What is the Wisdom From Above?

Good afternoon, everyone. Happy sunny Sabbath to all of you. Hello to everyone who's online. Sorry you can't be with us, and hopefully you'll be back with us soon. And hello to any visitors we have with us here today. I'd like to start today by going straight to the Scriptures. If you'll turn with me, please, to James 1, verse 5. We'll use this as sort of our text for the day. James 1, verse 5, to set the tone for the topic this afternoon. James 1, verse 5, we read, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Now, for those who know a little bit of British English, it's a little bit cheeky here using the word if. If anyone lacks wisdom, because I think if any of us have even a small amount of self-awareness, we recognize the fact that we can always use more wisdom, and there's more that we can grow in in that space. But James lays out very clearly that if we lack wisdom, if we need wisdom, if we want to access wisdom, we should go to God and ask for it. Before we go any further, though, what is wisdom? What do you think of when you think of a wise person? Chances are, in our cultural background, many of us will think of somebody maybe sitting isolated on top of a mountain, gazing into the sky. Maybe they've got a toga on or something. You know, we think of this sort of viewpoint of contemplation, of being out with nothing disturbing you, of quiet around you. But is that what the Bible talks about when it's talking about wisdom? I found an interesting article called The Hebrew Concept of Wisdom. It was written by a lady named Lois Tverberg, writing for the Ngedi Resource Center. I'd like to read just a short excerpt of it, because I think it sets a good tone in terms of what the Hebrew background or tradition is and culturally, what people would have thought of when they heard about wisdom.

She writes, we as Westerners think of wisdom as to have cognitive ability to be able to think great thoughts. We think of the wise philosopher as being the opposite of the manual laborer, who pounds nails or paints walls or lays tile. In Hebrew, however, the word hokkma is used to describe both. It speaks of people who are skilled laborers as those who have wise hearts. We read this term applied to the skilled laborers who built the tabernacle. Reading from Exodus 35, verse 25, she writes, every skilled woman, literally with a wise heart, spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, again with the building of the tabernacle. She goes on to write, and the Bible says that the craftsmen who designed the high priest's robes were given the quote-unquote spirit of wisdom. And we see that in Exodus 28, verse 3. So the word hokkma in Hebrew describes the ability to function successfully in life, whether it's by having the right approach to difficult situation or the ability to weave cloth. It's practical and applicable to this world, not just otherworldly. She goes on to write that Judaism has historically held manual labor in high regard, rather than sustaining it as unspiritual. When a great rabbi entered a room, people were to stop what they were doing and honor him. However, carpenters and other craftsmen did not need to stop, because their work was considered just as honorable. This is part of the Hebraic affirmation of day-to-day life in this world.

So I found this a very interesting background to what the culture of that day would have thought of as wisdom. As we'll see moving through today's message, there are very similar themes in terms of what wisdom is and what wisdom does that are weaved through the New Testament. I think this ties in many ways back to last week's sermon that we heard from Mr. Thomas, as we heard reinforced the need for taking action in our lives as part of our reliance in God. It's all part of one whole. It's something that makes up the entirety of a wise person's being. Turn with me, if you will. We'll continue with James, and we'll read a passage that I'll key on for the rest of this message, which is in James 3. James 3, and we'll read verses 13 through 18. Here James writes, Fantastic section of scripture here. James, for those of you who recall what's written there, is just a very dense book in terms of all of the things that are packed into it. If you haven't spent any time in James recently, I'd certainly recommend that you go to it and take time, because there are so many passages of this size that have so much that are wrapped into them, that just take time to think about and unpack. What I'd like to do in our short time today is look at three contrasts that are set out in this passage. Contrasts that describe the difference between two vastly different types of wisdom. Because as we see demonstrated here and throughout the Bible, there are more than one type of wisdom that's mentioned, and it's very important that we focus on the right type of wisdom. I'll break this down into the three contrasts of, number one, source of wisdom, number two, intent within ourselves, and thirdly, our actions. Source, intent, and action.

