THE MEEKNESS OF WISDOM

the meekness of wisdom v2 (720p): to the church that was spread across many cities and many countries during the first decades of the church once it was established. He was James was the half brother of Christ. We believe that that's who wrote this book or this letter. and it's interesting we think about James. First of all, we think about the church and how in the early days that the church grew, I also think it's interesting to think about James and how James grew as well. Right now in the auditorium class on Sunday mornings. We are studying Jesus' life and his ministry. So if you're looking for a class, we would welcome you to come to the auditorium class. But we're studying Jesus' life and his ministry. And we were recently in John chapter seven, and there we see that Jesus' family, they were not believers that he was the Messiah at that time. Now it doesn't name James by name in that location. However After the resurrection, we see James is a believer, and in fact he is a leader in the church. And so that's quite a blessing to see how James grew over his life as well. And we see that recorded for us in Acts, and to the point that he actually wrote this letter a letter of encouragement for God's people. So why did he write it? Why did James write this letter? James certainly didn't know my name. James didn't know your name. James didn't know the names of all or many of the Christians, most of the Christians. at that time. I'm I know that he knew many of their names, but most he did not know. However, what he did know is he did understand the struggles and the difficulties that members of the church, God's people, the difficulties, the struggles, the things that they were dealing with, the hardships in their lives. James's purpose for writing was to encourage and instruct believers in how to face the challenges of life. He wrote about what genuine faith looks like when it's tested by the realities of life. And I want to spend some time tonight on just one of those topics. I want to focus our time tonight on wisdom. So often when we'll hear a lesson on wisdom, we start with what is it? First of all, we always say we know it's not simply knowledge, and that's certainly the case. It's way more than just knowing stuff. It's way more than knowing things. It combines knowledge, understanding, and discernment about what to do with what we know. Wisdom is the ability to understand what is true and right, and then apply that understanding to the way we live. And the way we make decisions in our lives. Now, might some have more wisdom than others? I can say because I know many others that are more wise than me, absolutely, some can have more wisdom than others. And and I will say as I get older, as I spend more years on this earth, I have certainly learned and understand that much better. As more time goes by, we have more opportunity to gain wisdom. Doesn't mean that we're going to. But we have more opportunity, and we should take advantage of that. I also don't want to suggest or give the idea that only those of us with a lot of years under our belts are the only ones that are capable of having wisdom. That is certainly not the case. Both young and older can possess wisdom. The key to this statement is, and what I believe that this shows, is there is more than one kind of wisdom. And that's what we're going to spend our time talking a little bit about tonight. If you would turn your Bibles if you're not already there, to James chapter 3. That's where we'll be spending our time mostly this evening. And as we open chapter 3, James provides in the first part instruction regarding The things that we say and how we say them. He points out how effective the tongue can be, how destructive the tongue can be, and warns us against that. He provides several examples, making it clear that bad doesn't come from good or doesn't isn't produced by good. And likewise, good isn't produced by bad. So with that context in mind, as we have that context as he introduced this chapter, if we keep that in mind, James continues his thoughts into the source of our study, and I want to read these verses together. We're going to read verses thirteen through eighteen. 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, 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 it's 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. So what we see here is James takes time to contrast the two types of wisdom. Wisdom from here on earth, worldly wisdom, and wisdom from above. And he also takes time to provide us information about the character of each of these types of wisdom. So I want to go through those, and we'll talk a little about those as we go through them. First, earthly wisdom. James uses very strong language when he describes. Earthly wisdom. He exposes the danger that can face us when we are leaning on wisdom from here on this earth and what it can produce. And again I want to read that. Four it's beginning in fourteen. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly. And here he describes it, it's unspiritual. It's demonic. And he describes it further. He says, Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. So what are the characteristics of earthly wisdom? If we see earthly wisdom, there's a good chance we're gonna see bitter jealousy. We're gonna see selfish ambition, and I think that word selfish is important. Selfish ambition. It's about me. Earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. This is where he really uses very strong language to help us understand. We must be careful what wisdom we're we're pulling from, what what it is that we're using to guide us in the things that we say and that we do. Earthly wisdom is rooted in selfish desire. It's easy to see it, isn't it? It's easy to see that in the world around us today. I believe it's easy for us to adopt that way of thinking ourselves. I know it is for me. It's easy to make things about what do I want? And the world tells me that's what I should do. The world says it is about me. It's all about me. And the decisions that I make need to be about me and what's what I want. That's what the world teaches us, and we see it. But we also see the fruits of that type of wisdom. We see the disorder that comes from that around us. We see harm that comes to those that we are interacting with when we make it all about ourselves, and it just doesn't harm others, it ends up harming ourselves as well. If our actions are centered on ourselves, what could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go wrong? Obviously a great deal, right? We know that. If we're just thinking about ourselves and what what the outcome is going to be for me that I'm looking for, we're setting ourselves up to fail. And there's a good warning sign that we can all be aware of. If my controlling question is, what's in it for me? I can feel pretty certain that I'm going down the wrong road. So let's shift and talk about the wisdom from above. He moves on to verse 17. And he talks about the second source of wisdom, and that is from above. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. So we defined wisdom earlier, but James describes the wisdom given by God so well in these verses for us. And so I want to walk through these qualities together. First of all, he says it's first pure. So I think that's very significant. He doesn't say this is one of the qualities. He said before all of these other things, first of all it's pure. And so if you're like me, you may know who Ronnie Milsat was. Certainly a lot of you have heard around heard of Ronnie Milsap, and he may have had a song called Pure Love. You may remember that? Anyone? Song, it was actually hit in the 70s, so it's been a little while. It's kind of surprising it's been that long. But his song said it was 99 and 44 100% pure love. That's how he described it. Number one hit us his first. Now, you're saying to yourself, Scott, that's not the first, that's not where that came from. And I I I agree with you. It actually came from a time before any of us were alive. Ivory Soap, believe I'm right on the soap, but I know it is from 1895. I know that. That's where the claim was made that their soap was 99 and 44 100% pure. That's still not pure enough from God's perspective, right? When we're talking about wisdom from above, when we're talking about God's purity, there is no fraction that's impure. It's 100% purity. And that's the wisdom that God has. That's the wisdom that God makes available to us. So let's move on to the other qualities. I want to talk about those. James gives us a list. And what I'd like to do is I want to go through that list. And we don't have time to spend a lot of time on each, but I do want to just share a verse from Scripture that relates to each one of these qualities, just to help us think about these qualities and relate to them. and we'll move through the list. So next he says that it's peaceable. In Romans 12, 18 says, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Wisdom from above is going to seek peace rather than conflict. It doesn't mean we can always avoid conflict. But we're going to seek out peace when it is possible. And he says it's gentle. Philippians four verse five says, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. God's wisdom doesn't have to be harsh to be strong. That's an important lesson for us as well. We don't have to be harsh to demonstrate how strong we are. It's open to reason. Proverbs 12, 15 says, The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. The wise person, when we're drawing on the wisdom from above, We're going to be willing to listen, we're going to be willing to learn, and we're going to be willing to be corrected. Because we're drawing on that wisdom, that position from above. We're not depending on ourselves. It's full of mercy. Luke six, verse thirty-six says, Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. The second part of that verse points it out very clearly to us, doesn't it? How can we not have mercy? How can we not be merciful when we can reflect on ourselves and understand and know how truly merciful our God is for us? Wisdom from above responds to people with the mercy that we ourselves have received. It's full of good fruits. John fifteen eight says, By my Father is glorified, excuse me, by this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Godly wisdom does not remain theoretical in our lives. It's not an idea. It produces fruit. And it's impartial. James 2, verse 1 says, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. God's wisdom does not change depending on who's standing in front of us. No matter who it is that we're interacting with, the wisdom that we should produce, the wisdom from above, says we should not treat anyone any differently than anyone else. And finally, it's sincere. Romans 12, verse 9 says, Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Godly