Knowledge Must Be Put Into Practice

Transcript

GR 1651
09/23/2012
Knowledge Must Be Put Into Practice
James 3:13-18
Gil Rugh

We’re going to return to our study of the book of James, toward the back of your New Testament. The book of James. Paul is writing to similar audience as the Apostle Peter addresses his letter. In James 1, James opens up with the first verse saying, “James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad.” Literally, to the twelve tribes of the diaspora. Writing specifically to Jews scattered outside of their homeland. These are Jews that professed faith in Christ. Peter addresses his first letter to the elect sojourners of the diaspora, literally. Also, to Jews who profess faith in Christ but are scattered outside the land that God had given them.

James’s burden in his letter, is for these Jews to understand that saving faith is a living faith. Saving faith is a faith that transforms a life in every way. Our behavior, our conduct, our life is different. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold new things have come, Paul wrote to the Corinthians. That’s what James is talking about. In James 2:17, he says, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” No confusion here, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing. But true saving faith in Christ brings about that change in a life that means that we now conduct ourselves differently. So, if faith hasn’t produced a change in life, it’s not saving faith. Everyone has faith in something. Some have very strong religious faith, but if it hasn’t changed a life and brought it into conformity with the character of Christ, it’s not saving faith.

In chapter 1 of James, verse 22, James exhorted his readers, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Remember what happened to Israel in their history leading up to the coming of their Messiah. They began to think that because they had the law, because they knew the law, therefore God was pleased with them. Their salvation was secure. But having the law, Paul uses himself as a testimony. He was an expert in the law. He did as good a job as you could do in keeping the law. But he wasn’t saved, he didn’t understand that God has to transform the heart. So, that’s what the book of James is about. It’s about behavior. Behavior that is a result of the work of the Spirit of God in making a person new on the inside.

He’s talked about a variety of things moving through the first part of chapter 3, where James focused on the tongue. One of the great changes brought about in the life of a believer is the way he talks, what he talks about, the use of his tongue. This is a very difficult area to bring into subjection to Jesus Christ, and live under the control of the Spirit. How quickly our tongues just spit it out and can cause great difficulty and great problems. James, at the end of that section on the tongue, noted the contrast. He said in verse 8, “no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.” Note what he says, “My brethren, these things ought not to be this way,” something is wrong. So, it’s a rebuke from James, that he believes some of his readers are guilty of this.

Then he gave the analogies, “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.” Something’s wrong. You claim to be a believer but you’re producing things that are characteristic of a non-believer. What’s the explanation? He doesn’t say, I don’t think you’re saved, rather he challenges them to consider the inconsistency, and thus to evaluate. Paul does it a little different, with a little different wording when he writes to the Corinthians. It says, examine yourselves to see if you’re in the faith. There ought to be the manifestation of the work of the Spirit of God in your life, if you’re truly a believer. So, this emphasis that is consistent through the scripture, Old and New Testament, is the focal point of James.

As you come to verse 13, he wants to deal with the matter of manifesting true godly wisdom and understanding. It’s easy to pride ourselves, as the Jews did, being experts in the law. How many during Jesus’ earthly ministry, who viewed themselves as experts in the law, came to think they could entrap Jesus, the Son of God, the author of the law, if you will? They had a lot of factual knowledge, but they didn’t have true godly wisdom.

So, James, in verse 13 is going to challenge them with a question to make them think and evaluate themselves. Are they truly wise and understanding? Then he’s going to draw the contrast. He’s going to show the characteristics of an earthly wisdom. And then he’ll contrast that with the characteristics of a heavenly wisdom. A wisdom that does not come from God, versus a wisdom that does come from God. The background for this would be the first nine chapters of Proverbs. If you read through the first nine chapters of Proverbs, and we’ve been back in those chapters for various reasons, you have the basic foundation from which James is drawing his emphasis. Obviously here, its in a very concise way. But you would get the elaboration of it in the first nine chapters of Proverbs, which these Jews, who now profess to be believers would be familiar with. It’s their Old Testament scriptures. So, he challenges them with the question, who among you is wise and understanding? Are they what they claim to be? They pride themselves in their knowledge. They pride themselves in their wisdom. Who among you is wise and understanding? A challenge to those who make such a claim, who are priding themselves perhaps, in their knowledge.

