Following True Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
Following True Wisdom
Following True Wisdom
Introduction
We talked last week about how controlling or attempting to control the words we speak can have a huge impact on our lives. The week before we talked about how it was not just the words we spoke but actions that followed those words that either confirmed or denied our faith. The week before that we talked about not just reading the word of God but living by it, shaping our lives around the word. This week we are continuing in James with two ideas. First, defining what is true wisdom and what is false wisdom and how to tell between the two. Second, we expand upon each of those wisdom’s impact on our lives and how it plays out.
Two kinds of wisdom
If we look back at verses 3:13-18 we get a better idea of those two kinds of wisdom we encounter.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.
15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Worldly Wisdom
What are the two kinds of wisdom? Godly and wordly. Lets start with what wordly wisdom looks like here. Verse 14 shares that if we have envy and selfish ambition in our hearts this is wordly or earthly or devilish wisdom. In other words, look and what is motivating you and look at the results to see what kind of wisdom you are following. Is there disorder and wickedness that your life is surrounded by all the time? Then be careful to examine your heart and mind to see if envy and selfish ambition are what are driving your decisions.
Godly Wisdom
What is Godly wisdom? It is the opposite, instead you are not focused on what others have that you want, envy, and not solely motivated to gain what you don’t have but want, selfish ambition. Verse 17 says
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
Notice these are not centered on yourself and gaining for yourself what others have that you want. Notice also what results from following this non-self-centered wisdom, you are focused on others. You focus on pure thoughts in your heart rather than selfish ambition rooted in envy. These pure thoughts bring peace into your mind and heart instead of the disorder and wickedness that surround the selfish and envious heart and mind. Notice willing to yield, meaning not focused solely on what you want to gain but recognizing the big picture and the needs of others that may need to be considered. Notice also mercy and fruit are also present. There is no trace of partiality or hypocrisy but selfish ambition and envy are absent. Could you imagine what the world would look like if all Christians lived this way?
Christians today - Are you following worldly or Godly wisdom?
The rest of our passage for today is focused on sorting out this out. Listen again to James 4:1-8
1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
5 Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
6 But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Do we find conflicts and disputes among Christians? Sadly, yes. What is at the heart of those conflicts? It is a Godly desire or wordly desire? Are we motivated by envy and selfish desires? As verse 2 says, you want something you do not have so you murder, which can mean tearing down another or insulting others. You covet what you don’t have so you engage in disputes and conflicts.
When you go through the church history there are plenty of black eye moments where division and strife have been motivated by worldly wisdom rather than Godly wisdom. Have there been times in your own life that your motivations have not been pure but perhaps a bit selfish? If we each examine ourselves, we would be hard pressed to pass this test wouldn’t we? We have all been guilty at some point of following worldly wisdom.
Verse 2 ends ironically by pointing our we don’t have because we don’t ask. Yet verse 3 states we don’t have because we have asked wrongly because of our motivation behind asking. Think about this for a bit. If we don’t ask and we don’t have yet when we do ask, we don’t get it because our motivation is wrong then perhaps these two have a common root cause. Think back when we talked about the two kinds of wisdom: worldly and Godly. Remember how when we are focused on what we don’t have, envious and we follow selfish ambition to gain that, we are following worldly wisdom. So if we don’t ask because we don’t stand to gain anything from it, then of course it does not happen because we do not act for the benefit of others. Yet when we ask because of envious selfish ambitions, then of course we don’t have those prayers answered because we are again focused on what we can gain from the situation. The motivation or driver behind asking or not asking is what makes the difference.
This is what is exposing the source of our frustration and why we seemed to be surrounded by disorder and strife. While we can see our own envy and selfish ambitions, it is even easier to see ourselves surrounded by a world doing the same thing. This truly is at odds with what God is and what God desires of us. It takes us away from what God can bring into our lives, that is peace and good fruit.
Finding Grace
Now that we recognize and understand the state of where we are, how do we fix this problem? Once we recognize being at odds with God by following the worldly wisdom, verse 5 points out that God yearns jealously to place that spirit he has made should dwell in us. Verse 6 says he still gives grace. That is despite us not deserving a second chance, despite us following worldly wisdom which is the opposite of his, he still is extending grace, he still desires to place the Holy Spirit in you to help you. When we humble ourselves, God’s grace is waiting.
Knowing our state, requires us to humble ourselves before God and ask for forgiveness. Listen again to Verse 7-8
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
The easiest way to look at it is that life is a two way street. You are either following God or walking away from God. When you submit yourself to God, you are following God and God’s wisdom. When you are walking away from God, you are following the worldly wisdom and putting yourself in line with the devil. So submit yourself and resist the temptation of the devil’s ways. If you are turned towards God, then the devil can’t have any control over your life. This requires us not just to turn towards God but follow through on what we need to do. We need to cleanse ourselves of worldly wisdom and ask grace to help us to turn away from envy and selfish ambition. Watch then how grace will begin to work in your life as you focus on drawing near to God and God in turn continues pouring grace into your life. We begin to turn towards desiring what God desires rather than what we desire.