Wisdom from Above
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
Prayer
Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the 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, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, 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.
Sermon
Sermon
Previously...
Trials test our faith
Hearing & Doing the Word
Sin of Partiality
Love your neighbour
Faith without works is Dead
Taming the Tongue
Teachers will be judged far greater
A tongue cannot curse man and praise God - fresh and salt water do not come from the same spring
Show Wisdom through Good Conduct
Show Wisdom through Good Conduct
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
James assumes:
Believers pray for God’s Wisdom
That they possess this virtue
That the world looks to them for leadership
But, this is not always true of professing Christians
Examine yourself
“Wise and understanding”
A wise person also have experience knowledge and ability
Wisdom consists of having insight and expertise to draw correct conclusions
Knowledgeable people are not necessarily wise
When a knowledgable person has insight, he is wise
Your actions speak louder than words
Put your wisdom into action
Let a man provide actual proof that he possess wisdom and understanding, through his actions
Let him confirm this by means of his daily conduct
“Meekness of Wisdom”
Such actions are performed in a humble, gentle spirit that is controlled by a spirit of heavenly wisdom
humulity
showing a modest or low estmate of ones self importance
not with arrogance, superiority and egotistical
Bitter Jealousy and Selfish Ambition
Bitter Jealousy and Selfish Ambition
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
“bitter jealousy and selfish ambition”
James recognises the challenge in the churches
Harbouring such they will be consumed
James points out the clarity of the sinfulness
You shall not covet
Love your neighbour as yourself
Do not boast of your sinfulness or deny the truth
Such people normally speak of their desires to anyone who lends a listening ear
Everything they say is contradicted by the truth
Paul also addresses this ...
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
“bitter jealousy and selfish ambition”
its origin is not heavenly
it is sinful, unspiritual and demonic
The true believer prays continually for wisdom from God, who gives generously to anyone who asks him.
Without faith and prayer a person can never gain wisdom
his words spoken out of envy and selfish ambision show a make-believe wisdom that originates with man
Earthly
Earthly
that which is earthly stands against/contrast to what God originates in heaven
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
Unspirirtual
Unspirirtual
Paul spoke of wisdom being tught by the Spirirt of God
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
To be unspirirtual is to lack the guidance of the Holy Spirit
Demonic
Demonic
James is blunt
The devil is the father of lies, and he seeks to get the world to perpetrate his lies.
When a member of the church becomes his instrument to spread his lies it is the worst of all situations
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
Envy is the resentful and even hateful dislike of the good fortune or blessing of another
James calls envy bitter
Envy destorys mutual confidence, demolishes unity and is designed by the devil/demons.
Envy develops into disorder
Selfish Ambition
leasds to evil practices that overshadow and eventuallly eliminate love for God and one’s neighbour
Jealousy and quarrelling was mongst the churches in Corinth
for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Is there any surprise that Christians desiring to be like the Corinthians also fall to envy and selfish ambition, or that they decend into disorder?
Heavenly Wisdom
Heavenly Wisdom
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
True wisdom become evident when man makes decisions that are dependent on and in harmony with the will of God
Heavenly wisdom is “pure”
Attitude
Attitude
A believer who excercises the gift of heavenly wisdom possesses a self-controlled termperament that expresses peace
They are also considerate, being fair reasonable and gentle in all their deliberations
They refrain from placing themselves first and always considers other better than himself
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
Always ready to listen, and willing to accept admonitions and corrections
Action
Action
“full of mercy and good fruits”
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
James relies on his prior definition...
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Judgement
Judgement
“impartial and sincere”
a wise person does not take sides in a dispute when he serves as arbitrator
He listens carefully and objectively to the arguments presented to him and then renders judgement that is firstly impartial and then sincere
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
A Harvest of Rightousness
A Harvest of Rightousness
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Righteousness sown in peace yields a harvest of righteousness
famers plant crops using the seed and climate controls required for the expected crop
righteousness cannot be produced in a climate of bitterness and self-seeking
Author of the hebrews also reminds us...
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology