I'll please open up James chapter 3, because that's where we'll be this morning.
You know sometimes when you go to the doctor for a checkup, he says, stick out your tongue.
! Let me have a look at your tongue. You maybe think to yourself, my mouth's fine, I don't
know what you're worried about my tongue for. But of course, he looks at the tongue because
the tongue reveals something about what's going on at a deeper level. There are things
on the tongue that point to something else going on elsewhere. It's an indicator of things
that are otherwise hidden. Well, last week James showed us what was on our tongues. And
this week he follows what he sees there to the deeper problem, to the deeper issues. The
Lord Jesus has told us that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So issues with
the tongue reveal issues with our hearts. And this morning James shows how our hearts operate
according to what we love and what we think is wise. What we love, our desires, and what
we think is wise. What is a prudent way to live our lives in the world. Our hearts are captivated
by those things. Our hearts lead in those, are led in those directions. And our tongue
is simply an indicator of that. But do you notice there, James verse 13 asks, who is wise and
understanding among you? He's shown us what was on our tongues and he's going now to the
deeper issue. And remember, when James talks about wisdom, he isn't merely talking about knowledge,
about things that you might know. He is talking about something practical. He's talking about
an approach to life that you take. And what we see this morning is that he distinguishes between
two types of wisdom. One, verse 15, that he says is from above, the good stuff that comes from God,
or the alternative, verse 16, that is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. James' way of saying it's
from the world, the flesh, the tongue is an indicator that reveals which one of these approaches to life
that someone takes. In fact, it's not simply the tongue. It's not just our words. It's not just our
speech. But James connects this to what he's already said in the letter about how someone's whole life
reveals their heart and the kind of wisdom that shapes their life. Do you see that? Verse 13 again,
by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Verse 16, where jealousy and
selfish ambition exist, those are conditions of the heart, jealousy, selfish ambition, there will be
a life that flows from that, and the life is one of disorder and every vile practice, James says.
So, this morning, what's happening is we're being invited to go beyond our tongues and look at our
lives and see what they tell us about the kind of wisdom we're allowing to shape and form us. The wisdom
that is informing the way that we live our lives. And James describes these two approaches to life, and as
he does so, I want to suggest that each one of them reveals, I want to suggest what each one of them
reveals about how we view God and how we view the world. You see, you can look at the approach to life
that you take, and it reveals something about how you view God and how you see the world around you.
And that's what I want to do. So, here's our first point this morning. Let's look at earthly wisdom.
This is a mindset. This comes from a mindset that says, God is there, and life is a contest.
God is there, and life is a contest. Verses 14 to 16. 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 disorder and every vile practice. So, this person's heart is captivated by bitter
jealousy, envy, and selfish ambition, which creates in turn disorder, conflict, and what James describes
as every vile practice, which I take to be the behavior that we've heard James expose and rebuke in
the letter up to now. So, anger and division and political manipulation and cozying up to influential
people in the church, hoping that you might benefit, ignoring the needy. That's what he means by every
vile practice. This person's heart, and therefore their lives, are like this because while they might
think that God is there, they haven't rejected God completely. They think that he is there. They don't like
where he has put them. Of course, this group are scattered, and they're persecuted, and life is
difficult, and many of them have lost everything, and they are bitter about that. They've lost confidence
in the fact that God is meaningfully engaged in this situation, and he is so for their good.
So, when you lose sight of God in that way, life becomes a contest. It has to. You have to push ahead.
You have to do better than other people. God helps those who help themselves after all.
So, we do what we can to get ahead and to be in control, and they use their tongues, verse 10,
to tear other people down. They curse rather than bless. It's also possible in the context here,
chapter 3, verse 1, that this group, or people that are like this, are ambitious to lead this
scattered church. They would do a much better job in these difficult circumstances than this
bunch of jokers. So, they're pushing themselves forward. God is there, but life's a contest.
You think about it, there's a logic to this, and I guess that's why James calls it a kind of wisdom.
And, of course, it's certainly seen in the way, in this way in our culture today, isn't it? Don't we
celebrate those who go and get it? You deserve the best. Make it happen. No one's going to hand it to
you. You've got to tough it up and get on and make life for yourself. And when things get tough,
we're told, well, you've got to go and fight for what you want. But look at what that does to your
character. Look what that approach to life does to your character. Jealousy, envy, it's such a toxic
thing. When you see others succeed, when they get the promotion or the pay rise or the thing that you
want, and that thing that you want, it could actually be anything. When that happens, it eats you up.
You can't enjoy their success. Of course you can't. You can't even think of their name without your body
heating up with anger. You actually hate them, and you want them to suffer.
