How do we Trade the Wisdom of the World for the Wisdom of God?

If you would open up your Bibles to the book of James as we are continuing our series uh walking verse by verse through James, we'll be in James chapter three, starting in verse 13.

Okay?

Does anybody have a bill I can borrow?

A bill?

Dollar bill?

Real money?

Yeah, real money.

Here we go.

Chip's got me.

Chip's got me.

I still have paper money.

Somehow.

Can you give me your smallest one, man?

Dollar?

Okay.

So uh according to the US Treasury, there's over$70 million of counterfeit bills.

So one out of every 10,000 bills is counterfeit.

Okay?

This one might be one of them, Chip.

I don't know.

Where the bill really looks legitimate, it looks real, but maybe I don't know if this has ever happened to you, it's never happened to me, where you can try to use that counterfeit bill at a grocery store or to purchase something, but if they check it through the light or through the device that they have, you can't do anything with it.

They're actually take it from you.

And here in James chapter 3, James talks about two types of wisdom: a real wisdom and a counterfeit wisdom.

James 3 · chapter mention

Chip's gone.

I'm gonna put this in the offering plate later, I guess.

But a real wisdom and a counterfeit wisdom, a wisdom from above, a godly wisdom and a worldly wisdom.

A worldly wisdom from the outside, from the exterior, looks real, it looks profitable, it looks useful, but in reality it's fake.

That when you attempt to use it, when you attempt to apply it into your life, it's worthless.

A worldly wisdom which leads to strife, as we'll see in our passage, and a worldly wisdom that in full practice of it, a following of it leads to death, eternal death.

And then a heavenly wisdom, a godly wisdom that leads to life.

And so the question that our text is going to answer for us this morning is how do we trade the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God?

How do you and me trade the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God?

So let's in this moment, as is custom here in the church, stand in reverence for the reading of the word of God.

It's showing honor and respect to the word.

It shows our eagerness and our hunger to receive it.

So for those of us who are able to stand, let us stand.

And starting there in chapter 3, verse 13 to the end, it says this who is wise and understanding among you?

By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice.

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

And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Pray with me.

Lord Jesus, we ask for your help.

I need your help to communicate your word rightfully in a way that is honoring to you, worshipful to you, Lord God.

And I pray for everyone here in this room that we would receive these words as you speaking, Lord God.

That we would not be hearers as we've seen in our this book of James, but doers of your word, Lord God.

So help us to exchange the worldly wisdom for your wisdom, Lord God.

And so we need your help.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

You may sit.

Verse 13.

Starting there in our first verse, it says, Who is wise and understanding among you?

Show of hands.

Who is wise?

It's rare for someone to admit being foolish, right?

Most people wouldn't admit that.

Most of the time we would consider ourselves pretty wise.

We think we have valuable opinions, our life experience, the knowledge, information that we have.

But today we'll get to reflect on whether any of us actually have wisdom and not a counterfeit wisdom.

So how can we tell whether you or I actually have wisdom according to the Bible?

Look at there, verse 13.

It says the rest of it, by his good conduct, or verse 14, or no, 13, by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

So James says, if you want to tell if someone is wise, don't look at how much a person knows, but what a person shows.

Not the information that they have, but the transformation in their lives.

James is saying, examine the fruit.

Right?

Imagine if your life was a fruit.

Your heart, your soul, and the things that you do was fruit of someone to examine it.

And if someone was to take a bite from your life, the fruit of your life, what would it taste like?

Would it be sweet?

Or would it be sour?

Would it be covered with the sweetness of Jesus in your life and the way you treat others, or would there be bitterness?

See, biblical wisdom isn't about the content in your head, but about the character that you have towards others in God.

It says, let him show his wisdom by good conduct.

But then James doesn't just talk about the exterior, he goes to the interior.

Look at verse, the following verse.

It says, But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

So this question we have, how do we trade the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God?

First point is this diagnose our hearts.

To diagnose our hearts.

See, the opposite of good conduct is bad conduct.

And James says, bad conduct comes from a heart of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.

So this morning, before we can exchange the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God, we have to look within.

We have to diagnose our hearts.

We have to understand our condition.

Like a car going to the mechanic as they do a test of sorts, to go under the hood.

