The Two Wisdoms | Sermon 05/22/2022

Apologia Utah

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This will be our final sermon in James 3. We'll be moving on to chapter 4 next week.

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There's only about seven more sermons, I believe, in the rest of the book of James. James 3, we're going to be in verses 13 -18.

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And the title of the sermon is, The Two Wisdoms.

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Starting in James 3, verses 13 -18, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living

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God. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

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But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

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This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

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For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing.

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But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy.

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

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Thus ending the reading of God's holy and infallible Word, let's pray one more time before we begin church.

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Lord God, would You please teach Your people today as You have taught me. Would You edify

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Your church today? Lord, please speak through me. Help my thoughts and my own ideas fall to the wayside,

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Lord, and let all that You desire for Your people to know and learn and change from prevail.

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Lord, would You help us to focus as a church on Your Word this evening?

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Lord, would You cause us to know so much more deeply what it is to have true wisdom that comes from You?

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Lord, help me to speak in such a way that is clear. Let it be helpful and let it always be true.

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In Jesus' name, amen. In a multitude of ways, church, wisdom has been sought by many people since the beginning of creation.

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Often, more than the holy grail of immortality, wisdom has been hunted by man.

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The philosopher Cicero said, Wisdom is the best gift of the gods.

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It is the mother of all good things. The best and that which generates all of the best.

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Aristotle said, Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. I hear a contradiction.

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Both of these men, Cicero and Aristotle, they argue for the beginnings or origins of wisdom.

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Then Socrates comes in and he says this, The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.

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Okay? Is that really true wisdom? Knowing that you know nothing?

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How do we gain such wisdom? The Chinese philosopher Confucius explained,

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By three methods we may learn wisdom. First, by reflection, he says, which is the noblest.

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Second, by imitation, which is the easiest. And third, by experience, which he says is the bitterest.

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But all of these men, although made in the image and likeness of our

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God, they are not God Almighty. These are not from God's Word. What is true wisdom then?

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The Lord makes it clear that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

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The fear of the Lord. In numerous places in God's Word, it says wisdom comes from God alone and He imparts it to His creatures as He sees fit.

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It's God. It comes from God. God gives it. King Solomon knew that firsthand.

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In fact, let's refresh our memory on King Solomon. If you want to keep a finger in James 3 and turn to 1

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Kings 3, it might be easier to follow along. 1 Kings 3. That's after 1 and 2

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Samuel. 1 Kings. 1

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Kings 3. Starting in v.

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5 of 1 Kings 3, it says, in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.

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And God said, ask what you wish Me to give you. Now that's a question from God.

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Ask what you wish of Me to give you. Then Solomon said, you have shown great lovingkindness to your servant

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David, my father, according as he walked before you in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward you.

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And you have reserved for him this great lovingkindness that you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is to this day.

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Solomon says, now, O Lord my God, You have made

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Your servant king in place of my father, yet I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.

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Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted.

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So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil.

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For who is able to judge this great people of Yours? So Solomon is a brand new king.

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He's just taken the throne and he recognizes he doesn't know how to go out. He doesn't know how to come in.

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He doesn't know the ways of logic and reason. He feels inadequate to judge certain situations.

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Of course, back then, there was elders at the gate in different communities and villages, and they would move up and move up and move up.

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And then one of the first cases that Solomon ever does is the case of the two mothers who claim that that baby was their child.

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And of course, you might remember, he says cut the child in two. We'll give a piece to each mother.

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And the false mother says, okay, that works for me. And the true mother says, no, no, no, just let her keep him.

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And he discerned wisely who the true mother was. And he gives the child back to the true mother.

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So that was his first case of judgment. So he's asking for wisdom here to the

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Lord. Out of all the things he could have asked for, he asked for wisdom. It says next, it was pleasing in the sight of the

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Lord that Solomon asked this thing. That was v. 10. God said to him, because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold,

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I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.

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So, Solomon had rightly understood that God is the source of all wisdom.

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He knew it. And he rightly understood that apart from God's granting of wisdom to a person, he'd be inadequate.

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He needed God to give him wisdom to do the job that he had before him. So of all the things that he could have asked for, he asked for the one thing that many, many people would have never asked for, of course, wisdom.

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It said in v. 10, like I said, Solomon's request was pleasing to God. Before any sort of Greek or Roman philosophers started their search for wisdom,

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Solomon approached God with an empty hand and said, please, Lord, would you fill it? Before any of those men came, he asked for it.

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Only God could fill it. And chapter 4 moves on to say, God gave

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Solomon great wisdom and discernment that surpassed all the sons of the east. And Solomon, it says in the

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Word of God, it says in chapter 4 of 1 Kings, it says that he wrote 3 ,000 proverbs and 1 ,005 songs.

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Some of which, of course, is recorded in our Bible. Not all of them. There's not 3 ,000 proverbs in the

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Bible. There's not 1 ,005 songs. So, it'd be interesting to know what those other ones are one day.