Wise wisdom, for the Jews, involved the ability to perceive the proper conduct in light of the knowledge you had. Basically we would use it the same way. We might say, wisdom is the application of the knowledge we have, putting it into practice. Who among you is wise? Who is understanding? And the word translated ‘understanding’ basically a synonym with being wise, having wisdom. There might be a little difference in emphasis, maybe more of an emphasis of the knowledge that is behind it. But they are basically emphasizing, taking what you know, the facts you have and putting them into proper practice. If you can’t do that, you really don’t have wisdom. You really don’t have understanding. You may have a lot of knowledge.

I want to note something here before we go on, because there is a move among those who claim to be evangelical, there’s an emphasis, we’ve had too much knowledge, too much input. I was on the website of an evangelical church in another city here in the last couple of weeks. I was directed there by someone else for an evaluation. You come to the website and you’re looking for what is this church like? The first thing you note, is the senior pastor, lead pastor, the one who they name as the pastor, but there are other staff, but he’s not a bible teacher. He’s an entrepreneur, he’s a visionary, he’s an author, all these things. You say, wait a minute, it’s an evangelical church, but there’s another person on staff we would call a bible teacher. Then they tell you we have small groups, you could join a small group, but don’t come to a small group expecting it to be a bible study. That’s not what we are. And the purpose, the emphasis to this is, believers have had too much knowledge. So, really the emphasis in our church is, putting this into practice. You know the scripture never says that God’s people have too much knowledge. They are never rebuked for that. They are rebuked for not putting the knowledge they have into practice. But the idea is we are going to move away from an emphasis. We see this in churches all over as they move more and more. We don’t have this meeting of the church anymore. We don’t do that anymore and our people, they know all this. Remember the Old Testament prophets carried the message from God, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. We want to be careful we don’t get confused and say, oh yeah, they know too much. They spend too much in bible study.

You know, when you think about it, even in a church like ours, where we have a lot of emphasis on bible studies, truly only for a small portion of the week. A few hours on Sunday, if you come to all the services. We have opportunity through the week and different studies. But you add all those up, it’s a relatively small amount of time. We have plenty of time to put this into practice in whatever we’re doing in our daily activities. Whether it’s in a job in what we call the working world, where it’s taking care of the home, whether it’s in the contacts that come. Not the idea, oh well, we cut back. So, we don’t have this service because we’re going to devote it to this. Isn’t it amazing what we really want to cut back on, is the input of the word, so we have time to put it into practice. I mean, we have a lot of hours every day to put it into practice. It just becomes an excuse. Somehow God’s people become comfortable with less input of scripture. We’re to be more like newborn babes, longing for the pure milk of the word.

So, when James is talking here, he’s going to rebuke them, and warn them about the danger of not having true wisdom and understanding. He’s not rebuking them for having too much knowledge. So, “who among you is wise and understanding?” Let him show, you’ve got to manifest, and not just a matter of typing out all the information I have, show it. By his good behavior, his deeds. So, its conduct, its works, its what you do. So, show your wisdom, your understanding. It ought to be visible to be seen by others, those around, family, friends, co-workers, fellow believers. It ought to be evident that here’s a person who not only knows the word, has a reservoir of the truth of the word, but he understands it and his life is shaped and governed by. “Let him show by his good behavior his deeds, his works in the gentleness of wisdom.”

Good behavior, excellent behavior. Sometimes translated ‘excellent’, sometimes translated ‘beautiful, good’. It’s that behavior that is consistent with the will of God for us. With the character of God. In the gentleness of wisdom. Gentleness, a word sometimes translated ‘meekness’, sometimes translated ‘humility’. It’s not weakness - meekness, not weakness. It’s not being passive and just indifferent. So, its not: I’m a godly person, I’m not argumentative, I’m not disagreeable. We shouldn’t be argumentative, we shouldn’t be disagreeable, but I’m just not moved by anything. That’s not what we’re talking about with this word, its gentleness, it’s the opposite of being arrogant. A self-promoter, someone who is driven by his own pride, his own selfish focus in his life.

