I LL SHOW YOU (PART 8 - WISE FAITH) VISIBLE FAITH IN THE BOOK OF JAMES We are living in a world where things are seen as smart. Because of this little invention called the microprocessor, you won t just be limited to a smart phone. Now, you can have a smart elevator. Companies are now working on elevators with A.I. that learn your behavior when it comes to elevators. We are living in a world where pushing a button has become inconvenient. I m not sure I m comfortable with trusting an elevator to make decisions for me. If elevators can truly learn human
behavior then the elevator would know that I don t want to wait. Don t stop for other passengers! Go to my floor only. Disregard those other human beings. Can elevators learn how to think like sinners? You can be smart and yet have no wisdom. Who do you listen to? When it comes to advice, who is the most influential person in your life? Whose counsel do you trust? These are all questions about wisdom. In Christianity, we re not saying we know someone really wise that you should consider listening to. We re saying, We know the wisest Person in the universe, so to close your ears to Him will prove disastrous. Many of our lives have been defined by bad decisions. A bad decision is just a foolish choice. Life is difficult enough when we make wise decisions, let alone complicating things with foolish choices. Be careful who you listen to. James 3:13-18 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? That s a good question. The answer depends upon how you define wise. There is a marked difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. Here s how the Bible defines a wise person. Genesis 41:39 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. The wise person is such because God has revealed it to them. So, how do we determine if a person is wise or not? James 3:13 By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. The wise person s life will line up with the Word of God. And by meekness, he doesn t mean soft and timid. He means there will be a humility to the wise person because the wisdom they have doesn t come from themselves. That s the marked difference. There is a wisdom of the world but it is not biblical wisdom. It s a counterfeit of the real thing. Exodus 7:11 11 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. Surely, there are techniques the world offers to alleviate your anxiety. There are principles
the world offers to help your business grow. There are behaviors the world suggests to improve the communication in your marriages. And if you know the story of Pharaoh, there was no humility in their wisdom. If you re an incredibly intelligent person, how did you get so incredibly intelligent? Surely, if you re incredibly intelligent you understand that your aptitude is a gift. Granted, you can waste any gift, but you first have to be given a gift before you can use it. So, we see that: 1) The truly wise person s life lines up with the Word of God (or is being continually aligned with the Word of God) 2) and that there is a humility to biblical wisdom because you know you didn t come upon this wisdom by yourself. And now he further contrasts the wisdom of God with characteristics of the wisdom of the world. James 3:14 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition are the opposite of humility. But let us be clear, there is jealousy and ambition. Then there is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Jealousy is not necessarily a negative emotion. God is a jealous God. This means God is desirous of us. That s something positive to know, that God likes you so much that He is jealous for your time, your thoughts. But it is right for God to be jealous for our worship of Him alone because of who He is -- He is God Almighty. It is right for Him to demand that we serve Him alone. As His people we should be jealous to protect those who are called by His name and His church from any hint of compromise and defilement. This is what Jesus displayed when He drove the money-changers out of the temple -- a holy jealousy. John 2:13-17 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade. 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me.
