Hellish Wisdom vs. Heavenly Wisdom (III)
This is a transcript. It may contain some inaccuracies.
I don't have to spend much time on this to convince you that we live in a world that is really self-absorbed. We live in a self-absorbed world, a world that is really focused and is all about fulfilling self in some way. The new ethic really, it seems to be, is a duty to self.
It's all about me, it's all about you. This is the mindset of the culture in which we live, the mindset of the people among whom we live and move. And it permeates our culture, it permeates everything around us.
But here in this text, in James chapter 3, what we've been studying together, James deals an absolute death blow to that kind of thinking for those who call themselves Christians. In this paragraph, it's obvious that James is discussing two kinds of wisdom, two conflicting, two opposing sets of wisdom, and to remind us of the path that we have been traveling on over the last few weeks, briefly, we've discovered together in studying this portion of the Word of God, number one, the priority of godly wisdom, even in the question itself in verse 13, “who among you is wise and understanding?...” What is implied there is that this is important, and that to his Christian readers and to us, the believers today, the issue of wisdom would have been a priority and ought to be a priority. It would have been a priority and important in their lives, and it ought to be in ours.
Then we saw together the definition of godly wisdom. What is this wisdom that is from God, that is from above? Biblical wisdom, we saw together, bound up in it are three essential elements, and the first one is, fearing God. Fearing God. Then secondly, understanding God's ways, that is, what is God like and how does He act? And we look at that in the Word of God. And thirdly, applying God's ways and God's words to our own lives. These are the three essential elements of biblical wisdom.
Thirdly, we look together at the procurement of godly wisdom. How do we obtain this wisdom? How is it that you and I can gain this kind of wisdom from God, from above?
And we saw together there are four ways that you and I procure this godly wisdom, this wisdom from above, the first one being first and foremost. That's basic, that's the prerequisite, and that is, through a saving knowledge of Christ. Paul reminds us that Christ has become to us, the wisdom of God. It begins the day that you bend the knee to Jesus.
Secondly, we discovered that we procure this wisdom through a thorough knowledge of the Word of God. When we traffic in the Word, when we hide the Word of God in our hearts, when we read the Word, when we are immersed in the Word and have the Word of God dwell in our hearts richly. Wisdom is imparted through this book. This is God's wisdom revealed to us. And only as we understand and grasp the truth of the book, that means you and I ought to be diligent students, not come to this book and yank things out of context. And so we ought to be diligent students of the book, so that we can understand God's ways revealed in this book, God's will revealed in this book, the mind of Christ. And so we gain the wisdom of God or from God.
And thirdly, we acquire God's wisdom, godly wisdom, through the influence of wise companions. The people we associate with, we surround ourselves with, the companion of the wise will be wise. We studied that together in the book of Proverbs and elsewhere in Scripture.
And fourthly, we discovered that we receive godly wisdom through prayer. Ask. You come before the Lord and you ask, you petition. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask, James reminds us in Chapter 1, ask of God.
Fifthly, we also saw the test of God's wisdom. How can you be sure that what you have really is wisdom from above? How can you tell the difference? Well, verse 13 puts it this way, “let him show,” - if you think you're wise and understanding, James says, well,- “let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.” And bound up here, three tests really, in that brief half verse. First of all, by way of reminder, there's a test of wise deeds, wise works. Let him show godly wisdom in his works, by his deeds, by his wise actions.
The second test is a consistent life, a consistent life. Those obedient actions, James says, will be sustained by, he calls it here, good conduct. But a more fitting translation would be, as a way of life. One's conduct is a way of life, a lifestyle. It's a proven record over time, a proven record of consistency in a certain pattern. There won't be just sporadic acts of wisdom here and there, sprinkled here and there, you know, every now and then, no, no. Life would be characterized by, consistently characterized by this kind of conduct, good conduct.
The third test of godly wisdom or wisdom from above that we saw was, if it's real biblical wisdom, it will, at the same time, express itself in gentleness. And here, I love the combination. He says, the “gentleness of wisdom,” this word, ‘prautes’ translated, you really can't translate in one word. And we saw last Lord's Day, that there are two aspects to this word, ‘prautes,’ translated here, gentleness. One has to do with God, the other has to do with the people around us, as it is manifested to God, and as it is manifested to those around us. So, ‘prautes’ shows itself towards God in this calm acceptance of our circumstances of the providence of God in our lives, in the circumstances of our lives, as from God, for our good, and we absolutely refuse, by the grace of God, to complain, to murmur, and to grumble, or argue with God. It is to live life, really, with this motto: “whatever my God ordains is right.”
Toward man, gentleness expresses itself in a humble, gracious spirit, even when wronged. Both of those aspects of gentleness have in common is a control over your spirit. The fruit of the spirit is what? Self-control. In one case, it's a control that freely submits to you, yourself, to God's wisdom, and God's will, and God's ways, even if you don't understand. Even from your perspective, you can't make sense of what God is doing. You trust Him. “Though He may slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” On the other hand, it is self-control that allows you to be gentle and gracious, even when you're being attacked, even when you're being hurt by others, because you know that God is overall and sovereign over your life. And he's superintending your life. If you're truly living in God's wisdom, the test is you will be gentle in those two senses.
And then we began, last Lord's Day, to look at the description of worldly wisdom, an objective description. James gives us in verses 14 through 16, and an analysis of hell's wisdom, analysis, not of God's wisdom, but the counterfeit wisdom. James' point here in verses 14 through 16 is that some people think that they really fear God. They think they really understand God's ways. They think that they're applying God's truth to their lives, when in fact they have embraced a counterfeit wisdom that really, its source is not from above, it originates not from heaven, but from below, from hell itself.
Now, what exactly is this counterfeit wisdom? Well, we took some time to define it last time, define it this way. It's every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God's revealed wisdom in His Word. Everything that finds itself contrary to God's revealed wisdom. That's worldly wisdom. That's worldly wisdom. I mean, on the one hand, it's God's wisdom. It's God's wisdom revealed in the Scripture to us. That's one wisdom. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, everything else in all the various forms and expressions of human wisdom that stand in opposition to God's wisdom.
Understand, though, when we talk about human wisdom, it's not like there's one thing that you can really define as human wisdom. It's not like there's uniformity. But the only uniformity is that it's anti-God, however you slice it. Instead, human wisdom is like a chameleon that seems to change itself to match the circumstances around it. You could see it everywhere in various contexts and looking like various things. It is everything in the end that is opposed to God.
Everything that is opposed to God, that's worldly wisdom. For example, human wisdom drives the secular culture around us. It can be found easily in the prevailing mindset of our day with its depraved pursuit of self-fulfillment, self-absorption, self-focus, that's human wisdom. But human wisdom also can even take on countless religious forms, spiritual forms. It can.
It can be found even in the church, tragically. It can be wrapped in the cloak of piety, disguised itself in religious language. It can defend itself with arguments from the Bible.
Let me say that again. It can defend itself with arguments from the Bible. But here's the key.
Here's the key. Regardless of how many forms and manifestations human wisdom may take, whether it's secular or spiritual, religious, whether it's absolute self-absorption in self-pursuit or cloaked in the garb of religiosity, human wisdom looks the same at its core. And so what James is going to help us to do is understand the core issues behind all the manifestations, all the forms that human wisdom may take because he wants us to be equipped to be able to recognize it. And so we need to be equipped. So he provides us here in verses 14 through 16 with an analysis of this wisdom from below, this hellish wisdom, in whatever form it takes. So that's what we're going to focus on this evening.
