GIST: Earthly wisdom seeks selfishness while Godly wisdom seeks salvations.
SCRIPTURE: James 3:13-18
This week, we’re continuing our study through the book of James and looking at 3:13-18. At this point in the letter, James is illustrating what real faith looks like. Last week, we looked at the first portion of chapter 3 which discusses the importance of surrendering our mouths to Jesus. What we’ll pick up with today, comes directly after that admonition and continues with this whole idea of actually living out our faith. However, the focus in these next five verses shifts to wisdom. At the very beginning of the letter, James told his readers, “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5). Here, he breaks down what that wisdom and will and will not look like. Let’s read just verse 13 in opening. Then, we’ll pray, I’ll give you the gist, and we’ll dive in!
“13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”
That opening question probably hits home for most of us. Who among us is wise? Not me. I need His grace and guidance every day. I don’t have this life figured out. I don’t have all the answers. Thankfully, Jesus does and is willing to pour out His grace upon us who so desperately need it. And what James points out here from the very beginning is that if we’re going to claim to have wisdom, or if we’re going to live as those directed by God’s wisdom, it’s going to be something that changes the way we live our lives. Surprise surprise, right? This is kind of the whole point of James’ letter — true salvation changes you! So just like living faith will be active and a transformed heart will result in a transformed tongue, true wisdom will come from God and be evident in our conduct (our behavior, the kinds of people we are), our works (what we do), and in the meekness of wisdom (meaning the attitude of humility that will result from being wholly His!
After laying this foundation, James then goes on to do a little comparing and contrasting for us and gives us a picture of the difference between earthly and Godly wisdom. Clearly, Godly wisdom should be our goal, right? So knowing what that does and does not look like should be helpful. That’s what I want to camp out on with you guys today, so here’s our gist: Earthly wisdom seeks selfishness while Godly wisdom seeks salvations. That alliteration wasn’t even intentional this week, but I love it! ☺️ Let’s dive in! First, we need to understand→
I. EARTHLY WISDOM SEEKS SELFISHNESS. (14-16)
Look with me at verses 14-16. “14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” We’re given a picture of the kind of wisdom that comes from our hearts, and it fits perfectly with everything else God’s Word teaches us about our natural desires. Last week we saw that because our hearts are tainted by sin, that’s going to overflow and taint our speech. The same is true when it comes to wisdom. Because we are naturally sinful and self-seeking, our wisdom, our wrestling with how to best live this life, will always be inherently prideful and→
Pride Is Not Wise. Notice that’s where James goes first here. He says if you have bitter jealousy & selfish ambition in your heart, don’t pretend to be wise. If your whole world revolves around you getting what you want when you want it and feeling bitterness toward those who either hinder that pursuit or reach their goals before you, don’t kid yourself by claiming to possess the wisdom of God.
I think this is especially convicting for those of us who are “church people”. It’s so easy to try and package our desires in spiritual language and pass them off as “of God”. Maybe you’re not terrible at this, but… Well, let me just give you an example you can feel has nothing to do with you, so it will make you chuckle and feel good about yourself for a second...before it sinks in that maybe you actually do the same thing ☺️. Have you ever paid attention to how Christian teenagers talk about dating? They hyper-spiritualize everything! The classic Christian pickup line is, “I feel like God has brought us together” or maybe, “This relationship is an answer to prayer.” Could it be? Sure. But is it always? Probably not, because then the same people use that same logic a few weeks later when they’re breaking up. “I feel like God is telling me I need to focus more on Him right now, so we’re just going to need to take a break.” Again, maybe you guys are way better than I am, but I definitely know I quoted scripture when I was a teenager to try and avoid at least one break up ☺️. Thankfully, it didn’t work. Why? Because my “wisdom” had everything to do with getting what I thought was best for me and nothing to do with actually seeking after God.
I know that example is silly, but guys, don’t we do this all the time? We’re full of bitterness and selfishness, but we claim to be seeking the will of God for our lives. James, in standard form, minces absolutely no words about this, but calls this kind of wisdom→
Earthly, Unspiritual, and Demonic. The word earthly means it’s not Heavenly. The source of this wisdom is manmade, which is also what unspiritual implies. It’s human rather than Godly. And to put in the final nail, he calls it demonic which is obviously not something we’d ever want to be associated with. However, the comparison is a good one. Our natural wisdom, rejects the wisdom of Jesus, and rejects His purpose for our lives, just like the demons.