Or someone visiting a doctor to see their condition, their diagnosis.

And so today I want us to go under the hood, under the knife, and allow the word of God to examine our hearts of what type of wisdom we actually have.

And so, as we see our text today, one of the defining characteristics of a person filled with worldly wisdom is a heart full of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.

So I want to break down those two phrases, bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, there in verse 14.

First, bitter jealousy.

It's where we get the word zeal.

Zeal is a good thing.

Right?

It's passion, it's motivation towards something.

But here James uses a modifier.

He doesn't just say zeal, he says bitter zeal.

Which here, the Greek word pickros for bitter means sharp or a pointed like an arrow.

Something that leaves a harsh taste in your mouth.

See, bitter jealousy is it's seeing someone else succeed and being filled with anger and discontentment.

It's looking at someone else's blessing and treating it like your injury.

That's what bitter jealousy is.

Then there's selfish ambition.

This Greek word for selfish ambition, it was used commonly outside the Bible to describe a day laborer who worked solely for themselves.

That the money that they would make would just be for them and their own profit.

But also during this time period, this word selfish ambition would be described as politicians or used for politicians who would manipulate others for their personal advancement.

Selfish ambition is thinking about how things and circumstances can benefit me over others.

Remember, this is a heart diagnosis moment to look within ourselves.

Do we see bitter jealousy, selfish ambition?

Because believe it or not, James shows here that some are denying the truth.

Some are boasting in it.

We see that in verse 14.

It says, Do not boast in these things, right?

But and be false to the truth.

Do you and I have places within our hearts of bitter jealousy and selfish ambition?

But where does this source come from?

Verse 15 gives us the answer.

Verse 15 says, This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

See, worldly wisdom is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

There is wisdom that is within the culture that we think is wise but is counterfeit.

It's counter to God, right?

Because our culture lives for jealousy, lives for selfish ambition.

I mean, think about advertisements.

The advertising world that we live in, where every ad that you see on your phone, on your TV, on the street, it's there to create a sense of jealousy and envy.

Of feeling like you're missing out on something.

Think of social media.

We see the lives of people that we know that we don't know, and it's easy to enter into this loop of bitter envy where we long for the things others have.

Where you can open up an app, and in 30 seconds you see someone else's perfect kitchen.

She's always talking about a kitchen with an island.

Right?

You see someone with the best vacation spots, a beautiful home, a new vehicle, a thriving family you wish you had.

A friend posting about their successful career.

There's a stat who explicitly state that using social media platforms actively harms their self-esteem, fueled by constant social comparison.

It's earthly.

It's societal.

It's part of our culture.

It's not only societal and earthly that we see in advertisements, but we see it in, I mean, we see it in the American dream.

We see it in the keeping up with the Joneses, this striving to, yes, it's it's good to take care of your family, but this place that comes from a selfish ambition, this envy to desire with ingratitude of what we have.

We can think of these wise statements of the culture, right?

You have to be true to yourself or live your truth.

This idea says that the highest moral good in life is to look in your own heart, figure out what you want, and then demand the rest of the world bends to your desires.

This following your inner voice.

That's the wisdom of our culture.

Another wise statement we live by is protect your peace, or cutting out toxic energy.

But while healthy boundaries are biblical, there's a modern twist that's put on it that the moment a relationship requires sacrifice, hard work, dealing with friction, you label that person toxic.

And you cut them out.

Because it's about self, it's about me, it's about what I want.

We see that worldly wisdom is societal, these ideas of the selfishness of our heart.

But secondly, it also comes from the self.

Worldly wisdom is unspiritual.

Can someone get me some water, W?

Yeah, someone's coming.

I could actually drink some of that over in the house.

But worldly wisdom is right there.

It says unspiritual.

Unspiritual self.

This Greek word is means natural.

It's like animalistic.

It comes from within.

And this isn't a good thing to be natural, like your groceries, when you see all natural, right?

That's that's a good thing.

But when we see have natural wisdom, it's it's wrong.

It's unspiritual.

I think of a of a toddler.

Right?

No one teaches a toddler to say mine.

And to see a toy and envy it and take it.

It's what?

It's natural.

It comes from within.

Where we take.

No one teaches us that it comes from the self, it's unspiritual.

I even think about our own daughter who can't speak yet.

