Don’t answer so quickly.

Who is Really a Wise and Understanding Christian?

James 3:13-18

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Please turn in your Bibles to James 3:13-18. As you are turning there, please be ready to learn some valuable things, along with me, about ourselves through some spiritual checks and balances that James gives us in this section. They are checks and balances to test where we are in our Christian life, but they are also much more than that. They are also commands; they are directives and instructions to follow for living the Christian life according to something that God tells us is more precious than gold. The treasure is wisdom--particularly godly wisdom. Let's read the section starting in verse 13. James says,

"13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior; his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.  17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Please prepare your heart to learn from God's word with me in this sermon titled,

Who is Really a Wise and Understanding Christian?
[pray]

James has been dealing with manifesting our Christianity in accordance with the word of God. Living the word in a living faith as opposed to claimed faith, which is dead faith, is the big emphasis. In 2:17 we see that living the word in a living faith, produces good works from us. What this means is that the fruit follows the reality. Godly fruit follows real obedience to God's word rather than simply hearing it and then walking away from it, 1:22. God tells us that one big area that this is all manifested is in the use of our tongues. Our tongues are spotlights that reveal what is there in us. Our tongues are powerful. They move others to be built up, or they move others to strife, disunity, hurt, and depression. This is one way we can burn down what God wants to build up for His glory. All throughout the first part of Chapter 3, James explains the huge power that our small tongues have. It boasts of great things, and the boast is not an empty one because it really can do great things like move ships, steer horses, or burn down forests. They are all metaphors on how the power of our tongues can effect people. And so it is with these things laid out, that James goes on to the very important subject of wisdom. James asks the question that we all need to ask ourselves;

"13 Who among you is wise and understanding?

What a question. This question stimulates our minds in self assessing introspection to answer, either in pride (with an immediate self assured response of one's own supposed importance), or in very cautious honesty, where the answer may be concluded that you might have wisdom, but, then again, you might not. After all, we remember that earlier at the beginning of this epistle James directs us to recognize whether we don't have wisdom, and if we recognize that we lack wisdom, then we need to ask for it. The point is that to see a need to pray for wisdom, we must first think that we lack the wisdom. There is a another answer to James question here that I think is in the point that James is making. It is an answer that can be given out of self deception. It is where one may want to claim that they are wise and understanding, but in reality they are not. We notice that James' question foresees this kind of answer, doesn't it? What I mean is that the very fact that James would ask such a question implies that there are people peppered among the Christians who are not wise and understanding. They are fools, and so they show that they are fools by their bad behavior, and their deeds in the recklessness of foolishness. So, really it is a very important question in so many ways, but it is important because it reveals to us that not all Christians are wise simply because they are Christians, or simply because they want to think that they are wise. The implication is that there are people mingled in among us here, in our church, and among the churches all throughout our contemporary world, who are walking around, and who are talking around, and who are doing all kinds of stuff, and they are not wise. What this means is that there are fools among us, and they show us that they are fools. In fact, this person who lacks wisdom and understanding may be you. Clearly, wisdom and understanding is something that James explains that Christians can lack. He also says that wisdom is something that we acquire. Getting wisdom is not a pride issue. It is not a status issue. It is not an elitist issue. This is an issue of what God wants us to have, and so getting wisdom and being wise is an obedience issue. So, here is the proper mindset, which in itself is something that is wise for us to do;

Through our obedience to God in making it our ambition to hunger after godly wisdom, and then making every effort to get it, we are simply abiding in pure and undefiled religion, as James calls our Christian conduct.

Okay, this leads us to consider a key point that God wants us to understand very quickly; The wisdom we want is from above. Primarily what this means is that this kind of wisdom comes from God in the form of His revelation, which is His word, and it comes by the Holy Spirit, and then ultimately, it finds its fulfillment when we actually apply it. In other words, to be wise, we need to be doing God's wisdom. Think about this; Just like faith without works is dead faith, or simply a claimed faith, wisdom is the same way. In other words, wisdom without works is merely dead wisdom, or simply a claimed wisdom. It doesn't matter how wise you claim you are, or how wise you think you are, if you are not being wise, then your claimed wisdom is worthless. Something else that we need to recognize is that wisdom from above comes as more than a mystical cliche' where we say something like,

Well, I'm waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell me what to do,

or like one very well meaning brother told me recently, 

I'm just waiting on the Holy Spirit to kick me in the seat of the pants.

