I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James. We continue our study in that book this evening. James, one of the last books of the Bible. I did not check what page it is in the Pew Bible, but I'll tell you right now once I get there: page 1201. 1201 James, chapter 3, we're going to be looking at verses 13 down to 18, but for context I'm going to begin our reading back at verse 1 of chapter 3.
So James, chapter 3, beginning at verse 1: "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide the whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also though they are so large and are driven by strong winds they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, or rectile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
Here ends reading of God's word. May he bless it to us.
Wisdom. Wisdom is something that I think we all would say we can use more of. On the text before us, James brings up the subject of wisdom. Now I think it's easy to see why James brings up wisdom here. In our last section, he spoke about taming the tongue. You see, generally when people think of a wise person, they think of someone who can quote wise sayings, someone who expresses their wisdom through their thoughts, their ideas, and what they say. That's a typical way that people think of a wise person.
I recently came across a wise saying. It goes something like this: "Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life." Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. The idea in this saying is that even seemingly insignificant actions in life can lead to significant positive change in our lives. That's the kind of wisdom that people have become familiar with the the kind of wisdom that's expressed in ideas and words, thoughts, Is such a saying true? Generally, yes. It can even be insightful and maybe a bit inspiring. But does such wisdom have anything to do with the reality of what life is really about?
What is life about? Since we're talking about wisdom, maybe we can, for a moment, just consider a very foundational question about life. I'm sure at some point, many if not all of us have asked that question: "What is life all about?"
Well, when we consider wisdom, we're talking about the foundational issues of life. In a sense, I'll tell you what life is all about: god the Lord, his glory, coming to a knowledge of his plan of redemption and salvation in Jesus Christ, his will for our lives, our sanctification, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, being made more and more into the likeness of Christ. That's what life is about. Now, sure, that takes little steps at times, does it not? Taking little steps in life, which can eventually amount to big steps in life? Yes, that's true. We have to do that. But that's really not what life is ultimately about.
You see, Christ didn't have to die to save sinners in need of salvation from their sin in order for a wise saying like that like the one I quoted to be true. In fact, I think that sayings like these wise little, pithy sayings often put the focus more on us, us and our desires, us and our plans for our life, more than God, Christ, his salvation, our sanctification. And that's really a critical distinction. And it's a distinction that James is making here in the text before us tonight. He draws up the difference between worldly wisdom and wisdom from above worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom.
See, as I said, James just wraps up his section on speech, speaking, and taming the tongue. And one of the main temptations of the tongue is boasting. Look with me again at verse through verse 5 of chapter 3: "The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. Why does a person boast? Because they think highly of themselves. They think they are knowledgeable. They have wisdom, understanding." And the topic of wisdom is not all that unrelated to what James has been impressing upon his readers throughout this letter: genuine faith, genuine religion.
Remember again what he says back in verse 26 of chapter one "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world." And that goes right in line with what James then says in chapter 2, verse 14: "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Can that kind of faith save him?" The answer is no. The kind of faith in Jesus Christ that saves is the kind of faith that is active, living faith, that is displayed and expressed through works.
And so I'll say it again as I think I maybe you have said in each of my sermons in this book james's aim in this letter is to produce genuine faith and genuine religion in the life of the Christian. And so he carries on this thought now as it relates to the topic of wisdom. And in these six verses, as I said, James draws up a distinction A distinction just like he made between genuine religion and worthless religion, a distinction just like he made between genuine faith and false faith. The distinction that he draws up here is the distinction between worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom, wisdom from below and wisdom from above.
And so he moves from the tongue to wisdom, and he does so by asking a question. He begins in verse 13 with the question: of "Who is wise and understanding among you?" Who is the wise person? Who are the wise ones? Who are the ones who claim to be wise and understanding among the Christians that James is writing to? And you can imagine certain people in the first century reading this letter and thinking to themselves, "That's me. That's me. I'm i'm wise enough. I i know the sayings of the wise." But then notice how James, in the very next statement, switches things on them. He says, "By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom."
