Life Hacks (Part 7): Gaining Heavenly Wisdom

And that's how I got hired.

So well, welcome this weekend in Butler County in the Strip District and in Wexford.

It's great to be together.

My name is Brady Randall.

I have the awesome privilege to serve as the campus pastor at Orchard Hill Butler County.

And can I just say thank you for supporting Multi-Site Ministry?

You know, the mission remains the same, whether it's Wexford or Strip District or in Butler County, that we want to help people in our communities find and follow Jesus Christ.

So thank you so much for being a part of that kind of church and praying to that end.

Let's pray as we jump into the teaching.

And as we pray, would you pray for me this morning that God would give me the words that you need to hear?

And would you also pray for yourself in your heart that God would speak to you in a very powerful and tangible way?

Let's pray.

Father God, I pray that you would be our teacher this morning.

God, I know that so many of us come with a lot of baggage and distractions and thinking about our busy weeks that were behind us, the busy weeks that are in front of us.

God, I just pray in these moments that we would be open to what you would have to say to us.

And as James has reminded us time and time again, help us not just to hear your word today, but to actually put it into action.

Lord, if there's anything that I say that's not from you and from your word, I pray that you would help us to forget that.

And whatever is from you, Lord, help us to take that in, to remember it, and put it into practice.

We ask and pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You know, today James is talking about a very familiar topic to a lot of us, and that is wisdom.

And I don't know what picture you get in your mind when you think about wisdom, but when I was growing up, I thought of a wise person as this tall, old, grandfather-like figure with long flowing gray hair, a long flowing beard, and that was wisdom.

And I don't know if some particular people in your past or that you have a relationship now jumps into your mind, but today James is gonna highlight for us what true wisdom is compared to the way of the world.

Many people throughout history have tried to define this idea of wisdom.

For example, Aristotle said that knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

One of the wisest people that ever lived, supposedly, was Socrates, and he said that the unexamined life is not even worth living.

Confucius said that he who knows all the answers has not yet been asked all the questions.

I think there's probably some truth to that.

Lao Tzu said, knowing others is intelligent.

Knowing yourself is true wisdom.

How about Jimi Hendricks of all people?

He said, knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

And again, I don't know if you'd agree with any of those quotes, but for us the question is, what is wisdom?

How do we get it?

Do I have it?

Are the other people that I put a lot of stock in, do they actually have it?

And you know, in today's day and age, we are overwhelmed with what is supposed wisdom or knowledge or facts.

In fact, we're bombarded with it.

I read something this week that said that the average person or the average American sees over 4,000 advertisements in a given day.

Now that number seemed high to me, but whether that's on a billboard as you're driving to work or on Facebook or Twitter or on the news, we're just bombarded with information, with knowledge, with facts.

If you want to know something, you just ask Google or ask Alexa.

We are the most informed people on the face of the planet, and yet we're also some of the most anxious and stressed people on the planet.

I know that bookstores are kind of going the way of the dinosaur, but even in your local bookstore, you'll see a big self-help section.

We want to attain this knowledge, wisdom that sometimes seems so attainable.

You think it's some of the most popular magazines, whether they be cosmopolitan or golf digest or consumer reports, it's all about how do we get all this knowledge to be able to ultimately put it into practice.

I want you to think for just a minute of some of the wisest people that you have known or that you currently know.

What are they like?

Are they like the qualities that James describes for us today?

I've been blessed with some really, really wise people in my life.

I think about when I was growing up, one of my mentors, he was actually a Sunday school teacher, and he was the coolest guy.

He loved sports, he loved kids, he loved Jesus.

And I remember kids going up to him and asking him all kinds of questions about the Bible, and he didn't necessarily have all the answers.

But he had a real sense of boldness and humility.

And not only that, but he actually lived out the faith that he believed in, and to me that was so compelling and persuasive.

I think about a friend of mine that I had in college, and most college students are very poor while they're in college.

Well, this guy was exceptionally wise when it came to making money.

