WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR WISDOM FROM? James 3:13-18
We can find wisdom in a lot of places if we’ll just look for it:
• My of us have heard the phrase, “Out of the mouths of babes…” (Psalm 8:2)
I want to share with you some wisdom from kids:
• No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize a cat.
• When your mom is mad at your dad don’t let her brush your hair.
• You can’t trust a dog to watch your food.
• Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic-tac.
• You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
• Never trust a dog to watch your food.
• When your dad is mad and asks, “Do I look stupid?” Don’t answer him.
Like I said, we can find wisdom in a lot of places if we’ll just look for it.
• But this morning I want to ask you a question: Where do you get your wisdom from? (v. 13)
• We studied this in Bible study the other night, and when we did, I didn’t have any idea that I would be preaching about it this morning ~ but sometimes that’s the way God works!
I). Where do you get your wisdom from?
A). Sounds like a simple question doesn’t it? Especially in a church!
• But is it? Not really.
• The Bible here tells us about two different kinds of wisdom.
B). And both of them show (or reveal) themselves in the kind of life that we live!
II). The first place we can get our wisdom is from the world.
A). But there are several problems (read vv. 14,15)
• The Holy Spirit tells that there are (at least) three things wrong with this wisdom: B). First, worldly wisdom is just that: it’s from the world.
• It’s standards are worldly ~ it’s sources are worldly ~ it measures success in worldly terms ~ and it’s aims and ambitions are worldly.
C). Because it is worldly, it is also unspiritual.
• Worldly wisdom doesn’t desire the things of God, but the things of man.
• Worldly wisdom tells you that there is no God ~ there is no sin ~ there is no heaven or hell or need for salvation.
• Romans 8:5, “Those who are living in the way of the flesh give their minds to the things of the flesh…” (BBE)
D). Third, the Word says that this kind of wisdom is “devilish.”
• The source of this wisdom is not God, but the devil. As a result, it produces the kinds of situations that the devil delights in ~ and often the results, too.
• What are those results:
o Disorder and confusion in people & the Church
o People are pushed apart rather than being brought together.
o Ministries are being torn down rather than built up.
o The Mission of the Church is lesser than before rather than greater.
o Instead of producing peace, it produces strife.
o Rather than people going out and “making disciples for the kingdom of God and for the transformation of the world” we are sitting in the Church desiring to be served.
• Jesus said it plainly in John 8:44, “Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants.” (CEV).
• That’s the result when we get out wisdom from the world.
III). But James tells us that there’s a better place to get wisdom (vv. 17-18).
A). True wisdom comes from God: We can never attain it, it must be given and received.
• Remember what the Lord did when Solomon asked:
• 1Kings 3:5-12, One night while Solomon was in Gibeon, the LORD God appeared to him in a dream and said, "Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you." Solomon answered: My father David, your servant, was honest and did what you commanded. You were always loyal to him, and you gave him a son who is now king. LORD God, I'm your servant, and you've made me king in my father's place. But I'm very young and know so little about being a leader. And now I must rule your chosen people, even though there are too many of them to count. Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don't, there is no way I could rule this great nation of yours. God said: Solomon, I'm pleased that you asked for this. You could have asked to live a long time or to be rich. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom to make right decisions. So I'll make you wiser than anyone who has ever lived or ever will live.
B). That was the asking part ~ verse 15 tells us that when he woke up, Solomon went to the temple and made sacrifices to the Lord ~ he received what the Lord had given to him.
• So often we ask of God, but don’t really receive what He has for us!
IV). How do we know which wisdom we have?
A). Just as the Bible has told us what the fruit are of the world’s wisdom (worldly, unspiritual and from the devil), the Bible also tells us what the fruits are of God’s wisdom.
B). Look at verse 17 again, the Bible gives us 8 words to describe God’s wisdom:
• PURE: It is completely free from any selfishness or ulterior motives.
• PEACEABLE: What is peace? (Absence of conflict) Peace is right relationship between man and man, and between man and God. True wisdom produces right relationships. True wisdom always brings people closer to one another and to God.
• GENTLE: Gentle wisdom causes a person to forgive when the law gives him every right to condemn; it causes a person to love when he has every right to hate. He remembers that there are greater things in the world than rules and regulations. It is true justice and mercy.
• WILLING TO YEILD: Being willing to listen to reason and being willing to change when necessary.
• FULL OF MERCY & GOOD FRUITS (two together): This means helping a person who is in trouble, even if the trouble is his/her own fault. Christian mercy is a reflection of God’s mercy. AND that mercy results in “good fruits” ~ it brings practical help! Mercy or pity is not an emotion, it is an action. We can never say that we have had mercy or pity on someone until we have helped them!
• WITHOUT A TRACE OF PARTIALITY: Being partial means that you treat some people one way, and some people the next ~ it is being divided. SO without partiality means without division. Impartial wisdom means that, as Christians, we know that there are certain truths, which are based on God’s Word, and we will not be wavered from them or divided by them.
• HYPOCRISY: True wisdom does not deal in deception. It is honest; it never pretends to be something it’s not; and it never lies in order to get its own way.
So after looking at God’s Word on wisdom this morning, I’ll ask again:
Where do you get your wisdom?
Before you answer ~ maybe you’d better look again at the fruits that wisdom bears.
Which fruits are you growing in your life?
James goes on to say, in 4:3, “You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly (you’re asking for the wrong wisdom), in order to spend what you get on your own pleasures…Do you not know that being a friend of the world (desiring worldly wisdom) makes you an enemy of God.”
THINK ABOUT IT.
