Sermon: Two Kinds of Wisdom

TWO KINDS OF WISDOM
JAMES 3: 13-4:10

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
[4:1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? [6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

In the name of Jesus:

There is a story about a woman who had been trying for years to persuade her egotistical husband to change his ways. He was obsessed with being number one. He never stopped talking about being first in sales at the office. He proclaimed that he was first on the list for the next promotion. He had to be first in line to buy tickets for a game and also the first to hit the parking lot after the game.
One day this man's long-suffering wife watched with interest as he stepped on one of those fortune-telling scales. He dropped a coin in the slot and out came a little fortune-telling card that read: "You are a born leader, with superior intelligence, quick wit, and a charming manner. You have a magnetic personality and are attractive to the opposite sex."
"Read that," he said to his wife with a hint of gloating. She did, and then turned the card over and said: "It has your weight wrong too."
We live in a time when people are in love with themselves. In fact, it would be correct to say that many people are in love with anything and everything but God. These are harsh words to hear as Christians, but the writer of James tells us that there are two types of wisdom prevalent in this world. Two types of wisdom which are opposed to one another, two types of wisdom of which one is correct and the other is wrong, two types of wisdom, one of which deals with the truth and one revels in lies. As Christians we need to discern these two types of wisdom so that we might listen, believe, follow, and live according to the correct type of wisdom, namely, the wisdom of God.
James tells us that there ARE two types of wisdom. The first type of wisdom is not from God and not of God. It is a sinful, worldly wisdom which is characterized by lies, deceit, and arrogance. Listen to God’s Word through James: “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” We see this in our culture where the common conventional wisdom seeks out the glory of self and self satisfaction. It is evidenced in the worldly patterns of deception, hurtful words, selfishness, and other evil behaviors. The passions of the flesh manifest itself in relationships with others: quarrels, jealousy, coveting and sinful ambition where the individual places himself or herself above others. These passions of the flesh are sinful and can lead to death. Just look at Cain and Abel. In jealousy and envy Cain killed his brother Abel. He thought more of himself than he did of God, His Word, or his dear brother. So also, sin crouches at the door of your hearts. You are conceived and born in sin. You have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. You have been jealous, said hurtful words, and have been more interested in worldly things than the things of God. Even as the people of Israel were an adulterous people, in that they were unfaithful to God so also you have been unfaithful to God. You have coveted wealth and your own glory at the expense of God. You have sought to replace God’s ways with worldly ways. You have been more interested in worldly things than the things of God.
Today, pollsters are given time on media outlets, in order to show the snapshot of American opinion at that particular moment on a particular topic of interest. Pollsters ask opinions of people on elections, on policy, and on products. Pollsters such as Gallup and Barna have concluded that based on their research, America is NOT a Christian nation. Its people rely on a worldly wisdom rather than the wisdom of God.

America is simply a "nation of biblical illiterates." Only four in 10 Americans know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A majority of citizens cannot name the four Gospels of the New Testament. Only three in 10 teenagers know why Easter is celebrated. Two-thirds of Americans believe there are few, if any, absolute principles to direct human behavior. Religious illiteracy is on the increase. Many today rely on self, thinking that the individual is the center of the universe, that it is up to the individual to determine one’s own destiny, and that God is merely our helper.
Many Christians deny the existence of the Holy Spirit and Satan. One in five denies Jesus' physical resurrection and believes he was a sinner. Earlier surveys of mainline Protestants revealed that barely half of Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians believe in the devil, but 56 percent of Lutherans and 49 percent of Methodists believe in UFOs. One-third of Methodists and Presbyterians have faith in astrology. While nearly three-fourths of all Americans believe in hell, hardly any believe it to be their likely destination in eternity.
Former Secretary of Education William Bennett concludes that "We have become the kind of society that civilized countries used to send missionaries to."
This may seem harsh, but facts are facts. Americans have been so busy pursuing the American Dream of the good life than the pursuit of the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. Americans have been more willing to pursue a worldly wisdom apart from God rather than the wisdom that comes from God. The call of James today in our text, the call of God to you, is to repent. Repent, that is, turn from worldly wisdom and rely on the wisdom of God.
God’s wisdom is marked by humility. Not a false sense of humility, but a deep seated humility rooted in Jesus Christ. The wisdom of God is revealed in the humility of Jesus. Just listen to the Apostle Paul as he writes: “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:5-8).
Why did God’s Son humble Himself? Jesus humbled Himself in life and death so that your sins would be forgiven. Jesus paid the price for your forgiveness in His life, death, and resurrection, with the purpose of that you would be His own and live under Him in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness forever. To be God’s own means that you will be God’s child and live under and influenced by His wisdom. It means that you have been marked in Baptism as a child of God, so that Jesus is your Leader and Source of wisdom and life. It means that you live, not according to the fleshly desires or the desires of the world, but that you turn from sin and live for God.
This type of living is holy living, a living that is set apart for God. Jesus has set you apart, so that you can show the world the difference of being a child of God in Jesus Christ. The Christian faith we believe in and the Christian life we live is diametrically opposite to the lifestyle seen in the world today. Christianity is mocked and scorned. Christians are told to think for themselves. But Christians are captive to the cross and the Word of God! Note what Paul writes in I Corinthians: “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. We preach Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
This power of God is given today in His Word, the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is God’s Word to us and for us. God’s Word is sharper than any sword, cutting the heart to expose sin so that the healing balm of God’s forgiveness in Christ can be applied. It is able to make us wise unto salvation; it is a lamp for our feet and a light for our paths.
Today people look for wisdom is the spectacular things which the world seemingly offers. Experience, emotion, persuasive speech is valued more highly than God’s word. But God reveals His wisdom and gives His gifts in the Word.
Our faith rests not in the wisdom of man but in the power of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Our wisdom is folly and foolishness to this world and the present age. Secular man does not and cannot understand this wisdom from God for their hearts are blinded by sin and unbelief. If the world could come to an understanding of the wisdom of God, Jesus would have never been crucified. God reveals His wisdom and imparts His wisdom by the power of His Spirit working in and through His Word. For: “ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
You have the mind of Christ so that you might show the love of Christ and His wisdom to a world lost in sin. God exhorts you: “that by your good conduct show Christ’s works in the meekness of wisdom. For His wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. Christ has been given to you and lives in you so that your lives would be a harvest of righteousness giving glory to God.
Do not be deceived, my friends. The times we are living in are evil. The end is drawing near. God has warned us in His Word that these times would be coming, “when people will not endure sound teaching, and that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” This is of the devil, so resist these things.
God’s call is clear: Do not submit to the wisdom of the world. Submit yourself to God. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Seek God’s wisdom where it can be found, call upon Him while He is near. Seek first His wisdom and His kingdom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will then exalt you. Amen