All right, good morning, church family.
Once again, if you would open your Bibles or type in your
devices the book of James, chapter 3.
And this morning we're going to be in verses 13 to 18.
Will Lord Willie finish chapter 3 this morning and be on chapter
4 next week? James 313 to 18.
Let's read the text to open us in a word of prayer, and then we
will jump into the sermon this morning.
James three, beginning in verse 13, here's what James writes to
us. Who is wise and understanding
among you by his good conduct? Let him show his works and
meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy
and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be
false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that
comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and
demonic. For where jealousy and selfish
ambition exists, there will be disorder and every vile
practice. But the wisdom from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of
mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who
make peace. You will pray with me.
Lord, this morning I pray that you would help us to understand
the the nature of the relationship between wisdom and
meekness and what wisdom is and what it looks like and what it
means to be wise and what invalidates our wisdom, what
affirms it. We pray God that you would show
us this relationship. Lord, help us to see the
connection. Help us to make that connection
in our lives. That we would be men and women
who are not only wise but who are meek as well.
I pray this in Jesus name, Amen. Meekness is one of those
qualities that seems elusive, doesn't it?
No matter how much you try to get it, it, it's, it's like it's
just always out of your grasp. It's like trying to to catch the
sunlight or trying to catch the wind.
You can see it, you can feel it. You know what it looks like, you
know what it feels like. But just like the sunlight in
the wind, no matter how much you try to grasp it, it's just,
it's, it's elusive. It feels like you can never get
it. Wouldn't it be great if there
was a well that you could go and drink from, and that as you
drink this water from this well, it would make you meek?
Wouldn't that be great if you know, the same way that Gatorade
supplies electrolytes, this well would supply meekness?
Turns out there is such a well, and the name of the well is
wisdom. James tells us that the source
of meekness is wisdom. Get wisdom, get meekness.
That's what we're going to talk about this morning, the
connection between these two. So let's start off with the next
edition of the text. I'm going to start off by
explaining the text and trying to give us understanding into
it. And then I will give us
application at the end. I believe we have 7 points of
application. So let's start off looking at it
section by section, verse by verse.
We'll start by looking at verse 13, a the very first part where
James asked a question, who is wise and understanding among
you? This morning, James starts off
our passage by asking this question, who is wise and
understanding among you? Now, of course, this raises the
question for us, what does it mean to be wise and what does it
mean to be understanding? Well, James is about to tell us
in a few verses, what are the qualities of wisdom?
So I will wait to let James answer that question.
But as far as understanding the Greek word that James uses here,
it only occurs once in the New Testament.
Here's the definition for the Greek word pertaining to being
knowledgeable in a way that makes 1 effectual in the
exercise of such knowledge an expert or learned.
Now the question is, is why is James asking this question?
Why did? Why does he start by asking this
question? Who is wise and understand among
you? My guess is that there were some
in the church who were claiming to be wise and claiming to be
understanding. There were some who were
self-proclaimed sages in the church.
Similar to what Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 12/11/16
where he says for you gladly bear with fools being wise
yourselves. Now Paul is clearly making that
comment in cheek, and so James is likewise wanting the church
to know that church body wisdom is not determined by a
self-assessment. It is not determined by a title
or a credential or a test score. So what determines if someone is
wise? Look at their team B?
By his good conduct, let him show his works.
So James challenges this so-called wise and understanding
person by his good conduct. Now what does that mean?
Conduct here can mean either behavior or way of life.
When Jesus saved us, he's he not only changed our spiritual
nature, but he also changed our conduct.
He changed the way that we live, and James says that through the
way that we live, we will show our works.
So what James is doing is he's actually returning to his
argument that he started in James 2, where, if you remember,
some of the church said they had faith.
There were people in the church who proclaimed to have faith,
but James challenged him there and said you must show your
faith through your works. And likewise here James is
saying, 1 can say that they have wisdom, that they have
understanding, but they must show their wisdom, they must
show their understanding through their works.
In other words, godly wisdom will produce godly works.
Just as the evidence of faith is works, the evidence of wisdom is
also works. That's what James is saying
here. Look at verse 13 C in the
meekness of wisdom. Now what does that mean?
