So, if you would open your Bibles this morning to James, the letter of James, here at the back of your Bibles, tucked in between the book of Hebrews and the letter of 1 Peter. We'll be turning to James chapter 3, taking it up at verse 13, on page 1290 in the Pew Bible, 1290 in the Pew Bible. From the very beginning, James has been challenging us as individual believers to consider how we are living together in the community as the body of Christ. Last time, he challenged everyone, especially those who would be teachers, to mind your tongues, because if they're left unattended, they will destroy others, and they'll undermine the communion of the saints. Jesus said that what comes out of the mouth defiles a man, and he said what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, And so James follows that path and today turns from the tips of our tongues to the depths of our hearts in chapter 3, beginning in verse 13. Before he gets to the heart of the matter of what's wrong in the churches to which he writes in chapter 4, James is going to challenge us all to consider whether we are as wise as we think we are. And if we're honest with ourselves, we think we're pretty wise. Why does he do this? Because in the name of wisdom, the church has a long history of being disrupted. That until Christ returns, the unity and peace of the church will be troubled by people who claim to be wise. Therefore, we continue to need to be on guard against becoming wise in our own eyes. As Proverbs 26.12 says, there is more hope for a fool than for a man who is wise in his own eyes. So James' warning from chapter 1 still stands. He says that if anyone thinks he's religious, if anyone thinks he's a Christian, but his life does not support his claim, this person's religion is worthless. We've already seen that just because someone claims to have received God's mercy, it doesn't mean the claim is true. How do we know? The one whose claim is true will be interested in other people and acted to love their neighbor as themselves, showing mercy to others without showing partiality. We've also seen that just because someone claims to have faith doesn't mean the faith they proclaim is true and saving faith. How can we tell? Well, the one whose claim is true will be confirmed through the good works that he does in love toward his neighbor. You're seeing a pattern. James continues that pattern in the same way. Just because someone thinks himself wise or claims to be wise doesn't mean that he is. How can we tell? That's the point of James' question that opens our text today in verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Here's the question. And he's not calling for a show of hands, children. He's calling for those whose claim is true to stand up and be noticed because by his good context he lets it be shown in the works that he does, in the meekness of wisdom. James warns all others in verse 14 that you better not boast. Do not boast of being wise if you're not showing it in this way, for if you do, you'll show yourself to be false to the truth. You're not wise. In our text this morning, James unpacks his exhortation and this warning by showing us that wisdom is as wisdom does. We can know it by its fruit. He does this so that we are better equipped and able to, first of all, avoid wisdom's counterfeit. That's our first point, to avoid wisdom's counterfeit. And secondly, to pursue genuine wisdom. Our second point, to pursue genuine wisdom. Hear now the word of God as it comes to us from James chapter 3, beginning in verse 13 through 18. Who is wise in 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 exist, there will be discord 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 the reading of God's Word this morning. Well, in these verses, verses 14 to 18, James presents to us a stark contrast between the genuine wisdom he urges us to pursue and the counterfeit he warns us against. And for each of these, he reveals three things. First of all, its origin, from whence it comes. who sows it in the hearts of men. It's nature, what lays hidden within the heart, where this root of wisdom or this counterfeit takes hold. And thirdly, it's effect, how we know, what it shows, what it produces in our lives and to the world. It's fruit. If we are to avoid wisdom's counterfeit, we need to know how to recognize it. We need to know how to see it. It's interesting to note that in these verses, James never refers to this counterfeit as a type of wisdom. He doesn't dignify it with the label. He doesn't call it false wisdom, human wisdom, counterfeit wisdom. He doesn't refer to it as wisdom at all. It's utterly devoid of wisdom. It's the opposite of wisdom. And he reveals its origin in verse 15. First of all, by making it absolutely clear that this counterfeit is not the wisdom that comes down from above. Categorically, not. It is, on the other hand, earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. It is sown in us by what the Heidelberg, number 127, calls our sworn enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil. It's earthly. It's bound up and it's limited to this fallen world. It's the way, it thinks the way