So let's think first about the source. This is probably not a terribly difficult thing for us to think of. But at the core of this tension about the source of wisdom is the fact that there's a brand of wisdom that's godly, and it's not an equal alternative to earthly wisdom. It's clearly set forth as superior. Now we hear sometimes in words that get thrown around in current events these days, we hear about the theme of moral equivalency.

The idea of taking two things that are not at all like each other and treating them as though they're equal to one another. And we'll see this in this passage in James as well. James is making very clear that there is no moral equivalency between these two types of wisdom. One is so clearly different and superior to the other, and there's strong language to talk about it. Look at the language, if we're still in the scripture here, that's used to talk about wisdom that is earthly. Sensual, demonic, containing every evil thing. Not much question there about what the opinion is, what it is that James is putting forward about the idea of earthly wisdom. No equivalency between that and the wisdom that comes from above. Do these words feel jarring when we would apply them to things that we see around us? I'll have to say that as I read those things, it's very different than the world that I live in every day, where we have to be very careful about the things that we say, very careful not to cause offense to other people. In the workplace these days, everyone tries to use very neutral words about everything going on in order to not cause offense or worse.

But it's important to recognize these words and what they say in terms of God's viewpoint. Earthly wisdom is not put forward as an alternative lifestyle. James does not indicate it that we should choose whatever works best for us. He does not indicate that there are many different ways to wisdom, and the right path to wisdom really just kind of depends on what you think is best. He's not pro-choice when it comes to wisdom. He's very clear on what the right route is. And as we might hear out there a lot, he doesn't say he's just kind of putting it out there, and there's no right or wrong answer. I can't think of how many times I hear that on a day-to-day basis. Hey, we're just having a discussion here. No right or wrong answer. And it's certainly true in situations when you might be brainstorming the way to get something done at work. But when we're in the world of morality, God's way, and wisdom, and the choice of wisdom that we have, there is most truly a right answer. Turn with me, if you will, to Proverbs 14. We'll just read a couple of short excerpts from this section of Proverbs. For those of you who are looking for something to spend a little more time with over the course of the week related to this section and the contrast between earthly wisdom and the wisdom from above, I'd encourage you to add Proverbs 14 to your list and spend some time with it over the course of the week. Reflect on the contrasts that are laid out and the wisdom that's laid out in this section of the Proverbs. But let's look briefly at just a couple of them. First of all, in verse 9, here we read, fools mock at sin, but among the upright there's favor.

A very clear definition that's laid out here. A very clear definition of people who make light of sin, who consider sin not to be something to be taken seriously or considered carefully. And in verse 12, a verse that's probably most familiar to all of us, Proverbs 14 verse 12, there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Talking here about the same brand of wisdom that James is talking about when he speaks about that earthly wisdom, calling it sensual, even demonic and evil. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Corinthians 3. Here Paul, writing to the Corinthians, lays out a very similar contrast between these two brands of wisdom to what James laid out in his letter. 1 Corinthians 3, we'll read verses 18 through 20.

And notice again the strong language here that in this case Paul uses under the same inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 18, Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. So to show us here again this contrast, there's clearly a wisdom that is not of God. A way of approaching life, living out life. Again, we think of that whole self, not just what a person thinks about, but how it animates the things that they do throughout every part of their lives. And we're taught here that we shouldn't deceive ourselves. Probably the most difficult thing to do is to look inside of ourselves and to understand our own selves.

The motivations that we have, the reactions we have, the reasons that we do the things that we do. And we're supposed to examine and consider the wisdom that's working itself out in the things that we do in our lives. Not just the things we think about, but again as we think of that practicality of wisdom, the things that we're doing, the things that we sow around us, the trail that's left behind us, whether that's a trail of good or a trail of difficulty and controversy and problems. So as we conclude this first section, the source of wisdom, wisdom from above versus earthly wisdom, if we look at the biblical approach to wisdom, there's a stark contrast in the way that we wrap together our being in this world, the way we combine what we know with what we do.

