and the truth is we probably all think we are wise. But what we want to exaimine this morning, is where is our wisdom coming from because remember, the world has it’s own wisdom which is opposed to the wisdom of God.