T

The Letter of James B. True Wisdom Brings Peace (3:13–4:3)

For James assesses these people’s claim to wisdom not in theological terms—how much doctrine do they know, how many Greek verbs can they parse—but in practical terms: Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

True Wisdom

There are two types of wisdom in the world, and they have very different sources

The wisdom of the world

This wisdom is productive, by the end of the life of someone who is wise in this way, they have a lot of stuff

It’s the kind of wisdom that someone like Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon has. He’s very intelligent, makes good business choices, has managed his money well, and has gotten to do interesting things with it.

But this wisdom finds its root in “bitter envy and selfish ambition”

Envy: A deep desire to have something that isn’t yours

Selfish-ambition: A drive to succeed that will trample anyone in the way of your own progress.

This wisdom gets things done, but at the consequence of others. You want something (wealth or fame, or just more than the guy you hate), and will run over anyone in your path to get it.

True Wisdom

Prov. 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

This wisdom comes from God and no one else, and has a very different effect.

Instead of the brokenness that comes from worldly wisdom, true wisdom is found in v. 17

It’s wisdom that fills you with joy, gives hope, helps others, and orients your life around God, not wealth.

v. 13 shows that someone who is truly wise is going to do good, to love God and people well.

How do we get true wisdom?

Prov. 9:10 answers this well: Fear God!

Read your Bible, pray honestly, love God more than you love yourself!

Yearn for God, not money or fame or popularity or an XBox or anything else.

True Peace

Have you ever noticed that Christians can sometimes be the most mean, vindictive, and argumentative people?

Examples?

Why is that?

We see the answer in this passage, and it’s because we want to feel good.

People want to feel pleasure, or to get stuff, and they react badly when they don’t get what they want

True peace is found in God.

The church tshould not be a place for pettiness and vindictiveness, it shouldn’t be a place for arguing

The church should be a place for glorifying God, filled with people who love God and eachother,

The wisdom of the world will only bring strife and difficulty, but God brings treu wisdom and true peace.