Don't Be Such A Hypocrite Part Seven: Two Kinds of Wisdom Amy Burns Good morning. So glad that you are here today. We are in the 6 th week of a 7 part series looking at the book of James. It s actually a letter that James wrote to Jewish Christians who had been scattered all over due to persecution. And they ve got a problem that James is addressing. Let me illustrate the problem. This is our family s favorite place to go. St. George Island. We love it because it s quiet, no high rises. Perfect for families. So you get to the beach, set up your stuff, coolers, beach towels, beach chairs and you jump in. And you don t even think about the current that s always there. And after a while you look up and think? Where s our stuff? And then you realize, whoa, that s our stuff way down there! How did I get so far away from where I started? And this was what James was addressing in his letter. These Christians drifted away from doing what Jesus taught. And as you know, drifting tends to happen slowly, one decision at a time. But by the time James gets word of what s going on, these Christians are way down the coastline from where they started. And the core issue was that while they still claimed to be Christians, they had stopped acting like Christians. And when James hears what s going on, he does not mince words. He gets up in their face and say right off the bat in the first chapter James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves, DO WHAT IT SAYS. It can t get much clearer than that, right? Now be careful here. Remember, he s talking to people who are already claim to follow Jesus. He s not talking to people who are
seeking and searching for God and are not believers yet. He s talking to people who already profess to follow Jesus. And James is saying Wake Up! It s not enough to just know what Jesus taught, a true follower of Jesus will Do what Jesus taught. (II. The problem) Last week Remy talked about how some of the people in the church had been spouting off with their words. Today we might call them a know it alls. They wanted to push through whatever their own agenda was. They were probably talking behind people s backs; causing division and animosity between each other. And it s in that context that we get to the passage today. Listen to what James says in 3:13 16 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom (You think you are so smart with all your words? Where s the evidence? Where are your good deeds done in humility?) But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. And then, jumping to James 4:1 3, James shows us what was happening in the relationships of these Christians due to the earthly wisdom they were using. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. These Christians had drifted far from being the peacemakers and mercy givers that Jesus had taught them to be. They had become self-focused and driven by envy and
jealousy. James uses the term Selfish ambition. It s a me above others approach to life. And actually it s our default mode. It s our sinful nature mode. Decisions based on selfish ambition is what James calls using earthly wisdom unspiritual wisdom he even calls it of the devil. Bitter envy isn t just a passing thought of oh, I like her new car, wish I had one like it. It s much more malicious and caustic. If you harbor bitter envy you actively hope others won t get more than what you have.. You actively hope others won t be more successful than you. Let me dig a little deeper on this It s that twinge in your gut that actually hopes your friend doesn t get the promotion they want. It s that twinge you get that kind of hopes your adult sibling won t be able to afford that amazing vacation. We don t talk about these things do we? But it s there. Why in our deepest and darkest places do we feel these things? I think it s because if our friend, or sibling or co-worker doesn t succeed then we don t feel as bad about ourselves when we don t get what we want. Other people s successes can amplify our own insecurities and our own feelings of inadequacy. When we operate in a me above others mode. Or when we harbor this seed of envy, ultimately what we are doing is operating out of a foundation of fear. Fear that I won t get my fair share. Fear that I won t look successful or important to the people I want to impress. And as Christians, when we operate out of this fear, we are saying, I don t trust that God has my best in mind. I better watch out for myself because I don t know that God is trustworthy. James tells us that when operate out of a me first motive, out of envy and ultimately out of fear results are ugly.
