#12 - JAMES AND THE BEHAVIOR OF BELIEF - How to Recognize the Presence of Saving Faith

DIVINE WISDOM, DEMONIC WISDOM - WHICH SEED ARE YOU SOWING IN THE GARDEN OF YOUR LIFE?

James 3:13-18 - “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. [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.”

Not many people want to be thought of as fools. In our hearts, we all want to be people of wisdom. And we want to be perceived to be walking in wisdom. Surely, if God’s Word is taken seriously, this is a good goal to set: Proverbs 16:16 - "How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”

To emphasize wisdom’s priority even more, James, in this very letter, has already elevated wisdom to the top of our prayer lists: James 1:5 - “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

There you have it. It all seems so simple. Just ask God and receive wisdom. There shouldn’t be a foolish Christian on earth. But how is wisdom given? Does God give wisdom the way your doctor gives you a small-pox booster? Can you grab it at the some divine drive-through, on your way to a movie on Friday night? Is that how wisdom comes?

Or does God give wisdom to you and me the way He gives patience or courage? Perhaps He grows wisdom in my life like He grows faith - putting me in situations where I learn to wait and trust and resist doubt and indifference?

It is amazing to see the way James speaks of wisdom and faith in almost the same terms. He knows how quickly and easily the biggest words of the Christian faith can become empty terminology - quick churchy slogans, with little or no specific meaning or freight attached to them.

Wisdom and faith are alike in this sense. They’re such big, general, common terms they can mean almost whatever you want them to mean, as long as you’re sincere and pious when you speak of them. So, about our faith, James has to say, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”(2:14). Or, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead”(2:26).

To understand faith at all is to recognize it isn’t something you talk about. It’s something you show. In fact, faith apart from works is absolutely dead. And James will rush on now to say the very same thing about wisdom: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom” (3:13).

There are works of faith and there are works of wisdom. Neither one is manifested in correct theology, though theology is very important. Neither one is manifested in correct jargon and talk. Faith and wisdom leave footprints. They are a way of following Jesus in this world as Lord. This is where James is coming from as he opens up and expands the subject of living in the good wisdom of God.

1) WHAT DO “WORKS OF WISDOM” LOOK LIKE?

James 3:13 - “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”

“Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” The answer doesn’t seem to respond to the question - “Who is wise and understanding among you?” You’d think this kind of wisdom and understanding would be shown by great knowledge or, perhaps, sound advice that we give to others. And, I suppose, there are times when each of these may be a part of wisdom. But, if James is correct, they are never the main part. You and I are to show wisdom with “works in the meekness of wisdom.”

Godly wisdom, says James, is always meek wisdom. But why - why this hermetic seal of meekness around godly wisdom? James has already given us a clue earlier in this letter:

James 1:19-21 - “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; [20] for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. [21] Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

To be wise I must become wise. To walk in wisdom I must receive wisdom. Wisdom comes from God. James makes this clear in James 1:5 - “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

There’s a God-givenness to wisdom. We can all accumulate knowledge. We can grow in expertise in business, or sports, or management. We can all become good at what we do, of course. We don’t need God directly for any of that. But wisdom - which James will begin to define in just a minute - only comes from God. James says we are to “ask God” for wisdom and He will give it.

How does God give it? He gives it through His Word. He reveals His mind and His way in His Word. But there’s a catch to receiving wisdom from His Word - James 1:21 - “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

So here’s where we’re at. James says wisdom is revealed in my life through my works done in meekness. Wisdom comes from God and only to those who receive His Word with a humble, quiet, submissive spirit. So far so good. To be wise I must become wise. And to become wise I must be meek before God’s Word.

But James isn’t writing just about meekness before God. Our whole text today is about relationships and works of wisdom in the body of Christ. And James’ whole point is simply that wisdom with others is the overflow of wisdom from God. And in just the same way that meekness is required in receiving wisdom from God, meekness is required in expressing wisdom with people.

Arrogant, proud, self-assertive people can never receive wisdom from God, and so can never demonstrate wisdom with others. They can probably get their way. They can win arguments. They can, perhaps, push to the front of the line and lead the pack. But they can never be wise. Only the meek can have godly wisdom.

2) JUST AS THERE ARE COUNTERFEITS TO GENUINE FAITH, THERE ARE COUNTERFEITS TO GENUINE WISDOM

James 3:14-16 - “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.”

When James contrasted genuine faith with dead faith he gave some clear examples of the latter. Dead faith was pictured in the response given to the needy person at the door - “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, [16] and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”(2:15-16).

Now James paints a picture of phoney wisdom - “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” (3:14-15).

How do we know there is no wisdom here? Because there is no meekness in these actions. So we know it didn’t come from God. In fact, quite the opposite, James says this is straight from the lesson book of demons.

Then how can people - people like James describes in these verses - even think there is a shred of genuine wisdom in what they are doing? Because it frequently works for them. They can get their way. They can make their case. They can change what others do. There is a certain power in earthly wisdom. We’ve been learning it since we were children fighting in the sandbox and, apart from more and more time - lots of time - being re-programmed in God’s Word, we come to see earthly wisdom as the best way to achieve our agendas.

