Hellish Wisdom vs. Heavenly Wisdom (II)
(This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.)
I'm sure you know by now that the only way to accurately evaluate ourselves as God's people is to measure ourselves not with others, not with the culture, not with society, not with what the experts say, but to measure ourselves against an objective standard, a standard outside of us that doesn't change, and there's only one true reliable standard, and that is our all-wise Creator. And He has revealed to us that standard against which we can validly measure ourselves in His own eternal Word.
Where shall we go? You have the Word of Life. That's the standard that doesn't change.
That's the standard that is resolute. And the Bible says that the one who takes advantage of having access to God's standard, to God's thoughts, to God's wisdom, he is himself wise. Now, if you refuse to measure yourself against the standard of the wisdom of God, then God himself says, you are a fool.
And there's no middle ground. Either you're wise or you're a fool. This is the message of James 3 beginning in verse 13 to the end of the chapter. James is clearly addressing the issue of wisdom, and specifically he tells us there are two kinds of wisdom. One is the wisdom of heaven. The other is in opposition to it, is wisdom literally from hell itself. It's hellish wisdom. It is the expression of the mind of Satan, and it's rampant really in the world in which we live.
Last week, we began to look at this paragraph. Really, in reality, we began to look at the background of it. We set the table simply. And we saw last, week three important points together by way of preparation. And they are absolutely essential to understand this paragraph. And we need this. We need this because we are an island of the people of God who have different values surrounded by an ocean of worldly, demonic wisdom.
To briefly review those points that we covered last week, and they're really important, and I just want to go over them briefly, but again, because again, they're salient. Number one, we saw together the priority of wisdom that James really outlines here for us. Who among you is wise and understanding? He asked this rhetorical question, and beneath the question lies two important presuppositions. One is that that wisdom is desirable, that every Christian should pursue it, should seek it, should want it. And secondly, that wisdom is important.
It is crucial. It is essential to the Christian life and experience. And we examined last week in great detail the tremendous priority that both, Old Testament and New Testament place on this quality of wisdom.
That brings us to the second point that we looked at last time, and that is a definition of wisdom, biblical definition of wisdom. And James uses the word here in verse 13, sofós, for wise, translated wise, where it gets its meaning from its Old Testament Hebrew twin, chokhma. Last week we learned that that Old Testament word for wisdom really consists of three essential elements. The first one is fearing God. That's the first essential element of a definition, a biblical definition of wisdom of chokhma or sophos, fearing God. True biblical wisdom expresses itself in a spirit of awe, reverence, and respect for God. It acknowledges who God is and then lives the life in response to that knowledge. So if one of the essential elements is fearing God, having this spirit of awe and reverence and respect for God, then obviously I need to know more this God. I need to know him more. I need to enlarge my view of this God. I need to know him in all of his attributes. To fear God, by the way, is not simply to say, yeah, I believe in God. I believe that He made me. That is not fearing God. To fear God means to recognize who he is and then to live in the light of that knowledge.
To say you believe in God and then live as if you were an atheist, to live ignoring God is not to fear God. And so wisdom, true biblical wisdom, consists in fearing God. A second essential element of wisdom is also understanding God's ways. Understanding God's ways in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for way, is a word for a well-worn path, the beaten path. It's the rut that's left in the road by a wagon wheel as it rolls over the same area again and again and again and again. It forms this beaten path.
And so it came to speak of predictable patterns of behavior, habits if you will, or habits of character. You and I have ways and paths and that we go down again and again. There are patterns of behaviors in our lives. When God himself has predictable patterns of behavior, we call them, as I mentioned earlier, attributes. The attributes of God. The wise person not only fears God, but he seeks to understand God, as he's revealed himself in the Word of God.
To understand his predictable patterns of behavior. This is how God is. This is what he does.
This is what he is like. To equate myself, to familiarize myself with who this God is. What he does. How he is.
The third basic element of biblical wisdom, as we saw together, not only you fear God, not only you seek to understand the ways of God, and this one is critical. This is to have, true biblical wisdom is to have practical skill, now to apply God's ways and God's words to my life every day. You see, it's not enough to just fill your head with information about God. Or even to say, yes, yes, of course, I fear God. There must be the effort enabled by the Spirit of the whole person to take the word of God, the ways of God, and then apply them to how I live. Without that, it's not biblical wisdom. Call it something else, but not biblical wisdom at all. You see, biblical wisdom, then, when you look at fearing God, understanding His ways, and then having the practical skill to apply what you know about God and what He wants for your life and my life, biblical wisdom then is nothing more than having a genuine relationship with the true and living God. That is true spirituality. It is true spirituality, biblical wisdom. In the end, biblical wisdom is nothing more than being a true evangelical, and I'm using the word biblically, Christian. And without biblical wisdom, really, you're not a Christian at all.
So that leads us to the third point that we looked at last time, and that is how. How do I procure this wisdom? How do I get it? Well, first and foremost, we acquire God's wisdom. We saw last time through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 24, to those who are called, Christ becomes the wisdom of God. You know, the Bible is clear that you don't get on that path to wisdom until you've come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you've never come to the place in your life where you've left your own path, left your own ways, your own agenda, and all that you want to do, and you have willingly submitted yourself to become a genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and embraced him as your Lord and your Master and your Savior, then the Bible says you are a fool, and you have no wisdom at all. That's where true biblical wisdom begins. It begins in a saving knowledge of Christ, who is our wisdom.
But it doesn't stop there. We can also acquire, procure, godly wisdom, the Bible says, through a thorough knowledge of God's Word, to traffic in the Word of God, to marinate my mind in the Scripture. Proverbs 2, Solomon reminds us of this reality. We didn't have the opportunity to cover this last Lord's Day. Turn with me to Proverbs 2. I want us to see this. And again, this is important for us. You and I gain God's wisdom. We begin to think like God. We begin to understand how God acts and how we're to live in the light of that from the Word of God.
That's how we learn God's wisdom.
Begin with me, verse 1, “My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, to make your ear pay attention to wisdom, incline your heart to discernment, for if you call out for understanding, give your voice for discernment, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures;” - did you notice? And I tried to emphasize it, that the first four verses were the if statements, and the then statement comes in where? Verse 5. If all of those things are true, then verse 5 becomes true. “Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God. For Yahweh gives wisdom; From His mouth comes knowledge, come knowledge and discernment. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.”
Notice what Solomon says. You want to find God's wisdom, you want that wisdom from above? The wisdom that God gives? You search for it, you cry out for it, but where do you look? Where do you search? Verse 1. In words, in commandments. You see that? In words, in commandments. Verse 6. The Lord gives wisdom, ultimately comes from Him, but the wisdom He gives comes from His mouth. In other words, it's what He reveals in His Word, in this book.
You get it from His words, out of His mouth, from His commandments. That's how God gives us wisdom. You don't sit and say, Lord, I'm waiting that You would zap me from heaven so I can get wisdom. We get the wisdom from God, from the mind of God, as it is revealed in the Word of God. You'll never find it anywhere else. So, we get wisdom through a saving knowledge of Christ, and we get it through a thorough knowledge of God's Word.
Thirdly, we get it through the influence of wise companions, as we saw last time. Those whose life is permeated by the Word of God, influenced by the Word of God, and when we associate with those kind of godly companions, then guess what? Spiritual osmosis. Right? Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with the wise will be wise, But the friend of fools will suffer harm.” You hang around those who have wisdom, you will benefit and become growing in godliness yourself.And if you hang around those who don't, you will only become more foolish.
A fourth way that we acquire wisdom is through prayer. Of course, if anyone lacks wisdom, James 1:5, “let him ask God.” Turn to God and say, God, I need your wisdom. I'm in desperate need for wisdom. And as we saw it even in Proverbs 2, you're seeking wisdom.