Folks, this is not what wisdom from above is, or how it operates. First and foremost, wisdom from above is both found and accomplished by being doers of the word of God that he has already given to us--meaning we already have it, (and this means, to be doers of the principles of the word that we already have) and not merely hearers who delude ourselves 1:22. James whole cut and dry way of saying this is that you already have the word of God. So, now what do we need to do? It is simple--do the word of God in the acquisition of wisdom that comes from it. So, the treasure of godly wisdom is something that we acquire and do, and, it is not a buried treasure that we keep diving for throughout the oceans of our lives, hoping that we might come across it in a gambling endeavor. But, there is something else that is just as important. In pride, many Christians will remain fools because they think that they have already acquired wisdom, but they really haven't. Because of pride, they are like the emperor who thinks he is wearing rare and mystical garments that are invisible, but he is really naked. Consequently, the self assured, yet unwise, shame themselves with their indecent foolishness all the time. When we read the urging of God here, and in passages like Proverbs 4, we find that it doesn't matter how seasoned we are, or how smart we are, or how spiritually mature we think we are. These things don't necessarily make us wise, but they can make us prideful. Wisdom is there waiting for us; but we can not be prideful. We must all measure ourselves with the wisdom from above as the standard, then we will know whether we are wise. How many people do you know who twist scriptures and they live their lives in sin because of false doctrine? It's lack of wisdom, but pride will keep them from seeing their folly. Likewise, we can not chase every new trend that society throws at us and think we are being wise, but trend chasers can be prideful about what they are doing and drown in folly that they don't even recognize exists. Further, we can not simply embrace a religious idea of a belief or a tradition and then act like it is the gospel, and then think that merely because we do we are wise in doing so. This area is the hardest to break from because of pride. Judgmentalism, and self assurance is not the same as wisdom from above. Additionally, we can not be consumed with the temporary--with the now, and think we are wise and understanding. The Areopagus in Athens was the meeting place of philosophers from all over the world. Paul went there to speak of the One true God of wisdom. Other people went there to talk about, listen to, and believe anything new that they thought would bring wisdom, as we read,

"Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new." Acts 17:21

Some people think that the practice of learning and living everything new that comes down the river of our contemporary culture is a wise practice. Pride will keep them from seeing that such is not the case. Also, we can not think that memorizing a few Christian sounding words and phrases means we have acquired wisdom and understanding. Even the devil has memorized Scripture. Even the devil, in sin, has his own kind of religious, legal, and ethical practices, and the devil is the very height of pride personified. But when we look at the measure in humility then we know whether we are demonstrating good behavior and deeds in the gentleness of true wisdom from above--not below. So, to do this, we must humble ourselves, and we must hunger for the high standard, which is God's standard. We must be convicted in a true eye opening revelatory experience of just how much we are lacking. Folks, it is hard to admit to being a fool. It's hard to admit it to your spouse. It's hard to admit it to your parents. It's hard to admit it to your children. It's hard to admit it to yourself. But, we must admit it to God. This reminds me of someone I know of who recently left the care, the protection, the discipleship, and the godliness of a solid Christian home because this young person thought she possessed wisdom. She thought that the wise thing to do was to bolt out the door and run into the painted sin of a lost culture to experience the deceitful foolishness of so-called freedom. Everything about this kind of activity has the marks of slavery to foolishness stamped all over it, which is my point. The root of what led this young woman to do this, is the fool's root. It is the root of selfishness and pride. She manifested selfish ambition. Whenever we feed our selfishness and pride and begin entertaining the foolish thought that I can live my own downgraded view of Christianity while ignoring the high standards that God gives me to look to as the pattern for life and godliness, then we have not only run into a deadly snare, but we are the ones that have created the very snare (through our own folly) that we get trapped in. And so what has happened to that young person is that she has sprinted head long into the same trap that so many who refuse to listen to God's revelation in wisdom run willingly into, and not surprisingly, and rather prophetically, they reap the dire consequences of the foolishness that they have sown. But, to avoid such a foolish fate, we must be humble. We must honestly see our need, and we must desperately reach out to wisdom like our special God given soul mate. We must embrace her for all she is worth. Actually, we must embrace godly wisdom as if our very next breath depends upon her. God tells us all about it in Proverbs 4,