These things are always true of this hellish wisdom. And so you want to know how to identify it. Here are the things that James provides us with here so we can be better equipped.
These things are always true of hell's wisdom, of that wisdom that is in opposition to God's wisdom. Now let me give us a brief outline of his analysis. In verse 14, he's going to describe for us the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom. So he's going to give us that in verse 14. In verse 15, he's going to describe the origin, the source of this hellish wisdom. And in verse 16, he's going to identify the results that it always produces in whatever form it takes. So, the chief characteristics, verse 14. The origin or source, verse 15. And then the results that are always produced in whatever form it takes, verse 16.
Well, let us get ready. Let's look first in verse 15, the chief characteristics, the primary, the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom. Verse 14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” You see, whatever form human wisdom takes, it always, always, always, without exception, has two dominant characteristics in the human heart, always. Two characteristic motives always lie behind any wisdom that stands opposed to God's wisdom, that stands in opposition to wisdom from above. As it is revealed in God's word.
So you can always recognize it this way, whether it's putting on a religious garb, robe, or whether it's wearing a secular mindset in the culture, you can always tell. It will always be characterized by these two chief characteristics, James tells us. Their motives, James says, take stock of your motives, and you can quickly discover whether you are living by God's wisdom or a counterfeit wisdom. The key in verse 14 is the phrase, if you are, if you are, and look at it, it is in the present tense. If you are having in your heart, it's a present continuous tense. If you are having in your heart, he says, look at your heart, look at your heart.
So he goes to the heart, right? Yes, very practical, but really, it always goes back to the heart, because the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. He says, search your heart, and see if you're consistently motivated by either bitter jealousy or selfish ambition. Here are the two chief characteristics.
If you discover that these beasts rule in your heart, then you're not living by God's wisdom, regardless of what you may appear to others to be. Regardless of how religious you are, how much Bible knowledge you know, how pious you may appear to others, if you find these motives, living and breathing and ruling in your heart, then you're not living by God's wisdom.
You're not. It's interesting, these two vices, here in verse 14, they often come together in the New Testament. They're like cousins. You find them in the same verse in 1 Corinthians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 12:20, Galatians 2:20. They're often related and intertwined, and we'll see why as we go along. This is not by happenstance. This is Spirit-inspired. So look at these two chief characteristics, these two motives that always accompany every single form of human wisdom. Let's look first at bitter jealousy.
The word translated jealousy is that Greek word ‘zelos’. It's a familiar word from which we get our English word zeal. Now, at the most basic level, this word zeal refers to energy, heat, enthusiasm for a cause. Now, in the New Testament, this zeal can be good, this energy, this heat for a cause can be good if the cause is good and if the motive is right. If the motive is in its place, proper place. In fact, we see this in the life of Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember in John chapter 2 and verse 17, we're told that when Christ cleansed the temple, it was zeal. It was heat, energy. It was a good cause. It was heat for God's cause that motivated Him.
But zeal can be, and in fact is used most often in the New Testament to speak of ill motives or evil motives. A kind of a heat that isn't for the right cause and isn't motivated by the right things, but instead it's entirely self-oriented, self-focused, self-centered. We know this is how James intends this word because of the word he adds to it. And it's the word bitter. Bitter. ‘Picros,’ the Greek word.’Picros.’ This is used in the Greek text to describe sour. Sour tasting, bitter tasting fruit of a wild vine in the subdued agent, acrid, brackish. That's the word, ‘Picros.’ So it came to describe a person who is sour, bitter, harsh, resentful. In this sense, this bitter, harsh zeal is an intense emotion. That is selfishly directed at another person or as it is translated here, jealousy. One leading lexicon defines it this way, “it denotes the kind of zeal which does not try to help others, but rather to harm them.”
Here's the key. The predominant concern being personal advancement. That's the predominant concern that has to do with this word. Another person writes, and I quote, “it is a fierce desire to promote one's own opinion to the exclusion of those of others.” To be jealous is to feel resentment against someone else because you see that person in competition with you and you resent them, you resent, in fact, their success, their progress, or their advantages, or something else about them. Jealousy is a terrible, terrible, terrible thing.
The story has been told, often, maybe you've heard of it, two men who lived in a certain city, one of them was jealous and the other was covetous. The ruler of the city sent for these two men and explained to them that he wanted to grant each of them one wish. One wish, but there's one qualification. The one who chose first would get exactly what he asked for, and the other one would get twice as much, whatever it was the first man asked for. And then the king told the jealous man that his was the first choice. Now, this immediately, of course, threw the jealous man into a dilemma. What to ask for? What to ask for? Because he knew whatever he asked for, however great, however wonderful, that his companion would be getting twice as much. And so he thought for a while, considered it for a while, and after careful consideration, he asked this, that one of his eyes would be put up. Because he couldn't tolerate the thought that his companion would have an advantage over him, and so he came up with a plan, that the only thing he could think about would allow him in the end to be better off than his companion. Jealousy.
That's how jealousy thinks. It's ugly. It's an ugly, ugly sin, and yet we're all tempted to the sin, we're tempted to resent others for their success, for their gifts, for their position, etc.
This jealousy or this bitter resentment can express itself in dozens of ways in our lives. It can if we're not careful. It can express itself in the family. You have sibling rivalry, which is nothing but an expression of jealousy, bitter jealousy. Parents who are struggling in their marriage, fighting for the affection of their children, they lose sight. There's so many different ways this can express itself in the family.
It can express itself at work, fighting for that promotion, and resenting those who get it. It can express itself at school, resenting others for the opportunities that they receive. It can even express itself, and maybe this will come as a shock to some, in the church as well.
Consider a couple of very practical expressions of this, how this manifests itself in the church. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul here rebukes the Corinthians, and there were so many things to rebuke this church for. But here's one of them, 1 Corinthians 3. Let's begin with verse 1, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able, for you are still fleshly.”
Now, before we move on, let's clear the debris. Sometimes people misunderstand this text, and this is what is taught sometimes by some teachers. Mis-taught, really, that this sort of thing is a separate category of Christians here, that Paul is talking about. Christians who live all their lives as if they were unregenerate pagans. That is not what is taught here in Scripture. Scripture doesn't teach that, not even remotely close. That's not what Paul is saying. He's saying to the Corinthians, in this particular issue, not as a pattern of life, in this particular issue that I'm addressing, you're still fleshly.
And he says to them, this, in verse 3, “for since there is jealousy - that's our word, ‘zelos’ - and strife - which is always the result of jealousy - among you - strife among you - are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” And “for when one says, ‘I'm of Paul,’ and another, ‘I'm of Apollos,’ are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants, through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one.”
You see, jealousy can express itself even in the life of the church. 2 Corinthians 12, you see this again in the Corinthians church. It seems to have been a pandemic. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 20, Paul says, “For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to not be what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish.” In other words, you're not going to be doing what I've taught you, and if that happens, when I'm going to be found by you, to be not what you wish when I come. In other words, you're not going to like it if I come, and these things are still happening. You're not going to like it. That perhaps there will be “strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger - he goes on to say - selfish ambitions, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.” I mean, all words, they are all words for what was going on in the life of this church. It breaks your heart. And sadly, many of us had the opportunity to witness these same kinds of things firsthand in some of the churches that we've been to in the past perhaps. And we're not immune, however, from those things even here in our midst, if we're not vigilant, if we're not constantly insulating our hearts.
