WHO IS WISE AND UNDERSTANDING | BRIAN RICHARDS

Amen. And amen. Have a seat if you have

a copy of God's word, and I hope that

you do. We will be in James chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

James chapter 3 as we continue our

James 3 · chapter mention

journey through the book of James in

this collection of conversations that

we've entitled Walk the Walk. And as

we've shared almost every single week,

the reason why we are calling it walk

the walk is because James is very much

concerned with these Jewish believers

who were scattered across the Roman

Empire at the middle to end of the first

century and how they live to not simply

be Christians in name only. Are you with

me? But to be Christians who live it out

on a daily basis. And so what we find

with James is he wants to share this

information. It's a wisdom book. It's

what's often called the the proverbs of

the New Testament. So sometimes James

seems like he's going in a bunch of

different directions. But the truth is

the truth is James is weaving many

different routes to point us to what it

looks like to become more like Jesus on

a daily basis. So, if you have a copy of

God's word, chapter three of the book of

James, James has already challenged us

in the first couple of chapters in many

different ways. We've seen in chapter

one that that James showed us that

trials and suffering have a purpose.

They're to develop us and not defeat us.

And he challenges us to realize that

it's ridiculous for us to say that we

have faith but not demonstrate that

faith with good works. And I want to be

very clear as we've seen Pastor Luke

share over and over, friends, your good

works cannot save you. There is nothing

that you and I can do that can take away

the sinfulness that is running rampant

in our lost hearts. But God in his

wisdom and his provision had a plan

before the foundations of the world to

send his son Jesus Christ into the world

to the live the life that you and I

could never live in perfect obedience.

to die the death that we deserve. So

that if we turn away from sin and trust

in him, we can be

saved. You are not the author of your

salvation. You are a recipient of the

grace of God. And it is by faith, by

faith, trusting in Jesus Christ that you

are saved.

And so James in the first few chapters

tells us that faith without works is

dead. And he challenges us. He calls us

to be doers of God's word, not hearers

only. And he says that that shows up

most clearly in how we treat people

around us. He gets in chapter 2 and even

at the beginning of chapter three that

how we treat widows and orphans is

really true religion. taking care of

widows and orphans and remaining

unstained from the word world and how we

honor the people we come into contact

with. Do we give preferential treatment

to the people who are popular or

powerful to the detriment of the poor

who are among us? James says that is not

what God has called us to be. And

ultimately, will we live out our faith

through good works? Or will our faith be

declared dead because it lacks good

works? And this morning, as we get to

chapter 3, verse 13 through 18, we're

going to be moving in to this discussion

on

wisdom.

Great. James has some wonderful things

to tell us. But here's what as we read

this passage, I want you to think about

like

faith, wisdom is demonstrated and

deepened through godly

living. Like

faith,

wisdom is demonstrated and deepened

through godly living. Listen to how

James shares this with us in James

James 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, starting in verse number 13.

Read along with me, but not out loud.

That's confusing.

Okay. 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 down

from above, but it's earthly. It's

unspiritual and even demonic. James

says, "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 a harvest of

righteousness is sown in peace by those

who make peace. Let's pray together.

Father God, we love you. We are grateful

for your word. We are grateful, God,

even for the freedom to be able to be in

this room to worship you. We thank you

for those who have sacrificed their

lives to protect those freedoms. And we

ultimately thank you for the sacrifice

of

Jesus who has rescued us from the pit of

sin and death.

And Father, this morning as we talk

about wisdom, I I I want to confess that

man, I lack wisdom in so many

ways. And God, the world around us

thinks it knows what it's talking about.

And it's so tempting to follow the ways

of the world simply because it makes

sense in so many

ways. But we know that those roads lead

to destruction. And so this morning,

God, help us have a receptive heart and

open ears to understand what it means to

walk in godly

wisdom. We love you and we praise you

and we thank you and we pray this in the

name of Jesus. Amen. And amen. In 1859,

no, I'm not going to do that.

But if you're new, our pastor has a

tendency to open with a historical story

of a historical figure none of us have

ever heard of. But always a remarkable

point there. But in 1859, Charles

Dickens

released and published what is known as

a tale of two cities. And we're very

familiar with this. Or maybe I don't

remember. It's been 30 years since high

school, but typically you read that at

some point, right? Yes. Can I get a head

nod? Somebody has. Do you read

words? Okay. Pictures. Okay.

