Good morning. Kids are being dismissed to their classes upstairs and throughout the building. I encourage you to turn in your Bibles to James chapter three, that's where we'll be this morning. For those who, saw some new faces here. For those who don't know me, my name's Jason Evans. I'm one of the multiple Jasons that are here at this church. So, It's easy, if you just call out our names, we'll answer to one of them. But I'm the youth pastor here, been that for quite a few years, seven I believe, and three years, almost three years full time. It's something I enjoy and love to be a part of, love the families, getting to know them and the students. So, I'm pleased to be here this morning. I get to go back into James. It's been a while, so reacquainting myself with the book was good these last few weeks of just preparing for today. And this morning, we're gonna be talking about wisdom and living wisely. And if you are there in James, we're gonna start reading in verse chapter 13. It says, who is wise in understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure. Then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So in speaking of wisdom, I have a question. What is the measure of wisdom? How do you truly measure if someone is wise? I went online. That's where we all get our good information from. I went online to find just some articles and things that would kind of help me in discerning how to show the world's view on things, and I found a few websites that were helpful, and some of the studies that they've done, it kind of boils wisdom down to seven key things that they look at. The first one is self-reflection. Second one is pro-social behavior, things like empathy and compassion towards other people. The next on their list is emotional regulation. Next one is acceptance of diverse perspectives. Thought that was intrinsic and I left that one in there. Decisiveness is on the list. Social advising, things like giving good, rational, helpful advice to people. And last on the list was spirituality. There are online surveys that you can take to measure your wisdom. I thought that was kind of fun. I didn't take any. I was like, I can't do this. There was an article, though, that I found. It was on a website called Psychology Today, and they had an article on what wisdom is and how to cultivate it. I was like, oh, it's gonna be interesting. I'll read this. And it said, wisdom is one of those qualities that's difficult to define, because it encompasses so much, but people generally recognize it when they encounter it, and it's encountered most obviously in the realm of decision making. And they go on in the article, it says, most psychologists tend to agree that wisdom involves an integration of knowledge, experience, deep understanding, as well as a tolerance for the uncertainties of life. There's an awareness of how things play out over time, and it confers a sense of balance. That was psychology today's measure of wisdom. So naturally, I went to the next best thing. I went to our culture source of information. I asked chat GPT. I was curious, I didn't know what was gonna come up on this one, but I was actually surprised it was better than some of the articles that were out there. It says, it boils wisdom down to this. It says, wisdom is more than knowledge. It's the practical and ethical application of what one knows, guided by empathy, foresight, and balance. It was decent, it was better than, like I said, some of the other ones. And in our measure of wisdom, people look at a lot of different things. They look to knowledge. They want to know how well you know something. Knowledge is a factor. Some people also consider age as having wisdom. I know that in my life, and I'm sure that's true in yours, I have met both young and old that have or don't have wisdom. So gray hair isn't an indicator of true wisdom. They may have experience and knowledge, but it doesn't always mean wisdom. I've used this example before in youth group. Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. I got laughs from them too, so. Just because you know a lot about something, just because you have great knowledge about certain things does not mean that you're wise. What it comes down to is how do you use that knowledge? How do you apply it in your life? And this morning what I want to do as we look through this passage, I want to see what God's word has to say. not man's view on what they value as wisdom. They list spirituality in there, and they don't mean God. They mean more of a self-spirituality coming from within you. So their view on wisdom is very skewed. But I want to look to Scripture and glean from godly wisdom. And this morning we're gonna look at two different types. One is earthly wisdom, which is false wisdom, and the other is godly wisdom, which is true wisdom. As we spend time kind of going through this and studying, what I want you to do is ask yourself, what type of wisdom is your life characterized by? What do you see evidenced in your life? Wisdom's referenced over 200 times in scripture, quite a lot, and we see a lot of that in the book of Proverbs. Chapter four, verse seven of Proverbs, it's a father giving advice to his son, an instruction. He says, the beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom. And whatever you get, get insight. His plea to his son was that they get wisdom. And as a father, and I'm sure you do as well, it's my plea to my own children. I want them to be wise in their life. I want them to make good decisions. I want them to be wise in the way that they follow the Lord. I want them to get wisdom. And I myself, I want wisdom. I want to know that I am following what's right, and I want to know that I'm living in a right, wise way towards Christ. There's a value that's ascribed to wisdom. Scripture talks about it quite often. It's costly, and it's of great value, and the one who has it is wealthy in so many ways. Book of Proverbs, again, it