this world thinks. It sees the way this world sees. It's inferior. It's imperfect. It's temporary. It's unspiritual. It's bound up in the nature of fallen men. Men who trust our corrupted feelings more than we trust the revealed truth that God gives us in His Word. Men who subject that truth to the limits of our own reason. That's the nature of being unspiritual. It's bound up in us. It belongs to those that Jude calls worldly people. devoid of the Holy Spirit. It belongs to those Paul says cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God because to understand them requires the Spirit. They can't discern what is spiritual. And lastly, and most notably, it's demonic. It's authored by the devil himself. Like the tongue that he said is set on fire by hell itself. James exposes this connection, or Jesus exposes this connection to the Pharisees when they were opposing him in his ministry. And he said to them, you are of your father, the devil. And your will is to do your father's will. That's what this counterfeit is like. That's where it comes from. The world, the flesh, and the devil. As to its nature, we look to verse 14. where James says this counterfeit is rooted in bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts. What does he mean? Now, in our day, we primarily use jealousy in a negative way, so perhaps we don't get lost here. But jealousy is a tricky word. Jealousy can be a good thing. It can be an appropriate desire to have or to guard or to hold someone or something that does rightly belong to you. In chapter 4, James reminds us that God has this kind of jealousy toward His Spirit that He's given to us as people. He keeps us close. He will not share us with the world. He's jealous for us. It's a good thing. But jealousy can also be an inappropriate desire for someone or for something that doesn't belong to you. It belongs to another. You want what they have, and you're willing to fight to get it. And you really don't care who gets in the way. because you want it. In fact, if you can't have it, you might just go on and destroy it so that no one can have it. That's how wicked and destructive jealousy can be. And we know that all too well in our lives. The challenge is that there can be a fine line between the two. We can slip from one into the other without really noticing that we've done it. What can begin as a godly desire to guard or to have something that is indeed truly good and really is ours to have can morph into a bitter jealousy that creates strife. We want it so much, so badly, we're willing to sin to get it. Or we're willing to sin when we don't. We can deceive ourselves to believe that we are zealous for truth. We're zealous for God. We're on God's sides. We're doing this in the name of God's glory. When in fact, all that is seen by God and others is prideful and bitter insistence that it be my way, Or the highway, subtle, slippery. Ambition, another word that can cut two ways. It's the internal drive that gets us to do things. It drives us to accomplish our goals. It can be a good thing, especially when it drives us outward to love God and to love our neighbor, to be active toward others, to be concerned about their interest more than our own. That's a good thing. The selfish ambition, on the other hand, is an ambition that is not only from the inside, but it's for the inside. It's not a good thing because all that it is driving for is to serve me, or to serve mine, probably at your expense. Selfish ambition seeks to have, to win, at any price. It fuels an us-versus-them attitude, promotes rivalries that can lead to long-standing feuds. Some of you are old enough to remember the Hatfields and the McCoys. I understand that ended a few years ago. The selfish ambition fosters the party spirit that is so prominent in our politics today. That as a nation, we really don't like too much. Our politicians are very low in our respect right now because of this kind of selfish ambition. But all too often, this counterfeit is present in the church. Paul noted it in his letter to the Philippians as he sat in jail for the sake of the gospel. He knew what was going on outside around the Mediterranean and he knew that there were some who preached Christ with a proper jealousy for the glory of God and a proper ambition to see people saved, and others who did so from envy and rivalry, he says. They preach Christ out of selfish ambition, thinking to afflict him, that is Paul, in his imprisonment. They do it to spite Paul, to take advantage of ground that he's losing. They want a game. It's in the church, even as the New Testament's being written, and it's in the church today. We know it is because of its effect. The effect of this counterfeit does not stay locked away in the heart. It's not a private enterprise. James makes this clear in verse 16. He says that where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, note this, there will be disorder in every vile practice. There will be. It's a necessary consequence. When Christians, especially leaders in the church, are more interested in their own ambitions and in their own partisan causes than in the well-being of the flock as a