True Wisdom

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How do you know that you are wise? Is when you can answer most questions asked of you? Is it when you have an understanding of how life works and how to navigate it? What does it mean to be wise? And do we really want to be?

James, as we have seen over and over again is intensely practical, really to the point of discomfort. James is all about showing your work. A Christianity that is just another thing to occupy your mind isn't worth much. Sure the nerds have fun, but Christianity isn't a life of the mind thing. It needs to actually do something to be worthwhile. It needs to change me. That is what James is interested in. He wants something that motivates the care of widows and orphans. He wants something that looks out for the poor, changes how I speak, and rules how I live. He wants something that makes a real difference in the believer's life and those around them.

And because it makes a real difference in our lives, that means a lot of things have to change, including what we think about wisdom. Usually we try to define wisdom as knowledge used well. It's knowing that a tomato is a fruit but doesn't belong in a fruit salad. It's knowing how money works but also what it is truly for.

In our passage today, we see that wisdom isn't just what goes on in your head, but it is the outpouring of a shaped soul that looks a lot like holiness. James' wisdom doesn't come out just in sage words, but sanctified actions. He isn't the only one to think this, either. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 11:19 "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”" and more poetically in Luke 7:35 "Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” They were falsely accusing him, yet if they would look at his actions, they would see his wisdom.

Over the next chapter and a half,James will present the difference between wise and unwise living, shows in greater detail where unwise living takes us, and ultimately provides that solution on how to be wise. We will look at just the first one today.

Wise living is humble living

In the opening verse, James sets out his question, "Who is wise?" Why it is the person who is meek! Meekness? According to scholars, this word can be translated as gentleness, or humility. One scholar put it this way, "Meekness is a gentle spirit that turns the saints into servants and enables them to care for others." Now, that sounds great in that everyone wants to be called a servant, but no one wants to act like one, especially for a lengthy time. Who wants to be the one doing the dishes at the party? Who wants to be the one chasing the kids around when everyone else has a career?

According to James, though, it is the wise person who does. The wise are meek enough to view life in an others focused way. And it turns out that the wise don't just think this way, but live their lives this way.

Now, in our culture, wisdom doesn't look like this. Our culture looks at humility being a weakness, and the ancient world saw it the same way. To be a servant for others is to be stepped on, not reaching your full potential, not getting through your to do list. How angry do you get when a project of yours is interrupted by someone else? How often do you get upset when the interruption is coming from the person you are allegedly trying to serve? At this very point in my sermon writing a child of mine broke my concentration, to, I confess, my slight irritation. Even in our attempts to serve other people, we seem to get in the way.

James drills down to that problem, and once again gets uncomfortably specific. He speaks to the opposite of the meekness and names it bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.

Nothing really gets in the way of wisdom quite like those emotions and actions. When we are envious of other people's successes, it is because we wish to have the exaltation that they have experienced. Jealousy is not the result of wisdom. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't see someone who goes to the gym and think, "Man, I would like to look like that." It would be looking at someone like that and think, "Man, I'll bet that guy spends no time with his kids. I'm better than that." You don't know that. That gets to bitter jealousy.

There's the other swing to selfish ambition, which is to say the pursuit of your own goals regardless of what moral compromises you have to make along the way to get to them. Most of the time where that shows up isn't just in the people who will steal money to get rich. That bit is obvious. We see this very easily among children as well. The nursery room is a theatre to selfish ambition. We want the toy, and we don't care how many punches we have to throw or screams we have to expel to get our way.

We'd like to think that this gets better in adulthood, but it just gets more subtle. There are a lot of folks who have ambitions for their kids sports that means consistently sacrificing gathered worship to do it. There are men and women who are constantly teased with the prospect of climbing the corporate ladder that they forget about their family along the way. I think social media helps this process along. It gives us a new platform to perform for. For many people, especially girls, the temptation for online attention means more and more compromises of what Jesus calls us to.

So how do you know when you are sliding into selfish ambition? For James, the answer is the same, what does your life look like? Are your ambitions making you holier and more servant hearted, or are they drawing you into sin? Ambitions can start well. I've seen a lot of guys get into the ministry with genuine motivations to make Jesus known, but along the way, they lose the plot. Suddenly things are about engagement and numbers. Suddenly it is about influence. Suddenly it is about, well, them.

