Earthly wisdom Vs Godly wisdom

James 3:13–18 NASB95

13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

this passage sits in the middle of James, and it gives a theme to the whole book! we have seen this over and over in James there is typically a contrast between Godly wisdom and ungodly wisdom on the theme that James is talking about.

let us look at a couple of verses in James that he does this.

James 1:2–4 NASB95

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

this is a example of Godly wisdom in contrast to the ungodly wisdom of hating our trials. infact we can have joy because of God and His work in us and our lives

God does things in our lives that we don’t see

James 1:9–11 NASB95

9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

Here also James flips what we normally think onto its head earthly wisdom would have us saying that the rich man is better than the poor man, but Godly wisdom says NO the poor man should be proud of his “HIGH” position

God views us differently than we do

James 2:10–13 NASB95

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

we give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, but God holds us to a higher standard. we judge based on what helps us, but God Judges based on true justice.

God’s standard is absolute

these are just three examples that we have covered before of how James compares Godly wisdom to earthly or ungodly wisdom!

this is one of the main themes of James and a challenge to all of us! what ever we are going to do we can stop and think is this Godly wisdom or is this what the world wants?

now some times they are not at opposition do you need to take your car to a christian mechanic or only have a christian teller at walmart?

no, but we can Glorify God in those situations by acting how He would want us to!

Good deeds in Gentleness

let’s get back to our verse

James 3:13 ESV

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

what does Meekness mean? whenever I hear it I always think of it as weekness, but that is not what it means.

Meekness means Strength under control! I love the way that C.S. Lewis puts it

“The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and the ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost a maidenlike, guest in hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth. -C.S Lewis”

so we should show our wisdom by good works and not lording it over others something else about meekness that I learned recently is in

Romans 14:1–6 NASB95

1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

who is the week one here ? the one who is more legalistic and Paul tells us to eccorsize meekness and change what we do so that they dont stumble!

in the same way we need to show our wisdom with meekness!

also David and Jesus were examples of meekness

Ungodly Wisdom

that Godly wisdom is now compared with ungodly wisdom

James 3:14–16 NASB95

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

Jealousy

Selfish Ambition

Arrogant

Lying against the truth

James says that if these are in your heart that any wisdom you might have is earthly, natural, and demonic!

that is a hard pill to swallow.

not only that, but where these things are there is disorder and every evil thing!

we can see all of these in one place

Genesis 4:1–8 ESV

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Cain was jealous and ambitious we also see him being arrogant. Cain solved his problem with earthly wisdom which resulted in the first murder!

Godly wisdom

next we get to what we should do!

James 3:17–18 NASB95

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Godly wisdom

Pure

Peaceable

Gentle

Reasonable

Full of Mercy

Full of Good Fruits

Unwavering

Without Hypocrisy

this list is much larger than the list of bad things, but these are the things that we can expect to show when we are following Godly wisdom

now as job askes

Job 28:12 NASB95

12 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

how do we get this wisdom?

we have a answer in job

Job 28:28 NASB95

28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

also in James

James 1:5 NASB95

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

and proverbs

Proverbs 2:6 NASB95

6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

so this Godly wisdom is from God it sounds obvious, but sometimes we need to be reminded about that!

we need to remember why we are here!

I heard a great quote years ago that

“Missions Exists because Worship does not”

we are here to worship and glorify God and when the world’s so called wisdom gets in our way we forget our purpose!

that list that I had up here it sounds so nice doesn’t it?

wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go day to day like that?

life would be so much nicer if we were all

Pure

Peaceable

Gentle

Reasonable

Full of Mercy

Full of Good Fruits

Unwavering

Without Hypocrisy

wouldn’t it?

Blessed are the peacemakers

James 3:18 NASB95

18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

this passage is a direct reference to Jesus in the beatitudes

Matthew 5:9 ESV

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

also

Matthew 5:5 ESV

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

later on Jesus gives us a purpose statement for our lives

Matthew 5:14–16 NASB95

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

we need this Godly wisdom to show the world who He is so that they too can glorify God

let me encorage you… us lets push on to this greater wisdom this Godly wisdom let us meekly show His strength to a world that desperately needs Him

let us pray

Pure

Peaceable

Gentle

Reasonable

Full of Mercy

Full of Good Fruits

Unwavering

Without Hypocrisy