Real Wisdom
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Real Wisdom
‘Get Real’ Series on James
James 3:13-18
Life is full of Choices. What are we going to eat for breakfast? Where are we going to lunch today after services? What color car do you want? Which house to you want to buy when you move to Vermont on Pastor’s Salary… In fact, when we make choices, we are actually saying no to everything else except what we choose. When you pick a dessert at the restaurant, you are saying no to all the other desserts. When you get married you are saying that you will forsake all others. Choices set the direction of your life. Wisdom is what makes the difference between good choices and bad choices.
What is at the top of your list of requests to God?
I wonder, if I were to take a poll this morning and ask you to write down your top 10 requests to God, would wisdom be on that list? Would you ask for wisdom?
Have you ever met someone that you loved to get advice from? Someone who just seemed to have been in every circumstance, a wise experienced person. We all seek advice from others from time to time.
It is funny in the movies, especially in the hero movies, comic book movies that have been coming out recently. You have this person who has all this power but often does not know how to use it. There is always someone in the background giving wisdom and advice to the hero. Batman had Alfred, in Star Wars the Jedi had Yoda, the X-Men had the professor, Rocky had Mick in his corner. The point is this, even those with incredible skill sought wisdom.
Even professional athletes seek wisdom from others. These athletes have personal coaches and trainers, they know that there is a limit to what they know. They have natural ability, but they are constantly looking for people who know more and are wiser in certain areas that will help their career.
So, what exactly is wisdom? How do you decide who is wise, and who isn’t? Webster’s dictionary says that wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight, and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgment. Discernment is the key word in that definition. Wisdom is the ability to discern!
Wisdom is the Ability to Discern!
Go ahead and turn your Bibles to James chapter 3 verse 13. We have spent the last several weeks looking at this letter written to the early 1st century Jewish Christians. This letter was written by James, the brother of Jesus. On this topic of wisdom, I would think that James would know a thing or two. Two weeks ago, we looked at the beginning of chapter 3, where James spends a lot of time talking about how we use our tongues. Then he moves into this discussion about how we use our tongues.
James 3:13–18 (ESV)
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
15This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Throughout this letter that we have been studying, James compares and contrasts a lot of things. In Chapter 1 he contrasts the person who considers himself religious with one who has a religion that is pure and faultless. He moves on to whether we will treat the poor with respect or not. Will we assist needy people, or will we talk about assisting them? Will we tame our tongue, or will it be a destructive force in our lives? Here in this passage, he contrasts two kinds of wisdom.
James begins this discussion by looking at false wisdom. He says that if our thoughts and motives have jealousy and selfish ambition, or envy in them, that is not wisdom.
Question? Do you have any jealousy, selfish ambition, or envy in your life right now? OUCH! We all have that don’t we!?
Let’s take a moment to look at each of these words, because it all to easy to convince ourselves that we don’t have those problems.
Envy and Jealousy. Daniel Doriani says, “Envy is the enemy of Christian living. It is the opposite of grace, for it wants to grasp rather than to give. Envy is the opposite of caring for the needy. Envy sees only its needs and desires. Envy thinks other people should care for themselves. Left to ourselves, we all live for ourselves and envy what others have.”
Envy is the Enemy of Christian Living.
Envy and jealousy simply are when we want what others have. Maybe it is a house, a car, boat, a spouse; we wish our kids were like someone else’s. We wish we had someone’s job.
James is saying that there is a connection between Godly wisdom and envy and jealousy.
What about selfish ambition? Selfish ambition is not being “Goal Oriented.” It is not “going after things in life.” Selfish ambition is when we make decisions solely for our benefit. Do you ever do that? Be honest! I know I do.
Selfish Ambition -- Making Decisions Solely for Our Own Benefit.
James calls that way of life, marked by envy and ambition, a kind of wisdom because envy and ambition do have a certain logic to them. The logic runs like this; I must look out for my interests. If I don’t, no one else will. I must get what I deserve. I see other people that I am around. People at school, people at work. People that were hired with me. Some have passed me, even though they have no more skills and work no harder than me. I deserve more… I deserve what they have, the logic goes... We think, “haven’t I earned that right?”
It is really the wisdom of the world to boast, “I will take care of myself’ I will get what I want.” There is no God in that kind of thinking. James tells us in verse 16:
James 3:16 (ESV)
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
This is what shows up in churches a lot. Someone might have an idea and it is usually a good idea, something that is near and dear to their heart. They present that idea, and nothing happens, and they get very upset. Why? Well sometimes, not all the time mind you, but sometimes it is selfish ambition.
Ever been in a group of people and said something to make someone else look stupid? We do that to make ourselves look better. This is selfish ambition.
If we want to have disorder and evil present in our church, we will look for people with selfish ambition as a motive for seeking leadership. As I look for leaders in this church, I am looking for people who lack this horrible quality. I am looking for those who pick up the trash lying around, who puts away chairs that are left out without being seen. The behind-the-scenes leaders. Those who do not seek recognition for their actions. Those who do not need to be seen to do the work of the Lord. I am looking for leaders who do not have to be out in the front all the time. Because James is right. Envy and selfish ambition do not bring any good thing to any church.
Sometimes in our lives when we are thinking, “I deserve what that person has, or I should be getting that award or recognition,” God is keeping it from us because we are not ready for it.
When I moved to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, I did so to be the Minister of Music at Easthaven Baptist Church. After I took the job, I realized that I needed some additional musical training, so I enrolled to take some classes at CSU.
While taking some voice lessons I auditioned to play a part in Oklahoma. Much to my surprise I landed the lead role of Curly. Thinking it was a fluke, a year later I auditioned for lead role in South Pacific. I got it too. I landed the role of Emile. Let me tell you, this unexpected success took me by surprise. I started thinking about how good I sounded when I sang. And I even started believing some of the compliments that were thrown my way, little things like, “wow, you are the best baritone at CSU!” Things like that.
