James 3:13-18 -TWO KINDS OF WISDOM – 5-19-19 Devotional

James 3:13-18       Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 3:17     5-19-19

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” (ESV) (17)

Dear Jesus. Thank you for being my “all in all”. This world has very little to offer a person. A few fleeting decades of life with fleeting joys and a lot of heartache. But in Christ, everything is different. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Help me to follow you through this world and know that eternal life in your kingdom awaits. Help me to accept you word into my heart through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Worldly Wisdom (13-16)

Verses 13-16, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. “

Worldly wisdom produces bad fruit, like selfish ambition and bitter jealousy. Bitter jealousy (v. 14a) means jealousy that is beyond the normal jealousy. It may lead a person into hatred or revenge. It turns the heart bitter. It is all consuming. It ruins relationships with each other and with the Lord.

Worldly wisdom is selfish. Worldly wisdom teaches us such things as, “Be your own man” and “If it feels good, do it” or the most popular teaching is “Enjoy yourself while you are young.” This comes from moto, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” (1 Cor 15:32a). Such “wisdom” does not come from God, but from the devil. It produces disorder and all kinds of evil practices. It is very damaging.

It is obvious who are following worldly wisdom. Their lives are marked by selfish ambition, disorder and evil practices. That wisdom is meant to alienate us from God and from one another.

It is obvious who is following true wisdom from God. Let’s read verse 13 again, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” Their life will be marked by good conduct and meekness. This is fruit produced by God within his people.

Let’s think about the qualities produced by following wisdom from above. First, the definition of meek: “enduring injury with patience and without resentment…a mild, moderate, humble, or submissive quality.”… Merriam Webster Dictionary. Some synonyms of meekness are: patience, long-suffering, forbearance; gentleness, mildness, softness, peacefulness, humility, humbleness, unpretentiousness, lowliness; submissiveness, submission. A person who has bitter jealousy and selfish ambition surely is not meek.

The person who displays the meekness of God’s wisdom are submitted to God and allowing God to work out his will in their lives. They are not in any form of competition or jelaousy. They can be gentle and peaceable and submissive to God and to others. Only those who have faith in the living God can have such qualities grow within them.

On our own, we are prone to seek after worldly wisdom and therefore also prone to jealousy and selfish ambition. It is in our sinful nature. How can we overcome. It can only be accomplished with God’s help. God must bear the fruit of the spirit within us. What we can do is to look intently into the law of God as looking into a mirror. We can be slow to speak and quick to listen to the word of God. When we have such a relationship with God through his word, fruit will be born within us. It will happen by God’s grace through faith. Remain in Jesus and he will remain in you.

Worldly wisdom in the church is detrimental. Look at verses 15 and 16, “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” It must be veered away from.

But sadly, there is a tendency for churches to turn from the wisdom of the word of God and turn to worldly wisdom. They drift away from exposition of the Bible and hold onto what the popular culture considers common sense. As soon as this happens, they are set adrift for the wisdom of God.

Worldly wisdom seems so enticing. It is disguised as truth. It is more popular within the culture. In the early church, the wisdom of God and worldly wisdom were vying for the hearts of the populace. There was Greek philosophy and humanistic teaching etc. If a person followed the popular wisdom of the day they would have been praised as wise.

Even today if a person follows worldly wisdom they are praised. It makes a person popular. There are people who build business empires on publishing worldly wisdom. On Facebook I can post humanistic positive-thinking sayings and I may get twenty likes. If I post wisdom from God, I would get fewer likes. If a pastor wants to preach worldly wisdom, they may see their popularity greatly increase…for a time. There are empty churches, sometimes because pastors have relied on worldly wisdom. It can happen. James warns us to stay away from it and seek the wisdom from God.

Part 2: Wisdom That Comes From God (17-18)

Verses 17-18, “17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

True wisdom comes from God. Wisdom from God is pure, considerate, peace-loving, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. This is so refreshing to hear. There are such beautiful fruits of wisdom produced within us! How refreshing to hear about this wisdom in a world filled with wisdom that produces bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.

God makes followers of heavenly wisdom into peace makers. The really wise person shows his wisdom and understanding by his good life and by deeds done in humility. They make peace. Those who sow peace. Their lives produce a harvest of righteousness. Their hearts are filled with love for others and true joy.

     I really want to be a Christian who is marked by these fruits of godly wisdom. They are so appealing to me. There is something about these qualities that I want to grow within me. Who wants to be known as a person who is bitterly jealous or full of selfish ambition? Not me. I want these qualities emanating of me.

I am attracted to these qualities because they are the qualities of God. God is all of these things. He is, “pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” We are God’s people, created in his image. We want to be like our heavenly Father.

These qualities come when we have peace with God through faith in Christ. The Bible teaches us that we have no peace because our sins put us at odds with God. The only way to stop warring against God is to receive God’s forgiveness through the Gospel, by faith. Then a response to this grace would be to gaze into the God’s perfect law. We must be slow to speak and quick to listen to his truth, then we will be changed. Our hearts will taste these heavenly qualities and we will be transformed into sowers of peace…peace makers per say.

Prayer: Lord, give me the true wisdom that comes from you. Help me to sow your gospel of peace and be a peacemaker.

One Word: Embrace wisdom from God