talks about this verse that it just says over and over, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's a fear. Wisdom starts with a fear of the Lord. It's a reverence, a reverence of who he is, a right view of God, and a right view of man. Now, without that fundamental truth, any hope of having true wisdom is lost. And James has spoken about wisdom throughout the first couple chapters as we get into this chapter three. And as we get to these few verses at the end of the chapter, we come to what a lot of people consider to be the peak of this book. This is the thematic peak of James, is what they would say, because really, what you see in the first couple chapters, leading to these verses, is how do you know if you have true faith? Let's test it in the way that you go through trials. Let's test it in the way that you hear and obey God's word. Let's test it in the way that you treat others. Let's test it in your work, let's test it in the way that you speak, the way that you use your tongue. And here in this verse, it's saying, now, we've seen evidence in your life how you react, let's put it to test to see if it's true wisdom or not. This is what it boils down to, the evidence of what real wisdom is, and the characteristics of false wisdom and true wisdom. If you would look at verse 13, it says, who is wise in understanding among you? James is asking a qualifying question. He's done this many times, and he continues to do this throughout the book. He asks the question, and he gives an example, or he gives a proof to that question. Who among you is wise and understanding? At the beginning of chapter three, he started off addressing teachers, people who were wanting to be perhaps in this role of authority, or potential teachers who were maybe thought about going into that or aspiring to that, but there's a caution that he gives, and he says, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And here's why. Because we all stumble in many ways. The reality is that we are sinners, all of us, and we will all be judged with greater strictness, not just the teachers, but those who share God's word, who share the truth of God, Make sure it's right. Make sure it's according to God's word, not your wisdom or the way that you think that this should be defined. Make sure it's God's wisdom. Because we stand before a God and we have to give an account for the things that we say. This is a humbling statement. The fact that we will be judged on a greater strictness because of my role, because of where God has placed me. And it's one that I think about constantly. It's what gives me, I would say, the most nervousness coming up and speaking. I want to make sure that this is right. And daily, I'm reminded of my own sin. I'm reminded of my own failures. It feels like every day that I turn on the news or read an article, there's another pastor or another religious leader or church leader that has been removed from ministry because of sin. I encourage you to pray for your pastors. Pray for those that are in authority. Pray for those in your life that God would keep them from stumbling. But this question that James asked, who's wise in understanding, it's more general. It's to everyone really in the church. The readers of this letter, James is saying, well, here's the discussion about if you're wanting to be a teacher and how we use our tongue and the way that we speak and in all points of our life. This is a wisdom for everyone to understand. This is something I want everyone to see. And so, as he continues here, he asks that question, who among you, the ones who pride themselves in the wisdom that they think they have, or the understanding that they think they have, they claim to have wisdom, who actually has it? Now, if we look at the two words that he lists here, wise and understanding, This is really knowledge and understanding and a proper application of that knowledge. This encompasses wisdom. It's wise and understanding among you. So is there a way to know or some evidence that we can look at and on someone who claims to have it, or if I claim to have it, how can people see and know that it's true? James says there is a way, and he says, here in the second part of that verse, he says, by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. And the first thing that James gets to is that there is action involved with what you say. It isn't just something passive. This isn't just, oh, take my word for it. I've got wisdom, don't question it. James says, by his good conduct, that means how he lives his life, the way that he goes about his life, every aspect of his life, does it show? Is it proof that he has faith? Does he live his life in a way that shows he's wise and understanding, or is he a fool? This is a call back to chapter two, verse 14. James is asking another question. He says, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but doesn't have works? Can that faith save him? Later on in that chapter he says, you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. We can input the word wisdom here. In the place of faith, we can say, what good is it if someone says they have faith but they don't have works to back it up? There's no proof in their life. Is that right wisdom? Is that true wisdom? What good is it if they say it and they can't prove it? Let him show by his good conduct his works, and notice it says here, in the meekness of wisdom, he says, let his life be the proof, let it shine the light on all aspects of his life, and especially on his heart. In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus says that you will recognize them by their fruits. By his good conduct, you will know, you will see that it's evidence in his life, and just as faith is shown in works, we see that wisdom is shown the same way, it's true. But it isn't just about action. Notice that the part that he adds there works in meekness of wisdom. Now I feel that we need to define