Godly Wisdom – James 3:13-18

I would like to ask everybody that can to stand to their feet for just a minute.  Get just a little bit of space between you and your neighbor.  I promise I am not going to hurt you or embarrass you but in just a second I am going to ask you to stand on one foot for as long as you can.  I promise I have a good reason for asking you to do this and you will be glad you did.  So right where you are just lift one leg and when you can’t stand on just that one leg any more, just sit down.  We are on the honor system here.

Scientists have determined a link between how long a person can stand on one leg and their intelligence.  Evidently, and I don’t know how, but they have determined that the longer you can stand on one leg, the smarter you are.  It has something to do with how your brain is wired.  Now, let’s all stand on our heads for just a minute.  No, I’m kidding.  If you do that in church you’re probably not smart at all.

I thought that was fascinating but did you know that the book of James tells us something similar?  It says nothing about standing on one leg but it tells us how to know who is a wise person.  Just like standing on one leg is to intelligence, there is a test to see how wise a person is.  Turn to the book of James and let’s continue our campout there. James was probably the oldest brother of Jesus and was, according to Paul, a pillar of the church at this time.  He writes to his Jewish brothers and sisters about how they should live and everything he tells them is basically telling them to emulate Jesus.  Everything he says to do or not to do is just what Jesus would have done or not done.  When James says right off the bat to consider it all pure joy when you face difficulties, that is just what Jesus did.  When he says not to show favoritism, we know that Jesus did not show favoritism.  And when he encourages us to tame our tongue, what better example do we have of that than Jesus Himself?

So, what better book to study than James as we continue our focus on being mature believers since that maturity comes from being like Jesus?  Because a focus on Jesus will change a person and a Jesus-focused church will change the world.  We see it all through the New Testament and on into our lives and that is what we want.  We want to change the world through our focus on Jesus.  Let’s look specifically at James 3:13-18.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

So, do you see the wisdom test there?  In verse 13 James asks, “Who is wise?” and then he answers by saying, “the ones who show it by their good deeds.”  We say we want to focus on Jesus.  We say we want to change the world.  But do we?  Do we want those things bad enough to start emulating Jesus; to start acting like Jesus in how we deal with other people and how we deal with the problems of life?  James says that when we start to act like Jesus, we start to show wisdom.

I have given my testimony here before and I told you that I started my relationship with Jesus when I was a young boy.  But as I grew older there came a time when I took a step back and did some real soul-searching.  I wanted to know if the path I was on was the correct one.  If I was going to do this Christianity thing and do it right then I needed to be convinced it was the wise way to go.  So, I took stock of the wise people in my life.  I looked around to my friends and family and the people I knew in and out of the church and made a mental note of who was wise and who was not so wise. I wasn’t looking at intelligence.  If I had, I would have asked them to stand on one leg, right?  No, I was looking for wisdom and that is different than intelligence.  See, I knew some really smart people but I knew that they may be smart but they did some real bone-headed stuff.  I looked for wisdom.  And those who I knew to be wise…had their focus on Jesus.  And when it came to dealing with the people and problems of this world, it was their good deeds that gave them away.

And we all know that it is because of those good deeds that we are guaranteed a place in Heaven, right?  Just seeing if you were awake.  No, of course not.  But I bring this up right here because I am startled and alarmed at the statistics I read about how many people sitting in the average church, sometimes for years on end, still believe that doing enough good deeds will get you to Heaven.

So, forgive me for stating again what most of us should already know about what the Bible teaches about how to know you have a place in Heaven when you die.  And it has nothing to do with good works or being a good person.  The Bible teaches that we are saved by God’s grace and through our faith that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the sins we have committed.  And at the end of the service I will once again invite you to accept Jesus to be Lord of your life and to forgive those sins.