But we're clearly have heard the opening

line to that book. It was

the Okay, maybe we haven't. All

right. It was the best of times. It was

the And usually that's where we stop.

Does anybody know that it keeps going?

The the entire first sentence is like a

run on. It's an entire paragraph as what

Dickens is trying to do is to set up

this duality of life that we live in a

world and for them live in a time where

there's good things happening and bad

things. Can I get a head nod? That

that's the reality of life all the time.

We look around and there's destruction

and there's defeat and there's there's

so much things to be discouraged about

and then there's times where we look and

there's still good news in the world and

good things happening. Listen to what

Dickens says. It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times. It was the

age of wisdom. It was the age of

foolishness. It was the epic of belief.

It was the epic of incredul. It was the

season of light. It was the season of

darkness. It was the spring of hope. It

was the winter of despair. We had

everything before us. We had nothing

before us. We were all going direct to

heaven. We were all going direct the

other way. In short, the period was so

far like the present period that some of

its noisiest authorities insisted on it

being received for good or for evil in

the superlative degree of comparison

only. One

sentence. I love this because I believe

what Dickens is trying to do is get to

the heart of what it feels like to live

every single day and for us as believers

to live in the world that seems so

opposed to the gospel. so against what

Christ has called us to be that we feel

out of place. Does anybody else

understand what I'm

saying? Even if you live in a Christian

little bubble world where nobody ever

gets inside of there, we are adversely

affected every single day because of sin

and sinfulness in the world and a

society and culture that says this is

not what we're going to be. We're not

going to be about Jesus.

And James is speaking to the heart of

this. What can we learn about being and

becoming a wise and understanding

person? How can we be a people who live

in one city yet long for another

city when the world around us is

rejecting the things of God? How can we

be those who walk in the wisdom of the

Lord?

I love what James says because he asks

this very diagnostic rhetorical question

to open everything up. Listen to what he

says. He says very clearly, "Who is wise

and understanding among you?" Now

understand where James has just come

from. Last week, Pastor Luke shared

about verses 1 through 12. James is

setting up the comparison between

worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. But he

asked this rhetorical question. is for

self-examination because he's just spent

the previous 12 verses challenging the

leaders within the community to say,

"You need to make sure what you're

saying is

right." There's a heaviness and a

weightiness of

teaching. James told them, "Your words

are powerful. Though the tongue is a

small part of the body, but it has the

power, like a spark to set an entire

forest

ablaze, like the bit in a horse's mouth,

control the entire animal. Like the

rudder on a ship, it can guide this

massive boat to go wherever it desires.

And so in light of that warning, James

raises this question to the leaders

within the Christian community and those

who are

listening to ask themselves, who is wise

in understanding or

discerning. And it's a great question.

It's a great great question for every

single one of us. And I want to

challenge you with this thought. True

wisdom comes from living out our faith,

not simply learning new

facts. The idea of wisdom and

understanding rooted in the Hebrew

culture all the way through the Old

Testament shows itself that it's an

intersection of knowledge and

obedience. It's knowing, but it's also

showing. How many of y'all know there

are people out there who think they're

wise?

and even open up their mouth to say what

they think is

wisdom and fail to realize that the way

in which they live defies everything

that they

say. That's like me telling you how to

lift

weights. That That's not what I do. You

can obviously see

Wisdom so often in our minds is just

gaining new understanding. And the truth

is true wisdom comes from living out our

faith, not learning more facts. And

James says it this way. Look at this

intersection of knowledge and obedience,

knowing the right thing and doing the

right thing. We all know it's two

different things.

You got

kids, y'all. Y'all know I got four,

right? I've shared this almost nine, two

seven year olds who are two months apart

and a 5-year-old who thinks he's

grown. And I've shared this before.

We've got another kid in our house who's

named not me. And I that that child

takes the blame for everything.

Apparently, I've never met them, but but

they're in the house somewhere.

We talk about making making wise choices

in our house all the time. Well, I know

that. I know that. But did you do it?

Well,

no.

No. So, how are we to determine who is

wise among us? How do we self- evvaluate

wisdom in our own life? Are we walking

in wisdom? Listen to how James explains

this. Who is wise and understanding

among you? Listen to this description.

By his good conduct, let him show his

works in the meekness of wisdom. Your

translation may say gentleness that

comes from wisdom or humility or

meekness that comes from wisdom. By his

good conduct, let him show his works.