The meekness of wisdom? Well, let's first answer what is
meekness? Meekness is not a word that we
often use. We use use the word humility.
We don't often use that word, but it is a biblical term.
This is one of my favorite Greek words that that James uses here.
It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy
Spirit. We call it gentleness, Lovejoy,
peace, faces, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness. That word for gentleness is the
exact same Greek word here for meekness.
I love this definition that the Greek lexicon gives here.
It is the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of
1's self importance. That's a good definition, the
quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of 1's self
importance. Now why does James call it the
meekness of wisdom? How are we to understand the
relationship between these two terms?
What's the connection between meekness and wisdom here?
There are two ways to interpret this.
Number one is source. We could understand this as a
source. We would interpret this as
meekness that comes from wisdom. In other words, wisdom is the
source or the cause of meekness. The other #2 is a description or
quality. In other words, meekness
characterized by wisdom. So wisdom gives a quality or a
character to weakness. It's like it's not just
meekness, it's a wise meekness. Now, what are the two does James
intend here? I I think we could argue both.
We could say both. But if we had to choose, I think
he intends the first meeting. I think he means source.
What James is saying is that a truly wise person will be a
humble person. The source of humility is
wisdom. If we want to get humility, get
wisdom. Look at verse 14.
A. But if you have bitter jealousy
and selfish ambition in your hearts.
So James gives 2 sins here. These are either real or
hypothetical that the church that he's writing to may have
had. The 1st is bitter jealousy.
Interesting enough, the word for bitter here is the same Greek
word for salt in verse 11, the Greek word for jealousy.
It can take a positive meaning like to be zealous, right?
The the the word can mean mean to be zealous or something.
But here it clearly has a negative meaning.
It could be positive or negative depending on the context.
Paul writes about this vice. He says for a while there is
jealousy and strife among you. Are you not of the flesh?
First Corinthians 33 You remember in Corinth there was
jealousy and strife among them. And Paul says these point to the
fact that you are not of the Spirit, you are of the flesh.
He also lists jealousy as a work of the flesh in Galatians 520.
That's the first one. The second one is selfish
ambition. This is one word in the Greek.
It can mean strife, it can mean contentiousness, it can mean
selfishness. This is also listed as a work of
the flesh in Galatians 220. There it's translated as
rivalries. We all remember the Apostle
Paul's words in Philippians 2, three, where he says do nothing
from selfish ambition or vain conceit.
Look at verse 14. B.
Do not boast. If you have bitter jealousy and
selfish in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
Now what does James mean here? Do not boast to be false to the
truth. Well, it appears that some in
the church are boasting that they are wise and understanding.
Now, both senior doesn't necessarily mean that, you know,
they're going around just announcing to everybody, but
perhaps there is a certain aura, if you will, that they walk
around as the church thinks of me as wise and understanding.
However, because they had bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in
their hearts, James writes, they were being false to the truth.
How so? How so?
How are they? How are they being false to the
truth? What truth, James is saying,
Look, if you were truly wise, you would be meek.
And if you were meek, you would not have bitter jealousy and you
would not have selfish ambition in your hearts.
But your hearts reveal your pride, and your pride reveals
your lack of wisdom. That's the argument James is
making. He's saying you can claim all
day long that you are wise and understanding, but if you have
these two sins going on in your heart, it testifies that you are
actually not wise. You don't have understanding.
Look at verse 15. This is not the wisdom that
comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and
demonic. Now, wisdom from above clearly
refers to wisdom from God, right?
It's wisdom from God and and James wanted to contrast this
with worldly wisdom. If we are dealing with
capitalism, jealousy and ambition are good things, right?
Here in America, we are capitalistic society and just on
a capitalistic level, jealousy and ambition are good things.
They promote a free market. They promote healthy
competition. We're not all trying to be poor.
It is good that we we see people doing well.
We desire to do well. That drives capitalism, that
drives production. That's a good thing for a
capitalistic society. However, we're not dealing with
capitalism. We're dealing with the church.
James says that in the church, this kind of wisdom is not from
God. It's not from above.
So where is it from? James describes it with three
adjectives #1 he says it is earthly.
