Contrasting Wisdom

2 Wisdoms

We continue our look into the book of James, as we consider how as followers of Christ, we are to reflect Him to the world around us - to those we come into contact with everyday.

If we were completely honest with each other, we would have to admit that we have not always reflected him as clearly as we desire. I wish I could stand here and tell you that I always reflect him perfectly, but my wife is here, and she knows better. Who am I kidding? You all know me, and you know that I continue to need to work on reflecting Him. The truth is that we all do! Let’s look at our scripture for this morning.

James 3:13–18 NIV

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

You have, no doubt heard the phrase, "Out of the mouth of babes?" It comes from the simple truth that sometimes it takes a child to reveal lasting wisdom.

Here are some examples:

· Patrick, age 10, said, "Never trust a dog to watch your food."

· Michael, 14, said, "When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him."

· Michael, wise man that he was also said, "Never tell your mom her diet’s not working."

· Randy, 9 years of age said, "Stay away from prunes." One wonders how he discovered that bit of wisdom.

· Naomi, 15 said, "If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse."

· Lauren, age 9 said, "Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick."

· Joel, 10 years old, said, "Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat." and

· Eileen, age 8 said, "Never try to baptize a cat."

Wisdom begins building in us even at a young age, but it often accumulates with the years!

I used to think that knowledge and wisdom was pretty much the same thing. It would be nice if the more we learned, the more wise we would become, but it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, very knowledgeable people display a gross lack of wisdom.

What is the difference? Certainly, they are related. Knowledge can be gained through reading and study - wisdom is the proper use of the knowledge that we possess. Knowledge is about information, while wisdom is using the information that we have in a proper way.

James contrasts 2 different types of wisdom. There is earthly or false wisdom, and there is heavenly or true wisdom. He contrasts the 2, and the way to tell the difference is in what and how you put that wisdom into action.

Let’s take a look at these contrasting wisdoms.

False or Earthly Wisdom.

This type of “wisdom” is defined by James as full of envy and selfish ambition. He says: that kind of “wisdom” does not come down from heaven - in fact, he says it is earthly, unspiritual, even demonic.

James sometimes is accused of being all about works righteousness. Sometimes we can get the idea that his teaching is not in line with Paul’s emphasis on grace. It is true that he has been defining our faith by what we do, but envy and selfish ambition are not things that other people readily see in us. In this passage, he talks about more than what we do - he is speaking to the reason why we do what we do. What is behind the actions that we do. They are attitudes out of which our actions spring. They are the kind of attitudes that lead us deeply astray. James says that our actions spring out of the wisdom that we possess - if we have the proper kind of wisdom, it will show forth in our good life, by deeds done in the humility, he says, that come from wisdom. The contrast to that kind of actions springs out of a life that is defined by selfish ambition and envy.

In a Christianity Today article from February of 2017, author JB Cachilla wrote: “Selfish ambition and jealousy over another's success or prosperity are things that we must never allow in our lives as we follow Christ. Following Christ Jesus requires that we learn to let go of our own desires and ambitions, stop looking at others and comparing ourselves to them, and fixing our eyes on Him who saved and is shepherding us.”

The words here in James are reminiscent of the words of Paul in Philippians 2:1-4

Philippians 2:1–4 NRSV

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

James says that this “earthly wisdom” is in contrast to the wisdom that comes down from God. In fact, he says that this kind of wisdom leads to disorder and every evil practice. Sometimes we focus on the outward expressions of faith, but James makes it clear here that the outward expressions of our lives spring from what is inside, and if inside we are full of envy and selfish ambition, no good thing will come out of it!

Nothing divides like selfish ambition! In fact, you could say that all sin comes out of this attitude of selfishness. Augustine describes what we sometimes call “original Sin” as the love that is due to God turned in on oneself.” In other words, it is this idea of selfish ambition - I want what I want when I want it the way I want it.

In contrast, James says there is a wisdom that comes from heaven

2. True or Heavenly Wisdom.

He gives a list of things that this wisdom is known for. The list is reminiscent of Paul’s list of fruit of the Spirit. James says this wisdom is first of all:

a. Pure: Purity, for James implies that we are practicing true religion - over in chapter 1 he talked about true religion being that which cares for the orphan and the widow - in other words, the poor and the outcast. Purity implies a life that is unstained by the world and its way of thinking. Purity is one of the ways the holiness tradition has described the life of holiness (Benefiel 2004, see Appendix A). It is a life free from sin that imitates Christ.

Serrão, C. J. O. (2010). James: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (p. 133). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

b. Peace-Loving: Peace (shalom in Hebrew) is significant in the Jewish tradition. It is still used as a customary greeting. It means “wholeness, soundness, hence health, well-being, prosperity” and “more particularly, peace as opposed to war” (Zodhiates 1992, 519). God is the God of peace (Rom 15:33; 1 Thess 5:23), the one who gives peace.

Serrão, C. J. O. (2010). James: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (p. 130). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

c. Considerate or generous: The implication here is that those that have wisdom that comes down from heaven will think of others before themselves. Being considerate of others opinions and feelings is a practice that the church and its leaders should lead for the world around us. It implies as well that we should be easy to get along with!

d. Submissive: We tend to look at this word submissive as a negative quality. We want to be able to stand up for ourselves and be our own person. Jean Serrao, in the New Beacon Bible Commentary says: “A better contemporary translation would be “team player.” James describes one who goes along with the team plan and does not create conflict every time the plan changes.” This is somebody who doesn’t always have to have their own way, and will not spout “I told you so” when a different decision is made that you wouldn’t have made and it doesn’t work out right.

e. Full of mercy and good fruit: Mercy ought to be something that we come by easily, because we have been shown great mercy by our savior. As we have been shown mercy, if we are going to reflect the Son, we are going to show mercy to others. Mercy - undeserved favor. I hear people say all the time that people have to earn our respect, implying that we don’t give respect until it is earned. Mercy doesn’t evaluate in that way. Mercy says, I will respect people and show them mercy in spite of what they deserve. Good fruit is again reminiscent of the teachings of Paul & Jesus. Jesus said that every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit - we are to be those that bear good fruit.

f. Impartial: We talked about this virtue last Sunday. If we are going to reflect the Son, we will not show partiality, but will love with our actions those that may be perceived as unlovable. Wisdom from heaven corrects our tendency to partiality.

g. Sincere: The Greek literally says, “without hypocrisy.” We know that word hypocrite, don’t we. A hypocrite was literally a play actor. Hypocrites are people that pretend that they are something that they are not. Brennan Manning gave perhaps the most scathing evaluation of what the effect is of hypocrisy on our world. He said: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

The contrast between false and true wisdom couldn’t be more clear. We do not want to follow the wisdom of this world that leads to evil and disorder. James describes worldly wisdom even as demonic. The contrast couldn’t be clearer - if we are going to reflect the Son, we will apply the characteristics of heavenly wisdom!

I want to close this morning with a video that talks about an effort that the Church of the Nazarene is making in the Philippines to combat Human Trafficking. I believe that James would be pleased with the effort to help the most helpless among us.