So, is wisdom just good behavior? No. I

love the way that one commentator said

it. In the same way that faith without

works is dead, wisdom is proven and

produced through faithful obedience.

Doug Moo said this, "It's our acts of

obedience to God performed consistently

day after day that make up the good

conduct of the wise

person." Daily obedience consistently is

how we learn to live in wisdom. But this

phrase in the meekness of wisdom or the

gentleness and humility that comes from

wisdom, I love this because wisdom and

humility are joined at the hip.

Neither one of them needs to announce

their

arrival. That's like wearing a shirt

that says, "I'm the humblest man

alive." It makes no

sense. We know when people are living

and walking and speaking with wisdom,

not because they tell us, but because we

see it played out in their life.

By nature, wisdom and pride cannot

coexist. In fact, the more that we walk

in humility, the more wisdom and the the

more often we will live and act wisely.

And then the more that we live and act

wisely, the more we will grow deeper in

our humility. The wise are humble and

humility brings wisdom. Why? How? The

book of Proverbs is full of telling us

all about wisdom and humility. It begins

with this. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear

Proverbs 1:7

of the Lord is the beginning of

knowledge or wisdom, and fools despise

wisdom and instruction." In Psalm

Psalms 111:10

111:10, "The fear of the Lord is the

beginning of wisdom. All those who

practice it have good understanding. His

praise endures forever." Throughout

scripture, what we're seeing is that if

we want to be wise, it comes with

humility.

And if you want to walk in

humility begins with the fear of the

Lord. What what what is that supposed to

be

scared? There's a reverence to know that

you are the clay. You're not the

potter. It's a recognition that God

doesn't need

us. But out of his love, he has created

us and given us relationship with him.

It's to be able to wake up in the

morning knowing simultaneously you are a

child of God and all the blessings that

come from this, but you didn't do

it. You were adopted into that family.

Are you with

me? So often I think even in my own

life, I wake up and think, God, aren't

you glad I'm on your

team? What would you do without me?

And I'm quickly

reminded of my lowly

status by chauffeuring four children to

school. And as we said last time,

shouting at people in the car rider

line. I have no

control over my own

emotions, over my children, or the

people who can't drive and pick their

children up.

Wisdom. True wisdom comes from living

out our faith, not simply learning more

facts. Wisdom and humility must go

together. If you want to know what that

looks like, can I just offer this to

you? Meekness or humility does not mean

weakness.

Meekness truly means strength that is

under

restraint. If you want to see what

humility and meekness looks like,

showing good conduct through works in

the meekness of wisdom. Imagine

this.

Imagine knowing you will be betrayed by

somebody close to

you, beaten by people who despise you,

abandoned by those who love you, and

executed by those who can't understand

you, and still praying, "Father, not my

will, but your will be done."

If you want to know what the meekness of

wisdom is in action, consider this.

Enduring the ridicule of those nailing

your hands and feet to a cross,

remaining silent as onlookers spew

hatred towards you, and refusing to call

down angels to rescue you in your

weakest moment, and still praying,

"Father, forgive them for they don't

know what they're

doing." And we have the

audacity to walk around thinking we're a

somebody. Trying to get back when people

have done wrong to

me. Holding on to bitterness over things

that have happened that we have no

control

over. Oh, it's just

me. Okay. Okay. I'm by myself.

Oh, but friends, what we see in

Jesus in a culture of the first century

and today where everybody

celebrates bravado and confidence, even

overconfidence. It's amazing the number

of people who put videos out who don't

even watch them. And and and I'm like,

what do do you hear what you're saying?

That doesn't even make

sense. Not one word works together. What

are you doing? You're not wise, but

you're wise in your own

eyes. Jesus even described himself as

gentle and meek and lowly. Do you

remember that in Matthew 11? Come to me

all who are weary and heavy laden and

what? I will give you rest. Take my yoke

upon you and learn from me for I am

gentle and lowly in heart and you will

find rest for your souls.

True

wisdom, true

wisdom has to be connected with

humility. They work together. Look to

Jesus. How would those closest to you

describe your

life? Y'all, can I be

honest? Humility is not the first

characteristic that is used to describe

me.

Shocker. There's something about

honestly the temptation of being before

people that can produce within you a

self-righteousness and a

self-exaltation, a a overinflated view

of

yourself. Is there a gentleness that is

characteristic in how you conduct

business in your everyday

life? Oh, Brian, that makes me a weak p.