Now what's wrong with somebody being earthly?
The definition of this Greek word reveals what's wrong with
it. Here's the definition pertaining
to that which is characteristic of the earth as opposed to
heavenly. In other words, earthly wisdom
is not heavenly wisdom. Two, unspiritual, unspiritual.
Here's the definition of that word pertaining to life of the
natural world and whatever belongs to it, in contrast to
the realm of experience whose central characteristic is
spirit. If you remember, Paul uses this
term in First Corinthians 214 where he says the natural person
does not accept the things of the Spirit of God that were
natural. They are being unspiritual.
What Paul is saying is that fleshly wisdom is not spiritual
wisdom. And then he gives one more
adjective, third one demonic, originating from the lower
spirit world. Paul writes in First Timothy 41
and later time stumbled apart from the faith by devoting
themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings, IE wisdom of
demons. In other words, demonic wisdom
is not godly wisdom. So James is saying that this
wisdom that is going on in the church that he's writing to,
this wisdom is of the world, it is of the flesh, and it is of
the devil. Look at verse 16.
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be
disorder and every vile practice.
James says that if a church does have jealousy and selfish, there
will be two consequences. Number one, there will be
disorder. Does that mean disorder?
Here's the definition. Opposition to established
authority, Unruliness. This is the exact same word used
by Paul and 1st Corinthians 1433 where he says God is not a God
of confusion. That word confusion there
disorder. God is not a God of disorder.
Same word 2, he says there will not only be disorder, there will
be every vile practice also translated as evil thing or evil
practice. So what's James getting out
here? James is saying, look, a little
leaven leavens the whole lump. In other words, sin always
breeds more sin. If you have jealousy and selfish
ambition in the church, it doesn't just stay confined over
here, just as you can't put leaven in a, in a, in a lump of,
of, of dough and expected to stay confined there.
It will spread and James is saying so will these sins.
They will spread in the church. It will breathe more sin, more
disorder and vile practices. Look at verse 17.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, and
partial and sincere. So we know what wisdom from
below looks like. We know what wisdom from below
looks like. What does wisdom from above look
like? James gives us 7 descriptions of
this type of wisdom. Let's briefly look at them one
at a time #1 He says pure wisdom is first.
Pure could also be translated as holy.
That word pure can be translated holy or pure.
Either will do. It means pertaining to being
without moral defect or blemish. It's the same word used in
Philippians 48. If you remember what Paul says,
whatever is pure, think on these things.
I want you to notice that as this is first, this is first.
Just as love is primary in the fruit of the Spirit, I think
that it's that's true. Love is the first purity and
holiness is primary in the fruit of wisdom #2 peaceable,
pertaining to being conducive to a harmonious relationship, or
pertaining to freedom from anxiety and inner turmoil.
In other words, this means that wisdom is characterized by
someone who is peaceful and a peacemaker.
So not only are you peaceful, meaning you are full of peace,
inner peace, but you also are someone who makes peace.
You are a peacemaker as well. Three gentle.
I like this definition too. Not insisting on every right of
letter of law or custom. Yielding kind, courteous,
tolerant. This is actually one of the
qualifications of overseer. Same word, an overseer must be
gentle. 4 Open to reason. None of the major translations
translate the same way because this word is only used once in
the New Testament. They all translate differently.
ESV has open to reason and ASB has reasonable.
NIV has submissive that Bible has accommodating, CSB has
compliant, and RSV has willing to yield.
So you can choose which translation you like best.
I guess they will all work, I think in some nuance. 5 Full of
mercy and good fruits. Notice not just merciful.
Wisdom is not just merciful, it is full of mercy.
If you remember, Jesus commanded us to be merciful even as our
heavenly Father is merciful. And not just a few fruits, but
full of fruits. Wisdom is not just that we have
an apple or two on the tree, it's full of fruits.
If you remember, Jesus said that good trees bear good fruits. 6
Impartial. This is the only time this Greek
word is used. Again, James uses a lot of one
timers. So only time this Greek word is
used could take the nuance of impartial pertaining to being
not being prejudice. It could also take the nuance of
unwavering. That's how the NASB translates
it. They translate as unwavering.