this word meekness because if you were to ask the average person, what does meekness mean, you get varied responses. A lot of people would probably say, well, meekness, it's a timid person. Someone who's cowering, where he shies away from things. Antisocial a little bit, just kind of more reserved. They conclude that a meek person is weak. But a biblical understanding of meekness describes a person that has strength. And in that strength, He's gentle, he's humble, courteous, and considerate. A meek person is someone that's not self-willed or continually concerned with his own ways, ideas, or just motives. They're willing to put themselves in second place, to come underneath an authority. And as a person who claims to be a follower of Christ, claims to be a new creature, that should be our response. We should put ourselves under the authority of God and his word. But this meekness also implies a teachability. He doesn't know everything. Willing to be shown that he's wrong, he's meek in the way that he handles confrontations. He's meek in the way that he goes about business. As we look through scripture, there is a lot of different people that were kind of exampled as meek. Now, the Bible kind of shows us multiple different men. The first one we think of is Moses. Numbers chapter 12 described Moses as the meekest man in the earth. Now, I wouldn't say that he was weak. God chose him to lead a million plus people for 40 years through a desert. That takes strength, that takes a reliance on God. And what Moses was willing to do was come under God's authority and lead the people of Israel. Not to assume the position as a ruler, but to listen to God and be led by him. David is another meek man that's described in scripture, but I wouldn't call him or consider him weak. We hear accounts or we read accounts of David and Goliath, of David and his mighty men and all the battles that he was a part of and won. David was a warrior, but he was humble. He gave God the glory for the good in his life, for the blessings that he gave him, but when he sinned, and he did sin, he asked for forgiveness. He asked that the Lord would help him. We see that he asked for forgiveness. He was meek. He placed himself second and sought the Lord's will. The ultimate example we see is in Christ. In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus is instructing sinners to take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle. It's another word for meekness. Gentle and lowly of heart. In John 6, verse 38, he says, This is the response, or this is the reward that we have. And in doing so, Christ offered himself as a ransom for many, and he gave his life for sinful man, so that those who put their faith in Christ can stand forgiven, cleansed, and righteous before a holy God. Meekness doesn't mean weakness. And as James continues with the discussion about attitude, he adds those two last words meekness of wisdom. It is literally a gentleness that comes from wisdom. This is meekness, that attitude of submission and gentleness that comes from being wise. A person that's full of wisdom and understanding is gentle. And that wisdom that they have is a result of the wise attitudes and the wise actions. But James doesn't wanna just leave it there. He goes on to qualify this a little bit more. He says, verse 14, but if you have bitter jealousy. He's kind of taken the first verse here, verse 13, and gone through and described what wisdom looks like. How do you see the evidence of it? Where do you see the evidence of it? And can you see it in someone's life? And then verses 14 through 16, he gets into this discussion of what false wisdom looks like. Here is earthly wisdom. And in verses 17 and 18, he continues on with the right view of wisdom. So first, I wanna look at the origin of earthly wisdom. In verse 14 it says, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts. James is pointing us to the origin of earthly wisdom. And the way he's writing here, the way that he starts this sentence, but if you have, is a very strong exhortation. Some actually view it as him almost Calling out people that are in the church. Maybe it's not necessarily the people in this church that he's writing to but certainly ones that he's seen this strong exhortation is that if you have this and He'll also say, since you have this, since this is evident in your heart, bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, and what James wants to show is this is where it starts. This is the origin of it all. It is in your heart, and the key truth to understand about earthly wisdom is that it's from man's sinful heart. This is a heart issue. Our hearts drive our actions, our desires, the things that we pursue. Everything in our life is driven by our heart. In Jeremiah 17, nine, it paints the picture of what the true condition of our heart. He says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Our hearts do not want the things of the Lord. And in Isaiah 29, verse 13, God is speaking about the people of Israel and he says, their hearts are far from me. That's our reality, too. We are far from God. We don't want the things of God. The Bible says that no one seeks after God. We come into this world as sinners, selfish. Romans 8 tells us that the mind, sinful man's mind, is set on the flesh, and it's hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. So as James is describing this earthly wisdom, He makes the point that it's from the heart. This is where it originates from. The origin is man's sinful heart. But notice what we see in that heart. Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. Bitter jealousy is that angry, hurt, or resentful attitude. There's anger and bitterness towards people. Maybe it's towards a person that you feel is trying to take something away that you've accomplished or that you desire. You ever experienced this before? Being passed over for a job at work. Maybe somebody gets an accolade over you when you were the one that did the work. That bitter jealousy, that feeling of resentment towards that person. It also refers to wanting to have the qualities or possessions that another person has. But he also adds this in there, he says, selfish ambition, this is another driving force of the heart, is one's own priorities. The act of prioritizing my own interests over the good of anyone else. And it's characterized by a me mentality. This is what I deserve, this is what I get, and it's a focus on what we can get rather than what we can give. Really, it's an attitude of, I want it and I will do whatever I can to get it. And we see it played out in so many different things. We see it played out in the, in just the smallest arena of our kids. They don't have to be taught selfishness. It is day one. We see it played out in, in our working environment, in business, climbing that corporate ladder, stepping on everyone else along the way. We see it in our relationships, how we treat each other. Whether we're overtly selfish or maybe we're more refined in how we deal with people and how we sin, maybe we're passive aggressive. Still getting what we want. But the sad reality is that we also see it in the church. Whether it's someone that thinks that they're God's gift to teaching or preaching, but they have no love for God's people. All they care about is the status and the station of being up in front and getting the praise and the glory from people around them. Or is it a person who wants to lead worship at a church so they can perform in front of an audience, not honoring God? Sadly, I have seen both of those cases in churches that I have attended or been a part of, and it has the potential to ruin a church, especially if it is not addressed properly. And I want to point out that what James is doing here, he's showing a stark contrast. Verse 13 talks about, let him show his good deeds. If he has wisdom, let him show it and evidence it in his life by his meekness and wisdom. But these things that come from the heart, that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, this is completely opposite. This is the stark contrast to meekness. This isn't wise and understanding. This is selfish and self-serving. And James says, if that's what's in your heart, do not boast and be false to the truth. And continuing with that strong exhortation, almost the accusatory statement, you could look at this as just saying, stop it. You have this attitude, this is the way you treat people. You blow everything up in all of your interactions. Your ministries at work are falling apart, your home is falling apart. Don't claim to be wise. Do not be boastful and wise or false to the truth. Stop boasting in the wisdom that you think you have. This boasting that you have is all about pride and it's a complete lie and people can see it evidenced in your life. The truth is that we can see evidence. We can see these things in people's lives, and this isn't the meekness that should come from right wisdom. This isn't God's wisdom. This isn't the wisdom that comes from above, as he says in verse 14. This is man's wisdom. This is man's ways and man's motives. And the reality is that kind of wisdom, not only is it from our heart, but he continues on. It's originated from our heart, but here's the other parts of it. It's earthly. It has nothing to do with anything past this life. It says, I have this life only in view, and that's it. Nothing that comes after, not God's plan for my life. It is me, what I can get, and I better get it before I die. This is it. He also lists under here, unspiritual. That's another word for natural, it's devoid of God. It is God being removed from it. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they're folly to him. And he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. An unspiritual mindset You cannot receive wisdom because it's spiritually discerned. It comes from God, and if you remove God from your wisdom, then you have nothing. Another word here for this unspiritual is sensual. Having to deal with more of an animalistic desire, and that desire has nothing to do with God. But if you notice in this progression of this list, it starts off with earthly, Then unspiritual, it's getting worse and worse. We've kind of replaced God a little bit in the earthly. We're not thinking so much about him. Unspiritual, now we've kind of removed God from it. And he says here in the third part of this list is demonic. This is opposite of godly. This is removing God completely and instead, as this one commentator puts it, it is radically evil because it's authored by the devil. This is what worldly, earthly wisdom looks like. This shouldn't be seen in the life of someone who claims to have faith in Christ, that claims to have wisdom, because this is man's wisdom. This, in essence, is what we all struggle with, the world, the flesh, and the devil. If you want to turn to Job chapter 28, In Job chapter 28, Job is asking a question, where is wisdom? And he asks the question and he lists all of these things. He says, surely there is a mine for silver and a place for gold that they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. Man puts an end to darkness, and he searches out the farthest limit. The ore in gloom and deep darkness, he opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives. They're forgotten by travelers, they hang in the air far away from mankind, they swing to and fro. As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the places of sapphires, it has dust of gold. The path no bird or prey knows, and the falcon's eyes have not seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it. The lion has not passed it. Notice verse nine. Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by its roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes see every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light. Man's wisdom can accomplish a lot of things. This list that Job gives talks about just the ingenuity and the ways and the lengths that they will go to for something that they value. They will overturn mountains to get treasure, to get riches, material things. But what about wisdom? Verse 12 in that chapter, it says, but where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it's not found in the land of the living. The deep says, it's not in me, and the sea says, it's not with me. It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. He goes on to list more and more things how it cannot be exchanged for, the price of it is above pearls, all of these things. And what Job is getting at is man can accomplish and do all of these things, but he cannot attain wisdom on his own. There is no measure that he can go to and no price that he can pay for it. Because if you look at verse 20, From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and death say, we've heard a rumor of it with our ears. God understands the way to it and he knows its place. "'for he looks to the ends of the earth "'and sees everything under the heavens. "'When he gave to the wind its weight "'and apportioned the waters by measure, "'when he made a decree for the rain "'and the way of the lightning and the thunder, "'then he saw it and declared it. "'He established it and searched it out, "'and he said to man, "'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, "'and to turn away from evil is understanding.'" Man's wisdom is again from our sinful hearts. True wisdom only comes from God. And the outcome of man's wisdom, man can accomplish many amazing things. Technological wonders, the things that they can build, the things that they've created, scientific advancements, medical advancements. We had wonderful opportunity when we were in the NICU with our son. during this time, we had a lot of conversations with the nurses, and we met some wonderful Christian people in there, and it's encouraging to see Christians in that kind of environment, giving hope to people. It's nice to see, but we had a conversation one day, and they were talking about just the advancements in the NICU field, and they said that they now have the ability to keep a baby born at 22 weeks alive and growing. That's amazing. And as we went through this process with our son, we're just so thankful to see what God has given to man in their advancements and the ability and things that they can do because it would have benefited us. And the Lord in all of this was so gracious and kind to see us through to this end. But we experience that, we experience man's wisdom and man's understanding, but then there's also these other groups. and people claiming to be wise and scientific that would argue when life actually starts, or whether it's okay or not okay to end that life. Man's wisdom is not God's wisdom. It's not the wisdom that comes from above, and this is the outcome of that wisdom. This is the end of that kind of wisdom. Back over to James. Verse 15 says, again, we'll read that, it's not the wisdom that comes down from above, it's earthly, unspiritual, demonic. Verse 16, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist. He's already mentioned these things, verse 14, if you have these in your heart, and you don't have true wisdom, you're false to that truth. Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. If you have this, then here's the result. This is the truth that comes out of you having this type of attitude, this type of motive. Disorder is the first one he lists here, and it's just this state of confusion, it's chaos. It's to disrupt the function of or the arrangement of something. It's a disruption of God's order. It's a total destruction of God's purpose, or not purpose, his plan. every evil practice he goes on to list. Disorder, every evil practice. I can't help but think of Romans. Pastor Mike is going through Romans, so if I'm ahead of you, don't tell him. You'll get there. Verse 29 of chapter 1, speaking of these people who are who have no care for the Lord. It says, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, contentiousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, their gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Sounds like every evil practice. That's what James is getting at. In this verse, if you were to jump back up in that Romans passage, verse one, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, And their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming, here it is, wisdom. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, and animals, and creeping things. And this is the result. Therefore, God, up. in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. This is the outcome of man's wisdom. It is a total rejection of God, claiming wisdom, they have removed God from their life. Bible says they have become fools. And God, in his punishment, has given them over to sin, given them over to punishment. And if you go on to read chapter two of Romans, you can just kind of see how that ends. Man's wisdom can take you far in life. There is no limit to the amount of TED Talks, self-help books, and all these information and things that you can look up to learn, to grow, to figure out how to learn business or finance or excel in life. God has graciously given man a mind and knowledge, the ability to think and accomplish so many things. But man has rejected the giver of wisdom. They've rejected God and man's wisdom ends when he stands before a holy God. And he asks the question, but Lord, did I not do all of these things? Did I not grow this megachurch? Did I not have the biggest following on social media? Did I not, did I not? And he will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, lawlessness. That's every vile practice. This is the disorder that James is talking about, and the outcome of this is eternal separation from God. Now as we get back to James, in typical James