He was making money while he was on the internet, he was making money in the stock market, he was making money playing games, and I was just so envious he would go on all these great vacations, get the very best deals, and he's in college.

He had a real sense of wisdom, particularly in the area of making money.

I remember I had a professor in college, and this is probably one of the wisest people I've met, and I can't imagine sitting in a group of intelligent students, about a hundred or so students, and at the end of class, he would leave about 10 minutes to ask questions.

And the answers that came out of his mouth were so wise, compelling, and humble.

Again, he didn't have all the answers, but he would often point to the one that he thought that he knew that did.

And again, James for us gives us this compelling picture of what genuine wisdom is and how to attain it.

But the question for us is where do we find it?

Is it found in the scriptures?

Is it found in people that we know?

James, who is a Jewish person, is writing with Jewish background in mind.

In fact, as you read the book of James, you often, it might often sound like the book of Proverbs.

And James has in the back of his mind this idea of what genuine wisdom really is.

And there's a refrain that runs throughout the Old Testament, and it goes something like this it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And I don't know what your reaction is when you hear that sentence, but if you're like me, there's a little bit of a disconnect.

What do you mean, the fear of the Lord?

I thought we were supposed to be close to God.

I thought God was our buddy, I thought God was love and friendly, and yet we're supposed to fear the Lord, and then somehow we'll become wise.

What's up with that?

There's a passage in Deuteronomy 20, 20 that I think really highlights this idea of the fear of the Lord.

Moses in Exodus, he said this to the people: Do not be afraid, do not be fearful, for God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.

I think that's really, really interesting the way that is used.

And if you ever look throughout the scriptures and you see people who came into contact in the presence with God or the presence of God, it wasn't like they came up to God and gave them a high five.

They were terrified.

They literally fell on their faces and on their knees and they said, Lord, get away from me.

There's a sense in which they wish they were dead, standing in the presence of a holy, powerful God.

And I think this idea of a fear of the Lord is to recognize how big God is.

To recognize that we have a God who literally spoke in all things that you and I see came into being.

We have a God who literally can speak in the wind and the waves, have to obey Him.

We have a God who literally spoke and a dead person raised back from the dead.

And then if that God is for us, then who or what could possibly stand against us?

If that God is our daddy, then we have nothing to fear.

And so a proper fear of the Lord is this reverence and awe and respect of who God is.

And as James will begin to explain to us, this really is just the very beginning of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.

And James points out to us that it's in this treasure trove of wisdom that he's about to point out to us that we too can know God and become wise.

And let me just say for a minute that I think Scripture makes a distinction between knowledge and understanding and wisdom.

Knowledge is basically the attaining of facts.

And when I think of knowledge, I think of scholars, people who know a lot of stuff.

But actually, knowledge has the opportunity to puff us up.

I don't know if you know a lot of people who think that they're know-it-alls.

They know a lot about everything, so they think.

But knowledge is different than wisdom.

And understanding is different than wisdom.

Understanding is like a teacher who can understand and put facts together.

Whereas wisdom is actually applying facts, applying knowledge to your living life.

It's a specialist in living out our life.

I found this quote I really liked this week.

It said, Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, while wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

And I thought there was something to that.

And again, you and I live in a world where a lot of people claim to be wise.

I mean, you turn on the news or you look in today's politics, or maybe you go in your Facebook feed, and you've got a lot of people who seem to know a lot about everything.

And that they're sure of who's guilty, who's lying, who's innocent.

And that's not to say we shouldn't dig into the facts and be convicted and convinced and try and persuade others.

But sometimes I think that we lack a little bit of humility for genuine wisdom.

And again, James picks up this idea of two different wisdoms, worldly and heavenly.

And James asks the question: he says, Who is it that's actually wise among you?

In other words, James says that real, genuine wisdom is deeds done in humility that come from wisdom.

The fruit is in how you conduct your life.

And James, throughout this series and throughout this book that he's writing, is giving genuine tests of genuine faith.

Whether it be going through a trial and how you react to that.

