Godly Wisdom

Bible Passage: James 3:13–18

Have you guys ever thought you were right about something, you thought it was the wise thing to say or do, but were completely wrong?

This happened to Mikaela and I, when we went to Paris.

We went to a security training before we left and they told us a bunch of do’s and don’ts about safety on a mission trip.

One things that we took away was the Paris has a very high pick pocket rate.

Over 2,000 US passports come up missing every year, people report wallets gone, all of these things.

So the person running the meeting told us to be careful with money.

I also want to preface and say the guy who was running the meeting was someone that we trusted, he actually was our wedding officiant.

He said that when he goes out of country he brings a credit card and some cash, but never a debit card.

So were were like yeah we do not want someone to get into our debit card and have access to all of our money, but with a credit card you can cancel or freeze it on the app. It is also easy to report if you have a charge that is not yours and generally there is no questions asked.

Then we brought a little bit of cash just in case.

Sounds wise right?

I did not find a single place in Paris that took a discover card.

They do not use US dollars.

Do you know what they take? Master Cards, so a debit card.

We thought we were on the right path but we were not. Luckily we were able to exchange some cash for euros, then we have apple pay which worked if they had it, but it was tricky there for a while.

So there are times that we think we are doing something that is wise, but James is going to pose this question as well.

What really is wisdom?

1. Examine Wisdom

James 3:13 CSB

Who among you is wise and understanding? By his good conduct he should show that his works are done in the gentleness that comes from wisdom.

Have you guys ever went to go do something and just forgot what you are doing and questioned everything?

Like for me my room growing up was upstairs, so there would be times that I needed to go grab something from my room and I would run upstairs, then when I got there I would ask the question, what am I up here for? And you are confused trying to find out what you were doing in the first place and you just can’t put your finger on it?

This is kind of the direction that James is going.

He starts off by saying who is wise?

So just like I cannot put my finger on why am I in my room? James poses this question to the people he was writing to.

What really is wisdom?

Wisdom is one of those things that can be simple, but yet so hard to define.

So without looking it up… what is wisdom?

I told you guys that you could not look it up, but look and see what one of my nerdy Bible dictionaries says…

Lexham Theological Wordbook σοφία

Refers to the quality of having knowledge, skill, and experience in the sense of mastery over a particular subject or trade through practice and learning.

This is saying that we have to both know something and understand it.

But what does the second part of this verse say?

That he should show his works that are done in wisdom.

It is through conduct.

Guys this is important.

You can know all of the information that you want to.

You can know the answers.

It can make your head big, but that doesn’t make you wise.

Wisdom is more than you know, it is also something you show.

So their has to be action.

Man, have we heard that before.

This seems to be something that James really wants to hammer in.

If you remember back to chapter two James says that you have to have faith that stirs up works.

That if you do not have works then your faith is dead.

It is the same concept.

Head knowledge + no action ≠ wisdom

Take a second and think about it!

Imagine this, you are trying to spend your money a little wiser, and a homeless person walks up to you and says hey I have a finance degree from Harvard, listen to me and I will get you to save more money than ever before. You question him, and he pulls out the degree, he shows you.

Guess what you are not going to do?

You are not going to take his advice, why?

He has no home. He has the degree that says he has all of these financial smarts, but he did not live it out.

What about the saying never trust a skinny chef.

If they are not eating a lot of their own really good food…

Is there food really good.

To be wise, we have to live out what we know.

So just like James said in chapter two.

We cannot be only hearers of the word, but we have to be doers of the word.

2. Expose Worldly Wisdom

James 3:14–16 “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.”

James here is getting into Worldly wisdom.

He is saying the wisdom on this Earth is of bitter envy and of selfish ambition.

It evny’s things, it is selfish

It wants and wants and wants.

You guys ever wanted something so bad, you envy it.

Guys for me, my kryopnite is sweets.

Like doughnuts at staff meeting, thanks! Ill take two

Cake, sounds good to me.

Ice cream, y'all I don’t care if it gives me boo boo belly, I need me some ice cream.

But all of those sweets are more negative, even though they can seem positive.

Wisdom is the same way.

Sometimes what we want, it not good for us.

We want what the world thinks is good, but we are being selfish.

We are taking away from what God wants.

When you are focused on what you want in this world, it brings evil.

Look at the text, it says that this wisdom, is demonic.

The things of this Earth are going to fail.

Worldly wisdom only does a little good because guess what?

The things of this world are temporary.

Worldly wisdom can only get you worldly things.

It can get you money.

It can get you fame.

It can get you a big house.

But it cannot get you to heaven.

Think about Eve in the garden.

Satan came and tempted her.

It said that she looked at the fruit and took it because she desired wisdom.