James, in keeping with the same position that he has alluded to throughout this letter, is still interested in what is very practical. He's interested in how one lives out their Christian life. He's not interested in what someone says. He's not interested in what someone claims. He's not interested in what someone thinks about themselves. He is interested in how Christians live out their lives, how they live out their faith. James would say, "If you think you're wise, don't simply claim to be wise. Don't simply tell me that you're wise. Don't even quote me the latest wise verse or saying that you have heard. I want to see your wisdom. I want to see it lived out in your life. Show me your wisdom. Display it. Practice it. Prove it."
You see, for James, the proof isn't merely in the pudding; it's in the living. It's in the life of the person. Their wisdom is proven through how they live. Remember, it was Jesus, James' brother, who says in Matthew 11, "Wisdom is justified by her deeds." That's almost exactly what James is saying here. Wisdom, genuine wisdom, the kind of wisdom which is from above, is the kind of wisdom displayed and proven by one's actions.
We get a great picture of this kind of wisdom throughout the life of Jesus Christ and the way he responds to sin and particularly the sin of the religious leaders of the day. And because the Passion Week is quickly coming upon us, what really comes to my mind in this regard is Jesus before the high priests and the religious leaders in Mark 14, where they question him. And they bring people before him who make all kinds of false accusations and claims against him. And do you remember how Jesus responds? He responds with silence. He doesn't respond he doesn't respond to their accusations, their lies, their false charges.
Think about that. Think about that in light of the wisdom that James is speaking of here wisdom that, in part, is displayed through controlling one's tongue. Remember, James says in chapter 3: "If one can control their tongue, they can control their entire body." Verse 2: "If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is perfect, able to bridle his whole body." I don't know if that's you, but that's certainly not me. But I'll tell you what: I know someone who can and has done that. Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ the God man and he did so in the face of some of the most difficult situations. He did so when challenged by the religious leaders of the day who were bringing false accusations against him. He didn't rush to respond with words. He didn't rush to defend himself. He remained controlled, in control of his tongue and his entire being.
Imagine how difficult that must have been for Christ, being falsely accused by these men. Have you ever been in a situation like that? you ever been falsely accused and stood there silently because you knew whatever you said wouldn't be taken serious Because you knew that those that were accusing you were false to the truth themselves, and they would probably be more inclined to use your words, to twist your words, and use against you than to take your words as a legitimate defense of yourself? If you've been in a situation like that, you know how difficult that can be. Everything inside of you wants to defend yourself. You feel compelled to speak. But genuine wisdom would have you stay in control control of your tongue and control of your entire person. Because genuine wisdom isn't expressed through words but in good conduct, in the meekness of wisdom, as James says here.
That's the kind of wisdom that James is talking about here: wisdom expressed and displayed through good conduct. Notice the character of the conduct that flows from the wisdom that James speaks of here. He says it flows from the meekness of wisdom. Contrary to the wisdom of the world, contrary to to the wisdom, of the earthly wisdom wisdom godly wisdom is meek. It's gentle. It's humble.
Again, think of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was meek, lowly, gentle, humble. Just after the pastor Jesus says that "wisdom will be justified by her deeds," Jesus then encounters cities who, although had marvelous miracles done in them, they would not repent. The text tells us that he denounces these cities. He says, "Woe to them." But then, in a display of humble wisdom, Jesus responds by saying, "Thank you, Lord of heaven, that you have not yet you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
And then it is that we find Jesus saying these words that I'm sure we all know to some degree or another: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus is meek. Jesus is gentle. Jesus is humble. Jesus is the meek, gentle, humble wise Savior. He is a Savior who, even in the face of outright rejection, of people who should have known better, he's gentle and lowly. That's wisdom. That's wisdom, brothers and sisters. That's wisdom that comes down from above. It's wisdom displayed through one's life. It's wisdom characterized by humility, gentleness, meekness.
Now, at this point in the text, James contrasts that humble, heavenly wisdom with worldly wisdom. He says in verse 14: "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice."
James says here that worldly wisdom is characterized by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. This is James basically working out his anthropology, his study of the nature of man. And what do we know about the nature or the heart of man? Man lives for himself. He lives for himself. What is the dominant philosophy of humanity, not just today but throughout all the ages? "Live for yourself. Look out for yourself. Look out for your own interests, because no one's going to live for you. No one's going to care about your interests. If you want something, you have to obtain it. You have to get it. In fact, you deserve it. You deserve what you want. It should be yours. Why shouldn't it be yours? Others have it. If they haven't, why shouldn't you have it?"