So how does jealousy often express itself in the church? What do we need to be on the lookout for? Well, here are a few examples, there are just few. Jealousy can express itself in terms of leadership, lining up as the Corinthians were doing in 1 Corinthians 3. That can happen, because the heart is deceitful above all else, desperately wicked, lining up with your allegiance to certain men who are in leadership and having that kind of party spirit. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. He's the one who speaks for me. I like the way he says this, this becomes jealousy demonstrating itself in the church.
We can develop jealousy in the areas of issues of personal conscience, as well.
We begin to evaluate others by our own standards, by our own convictions, on certain personal conscience issues. Everything from music to dress, and you can fill in the blank. And I'm not talking about clear-cut issues in the Word of God, I'm talking about things that are a matter of personal conscience.
We can become jealous and exercise that resentment in the issues of status and power. We resent the success or the position of others in the church, their ministry in the church. Well, I don't understand why he got that position. I'm much better qualified than him or her. Well, who does she think she is? It can demonstrate itself in the issues of gifts, constantly sizing up others, who serve in a similar role, and deciding that you are better or superior, or could do this ministry better, or resenting those whose gifts are more prominent than your own, instead of reminding yourself that the Holy Spirit places each one of us in the body, as He wills.
Jealousy is an ugly thing that demonstrates itself in a variety of ways, and beloved, let me tell you, in this word here, in James, there's a serious warning for us. Because Galatians 5 verse 20, tells us that those who practice this sin, and I want to underscore the word practice, that is, who consistently are known by the sin of jealousy, marked by the sin of jealousy, characterized by the sin of jealousy, are not Christians, and will not be in heaven. Instead, this is part of the work of the flesh. And those, Paul says, who practice these things, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
But if you're a Christian, and you struggle with jealousy, what should you do? Well, we can struggle with these sins. Obviously, Paul is writing to the church, and James is writing to the church. Well, thank God for the wonderful doctrine of sanctification. That our ability is to renew, our responsibility, rather, is to renew our minds with the scripture. Immerse ourselves in the scriptures, and have the Holy Spirit renew our minds. And then, to put off the vice that old sinful practice, and to put on the opposite virtue, right? This is what sanctification is-
put off this, identify what this is, bring it to God in confession, repentance, lay it before God, ask for the help of the Spirit, and then you don't stop here, you actually put on something in its place. You remove the vice, you put on the virtue. And so that's what we need to do.
Thank God for that.
So what is the corresponding virtue of jealousy in this case? If we are to put off jealousy, what is the corresponding virtue of jealousy? Well, the scripture clearly tells us it's love, isn't it?
1 Corinthians 13: 4, love is not jealous. Love is not jealous.
If you really love someone, if you're really concerned about them, then you're excited for them when God works in their lives and gives them those opportunities and allows them to have a place of responsibility in ministry. You love them.
Well, jealousy is one chief characteristic of human wisdom, of hellish wisdom, but there's a second characteristic that's always, always there when there's hellish wisdom at play in our hearts. What is that? It's right here in verse 14, James 3. Not only there's jealousy, but we're told by James, there's also selfish ambition,‘Eritheia’ is the Greek word. Now, this word has a fascinating history, this Greek word. Originally, it described a day laborer. A day laborer. You know, someone back in the days, you know, you read this in the gospel, waits on the corner, in the street corner, waiting for someone to come by and give them a job for that day, and a day laborer, someone who worked for hire, and for that day, they will get one denarii. Later, it came to describe someone who worked for hire entirely for his own self-interest, and eventually, it came to describe a mercenary, someone who had no concern for his employer whatsoever, but was just in it for the money, just in it for complete total self-interest.
Aristotle used it to speak of politicians who've schemed to get what they wanted, and what they wanted was completely in their own self-interest. By the time of the New Testament, this word simply referred to proud self-interest. Proud self-interest. Someone who aggressively promotes himself and his own views, his own things, someone who jockeys for position, and who's happy when people line up behind them, and he gains a following. We would describe people like this today as having a personal agenda, acting in their own self-interest. They're not concerned about others whatsoever, the interests of others.
They're only purely concerned about their own interests, their own gain. They often will build themselves up by tearing others down, climbing, as it were, on the backs of others to elevate themselves. In the church, the sin of selfish ambition is usually clothed in pious rhetoric about concern for the truth or concern for the health of the church. How so? Well, let's see an example of this in Philippians. Philippians 1. There were those there near Paul where he was imprisoned in Rome, who were proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition rather than pure motives, thinking to cause Paul distress in his imprisonment. Imagine, these are professing Christians. But it was also happening in Philippi itself.
Look at chapter 2 verse 3, he exhorts the Philippians to be “united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, doing nothing from - what? ‘Eritheia,’ our word, - selfish ambition, or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” In fact, he says have the attitude that Christ Himself had who was willing to lay aside His prerogatives and condescend. By the way, Paul doesn't tell us here what the issue in Philippi exactly was, specifically, or who was on what side, because it really was irrelevant, it didn't matter.
The Philippians he's confronting may have been even right in their cause, but that's not the issue. The problem was the spirit with which they were pursuing their cause. It was self-oriented, it was to promote themselves, and Paul says, don't do it. Listen, this sin of selfish ambition, beloved, is at the heart of all rebellion against God. It's at the heart of all rebellion against God. Romans 2 verse 8 says that it is the characteristics of those who are perishing. Galatians 5: 20 says it's one of the works of the flesh. This sin of selfish ambition was part of the very first sin in the universe. It was at the heart of Satan's rebellion. It's a very, very serious sin. And James 3:14 tells us that this sin of selfish ambition is often accompanied by jealousy and by arrogance. And often people who are guilty of selfish ambition don't even recognize it. They don't. They're self-deceived. This sin is so insidious. And I hope we can see this.
Listen beloved, we're all tempted by these sins. We're cut from the same cloth, and we must examine our hearts. Are we always talking about ourselves? Are we always the hero of our stories? Are we always trying to make ourselves look good to others? Do we tear others down in order to build ourselves up? Are we constantly motivated by jealousy and by self-interest?
If so, James has some counsel for us. Notice what he says at the end of verse 14 now, “do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” “Do not be so arrogant and lie against - and so lie against - the truth.” And we could translate it like this. Don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. Don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. James is saying, you can't harbor jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, and really be wise or living in wisdom from God's perspective. It just can't happen.
That's because these two sins are always the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom in whatever form it takes. It's always about self, promoting self, and accommodating self. Now, verse 15 takes us beyond the chief characteristics and introduces us to the source of this hellish wisdom, the origin. Notice verse 15, “this wisdom is not coming down from above.” Of course, he's reminding us of 1:17, where he says, “Every good thing given, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shifting.” He says, listen, if your life, if your heart is characterized by jealousy and selfish ambition, then the wisdom you're living in is not wisdom from above. It doesn't come from above. It may be a form of earthly wisdom. There may be some cloak of wisdom to it. As Paul says in Romans 1: 22, “professing to be - what? - wise, they became fools.” Fools.
It may look wise from somebody's perspective, but it's not from heaven. It's not from God. So the natural question is, if it's not heaven's wisdom, if it's not from God, if it's not from above, well, what is the source of this wisdom? So-called wisdom. Well, James answers, giving us three adjectives. He says in verse 15, the wisdom is not coming down from above, but is, here's the first one: earthly. It's earthly, ‘epigeios.’ It belongs to the earth. Earthbound. It has no connection to heaven whatsoever. And then he says it is ‘psychikos,’ natural, literally soul-ish, from the word ‘psyche,’ soul.