It's how you react against temptation.

And today, James says a genuine test of your relationship with God is your wisdom.

And I want to compare for you, James says, the wisdom that you see in the world and a wisdom that can come only from God.

James says, don't just claim to be wise, prove it.

Show it, demonstrate it.

Throughout this book, James says, look, don't just claim you believe in God.

Even the demons believe in God and they shudder.

But if you believe God, real belief will demonstrate itself in the way that you live your life.

It will demonstrate that you actually do believe and follow Jesus.

It'll come out in the outcome of your way of life.

And I recognize that all of us kind of come in here today, and probably we might not say we're like the wisest people we've ever met, but we also don't think that we're a fool either.

So are we somewhere in the middle?

Is there a middle ground for when it comes to wisdom?

But listen to the way that James described worldly wisdom.

He says it leads to division.

It harbors bitter envy and selfish ambition.

It's transitory, weak, and imperfect.

It's unspiritual.

In fact, he even goes as far as to say it's demonic.

And you may say, Brady, okay, I'm tracking with you.

I can see that kind of wisdom, but to say it's demonic, it's of Satan, no, I can't even go there.

We'll come back to that in just a minute.

He says it's very me-centered, it's self-focused.

It's all about self-gratification, it's jealous.

And again, you see leadership all over the place in the way of the world or maybe in politics, and you can maybe say, yeah, I see that kind of wisdom coming out.

What's frustrating for me is that I've been following Jesus most of my life.

And yet when I read these qualities that James is talking about, too often I find myself in that camp as well, going back and forth to the way of the world and what James is talking about.

It's so easy for me to think about my needs and attaining, you know, my success, or even in ministry, thinking about my ministry is preeminent.

James says that's not the way of Jesus.

And it's frustrating.

James says, earthly wisdom is limited by time and space, it's fulfilling your own desires.

In fact, we read in 1 John 2, it says this do not love the world or anything in the world, this worldly system that James is talking about.

If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in them.

For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world.

And the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

And I think James is also alluding to the fact that the worldly wisdom thinks about today and tomorrow, maybe in the past, but certainly not eternity.

One of the things I find really, really fascinating is that the people who wrote the human authors of Scripture and the Holy Spirit who inspired Scripture says that to be wise is to think about your death.

That's sort of a morbid thought initially, but listen to Ecclesiastes 7.2.

Death is the destiny of everything, and the living should take that to heart.

How would that change your thinking or your way of life if you thought about your death and how imminent that that could be?

How would that change the way that we made decisions?

And there's nothing wrong with considering arts or philosophy or history or sociology.

But if that's where we stop, and we don't think there's something beyond that, and we don't consider eternity, that's where we get sucked into this worldly sort of wisdom that James is talking about.

Leaving God out of the picture.

And what James says, this is actually rooted in evil.

And you say, wow, I don't get that.

How does that make any sense?

Well, if you go way back to the beginning, Genesis 1 and 2, we read that God spoke and brought everything into being: the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, and he said it was good.

And then he created human beings, Adam and Eve, in his own image, and he said it was very good.

And he placed them in the garden, and the one thing he said not to do was to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil.

And then Satan comes along, the tempter, and he says the very opposite.

He says, You want to be wise, you want to be like God?

Go ahead and eat the fruit.

God doesn't really want you to have the same wisdom that he does, so eat the fruit.

And that's exactly what they did.

Genesis 3 6 says that when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

She gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Do you see the temptation, the willingness to become wise in our own eyes?

That happened way back in the garden and continues with you and I.

And this makes us want to be self-sufficient.

And again, for a lot of us, I don't think we think of ourselves in like the worldly wisdom camp, but we think that we have earned a certain degree of certainty with the way that we've lived our lives and the way that we've worked hard.

And we want to sprinkle in an inspiring message, and we want a little bit of religion, but it was our hard work and our studying and our intelligence and the way that we raised our kids.

And so, yeah, I've become part of the way that I've become wise.

