Today, we start a new section in James. Here our author will deal with a
different issue confronting the church to which he wrote this letter. Today,
I am only going to introduce some thoughts from this passage. I suspect that
we will return to it again next week to see more of the details.
The problem that James is dealing with here is pretty obvious. It’s
conflict within the church. You can see it evidenced in his language. He
talks about ‘bitter jealousy and selfish ambition’ [verse 14], and ‘disorder
’ [verse 16]. Then, in what for us is the next chapter, he writes, ‘What
causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?’ [4.1] There are clearly
some problems here. In fact, it sounds as if out and out warfare has
engulfed the church. But be careful. There are many churches that would fit
James’ description here and yet, on Sunday morning, you’d find them all
smiles and the essence of courtesy. The battles would flair and even as a
visitor you’d have a sense that something isn’t quite right, but it doesn’t
have to be all that obvious. I say this to remind you that sin is subtle.
Don’t say, ‘Well, everything seems okay’ just because you don’t see any
overt hostility. Don’t be naïve. There are many problems in the Church today
because many of the saints do not grasp the subtleties of sin. Don’t be
among them.
So, James sees the problem. How does he approach a solution? There are
different ways to deal with church problems. Consider some of the letters
that the Apostle Paul wrote to first century churches. Some of them had
serious problems. It’s good to see how he understood those problems and how
he dealt with them. In our text, James deals with the problems of conflict
by talking about wisdom. There are different ways to describe what wisdom
is. In our text wisdom answers the question, ‘How?’ Wisdom says, ‘This is
how you do it.’ When a parent teaches a child how to drive a car there are
the mechanics of driving. ‘That’s the emergency brake.’ ‘These are the
gauges.’ But there is also the advice that comes from personal experience.
‘Don’t brake hard on a curve.’ ‘Be aware of ‘the point of no return’ as you
approach a stop light.’ Together these things give wisdom. They inform the
new driver, ‘This is how you do it’. And wisdom applies to how to drive, how
to get a job, how to choose a mate and every other aspect of how to live.
That’s wisdom. ‘This is how you do it.’
Now, James assumes that there are two kinds of wisdom. There are two ways
of ‘doing it’, two ways of doing life. James tells us that the one kind of
wisdom is ‘earthly, un-Spiritual, demonic’ [verse 15]. That is, it has
nothing of the life of heaven in it. Rather, it is oriented to the here and
now. It is also, devoid of the Spirit of God. And it is satanic, of the
devil. This is one kind of wisdom. The other wisdom James describes as ‘the
wisdom that comes down from above’. He spends some time describing its
fruit. We’ll come back to the details of his description in another sermon.
Did you notice that there are only two kinds of wisdom and that they are in
direct opposition? Each is saying, ‘This is how you do it’ and their advice
conflicts. So, to give one example, James talks about ‘the meekness of
wisdom’. According to the wisdom of God, meekness is a virtue, a key aspect
of how to live. But according to the wisdom of the first century world,
meekness was actually listed as a moral fault, something to be avoided at
all costs. The wisdom of our own day is not so very different, is it?
So, James’ point to the church was that there are these two kinds of
wisdom, these two ways of answering the question, ‘How do I do this? How do
I do life?’ There is the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. Then
James goes on to say that the church was listening to the wrong wisdom. He
could say that because he could see the fruit of the wisdom of the world in
their church. It showed in their relationships.
As I said, I plan on coming back to this passage to look more carefully at
the details. So, for the rest of today’s sermon I want to help you digest
what I’ve shown you. The first thing that you need to appreciate is that, to
a greater or lesser extent, the text is saying the same thing to you that it
was saying to the original audience. When the question comes up, ‘How do I
do this? How shall I do life in this situation?’, there are times when you
answer according to the wisdom that is earthly, un-Spiritual and demonic.
There are times when you answer according to the wisdom of the world instead
of the wisdom of God. That is just a fact about every person in this room.
