Take your copy of the scriptures again in hand and turn to the book of James. Continuing the epistle of James this morning. James chapter three, we’ll be reading verses 13 to 18, the remainder of that chapter, but let’s ask the Lord’s blessing before we do so on the reading, preaching, and hearing of his word. Let’s pray together.

Heavenly Father, we come again before you. Lord, we pray that we would do so with humility and eagerness, Lord, and anticipation for what you are about to work through your word in us in bringing yourself glory. Father, we bask in knowing the privilege of your presence as we worship together with you now. And we pray, Lord, that you would indeed Arrest our attention at this time, Lord. Help us to realize all that what you’re doing now, Lord, and the magnitude of your blessing upon us through the ministry of the word. Father, we pray, help us to drown out all those things that swirl around in our minds and that would harass us at this time, that we would pay attention and that we would hear, Lord. And so we come again to you and we ask, speak, for your servants are listening. And all God’s people said, amen.

In chapter 3, verses 13 to 18, please pay full attention, this is the word of our God. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” It’s part of the reading of God’s Word, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but this Word of the Lord indeed endures forever.

Well, James, as you know, as we’ve been working through this book, or if you have any familiarity with this book, has been addressing believers, he refers to in the diaspora, right, those who were spread abroad, and he writes to them, and he’s worried about them. He’s worried about them living a life that does not match, their life does not match the profession of their faith, right? The profession of their lips, right? He’s worried that they not be living like the world around them, like pagans. So he’s talked about a number of things, including the sin of partiality, remember, about showing preference to rich over the poor and things like that. And he’s talked about faith, right? Faith expresses itself or is evidenced by, is vindicated by the works that we do, right? And again, he’s saying that our action, the conduct of the believer should match who they are, their identity, right? And when we look at this text today, verses 13 to 18, we see that they, the hearers, the original hearers or readers of this letter, like we are in danger, right, of jealousy and selfish ambition, right, the fruit of worldly wisdom. And we see that we, like they, need to avoid these things, we need to avoid and guard against those very things. We need to guard against living by worldly wisdom, and indeed, we should be living by the wisdom that comes from above. And we see that Christ, of course, Jesus, the Lord, lived a perfect life, a life in perfect harmony with the wisdom that was from above. He is wisdom. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Jesus, we read. in the New Testament, and so he paid, Jesus paid the price for our failure to do so, for our failure to live that life in harmony, to live life in accordance with the wisdom that is above. He paid that price, and thereby he freed us to live in a way, a lifestyle that is characterized by godly wisdom. Jesus, of course, provides the power for those united to him to begin to live consistently in that way. consistently with their freedom, consistent with their identity, which is what united to Jesus, all right? And so the truth of the gospel of Christ produces a zeal and excitement and a passion for this lifestyle of wisdom, right? Because we’re excited about Jesus, right? We’re united to him. And so this is what drives us along, the spirit working within us. We see this text this morning. And we see from this that because we have been brought forth by the word of truth, remember earlier in the letter, because of that, we are to pursue heavenly wisdom, which results in what? In peace, he says, peace. All right, so we look at the structure of this, I almost said pericope, this text, right, this chunk of these verses, right? And James here gives us a tale of two wisdoms. And he contrasts these two. There’s a heavenly wisdom and a demonic wisdom. There’s a wisdom from above and a wisdom from below. There’s a true and there’s a false wisdom. And for each, James does what? He gives, for each wisdom, their actions, their descriptions, and the results of that wisdom. And so after asking this rhetorical question, In the first part of verse 13, he asks this to challenge his reader, right? And he gives them the grounding of what sets off the contrast that he’ll make between the true wisdom and the false, the heavenly and the earthly wisdom, right? So let’s look at the passage more closely. The first half, as I said, of verse three, James, again, he’s just explained in the first half of chapter three that disciplining the tongue is a mark of those who belong to Jesus. That’s a mark of the Christian, of the believer. of those growing in their commitments, in their discipline to live their lives for the glory of Christ. And then James here in the second half of chapter three gives another mark, right? Another mark, and it’s that the growing mature Christian is also marked by the wisdom that comes from above, he says, right? And he asks that question, who is wise among you? And then he teaches us about this true wisdom, right? How do we define How do we distinguish this wisdom? And how do we develop this wisdom? Well, let’s track the Lord, what he has for us here in his word regarding the true and false wisdom, right? Again, as I said, for each he gives wisdom’s action, wisdom’s description, and