Look at what that does to you internally. There are people around you who, when you see them,
your heart is so taken up with envy that they steal your joy. There's an old story about two men.
One was envious. The other was covetous. And they're both granted a wish with the proviso that the one
who chose first would get exactly what he asked for, while the other man would get twice what the first
man had asked for himself. The envious man was told to choose first. Well, that's going to cause him
great stress, isn't it? Because he wants to ask for something great for himself, but he realizes that
this would lead to the other man getting more. He thought for a while, and he asked to have one of his
eyes poked out. That's exactly what envy does to us. We would rather suffer than have someone else thrive.
This is why selfish ambition comes up here as well. We push ourselves forward in order to beat others,
in order to win. We've got to win all the time. Well, if that's the way you live your life,
inevitably it leads to disorder, conflict with others. As long as those kinds of people don't
get what they want or think they deserve, there is a nastiness that grows. That competitive spirit
will do anything to get ahead. So they treat people badly, especially those that they particularly envy.
Jealousy, envy expresses itself in a host of really unpleasant ways. A driveness to succeed,
boasting when you're winning, criticizing when you're not winning, complete misery when things don't go
well, joy at others' failure, and just a profound sadness when things don't go exactly as you want
them to. That sadness can sometimes work its way out in anger. We see it in our culture all the time
now. When other people don't have what you want, we insist that the state should do something to
give us what they have so that we can have what they have.
When you see life as a contest or like a zero-sum game, that is, for someone else to have more
inevitably means less for you, you can't but be jealous.
And that is why James identifies the source as earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
James is saying here again in his characteristic direct style, he's saying,
if your heart is captivated by envy in this way, the roots of that come straight from the demons of hell.
Because the reason for this approach is born out of a failure to see God as he really is.
It adopts an approach to life that fails to grasp how God really treats us.
Of course, there is a better way, isn't there?
Earthly wisdom, God is there, life is a contest.
A much better way, secondly, is that we live according to heavenly wisdom,
which sees God is good and life is gift.
God is good, life is gift.
Look at verse 17,
Describing this wisdom, it's a beautiful picture, isn't it?
Qualities that we hear them read out and we think,
I just wish there was more of that in my heart.
But when we discover that this wisdom is from above,
it's very obvious that it's then not something we can work up ourselves.
We can try and create in our own strength.
It is given by God.
It is another one of the good and perfect gifts that come down to us.
Chapter 1, verse 17, from the Father of lights.
Every good gift comes to us from His hand.
And we receive wisdom by acknowledging that God is God.
And we humble ourselves to ask for it.
This beautiful list of qualities in verse 17 mark the life of the wise person
because fundamentally they know that this is God's world
and they trust their lives to Him in faith.
They see that they don't have any claim on God.
He can do what He wants.
That is completely up to Him.
We have no claim on Him.
We don't, He doesn't owe us anything.
We can't twist His arm up His back to get things from Him.
These people don't assert any sense of rights.
Rather, they're grateful.
People who live according to heavenly wisdom are grateful that we get to be here.
We get to play in the game of life.
Of the billions of people who could have been born but weren't,
we get to go on the roller coaster.
We get to go up and we get to go down.
We get to scream in terror and we get to cheer with delight.
We get to play.
Life is a gift.
When you know that God is good and He gives it all as gift,
your life displays this good conduct.
Verse 13.
What this looks like then is fleshed out.
Verse 17.
The wisdom from above is first pure.
Pure.
Heavenly wisdom creates a moral purity in our lives.
Those who have been cleansed by Christ's blood
have received His purity and live lives of purity as a result.
I think that James is more interested here in the devotional purity
that flows from heavenly wisdom.
Remember, this is one of the big targets in the letter,
the double-mindedness in these Christians.
And he's reminding them that heavenly wisdom is single-minded
about the things of God.
We don't bow the knee to God
and then bow the knee to other things as well.
We don't gather today and worship God
and then leave and give ourselves
to the invented gods all around us.
We don't come to church and lift our voices
to the living, one true and living God
and then leave here Monday morning,
get back into it with the gods of status
and cultural acceptance
and the gods that allow you to be yourself
and free yourself and express yourself.
No, our religion, our devotion, our worship
is pure.
And why wouldn't it be?
If God is good and life is gift,
there's no need to look anywhere else for the good life.
Why would we give ourselves to those other things
hoping that they will deliver
what the seedier corners of our heart want
when in actual fact,
we're giving ourselves to the God who is good
and who gives us all that we have
from His hand as a gift.
Peaceable.
When you've received peace with Christ
as a gift,
again, not because you've earned it,
you have all the resources that you need
to live out the peace of Christ towards others.