whole. It will spill out into confusion, disorder, discord, fights. The scriptures record this for us. The annals of church history record this for us. We can turn to almost any page and see the carnage that results from this kind of counterfeit hindsight's 20-20 we look at these we read these things we go that was then that was bad we'll never let that happen again James is warning us against the blindness of heart that will lead us down the same well-worn path to disorder to unrest and to division it's ever present this counterfeit will undermine our assurance of faith it will make us double-minded and unstable in all of our ways will shift to and fro with this wind of doctrine and that and this leader and that leader. This disorder ignites the tongue. As we saw last time, a restless evil. It puts it to work, to destroy. And this disorder seems to know no bounds. James writes, it finds expression in every vile practice. That's shorthand for a list that we could never complete. We could never catalog all the various ways that this disorder can spill out in the lives of God's people and to the destruction of his church. Paul gave us a little insight into it with a short list from Galatians 5. We read as God's law this morning. I remind you of it from Galatians 5. We read that the works of the flesh, the expressions of this counterfeit, the effects that it has in the life of the church are evident, Paul says. It includes such things as sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and sorcery. Those things to be sure, and they're not good things. But listen to this part of the list in light of what James is saying. The works of the flesh include enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy. It's exactly what James is warning against. It's exactly the effects of this counterfeit that takes root in the hearts of God's people, that is, earthly and spiritual and demonic. Wisdom is not rooted in bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. And wisdom cannot produce this kind of disorder or vile practice. Therefore, if these are what drive you, James is saying, if these are the things that drive you, And if these are the things that characterize your life and the community in which you are living, do not boast that you are wise. The evidence is against you. And it will prove that such a boast is false to the truth. That's the point of his warning in verse 14. If this is what your attitudes are and your motives are and this is what's happening in your world and your family and in your church and in your community, don't boast about being wise. You have no case. It's a strong warning. We like to think it's not needed in our day, but as I've said, history tells us that the way is always open for us to step down that road, and this warning is for us today as well. In this church, where we enjoy great unity and peace, the warning stands. But with this warning comes its counterpoint. As strongly as James warns us against the counterfeit, he urges us to pursue the genuine deal, genuine wisdom. And he tells us of its origin. It's from above, he says. It's from above. He says it twice in this passage to make sure we don't miss it. And without having to spell it out, James is telling us that it is heavenly rather than earthly. It's spiritual rather than unspiritual. It's godly rather than demonic. It's heavenly. It's superior. It's perfect. It's eternal. It's of God Himself. It can be no other. It's spiritual because of the work of the Holy Spirit. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians, we have received not the Spirit of this world, we have received the Spirit who is from God. That's who we have as Christians. That we might understand the things freely given us by God. We might understand what He reveals to us to be true. His wisdom is spiritual, and it's godly. It is from God Himself, and it's received through true faith in Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God in the flesh. If we have received Christ through faith, we have been given the wisdom of God. It is ours in Him. James has already said that as we walk through this life, God will continue to give us wisdom generously if we ask. If we ask in faith, if we ask not doubting, He will give it to us generously without reproach. He won't give us a sneer or an odd look that we're back again to ask for more wisdom. He knows that we need it more than we ask. Well, as to his nature, wisdom is bound up in what James calls the meekness of wisdom. It's a unique phrase in the Scriptures, the meekness of wisdom. But according to verse 13, the life that is pleasing to God springs from this meekness. It's the springboard of the life that we are not only called to live, but able to live in Christ. Meekness. It's not natural to man. It's not in us by nature. In fact, it's despised by the world. It's despised by our natural inclinations. We don't like meekness. It's weakness to us. It's being a pushover, a doormat. Well, we need to redefine meekness in our day if we consider Moses, considered at his time the meekest man in all the earth, Numbers tells us. He was no pushover. He was no doormat. But he was meek. And