James (part 7)

The Book of James and the Call to Wisdom

We did talk.

Thank you.

Let's just do a real quick inventory. What do we know so far from our study in the book of James?

Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to think.

He said a cool one. What did it say? Excellence in matters of words.

Yes.

Okay, and what were you going to say, Richard?

Slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to think. Quick to listen, slow to speak.

We got that from our study. How does the book of James fit into the greater context of the New Testament?

Based on how it works, it tells us to work out our salvation.

We were created for it.

You've been listening. You've got two weeks to listen. A changed life, Christ's presence in you, should result in exterior manifestation in some way. And so that brings us to the last portion of chapter three.

Last session, which would have been before Easter, Eric helped finish us off talking about the tongue, very hard, very hard to control, very hard to control. Now we move into a section in James where we're going to talk about wisdom.

It ties together. It doesn't seem like it. It almost seems like he's becoming very random. He's taking a thought and going with it, but it is all going to tie together. So why don't we open with a word of prayer.

Bob, would you start us today?

Yes.

Father, we thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to look in Your Word. We thank You, Lord, for Your Word, Your living Word that is here for us to read and to guide us and to help us, Lord, today as John is presenting this lesson, Lord, to gain insight and understanding and to know Your presence here with us, Lord.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Jan, do me a favor. Give us the entire section, verses 13 to 18.

Who is wise in understanding of all things? Let him show us what is good life by deeds and in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice. 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.

Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Clearly, the central theme about what we're going to talk about today is wisdom. Give me verse 13 one more time, please.

Who is wise in understanding among you? Let him show us by his good life, by deeds, done in humility that comes from wisdom.

Alright, just filling in my little blanks just to get us started. Who is, filling in my blank, who is wise among you? Again, let's place ourselves in context. The book of James is written to who?

Disperse Jewish Christians.

Disperse Jewish Christians, thank you. We're talking then about an exhortation, a challenge that James is giving to believers. And he's saying, okay, among you guys, it would be like if we knew for certain that everybody in this room was a believer.

I believe in my heart that we are. But let's say we knew that for certain. And Pastor Jeff came in and said, hey, who among you is wise? And it's kind of like, well, that would almost sound like there's a declaration that some of you aren't wise.

And it almost sounds harsh. Give me a definition. Either way, that's a good statement.

Either way.

No, you're really, that's well said. That's pretty well said. I mean, we've talked before the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is information that we've accumulated and that we're able to understand.

Wisdom is almost the ability to create knowledge.

And correctly apply it.

And correctly apply it. I saw this definition, which kind of works for me. Take it into context of where we are here in James. Wisdom is the ability, empowered by God, to discern and apply. That kind of covers everything you guys have to say.

Wisdom is the ability, empowered by God, to be able to discern and apply. So he has this question. Who among you is wise? So let me ask that question. Who is wise?

God is.

Good answer. What did I say? In Sunday school, Jesus is always the right answer.

Now, if somebody answers that, they might seem prideful. Maybe that's why nobody wants to answer that.

No, I didn't mean to say, raise your hand if you're wise. I didn't mean to say that.

The person that has fear and reverence for God.

In fact, that's a scriptural answer. We're going to see that. Who has the capability for wisdom? Let me ask this question first. Who gives true wisdom?

Holy Spirit.

Who has the capability?

Believers.

All true believers.

I believe that you not only have the capability for it, but it's within you. Which is going to get us to a question of how does it not manifest? Why does it not manifest itself? Why does James have to actually ask this question?

Who among you is wise? We get into the next major section of this. It sounds like he's all over the place. He's reacting to how people are manifesting. What's the relationship between faith and true wisdom?

As we're getting ready to answer that, maybe if you would get James 1 .5, Deuteronomy 4, Rich, Bob, Hosea, Matthew 7, Eric, Job 28, Gary, Ephesians 1, Arlene. How does faith impact wisdom?

Scripture.