This word is usually contrasted with that which is spiritual. It's not spiritual. It's merely human.
It's not divine. Human. But here's the scary part, it’s not even ultimately human. He says it is what? The ‘diamoniodes,’ demonic. The ultimate source or origin of all wisdom that stands opposed to God's wisdom is from demons. If you could trace all forms of counterfeit wisdom back to their source, it would be Satan himself.
I mean, after all, where do you think jealousy and selfish ambition first appeared? The very first time these sins were practiced, they were practiced by none other than Satan. The very first time they showed up in the universe, they were found in the heart of the covering cherub.
Satan himself fell from the position that God had exalted him to. Do you know what James is saying here? He's saying, if you embrace spiritual ideas, beliefs about the truth, views of the world, world views that run contrary to God's wisdom as revealed in His word, you've bought into the lie. You're believing satanic wisdom, and from God's perspective, you're a fool. Or if you're a believer, and you embrace the truth of the Bible, but you find jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, you're struggling with that, you're not truly practicing God's wisdom then, you're wrestling with this, then you're not really practicing God's wisdom, and you need to deal with that. Instead, you're practicing a wisdom that is earthly, of the earth, that is natural, as opposed to spiritual, and that is ultimately, really, the source of it is demonic, and you need to cut that out. Identify it, and cut it out.
So in his analysis of hell's wisdom, James has shown us the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom, the origin, the source, and in verse 16, he describes it by the results, the results of this hellish wisdom. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.” Do you see the two-fold results, or the two results? Here they are, the two results that it produces. First of all, he says, disorder, ‘akatastasia,’ this Greek word literally means not to put in place, or literally out of order, to put out of order.
It refers to two different kinds of unrest. It refers to a kind of a social unrest, like rioting, disturbances, due to mob action, this word, ‘akatastasia.’ In this sense, it's talking about disruption in the church. In other words, people who struggle with jealousy and selfish ambition will eventually produce disputes and factions in the church. They will cause things to be out of order. In the place where God desires to be a place of order.
In fact, in 2nd Corinthians 12:20, Paul uses the plural form of selfish ambition. What is produced is, he says, ‘akatastasia,’ translated disturbances. This is where selfish ambition always leads. Galatians 5:20, selfish ambition, you see it there, closely connected with dissensions and factions. People who want to promote themselves find themselves in conflict with others, and it produces discord and fights, butting heads.
We'll learn more about what that looks like when we get to chapter 4, but the word disorder was also used of political unrest, of revolution, of insurrection against due authority. In secular Greek, this word could even be translated as anarchy. Beloved, God has established a variety of authorities in our lives, that's God ordained. His word, of course, government, its officers, leaders in the church, those over us as bosses, parents, others, we have all kinds of authorities in our lives as long as, and we ought to submit as long as they don't ask us to do what God forbids, or ask us to do what God forbids, or they forbid us to do what God requires. It may be overt rejection, rebellion, outright rebellion against that authority, might be more subtle, you know, like the kid who said to his mother, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside.” Disorder, rebellion, rejection of authority. You see, without the work of God's grace in our hearts, we will be driven by our jealousy and selfish ambition.
That will lead to disputes and rebellion against the authorities God has placed in our lives. Disorder.
And there's of course the second result, that hell's wisdom always produces, you see it here in verse 16, “every evil practice.” You see this word, evil? It's not a common Greek word for evil in the New Testament. ‘Phaulos’ is this word here. And it's a word that means vile, corrupt, depraved. You know, pride and self-interest seem so innocent and so innocuous, don't they? I mean, everybody has that in their hearts, so what does it really mean? I can tolerate these things, right? I mean, after all, it's not murder, it's not adultery. Scripture says these sins are not harmless slip-ups.
Instead, they give energy to, they express themselves in every kind of sin, every evil practice. You know, as I thought about verses 14 through 16, I was reminded of the fact that there was a time when these verses described every single one of us, every single one of us. Or to put it in the words of the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah 53:6, “all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his - what? - own way.” Own way. We were only out for ourselves. We were self-promoting. We were pushing for our own self-interests. We were pursuing what we wanted, self-advancement, self-fulfillment, self-promotion. That's where worldly wisdom will always take you. But thank God, thank God that He doesn't leave us there.
The second half of verse 6, Isaiah 53, “But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Blessed be God. You see, child of God, instead of treating us like the rebels that we are, and taking our lives the very first time that we must have, that we rebelled against Him in self-interest, rather than God's interest, in the interest of God and the cause of God, in grace, God let us live. Even, I don't know, some of us can remember this clearly, maybe the first, maybe 20 years of your life, that's how you lived, and God, instead of dealing with you and with me, and taking our lives just like this, and sending us to hell, He deals with us in grace, He let us live, allowed us to enjoy the good gifts of life that come from Him, and He showed us His love, His love to us, in such a profound way that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross, and in that death, not only He dealt with the need for our forgiveness for these terrible sins, that was the heart of the atonement, the death of Christ, but He also gave us an amazing example of how to shed those sins in the interests of others.
Go back to Philippians 2. This is the amazing Christ. He did what He did, He did what He only can do on the cross as God, but also what He did also gives us an example to follow, and that other sense that relates to us. Here's what we are to do, verse 3, “do nothing,” - Philippians 2, verse 3 - “do nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory.” That's what you're to put off, what I'm to put off. So what are we to put on? “...but with humility” - again, you see the put off, put on - “but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” And by the way, this is not a poor me mentality, when you do that. You know, “nobody loves me,” “everybody hates me,” no, no, no. That's not what he's talking about here. Humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. Humility is not thinking of yourself at all. Period.
It's thinking about others. Verse 4, “not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Focus on others. And if you have trouble seeing what that looks like in real life, think about Christ. “Have this way of thinking in yourselves, - verse 5 - which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Think about what Christ did. He laid aside everything that was to his own advantage, and he became a slave for us. Even in ultimately becoming obedient to the point of death, not just any death, but the death of a common criminal on the cross. Why? Because he was more concerned about us than himself. Here's the example to follow, Paul says.
That's how we get rid of it. We look to Him. And if you are here this evening, and you have to admit honestly, that you're not a believer, if that's you, tonight. That your life is controlled by, your heart is dominated by jealousy and selfish ambition. That you live for self-fulfillment, you live to promote yourself, and you only show interest in others, as it will promote you, as it will make you look good. I plead with you this evening, based on the grace of God. The grace of God, only by His grace. There's nobody in this room that wasn't described like this. This is where all of us were. And we will struggle with this sin, but here's the difference, as believers, we've experienced God's grace.
So I urge you this moment, if you're willing to turn from the anarchy of your heart, you're willing to leave your own way, put down your weapon of warfare, and pursuing your own self-fulfillment, if you're willing to turn from what you know to be sin and bow the knee to Christ, acknowledge Him as your Savior and Lord, the person to whom you will give account the rest of your life and in eternity, the One for whom you will now live instead of yourself. If you're willing to do that tonight, to embrace Him in faith, God makes this amazing promise.
He will pardon your rebellion, all of it. He will adopt you as His own child, and He will treat you as if you were as righteous as His own son because He will credit to your account the perfect life righteousness of Jesus. That's God's amazing grace.
I trust that you will receive that amazing gift. And for us, God's children, thank God, thank God that we're conscious of the battle when it comes to these sins. And by His grace, we're chipping away one step at a time, as we pursue sanctification enabled by the Spirit to become more like Christ, day after day.
