Earthly and Heavenly Wisdom, Pt. 1

James 3:13

     Now tonight we're going to look at James chapter 3 in our Bibles as we examine the next in the sections of James' wonderful epistle.  We'll be looking at chapter 3 verses 13 through 18, the subject is earthly and heavenly wisdom...earthly and heavenly wisdom.

     Let me begin reading in verse 13 and I'm going to be reading from the New American Standard, I'm just doing that a little bit this month to see what kind of reaction we get from all of you.  But I'm reading this evening from the New American Standard, James 3 beginning in verse 13 reading down through verse 18.

Who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom...or the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is earthly, natural, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

     Now the essence of that scripture is a comparison between wisdom which is from above‑‑mentioned in verse 17‑‑which is pure, peaceable, gentle and so forth and wisdom that comes not from above but from below, verse 15, which is earthly, natural and demonic.  And as we look at this portion of Scripture in an introductory way tonight and then more in detail next week, we will note that what James is saying is exactly what the Old Testament wisdom literature has said and that is that wisdom in the world is divided into two kinds, the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God.  Not a foreign subject either to the Old or the New Testament.

     Men might say they possess wisdom.  The next question to ask is it the wisdom of men or is it the wisdom of God?  There's a great difference.  In fact, in verse 13 James says, "Who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him prove it by his good behavior manifest through his deeds with an attitude of meekness."  So if you claim to have wisdom and you claim that that wisdom is wisdom from above, the burden of proof is with you to verify that indeed you do possess that wisdom. 

     Now wisdom is a magnificent word and I really just want to have a Bible study with you tonight, I'm not going to preach at you.  I just want you to get your Bible and have it ready and have it open and we want to chase around a little bit in it and see if we can't come to an understanding of what the Bible has to say about this wonderful reality called wisdom.  Wisdom, according to the philosophers through the centuries, is that for which man should most singly strive.

     I was reading some of the philosophers' quotes this past week and a little anthology of philosophic quotes that I have and perhaps the best summary I found of the philosophies relative to wisdom was that of Cicero in about 52 B.C.  Cicero said, "Wisdom is the best gift of the gods, it is the mother of all good things.  The best and that which generates all of the best."  And that does sum up what most philosophers and divines through history have felt about wisdom, that if you could get anything, you'd want to get wisdom.  Because if you had wisdom you could just about get anything else...wisdom, the chief thing in the pursuit of man.

     That fits Scripture.  Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 7 says, "Acquire wisdom and with all your acquiring get understanding."  You remember the story of Solomon, but let's refresh ourselves a bit with that.  Go back to 1 Kings chapter 3.  You remember that in Gibeon, verse 5 says, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and God said, "Ask what you wish Me to give you."  This is the question that everyone living on the earth would wish that God had asked them.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to have God come to you in a dream and say, "Look, whatever you want, I'll give it to you, just ask."  Then Solomon said, "Thou hast shown great loving kindness to thy servant David, my father, according as he walked before Thee in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward Thee.  And Thou hast reserved for him this great loving kindness that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day.  Now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king in place of my father, David, yet I am but a child.  I do not know how to go out or come in."  Here I am young and inexperienced and You've placed me in as a king.  "And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people who cannot be numbered or counted for multitude."

     In other words, what he is saying is I already have so much, I have all the possessions, I have all the honor, I have all the rank, I have all the authority and all the power that a man could have.  And what I would ask for in verse 9, "So give Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, to discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of Thine?"  And verse 10 says, "It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words.  Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.   And I also have given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.  And if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days."

     And so, in this wonderful dream, a dream which carried a great reality with it, God came to Solomon and Solomon asked for wisdom and God wonderfully and blessedly bestowed that wisdom on this man.

     There is more testimony in Scripture about this very thing.  In verse 29 of chapter 4 of 1 Kings it says, "Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore.  And Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.  For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.  He also spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs were one thousand and five.  And he spoke of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that grows on the wall, he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish.  And men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom."

     In chapter 5 verse 12 it says, "The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon just as He had promised him."  And haven't we all in human history, all of us anyway who know anything about the Bible, extolled the wisdom of Solomon and affirmed that the greatest thing that a man could have was wisdom? 