As a believer, I believe, biblically as a believer, we're taught that when you surrender to God, when you ask Christ into your life, when you are born again, at that point in time, who's dwelling within you?

Holy Spirit.

Yeah.

So the capacity for wisdom resides in you immediately upon salvation. Let's read some of these passages, James 1 .5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without money.

And that's kind of an interesting question again because we're talking to believers. And the concept is not that you really are lacking in whatever God desires of you, but if you feel that you're lacking wisdom, where are you supposed to go?

You're supposed to go to your best friend. You're supposed to get a good Christian book out of the library. That's not the answer. Where are you supposed to go?

God.

And what's the promise?

He will give it to you.

He will give it liberally.

Just don't doubt.

Don't doubt. And that's the next part of that passage. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Deuteronomy 4. There are some codicils upon this thing. Go ahead. Deuteronomy 4.

4, 5, and 6?

Please.

Well, not 4, 5, and 6.

Just 5 and 6. See, I have taught you statutes and rules as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all peoples when they hear all these statutes.

They will say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

We're going to put these three passages together. There's a theme that happens. Give me the one in Hosea, please.

Yeah, 14 .9.

Who is wise?

Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand. The ways of the Lord are right. The righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

In riches we have obeying. In bobs we have walking in the way. Matthew 7.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Hearing and doing. There appears to be an association between our reaction, again, James' faith manifesting itself externally. There seems to be an association on how we experience and live with wisdom and how we live in obedience.

Why?

Let me reverse that question. How would disobedience or choosing not to walk impact our ability to manifest Godly wisdom?

Yeah.

You should be teaching this lesson. That's exactly where we're going to be going.

Yes.

I think my back hurts.

Got to go.

You're carrying a load?

Thank you so much.

How would you characterize life outside of obedience?

Chaotic.

Let's go back to the garden. How did Satan entice Eve?

Told her she would be his God.

Lies would be his God. Half truth.

Yeah.

A little bit of truth in there, but mixed with lies.

What was Satan's problem in the first place? Go back to the book of Isaiah. What was Satan's problem?

He wanted to be as God. He wanted to exalt himself.

He wanted to make himself like the Most High.

So it comes down to a desire or a need, a compulsion to not be in submission to God. Because that in some way would not meet with your expectations, your agenda, whatever else. If we're not walking in obedience, if we're not walking according to the commandments, if we're not, is it a good indication that we're choosing to be the authority in our own life?

As opposed to surrendering to God as the authority in our own life. By choosing to be the authority in our own life, what would that say about your desire to identify wisdom? Actually, not very correctly, desires.

But it's going to make you very vulnerable to be the creator of your own wisdom. Or to find other sources of true wisdom. That's what the question is. Who among you is wise? Who among you has surrendered the life to Christ so that the wisdom that can only come from above is going to be there?

And if you're lacking it, you're looking to the One who is the source of all we're doing without wavering. Because if you're not doing it, we're created in a way to try to look wise. We're going to become very vulnerable to doing what's going to come up next in this chapter.

Ephesians, no, Job 28, 28.

And he said to man, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding.

How politically correct is it for us to say we fear the Lord?

Why?

Because it's not scientific.

I believe that that's a lie.

It appears foolish to the natural mind.

And because it's not scientific, it appears foolish. And it's outside of our control. It's submission. It's submission. Man, without the willingness to surrender to God, choosing not to be in submission, fear the Lord, wisdom.

And that says that I get it, I don't get it. Arlene, how about yours in Ephesians 4?

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

It's given by God. It's given by God. Spending time thinking about this concept of wisdom, it's been kind of cool because I've had like three weeks to think about this one. I got driven to an amazing biblical example.

Any thoughts of who that might be? And by the way, Rick, you're going to get 1 Kings 3. Aha! Somebody who knows the scripture. Tell me about Solomon. He wrote Proverbs. Rick, why don't you give me verse 3 to 5 first.

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. And the king went to give him the sacrifice there, for that was the great high place.

Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. That Gibeon, the Lord, appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness and righteousness and in uprightness of heart toward you.