And it's fine to have kids' ministry and a little bit of religion.

But I'm self-sufficient.

It's my hard work.

And again, even if you're not a follower of Jesus, I think it's easy to step in and out of these camps.

And even as a Christian, those who call yourself followers of Jesus, it's easy to think that we have earned our way.

You know, today in kids' ministry, the kids are learning about the Tower of Babel.

And in the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, human beings get this bright idea to build this large tower up to the heavens.

And this is what we read in verse 4.

Then they said, Come and let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves, otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

And that's exactly what God did.

He scattered the people.

And I just think about my own life and the way that I go about making a name for myself.

When I was really young, it was my desire that I wanted to be rich and famous.

Whatever I did, I wanted people to know the name Brady Randall, and I wanted to be a famous actor.

And as God began to get a hold of my life, he said, Brady, it's not about you become famous, it's about making my name famous.

But you can see the distinction of the way of the world and the way of God.

But look also what James says about real heavenly, godly wisdom.

Godly wisdom unites.

It begins and ends with God.

And what you'll see in James' description of wisdom is very similar to what you read about Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

There's what's called the Beatitudes.

And I think James is picking up this theme as he describes this kind of wisdom.

He said, Godly wisdom is shown by our good life and deeds done in humility.

It's meekness.

And what did Jesus say?

Jesus said that the meek shall inherit the earth.

And I think sometimes we have this idea of Jesus as this tame sort of figure.

But meekness is really power that's under control.

That's genuine wisdom.

Wisdom is pure, holy, morally blameless.

It's the attitude that says, I don't have to take credit for anything.

We read in James 1 that James considers those who are pure those who keep themselves by being polluted from the worldly system.

Purity is thinking about the least, the orphans and the widows.

That's pure religion.

And James says that's also pure wisdom.

Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Wisdom that comes from God is peace-loving, it's whole.

And Jesus himself said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

This kind of wisdom is considerate.

It's not rigid.

It's submissive.

It's willing to yield and be teachable.

It's to be open.

To reason and persuasion, and I think about my own hardheartedness and my own hard-headedness, and oftentimes I'm ready for an argument.

But if I step back, am I really humble and teachable and open to reason?

James says this type of wisdom is full of mercy and good fruit.

Jesus has said that blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

You may have heard of the fruit of the Spirit that the Apostle Paul talks about.

He talks about having love and joy and peace.

And James says this is what emanates from a follower of Jesus.

It's impartial and sincere.

It doesn't show favoritism, it shows undivided commitment.

It's consistent.

And it sows peace and reaps a harvest of righteousness.

Ultimately, this kind of wisdom is knowing and doing the commands of God.

That's what Moses said in Deuteronomy 4, starting in verse 5.

He says, See, I have taught you decrees and the laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you're about to enter and take possession of.

I want you to observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and your understanding to the nations who will hear about all these decrees and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

And you might look at all that list that James says, and you say, Brady, I get that.

I sort of understand understand it.

In fact, I respect it.

Maybe I know people who are like that.

Maybe I'm in a life group with people like that.

Maybe I know a pastor on staff that's that's like that.

And by the way, we are blessed to be a part of a church that has so many wise people, so many wise people in leadership.

And you may say, Brady, that's all good and well, but there's nobody who can possibly stand and attain that.

And I would say you are absolutely right.

There is no one in this world who fully embodies this kind of wisdom.

But there was one.

And his name was Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ came on a rescue mission to totally embody this kind of wisdom.

And he was the only person to live the perfect, obedient way of life, the life that you and I were required to live.

And not only did Jesus come on this rescue mission, but he was willing to be nailed to a cross and take on the very punishment for sin that you and I actually deserve.

And Jesus died and was buried in a tomb until three days later Jesus rose from the dead.

And he defeated sin and death and hell and Satan.

And Jesus became for us our access to God.

For those of us who are willing to lay down our own lives and repent for our own sin and our own self-sufficiency.