wisdom has no hidden agenda. It's genuine. If we're drawing on wisdom from above, God's wisdom is genuine. Wisdom from above is not manifested merely by what a person knows. But what a person thinks, speaks, acts, and how we treat other people. And we put when we put those qualities together, what I want you to see is what is missing from that. There's nothing there when we're drawing on wisdom from above that's about me getting my way. You can't look at any of those. If you want to look back at those, each of those and see me. As part of those. It's not about me finding my way, proving that I'm right, gaining an advantage, or making sure I receive the credit for something that takes place. They're just not present in those words and the way that it's described. Wisdom from above turns our attention away from ourselves, and it turns our attention toward others and to God. So let's contrast them. Worldly wisdom asks, What is the smartest way I can get what I want? It's a pretty good description of wisdom of this world. However, wisdom from above asks, What's the right way to use what I know? James provides one more nugget here in chapter five that I wanted to point out and talk about just a little bit, and that's the meekness of wisdom. And that's actually the first verse where we started our passage tonight. Let's read it again, James 3 13. Who is wise in understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. If you're like me, sometimes you'll read, you'll be reading the Bible, and there'll be a scripture or something that just jumps out at you, and you you want to go back and read it and look through it and study it and spend time on it again, or just try to understand it. And this is one of those for me, and reading this verse actually is what really made me think about this would be something to speak about tonight when I read The Meekness of Wisdom, because I I I needed to stop and understand. It. It just really it really did catch my eye and my thought. What's relevant here about the meekness that's being talked about, this meekness of wisdom, is it's a product of the wisdom. It's the meekness coming from the wisdom. It's a product of it. And it it takes my mind a little bit to to connect with that and understand that that's what's happening here. That weakness is producing or excuse me, the the wisdom is producing the meekness. Now I was reading the word weakness, that's why I said it. But what weakness what meekness is not is weakness. And you've probably heard that a lot. I've heard that a lot over the years. Meekness is not weakness. It is not passivity. It is not fearfulness. It's not absence of conviction. It's not any of those things. That's not what how we should describe nor believe that meekness is in the Bible. Meekness is strength under control. I really like that description. It's strength under control. And it comes from the Greek word protase, and I am probably not pronouncing that correctly. But there's a Greek word specifically for this, and it conveys deliberate gentleness, humility, and strength held under control. All of those things, but they're under control. The meekness of wisdom is wisdom wearing humility. I like that as well. The meekness of wisdom is wisdom wearing humility. And Jesus provides the pattern for us regarding meekness. We should have meekness, or we should be weak meek and lowly of heart. He tells us that in Matthew chapter 11. We should have a strong, a humble, and gentle heart. And we, of course, I always think of the Beatitudes, of course, think to Matthew chapter five. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And I think that's where I hear mostly, you know, we'll hear lessons about meekness, is when we're studying the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who are strong but act with humility and act with gentleness. The meek certainly are not in a position where they're powerless. They actually are just the opposite. They just know how to control it. They possess strength, but they exercise it with humility and with gentleness. We're also told there in verse 13, we should use the gifts that we have. By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Use our gifts in service to God, and in doing so we should exercise strength without pride, exercise that strength without harshness or without demand for recognition as well. And the result we are told the result of all of this, this wisdom from above and delivering it through the meekness, through meekness in James. 318, which is the last verse that we read. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Godly wisdom applied with meekness is sown in peace, and it produces righteous fruit. Now You may be like me and say, you know, I I don't have that that wisdom. I don't have that wisdom from above. And but but I have good news for all of us because we are told that we can have that wisdom. He will provide that wisdom for us, and all we have to do is ask in faith. And he tells us that two chapters before, very early in his letter, back in verse five of chapter one. He tells us how we get it. He says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. And after that, he actually talks about asking in faith and the importance of faith when we're asking. But all we have to do is ask. And that's what our God tells us. Through him, we can have that wisdom from above. And we know. We already talked about there's two types of wisdom. We know that that