You are tainted. You follow the wisdom of the world. There are those times
when you answer the question, ‘How shall I do this?’ in the wrong way. And
this will have consequences in your life just as it did in the lives of the
saints to whom James wrote his letter. There were problems in the
relationships of that church because they were following the wisdom of the
world. The problems that you have may show in terms of your relationships or
it may show elsewhere. But they will show. Wisdom will always bear fruit.
And the wisdom of the world always bears rotten fruit.
But that isn’t the whole story. Yes, there are the times when you heed the
wisdom of the world. But you also heed the wisdom of God. And even if all
you have is just a little bit of heavenly wisdom, it will bear good fruit.
Here is one way it will show. When a Christian seeks to answer the question,
‘How do I do this?’, there needs to be the companion thought, ‘I could be
wrong in my answer.’ The Christian, because he has something of the wisdom
of God, knows that he could be answering according to the wisdom of the
world. And so, you should always be a little suspicious of yourself. You
should always leave open the possibility that the wisdom behind how you are
answering some question about how to live is the wisdom of the world. Now,
does this mean that the Christian should be indecisive and always tentative?
Absolutely not! As you deal with the different aspects of life, there will
be those times when some decisive action is required. So, decide and act!
Don’t adopt some false humility that refuses to do just that. And yet, even
as you make your decisions and follow through on them, you should always be
open to someone coming up to you and saying, ‘I wonder if this really is the
way to do it.’ Decisiveness and humility are not mutually exclusive.
While you certainly need to be aware that something of the wisdom of the
world remains within you, you also need to be aware of the other side of the
coin. According to the Gospel, you have experienced a decisive break with
such demonic wisdom. Listen to Paul who also has much to teach the modern
Church about the wisdom of God. ‘He is the source of your life in Christ
Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and
redemption.’ [1 Corinthians 1:30] By the power of the Spirit, you are in
Christ. Along with all the rest of what that means, Christ has become your
wisdom. The wisdom of the world no longer has center stage in your life. The
wisdom of God, Jesus, has shoved it off to the side. Something has happened
so that you are no longer in the grip of merely earthly wisdom. The heavenly
wisdom has replaced it. This too is a fruit of the Gospel.
So, do you see the situation? There are two wisdoms: one is satanic and the
other heavenly. Everyone uses one or the other to answer the question, ‘How
do I do this part of living?’ In your case, the Spirit has created a
dramatic change. The wisdom of the world is on the way out. The wisdom of
God has been planted in your soul so that you can do life in the right way.
The wisdom of the world is on the way out, but it isn’t gone yet. The wisdom
of God has been established in your soul but it isn’t all-consuming yet. So,
you need to pursue more of the wisdom of God. It needs to grow within you,
spreading to all the nooks and crannies of your being. But that isn’t
automatic. James has already spoken to this back in chapter one. ‘If any of
you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without
reproach, and it will be given him.’ [James 1:5] Contrary to how many apply
this promise, James isn’t talking about some generic prayer, ‘Dear God, give
me wisdom.’ This is to be a specific prayer about specific matters. ‘Lord,
how do I do this?’ So, the parent prays, ‘Lord, how do I raise my kids at
this time of their lives?’ The person who has food and shelter covered
prays, ‘Lord, how do I use the measure of wealth entrusted to me?’ And the
student prays, ‘Lord, how do I find the vocation You have for me?’ These are
all issues of wisdom. ‘Lord, how do I do this?’ Be aware that the wisdom of
the world has answers to these questions also. Be aware that that demonic
wisdom is still with you and still taints you. But also remember that the
wisdom of God is yours because of Jesus. So, pray for God’s wisdom as you
are faced with the questions of life. But don’t expect the answers to float
down out of heaven. You will need to seek them earnestly in the Scriptures.
But do that in the full expectation that the answers are there and that your
kindly heavenly Father will direct you to them in due time.
