From Weakness to Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
Last week, we looked at one of the weaknesses James spoke of that plagues us Christians, the unbridled tongue. I think one of the most important things we learned from this is it is through working with our weaknesses, trying to overcome our weaknesses, we finally realize our true weakness and the true reliance on God.
Oftentimes, we want to try to look at worldly problems with worldly wisdom. Unfortunately we want to look at spiritual problems with worldly wisdom. As we know, through scripture, we are not able to understand the true magnitude of spiritual things because we are limited on our understanding. It is only through our realization of how weak we truly are that we become wise. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 of his plight with weakness, and the wisdom that comes from God.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In Paul’s case, God allowed a “thorn” to keep him humble and to give him a physical “weakness”. It kept him humble, and focused on God. What the thorn was is not disclosed in scripture, but we do know it was something Paul asked God to remove from him on three different occasions. Paul wanted deliverance, God wanted humility. Paul wanted relief, God wanted faith. Paul not only recognized this, but acknowledged it and found comfort. My strength is made perfect in weakness. You see, the weaker we are, the more God can show His strength. It was by this faith that James tells us we find true wisdom.
So one of the most important question we can ask ourselves is, what is true wisdom? Unfortunately, many of those who think they are wise often prove themselves wrong. True wisdom is the kind of wisdom that brings about the life God intends and wants for us.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
Who is the wisest person you have ever met? The term here for wise refers to someone who has expert knowledge of a subject, someone who is skilled and knowledgeable. One who can not only teach, but can do. Often times, I think we are good at one or the other… but can we both do and teach others?
How many of us have heard the saying “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach?” Could it be that those who believe this can’t do either and just...criticize?
As we discussed last week, James aligns his critique of weakness with the understanding we all are teachers when it comes to telling others of Jesus. Since we all are to teach, then we should put time and effort into studying and becoming wise and knowledgeable of our subject.
James reminds us we are to “show our works” meaning that we should not only know the subject we teach, but we should also live the life we speak of. In other words, we should not teach or speak in one manner, and then live a life contrary to that. We should live a life pleasing to God - moral and pure, righteous and just, and concern over the needy in our community and the world. We cannot be a hypocrite.
The second part is to handle our knowledge with meekness. Don’t use our Christianity to beat others over the head, but instead be gentle, tender, humble, mild, considerate of others, and exhibiting self control.
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.
We must be solid in our theology and our teaching.
False wisdom and wrong teaching arouse bitter envy and jealousy. There are teachers, ministers and laymen alike, who are envious and jealous of others, of their …
• church and position
• preaching and teaching ability
• leadership and recognition
• charisma and attention
• associates and friends
Too many ministers and teachers envy others because of these things. In addition to these, the teacher is often compared with former teachers and the comparison cuts and hurts. Therefore, it is subject to creating a bitter envy against the former teacher.
One other situation needs to be noted as well. When a teacher begins to teach some false doctrine or to live an unholy life, he should be corrected by those who follow the truth of God’s Word. When he is, there is always the temptation for him to react and become bitter against those who remain true to God’s Word.
The point is this: false wisdom or wrong teaching arouses bitter envy and jealousy. It stirs up a terrible division and cleavage between the servants of God and churches. No teacher or preacher …
• should ever envy another person’s ability, church, position, or recognition.
• should ever hold bitter envy against former ministers or teachers.
• should ever react against being corrected because of his novel ideas or wrong behavior.
Bitterness, envy, and jealousy—they are all wrong. They have no place among those who teach the true wisdom of God. They are aroused by a false wisdom and a wrong teaching.
This is a day when humility before God and His Word is needed. Why? Because there is so much false wisdom and wrong teaching being followed. We desperately need to turn back to the worship and ministry of God and His Word alone. We need to get away from worshipping ourselves, from following our own selfish ambitions. We need to get away from seeking position, recognition, new and novel ideas, and the human comforts and ease of this life. Our call as ministers and teachers of God is to proclaim His Word and to minister to the needs of people everywhere. The confusion and evil of the world can be corrected only by proclaiming the truth of God and His Word. This we must do. And the first step is to straighten out ourselves first. How? By humbly bowing before God in repentance and confession of our selfish ambition and lack of discipline, complacency, and worldliness. We must repent and confess our failure and turn completely away from it. And then we must get up and go forth in the strength of God’s Spirit and proclaim the pure truth of God and His Word—proclaim His Word and nothing else.
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.
True wisdom can only come from God.
The source of true wisdom is God. True wisdom comes from above, not from this world. It comes from God, not from the princes and scholars of this earth. True wisdom does not come from seeking the knowledge and wisdom of men and of this world; it comes from seeking God—from seeking the knowledge and wisdom of God.
The description of true wisdom is clearly stated. What is the wisdom of God? What is this wisdom that is so superior to the wisdom of the princes and scholars of this world? What is this wisdom that the ministers and teachers of God are to be teaching? Scripture says that it is eight things.
a. True wisdom is first of all “pure” (hagne). The word means to be pure from fault and defilement; it means moral purity; to be completely separated from impurity and wrong-doing and set apart unto God. It is not being half good and half bad, but totally pure and clean (A.T. Robertson. Word Pictures In The New Testament, Vol.6, p. 47). A person who has true wisdom lives a clean and pure life.
⇒ A truly wise person keeps his body pure. He does not damage himself by overeating, drinking, taking drugs, smoking, and letting himself become flabby. He disciplines himself in all things and keeps himself fit in order to get maximum use out of life.
