All right. I am a little bit under the weather, so you'll have to bear with me a bit. The symptoms are sneezing, coughing, and being a bad preacher. Not being good at preaching, if you can believe that. An odd set of symptoms. But we'll do our best. If you would, turn to James chapter 3. James chapter 3. We're going to talk about two types of wisdom. tonight, two types of wisdom, wisdom from above and the wisdom of the world. James chapter 3, let's read verses 13 through 18. Verse 13 says, Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth that is found in scripture. Thank you for your wisdom, Lord. Thank you for the opportunity tonight to present your truth and your word. Lord, I pray that you would Guide and direct my thoughts and my words. I pray that your spirit would take them and Apply them to the people that are here tonight Lord that they might be fed with something from you pray that you'd get me out of the way and that I would just deliver this message as you would have it delivered and Give us a good rest of the evening in Jesus name. Amen alright, so we're gonna come back to this passage and more specifically verse 17 and We're going to compare and contrast the two types of wisdoms that are mentioned here, the wisdom from above and the wisdom of the world. But first, let's go back to the beginning of the chapter. The first part of this chapter really sets the stage for the passage that we just read. So we'll go all the way back to verse number one. Verse one says, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing we shall receive the greater condemnation. So, this is setting the stage, as we'll see, for verses 13 through 18, but the assumption in verse number one is that there are brethren who would be masters. There are brethren that would be in positions of authority, that would desire to be in charge, to call the shots, to be in that place of authority. And that's who James is addressing here, whether it's specific people that are trying to take that role, take that position, or if it's just the part in every one of us that wants that. Because I think every person here at some point or another has desired to be the one in charge, desired to be the one in authority, the leader. And James warns against that. He says that's not necessarily something that you would wish for, that a place of authority and leadership is not maybe as grand as it seems. And the reason for that is verse number two, for in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body. He says the reason that a place of leadership is not necessarily something we should be seeking after is because unless you're perfect, you will offend. Unless you're perfect, you are going to offend people, and you are held responsible. A great deal of responsibility comes with being in a place of leadership. If you lead people in a false way, you're the one responsible for that. The buck stops with you. And so as these people and as we look to those positions of authority and vie for those positions, James is saying, slow down. There's a lot of danger there. He goes into verse 3 and he starts to speak about the tongue. He ends verse two with talking about being able to bridle the whole body. If you are, hypothetically, a man who can be in that position of leadership and not offend anybody, you would be the perfect man. You would be perfect. And if you could handle the tongue, which he'll go into, you'd be able to bridle and control the whole body. Verse three, we'll just kind of summarize verses three through six. He compares the tongue to a small bit in a horse's mouth. He compares it to a small helm that turns a great ship. He compares it to a fire and a world of iniquity. The tongue, he's talking about the danger of the tongue and how it's small and seemingly not that big a part of us. It has incredible power and incredible danger. In verse 8, he says it's untamable. In verse 10, he talks about the hypocrisy of the tongue, how out of the same mouth you'll get cursing and you'll get blessing. He compares that aspect of the tongue to a fig tree bringing forth olives. He compares it to a fountain that brings forth salt water and fresh water and he says it ought not be so. So, he establishes the power of the tongue and the danger of the tongue and it's in defense of what he says in verse number one. He's saying, brethren, be not many masters. Why? Because you'll offend. Why? Because the danger of And so he's using it to defend what he's saying and the point that he's trying to make in verse 1, which is pulling people back from that desire to be in leadership, for that desire to be in charge and the one with authority. He says, the tongue is dangerous and therefore being in a position of leadership where people are relying on your tongue, people are relying on your communication and your leadership, is therefore a dangerous place to be in. We'll see what he's getting at when we get back down to verse 13. And in verse 13, he is addressing in a different way those same people or that same desire to be in charge and to be leading people, to be the one in authority. And he starts verse 13 with a question. Verse 13, he says, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So he says, okay, who's wise? Who has the knowledge? Who wants to be the one to share their grand truths with the world? People need to hear you. You're so smart. You have so much information. People need you to be in charge. Who is it? Who is it? Raise your hands. Okay, here's the answer. Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." James is using that question to kind of sort the pack a little bit. And we'll see in verse 14 is really the knockout punch. But he's talking about a wisdom that's shown by works rather than a wisdom that serves self. And we'll talk about that when we get into verses 14 through 17. Conversation here in verse 13 refers to behavior, manner, how you conduct yourself. And it's a wisdom of works and it's a wisdom of meekness. So he says, okay, you're a wise man, you're endued with knowledge. Here's the answer instead of verse 1 be many masters instead of vying for a position where you get to spew your wisdom to people Here's the answer Display a meekness of wisdom live out through your works verse 14 And this is where he really calls out their true motive and our true motive for wanting to be in charge this is the knockout punch he says but You could have wisdom and be endowed knowledge and want to be a master because you really want to serve people. You want to help people. You want to lead people in the right way. But if there's any chance of this, verse 14, if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. So he's still addressing those who believe themselves to be wise and knowledgeable. He says, hey, be honest with yourself. Lie not against yourself. Lie not. Do you really want to be a master? Do you really want to be in charge because you are a wise man and people really need to hear the knowledge that you have? Or is that desire driven by envy? Does it come from a place of pride? And that'll be the really distinct factor between these two types of wisdom it all comes back to to what is it rooted in pride or the Lord and As we go through we'll see that But if you have he's saying James is saying if you have any envy in your heart If you have any any strife or envy in your heart don't glory. He says glory not don't glory Don't revel in that wisdom why it's the wrong kind and It's the wrong kind of wisdom. And he defines what kind of wisdom that is in verse 15. This wisdom, what wisdom? The kind that comes out of a place of envying and strife. Verse 15, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. And so here, the line is drawn right here, and it sets the stage for the following verse. There's a clear line drawn right here between two types of wisdom. The earthly wisdom, just in what we've read already, the earthly wisdom we've established is earthly, sensual, and devilish. He says that in verse 15. If we go all the way back to verse 1, it's rooted in pride, would-be master. Verse 14 and 16 says it's paired with envy and strife. And the end of verse 16 says it leads to confusion and every evil work. That's the wisdom of the world. The outcome is confusion and evil. And we know who is not the author of confusion. And so that is, that is earthly wisdom. We've established that. We've addressed the desire in our hearts. The reason that we really want to be in charge is because We know more. We have more information. We have more wisdom. We can lead people better. And we want to lead, right? We want to tell people what we know. And James is really digging into that, into that root issue there. And he's defining what is actually in their hearts, which is envy and strife. Now, verse 17, the stage has been set. We've defined the wisdom of the world. We've seen the motive. We've seen the attributes of that wisdom. Verse 17 starts, but the wisdom that is from above." So he introduces a different type of wisdom in verse 17, and it's a wisdom from above. And he lists seven characteristics of this heavenly wisdom. And we're going to go through those seven characteristics, and as we do, we will compare and contrast it to worldly wisdom. And what we're going to find as we go through, it all kind of comes down to the same thing. It all comes down to where it's rooted in. But, before we get into that, what's the significance of this discussion? What's the significance of understanding and being able to identify the type of wisdom, the correct type of wisdom? Well, we look to scripture and it's not long before we see a great deal of significance placed on this idea, this concept of wisdom. Proverbs 8.11 says, Wisdom is priceless, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. Wisdom is priceless. Proverbs 11.12, He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. Proverbs says wisdom brings peace. Wisdom brings happiness. Proverbs 3.13, Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. Proverbs 4.7, Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. So wisdom is very emphasized, not just in the book of Proverbs, but throughout scripture, wisdom is emphasized. And, of course, referring to the right kind of wisdom. And it's commanded. Wisdom is commanded to be obtained. We are to obtain wisdom. So then James is saying, OK, we're supposed to obtain wisdom. Let's make sure it's the right kind, because there's there's multiple wisdoms out in the world. And so, we will begin to look at these two wisdoms. They have different sources, different traits, different outcomes. Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Number one, first pure. Not optional, not second, the wisdom of the Lord is first pure. Notice the emphasis placed on purity. Nothing else matters if your wisdom, if the wisdom that you possess and you claim to have is not pure, we know what wisdom it is. It's the first qualifier, first pure. The wisdom of God begins in and is founded upon moral and spiritual purity. And we can go to scripture to kind of round out our definition of what it is, what it means to be pure and what purity is. Psalms 24.3, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn So we see in this verse purity is put up as the opposite of vanity and deceit. We see purity on this side, vanity and deceit on this side. 1st Timothy 1.5. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. So here we see a purity, a pure heart linked with a good conscience and faith unfeigned, a not fake faith, a real authentic faith. 2 Timothy 2 22, flee youthful lust but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And so here we see pure heart associated with righteousness. righteousness, faith, charity, peace, and again the opposite of lust. So on one hand, we have youthful lust, we have a fake faith, and we have vanity and deceit. On the other hand, we have purity. And that helps us to understand what do we mean by purity. It's the opposite of vain and deceit. It's associated with a good conscience and a real faith. Purity is a heart and a mind cleansed from self-interest, deceit, or moral compromise. It's a heart that's aligned directly in one place. A pure heart does not serve self. A pure heart serves Christ alone. And the motive there, the driver, is to serve Christ and serve others. And if you have a heart that's impure, it's a heart that's focused on me. What can I get? It's a heart that wants to fulfill those youthful lusts. So if we put this back in the context of the so-called wise men who are endued with knowledge, he goes right to the heart of the issue. He just called out the wisdom that's rooted in envy and strife. And envy is just a form of self-interest. It's rooted in pride. And the contrast is drawn from that to real wisdom, God's wisdom. God's wisdom is first pure. It's purity from a heart that's been purged of pride. It's pure in its intent, it's pure in its outcome, there's no evil, there's no sin, there's no darkness anywhere associated with purity. There's no room for any sort of compromise there. It's either pure or it's impure. If you take a pure thing and you add just a little bit of sin, what does that make it? It makes it impure. There's no in-between here. Worldly wisdom is never pure. The worldly wise heart doesn't ask, how can I glorify God through this? The worldly heart and worldly wisdom asks, what can I get out of this? It serves self. It serves its own flesh and its own lust and its own desire. It lies, it compromises, and it morphs into whatever it needs to be to exalt itself. It will be whatever it needs to be to make me look better, to make me look greater. That's worldly wisdom. Earthly wisdom fears losing an image or being looked down on. But heavenly wisdom operates from a fear of God. In fact, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That is the root. So, if we use this list as we go through it to kind of check ourselves and evaluate what kind of wisdom we have, what kind of wisdom we're operating with, Do we have heavenly wisdom? Well, you've got to check the heart. On one hand, you have a heart that's filled with envy and strife. On the other hand, you have a pure heart. A heart that's pure in motive, pure in outcome, not associated with sin or self-interest. Number two, then peaceable. then peaceable. The wisdom that comes from above, God's perfect wisdom, is a wisdom that loves and desires peace. It desires reconciliation. Peaceable simply means peace-loving, peacemaking, And peace is a somewhat natural effect of the first thing, purity. Purity will naturally lead to a level of peace. Psalm 119, 165, great peace have they which love thy law. A lot of the peace we seek, a lot of the peace we desire can be found simply by remaining pure. That's number one, first pure. If you do that, it already gets you 90% of the way there on number two, peaceable. Purity leads to peace. Heavenly wisdom, God's wisdom, does not cause