In chapter 1 verse 21, James addressed this, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility,” the same word translated gentleness, here its translated humility. “In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers.” But we receive it with the proper spirit, by taking in the word, not so that I could demonstrate my superior knowledge, not because I want to demonstrate that I’m a person who studies the word and knows the word. There’s a humility about it. How blessed I am of God to be able to learn more of Him, His person, His character, His will. My desire is to take this in and understand it better, so that my life is transformed by it, and I live more consistently. It’s a characteristic of Christ. In Matthew 11:29, I am meek and lowly. The word ‘meek’ is this word, gentle, humble. He wasn’t a weak person, He demonstrated strength, sometimes anger toward sin. So, that character of Christ being produced in us. In Ephesians 5:23 we have the list of what the Spirit of God produces in a life. In verse 23 begins with this word, as one of the fruit of the spirit, gentleness. This quality of life, the opposite of self-assurance, it is strength of character, but humility in that strength.

Backup just the one verse, there are a number of verses that would use this of believers. Go to Ephesians 4. Galatians I just referred to, chapter 5:23, is that fruit of the spirit, but in Ephesians 4. Paul begins chapter 4 with this exhortation, “Therefore I, the prisoner on the Lord, implore you,” note this, “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” Walk, consistent with those who have been called to be sons of the living God, with that involved. “With all humility and gentleness.” You see humility here, connected with gentleness. Some words that are joined together with patience, showing tolerance for one another. There’s an understanding, there’s not an arrogance that sees oneself superior to someone else. But appreciates the work the Spirit of God is doing in this other life. And wants to help them grow if they are not as mature yet. That understanding in relationships, the proper use of the knowledge. Not to display myself but to be a help to others around. Not with arrogance, I can help the poor, people who don’t own as much as me, but a real interest in them with the proper attitude.

Come back to James. “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.” Concerned about this, because evidently among some of these professing believers, there’s an arrogance being manifested, that causes James concern. So, now what he’s going to do, is give some of the characteristics of wisdom, that does not come from God. It’s not true wisdom. It’s a false wisdom. It’s an arrogance you can have a lot of knowledge, a lot of facts, but the wisdom that God produces enables us to utilize the knowledge we’re taking in. I can never have too much knowledge of the God that I love and serve. I can never have too much knowledge of His word. That’s a delusion of the Devil. But I can fail to be concerned, to be putting into practice the truth that I am learning. And endeavoring by the grace of God, to be consistent with that. To be open to having the light of the word of God shine on me in such a way, as I am into the truth, that I realize here’s adjustments that need to be made. Changes that need to be made. Practices that need to stop. Practices that need to start.

So, “if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and lie so against the truth.” You can see with his initial exhortation, let him show by his good behavior and deeds, in the gentleness of wisdom. True godly wisdom functions in the context of gentleness. That meekness, that humility. If you have bitter jealousy, some would translate this ‘harsh zeal’. A word that means ‘bitter’ and a word that is often translated ‘zeal’, often translated ‘jealousy’, depends of the context. This word translated ‘jealousy’, can be used in a good sense. Being jealous for something good. Or it can be used in a negative sense, of a selfish jealousy, a selfish zeal, which is being jealous, envy. If you have bitter jealousy, a harsh zeal, the idea is the determination to do things your way, have it your way. I’m right, I’m concerned about me. And often when I have more knowledge than someone else, that can become an excuse for me to use my knowledge in an improper way. So, there is a determination here to have one’s own way. Bitter jealousy, bitter zeal, selfish ambition. It’s about me. You see when it focuses on me, what I want, what I like, what I’m determined to have, you’ve lost the focus of functioning in the gentleness of wisdom and the character of Christ, who sacrificed Himself for my benefit. Demonstrated the greatness of His love. His own humility to submit Himself to the sufferings and ultimate death of the cross. If you have bitter jealousy, and selfish ambition in your heart, you’re really driven by your own selfish motives. Something in the context talking about the word of God and talking to those who profess a relationship with Jesus Christ, he has to talk to them about having a heart that is driven by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Something is wrong. It’s what he is saying, like he said about the tongue. Verse 11, “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?” Something is wrong.