"5 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth [the word of God]. 6 Do not forsake her [meaning wisdom], and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you. 7 The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding. 8 Prize her, and she will exalt you; She will honor you if you embrace her. 9 She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty. 10 Hear, my son, and accept my sayings and the years of your life will be many. 11 I have directed you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in upright paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; And if you run, you will not stumble. 13 Take hold of instruction [talking about God word]; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life." Proverbs 4:5-13

What is the beginning of wisdom? The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding. Wisdom comes from proper instruction, and proper instruction comes from the Bible, but we must humble ourselves before our God, see our lack, then see our need, and then submit to Him in love for Him. When we do this, God rewards us with that beautiful companion that He gives to us to protect and guide us. But in looking at these things, and thinking about these things, we see something that, in itself, takes wisdom from God to see. Essentially, God is making it very clear to us that some of us really aren't there yet. Merely being an Israelite who is familiar with the 39 books of the Old Testament, the teachings of Jesus, and the early epistles, did not hack it for the dispersed Christians of those early decades of the church if they did not apply the knowledge in a beneficial and edifying manner, which is wisdom. In other words, studying passages about wisdom doesn't mean anything if you do not (in wisdom) apply the knowledge in a beneficial and edifying manner. But, God wants us to know that living out the Christian life in obedience in wisdom is attainable. So, James' question applies to us in a very personal way where we really need to prayerfully ask, Who among us is wise and understanding? And then God wants us to answer honestly, and humbly--if it is not me, then it needs to be me, and by God's grace, it will be me. James knows that wise Christians exist, and he knows that Christians exist who think they are wise, whether wise or not. James also knows that we who are not so wise, need to understand what it looks like to be wise; so James says to any of us who think we are wise and understanding,

"Let him show by his good behavior; his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom."

Notice how God brings us back to the reality. Have we prayed for wisdom like James has said to do already? Have you taken hold of instruction, and embraced the wisdom of God as your own for daily living? Is your life and actions full of manifesting wisdom and understanding as a matter of what you do? All of this doing and acting side of wisdom has a shape to it. The picture of how to act wisely that we have before us is very clear. The way we act wisely in James' contextual focus is demonstrated in good behavior and deeds in the gentleness of wisdom among the body of Christ, to the body of Christ. Notice how clear and sharp the image is: Wisdom is to be slow to anger because the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God, James 1:19-20. The contrasting hues are vibrant--Human oriented anger is earthly and natural 1:21. It is not wisdom from above; it is the foolishness of man, so it can not possibly achieve the righteousness of God. In humble gentleness, we are to receive the wisdom of God in the word implanted, 1:28. There is more clarity; Manifesting the gentleness of wisdom is to be ambitious to fulfill the royal law in 2:8--You shall love your neighbor as yourself. We are to speak and so act as those who are judged by the law of liberty, which is action that produces the gentleness of wisdom, 2:12. Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. And then there is our tongue. When it is bridled, it is bridled in the gentleness of wisdom, James 3:5-6. From the same mouth should not come both violent cursings, and peaceful blessings, 3:10. James goes on, and he flashes this picture to us where we need to have it projected--in our hearts. The reason is because our heart is where we start in self examination, and then from the heart, we go on to the actions that come from the heart. There is a particular test of the heart that will tell us very quickly whether we truly have this wisdom or not;

"14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth." James 1:14

The thing about this test is that you have to be strongly honest with your self assessment to pass it. Unwise people are people who lie against the truth. All James is doing is saying the same thing about the fact that proof is in the practice. Immature, carnal Christians may not like that this is the way things are, but it does not matter; the proof of our spirituality is in relation to a very easy to read barometer--it is in what you produce. Okay this is the principle that we want to embrace. The same goes for whether we have wisdom from above. One sentence before this, James talks clearly about proof being in the practice,