strife. It does not seek strife. It seeks harmony. It seeks harmony and unity based on truth. James talks about the source of strife in the next chapter, James 4, 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? The source of strife is lust. Lust is pride. Lust is me serving self, me serving my flesh. That is the source of strife. That is worldly wisdom. God's wisdom, heavenly wisdom, does not operate that way. God's wisdom seeks peace. Proverbs 11 12 says, He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his peace. Even in disagreement, the wisdom from above, God's wisdom, causes us to maintain peace and maintain that charity that we are supposed to have towards one another. Even in disagreement, That's the wisdom from above. Earthly wisdom says, I'm going to win this argument. I have this battle with him. I'm going to win it. I don't care about peace. I don't care about causing strife. I want to be right. And I'm wise and I'm right. And I go along my merry way. That's worldly wisdom. That's not heavenly wisdom. Heavenly wisdom seeks peace. Worldly wisdom breeds conflict again because it's driven by pride. Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. The wisdom of the world justifies strife because it seeks to win. Heavenly wisdom seeks peace. Now notice why it was so important to set the precedent of first pure. God's wisdom does not sacrifice purity at the altar of peace. And that's a lot of the modern church. A lot of the modern church says first peaceable, first gentle, first easy to be entreated. We'll see what's left of the purity at the end. We'll see where, you know, we'll try to hold as much as we can, but it's first peaceable, first gentle, right? Right. We don't want to cause problems. James says, hey, first pure, let's set the boundary, let's build that wall. First pure, we're in here, we're pure. That can't be violated or you ruin the whole thing. Then, peaceable. So as much as we can, while maintaining purity, while maintaining that pure wisdom, as much as we can, we are to seek peace. And there comes time where purity takes the precedence over peace. where in order to remain pure, you must upset the peace of other people. And we should do it gently. We should not seek after it. Heavenly wisdom doesn't look for that, but it happens if we have our priorities straight. First pure, then peaceable. For the sinner, for the unbeliever, the peace they seek after is in Romans 5, verse 1. And you can turn there, because I haven't had you turn anywhere yet. What are we doing? Romans chapter 5. Verse number one says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So for the first, for the lost sinner, excuse me, peace comes first through justification by faith. That happens at the moment of salvation. And so in the interest of the lost sinner to get them peace, because we are filled with the wisdom that is supposed to be seeking peace, A lost sinner doesn't have peace. They can have not a fight. That's not the same. The peace that they need is found only in salvation. It begins at the moment of salvation. And so how do we seek peace with that person? We try to lead them to Christ. How do we seek peace for a lost sinner? We try to give them the peace that we got at the moment of salvation. And so we witness and we try to lead them to the peace that passes all understanding. But the wisdom of God, again, within the boundary of purity, does seek peace. So, in the interest of trying to evaluate ourselves and determine the source and the type of wisdom that we possess, we have to ask, does our wisdom result in strife, confusion, every evil work, or does it result in peace? Do we have a peaceable wisdom? Number three, gentle. First, pure, then peaceable, gentle. The word gentle carries the idea of a forbearance, of a reasonableness, a calmness, a patience. The image, for whatever reason, that comes to mind for the word gentle is a huge, strong, muscular guy who becomes gentle when holding a baby, when interacting with a child. It's a moderation. It's power moderated, power restrained, using gentleness. Not that gentle is supposed to be who we are, but gentle is supposed to be what we do to others, how we behave with others. We are to be gentle. Philippians 4-5, let your moderation be known unto all men. Heavenly wisdom does not seek out to crush those without wisdom. It doesn't seek to use wisdom as a club to beat down those who don't know all that we know. Second Timothy 2-24, and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." It's the idea of taking the time to teach people, to nudge them along with humility, with meekness, with patience, apt to teach. ready to teach. That's the idea of a gentle wisdom. A gentle wisdom again does not use our knowledge, my knowledge and my wisdom as a weapon to beat down those who don't have it. It seeks to bring it along. It seeks with meekness and lowliness and humility to gently nudge people. gently teach, patiently teach. I think we've all seen