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But he wrote the proverbs. Then back into chapter 3, the fulfillment of his request comes though with a condition from God.

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There is a condition. V. 13 -14 of 1 Kings 3 says, I have also given you...

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this is God saying to Solomon, I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all of your days.

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Then he says this. Here it is. If you walk in My ways, keeping

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My statutes and commandments as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.

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An if -then statement. If you do this, then I will prolong your days. Now, God doesn't say

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He will remove the wisdom that He gave him from Solomon, but the blessing of His throne in future relies upon His obedience to God's statutes.

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Unfortunately, as some of you might recall, despite all of Solomon's wisdom, he did not obey

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God's law completely. He began to suppress the wisdom that God had given him.

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And it all started with disobeying Deuteronomy 17. What does that law say?

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That law says, the king shall not multiply for him many wives.

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He shall have but one wife. That's what the verse says. Why? Why would

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God command the kings to not have more than one wife? Because it details that they would lead them, the king, after many gods.

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Many other gods. Gods which they have not known. 1

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Kings 11 details his fall. It says he loved many foreign women. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

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1 ,000 women. Unreal. It says explicitly that his wives turned his heart away from God and caused him to follow after other gods.

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Their gods. At that point, it didn't matter if Solomon had all the wisdom in the world if he didn't follow it.

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Like I said, he suppressed that wisdom. The kingdom was then split into northern

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Israel and southern Judah. Right? That is not a good thing. In fact, right after David, before Solomon, it says the kingdom was consolidated.

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That is a good thing. The kingdom came together for Solomon. But then after he did this, it split.

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Northern kingdom. Southern kingdom. Judah. It's not a good thing. The twelve tribes are broken at that point.

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Adversaries then rose up all around him. And God vowed to tear the kingdom from his hands.

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That's what he said. He vowed to tear the kingdom of Israel from his hands. And I think certain parts of the biblical account demonstrate

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I believe that Solomon repented. I believe myself, and I know many other faithful brothers and sisters do, we believe that Solomon is with the

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Lord to this day. I think there's evidence of that. I could show you later after the sermon. But I think he is.

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Someone despite all the wisdom God gave him, it wasn't until his old age that he possessed the wisdom or I should say even faith in God that looked forward to the promised one.

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You see, wisdom is nothing if it doesn't bow to faith in Christ and turn someone to righteous action.

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Solomon may have written 3 ,000 Proverbs and 1 ,005 songs in his life, but did he follow them with consistency?

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I'm sorry. He didn't. Wisdom acts in accordance with God's precepts.

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And that is what James is going to demonstrate for us today. That there are two types of wisdom and men so often seek after the wrong one.

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So let's take a look at that starting in verse 13. Who among you is wise and understanding?

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Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. This is an invitation to anyone in the congregation who thinks they have great insight or knowledge on spiritual matters.

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Biblical wisdom. This is an invitation to all of them. Come, James is saying. Let us examine your claims, wise ones in your midst.

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James assumes as Christians they did what he asked them to do from chapter 1, verse 5.

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He said ask God for wisdom. Do you remember that? Ask God for wisdom.

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So he says let's put that to the test. Who has truly asked and received from God and who just says they simply asked and received?

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Who actually has true wisdom from God? Who among you is sophist and epistemon?

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Sophist, like philosophy. Love of wisdom. Epistemon, like epistemology.

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Study of knowledge. What is striking though is a theological or philosophical test doesn't appear after this invitation.

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What does he say? Let him show by his good behavior, his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

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There is no test. Oh, but James, I thought you wanted to hear from me.

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I'm the wise one in the group. Let me tell you all my answers. That's not what he asks.

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This test he gives would throw especially the most intellectually prideful off his guard.

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Honestly, it should confound us to some degree. Let him show his good behavior by his deeds in the humility of wisdom.

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And he's attacking a bit of that Greek Hellenistic idea that one could obtain wisdom and knowledge, but if they don't use it to do good deeds, then they are just fools.

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Okay? There were so many people in James' day that were walking around all saying that they had the newest knowledge, they had secret knowledge, they had philosophies and understandings that other people didn't possess, but they lived like complete heathens.

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He says that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Show me. Once again, show me by how you live.

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Ideas will just stay ideas until they are executed upon. They've got to come out of that brain.

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They're floating around in there, and they've got to actually come out into the hands and do something worthwhile for the glory of God.

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Proverbs 2, verse 6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

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It would have to follow then that wisdom knows the things spoken from God's mouth, and if the things spoken from God's mouth says to obey

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His commandments, then wisdom would be actually doing what God commands us to do.

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You see, sometimes knowledgeable people don't always have wisdom. Do you ever meet someone like that?

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They're so intelligent, and yet they don't have wisdom. You can just tell sometimes. Or we say common sense.