Jesus Christ, as we'll see, is perfectly meek. This meekness is found only in him. He came into this world to live the life of perfect righteousness before God. And in order to do that, he lived it with perfect meekness. From perfect meekness brings perfect righteousness. And we see it in Jesus. Even to death on the cross. Peter writes of this in his first letter, 1 Peter chapter 2. He tells us that Jesus did this. He lived this perfect life. And he did so with perfect meekness for us. He says, Christ suffered for you. taking to Himself the judgment that you deserve, and enduring the torments of men without responding with selfish ambition. He did this for you in perfect meekness, which is yours through faith in Him. Peter writes, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. Meekness. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued to entrust himself to him who judges justly, meekness. And not only did he do this for you, and not only does he give this to you through faith, he did this to set an example for you, Peter writes, that you might follow in his steps, that you might do likewise, that you might learn meekness, from which righteous living springs, James says. We're very familiar with Paul, who lets us know that the Holy Spirit proves that he's present and active in the person's life by the fruit of the Spirit that shows. We're very familiar with that expression. But in the same way, wisdom, Jesus says, is justified by, is proven by, is put on display by all her children. And I believe that's what James has in mind here this morning in verse 17 as he introduces us to wisdom's children that take root in a heart that's been renewed by grace. Verse 17, he begins his wisdom from above his first. First of all and foremost, it's pure. It's pure. Just as the words of the Lord are pure, those who receive his words into renewed hearts and minds are likewise purified by it. That is our sanctification. It's the process of the Word of God by His Spirit purifying us to be like the righteous ones He's made us to be in Jesus. And so by the Spirit, through the Word of God, the pure God purifies our morals. He purifies our desires, our purposes, so that more and more we can practice what James says, the religion that is pure and undefiled before God. It takes the pure wisdom of God through His Word, by His Spirit, to change us in that way that we can pursue it. But it is happening in the people of God. Then he continues in verse 17, the wisdom from above is peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. Now we need to know like any list in the Bible, this list is not exhaustive. It doesn't define everything that this wisdom works in the hearts of God's people, but it's a beautiful list crafted by James to be memorable to those who read this in the Greek. It's lost to us in English, but it was a very easily memorized list that we could carry around with us. If you take it all together, the forest here for all the trees we're going to look at, the forest here is that it paints a picture of the meekness of wisdom that motivates and characterizes love for our neighbor. It's the spring from which righteousness comes. This wisdom is peaceable, he says. Solomon says that all of her paths are peace. All of the paths of wisdom are peace. It motivates every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. That's where this comes from. It's peaceable. And it reminds us that if at all possible, as far as it depends on you, to live at peace with everyone. This wisdom is peaceable. This wisdom is gentle. Gentle. In Philippians, Paul writes, let your gentleness be known to all. And it's interesting what he says right before that. He says, the Lord is near. The Lord is near. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. You can entrust yourself to Him when things are not going well. You can entrust yourself to Him when someone reviles you or attacks you or opposes you or comes at you. The Lord is near. Wisdom lets you be gentle. It helps us to be charitable toward other sinners just like us. It helps us be willing to yield to them even when it means giving up our rights. Wisdom is gentle. This wisdom is open to reason. Now, without forsaking the truth of God's Word, without stepping off of that, this wisdom equips us to listen carefully to others, even those with whom we disagree. We don't have to go on an attack and to win. We can listen. We can appreciate. And it makes us willing to submit if we're persuaded. This wisdom is full of mercy and good works. As James has already pressed upon it, it not only makes us sympathetic toward others, mindful that other people are suffering, it moves us to compassion. The compassion of Jesus Christ himself that acts in love to alleviate, to help, to rescue, to ease. This wisdom is full of mercy and good works. And this wisdom is impartial. Again, something else that James has already shown us. This wisdom is not given to a party spirit. It's not an us versus them. It's not a me versus you. It's not I got to win at your expense. There is no party spirit. It allows us to look at every other human being as a creature made in the image of God and