James, On Wisdom

James 3:13-18
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
14 But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

15 Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

* Scripture Introduction

Today we’re continuing our series through James, looking at wisdom. Our text this morning is James 3:13-18.

Before we do that: EVANGELSIM REPORT

God grant us the wisdom to discover the right,
the will to choose it,
and the strength to make it endure.
In the Name of the Son,
AMEN

“JASON” FROM DQ – Back when I worked at Dairy Queen, there was a guy, we’ll call him Jason. Jason was a really nice guy. He became part of our friend group even outside of work. He showed my brother how to work on cars and helped him rebuild one of the engines of his Honda. He was one of those guys that had a lot of street spots. He became a manager pretty quickly and was a nice person to work with. Now if you remember, I worked with my little brother and a few other friends from church at Dairy Queen. One day while working, one of the other coworkers was relating to one of us that Jason started to talk behind our back. For whatever reason, he started to say things like this about us. “I am way more moral than Abe, Sam or Ryan, even though those guys go to church, I am way more moral than they will ever be.” At that point in our lives, I don’t know if you could say he was wrong to say that, but it was odd that he said that. Because in many ways he was more wise in the way of the world and how things worked more so than us. Each of us being homeschooled, sheltered, and much younger didn’t understand like he did. We just kind of ignored him saying that and got on with our lives.

JASON’S FAILER – Then some of us at work began to notice that he was going back and forth between two girls. It was almost as if he had two girlfriends, and he switched off every week. And it turns out that was true. And the girls were fine with it, at least as far as we knew. Some of us confronted him about how odd that was, and he didn’t care. It wasn’t just me and my friends from church or my brother. It was almost everybody at work talked to him about this. For a while, he was kind of the guy that almost everybody had come and talked to about advice, about things outside of work. But after we found out he was having two girlfriends at the same time, many of us kind of kept our distance. Many people would talk to Jason and would instantly recognize this guy has a sense of know-how about. Before finding out about his two girlfriends, if some were to ask if Jason was wise or not, I think most people who knew him would say, yes, he’s wise.

BIND TO FCF – But if we were to ask James, the writer of this epistle, what would he say? Who is wise? Can a person be wise but act foolishly? Is a wise person merely someone who’s good at offering advice or someone who knows the right thing to do? If you are someone who wants to be a wise person, then James has many things to say to you.

Out first question comes from James 3:13, Who is Wise and Understanding?

How Does The World Answer This Question? – Before we actually read the text again and answer this question, it’s worth seeing how the world might answer this question. Who do people say is wise? Or maybe a better way to ask this question is to ask, where do people go for advice?

The people may give answers like:

We Can Answer Like the World – If we are not careful, we can answer this question just like the world might. James though has a different answer. A very simple, practical way to identify who is wise. He writes in James 3.13:

• Conduct, not a one-time thing.
• Anyone can be wise in one instance, but be completely foolish in another
• Atheletes can be wise according to their sport, but foolish with their finaces.