It's all about me, it's all about you. This is the mindset of the culture in which we live, the mindset of the people among whom we live and move. And it permeates our culture, it permeates everything around us.
But here in this text, in James chapter 3, what we've been studying together, James deals an absolute death blow to that kind of thinking for those who call themselves Christians. In this paragraph, it's obvious that James is discussing two kinds of wisdom, two conflicting, two opposing sets of wisdom, and to remind us of the path that we have been traveling on over the last few weeks, briefly, we've discovered together in studying this portion of the Word of God, number one, the priority of godly wisdom, even in the question itself in verse 13, “who among you is wise and understanding?...” What is implied there is that this is important, and that to his Christian readers and to us, the believers today, the issue of wisdom would have been a priority and ought to be a priority. It would have been a priority and important in their lives, and it ought to be in ours.
Then we saw together the definition of godly wisdom. What is this wisdom that is from God, that is from above? Biblical wisdom, we saw together, bound up in it are three essential elements, and the first one is, fearing God. Fearing God. Then secondly, understanding God's ways, that is, what is God like and how does He act? And we look at that in the Word of God. And thirdly, applying God's ways and God's words to our own lives. These are the three essential elements of biblical wisdom.
Thirdly, we look together at the procurement of godly wisdom. How do we obtain this wisdom? How is it that you and I can gain this kind of wisdom from God, from above?
And we saw together there are four ways that you and I procure this godly wisdom, this wisdom from above, the first one being first and foremost. That's basic, that's the prerequisite, and that is, through a saving knowledge of Christ. Paul reminds us that Christ has become to us, the wisdom of God. It begins the day that you bend the knee to Jesus.
Secondly, we discovered that we procure this wisdom through a thorough knowledge of the Word of God. When we traffic in the Word, when we hide the Word of God in our hearts, when we read the Word, when we are immersed in the Word and have the Word of God dwell in our hearts richly. Wisdom is imparted through this book. This is God's wisdom revealed to us. And only as we understand and grasp the truth of the book, that means you and I ought to be diligent students, not come to this book and yank things out of context. And so we ought to be diligent students of the book, so that we can understand God's ways revealed in this book, God's will revealed in this book, the mind of Christ. And so we gain the wisdom of God or from God.
And thirdly, we acquire God's wisdom, godly wisdom, through the influence of wise companions. The people we associate with, we surround ourselves with, the companion of the wise will be wise. We studied that together in the book of Proverbs and elsewhere in Scripture.
And fourthly, we discovered that we receive godly wisdom through prayer. Ask. You come before the Lord and you ask, you petition. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask, James reminds us in Chapter 1, ask of God.
Fifthly, we also saw the test of God's wisdom. How can you be sure that what you have really is wisdom from above? How can you tell the difference? Well, verse 13 puts it this way, “let him show,” - if you think you're wise and understanding, James says, well,- “let him show by his good conduct his works in the gentleness of wisdom.” And bound up here, three tests really, in that brief half verse. First of all, by way of reminder, there's a test of wise deeds, wise works. Let him show godly wisdom in his works, by his deeds, by his wise actions.
The second test is a consistent life, a consistent life. Those obedient actions, James says, will be sustained by, he calls it here, good conduct. But a more fitting translation would be, as a way of life. One's conduct is a way of life, a lifestyle. It's a proven record over time, a proven record of consistency in a certain pattern. There won't be just sporadic acts of wisdom here and there, sprinkled here and there, you know, every now and then, no, no. Life would be characterized by, consistently characterized by this kind of conduct, good conduct.
The third test of godly wisdom or wisdom from above that we saw was, if it's real biblical wisdom, it will, at the same time, express itself in gentleness. And here, I love the combination. He says, the “gentleness of wisdom,” this word, ‘prautes’ translated, you really can't translate in one word. And we saw last Lord's Day, that there are two aspects to this word, ‘prautes,’ translated here, gentleness. One has to do with God, the other has to do with the people around us, as it is manifested to God, and as it is manifested to those around us. So, ‘prautes’ shows itself towards God in this calm acceptance of our circumstances of the providence of God in our lives, in the circumstances of our lives, as from God, for our good, and we absolutely refuse, by the grace of God, to complain, to murmur, and to grumble, or argue with God. It is to live life, really, with this motto: “whatever my God ordains is right.”
Toward man, gentleness expresses itself in a humble, gracious spirit, even when wronged. Both of those aspects of gentleness have in common is a control over your spirit. The fruit of the spirit is what? Self-control. In one case, it's a control that freely submits to you, yourself, to God's wisdom, and God's will, and God's ways, even if you don't understand. Even from your perspective, you can't make sense of what God is doing. You trust Him. “Though He may slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” On the other hand, it is self-control that allows you to be gentle and gracious, even when you're being attacked, even when you're being hurt by others, because you know that God is overall and sovereign over your life. And he's superintending your life. If you're truly living in God's wisdom, the test is you will be gentle in those two senses.
And then we began, last Lord's Day, to look at the description of worldly wisdom, an objective description. James gives us in verses 14 through 16, and an analysis of hell's wisdom, analysis, not of God's wisdom, but the counterfeit wisdom. James' point here in verses 14 through 16 is that some people think that they really fear God. They think they really understand God's ways. They think that they're applying God's truth to their lives, when in fact they have embraced a counterfeit wisdom that really, its source is not from above, it originates not from heaven, but from below, from hell itself.
Now, what exactly is this counterfeit wisdom? Well, we took some time to define it last time, define it this way. It's every thought, every attitude, every word, every act that is contrary to God's revealed wisdom in His Word. Everything that finds itself contrary to God's revealed wisdom. That's worldly wisdom. That's worldly wisdom. I mean, on the one hand, it's God's wisdom. It's God's wisdom revealed in the Scripture to us. That's one wisdom. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, everything else in all the various forms and expressions of human wisdom that stand in opposition to God's wisdom.
Understand, though, when we talk about human wisdom, it's not like there's one thing that you can really define as human wisdom. It's not like there's uniformity. But the only uniformity is that it's anti-God, however you slice it. Instead, human wisdom is like a chameleon that seems to change itself to match the circumstances around it. You could see it everywhere in various contexts and looking like various things. It is everything in the end that is opposed to God.
Everything that is opposed to God, that's worldly wisdom. For example, human wisdom drives the secular culture around us. It can be found easily in the prevailing mindset of our day with its depraved pursuit of self-fulfillment, self-absorption, self-focus, that's human wisdom. But human wisdom also can even take on countless religious forms, spiritual forms. It can.
It can be found even in the church, tragically. It can be wrapped in the cloak of piety, disguised itself in religious language. It can defend itself with arguments from the Bible.
Let me say that again. It can defend itself with arguments from the Bible. But here's the key.
Here's the key. Regardless of how many forms and manifestations human wisdom may take, whether it's secular or spiritual, religious, whether it's absolute self-absorption in self-pursuit or cloaked in the garb of religiosity, human wisdom looks the same at its core. And so what James is going to help us to do is understand the core issues behind all the manifestations, all the forms that human wisdom may take because he wants us to be equipped to be able to recognize it. And so we need to be equipped. So he provides us here in verses 14 through 16 with an analysis of this wisdom from below, this hellish wisdom, in whatever form it takes. So that's what we're going to focus on this evening.
These things are always true of this hellish wisdom. And so you want to know how to identify it. Here are the things that James provides us with here so we can be better equipped.