And he said, Whosoever would put their trust in me that they would be forgiven, that they would have access to God, that their eternity is set.

That happens in an instant.

And that can happen for you and me today if we're willing to bend our knee and give our lives to Jesus.

And as you give your life to Jesus, over time Jesus lives in you and begins to bear out this kind of wisdom that James is talking about.

Jesus manifests this kind of wisdom.

In fact, Jesus is our wisdom.

Jesus becomes the wisdom and the righteousness of God.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 1 30 says, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom from God.

If you want this kind of wisdom, Jesus says, I'm it.

And I'm available for all who put their love and hope and trust in me.

And again, you may listen to that, you may say, Brady, that sounds fine, well, and good.

But that sounds like a Sunday school answer.

That sounds too easy, that sounds too trite, that's what I would expect a pastor to say.

Can I just encourage you if you're in that camp and you're skeptical?

Consider everything there is to know about everything.

In fact, you can see this circle on the screen that if this circle represents all there is to know about everything, and I were to ask you, what do you claim to know about all there is to know?

My guess is that anyone with any ounce of humility would just draw a little skinny sliver in that circle.

Could I suggest that perhaps what you don't yet know may be contained in that circle?

And maybe the God of the universe and the access to that God through the person of Jesus Christ is contained in what you don't yet claim to know.

And that's my prayer for you today is that you would come to know and love and understand this Jesus.

We don't do a lot of how-to sermons at Orchard Hill, and I think for good reason.

But there is a biblical model for us if we want to attain this kind of wisdom.

And let me just conclude by sharing with you that this morning.

Some of this I get from a pastor named John Piper.

And the first thing is what I would say is what James has already said.

If you want wisdom, James 1, 5 says you need to ask God who will give it to you.

So make that your prayer to say, God, I desire that wisdom.

I need that wisdom.

And God says He will give it.

Search for that wisdom in God's word to us.

In fact, Psalm 19:7 says that the law of the Lord for us, the scriptures, is perfect, refreshing to the soul.

Psalms 19:7

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

I would encourage you strongly, open up the Word of God, read it every day.

Read it in community, get involved in a life group, ask a pastor.

It's a treasure trove of genuine wisdom.

We've already mentioned this, but I think if we want wisdom, we should think more and more about our death.

Psalm 90, 12 is striking.

It says, Teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Thinking about the fact that one day all of us will die and stand before Jesus Christ, that'll impact our thoughts and our daily lives.

I would say, surround yourself with wise people, people that you consider wise, people that know and love Jesus.

Maybe it's a pastor at Orchard Hill, maybe it's someone who's in a life group.

Surround yourself with godly and wise people.

And then I would say, learn from the past, but don't live there.

Ecclesiastes 7 7 verse 10 says, Do not say, why were the old days better than these?

And it's so easy to go back in time and say, boy, things were a lot better then.

And while we should learn from the past, I think Scripture says don't necessarily live there.

And then finally and firstly, I would say, come to Jesus.

Jesus is our wisdom.

And I want you to know today that God loves you incredibly.

God's arms are open wide.

And Jesus says, Come to me all who are weary and need rest, and I will give it to you.

To those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

And so I would just ask you today that you would examine your own life, and as you consider the worldly way of wisdom, and the wisdom that comes from God and Jesus Christ, where do you fall?

Because James says it's really the conduct and the outward living of your life that determines where your wisdom is.

And today I want to encourage you to think about Jesus, who he is, what he's done for you, and has offered to give you the wisdom, the wisdom that he is.

Let's pray.

Father God, I pray this morning the prayer that Paul prayed in Ephesians 1.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is the same as the mighty strength that he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but in the one to come.

Father God, I pray for all of us that if there's anyone today who's not yet given their life to you, that maybe today is the day they say, Lord, I'm tired of doing it on my own and being self-sufficient.

I need you as my Lord and as my Savior.

And God, for the rest of us, help us to attain this sort of wisdom that only comes from you.

We ask this in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

And now receive the benediction.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen and have a great rest of your weekend.