Yes, go to the words of God, go to the commands of God, listen to the things that come from the mouth of God as they are revealed here in the word of God, the scripture, but then lift up your voice and cry out to God to give you understanding as you go through that process. So, prayer is an absolutely critical, crucial part of the procurement of this godly wisdom.
Well, that's what we covered last week. Now, with that background, the table is set, I trust, the plates, the cutlery, and all of that. So, let us tonight begin to carefully examine the passage itself. Back to James 3, look again at this passage together, and it's really incredible.
He begins, James, the paragraph, with a simple rhetorical question, who among you is wise and understanding? James says, all right, I want all of you think you have wisdom, who think you have a special insight into spiritual matters, to stand up and I'm going to test you, I'm going to give you a test. I want you to carefully evaluate the reality of your claim.
Do you think you have the wisdom that comes from above, the wisdom that comes from God? You claim to fear God, to understand the ways of God, to apply His ways and His works and His word to your life? Then I want you to listen very carefully, he says. And you know, this rhetorical question, bound up in it, is an unsettling implication beneath this paragraph, really, and this question. James is telling us here that it is relatively easy to deceive oneself into thinking that you are living by God's wisdom, and yet in reality, be pursuing an alternative wisdom, a wisdom that's of the world, a wisdom that is unspiritual. Even a wisdom that later on, he tells us, is hellish.
He says, I want you to examine yourself and the wisdom that you think you have, the understanding of spiritual matters you think you have, the maturity in Christ that you think you have. You see, there's biblical wisdom, true biblical wisdom, that comes down from us, from heaven to us, from God, as it is revealed in the Word of God.
This book, the Bible, is the revelation of the wisdom of God that James talks about here. Sadly, because of the day in which we live, increasingly people deny the Scripture. They deny the authority of the Scripture. It either makes, they contend that it really, no way, it doesn't make that claim, deny that it's trustworthy, or they deny that it is from God. Turn with me to Psalm 19. And I want us again to be reminded and refreshed that there's absolutely no doubt that the Bible makes this claim to be the Word of God, the wisdom of God.
Psalm 19, a psalm of David, the first six verses, David talks about the works of God in creation, God's manifold wisdom in creating the world. And then in verse 7, he turns to God's wisdom revealed in the Word of God. And what he does is he uses, if you notice, in Psalm 19, six synonyms for God's Word, and he uses each of those synonyms to describe it with a quality or a characteristic, and then he explains how it functions, how it works.
Follow with me. Verse 7, “The law of Yahweh,” - there's our first synonym for the Bible, - “is perfect, restoring the soul;” restoring the nephesh, the entire person. “The testimony of Yahweh is sure,” - It's certain, “making wise, the simple.” In other words, the Bible itself claims through the Holy Spirit that it will give wisdom to us. It's God's wisdom to us.
Verse 8, “The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart;” - they bring consummate joy to us. And then, “The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.” God's word will remove the blinders from your spiritual eyes and mind and allow us to see the wisdom of God.
And then verse 9, “The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever;” It isn't, and this isn't tied to first century. God's word is eternally settled in heaven. It is enduring forever. Not one jot or one tittle, Jesus says, not the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, not the smallest little stroke of a letter of the Hebrew alphabet will pass away until all it has been fulfilled. And as we saw this morning, fulfilled with precision, what God said He will do, He does, and He will do, and it will come to pass with precision.And nothing will thwart His purposes. Nothing can stay His hand.
And verse 9 says, “The judgments of Yahweh are true;” literally truth, they're truth, - “they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold; Sweeter also than the honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” I love that.
You read this, and that tells us you can come to the Word of God and you could say, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. You taste it, you read it, and you see the goodness of God, the grace of God, just like this morning. I mean, was it not sweet to hear of the tender mercy of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God, the compassion of God, visiting, visiting the likes of you and I?
There's nothing that you desire that's more precious than this, the drippings of the honeycomb. Sweeter than honey. Sweeter than honey. Word of God. Sweeter than honey. Now, listen, we live in a post-modern culture that rejects all of this, rejects the claim that there's absolute truth, that the Bible is the Word of God, they reject the claim that if there's absolute truth and we can know it, they reject that also, and so they come to the Bible with that kind of mindset and create their own perspective, they have their own so-called hermeneutic, which is simply a system of principles for interpreting the Bible.
And they come with their own system and they say, well, you know, I'm too humble. I mean, who am I to say what the Bible means, and what you think it means, and what I think it means may be both true or neither be true. Somebody else may have it right. I'm much too humble to say this is what God says. And yet, that is not at all how the scripture speaks. The word of God is sure.The scriptures, the commandments are sure. They are settled, they are certain, they are eternal, they are truth. We just read this. The propositional sentences of scripture are truth.
And if you choose in your pride to sit in judgment on the Bible's claims and to reject its clear claims to be the absolute moral truth, you can go ahead and do that. You could choose to reject those claims. But then one day, you can stand before a holy God and try then to explain to him why you thought it was intellectually naive, simple, to embrace his revealed word.
But don't even think about going down the path, claiming that it doesn't declare to be absolute moral truth. Because it is. So just as there is wisdom from heaven, James tells us, that at the same time there is in our world a wisdom from below, a wisdom from hell, and here is the heart of the problem. Both of those two distinct wisdoms on the surface appear to be wise. That's the problem. But one edifies, the other destroys. One is a gift from God, the other is a trap from Satan. So how can you know if you're living according to God's wisdom, or the other wisdom, the hellish wisdom?
Well, James immediately gives us a test by which we can discern which wisdom it is we live by. Verse 13, look at the fourth point with me that flows from this passage, number four, the test, the test for God's wisdom. Look at the test.The second half, verse 13, “let him show” - whoever thinks he's wise and understanding. You want to really know, you want to really ascertain if you're really wise, if you have the wisdom from God, that wisdom from above, or the other wisdom, well, let him show. “Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.”
Now, it is a complicated sentence in the Greek. It can be confusing, even in English. But let's seek by the grace of God to grasp it. And when you come across something like this, always you begin with looking at the, look first at the main verb. Look at the main verb, start with the main verb. The Greek word translated show, deiknuo, means to prove or to provide evidence of something. To prove or to provide evidence for something. So James is saying that a person can show or prove or provide evidence that he is living by God's wisdom, how? Look at verse 13, He says, “by his works.” By his works.
Show or provide evidence to prove your wisdom by your wise deeds. It's pretty simple to understand. True biblical wisdom evidences itself in specific acts that reflect God's wisdom.
Specific acts, tangible acts, that reflect God's wisdom. If you're wise, you're going to make daily choices to do certain things that reveal or reflect that wisdom. That's what he's saying.
But true biblical wisdom doesn't just show itself in occasional sort of isolated acts as such. And this is really critical. Because notice, he adds, “Let him show by his good conduct his works.” That qualifies it. “...By his good conduct, his works.” Let him show godly wisdom in his works by his good conduct. A better way to translate that phrase, good conduct is by his godly way of life. In other words, here's what he's saying. If you're living by god's wisdom, if you're biblically wise, if your actions are biblically wise, then your actions are consistent, consistent and they are sustained as a way of life.
In other words, it's not just an occasional act of wisdom here, an occasional act of wisdom there. It is sporadic, it is shoddy. No, no, you're not just occasionally displaying God's wisdom.