First time?

Yeah.

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people so that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this, your great people? It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.

And God said to him, Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word.

Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you.

What opportunity did Solomon have? What opportunity did God present Solomon with?

He could ask for anything he wanted.

And he chose wisdom.

Very unusual, I would say, in those days. Because the kings were able to take anything they wanted. They were rulers. So for him to ask for that, I think, was extremely unique.

What was almost assumed? What characteristic was almost assumed by a king that they had inherently because they were the king?

They already had wisdom.

They already had wisdom. And recognizing that perhaps not, he went to the source and he said, If I can have anything, anything, anything, oh, discerning heart, understanding, wisdom. And God granted it to them.

Who among you has wisdom? Now, again, I believe that because we have the Holy Spirit that there is this wisdom given to us because the Holy Spirit is within us. Why does James have to ask that question?

The situation is driving James to ask that question.

Ralph may have touched on it when he said.

They were relying on earthly wisdom, which he calls natural, earthly, demonic. He was talking about works, too.

And the evidence of works. Let's take a look at this confusion that's going on. Jen, give me, again, please, 14 to 17. Two, right?

Yeah. Okay.

Ecclesiastes 2 .26, you're going to get that. And Ecclesiastes 7 .19, you're going to get that. Give me 14 to 17 again.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder in every evil practice.

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.

Okay, we'll stop there. What is false wisdom? Give me a definition of false wisdom. If I say that, and I like this definition, Wisdom, in its true definition, is the ability, empowered by God, to discern and apply.

What is false wisdom?

Man's own intelligence. Coming from man's own intelligence.

In attempting to discern and apply.

Which we see.

I mean, today, we see it on TV.

They're considered wise.

They're considered to have a great deal of intellect,.

But society needs them.

Professing themselves wise, they became fools.

UC Berkeley's having a hard, bad week, one of the Ecclesiastes 2 .26.

Yeah.

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness. But to the sinner, he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth, to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This, too, is meaningless, but chasing after the wind.

If you remember Ecclesiastes, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. He tried everything and everything, and nothing's satisfied. It was all vanity, chasing after the wind. The things that man chooses to go after, because man does not want to be in submission to God.

Become vanity, vanity. Submit to God, you find wisdom, you find meaning, you find reality. Give me yours, please.

Yes.

Ecclesiastes 7 .19. Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.

What is, as a believer, and I'm going to put this back into our context, as a believer, what is our motivation, what is the source behind us succumbing to false wisdom? First of all, I'm going to make this statement.

Go ahead and react to it. As believers, we are susceptible and prone to manifesting false wisdom.

I keep going back to the fact that we have two natures. We have the sin nature, we have our new nature, and they're always in conflict. There's a conflict going on. So we still have that, and Paul was the one who really pointed that out.

He wanted to do what he thought he should do,.

But he had trouble doing it. In each of us, there's a portion of your life where you are uniquely susceptible to falling back onto false wisdom. Those of you who know me know that Hartford Road and Route 38 is a place where I immediately fall back and I don't exhibit godly wisdom.

I want my vengeance.

Solomon, I keep going back to him. He asked for wisdom. He was one of the most wise guys in the Bible, and yet he still acted very unwisely in lots of situations, and eventually split the country. His actions split the country in half.

And you think, if he has to ask for wisdom, how could he still act so unwisely?

That almost becomes an encouragement to say, I'm not the worst. Okay, it's not bad to say I am the worst, but even Solomon, even David.

We still have this sin nature.

So that becomes the question, what's the source and the motivation behind us acting out of false wisdom? Keep going. Keep digging deeper. Pride, what's below that? Selfishness. Keep going, yes. Keep going, digging below that.

What causes our selfishness? Our sin nature. What's the source behind our sin nature?

Satan.

We still have to wrestle with the evil one.

We still have to wrestle with the evil. This is a spiritual battle. This is a spiritual battle. When we are talking about the concept of dealing in godly wisdom or other wisdom, it is a spiritual battle, especially for us who are believers.