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They have a lot of knowledge. You see, but wisdom is knowledge with action.

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Wisdom is knowledge with action. It's one thing to know, but it's wise to do something about what you know.

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Let Him show He is wise and understanding by His works and His good conduct.

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And this harkens back of course to 2, verse 18, to show your faith by your good works, but now showing your wisdom also by your works.

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Behavior is anastrophe. Ana means down to up, and strophe means turn.

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It's an upturning. It's a change. It's a change of conduct. Good behavior.

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Good behavior is a phrase that appears 13 times throughout the New Testament. It mostly appears actually in Peter's epistles.

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1 and 2 Peter. It's a general way to describe a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

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1 Peter 2, verse 12 says, keep your behavior, anastrophe, excellent among the

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Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may be because of your good deeds as they observe them.

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Glorify God in the day of visitation. Excellent behavior contains good deeds, as Peter says.

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He even says they are observable. The Gentiles will be able to see it. And that's good.

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People need to see it. So once again, James says show me.

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Show me. Show us. And you show that good conduct in your deeds through protest, gentleness, meekness, humility.

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Good behavior and deeds of wisdom is an interesting phrase. But what he is saying is it is our daily acts of obedience to God that show we have true wisdom.

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A wisdom that of course is gentle and humble. Humility is not simply a byproduct of wisdom, but that wisdom ought to be exercised in a humble way.

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You get that? Being wise isn't just, well, I'll be humble because I'm wise.

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He calls us to practice our wisdom in a humble way, in a way of humility.

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Let me give you an example. Let's say there are two men who are to do a task. One does it humbly, almost quiet.

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The man does his task, he's almost quiet. He expects no praise for the job well done.

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While another man comes and he boasts of his efforts, he boasts of his speed and his knowledge while doing the same task, and he says it the whole time.

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At the completion, that second man showcases his work before the manager and he says, see,

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I couldn't have done any better. The boastful man says that while the first one who was quiet while he did his task said, do

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I have any room for improvement? And they both did a stellar job. They both did a very good job.

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The question is, who would you rather work for you? The boastful one while he boasted the whole time he did his job, or the quiet one who just complied and did what he had to do and said, could

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I do it better? That's the same thing with wisdom. Are you humble while you demonstrate your wisdom?

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What about evangelism? Here's another example. One man goes out witnessing for Christ.

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He knocks on his neighbor's door and they open up. And he starts giving his neighbor the

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Gospel. Every time his neighbor tries to ask a question or come back with a response, he cuts him off.

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He cuts him off and he tries to correct him real quickly. He's got wisdom.

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Let me correct you, neighbor. Let me talk over you. Let me show you what you're missing. He says his church is the best in town.

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Best music. Best preaching the neighbor's ever heard. He says we have the best people.

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We have perfect people at our church. That's what this guy tells his neighbor. Speaks over him.

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Says, we're perfect. Okay? The neighbor had been zoning out that whole time, especially towards the end, and before he realized it, he's being handed a pamphlet, a contact card for the church, and he gratefully closes his door.

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Of course, then there's another Christian man. He goes out witnessing for Christ. He sees a man waiting at the bus stop.

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He asks him what his name is. What his story is. He hears him out. When the man tells him he's just gone through a divorce, and he's sick, he's got health problems.

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He gives him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He's got wisdom too. He can give the

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Gospel. He tells him Jesus doesn't always take away all our suffering here that we have on earth.

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He doesn't always take it away now, but He has promised to walk through it with us. He says

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He will take it away from us in eternal life. With that moment in eternal life, we will have none of it.

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He says, humbly, our church is small. It's nothing like you've seen on a movie or on TBN or anything like that.

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But it's special because we're a church. We're a church of God. You won't find a bunch of perfect people there.

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Just redeemed ones being perfected by Christ. And He answers the man's questions, prays with him, and even covers his bus ticket.

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Right? Do you see the differences between the two workers and the two evangelists?

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Completely different. Exercising their wisdom in different ways. Wisdom demonstrated should be in a gentle, humble way.

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So many showcase their wisdom and knowledge in a boastful, arrogant sort of way. They know it all.

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Oh, come, listen to me. Let me pontificate. I've got the answers you're looking for. I know it.

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James says it's in gentleness and humility. This is the same word from 1

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Peter 3 .15 when it says one is to give a defense or apologia for the faith that is in them.

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It says with all gentleness and reverence. This is the same word when you give a defense for the faith.

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Humility and gentleness are not some weakness or lack of confidence. It is the understanding that apart from Christ, we would be dead where we stand and without any real knowledge or any real wisdom.

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That's humility with wisdom. Knowing I've been given it. It's like as if I've been given a beautiful house by a family member, and I tell everyone, yeah,

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I worked for this. I saved up for this. I bought it in cash in full. It's like, what? That was given to you, man.

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You're a liar. That's sometimes what we do with wisdom.

