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
And affects how we are viewed by the world
Worldly wisdom says
Do on to others before they have a chance to do it to you
Get what you can
Fight for yourself
That type of wisdom is characterized by
Selfish ambition
By envy when someone gets what you wanted or thought you deserved
It is characterized by Jealousy
Appling worldly wisdom to our spiritual lives is a blueprint for disaster
It can, will and often does
Derail us in our trek to become Bona Fide believers
The world’s wisdom
Says
Do what feels good- regardless of the consequences
The world’s wisdom
Says
Everyone for themselves
The world’s wisdom comes from pride
And selfishness
It comes from unspiritual thoughts
Boastful actions
It comes from being world minded
Earthly minded
And
It causes
Disorder
Disunity
Discontentment
Dissention
And when worldly wisdom is applied to the spiritual part of our lives
It causes Disaster in our personal lives
In our church\and in the body of Christ
Verse 3:14-16
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.
But God’s wisdom is different
James shows us seven major identifying traits of His Wisdom
Is characterized by
Purity
Peace
Gentleness
A willingness to yield
Mercy
Impartiality
Sincerity
Let’s break each of these traits down
Verse 17a
“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.”
Purity
Listen to me
None of us are pure
We are sinners saved by grace
We are people
And
People are knot heads
And when we apply the world’s wisdom
The worlds corrupted wisdom to our spiritual lives
We are even less pure
But
When we apply the pure word of God to our lives
His wisdom
His purity dilutes our impurity
And his purity if given a chance will displace our own impurities to the point of being unidentifiable
What do you mean preacher you may ask?
When we put in good stuff
Good stuff comes out
Put in the word, use the word
Apply the word
His Wisdom
And out comes purity
Put in the filth of this world
The worlds messed up idea of wisdom
And
Well
I think you get it
Verse 17b
“It is also peace loving”
Peace
This kind of peace goes beyond the world image of sitting on the porch of a mountain cabin
Ducks coming in for a landing on the river out front
Elk grazing on the far hill side
Smoke curling from the chimney
It goes beyond a momentary feeling of contentment
The peace James writes about is
The peace that comes at all times, in all circumstances
Inner peace
But even more than that
Peace loving
Desiring peace
Peace with others
Ourselves
The church
The world
And peace with God
The golden rule
Says treat others as you want to be treated
When we do that we are promoting peace
We are peace loving
Peace with ourselves
----- Pause----
Committing ourselves to God and his wisdom
Helps remove worry and strife
It helps us to understand that he is in control and that he is working on our behalf even when it seems just the opposite
But more importantly Peace with God
Using his wisdom to understand how we are to react and respond to his will in our lives
And to his word
Understanding that obedience is a form of wisdom
And the that wisdom is what brings us closer and closer to him
Wisdom that desires peace
Shows peace
And promotes peace
That is the peace James writes about
And loving that peace is Godly wisdom
Verse 17 c
“Gentle at all times”
We have a tendency in the cowboy world to equate gentleness with
Being somewhat less than a real man – or woman
With weakness
That is the world’s wisdom
And the world ideas on how to succeed
Gentleness does not mean weakness
It
Means we deal with each other
In love
In consideration
Accepting faults and opinions
Listen to me
From a worldly wisdom aspect
God would have had every right to squash each of us the very first time we sinned
But
In his wisdom- his gentleness
He chose instead to love us and help us get to the place where we would rely on him and his wisdom
Instead of our own
Verse 17d
“and willing to yield to others.”
When I think of a worldly view of willingness to yield or a lack of wiliness
I see a picture of two trucks
One at each end of a one lane bridge
There is not enough room for both to pass
One driver says
Back up
The other says
No you back up
And so on a so forth
Both are wrong
And both are now late for where ever it was they are going
And both caused a bottle neck
Because not only could they not get where they were going
Neither could anyone else traveling on that same road
If we want to use God’s wisdom we must be willing to yield
That does not mean we water down the gospel’
That does not mean we derail the message
That does not mean we accept false teaching
What that means is
We don’t always have to have everything our own way
That comes from our wisdom
Being right or in charge all the time
The world’s wisdom
From selfishness
Not from God
Verse 17e
“It is full of mercy”
Mercy is a key to living as a Bona fide Believer
Lack of mercy shows just the opposite to be true of us
God in his wisdom showed us mercy
He showed us grace
We sinned
We know it
And we also know that the penalty for our sin
Is death
Eternal separation from God
But
God showed us mercy
The worlds wisdom says get what you, any way you can- is that mercy?
It says climb to the top of the stack on the backs of others- it that mercy?
The bible says give mercy as it was given to you
When we apply God’s wisdom in the form of mercy to our lives
We become forgiving of others
We desire blessing in their lives
And
We show the love of Jesus in ours
Verse 17f
“the fruit of good deeds”
The fruit of good deeds
Feet to faith
Just do it
James says
Following the instructions
Helping others
Meeting needs
Helping
Praying
Comforting
These things are the characteristics of God’s wisdom
This list sounds a lot like the list if the fruit of the spirit that Paul writes about in Galatians 5
God’s wisdom means loving others
The world’s means loving ourselves
Verse 17g
“It shows no favoritism”
I believe we covered this well last week
God’s wisdom has no place for favoritism
Racism
Prejudices
These things are from our own hearts and desires
Not His
Our messed up idea of wisdom
Not his
There should be no place in a Christian’s life for favoritism
Verse 17h
“and is always sincere.”
Sincerity is a true sign that you have the love of Jesus in you
Showing concern with sincerity
Praying for others with sincerity
Giving aid and comfort with sincerity
It is not what we do
But how we do it
That matters
Giving, serving, praying,
Out of obligation
Without sincerity
Does not please God
And it very seldom fools man
God’s wisdom is always sincere
Verse 18
“And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
You see
We go back to the first of the characteristics in this list
We actually go back to a common teaching from God’s word
Living at peace with others
Living at peace with the world
Living at peace with God
And Planting seeds of Peace as we go
And James says reaping a harvest of righteousness
God’s wisdom
Or the world’s wisdom
You chose
But
Chose wisely my son
Your rewards and the soul of those that God places in your path
May well be decided by your choice
Let me leave you with a verse from proverbs and one from Philippians this morning as we prepare to go back out into the world
Proverbs 11:30
“The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life;
a wise person wins friends.”
Philippians 1:11
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ[a]—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
You must choose
Choose Wisely
Close from the heart
Pray