So, here you claim to be wise and understanding, you may be able to quote a lot, but you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart. You note, the heart is the issue. But what is coming out of the heart is manifested in the practice. Don’t be arrogant and so lie against the truth. Don’t be lying against the truth. Now you see what is the truth you claim to hold, you’re lying against. You deny the truth that you claim to hold and believe. Don’t be arrogant and puff yourself up, act like you’re a godly person, because you know more than someone else, when you’re not putting it into practice. You’re functioning out of selfish motives. You treat others this way. This is the reality of it.

Why do churches have so many splits? Most of them aren’t over real true doctrinal issues, but come from personal divisions. Personal disagreements. I’ve shared with you, many years ago before I came to Lincoln, I pastored a church, and it had been wracked by division. When I talked to them about the division, they said, well, this has gone on for thirty years before you came. You’re not going to solve it while you’re here. And we had literally the center aisle, and I an name the families to this day, anybody who sat on this side belonged to this family, and anybody on that side, I said can you tell me how this began? Goes back so long ago, it just is here. There was not a doctrinal issue? No, oh no, we don’t disagree doctrinally. What is this? How did this get into the church? What happens to our families? We’ve been talking about a marriage, what happens to marriages? I mean, there are people that come to Indian Hills that are different people when they get home. Something’s wrong. I mean, they function with bitter jealousy, selfish ambition. They are arrogant, there is not gentleness about them. Somethings wrong. I’m different at home than I am here. If I treat my wife differently, if a wife treats her husband, somethings wrong. We lie against the truth, we’re pretending something.

This wisdom is not that which comes down from above. It’s earthly, it’s natural, it’s demonic. When you’re opposed to the truth, there’s only two sides. There is no middle ground. That’s what James is laying out. Same kind of contrast he drew when he talked about the tongue in verse 11 and 12. Can a fig tree produce olives? I mean, something’s wrong. So, here, if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, but you claim to be wise. Claim to be a godly person who understands God’s truth. You’re lying against the truth. The wisdom you have is not from God. Not that which comes down from above, from God, the God in heaven. This wisdom is earthly, natural, demonic. Earthly, it’s that which is tied to the earth. Doesn’t have anything to do with heaven. It’s just of this earth. It’s the wisdom of the world.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1. Here he’s talking about the message of Jesus Christ. And verse 18, he says, “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it’s the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man, where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through it’s wisdom did not come to know God.” So, you see, contrasting worldly wisdom with God’s wisdom. And we’re in two different realms. We have individuals of great intelligence in the world, that have no true godly wisdom in their lives. They have no ability. They can make vast sums of money. They can run major companies. But they have no understanding of God’s truth and the implementation of that truth in life and what it means. It’s a contrast between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. Verse 24 says, “those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” That’s why he has to start with the relationship with God, otherwise all that the world admires and admonishes is nothing. What do we have? We don’t have the knowledge of the living God. It’s truth doesn’t shape life, you have nothing. You have really no understanding. We’re reminded of the wretchedness of sin, because sometimes don’t you ask yourself, how can intelligent people do this? It ought to be obvious, wouldn’t it? It’s not obvious, because intelligence is not enough. You need to know the living God and have wisdom and understanding that only come from Him.

In chapter 2, while you’re in 1 Corinthians, if you still are, verse 6. Paul said, “we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom” and His truth. Which is not understood apart from the revelation of God. We as believers need always to be careful that we don’t become enthralled with the wisdom of the world and then in our confusion, we think that we can adjust the truth of God to fit with what the world thinks is wise. And we become those who lie about the truth. Sad, often that becomes the pursuit when we get filled with knowledge and look to be accepted among the world. Wait a minute, worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom are two opposing entities. It’s not that believers are ignorant of the facts of science or history or anything else. It’s that only believers truly understand these things, because we see them through the light of the word of God.