We all need to spend time considering the contrast between the two. I know I need to ask myself, have I slipped into moral equivalence in the way that I treat these types of wisdom? Oh, there's all kinds of wisdom out there, you know, they're pretty much all the same. The Bible doesn't give us room for that. God's wisdom is so far above the way that the world would teach us that we should live our lives and how we make our decisions. And we have to be very careful and clear in how we approach those. And again, if you're interested in spending more time on this part of the topic than we have today, I'd encourage you to spend some time in Proverbs 14 over the course of the week.

So let's shift here from this contrast between the two types of wisdom to intent. There's a difference in intent between the two types of wisdom. When we see laid out here in this passage in James 3, the difference between envy and self-seeking versus a pure and peaceable intent. This talks to things that are happening inside of oneself. You don't always know entirely what's going on because people, we all can mask what we do pretty carefully from what we're thinking inside.

But there's a clear difference that's laid out here. In verse 14 of James 3, going back there again, it talks about bitter envy and self-seeking in the heart.

And if that's there, that is a product or a hallmark of the wisdom that does not descend from above, from the earthly wisdom. And we read further in verse 17 that the wisdom that is from above is at first pure and then peaceable, as well as being gentle, willing to yield, and on into some of the actions that come along with it. I'd like to go to a fairly stark example of this. Some of you might be familiar with this story of Simon Magus. The term, it's such a famous story that we still have a term in the English language of Simonie. Has anyone heard of the term Simonie? Simonie refers to any person who tries to purchase ecclesiastical office. People who might try to pay somebody off to be ordained or to receive some position of power in a church. And it exists exactly because of this story that we'll read in just a moment. This is early in the days of the New Testament church. In fact, even prior to Paul being converted. Peter and John in Acts 8 went to Samaria after they heard that the people in that region had heard and received God's Word. And so they were going there in order to minister to those people. So let's turn to Acts 8 and we'll start in verse 18. Acts 8 and verse 18.

Simon, you might recall from the story, was somebody who was already fairly well known in that part of Judea. He was somebody who'd been a sorcerer, who'd done different types of false miracles, and shown some level of power and sorcery. Whether that was directly demon-inspired or whether it was just sleight of hand. The Bible's not entirely clear, but he was definitely known as a sorcerer. And when Simon, in verse 18, saw that through the laying on of the Apostle's hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. And he said, give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. So, you know, to maybe to paraphrase it, he basically saw something that he could add to his toolkit, make a part of his show, that was going to be even better than what he'd been doing before. And Peter said to him, verse 20, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. You don't have part nor portion in this matter, for if your heart is not right in the sight of God, repent therefore, because of this wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. So, you see some of this tie-in, bitterness, self-seeking, wanting something for himself, even in viewing the actual Holy Spirit.

And Simon answered in verse 24 and said, pray the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me. So, again, this is a pretty stark example, not something that we encounter in day-to-day life, but it does still come home in terms of this desire for self, for taking the gifts and the things that are of God and trying to use them for our own benefit and gain. And that's why this example is in the Bible. So, we can think about as well how it is that we view the gifts that God has given us and what it is that he's provided to us. Do we, in the end, from our Christian faith, have self-interest and desires? Or do we have a peaceful and converted heart that desires to use that wisdom and that gift of the Holy Spirit in the way that God intended it, in order to help others, in order to be ambassadors for him, in order to spread his love, his compassion, his kindness, and the hope that his way contains? Turn with me, if you will, to 1 Timothy 6. Again, speaking here to the intents of the heart, the things that lie deep within us that we have to spend time thinking about as we contrast these two different types of wisdom that are there, always vying for attention and nourishment in our minds. 1 Timothy 6, and we'll start in verse 3. Here we read Paul, writing to Timothy as a young minister, if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come, same theme, envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Again, we see how closely this ties into what was written by James. And lastly, Paul says, from such withdraw yourself.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. Again, we see these same themes that we see in this passage in James 3, brought out here by Paul, this time writing to Timothy. The idea of separating, self-seeking, hoping to gather gain from God and from his way, and instead seeking contentment, seeking that inner peace, seeking those other qualities that are laid out by James in this passage. We don't have time today, but something again to study on your own, if you want to go to this theme of intent of the heart tied into this idea of wisdom, we encourage you to go to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, verses 3 through 10. Matthew 5 verses 3 through 10. And you'll see how much the Beatitudes that Jesus Christ taught speak exactly to these same intents of the heart that travel with godly wisdom, the wisdom from above, and how they tie in as well with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the things that were nourished in our inner self in order that the right actions can come out from us. So, in concluding this second section related to intent, to envy and self-seeking, versus a pure, peaceable, and gentle mind and spirit, James 3 verses 13 through 18, sets forward, again, a clear contrast between the intents of the heart when these two different types of wisdom are present. The intents and motivations of our hearts aren't always easily evident even to ourselves. They well up in times of stress, they well up in times of conflict or crisis, and they just sort of turn themselves into actions, sometimes in ways that we didn't even understand ourselves was in there. So, as I think about that, I know I need to continue to ask myself questions like, what is the intent of my heart? In what ways am I following earthly wisdom that I need to set aside? Let's move on to the third section. Third set of contrasts is we think about actions.

