If you have your Bible, I'd love for you to join me. In James chapter one, I'll read one verse there momentarily. It requires great humility in order to be taught. And it requires great humility if you're ever going to be an effective teacher. As we continue in our study of careful consideration, we're amplifying what the writer of Hebrews told us in Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. That we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Christian life requires collaboration. And within that collaboration, we are to provoke each other. to greater love and to more good works. Which means we all play an integral role in one another's lives. Christianity was never intended to be lived in isolation. God designed it to be lived within community. You need me and I need you. And this morning we're going to understand that it is our responsibility to teach each other. And it requires humility to learn and probably greater humility to teach. I read recently that our world has more and more information, but less wisdom. The writer went on to say, we have more stimulation and less synthesis. More distraction and less stillness. More pontificating, less pondering. More opinion, less research. More speaking, less listening. More to look at, but less to see. More amusements, yet less joy. There is more, but we are less. I think we all probably feel that to some degree. No wonder we're angsty. No wonder we're angry all the time. No wonder mental health seems to be at its lowest ebb. Because largely our mental diet and our spiritual diet is largely junk food. Scripture will tell us a basic tenet for every follower of Christ. It's a desperate need for our world, and it's a desperate need for the church of Jesus Christ. We desperately need wisdom. The writer here, James, in chapter 1 and verse 5, says something so simple. He writes this, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Now let me amplify what James is saying to believers. If any of you lack wisdom, in essence, and you do, if any of you need wisdom that you do not have and you definitely do, ask God! It's an imperative that James is delivering. You lack wisdom, ask God for it. You need wisdom, ask God for it. And the beautiful thing about God, who is the giver of wisdom, is He gives liberally, He gives generously, and He upbraideth not. He always gives it without reproach. There's never a decision you will encounter in which you need wisdom and you go to God and ask Him for it, that God will look at you and say, I can't believe you need wisdom for that. Anybody can see that. There will never be a moment where you come to God asking for wisdom and God will say, I can't believe it's you again, here for more wisdom. He always generously gives and it's always without reproach. If you are a follower of Christ who is in need of wisdom, and you are, ask God who will give it to you and never make you feel bad for asking for it. We need wisdom. Now we don't need wisdom just to add to our list of virtues. We don't need wisdom just to elevate ourselves. We need wisdom so that we can be active. So that we can be creative. So that we can continue to carefully consider how to get the best out of everybody around us. Each of us need each other if we're ever going to persevere to the finish line of faith. And the mandate is we've got to teach each other along the way and that requires wisdom. We need wisdom to point the way for ourselves and to point the way for others. One wrote this, wisdom is knowing how to correctly use what you have learned. It's not just data intake. Mankind, he wrote, has learned enough knowledge to know how to travel faster than the speed of sound, yet wisdom knows that mankind is simply traveling faster and faster in the wrong direction. We don't just need more data. We don't just need more knowledge. We don't just need another book. We need divine wisdom so that we can help each other make it to the finish line of faith, persevering in a sin-filled world and standing out for Jesus. Very specifically, I wanna use two verses this morning that continue with our theme of how we carefully consider one another. Paul was writing to the believers in Colossae. He writes this in Colossians 3.16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now let's just stop for a second. It's evident by Colossians 3.16 that you and I, the church, have the responsibility of teaching and admonishing each other. One of the ways that's accomplished according to that verse is in song. Do you realize that a moment ago, when we heard song, we were literally being instructed in truth? When we corporately participate in songs that are rich with the words of Christ, we are admonishing and instructing. We're corporately teaching each other. It's a very intentional fact. Paul's gonna come back in Romans chapter 15. He's gonna tell us this fact again. He's writing to believers in Rome. They're in the midst of a very pagan city. They desperately need each other if they're gonna stand out for Christ. And he says this, I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Christianity not intended to be lived in isolation, designed by God to be lived within community, within the church, the visible, tangible body of Christ. Why? So that the one another principles can be carried out with those that are in this room and you and I cannot escape. It is our responsibility to teach and to admonish one another. Admonish is an interesting word. Admonish is a compound word. It takes the idea of mind or intellect and combines it with to put or to place. Putting together the mind, putting together the thoughts, conveying to somebody proper truth in order to correct them. The word admonish is a warning that is given out. It's probably in the negative view of things. Whereas the word teach is the positive end. If I warn and admonish, I come back and I teach with positive declaration of truth. That's what we're learning in this moment. Why do we as a family have to admonish and teach, instruct each other? Why? Because we have a tendency to get into a rut. We have a tendency to simply do the same things because we are people of habit. And every now and again, we need somebody to jolt us out of our apathy, to convey to us the danger of a passionless existence. But not only do we