I'm not asking you to be weak. I'm

asking you to be Christlike.

What about how you treat your

family? Let's skip that

one. Oh, it takes everything in me

almost on a daily

basis. I'm praying all day. Jesus,

please, please, please, please help

me. What about how you interact with

strangers? so much reveals the character

of a person's heart, how they treat

people who can't do anything for

them. So, James has given us the

standard by which we should measure

those who are wise and understanding.

There should be good conduct shown

through works in our daily life that's

rooted and clear, producing humility and

meekness.

But now he starts to draw a comparison

between what worldly wisdom looks like

and what godly wisdom should be and what

those two wisdoms produce in the life of

people. In verse 14, this is what James

says. He's trying to help us understand

that worldly wisdom is rooted in

selfishness and it can only produce

chaos and sinfulness. Listen to what he

says. Listen to how he diagnoses this

and presents these symptoms. Verse 14.

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 down from

above, but it's earthly, unspiritual,

demonic. For where jealousy and selfish

ambition exist, there will be disorder

or chaos or a unsettled spirit in every

vile practice. Listen to how he

describes this. This worldly wisdom

rooted in selfishness, bitter jealousy,

also known as

envy, wanting what someone else has and

being willing to do anything to get it.

Lying to yourself that I deserve this,

therefore I can do that in order to get

that selfish ambition. putting ourselves

and our desires above everybody else and

everything else, including the Lord,

disregarding the consequences to get

what we want when we want it and how we

want

it. And when those things are jumbled up

in our spirit, it will come out as

boasting, being false to the

truth. That's what it does.

Selfish ambition and bitter

jealousy will always be

self-promoting. It will always try to

win at all cost. When we believe we

deserve something someone else's has,

then we're tempted to present ourselves

in a way in which it's not true. And we

will say and do anything to promote

ourselves to get what we want and denies

the reality of the life that we truly

live.

Does anybody know what I'm talking

about? Get we'll

get Okay, we'll get there in a

second. Paul said it this way to the

church at Philippi. He said, "Do

nothing." In chapter 2, from selfish

ambition or conceit, but in humility,

count others more significant than

yourselves. Guys, this creeps into the

Christian lives, not just the people in

the world. This worldly wisdom is always

around us. The world tells us that you

need to get all that you can at all

cost. That it's all about you getting

the next thing, the next thing, the

bigger thing to have more and to have.

And Jesus always says, "Get rid, move

away, deny self." Do you realize the

easy way is to follow what the world

puts in front of us. It doesn't call for

any sacrifices. In fact, it calls to

sacrifice the good of others for

ourself.

But the way of Christ is downward, not

lifting ourselves

up. It's a

cross, not a crown we place on our own

heads. How often are we tempted to make

much of ourselves at the expense of

others, even when we know better?

Scriptur is full of people like this.

Like, Brian, that hurts my feelings.

We're all here. We're all in the same

boat. Think about it. Cain and Abel.

They bring an offering to the Lord. One

is accepted, one isn't. And Jesus told

him that sin is crouching at your door,

Cain. If you if you do what's right,

everything's going to be okay. You And

what did he do? Bring another offering

to the Lord.

No, he killed his brother. That takes

care of it. Good

job. What about Abraham and Sarah had a

promise that there would be a child.

They've decided to do it on their own.

Not a good idea. brought lots of envy

and dissension in the household. What

about Joseph and his brothers? We can

agree that a code of many colors may

cause people to be

envious. He probably shouldn't have told

all the dreams that he had to his

brothers. They weren't going to take it

very

well. But his brother's jealousy threw

him into a

pit. What about Saul and David?

Saul had been chosen to be the king, was

leading well, but then they started

singing songs about David. David killed

all these people, but Saul only killed a

couple folks. And he got jealous and

angry and mad. And the spirit of God

left him, and he spent the rest of his

time trying to kill

David. But David's not off the hook. of

all the people, someone with a heart

going after God. David saw something

that he wanted and he took

it. And he took it and did whatever he

wanted with him from a position of power

and he killed somebody to cover up his

own

sin. We're all tempted in the same boat

to follow the ways of the world. But

this is what it leads to. Listen to what

James says. This is not wisdom that

comes down from above. It's earthly,

unspiritual, and demonic. It's worried

about the temporary things. It's

restricted to this world. There's no

room for God in his ways. And its origin

is not from God. It's demonic. And

here's the

result. The result is this.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition

exist, there will be disorder in every

vile practice. Walking in the ways and

the wisdom of the world leads to an

unsettled

heart and it leads to destructive

practices. You and I cannot be at peace.