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What we have is from God. It's not from us. Our wisdom is a gift along with our salvation.

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We have to ask for more. James says to ask for more. Knowing who it came from should make us realize our dependency on Him.

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And we can't carry our wisdom like we're the ones in whom it originated. Let's keep moving.

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Go on to verse 14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

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This verse is in opposition to the second part of verse 13. The gentleness.

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The wisdom. This is someone who has selfish ambition. Bitter jealousy.

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This is someone living a lie. If you live this way, you live contrary to that of one who truly has wisdom.

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Therefore, you don't have true wisdom, he would say. True wisdom changes how you live.

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Or as James says, your conduct of life. The opposite of a gentle spirit full of wisdom is one that is bitterly jealous and selfish.

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The word for jealous here is actually zealous. Zealous. Zeal. That's where we get the word zeal.

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Zeal can be good or bad. Jealousy, according to the Bible, can be good or bad.

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God calls Himself jealous for His own people. God is jealous for His people that they would have no other gods before Him.

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That's what the Word says. That He desires for them to love

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Him exclusively. Jesus also displayed zeal. He displayed zeal when

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He overturned the money changers' tables in the temple. It was said of Him there in that moment, zeal for His Father's house had consumed

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Him. That is a good thing. That's good zeal to have. It said zeal for God's house had consumed

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Him. Then we have Phineas of the Old Testament. Phineas is like the Old Testament prototype of a zealot.

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He is a courageous man, Phineas. It says in Numbers 25, when

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Israel was playing the harlet with Moab, that Phineas then rose up.

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He was jealous for God's holiness. He was jealous for God's people just as God was. He was zealous for the

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Lord. And he speared through the heart an Israelite man and a Midianite woman when

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God called them to remove those from their midst who were causing the people to turn to idols. Phineas.

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The plague on the Israelites was then stayed. God's wrath was appeased and it said that God was pleased with Phineas for doing what he did.

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The plague was removed from Israel in that moment. So we see good types of zeal.

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I'm not telling you to go out with a spear anytime soon, okay? I think that was a different era. We can talk about that another time.

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But we see with James, this is a different kind of zealous. This is a different kind of zeal.

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That's why he attaches the word before it, the descriptor, pikros. Bitter. It is bitter jealousy.

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Bitter zeal. It is different. It is not good. Jealousy is not being content often with what we have.

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It's being upset with God and the person you're jealous of for not having what they have.

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You see? I didn't just say you're jealous and upset with the person. You're also upset with God. You're upset with God when you're jealous of someone else.

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Whether it be their qualities, their physical looks, their possessions, or the whole of their life, it is a tenth commandment violation.

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Being jealous is often telling God, Lord, if I were God, I would have done it this way for me.

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I would have given me this. That's what's happening when we're jealous.

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I would have given myself more wisdom, God. Why didn't You do what I wanted? And that's really the heart of jealousy.

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We become so focused on self that we make ourselves out to be like Him. It's self -idolatry.

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And that's why these are related. Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Erethean is the word in Greek.

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It's a feeling of resentfulness based on jealousy, and it always comes with some sort of unhealthy rivalry.

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This selfishness sees both friend and foe as rivals. This sort of thing, selfish ambition, sees friend and foe as people to be conquered.

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It doesn't matter who you are. I've got to conquer them. I've got to be better than them. This selfish ambition.

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We can resent other people because of their success or God's blessing on their life.

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We can resent them because they actually repent from sin and seek to honor the Lord, and we love our sin.

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Sometimes the selfishly ambitious person wants to get rid of their sin simply so that other people think that they're righteous.

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They just want to look better than other people. Typically that person doesn't want to be free from the sin.

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They have an agenda and will use anything and anyone to get there. Sometimes it's very subtle manipulation.

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They know how to play to people's egos just a little bit to get what they want. The selfish person.

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The selfishly ambitious cares nothing for neighbor. They are on their way to the top and they will use you to get there.

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But get this. The selfish person honestly sometimes doesn't get what they want.

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They don't honestly get there all the time. So what is their secondary response? Bitterness and resentment when the selfish person doesn't get what they want.

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They'll settle into that. At least they can still focus on themselves in that place, right?

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This false wisdom. This is a false wisdom. That's what he's saying. This is a false wisdom. And it's truly anthropocentric.

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Which is to say it's man -centered. It's focused on man. Here are some signs of selfishness.

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Okay? Listen to these. Here are some signs of selfishness. You always end up making things about you.

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Things typically have to be your way or you get upset when they aren't. You think you're always right.

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You don't actually truly listen to anyone or consider their opinions. You're ready to let everyone know what you have to say.

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It's always other people's fault. You can't possibly see how you might be the problem in this situation.

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You manipulatively guilt others to get your way. You're highly competitive but not in a healthy way. You want people to see that you're better.

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You know the selfish person after saying these things is probably examining not themselves but other people.