Instead, it is, James tells us, it is a pattern of life, it is a way of life for you to act in accordance with God's wisdom. There's a proven pattern, there's a record. You know, you look, you ask about somebody, you know, how was he, what's he like? You know, you're interested in a person and, you know, friendship or maybe, you know, somebody in your family perhaps considering getting together, say, well, what, what, what are they like? Say, oh, they have a proven record. They're consistent, they're steadfast. They walk with the Lord. So it's not just occasionally displaying God's wisdom, it's a pattern of life. To put it another way, your life will be characterized, characterized by obedience to the Word of God. Characterized by is the key expression.
Now listen carefully to this beloved, very carefully. James has been hitting the same note in his letter from the beginning. Nothing new. Same note. What note? What note? Here it is. That where religion, to use his language in James 1, where religion has real saving hold of a heart and mind, it will certainly, inevitably, powerfully influence the outward life. That's the note that he's been hitting. And this is nothing new.
Where religion has real saving hold of a heart and a mind, it will inevitably, certainly, powerfully influence the outward life. In other words, if you've been really changed, radically changed on the inside, then it is inevitably going to express itself on the outside. How you act, how you live, and as we've seen before, how you speak. And that the more a Christian has of true wisdom, spiritual knowledge, the more manifestly will his life at all points be governed by his faith.
John Blanchard puts it this way, and I quote, “The trouble with some Christians is that they seem to be suffering from spiritual measles. They're sanctified in spots. Their lives are a disappointing mixture of the occasionally marvellous and the often mediocre. And, in a Christian, this is disappointing because it shows a lack of wisdom which at the end of the day means a lack of obedience.” He goes on to say, “But external acts, as important as they are,” and this leads us to the next one, the next point that I want to underscore, “the external acts, as important as they are, are not enough.” That doesn't necessarily mean that you're following God's wisdom. You can be externally obedient to the scripture and still not be living according to God's wisdom. And he says this, “Because true spirituality,” and listen carefully, “true spirituality is not simply measured by what you do, the Pharisees did, it is also measured by what's in your heart.” End of quote.
So notice with me, verse 13, and you can see how this is really underscored here by James,
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom. In the gentleness of wisdom.” In other words, let him show godly wisdom in his actions, and those obedient actions will be sustained as a way of life. And if it's really the real thing, it will be at the same time expressed in the gentleness that comes with true wisdom.
Did you notice how James turns inward to look to the heart here? According to James, and we need to catch this, biblical wisdom has two primary heart qualities associated with it. True biblical wisdom, we talk about obedience and how it's reflected in the out, it has two primary heart qualities associated with it. Verse 13, we see it here, gentleness, and down in verse 17, it's the first one, purity.
So, gentleness will be in your heart, if you are living by God's wisdom, if you're living in true obedience to the scripture, there will be gentleness. So what is this word gentleness? I know if you have a different translation, it might translate it differently. It's an interesting word. In fact, let me tell you, it's a very difficult word to translate in English with one word. It's the Greek word, you're familiar with it. We've covered this before in the Sermon on the Mount extensively in Chapter 5. It's the word prautēs. prautēs is really impossible to translate with one English word, depending on the version of the scriptures that you have. It's either translated gentleness, like we have it here, or it is meekness or humility. You say, which one? Well, we'll get there.
The first time we really encounter this quality is all the way back in the Old Testament. We encounter it in Moses, the man of God. Numbers 12:3, we're told that Moses possessed this quality more than any other living man, prautēs.
In Matthew 5:5, in the Beatitudes, as he begins the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord says that his true followers will be characterized by this attitude, this quality, prautēs. So, what is it?
What is it? Well, when you look at this quality, let me put it this way, it manifests itself, expresses itself in two different ways. In two different ways. It manifests itself toward God, and it also manifests itself toward men, people.
Well, let's start with how it manifests itself toward God. It has a different nuance toward God, prautēs. If you have this prautēs, if you have this gentleness toward God, it expresses itself as a what? prautēs towards God, expresses itself as a calm acceptance of your circumstances as from Him for your good, and you refuse to complain or whine about those circumstances, like Zechariah and Elizabeth.
It is the acknowledgement that God is God with a submission to His will in your life. It is the attitude that says, God, you are God, and I'm not. You are good, and I trust you. And what I want us to see here is that the real attitude that this verse is describing when it's referenced towards God, you can translate it - submission or meekness. It's a mindset that gladly, freely, willingly bows, acquiesces to the sovereign purpose in your life. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I will kiss the rod. That's prautēs.
It's a mindset that says, God, you are God, and you know what's best, and I am willing to accept what you bring. Douglas Moon, his commentary writes, and I quote, “this virtue comes from understanding our position as sinful creatures in relationship to the glorious, majestic God. It recognizes how unable we are, and in and of ourselves, to chart our own course in the world. This virtue flows out of the conviction that God is sovereign over everything that happens in life, and that He is at the same time both wise and good.” End of quote.
What a tremendous reminder to my own heart, because we live in a broken world, and we contend with the remaining corruption, and we are weak and frail, and falter, and oh, how we resonate with those words. My heart is prone to wander, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
And when you believe that about God, that God is sovereign over everything that happens in life, and that he is at the same time both wise and good, when you believe that about God, then you can accept your circumstances without mumbling, murmuring, or complaining and arguing.
And I think the clearest description of this word, as it is referenced itself to God, is found back in Psalm 131. Turn with me there. Psalm 131, a short Psalm that has great wisdom in it. I love the Psalm, and maybe one day we'll study it together. David here speaks of this quality of meekness, a submission to God. Here's how he describes it in Psalm 131, verse 1. “Yahweh, my heart is not exalted, and my eyes are not raised high; and I do not involve myself in great matters, Or in matters too marvelous for me.” And then he paints the picture of it. “Surely, I have soothed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, wait for Yahweh From now until forever.”
Just as a newly weaned child has utter confidence as he leans upon his mother's breast, has utter confidence in and dependence on his mother, that is to be the disposition, the attitude that we're to have towards God in life. Come what may. It says, my attitude towards you, God, is like that of a newly weaned child. I simply acknowledge you. I meekly submit myself to Your will and purpose. I trust You for whatever You bring into my life.
Back to James 3. So that's how this gentleness, this proulties manifests itself towards God.
But what about towards others? You see it also, this virtue, that toward God expresses itself in submission and meekness, toward man expresses itself in humble, gracious, gentle spirit, even, even when wronged. Think about it for a moment. If you really believe God is in charge, including those people that wrong you and irritate you, then you can treat them with graciousness and gentleness because you know that even their response to you is under the control of God himself, and that He had to sign off on it before it had gotten to you. And He's good.
You see it throughout the New Testament. Let me just give you a couple of passages. Galatians 6, verse 1, we're told that we are to restore those who sin in the spirit of prautēs, gentleness, graciousness. Now turn with me to Ephesians 4. I can't resist Ephesians. Ephesians 4, verse 1, Paul says, in verse 1, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” And I want you to walk or live day by day, he says, verse 2, “With all humility,” and here's our word, prautēs, “gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another, in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.” You see the climate in which this word occurs, as it expresses itself towards others, it's one of gentleness, one of graciousness, one of concern for others.
And a few pages over in Colossians 3, in verse 12, Paul pictures it this way, he says, in verse 12 of Colossians 3, “So as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,” and here it is, prautēs, “gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you.”
You see the climate in which this word occurs, again, but not just toward believers, we are to manifest this attitude. In Titus 3, Paul says in verse 1, “Remind them,” Titus, he says to Titus, remind the people of God there in Crete, “to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, demonstrating” all prautēs, “all gentleness, to all men.” The NASB puts it this way, “to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle,” which is another word, by the way, translated, gentle. Epieikeis is the word translated, gentle in the NASB, tolerant, kind, yielding, considerate, that's what it means. He said showing every consideration, and the word consideration there, is the word for prautēs, for all men.
