“Humility that Comes from Wisdom”
James 3:13-4:10
You wouldn’t think it would be all that difficult.
We were all formed from the same dust of the earth, by the same Creator.
Basically, our bodies are pretty much the same.
We all get sick.
We all need to eat.
All of us are lonely at times.
Everyone has insecurities and fears, and we are all going to get old—Lord willing—or are getting old and then we will eventually die.
I remember, as a real young kid, I thought that the guy who played the Six Million Dollar Man on t-v…
…now if you are younger than 50 you might not know who this is…but stick with me…
…I thought the guy who played the Six Million Dollar Man on t-v—Lee Majors-- and was married to Farrah Fawcett—the sex symbol of the late 1970’s was just the coolest person in the world—almost god-like!
Then, one day, my dad said to me: “Kenny, Lee Majors has to put his pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.”
This revelation was quite startling, and at first, a little difficult to picture in my mind.
It is hard to come to grips that the idols we sometimes worship are no better than we are.
And it may be harder still, for us to realize that we—ourselves—are no better than anyone else.
I remember when my sister Lisa found out that she was going to have to get glasses.
She ran into the house, up the stairs and into her room crying and wailing.
I asked my mother why Lisa was so upset.
My mother responded: “Don’t worry Kenny, Lisa has just found out that she is not perfect.”
Ever since the first two humans, Adam and Eve, gave in to the serpent’s temptation in the garden and realized they were naked we humans have been trying to sew fig leaves together in order to cover our nakedness…
…our humanness…
…our faults, our fears, our sins—you name it!
But what was true in the Garden of Eden is true today—from birth to death—all of us stand naked before the God Who created us.
Nothing is left uncovered.
So, from the outside looking in, you wouldn’t think it would be all that difficult to be humble…but horror of horrors…it is VERY difficult.
James is very practical in what we are reading this morning and he pulls no punches.
The word that sticks out to me is humility.
As we look around our culture and our world, humility is not something we easily find.
But when we do find it, there is almost nothing more beautiful or noble.
“Who is wise and understanding among you?” James asks, “Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
“Humility that comes from wisdom.”
Isn’t that cool?
The most wise are the most humble.
You’d think it would be the other way around.
You’d think the most wise would be the most arrogant…
…but then, when you really think about it…
…that couldn’t be true.
And that is because arrogance is absurd.
For any of us to think we are any better than anyone else is the most naïve and unwise thing imaginable.
And yet, it happens all the time.
For example, have you ever passed a beggar on a highway over-pass and looked down on him or her?
Ever pass judgement?
When we see some of the situations that take place in 3rd world countries…say, like the way they wash their clothes or the kind of clothes they wear do we look down on them…even just a little bit?
Do we somehow think of them as at least a little less than we are?
Or have we ever tried to get a “leg up” on our neighbors, co-workers—whoever?
Have we ever done anything just a little bit shifty in order try and make ourselves seem better than we are or better than someone else?
Ever hurt someone else’s feelings in order to try and get ahead?
Have you ever bullied someone?
Have you ever gone along with the crowd in order to fit-in?
So many of us work so hard, get so stressed out, and expend so much energy trying to make others think we are something great.
And no matter how much we may say we want to please God, we are really wanting to please other people.
Popularity with the masses has become salvation for many of us…and what a shame…because popularity with the masses…when pleasing God is put aside…will only fade, leave us unsatisfied and will lead to our eventual destruction.
God’s way is so different than the way of this dark and lost world.
And thank God for that.
James teaches us that there is a wisdom that does not come from heaven—it is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
And there is a wisdom that comes from heaven.
This wisdom is “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
These two “wisdoms” are diametrically opposed to one another.
One of them leads to disorder and every evil practice.
The other “reaps a harvest of righteousness.”
Our cynical world might look on someone who is gentle and humble as a person who is a bit naïve, not really aware of how nasty the world is and how nasty we must be in return.
But the characteristics of heavenly wisdom have nothing to do with being naïve.
They are hard to obtain and hard to maintain.
They can only be sustained by submitting to God continually, daily, minute by minute, year by year.
They come through steady prayer and self-discipline.
They come through regular worship attendance and participating in acts of mercy and charity—such as volunteering at the food pantry, the Safe House Ministry, teaching Sunday school, serving others in need, giving of oneself.
Remember, James is the one who says that faith without deeds is dead.
In chapter 4:4 James says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God.
James isn’t accusing anyone of literal adultery, but he is warning that choosing to be friends with the world means being an enemy of God.
But what does James mean by “the world” here?
He certainly doesn’t mean the people living in the world.
By “the world” he seems to mean, as often is the case in the Bible, “the way the world behaves,” the pattern of life, the underlying story, the things people want, expect, long for and dream of that drive them to think and behave in evil ways.