That is what James warns us about. Unfortunately, jealousy and selfish ambition rarely stay in the mind. It tells us that these things lead to all kinds of vile practice and sin. That doesn't mean that anytime these emotions come up that you are inevitably on the one way flight to vile sin, but it does mean that you are taking a step in that direction.

It isn't a flawless test, but one way that you can tell this is happening to you is if someone in your family or friends gives some pushback on your goals and the first move is defensiveness and anger. Are there people who love to discourage effort to disguise their own laziness? Yes. Are there genuine haters out there? Absolutely. But if the first thought to come into your head is "Well, obviously they are just out to get me," that is at least a sign to slow down, reflect, and possibly redirect your efforts. It is time to reassess what the purpose of your life really is. What is really worth pursuing?

This doesn't mean that you must quit that job or give up that ambition, necessarily. Not every course correction has to be radical. But it will mean pursuing those ambitions wisely.

So what does that look like?

All of these character qualities in verse 17-18 are moral qualities. Earlier we mentioned humility in verse 13. Not boastful or selfish, but one that quietly seeks the good of others. Here at the end we find "pure," Or holy. It is from God, very different from this world. It is concerned about the things that God is concerned about.

Then it is peaceable. This is related to peace in the sense of wholeness. We have what we need. This is more important than we realize. There is a famous podcast called "Diary of a CEO." The host doesn't yet believe in God but has had a couple of famous Christian apologists on recently. One of them (John Lenox) has written all sorts of famous books and debated many famous people. The other was Wes Huff, a rising apologist out of Canada. In the interviews, the host said that the thing he noticed about both of them was this sense of peace they had, and that that peace was the best argument for God they've advanced. It isn't their writings but their life. Peace/Wholeness isn't necessarily chipper. It is satisfied. That's a rare thing.

Then there is gentleness, no need to force things. Being open to reason, which is another way of saying "obedient." Next is being full of mercy, giving compassionate to those who don't really deserve it. Full of good fruits, or good moral behavior. Finally, impartial and sincere, or it can also be translated "unwavering" and unhypocritical.

Julius Caesar probably wouldn't like this list. These qualities don't seem to make a great empire. But they do make a great person.

So how does one get away with being like this? Isn't the world on fire? How can I be talking about finding peace when there are teenagers stabbing each other, when there is global conflict? Isn't this just putting our head in the sand at best, and uncaring at worst? No, for two reasons.

Reason One: The Earthly data in front of us isn't all the data. If you saw a smoke rising out of a forest, and a guy walking out of it with a flamethrower, you might think that there is a terrible arsonist destroying property! But when you rush up to confront, you notice that there is a fire line cut. You notice the fire department nearby. You put together that this is a controlled burn, and actually a way to bring health to the forest. In other words, it is controlled. That is the world that we live in. Wisdom is operating with the knowledge that there is a good God Who is in control. How that control of a universe works isn't as easy to see as a controlled burn, but God has given us every reason to trust him.

Reason Two: Our wisdom isn't just sitting around looking at the burning world. Well remember what we said at the beginning, wisdom isn't just a sage sitting around with thoughts in their head. Wisdom seeks to serve. It has enough perspective that God is so in control that He is taking care of me. I don't have to climb the ladder. I don't have to keep up with those Joneses. I found better in Christ. So I'm freed up to go tell the World about Christ. Work to make Him known in my workplace, my businesses I build, the kids I raise. It isn't to prop me up, but him.

So go, do great things. Have high ambitions, but make them actually higher than the rest. Don't just paint a picture. Have such a deep relationship with God that you paint something that makes people wonder, "What did you really see?" That takes practiced skill and depth of relationship. Don't just raise kids. Look at your children not just as reflections of you but reflections of God. You can look at those who live well as portraits of God's grace. And you can look at those who live badly as an example of your enduring hope in the same God.
Kids, don't just play games your way. Be willing to enjoy other people's games. Life isn't about you. And the earlier you can learn and practice that, the truly happier you will be.