Bona Fide- A Study Of James- Part 9- "Choose Wisely" Series

Bona Fide

A study of James

Part 9

“ You must Choose---Choose wisely”

Many years ago

Coke or Pepsi did a commercial

That was a spin off from the movie “Indiana Jones and the last crusade”

In the commercial and the movie

Indy was being advised to make a wise choice

Now I don’t know or care if you like Pepsi or Coke

And I truly don’t believe there is actually a right or a wrong choice as that commercial claimed

That is the case with many things we are confronted with daily

Choices about where we will shop

Where we will eat

What we will buy

And I can tell you these choices are most often based on worldly or personal wisdom

Such as convience

Personal taste in food, clothing, trucks etc

Maybe based on what you were raised with

I have heard arguments over what type of Ketchup is best

And many discussions

Sometimes heated

On the ongoing debate over Ford- Chevy or Dodge

But all of these choices are based on opinion

And personal wisdom

What I mean by that is maybe you have discovered that one thing suites your needs or desires better that others and you based your decision on that

As we continue of study of James this morning

We come back to a topic that I touched on briefly a few weeks back

At that time

I told you we were going to get back to it

And today is the day

The topic of James teaching for today is the two types of wisdom

Godly wisdom

And worldly wisdom

He shows us the difference and then

Draws another dot

To help us

With how we should make choices n this area of our lives

Please open your bibles to James 3

James 3:13-18

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

Many in today’s world confuse knowledge and wisdom

Someone can have vast amounts of knowledge and lack wisdom

Let me explain

In a worldly view

We all know someone who is so smart on a subject

That it should be against the law

But

When it comes to actually doing the thing they have so much knowledge about

They are completely incompetent

From a spiritual point

We all know people who are masters at scripture memorization

They can quote chapter and verse of more of the bible than Billy Graham

But

When it comes to applying the word to their lives

Or helping apply it to the lives of others

Not so wise

Many times those people

Know about a subject

Know about Jesus

But don’t know the subject of their studies

Don’t know Jesus

So James says

We need to use Bona Fide wisdom in our lives

And he says that that kind of wisdom comes from God

And he says that our own wisdom and the worlds wisdom is like holes in our underwear

They will fail us when needed most

First let’s look at some of the world’s wisdom

I will tell you there are some types of the world’s wisdom that are beneficial in a physical

Not spiritual

But physical way

What do you mean preacher you may ask?

The world’s wisdom says it is a really bad idea to go to an ATM

In the middle of the night

On a dark street

And withdraw money

Chances are if you do this

You may get mugged

And relieved of your hard earned money

Right

This is worldly wisdom that has good physical benefits

Worldly wisdom says

Don’t got into the bank wearing a ski mask

No matter no cold it is outside

Once again

Good physical worldly wisdom

Worldly wisdom says don’t yell bomb on a plane unless you like being taised, dog piled

Wadded up, handcuffed and integrated for days

These are good words of wisdom

But

Let’s look at some other type’s worldly wisdom

The types James and I are addressing

Wisdom that affects our spiritual life