James 3: 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find Disorder and every evil practice. See, James is trying to show them that there is a direct cause and effect here. The reason your churches are so messed up, the reason your relationships are so chaotic, is because you are acting out selfishness and envy. Then jumping down to chapter 4:2 You want something but don t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. Again, James is showing that the result of selfish ambition and bitter envy is a life filled with toxic relationships. Relationships filled with arguments, jealousy and killing. The word killing is hyperbole and references the idea of deep seated hate. When you live like this, James tells us that not only with there be disorder in your relationships, but there will also be every evil (vile) practice. We will eventually hurt someone else to get what we want. Gossip, slander, judgement all forms of evil practice. James has used the word evil multiple times in his letter. It s a pretty strong word to use when you are calling people out. And because of some of his intense word choices, it might be easy for us to think, Well, I m not that bad. I haven t done anything evil. But I think that misses the point. I think he s saying that anything we say or do that doesn t come from a pure heart; or anything that is not consistent with the loving character of God; is evil. Let me bring this home a bit. A little over a year ago we got a new computer system at work. Everybody was stressed and feeling overwhelmed. And one day one of my co-workers inadvertently made a mistake with the new system that required me to go back to do some extra
work to fix the mistake. This person made a mistake that imposed on me and added more work to my already stressful load. What would have been the wise thing for me to do in this situation? I should have said, Hey, mistakes happen, especially with a new system. Let s work together to see if we can improve the system and work out the kinks for next time. I would love to tell you I said something nice and considerate like that. But no. I was sharp and terse with my words. I let her know that I did not appreciate her mistake becoming my problem. Great moment for me right? Just like Jesus. This is why I don t wear a what would Jesus do bracelet My me above other s approach lead to relationship disorder, evil practices, in other words a toxic and broken relationship. I want to pause here and let you guys bring this home a bit for yourselves. Where has your me above others approach lead to toxicity in your relationships? Where has your need to be right at all costs caused a break in a relationship? Where has your jealously of someone else s success caused you to gossip or say unkind things about that person? Think about it for a second. (III. Solution to Toxic Relationships) James does have some good news for us here. He tells us that there is another way to approach our relationships. James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peacemaking, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. James is echoing Jesus teaching from the Sermon on the Mount and his audience
would have caught this connection. Matthew 5: 5, 7-9 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. It s like James is saying, Hey, I m not just making this stuff up. These are the words of Jesus, who you claim to follow. As Christians, our calling is to make peace, not chaos. To bring unity, not disunity and disorder. It sounds lovely doesn t it? Such a wonderful way to live. So why don t we do it? Why do we so easily drift away from Jesus s teaching? Because it s because following Jesus requires us to loosen our fist tight grasp on trying to control our own lives. We have to loosen our grasp on fighting to get our fair share. We have to loosen our grasp on measuring our worth based on how we compare to someone else s success. Our earthly wisdom says, I have to look out for me and make sure I m taken care of first. Heavenly wisdom is pure (without ambition or envy) and says, I can let go of my fear and trust that God loves me and wants the best for me. Earthly wisdom says, I m going to be first in line so I don t miss out. Heavenly wisdom is submissive and says, You go first, even if it means you get the last piece of pie. (The last cookie, the last seat on the bus)
Earthly wisdom says, I m not going tip my waiter. He wasn t very attentive and it took him forever to get our drinks. Heavenly wisdom is merciful and says, He must be frazzled, overwhelmed and having a really crazy night. I m going to fully tip him. Earthly wisdom says, I m going to cozy up with the influential people because they might help me out sometime I need it. Heavenly wisdom is impartial and says, I don t care whether you are rich, poor, well connected, isolated, on Medicaid, have private insurance, dress well or wear unwashed clothes every day. I will treat everyone with the same kindness and respect. And may I gently touch on our political sensibilities given this past week? Earthly wisdom says, I am going to argue with you, demean you and judge you until you come to my way of thinking. Heavenly wisdom is sincere and considerate and says, I want to hear your story. I am curious and want to learn about how you came to your way of thinking. I will truly listen to your opinions without at the same time thinking of ways to argue with you. James said, Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. The image James is using is an agricultural image. Sowing and reaping is what our farmers do every year. They sow seeds and hopefully reap a large harvest of food. What seeds you put in the ground determines what kind of food you reap at the end. If you sow corn you will reap corn. If you sow beans you will reap beans. If you sow selfishness, discord, harsh words, jealously; you will reap fights, quarrels, chaos, disunity and you will hurt people.