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The selfish person will hear that list and think about everyone else but them. That's not me.

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That's what it is. It'd be hard to even imagine someone like this realizes they need a

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Savior. They're like, I don't need to be saved. Saved from what? I'm the best. We may not be all these things.

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We may not be totally these things. But to some degree, we practice so many of these things.

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We can often disregard humble wisdom and turn to lies. And that's what he says.

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Do not be arrogant, so lie against the truth. James makes an imperative here that is like a command.

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Do not be arrogant and lie against the truth. This means don't boast against something.

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Don't boast in your earthly wisdom. The one who does such a thing is a fool in the eyes of God to boast in their own wisdom.

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In fact, the prophet Jeremiah says the very same thing. He says, Thus saith the Lord, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty boast of his might.

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Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows

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Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth.

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For I delight in these things, declares the Lord. That's what we ought to know.

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If you don't boast in the Lord and His wisdom, you'll have to lie against the truth. You'll have to lie against the truth.

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Sudeste, which is where we get the word pseudo, which is false. Do not say false things against the truth.

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Don't turn truth into falsehood. I remember one time, me and my wife were counseling a young woman years ago.

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It was years ago. She wanted to divorce her husband. She explained all the reasons why she needed to divorce her husband.

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She said, you know, I've just been going through different things. I don't feel the spark that we used to have once before when we were dating.

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I remember she said, we're working in different places. It just feels like we're planets apart from each other.

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We're different now. You know what I mean? She was just trying to get us to sit there and affirm these feelings.

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Ultimately, she said, you know, I've been going to church lately, and I've been sitting there in the service, and I just feel that God wants me to leave my husband and move on.

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Move on. Me and my wife, we went through the Scriptures with her.

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We showed her, of course, the very few circumstances in which God makes divorce permissible, and that her marriage contained none of those items.

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She had no ground to stand on. She said, I feel.

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She said, I feel. You know how many foolish and often evil things come after the words

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I feel? I feel this. I feel that. It's not what

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I feel. It's what God said. Not what I feel, but what God said. Right?

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That is where we look for truth. That is where we find wisdom in His Word. She deluded herself.

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She thought leaving her husband, in fact, not just her husband, but she thought leaving her children would be good.

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She wanted to leave her children as well. You have to delude yourself. You have to force yourself to believe something contrary.

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You have to lie against the truth for something like that to happen. This is not wisdom, my friends.

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That is not wisdom. Verses 15 and 16 tell us more of this.

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This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

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For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

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Some translations put quotations around wisdom there. This wisdom, that selfishly ambitious, that lying against the truth wisdom, this wisdom is not what comes down from above.

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This type of wisdom is different than the one that displays good conduct and humility. It's not from above.

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It doesn't come down from the Father of lights. It doesn't come from God's domain.

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It is earthly in nature, natural in essence, and demonic in origin.

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Okay? Earthly in nature, natural in essence, demonic in origin.

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That's this type of wisdom. Earthly as in not a divine attribute of God.

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Earthly as in like fallen humanity. Earthly as in not from heaven.

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The Apostle Paul demonstrates this distinction. He says in 1

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Corinthians 2, v. 6, Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature,

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O wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age.

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And he goes on to clarify, For the wisdom of this earth is foolishness before God.

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The wisdom of this earth is foolishness before God.

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It's like the beast of revelation that comes from out of the earth. It is bound to the earth.

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It comes from the earth. It is earthly, natural, and demonic. So is this kind of wisdom.

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He calls it natural, which is the word sukkah, which is related to the word soul or spirit.

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That word natural literally means not spiritual. It is a not spiritual wisdom.

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It is unspiritual in its essence. It is natural, not supernatural.

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Paul tells the Corinthians again in his second letter, For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, he says, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you.

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He shows that this kind of wisdom is opposed to the grace of God. It is opposed to the grace of God.

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It is the type of wisdom that made the apostles fall asleep when they were to be watchful and full of the

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Spirit and prayerful when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

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Jude warns the church in his letter that mockers will come one day.

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Mockers will come. They will be worldly -minded, he says.

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And here's the word. Same word, sukkah. It says in Jude 19, they will be devoid of the

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Spirit. They will not have the Spirit of God. They will not have the Spirit.

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And it says, then they will cause divisions. Honestly, you know who that reminded me of right away?

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It was Joseph Smith, to be honest. Because that man was devoid of the Spirit. He was worldly -minded.

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And he split the church. Some of the first people to become Mormons were Protestant Christians who were

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Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, and they came and they left for a doctrine of demons. Someone who is not spiritual.

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Devoid of the Spirit. He divided the bride of Christ. There are those out there who think they follow

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God, but they only acquire natural, unspiritual knowledge. It is self -oriented.

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Do you get that? There are some people who are going to tell you, when you say, what do you believe?

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They're going to go, I'm spiritual. And you're going to remember Sukakeh. They are not spiritual.

