“The Book of James 3:13-18

Pastor Mike Barnett,  2006

James 3:13-18 says:

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. 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.

 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 3:13-18

• The Hebrews clearly understood that true wisdom was not intellectual, but ___________________________(behavioral). V. 13

• The biggest ___________________(fool) was the one who knew truth and __________________(failed) to _____________________(apply) it.

• To the Jews, wisdom was skill in living righteously.

• True wisdom from Heaven, is not a matter of how much one knows but of how much one _______________(trusts), _______________(loves), and _________________(obeys) the Lord. V. 13-18

• In the Old Testament, the phrase, “fear of the Lord” was equivalent to “trusting in the Lord,” and referred to saving faith, as made clear in Hebrews 11.

Deut. 8:6, 10:12, 14:23, 17:19 says:

 6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.  12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.  19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees”. Deut. 8:6, 10:12, 14:23, 17:19

Job 5:9 says:

9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
       miracles that cannot be counted.  Job 5:9

Job 11:7 says:

7 "Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
       Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?  Job 11:7

Eph 3:10, 16-19 says:

10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph 3:10, 16-19

·        ________________________________(Submission) to the Holy Spirit is the sure mark of a Christian’s wisdom.

·        IN JAMES 3:13-18, JAMES OFFERS WISDOM THAT IS APPLIED TO DAILY LIFE AS STILL ANOTHER __________________(TEST) OF LIVING ______________________(FAITH)!

·        The ____________________(kind) of wisdom a person possesses will be ______________________(revealed) by the kind of __________________(life) he lives. V. 13

·        Those who possess genuine saving faith will manifest the wisdom of God from above.

·        Who among you is wise and understanding?  Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. V. 13

·        FOR JAMES, WISDOM IS NOT  _____________________________(INFORMATION), IT IS _________________________(TRANSFORMATION) OF ONES _________________________(CHARACTER).

·        A lot of people sound wise, but are not according to James definition.

·        IF YOU APPLY JAMES DEFINITION OF TRUE WISDOM YOU WILL NEVER BE DECIEVED, HURT, DISAPPOINTED BY IMPOSTERS AGAIN!

·        Most people believe they are just as “savvy” as the next person and that their opinion is usually better than anyone elses. In this day of relativism, such perception is virtually universal….but that is not ____________________(true) wisdom according to James….True wisdom always leads to ____________________(action).

·        James is saying: “ If you claim to have wisdom and understanding”, then _____________________(show) it first by your good behavior and your exemplary lifestyle.

·        True is wisdom is ________________________(humble) – Boasting does not come from God. V. 13

·        True wisdom is ___________________(gentle) and ___________________________(self-controlled) – It is not harsh and hyper. V. 14

·        True wisdom is _________________________(merciful) and _________________________(gracious) – t does not condemn as the world condemns. V. 17

·        True wisdom is __________________________(impartial) – it is not _______________________(selfish) and does not play ________________________(favorites).  V. 16-18

·        True wisdom brings ______________________(peace) to believers and leads to _____________________(righteous) living. V. 18

·        Human wisdom is _____________(corrupted) and from this ___________________(world).

·        God’s Wisdom is ___________________(pure) and from ____________________(Heaven). V. 17

IN A NUTSHELL, WISDOM FROM GOD IS….

1. Wisdom is _______________________(peaceable).

2. Wisdom is __________________________(gentle).

3. Wisdom is _______________________(reasonable).

4. Wisdom is full of ________________________(mercy).

5. Wisdom is ________________________(selfless) and without _________________________(pride)

1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil 2:1-4

6. Wisdom is full of ___________________ ______________________(good fruits).

7. Wisdom is ______________________(unwavering).

·        Believers are to demonstrate wisdom and understanding by an attitude of ____________________________________(gentleness).

·        The adjective was often used of a wild horse that was broken and made useful to its owner.

·        For believers, gentleness is to be willingly under sovereign ________________________(control) of God and is to characterize ____________________(everyone) in the Kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:16-24 says:

 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

 19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:16-24

• Talk of orthodoxy and Christian experience, however fluent and animated and clever, does not of itself prove wisdom; the really wise man will “show his work”.

James 3:14-16 says:

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. James 3:14-16

• The wisdom that is of the world is based on _____________________(man’s) own ___________________________(understanding).

• In false wisdom, man is supreme.

• False wisdom does not recognize God’s sovereignty, God’s will, or God’s truth.

THE MOTIVATION OF FALSE WISDOM

·        The motive behind human wisdom is __________________ ____________________(selfish ambition). V. 16

·        Those whose lives are based on and motivated by human, ungodly wisdom are inevitably self centered, living in a world in which their own personal desires, ideas, and standards are the measure of everything.

·        Those who are engulfed in self-serving worldly wisdom resent anyone or anything that comes between them and their own objectives.

·        The Word became closely associated with those who sought high political office or other positions of influence and power.

·        As today, boasting and self-glorifying were accepted and expected marks of a military sports hero or of anyone else who was highly successful in some field of endeavor.

·        But the faithful Christian is not to have such arrogance, which characterizes the absence of divine wisdom.