wisdom’s results, right? Action, description, and results. And so again, verse 13, right, we see true wisdom’s action. My true wisdom’s action. Who is wise and understanding among you? And so James here zeroes in on the problem of jealousy and selfishness in the behavior of those who claim the name of Jesus. And the question is a challenge to them. He’s saying, you say you’re wise, but you’re acting worldly, sinfully. Answer now, explain to me, if you’re actually wise, how is it that your behavior and lifestyle is so dangerous and damaging to others and to the body of Christ? Who is wise in understanding? And then James continues and he goes on. to those who would say, yep, that’s me, I’m wise and understanding, right? But he responds to them to say that, but they live contrary to what that means, and he says, by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom, right? And so the truly wise person’s behavior, lifestyle, conduct, will be clear. It will be obvious and self-evident of who they are. The scripture has very much to say about wisdom, I’m sure you’re well aware. There’s a whole section, a whole genre, a category in the Old Testament that’s called the wisdom literature. These five books. In Proverbs, the book of wisdom that really hones in on this is right in the middle of those five books. There’s two on either side and then Proverbs in the middle. It has much to say about wisdom. What is wisdom? What is wisdom? Well, when we look at this, wisdom is not intelligence. Wisdom is not knowledge. Wisdom is not having a diploma or a degree. We know this. I’m sure most of you know someone with a degree or education, and you wonder how they get through the day. I think we all know individuals like this. Higher learning today, in addition to this, much of it actually breeds foolishness. But some of the smartest people I’ve ever known have no education at all. But wisdom is not the same as knowledge or intelligence. Wisdom is more, it is deeper. It’s like when you go to a doctor, you don’t want someone that just can name all the parts of the body. You want someone who’s intimately aware of what’s going on in the body, someone who understands the functioning and the interrelation of that anatomy and a comprehensive mastery of diseases, et cetera. But when we come to wisdom in a biblical sense, the word wisdom in Hebrew, for those who would care to know, is chokmah, right? It’s chokmah. And when we come to that, we find that it has no real English equivalent. This is common when you translate words from one language to another. The receptor language oftentimes does not hit the bullseye of what it actually means. And wisdom in Hebrew means something more than what we think of wisdom in English. Wisdom has a connotation of an expertise or a skill, right, skilled. And this is what gets close to the idea. And so you all know the word wisdom in Greek, right, in the New Testament. And this has a similar connotation, it’s the word Sophia, right, Sophia. Especially given that the author James, we know that there’s this connection, but it has the idea of wisdom, of skill, of skillfulness, of cleverness, of experience, right, of expertise. Hebrew scholar Ian Duguid said this, he said, wisdom in the biblical sense is the skill of living and keeping up with the cosmic order that God has laid down. And our task in every area is to think God’s thoughts after him. and to live more skillfully in a world that he has made.” Right? That’s a lot there, but that’s what it gets at this, what wisdom is, right? A growing, swelling life of reflection and contemplation and desire and pursuit and action, living in God’s world for his glory as he intends, right? This is our pursuit as well, of course, right, as believers. in Jesus Christ. And so as believers, we have a very high calling to know as much as we can about the God who made us and the God who saved us. So after the New Year, I think we’re going to give an entire sermon to the topic of wisdom, right? The gospel according to wisdom. It’s a very rich topic. But back to our text this morning, let’s look briefly now at meekness, right? It talks about meekness. James says the wise person is a meek person. That’s very interesting. What’s a meek person? What is meekness? This is another one of those words that’s kind of devolved in our language where we’ve kind of morphed into something that it originally was not. It’s come to mean the same thing as weakness, right? Many people think meekness is weakness. Meekness is not weakness, right? Meekness is not weakness. Meek means gentle, humble, considerate, kind, right? It’s the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of self-importance, right? And so again, there’s this looking away, there’s a humility involved in this quality. It’s gentleness of attitude and behavior in contrast with harshness towards others. So if you were to define it by its opposite, it’s not harsh towards others. Meekness is not. It’s gentleness. But it’s not weakness. And it’s interesting that in the Old Testament, I don’t know if you recall this, but there’s a person in the Old Testament that’s said to be the meekest man on the face of the earth. Are you familiar with this? Do you remember where that is? It’s talking about Moses. Numbers 12 says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. Very interesting, this great redemptive figure, right, this great mediator of the Old Testament, Moses. And we know about Moses as well, that people were drawn to him. Remember, they came to him to iron out the issues in their lives, to discuss their stuff, right, and to counsel him. So much so that they had to appoint elders, right, there’s so many people coming to him, 70 of them. But