James 3:13-18

All right, the next section in the letter to James is James 313 through 18 and It's directly connected to the proceeding section by dealing still with leaders and teachers and those who claim to be wise and to have something to say and once again It offers us really a diagnostic to figure out is someone really wise or not am I really wise or not? Is that person really wise or not? And so James 13 or 313 13 offers this way of diagnosing and examining the wisdom of others Does it really come from God or not and he's going to contrast two kinds of wisdom in this paragraph the wisdom from above and The wisdom from earth and the wisdom from above and the wisdom from below if you will and so the subject for James 313 13 13 shows up in the very first line It says this James 313 who among you is wise and understanding? That's the question he wants to address here in this short little paragraph Really honestly who really is a wise and understanding person in the word wise has that sense literally is being learned of Why is being knowledgeable having things figured out? Understanding that particular word has more the sense of being an expert at things being skilled at something I just have a knowledge but being an expert of being skilled at it So who's the person who's really learned and wise and has things figured out who's skilled at this thing called light skilled at leading God's people who is that one and Immediately James tells us how to figure that out notice what he says the second half of verse 13 he says Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom and so How do you sort out who really is wise or understanding? Well, you got to look at a person's whole manner of life in total that's what James is getting It's going to show up in a person's life which James a lot more to say about that But before we get into that, let's just hit a few details here out of the second half of verse 13 Notice what he says he says let him show what is he supposed to show? Well the way this translation reads it could be a little unclear what he's supposed to show is his deeds So let him show his deeds The idea of show is really grammatically a command. It's hard to translate these kind of commands into English But in Greek it's a command he must show You claim your wise and understanding you think you're a teacher among God's people Well, you must show it by your deeds and so this command element and what's being shown are his deeds specific behavior specific actions But notice these deeds are to be shown by his good behavior that needs some clarification The word translated behavior there is the word in Greek Honestrofe and honestrofe is a very comprehensive word It doesn't just refer to an occasional deed here and an occasional deed there Anybody and everybody can do occasional good deeds. That's not what we're talking about Honestrofe is comprehensive and refers to your entire way of life your entire manner of life and so Your deeds are supposed to be specific expressions of an overall way of life that could be described as good And so Your whole manner of life is to show forth Good deeds or your deeds are to be direct expression of in a whole My manner of life that is good in this word translated good. There's two different words for good in Greek This one is the word Kallas Kallas often has the sense of Beautiful as well as just good right there is a kind of Goodness that is lovely and attractive just as there is a kind of goodness that is kind of bear and rigid and austere And he had to write but it sure is in very pleasant or attractive right well this kind of goodness here has to do with more that lovely and attractive type of goodness And so your manner of life your behavior that is your Honestrofe your manner of life is to be beautifully good To be lovely and attractive and so let him show from his overall Beautiful attractive lovely manner of life his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom and that word gentleness is this idea of yielding consideration sensitivity to others it is the idea of Power under control this word as often well known for being you sometimes of a Horse that is now broken it has all this strength but that strength is now under control so that the person can ride the horse and The horse now can be directed to do good things with his life its power or strength under control is Consideration for the feelings of others. It's the opposite of being a bull in a China shop to use an English idiom where you're just kind of gruff and ruff and you just you know run people over and you Power your way through and you're gonna get your own way right? Well gentleness is the opposite of that It's it's the way you you see thanks for another person's perspective you try to make sure you take their feelings into consideration and so Wisdom What James is saying wisdom is going to produce a kind of lovely manner of life that is gentle and good and beautiful and Your specific deeds are going to be an expression of that So what verse 13 makes plain for us is that a person's wisdom is not necessarily measured by the amount of knowledge They have there is not necessarily a direct correlation to Knowledge and wisdom wisdom is more like the ability to do life well It's the skill of living. That's what Jesus means when he says wisdom is vindicated by her deeds that she's Justified by her deeds and really James is making the same point a person so-called wisdom will be vindicated By the deeds of an overall manner of life that is beautifully good and the same is true when you read for example the wisdom