But right now I just had to make sure we were all on the same page about the good works that James is talking about.  It is not that good works get you to Heaven but they do show how wise you are.  But there is a problem.  See, there are two kinds of wisdom.  James tells us about them in the other verses so let’s compare these two kinds of wisdom and as we do we will see that there is a difference in their Origin, Operations and Outcomes (Warren Wiersbe commentary)

First, let’s look at the origins of the two different kinds of wisdom.  Look at verses 14-15 again.  James talks negatively about having envy and selfish ambition.  Now who in the world would ever think to describe envy and selfish ambition as a type of wisdom?  Who in the world?  Everybody in the world.  Everybody thinks it is wise to look out for #1, right?  When you see that somebody else has something that seems to make their life a little better or a little easier then you want that thing too.  That is man-made wisdom. And the Bible is full of illustrations of man-made wisdom.  To Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit seemed like a wise thing to do.  Building the Tower of Babel seemed like a wise thing to do at the time.  When Abraham and Sarah were still called Abram and Sarai, Abraham thought it was very wise to tell the Egyptians that she was his sister and not his wife.  I bet he slept on the couch a few nights after that little mistake.

Ananias and Sapphira thought they were real shrewd telling the church they were giving all the money from the sale of their property and you remember what happened to them.  People today think it’s smart to work on Sunday just like they do the rest of the week so that they can have extra money.  And then they wonder why they still can’t pay the bills at the end of the month.  That kind of wisdom comes from man.  Again, I will quote Proverbs 14:12 that says, “There is a way that appears right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  The state of Colorado thought it was wise to legalize pot and now they wonder why traffic accidents are going up.  General Motors thought it was wise to not say anything about a faulty ignition switch and now they are recalling 2.6 million vehicles for a 57-cent part.  Parents today too often want to be their kids’ best friends and then they wonder why their kids get into so much trouble.  That’s called man-made wisdom. The origin of that wisdom is from the mind of men.

Contrast that kind of wisdom with the other kind of wisdom.  If you were God, would you send your Son to be born in a barn?  In the eyes of the world, is it wisdom that the King of kings be born a poor carpenter’s son?  Is it considered wise that Jesus angered the most powerful men of the time?  Was it wise that He had to die on the cross?  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” That’s the thing about this other kind of wisdom.  It has the power of God behind it.  It has the proven power of the Creator.  It has the life-giving, life-changing, life-taking power of the Redeemer and Sustainer Who was and is and always will be.

I heard the joke about an angel that appeared at a faculty meeting and he told the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom. "Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Now that you have all wisdom, say something." The dean looks at them and says, "I should have taken the money."  (Betsy Devine and Joel E. Cohen, Absolute Zero Gravity)

Even the wisest of decisions made by the smartest of men are foolishness compared to God’s wisdom.  And that leads to the second point.  We have seen the origins of the two kinds of wisdom.  Let’s look at the operations of the two.  Since they originate from radically different sources, they must operate in opposite ways as well.  What are the evidences of false wisdom?  Verse 14 tells us that envy and selfish ambition are the operations of man-made wisdom. Now, just raise your hand if you are eaten up with the sins of envy and selfish ambition.  Nobody would dare raise their hand because none of us suffer from that, do we?  Like so many other things, we are blind to it in our own lives but we see it in others with 20/20 vision.  We see it in King Saul in 1 Samuel 13 when he makes the sacrifice instead of waiting like he was told. 

We see the envy and selfish ambition in King David in 2 Samuel 24 where he counts his fighting men instead of trusting in God.  We see it in the apostles in Luke 9 where they have an argument over who is greatest.  But we fail to see the envy and selfish ambition in the mirror when we want the number of people that church over there has.  We don’t see the envy and selfish ambition in our own lives when everybody knows we have a better pastor than they do and we have a better Bible study teacher and we have a better pulpit than they do.  And our flowers out front are prettier than theirs.  Why are they so blessed? We better start doing what they are doing.