one of the family traits of those who belong to Jesus Christ, one of the family traits of those in the family of God, those who pursue wisdom, is the meekness of wisdom, the meekness of wisdom. One of the things that marks Christians, right, who are meek is that people are drawn to them. You’ve probably known people like this in your life. You’ve probably experienced this. Someone who’s, you don’t understand entirely why, exactly why, but you know that that person is sensitive to the Lord. And you know that you can entrust them and bring your needs and burdens to them, right? And so the great figure of the Old Testament, Moses, right? We see this quality very much so. And we know there’s someone else in scripture who’s described as meek, right? Someone else in the Bible. And that, of course, is the greater the greatest figure in all the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he say? How did he describe himself from his own mouth? You recall in Matthew, he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Gentle, it’s meekness. I am meek and gentle and lowly in heart. And what? And you will find rest for your souls. Rest for your souls, glorious indeed. And so as we grow, We are conformed more and more to the image of Christ. That mark of meekness, that aroma of Christ will display that you are someone to whom others can go with their burdens and find rest, right? Because we point them to Jesus, always to Christ, right? So that’s something of true wisdom’s action, all right? And then he interjects himself and he moves over to false wisdom, James does. When we look at true wisdom, right, these things we’ve been talking about, that action, that acting of wisdom, will look like Jesus, right, who is described as the power of God and the wisdom of God, remember, in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and elsewhere, in whom all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom are found. All right, so then he moves, like I said, to false wisdom’s action and description, okay, verses 14 and 15. false wisdom’s action and description. Excuse me. He says, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic, right? Strong words. So James here’s contrasting true wisdom with false wisdom. And notice he’s careful when he does so. It’s curious, he doesn’t even call false wisdom, wisdom. You see that there, right? Verse 15, where it says this, what’s the reference to this? It’s false, the false, the bitter jealousy and all those things. He’s saying those characteristics are not the wisdom that comes down from above, but are earthly and spiritual and demonic. He doesn’t even refer to it as wisdom, but this is the contrast he’s making, and he’s showing the damaging nature of this false worldly demonic wisdom. And remember, we just saw in verse 13, he says, by his good conduct, the word conduct there, the word means to turn again, or a turning and a turning. And what it means is a lifestyle. It’s not just like a behavior, it’s the lifestyle of the individual. by his good lifestyle, by his way of life, by his good behavior, by his good living. You get the sense it’s pretty full. Peter uses this word when he says, 1 Peter 2, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Keep your lifestyle, keep the way of life honorable among the Gentiles. Galatians 1.13 says, for you have Heard of my former life, right, that’s the same word, in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it, right? You’ve heard of my former conduct, my former lifestyle, my former way of life. This is the same word that he’s talking about, by his conduct, James says here. And he says that the way of life, consistent with those who are in Christ, shows itself in a meekness of wisdom, right? Wise, meek, good, et cetera. And the way of life characterized by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, it’s a life devoid of the wisdom from above. People whose behaviors like this are bent inward, their posture is self-focused, and they are bent towards sin. And their grounding and focus is not on what God wants, but on what they want. Of course, when man is the starting point and the focus and the grounding, it’s unescapably spoiled and corrupt and sinful. We’ve all likely known people like this as well in our relationships or work. Perhaps we’ve been this person, right? We focus on the things that we want, right? And we drive our plans regardless of the effects on everyone else. And it’s sad when people do this blindly, completely oblivious, right, to the tunnel vision and the gross narcissism And they’re not even aware of what they’re doing, the damage that they’re wreaking on everyone else. But how much more wicked when they are aware of the things that they’re doing and they don’t care, right? Fully aware of what they’re doing and the destruction that they’re causing. Again, you may have experienced this even in church. People should be aware and know better in the body of Christ. But we see this whenever we see people who are insensitive or critical towards others. right, because they’re not fitting in with what that person’s plans are, or you’re not just like me, therefore you’re wrong and bad and I judge you, right? But James is concerned with these things. He’s concerned that those who profess Christ as their Lord have a lifestyle that is not characterized by those things, but is characterized by godly, true wisdom, not in bitterness and selfishness, that of false wisdom. And so he tells them, stop boasting and denying the truth. Acknowledge your sinfulness. Seek wisdom from above. And notice in verse 15 there, he describes this false wisdom, right? Those actions of verse 14 are what? He says, they’re not the wisdom that comes down