A few weeks ago, we started a year-long journey chronological study of the New Testament today. Hence the reason we are calling this message series Chronos. It's a word that means “time.” We will be journeying through time back to the start of the early church. We will be doing this by walking through the books of James, Thessalonians, Galatians and Corinthians. We will take a few detours along the way for the major Christian holidays. However, we will be opening up our bibles each week to unpack the scriptures as they were present in the early church.
We start with the book of James because it is the earliest writing determined by present day scholarly dating.
It is the first book or letter written to this new ‘church’ or gathering.
It was written by Jesus to his first half brother, James.
It was written to the messianic Jews who had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah and those first followers who weren't Jewish called Gentiles who had become aware of and believed in Jesus.
It was written to the first bad actors and their practices that were stunting the movement’s growth.
Last week we took a punch in the mouth, when we spoke about the words we use and how we use them. We learned what we say comes from our heart. When our heart is not right, we will fall short of the person God has created us to be. The person Jesus died to redeem. The person the Holy Spirit is encouraging to stand and represent Jesus to the world.
This week we dive into the last part of James chapter 3. We will unpack verses 13-18. It’s a chapter entitled Wisdom in some translations. It's perfect for us today in 2022 because we are in the midst of an explosion of knowledge but wisdom is practically non-existent. The primary difference between the two is that wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective. Anyone can become knowledgeable about a subject by reading, researching, memorizing facts or watching a YouTube video. It’s wisdom, however, that requires more understanding and the ability to determine which facts are relevant in certain situations.
As I watched the super bowl, I saw a commercial for crypto with Larry David that was a perfect example about the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
https://youtu.be/sUyEkW0zOh0
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A quote by an unknown author sums up the differences well: “Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it.”
However, there are different types of wisdom depending on one's core belief systems. If a person’s core belief is to acquire wealth and power, their perspective on a situation will be different than the person looking to achieve a different aim. Many people’s lives are in shambles. They went after position, power, and prosperity but found they were really in search of something more important: peace and purpose.
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Warren Wiersbe, author, pastor theologian, once said, “Knowledge enables us to take things apart, but wisdom enables us to put things together and relate God’s truth to life.”
Let’s dive into the beginning at verse 13.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their 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, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil.
James begins with describing the results of worldly wisdom. The wisdom of the world results in “envy,” strife, self ambition/boasting and deceit.
Simply defined, envy is the displeasure we take in another’s good fortune. We live in a society that loves to create drama and strife. We build bigger and acquire more because that’s the American dream. Merriam Webster describes the American Dream as: a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful.
But is the American dream, God’s dream for all of us?
“In her latest book, The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power, D.L. Mayfield calls upon Christians to reject the “work hard and achieve your dreams” formula as both false and dangerous.” She argues, trusting in the American Dream is a recipe for disappointment for some. For others, it’s a catalyst to a self satisfied complacency and judgmental existence. She calls everyone back to the scripture of Isaiah 61 and quoted by Jesus as the announcement of His arrival and the future direction and perspective on all our lives.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord ’s favor. (Luke 4:18–19)
I ask the question because applying the wisdom of the world to our lives is the building block of “selfish ambition” or “Boasting” and creates disorder instead of unity. God came to the world to save us from ourselves. Did He come so you could be selfish, self centered, prideful in your intelligence or decision making ability? James is being crystal clear: the body of Christ, the leaders and all the people were not saved so others would feel less than.
Let’s read on…
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 reap a harvest of Righteousness.
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As Solomon said, “The Lord gives wisdom” (Proverbs 2:6). One of the greatest gifts God has given us is His Word. What a great resource you and I have at our fingertips. When in doubt, check it out. God’s Word may not have the exact situation you're dealing with but the principles and the nature of God are within the sacred texts.
The key to reorienting our world view to be more Christian is to try to apply everyday situations when you're not in a quandary of what to do so that when you are, the answer will be simple. Notice I didn’t say easy. Easy means something that's achieved without effort.
Simple means something that's uncomplicated and easily understood. But that cannot be achieved without effort. The difference is effort. If you want to lead your life more like Christ, then you need to try (put effort into) defining Christian principles when deciding what to do.
Is it pure? Are my motives unselfish? Aimed at making the person, place or situation better? The Greek word for “pure” here is hagnos and implies spiritual integrity.
Will your action create harmony or divisiveness?
Are you being considerate of the other person, community or company?
Are your actions aggressive? What harm comes from waiting?
Are your actions punitive? Are you trying to punish or hurt?
Is this a situation for more grace?
Are you thinking of the other person’s needs?
Will your action bring the person closer to God or farther away from knowing your God?
The wisdom of the scriptures points us to and helps us achieve positive relationships in the upward expression (peace with God), in the inward expression (peace with ourselves), and in the outward expression (peace with others).
We are called to be peacemakers by adding God’s perspective to our daily activities so that when the real challenges of life come forth we will already be experienced in the practice.
Man’s wisdom comes from reason, while God’s wisdom comes from revelation. Man’s worldly wisdom will come to nothing (1 Cor. 1:19), while God’s wisdom will endure forever.
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 363.
The believer has three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil (Eph. 2:1–3). These enemies are suggested by the terms “earthly, sensual, devilish.”
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 362.
James uses eight words to describe this wisdom, and every one has a great picture in it.
(1) The true wisdom is pure. The Greek is hagnos, and its root meaning is pure enough to approach the gods. At first, it had only a ceremonial meaning and meant nothing more than having gone through the right ritual cleansings. So, for instance, the Greek dramatist Euripides can make one of his characters say: ‘My hands are pure, but my heart is not.’ At this stage, hagnos describes ritual, but not necessarily moral, purity. But, as time went on, the word came to describe the moral purity which alone can approach the gods. On the Temple of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, there was the inscription at the entrance: ‘He who would enter the divine temple must be pure [hagnos]; and purity is to have a mind which thinks holy thoughts.’ The true wisdom is so cleansed of all ulterior motives and of self that it has become pure enough to see God. Worldly wisdom might well wish to escape God’s sight; the true wisdom is able to bear his very scrutiny.
(2) The true wisdom is eirenikos. We have translated this as peaceable, but it has a very special meaning. Eirene means peace, and when it is used in a human context its basic meaning is right relationships between individuals, and between individuals and God
William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter, 3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 109–110.
(8) Finally, James says something which every Christian church and every Christian group should have written on its heart. The Revised Standard Version correctly translates the Greek literally: ‘The harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.’ This is a highly compressed sentence. Let us remember that peace, eirene, means right relationships between individuals. So, what James is saying is this: ‘We are all trying to reap the harvest which a good life brings. But the seeds which bring the rich harvest can never flourish in any atmosphere other than one of right relationships between individuals. And the only people who can sow these seeds and reap the reward are those whose life work it has been to produce such right relationships.’
That is to say, nothing good can ever grow in an atmosphere where people are at variance with one another. A group where there is bitterness and strife is a barren soil in which the seeds of righteousness can never grow and out of which no reward can ever come. Those who disturb personal relationships and are responsible for strife and bitterness have cut themselves off from the reward which God gives to those who live a godly life.
William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter, 3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 112–113.