That’s why, right out of the gate, James says if there isn’t meekness and purity in my works with others, I am not to “boast and be false to the truth”(3:14). “Don, tell yourself the truth about what’s really going on in your heart! Don’t call it something it isn’t!”

Look at some of the others translations of that fourteenth verse:

“But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.” (NKJV)

“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.” (NIV) Notice how we can rename "selfish ambition" into wisdom just so we can safely “harbor” it in our lives with a quiet conscience.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” (NASB)

These words put a whole new spin on the words, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Don’t lie against the truth. If your works manifest self-assertiveness and boasting and self- centered ambition - if you have to get your way - if you nurse grudges - if you don’t manifest the kind of meekness with others that you will when you stand before Jesus - then stop lying to yourself! There is more to being a wise person than getting the results you want with others.

Here’s what James knows. James knows my heart. I have to be brutally honest in this process of exposing false wisdom - worldly wisdom - in my life. There is a kind of world outlook. There is a way of looking at life that seems wise when you only look short- term. There is a nice-to-savor pride in ambition and power. It seems to work. I can get my way without sacrificing anything for the kingdom of Christ and the eternal blessing of others.

And that’s very appealing. It’s also habit forming. That’s why, if I want God’s wisdom at work in my life, it always comes with the price-tag of telling myself the truth about my own self-deception and greed. This is why James feels the need to talk about the meekness of God’s counter-intuitive, down from above wisdom.

Perhaps an easier way to think of it is this. Where godly wisdom isn’t, strife and contention is. That’s what James is saying. And the reason we don’t heal these rifts in the church isn’t because we can’t. It’s because we don’t tell ourselves the truth. Experts say there were over 17,000 church splits in North America last year. 17,000! I know if you talk to the people involved they will all tell you there was no other way out, that they were contending for the faith, that God led them to do what they did.

But do any of us honestly believe every single one of these splits was based on principles of Christian holiness? Was every single one of them a purifying of the Bride of Christ? Was Jesus pleased with all 17,000 of them?

So what’s happening here? People aren’t telling themselves the truth. They are covering up pride and selfish ambition in their hearts. We are good at spiritualizing our own agendas when protecting our own wills. James would say they are lying against the truth. There’s no wisdom in their actions because there’s no meekness in their actions.

Here are some clues for spotting genuine wisdom at work. Genuine wisdom - godly wisdom from above - knows the difference between personal preferences and genuine Biblical principles. How quickly we can lie to our own hearts about the absolute nature of our own likes and dislikes.

Here’s another clue. Genuine wisdom can be absolutely poised firmly against sin and still have compassion on the one trapped in the sin. Also, genuine wisdom knows enough to look to see if I am generating more strife and contention in the body of Christ than healing and patience.

O, how we need to pay close attention to James’ diagnosis in these verses. Let’s never become arrogant - pushing through all the promptings of the Holy Spirit to our own hearts. Let’s not lie against the truth. What truth? The truth that genuine wisdom is manifested in works of self refuting, Christ patterned meekness. True wisdom fast-forwards the results of all my present attitudes and actions. It’s always kingdom oriented rather than self oriented.

3) HOW WISDOM WORKS IN THE INSIDE OF MY LIFE AND ON THE OUTSIDE

James 3:17-18 - “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. [18] And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

This may be the best roadmap for a wisdom-filled life in all the New Testament. James has been pondering the issue for a while, looking at it from all angles. This is the best he can do to sum up.

Do you want to know if you’re a wise person? Do you want to know if you are full of wisdom, not the wisdom of this world, but the kind that comes down from above - from God Himself? Here’s what to look for. Meek, godly wisdom does two things at the same time in my life. One of them is on the inside and one of them is on the outside.

On the inside godly wisdom makes me deathly serious about personal holiness and purity in my own life. James stressed this by saying the “wisdom from above is first of all pure....” (17).

On the inside genuine wisdom always errs on the strict side, never on the easy or appealing side for my own walk with the Lord. That’s because wisdom’s main concern is always purity over popularity - holiness over convenience. Are you a wise person? Then you will be constantly on the look out for the things that have the greatest potential to damage your life, even if others seem to engage in them with no immediate consequence.

On the outside godly wisdom is helpful and gentle with others who struggle with purity or don’t yet hold mature Christian convictions. That doesn’t mean I change my own standards with whatever way the wind blows. But it does mean I am patient and tender-hearted, even with those who have messed their lives up mocking the very standards I hold dear.

What a great pattern! Wisdom is tough on personal impurity and generous with the immaturity of others. That’s the road of wisdom in a nutshell.

Then, in a closing reminder, James points out one specific step he knows we all need to take at different seasons in our lives. Do you want to make the rest of your days on earth good? Do you want to start harvesting God’s blessing - multiplying it the way seed multiplies when you put it into the soil? Find that one person, or perhaps two, with whom you know you need to make peace:

James 3:18 - “And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”