Deep

deep. The place you don't want to talk

about. Are you with me?

deep. We can't be at peace when we are

walking in worldly

wisdom. It's

impossible. When truth is

flexible, then the foundation upon which

you build your life will always be

shaky. And we just sang it. Christ is

our firm

foundation, the rock on which I stand.

But in that story, that parable that he

tells, you know what he says? It's not

that just Jesus is the

rock. It's whoever hears my words

and does them is like a man who builds

his house upon the rock. We can hear it

all day long, but we have to

practice and walk in obedience if we

want to find the wisdom not of this

world, but the wisdom of God. Paul says

this in Romans chapter 1 that they were

Romans 1 · chapter mention

claiming to be wise. They became fools

and they exchanged the glory of the

immortal God for images resembling

mortal man and birds and animals and

every creeping things. Proverbs tells us

that all the ways of man are pure in his

own

eye. Oh yeah, of course. I don't do

anything

wrong. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that

it's the foolishness of God that is

wiser than men. In 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

3, Paul says this, that the Lord knows

the thoughts of the wise, that they are

feudal. So let no one boast in men for

all things are yours. Whether Paul or

Apollos or Cphus or the world or life or

death or present or future all are yours

and you are Christ and Christ is God's.

He was telling them don't be fighting

over who you follow and what you're

doing. The truth is the ways of the

world is not

wisdom. So my question for you really is

this. In what

ways h have bitter jealousy and selfish

ambition caused you to make foolish

decisions? That's not rhetorical. I need

some Just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm

just

kidding. At the root of almost every

terrible, terrible decision we've

made is selfishness.

It's wanting what somebody else has,

believing we deserve something we don't

have. And I think James is wanting us to

to examine

ourselves. Is my heart unsettled? Is

there chaos internally? Am I putting my

trust and my hope in the ways of the

world? Am I trying to live off my own?

Do I think I have it that I know all

these things?

I have hope for

us. There's good news on the end of

this. Can I get a head nod that you've

tried the wisdom of the world? Can

somebody help

me? James ain't

lying. Have you ever got into a

situation you're like, "How did I

Oh, yep. Yep.

And and then that's Yeah. Yeah. That's

on me. That's on me. I'm gonna try to

blame somebody. Don't. Nope. I did

that. I think there's a a healthy way to

look through this as we examine our

lives. The whole phrase, "The devil made

me do it," is a lie.

The devil can't make you do something

you don't already have in your heart

that you want to

do. Oh man, that that's not in my

notes. That one

hurt. So, what do we do? What is the

comparison? What is this godly wisdom

look like? I'm glad you asked. Listen to

this. James tells us in verse 17 what

godly wisdom looks like? And if I could

explain it this way would be simply

this. that godly wisdom is grounded in

humility or

selflessness which ultimately grows in

purity and

peacefulness. Listen to how he puts

this. Verse 17. 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 result of that is a

harvest of righteousness is sown in

peace by those who make peace. I could

spend a lot of time going through each

of those, but I hope you understand. You

can see that it's a lot a lot of it is

just

self-explanatory, but what I'd rather us

do is to look at our lives and say, are

these characteristics that we see at

work in us

daily? Is there a purity about the way I

go about my business, am I peaceable and

not seeking out conflict? Is there a

gentleness in my spirit towards the

people around us? Am I open to reason?

In other words, am I

teachable? Am I full of mercy and good

fruits? Do I have a forgiving spirit to

anybody who has wronged me? Am I

impartial? Do I not show partiality to

the people around me? Do I do I not lift

people up who can give me something and

and put people down who can't do

anything for

me? Am I sincere? Is there a genuine

aspect of my life? Those who demonstrate

these characteristics are people that

other people want to be

around. You know this is true because

they're in your life. Y'all got somebody

that you go to for advice because you

know they're going to tell you straight

and you know that they've lived a life

that has lived out this wisdom. You see

that at play and it's a safe place to be

able to go to. Oh, may God raise up men

and women with godly wisdom that it

becomes an attraction for those who are

lost and wondering where they can go.

