Following our church camp mini-series on Marriage and the Family, in order to encourage our spouses and families we need wisdom for life! Our guest preacher: Steve Williams takes a looks at how to respond to challenges of life, and how to test whether our thoughts and the advice of others can be trusted. How can we tell wisdom is from God?
Our passage today: James 3:13-18.
Preacher: Steve, 14th February 2021
Wisdom in hindsight
In New Zealand, imagine you’re walking up a mountain and can see sections of all the tracks – how they begin in front of you, and how they end up at the top. The rest of the path is hidden.
Actually walking these paths, you could find that one was straight to the top, but steep, and another perhaps has a precarious ledge that you would rather avoid. It’s only at the top can you see the big picture.
Sometimes we look back and think: if only I’d had more wisdom.
Our passage today is in the book of James. James is the brother of Jesus who was prominent in the early church and the writer of one of the early letters.
Wisdom in the Bible
When we think of someone who was wise in the Bible, we think of King Solomon. He was the son of David. Now David wasn’t perfect, but he had a heart for God. Solomon had a half heart for God.
Solomon was wise (an example is in 1 Kings 3:16-28 where he makes a wise judgement), but in contrast he didn’t take down the high altars and had lots of wives and concubines who caused his heart to go astray to the point he started to worship other gods. People can be wise at times, and not at others.
What is wisdom?
Where does wisdom come from and what is it?
Wisdom is from God: it’s knowing what to do with knowledge, resulting in a life well-grounded in the reality of a situation.
True saving faith produces good works, yet, in contrast, earthly wisdom is unspiritual and “demonic” according to James. This is pretty strong language!
How can we tell if wisdom is from God?
If a person is earthly and follows worldly thinking then they are not following God’s wisdom. In contrast: Heavenly wisdom is pure and reflects godliness. It’s peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
We can test “wisdom” by looking at the characteristics of it: including it’s motive.
In summary, godly wisdom tends towards the big picture and is ultimately about honouring God.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James 3:18 ESV
One question many people ask is: why are there so many Christian denominations?
The church seems like a mess with soon many believers believing different things. Why can’t the church be one as Jesus prayed? Are we bringing unity or division? Not peace at any price, but we should seek unity over division.
Where does wisdom come from?
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 ESV
For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
Proverbs 2:6 ESV
Wisdom comes from God.
How do we get wisdom?
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 1:5 ESV
We need to ask God and therefore we need to get to know Him. The only way to do this is through His Son, Jesus.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5 ESV
See also: Hebrews 9:15 and Hebrews 12:24.
If we’re feeling short of wisdom and as though we’re far from God, it’s not God pushing us away, we push God away. Ultimately the wisdom of this world will get us nowhere. We need the wisdom of God and that’s my prayer for us all.
Resources
Questions? Please contact us. Inspired? Come and worship with us on Sundays.