God's not talking about, hey, just ask me and I'll give you wisdom from the world, right? We know that he's talking about wisdom from above. So we have access to that wisdom through him. Through Christ as God's children, we have access to his wisdom, to wisdom from above, if we only ask him through faith. So where I work, we're required periodically to attend different training sessions. and it's some of them are very interesting to say the least. Some of my favorite though are when we are we're in a training session. A lot of them are online. I know that's shocking, a lot of them are online now, and you watch these videos. And some of them are just to teach you how to interact with others that you work with. How to how to teach you how to interact with others that you may encounter at work. And many times what they'll do is they'll present a situation and the they'll they'll give you two different approaches. And so typically the well, always the first one that they present is the individual that's making the decision on how to interact with their coworker makes the wrong decision. And so you learn from that experience what not to do because this is the the bad outcome that's gonna come from your your negative statement or what you do that is a incorrect way to respond. And then they roll the tape back and they start it over and they show it again and this time the individual reacts or says the correct thing and you see that it's a good outcome. Some of those are kind of funny, you know, when when they show them to you just the it's humorous and maybe that's on purpose so you'll actually pay attention. But I I actually learn more probably than they they meant for me to learn from that because I I believe that that's actually good practice for us. and and what that's teaching us is hey, before I actually say something or before I do that, maybe I should stop and think about it. Well, I think that's true. And I think that that we can apply it well beyond what they were simply wanting to sh to show and to say. I think that's a very healthy thing for us to do is to stop and think about what am I about to say, what am I about to do, and is it gonna be something that's gonna be positive? Is it gonna bring forth a positive response or outcome? Is it gonna be good for this other person or for me, depending on how I react? Because I like to say it, think before we speak or before we act. So here are just a few things to think about, a few questions. Is my motive pure? Or am I driven by jealousy, pride, fear, or selfish ambition in what I'm doing? Will my response promote peace without compromising truth? Think that's important, right? We're not going to be peaceful just for the sake of peace if we can't hold fast to truth. Truth is important. Am I being gentle and willing to listen, learn, and yield where appropriate? Does this choice show mercy and produce good fruit for others? Am I treating everyone impartially and acting without hidden motives? Can I carry out this decision with humility? rather than demanding recognition and control. Those are challenging questions. But they're just in line with how this wisdom from above is described. So, what I challenge and ask that each of us do is let's pray specifically for wisdom. Let's pray for that wisdom that God is offering us, that James is telling us about. Let's pause and consider how our words and our actions may affect others. Let's choose deliberate action that promotes peace, mercy, and righteousness. Then let's look. Let's examine actually the fruit of our action. What was the reaction? Does it reflect the character of Christ in what I did? Did I show that person Jesus through my actions and through my response? Let's seek wisdom from above, and let's show it through good conduct, through the meekness of wisdom. So just in closing Earthly wisdom grows from jealousy, it grows from my selfish ambition, and it produces disorder, and it produces harm. That's what we're told here. Wisdom from above begins with purity and is peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and it's in it's sincere. When this wisdom shapes us, it appears in good conduct. It's carried out with meekness, it's carried out with strength. governed by humility and by gentleness. The central question is not simply what is the smartest thing I can do, but what action response reflects God's character and bears righteous fruit? I'll say as we face life's decisions and the challenges that we face, may we each continually examine the source of our wisdom and seek the wisdom that comes from above. And I'm not intending to leave any impression with any of us that that means that we're going to be perfect. Because we're not, because each of us is still human. But if we are dwelling in Christ, if we are are seeking Him, if we are asking for Him, for His help. For his wisdom from above that he is offering us, it's going to make a positive and a good outcome. A good response is gonna come from that. If we're leaning on Christ, if we're leaving on leaning on God's wisdom, we're gonna be better for it. And not only ourselves, those around us are gonna be better for it as well. If there's anyone here tonight that is in need of prayer for any reason, if you're if you're dealing with a difficult situation, if you're dealing with things in your life that you would just like to have the church pray together.

James 3 · chapter mention James 2:1 Romans 12:9 Matthew 11 · chapter mention