What makes false wisdom so attractive? And you brought up Solomon. He had the unique opportunity to experience wisdom in a way that was amazing. What made false wisdom attractive to him?

500 wives and 300 concubines? Those were political marriages, but I think later he was attracted to them.

By his lust.

He gave in to his lust, which forced him to compromise with their false gods.

Again, I go to this as this is theology by John, which means nothing, except that Satan, I don't believe, is omniscient, but he's unrelenting. And so if he's going to attempt to get in Nate's wheelhouse, his first 78 tries might not work, but number 79 might, and he will remember number 79.

It's those weaknesses, those areas, and quite frankly, they're areas that we have chosen not to surrender to God. For whatever reason, I have a hard time surrendering Hartford Road and Route 38 to God.

I just have a hard time with it.

I know.

And I've had people help me.

And he is like a roaring lion, constantly on the prowl, constantly looking for our weaknesses.

For the moment, that you do whatever you do on Route 38,.

It gives you pleasure.

Yes.

It gives you pleasure to curse that person out, or to give them the bird, or to wish harmful things about them. Same thing with, whether you look at pornography, or you curse, or you lose your temper.

It feels good to yell at my kids when I'm angry, because I feel like I'm just and right, but then afterwards, that pleasure is fleeting. That's the root of a lot of it. You know, 700 wives, it's a fleeting pleasure.

I just have a hard time with going there. The next section with Jen Red, it goes back and forth and back and forth. I've read different commentaries trying to put sequence and order to this. This little table, it means nothing except that, as I looked at it, I said, alright, I've got true wisdom, and I've got imitation wisdom.

And these passages here, these four verses, give you characteristics of true wisdom and imitation wisdom. So I just started to put some answers down in categories. True wisdom, what's the source of true wisdom?

In everything we've ever, what's the source of true wisdom?

God. God.

What's the source of imitation wisdom?

Satan. Satan.

What does the word assay mean? Rick, you're our scholar in English language. What does the word assay mean? To test.

To try.

To test and to try to understand what the quality and content is. So let's assay. True wisdom is pure. You'll find that in the text there. Imitation wisdom is earthly and unspiritual, which by definition means it's not pure.

Demonic.

It's demonic.

Excellent.

But it would also be attractive.

Which gets us to the motive to true wisdom is sincerity and partiality. The motive for false wisdom is going to be things like self-ambition, boasting, it's going to be placing the spotlight for accomplishment and all good things on you as opposed to on God.

Last time we were here, I tried to get somebody to find a verse. I think it was you, Eric. Eventually, therefore let your good works shine before men so that they may see your good works. And if it stopped right there, it would be a brutal verse to praise your father who is in heaven, who is basically the source.

Imitation wisdom is not going to be giving glory to God. Imitation wisdom is going to be giving glory to you. And I go back to Satan is going to know that number 79 in your life and if he pushes that button, chances are he's going to get you down that path, get you down there.

What's the impact on others when you experience, when you exhibit true wisdom? True wisdom?

Philippians 2, 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility. Count others.

As more significant than yourself. You'll put others first.

You'll find in the text, Jen read there words like meekness.

Humility.

Humility.

Mercy.

You're going to find those words in there under the description of under the description of imitation you're going to find words like bitterness. Jealousy. To be placed in a situation where where you're being challenged.

The other side seems to be winning. It almost, I know for me again, this is one of my weaknesses. I want to have my engineering background in control of everything else. I can get jealous, I can get bitter.

No. No.

What we should be is meek and merciful. We should be what you read there. We should be not putting ourselves.

Esteeming others.

I don't know.

Esteeming others.

Well, I think it's a gift, a spiritual gift, and it's meant to edify the body.

And the opposite side of that, if you were to make the opposite observation, imitation wisdom is building yourself up.

Yes.

Yeah, that's a great observation. On fellowship, the impact of true wisdom, you're going to find the word peace. And on the other side, you're going to find the word disorder. Many of us have probably experienced church or fellowship venues where individuals are practicing imitation wisdom, and it creates disorder.