literature of the Old Testament Proverbs it cleans the Asties and some of those books they make it clear that wisdom is going to show up Indeed it's going to show up in behavior It's going to show up in a way of life And that's what James is saying here. This is very much in keeping with the proceeding paragraph where James said You know for not many of you should be teachers because you're going to make Living with your mouth and that's a dangerous thing because the mouth is hard to control the way to control Does really have your character change will now coming back to that those are who are teachers who think your wise and understanding Well, your character needs to be transformed that your way of life is Good and beautiful and attractive and the deed that flow from that are good and beautiful and attractive and that's James point here in this Section now at this point James is going to move in then to really two different kinds of wisdom To contrast where does wisdom come from and he wants to help give us really Diagnostic for a person's wisdom. So verse 14 says this in Contrast to the gentleness of wisdom that's good and beautiful James 3/14 says Now if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth This wisdom is not that which comes down from above But it's earthly natural and demonic. So there's the first kind of wisdom. It is earthly wisdom It's the wisdom from below what characterizes it? Well look at verse 14 He says if you have bitter jealousy and Selfish ambition those are two key characteristics of ungodly wisdom Better jealousy. I think we're pretty familiar with what that is right like jealousy and envy that arise from self interest and self promotion What's selfish ambition? Well selfish ambition is used several times in the New Testament especially by Paul But it only actually has one known uses prior to the New Testament It's the Greek word erratiah and it and it's used in Aristotle who wrote a couple hundred years before the time period of James For the self-seeking pursuit of political office that led to rivalry and contention and that's really how that word seems to play out in the New Testament the Apostle Paul and Philippians chapter 2 speaks of a person who is Humble not being driven by selfish ambition but considering others more important than himself Well, that's the opposite of selfish ambition selfish ambition is what can you do for me? What do I get out of it? What's in it for me? How can I use you to get ahead and James is saying? earthly wisdom the wisdom that's from below ungodly wisdom is marked by bitter jealousy and this sort of self-seeking motion this rivalry spirit that wants to get ahead at all costs and so if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart He says do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth or Maybe better translation is do not boast do not break that's the idea do not break and So lie against the truth and lying against the truth probably means the specific assertion of saying I'm wise I'm understanding well you don't have real wisdom because real wisdom comes from God so you're lying not being truthful about your wisdom, you're not being truthful about you really having it all figured out, you're lying against the truth of where real wisdom comes from. That is, you're claiming to be wise in the things of God when nothing could be further from the truth. What's the truth of that kind of wisdom that's marked by jealousy and selfish ambition? Well, the truth is, according to verse 15, that that wisdom doesn't come down from above but is earthly, natural and demonic. That is, it's from this world, it's this worldly, it's natural as opposed to being spiritual or of the spirit. It's demonic, meaning it's influenced by, inspired by the demons and the evil forces arrayed against God. So you may be claiming to be wise in the things of God, but the source of your wisdom, if it's full of rivalry and contention and jealousy and self-seeking, the real source of that is this fallen world and the evil forces that rule this world. And what's the outcome of that kind of wisdom? What result does it lead to among groups of people, whether it be churches or families or even business organizations or ministry organizations? What's the outcome of this kind of fallen wisdom in those kinds of relationships? We'll look at verse 16. Four, where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, so where this demonic earthly wisdom exists, there is disorder and every evil thing. That word translated disorder is the same word translated restless up above when describing the speech and the inability to control it. And it's the same word translated unstable in James 1-8. And it really describes in that case this internal restlessness and wrangling. Here it describes this restlessness and this wrangling and this instability envisioned within a church or like I said, any other real group of people. Selfish ambition and jealousy leads to chaos, leads to disorder and every evil thing leads to a whole lot of bad stuff happening. And for honest, we've all seen that. We've seen that perhaps in our own family. We've seen that in our family of origin. Perhaps we've seen that in a church we've been a part of or a small group we've been a part of or a ministry we've been a part of where there's somebody who is dominating and overbearing and self-promoting and a full of selfish ambition, disorder and every evil thing is the result. Now what about the wisdom that's from above? True wisdom, godly wisdom. What does that like? Well, James goes on to describe that in verse 17. Look what he says. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, which means clean, it's clean, it's pure, then it's peaceable. Now the words, it brings harmony. It brings shalom in James's original language. Shalom is more than just the absence of conflict. It's the presence of wholeness and harmony and blessing. So it's peaceable and it brings wholeness and goodness and blessing to the relationship. It's pure, it's peaceable. It's gentle. This is a different word than the word translated gentleness up above this word, epi, i case here. Usually it's translated like forbearing. It's reasonable and forbearing in the sense that it puts up with a lot. It's not easily anger. It doesn't just get irritated really easily. It can put up with annoyances and things that get in the way. It's forbearing and gentle. It's reasonable in the sense that it's willing to learn. It's willing to listen to a different perspective on things. One commentator says, "Reasonfulness describes someone who's open-minded and willingly receives instruction. You're willing to learn. You're prepared to see something different. You realize you don't necessarily have it all figured out." So it's reasonable. The wisdom that's from above is full of mercy and good fruits. In other words, it's compassionate towards other people. It's thoughtful and considerate of other people. It cares for the feelings and the needs of other people. So it's full of mercy and good fruits where it does good for people. It's unwavering. Unwavering is the idea of, it's really the opposite of being double-minded. It has convictions. Wisdom from above knows what it believes. It knows what's right. It knows what's true. It has conviction. It shows those convictions in a gentle, reasonable, peacemaking sort of way. It's without hypocrisy. In other words, it's sincere. It's genuine. It's not too faced. You're one person when you're around these people and you're a totally different person when you're at home or around other people. It's not too face. It's sincere and genuine, authentic through and through. And then James wraps up this paragraph with this statement verse 18 saying, "And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sewn in peace by those who make peace." A more literal translation of verse 18 is this. And the fruit of righteousness is sewn in peace by those who make peace. In other words, the fruit of righteousness. Those whose fruit is righteousness is planted in peace by peacemakers or a more picturesque way to say that is that Shalom, that's the idea of peace in Hebrew, Shalom, this harmony, this wholeness, Shalom is the soil in which righteousness flourishes. If you're really wise in understanding and the things of God, if you really are the kind of person who should be a leader and a teacher in God's kingdom, then peace is what's going to be the result of your work as opposed to discord and disorder and every evil thing. There's going to be peace. That godly wisdom is a peace-making sort of wisdom. And it loves to plant righteousness in the soil of peace. And so this contrast with this wisdom from below that is jealous and self-seeking and it's full of disorder and every evil thing here, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit which is righteousness perhaps is sewn in peace by those who make peace. And so as we reflect on this short little paragraph, one reflection needs to be I think a personal self-examination. Use this as a diagnostic to look at your own life. If you're a heart full of jealousy and selfish ambition, are you trying to get your own way? Is there an area where you're trying to clamour for control or clamour to be in charge? Or do you have to always get your own way in your marriage or in your family or whatever group of people you're working on? Well that would speak to a flawed character. The James says, "Isn't from God but is from this world and is natural and evil." So a personal self-examination, what is the source of your wisdom? Is your heart full of purity and peacefulness and gentleness and reasonfulness and all the things he describes in verse 17? So examine your own life. I think there's also an organizational self-examination and organizational application to these words. That's really James's primary point I think here is that when we are leaders in an organization or when we're part of an organization, there are self-appointed leaders in churches. That's James's primary focus. They've been in the church for a year. They know the Bible. They know what needs to be done. They're obviously smart. Their Bible might even be all highlighted up. They believe they're knowledgeable and wise. They believe maybe they're even mature in Christ, but they stir up trouble wherever they go. There is, as one author said, there is a kind of person who has undoubtedly clever with a cute brain and skillful tongue, but his effect nevertheless is any committee in any church in any group is to cause trouble and to disturb personal relationships. And what James is saying is that kind of person really isn't wise in the things of God. So if we're in a position of appointing leaders or choosing leaders, James 3, 13, through 18 really provides a helpful diagnostic for what kind of person should we be looking for. And if we are in a position of leadership, James 3, 13, 13, provides really a helpful self-examination for ourselves. And so as we reflect on this, may we pursue being and may we pursue looking up to an appointing the kind of person who has genuine, godly wisdom, the wisdom that James describes right here in these verses.