Word of Salvation – Vol.42 No.07 – February 1997

 

The Wise And The Unwise

 

A Sermon by Rev. A. L. Van Drimmelen on James 3:13-18

Scripture Reading: 2Chronicles 1; James 1:1-7, 2:14-19, 3:13-18

Suggested Hymns: BOW 524; 504; 343; 326; 451; 527

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The passage before us is an exhortation to us all.  The apostle is asking the church a question.  It is one of those survey, assessment kind of questions.  Only you don’t have to fill out a form.  But you do have to answer, personally – for yourself.

“Who is wise and understanding among you?” (vs 13a).  Who are you going to look up to as a man or woman who is truly wise?

Before we answer that question too quickly, James gives us the rule.  It’s the yardstick by which to measure such a person.  And clearly this person is not always going to be the most popular, or the best talker.  Neither is he or she going to be the person who seems to be so successful.

How should we measure wisdom and understanding among us? What is the correct way we should measure?  James says: “Let him show it by his good life, by actions done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (vs.13).

It is the same message he has introduced to his readers in chapter two: faith without works is dead.  Now it has its sequel in chapter three.  True wisdom, he says, produces a good life, one that is marked with actions done in humility.

Who do we know who is wise like that?

Consider the wisest man who ever lived.  A biblical hero, whose name has become synonymous with wisdom.  How about Solomon?  How did he get to become so wise?

The answer is found in 2Chronicles 1.  Solomon’s father has just died.  David is no longer the king.  The young prince is now king over all Israel.  God comes to him and says: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”  God made an incredible and unconditional offer.  And, to Solomon’s credit, his first response wasn’t a greedy one.  Instead, he humbly praised God for His goodness, which then led to his request: “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (vs.10)

Solomon asked for only two things, wisdom and knowledge.  Not the academic kind of stuff that would help him do well in his exams.  No.  He asked for the ability to apply God’s truth to daily life.  Wisdom that would result in action.

Although Solomon was an intelligent, well educated king, he recognised that he lacked the wisdom which only God could provide.  This humility of heart greatly pleased God.  At least in the early days of his reign he knew what to ask God for.

Despite having the best education, a royal upbringing in the palace and abundant riches, he was not so naive as to think he had it all together.  His job as king was going to call on all his ability to be a wise judge, someone who could show the people justice.  Solomon knew that was not going to be easy, even for a king.

As God’s anointed, Solomon would reign as God’s representative among the people.  He has the Torah, the laws of Moses to guide and instruct the people.  But Solomon wants to live what he has read and grown to love.  He wants to act upon it – in a real way.

Solomon asked for the very thing that would honour God and bring glory to His Name.  He asked for wisdom – the ability to act upon the teachings, laws and faith he had grown up with.  All this, rather than riches, glory or fame for himself.

He realised that wisdom would be the most valuable asset he could have as king.  Later he wrote, wisdom “is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Prov.3:15)

And so God rewarded him.  He rewarded him handsomely.  God said: “…wisdom and knowledge will be given to you.  And I will also give you wealth, riches and honour, such as no king who was before you ever had, and none after you will have.” (vs.12)

About a thousand years after Solomon, James writes to Jewish Christians about the same wisdom.  He wrote to groups of Jews who had been driven away from their homes in Jerusalem and their country Palestine by persecution.  They were living during one of the worst times of persecution the Christian church has ever known.

In their hostile surroundings they were tempted to let intellectual agreement pass for real faith.  James is concerned for them.  Real faith, he is saying, goes beyond head knowledge.  It must bear fruit “by good deeds done in humility.”

He began his letter by telling them the inevitable, that trials and temptations were bound to happen and that they would happen for a purpose (James 1:2-4).  But, in order for that purpose to be worked out in their lives, one thing was essential – wisdom.

This wisdom was going to be essential then for them to endure and eventually overcome.  Wisdom is that ability to keep a God-given perspective on the trials and temptations, the hard times and the good, the times of sickness and despair – and throughout it all to have the ability to consider it all pure joy!

Solomon needed it.  In all humility he recognised that.

“Who is wise and understanding among us?”  I can ask the question because God’s Word directs us to.

Wisdom is the only way to make sense out of our calling to be Christians in the 1990s.  Despite having a theological education, despite great learning of the things of the Bible, wisdom is necessary if we are to make use of all our understanding.  It is the work of sanctification that goes on in our minds resulting in what we do with our lives.  That happens through the work of the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Without that wisdom we will stumble and fall in our Christian walk with the Lord Jesus.  Great learning counts for nothing if it cannot be used with wisdom.