If we just go with the flow and don’t reflect on what we are doing but just pick up habits from all around us, chances are we will become “friends” with “the world” in the sense that James is talking about.
It’s sort of like floating down a river in an inner-tube with billions of others, without a thought in the world that you are heading straight for Niagara Falls.
If you do this, you will be “normal.”
It takes guts to stand out and be different.
It takes thought, decision, and determination.
And it can only be done by faith working through the grace that comes from Jesus Christ.
It can only spring from a heart that is being changed through a relationship with Jesus.
The Bible teaches us that true wisdom is found in the Cross of Jesus.
But that this wisdom is foolishness to those who are perishing and a stumbling block to those who want their own way.
Even Jesus’ own disciples had a hard time grasping what heavenly wisdom is.
One day they were having an argument among themselves as to which of them would be the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus sat down and taught them, “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”
Apart from understanding, at least a little, about the Cross, it is impossible to understand how becoming the last of all and a servant of all constitutes greatness.
Through His life Jesus overcame all the temptations to live for self rather than others.
And it wasn’t easy for Him.
It took discipline.
It took prayer.
It was painful.
Through His death on the Cross, He made the Ultimate sacrifice for us all.
Through His Resurrection He defeated death and the devil.
And through faith in Him and becoming His followers, His friends we experience that victory along with Him.
But again, it isn’t easy to follow Jesus.
He asks a lot of us.
As Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “Grace is free, but it is not cheap.”
It requires our whole lives, our all.
But it is worth more than all the gold in the world.
James writes: “What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
You desire but do not have, so you kill.
You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”
The ultimate argument when we are “friends with the world” is a fist.
Or a boot.
Or a gun.
Or a bomb.
Violence, force, power—that’s what counts.
That’s worldly, earthly, demonic wisdom.
Violence and the threat of more violence is the way the world ultimately works.
So, what does it mean to be a friend of God instead?
It means making a decision that you want to come to Him.
That you no longer want the mess and disorder and evil the world offers.
It means you want to head in a different direction—take a different road.
It means taming the desires that are stirring you up inside for things you cannot get, the desires that push you to fight, and even kill or make war.
The desires, too, that lead us to pray for something, but to pray for our own pleasures to be satisfied rather than for God’s glory.
In this letter, James is writing to a Church.
But it’s a Church that, like most all churches has a lot of learning and growing to do.
So, James says, “you claim to be God’s people!
That is spiritual adultery.
You are married to God, but are having a long-running affair with ‘the world’.”
And in particular, James highlights a major lack of humility among them.
And a church which is not humble is not doing God’s will.
A church which is arrogant, looks down on others, passes judgement…
…this is a very dangerous entity indeed.
The Church of Jesus Christ is meant to be made up of persons who are dying to self and living for God and others.
The Church of Jesus Christ is called to be humble—the most humble group of people you could ever meet.
How are we doing with this?
For love grows out of humility.
Service grows out of humility.
Selflessness, service, caring—all these things grow out of humility.
Loving the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and loving our neighbor as ourself—this is the key to life—and we must humble ourselves in order to live into it.
This is what it is all about.
We can’t do this if we are running after the world.
James says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
The promise and the reality is that if we run toward God, we will find God running toward us.
When the son returned home in the parable of the prodigal son, not even planning to ask to be a son again—just a servant, “his father saw him [from far off] and was filled with compassion for him: he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” and then, threw a party!
That’s the way it is with God.
God is Truth and He loves us more than we could ever imagine.
His desire is to have a living relationship with us.
He wants to change our hearts, forgive our sins, and give us life and life to the fullest.
The fruit that grows from a relationship with God is patient and kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
It is humble.
It puts the needs of others before itself.
It loves as Christ has loved us.
And it doesn’t demand its rights and it doesn’t spank the world for not being like it is.
When we humble ourselves and submit to God we have found the key to life and living.
Suppose you live in a small town or work in a college or a factory or wherever.
And suppose some of the people you meet every day are like the people who live by the wisdom which is earthly, unspiritual, demonic—their lives are filled with envy and selfish ambition.
And then there are other people you meet every day who live according to the wisdom that comes from heaven: they are humble, peace-loving, considerate, full of mercy.
They are ready to serve and help in whatever way they can.
They are joyful and non-judgmental.
They are rooting for you.
They love and care for you.
Which people would you rather see coming toward you down the street?
Which ones would you rather have as neighbors.
The question answers itself, does it not?
The challenge is how we become that good neighbor ourselves.
“Who is wise and understanding among you?” James asks, “Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
Pray for this humility; for this wisdom.
Persevere.
Submit to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
“Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.”
And you will never be the same again.
Praise God.
Amen.