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That is false wisdom. That is unspiritual wisdom that they possess.

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And it's often self -oriented. It exalts human reason while abandoning all true reason because it denies the power of the

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Spirit. Then James brings his descriptors to a climax.

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He says this type of wisdom is demonic. It is demonic. Daimoniodes.

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Daimoniodes. It is of the way that demons act and believe.

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The devil is the father of lies. This wisdom is based on falsehood and lies.

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Lucifer was jealous of God, was he not? He was jealous of God. He was selfishly ambitious so as to revolt against our

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Lord for His own vain glory. Lucifer was jealous of God.

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Demonic in origin, this sort of knowledge is from the serpent of old, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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It stands to say that when we ignore the wisdom of God, we are promoting the wisdom of demons. When we ignore the wisdom of God, we are promoting then the wisdom of demons.

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And Jesus says in Revelation 2 .24, what I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan.

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That's what Jesus says. He says, who have not known the deep things of Satan.

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What is that? I'm not sure what that is. But it's definitely demonic wisdom.

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Yes, amen. Demonic wisdom likely. The wisdom from above is like God's beautiful and brilliant shining seraphim and cherubim,

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His angels. But the false wisdom that is this wisdom is like fallen angels cast down to roam the earth and crawl in the abyss.

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The darkness is this wisdom's realm like the darkness of the fallen angels. They prefer man and swine possession over the open air.

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Really, this is an evil wisdom. An evil wisdom. That's what

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James is arguing. And that's what he actually expounds on in v.

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16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition, where this type of wisdom exists, there is disorder and all evil.

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Every evil thing. All evil. With this type of wisdom. It appears it can make its way into the church through jealousy and selfish ambition.

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Demonic wisdom tries to infiltrate God's church and His people, and it does so tirelessly.

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There is demonic wisdom that seeks to come through those doors and influence us every week. It is tireless.

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But the Spirit of God abounds all the more. The Lord works more. They can do nothing at which unless He allows them.

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One -uppers. Those with competitive personal agendas. These types of people bring damage and disorder to the church.

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Where false wisdom exists, in that place, there is a cassatasia, which is made up of three words.

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Not, down, and standing. Which actually means cannot stand.

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This is a type of wisdom that cannot stand. It has no solid ground. It can't stand.

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It is disorder and insurrection. But God is not a God of disorder or of confusion, the

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Word of God says. 1 Corinthians 14 .33 speaks to that. Disorder does not come from God, but order.

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Order comes from God. Paul was concerned about disorder in the church when he talked about that.

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That people would be trying to practice prideful zeal and selfish ambition. He was worried that they would do that in the speaking of tongues.

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So he lays it out. He says, There is no more than two, at the most three, and there must be an interpreter.

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And even then, it only edifies the one person. At that point, we might as well just hear the preaching.

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That's what he says. Prophesying in the book of Corinthians is really pointing to preaching.

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He says that edifies everyone. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. So he lays out a rule.

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He doesn't want all these people standing up and speaking in Persian and all these things.

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Right? All these different languages. God wants order. Don't bring chaos and disorder to God's church.

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Disorder here is the same word for unstable used in chapter 1 when we talked about the double -minded man who is unstable.

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This is the same word. Disorder. It is also the same word, get this, when

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James used the word restless for the double -tongued man. So this type of wisdom, that which is disorder, is just like the spirit of the double -minded and double -tongued man.

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Same thing. Same thing. When these sins are committed, instability is brought to the individual and to everyone around him.

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It made me think of Miriam. Miriam is Moses and Aaron's sister.

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Miriam. And you're like, what? What did she do? I just remember from that great

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Ten Commandments movie being really nice. Or that DreamWorks animated one where at least

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Miriam put the baby in the basket and put Moses down the river. I thought Miriam was pretty good.

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Well, I hate to break your heart, go to Numbers 12 later. Miriam speaks poorly about Moses.

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She speaks about Moses in a terrible way. And she questions His authority in front of everyone.

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She essentially says, God speaks through me just as much as God speaks through Moses.

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Essentially, why don't I get to speak? Why don't I get to lead God's people? That's what Miriam ends up saying.

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It says the Lord was terribly angry with her. He tells them

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Moses is the man whom He appointed to be His prophet. He is the man that is special to Him.

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She wanted power and influence, but all she got in that moment in Numbers 12 was instant leprosy.

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She got instant leprosy. She was immediately covered in sores, Moses' sister, until she left the camp and was cleansed for a period of time.

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And she repented from her sins. You see, she was wise in her own eyes. Miriam in that moment was practicing the demonic, natural, jealous, selfish wisdom that James is talking about.

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Now go to our final verses. Verses 17 and 18. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits.

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It is unwavering, without hypocrisy, and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

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James told us what wisdom was not. Now he tells us what wisdom is.