Office bearers serving the church, are you wise and understanding?  Sunday School teachers and helpers, are you wise, understanding?  When the members of this church ask the question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?”  Where are people going to find this godly wisdom today?  Where will the congregation look for wisdom to lead and to guide? Where will our children look for guidance and instruction so they can grow up in wisdom’s ways?

Show it.  Show that you are wise.  Do that by living a good life…  and by doing things in humility that come from wisdom (vs.13b).  Ask for wisdom daily.

The same wisdom that was given to Solomon is available to us; the same God offers it.  James confirms that when he invites us to ask.  In fact, James declares that we must ask God.  We must pray for ourselves and others in order to receive it.

Pray for our leaders… and especially for our office bearers.  Pray for Catechism teachers and Sunday school teachers.

We all get frustrated or fatigued in our Christian life, so James says, “Ask.”  We need wisdom to make any sense of our situation.  “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5).

In verse 15 James sounds a warning.  He is saying that we can deceive ourselves, thinking that we are wise but really we are fools.  We need to be sure that we have real wisdom – the genuine article.

As is true of anything valuable, wisdom – like gold – can be counterfeit – not the real thing.  There is a wisdom of the world.  It has not been asked for and it is not of God.  It is not accompanied by good actions done in humility.

To teach us about real divine wisdom, James goes on and alerts us to the counterfeit.  He calls the fake imitation “a wisdom which is earthly, unspiritual and of the devil” (vs.15b).  Christians, he says, can have this wisdom if they harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in their hearts.

Did you notice the phrase: “in your hearts”?  Bitter envy and selfish ambition are deeply embedded attitudes in the hearts of the people with fake wisdom.  James is saying that the Christian with the fake wisdom is someone who tends to be suspicious, resistant, and prone to fighting.  Such a person is wise in his own eyes only.

Then there is tremendous comfort in isolation, cutting yourself off from others.  But it is not wisdom from God.

The second mark of fake wisdom is selfish ambition.  That’s the desire to be seen, to be quoted, and respected (see Mat.23:1-7).  It’s the kind of motivation that drives people to push themselves to the top.  Like those teachers Paul refers to in Philippians 1:15 and 17.  They even dared to teach Christ out of selfish ambition rather than with wisdom that comes from a good life and humility.  Such men were desperate for prominent positions.  They were not desperate for humility and good actions.

In the second half of verse 14, James argues the case for getting rid of these hidden motives: “do not boast about it or deny the truth.”  He says in effect: “If this is down deep in your heart, don’t keep on as if it were not!  Face it; deal with it for what it is: sin.  Confess, repent of it and ask God for His wisdom.”

And so that we may rid ourselves completely of this, James goes on to tell us five things about fake wisdom: it boasts; even denying the truth; it is earthly; unspiritual; and of the devil.  The first of these ugly faces of fake wisdom is – boasting about it.

It is the same as rationalising your own sins, or even boasting that the end justifies the means – that the bad done wasn’t all that bad.  That it was better for me, or that everybody does it – or just, that is the way it has been so long now.

There are Christians who will try to justify that kind of boasting.  They will do so, says James by lying against the truth.  It is the natural inclination in all of us.  It amounts to being wise in our own eyes.

That isn’t simply ignoring or avoiding the truth; it is to lie against it.  When our lives are out of step with God’s grace, there is a desire to manipulate the truth.

It happens when we justify our actions, even boast about them.  The result is self-deception of the very worst kind.

It’s like getting the first wall up on a new house.  And suddenly you realise the measurements are wrong.  But instead of admitting the mistake, you design a new ruler to suit the inaccurate measurements of the first wall.  Eventually the whole house ends up a crooked disaster.

According to verse 15, the fake wisdom has an earthly origin.  It views everything from a strictly horizontal perspective.  Earthly success, earthly standards, earthly motives, earthly attitudes, earthly methods, earthly everything!  It means wisdom that is limited to things in this life, not life in eternity.

Such a way of thinking is the same as the demons.  They are brilliant.  They know a lot – even about God.  But there are no changes, no obedience, and no surrender of self to God.

James identifies the fruit of such wisdom: “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice” (vs.16).  When the teaching and leadership of the church results in rivalry, rather than building up in love, it is not wisdom from above.  For when God’s wisdom is taught, it exposes all sorts of worthless, petty, evil things – let us say, ‘earthly things.

The human heart is home to all manner of evil things (Mk.7:20-23).  But where there is wisdom from above, these things are rooted out.

How will we recognise the genuine article?  How will we know we have God’s wisdom?  James gives two specific ways to measure someone who is wise: “…by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (vs.13).

I like the way the advertisement for BP puts it.  It is the life of the “quiet achiever”.

What standard will you use to measure yourself?  Look for good actions done in humility and you will see the wisdom of God.  The fruit will be there for everyone to see.

Verses 17-18 says, “…the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.  Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”

Amen.