Discerning True Wisdom (II)
James 3:17
7-20-08
Introduction
Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principle thing: Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” If wisdom is to be our principle pursuit in life we need to know exactly what the Scripture is talking about when it tells us to get wisdom. What does the wisdom we are pursuing look like in a person’s life. Is it a guru wrapped in a white sheet sitting on some mountain spitting out proverbs? Is it a CEO who can outmaneuver everyone else and somehow rise to the top of the business world? Do we need Donald Trump to show us what wisdom is? I for one am not interested in the kind of wisdom Donald Trump has to offer. James shows us the kind of wisdom we should be pursuing in life. Last week we were in the second half of James 3. There we saw a contrast between godly wisdom that should be the pursuit of our lives versus worldly wisdom that James tells us is “earthy, sensual, demonic.” One wisdom comes from God. The other comes out of our own carnal thinking.
This morning we want to make sure we understand what godly wisdom looks like in its operation. James gives us a full description of that wisdom in verse 17 of James 3. That is our text this morning. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, and good fruits, without partiality and with out hypocrisy.” Look with me at those seven characteristics of godly wisdom.
1st and foremost godly wisdom is PURE.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
This is primarily addressing the motives behind our actions. Why we do something is just as important as what we do. Paul was talking about the motives of the heart in I Cor. 13 when he wrote, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” That is an amazing statement. You mean I could do all those wonderful things and it count for nothing in the eyes of God? That’s exactly what Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 13. God looks upon the heart. He knows why you’re here this morning. He knows our every thought. He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
When we look in the gospels we find a group of religious people known as Pharisees. These people were highly respected in the community. They did some very nice things. They taught the Bible diligently. They gave alms. They tithed on every dime they got. They were faithful to attend services every Sabbath. Yet those are the very people who resisted Jesus most and ultimately demanded Christ’s death. In Matt 23:5 Jesus said, “... all their works they do to be seen by men.” Oops! All those good things were being done for all the wrong reasons. And James is saying you don’t even get to first base when you operate that way.
Purity of heart (pure motives) is foundational to every other characteristic James will give us for godly wisdom. Prov. 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (NIV). It is possible to sit in church Sunday after Sunday and backslide while doing it? If we don’t guard our hearts—if we don’t get before the Lord on a regular basis and let Him search our hearts—we can drift away from the Lord. We can find ourselves just going through the motions of worship with no heart-felt love for the Lord. We can find ourselves doing good things just to ease our conscience a little. We can find ourselves drawing near to God with our lips with our hearts drifting farther and farther away from Him.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (NIV). All else flows from the thoughts and intents of the heart. When I’m trying to get direction from the Lord on any matter, one of the first things I do is invite the Holy Spirit to examine my motives. “Search my heart, Oh God, and show me what’s motivating me in this situation.” Why do that? Because if the motive is right, God can help you sort out the details and get to where you need to be. But if I am coming to God with impure motives, I am already off course. I’m not going to get where I need to be. James later says in Ch. 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” In other words, the motives are wrong so you ask for the wrong thing. And God in His wisdom does not grant the request.
“... the wisdom that is from above is first pure...” What motivates worldly, carnal wisdom? Selfishness! In verse 14 James says, “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above....” Self-seeking in the heart: that is the primary motive behind ungodly wisdom.
David had a son named Absalom. Absalom was a handsome young man and he was smart. We get acquainted with him in 2 Sam. 13. He had an amazing ability to maneuver and use people. It was the kind of wisdom that got him a huge following. For years he would stand at the entrance where people came to King David for justice. He would talk to them before they went to court. He would tell them how much he agreed with their position. He would make them feel good about themselves and they all liked him. But deep in his heart he had a reason for doing that. He had bitter resentment in his heart against his father, David. He was filled with selfish ambition to be king himself. This guy was slick. Temporarily Absalom looked successful. On the surface Absalom seemed to have amazing leadership abilities. But his wisdom was not from above. His motives were sinister. He led a rebellion against David and was killed in the process. The end of a matter is more telling than the beginning. That which was going on in Absalom’s heart became the well-spring of his activities. It was all motivated wrong. It was not wisdom from above.
In Matthew 20:20 the mother of James and John came to Jesus with a request. She wanted her sons to have the most prominent positions in the kingdom next to Jesus. She wanted one son sitting to the right of Jesus and the other on the left. Her motive was altogether selfish. So, what did that inspire in the other ten disciples. It stated a fight. It provoked their selfishness. Instead of encouraging and supporting each other, they were at one another’s throats. That’s why we’re told in Phil. 2:3 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit....” So now we have all twelve disciples operating in the wrong kind of wisdom. To correct that, what does Jesus do? First, he calls them to Himself. When we’re behaving like that we need to come back to Jesus, don’t we? We need to get close to the Lord and hear what He has to say about the matter. Matt 20:25-28
“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’” There is the contrast between the selfish posturing for position among the disciples versus the unselfish service of Jesus.