The NASB has it a bit clearer. If you're living by God's wisdom, this virtue is a part of you. It's a part of you, then toward God, you submit, if it's part of you toward God, then that means it will express itself by submission. You submit yourself willingly, gladly, acknowledging His goodness, His providence in your life, accepting the circumstances that come, and toward others, your gentle, gracious, kind considerate. You see how he moves beyond the outward expression? He goes right to the heart.
So let me ask these questions by way of application. Does gentleness, meekness, submission, graciousness, do those words describe you? Do they describe me? What about the circumstances you find yourself in right now? I don't know what they are, but whatever you are facing, whatever mountains are before you, whatever difficulties you are facing right now, do you have that spirit of David saying, Lord, I'm like a wean child. I trust You. I know You mean what's best. I put myself in Your hands to do whatever You think is right and best for me.
Or are you whining and complaining and chafing under the purposes of God in your life?
How do you respond to others? How do the people that know you best, your family, your siblings, your friends, your mom, your dad, your spouse, people that know you best, how do they think of you? Do they think of you as gentle, gracious, humble, considerate in your interaction with them?
Listen, beloved, James isn't concerned with how much you know, how much I know. We're in a Bible believing, I trust the Bible, we endeavor by the grace of God. To be a Bible believing, Bible living, Bible teaching church, we love to study the Word of God. And we may know, we may know and have accumulated a lot of knowledge, but James doesn't care. He's unmoved by that. He wants to know what's going on in your heart and mind. Yes, we need, to be steeped in doctrine, but doctrine has to impact my life, my heart, my everything. He says, if you're really living by God's wisdom, if you truly fear God, if you've truly understood his ways or understand his ways, if you're really trying to apply his word to your life as a lifestyle, as a pattern, then you will be characterized by prautēs.
Wisdom is really important, beloved. You will be characterized by prautēs, by gentleness, by submission, submission to the will and the purpose of God, and gentleness and graciousness with others. And by the way, this will certainly be there. We learn in Galatians 5 that this quality is part of the fruit of the Spirit. So it's not like, well, I'm a Christian, but I don't have this. No, if you're a Christian, you have the Spirit, and if you have the Spirit, you have this fruit. You want to cultivate it. You want to cultivate it with the help of God.
So if you're a believer, then you have the Spirit, and if you have the Spirit, then the Spirit is, to some measure or another, producing this fruit in your life, and if it's not there, then it may very well mean that you're not Christ. You see, it's crucial that we truly, fully examine ourselves because there's a counterfeit wisdom. And that brings us to the fifth and final point.
I'm just going to introduce it tonight very briefly. Number five, James wants us to understand a clinical, an objective description of the other wisdom, hell's wisdom, the hellish wisdom. And that's in verses 14 to 16.
I'm just going to introduce it very briefly. You see, his point in these verses is that some people think they fear God, some people think they understand God's ways, they think they are applying God's ways and words in their lives, when they have been in fact embracing wisdom from hell, earthly wisdom, wisdom from below. Paul talks a lot about this, but Paul isn't the first.
You remember, if you were to go back to the Old Testament, back to Psalm 1, you'd find passages like Psalm 1:1, blessed is the righteous man, the godly man, and let me tell you about the righteous man, the blameless man, the psalmist says. He does not walk in the council or the advice of the wicked, the wisdom of the wicked. He doesn't take the advice of the wicked.
He's not walking in accordance with how they walk.
Proverbs 21, verse 30, “There is no wisdom, there is no discernment And there is no counsel against Yahweh.” Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1, for a moment. You see this other wisdom that exists, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come to know God. God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe.”
What is he saying here? He's saying there are two kinds of wisdom. There's wisdom of God, and there's counterfeit wisdom. It's the wisdom of the world. Turn to the next chapter, chapter 2. Let your eye really just run through this very quickly with me. Verse 6, he says we don't speak the wisdom that's of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, but we speak God's wisdom,
verse 7. You go down to verse 13, the things which we speak, “not in words taught by human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit.” Now, fast forward to chapter 3, and verse 19 and 20, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are,” - what? - “useless.”
What is he talking about here? What exactly does this human wisdom, this worldly wisdom, this counterfeit wisdom look like? Well, very important that we get this. Very important that we get this. It's not a particular set of propositions. There is God's wisdom, and there's worldly wisdom, and worldly wisdom is this. It's every thought, every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God. That's it. Every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God.
There is, on the one hand, God's wisdom revealed in his words, and there's, on the other hand, everything that contradicts God's revealed wisdom. That's it. That is worldly wisdom or human wisdom. It's every thought that raises itself against the knowledge of God. Listen, beloved, when it comes to wisdom, there are not many paths that lead to God. There's only one. That means if you stand in the middle of 360 paths, all around you, you can take 359 of those, and will lead you away from God, and only one of those paths will take you to God and His wisdom. Only one.
In Romans 12 verse 2, you're familiar with that. Paul says, “do not be conformed to this world.” Literally, do not allow this world to squeeze you into its mold, into its mindset. Did you know that our age has a mindset, beloved? It has a set of values by which it lives. And we as believers are supposed to resist that, avoid that kind of mindset, not allow it to seep into our lives. And here's the mindset of our age, here's worldly wisdom, here's what you and I ought to avoid, like the plague. And I'll close on this point tonight.
Here's how our culture expresses itself, and I'm indebted to Al Mohler for this.
He does an excellent job in defining our culture, the mindset of our age, using characteristics, each of which begin with the world's self. Number one, he says, number one, this is how our culture expresses itself, this is the mindset of our age, this is worldly wisdom. Number one, self-fulfillment. It's all about me. Because you're worth it, right? Life is a quest, the self is the project, whatever fulfills me, that's what matters.
Number two, self-sufficiency. Every individual possesses what is necessary for meaning and happiness. I just need to look within to find the answers. All the answers I need are found within. The answers are there. I just need somebody to draw them out.Nobody outside really can help me, I can help myself. That's where all self-help comes from.
Number three, self-definition. Most people in our culture now believe that they have the ability to define themselves. They can define what it means to be human, what it means to be male, what it means to be female, what it means to be a woman. We claim the right to define marriage any way we want, to define gender any way we want, define authority, sexuality, everything else, we can define it. We can give it definition, we can decide that this is what it really means.
Number four, self-absorption. Self-absorption will do whatever it takes to become what we need to be. Even people who divorce are beginning to say, they're divorcing because I'm just not free to be me, I've got to become me, and therefore, it's freedom, it's release.
Number five, self-transcendence. This one is very popular. This has to do with creating one's own designer spirituality. It's like, you know, picking shoes from various spiritualities all around you, kind of constructing your own thing and what's good for you. It's like a, sort of like a, you know, a buffet style chosen from different phase, and so you can go with your own plate, and I like this from here, and I like this from here, and you create your own plate of spirituality.
Number six, self-enhancement. The idea that we can extend our lives indefinitely by propping up this and taking out that, and, you know, whatever.
And number seven, self-security. We have an obsession with health and safety, with physical health, financial health, and we're going to protect ourselves. Beloved, that is the mindset of our age, and if you add to that mixed evolution, moral relativism, that says there's no moral absolute, it's all relative to your situation, and the postmodern rejection of an absolute truth, and you have a picture of today's wisdom, human wisdom, that dominates our world, hellish wisdom.
All of that on the surface seems so wise, doesn't it? Why is that? It's because, like someone said, when you live in water, you don't know that you're all wet. You can live in foolishness and not know it's utter foolishness. And God says that if you swallow the wisdom of the world, if you're following the mindset of this age, you are a fool. So, how do you get on the right path?