But if you sow peace. If you roll up your sleeves and do the work of being a peacemaker. What you reap is a life pleasing to God. A life with relationships filled with unity, respect, kindness and trust. (IV. How do we access this Heavenly Wisdom?) Do you see the disconnect here? We all want to live a life that reaps healthy relationships and pleases God. But so often we don t. So often we speak and act out of our earthly wisdom. We use words that tear each other down like I did with my co-worker. Like you may have done this morning with your kids trying to get out the door to church on time. So what do we do when we realize we ve drifted far from where God wants us? James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. There are actually 10 action verbs in this passage. (Remember those from English grammar class?) All of them circle around the idea of repentance. James is driving home the point that we can t sit and passively expect the wisdom of God to just drop into our laps. No, when our actions and words are based on selfish and envious motives, we have to repent. And repentance is an active process. So whether you are a Christian who has drifted away from God, or you are deciding to follow Jesus for the first time, here s what we all need to do Submit yourself to God. You are God and I am not. God, I place myself under your authority, your will and your desires for me. And I will trust that you have my best interest at heart.
Second, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you: In our modern culture we sometimes get a little antsy talking about the devil. But scripture is very clear that there is a force trying to work against God. And from the very beginning of time (Adam and Eve), this force or Satan has been trying to get us to believe that we don t need God. That we know better than God. James tells us to resist that temptation. The word Resist literally means to take your stand. Take a stand against Satan, against his lies, and he will flee from you. He cannot stay in the bright light of truth. Come near to God. And here s his promise. He will come near to you. If we take a step towards God. He will take a giant step to be near us. Maybe you are here today and you have doubts about Jesus and Christianity. Maybe you are here today feeling worn down by life and feel far from God. Take a step. Take a baby step towards God. Maybe it s a simple prayer where you say God, I have so many doubts. Will you show me what is true? Or maybe your step is to read this letter from James and say God, will you somehow meet me here in the middle of these words and pages? If you take one tiny step towards God, he will show up. Wash (cleanse) your hands and purify your hearts. James is alluding to the cleansing rituals and ceremonial washings that these Jewish Christians would be very familiar with. The idea here is that we repent not only of our external actions, inappropriate words we ve said or things we ve done. But that we also repent of the selfish attitudes in our hearts. We repent of being double-minded. Being double minded is trying to walk the fence. Asking how much can I please myself and get what I want and still make sure God is happy with me. Maybe if I give some money to church than I don t have to worry too much about the harsh and divisive words I use on social media. James is saying, No, that attitude doesn t fly. God desires a pure heart. Free from the contamination of self-serving motives. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom: Sounds really uplifting doesn t it? But James is calling for us to engage in an emotional response to our sinfulness. He calls us to cry and mourn, even set aside laughter and
joy in response to our recognition of our sin. James is not suggesting on ongoing lifestyle of sadness, but rather he is directing us through a season of repentance. A time where we recognize our sin and feel the weight of it. That we don t flippantly think it doesn t matter. God will forgive me anyway. No. When I speak harshly to my child or my husband I should grieve and feel the weight of what my hurtful words have done. Tears and mourning are an appropriate response to our sin. But after repentance we embrace the joy and celebrate the gift of God s grace and forgiveness. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up: The result of this repentance and the result of humbling and submitting ourselves to God is that He will lift us up. In his own way and in his own time. We can trust him. Do you remember my co-worker that I got upset with? My little tirade felt good for all of 15 sec and then the pit in my stomach came. The realization of what I had done hit me. It was all about me. I didn t want to be inconvenienced. I had decided my time and my work were more important than hers. Nothing about my response was considerate or merciful. So now what do I do? Do is use my own earthly wisdom or God s wisdom? I could hold my ground. I could dig in and continue the I m right and you were wrong mentality. OR I could step towards God and humble myself before him. I could ask for his heavenly wisdom. But as James has been pounding into us, it s not enough to know the right thing. We have to do the right thing For me in this situation, it wasn t enough to humble myself before God. Doing the wise thing meant I had to humble myself before my co-worker. I had to go and say I am sorry. I was wrong in how I spoke to you and in my attitude. Will you forgive me? Thankfully she did forgive me. And the relationship was restored instead of broken. Peace was brought about instead of division. Now I know that there are way more toxic relationship issues going on for people than
my example that I shared today. But ultimately the principles are the same. If we want to be followers of Jesus and want to make choices based on God s wisdom than we are going to have to submit ourselves to God, humble ourselves before him and DO what he asks us to do in order to bring peace to the situations around us. Let s be peacemakers today, tomorrow and going forward,