Young people, have you ever felt like that? Have you ever seen something that someone else had and you desired that to where you felt like you deserved it? You should have it? It's quite easy to do. My heart continues to tell me that there's a 1970 Toyota Land Cruiser 40 Series out there somewhere for me. I want it. I don't see them on the road. I only see them on Instagram and Facebook Marketplace. But because I want it, I feel it's so easy to get jealous over it. Right now, it's only the wisdom of my wife that's keeping me from it.
See, that's how worldly wisdom works: through bitter jealousy, selfish ambition. Now, we hear words like "bitter jealousy" and "selfish ambition," and it's easy for us to think we're above such youthful, sinful desires. But in reality, that's our default mode. That's our default mode. That's our hearts apart from the grace of God. So when we hear of this wisdom put in terms of what we think we deserve, what we desire, what we think would make us happy, that makes more sense to us. That's our kind of love language. That's the kind of jealousy and ambition that's alive and well in each of us, maybe in a kernel form, but alive nevertheless.
Either way, the dominant philosophy of humanity is narcissism. Narcissism. I hear people throwing that word around quite often. They say, "This person is narcissistic. That person is narcissistic." When in reality, all of us are narcissistic deep down inside. I think I've mentioned to you, maybe on more than one occasion: one of my favorite philosophers is the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. And Nietzsche is one of my favorite philosophers, not because I agree with what he has to say, but because he, as a philosopher, tried to be one of the most honest and consistent philosophers. Nietzsche captures worldly wisdom well in his concept, in his philosophy, called "the will to power."
Now, sure, one can be overly charitable to Nietzsche, sanitize this concept of the will to power. But I don't think that would be honest to him. Listen to what he says in regards to the will of power. He says, "What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness."
For Nietzsche, Christianity was the epitome of weakness, with its wisdom of meekness and humility and gentleness. Christianity was the epitome of weakness. But it wasn't just Friedrich Nietzsche who acknowledges the character of worldly wisdom. solomon the wisest man to ever live also wrestled, at a time, with this kind of wisdom. He says in Ecclesiastes 2, after listing out everything that he acquired from pleasure to laughter, wine and drink, buildings, various houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, acquiring male and female slaves, singers and concubines, herds and flocks, precious metals, silver and gold. He concludes, "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure."
That's pretty hedonistic. Solomon, at a certain point, went on a worldly wisdom tour. He pursued it, lived it out in its fullest. He explains that in the book of Ecclesiastes. And what was his conclusion? "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." And what truth that is! How true that is. Wisdom apart from God, apart from the God of the Bible, is indeed vain, meaningless.
See, that's why I like Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche came to the same conclusion as Solomon. Nietzsche says, "Everything is meaningless." He just takes it a step further and says, "So create your own meaning through the will to power." That's worldly wisdom, brothers and sisters.
Now, let's be honest. We get this wisdom. We get it. We understand this kind of wisdom, and we don't just understand it intellectually. We get it because, again, it's our default mode. It's our default wisdom. It's the wisdom that so easily flows from our hearts. The idea that life is about us and our desires and our wants goes right in line with our hearts. We get this worldly wisdom because this is the wisdom of the heart of man.
And so let's be honest. We still wrestle with this kind of wisdom. That's why James brings it up. He knows. He knows his own heart. He knows the hearts of these Christians that he's writing to. So yes, although worldly wisdom is counter to the wisdom from above, nevertheless, we still wrestle with it as Christians. We'd be lying if we said we didn't. It's easy for us still to make everything about ourselves. Yes, we've been sanctified in Christ. Yes, we've been given the Spirit of God to renew us. And yet we still wrestle with worldly wisdom. Still creeps into our hearts. That's why James is going to bring up in the very next section in this text the question: of "What causes quarrels and fights among you? Is it not that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel."