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Where do you begin? You begin at Christ, the cross. You begin following God's wisdom by finding His wisdom and His Son, by giving yourself up, your way, and saying, I'm going to be a follower of Christ, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Where shall we go? You have the Word of Life. That's the standard that doesn't change.
That's the standard that is resolute. And the Bible says that the one who takes advantage of having access to God's standard, to God's thoughts, to God's wisdom, he is himself wise. Now, if you refuse to measure yourself against the standard of the wisdom of God, then God himself says, you are a fool.
And there's no middle ground. Either you're wise or you're a fool. This is the message of James 3 beginning in verse 13 to the end of the chapter. James is clearly addressing the issue of wisdom, and specifically he tells us there are two kinds of wisdom. One is the wisdom of heaven. The other is in opposition to it, is wisdom literally from hell itself. It's hellish wisdom. It is the expression of the mind of Satan, and it's rampant really in the world in which we live.
Last week, we began to look at this paragraph. Really, in reality, we began to look at the background of it. We set the table simply. And we saw last, week three important points together by way of preparation. And they are absolutely essential to understand this paragraph. And we need this. We need this because we are an island of the people of God who have different values surrounded by an ocean of worldly, demonic wisdom.
To briefly review those points that we covered last week, and they're really important, and I just want to go over them briefly, but again, because again, they're salient. Number one, we saw together the priority of wisdom that James really outlines here for us. Who among you is wise and understanding? He asked this rhetorical question, and beneath the question lies two important presuppositions. One is that that wisdom is desirable, that every Christian should pursue it, should seek it, should want it. And secondly, that wisdom is important.
It is crucial. It is essential to the Christian life and experience. And we examined last week in great detail the tremendous priority that both, Old Testament and New Testament place on this quality of wisdom.
That brings us to the second point that we looked at last time, and that is a definition of wisdom, biblical definition of wisdom. And James uses the word here in verse 13, sofós, for wise, translated wise, where it gets its meaning from its Old Testament Hebrew twin, chokhma. Last week we learned that that Old Testament word for wisdom really consists of three essential elements. The first one is fearing God. That's the first essential element of a definition, a biblical definition of wisdom of chokhma or sophos, fearing God. True biblical wisdom expresses itself in a spirit of awe, reverence, and respect for God. It acknowledges who God is and then lives the life in response to that knowledge. So if one of the essential elements is fearing God, having this spirit of awe and reverence and respect for God, then obviously I need to know more this God. I need to know him more. I need to enlarge my view of this God. I need to know him in all of his attributes. To fear God, by the way, is not simply to say, yeah, I believe in God. I believe that He made me. That is not fearing God. To fear God means to recognize who he is and then to live in the light of that knowledge.
To say you believe in God and then live as if you were an atheist, to live ignoring God is not to fear God. And so wisdom, true biblical wisdom, consists in fearing God. A second essential element of wisdom is also understanding God's ways. Understanding God's ways in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for way, is a word for a well-worn path, the beaten path. It's the rut that's left in the road by a wagon wheel as it rolls over the same area again and again and again and again. It forms this beaten path.
And so it came to speak of predictable patterns of behavior, habits if you will, or habits of character. You and I have ways and paths and that we go down again and again. There are patterns of behaviors in our lives. When God himself has predictable patterns of behavior, we call them, as I mentioned earlier, attributes. The attributes of God. The wise person not only fears God, but he seeks to understand God, as he's revealed himself in the Word of God.
To understand his predictable patterns of behavior. This is how God is. This is what he does.
This is what he is like. To equate myself, to familiarize myself with who this God is. What he does. How he is.
The third basic element of biblical wisdom, as we saw together, not only you fear God, not only you seek to understand the ways of God, and this one is critical. This is to have, true biblical wisdom is to have practical skill, now to apply God's ways and God's words to my life every day. You see, it's not enough to just fill your head with information about God. Or even to say, yes, yes, of course, I fear God. There must be the effort enabled by the Spirit of the whole person to take the word of God, the ways of God, and then apply them to how I live. Without that, it's not biblical wisdom. Call it something else, but not biblical wisdom at all. You see, biblical wisdom, then, when you look at fearing God, understanding His ways, and then having the practical skill to apply what you know about God and what He wants for your life and my life, biblical wisdom then is nothing more than having a genuine relationship with the true and living God. That is true spirituality. It is true spirituality, biblical wisdom. In the end, biblical wisdom is nothing more than being a true evangelical, and I'm using the word biblically, Christian. And without biblical wisdom, really, you're not a Christian at all.
So that leads us to the third point that we looked at last time, and that is how. How do I procure this wisdom? How do I get it? Well, first and foremost, we acquire God's wisdom. We saw last time through a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 24, to those who are called, Christ becomes the wisdom of God. You know, the Bible is clear that you don't get on that path to wisdom until you've come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you've never come to the place in your life where you've left your own path, left your own ways, your own agenda, and all that you want to do, and you have willingly submitted yourself to become a genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and embraced him as your Lord and your Master and your Savior, then the Bible says you are a fool, and you have no wisdom at all. That's where true biblical wisdom begins. It begins in a saving knowledge of Christ, who is our wisdom.
But it doesn't stop there. We can also acquire, procure, godly wisdom, the Bible says, through a thorough knowledge of God's Word, to traffic in the Word of God, to marinate my mind in the Scripture. Proverbs 2, Solomon reminds us of this reality. We didn't have the opportunity to cover this last Lord's Day. Turn with me to Proverbs 2. I want us to see this. And again, this is important for us. You and I gain God's wisdom. We begin to think like God. We begin to understand how God acts and how we're to live in the light of that from the Word of God.
That's how we learn God's wisdom.
Begin with me, verse 1, “My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, to make your ear pay attention to wisdom, incline your heart to discernment, for if you call out for understanding, give your voice for discernment, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures;” - did you notice? And I tried to emphasize it, that the first four verses were the if statements, and the then statement comes in where? Verse 5. If all of those things are true, then verse 5 becomes true. “Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God. For Yahweh gives wisdom; From His mouth comes knowledge, come knowledge and discernment. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.”
Notice what Solomon says. You want to find God's wisdom, you want that wisdom from above? The wisdom that God gives? You search for it, you cry out for it, but where do you look? Where do you search? Verse 1. In words, in commandments. You see that? In words, in commandments. Verse 6. The Lord gives wisdom, ultimately comes from Him, but the wisdom He gives comes from His mouth. In other words, it's what He reveals in His Word, in this book.
You get it from His words, out of His mouth, from His commandments. That's how God gives us wisdom. You don't sit and say, Lord, I'm waiting that You would zap me from heaven so I can get wisdom. We get the wisdom from God, from the mind of God, as it is revealed in the Word of God. You'll never find it anywhere else. So, we get wisdom through a saving knowledge of Christ, and we get it through a thorough knowledge of God's Word.
Thirdly, we get it through the influence of wise companions, as we saw last time. Those whose life is permeated by the Word of God, influenced by the Word of God, and when we associate with those kind of godly companions, then guess what? Spiritual osmosis. Right? Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with the wise will be wise, But the friend of fools will suffer harm.” You hang around those who have wisdom, you will benefit and become growing in godliness yourself.And if you hang around those who don't, you will only become more foolish.
A fourth way that we acquire wisdom is through prayer. Of course, if anyone lacks wisdom, James 1:5, “let him ask God.” Turn to God and say, God, I need your wisdom. I'm in desperate need for wisdom. And as we saw it even in Proverbs 2, you're seeking wisdom.