We think about actions. These two different types of wisdom don't only only impact and work themselves out in the inner intents of our heart. Those things, as we know, will result in actions.

So again, going back to James 3 verses 13 through 18, in verse 14 we read about bitter envy and self-seeking, and it says, do not boast and lie against the truth. Actions, boasting and lying.

That wisdom does not descend from above. And in verse 16 we read about additional actions of confusion and evil things coming out of that earthly wisdom. And then in verse 17 again, we read that the wisdom that's from above, in addition to these intents of the heart of pure, peaceable and gentle, it's willing to yield. That action of being willing to yield to others, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. The way all of us, in the end, would like to be treated and feel that we deserve to be treated, but I know, speaking for myself, not always so easy to dole it out the same way to other people. So we can go a lot of different directions with regard to these actions. Today I'll choose to go in the direction that James went in the context of this passage and look a little bit earlier in the chapter, and that's a focus on the use of the tongue. As we go there, a little side light, you might have heard the statistic this year that 2024 is a year where globally 60 countries are holding elections, representing about half of the population of the world. So it's really a monumental year, and what comes along with that is the release of a lot of hot air. And I'll simply ask the question, is it a coincidence that this is a year where we see statistics that the globe is hitting warm temperature records just about every day of the year? Inquiring minds want to know. James 3. Let's read verses 1 through 8.

James talks very powerfully here about the tongue, about words. One of the first actions, things that work themselves out in terms of the intent of our heart, is the words that come from our mouth, and the tongue, of course, is a symbolic way of talking about that. James 3, we'll start in verse 1.

My brethren, don't let many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment, for we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man.

So we see here an immediate acknowledgement of how difficult it is. And we all live this every day, don't we, if we reflect on our own lives. The ability to hold our tongue to not say something when we know we shouldn't is an incredibly difficult temptation to deal with. And we all struggle with that all the time. That's why James says the same thing here. It's part of the human condition over centuries, over millennia, difficulty of mankind, all of us, trying not to stumble in word. It just, you can't be a perfect man, is what James is saying here, and you can't help but stumble in word. It's just going to happen. Indeed, in verse 3, we put bits and horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn the whole body. And look at ships. They're large, and they're driven by fierce winds. They're turned by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. And it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature the sea is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind, but no man can tame the tongue. It's an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. A lot for us to think about there, and especially as we look at this contrast in terms of the wisdom of God that's shown here, exemplified in these passages, and what we see going on around us. Because as much as we might like it to be a different way, the way we view the world is impacted by the world around us, by the values that are around us. And let's face it, we're in a place today where control of the tongue is not something that's really greatly valued. In fact, it's often the opposite.

Boasting has become an art and not a moral failing. Talking trash and creating controversy is a boost for ratings and generates click-throughs. Gossip and revealing confidence is most likely to earn us a spot on the New York Times bestseller list.

