WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.459 I love, okay, children, you're ready for, I almost forgot, children, we are ready for 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:13.160 ! Children's Church, and they can hear this too, but I love coming to church. I love being able to come 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:21.740 here with other believers and be able to worship God, grow together as we sing these praises to God, 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:28.300 grow together as we read God's Word, and I am so thankful for that. This week, as you heard earlier, 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:34.640 we're going to continue in our study of James, in James chapter 3, and the message this morning is 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:40.859 going to be coming from James 3, verses 13 through 18, and so if you have a copy of God's Word, I want 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:46.740 you to go ahead and start finding your way to James chapter 3, but as you make your way there, I want 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:52.359 you to think about something with me for a moment this morning. When you think of wisdom, when you 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:58.560 think of someone who is wise, what comes to mind? What's the first thing that comes to mind when 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:05.819 when you think of wisdom, when you think of someone who's wise? I think for many of us, we think of an 00:01:05.819 --> 00:01:12.960 old man with long gray hair, with a long gray beard, something like from Gandalf on Lord of the Rings, or 00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:20.039 something like that, and that's probably what comes to mind for many of us, but I think for some of us, 00:01:20.040 --> 00:01:27.540 a person may come to mind. Maybe it's a grandparent, a grandfather, or a grandmother that comes to mind, 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:34.900 possibly a parent, or a dear friend. For many of us, it may be somebody that comes to mind, very 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:41.640 particular somebody that comes to mind when we think of wisdom, and I think one of the characteristics 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:48.100 that many of us look for, many of us understand when it comes to wisdom, is someone who has 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:56.399 experienced. Typically, when we think of wisdom in a person, we think of experience. In our passage today, 00:01:57.119 --> 00:02:05.359 James addresses this very question of what it means to be wise, and he shares with us what worldly 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:12.459 wisdom looks like, and just a spoiler alert for later on in the message, worldly wisdom is no wisdom at all. 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:20.040 In fact, it's not wisdom, it's foolishness, but he shares with us what this worldly wisdom looks like, 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:27.960 but he also shares with us what godly wisdom looks like, true wisdom looks like. One commentator put it 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:34.200 this way, he says, it's the tale of two cities in this passage, where wisdom is contrasted with selfish 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:41.539 ambition and bitter jealousy, but we also see in contrast to selfish ambition and bitter jealousy, 00:02:41.539 --> 00:02:49.859 we see what it truly means to be wise in how god sees wisdom. And so with this in mind, I want you to follow 00:02:49.859 --> 00:02:57.319 along as we read these verses here in James chapter 3 verses 13 through 18, and this is what god's word says. 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:27.299 It says, 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:56.740 And so as we look at this passage this morning and finish up James chapter 3, 00:03:56.740 --> 00:04:02.719 I want us to do the same thing that James does at the beginning here. The first thing that I want 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:08.400 us to do this morning is to look at this question, to think about this question that is being asked here 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:15.280 and go from there. And so he poses a very important question here in verse 13, and it's a question that 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:21.300 I want us to consider as we look at this message this morning, as we look at wisdom this morning. So to 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:28.680 begin with, we see this question, who are the wise and understanding? Who are the wise and understanding 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:35.560 that we are looking at this passage? This is how James words it in verse 13. Who is wise and understanding 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:45.040 among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Not only does James 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.860 ask the question, but he also gives the answer to the question, but he also gives the answer to the question. 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:54.960 He poses the question, but then he also answers the question, and it is those who, by their good works, 00:04:55.020 --> 00:05:02.980 by their works, display the meekness of wisdom. James tells us how we know those who are wise. 