fashion, he moves on to the opposite, to the other evidence of godly wisdom. Now he's discussed false wisdom, what that looks like, the end outcome, and now he sets out to define what true wisdom is. First, I wanna do the same as we did, as I wanna look at the origin. We saw the origin of earthly wisdom, it's from the heart. Earthly, unspiritual, demonic. And the origin of true, godly wisdom, we see in verse 17. It says, but the wisdom from above is first pure. Now James mentioned this earlier in the chapter, in verse 14, that bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is not the wisdom that's from above. But, he says, here is what it is. It is first, it is the most important thing, the most crucial part of this is that it is pure. And this pure means that it's not mixed with any other substance or material. There's nothing else to taint it. It is right and pure and untainted or unblemished because it comes from the one who is holy, who is pure. True wisdom and right wisdom comes from God, and it is first and foremost pure. James 1 says, if you lack wisdom, if you don't have it, if you want to grow in it, let him ask of God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. Wisdom is from God, and it's above all things, as James says here, first pure. It's pure in motive. It's pure in our desires. And again, we see this contrast that James is showing from earthly wisdom. Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is not pure. It is from wrong motives. It is from selfish motives, but a pure motive, a godly motive, has me not in first, but I'm submitting to the Lord. I'm coming under His authority and His wisdom. Godly wisdom that comes from above is first pure, and then it's now, secondly here, is peaceable. Now, those who have godly wisdom should be peaceful people. This doesn't mean weak or passive, or doesn't handle what needs to be handled, or is, you know, just likes to shy away from confrontation. That's not what it means. Peaceful means that it's not contentious or argumentative. Not always insisting that it's my way or the highway, or always looking for a fight. Romans 12, again, jumping into Romans, Paul says, as much as is in you, Puts a little caveat in there. I know it's not possible all the time, but as much as is in you, as much as possible, live peaceably with all. There should be a peaceable attitude about us. If we have godly wisdom and right understanding, we should be peaceable to others. Our lives should be marked by peace. We should have peaceable interactions with people in our workplace, in our families, As we continue in this list, though, he goes on to gentle. The word used here for gentle can mean kind of yielding or tolerant of people. There was one couple people that said it's so hard to define the use of this word gentle because in our term, we kind of think just soft and kind. It's not necessarily just that. And what James is trying to get here is this describes a person that's been wronged, and justice would allow them to respond in kind to that person, but instead, that person knows how to forgive. There's almost a sense of mercy in it. And a commentator called this a sweet reasonableness. It's the ability to extend the kind consideration that we would want to receive to others. Now, continuing the list, it says, not only gentle but open to reason, not being stubborn, willing to listen to reason and even change course because of it. An example that I go to and that I like is David. David and his mighty men, or his men that he has, were providing protection for a rich landowner, Nabal. And they provided protection for him during this time, kept him from bandits, and flocks were protected, and Nabal's men were protected. And at the end of this time, he sends a servant to go talk to Nabal and says, hey, we provided protection. We did all these things for you. Could we get some supplies back? And Nabal's response is, who are you? I don't owe you anything. You did this, you did that out of your own thing. I owe you nothing. And in fact, I'm not giving you anything. Now David's rash response, told his men to grab their swords, we're gonna kill him. And so they run out to meet Nabal, but Nabal's wife, Abigail, hears this through the servants. They come to her and kind of let her know what's going on, and let her know the unreasonableness of their master, and she, in a panic and more of a, reasonable person, runs out to meet David. To reason with him, to plead with him, and David's response, as he meets her and talks to her within the field, in 1 Samuel, it says, David said to Abigail, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me. Blessed be your discretion, blessed be you, who have kept me from this day, from guilt, blood guilt, and from working salvation with my own hand. David was open to reason. He had every right to go after this man, to get what was owed for him, but he was open to reason, and he listened, and he saw God's hand in the circumstance. A person that is no longer persuadable or open to reason, the Bible calls them foolish. True wisdom knows it doesn't know everything, and it's submissive, and it's open to reason. Now, next in this list is full of mercy. Again, this one's close to gentleness. It's compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone when it's within your power to punish or harm them. This one is very countercultural. Culture today would tell you that if you're wronged, well, get them back. Get what's owed to you. You did the work, you deserve it. But instead, those who have wisdom, those who have true faith, when they're wronged or when something is against them, they have the ability to show gentleness, reasonableness, they're peaceable, full of mercy. But he says full of mercy and good fruits because mercy is seen through action. Wisdom is seen by the fruit that it produces and mercy, People will see that you are a merciful person if you show mercy. That's why James says, let