And that's what we see in our world in terms of the use of the tongue. And so we need to consider how that's impacting us and the things that we're processing and the actions that we end up taking. And of course, we know that it starts with the inner intents of our heart, as we saw in this second section. Because we can't simply, as James writes in this first part of chapter 3, just simply try to bridle our tongue without tackling the heart inside, because it's a heart in the end that controls that tongue and what it's going to say and what it's going to do.

Turn with me, if you will, to Ephesians 4. Again, Paul, this time to the Ephesians, and hitting on, again, some of these same themes. Of course, these themes are not unique to James. They work themselves out in many different parts of the Bible. But here in Ephesians 4, we'll read verses 29 through 32. And in talking to the Ephesians or writing to them, Paul says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what's good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. There's something fantastic for all of us to aspire to, to pray about, that our tongues might impart grace to others.

Think about how great you feel. You probably know some people I certainly do, people I interact with at work, that sometimes just, you know, we're wrapping up a meeting or a call or something, and they'll pause for a moment, and they'll give somebody just a fabulous compliment on something they've done, whether it's the way they worked on a project, whether it's the way they handled a particularly difficult situation, or maybe you've seen it at a restaurant when somebody gave great service and somebody on the table next to you pauses for a moment when they're paying the check and says, you know, I haven't had a waiter as, you know, kind and attentive as you in a long time. You've done a fantastic job. Words that impart grace to the hearer. And I know whenever I hear somebody do that, I have to think to myself, is that something that's inside of me? Is that something that I'm naturally looking to do to lift others up, to give them a grace-filled word, to do something that's going to brighten up their day, change the way that they may even think about themselves and the things that they do? And it's amazing for how many years those words can stick with people. Talk to people. I'm sure any of us could trade stories afterwards about how a simple set of words that someone said to you sticks with you 5, 10, 15, 20 years later. Sometimes even makes a difference in the whole trajectory of somebody's lives.

And we don't always know what it is that did it, imparting grace to the hearers. Verse 30, Don't grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. We had a great interactive study last week talking about grieving the Holy Spirit. Found it interesting in putting this together that this idea here of grieving the Holy Spirit is sandwiched right between a couple of injunctions about use of the tongue. The kind of words that come out of our mouth, evil speaking, versus corrupt words, versus doing things that impart grace to the hearers. So again, and related to this section on our actions, we focused here on the tongue. If you're looking for additional thoughts on this element, I'd encourage just spending time in general in the Proverbs, which have so much to say about the use of the tongue. It's a useful study for us all to do from time to time because, again, it's part of the human condition. None of us will ever be perfect at it, but we can always improve in our submission to God and His wisdom and His Spirit within us. The other thing you could do is open a web browser and simply put in the search term scriptures about use of the tongue. Scriptures about use of the tongue. And I guarantee you, you're going to find a whole page worth of different, you know, 30 scriptures about use of the tongue, 100 scriptures about the words that come out of your mouth, all kinds of fuel to add as you're considering God's Word over the course of the week. So, in conclusion, let's go back to James 1, verse 5. Talking today about wisdom. James 1, verse 5. James writes, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. In addition to our studies, let's pray for wisdom. It's a prayer that should never be far from our tongue, something as fundamental as praying for God's kingdom to come, that we can grow in wisdom, the ability to exercise God's spirit in our lives. The biblical concept of wisdom, as we've seen, encompasses every element of our actions, actions and conduct. And in this concept, intellectual knowledge is not separated from the way we live. It's an entire package. It's everything that we take in and how it works its way out in the things that we do in our lives.

As we've seen in James 3, verses 13 through 18, there's a clear contrast between two different types of wisdom. One that's from above and one that's earthly wisdom. That's the source.

Secondly, the intent. Whether there's envy and self-seeking in the underlying intent, versus pure and peaceable motives that we should be continuing to grow in through God's spirit. And lastly, the actions that are borne out by that intent. Boasting and lying against the truth, versus mercy, good fruits, being impartial and not practicing hypocrisy. As we move forward and continue to deepen our Christian walk, let's continue to pray for and seek for wisdom as we go forward in our lives.