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:10.960 He says, you want to know who is wise among you? By their works, by their conduct. Does this sound 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:15.799 familiar to anything else that we've talked about so far? How do you know that they have faith? By their 00:05:15.799 --> 00:05:21.560 works. And so James is showing this over and over again, and he reminds us that faith in Christ produces 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:27.740 faithfulness to Christ. And I know that I sound like a broken record every time I say that, but it's true 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:33.979 as we continue looking through James, we see this over and over again, that if we have faith in Christ, 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:40.079 it produces faithfulness to Christ. And it's something that I hope gets in our hearts and minds so that when 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:44.699 we read James in the future, which if you want to follow along with this reading plan, we would love 00:05:44.699 --> 00:05:48.819 for you to, and you'll be doing that in just a couple months from now, if you follow along with 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:53.620 that. But it's something that I hope and pray that as you read through James, it'll be like that broken 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:59.159 record that keeps coming back. Faith in Christ produces faithfulness to Christ. And it's something 00:05:59.159 --> 00:06:06.979 that we see right here as we look at this passage, we see that this wisdom is producing something in us. 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:13.420 It is true, as James continues to bring it out through this book, that that wisdom, that this faith and 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:21.780 wisdom here is going to produce something in us. Wisdom for James is so much more than just an intellectual 00:06:21.780 --> 00:06:30.200 knowledge. Wisdom for James is so much more than just knowing the right things, but it has more to do with 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:37.099 what we do with those things. What we do with that knowledge, putting that knowledge into practice. It's very 00:06:37.099 --> 00:06:45.120 practical. James is clearly trying to say two things here. True wisdom produces good works in us, and true wisdom 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:53.899 produces meekness in us. We see this very clearly here in verse 13. True wisdom produces good works in us, and it 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:59.859 produces meekness in us. Now, I want us to look at this in reverse order and start with meekness. And I'm 00:06:59.859 --> 00:07:05.319 going to be honest with you here. Meekness, a lot of times, is not one of those characteristics that we 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:12.000 think of as a great characteristic, is it? It's not something that we typically long for in our lives, 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:16.319 or as parents, it's not one of the first characteristics that comes to mind when we think of 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:21.899 the characteristics that we want to be displayed in our kids' lives. You know, for example, we all want our 00:07:21.899 --> 00:07:26.679 kids to be truthful. We want them to be honest. We want them to be courageous. We want them to be 00:07:26.679 --> 00:07:31.560 generous. We want them to be caring. We want them to be considerate. We want them to be all of these 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:37.419 things. But many times, meekness or being meek is not one of those characteristics that immediately comes 00:07:37.419 --> 00:07:45.719 to our minds. However, I think this has much to do with our lack of understanding of what this is. 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:51.719 So many times, we think of weakness when we think of meekness, right? When we think of 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:58.340 meekness, our minds immediately go to someone who is weak, but nothing could be further from the truth. 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:05.040 Martin Lloyd-Jones was a physician turned pastor in London for many years, and he shared some very 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:11.060 helpful thoughts on meekness when it comes to our relationship with God. And he said this, he says, 00:08:11.140 --> 00:08:18.880 let me emphasize it by putting it like this. Meekness does not mean indolence. There are people who 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:24.459 appear to be meek in a natural sense, but they are not meek at all. They are indolent. That means that 00:08:24.459 --> 00:08:31.759 they're lazy. This is not the quality of which the Bible is speaking. And he says, nor does it mean 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:38.659 niceness. There are people who seem to be born naturally nice. That is not what the Lord means 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:44.879 when he says, blessed are the meek. That is something purely biological. He says, the kind of thing that you 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:51.059 get with animals, one dog is nicer than another dog, one cat is nicer than another. That is not 00:08:51.059 --> 00:08:56.120 meekness. So it does not mean to be naturally nice or easy to get along with, nor does it mean 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:04.059 weakness in personality or character. Still, it does not mean a spirit of compromise or a peace at any 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:12.000 price mentality. How often are these things mistaken? How often is the man regarded as meek who says 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.019 anything rather than have a disagreement? Let's agree. Let's try to break down these distinctions 00:09:18.019 --> 00:09:23.799 and divisions. Let's smooth over these little things that divide. Let's all be nice and joyful and happy. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:33.080 He says, no, no, it's not that. Meekness, he says, is compatible with great strength. Meekness is 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:40.379 compatible with great authority and power. The meek man is the one who may so believe in standing for 00:09:40.379 --> 00:09:47.879 truth that he will die for it if necessary. The martyrs were meek, but they were never weak. Strong 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:54.399 men, yet meek men. God forbid that we should ever confuse this noble quality, one of the noblest of 00:09:54.399 --> 00:10:00.279 all qualities, with something merely animal or physical in nature. But yet oftentimes this word 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:06.980 was associated with those things, with weakness or things. But when we look at the context, 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:12.759 and when we look at how the word was used outside of the biblical context as well, we'll see that 00:10:12.759 --> 00:10:18.820 oftentimes this word was used in conjunction with the breaking of an animal. When you break a horse, 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:25.019 you don't make the horse weak. You don't make the horse weak. The strength is just harnessed and it's 00:10:25.019 --> 00:10:30.680 used for the will of the master. When you break a horse, the horse doesn't all of a sudden just become 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:37.239 weak and not able to do anything. No, it's strength is harnessed and it's used for the will of the 00:10:37.239 --> 00:10:46.000 master. Meekness as a believer is a sign that we are giving our life to be used by God. So in that 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:53.559 sense, it's no wonder that meekness is very closely associated with wisdom here and are so closely tied 00:10:53.559 --> 00:11:00.619 together. But not only is the wise person meek, but he also produces something. He produces this 00:11:00.619 --> 00:11:08.859 good work. See, acts of obedience to God perform consistently day after day are what constitute 00:11:08.859 --> 00:11:16.219 this good conduct of the wise person that's being described here. The word good here is the Greek word 00:11:16.219 --> 00:11:23.539 halos, which means beautiful and is where we get the origin of the word for calligraphy. 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:29.399 It comes from this same. And so this beautiful handwriting, and I don't know if you know how 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:34.039 to write in calligraphy or if, or if you've seen someone do this, Marilyn in the office, she'll do 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:40.459 it from time to time for things for us. And it's this beautiful, beautiful handwriting and it's beautiful 00:11:40.459 --> 00:11:47.119 to see. And I think, and other commentators believe this as well, what James is communicating here 00:11:47.119 --> 00:11:53.439 is that the wise person is the one who lives in such a way that their life is beautiful, 00:11:53.559 --> 00:12:00.839 and attractive to the world and ultimately points them to the beauty of God. And so this good conduct, 00:12:00.839 --> 00:12:07.479 this beautiful conduct that's being described here is a life that people are able to see and it points 00:12:07.479 --> 00:12:14.579 them to the beauty and the glory of God. Peter in 1 Peter 2.12 says it like this. He says, 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:21.740 keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:30.560 they may see your good works and glorify God. They may see your good works and then in turn glorify 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:38.259 God. And so the wise person here being described is one who lives in such a way that it's, that it's 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:43.399 different from the world, that people will see this and they'll see a beauty in the way that we live 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:49.360 our lives that is counterculture to this world. And ultimately when they look at our lives, they'll see 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:55.279 the beauty and the attractiveness of it and it will point them to Jesus. It'll point them to where this 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:01.939 beauty originates in the life of the believer. This wise person lives in such a way that those who are 00:13:01.940 --> 00:13:10.860 not believers and may even be opposed to Christianity will catch a glimpse of the beauty of God. We must ask 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:18.700 the question here, are we living this type of life? Are we living as wise in the world? James is saying this is 00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:26.800 what it means to be wise, that we live in a way that points others to the hope that we have in Jesus. And we do 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:35.559 this in the meekness of wisdom. We do this not only by hearing the word of God, but by giving our lives 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:43.219 to it. We do this by putting our, our yes on the table and saying, God, here's my life. Take it, use it 00:13:43.219 --> 00:13:49.979 for your honor and your glory. This is what it means