It’s earthly, come back to James. You know, well, too late, I could have you stay in Corinthians, but it’s natural. This word ‘natural’, we get the word ‘soul’ from it. We carry it over into English in words like psychology, the study of the soul, from this Greek word. It’s soulish, it’s natural. It’s used, this particular adjective as James has it, used five times in the New Testament. Always in contrast to that which is spiritual. Cause all you have is that which man is apart from the supernatural work of God. Back to 1 Corinthians 1, I meant to tell you to stay there. 1 Corinthians 2:14, where Paul says, “But a natural man,” a soulish man, a man apart from the work of the Spirit of God, “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised,” discerned. So, you see that contrast, the man apart from the work of God in his life does not understand the things of God. Does not see God at work in the world in a proper sense. Does not understand things as they really are. They are foolishness to him. The English word for moron from this word translated ‘foolishness’. He can’t understand them.

Want to be careful, the world can know a lot about a lot of things. I have a smart phone, I shared with you, it hasn’t helped me be smarter in that area. I know nothing about them. I have the little buttons you can push on the screen to get things. I think that’s amazing! I shared with my family, we were on vacation, my phone has a camera. I have taken all these pictures in Colorado. When I get home, I realize I was just pushing the on-and-off button. I thought I was taking a picture every time I pushed it. I thought, I’ve got another picture. I just turned it off and on, then off and on. So, I go home, I didn’t have any pictures. I’m amazed at what God has given man in His common grace, to design all these things. So, being a believer, doesn’t mean we know all these things.

But I understand and know the God who created man, who gives him the ability to know these things. I understand much of what is going on in the world, why it’s going on, because I know the word of God. Not because I am more humanly intelligent than some of these men, because men with great intellectual abilities cannot understand the things of God. That’s a supernatural work. So, that contrast, it’s natural. The natural man, the soulish man, the man apart from God’s saving work in his life, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. That’s why, trying to prove spiritual things to an unbeliever is going nowhere. He can’t accept them. They are foolishness to him. He can’t understand why Christians can be so stupid. But he’s the one who doesn’t understand. He can not understand if they are spiritually discerned. That’s why the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, coming to true salvation.

Come all the way back to almost the book of Revelation. Jude 19, talking about verse 18, you see the context, “ ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded.” That’s the literally translation of one word, soulish. Soulish, worldly-minded. It gives you the idea of it, it’s the same word we’re talking about, natural. The natural man, the soulish man, the man, they are “devoid of the spirit,” as it’s explained in the next statement. Not having the Spirit. Without the Spirit of God, they are only soulish. They are natural. So, everything for them happens on the worldly level, the earthly level. Contrast to the believer. That’s the kind of wisdom, back in James 3, that is characterized by the selfishness, the determination to have ones own way. Bitter jealousy, selfish ambition. This wisdom is not that which comes from above, it’s earthly, it’s natural, it’s demonic.

See, scripture draws the lines. Draws the line, we live in a day of accommodation. And that’s true of those who profess to be believers. Accommodation, we play down differences, we look for ways to get together. No matter whether it’s Roman Catholics, whether its apostate Protestants, whether its Mormon, you know, lets not just be… The scripture divides it, there is God’s wisdom and there is demonic wisdom. There is wisdom from the Spirit of God, there is wisdom from selfish, fallen man. I mean, these kind of contrasts, earthly, natural, demonic. It’s the kind of wisdom the demons have. You don’t want to go head to head with the Devil and his demons. They are far more intelligent, are more brilliant than we have. I mean, the Devil can influence the weather. We see in the opening chapters of Job, he can bring devastating illness. He’s an awesome being. He rules this world’s system. I mean, think of the brilliance of the Devil. I mean, managing the world, if you will. He is referred to in scripture as the god, small ‘g’, of this world. He showed Christ the kingdoms of the world and said, I can give these to you. I mean, he’s a man of awesome brilliance of being a boss, a brilliance of demons who follow him. But what you have, when you don’t have God’s wisdom, you have demonic wisdom. So, it’s natural, earthly, demonic. Earthly, we talk about the world, the flesh and the devil. James does here, using earthly, natural, demonic. That which is natural is fleshly, it’s all it has, the flesh. And it is of the devil, it’s demonic.