it show in his works. Let him see the fruit in his life. Now this list is very similar, I think, to Galatians chapter five when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, meekness. It gives evidence to a changed life, a person that has right wisdom. Now, as he continues here in the list, impartial means steady or unwavering. It operates on consistent principles. It doesn't change back and forth. One day I'm going with this one, and then the next day in this circumstance, well, I'm gonna change my response. That person is a double-minded man, as James talks about in chapter one, who's unstable in all his ways. but a person who has a right godly wisdom is unwavering. They know the truth and they're willing to stand with it. The last here on the list is sincere, meaning without hypocrisy. Commentator described it this way, he said, it's without pretending to be what it's not and acting always in its own character, never working under a mask or trying to hide something. Now, as we look at the list we just read and compare that to the list that we see in earthly wisdom, we saw bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boasting, false to the truth, earthly, unspiritual, demonic, disorder, every evil thing. The fruit from that type of conduct gives no evidence of wisdom, gives no evidence of true wisdom. It's false wisdom because their minds are on the things of this earth and not on the things above. They have no view of God, they are earthly, unspiritual, and it is influenced by Satan. Colossians chapter three, verse one, it says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. That's our reward. That is the reward of true wisdom. And as we look at the outcome, as we get to verse 18, the outcome of having and displaying this right kind of wisdom, It says in verse 18, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. What he's saying is whatever you sow, that's what you're gonna reap. If your work and your conduct is done in peace, meekness, gentleness, open to reason, then the reward from that is the righteousness that only God can give, and it is true and right. Galatians 6, 8, it says, for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. This harvest is sown in peace, as he says in verse 18, by those who make peace. A harvest of righteousness does not grow in selfish ambition, or bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. It cannot. It cannot thrive, it cannot be harvested in any of that attitude because it is devoid of God. It is everything that God is not. This reminds me of Jesus's word in Matthew chapter five, verse nine. He said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. The outcome of earthly wisdom is eternal separation from God. Man in his ways and in his wisdom goes his own path in rejection of God. Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. But what we see here, as James ends this section, is the outcome of godly wisdom is a harvest of righteousness. And it's eternal life with Christ. So now here's the test. Here's the application. And as James asks the question in verse 13, who's wise? The question for you today is does your life give evidence to worldly wisdom or godly wisdom? What do you see throughout your life? Would you be able to examine your life in this last year and see what was driving your actions? Where were these desires coming from? Was it an attitude of meekness? Is that what drove you? Was it bitter jealousy and selfish ambition? What drove your actions in the ministries you were a part of? What drove your actions in your relationships? in your marriages, in your kids? What would people say if they could see your life? Would they see this characteristic of godly wisdom? Or would it be evident to them that it's earthly, unspiritual, and demonic? Would they see a life that's patterned after true wisdom? And as we ask that question, we also need to ask, well, if I have wisdom, or if I want to grow in wisdom, what do I do? Consume yourself with God's word. The psalmist talks about meditating on God's word day and night. That's where wisdom is found. It is only found through him, and it is only given by him. Wisdom is found in God, not in this world, and it's not in your pursuits. Keeping our mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And not just consuming ourself with God's word, but be in communion with God. Do we pray? Do we seek God's wisdom? Do we ask for his wisdom? James says if you lack it, ask God for it and he'll give it to you. What it comes down to is how do we view wisdom? Do we view it like we would riches? Do we view it as costly? Do we view it as valuable like we should? Proverbs chapter two, our youth group, we did a summer study this summer that John Feltner led the boys through, and each boy was given a different chapter in Proverbs to memorize, and our family was given Proverbs chapter two. and just fits so well with here. It's the value of wisdom. Proverbs chapter 2 says, If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Do you have true wisdom? Do we value it the way that Solomon is saying here of in just trying to pour into his son? If you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, do we value it that way? If we do, then let your lives show the proof in the way that you live. Let's pray. Father, we do again thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you for your wisdom. Father, it is through you that we receive all wisdom and everything from you. Lord, I pray that you would just help us, be with us this week as we seek to follow you. Lord, I pray that you would give us a desire for true wisdom, that we would seek it like silver, that we would be peaceable, that we would be meek in our wisdom, that we would be open to reason, Lord, that we would be conformed to your image. Lord, I pray that again that you would just bless our time, bless the remainder of this week, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.