from above, but are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. And we see this dissent, right? This triplet, it’s a dissent, right? Earthly, unspiritual, demonic, right? And how does this unearthly, this unspiritual, earthly, demonic wisdom end? What is the results of this wisdom, this false wisdom? Verse 16, James says, for where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there will be disorder in every vile practice. Disorder in every vile practice. Our world overflows with disorder, does it not? Our world and culture and society overflows with every vile practice. More than that, the world champions every vile practice, it seems. And this shocks us and it breaks our hearts, but it shouldn’t surprise us. These are ancient sins, after all, correct? Adam doubted God, remember, in the perfect setting of the garden. And Adam sought autonomy in the garden. And Adam failed in his calling, right, as vice-regent. Adam was created to be the under-king, right, the lesser king, to rule, to have dominion over God’s creation. And he failed in that calling in entertaining the serpent’s vile, lying words, right? And rather than slaying that serpent as he should, he listened to those lying words. And mankind ever since has had millennia to lust after vileness in every vile practice. Psalm 12a speaks to this and it says, the wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of man. Isn’t that an apt description? of the wickedness of fallen man and the cultures that they thrive in. The wicked strut about on every side when the vileness is exalted among the sons of man. And we see those zealously, religiously, screaming for the death of unborn children all the time and it blows our minds. It is absolutely vile. but it’s championed, right? Or named the issue. It’s beyond comprehension why people act this way. But it’s not beyond comprehension, right? They are fallen individuals. Their hearts are blackened and darkened. James rebukes and exhorts these people in the churches who tried to justify their action, right, their way of life, by appealing to their own pseudo-wisdom. And James says, no, no, no. Right, those actions, they scream out that this wisdom is not from above, but is what? Demonic, it is from below. And this word from James is echoed in the Apostle Paul, right? I don’t know if you know, but 10-ish years after James writes this letter, Paul writes a letter to the Corinthians, and he says, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Right, he’s not a God of confusion, but of peace. And then in verse 40, 1 Corinthians 14, he says, but all things should be done decently and in order. What a contrast we see there. We see this echo, this harmony with what James has said, right? And so you see the contrast there. There’s understanding versus confusion. There’s decent and order over and against vileness and disorder. And James and later Paul are concerned with people that are behaving and conducting themselves by this anti-wisdom, characterized by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. where people insisted and demanded on their way, and they trampled what is best for the whole body. And these people give no thought at all about the harm and the hurt and the damage and the disruption they cause to Christ’s precious bride. This conduct destroys the peace and the purity of the church. And those are important matters, brothers and sisters, the peace and purity of the church. Our Lord is zealous for his people. for his church, he cares deeply for his church. Let us also care deeply for his church, right? As individuals and as that church, right, for our brothers and sisters and for the peace and purity of his church. The peace and purity. This, by the way, is the reason when we publicly profess our faith and follow the Lord’s command in placing ourselves in accountability and protection of the local church, it’s why when we do, we promise to work for the peace and purity of the church. That’s the language that we use because of this. We take it seriously. Why? Because it’s serious to Jesus. Well, these are exactly the kind of things that James says about wisdom from above. Above wisdom is what, right? Above wisdom is what? Verse 17 tells us, this is the description of true wisdom, right? He says, but the wisdom from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. Heavenly wisdom, one pastor said it this way, So heavenly wisdom is a God-given orientation that has profound practical effects on the way a person lives, right? And that’s a good way of putting it. It’s a God-given orientation. It’s a posture, right, towards God. It’s given by God and it’s for God that has profound practical effects on the way a person lives their life, right? And this is connected to the earlier a thing that he was saying, remember, in chapter two, that true faith produces good works, right? And here, right conduct and lifestyle flows from a heart made new, flows from true faith. And here, this conduct proves a person’s wisdom, right? Whether it’s true or false, heavenly or demonic, from above or from below. And again, we see in this, this echo, this echo in Paul, right? Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit that we read in our New Testament reading in Galatians 5. Through the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These all come from the Lord. These all are manifest preeminently in Jesus Christ, right? Second Person of the Trinity, our Lord and Savior, the God-Man, right? They come from God. They’re not self-derived. You don’t become more peaceful by just wishing and hoping that you’ll just become more peaceful, right? You trust the gospel, you plead with the Lord, you submit to him, you bathe in his presence, you get the word into your heart and mind, the spirit works through that word and through prayer, and he changes you. And he changes our black, stubborn, impatient hearts and makes them kind and more patient, full of life. These things are not of the earth nor of the flesh, right? They come from heavenly wisdom. They come from the Holy Spirit. And then we see the results, right? That’s some of the description. Then how does this, what are the results of this heavenly wisdom, this true wisdom? And this is awesome. This is glorious indeed. Hear what he says. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. All of the fruits of godly wisdom James gives here, they flow from the lives of those who’ve been brought forth by the word of truth, right, he mentioned earlier. And those who live in accord with that word reflect the righteousness which is theirs through faith in Jesus Christ. And that is they. who pursue heavenly wisdom, who are blessed to dwell in peace. And the harvest of righteousness sown by the peacemakers does what? It blesses everyone else. Their peace infects the whole body. And so I wanted to bring one last thing, one last observation here as we close. These things really do impact our lives. These aren’t just simply words on a page. Right, not just simply things that we go through and read and think, oh, that’s pretty or beautiful. They are those things. We have to remember all of scripture, right, you hear me say it so often, is about Jesus. It’s about Christ. All of it, that’s what he said. Not what I said, it’s what he said. It’s all about me, Jesus says. And so we look back at verse 17 with me for a moment. The last word in verse 17. Right, James gives this list of virtues, so to speak, these adjectives, these descriptors of the heavenly wisdom that comes down from above. And we can take each one of these and meditate upon them, reflect upon them, right, and figure out why are they there? What does this mean for believers in Jesus Christ? Right, this list of fruits, this list of virtues. Perhaps fill the rest of your Lord’s Day reflecting on these, right? It’s a good exercise, and you’ll benefit from it. But look at just one, and that’s that word sincere. You see that? Sincere. The word in the New Testament, It’s a combination. You’re familiar with what the word sincere means, right? It’s a combination of two words. Some say, from the Latin, it means without wax. You’ve heard this? And so what it means is something was sincere, they sold something that was sincere, it was genuine, it was the real deal. It didn’t have things filled in, like cracks and stuff filled into it, right? It was without wax. I mean, it was the good stuff. It was like unaltered. that we translate to sincere is a Greek word, it’s a combination as well, and it means not hypocrite, not hypocrite, okay? It’s the word hypocrite with the a prefix, right? You’re familiar with the negation, right? The a up front of a word that negates like atheist, right? A non-believer, someone who doesn’t believe in God, or something is ahistorical or atypical, right? This negates the word that follows. And that’s the word here. Right, sincere is a hypocrites. Okay, and so what, what does that mean? What was the hypocrite? The hypocrite was the play actor, you remember, who bore the mask. And for many reasons, we carry these masks throughout our lives. And all of our pretending and protecting and acting, all of our covering up in our lives that we do and we go through, The Lord comes to us as believers and he tells us, right? James is saying to us, this is liberating. This is a liberating impact of God’s wisdom on my life. And he says, you don’t need a mask. You don’t need a mask. I understand that I don’t need to wear this mask any longer because I can be real before the Lord. And you see, one of the characteristics of wisdom is that when we’ve discovered and tasted the grace and the calm and the restfulness and the salvation of Jesus Christ, you no longer have to hide or wear a mask before God. You can be who you are. Who are you? United to Jesus, covered with his righteousness, perfect in his sight. Now be who you are. The Lord says no mask, you don’t need it. You don’t have to wear a mask before God because why? He has accepted you in Jesus Christ and he pardons all of your sins. And then you can be delivered from the mask that you may have been wearing all of your life. And you’ll be free, free at last in Christ. Let’s embrace this freedom that is ours in Christ, brothers and sisters. And as we go from here, as we go back down and down into the world, let us proclaim with our lives that wisdom from above. Indeed, the marvelous wisdom of God in Jesus Christ, in whom is the wisdom, he is the wisdom of God. And let us praise him, and let us praise him, and let us praise him more.

Amen, let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you again for your mercy and your love towards us. We thank you that you have given us life and that you’ve cleaned us and that you’ve brought us into your family. Lord, we praise you that you are no longer a judge to condemn us, but our Father to love us. And we pray, Lord, that we would live our lives out of the reality of that love, the love shown to us in Christ, Lord, that we would spill over and affect all of those around us, even to the extent that they would see us and wonder, what is with these people? And we could tell them about life in Jesus. where they can come and find rest for their souls. Indeed, may we sow a harvest of righteousness and peace throughout this world. Father, we praise you and we thank you. We ask that you will protect us the remainder of this week. We ask this all in Christ’s name, amen.