It could take the nuance of without variance or uncertainty
or inconsistencies. Either will do so.
Wisdom is either impartial or unwavering.
Or you could say both. Both would be true.
And then last 7 sincere. The Greek word is literally any
pokritos. Literally translates as not a
hypocrite. Here's the definition pertaining
to not being without pretense, genuine, literally without play
acting. Play acting in the Greek was,
you know, somebody would play a part to where they have two
faces, right? Like this is who I am in in real
life. This is the part that I'm
playing. And this this is where we get
the word hypocrite from where somebody wears two different
faces. And James is saying that wisdom
is not having that. So if we put all this together,
wisdom from above is first pure and holy, peaceful and
peacemaking, yielding and accommodating, merciful, full of
the Holy Spirit, not prejudice and not wavering, genuine and
not hypocritical. Those are the fruit of wisdom.
Verse 18, last verse of our passage.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who
make peace. Now the ESV kind of gives a a
wooden translation here the the NIV smooths out this
translation. Here's how the NIV translates
it. Peacemakers who sow in peace
raise a harvest of righteousness.
Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of
righteousness. You remember Jesus said in the
Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called sons of God.
The idea here is that we reap what we sow, Paul writes in
Galatians 6-8. But the one who sows to the
Spirit will reap from the Spirit.
Reap what? Eternal life?
What James is saying is that look, if we sow demonic wisdom,
we will reap A demonic dwelling, but if we sow wisdom from above,
we will reap A dwelling from above.
We'll stop their exposition. Application of the text.
I have 7:00 or 8:00. I can't.
I wrote 8 here but I think it's 7:00.
I could be wrong, but it'll be a surprise when we get to 7 or
finish it #1 Wisdom isn't what you know, but what you show.
Wisdom isn't what you know, but what you show.
James starts off with a question.
Who is wise and understanding among you?
Now that's an interesting question, isn't it?
Because it's clearly rhetorical. It would, isn't it?
I mean, isn't it? It would be quite odd if
somebody wrote back to James. Dear James, I am sincerely Matt.
It's like asking the church who is humble among you.
The moment we say me, we have become a humble liar.
Part of the reason that James asked this question is because
it appears there's a misunderstanding in the church
as to what exactly is wisdom. There's a misunderstanding in
this church or the churches as to what exactly is wisdom.
What does it mean to be wise? Often people will equate wisdom
with one or several qualities, right?
When we think about what does it mean to be wise, we often will
equate it with a lot of qualities.
A Knowledge. A wise person is someone who
knows a lot. B Intellect.
A wise person is an intelligent person C experience.
A wise person is someone who's lived a long time, or lived
longer than me at least, and has walked many paths, or D success.
If a person is successful, they must be wise or E well read.
A person who's well read will be wise.
That's not how the Bible talks about wisdom, though.
None of those are how the Bible talks about wisdom.
What is the closest synonym to wisdom in the Bible?
That's a question I posed for you.
I'm curious how you would answer that.
What is the closest synonym to wisdom in the Bible?
Here it is obedience. Obedience.
The wise person is the obedient person, James asked.
Who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct?
Let him show it. Let him show His wisdom through
his obedience. You see, to grow in knowledge
without growing in obedience is simply to grow in pride.
You grow in knowledge or doctrine or theology or rhetoric
or argumentation or any of these things, and you don't grow in
obedience. All you have done is grow in
pride. If you want to be a wise man, If
you want to be a wise woman, obey God, because the only path
to wisdom is through obedience. That's it #2A wise person will
be a humble person, and a prideful person is not a wise
person. A wise person will be a humble
person, and a prideful person is not a wise person.
James writes let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
Now as I mentioned the exposition, I think this is a
genitive of source. In other words, James is saying
that wisdom is the source or the cause of humility.
Now how is wisdom the source of humility?
How does this work? Douglas Moo writes this this
Christian meekness comes from understanding our position as
sinful creatures in relationship to the glorious and majestic
God. Let me give a a worldly example
to illustrate this as to the point that MU is making here.