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The true wisdom is from above. God is the giver of it. Proverbs 8 says,

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Wisdom was there with God in the laying of the foundations of the earth. Wisdom is an attribute of God.

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It was personified in that proverb. This passage, especially verse 17, is much like the

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Galatians 5 fruit of the Spirit passage. A lot of the same things are mentioned by the

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Apostle Paul there. The fruit that James says comes from true wisdom, while Paul says such fruit comes from the

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Spirit. But just because James doesn't mention the Holy Spirit does not mean he disagrees with Paul.

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In fact, we know already, we looked at it, he agrees. He agrees that only wisdom can come from God, and therefore, it is a fruit that God creates in a man or woman and that is worked out through them by the

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Holy Spirit. In fact, remember, James just said it is sukkahkeh, unspiritual, that false wisdom.

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So that then means to say true wisdom is spiritual. True wisdom is wrought by the

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Spirit. So, Galatians 5, fruit of the Spirit, is speaking harmoniously here with James 3 .17.

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What is with people always making James and Paul get in the ring and duke it out? These inspired apostles are in harmony as those being carried along by the

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Holy Spirit to write Scripture. So, let's look at some of these qualities that he mentions.

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You see there, it says pure. This type of innocent is pure. It also means innocent.

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It comes from the root word hagios. Hagios literally means holy.

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Holy. It shows it is devout and dedicated to God.

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The truly wise are dedicated to the Lord. He says it's peaceable.

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It can even mean simply peaceful. This type of wisdom can make one free from anxiety.

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It rests in the peace that surpasses all comprehension that is sustained in Christ. When we're anxious, we resist the wisdom that God gave us.

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You hear that? When we have anxiety, we are resisting the true wisdom that God has given us.

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We're trying to believe something else. So what do we do to combat anxiety? We speak the truth to ourselves.

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That's how we combat anxiety and worry. Because it's peaceable. This is a peaceful and peaceable wisdom.

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Reasonable, it says. Is open to reason or willing to listen. It means to have even a predisposition to think well of a brother or sister in Christ.

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Reasonable means to give your brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt in every circumstance and think the best of them despite what you may have heard until you learn better, until you learn more about the situation.

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It's full of mercy and compassion. It is like the

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Lord Who is rich in mercy toward us despite our sinful posture before a holy

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God. Are you reasonable with your brothers and sisters or do you always believe the worst of them?

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That's the question. Are you reasonable with your brothers and sisters or do you always go to the worst thing of them?

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Oh, you know what? I know they said this and I don't have any way to verify this, but I think what they said is this.

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I think they meant this. And that's wicked. It's like you don't know. Those are false assumptions on someone else.

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It's not being reasonable. Open to reason. That's what this wisdom is. It's agathos karpos.

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Full of good fruit. You will know them by their fruit. Are we full of good fruit? A tree full of good fruit exudes blessing and abundance from God.

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And it says unwavering. Unwavering can mean without certainty. This is a wisdom that can give you certainty that you can walk forward with certainty knowing who your

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God is. That's what this wisdom is. It's unwavering. It's unwavering to the truth and fairness.

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Without hypocrisy, it says. It's literally meaning it is not a hypocrite.

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It is not being a hypocrite. Not a pretender. It is genuine. This type of wisdom is sincere.

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When we say someone who is down to earth, we typically mean a sincere person, right? Someone who means what they say.

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That they're not trying to sound like something they're not. Someone who is genuine. It's genuine wisdom.

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But ultimately, Christ is our example for these fruits of true wisdom. And it has its origin in Christ, who is the eternal

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God. So we who possess this wisdom from Christ are to act like Christ from whom it came.

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1 John 3 says those who fix their eyes on Christ purifies themselves as Christ is pure.

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You see, Christ first is pure before you were pure. Before that wisdom is pure.

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Jesus says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives.

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Christ is peaceable. He is peaceful. Christ is reasonable, because He has been tempted in all ways that we are, and yet without sin.

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And that makes Him, He says, a sympathetic high priest. He knows what you've gone through.

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Christ is reasonable towards you. Christ is mercy personified.

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Christ is mercy personified. Mercy is what He gives from the Father through His death, burial, and resurrection.

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Jesus was also infinitely fruitful even to this day. He said

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He is working even as His Father works, and He has never ceased working for our sakes.

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He continues to intercede and sustain this world to this day. Christ is working.

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He is fruitful. Christ was unwavering in His obedience to the cross in Philippians 2 and the

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Carmen Christi. Jesus is not a hypocrite. He is who

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He says He is. Jesus demonstrated that He is the great I Am, that He will not fail to carry out all that He has promised to do for you in His Word.

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He is not a hypocrite. Revelation 19 gives Him a special name.

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It says in Revelation 19 that Jesus' name is faithful and true. He's not a hypocrite.

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So being wise is simply being like Christ. James finishes his discussion on the two types of wisdom with peace in verse 18.