These things are always true of hell's wisdom, of that wisdom that is in opposition to God's wisdom. Now let me give us a brief outline of his analysis. In verse 14, he's going to describe for us the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom. So he's going to give us that in verse 14. In verse 15, he's going to describe the origin, the source of this hellish wisdom. And in verse 16, he's going to identify the results that it always produces in whatever form it takes. So, the chief characteristics, verse 14. The origin or source, verse 15. And then the results that are always produced in whatever form it takes, verse 16.
Well, let us get ready. Let's look first in verse 15, the chief characteristics, the primary, the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom. Verse 14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” You see, whatever form human wisdom takes, it always, always, always, without exception, has two dominant characteristics in the human heart, always. Two characteristic motives always lie behind any wisdom that stands opposed to God's wisdom, that stands in opposition to wisdom from above. As it is revealed in God's word.
So you can always recognize it this way, whether it's putting on a religious garb, robe, or whether it's wearing a secular mindset in the culture, you can always tell. It will always be characterized by these two chief characteristics, James tells us. Their motives, James says, take stock of your motives, and you can quickly discover whether you are living by God's wisdom or a counterfeit wisdom. The key in verse 14 is the phrase, if you are, if you are, and look at it, it is in the present tense. If you are having in your heart, it's a present continuous tense. If you are having in your heart, he says, look at your heart, look at your heart.
So he goes to the heart, right? Yes, very practical, but really, it always goes back to the heart, because the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. He says, search your heart, and see if you're consistently motivated by either bitter jealousy or selfish ambition. Here are the two chief characteristics.
If you discover that these beasts rule in your heart, then you're not living by God's wisdom, regardless of what you may appear to others to be. Regardless of how religious you are, how much Bible knowledge you know, how pious you may appear to others, if you find these motives, living and breathing and ruling in your heart, then you're not living by God's wisdom.
You're not. It's interesting, these two vices, here in verse 14, they often come together in the New Testament. They're like cousins. You find them in the same verse in 1 Corinthians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 12:20, Galatians 2:20. They're often related and intertwined, and we'll see why as we go along. This is not by happenstance. This is Spirit-inspired. So look at these two chief characteristics, these two motives that always accompany every single form of human wisdom. Let's look first at bitter jealousy.
The word translated jealousy is that Greek word ‘zelos’. It's a familiar word from which we get our English word zeal. Now, at the most basic level, this word zeal refers to energy, heat, enthusiasm for a cause. Now, in the New Testament, this zeal can be good, this energy, this heat for a cause can be good if the cause is good and if the motive is right. If the motive is in its place, proper place. In fact, we see this in the life of Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember in John chapter 2 and verse 17, we're told that when Christ cleansed the temple, it was zeal. It was heat, energy. It was a good cause. It was heat for God's cause that motivated Him.
But zeal can be, and in fact is used most often in the New Testament to speak of ill motives or evil motives. A kind of a heat that isn't for the right cause and isn't motivated by the right things, but instead it's entirely self-oriented, self-focused, self-centered. We know this is how James intends this word because of the word he adds to it. And it's the word bitter. Bitter. ‘Picros,’ the Greek word.’Picros.’ This is used in the Greek text to describe sour. Sour tasting, bitter tasting fruit of a wild vine in the subdued agent, acrid, brackish. That's the word, ‘Picros.’ So it came to describe a person who is sour, bitter, harsh, resentful. In this sense, this bitter, harsh zeal is an intense emotion. That is selfishly directed at another person or as it is translated here, jealousy. One leading lexicon defines it this way, “it denotes the kind of zeal which does not try to help others, but rather to harm them.”
Here's the key. The predominant concern being personal advancement. That's the predominant concern that has to do with this word. Another person writes, and I quote, “it is a fierce desire to promote one's own opinion to the exclusion of those of others.” To be jealous is to feel resentment against someone else because you see that person in competition with you and you resent them, you resent, in fact, their success, their progress, or their advantages, or something else about them. Jealousy is a terrible, terrible, terrible thing.
The story has been told, often, maybe you've heard of it, two men who lived in a certain city, one of them was jealous and the other was covetous. The ruler of the city sent for these two men and explained to them that he wanted to grant each of them one wish. One wish, but there's one qualification. The one who chose first would get exactly what he asked for, and the other one would get twice as much, whatever it was the first man asked for. And then the king told the jealous man that his was the first choice. Now, this immediately, of course, threw the jealous man into a dilemma. What to ask for? What to ask for? Because he knew whatever he asked for, however great, however wonderful, that his companion would be getting twice as much. And so he thought for a while, considered it for a while, and after careful consideration, he asked this, that one of his eyes would be put up. Because he couldn't tolerate the thought that his companion would have an advantage over him, and so he came up with a plan, that the only thing he could think about would allow him in the end to be better off than his companion. Jealousy.
That's how jealousy thinks. It's ugly. It's an ugly, ugly sin, and yet we're all tempted to the sin, we're tempted to resent others for their success, for their gifts, for their position, etc.
This jealousy or this bitter resentment can express itself in dozens of ways in our lives. It can if we're not careful. It can express itself in the family. You have sibling rivalry, which is nothing but an expression of jealousy, bitter jealousy. Parents who are struggling in their marriage, fighting for the affection of their children, they lose sight. There's so many different ways this can express itself in the family.
It can express itself at work, fighting for that promotion, and resenting those who get it. It can express itself at school, resenting others for the opportunities that they receive. It can even express itself, and maybe this will come as a shock to some, in the church as well.
Consider a couple of very practical expressions of this, how this manifests itself in the church. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul here rebukes the Corinthians, and there were so many things to rebuke this church for. But here's one of them, 1 Corinthians 3. Let's begin with verse 1, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able, for you are still fleshly.”
Now, before we move on, let's clear the debris. Sometimes people misunderstand this text, and this is what is taught sometimes by some teachers. Mis-taught, really, that this sort of thing is a separate category of Christians here, that Paul is talking about. Christians who live all their lives as if they were unregenerate pagans. That is not what is taught here in Scripture. Scripture doesn't teach that, not even remotely close. That's not what Paul is saying. He's saying to the Corinthians, in this particular issue, not as a pattern of life, in this particular issue that I'm addressing, you're still fleshly.
And he says to them, this, in verse 3, “for since there is jealousy - that's our word, ‘zelos’ - and strife - which is always the result of jealousy - among you - strife among you - are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” And “for when one says, ‘I'm of Paul,’ and another, ‘I'm of Apollos,’ are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants, through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one.”
You see, jealousy can express itself even in the life of the church. 2 Corinthians 12, you see this again in the Corinthians church. It seems to have been a pandemic. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 20, Paul says, “For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to not be what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish.” In other words, you're not going to be doing what I've taught you, and if that happens, when I'm going to be found by you, to be not what you wish when I come. In other words, you're not going to like it if I come, and these things are still happening. You're not going to like it. That perhaps there will be “strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger - he goes on to say - selfish ambitions, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.” I mean, all words, they are all words for what was going on in the life of this church. It breaks your heart. And sadly, many of us had the opportunity to witness these same kinds of things firsthand in some of the churches that we've been to in the past perhaps. And we're not immune, however, from those things even here in our midst, if we're not vigilant, if we're not constantly insulating our hearts.