11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh." James 3:11-12

Does a wise man produce foolishness? No, of course not. But, God is asking us; Who among us is wise and understanding? There are two foul residents of the foolish heart that prove who the fool is. They are bitter jealousy, and his partner in crime--selfish ambition. Does this describe you? Both are sins, and both are enemies of the peace that God desires among Christians. So, now let's ask ourselves the question; Am I among us as one who is wise and Understanding? God wants us to answer honestly in pure humbleness. Maybe it is easier to ask ourselves if we are someone among us who always has bitter jealousy. Bitter jealousy is rivalry and lust after someone else's talents, money, or things. Bitter jealousy is also lust after the praise of others because you are selfishly ambitious. It is envy of someone else who has the spotlight on them. Bitter jealousy can't stand it when someone else succeeds. There are foolish Christians who seethe with this kind of behavior, and oh how some of them think they are very spiritual They fancy themselves to be so mature in the Lord. Because they refuse to check this behavior with the word, then they remain fools who ignore the marker that is checking their own foolish hearts. I think it is a real shame when we do not call certain sins, sin like the Bible calls them sin. For example, our humanistic culture tells us jealousy is something that is some kind of emotional reaction that is uncontrollable. But that is not what the Bible says. I'm not talking about God's righteous jealousy, by the way. I'm talking about human jealousy from evil motives. According to the influence of the psycho babel priests of the lost world we may wrongly think that selfish ambition is an achievement orientation that has just gotten a little bit out of hand. How easy it is for our psycho science tainted excuse oriented society to influence us. They believe it is all just a manifestation of something called, survival of the fittest, and so if you take their evolutionary theory to its reduction to its ultimate absurdity, to be selfishly ambitious should really be considered the highest virtue. After all, in a godless world, where everyone wants to act like their own god who holds hands with their pagan god friend of evolutionary theory, you are just trying to survive to be what you think is fittest. But, these are foolish philosophies of the world, because God says that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, and the arrogance that denies that they are there, or that they are sinful, are earthly natural demonic things that do not come down from above. They are sin, and so to defend such actions is not God's wisdom. It is the fool's wisdom of the world. Yes there is a fool's wisdom, and spoiled Christians who are not taught that such attitudes are unacceptable transgressions of the law of love of the kingdom of Christ, live from day to day in unchecked bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in this kind of fool's wisdom. They live as if this is the way that life is supposed to be lived, and yet they are living the wisdom of the fool. The arrogance that does not identify these things in our own lives, is also called sin. Lying against the truth is sin, and so it is all foolishness, but it is foolishness that is wisdom of the sinful world. James goes on and explains it,

"15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, [ESV--unspiritual, Gk. soulish] demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. [ESV--vile practice]

Think about earthly natural and demonic wisdom. It is the sin of Eve who was told a lie by the serpent. She became selfishly jealous of God and wanted to be like Him. She believed the devil's wisdom, where the serpent told her that the fruit would open her eyes, and make her like God. Eve sought after that other kind of wisdom, didn't she?--the wisdom that was earthly, natural, and demonic, as we read in Genesis 3:6;

"6 When the woman saw ... that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6

In her selfish ambition, Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, and then in sin, she seduced her husband to do so. Oh how desirable she thought the sin would be in making her wise, But oh how both Eve and Adam were fools. They manifested the traits of fools by succumbing to the natural, earthly, and demonic. In jealousy and selfish ambition, what they did resulted in the worst case of disorder and every evil thing imaginable to be passed on to multitudes of generations. Soon, the deadly harvest of this earthly, natural, demonic kind of wisdom was seen in their children. Cain took this fool's wisdom of the world of sin, and he ran the same way, and in jealousy and selfish ambition, Cain murdered Abel. Sin was crouching at his door, and God told him it was. Sin crouches at your door too my brothers and sisters, and in His wisdom, God tells you it is there. But, Cain was a fool. He planted disorder and evil, and reaped what he sowed. He had the marks. Ask yourself,

Do I have the marks?

The marks are dark smudges that corrupt and taint us in impurity. It's where you look at the world's way, and you think that is the way that is desirable to make me wise. But it is poisonous. The core of that fruit of the sinful wisdom of the world is jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, and every evil thing. On the other hand, James say,

"17 But the wisdom from above is first pure,"