Where there is jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. Self-centered, selfish people create conflict, disorder, all of that. Disorder means instability, trouble. Back in chapter 1:8 of James, a double minded man is unstable, that’s the word translated ‘disorder’ here. Instability, disorder, confusion, trouble. Chapter 3:8 of James, “no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil.” ‘Restless’, another translation of this word translated disorder. It pictures turmoil, confusion. So, where someone is functioning selfishly, with arrogance, it brings instability. Characterize the church, disorder, confusion, restlessness, instability. Can effect the home. You have a godly person or ungodly people, what happens? Just brings disharmony, conflict. There’s every evil thing. Things which are bad based. One person put it this way, said it brings people together, it drives them apart. Instead of producing peace, it produces strife. Instead of producing fellowship, it produces disruption in personal relationships. Sobering thing to remember, that the wisdom that that person possesses is devilish rather than divine. And that such a person in engaged in Satan’s work, not God’s work. True wisdom begins with God and then follows on with Him.

Alright, that’s the wisdom which is earthly, natural and demonic. Then he contrasts it, verse 17, but, the wisdom from above, the wisdom that comes from God. The wisdom that God produces in a life, is everything that that wisdom is not. It’s first, pure, free from corruption. Free from the selfishness. It’s what I want, what I like, its about me, that only can produce conflict, right? I mean, what does it do in the church? Well, you have people who are in a function area and we’re going to have conflict, because it’s all about them, and when it’s all about me, I can never be satisfied. What’s it do to my home, my relationship with my wife? Well, if it’s all about me, she can never do enough to please me. I’m always frustrated with something about her, because its all about me. And you know, that just is one of those pits that has no bottom. Because it’s never enough. The wisdom from above is first pure, it’s clean from these things. You know, 1 John 3 says, this is the characteristic of a believer who focuses on Christ and His coming again. He purifies Himself, even as Christ is pure. I want to live a life pure, pure in heart, pure in motives, pure in conduct.

Opening chapters of Proverbs talks about this kind of wisdom that brings purity. We’ll take time, we can go back to Proverbs, and brought you back to the verses that would fit this, but come to Proverbs 2, we don’t have time for many verses, we’ll take this, Proverbs 2, pick up with verse 10, verse 6 tells you, “the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Chapter 1:7 said, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” So, that emphasis in Proverbs. Come to verse 10, “wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you.” What will it do? It “will deliver you from the way of evil.” So, you see it’s a purifying effect, God’s wisdom. “From the man who speaks perverse things; from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who delight in doing evil and rejoice in the perversity of evil; who’s paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways,” then on to sexual immorality. God’s wisdom is a purifying wisdom. We can no longer function what I think might give me pleasure, what I want, what I like, the way I want it, and on. It’s a purifying wisdom and cleansing, no longer driven by selfish ambition, arrogance and so on.

Ok, come back to James. The wisdom from God, “is first pure, then peaceable.” God’s wisdom produces peace among God’s people. It doesn’t produce strife. It’s worldly wisdom that produces strife, conflict, disorder. That’s why when it infiltrates among believers, as James is concerned as he writes to professing Jewish believers. The strife, the conflict, what happened in the church at Corinth, driven by strife. Why did Paul start out by talking about God’s wisdom versus man’s wisdom? There is peace that comes, where a functioning with God’s wisdom. We’ll get into this when we get into James 4 as well. One writer said this, God’s wisdom, it never starts quarrels, strife, dissension and turbulence. You know, the scripture emphasizes that we have peace with God, so then we can have the peace of God in our hearts. So, then we can have peace with one another.

