Faith Submits Part 1

Worldly & Godly Wisdom

Intro:

The start of a new school year is always exciting. We have a little girl starting kindergarten this year and there’s something about that age where it feels like the start of something big. We send them off to school or start working with them in our homes at a higher level trying to impart in them wisdom so they can continue to learn and grow in knowledge. It’s exciting to think of all the things they will learn in their schooling as they go towards graduation from High School. Well today we are going to talk about worldly and godly wisdom and just as our desire is for our kids to learn the important things in their schooling, we want to approach God with the same hunger for godly wisdom that will help us live out our faith.

I love this quote by J.I. Packer on wisdom which will set us up well for our study today;

“Not till we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God’s holiness and sovereignty, acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours.”

-J.I. Packer

Read James 3:13-3:18

James 3:13–18 ESV

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 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. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Worldly Wisdom

Where do you go for wisdom?

It’s important to note that we often go to the world for wisdom and James in verse 13 starts by asking the hypothetical question of “Who is wise and understanding among you?” knowing that many, even within the church, let wordly wisdom rule them. One interesting thing to note here is that James ties works to to wisdom and not just any wisdom but as he describes it “meekness in wisdom.”

For James wisdom isn’t just intellectual knowledge it’s actually living it out…it’s behavioral. The old saying “the proof is in the pudding”…I always thought that was funny saying but the idea in it is that something might look good or people might describe something as being really good, but until it’s tasted you don’t really know. James feels the same way just about faith & works not padding…you can’t just say you are wise or try to impress people by your words to make them think you are wise…you actually have to display it in your actions.

The second part to this opening verse that catches your eye is that James makes that statement about “meekness of wisdom” that has to be addresses. Meekness or as it’s translated in other places gentleness was considered weakness by the Greeks, and probably is still considered that by many today, yet Jesus elevated it as a primary characteristic of a Christian. My ESV Study Bible described it this way “Meekness comes not from cowardice or passivity but rather from trusting God and therefore being set free from anxious self-promotion.” Did you catch that? It’s not being weak or passive…rather it’s confidence in God that transcends our circumstances. If I put it into my own words I would describe meekness as fully trusting in God to the point of knowing his ways are better than my own.

In verse 14 James begins to describe characteristics of worldly wisdom James 3:14 “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” and quickly goes on to point out that this is not of God James 3:15 “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”

How does James know that the people of God and those far from God are not letting Godly wisdom rule their lives you might ask. Well in verse 16 we see that once again James points to the fruit that is produced, in this case bad fruit…James 3:16 “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

We see this play out in both our own lives within the context of relationships with family and friends. David Platt states it like this:

“Is self-centered ambition not the root of struggles in marriage? “What is best for me?” is the question we ask. Is this not the root of the entire American dream—climb the ladder, achieve your aspirations, assert yourself, promote yourself, advance yourself? Meanwhile, Jesus says, “Deny yourself.” Self-centered ambition is at the heart of worldly wisdom, and it is demonic. It is filled with envy, always comparing itself to others to see who is better or worse. James says this results in disorder and evil (v. 16).”

-David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James

We also see this seep into the live of the church. I think we all would like to think that church is a place where Godly wisdom will always be followed, but if we are honest we see that this is not always true…and if we are really honest we would say that we often let wordly wisdom infiltrate the church with our own actions. Platt talks about it in his commentary and says this:

“In a church that is filled with men and women driven by self-centered ambition, you have a recipe for disorder and evil. There is a danger in all of our families and our churches whenever we pursue selfish concerns or partisan causes to the neglect of the good of others, and so we need to be on guard. Such wisdom produces anger, bitterness, resentment, divisions, and divorce. Such wisdom robs us of love, intimacy, trust, fellowship, and harmony with others.”

David Platt, Exalting Jesus in James

It’s important to not where this wordly wisdom comes from. It’s easy to just blame society or say it’s just our culture…but if we dig deeper we realize that it truly demonic. That is the source of wordly wisdom comes directly from Satan who wants nothing more than to turn our hearts away from God and will stop at nothing to do this.

A great example of this is all the way back in Genesis 3 when we see Eve tempted by the serpent. Do you remember what he tempted Eve with? Was it just an apple? No at the heart Satan tempted Eve by wanting her to trust in her own wisdom over God’s wisdom. I would contend that this is precisely how Satan still works today. He wants nothing more than for us to trust in our own wisdom or that of man instead of trusting in God’s wisdom. In short wordly wisdom will always look at what’s best for me and look for short-term pleasure and self-advancement, whereas a Godly wisdom will look at things from an eternal perspective with the priority being advancing the Kingdom of God.

So now that we’ve talked through the wisdom of man let’s explore what Godly wisdom looks like…

Godly Wisdom

What we should pursue instead is Godly wisdom and we don’t have to look far back to see where James already emphasized this. Remember back in James 1:5–6 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

James seems to be telling his readers that the way you get this wisdom is not through some kind of intellectual pursuit, but more of being close to God…spending time with Him.

Proverbs 2:1–8 ESV

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

One of the commentators captured this thirst for wisdom well when he said we need to go before God and pray for wisdom…we should be desperate for it, because only God can give this kind of wisdom and this kind of wisdom is motivated by God-centered humility.

Verses 17-18 James outlines some of the key characteristics of wisdom and once again we see that James list mirrors that of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

Exalting Jesus In James Godly Wisdom (3:17–18)

• Pure: “The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God” (Matt 5:8).