What this means is that it is always right, and it is Christlike. It is where the children of God act like their Father because they reflect the Son, Ephesians 5:1. It is free from the taint of the fallen world that so characterizes the ungodly wisdom of the fool. Paul says that the wisdom from above is wiser than men. It is pure. The whole foundation of this wisdom that we should live according to is that it is wisdom that promotes holiness, separation from worldliness, purity, godliness, and grace and real love. There is no humanistic philosophy getting in the way. There is no personal preference getting in the way. Sin is vaporized by this wisdom. Gods' wisdom is pure, unchangeable, and it is always, always right. Even if you don't think it sounds right, it is right. God's pure wisdom is the foundation for all proper reasoning. When you drink it in, you reap all the benefits that your thirsty soul longs for. Your family reaps the benefits. Your coworkers reap the benefits, and the church reaps the benefits. Our souls thirsts for it. Mix a little bit of poison in with it, and your body gets poisoned, and then you poison others. Drink in pure wisdom, and your body uses it to wash the poison away. When it comes to God's pure wisdom, which is to have a biblical world view, and then live that world view, then you can not go wrong. Listen to me, humanism might be all around you. Wrong thoughts that you have learned from childhood might be there. The influences of all the unsaved people that you work with, and go to school with, and play with, and eat with, might be there. But God's wisdom is pure, and so it washes all of that poison away. This is why God urges us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is so we can prove what the pure perfect will of God truly is. But pure wisdom does something else--Pure wisdom also exposes the dark impurities of the world. Pure wisdom warns us not to wear the clothing of the foolish girl, which is the poison of provocative clothing. Here is where the crossroads occur:

1) Down one road, the standards for what one wears have to do with seeking to do more in raising your standards higher, and higher, and the reason you are doing it is to keep from the worst case scenario, in this case avoiding sensual dress. This is wise action toward avoidance. This is the wisdom road.

2) Down the other road, which is the fools road, the standards for what one wears have to do with trying to see how close the Christian can get to sensuality without ever truly admitting that a line can really be drawn that decides what sensuality, or promotion of it, really is. This is foolish activity that moves in the direction toward the degraded world's standards of right and wrong.

The fool whittles down wise actions toward higher standards by saying, what to the fool, really does seem like a high standard of a type of wisdom. So, thinking this way, the fool will say,

Well, you know, whatever is provocative is relative and such a thing is based upon people's opinions, and I don't live by people's opinions.

Wow, that has a ring of a type of wisdom to it, doesn't it? But the fool goes on--

Who really knows what sensual clothing is anyway?

Who can really say what a lack of clothing that becomes sexually provocative really is?

You know, it is up to the one looking. It is not up to the one that they are looking at to wear something that does not provoke lasciviousness.

Again, wow, that has a ring of a type of wisdom to it. But the fool likes to pontificate their self justifications of their foolishness, and so the fool goes on and asks smugly,

Is showing your face sensual?

Is showing your hands sensual?

Is showing your neck sensual?

How about showing your forearms--is that sensual?     

What about below the knees--like the ankles; is that sensual?

Again, wow, that sounds like a ring of amazing philosophical wisdom. But, in wisdom, let's push this Renee' Des Cart to where it really goes. You see folks, this kind of fool's wisdom will have you asking this same kind of line of degraded questions until you are asking,

Is Wearing a thong and no top, really sensual?

After all, it's really only relative isn't it?

And once God's children have started reasoning like the fool, aside from the clear precepts of God's word, then they really have no wise answer to this question. They sit there befuddled, and either say something foolish like,

Well, you've got a good point;

Or they say something like,

Well, I wouldn't go that far.

But the question is, why wouldn't you go that far? Why has your standard suddenly changed to the wisdom road? You never started down the wisdom road before. You never admitted that the wisdom standards for what one wears has to do with seeking to do more in raising our standards higher, and higher, to keep from the so-called worst case scenario. Now you finally think the worst case scenario has arrived, and you can't even explain why. The point is that the reasoning process that whittles down, instead of strives for the high mark of the upward call, has the appearance of a kind of wisdom, but it is really earthly, natural, and demonic.

By the way, many many sins are justified this way, like stealing--like where someone steals company time;

Well what is work really defined as anyway?

It seems like a wise question, but the fool takes that question and instead of seeking the wise action of the higher goal of doing everything that looks like work and more, the fool uses it as an opportunity to goof off.

Or how about this one that is so popular in our day;

What is sex anyway?

Bill Clinton popularized this earthly, natural, demonic wisdom. But God wants us to have godly wisdom, which is authentically pure wisdom from above, and not merely claimed grayish wisdom that we pretend is from above. Godly wisdom seeks to love God and love your neighbor by recognizing the great principle of avoidance, where you think through what you should wear--not by whittling it down, but by adding to it for safety, wholesomeness, virtuousness, propriety, and promotion of purity according to true wisdom. What I mean is that sensual dress, or lack of dress can be argued away by the fool's wisdom to justify nakedness, and tight clothing in one's mind, but virtue and godliness have not been achieved from the argument. Rather selfish ambition has been achieved. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Christians malign wise Christians who make it their ambition to dress in a modest manner. It is amazing that such Christians would act as if those who are seeking a high standard of wisdom in their dress, are the ones who are the fools. Folks, this is a travesty in our day and it is the empty unproductive gossip of fools that seeks the road that degrades to glorify humanity, rather than the road of the higher call of a higher, safer, more virtuous standard, that glorifies God.