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure...”
2. Secondly, it is PEACEABLE.
It’s not contentious. It’s not argumentative. Have you ever been around a contentious person? You say the sky is blue and instead of enjoying its beauty with you that person says, “Well the clouds are awfully white and there may be a storm blowing in.” You just wanted that person to enjoy the nice blue sky with you. But no, he or she wants to argue about the weather. I deal with these kind of people in mediation all the time. They always wonder why there’s so much conflict in their lives. They wonder why people avoid them.
I remember calling a man in our church in Iowa. He wasn’t there but his voice came on the answering machine. The message went something like this. “I’m not here. You’re going to have to leave a message. I can’t always be here to answer the phone. So tell me what you want and I’ll call you when I get back home. Bye.” I’m thinking I offended the guy just by calling him. Later this guy came into counseling and could not understand why his girlfriend wanted to break up. I was amazed that she could stand it as long as she did. He was contentious and didn’t even know it.
How many know there are ways to agreeably disagree? It’s not necessary to set up a win/lose war. We don’t have to put the other person on the defensive. And we don’t need to be defensive ourselves. Before going on the attack, try to understand where the other person is coming from. And be respectful to that person’s right to an opinion.
Winning people is always more important than winning arguments. I mentioned last week, a mistake often made by Christians in their evangelism. I once thought I could win an argument and win a soul at the same time. I’ve discovered that a little compassion and interest in that person as a human being goes a long way. God cares about the person. He’s not looking for better statistics. He’s looking for the eternal wellbeing of people. And if we will begin with concern about the pain people are going through—even if its pain they have foolishly brought on themselves—we will earn their trust and can possibly share some answers to their problems. The old saying is very true, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” We can never forget that in our outreach to the lost. We can never forget that in our ministry to one another. “Love never fails.” Souls are won through speaking the truth in love with a heavy emphasis on love.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”
We can see the connection between pure motives and being peaceable by looking at an incident in Abraham’s life. In Gen. 13 strife developed between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. They were fighting over the best grazing land. Abraham took the initiative to resolve the conflict. Conflict is not resolved by avoiding it. It is resolved by confronting it in the right spirit. It think I hear the tone in Abraham’s voice as he goes to Lot in Gen 13:8 “So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.” Abraham does not put the blame on Lot. He simply proposes a solution that should be acceptable to Lot. He says, “You pick the ground you want and I’ll take what’s left.” That’s pretty unselfish since Abraham as the elder had every right to do the picking. Abraham is operating in a godly, peaceable wisdom. What does Lot do? Lot looks out toward the watered plains of Sodom and chooses what appears to be the best land. He is totally selfish in his motives. You know the rest of the story. Lot got what he picked and it ultimately cost him everything. On the other hand, listen to what God says to Abraham after that incident. Gen 13:14-15 “And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are -- northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” God told him to look in every direction (including the direction Lot chose) and God gave it all to Abraham. That’s the way it ultimately works. Why could Abraham risk giving Lot the choice? Abraham trusted the Lord for his future. Foundational to godly wisdom is a trust in God that recognizes His sovereignty over it all. When I am trusting God I am empowered to operate in godly wisdom. It’s flowing in my life from Him. When I am trusting in my own resources, I am likely to follow Lot’s example.
3rd James says wisdom from God is GENTLE or considerate.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
This was a quality in Jesus that the Jews did not expect of their Messiah. They were looking for a forceful, domineering person who would throw off the oppression of Rome and take control of the political power. But Jesus did not assert himself in that way. Instead He won the hearts of people by ministering to their needs. This characteristic in Messiah was prophesied in Isa 42:2-3. “He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.” It doesn’t take much force to break a bruised reed or to put out smoking flax. That is indicative of the gentleness of Christ. He said to the multitudes, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11:29).
The meekness Jesus operated in was possible because of His dependence upon the Father. Rather than asserting His own will, He simply did what the Father told Him to do and left the results with Him. Trust and dependence is the key for you and me to operate in this as well. If I think I have to take care of myself, then it’s going to be difficult to be meek. But if I truly believe that God will take care of me, then I can afford to be gentle and not assert my own agenda. This doesn’t mean we become a doormat and just let people run over us. But it means we operate in a dependence upon God when we express our wishes and we don’t feel the pressure to make it all happen ourselves.
Korah rose up in rebellion against Moses in Numbers 16. Moses confronted Korah; he didn’t avoid the conflict. But when we look closely at that story we see Moses falling on his face before God and letting God deal with Korah (Num. 16:4). Moses confronted the problem; but he did it in total dependence upon God to sort the matter out.