Now, the world will like to start talk about having peace among men generally. And then they will quote verses from the bible about peace. And blessed are the peacemakers, so, we’re going to bring peace to the world. That’s a denial of the word of God. That’s lying against the truth. That’s the Devil taking scripture like he did in the temptation of Christ in Matthew, trying to encourage unbiblical conduct, by misusing scripture. No, we’re talking about the peace, first I have to have peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ and His peace comes into my heart; then out of the heart that is with peace with God. And there is tranquility in my heart as a result of the work of God. And peaceable, I’m not always in turmoil. Now that will come into chapter 4, where quarrels and conflict come within your own heart, something’s wrong. You have the peace of God in your heart. That’s where James is, it’s peaceable. So, it brings peace in our relationships.

And there are many verses here, but we don’t have time. You’re familiar with them. You’re close enough, turn over to Peter, take one verse at the end of a list that I have. 1 Peter 3, just after James. In 1 Peter 3:8, what does Peter write? And this is after talking about husbands and wives. And how wives ought to respond to their husbands and husbands to their wives. Then he says, to sum this up what he has said up to this point, not only about that, but earlier. “All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for this very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, ‘the one who desires life,’ “ and he’s quoting now from the Psalm, “ ‘who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’ “ So, that emphasis again, not that I’m going to change my life so that I’m acceptable before God, but because God has brought His salvation to my heart and life, now it is imperative that I live the new life that He has given me in Christ.

Come back to James 3, wisdom that is from above is first pure, that permeates everything. He has purified my heart, that sets me free from my selfish desires, my determined to have things my way, and so on. Then its peaceable, then its gentle. A word that has a breadth of meaning like some of our English words do. Some suggested meanings are: considerate in the demands it makes upon others, not insisting on strict rights, willing to yield. So, that idea in the particular translated ‘gentle’ here. The world goes contrary to this. You know, we’ve got to build into our kids what? Self-esteem, and they can assert themselves. I was reading an article in a magazine or a paper here in the last week or two. And they were talking about the progress we’ve made in training girls and women to be more self-assertive. Well, we’ve tried to do that with the men, we tried to do that with the women.

And then you can see the world’s wisdom is contrary to God’s wisdom. He’s talking about being peaceable, gentle, not self-assertive. That doesn’t mean we have to be wimpy, passive in the wrong sense. But it’s not all about me. It’s not about learning to assert myself so I get my way. And nobody is going to walk on me. I’m going to be strong and… Wait a minute, are we talking about developing the character of Christ? Are we talking about being admired by a world that is opposed to our Christ? Gentle, willing to yield our rights. Doesn’t mean we give up the truth of the word of God. We will die for that. But, even in the handling of that, we do it with the proper spirit. Again, Peter used Christ as the example of that, when He was being abused He didn’t lash out at them. Expect Christ there, they are pulling His beard, they are striking Him, you think there will come a day when I will sentence you to hell. But He doesn’t respond that way. You know, so our character has been changed, and now we are like Him. Pure, peaceable, because it wasn’t about Him, it was about what He was doing for us.

We understand the unbeliever is living in darkness. He’s a fool, he doesn’t know truth. He doesn’t understand truth. He can’t discern the hand of God at work. I must tell him about the Savior, cause I was just like him. Why Paul told Timothy, you remind them; and told them in Titus 3, we were just like these unbelievers. Otherwise we get arrogant. And we look at the news, we look at political figures, look at people, how can he be so stupid? And we fuss and fume and say things we shouldn’t say. Well, what do we expect, isn’t that exactly what God says they are? And we understand. And we’re willing to take abuse because we want to tell them about the Savior. And its not about us getting our way and approving. You know, we loose our perspective.

Peaceable, gentle, reasonable. Similar to the preceding word, it’s doesn’t have to have it’s own way. Carries the idea of obedience, willing to yield. The opposite of being obstinate or disobedient. You know, God’s wisdom makes us willing to yield to one another. Most of our differences don’t come over doctrine. We have doctrinal issues we stand for. But, you know, here in our church, we’re pretty unified on doctrine. Sometimes we get irritated with people, other believing people. We have to be willing to yield. So, reasonable, full of mercy. Full of mercy and good fruits. That’s the compassion that moves us to act for the good others. We were the recipients of God’s mercy. Hence, we are to be a merciful people, we understand. I mean, we’ve been there.

