Got Wisdom?
James 3:13-18
I hope you recall that James is speaking to Jews living in a foreign land. Jews that believe that the messiah has come and are persecuted for their belief. The book of James teaches us a bout a faith that works, a faith that is made visible by actions.
Today we are looking at how James describes wisdom. I mentioned last week how James’ writing style is hard to outline. Instead of flowing from topic to topic he seems to pop from idea to idea. Back in Chapter 1verse 5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
I did some research on wisdom. I found a couple of collections of wisdom that I thought might be valuable to share. The first one is a list of tidbits of wisdom that come from children. It seems that sometimes it takes a child to find life’s simple truths.
For example: Patrick, age 10, said, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
Michael, 14, said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, "Do I look stupid?" don’t answer him.”
Michael, wise man that he was also said, “Never tell your mom her diet’s not working.” • Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.”
I wonder how he discovered that bit of wisdom?
Kyoyo, age 9, said, “Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time.”
Naomi, 15 said, “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse.”
Lauren, age 9 said, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
Joel, 10 years old, said, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” Eileen, age 8 said, “Never try to baptize a cat.”
I don’t know about you, I learned something about wisdom when I read that list.
I found another collection of wisdom statements that I thought you might find useful.
It is called The Wisdom of Cowboys:
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
• Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier ’n puttin’ it back in.
• If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.
• If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
• Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
• There’s two theories to arguin’ with a woman. Neither one works.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
• Never slap a man who’s chewin’ tobacco.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• Don’t kick a sleeping dog.
• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
The thing I want you to notice in the examples I listed, mostly originate in connection to negative personal experiences
I have heard people say that experience is the best teacher.
I hope you will recall that James clearly told us that everyone makes mistakes. We have good and bad experiences. We mess up. James told us that a perfect person can keep his body and his tongue in check because they have perfect discipline. However, he said no man, woman or child is perfect.
Last week we learned that the tongue is the “tattle tale” of the soul. Our mouths and our actions will demonstrate what our relationship with God is actually like.
A person, a teacher, a Christian with false motives will eventually be ratted out by their own tongue and actions. So, last week we learned that nobody is perfect and that we have to let the Captain, God steer our lives.
Today’s scripture James asks a question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?”
Is that a trick question? A little trap to get the pride filled readers to tattle tale on themselves. I would like to be able to answer that question with a yes. I think it is OK to want to be wise, to want to know the answers to life’s questions. It seems that when we think of a wise person we get an image of the man with a long beard sitting on the mountain top and people approach and ask the meaning of life.
James is not condemning wisdom or wise people. He is saying that wisdom is another way that faith becomes visible in the life of a believer. He says, “Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
James asks are any of you wise and then tells us that a person that is wise will show it by their good life. Lives that have deeds, actions that originate out of humility that comes from wisdom.
Humble deeds – actions done without concern for or about yourself.
James is saying that wise people of faith can be recognized by how they live and how they treat others.
Then James continues, “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
It is a good thing to want to raise good children and to have a good job and a nice home. But of you do those things to be better than your neighbor, or your sister or brother then you are not wise in the right way.
We tend to think that a wise person is one that is able to get ahead in life. They make the best financial decisions. They get the right education. They choose the right friends so that they can move up in the world.
James says that there is a problem with the kind of wisdom that is driven by envy and ambition.
- Wisdom that is bases on jealousy and selfishness is not going to demonstrate a proper relationship with God. A person that just ACTS wise in the things of God should not boast about their trust and dependence on God. Don’t cover-up the truth with false claims.
Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
Wisdom that is based on earthly experience does not come from heaven….. It is unspiritual and worse it is from the devil.
He identifies that the way you know it is earthly is pretty simple. If your act out of envy of other people and out of self ambition then you are demonstrating earthly wisdom.
Earthly wisdom has a simple motto – look out for number 1. That wisdom will influence your actions on every level and it will be what you teach your family to live by.
Earthly wisdom divides people into haves and have not’s. Earthly wisdom will allow a person to do what ever they NEED to do to get ahead in this world.
If everything you do is about you and yours and finding ways to have more and look better than others ….it is the wrong kind of wisdom.
If I have not been clear enough, earthly wisdom is bad. Earthly wisdom is limited to getting ahead for personal pride and power.
James speaks of a second type of wisdom, “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.
Heavenly wisdom is first of all pure....The Greek word has a meaning of pure enough to approach the gods, which would be a ritual purity. In this context is more likely to mean without ulterior motives. Perhaps more importantly heavily wisdom invites others to approach God.
Then heavenly wisdom is peace-loving. It means peace in man to man relationships and between man and God. Heavenly wisdom is not arrogant or superior but brings people and god together.
Heavenly wisdom is considerate – some translations say gentle or courteous.
It is submissive, yielding to others, it is full of mercy and good fruit.
Heavenly wisdom is impartial and sincere.
If a person lives like that then their wisdom is bound to be noticed.
When James asks his readers if they are wise it is like a friend asking me about my cholesterol level.
There is more that one kind of cholesterol. There is LDL which is the bad kind and the doctor wants that as low as you can get it. Then there is HDL which is the good cholesterol and the Dr. wants it to be as high as possible.
Renee and I were at a health fair a couple of weeks ago and we were holding our blood test in our hands. We waited for a nurse to review the results and tell us what all the little codes meant. We each had circles on the report that indicated something out of normal.
They looked at mine and said that my LDL cholesterol (Bad Cholesterol) was just a little high.
Then they looked at Renee’s paper and she did sort of a double take. The circle on her page was on cholesterol was very high. She said, I don’t think I have ever seen a reading that high before. Your HDL (Good Cholesterol) is great! What ever you are doing keep it up.
Renee said that she did not know what would make the HDL any better or worse.
James is speaking to his readers and saying that there are two kinds of wisdom. You want the earthly kind to be revealed as little as we can. That we need to watch where our actions and words are driven by and to be aware of the wrong motives.
The odd thing about heavenly wisdom….a person that lives a that way would probably never recognize how wise they really are. It will just be something that feels right. They may claim it was the way they were raised. They live showing respect and compassion to other people. They not consider themselves better than others. They tend to love all the people around them for who and what they are. They use their wisdom to help others as well as themselves.
A person of faith, real faith is eligible to receive the gift of heavenly wisdom.
It comes from turning away from our earthly wisdom, the things we learn from experience in this world to something different. Something based on faith which also us to be content and thankful with what we have and be willing to share with others.
Heavenly wisdom is about having peace with God and other people. It is about being a peacemaker and building relationships.
James finishes today’s reading with, “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
Folks true wisdom is practical. It is used to build people up and not down. It has hands and feet and words that demonstrate a faith and trust in God.
What kind of wisdom do you claim to have, what are you showing the world with your actions? Are you sewing seeds of peace to have a harvest of good friends or separating yourself to gain the best position and advantage?
All Glory Be to God
