Living the Foolproof Life
James 3:13-18 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his 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, of the devil. 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 raise a harvest of righteousness.
Intro: There is plenty of knowledge and learning in this world, but it doesn’t necessarily produce wisdom. In reality, wisdom can often be learned from uneducated people. Take children for instance.
• Patrick, age 10, says, “Never trust a dog to watch your food.”
• Michael, age 14, says, “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer him.” He also said, “Never tell your mom her diet’s not working.”
• Randy, 9 years of age said, “Stay away from prunes.”
• Lauren, age 9 says, “Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick.”
• Joel, 10 years old, says, “Don’t pick on your sister when she’s holding a baseball bat.” • Eileen, age 8 says, “Never try to baptize a cat.” -Did you know?
-that there are only two people in Saudi Arabia who subscribe to “Surfer” magazine.
-that from space, the brightest man-made place is Las Vegas, Nevada.
-that the most stolen items in a drug store are batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses and Preparation H.
- that Weird Al Yankovic was valedictorian of his High School class and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture. [John Hamby, sermoncentral.com]
-Do you feel enlightened now? It isn’t all that difficult to accumulate knowledge but wisdom is more than knowing a lot of useless information. Unfortunately, that distinction is still often lacking in our world today. So what kind of wisdom does James refer to here in chapter 3, and how do we get it? Well, if you’ve heard me say much at all, I hope you’ve heard me say that everything ties into relationship – with God, man, or both. James continues to address the issue of Jewish Zealots stirring up ideas of revolt and revolution among the believers to whom he is writing. So he shows man’s way of approaching wisdom, then shows what it looks like when it comes from the Lord. And v.18 of our text really gives the main idea of the message today. Let me give it to you from the Message Bible:
Prop: “You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” James 3:18 (MSG) With God’s help, we can live wisely!
TS: Let’s take a look at these two kinds of wisdom and identify some characteristics that will help us recognize what true wisdom will look like in our own lives.
I. Marks of Manmade Wisdom
-As we look at 4 basic things here, notice that each one ties into our relationships. These might be considered the default settings of our sinful, fallen nature. They tend to come naturally for all human beings. We are told in numerous movies and books that man is basically good and will eventually figure things out for himself. However, we see a world that screams the opposite! We can’t all just get along! Without God, we are not nice people! Let’s look at these marks of man’s wisdom (Or we might even call them roadblocks to true wisdom).
1. Bitter envy - pointed, sharp, zealous (ties in w/ Zealots who fancied themselves successors of Phinehas- Numbers 25:7-8), jealousy possessing no concern for the feelings or welfare of others. It is purely self-centric, the philosophy of self-indulgence.
-Please note that we call these by different names when they show up in our own lives. If we have bitter envy against someone, we might call it a desire for justice. Or we get angry at those who are wealthy, thinking that we somehow deserve what they have. There is nothing admirable about this! It is man’s idea of wisdom. It’s all about me and what I want!
2. Selfish ambition - a contentious selfish motivation. Doing something for personal gain w/o concern for others. The word was used w/ anyone seeking political office for power and personal glorification. We might be tempted to rename this as having a lot of drive or motivation. But if it puts me at the center as the primary beneficiary, then it is pure selfishness and does not reflect true wisdom that comes from God.
3. Pride – a self-centered, self-indulging, arrogant demeanor.
Redefining bitter envy and selfish ambition as positive traits puts us in a place of actually boasting about these qualities. But as James will say in ch. 4, God resists the proud and rewards the humble. Apparently some of the people James is addressing were quite pleased with themselves that they were preparing to defend righteousness by fighting against the Roman govt. But James says, “Get real!”
4. Deception, dishonesty – “Don’t deny the truth,” says James. “You’ve riled yourselves up, speaking curses against the Romans, boasting of how you will defeat them, but this is not from God! It is from your own selfish, envious hearts. Your actions are clearly saying that the grace of God is not enough for you. You must resort to violence to get what you think is rightfully yours.”
-So, James messes with what might have been considered Jewish patriotism. It is likely that his letter went totally against the culture of the time. However, a few years later when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and much of Judea, because of the Jews who were in open rebellion, James’ letter probably seemed much weightier.
-James goes on to talk about the source of this manmade wisdom. Let’s look at it.
II. Seeds of Manmade Wisdom
1. This earth- humanistic (man’s way vs. God’s way)
2. Natural- stemming from the sinful nature of man. Natural in the sense that man is plotting his course apart from God. There is no supernatural consultation. The only prayer given was to bless what they had already decided to do.
-As we seek to honor the Lord and follow Him, we must avoid this trap of doing our own thing and asking God to bless it. The result will be failure.
3. Demonic- finds its source in opposition to God. When man rejects the counsel of God, he opens himself up to the advice of devils and demons. There really is no neutral ground. When a person says, “I will do what I want to do,” that is like sending an invitation to the devil.
-There was a reason the prophet Samuel told Saul that rebellion and willful disobedience was like the sin of witchcraft. When a person refuses to do things God’s way, it is like making friends or developing a relationship with the powers of darkness. Refusing the wisdom of God opens a person up to the false wisdom that may sound good, but ultimately aligns us with the enemies of God!
-So if you find yourself convinced that you just need to give yourself a bye on following the Lord and obeying Him fully, beware! You may convince yourself that you just need some time for yourself or a spiritual vacation of sorts, but once you start down the path that leads away from God’s leadership, there’s no telling what you will encounter! V.16 says there you find disorder and every evil practice. Just don’t do it!!! Don’t fool yourself and don’t allow yourself to be fooled by the enemy or your sinful nature, or by the way this world thinks and acts! Don’t be wise in your own eyes, but discover what God’s will is and do it!
-Well, let’s move on to Godly wisdom and see what it looks like.
III. Marks of Godly Wisdom
1. Good conduct, lifestyle, good works (13)
2. Humble (13)
3. Pure (17) - holy, and clean.
4. Peace-loving (17)
5. Gentle- considerate (17)
6. Submissive – accommodating (17) Not stubborn nor obstinate; of a yielding disposition in all indifferent things
7. Merciful- (full of mercy) (17) ready to forgive
8. Filled with good fruit (good results) (17)
9. Impartial- no favorites, just (17) Without making a difference- rendering to every man his due; and being never swayed by self-interest, worldly honor, or the fear of man
10. Sincere- not hypocritical or pretentious (17)
V.18 says that Seeds of Peace produce righteousness in our lives. Anger, fighting, envy, selfishness are seeds that will grow, but the fruit will be disastrous! The proper question is not simply how well your garden is growing, but what are you growing? What has been planted there? Envy and selfishness will turn into plants of disorder and evil practices. But those who love God’s peace will plant seeds of grace and produce what is good and right, all to the glory of God!
Conclusion: So, what is growing in your life? Are you doing things God’s way? Do you know what God’s way is? You must seek Him to find out what is important to Him. And as you get to know Him, be sure that He will lead you and help you learn His wisdom and His ways.
-It’s not always immediately obvious on the outside what kind of wisdom you are following. However, if it involves doing life without God, it is a dead-end that can either destroy you and those you love, or at the very least, waste the precious little time you have on this earth to make a difference in the lives of others.
-Someone said, “Your life is a dash between two dates – use it wisely.” Good advice! Let’s ask the Lord to help us do just that!