If you believe that God is good
and that He holds you in His hands,
if you believe that He is trustworthy,
you don't need to make sure
that everything goes your way.
You don't need to be in the contest
to get ahead of that other person.
The thing that causes so much of our conflict
is a need to have things our way
and to be better than other people.
A need to prove yourself as the winner.
Being peaceable doesn't mean
that you don't stand up for what is right.
Caring for the weak in society
will involve a fight.
Pursuing justice where clear wrongs
have been committed the same.
We get our hands dirty
and we go into battle, as it were,
in those cases.
But at a personal level,
heavenly wisdom releases you
from the things that cause conflict.
To verse 18,
be a peacemaker.
Make peace with others where possible.
Remember, again,
what Jesus taught us.
Remember the words
that James is simply drawing
his hearer's attention back to.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
It is peacemakers, verse 18,
that sow in peace
and reap a harvest of righteousness.
I'll say more on that in a minute.
Amen.
Peaceable.
This then also works out
in gentleness or verse 13,
meekness.
When you know the Lord Jesus,
the one who is gentle
and lowly of heart
and that he has met you in your sin
and that he has redeemed you
from that sin.
And by the way,
you know that he doesn't
just do this once.
The Lord Jesus doesn't just meet you
in your sin once.
We can think that he was gentle
and gracious to us
when we first came to Christ.
We can talk about it in the past
and say, yes,
the Lord was merciful to me.
I was a sinner running away from him.
I was living my life on my terms
and he met me in my sin
and he saved me.
He was gracious to me.
He forgave my sin.
But we think now,
when we sin,
Jesus shakes his head.
Up in heaven,
he's shaking his head
and he's kind of sucking his teeth.
Not again.
He's in heaven taking deep breaths.
I think lots of us think about
the Lord Jesus like that.
We think that,
we think that,
yes, he saved us
by his grace that first time,
but he's kind of really fed up
with us now.
And because he keeps his promise,
that promise that he made
that he would never leave us
or forsake us,
he's keeping his word
through gritted teeth,
if not at all.
The Lord Jesus meets our repentance
with gentleness and grace
every single time.
When that reality hits your heart,
when the magnitude of this gift
actually lands with you,
when you feel it in the depths
of who you are,
you treat others the same way.
You can't but be kind
and make allowances for people.
You make allowances
for their weaknesses,
for their failings,
for their stupidity.
You say,
oh, that doesn't sound very nice.
That's not very kind.
No, let's be honest.
People can do stupid things.
Being kind isn't about
pretending that stupidity
isn't stupid.
But it means that you overlook it.
It means that you forgive it.
It means that you move on
without resentment.
You are gentle
rather than harsh.
Gentleness.
Open to reason
is next in there.
Heavenly wisdom is seen
in the person
who is open to reason.
They're teachable.
Literally, it is
they are persuadable.
The person who will admit it
when they're wrong.
They know that they're not God
and so they can change their mind.
They can admit fault.
They can say sorry.
They can be okay
when they're not right.
In their marriage,
with their children,
in church life,
in their relationships.
I'm sorry.
I was wrong.
Oh, I hadn't seen that before.
I didn't understand that.
You're right.
Let me ask you.
How hard do you find it
to change your mind?
Or to have your mind
changed by someone else?
How hard do you find this
as a measure
of how heavenly wise you are?
If God is good
and life is gift,
you recognize
that he puts other people
in the world
to teach you
and to correct you
and even give you
more wisdom
than you have today.
An openness
to your own finitude
and your own weakness
is essential
if you're going to discover
or grow in the wisdom
that God gives
because it requires you
being open
to having your mind
changed about him
and how he wants you to live.
Can God's word
correct you?
I ask you,
even those of you
who have been Christians
for a long time,
will you let the Bible
change how you think
and act?
Persuadable
and then full of mercy
and good fruit.
Those who have received mercy
are merciful to others.
A good way to think
of this quality
is that mercy
is compassion
in action.
Compassion in action.
It sees a need,
it feels sympathy
or pity
and it acts on it.
Mercy moves towards
those in need
like widows and orphans,
127.
Those who have no protection
under law,
those who suffer
and no one seems to care.
Heavenly wisdom
is seen when you move
towards people like that.
God is good.
And in doing so then,
it expresses the impartiality
that James mentions next.
Wisdom from heaven
is consistent
in the way that it treats people.
Rich and poor,
just the same,
completely impartial
because heavenly wisdom
recognizes
that we're all equal
at the foot of the cross.
In the life of the church,
we are all equal
at the foot of the cross
and that is why
we can be impartial.
God is good.
Life is gift.
It's not a contest.
And then finally,
James says,
wisdom from above
is sincere.
It's genuine.
What you see
is what you get.