There it is. There's the fruit of worldly wisdom in its most raw form: disorder and every vile practice, as James says. We want what we want. The Bible calls it sin. In the world, it goes by many names. Sometimes it's called "happiness." Other times it's referred to as "loving yourself." Whatever it's called, it permeates much of our culture and even our own hearts.
See, James isn't just trying to show us here that it is wisdom from above that must be lived out. But the wisdom that is from below is regularly lived out. It's practiced. It's expressed in action. That's why James isn't being hypothetical here. He's not speculating, as the philosophers do. He gets right to the heart of the matter: worldly wisdom is characterized by bitter jealousy, selfish ambition. That's why the fruit and end result of it is disorder and every vile practice. Verse 16: "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice."
Think about that in light of our present hedonistic culture. We are so viciously jealous for what we want. We will bring down our own families for what we want. We'll bring down our marriages for what we want. We'll bring down the life of our children for what we want. Sadly, this happens both outside and inside the church.
This reminds me of a a quote from the TV evangelist Benny Hinn. Now, I know Benny Hinn isn't as popular as he once was, but this quote stuck with me because of the audacity of this quote Benny Hinn once said, when referring to heaven, he said, "Streets of gold, streets of gold. I'm tired of hearing about streets of gold I've got to have it now." Benny Hinn popular TV Christian evangelist and the crowd went wild. Why? Because that worldly wisdom was alive and well in Benny Hinn and in the people who followed him. Sadly, so.
So that's worldly wisdom. But it must be denied, brothers and sisters. And when I say that, I mean it must be denied, yes, out in the world, but also here in our own hearts. It must be denied. Remember, Paul says to the church at Corinth, "That is what you once were. But you've been washed. You've been sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God."
So then, if we know the character of worldly wisdom and the fruit of it, how do we turn from it? How do we deny it? Well, we do that by turning to wisdom from above. Heavenly wisdom, godly wisdom. You see, although we know worldly wisdom is to be denied, combating it on our own is impossible. But the Lord has provided for us heavenly wisdom.
Wisdom, as James says here in verse 17, that is "first pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason. That's accommodating in the good sense, compliant, full of mercy, or compassion, good fruits, impartial sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
What a beautiful, beautiful passage this is! A passage that really summarizes the character and person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? That's why it's wisdom from above, embodied in Jesus christ godly heavenly wisdom. Where do we find such wisdom? We find it on the pages of Scripture, in the person and work of Christ. Remember, Paul tells us in First Corinthians that "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are saved by it, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God."
Brothers and sisters, you want to combat that worldly wisdom that so easily creeps into your heart? Meditate upon Christ, his work, his person, for you and for your sins. Allow what Christ has done for you to move your heart to thankfulness and humility. thankfulness? and humility. Why Thankfulness Thankfulness because salvation is really what we need. Christ is really what we need. We don't need a 1970 40 Series Land Cruiser. We don't need those things that so easily capture our hearts at various times. Sure, there's nothing wrong with owning such a thing. But what we really need is Christ. What we really need is redemption that is found in him. So thankfulness.
But also humility. And why humility? Because we couldn't save ourselves, brothers and sisters. That's the reality. We couldn't save ourselves. So we should respond to what Christ has done with humility. We're sinners saved by grace, saved by the work of Jesus Christ.
You see, textually, James here is really trying to get us to verse 10 of chapter 4. Look there, to verse 10: "All of this talk about faith uh being worked out through works, taming the tongue, worldly wisdom, and quarreling and fighting is all to get us to a place of humility before God. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."
That's wisdom. Remember, the Proverbs tells us, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and understanding." What is the fear of the Lord but a humble awe and adoration of who God is? Again, we get that from setting our eyes on Christ, his person, his work.
So I encourage you tonight, brothers and sisters: continue to turn to Christ. Continue to deny the worldly wisdom, and look to Christ, and allow Christ to move you to thankfulness humility.
Let's pray: Lord, we thank you for your wisdom, shown and displayed in the life and person of Jesus Christ, and wisdom, Lord, that transforms us, that shapes us, that moves our hearts from worldly wisdom to thankfulness and humility. Father, continue by your Spirit to sanctify us, bind us, your people, together in Christ. Remind us, Lord, as you so often do, of the wonders of your grace and how we should be thankful for all that you've done for us. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.