So how does jealousy often express itself in the church? What do we need to be on the lookout for? Well, here are a few examples, there are just few. Jealousy can express itself in terms of leadership, lining up as the Corinthians were doing in 1 Corinthians 3. That can happen, because the heart is deceitful above all else, desperately wicked, lining up with your allegiance to certain men who are in leadership and having that kind of party spirit. I am of Paul, I am of Apollos. He's the one who speaks for me. I like the way he says this, this becomes jealousy demonstrating itself in the church.
We can develop jealousy in the areas of issues of personal conscience, as well.
We begin to evaluate others by our own standards, by our own convictions, on certain personal conscience issues. Everything from music to dress, and you can fill in the blank. And I'm not talking about clear-cut issues in the Word of God, I'm talking about things that are a matter of personal conscience.
We can become jealous and exercise that resentment in the issues of status and power. We resent the success or the position of others in the church, their ministry in the church. Well, I don't understand why he got that position. I'm much better qualified than him or her. Well, who does she think she is? It can demonstrate itself in the issues of gifts, constantly sizing up others, who serve in a similar role, and deciding that you are better or superior, or could do this ministry better, or resenting those whose gifts are more prominent than your own, instead of reminding yourself that the Holy Spirit places each one of us in the body, as He wills.
Jealousy is an ugly thing that demonstrates itself in a variety of ways, and beloved, let me tell you, in this word here, in James, there's a serious warning for us. Because Galatians 5 verse 20, tells us that those who practice this sin, and I want to underscore the word practice, that is, who consistently are known by the sin of jealousy, marked by the sin of jealousy, characterized by the sin of jealousy, are not Christians, and will not be in heaven. Instead, this is part of the work of the flesh. And those, Paul says, who practice these things, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
But if you're a Christian, and you struggle with jealousy, what should you do? Well, we can struggle with these sins. Obviously, Paul is writing to the church, and James is writing to the church. Well, thank God for the wonderful doctrine of sanctification. That our ability is to renew, our responsibility, rather, is to renew our minds with the scripture. Immerse ourselves in the scriptures, and have the Holy Spirit renew our minds. And then, to put off the vice that old sinful practice, and to put on the opposite virtue, right? This is what sanctification is-
put off this, identify what this is, bring it to God in confession, repentance, lay it before God, ask for the help of the Spirit, and then you don't stop here, you actually put on something in its place. You remove the vice, you put on the virtue. And so that's what we need to do.
Thank God for that.
So what is the corresponding virtue of jealousy in this case? If we are to put off jealousy, what is the corresponding virtue of jealousy? Well, the scripture clearly tells us it's love, isn't it?
1 Corinthians 13: 4, love is not jealous. Love is not jealous.
If you really love someone, if you're really concerned about them, then you're excited for them when God works in their lives and gives them those opportunities and allows them to have a place of responsibility in ministry. You love them.
Well, jealousy is one chief characteristic of human wisdom, of hellish wisdom, but there's a second characteristic that's always, always there when there's hellish wisdom at play in our hearts. What is that? It's right here in verse 14, James 3. Not only there's jealousy, but we're told by James, there's also selfish ambition,‘Eritheia’ is the Greek word. Now, this word has a fascinating history, this Greek word. Originally, it described a day laborer. A day laborer. You know, someone back in the days, you know, you read this in the gospel, waits on the corner, in the street corner, waiting for someone to come by and give them a job for that day, and a day laborer, someone who worked for hire, and for that day, they will get one denarii. Later, it came to describe someone who worked for hire entirely for his own self-interest, and eventually, it came to describe a mercenary, someone who had no concern for his employer whatsoever, but was just in it for the money, just in it for complete total self-interest.
Aristotle used it to speak of politicians who've schemed to get what they wanted, and what they wanted was completely in their own self-interest. By the time of the New Testament, this word simply referred to proud self-interest. Proud self-interest. Someone who aggressively promotes himself and his own views, his own things, someone who jockeys for position, and who's happy when people line up behind them, and he gains a following. We would describe people like this today as having a personal agenda, acting in their own self-interest. They're not concerned about others whatsoever, the interests of others.
They're only purely concerned about their own interests, their own gain. They often will build themselves up by tearing others down, climbing, as it were, on the backs of others to elevate themselves. In the church, the sin of selfish ambition is usually clothed in pious rhetoric about concern for the truth or concern for the health of the church. How so? Well, let's see an example of this in Philippians. Philippians 1. There were those there near Paul where he was imprisoned in Rome, who were proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition rather than pure motives, thinking to cause Paul distress in his imprisonment. Imagine, these are professing Christians. But it was also happening in Philippi itself.
Look at chapter 2 verse 3, he exhorts the Philippians to be “united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, doing nothing from - what? ‘Eritheia,’ our word, - selfish ambition, or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” In fact, he says have the attitude that Christ Himself had who was willing to lay aside His prerogatives and condescend. By the way, Paul doesn't tell us here what the issue in Philippi exactly was, specifically, or who was on what side, because it really was irrelevant, it didn't matter.
The Philippians he's confronting may have been even right in their cause, but that's not the issue. The problem was the spirit with which they were pursuing their cause. It was self-oriented, it was to promote themselves, and Paul says, don't do it. Listen, this sin of selfish ambition, beloved, is at the heart of all rebellion against God. It's at the heart of all rebellion against God. Romans 2 verse 8 says that it is the characteristics of those who are perishing. Galatians 5: 20 says it's one of the works of the flesh. This sin of selfish ambition was part of the very first sin in the universe. It was at the heart of Satan's rebellion. It's a very, very serious sin. And James 3:14 tells us that this sin of selfish ambition is often accompanied by jealousy and by arrogance. And often people who are guilty of selfish ambition don't even recognize it. They don't. They're self-deceived. This sin is so insidious. And I hope we can see this.
Listen beloved, we're all tempted by these sins. We're cut from the same cloth, and we must examine our hearts. Are we always talking about ourselves? Are we always the hero of our stories? Are we always trying to make ourselves look good to others? Do we tear others down in order to build ourselves up? Are we constantly motivated by jealousy and by self-interest?
If so, James has some counsel for us. Notice what he says at the end of verse 14 now, “do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” “Do not be so arrogant and lie against - and so lie against - the truth.” And we could translate it like this. Don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. Don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. James is saying, you can't harbor jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, and really be wise or living in wisdom from God's perspective. It just can't happen.
That's because these two sins are always the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom in whatever form it takes. It's always about self, promoting self, and accommodating self. Now, verse 15 takes us beyond the chief characteristics and introduces us to the source of this hellish wisdom, the origin. Notice verse 15, “this wisdom is not coming down from above.” Of course, he's reminding us of 1:17, where he says, “Every good thing given, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shifting.” He says, listen, if your life, if your heart is characterized by jealousy and selfish ambition, then the wisdom you're living in is not wisdom from above. It doesn't come from above. It may be a form of earthly wisdom. There may be some cloak of wisdom to it. As Paul says in Romans 1: 22, “professing to be - what? - wise, they became fools.” Fools.
It may look wise from somebody's perspective, but it's not from heaven. It's not from God. So the natural question is, if it's not heaven's wisdom, if it's not from God, if it's not from above, well, what is the source of this wisdom? So-called wisdom. Well, James answers, giving us three adjectives. He says in verse 15, the wisdom is not coming down from above, but is, here's the first one: earthly. It's earthly, ‘epigeios.’ It belongs to the earth. Earthbound. It has no connection to heaven whatsoever. And then he says it is ‘psychikos,’ natural, literally soul-ish, from the word ‘psyche,’ soul.