to be wise, to say, God, I'm, I'm not in control, but you 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:57.159 are in control. This is what it means to be wise is to give control of your life over to God, to be 00:13:57.159 --> 00:14:02.519 used for his honor and his glory. But please don't misunderstand me here. This is, this is for all 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:08.960 believers. This isn't an optional thing. It's not for this upper tier of Christian who wants to live as 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:14.720 wise in the world. And then every normal Christian can continue just living foolishly. That's not what 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:21.420 this is for. This is for every single believer. If you are a child of God, if you've given your life 00:14:21.420 --> 00:14:29.660 to Jesus, then this is for you that we are to live as wise. If you are a follower of Jesus, this is the 00:14:29.660 --> 00:14:36.920 life that he's called you to live. The question that we must ask is, are we following him by seeking to 00:14:36.920 --> 00:14:44.019 live as wise children? And so after posing this question and answering it, James gives some examples of 00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:50.139 what wisdom oftentimes looks like. And the first thing that we see here is actually, like we said, 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:56.419 no wisdom at all, but we'll call it worldly wisdom. This next thing is, is how sometimes wisdom plays out 00:14:56.419 --> 00:15:02.340 in our life. And it's through worldly wisdom when we don't give our things to, to God. Verses 14 through 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:10.600 16, it says, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:16.960 to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly. It's unspiritual. 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:25.100 It's demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be dishonor and every vile 00:15:25.100 --> 00:15:32.879 practice. Kent Hughes calls this section of this passage, wisdom from below, which hopefully we'll see 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:38.300 is intended to be an oxymoron because it's actually no wisdom at all. It's coming from below, 00:15:38.299 --> 00:15:45.939 but it is far from wisdom. And while we just saw how wisdom plays out through good conduct and meekness, 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:52.139 we see the contrast presented here with the use of the word, but he says, you know, we, we, the, 00:15:52.139 --> 00:15:58.399 the wise person lives in good conduct. He displays his wisdom with his good conduct and the meekness. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:05.059 And, but he says, but there's another type of way that, that people display wisdom, which is no wisdom 00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:12.240 at all. And he describes it in this next section where he says, but if you have bitter jealousy and 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:17.659 selfish ambition in your hearts. Now, before we go on any further, I want us to think about what this 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:25.259 bitter jealousy and selfish ambition looks like. These are things that, that no one really wants to admit 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:31.080 that they have in their life. No one really wants to say, well, I am just bitterly jealous. Um, and I am 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:38.500 just selfish as I can possibly be. No one wants to admit this, but yet oftentimes we struggle with this. 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:45.539 Oftentimes at different points in our lives, we, we struggle with this, this jealousy. That is, 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:52.240 you want something, you, you want something to, to, or you crave something that is not yours. You want it, 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:58.200 or you crave something that is not yours. But we also see a nice little modifier here that James gives 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:05.539 us to kind of emphasize this jealousy. And he calls it this bitter jealousy. This bitter jealousy brings 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:12.299 to mind something stronger. As George Guthrie, he describes it as an intense, inappropriate sorrow 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:20.400 over another person's achievements or possessions. So this intense, inappropriate sorrow over another 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:27.640 person's achievements or possessions. And this brings to mind something that's even more or even stronger 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:33.660 than just wanting something that somebody else has. All of a sudden, now we get this, this picture of, 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:40.000 of kind of enjoying it when somebody else loses what they have. We have this, this jealousy in mind. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:45.700 And, and sometimes that jealousy can get so strong that it's not just that, that we want what somebody 00:17:45.700 --> 00:17:51.279 else has. But all of a sudden it takes on a little bit more. And so when we see them lose what it is 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:57.279 that they have, when we see things not go perfectly for them, when we see that things fail for them, 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:01.720 then all of a sudden inside, we're a little bit happy about it. We're a little bit glad that it, 00:18:01.840 --> 00:18:07.059 it's about time they, they, that everything didn't go their way. It's about time something didn't happen 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:15.019 just perfectly for them. And so we have this bitter jealousy that begins to creep in. In addition to this 00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:22.259 bitter jealousy, we often let selfish ambition in. This most likely refers to some parts of the church 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:29.900 setting themselves over others, thinking that their preferences or their agenda is more important than 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:36.259 anybody else's. Their preferences on styles and groups and different things, their preferences and 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:42.579 their agendas is all of a sudden more important than anybody else's. And have you ever felt this way? 00:18:42.579 --> 00:18:48.240 If you're honest with yourself, have you ever felt this way? This bitter jealousy or this selfish 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.159 ambition that could have been this morning walking into church? You want to know a great way to 00:18:53.159 --> 00:19:01.279 completely ruin your morning at church? Let bitter jealousy or selfish ambition in. All of a sudden it 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:07.559 consumes. All of a sudden it, it creeps in and you see jealousy and selfish ambition can creep in and 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:12.980 they can rob us of joy. They can rob us of the joy that, that God wants us to experience from a 00:19:12.980 --> 00:19:20.179 relationship with him, but it doesn't just affect us. It begins to affect others around us because not 00:19:20.179 --> 00:19:26.980 only does it rob us of joy, but it can also prevent us from loving others. It can also prevent us from 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:34.740 doing what God has called us to do. Have you ever thought about how nothing good comes from jealousy? 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:39.880 Because when, when you're jealous, what is it that you're typically doing? You're comparing, right? 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:46.180 You're comparing your life to somebody else's life. You're making these comparisons that God doesn't 00:19:46.180 --> 00:19:51.599 want us to compare. And two things happen when we start making comparisons. One, we get puffed up with 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:58.839 pride. We think, well, look at me, look how wonderful I am compared to everybody else. Or two, we can feel 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:06.199 inadequate. And both of these tremendously take away from our ability to see God as our greatest treasure. 00:20:06.939 --> 00:20:12.619 Either way, we think too highly of ourselves, or at least I'm not like this person. At least I've got 00:20:12.619 --> 00:20:17.559 my act together in comparison to everybody else. Or all of a sudden we just have this deep sense of 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:23.919 inadequacy. I can't do anything right. Look at everybody else around me. I can't do anything right. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:31.220 And both of these things take away, they rob us of joy, and they prevent us from loving other people. 00:20:31.340 --> 00:20:38.539 You see, jealousy is a terrible emotion. Jealousy is the scab that you keep picking at only for that 00:20:38.539 --> 00:20:46.300 wound to fester and to get infected. Jealousy is a hunger you simply cannot satisfy. So you, you eat more, 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:52.259 you drink more in order to try to fill this up. But the more that you do, the emptier you feel. And it 00:20:52.259 --> 00:20:58.180 forces you to feed it once again. Jealousy is a pain that will not abate. It persists and pounds 00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:04.160 until we are pushed to the point of no return. You see, jealousy is a terrible and it's a harsh 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:11.200 master in our life. And now, because of social media, we have all got honorary doctorates in comparing our 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:19.079 lives to everybody else's around us. Because of that, we have this, this doctorate in comparing our 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:24.699 life to everybody around us. And that's a dangerous game. I want you to think about it like this with me 00:21:24.699 --> 00:21:32.159 for just a moment. One summer, several years ago, our family had paid, we had paid to have some 00:21:32.159 --> 00:21:36.919 professional pictures taken of our family. Anybody ever done anything like that where you pay somebody 00:21:36.919 --> 00:21:43.259 to take pictures? It's so much fun. And so, and so we had, we had paid to have our pictures taken. 00:21:43.379 --> 00:21:48.639 And shortly after, Catherine posted the picture online. Of course, people go, oh, what a beautiful family. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:53.440 This is great. This is one. And, and, you know, we've got beautiful kids. I've got a beautiful wife. 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:58.280 And so that kind of hides me in the pictures. And so, yeah, it's a beautiful family right here. 00:21:58.360 --> 00:22:06.380 But what you don't see from that picture is the story behind the picture. The stress that goes in 00:22:06.380 --> 00:22:12.300 with it. It's no secret to my family or extended family that I don't love to take big group pictures. 