Pure wisdom also warns us not to do things like linger long over alcohol. I didn't say take a drink of alcohol. I said linger long over it, like the Bible warns against. But again, the fool's wisdom will try to argue away what that really means. This is why most alcoholics don't even know that they are addicted to alcohol. What have they done? They've whittled down the arguments for how much and how often it is acceptable to take in, and so now, in fools wisdom, they are not only alcoholics, they don't even recognize that they are. But, God is saying who--Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show wisdom from above.

Pure wisdom warns us not to fellowship with the world, James 4:4. But, fools wisdom, which is the whittler's wisdom, says,

What does that mean anyway?

I can have my non-Christian friends and be a Christian, so where do you draw the line?

I can watch fornication on a movie,

I can watch people take the Lord's name in vain, and humanistic plots written by fools who are according to the futility of the Gentile mind, because after all, I'm not the one actually doing those things--it's just a movie.

It's fools wisdom. By the way, it takes wisdom to realize that a pornographic movie is more than rated X anymore. It's more than being rated R. Now pornographic movies are called Parental Guidance movies. They are where sensuality, and relationships, and philosophies of morality are presented in such a way as to be totally contrary to a biblical world view. It's the world as we know it, and it whittles down. But God, in His wisdom, says, don't fellowship with the world, and then God spends His whole New Testament telling us what all that means in principles of being separate from the world. The pure wisdom from above saves us. It protects us, and it prospers us, like pure gold prospers it's owner. And so we see that the wisdom from God is pure. This is the foundation. Then as we check ourselves, we also recognize that this wisdom is,

"... then peaceable, gentle, ..."

James really has an overall thrust of his contextual flow, and so in describing the wisdom from God in respect to the way we should interact with each other, this attribute of wisdom from above makes immediate sense to us in so many ways. Christ Jesus, who is seated at the Father's right hand in heavenly places is the great Prince of peace. We also know that God's wisdom brought peace to us through the violence committed against Christ.

"... having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1

We are not trying to work and strive against the sin that dwells within our members to try and make peace with God. Christ did all of that for us on the cross. Peace is what we have with God, and peace is what we look forward to forever and ever in our glorified state of eternity. All our tears will be wiped away. There will be no more turmoil--no more pain--no more sin; there will only be peace. This is God's wisdom. There is a deep spiritual dimension to all of this wisdom from above; God's wisdom produces peace among people. If you find a Christian who fancies himself or herself to be wise, ask yourself: Are they characterized as peaceful and gentle?; or do they stir up strife among the body? I am not talking about being generally soft spoken. Such people may stir up strife in a quiet smug way, where they make their soft spoken, but snide comments, or they gently spread their gossip disease around like poisoned flower petals. It's where they tenderly place their virus in the ears of others. It is the seed of the clever kind of fool, and it produces the fruit that destroys the unity of the body, and tears down those who are made in the image of God. This is why God hates the fiery tongue of gossip so much. Just look for the fruit of disorder coming from what these kinds of people say and do, and you will find that they are not practicing the wisdom from above. This principle is so important that James repeats it again in verse 18 when he says,

"18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

A huge aspect to this is the gentleness connection. The Greek word used for gentleness by James means; being considerate concerning one's demands that are made on others. The dynamic range of this word is interesting. It is also defined as willing to yield. The wisdom of the fool is selfish, and it is arrogant. It is characterized in unwillingness to yield in gently giving up selfishly demanding your personal rights, your own ideas, and your own ambitions. If we want to be wise with the wisdom from above, then we must give in, and we must give up manipulation in a demanding spirit, where our ambition, or agenda is what we want to push at the sake of others. Such people may think they are acting wisely in a kind of power play that employs tactics of control, but God says that such people are fools. This leads us to the next huge foundational pillar of wisdom from above that we must recognize as we check ourselves. It is intimately married to what we have looked at so far. It is the wisdom attribute of being,

"... reasonable, ..."