But when the people are practicing godly wisdom, it creates peace. The output of godly wisdom in the text, Jan read, on one side is good fruit. The ultimate outcome of godly wisdom is good fruit. And the imitation side, you've got vile.

Does anybody grow fruit? Anybody use fruit trees, grow fruit? Okay, this will be good then. What went wrong?

Well, with the peach tree, it was too much moisture. The guy told us that we would never be able to grow it without a vigorous spraying of insecticides for certain things. It's not the right climate to grow peaches in New Jersey.

Did you try to eat them?

Well, the ones that made it.

Were delicious.

But most of them never made it because of disease and mold or whatever that was on it. It was the same thing with apples.

Disease and mold. Satan, somebody said, as in the garden, half-truths. He puts just enough out there to make it seem like, well maybe, but it's not. And we can try real hard and give the appearance of a godly life and a godly ministry under our own for a while.

But it's...

I think the word fruit is a good word to use because we can... When I looked at imitation, the first thing that popped into my mind was imitation vanilla. When you bake, you can spend more money on real vanilla, which is probably better for you because it's natural.

Or you can buy imitation vanilla, which tastes just the same, but it's chemicals. I think of artificial sweeteners. They save you on calories, but you're poisoning your body with chemicals. It tastes just as good, or sometimes better, than real sugar.

So like, the good fruit, or things that are real that are more beneficial to the body, but yet our society creates these false foods or false sweeteners or things like that that taste just as good as the real thing, but they're a cheaper, easier way,.

Less calories, whatever.

But in the long run, they're damaging your body.

The nutrients aren't in there.

Yeah,.

They're shallow and false.

Great segue,.

Jen,.

Give us verse 18. Harvest of righteousness that's sown. What is meant by, and this is a great segue to what you were just saying, what is meant by a harvest of righteousness?

The fruit that comes out.

Of our lives.

Is beneficial to who?

Others. Others. Others. Yeah.

And brings glory to God.

And brings glory to God.

So yeah,.

You were talking about this artificial sweeteners and all this other kind of stuff.

Yeah,.

There are things, but it's not right. But it's not right. If we sow in peace. So now the question is, what does it mean to sow in peace?

Is he talking about peace with God.

Or peace on God?

Or peace with others? Or all three?

I think he's tying it into verses before where you have imitation, wisdom, which ultimately leads to disorder, is motivated by jealousy, is the source of Satan and everything else. It creates disorder, but the passage talks about true wisdom, which comes from God, which essentially has a harvest of righteousness that comes by peace.

I'm going to put out a challenge as we come to the end of this. We as believers, we are servants of God. That's who we are. We're citizens. We're adopted heirs. We're servants of God. We are commanded to go and do.

We are commanded to be. We're given spiritual gifts. That was a class that we just did for a reason. For a reason. And so as we're approaching the opportunity to be in ministry, to go do whatever, I believe that we're going to go down one path or the other.

We are either going to sow by wisdom, and by wisdom I'm talking about empowered by God. Or we're going to sow by ambition.

I'm just looking at the sermon on the mail. In Matthew 5 -9, Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. If we're all sons and daughters of God, we should naturally be peacemakers and be at peace with each other.

If we sow by wisdom, I think the passage teaches us,.

If we sow by wisdom,.

We're going to yield peace, good fruit, and a harvest of righteousness. But if we choose to sow by ambition, I think the passage tells us that we're going to yield disorder and evil practices. So my get-off-the-stage question is this.

Galatians 5 -16, Nate, if you would get that, 1 Corinthians 2, 9 -14. What's the key, as a believer, what's the key to ensure that you're sowing by wisdom?

Obedience comes from man.

Yeah, where's your walk? Go ahead, Nate. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

1 Corinthians 2, 9 -14.

I think so.

But what no eye has seen,.

Nor ear heard,.

Nor the heart of man has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of the person which is in him?

So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given to us by God.