We have received mercy, but we can be very intolerant of the unbeliever, can’t we? That doesn’t mean we agree with them. It doesn’t mean we don’t talk about sin, we don’t share with them the Savior. But we don’t do it from a position of arrogance, superiority. Sometimes the world takes that, because they think we think we’re right. I want them to understand, it’s not because I say this, you’re right, I’m no better than you. The difference is, God’s mercy has been bestowed upon me, and He offers to bestow it upon you. I give the idea that you’re such a filthy, dirty sinner, you deserve to go to hell. You do, but so did I. That’s not changed, right? My telling them how awful they are, and how despicable, and I don’t even like to be around you because of the way you talk, and what you do. I hate even to have to touch you. Wait a minute, what was I? You know the arrogance creeps in. And if we’re not careful, we become like the Jews who thought they were superior to the others.

We claim to belong to God. His wisdom produces His character. That means we’ll be full of the mercy. We serve a God, Ephesians 2:4, talks about, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, no different than any other sinner, no less a sinner. Oh, I didn’t do all those vile things, God looked at my heart and what did He say? It’s deceitful and desperately wicked. So, while we were dead in our sins, God being rich in mercy. So, what would characterize us now as God’s people? Having His character developed in us. We’re full of mercy for others. And good fruits is the actions that flow from the mercy. We’re producing the character of God.

Just the opposite, at the end of verse 16, what worldly wisdom produced, “every evil thing.” What’s God’s wisdom doing? Makes us full of good fruits. The contrast: every evil thing, full of good fruits. Unwavering, no variation, no instability. Back in James 1:6, the double minded man, following that we are to “ask in faith without any doubting.” The one who doubts is “driven and tossed.” The “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” We are unwavering, there is a stability, we have stability in Christ and in His truth. So, we’re not varying on that. But with that, we’re producing God’s character. How merciful, how kind, how loving He is. Without hypocrisy, we’re not playing a game, we’re not putting on a role. Not putting on a veneer so you will think something of me. This is to be genuine. This is to be real.

“And the seed who’s fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Righteousness is produced in the environment of God’s peace. And we bring the message of peace. So, it’s contrasted: this order, the chaos. The church ought to be a place, the church of Jesus Christ, where God’s peace rules, right? That’s why the Devil works so hard to bring conflict. To bring turmoil, to bring division. This is not at the expense of truth. God never excuses the sacrifice here of His truth in the name of love or peace. But in all, even of our disagreements, we must have a desire that God’s peace would reign. Even when there’s doctrinal disagreement, we want to handle it a way our desire is that those that we believe are in an improper position biblically, would come to understand the truth. Not because we are superior to them, but because on this occasion they disagree with the word. God plans for us to be a family that has harmony. We’ve been talking about marriage and family. We desire to have families that are characterized by harmony and peace. So, God wants His family, the church, the household of God to be characterized by His peace. Our lives ought to manifest His character. Whether we’re together in the church. Whether we’re functioning out in the world rubbing shoulders, so to speak, with the godless, unbelievers who’s life and lifestyle can be such an offense to a Holy God. But we’re there to what? Be lights in the darkness. Share with them the marvelous grace of God that changed us, sinful people. So, that we could become His children, manifest His character.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. The power of Your salvation. Lord, it is important that we not tolerate the inconsistencies that come into our lives. Lord, in areas where we are not functioning in obedience and submission to Your truth. Yet we claim to believe the truth. To know the truth. To love the truth. Yet we excuse the disorder in our lives, the areas of conflict. Lord, pray that we would be careful to examine ourselves as James challenges us. We claim to have Your wisdom and understanding. Are we living lives that are consistent with that claim? Thank you for the power of Your salvation that indeed changes us on the inside, so that we can function differently on the outside. Bless us in our service for You in the days of this week. Pray in Christ’s name. Amen