Scripture makes a distinction between Moses’ experience with God and Israel as whole. Psalms 103:7 says of God, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” Did Moses experience acts of God? Oh yes, he was the one who raised his rod and parted the Red Sea. Moses was familiar with the power of God. But Moses went a step further with God than Israel as a whole was willing to go. He opened his heart to the ways of God. He let God teach him His ways. The ways of God are reflected in the wisdom from above that James is describing in our text. Did Israel as a whole learn the ways of God? We know they didn’t because the Bible clearly tells us that. In Psalms 95:10-11 God says, “For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ’It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ’They shall not enter My rest.’” We enter into God’s rest by embracing His ways. Pure, peaceable, gentle wisdom brings rest to the soul. Living in trustful dependence upon God yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God is speaking to us this morning from our text in James 3:17 about His ways.
Paul uses the word in our text (epieikes), when he lists qualities to look for in leadership. In 1 Tim 3:3 he says a leader is to be “not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous.” The gentleness stands in contrast to being quarrelsome. One quarrelsome person on a leadership team can sabotage the whole process if not dealt with. It’s takes a lot of time and energy to deal with a quarrelsome person. Settling one difference does not fix the problem because that person finds a multitude of things to disagree on. A change in attitude and approach has to occur before that person can function in leadership. You want leadership that can see issues from differing perspectives. You want leaders who can ask some hard questions and disagree at times. But you don’t want people who are contentious.
Paul also calls for gentleness when we are correcting others. Gal 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” When you’re standing for righteousness, be sure you do it “in the spirit of gentleness.” When you’re correcting someone for a fault, be sure you do it with a gentle spirit. Realize that you may be the one being corrected next time. Sin has to be addressed. Sin has to be corrected. But most of the time that process requires some patience and gentleness. On the one hand, we cannot just ignore sin. On the other hand, the goal is to restore the person, not destroy him.
I looked up the word “gentleman” in the dictionary. It’s a word that used to mean something in our society. I came across this definition: “a courteous, gracious man with a strong sense of honor.” Sometimes gentleness is communicated in very practical, courteous ways. Sometimes it means letting someone come into traffic in front of you rather than asserting your right of way. Sometimes it is expressed by giving your seat to an elderly lady. Gentleness is a quality that can enrich our relationships significantly.
4th characteristic mentioned by James is (eupeithes in the Greek) – PERSUADABLE. Eupeithes is translated in our text “willing to yield”. The person is teachable and will listen to reason. There is a balance in the personality of someone with God’s kind of wisdom. On the one hand that person will not be intimidated by threats. But at the same time he (or she) is not stubborn or obstinate either. The KJV says “easily entreated.” He is approachable and if a sound reason is given to change his mind, he will change his mind. There is a humility that can say, “I think I’m right; but I could be wrong. Help me understand this better.”
Do you remember the story of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam? Because he lacked this quality, his kingdom was split. When he became king, the older generation came to him with a request. They asked him to give them some tax relief. They reasoned with him but he would not listen to reason. He arrogantly gathered advisors who told him what he wanted to hear and went with that. The division and confusion that followed was quite consequential.
In 1 Sam 25 David had a run in with an obnoxious man named Nabal. David and his warriors had provided protection for Nabal and his shepherds. So when David was low on provisions, he sent some of his men to ask Nabal for some food. Instead of being grateful for what David had done for him, Nabal humiliated David’s men and sent them back empty. David was infuriated when they told him what happened. He took 400 warriors to launch an attack on Nabal. Nabal had one thing going for him. He had a wife, named Abigail, who had godly wisdom. 1 Sam 25:3 says that “she was a woman of good understanding.” A messenger ran and told Abigail what was happening. I get the feeling when I read this story, this was not the first time she had to intercede for her hateful husband. Fortunately, she found David before he attacked Nabal. The Bible says she fell on her face before David and asked forgiveness for her husband. David had already vowed to kill not only Nabal but every man with him. Abigail began to reason with David. She acknowledged the transgression. She asked David to show mercy and encouraged him to let God be his avenger. Here’s the point. Even though David was enraged against Nabal, he listened to reason and changed his mind. That was one quality in David that made him a great leader. Unfortunately, that quality was not in his grandson, Rehoboam.
Good leaders are not intimidated by threats. Good leaders cannot be controlled by powerbrokers behind the scenes. On the other hand, good leaders will listen to reason. Good leaders will try to understand those who disagree with them. They will have enough humility to be persuadable—not by intimidation but by reason.
5th “full of mercy and good fruits.”
Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit closely resembles James’ description of godly wisdom. Gal. 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control....” All these words help us get a picture in our minds of what godly wisdom looks like.