⇒ A truly wise person keeps his relationships pure. He lives a moral and just life, protecting his spouse, children, family, loved ones, the name of Christ, and his own testimony and ministry.
⇒ A truly wise person keeps himself pure before God so that his relationship with God is always open and so that God can use him as much as He wishes.
This is what true wisdom is. It is first pure, and note the word first. Purity is first in importance and the first thing that God gives to a man who seeks true wisdom. A wise teacher, minister and layman alike, is a teacher who lives a pure life and teaches that men must be pure before God.
True wisdom is “peaceable” (eirenike). The word means to bind together; to join and weave together. It means that a wise teacher is bound, woven, and joined together …
• with himself
• with God
• with his fellow man
And the wise teacher does all he can to keep the peace and to make peace where it has been broken, whether between two individuals or two groups, a family, a community, or a nation. A wise teacher, a teacher of true wisdom, works to reconcile people to God and to each other. He works to bring men closer to God and to each other.
True wisdom is “gentle” (epieikes). The word is difficult to translate into English. It is translated by others as gentleness, forbearance, reasonableness, consideration, agreeableness, courtesy, patience, and softness. There is the tendency to say that either forbearance or gentleness is the better translation. It means that there is something better than mere justice—a gracious gentleness. The wise teacher is to be gentle and forbearing in dealing with other people.
Thought 1. The point is well-taken: we must be gentle and forbearing in dealing with people. The last thing that we must do is to criticize, condemn, censor, neglect, and ignore people. We must reach out to the world with the gospel, and must treat people with a loving gentleness. We must be gentle, having absolutely nothing to do with harshness. Too many of us are harsh and critical or neglectful and withdrawn. Too many of us are wrapped in the cloak of religion having nothing to do with reaching out to the lost. The desperate need of the hour is for us to reach out with the gospel in a spirit of love and gentleness.
True wisdom is “easy to be entreated’ (eupeithes). The word means reasonable; being willing to listen to reason and to appeal; being willing to change when one is wrong. True wisdom is not stubborn or hard.
⇒ The wise teacher listens to the voice and reasoning of God and of his fellow believers, and when he is wrong, he changes his behavior.
True wisdom is full of “mercy” (eleous). The word means to have feelings of pity, compassion, affection, and kindness. It is a desire to succor; to tenderly draw unto oneself and to care for. Two things are essential in order to have mercy: seeing a need and being able to meet that need. God sees our need and feels for us (Ep. 2:1–3). Therefore, He acts; He has mercy upon us.
Note: mercy does not discriminate; it knows no discrimination at all. It has pity upon all, both saint and sinner. The wise teacher, the teacher of the true wisdom, reaches out to help those in need, no matter how low they are or how far they have fallen. The teacher who lives and shows true wisdom is the teacher who is moved with compassion—moved so much that he reaches out to help every human being who has a problem and need.
True wisdom is full of “good fruits” (karpon agathon). This means that the wise teacher actually reaches out and helps those in trouble. He does not experience feelings of compassion and then push them out of his mind. He acts; he meets needs; he helps the suffering, the shut-in, the prisoner, the widow and widower, the orphan, the single parent and the single parent child, the grieving, the poor, the destitute, the homeless, the hungry, the sinner, the backslidden, the lost, and the wicked. The teacher of true wisdom reaches out and leads his followers to reach out to the needy of their community, city, state, nation, and world. The wise teacher does all he can to meet the desperate of our world. In fact, he gives all he is and has—every dime he has—sacrificing everything beyond the needs of his own family—to meet the needs of the lost and destitute of our world. The teacher of true wisdom is totally committed to good deeds and works in order to reach people for Christ and to help them through all the problems and troubles of life.
True wisdom is without “partiality” (adiakritos). This word in the Greek actually means two things.
⇒ The wise teacher is impartial; he shows no partiality or favoritism to anyone.
The wise teacher is undivided in his convictions and judgments. He knows the truth, exactly what God’s Word says, and he will not entertain false ideas or teachings. He is totally committed and undivided in following and teaching God’s Word.
True wisdom is “without hypocrisy” (anupokritos). This means to be free from insincerity, hypocrisy, play-acting, and wearing a mask. The teacher of true wisdom does not try to fake people out; he does not teach one thing and do another thing. He does not claim to be a teacher of God and teach something else other than God’s Word; he does not claim to be a teacher of God and live an impure and unrighteous life nor an undisciplined and complacent life.
CLOSING
CLOSING
The effect of true wisdom is the fruit of righteousness, a life and world of righteousness. But note how righteousness is brought about: by making peace. Righteousness—men living like they should, men treating each other and treating God like they should—can never come about unless we are at peace with each other and with God. This means something of critical importance: the greatest need that man has is for peace—peace with each other and peace with God. The true teacher will work and work for peace, struggle and struggle to get men to make peace with each other and with God. Just picture the scene:
⇒ men at peace with each other
⇒ men at peace with God
⇒ a world of peace
The result would be a community and a world of righteousness—men and women living like they should—everyone experiencing and living a life of love, joy, peace, of caring and looking after each other. All things would be right, exactly like they should be. The world would be a world of righteousness, a world just like the world for which God longs. How can we ever have such a world? Only by the teachers of God—ministers and laymen alike—becoming teachers of true wisdom, teachers who make peace and who lead people to make peace with God and with each other.