But that is the kind of attitude you get and the kind of wisdom that comes from taking your focus off Jesus.  1 Corinthians 1 says, “God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.”  That explains why sometimes we don’t understand God’s wisdom.  He tells us right there in verse 29, “so that no one may boast before him.”  Your envy and selfish ambition will not be tolerated by God. That is the operation of man-made wisdom or false wisdom.  Let’s now look at what true, godly wisdom looks like.  Look at verse 17.  “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”  Are you having a hard time picturing that?  Is it hard to see wisdom as pure or peace-loving?  Let me give you an example.

I found an old sermon I had preached in 2014 where we were concerned about what we were going to do with the property in Runaway Bay. Most of you know that this church started out there in a big, pretty building but God called us here at the end of 2012. In 2014, though, we are still trying to make payments on that building and it was eating us up. We had leased it to two different churches in that time but they couldn’t make it work and we just didn’t know what to do. Here is part of what I wrote. Forgive me for reading so much but I think it is important to see how God has worked in the life of this church.

“I have done a lot of thinking this week about what our options are for the property in Runaway Bay.  As you know, we can’t afford to continue paying on that property, especially since we are not even using it.  So, I have come up with some options.  Our first option is to do nothing.  Phooey on it.  Walk off and leave it and the debt just sitting there.  Let the bank worry about it.  I guarantee you that Donald Trump would do just that and he’s a pretty wise guy when it comes to real estate. Our second option is to play the lottery.  Let’s all pool our resources, buy a bunch of quick picks and if we win, we can pay off the note.  What do you think?  Well, how about we burn it down and collect the insurance?  Maybe we can start a dance hall in there.  It has a great stage.  Or we can move our church back over there and tell everybody to come look at our beautiful building.  Look at us.  Aren’t we big and pretty? I have to say that while none of those options looks right to me, I don’t know what the right thing is right now.  But my loudest, longest and most fervent prayer is that God would give all of us His wisdom about this.  And when He does I know that it will be pure, as James says.  It will not involve envy or selfish ambition.  It will be peace-loving.  We will be unified about it and even the community will appreciate what we do.It will be considerate to the bank, the community and to the Kingdom, submissive to whatever God wants no matter what it looks like, full of mercy to any buyer or other interested party.  It will show good fruit in that whatever is there next will bring honor to God.  The word James uses next is “impartial” which literally means to be certain about.  We know that wisdom from above brings strength from above.  And lastly, God’s wisdom will be sincere, without hypocrisy or spiritual politics, knowing that whatever He wants us to do will be the best for us and for His Kingdom. I count this test in Runaway Bay to be complete joy, a phrase James could appreciate.  I count it pure joy because I read somewhere – could it be James? – that if we lack wisdom then we should ask for it.  And when God gives us His wisdom that it ends with getting what is best for us and His Kingdom!  Why would you worry about little things like owing the bank a few bucks?  Our God is loaded and wants us to have His wisdom to make the right choices.”

So, since that time, we have worked with the bank and dealt properly with them and now a pediatric physician has bought that building for his home but plans to have conferences there to benefit sick children. We are also in the process of being paid three thousand dollars for some property that was not included in the bank deal and God has brought us out of all of that and into this community where He continues to protect and provide over and over again.

And that leads to my last point and I will make it short because it is obvious.  We have seen the origins and the operations of the two kinds of wisdom.  Let’s look at the outcomes of man-made wisdom and God’s wisdom.  James tells us plainly what the outcomes are for both.  He says in verse 16 that with man’s wisdom comes disorder and every evil practice. The outcome for godly wisdom is in verse 17 and has been proven by the wisdom God has given this church in the past and continues to give even today. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and told them in 2 Corinthians 12:20, “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”  Do you know what the world would call a church like that today?  Typical.  That’s why people don’t have the interest in church that they used to.  Who wants that kind of drama?  They can get that at home and stay on the couch.

So, how do we get the kind of godly wisdom James is talking about? He has already told us in chapter one. Just ask. So, let’s do that right now. Lord, we come to you and humbly ask for your wisdom so that we can make right choices that will bring glory and honor to you.  Use this church however you see fit to further your Kingdom and change this world.