Only the Holy Spirit can produce in a believer the balance of uncompromised holiness and compassionate mercy. The less mature a Christian is the more that person will lean toward one to the exclusion of the other. God has called us to holiness. He has called us to a pure walk with Him. He has also called us to mercy. Those two qualities are not contradictory to one another. When our hearts are pure we only want to please the Father. We don’t want to do anything that would violate His will in our lives. Jesus was the perfect example of this. He said in John 8:29 that He always does what pleases the Father. There was absolutely no sin in Him. However, the Pharisees were shocked when He did not execute a rigid, harsh judgment on those who were sinners. The Pharisees could not understand why he would eat and fellowship with harlots and tax collectors--extortionists. Why didn’t He tell those people off? Why would He have anything to do with them? Here’s why: He was full of mercy. He was seeing them through eyes of compassion. He was seeing their sin as something damaging to them. What were the Pharisees seeing? They were seeing people who were doing what they (in their hearts) wanted to do. And they were upset because those people weren’t being punished. They were like the kid telling on his little brother for being in the cookie jar. Are you pure in heart and at the same time full of mercy toward those who are not? Would you live to please God even if everybody else seems to get away with not doing that?
It’s hard to articulate this balance. The balance is found when we’re strict about our own obedience to God and less judgmental about other’s disobedience. The balance is found when we see sin for the vicious destructive thing it is rather than cookies in the jar.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” How would you respond to someone who wants to kill you? I want to show you in this clip a woman named Heidi who responded with mercy. She responded with wisdom from above.
Show Clip entitledk “Mama Heidi – Let’s Go There.”
6th Godly wisdom is “without partiality.”
There’s an even-handedness, a fairness in the person’s dealings with others. There are no ulterior motives causing the people to treat some people different than others.
We can see the seriousness of this when we look at Eli’s dealings with his sons. Eli was the spiritual leader in his day. He not only functioned in a priestly role but he also functioned as a judge. It was his responsibility to lead Israel in a fair and equitable way. But he had such a partiality toward his sons that he would not administer the same judgment on them as he would on others. In fact, his sons were defiling the temple and committing all kinds of sacrilege. And Eli would do noting about it. He would have never let anyone else get away with the things he let his sons by with. He spoke with them and told them they shouldn’t be doing the things they were doing. But when they ignored his admonition, he just let it go. Since Eli wouldn’t deal with it God did and in a very strong way. It is interesting that Samuel who was raised by Eli developed the same partiality for his sons.
The Bible says, “God is no respecter of persons.” That is to also be true of us. Right is right and wrong is wrong whether it’s our own sons or somebody else. James dealt with this matter of partiality extensively in chapter two.
7th “without hypocrisy”:
We are not pretending to be something that we’re not. The English word “hypocrisy” comes from a Greek word referring to a stage actor playing a part. The person is presenting himself publically one way but in private and in reality he is something else. What are you when no one is looking? That’s what we really are.
The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom....” When we are more concerned about what God thinks about us than what people think we will not be hypocritical. We know God sees all and knows all. So we simply live to please Him and let the chips fall where they may.
Jesus warned his followers concerning the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. They presented themselves as one thing but in reality they were something else. When God’s wisdom is dominating our lives we can afford to just be what we are. We can afford to acknowledge shortcoming. We can afford to acknowledge need. None of us have to be perfect. But we have a right to expect sincerity from one another.
We want a church culture where it’s safe to confess our faults one to another. There’s enough mercy in the house for us to do that. We do not want to create an artificial show of holiness. We don’t want a church of plastic people. We want people made of flesh and blood who sincerely desire to please God. Amen?
Conclusion
One way to make this message personal is to take each adjective in James 3:17 and apply it to ourselves. That gives the Holy Spirit opportunity to encourage us in the areas where we’re walking in victory and to show us areas He wants to work on in our lives. So let’s do that as we bring that to a close. Put your name in front of the adjective.
1. _______________ is Pure. His motives are unselfish.
2. _______________ is Peaceable. He is not contentious.
3. _______________ is Gentle. He has a meek and humble spirit.
4. _______________ is Persuadable. He is willing to yield to reason.
5. _______________ is Merciful and bears the fruit of the Spirit.
6. _______________ is Without Partiality. He is just & fair in his dealings with others.
7. _______________ is Without Hypocrisy. He is the same in public as in private.
He does not present himself to be something he is not.
Most of us can find something in all that we need to grow in. That growth comes as we draw closer to the Lord and yield our lives to Him. It is a fruit of His Spirit in our lives not something we can produce independent of Him.
As we think about this description, wouldn’t it be nice for our church to be known for those qualities. May God help us live in such a way that people see in us the Lord and His wisdom.
Prayer/Invitation
For FOOTNOTES/SOURCES go to www.CrossroadsNixa.org
Richard Tow
Gateway Foursquare Church
Nixa, Missouri
www.GatewayNixa.org