wisdom used as more of a weapon than a tool. And it's not a pretty sight. And you know, James, the book of James is written to scattered believers. And my guess would be that as the church is scattering, as the new churches is scattering and there's new congregations, it's growing, there's new churches, there's new bodies of believers being formed. There's a lot of positions that need to be filled. And my guess is that you had a lot of guys who, you know, they're going into a new place. They're trying to rise up and they're trying to take the position of the leadership of that body of believers, this church over here. And people that are using their wisdom as a weapon or a tool to get what they want is what James is guarding against. And, you know, a new believer comes in and, you know, maybe they don't have every doctrine correct, or every standard that we hold, and the last thing you want to do is beat them down and beat them out the door with the wisdom that you have as a mature believer. It's not what you want. That's not gentle. That's not the gentle wisdom. The gentle wisdom says, hey, I maintain my purity, right? We're not saying you're great the way you are. There's no such thing as sin. We're maintaining purity. But we're being gentle in the way that we try to bring them in. We try to bring them into the fold. We patiently teach that person and show them from scripture. Hey, you know, what do you think of this? What do you think of the scripture that says this and that? And, you know, kind of where you lie in relation to that. And that's a gentle wisdom. And so we ask ourselves again, Do we have wisdom that is gentle? Worldly wisdom hates lowering itself. It's rooted in self. It's all about self. It doesn't want to lower it. It would rather be, hey, I slaughtered everyone with my wisdom and now I stand on top of the bloody bodies and I won. I'm the most wise. That's the worldly wisdom. It results in confusion and evil. Heavenly wisdom is gentle, so if your wisdom is not gentle, it's not the wisdom from above. Number four, easy to be entreated. Easy to be entreated, easy to be questioned. Heavenly wisdom listens, it answers, it learns. The phrase, easy to be entreated, simply means open to questions. It's an approachable wisdom. I think we all know people who, you know, we might use the phrase, they dare not be questioned. We dare not question what this person has to say. That's the exact opposite of what we're talking about here. Heavenly wisdom seeks and appreciates questions. It wants questions. It wants to have the conversation. It wants to learn. It wants to take counsel. And how often we fall into the trap of putting out our wisdom, putting out our knowledge, and safeguarding it. We put walls around it. Can't be questioned. Because why? The wisdom's rooted in self. If you hurt my wisdom, you hurt me. We feel hurt because our wisdom was attacked. That's a wisdom that's rooted in self. We're so attached. It's us. It's all the same thing. It's the flesh. It's me. It's my wisdom all here. And if that gets attacked, we feel attacked, and so what do we do? We defend against it. We don't want it to be questioned. We don't want people to say, hey, but what about this? We get angry. You have an emotional response when your wisdom is attacked. That's not the wisdom of God. That's the wisdom of the world. But the truly wise man welcomes the wisdom, he's eager to engage. In fact, Proverbs 12 15, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. And there's almost an irony in the last part of that verse, he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Meaning, the less you listen to yourself, the more wise you are. It's not that I'm more wise, therefore I need less counsel. He that hearkeneth unto counsel more and more and more is wise." That's true wisdom, is getting, I don't know, anything. Get myself out of the way and take wise counsel. True wisdom is being willing to set aside what you think to be wise and to listen to godly counsel. A great example of this is Pharaoh in Exodus 8 through 10. Pharaoh, what did he do after every plague? He didn't accept the helpful criticism. He didn't take the constructive criticism. No, he doubled down every time, no matter how terrible the plague was, no matter how terrible the response was to what he did. Doubled down. No, no, I'm right, I'm right, I'm right, no matter what. And the worldly wisdom, worldly wisdom deafens the heart. We better get moving. Number five, full of mercy and good fruits. Heavenly wisdom is merciful and full of good fruit. What's good fruit? Well, we have a nice little list in Galatians 5 of what good fruit is. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. We've already touched on many of these. Peace, gentleness. We've touched on the other ones. They're all kind of interconnected. It's hard to separate one from the rest. But the idea here is if you have God's wisdom, if you have true wisdom, it doesn't exist separate of these good fruits. It says it's full of these good fruits. If you have wisdom over here and no charity and no temperance, no meekness, It's not the right wisdom. It's not the right one. And so again, if we're trying to judge ourselves by this scripture and this list, you have to look at that. You have to look at what's in your life. And you're not in the right wisdom if you don't have the love, the meekness, the temperance, the gentleness, the goodness, the faith along with it. Worldly wisdom only gives mercy when it thinks it can get something back. That's the world's version of mercy Yeah, no, I got you. I'll help you and then a period of time later. We want that back We want that favor back it ultimately serves self. That's the only time worldly wisdom gives mercy worldly wisdom brings strife not joy or peace With worldly wisdom cannot be filled with true love because it's built on a foundation of pride It can't esteem other better than ourselves. It can't do it. It's not possible The worldly wisdom just can't. Heavenly wisdom is rooted in godly purity. And heavenly wisdom, speaking of going back to the mercy, full of mercy, heavenly wisdom remembers that we received mercy first. Heavenly wisdom with the Spirit of God in us, that recall of, hey, weren't you forgiven of something or everything? Weren't you forgiven of stuff a lot worse than these people are doing? That should cause us to be merciful. That's the root of that mercy that we should be having. And that's why it's in heavenly wisdom. In worldly wisdom, that's not there. We're only thinking about self and it's rooted in pride. So is our wisdom merciful? Does it contain good fruits? Number six. Number six, without partiality. Heavenly wisdom is a wisdom that judges righteously. It's without partiality. It's unwavering. It's impartial. It's unbiased wisdom. It refuses to have double standards. Proverbs 28, 21, to have respect of persons is not good, for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. James in chapter 2 speaks a lot about this. Go ahead and turn back, it's just a page over. James 2 verse 2, For if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit there under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves? and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? " Partiality means trusting more in my judgments of a person than trusting what God says. Because God says not to have respect of persons, but, you know, based on what I'm seeing, this guy's dressed this way, he's talking this way, so I'm gonna I'm going to put aside what God says about partiality. I think I'm going to go with my call on this. I think I'm going to go with my senses on this. And that is sensuality right there. It's relying on my senses. And that's a trait of worldly wisdom. It wants to see, it wants to hear, it wants to make a judgment all in this little bubble. It doesn't want to think outside this and accept something that maybe we can't understand. And God says, hey, don't be partial. It's a wisdom that is impartial. Wisdom that is impartial God's wisdom is it's just it's consistent. It applies to all of us It applies to rich and poor friend and stranger First Samuel 16 7 says for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance But the Lord looketh on the heart and so every time that we forgo God God's made a judgment on a person we know what we're supposed to do we're supposed to treat them with without any bias. That's what we're supposed to do. But we override that so often because it's we have, you know, we have information coming in our brain and it's like, I'm going to hit the override switch on this one. I think I know how to treat this person. I think I know what they deserve and what they don't deserve. And it's just selfish. It's just pride. That's all it is. It's the flesh taking over. The nature of God is seen in salvation. Salvation was God's great plan. And the nature of God is so present in the whole entire plan of salvation. And what is salvation rooted in? Salvation is rooted in the idea of equal footing before the cross. We are all transgressors. We are all sinners. And we all need the same thing, the same remedy. There's no respect of persons in God's eyes in the plan of salvation. That's the nature of God. And that's all we're supposed to be doing is being in the nature of Christ and living more to the nature of God and showing through that same impartiality that he showed to us at salvation. And he still shows to the world in salvation. So worldly wisdom Worldly wisdom is biased, it's partial. Heavenly wisdom is without partiality. So we ask ourselves, do we engage in this sort of biased behavior? Do we make judgment calls on people? That's not our role. That's not our job. Do we favor those who we want to get something back from? That's a real slippery slope. And that's a subconscious thing, man. That can happen without you even recognizing it. Just in the back of your mind, you know that that might come back to get you a