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You can tell with his rebukes and loving explanations that he is concerned with peace in the

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Christian community. It's kind of a bit of an awkward ending if you read it. If you read v.

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13 -18, 18 kind of comes up a little bit and it doesn't seem to flow well with what he's saying.

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A lot of commentators have talked about that. But James is known for switching things up, so he ends with this kind of proverb -type statement.

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Or some have argued that it's possible this last line was an early

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Christian church saying. It was something that they said at the beginning of the church. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

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It was basically the capstone. It was the end of what he was saying. It could have been an early Christian saying right there.

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An early proverb. The best way to translate this, the easiest to understand this, would be, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

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Now, the harvests of righteousness are the virtues that are listed in v. 17 and make up the good conduct that is in v.

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13. Righteousness or a life of fruit and virtuous conduct can't come from earthly and demonic wisdom, but it can come from the heavenly and humble wisdom from God.

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It can grow if planted. Then more can be harvested. Romans 12 says we must not strive together, but strive to be at peace with all people as much as we can control it.

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He talks about peace here. We ought to be peacemakers. Jesus gives a blessing to those who are.

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In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be the sons of God.

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Blessed are the peacemakers. Isaiah speaks of the future day when peace reigns throughout all the land.

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He says in Isaiah 32, then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will abide in the fertile field, and the work of righteousness will be peace.

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And the service of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Then My people will live in a peaceful habitation and in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places.

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It's glorious. Glorious. It will be peaceful. As God is peaceful.

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I love what one commentator said about this. He said righteousness cannot be produced in the climate of bitterness and self -seeking.

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Righteousness will only grow in a climate of peace. Therefore, church, uproot all that you have sown in your life of false wisdom.

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Rip it out. Weed out all the strife, the plants of strife in your life.

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Don't wait another day. Sow seeds today of righteousness and peace.

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Like it says. So brothers and sisters, worldly wisdom leads to disorder and every evil thing.

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It grows and multiplies most of all in the hearts of the bitter, jealous, and selfishly ambitious.

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It is earthly, unspiritual, and straight demonic in origin. And it's safe to say when we ignore the wise virtues of verse 17, we are then following false wisdom.

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God calls this utter foolishness. But we are to follow the example of our wise and understanding

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Savior. The One who is truth incarnate. Because just think, if Christ practiced bitter jealousy, if Christ practiced selfish ambition,

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He would have never gone to the cross, would He? If Jesus were to fall into false, demonic, earthly, natural wisdom,

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He would have taken the offer that Satan gave Him in the temptation in the wilderness, and He would have said, sure,

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I'll take all that you have to offer Me. But Christ didn't do that. He didn't do that.

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He wasn't earthly wise. He was heavenly wise. Too many times do we want to bypass the sufferings of this world and take the bait of the earthy, natural, and demonic wisdom we consider ourselves.

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Often chief among all others, we speak lies against the truth and become fools. But like Christ, the truly wise are humble and gentle.

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So church, we are to let go of worldly wisdom. We are to let go of the worldly wisdom that we once held onto for so long.

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It's time for us to reform the world with the Gospel. By the order of the King. Let the followers of Christ inject

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His wisdom into this world. Saturate the earth with the knowledge of the

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Lord, proclaiming His rule from sea to sea and to the river and even to the ends of the earth. That is what our call is.

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Because we have true wisdom, saints. We here have true wisdom. We are not to hoard it.

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We are not to trade it. We are to share it. Share the true wisdom. James says, who among you is wise and understanding?

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And the Christian simply points to his Christ. It is

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He. My Lord, He is wise. My Christ, He has all wisdom.

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And then, you will be truly wise. If you know from whom it came. Let's pray.

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Father God, we love You. We thank You, Lord, for this time, for the homily, for the sermon to hear,

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Lord, from Your Word, to hear it expounded upon. God, would You cause us not to just be filled with knowledge?

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Of all the sermons, Lord, for us to just receive more information, let this not be the one.

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Let this be the one, Lord, where we recognize storing up knowledge in our hearts and in our minds simply puffs us up.

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Lord, that true wisdom is knowledge with action. That like James says, to show

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Him that it's something we can demonstrate, it's something that we can observe in other people,

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Lord. That just like our true faith is seen in our works and good conduct, that our wisdom would be shown in what we do.

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Lord, so help us, Lord, to walk in this good, heavenly wisdom. Help us,

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Lord, to shake off any of the old man or woman that wants us to keep looking at the worldly wisdom.

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Lord, the wisdom of demons. Help us to not observe that at all,

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Lord. God, You tell us in James 1 that if we ask for good, heavenly wisdom,

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You will be faithful to give it. So we as a church ask You now, Lord, give us wisdom,

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God. Give us wisdom in Your Word. Give us wisdom from heaven, from Your domain, and help us to actually do something with it in our lives and in the lives of others.