They can come to somebody who's not

going to put them down but point them to

Jesus. Do these things sound

familiar? We spent a long time in

Galatians that the fruit of the spirit

is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

self-control.

The result of walking in godly wisdom is

righteousness and

peace. Both harmony with God and harmony

with others. When we live out godly

wisdom on a daily basis, we are not only

living out right relationship with God,

but we are in the business of making

peace with those around us.

Proverbs 13:20 tells us that whoever

Proverbs 13:20

walks with the wise becomes wise, but

the companion of fools will suffer

harm. If godly wisdom is grounded in

humility and grows purity and

peacefulness, my question for you is

this.

Where have you placed the roots of your

heart?

in the ways and wisdom of the

world or in the ways in the word of

God. When I was thinking about how I

could define wisdom, which is we know it

when

we own life, if I want to grow in

wisdom, this is what I wrote down for

me. Feel free to adopt it if you want,

but this is what I keep thinking in my

own mind. Wisdom for me to grow in

wisdom is this. Daily dependence upon

the Holy Spirit and daily obedience to

the word of

God. Daily dependence upon the spirit of

God and daily obedience to the word of

God. The more that I surrender myself to

the work of the spirit in my life, the

more I walk in clear obedience to God's

word, the more I'm going to grow in

humility and wisdom.

And if we want to know the peace of

God and not have a chaotic, unsettled

spirit, then we need to walk in the

wisdom of God. And so, guys, we don't do

this perfectly. We know that, right? You

don't want to come to my house. Wisdom

is not what comes out of my mouth very

often. But here's what I how I I try to

see it and evaluate what this growth

looks like in all of our lives

spiritually. The question is not am I

always doing the right thing because

you're not neither am I. The question is

when I look at my life, is there a clear

trend towards

godliness? Even if it looks like

this, is there an upward trend towards

righteousness in my life? Am I becoming

more aware of the ways and the words

that I say that don't honor God? Am I

quicker to repent than I ever was

before?

And this is the question I think that we

need to ask ourselves because wisdom

begins with the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 1:7 says it enables us to

Proverbs 1:7

discern what is right and just. Proverbs

Proverbs 2:9

2:9 tells us. And it leads us to walk in

the ways of good men and to keep to the

paths of the righteous. Proverbs 2:20

Proverbs 2:20

says, "So what kind of wisdom are you

showing with your life?"

Because wisdom, godly wisdom, just like

faith, is demonstrated and deepened by

daily godly

living. If you're here this

morning and you're not sure you have an

unsettled spirit because you don't have

relationship with

Jesus, one of my favorite pastors

explained wisdom and foolishness this

way. And hear this from the bottom of my

heart. If that's you, this is not a

judgment statement, but this is an

accurate

statement. The most foolish thing you

can do in your life is pridefully reject

the love of

God. So, if you're here this morning and

you're unsure of whether or not you are

right with God, let me explain something

to you. Every single one of us have

sinned and fallen short of the glory of

God. And the consequence and wage of

that sin is death. Eternal separation

from God. But God demonstrates his love

towards us in that while we were still

sinners. He sent Christ to die for us.

Christ lived the life we could never

live. He died the death that we deserve.

He was sacrificed on the cross, buried

in the tomb, rose on the third day so

that all who would confess with their

mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in

their hearts that God raised him from

the dead, they can be saved. And that

can be you this morning.

For those of us who are following Jesus

as best we

can, can I simply challenge you with

this? James 15 says, "If you want

wisdom, ask for

wisdom." So you ask the Lord on a daily

basis, God, I can't do this without you.

Help me not depend on myself because

myself got me in this mess. Can you

testify? Anybody in here?

I did this and I need you to help me not

get back in

this. Ask for

wisdom. And then here's my second

challenge for us. Practice

wisdom. Evaluate in your life these

characteristics that we see. Is selfish

ambition and envy and bitter jealousy

more a part of my life than being

peaceful and

pure and

teachable? And then ask the Lord to

reveal that and to work on your

heart. Oh God, give us

wisdom. We ask for it. We need it. We

cannot do this on our own.

God, make us more like Jesus. humble

us and help us not follow the wisdom of

the world that only leads to chaos and

destruction. May we give ourselves to

your spirit and to your word so that we

can walk and by our conduct show good

works in the humility of

wisdom. You get all the glory and honor

in Jesus name. Amen.