I like to watch business shows. I like to watch business shows
like the prophet or the fixer. The prophet used to this is
businessman named Marcus Lemonis.
He he runs Camping World and he invests in companies and used to
be the show called The Prophet. Now he's not doing the fixer.
He basically goes around and he like fixes other businesses.
It's kind of like I guess Ramsey's kitchen thing that he
does where he fixes kitchens. He does this with businesses.
He invests his own money and obviously, you know, he says
he's doing it to help them, but it's clearly to help himself
like make money. When he goes into these
businesses, often with these small businesses, one of the
reasons that the business is struggling, maybe not one, maybe
the main reason is because the CEO wants to do everything,
wants to do everything. They want to do branding and
marketing, web design, product development, accounting and
finances, operations, sales. They they want to do everything.
It's not just that these leaders are prideful, it's that they're
not wise. They don't have a good
perspective of who they are and how others are better.
Amazon would have never become Amazon if Bezos was insistent on
writing every code. I don't even know if he knows
how to write code. It is important that we have a
right perspective of who we are and who others are.
Likewise, in the Christian life, often the source of our pride is
not having a right perspective of ourselves and not having a
right perspective of God. You see, the foolish man says
what a man to be mindful of. The wise person says what is
man, that you are mindful of him.
There is no such thing as a wise person who is not also humble,
it doesn't exist. And there is no such thing as a
prideful person who is wise, it does not exist.
Wisdom and meekness will all three.
Comparison leads to competition and competition leads to
carnality. Comparison will lead to
competition, and competition will lead to carnality.
James seems to suggest that there's bitter jealousy and
selfish ambition going on in the church.
Craig Blomberg, A commentator, writes this.
This kind of envy seeks the best for oneself, regardless of what
might be good for another person, always wishing for
others to have less than oneself, whether with
possessions or with opportunities.
You know, And I, I was thinking about this as I was preparing
the sermon this week. Like, where does bitter jealousy
and selfish ambition come from? Like, what's the source of it?
Where, where, how does that well up in a person's heart?
And, and I think one of the main breeding grounds of this, where
these two sins take root is comparison.
How easy it is in a church to start comparing ourselves to
others. Where do you live?
Where do you work? What school did you graduate
from? What kind of car do you drive?
Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?
How many kids do you have? How well behaved are your kids?
What school do your kids go to? Are you an elder or a Deacon or
just a member? How much money do you make?
How well dressed and how fashionable are you?
How much Bible knowledge do you have?
How well respected are you in the church?
And on and on and on. Do we not struggle with this?
Do we not look to our right and to our left?
And we use others as the measure of where I stand in the pecking
order. If we start comparing ourselves
to others, here's what will happen.
Comparison always leads to competition.
Always. And competition always leads to
carnality. It leads to bitter jealousy.
It leads to selfish ambition. James says that if we have these
sins, do not boast and be false to the truth.
Now what truth is he saying there?
That we are wise? Do not boast and think that you
are wise and understanding if you are in a competition with
someone and anything. In other words, James is saying
that if we have bitter jealousy, if we have selfish ambition in
the church, we testify not to our wisdom, we testify to our
folly. 4 Make sure the wisdom you abide in is from above and
not below. Make sure the wisdom you abide
in is from above and not below, James writes.
This is not the wisdom that comes from up, down from above,
but it's earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
In other words, for James, there's only two sources of
wisdom. There is wisdom from above and
there's wisdom from a bow below. These are the only two sources
of wisdom. All wisdom comes from either
above or from below. 1 is from heaven and the Spirit and the
Father, the others from the world and the flesh and the
devil. And I was thinking about this
like about how different the wisdom from God is from the
world, right when I, when I stop.
And I was thinking about like man isn't, isn't God's wisdom so
drastically different from the wisdom of the world?
Let me give you some examples. When we are insulted, does not
the world's wisdom say to us, Don't let someone disrespect
you, But does not God's wisdom say it is to our glory to
overlook an offence? When it's time to choose a job,
the world's wisdom says choose whichever one makes the most
money. But does not God's wisdom say to
choose a job that will allow you to glorify Him, allow you to
build His Kingdom, and allow you to be committed to the local
church? When dating, the world's wisdom
says look for compatibility, but does not God's wisdom say to
look for character? When someone sins against us,
does not the world's wisdom says hold a grudge or give them a
cold shoulder, or you know better yet, cancel them?