This word is usually contrasted with that which is spiritual. It's not spiritual. It's merely human.
It's not divine. Human. But here's the scary part, it’s not even ultimately human. He says it is what? The ‘diamoniodes,’ demonic. The ultimate source or origin of all wisdom that stands opposed to God's wisdom is from demons. If you could trace all forms of counterfeit wisdom back to their source, it would be Satan himself.
I mean, after all, where do you think jealousy and selfish ambition first appeared? The very first time these sins were practiced, they were practiced by none other than Satan. The very first time they showed up in the universe, they were found in the heart of the covering cherub.
Satan himself fell from the position that God had exalted him to. Do you know what James is saying here? He's saying, if you embrace spiritual ideas, beliefs about the truth, views of the world, world views that run contrary to God's wisdom as revealed in His word, you've bought into the lie. You're believing satanic wisdom, and from God's perspective, you're a fool. Or if you're a believer, and you embrace the truth of the Bible, but you find jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, you're struggling with that, you're not truly practicing God's wisdom then, you're wrestling with this, then you're not really practicing God's wisdom, and you need to deal with that. Instead, you're practicing a wisdom that is earthly, of the earth, that is natural, as opposed to spiritual, and that is ultimately, really, the source of it is demonic, and you need to cut that out. Identify it, and cut it out.
So in his analysis of hell's wisdom, James has shown us the chief characteristics of hell's wisdom, the origin, the source, and in verse 16, he describes it by the results, the results of this hellish wisdom. “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice.” Do you see the two-fold results, or the two results? Here they are, the two results that it produces. First of all, he says, disorder, ‘akatastasia,’ this Greek word literally means not to put in place, or literally out of order, to put out of order.
It refers to two different kinds of unrest. It refers to a kind of a social unrest, like rioting, disturbances, due to mob action, this word, ‘akatastasia.’ In this sense, it's talking about disruption in the church. In other words, people who struggle with jealousy and selfish ambition will eventually produce disputes and factions in the church. They will cause things to be out of order. In the place where God desires to be a place of order.
In fact, in 2nd Corinthians 12:20, Paul uses the plural form of selfish ambition. What is produced is, he says, ‘akatastasia,’ translated disturbances. This is where selfish ambition always leads. Galatians 5:20, selfish ambition, you see it there, closely connected with dissensions and factions. People who want to promote themselves find themselves in conflict with others, and it produces discord and fights, butting heads.
We'll learn more about what that looks like when we get to chapter 4, but the word disorder was also used of political unrest, of revolution, of insurrection against due authority. In secular Greek, this word could even be translated as anarchy. Beloved, God has established a variety of authorities in our lives, that's God ordained. His word, of course, government, its officers, leaders in the church, those over us as bosses, parents, others, we have all kinds of authorities in our lives as long as, and we ought to submit as long as they don't ask us to do what God forbids, or ask us to do what God forbids, or they forbid us to do what God requires. It may be overt rejection, rebellion, outright rebellion against that authority, might be more subtle, you know, like the kid who said to his mother, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside.” Disorder, rebellion, rejection of authority. You see, without the work of God's grace in our hearts, we will be driven by our jealousy and selfish ambition.
That will lead to disputes and rebellion against the authorities God has placed in our lives. Disorder.
And there's of course the second result, that hell's wisdom always produces, you see it here in verse 16, “every evil practice.” You see this word, evil? It's not a common Greek word for evil in the New Testament. ‘Phaulos’ is this word here. And it's a word that means vile, corrupt, depraved. You know, pride and self-interest seem so innocent and so innocuous, don't they? I mean, everybody has that in their hearts, so what does it really mean? I can tolerate these things, right? I mean, after all, it's not murder, it's not adultery. Scripture says these sins are not harmless slip-ups.
Instead, they give energy to, they express themselves in every kind of sin, every evil practice. You know, as I thought about verses 14 through 16, I was reminded of the fact that there was a time when these verses described every single one of us, every single one of us. Or to put it in the words of the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah 53:6, “all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his - what? - own way.” Own way. We were only out for ourselves. We were self-promoting. We were pushing for our own self-interests. We were pursuing what we wanted, self-advancement, self-fulfillment, self-promotion. That's where worldly wisdom will always take you. But thank God, thank God that He doesn't leave us there.
The second half of verse 6, Isaiah 53, “But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Blessed be God. You see, child of God, instead of treating us like the rebels that we are, and taking our lives the very first time that we must have, that we rebelled against Him in self-interest, rather than God's interest, in the interest of God and the cause of God, in grace, God let us live. Even, I don't know, some of us can remember this clearly, maybe the first, maybe 20 years of your life, that's how you lived, and God, instead of dealing with you and with me, and taking our lives just like this, and sending us to hell, He deals with us in grace, He let us live, allowed us to enjoy the good gifts of life that come from Him, and He showed us His love, His love to us, in such a profound way that He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross, and in that death, not only He dealt with the need for our forgiveness for these terrible sins, that was the heart of the atonement, the death of Christ, but He also gave us an amazing example of how to shed those sins in the interests of others.
Go back to Philippians 2. This is the amazing Christ. He did what He did, He did what He only can do on the cross as God, but also what He did also gives us an example to follow, and that other sense that relates to us. Here's what we are to do, verse 3, “do nothing,” - Philippians 2, verse 3 - “do nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory.” That's what you're to put off, what I'm to put off. So what are we to put on? “...but with humility” - again, you see the put off, put on - “but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” And by the way, this is not a poor me mentality, when you do that. You know, “nobody loves me,” “everybody hates me,” no, no, no. That's not what he's talking about here. Humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. Humility is not thinking of yourself at all. Period.
It's thinking about others. Verse 4, “not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Focus on others. And if you have trouble seeing what that looks like in real life, think about Christ. “Have this way of thinking in yourselves, - verse 5 - which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Think about what Christ did. He laid aside everything that was to his own advantage, and he became a slave for us. Even in ultimately becoming obedient to the point of death, not just any death, but the death of a common criminal on the cross. Why? Because he was more concerned about us than himself. Here's the example to follow, Paul says.
That's how we get rid of it. We look to Him. And if you are here this evening, and you have to admit honestly, that you're not a believer, if that's you, tonight. That your life is controlled by, your heart is dominated by jealousy and selfish ambition. That you live for self-fulfillment, you live to promote yourself, and you only show interest in others, as it will promote you, as it will make you look good. I plead with you this evening, based on the grace of God. The grace of God, only by His grace. There's nobody in this room that wasn't described like this. This is where all of us were. And we will struggle with this sin, but here's the difference, as believers, we've experienced God's grace.
So I urge you this moment, if you're willing to turn from the anarchy of your heart, you're willing to leave your own way, put down your weapon of warfare, and pursuing your own self-fulfillment, if you're willing to turn from what you know to be sin and bow the knee to Christ, acknowledge Him as your Savior and Lord, the person to whom you will give account the rest of your life and in eternity, the One for whom you will now live instead of yourself. If you're willing to do that tonight, to embrace Him in faith, God makes this amazing promise.
He will pardon your rebellion, all of it. He will adopt you as His own child, and He will treat you as if you were as righteous as His own son because He will credit to your account the perfect life righteousness of Jesus. That's God's amazing grace.
I trust that you will receive that amazing gift. And for us, God's children, thank God, thank God that we're conscious of the battle when it comes to these sins. And by His grace, we're chipping away one step at a time, as we pursue sanctification enabled by the Spirit to become more like Christ, day after day.
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