     Now Solomon received this wisdom and I would have to say that predominantly it was human wisdom...predominantly it was a wisdom that related to the created world and related to things that were needed to be decided in reference to problems so that he could bring about justice in the community of the nation which he ruled.  But there are also certainly was an availability to Solomon of that divine wisdom which comes through the revelation of God.  But Solomon asked a question about what he wanted, gave the best and supreme answer, "I want wisdom."

     When God pensively cried out in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 29, He was crying out over the apostasy of Israel and He said there, "O that they were wise."  And there He has in mind spiritual wisdom.  "O that they had spiritual wisdom."  Job in the midst of an absolutely inexplicably...inexpressible problem and inexplicable series of events for which there was no rhyme or reason in his own mind, sought from God wisdom.  And particularly in chapter 28, which we may have time to read a little later, in verse 12, he cries out to God who alone has the wisdom to sort out the amazing set of circumstances which beset his life.  He knows that wisdom would be the highest and most noble and most valuable of all possessions.

     The Psalmist in Psalm 2 verse 10 called for the kings of the earth to be wise.  God gave Ezra, according to Ezra 7:25, wisdom in order that he might lead Israel who had been brought back from captivity in Babylon.  You remember the story of Daniel, how that God granted Daniel and his friends knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, according to chapter 1 verse 17.  And the king said they possessed excellent wisdom in chapter 5 verse 14.  Paul, you remember, also prayed for every believer that we might be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.

     There's always then whether you're approaching it from the viewpoint of a philosopher or the viewpoint of a writer of Scripture, a premium set on wisdom.  And I think in raising children from the time they're young, you want them to be wise.  It isn't just a question of knowledge.  It isn't just a question of having information.  It's a question of wisdom.  It's a question of knowing how to apply that information in every given situation.

     God in the Bible calls all men to wisdom, to be wise.  As believers we are called to be as wise as serpents while being as harmless as doves.

     Now, we would all like to claim that we have wisdom.  We would all like to claim that we have discernment.  But James poses this question: who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him prove it by his conduct, his good behavior.  Wisdom then from the vantage point of James is made manifest in the way a person conducts his or her life.  How you live is the manifestation of whether or not you possess true wisdom.  So James asks the question and he even gives the answer.  If you're claiming wisdom, then it will be manifest in the way you conduct your life.

     Now keep in mind that James, as you remember, is giving a series of tests for genuine living saving faith.  He has given us several of those tests and this is the next one...the test of wisdom.  You'll remember in chapter 1 he said that saving faith can be seen in how a person responds to trials.  Then he said saving faith can be seen in how a person responds to temptation‑‑ solicitation to do evil.  And then he said that true faith, genuine faith, living faith can be seen in how a person responds to the Word of God.  And then in chapter 2, how a person responds to needy people.  And then in the end of chapter 2, James says basically saving faith is manifest in righteous works.  And then in the first half of chapter 3, saving faith, living faith is revealed by the use of what member of the body?  The tongue.  So trials, temptation, the word, the needy, righteous deeds, the tongue, all of these are tests, all of these are tests of living faith. 

     And now we come to the test of wisdom.  If a person genuinely possesses living faith, he will genuinely manifest in his life the wisdom of God.  That's his whole point.  In fact, the kind of wisdom you have will be made manifest in the way you live.  One's relationship to God is revealed by the kind of wisdom lived out.  And James tells us here there is false wisdom, verses 14 to 16, and there is true wisdom, verses 17 and 18.  And he makes a very clear contrast.  False wisdom is earthly, it is natural, it is demonic.  And divine wisdom, wisdom from above, is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering without hypocrisy and producing righteousness and peace, according to verse 18.

     So, James then in verse 13 asks a question that calls for self‑examination.  What kind of wisdom do you have?  You say you're wise?  You say you're understanding?  Then let's look at your life and see who really has divine wisdom.  That's the point.  Who really possesses the wisdom of God?

     Notice again back at verse 13, he says, "Who is wise and understanding?"  Now I don't want to make a big distinction between those words because I think basically they're synonyms put there for emphasis.  But they do have a bit of a shade of difference in their meaning.  This is the only time in the whole New Testament these two words appear together...although they do appear together in the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 1:13 as requirements for any of the judges in Israel.  And again in Deuteronomy 4:9 and I believe it's Hosea 14:9 as qualities to be desired in all God's children.  So, from the Old Testament all of God's children and particularly the judges who had to make decisions were to have wisdom and understanding.  The simple distinction is that wisdom probably relates to the application of principles whereas understanding relates to the understanding of those principles or the knowledge of those principles.  One would have more impact on the mind and one might have more impact on the conduct.  But basically they have to do with the same thing.  You can't be wise if you don't understand and you can't really understand if you're not wise.