But does not God's wisdom say that we are to forgive as we
have been forgiven? When it comes to our money, does
not the world say spend, spend, spend and save, save, save?
But does not God's wisdom say it is better to give than to
receive? When we are in the position of
leadership? Does not the world's wisdom say,
listen, you're the leader now, don't show weakness, never admit
fault, present a strong front. But does not God's wisdom say
that we are to be servant leaders when we were choosing
how many kids to have or whether to have kids at all?
Does not the world's wisdom say that we should base this
decision on finances or how much we can emotionally handle?
But does not God's wisdom say that children are heritage from
the Lord? Blessed is the man who fills his
quiver with them. When dealing with trials, the
world's wisdom says you should avoid suffering at all cost, but
does not God's wisdom say that suffering produces endurance?
When dealing with self identity, the world says promote self,
affirm self, but does not God's wisdom say to deny self?
When you are making decisions, Does not the world's wisdom say
it is best to trust your gut, trust your instincts, and be
decisive? But does not God's wisdom say
trust the Lord and wait on Him? Brothers and sisters, make sure
the wisdom you are abiding in is from above and not below.
I say this to you because we are living in the 21st century in
Seattle, WA and almost all of you are swimming in worldly
wisdom. I don't mean that you believe it
or abide in. I'm saying almost all of you are
swimming neck deep in it. I hear it from you.
I hear the arguments you make. Godly wisdom will often like it.
It'll look crazy. Crazy to your coworkers, crazy
to your family. Isn't that what we're supposed
to look like? Aren't we supposed to look
strange to the world? 5 Jealousy and selfishness are
fertile soil for every sinful seed to grow.
Jealousy and selfishness are fertile soil for every sinful
seed to grow, James writes Were for selfish.
Jealousy and selfish abuses exist.
There will be disorder and every vile practice.
Craig Blomberg writes this When we fight for power in Christian
circles, evil establishes A foothold.
When we operate with worldly values, seeking our own honor
and status, we even offer Satan an entrance into the House of
God. Now we see this multiple times
in the New Testament, do we not? If you remember when Jesus had
just finished telling his disciples that he was going to
die for them, right after he says I'm going to die for you on
the third day will rise again. After he tells them that, they
go on their journey. What are they?
They start an argument. Remember what they were arguing
about? Who was the greatest?
Hey, hey, who you think is? Who thinks the goat?
Who's the greatest disciple? On another occasion, James and
John had come up to Jesus and they're kind of timid. 11 Gospel
says the mother asked. Another one says they asked.
I don't know which of the two it is, but it seems to me that they
wanted to use their mother as a shield, right?
They bring mom and they want to ask and they're like, and Jesus
like, what is it guys? What do you want to know?
They're like, would you let us sit on your right hand and left
hand in heaven? And the other disciples resent
them for asking this question. The Pharisees did all their
righteous acts to be seen by others.
They love to be praised by the crowds in the book of Acts.
The gospel is going forth, right?
The church is growing. The apostles are are are growing
the church. And what are the Pharisees feel?
The Pharisees feel nothing but jealousy of the success of the
apostles. When Simon the magician saw the
power that Paul wielded through the Spirit, what did he do?
He tried to purchase it. They said how much do you want
for this kind of power? Ananias and Sapphira, they lied
about their gift. Why?
Because they wanted the church to think they were generous.
In Corinth, factions developed as to who was the best group.
Hey, who about you? What?
I follow Paul, OK, but I follow Apollo's guys.
Cephas. Cephas.
In Galatia, the Judaizers are trying to influence the church
with their false teaching. Why?
They're trying to win them to themselves.
The Judaizers want them to come to their side.
And Philippi. There were some who were
preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry.
Why they thought they would have flicked Paul and his
imprisonment and even John and 3rd John.
I totally forgot about this passage.