This word literally means to be willing to yield ones previous thoughts and will to consider the thoughts and will of others. I ask--Who taught us that to be reasonable is to look at others as more important than yourself? God teaches this as wisdom from above, where this was the attitude of Christ. This attribute describes someone who is easily entreatable and approachable with requests, opinions, and complaints. According to Philippians, this is a huge attribute of the character of Christ Jesus Himself. But the big question is whether this describes you. I think it might help us to really understand the original Greek word for this by looking at a word that is the exact opposite of this word. The opposite word is obstinate. To be unreasonable then, is to be an obstinate person. To be reasonable, on the other hand, is a truly wise practice that manifests a beautiful fruit of the Spirit that God uses to build up the body of Christ, and that is the whole point of all of this wisdom that James is teaching. This leads us to see that wisdom from above is also very others oriented as,

"full of mercy and good fruits,"

Again, like usual, James is stating that being full of mercy is a product that has action behind it. It is show me theology. What this means is that being full of mercy is more than a feeling. This particular mercy is compassion that moves someone to actions that care for others and bears their burdens. It is a pure manifestation of the law of love. Paul describes the connection well where he says,

"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

To do so is pure wisdom. The opposite of this is too say,

Well, they deserve what they get, so I'm not gonna offer any help.

Or,

It's a rough world. We all need to tough it out. Nobody helped me when I was in that same situation.

None of these statements are spoken from God's wisdom. They are spoken from selfish fool's wisdom of the world. True godly wisdom is to be full to the brim with mercy where you bear one another's burdens in fulfillment of Christ's law. But we must continue to check ourselves. James says that the wisdom from above is also

"... unwavering, without hypocrisy. ..."

The ESV renders the Greek as impartial and sincere. This is the beautiful thing about wisdom from above. It is sure. It is stable. It does not show partiality. It is always right because it is always pure--being always based upon God's word. If it starts to waver then it is not wisdom. If it is hypocritical then it is fool's wisdom. Like fools gold, it may boast like it is the real deal, but it is fake, and foolish. Finally, as we check ourselves in wisdom, we recognize,

"18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Those who sow peacelessness are sowing unrighteousness. The result is not the seed of blessing, but the seeds of a curse. Jesus said blessed are those who make peace. Paul said that,

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, ..." Galatians 5:22

This is what we are looking for from above. Christ imputes the righteousness of God to us through the gospel. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is righteousness, and peace, where we enter God's rest. This is the wisdom of God that is the foolisness of God that is wiser than men. What we are looking for from above is that very same wisdom, peace, and righteousness to be flowing out of our lives as living rivers of the wisdom of God. Who among us is wise and understanding?--It needs to be me; it better be me. God commands us all. He says in Ephesians 5,

"1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for [you] ... 8 you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. ... 15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise," Ephesians 5:1-15

Are we walking in all goodness, all righteousness, and all truth? This is true wisdom from our Father. It is putting into practice what we learn to be pleasing to the Lord. It is the careful walk, and the careful walk is the wisdom walk. When we think about this, we know Who the wisdom walk imitates. It is not some guru. It is not some philosopher. The wisdom walk is the imitation of God. And we do this best by imitating Christ through His word by the Holy Spirit. As we close this morning, I want us to ask ourselves a couple of deep probing questions as we contemplate who is wise and understanding. Ask yourself,

Do I choose the path of a kind of wisdom where I think it is wise to go camp out on the very edge of the kingdom and try to push the limits of how much like the world culture I can look and act like, to be acceptable to the world, and yet still call myself a godly Christian?

If  the answer is yes, then you are a fool. Further, ask yourself,

Do I stir up strife in the body?

If yes, then you are a fool, and that means that it is time for you to make an adjustment in your Christianity.

Then there is the other set of questions that are just as important to our assessment:

Do I choose the path of godliness, where I seek to keep my mind and actions in line with the intense Christian culture of the heavenly kingdom of Christ, and in that mindset, I seek to look like, and act so much like a true Child of God that my way of living will be unacceptable to the lost world that is perishing, but yet, divine magnetism to those who are being drawn to Christ?

If yes, then you are being wise.

And further, ask yourself,

Do I promote peace and unity in the body, in grace?

If yes, then your are being wise.

I urge all of us here to quickly make it our ambition to walk in wisdom from above in these evil days. Let us be humble, and completely honest in our self assessment. If we think ourselves to be wise, and we don't act like it, then our so-called wisdom is worthless.