to treat them with that kind of respect. And it allows us to see and work with every other Christian, whether male or female, of means or no means. Whatever it is about them that makes them who they are, They are a child of God, a fellow heir in Jesus Christ, and we can see them that way. Finally, this wisdom is sincere, Paul says. It wears no masks. What you see is what you get. It's interesting that Paul speaks of love needing to be sincere. Wisdom that God gives helps us to have that kind of love. The faith from which that kind of love pours is a faith that Paul says is to be sincere, genuine. The wisdom of God at work in our hearts forms and molds that kind of faith that can show that kind of love. All in all, James reveals that this wisdom from above is selfless rather than self-ish. And this kind of selfless meekness of wisdom is not without effect. It will just as certainly show itself. As to its effect, this wisdom from above will not stay hidden. All that who possess it, who are moved by it, will take to heart the exhortation from James at the very beginning when he said, who is the wise and understanding among you? Those who are moved by this kind of wisdom will hear that call and by his good conduct will strive to let his wisdom and his understanding show in his good works. Mercy is demonstrated in our impartiality toward others. Faith is demonstrated in our love for others. And in the same way, our mercy is shown in the good conduct, the good works that we find at work in us and we want to do for the good of other people. By way of a proverb in verse 18, James shows us why this is so. He's quoting a proverb here, probably a familiar proverb in his day. It says, And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. The point here is a harvest of righteousness is sown. The effect is a harvest of righteousness. The effect is the presence of good works. Those things that flow from true faith, those things that are in accord with God's will, His law, those things that are done for His glory and for the sake of other people. That's righteousness. It pleases God. In chapter 1, verse 20, James made it absolutely clear that the anger of man does not produce this righteousness. The anger of man cannot produce this righteousness. And now we know why from this text. Because apart from the wisdom from above, the heart of man will produce only disorder and vile practice. That's what we do. Apart from the grace of God and the wisdom of God, that's what we do. Here, in this proverb, James tells us that we will have a harvest of righteousness. Because the wisdom of God can and does produce this righteousness in His people. This wisdom's manner is peaceable. We've seen that already. And its purpose is to promote peace, to promote unity, to bind together, to draw into communion one another. Therefore, as wisdom from above works through the life of each of us as individual Christians and works through the life of this congregation, this flock, a harvest of righteousness will be had. It is sown in peace by those who make peace. Paul used a similar sort of language in 2 Corinthians when he offered this promise from God. This is a promise. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. God promises to do that in his people. James tells us that he does that in us by his wisdom from above that creates meekness in our hearts that pours out in glory to God and love for our neighbor. That's what we're called to. And so we come back to the question. James is very good at asking the question. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Wisdom is as wisdom does. Let's pray. Almighty God in heaven, we thank you that you have revealed yourself in the earth, in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. We thank you that in Him we have seen and we have received by faith the wisdom of God. That you have given us your wisdom at work in our hearts. To work in us a righteousness, Lord, that is pleasing to you. You have offered us through James the promise that if we come to you in need of wisdom, you will give it. You will give it freely. You'll give it without reproach. Lord, open our eyes to know that we need it. We have it in Christ, but we are so forgetful, we go back to our own ways, we settle for the counterfeit, we find ourselves standing on our own desires and our own purposes and our own party way, and we, by nature, turn away from one another. Even oppose one another. We pray, Father, that by your Spirit we would hear this warning today and we would heed it. We would repent if this is our way. That we would be shown just to have been foolish those who can be set right by your grace to pursue what is pleasing to you. Keep us, Lord, from being wise in our own eyes. That we do not hear this warning and we do not hear this exhortation, Lord, to live lives that demonstrate your work in us, this work of wisdom. Help us, Lord, to want it. Help us, Lord, to seek it from your word. Help us, Lord, to ask it of you in prayer that more and more we would sow a harvest of righteousness in peace as we ourselves are striving to be makers of peace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.