But we've been able to notice real cries from fake cries.

Where there'll be a moment where we'll put her down and she'll she'll cry, and you'll hear she'll go, nah nah na na na na na.

And when she does that voice is her fake cry.

We know she's not actually crying, but she does this mumbling where it's like, how dare you put me down.

There to her, she's thinking about what she wants.

She's not thinking about, hey, I need to make breakfast, or can I use the bathroom real quick?

No, it's 10 to what I want in the moment.

And that's just how we are.

Worldly wisdom is comes from the self.

It's natural, it's unspiritual.

And that's why you see so many problems in marriages in America.

Because what happens when that's the heart of people within a marriage?

Where we're coming into this thinking, this is about me.

It's about what I want.

And not how to serve.

It comes from the society, the world, it comes from the self.

But thirdly, worldly wisdom is satanic.

It says it's demonic.

We can think back to the very beginning and the garden.

Think about it.

Humankind had everything they needed.

Most of all, they had communion, perfect communion with the living God and the Garden of Eden, where everything was perfect.

And then the serpent came and said, Do you really have everything?

What about that fruit on that tree over there?

Where you can be like God.

It was of what?

An elevation of self, of envy, of wanting what we can't have.

Self-ambition of you can be like God.

And the serpent to this day echoes the same words to us.

That he promises something better than God.

Not to be satisfied with Christ and what he gives us, but it to indulge in sin.

Say that sin, that practice, that, he'll fill you up, he'll satisfy you.

See, worldly wisdom is satanic.

It's from the enemy.

We see that there in our passage of scripture.

But what are the results of worldly wisdom?

Look at verse 16.

It says, For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, again, we see those words again.

There will be disorder and every vile practice.

Doesn't that describe our world today?

Or the world always?

Where wars and conflict and strife find their roots in selfish ambition.

Where church gossip and slandering happens, you'll find that the root oftentimes is worldly wisdom.

So how do we trade the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God?

First, to diagnose our hearts, to look within for places of selfishness, of bitter envy.

But secondly, it's to deny worldly wisdom.

To deny it.

Because if you live out the wisdom of this world and live for yourself, your life, as we've seen from the text, will lead to destruction.

It will lead to disorder.

You want to destroy your family?

Live for yourself.

You want to destroy your church?

Think of yourself more than others.

The Lord has called us to deny worldly wisdom and its practices.

But how do we do it?

Right, where's the hope?

I mean, you look at what worldly wisdom is.

You see the flesh, it's natural in us, it's unspiritual.

You see the world, the society it comes from, you see the enemy.

It's all around us, this worldly wisdom, but there is a godly wisdom, amen.

Look at the text, look at verse 17.

Starting verse 16, it says, For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice.

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

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Third point, how do we trade the wisdom of the world for the wisdom of God?

Is this display godly wisdom?

Display godly wisdom.

We see there's a wisdom of the world, but there's wisdom from above.

And so as we look through these markers together, there's about eight of them, eight marks of godly wisdom.

This is another moment to examine our hearts.

Is this the fruit of our life?

We see wisdom is first pure there in the passage.

First pure.

It is clean, it is holy, it is not like worldly wisdom where it is dirty and sinful.

It is not like selfish ambition that sometimes from the exterior can seem good, but there's hidden sinful motives.

No, godly wisdom is pure and holy.

Godly wisdom is peaceable.

What is peaceable?

It's one who loves peace.

They love to see peace, but they love what to also bring peace, to give peace to others.

Worldly wisdom isn't looking for a fight.

Or godly wisdom isn't looking for a fight.

It looks to be not self-defensive, but peaceable is denying the self.

We see there the next word, gentleness.

This Greek word is sweet reasonableness.

It's power under control.

It's I have the power to do something, to say something, but instead I'm going to humble myself and to handle someone or situation with care.

Godly wisdom is what open to reason is the next word we see there.

It describes someone who is approachable, correctable, completely free from stubborn pride.

Can people around you correct you?

The next phrase there is full of mercy.

It creates an image of a person, this full of mercy, someone who's crammed, who's packed with mercy within themselves.

That almost like a sponge that is full, that if you were to squeeze this person, mercy would come out.

That when they go through the trials of life and difficulty, mercy overflows.