Well, the following year I auditioned for The Music Man, and I went for the lead. I got a second call back and then a third. They could not decide between me and two other guys. In the end they picked both of the other guys! I was stuck in the barber shop quartet! It really bothered me; besides, I was the best baritone at CSU!!
Looking back on that experience I realize that God was blessing my efforts in the beginning because I was doing what I was doing to serve him, to better my ministry for Him. In the end I was just strutting my stuff, saying look at me! And God gave me a dish of humble pie!
A few weeks ago, we talked about faith and deeds. Chapter 2 tells us that faith without deeds is dead. This comes up again here in chapter 3. James says that anyone who is wise shows it with the way he lives his life. Good deeds are the basis on which we can demonstrate and show wisdom.
James 3:17 (ESV)
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Let’s look at the products of this verse. Pure, without stain. This is the opposite of selfish ambition. Pure wisdom is wisdom that is not out for itself. Instead of pushing our agenda forward, real pure wisdom pushes the kingdom of God forward.
Peaceable and gentle. These are not just weak traits we are talking about here. Sometimes to be peaceable and gentle we must be bold and tough. We should be gentle when we boldly set wrongs right.
This is what one biographer had to say about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play major league baseball, attained this blend of strength, self-control, and a meek refusal to assert rights. Robinson had other options as a professional athlete. He was better at football, but professional football was already integrated. He chose to help integrate the main professional sport of his generation, major league baseball.
Robinson was a fiery man and a man of deep convictions. Ordinarily, he was fearless about expressing those convictions, but for his first two years with the Dodgers, he chose to remain almost totally silent, whatever abuse was heaped upon him. He intended to prove that his race had the mental and athletic toughness to compete at the highest levels. He had to be strong to be gentle.
Robinson played 2nd base for the Dodgers. Pee Wee Reese, a popular all-star shortstop played next to him on the field. One day, players from another team fired the cruelest racists slurs at Robinson inning after inning. Reese, a southern man, faced a choice. He could pretend he heard nothing. He could shout back at the other team. As the jeers grew, Reese stirred. It is customary for baseball players to toss a ball around between innings. As the Dodgers did this, Reese walked over to Robinson, draped his arm around his shoulder, and smiled at the opposing team. The tormentors fell silent.
Patience and love proved Robinson and Reese to be gentle but strong.
I was asked once, “how do we say what we think and be true in our speech and not offend people at the same time? It can be dangerous to tell people we are angry at them or hurt by them or just simply to say we think they are wrong about something. I do not want to be a door mat for anyone.”
Does Jesus want us to be a doormat in the name of unity and forgiveness?
This verse answers this question. At times we must boldly say, I think you are wrong. You hurt me back there when you said that. Or, we need to pull aside a friend and say, “I think you are living in sin right now. I think you need to change in this area of your life.” No one likes doing that, but when we don’t do it, we are not helping, not loving, those around us.
Often, instead of talking with someone to help them in an area, we talk to someone else about it, or we say it to them in a mean and horrible way that hurts them. That is not what James is talking about.
One author (David P. Nystrom) said this, “In practice we often confuse the biblical idea of peace with its impoverished modern counterpart, the absence of obvious tension. We do this in part because we find it expedient in the short run to avoid disagreement and the tension it brings.”
Often, we pursue the absence of tension over peace within our life. We think it is easier if I don’t say anything. In the end, we don’t have any peace then, do we? It is easer to bottle up the hurt that someone has done to me to keep the peace. So, we don’t say anything.
The whole discussion on wisdom really takes us to discussion about peace in our lives.
Earlier I asked you if wisdom was something that you would ask God for. Let me ask you another question.
Are you in a situation right now that you can’t figure out the answer?
Maybe you are in a relationship that you can’t seem to figure out. Maybe right now you are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life. James says, ask for wisdom.
Maybe you are dealing with a child that you can’t seem to get through to, maybe it is a family member that seems to live on a different planet. Maybe a boss you can’t deal with anymore. James says, ask for wisdom. Maybe you are dealing with a decision and both options seem like good ones, but you don’t know which on to choose. Ask for wisdom.
If we lack wisdom, the only person that we can blame is ourselves. Since God wants to give us wisdom.
James 1:5 reads God wants to lavish wisdom on us, like a good gift.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 3:18 (ESV)
18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
I think this whole discussion is really about peace. In our lives, in the church, and in our community. Because
Wisdom Leads to Peace
What would you give for some peace in your life? We would love to separate these things, wisdom and peace, but James puts them together. He says, Godly wisdom, which God gives to whoever asks for it, leads to peace.
The Greek word that James uses for peace is εἰρήνη (eirēnē) (E-rain-ey). It means harmony, tranquility, the idea is a peace that gives you the freedom from worry. This word is the same concept as the Old Testament Hebrew word Shalom.
Shalom means to be whole, to be healthy, to be complete. That is what I want and that is what God is wanting to give us, but we fail to ask Him for it. We try to make it on our own, moving through life trying to hold onto our decisions and holding on to things out of our control. Instead, we need to take that job, spouse, parent, child, sickness, our future and put them at the feet of God and say, “Here you go, I need your wisdom on these things. I want to be whole. I want your peace, your Shalom.
I want to invite you to give those things over to God this morning. Maybe you can take that sheet of paper on your pew and write down what you need wisdom on and come up here to the altar and give it to God. Make a list of what you need Shalom with and leave it with God. As we sing, Will you pray, “God I need your Shalom with these things.
Please God, Give Me Your Shalom.