After making it clear that this wisdom has nothing to do with the wisdom of God, he then emphasizes that even further by saying where this kind self-seeking will result in “... disorder and every vile practice.” Why? Because→
Pride Is The Source Of All Sin. Every single sin is a choice to honor yourself or seek yourself instead of God. Therefore, sinful wisdom will only ever result in sin, and the wages of sin is destruction, so that kind of wisdom won’t take you where you need to be. James then contrasts this with Godly wisdom in the last few verses here where he points out that, on the flipside, →
II. GODLY WISDOM SEEKS SALVATIONS.(17-18)
Look at the last two verses with me here. “17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Man, there is so much here, and I am really trying to be conscientious with your time, so let me just try to break all this down a piece at a time. First, he tells us that this wisdom is from above. That’s the opposite source from earthly wisdom. Here→
The Source is Grace. This is the gift of God. And coming from God, it will look very different from the self-seeking wisdom of this world. First, it will be→
Pure. Worldly wisdom is tainted by self-seeking sin. Godly wisdom is clean. This is why it has to be a gift from God. We can’t produce purity in ourselves. However, the same Jesus who took Hell in your place, so you could be covered in a righteousness, a purity, that is not your own but His, that same Jesus can work in your life and change the intentions of your heart. Which is why the next two go hand-in-hand. This will result in an attitude that is→
Peaceable & Gentle. Many of you know that I love the Sermon on the Mount, and that the beatitudes are some of my favorite passages of Scripture. Well, in those verses as Jesus explains the keys to true Christian living and an abundant and fulfilled life, He says: “9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) . People will recognize Jesus’ influence on our lives when they see our desire for peace. He came to bring peace to a world destroying itself and running from the One they needed. That should be our longing as well. This doesn’t imply just being doormats for anyone to walk all over, but it does imply a fundamental value shift. Instead of wanting what is best for you, you want whatever will best point people to the love of Jesus. You’re an ambassador for His rescue mission! As such, not only are you not fighting for your way, but you’re→
Open To Reason. I heard Alistair Begg quote his pastor, Derek Prime, this week. He said there is a big difference between confronting a situation knowing your mind and confronting a situation with your mind made up. The first allows for meaningful dialogue. The second does not. The wisdom of God working in our hearts will look something like this: we won’t assume that we have everything figured out! Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who clearly thinks they know everything? How enjoyable is that? Do they seem wise? Does their attitude draw you in and foster any kind of meaningful change? No. In fact, you probably try not to have many conversations with them at all because even normal conversations with someone in love with their own understanding can be infuriating.
This doesn’t mean Godly wisdom just gives into every opinion that comes your way. There is truth, and we’re meant to stand for it. However, Godly wisdom will be willing to submit to those who have a better understanding than you. Does that require a degree of humility? Absolutely. Which is why Godly wisdom isn’t like the self-seeking wisdom of the world. Likewise, it’s→
Full Of Mercy And Good Fruits. I love this. Godly wisdom is the result of Godly change in your lives! We’ll be full of mercy because we’ve experienced incredible mercy. Instead of giving us what we deserved, Jesus took what we deserved upon Himself and gave us grace instead. Therefore, shouldn’t we be quick to be merciful to those around us? Again, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: “7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). Our lives should be defined by this kind of compassion. This kind of love. And that’s what these “good fruits” are, as well, right? The outworking of His love in our lives. Though this could 100% be another sermon for another day, let me just put this out there. Our lives should look like this: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). And these good works, this outward expression of the love of God that has changed our lives, should be→
Impartial. We’ll love all without distinction. We’ll be reasonable and peaceable to all without distinction...because our wisdom is→
Sincere. It’s the real deal. AND, it has a real purpose. Let me make this observation then we’ll wrap up with some takeaways. The purpose of earthly wisdom is self-pursuit. The purpose of Godly wisdom is the→
Harvest Of Righteousness. Instead of seeking ourselves, we’re seeking salvations. When we go out with this as our goal, we’re→
Peace Sowers who plant the seeds of God’s Word all around us longing to see the Harvest of Hope! We’re not looking out for ourselves; we just want people to see Jesus. That’s true wisdom.
And really, those are kind of today’s→
TAKEAWAYS
1. Earthly wisdom is a self-destructive pursuit.
2. Godly wisdom longs to show people Jesus. That means being willing to listen and wanting to point a world at conflict to the Prince of Peace, so they can experience the only hope that lasts forever.
3. Are you wise? “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)
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