Full of mercy in what?

Good fruits.

This is what this whole passage is about.

That godly wisdom is active.

It's not just words, it does something, it produces fruit.

It also is impartial.

Someone who is free from favoritism that treats all people equally.

And lastly, sincere.

It literally means without a mask.

Godly wisdom isn't fake.

It's true, it's authentic, it's real in how we relate to one another.

And we see in verse 18 it says, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Brothers and sisters, the goal of the Christian life is a harvest of righteousness.

It is to be like Christ.

That is the goal.

A life filled with the goodness of God, with holiness and purity, looks like a life with a healthy marriage, a unified church, children in a family that loves God, communities that are changed, a righteous life, a righteous community.

But how does this happen?

It happens by sowing in peace.

You want a life of peace?

Means you must sow in peace.

You must live a life of peace.

But where does heavenly wisdom come from?

I want you to look right over in your Bibles, James 1.

To go back James 1, verse 5.

James 1:5

What does it say there?

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

See, wisdom is found in the person of God, of asking God.

So here's just a practical point for all of us today.

How do I get this godly wisdom?

I see all of its benefits, and I see where worldly wisdom can lead.

How can I be changed by godly wisdom?

Pray and ask God.

Even right now in this moment.

That actually changes me.

That brings peace into my life.

Godly wisdom is found in prayer, but it's also found within this book.

This is why we come week in and week out to put ourselves under the teaching and the word of God.

I just challenge us as a church to dive into the word of God, to swim in the Bible, to read it, to know it that this is where God's wisdom and knowledge is.

And we see Christ's perfect example of pure wisdom.

We saw those attributes in James chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

Wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy.

I think I skipped over gentle.

Gentle is this idea of meekness, humility.

Open to reason, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial, sincere.

We can see all these things and we can see Jesus.

Amen.

That Jesus lived these things out perfectly.

That he sowed life and peace.

But what did he receive in return?

Peace?

No, death on a cross.

That oh he although he lived perfectly and rightly and was the prince of peace, what was given to him in return was what we deserved.

Was our punishment.

Our death.

That it was worldly wisdom that hung Jesus on the cross.

Right?

Jesus is saying, if you want to follow me, deny yourself.

And what does the world think of that?

No, the world is what about bitter envy, jealousy, selfish ambition.

Where Jesus is calling out the religious pride of the day where you can be religious and still be in worldly wisdom.

You can have the in the exterior know all the things of the word of God as the Pharisees did, but not have the good fruit of life.

And it was that the Pharisees seeing that, that godly wisdom, different from the worldly wisdom they had, that they wanted to kill him.

But not knowing that that act of Christ hanging on the cross was now the way we can have eternal life, was now the way that we can receive godly wisdom first by having a new heart.

This is a heart issue.

As hopefully you've been examining, you've been diagnosing your heart, there's nothing we can do to change it.

It is only through the life, the death, the resurrection of Christ, our faith and our belief in that that we can be transformed.

And so in this moment, I want to, I want those of you, maybe you're in here.

And in a little bit we're about to close and worship and celebrate some baptisms.

But maybe you're in here and you don't have the peace of God.

Maybe you're in here, and if you're being honest, you see your heart filled with selfish ambition.

Bitter jealousy.

I want to tell you that there is a way to change your heart and to give you peace for the first time.

We're in our time of worship that we're about to have that you can come down to the front and you can talk to someone here and say, I want to know what it looks like to follow Jesus.

I want to commit my life to Jesus.

I don't want to live for myself anymore.

I want to live for God.

But for the followers of Jesus in here.

Have you been living in God in worldly wisdom or in godly wisdom?

Which has marked your life.

We have to sow in peace.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus.

I just pray right now that your spirit would convict anyone in here who needs to be saved.

They've been trusting in themselves, in their own strength.

But I just pray right now, if there's anyone in here that they would, whether during this time of worship, come down or come talk to me after service is over and say, I want to be saved.

God, we pray for that.

I pray for the believers here, my brothers and sisters, Lord God, help us to be people who sow in peace.

Give us your wisdom.

We we ask right now in faith, not with doubting.

God, give us your wisdom right now, Lord Jesus.

Give us your wisdom.

Lord Jesus, have your way in this moment.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.