Yes, go to the words of God, go to the commands of God, listen to the things that come from the mouth of God as they are revealed here in the word of God, the scripture, but then lift up your voice and cry out to God to give you understanding as you go through that process. So, prayer is an absolutely critical, crucial part of the procurement of this godly wisdom.
Well, that's what we covered last week. Now, with that background, the table is set, I trust, the plates, the cutlery, and all of that. So, let us tonight begin to carefully examine the passage itself. Back to James 3, look again at this passage together, and it's really incredible.
He begins, James, the paragraph, with a simple rhetorical question, who among you is wise and understanding? James says, all right, I want all of you think you have wisdom, who think you have a special insight into spiritual matters, to stand up and I'm going to test you, I'm going to give you a test. I want you to carefully evaluate the reality of your claim.
Do you think you have the wisdom that comes from above, the wisdom that comes from God? You claim to fear God, to understand the ways of God, to apply His ways and His works and His word to your life? Then I want you to listen very carefully, he says. And you know, this rhetorical question, bound up in it, is an unsettling implication beneath this paragraph, really, and this question. James is telling us here that it is relatively easy to deceive oneself into thinking that you are living by God's wisdom, and yet in reality, be pursuing an alternative wisdom, a wisdom that's of the world, a wisdom that is unspiritual. Even a wisdom that later on, he tells us, is hellish.
He says, I want you to examine yourself and the wisdom that you think you have, the understanding of spiritual matters you think you have, the maturity in Christ that you think you have. You see, there's biblical wisdom, true biblical wisdom, that comes down from us, from heaven to us, from God, as it is revealed in the Word of God.
This book, the Bible, is the revelation of the wisdom of God that James talks about here. Sadly, because of the day in which we live, increasingly people deny the Scripture. They deny the authority of the Scripture. It either makes, they contend that it really, no way, it doesn't make that claim, deny that it's trustworthy, or they deny that it is from God. Turn with me to Psalm 19. And I want us again to be reminded and refreshed that there's absolutely no doubt that the Bible makes this claim to be the Word of God, the wisdom of God.
Psalm 19, a psalm of David, the first six verses, David talks about the works of God in creation, God's manifold wisdom in creating the world. And then in verse 7, he turns to God's wisdom revealed in the Word of God. And what he does is he uses, if you notice, in Psalm 19, six synonyms for God's Word, and he uses each of those synonyms to describe it with a quality or a characteristic, and then he explains how it functions, how it works.
Follow with me. Verse 7, “The law of Yahweh,” - there's our first synonym for the Bible, - “is perfect, restoring the soul;” restoring the nephesh, the entire person. “The testimony of Yahweh is sure,” - It's certain, “making wise, the simple.” In other words, the Bible itself claims through the Holy Spirit that it will give wisdom to us. It's God's wisdom to us.
Verse 8, “The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart;” - they bring consummate joy to us. And then, “The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.” God's word will remove the blinders from your spiritual eyes and mind and allow us to see the wisdom of God.
And then verse 9, “The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever;” It isn't, and this isn't tied to first century. God's word is eternally settled in heaven. It is enduring forever. Not one jot or one tittle, Jesus says, not the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, not the smallest little stroke of a letter of the Hebrew alphabet will pass away until all it has been fulfilled. And as we saw this morning, fulfilled with precision, what God said He will do, He does, and He will do, and it will come to pass with precision.And nothing will thwart His purposes. Nothing can stay His hand.
And verse 9 says, “The judgments of Yahweh are true;” literally truth, they're truth, - “they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold; Sweeter also than the honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” I love that.
You read this, and that tells us you can come to the Word of God and you could say, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. You taste it, you read it, and you see the goodness of God, the grace of God, just like this morning. I mean, was it not sweet to hear of the tender mercy of God, the goodness of God, the grace of God, the compassion of God, visiting, visiting the likes of you and I?
There's nothing that you desire that's more precious than this, the drippings of the honeycomb. Sweeter than honey. Sweeter than honey. Word of God. Sweeter than honey. Now, listen, we live in a post-modern culture that rejects all of this, rejects the claim that there's absolute truth, that the Bible is the Word of God, they reject the claim that if there's absolute truth and we can know it, they reject that also, and so they come to the Bible with that kind of mindset and create their own perspective, they have their own so-called hermeneutic, which is simply a system of principles for interpreting the Bible.
And they come with their own system and they say, well, you know, I'm too humble. I mean, who am I to say what the Bible means, and what you think it means, and what I think it means may be both true or neither be true. Somebody else may have it right. I'm much too humble to say this is what God says. And yet, that is not at all how the scripture speaks. The word of God is sure.The scriptures, the commandments are sure. They are settled, they are certain, they are eternal, they are truth. We just read this. The propositional sentences of scripture are truth.
And if you choose in your pride to sit in judgment on the Bible's claims and to reject its clear claims to be the absolute moral truth, you can go ahead and do that. You could choose to reject those claims. But then one day, you can stand before a holy God and try then to explain to him why you thought it was intellectually naive, simple, to embrace his revealed word.
But don't even think about going down the path, claiming that it doesn't declare to be absolute moral truth. Because it is. So just as there is wisdom from heaven, James tells us, that at the same time there is in our world a wisdom from below, a wisdom from hell, and here is the heart of the problem. Both of those two distinct wisdoms on the surface appear to be wise. That's the problem. But one edifies, the other destroys. One is a gift from God, the other is a trap from Satan. So how can you know if you're living according to God's wisdom, or the other wisdom, the hellish wisdom?
Well, James immediately gives us a test by which we can discern which wisdom it is we live by. Verse 13, look at the fourth point with me that flows from this passage, number four, the test, the test for God's wisdom. Look at the test.The second half, verse 13, “let him show” - whoever thinks he's wise and understanding. You want to really know, you want to really ascertain if you're really wise, if you have the wisdom from God, that wisdom from above, or the other wisdom, well, let him show. “Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.”
Now, it is a complicated sentence in the Greek. It can be confusing, even in English. But let's seek by the grace of God to grasp it. And when you come across something like this, always you begin with looking at the, look first at the main verb. Look at the main verb, start with the main verb. The Greek word translated show, deiknuo, means to prove or to provide evidence of something. To prove or to provide evidence for something. So James is saying that a person can show or prove or provide evidence that he is living by God's wisdom, how? Look at verse 13, He says, “by his works.” By his works.
Show or provide evidence to prove your wisdom by your wise deeds. It's pretty simple to understand. True biblical wisdom evidences itself in specific acts that reflect God's wisdom.
Specific acts, tangible acts, that reflect God's wisdom. If you're wise, you're going to make daily choices to do certain things that reveal or reflect that wisdom. That's what he's saying.
But true biblical wisdom doesn't just show itself in occasional sort of isolated acts as such. And this is really critical. Because notice, he adds, “Let him show by his good conduct his works.” That qualifies it. “...By his good conduct, his works.” Let him show godly wisdom in his works by his good conduct. A better way to translate that phrase, good conduct is by his godly way of life. In other words, here's what he's saying. If you're living by god's wisdom, if you're biblically wise, if your actions are biblically wise, then your actions are consistent, consistent and they are sustained as a way of life.
In other words, it's not just an occasional act of wisdom here, an occasional act of wisdom there. It is sporadic, it is shoddy. No, no, you're not just occasionally displaying God's wisdom.
Instead, it is, James tells us, it is a pattern of life, it is a way of life for you to act in accordance with God's wisdom. There's a proven pattern, there's a record. You know, you look, you ask about somebody, you know, how was he, what's he like? You know, you're interested in a person and, you know, friendship or maybe, you know, somebody in your family perhaps considering getting together, say, well, what, what, what are they like? Say, oh, they have a proven record. They're consistent, they're steadfast. They walk with the Lord. So it's not just occasionally displaying God's wisdom, it's a pattern of life. To put it another way, your life will be characterized, characterized by obedience to the Word of God. Characterized by is the key expression.