00:22:12.780 --> 00:22:17.800 It's not my favorite thing to do. In fact, we would go on youth trips and there would be youth 00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:22.919 parents who would, who would say, make sure you get a group picture because they knew if they didn't say 00:22:22.919 --> 00:22:27.359 that, there's a good chance that I wasn't going to make everybody get a group picture. And then some 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:31.359 of them would just take it on themselves to, to organize it themselves and take the picture. 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:38.680 And so I don't love those things. And it's also no secret that I sweat a lot. And so this is in 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:45.180 August and we're going outside in the heat of the day to take these pictures. I'm already thinking, 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:49.620 I'm going to have to take a towel with me just to wipe my face off before every single picture. 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:53.480 I don't want to do this. And I was griping and I was complaining and we're getting ready to leave. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:58.680 And all of a sudden Jacob starts saying, it's hot. I don't want to go do this. This is not fun. 00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:04.500 And Catherine looks at me like, I wonder where he heard that from. And all of a sudden it was just 00:23:04.500 --> 00:23:11.140 like, there's the whole ordeal to go take this picture. And, and so you don't see that story 00:23:11.140 --> 00:23:17.240 behind the picture. And so when we start making comparisons, what we're doing is when we're 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:23.759 comparing what we do know about our life to what we don't know about somebody else's. 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:30.320 We're comparing what we do know about our life to what we don't know about somebody else's. 00:23:30.320 --> 00:23:37.160 In other words, we're comparing the truth and the struggles of our life to, to everybody else's best. 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:44.140 We're comparing our worst to everybody else's best. And that's a dangerous game to get in. That will 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:51.720 rob us of joy and prevent us from doing what God has called us to do. So don't let this earthly 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:58.040 wisdom, which is actually no wisdom at all, which is, which is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:05.220 Don't let this, as James describes as earthly, unspiritual, and demonic, don't let it into your life. 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:11.420 It will rob you of joy and will keep you from loving people the way that God has called us 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:20.100 to love them. The world says, think about yourself, only be concerned with you, only be concerned about 00:24:20.100 --> 00:24:24.960 your ambitions and comparing yourself to making sure that you're better than everybody else. The 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:31.220 world says, this is what is important. Don't go down that road. It's what James is telling us here. 00:24:31.220 --> 00:24:40.120 Finally, I want us to see the fruit of living lives in good conduct and meekness. And the fruit of this, 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:48.500 we now see is this, it's godly wisdom. We see the fruit of, of living a life that is with this good 00:24:48.500 --> 00:24:56.120 conduct and the meekness of wisdom. And the fruit of that is godly wisdom. Verses 17 and 18, it says, 00:24:56.119 --> 00:25:04.500 but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy 00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:14.339 and good fruits, impartial and sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is shown in peace by those who make 00:25:14.339 --> 00:25:22.599 peace. What an incredible contrast to what was just described. What an incredible contrast to the 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:29.719 earthly wisdom we just discussed. This wisdom, this true wisdom, this godly wisdom from above, it has 00:25:29.719 --> 00:25:37.059 effects in our life. It produces things in our life. Just like faith, it can be seen in our lives. 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:44.799 The wisdom that comes from heaven does something to us. It's, it's pure. It produces this holiness in us. 00:25:45.179 --> 00:25:52.379 It is peaceable. It's gentle. It's open to reason. It's full of mercy and of good fruits. It's impartial. 00:25:52.380 --> 00:26:00.200 It's sincere. The wisdom that comes from God, it produces these things in us. And it is in stark 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:05.780 contrast to the things that this worldly wisdom produces. And so as we look at that, finally, I want 00:26:05.780 --> 00:26:14.820 us to see the contrast between verse 16 and verse 18 here. The fruit of worldly wisdom in verse 16 is 00:26:14.819 --> 00:26:24.679 disorder and every vile practice. That's what that leads to is disorder and every vile practice. While 00:26:24.679 --> 00:26:33.819 the fruit of godly wisdom in verse 18 is a harvest of righteousness and it is, and it is sown in peace by 00:26:33.819 --> 00:26:42.159 those who make peace. James must have in mind the impact that this has that goes far beyond our lives. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:48.320 He must have this in mind that, that this type of life is a great commission life where it actually 00:26:48.320 --> 00:26:55.580 impacts other people's lives. Sam Albury, he knows, he says, the language of harvest suggests such an 00:26:55.580 --> 00:27:04.680 attractive way of life that others are drawn to God through it. A behavior so compelling that it becomes 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:12.799 a clincher for someone who some who are coming to trust in the gospel for the first time. What a 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:20.060 remarkable difference this godly wisdom produces in our lives. And so the question that we must ask is, 00:27:20.320 --> 00:27:26.519 what kind of fruit do you want to be growing in your life? What kind of fruit do you want to be 00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:32.840 growing in your life? Do you want this disorder and every vile practice? Is that the type of fruit do we 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:41.259 want? Or do we want this, this fruit, this harvest of righteousness? Or maybe the, the more telling 00:27:41.259 --> 00:27:46.939 question that we can ask ourselves if we're honest is, what type of fruit is already being produced? 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:55.000 Maybe we don't need to just answer what kind of fruit do we want to be produced in our life? Maybe we 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:01.679 need to answer the question, what kind of fruit is being produced in our life? Because that will show us 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:09.860 so much about what is important to us. It'll show us so much as, as to what we're looking for, for this 00:28:09.860 --> 00:28:16.460 wisdom. What we're looking for, that hopefully this morning we've been able to, to see what wisdom in 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:23.600 turn is in terms of the Christian walk. So much of the Christian walk is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus 00:28:23.600 --> 00:28:30.820 and responding to this world in a way that points other people to Jesus. And it shows that our lives are 00:28:30.819 --> 00:28:37.299 not our own, but they belong to Christ. This is what wisdom looks like, is living this life, keeping our 00:28:37.299 --> 00:28:45.000 eyes so fixed on Jesus that others will see him in us. They'll see the good works in us, this beautiful 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:50.859 fruit that is produced in us, and it will point them to the source of that beauty. And also we see that, 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:58.399 that we're recognizing that our life is not our own, but it belongs to Jesus. He bought and paid for it, 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:06.940 and it belongs to him. But oftentimes people have a wrong understanding of what wisdom is. It's been 00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:13.080 compared to such thing as being able to, to see the control room of a subway station. I've heard people 00:29:13.080 --> 00:29:19.040 describe it this way. Think of wisdom like this. So you could go to a subway station and you could stand 00:29:19.040 --> 00:29:25.540 on the platform and make all kinds of observations. You can see how people come in, how they get on trains, 00:29:25.539 --> 00:29:31.279 that the trains are going places, and you can make all kinds of observations. But if you truly want to 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:38.039 know how a subway system works, then you need to be invited into the control room. Because you go into 00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:44.139 the control room and you can see where all of the other trains are. All of a sudden you can see why 00:29:44.139 --> 00:29:49.119 some trains are coming through and not stopping, while some trains are accelerating, while some trains 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:53.639 are slowing down, while some trains are at a stop. You'll be able to see all of these things and 00:29:53.640 --> 00:30:00.480 you'll be able to understand all that is going on. And oftentimes we think of wisdom in these terms, 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:07.200 where if we are close enough with God, then we'll have inside information of the happenings in our 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:12.880 life and the happenings of the things that are going on in other people's life. But this is not the 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:18.960 picture of wisdom that we see in this passage. In fact, I think it can be somewhat harmful to think 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:24.960 of wisdom in those terms. In one of his chapters of a wonderful book that I highly recommend called 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:32.840 Knowing God, J.I. Packer addresses the issue of God's wisdom versus our wisdom. And he notes that 00:30:32.840 --> 00:30:39.340 wisdom is more like learning to drive a car than it is seeing the control room of a subway station. 00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:46.000 He says, when driving a car, it is important to make appropriate responses to our surroundings, 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:53.259 responding to the constantly changing scene around you, to exercise sound judgment regarding speed, 00:30:53.400 --> 00:31:00.200 regarding distance and braking, to drive well. He says, it is not necessary to fret over things like, 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:05.559 why is there a roundabout here? Why did we put a traffic light up? Why do we use the colors red, 00:31:05.660 --> 00:31:10.220 yellow, and green? Why is the person in front of me driving the way that they're driving? He says, 00:31:10.259 --> 00:31:15.700 to drive well, you don't have to understand all of those things, but you have to respond well. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:24.740 Packer says, you simply try to see and do the right thing in the actual situation that presents itself. 00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:32.940 And he says, the effect of divine wisdom is to enable you and me to do just that in the actual 00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:40.220 situations of life. You see, in order to drive well, you need to keep your eyes wide open to what is 00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:49.519 before you and what is ahead of you, what is to your, in front of you. To live wisely, you must be clear-eyed 00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:57.440 about people and life, seeing life as it is, and then responding with a mind that is dependent on the 00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:03.680 wisdom of God. You see, some drivers may have an immense knowledge about everything. They may can explain 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:08.580 to you all of those different things, why there's a roundabout, why it's better than a stop sign, why 00:32:08.580 --> 00:32:14.560 all of these things occur, but yet you would never want to ride with them, and you certainly wouldn't 00:32:14.560 --> 00:32:20.279 want your kids to ride with them. But there's people who may not understand the ins and outs of 00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:26.620 everything, but they are able to respond rightly to the situations around them because their eyes are 00:32:26.619 --> 00:32:32.699 fixed on God. They're able to respond to the situations around them because we are thinking about the things 00:32:32.699 --> 00:32:41.699 of God. Yet, when we see this, we see the picture of two types of wisdom in here. The wisdom from the world 00:32:41.699 --> 00:32:47.839 and the wisdom of God. You see, wisdom does not mean we understand everything that is going on because of our 00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:56.720 superior knowledge, but that we do the right thing as life comes along. We follow God in the midst of 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:03.259 uncertainty. Even though we may not know the ins and outs of this life, we follow God throughout it all. 00:33:03.939 --> 00:33:11.779 So he says, who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the 00:33:11.779 --> 00:33:20.740 meekness of wisdom. And so may we show wisdom by the way we live our lives, pointing a lost and dying 00:33:20.740 --> 00:33:28.559 world to Jesus and submitting ourselves, giving ourselves, putting our yes on the table and saying, 00:33:28.660 --> 00:33:37.319 God, here's my life. Take it and use it. It's yours. That's what wisdom looks like. That's what 00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:45.799 James is calling us to do is to give our lives to God and say, it is yours. Use it for your honor and 00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:54.859 for your glory. I, more than anything else, want to follow you. Father, thank you so much for your word. 00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:01.339 Thank you for what it teaches us about you. Thank you for this passage where we can look at it and see 00:34:01.339 --> 00:34:07.220 where wisdom comes from. And so, Lord, help us to see that clearly this morning. Help us to see 00:34:07.220 --> 00:34:12.740 what wisdom is, how wisdom is displayed in our lives. It's displayed through that good conduct, 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:18.340 through that beautiful conduct that points other people to the hope that we have in you. And Lord, 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:23.460 it is displayed through meekness, where we're giving our lives to you, where we're saying, God, 00:34:23.740 --> 00:34:30.360 use my life. Here it is. I want you to have my life. Take it and use it for your honor and your glory, 00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:34.760 because you are a far greater treasure than anything this world has to offer. 00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:42.500 And so, Lord, give us the boldness to live this type of wisdom out, where we say, God, 00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:54.040 this life is not mine. It's yours. And I want you to use it in a way that points other people to you. 00:34:54.039 --> 00:35:02.239 I want you to use it in a way that points people to the hope that we have as believers, 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:10.980 the hope that we cling to, that you sent your son, Jesus, to live the life that we couldn't live, 00:35:11.380 --> 00:35:20.259 to die the death that we deserve, so that we can have new life in you. So, Lord, help us to live lives. 00:35:20.260 --> 00:35:27.340 Help us to live this wisdom out by pointing people to the only source of hope that we have, 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:34.000 to the only source of joy that will last. And that's a relationship with you. So, God, thank you 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.540 for that. And give us the boldness and courage to live this out in everything we say and do. 00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:44.660 And we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to invite you to stand. We're going to sing a song 00:35:44.659 --> 00:35:50.179 of invitation this morning. And if God is speaking to you, won't you respond as we stand together and sing?