little something someday. And so you might treat the rich guy a little bit better. You've got to be real careful. Number seven, last one, without hypocrisy. Heavenly wisdom is sincere. Romans 12 9 says let love be without dissimulation. What is dissimulation? It's concealment of one's true feelings, one's true beliefs, one's true intentions, and it's concealed by pretense or deceit. It's essentially hypocrisy. God's wisdom is not hypocritical. God's wisdom is transparent. First Timothy 4 lists speaking lies and hypocrisy as a behavior that's shown in those who have departed from the faith. It's associated with those who have left the true faith. Heavenly wisdom is sincere, it is real, it is not hypocritical. James speaks about the importance of a sincere and a grounded faith at the very beginning of chapter 1 when he's talking about asking for wisdom. Let him ask nothing wavering. Verse 6 of chapter 1, let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Verse 8, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Heavenly wisdom cannot exist alongside worldly wisdom and produce anything good. It can produce nothing but instability. You can't have both trying to live in the same place and operate separately. It can't happen. You become a double-minded man, you become unstable. It's a natural result of trying to live two lives and have two different roots, two different intentions, two different outcomes. It can't happen. We are to be whole. We are to be honest and have integrity about our faith. The word integrity is interesting. We tend to think of it just as honesty, but it's a little bit different. The word integrity, the root of that, the Latin root, is integer. How many know what an integer is? Mathematically speaking, it's a whole number. It's a whole number. It's not fractionated. It is the number two. There's no and a quarter. It's just two. And that's the idea of having integrity, being whole, being one thing, not being this. And yeah, I got a little bit of this going on, a little bit of that going on. I got a little fractionated parts of me over here. That's not integrity. Integrity is to be whole. Godly wisdom contains no hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a form of deceit and God hates deceit. And that's all we're engaging in, in a hypocritical mindset, is a form of deceit. Worldly wisdom deems hypocrisy a worthy sacrifice if the end result is the self being uplifted a little bit. It's the only outcome. I mean, so worldly wisdom wants two things. Our flesh wants two things. One, we want to seem spiritual and seem moral and seem upright. Number two, we want to sin. We want to follow the lusts of the flesh. The only strategy to have both of those things is hypocrisy. It's the only thing. There's nothing else if you if you're true and honest about yourself while the whole world would see your sin you can't have that because then you've lost the moral standing you've lost the Seemingness of holiness and but you can't give up sin, right? We can't give up sin. Come on. And so what is the outcome? Hypocrisy, it's the only way to live It's the only way we can have both and the flesh wants both And we have to be able to give up one of those things if we want to have the non-hypocritical wisdom from above that God wants us to have so if your wisdom Contains hypocrisy if you don't truly believe the things that you advise others to do if you spew knowledge and wisdom to others and then Go to a different thing a completely different direction. It's not the wisdom from above James ends this passage verse 18 By saying, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Where God's wisdom abounds, whether it's in a church, whether it's in a workplace, whether it's in a relationship, where God's wisdom abound, unity, forgiveness, and truth abound. Peace abounds. Grace abounds. Worldly wisdom sows envy and reaps confusion. Heavenly wisdom sows peace and reaps righteousness. So now if we go back and we look through those seven characteristics, let's just judge ourselves tonight. Let's judge ourselves by those traits and see where we fall. You know, it's impossible to be perfect. We can't maintain perfect, pure wisdom all the time. But this is a great little check on ourselves to judge what wisdom are we operating from. And then, all the way back to the beginning of that chapter, if we're trying to get in charge, if we're trying to get in a place of authority, we want to be in a place of leadership. I would challenge you the same way James challenged those believers. What's the motive there? If it's out of envy and strife, don't glory in that wisdom. It's the wrong kind. You want a heart that's pure. First pure, then peaceable, then gentle. Yeah, forgot the next one. First, let me get it, let me get it, let me get it. First pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. That should be the wisdom that we are trying to achieve and trying to possess as we go about our life. And that is all I have.