     Now James started the chapter dealing with teachers.  You remember verse 1?  Talking about teachers, don't so many of you become teachers and so forth, and some people have tried to say that this section relates only to teachers.  I don't see that at all.  I think once he introduced the subject of teachers, he then moved into the subject of the tongue and it related to everybody who has a tongue and that certainly includes all of us.  And so he has long ago become very general in his intent in the chapter.  And when he comes at this point to the discussion of wisdom, he's not just talking about teachers and those who speak on behalf of God and those who teach the Word and proclaim it but anyone who has a tongue.  Because anyone's wisdom and understanding is manifest by how they conduct the course of their life.  That's true of anyone just as the speech of anyone is revelatory of what is in their heart.

     So he is speaking here to everyone who claims to be wise.  And that's a very common claim.  I mean, we live in a world where there is no fool who is a self‑confessed fool, you know that.  Everyone is an expert in our world.  Everyone knows all the answers.  Everyone can editorialize on everything.  We live in a sea of opinions.  And frankly, nobody's opinion is worth more than anybody elses unless you happen to be a psychologist and then for some reason your opinion drops like apples of gold and pictures of silver.  And I don't say that facetiously, I say that truthfully because I hear when anybody wants an expert opinion, they usually quote a psychologist...unless it's some kind of fact that demands a scientific categorical answer as if they were the people who had insights into reality.  But for the most part, we live in a sea of opinion.  And in that sea of opinion everybody is an expert, everybody has an answer.  And there are no self‑ confessed fools.

     And so, James is saying among all of you who are claiming to be wise and understanding, who is really wise and who is really understanding?  That's the issue. 

     The word "understanding" in the Greek, the word itself is used only here in the New Testament and it refers to a specialist or a professional who is highly skilled in some area of knowing and doing.  The word for "wisdom," sophia is a general word.  The Greeks used it to mean speculative knowledge, theory and philosophy. But the Hebrews infused it with a much deeper meaning than that and it had to do with the ability to apply knowledge to the matter of living life.  To a Greek it was sheer speculation.  To a Hebrew it was a matter of practical living with skill and understanding.

     So who among you really has practical skill?  Who among you is really a professional?  Who among you really is a specialist in the matter of living?  That's the question.  Any of you who claim that, you must show it by your life.  Who has real knowledge...ho has real understanding...who has real skill...who has real wisdom will show it in life.  Why?  Mark it very clearly in your mind.  Divine wisdom placed into the heart of a person produces a changed life.  And so James says let him show by his good conduct his works.  Let him show.  That's an aorist imperative, it's a command, demonstrate it, don't just say you're wise, show it...demonstrate it.

     This is the whole thrust really of chapter 2 verses 14 to 20 where he says, "Faith without works is dead."  If you're going around claiming faith, then let me see your works.  Verse 18, he says you have faith, I have works.  Show me your faith without the works and I'll show you my faith by my works.  You can't show faith without works, as we saw.  So he's saying again here, you say you're wise, demonstrate it.  You say you're righteous, demonstrate it.  You say you have saving faith, demonstrate it.  Let's look at your life.

     And how is it shown?  How do I and how do you in our lives show that we possess the wisdom of God?  The God‑given ability to understand ourselves and understand our nature and understand God's truth and understand our world and understand our environment and understand God's revelation so that we can live practically and wisely in accord with His will.  How do we show that we have that wisdom? 

     Well, he says basically there are three ways.  Number one, generally by...it says, look at verse 13...by his good behavior.  It's a general statement, good conduct.  We could even translate anastrophes as life style, or could translate it behavior, or we could translate it activity, or even movement, or even action.  And then the word "good" means lovely, beautiful, winsome, attractive, noble, excellent, a very common New Testament word. 

     So, first of all, he says you claim to have divine wisdom?  You claim to have the wisdom of God?  You claim to have a livi