·        A professed Christian who is proud, boasting, self-centered, loveless and arrogant is a __________________________(fraud).

·        To claim otherwise is a lie against the truth.

·        There is nothing more characteristic of fallen, unredeemed men than being dominated by ______________________(self).

·        Such wisdom is earthly, in that it is limited to the present, material world of time and space.

·          By definition, it is restricted to things than man can theorize, discover, and accomplish by himself. It has no place for God or the things of God.

·        It spawns a society whose watchwords are” “Do your own thing” and “Look out for number one”.

·        FALSE WISDOM IS _______________________(DEMONIC). V. 16

2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15 says:

3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.  13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15

 2 Thes 2:1-12 says:

 1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness^[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

 5Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.  2 Thes 2:1-12

• Such people have been exposed to the divine wisdom of the gospel and the way of eternal life, but in the end, they return to their own human, earthly and demonic wisdom and the way of eternal death.

Matt 7:21-23 says:

21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matt 7:21-23

• Where _________________________(jealously) and _______________________(selfish) ambition exist, there is ______________________(disorder) and ______________________(every) ______________________(evil) thing. V. 16

• All the conflicts, crimes battles, and wars of the world are evidenced of the devastation caused by __________________ __________________(human wisdom) and _________________________(pride) is closely associated with it.

·        Pure carries the idea of being free of contamination and was used by the ancient Greeks of a cleansing ceremony whereby a worshipper was made pure and worthy enough to approach the Gods.

·        God’s pure wisdom always leads to ____________________(action) expressed in ____________________(love)

NOTE: God said he loved sinners and he proved it by sending his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross!

1 John 4:7-11 says:

 7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^[a] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for^[b] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11

·        Hypocrisy is one of the sins Jesus condemned the most.

Matt 7:5 says:

5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matt 7:5

·        Seed sown in V. 18 represents godly wisdom whose _____________________(fruit) is _____________________(righteousness).

·        It is possible that James had in mind the idea of fruit being harvested and then, in part, becoming seed, which is resown in peace, as it were, and produces still more fruit, and so on, in the familiar cycle of growing and reaping.

·        Godly wisdom produces a continuing cycle of righteousness, which is planted and harvested in a peaceful, harmonious relationship between God and his faithful people and those people themselves.

·        As James continually emphasizes, the person who professes to be a Christian must prove it by his works, his daily living.

·        If he is a true believer, he will possess his Lord’s own wisdom, and that wisdom will manifest itself in righteous, selfless, and peaceful living.

2 Cor. 9:10 says:

10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Cor. 9:10

·        IN this passage, James here offers a contrast of two wisdoms.

·        False wisdom is marked by “envy” and selfish ambition”, two traits that are the tangible result of false teaching within the lives of those who follow it.

·        They have arrogated to themselves a position of authority as those qualified to instruct the Christian community, and in so 1 Corinthians laid claim to the mantle of wisdom. In James eyes, however, it is a wisdom of the world and therefore false.

·        TO _______________________(FOLLOW) GOD’S _____________________(WORD) IS TRUE ______________________(WISDOM)!

·        True wisdom, he claims, results in humility and good deeds shown in a “good life”.

·        The “worldly wisdom” of the false teachers has not been ineffectual - It has had its ____________________ ____________________(corrosive effects).

Numbers 12:1-3 says:

 1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.

 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

·        Moses and Jesus were not interested in personal popularity or power, nor did they defend themselves, but in humility pointed others to God.

·        Paul describes his own past as marked by a zeal for God in persecuting the Christian church. Such Zeal was rooted in “Worldly wisdom”.

·        After becoming born again Paul used his zeal to build up the church body with Godly wisdom that comes from the scriptures.

·        Discord has come into the church by leaders claiming superior wisdom and by gathering themselves followers while they charge others in the church with a lack of spirituality.

·        Discord has come to the Christian community as a result of their status seeking, and they have usurped the spiritual offices of the church in order to teach and propagate this worldly philosophy.

·        James is saying: “Do not _____________________(boast) about your worldly wisdom, because to do so is only to ______________________(deny) the truth even more clearly.”

·        James intends to remind his readers that the world is at ____________________(odds) with God. He is saying, “Do not fool yourself into thinking that this attitude is in concert with God, for such is a lie”.

·        The wisdom of his opponents, rooted in “envy and selfish ambition” has done nothing to strengthen the body, but rather has served only to bring “disorder and every evil practice”.

·        Where there is divisiveness, there is no wisdom.

·        Wisdom is peaceable; therefore the _________________________(peacemakers) are the ones who possess wisdom.

·        The ones who create tumult and _______________________(discord) do not possess wisdom.

·        The evangelical world would do well to recapture the biblical idea of peace!

·        There is something about contemporary evangelicalism that comes up short when compared to the biblical idea of peace.

·        Purity reflects God’s character. A pure person follows god’s decrees with motives unmixed.

·        even untroubled by misinformed forces that often work to his great personal determent.

·        Mercy is not ________________(pity), for pity can be simply the emotion of concern that _______________________(passes) as quickly as the shadow of a cloud.

·        Mercy is compassion that _______________________(drives) one to _______________________(action).