She had perfection.

She had all of the wisdom in the world because she was not sinning.

It would take a ton of wisdom to not sin!

but what she thought was wise, ended up being sin.

ended up trickling down to us, causing us to have a sin nature.

But lets look again at this chunk and what more James has to say about worldly wisdom.

James 3:14–16 “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.”

Look at this again.

I will show it to you, when we are selfish and envy things where does it lead?

Switch to proclaim and draw lines connecting the words.

For where this wisdom is, there is disorder.

This word means an unsettling feeling in you.

Like my tummy when I eat all of that ice cream.

Guys think about this in our lives, we at times can be unsettled.

When things are not going well, we get upset.

When we are busy, we get stressed.

When someone is mean to you, you can get mad at them.

Without Godly wisdom, it will lead us to be unsettled.

It is really saying that when we think we are using wisdom from this world…

We are really showing pride.

We are rooting ourselves in ourselves.

God is nothing like the things of this world. He is in sharp contrast, he is the opposite.

So when we are saying hey I have gotten success from the world…

You have gotten pride from the world.

The world will lie to you.

They will tell you that you are enough.

But God will say by yourself you are a sinner.

You are hell bound.

You need God and he will make you enough.

We need God’s wisdom, not our wisdom.

3. Embrace Heavenly Wisdom

James 3:17–18 CSB

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.

But wisdom from above.

This passage is telling us what Godly wisdom is like.

It is the opposite of worldly wisdom.

I said that worldly wisdom wants to take and that it is prideful.

But Godly wisdom is humble.

This wisdom is not focused on what we want, but rather what God wants.

So James goes on to give this list in verse 17 about what God’s wisdom is like.

It is not as clear in english as it is in Greek, but what James is getting at is God’s wisdom is blameless and unstained.

All of these words are “pure” like what he starts out with.

They are not half good or half bad, they are fully good.

Guys this list is what God calls us to live like.

Someone said that if we call lived according to this list the world would all become Christians.

Why?

Because this list is not prideful, it does nothing for you to gain power or fame.

It lifts God up, and not us.

And it shows that this humble wisdom is good.

God’s wisdom is good because God is good.

This passage does a great job at telling us what wisdom is, but in a practical way it doesn’t really tell us how to get it.

We have this list to follow, but that really isn’t too much instruction.

So look at Matthew chapter 7 with me.

Matthew 7:24–27 CSB

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

I apologize to Madi because I preached on this today at New Covenant, but the wisdom aspect ties in so great with applying it.

This is Jesus preaching the sermon on the mount. This is his conclusion to his sermon.

He goes and he says the people who have heard my words, well since we are in church and since you are listening to a sermon, I can confirmed you have heard at least some of God’s word.

These people have a choice to make.

To act or not to act.

The same storm came to both groups.

The ones who were built on the rock, did not collapse.

The ones who were built on the sand did.

The only difference is action. That is the only difference.

So just like we saw a couple weeks ago we are called to not only be hearers of the word but doers of the word.

So when we are doers of the word and we are following God with all we have.

We are doing the things his word says.

When we come along one of these passages like James 3 that has a list it makes it easy.

If we are acting on God’s word, Godly wisdom comes easier.

So first we have to act on God’s word.

What else do we do to receive wisdom?

James told during my first sermon down here in the rock, does anyone remember?

We just have to ask.

James 1:5 CSB

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

James says all you have to do is ask. He does say in verse 6 we have to ask without doubting, but we just have to ask.

God gives us so much more than what we deserve.

We deserve hell, but he gives us salvation when we put our trust in him.

God wants us to do well though.

He wants us to have wisdom in our faith.

So all that he does is tell us to ask, because when we ask, and we receive it, we know that it is from him.

When is the last time you have specifically asked God for wisdom?

I thought about this, and I ask all the time for God to lead and guide my steps, but I rarely use the word wisdom.

To receive wisdom, we must ask God.

To wrap up, we say that wordly wisdom leads to being unsettled, and evil.

What does Godly wisdom lead to?

James 3:18 CSB

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.

When we follow God’s wisdom we start to see this fruit that is produced out of us.

We see that we have the fruit of righteousness that is produced.

We start to become more righteous.

We start to become more in harmony with God.

We grow closer to him.

He is transforming us through his wisdom.

We also see peace.

We are not worried about the things of this world.

About money

fame

possessions

Because we know that God is beyond those things.

Godly wisdom leads to righteousness and peace.

So guys, I pray that you begin to ask God for wisdom.

That you will seek after him and have action to your faith.

Because that is how we get to Godly wisdom.

If not, we will have the feeling of unsettlement like wordly wisdom.

Pray with me.