Now listen carefully to this beloved, very carefully. James has been hitting the same note in his letter from the beginning. Nothing new. Same note. What note? What note? Here it is. That where religion, to use his language in James 1, where religion has real saving hold of a heart and mind, it will certainly, inevitably, powerfully influence the outward life. That's the note that he's been hitting. And this is nothing new.
Where religion has real saving hold of a heart and a mind, it will inevitably, certainly, powerfully influence the outward life. In other words, if you've been really changed, radically changed on the inside, then it is inevitably going to express itself on the outside. How you act, how you live, and as we've seen before, how you speak. And that the more a Christian has of true wisdom, spiritual knowledge, the more manifestly will his life at all points be governed by his faith.
John Blanchard puts it this way, and I quote, “The trouble with some Christians is that they seem to be suffering from spiritual measles. They're sanctified in spots. Their lives are a disappointing mixture of the occasionally marvellous and the often mediocre. And, in a Christian, this is disappointing because it shows a lack of wisdom which at the end of the day means a lack of obedience.” He goes on to say, “But external acts, as important as they are,” and this leads us to the next one, the next point that I want to underscore, “the external acts, as important as they are, are not enough.” That doesn't necessarily mean that you're following God's wisdom. You can be externally obedient to the scripture and still not be living according to God's wisdom. And he says this, “Because true spirituality,” and listen carefully, “true spirituality is not simply measured by what you do, the Pharisees did, it is also measured by what's in your heart.” End of quote.
So notice with me, verse 13, and you can see how this is really underscored here by James,
“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom. In the gentleness of wisdom.” In other words, let him show godly wisdom in his actions, and those obedient actions will be sustained as a way of life. And if it's really the real thing, it will be at the same time expressed in the gentleness that comes with true wisdom.
Did you notice how James turns inward to look to the heart here? According to James, and we need to catch this, biblical wisdom has two primary heart qualities associated with it. True biblical wisdom, we talk about obedience and how it's reflected in the out, it has two primary heart qualities associated with it. Verse 13, we see it here, gentleness, and down in verse 17, it's the first one, purity.
So, gentleness will be in your heart, if you are living by God's wisdom, if you're living in true obedience to the scripture, there will be gentleness. So what is this word gentleness? I know if you have a different translation, it might translate it differently. It's an interesting word. In fact, let me tell you, it's a very difficult word to translate in English with one word. It's the Greek word, you're familiar with it. We've covered this before in the Sermon on the Mount extensively in Chapter 5. It's the word prautēs. prautēs is really impossible to translate with one English word, depending on the version of the scriptures that you have. It's either translated gentleness, like we have it here, or it is meekness or humility. You say, which one? Well, we'll get there.
The first time we really encounter this quality is all the way back in the Old Testament. We encounter it in Moses, the man of God. Numbers 12:3, we're told that Moses possessed this quality more than any other living man, prautēs.
In Matthew 5:5, in the Beatitudes, as he begins the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord says that his true followers will be characterized by this attitude, this quality, prautēs. So, what is it?
What is it? Well, when you look at this quality, let me put it this way, it manifests itself, expresses itself in two different ways. In two different ways. It manifests itself toward God, and it also manifests itself toward men, people.
Well, let's start with how it manifests itself toward God. It has a different nuance toward God, prautēs. If you have this prautēs, if you have this gentleness toward God, it expresses itself as a what? prautēs towards God, expresses itself as a calm acceptance of your circumstances as from Him for your good, and you refuse to complain or whine about those circumstances, like Zechariah and Elizabeth.
It is the acknowledgement that God is God with a submission to His will in your life. It is the attitude that says, God, you are God, and I'm not. You are good, and I trust you. And what I want us to see here is that the real attitude that this verse is describing when it's referenced towards God, you can translate it - submission or meekness. It's a mindset that gladly, freely, willingly bows, acquiesces to the sovereign purpose in your life. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I will kiss the rod. That's prautēs.
It's a mindset that says, God, you are God, and you know what's best, and I am willing to accept what you bring. Douglas Moon, his commentary writes, and I quote, “this virtue comes from understanding our position as sinful creatures in relationship to the glorious, majestic God. It recognizes how unable we are, and in and of ourselves, to chart our own course in the world. This virtue flows out of the conviction that God is sovereign over everything that happens in life, and that He is at the same time both wise and good.” End of quote.
What a tremendous reminder to my own heart, because we live in a broken world, and we contend with the remaining corruption, and we are weak and frail, and falter, and oh, how we resonate with those words. My heart is prone to wander, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
And when you believe that about God, that God is sovereign over everything that happens in life, and that he is at the same time both wise and good, when you believe that about God, then you can accept your circumstances without mumbling, murmuring, or complaining and arguing.
And I think the clearest description of this word, as it is referenced itself to God, is found back in Psalm 131. Turn with me there. Psalm 131, a short Psalm that has great wisdom in it. I love the Psalm, and maybe one day we'll study it together. David here speaks of this quality of meekness, a submission to God. Here's how he describes it in Psalm 131, verse 1. “Yahweh, my heart is not exalted, and my eyes are not raised high; and I do not involve myself in great matters, Or in matters too marvelous for me.” And then he paints the picture of it. “Surely, I have soothed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother, Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, wait for Yahweh From now until forever.”
Just as a newly weaned child has utter confidence as he leans upon his mother's breast, has utter confidence in and dependence on his mother, that is to be the disposition, the attitude that we're to have towards God in life. Come what may. It says, my attitude towards you, God, is like that of a newly weaned child. I simply acknowledge you. I meekly submit myself to Your will and purpose. I trust You for whatever You bring into my life.
Back to James 3. So that's how this gentleness, this proulties manifests itself towards God.
But what about towards others? You see it also, this virtue, that toward God expresses itself in submission and meekness, toward man expresses itself in humble, gracious, gentle spirit, even, even when wronged. Think about it for a moment. If you really believe God is in charge, including those people that wrong you and irritate you, then you can treat them with graciousness and gentleness because you know that even their response to you is under the control of God himself, and that He had to sign off on it before it had gotten to you. And He's good.
You see it throughout the New Testament. Let me just give you a couple of passages. Galatians 6, verse 1, we're told that we are to restore those who sin in the spirit of prautēs, gentleness, graciousness. Now turn with me to Ephesians 4. I can't resist Ephesians. Ephesians 4, verse 1, Paul says, in verse 1, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” And I want you to walk or live day by day, he says, verse 2, “With all humility,” and here's our word, prautēs, “gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another, in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.” You see the climate in which this word occurs, as it expresses itself towards others, it's one of gentleness, one of graciousness, one of concern for others.
And a few pages over in Colossians 3, in verse 12, Paul pictures it this way, he says, in verse 12 of Colossians 3, “So as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,” and here it is, prautēs, “gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you.”
You see the climate in which this word occurs, again, but not just toward believers, we are to manifest this attitude. In Titus 3, Paul says in verse 1, “Remind them,” Titus, he says to Titus, remind the people of God there in Crete, “to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, demonstrating” all prautēs, “all gentleness, to all men.” The NASB puts it this way, “to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle,” which is another word, by the way, translated, gentle. Epieikeis is the word translated, gentle in the NASB, tolerant, kind, yielding, considerate, that's what it means. He said showing every consideration, and the word consideration there, is the word for prautēs, for all men.
