James 3:13-18 * October 4, 2009 *
Pentecost 18 * Pastor Leyrer
Dear Friends in Christ,
Did you know there are only two television game shows that in one form or another have been on the air in every decade since the 1950’s? One is “The Price is Right.” The other one is “To Tell the Truth.” Maybe some of you remember it.
If not, this is how it worked. Three people were introduced – all who claimed to be the same person. Each of them began by saying with conviction: “My name is…” Two, of course, were imposters. The celebrity panelists’ job was to ask pointed questions of all three in order to determine which one of them was indeed “telling the truth.”
At the end of the appointed interrogation period the celebrity panelists made their best guess, complete with a bit of witty banter as to how they reached their conclusions. This was followed by the program host dramatically intoning the show’s greatly anticipated signature command: “Will the REAL Mr. or Mrs. _____ please stand up!” And then the real Mr. or Mrs. ____ stood up.
Sometimes the panelists were right; other times they were wrong. And in the exchange that followed the wrong guessers often gave credit to the imposters for putting on such a convincing and persuasive performance.
The Apostle James obviously had no knowledge of this or any other 20th century game show, but interestingly enough, he uses a similar format in our text for today. Writing by divine inspiration he talks about the subject of wisdom and points out to us that not all wisdom is real wisdom. In other words, there are some imposters out there – and they can be pretty convincing and persuasive.
So how do we know which is which? That’s what James is going to instruct us on today. We might entitle what he has to tell us:
A TALE OF TWO WISDOMS
1. One is an imposter and only
described, while
2. The other is genuine and is prescribed
James begins with this important and significant summary statement about true wisdom: 13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. There is a lot packed into that passage, and we’ll come back to it later. But let’s initially look at how this text goes on and the comparison James makes between false and true wisdom.
First he outlines what counterfeit wisdom looks like. 14But if you harbor
bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do
not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does
not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For
where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every
evil practice.
Let’s keep in mind that James is
addressing real people here; Christian
people. Apparently some of the
Christians to whom James was writing had it wrong when it came to understanding
wisdom and who is truly wise in the eyes of God. Apparently some had been infected by the very
culture they said they wished to change – or at least be distinct from. And the results were not pretty. So James calls them on it.
Essentially he says anyone whose
life is marked by envy and selfish ambition – no matter how
intellectually or theologically smart they may be or no matter how “religious”
they may be in the sense that they go through all the right motions – is not
wise. Let’s take a look at those two
terms.
Envy can be understood
as resentment or an even hateful dislike of the good fortune or blessing of
another person. Ever heard or overheard
someone express actual animosity toward another person because that person was
tall or rich or athletic or pretty or slim or attractive while they were
not? Ever engaged in a little of that kind
of comparison yourself? That’s envy.
Cousin to envy is selfish ambition. There is nothing wrong with ambition in and
of itself when it is properly understood.
Good stewardship of the gifts God gives us moves us to use them – and to
want to use them – the best we can for His glory and honor. But selfish ambition leaves God out of the equation and replaces Him with one’s
personal ego and desires. Selfish
ambition is the mark of rank
self-centeredness.
Here again, could we be guilty of
this? Absolutely, because if we are
honest we will admit that selfishness (wanting the world – and even God – to
revolve around me and my needs and my
desires) is our biggest problem and the natural sinful tendency every
single one of us struggles with the most.
As has often been noted, the middle letter in sin is “I.”
James defines this kind of “wisdom” as being earthly (as opposed to heavenly), unspiritual (as opposed to aided by the Holy Spirit), and of the devil (as opposed to being of
God). Furthermore James says where this
kind of wisdom holds sway the results will be disorder (because it is ordered around self and not God) and every evil practice (because if God is
not driving things the devil is happy to give directions).
The very fact that James has to
talk to us in this way is a reminder of how easy it is to buy into a worldly,
self-centered, “it’s all about me and what I have or don’t have” idea of
wisdom. A materialistic culture such as
the one we live in is the breeding ground for envy. Couple that with our own sinful, selfish
nature that can sometimes get the upper hand in our life (even though we are
Christians) and we can understand why Christians of all ages – including us – need
to be warned about this.
Nevertheless, there is a better wisdom out
there. 17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is
first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy
and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace
raise a harvest of righteousness.
James uses seven different words or phrases to
describe “the wisdom that comes from
heaven.” We don’t have time to go
through them individually, other than to say that collectively they are all
good.
Here is the bottom line comparison:
True wisdom is God-centered in that it is all about our relationship
with God, while false wisdom is self-centered and is all about me.
True wisdom bears good fruit which brings blessings to us and others, while false wisdom bears poisonous fruit that brings disharmony into our lives and the lives of others.
True wisdom cares for others because that is the nature of God, while false wisdom cares only about self and views others either as competition or through comparative eyes making me aware of what I don’t have rather than what I do have.
True wisdom brings peace not only to those that practice it, but also produces the righteous, right-ordered life God wants from His children.
And, of course, false wisdom is what we with God’s help wish to eradicate from our lives while true wisdom is what we wish to cultivate within our lives – again with God’s help and through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Which leads us back to our opening verse. 13Who is wise and
understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the
humility that comes from wisdom. This is an important, instructive and helpful verse. If we read this passage backwards and as a
progression we are told that wisdom leads
to humility and humility leads to good deeds. And good deeds are the evidence of wisdom and
understanding.
So the ultimate and prevailing
question for us as Christians is: What is wisdom and where can it be found? Happily for us the Bible answers that quite
clearly a number of different places, but none more succinct than this:
Psalm 111:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” The point: True wisdom is rooted in respecting and
reverencing our Lord, His will, and His Word.
Here’s another passage, this one
from Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24: “Jews
demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those
whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God.” The point: True
wisdom is all wrapped up in Jesus Christ, who alone is God’s wise plan for the
salvation of the world.
So when we reverence the will and
ways of God as He has instructed us in His Word, and when we through the power
of the Holy Spirit embrace the gospel message of Jesus Christ, understanding
that “chief of sinners though I be, Jesus
shed his blood for me” taking away all of my sin through his life, death
and resurrection, then we are wise.
Those who are wise in this way
naturally become humble. Because what
else is humility other than seeing ourselves for who we really are and God for
who He really is? When we understand
that we have no leverage or bargaining power before God but that everything we
are and everything we have and everything we will be is purely an act of His
grace, well, it’s not hard to be humble.
In the words of the beloved hymn,
Rock of Ages:
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy
cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress; helpless look
to thee for grace.
Foul I to the fountain fly – wash me Savior,
or I die!
And He did wash us. On the cross of
And a grateful, humble, peaceful
life shows itself in willingly living for “Him who died for us and was raised again.” So we see the completion of the progression
James talks about: wisdom leads to
humility and humility leads to a life that gives glory to God in its actions
and attitudes.
So ends James’ tale of two
wisdoms. The earthly, unspiritual wisdom
he simply described for us so as to
avoid it. It is rooted in envy and
selfishness. And while it is widely
embraced and cultivated within our culture, it is a false wisdom that results
in unhappiness, strife and disharmony.
In contrast, the wisdom that comes
from heaven is prescribed for
us. It has to do with reverence for God,
His Word and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. It comes to us through Word and
Sacrament. And it results in happiness,
harmony, and peace with God.
Will the real wisdom please stand
up? Between the two there is no
contest. James made that pretty clear to
us today. Amen.