Zeal is a protective jealousy of God s name. As His people we should be jealous to protect His good name and the good name of His church. God s jealousy is always perfect. Human jealousy can become acid and painful. It can become bitter. It moves from desirous to envious. Envy occurs when we lack a quality or achievement or possession that someone else has and either desire it or wish the person lacked it. Bertrand Russell, the famous atheist, said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness. Not only is the envious person rendered unhappy by his envy, but they also wish to inflict misfortune on others. (Remember Joseph and his brothers who sold him into slavery because of their bitter jealousy of him.) Here s another example of bitter jealousy: Acts 5:17-18 17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. Then there s ambition. Now, ambition can be very positive. There is godly ambition. This would be ambition for the sake of God s glory and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without much explanation, selfish ambition is the exact opposite. It s the ambition to advance and glorify self. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. One translation phrased it this way: Don t sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. The truth is that humility will always accompany true wisdom because it s a gift. You are wise unto salvation by God s grace. Proverbs 2:6 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; If you have a wisdom about who Christ is, if you have a knowledge of who Christ is, if you have an understanding of who Christ is -- it s because God gave it to you. Salvation is all of grace that no one will boast. If you decided to follow Jesus, it s because God revealed to you who Jesus is for the Lord gives wisdom. No one will boast. Deut. 1:13;1:15;4:6;32:29 connects wisdom with experience. In other words, wisdom and doing go hand in hand, as James has been telling us. So, the person who knows their
Bible really well, but doesn t actually do any of it will not be as wise as the person who knows less about the Bible, but actually does what it says. This is why Job tells us that wisdom has nothing to do with age. (Job 32:9) James 3:15-18 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. There are other types of wisdom jockeying for your attention and none of them are neutral. Earthly wisdom is wisdom that doesn t even consider God in its thinking. It s completely earthbound. It doesn t consider the eternal consequences of present choices. Unspiritual wisdom is wisdom that exalts human reason above all things. It sees human reason as supreme. Man is the measure of all things. This is called humanism. Humanism is unspiritual wisdom. Proverbs 3:7 tells us not to be wise in our own eyes. This means that as soon as you think you can look to yourself for answers and wisdom, you ve already become a fool. The Bible makes the simple wise. (Psalm 19:7) Then there is the thinking of demons. This is the spiritual influence that affects people s thinking, that blinds people to the truth. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. This is why there is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. The results of demonic wisdom are this: 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. When you hear of churches that have leadership that is rife with infidelity and conflict, you can be certain there is jealousy and selfish ambition in the ranks. This is not just leadership that is walking in the flesh. This is spiritual warfare and the church in such cases is losing. It s demonic influence. 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. 17 But the wisdom from above The wisdom from above is Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
impartial and sincere. is first pure, He lived a perfect life. He was without sin in thought, word and deed. then peaceable, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God no longer holds our debt of sin against us because Christ has paid it. gentle, Come to me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, Jesus says. open to reason, Isaiah 1:18 18 Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. full of mercy and good fruits, Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. God is not a respecter of persons. He not only will treat you fairly, He has treated you fairly. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. pure>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>contaminated peaceable>>>>>>>>>>violent gentle>>>>>>>>>>>>>>brutal reasonable>>>>>>>>>>irrational full of mercy>>>>>>>>>full of cruelty good fruits>>>>>>>>>>bad fruits impartial>>>>>>>>>>>favoritism sincere>>>>>>>>>>>>fake 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. A harvest of righteousness, a harvest of making the right decisions, following the right path that spring from peace, specifically from being at peace with God. Romans 5:1 5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Jesus we have peace where there was once guilt. In Jesus we have peace where there was once condemnation. In Jesus we have peace where there was once bondage. In Jesus we have peace where there was once discord. The wisdom of God is seen most clearly in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God, but not just in the sense that He is a sage. Christ is the wisdom of God in the gospel, in what He came to do, not just in what He came to say. The gospel is about the wisdom of God in what Christ has done on our behalf, not in Jesus being a good moral teacher, though He was certainly that. But He was more than that. He is the image of the invisible God who gave us the supreme example of wise living in His perfect life. Then He displayed the wisdom of love in dying for our sins on the cross. Followed by the wisdom of deliverance in the resurrection, because He was raised from the dead, we too can walk in newness of life. If you want to walk in wisdom, Jesus invites you to: Matthew 11:28-29 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. A sulha is an ancient Middle Eastern tradition it is an extension of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness by offering food or drink to the person who has wronged you. By making such an offer, you are saying to that person that which you have done to me is held against you no more! The idea behind the tradition is that the person who has been wronged doesn t sit back and wait for the person who hurt them to come forward, instead they initiate the reconciliation with that person it is a direct refusal of revenge and a welcoming of forgiveness.