The NASB has it a bit clearer. If you're living by God's wisdom, this virtue is a part of you. It's a part of you, then toward God, you submit, if it's part of you toward God, then that means it will express itself by submission. You submit yourself willingly, gladly, acknowledging His goodness, His providence in your life, accepting the circumstances that come, and toward others, your gentle, gracious, kind considerate. You see how he moves beyond the outward expression? He goes right to the heart.
So let me ask these questions by way of application. Does gentleness, meekness, submission, graciousness, do those words describe you? Do they describe me? What about the circumstances you find yourself in right now? I don't know what they are, but whatever you are facing, whatever mountains are before you, whatever difficulties you are facing right now, do you have that spirit of David saying, Lord, I'm like a wean child. I trust You. I know You mean what's best. I put myself in Your hands to do whatever You think is right and best for me.
Or are you whining and complaining and chafing under the purposes of God in your life?
How do you respond to others? How do the people that know you best, your family, your siblings, your friends, your mom, your dad, your spouse, people that know you best, how do they think of you? Do they think of you as gentle, gracious, humble, considerate in your interaction with them?
Listen, beloved, James isn't concerned with how much you know, how much I know. We're in a Bible believing, I trust the Bible, we endeavor by the grace of God. To be a Bible believing, Bible living, Bible teaching church, we love to study the Word of God. And we may know, we may know and have accumulated a lot of knowledge, but James doesn't care. He's unmoved by that. He wants to know what's going on in your heart and mind. Yes, we need, to be steeped in doctrine, but doctrine has to impact my life, my heart, my everything. He says, if you're really living by God's wisdom, if you truly fear God, if you've truly understood his ways or understand his ways, if you're really trying to apply his word to your life as a lifestyle, as a pattern, then you will be characterized by prautēs.
Wisdom is really important, beloved. You will be characterized by prautēs, by gentleness, by submission, submission to the will and the purpose of God, and gentleness and graciousness with others. And by the way, this will certainly be there. We learn in Galatians 5 that this quality is part of the fruit of the Spirit. So it's not like, well, I'm a Christian, but I don't have this. No, if you're a Christian, you have the Spirit, and if you have the Spirit, you have this fruit. You want to cultivate it. You want to cultivate it with the help of God.
So if you're a believer, then you have the Spirit, and if you have the Spirit, then the Spirit is, to some measure or another, producing this fruit in your life, and if it's not there, then it may very well mean that you're not Christ. You see, it's crucial that we truly, fully examine ourselves because there's a counterfeit wisdom. And that brings us to the fifth and final point.
I'm just going to introduce it tonight very briefly. Number five, James wants us to understand a clinical, an objective description of the other wisdom, hell's wisdom, the hellish wisdom. And that's in verses 14 to 16.
I'm just going to introduce it very briefly. You see, his point in these verses is that some people think they fear God, some people think they understand God's ways, they think they are applying God's ways and words in their lives, when they have been in fact embracing wisdom from hell, earthly wisdom, wisdom from below. Paul talks a lot about this, but Paul isn't the first.
You remember, if you were to go back to the Old Testament, back to Psalm 1, you'd find passages like Psalm 1:1, blessed is the righteous man, the godly man, and let me tell you about the righteous man, the blameless man, the psalmist says. He does not walk in the council or the advice of the wicked, the wisdom of the wicked. He doesn't take the advice of the wicked.
He's not walking in accordance with how they walk.
Proverbs 21, verse 30, “There is no wisdom, there is no discernment And there is no counsel against Yahweh.” Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1, for a moment. You see this other wisdom that exists, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come to know God. God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe.”
What is he saying here? He's saying there are two kinds of wisdom. There's wisdom of God, and there's counterfeit wisdom. It's the wisdom of the world. Turn to the next chapter, chapter 2. Let your eye really just run through this very quickly with me. Verse 6, he says we don't speak the wisdom that's of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, but we speak God's wisdom,
verse 7. You go down to verse 13, the things which we speak, “not in words taught by human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit.” Now, fast forward to chapter 3, and verse 19 and 20, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are,” - what? - “useless.”
What is he talking about here? What exactly does this human wisdom, this worldly wisdom, this counterfeit wisdom look like? Well, very important that we get this. Very important that we get this. It's not a particular set of propositions. There is God's wisdom, and there's worldly wisdom, and worldly wisdom is this. It's every thought, every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God. That's it. Every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God.
There is, on the one hand, God's wisdom revealed in his words, and there's, on the other hand, everything that contradicts God's revealed wisdom. That's it. That is worldly wisdom or human wisdom. It's every thought that raises itself against the knowledge of God. Listen, beloved, when it comes to wisdom, there are not many paths that lead to God. There's only one. That means if you stand in the middle of 360 paths, all around you, you can take 359 of those, and will lead you away from God, and only one of those paths will take you to God and His wisdom. Only one.
In Romans 12 verse 2, you're familiar with that. Paul says, “do not be conformed to this world.” Literally, do not allow this world to squeeze you into its mold, into its mindset. Did you know that our age has a mindset, beloved? It has a set of values by which it lives. And we as believers are supposed to resist that, avoid that kind of mindset, not allow it to seep into our lives. And here's the mindset of our age, here's worldly wisdom, here's what you and I ought to avoid, like the plague. And I'll close on this point tonight.
Here's how our culture expresses itself, and I'm indebted to Al Mohler for this.
He does an excellent job in defining our culture, the mindset of our age, using characteristics, each of which begin with the world's self. Number one, he says, number one, this is how our culture expresses itself, this is the mindset of our age, this is worldly wisdom. Number one, self-fulfillment. It's all about me. Because you're worth it, right? Life is a quest, the self is the project, whatever fulfills me, that's what matters.
Number two, self-sufficiency. Every individual possesses what is necessary for meaning and happiness. I just need to look within to find the answers. All the answers I need are found within. The answers are there. I just need somebody to draw them out.Nobody outside really can help me, I can help myself. That's where all self-help comes from.
Number three, self-definition. Most people in our culture now believe that they have the ability to define themselves. They can define what it means to be human, what it means to be male, what it means to be female, what it means to be a woman. We claim the right to define marriage any way we want, to define gender any way we want, define authority, sexuality, everything else, we can define it. We can give it definition, we can decide that this is what it really means.
Number four, self-absorption. Self-absorption will do whatever it takes to become what we need to be. Even people who divorce are beginning to say, they're divorcing because I'm just not free to be me, I've got to become me, and therefore, it's freedom, it's release.
Number five, self-transcendence. This one is very popular. This has to do with creating one's own designer spirituality. It's like, you know, picking shoes from various spiritualities all around you, kind of constructing your own thing and what's good for you. It's like a, sort of like a, you know, a buffet style chosen from different phase, and so you can go with your own plate, and I like this from here, and I like this from here, and you create your own plate of spirituality.
Number six, self-enhancement. The idea that we can extend our lives indefinitely by propping up this and taking out that, and, you know, whatever.
And number seven, self-security. We have an obsession with health and safety, with physical health, financial health, and we're going to protect ourselves. Beloved, that is the mindset of our age, and if you add to that mixed evolution, moral relativism, that says there's no moral absolute, it's all relative to your situation, and the postmodern rejection of an absolute truth, and you have a picture of today's wisdom, human wisdom, that dominates our world, hellish wisdom.
All of that on the surface seems so wise, doesn't it? Why is that? It's because, like someone said, when you live in water, you don't know that you're all wet. You can live in foolishness and not know it's utter foolishness. And God says that if you swallow the wisdom of the world, if you're following the mindset of this age, you are a fool. So, how do you get on the right path?
Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Where do you begin? You begin at Christ, the cross. You begin following God's wisdom by finding His wisdom and His Son, by giving yourself up, your way, and saying, I'm going to be a follower of Christ, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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