You're the same person
behind closed doors
as when you're with others.
You're the same person
online
as you are
in the real world.
Your social media
reflects who you really are
and shows what you
actually look like.
Sincere.
Heavenly wisdom
has no hint
of hypocrisy.
It demands
the sincerity
and the consistency
of Christ.
And in the context
of this letter,
it is the antidote
to the problems
that James has been addressing.
Who is really wise
and understanding
among you?
He's asking this group
and he's saying,
I've looked at your tongue.
These are the problems
I see underlying your tongue
and I've seen it
in your behavior.
And what you need
is heavenly wisdom.
When you boil it down,
the wisdom from above
looks like,
chapter 1,
verse 19,
a bridled tongue.
It looks like
care for the poor
and needy
brothers and sisters
who are suffering,
127.
It looks like
refusing to show
partiality,
hoping that you will
benefit in some way,
2, 1 to 7.
It is seen in courageous
and costly decisions
for the sake of obedience
to God,
2, 24.
And it sounds like
using your words
to bless
and encourage
and build up
and not curse
even when things
are tough,
3, verse 10.
Here's the thing.
James closes out
this chapter
with a reference
to sowing
and to harvest.
Do you see that,
verse 18?
And a harvest
of righteousness
is sown
in peace
by those who make peace.
And he's saying,
if you sow
into the ground
the sort of life
that he describes here
as marked
by heavenly wisdom,
you can look forward
to a harvest
of righteousness.
Do you know
that your life
could really count
for something?
You have the ability
to change things
for the better,
to leave this place
in a better state
than you found it,
to live a life
that makes a difference.
Is this on YouTube?
I could get sponsors
for this kind of message.
This kind of message sells.
You know
that your life
could really count
for something.
Click here.
But it's true.
Your life
can leave
a legacy for good
in the world.
That's what James
is saying.
That surprises us.
We know that there are
a few special people
out there in the world,
don't we?
Like that chap
Nicholas Winton,
the subject of the
recent Anthony Hopkins
film,
One Life.
A remarkable man
who rescued
more than 600 children
from the Nazis.
We know that there are
a few of those
out there.
amazing people
who do amazing things
and leave a legacy.
But we ask ourselves,
is that possible
for ordinary folk,
just regular people
like you and me?
Can I do that?
Look at verse 18.
James talks about
the life that produces
a harvest of righteousness.
That is a life
that leaves behind
a legacy of goodness
and truth and beauty.
A life that when
it's effected
or gathered up
has made a difference
to the people around whom
and the place in which
it was lived.
But for a harvest
to be reaped,
there first needs
to be a sowing.
Something needs
to be planted
if there's going
to be fruit.
So,
we sow
in peace,
James says,
this life
of heavenly wisdom.
And if we do that,
we can look forward
to the harvest.
harvest.
And of course,
we do this in hope
because,
like any harvest,
the bit at the beginning
and the middle
doesn't often look
like very much.
while life marked
by this wisdom
and these qualities
doesn't always appear
to have much impact
on the world around you,
James assures us here
that while for a long time
there might not be much
to see,
one day then
something sprouts
and then grows
and then comes
the harvest.
And of course,
this is all resting
on the promise
of Jesus
that He will make
all things right.
So,
we must live
by faith.
Wait patiently
while there's little
or nothing to see.
The influence
of our lives
marked by heavenly wisdom
on those around us
and the place
that we live.
But we rely
on the Spirit
to work
rather than take matters
into our own hands.
Rather than to decide
on a different way
of viewing God
and viewing
how we get on in life
and we look forward
to the day
when our peacemaking
will vindicate us
as sons and daughters
of God.
A day when our meekness
will bring in
our inheritance.
A day when our mercy
will return mercy to us.
And when our daily fight
for purity of heart
will open the door
for us
to see God.
So,
this morning
I want to encourage you
to sow the life
of heavenly wisdom
wherever the Lord
has placed you.
And the first step
in that
is making sure
that you think
rightly about God
so you see Him
as a loving Father.
He is good.
He is a loving Father
who has saved you
from your sin
and reconciled you
to Himself
and who looks on you
chapter 1 verse 18
as His first
and His best.
You're His first fruits.
And you see Him
as a generous Father.
A generous Father
who gives you
everything you have.
All of life
is gift.
And He is working
the circumstances
of your life
even the hard bits
for good.
When you see God
this way
He is good
and He is generous.
It will change
how you live
because it will
change your heart.
And you'll choose
the wisdom from above
that shapes
a beautiful life.
So go to God
who is loving
and generous.
Yoke yourself
to Jesus
whose life gave us
the example to follow.
And the harvest
will follow.
Let's pray together.