John warns against Diotrephes who, quote, likes to put himself
first. Man John, John's, like he, likes
to put himself first. The reality is that nothing has
changed with human nature. These are all still temptations
for us today, are they not? They are temptations for grace
and truth. They are temptations for every
church. Jealousy and selfish ambition
will destroy a church from the inside out. 6 Just as there is a
fruit of the Spirit, there is also a fruit of wisdom.
Now I don't know why, I guess because the word fruit is not
used there, you know, but like, I, I think you know, in the same
way that we have fruit of the spirit and some of the people
put that on their wall or, you know, memorize a song.
I think we should have a fruit of wisdom.
I, I really do. What's interesting is that in
the book of James, James is virtually silent on the Holy
Spirit. There are no verses in his
letter about the Holy Spirit. Maybe one, but I think you can.
Sometimes they use a lower case S because it could just mean our
Spirit. James does not talk about the
Holy Spirit and yet for Paul he mentions the Spirit several
times all throughout his letters.
Now interesting enough, some commentators have concluded that
wisdom and James is synonymous with the Spirit and Paul.
I think that may be a stretch, but I could see how commentators
get there because just as there is the fruit of the Spirit,
there is also a fruit of wisdom. In other words, if a person
wants to know what does it look like for a person to be filled
with the Spirit? If you came up to me and you
asked me, Matt, what does it look like to be a person who was
filled with the Spirit? My answer, if I only had like 10
seconds to tell you, my answer would be this.
Here's what it looks like. You ready, Lovejoy?
Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. That's what it looks like.
That's what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit.
And the first that came up to me and said, Matt, what does it
look like to be a person who is filled with wisdom, right?
How do I know if I'm wise? How do I know if you're wise?
How do I know if I should trust this person or that person?
How do I know? Here's one way you could answer
it. Pure, peaceable, gentle, open to
reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Now I would love to plant here and give a separate application
for each virtue. Maybe 15 years ago I would have
done that, but for time's sake I will just give one brief
exhortation for each. One brief for each really fast.
A pure or holy. God's wisdom is holy, meaning
it's set apart. It doesn't look like the world's
wisdom. It looks different.
It looks holy. Be peaceable.
Wisdom is both peaceful and a peacemaker.
The wise person is not anxious. Let me say that again.
The wise person is not anxious. He trusts in the Lord.
The wise person does not 'cause conflict, he brings peace to
conflict. C Gentle Peter Davids writes.
The wise person does not get angry, combative, or defensive
even under provocation. D Open to reason.
The wise person is eager to listen to others and understand
their argument or their point of view.
They are open to reason. E full of mercy and good fruits.
If the wise person were a tree, they would be a tree of life.
This tree would be full of fruit and one of the most common
fruits. As you went to pick fruit from
the tree, one of the most common fruits you would find on this
tree is mercy. F Impartial wisdom embraces
people without cultural, economic, or social prejudice.
Wisdom has open arms to all. G Sincere wisdom has integrity.
Wisdom strives to be above reproach.
The wise person is the same person in private as they are in
public. Last point #7 What type of
farmer we are in this life tells us what type of field we inherit
in the next. What type of farmer we are in
this life tells us what type of field we inherit in the next.
Now, here's the thing with this type of wisdom.
What, what James is just so here's the thing.
This is going to be the hardest part.
When you leave this place, you know, like this will be the
hardest part for you. It won't be popular with the
world. It won't be praised by the
world. You do this, you walk out of
here and you live like this. You won't have people praising
you that you're wise. You'll have people calling you a
fool, dumb, ignorant. It's not popular.
This type of wisdom will look weak and unattractive because in
the eyes of the world, meekness is weakness, accommodating is
degrading, kindness is blindness, gentle is just
sentimental. Sincerity is insecurity.
But here's what you also need to remember.
James reminds us that what type of farmer we are in this life
tells us what type of field we inherit in the next.
Peacemakers who sow and peace raise a harvest of
righteousness. You see, the world may not visit
your fruit stand, but God does. The world may not approve of
your produce, but God eats at this table.
The seeds of wisdom that we plant in this life will yield a
harvest of righteousness in the next.
Don't live for the world to think you're wise or experienced
or successful or any of these things.
Live for the wisdom that marks us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.