• Peace-loving: “The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God” (Matt 5:9).

• Gentle/Considerate: “The gentle are blessed, for they will inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5).

• Compliant/Submissive: “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matt 5:3).

• Full of mercy: “The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7).

• Full of good fruit: “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled” (Matt 5:6).

Think about how this plays out in different settings. In the home we see if a couple centers their lives on godly wisdom it will create a marriage that though it might not be perfect, it will create peace in the home…that peace will seep down to our kids and then to others. It’s also true for churches. When people come together in humility before God it changes everything. Selfish desires dissipate, ambition goes by the waist side, and people seek the things that God desires….peace will be sought which creates genuine unity. It doesn’t mean conformity but people will genuinely want to work together in a way that submits to God first.

This is in start contrast to the wordly desires of the world. Simply put we need Godly wisdom to overcome the influence of our worldly desires. Anytime you see issues in families, issues with people at work, even issues within the church we can trace it back to our selfish desires that can be traced back to Satan working in this world.

When it comes to the church sadly we see people wreak havoc and often times it can be traced back to not pursuing the above list. Instead of wanting a pure heart you are chasing your own desired, instead of seeking peace you will bulldoze people to get your way, instead of being gentle you will justify being type-a or that you are business minded without considering others, instead of being submissive you have to have things your way, instead of showing mercy to others you seek to step over them to get where you want, and ultimately you leave a trail of destruction behind you instead of seeing fruit that has grown because of your work.

We must be on guard to avoid this and instead seek to live out this list of seeking out wisdom from God. Church this is my desire as you have called me to be your lead pastor. This is the list I want to lead from and this is the list of characteristics we should be looking for in leadership of the church. We want to be so dependent of wisdom of God that is supersedes all of our selfish ways.

As James concludes chapter 3 we see he continues his thought as he starts chapter 4 by talking through two types of friendships.

Closing

So what are some action steps we can take to seek Godly wisdom over wisdom of the world?

Pray-

This probably isn’t shocking to find out this list, but if we are to stand against the influence of the world we can’t do it in our own strength. A good daily prayer is to start with something like “God please help me to lean on your wisdom of my own selfish-desires…God help me to die to myself and live a life that seeks focuses on your kingdom and views things in light of eternity, not what is best in the moment”

We can look to the Lord’s Prayer as a guide:

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Study his word-

Jesus being our ultimate example in this. In Matthew 4 we see the temptation of Jesus and his antidote to Satan is quoting scripture back to him “It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (verse 10.) We also see in Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” which is a great reminder that if we are putting on the Armour of God the belt of truth represents us His word which helps us as we go into battle.

The idea is that if we are going to fight against the spiritual warfare we are to encounter we should be prepared. Perhaps a modern day equivolent to the ancient soldiers battle uniform is that of a football players. Imagine running onto the field without your football helmet and trying to play. When I think about not putting on the armour of God as we go into battle every day that’s what comes to mind. In Ephesians it compares the helmet to Salvation which means we must be grounded in the knowledge from God’s word that we are secure in Salvation.

There are so many ways you can study God’s word both individually and in group settings. If you are looking to get into a good rhythm in studying God’s word I’d suggest getting a good study bible or downloading the bible app and setting up a scripture reading plan or work through different devotional plans. In many ways it doesn’t matter how, just get into the word. If you need help come find me and I’d be happy to help point you the right way.

Gather Together w/other Believers-

The local church is a gift to believers. My prayer is that our church is a place were imperfect people can come together and as believers in Christ we can join together to worship, hear God’s word proclaimed, but also to meet together with other Christians who can encourage us as we fight against the temptation to trust in the ways of the world.

We get to do this uniquely as we have big corporate settings where we can mix together as a multi-generational group and then as we split up into smaller groups on Sunday morning and on Wednesday nights…where we can get into more intimate settings and really learn to pray for each other and encourage each other. I’m excited about launching our Wednesday night activites this Wednesday. We will gather at from 5-6pm for supper which is a great time to fellowship and get to know different people in the church and then we will have discipleship opportunities from our precious little ones in the nursery, to our preschool & elementary aged kids who will start a new program called TeamKid where they will memorize scripture, have a bible study, play some games, and do a missions moment.

Our students who will gather with Shane and study God’s word in a setting that is applicable to their stage of life…if you haven’t poked your head in their recently stop by as they’ve set it up really nice…you might even be able to challenge a student in a game of carpet ball if you’ve never experienced that…and then we have three different discipleship opportunities for adults. We have a great co-ed bible study that will kick off doing a Francis Chan study on the Book of Job, a ladies bible study that will do a Jen Wilkin bible study on 1 Peter and a men’s study that is called Gospeler and is from Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty fame, and is centered on being ready to share the gospel with others.

Whatever that looks like for you I encourage you to get involved in either serving to help in one of this areas or by attending one of these opportunities. If we want to have Godly wisdom we need to approach it like battle. Just like I wouldn’t want John Wester to enter into a football game this fall without his helmet or shoulder pads to protect him, I don’t want you as a Christian to go into your day/week without preparing yourself through prayer, studying God’s word, and finding a small group discipleship opportunity.

The enemy is real…John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” is one of my favorite passages because it reminds us that we have a real opponent in Satan that wants to destroy us, yet we have a God who loved us so much he sent His son to die on the cross to give us a life that is secure in our salvation and not just so we can get by, but as Jesus puts it to give us to life an abundant life. So let’s be on guard and make sure we are drawing on Godly wisdom instead of looking toward worldly wisdom.