tend to get into a rut, we also tend to wear down. Sometimes we just run out of gas. Sometimes we just run out of steam. Sometimes we're discouraged. We feel isolated and we feel alone. And we can learn from those that are around us. We need to give careful consideration to instructing each other. Now I began by saying this, it requires humility to learn. Nobody likes to have a fault pointed out to them. But it requires great humility to teach because no one can be taught by an arrogant individual and actually take it in. Here's a perfect example of that. My wife and I are active people, or we imagine ourselves to be. At one time in our existence, we were pretty athletic people. Now we have devolved as we have aged, and on our most recent vacation, we tackled the very athletic sport of pickleball. Anybody? We played pickleball together. We'd never really played pickleball, so what we did was basically just smash the ball back and forth at each other as hard as we could, and honestly, this is the truth, I never let her win. I know nothing about pickleball, but I know this, I can beat her. We played a round of golf together. No way on earth I can let her emasculate me and beat me on the golf course. Now, I admittedly know nothing about pickleball. We just smashed it back and forth at each other, but I think I know something about golf. We could walk out onto the tee box, and my wife could stand there, and I could, with my arms folded from a distance, just make noises like, no. Wrong. Wrong. No, you're holding the club wrong. I wouldn't even swing that club, honestly. Your clubs are pink. It's a disaster. You're not standing right. Back your feet up. Twist your hips more. Keep your chin down. Keep your head still. Speed up the club. Tee it higher. About the third hole, you know what she's thinking to herself? Oh, I'm going to do something with this club. I'm going to smash you in the head with this club. She's probably thinking to herself by the third hole, all I wanna do is get in the car and drive back to the clubhouse and leave you out here alone. Let me help you from the onset. When we are mandated by scripture to instruct and to warn and to teach each other, it's not to push one another to the point of exasperation with condescension, criticism and cynicism, to beat each other down with every little thing that we know we must say. You know why? Because after all that instruction that I give to my wife, acting like I'm a know-it-all, I have to go swing next. And when I see my ball up after having just delivered all of that instruction, she has to witness and watch as I slice it 85 yards out into the nearest pond, or off a roof, through a window, a car, you name it. And the moment that I do that, and we walk to the next tee, and I start my guttural sounds again, oh, no, no. She's already thinking, dude, I just watched you hit it into a pond. Don't tell me how to do it. It's a natural thing, requiring humility to learn, requiring humility to teach, if we're to get creative about helping each other make it to the finish line. And one of the truths of Scripture is that we have to warn and teach each other. There must be some biblical guidelines and parameters to get it done, and certainly there are. Rooted in Hebrews 10.24, if we're giving careful consideration to provoking to greater love and good works, it requires a focused study of the individual we are seeking to teach. Which means, not one of us is really designed to instruct the masses with our opinion. But rather, we have influence with a group that is near us, that we have carefully, closely studied, knowing what discourages or encourages them, knowing what builds them up or tears them down, and we give careful consideration to teaching them. But how? The Scripture tells us how. Note back in Colossians 3.16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another." In all wisdom. How do I teach and instruct and warn those that are around me? I do it in all wisdom. How do I gain said wisdom? James has already told us, ask God for it. But Paul in this verse just told us something else. He said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. He doesn't say, read your Bible every once in a while. and you'll have all wisdom to teach and instruct." He says the pathway to wisdom is to allow the Word of Christ to dwell, to abide, to stay in you richly, to be saturated by the Word of Christ. It's dwelling in you. It's living in you. When you open your mouth, it comes out of you. The Word of Christ. Now, I know the average individual says, well, the Bible's just too hard for me to understand. I can't comprehend all of these pages and all of these words and all of the hardship. I tend to align with Mark Twain who said this, I have heard people say, the Bible is too hard for them to understand. However, he summarized, it's never the passages that I don't understand that bother me. It tends to be the ones that I do understand that give me the most trouble. And I think all of us are in that category. It's not that the Bible requires an ability that we do not have. It requires a submission that oftentimes we're not willing to give. If you and I are ever going to be the teachers, the warners, the instructors of those that are around us influentially, we must instruct in all wisdom as the word of Christ dwells in us richly. What does that look like? Does that look like me on the tee box and the second you get out of your car, I fold my arms and I just go, oh no. No. Wrong. Wrong. Go back to your car and start over again. Get out. The smile on your face. You walk in here like you want to be here. You walk in here and act like you're on the team. You walk in here and you look different than you look because you don't look like me. You do things different. No, no. After a little bit, people just head back to their car and they find another place to go because you aren't an instructor or a warner. You're just a belly acher and a whiner and a complainer. If you're ever going to impact people like Jesus wants you to impact people, you have to accept the mantle that your job is to warn and teach other believers. Help them make it to the finish line. But if you're going to do that, you have to do it in all wisdom as the Word of Christ dwells in you richly. What does that look like? How do I know if this is wise counsel that I am receiving, and how do I know if this is actually somebody just getting something off of their chest? James tells us how. James told us in verse five of chapter one that if you lack wisdom, ask God for it. Then he comes back in chapter three and he gets really explicit with us. We're able to tell the source of the instruction, whether it is actually from heaven or whether it is from earth, whether it is somebody spiritually helping us or whether it's somebody just critically attacking us. Here's what he says in James three in verse 13. He's asking a question. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? How do you know you're looking at a wise person who is endued with knowledge? Here it is. Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. There's some tells there. He'll live with some good conduct. You'll see it in his life. You'll note that he has meekness. You'll gather that it is rooted in wisdom. Here's what he says next, but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. If you sense there's some self-promotion, If you sense there is a conveying of an ideology, if you sense there is a critical attacking, if you sense there's a jockeying for position, if you sense there's some strife, that's not it. That wisdom, in fact, does not come. It doesn't descend from above. When you sense that within it, it's earthly. It's sensual. It's of our flesh. It's devilish. Four, where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. He's getting really specific, but here we go. The wisdom that is from above, if it's somebody who's truly trying to instruct you in all wisdom, here's what you'll note. It's first pure, then it's peaceable, it's gentle, it's easy to be entreated, it's full of mercy and good fruits, it's without partiality, it's without hypocrisy. In other words, if we are actually going to teach and admonish, In all wisdom, here's what it looks like. And it's the antithesis of me on a teabox just making negative sounds. It's the antithesis of a critical, cynical, condescending, self-promoting spirit. It's not me spitting opinion and pushing towards preference. It's rooted in the word of Christ. And here's what it looks like. Somebody matches their wisdom, their input with good conversation. That's good behavior. They demonstrate righteous behavior. You see it. It has meekness in it. Somebody who is growing in wisdom is somebody who is growing in meekness, in gentleness, in humility. It's pure. It's free from pollution of any kind. It's not immoral. It never pushes me towards sin. It never pushes me toward the flesh. It's pure. It's peaceable. This refers to a person who, maybe they're standing against sin, but while they're standing against sin, their aim is to reach the conclusion of peace, not to just engender conflict. Their aim in instruction and warning is so that they might come to a place of peace. They're gentle. They yield to one another. It's easy to be entreated. This refers to someone who is easy to work with, even if they disagree with you. It's full of mercy. It's full of good fruits. It's without partiality. There's no wavering. No vacillating on principle. It's without hypocrisy. It is from a heart of sincerity. It's sourced in authenticity. It's rooted in love. That's how you know. You're getting counsel in all wisdom. I started pastoring at the age of 27. I have no idea who would attend a church pastored by a 27-year-old, but I'm glad that some did. In the Greek, I would have been known as a moron at 27, an idiot at 27. I had never written three sermons. I didn't have a great depth of understanding of the Word of God. I don't even think I was fully emotionally rounded out at 27. Twenty-one years later, at forty-two, one, forty, I'm not sure I'm emotionally rounded out either. I do have a greater depth of scriptural knowledge. I do have a better understanding and grasp on my spirit and what I think the Lord wants. But I'll tell you, in the role of pastor, there's always somebody, and there's something about this position that allows them to feel like you might need their instruction. And they're very forward to give you instruction. You're doing this wrong. You could do this better. You could stop doing this and you could start doing that. Oddly, it always aligns with kind of what they want. I had a great mentor who told me, everybody has their thing and everybody wants you to love their thing, but you can't love all the things. And that's a fact. But in my experience of 21 years, I have been able to tell when someone is just getting something off their chest, or when someone is seeking to instruct me in all wisdom. And the parameters that you use are laid out right here in James chapter 3. When you sense the anger and the agitation, it's earthly, it's sensual, it's devilish. When you sense the peaceable and the gentle, the easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, seeking out the finish line of peace, you'll recognize that's how true instruction is done. I don't have to make up the rules. God delivered them. You and I must warn and teach each other, but we have to do it in all wisdom. And it has to align with the spirit of James chapter three. I'll note this, the second verse that I pointed us to was Romans 15, 14, Paul's writing. To believers in Rome, Seneca, the historian of the first century, called Rome the cesspool of iniquity. It was hard to stand for Jesus in a city that sinful. The believers really needed each other if they were going to stand out for Jesus. Interestingly, in the book of Romans, it's the one book that Paul wrote where he doesn't correct them on anything, but he just praises them. That's a stunning thing to be happening in Rome. Now I want you to note what he says here in verse 14 of Romans 15, I myself and persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also, get this, are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and thus able also to admonish one another. He puts some prerequisites there. Because you are full of goodness, and because you are filled with all knowledge, you are able also to admonish one another. He's giving us more guidelines. Alright, we've established this contextually within Scripture. If I need wisdom, and I do, ask God. It's an imperative. If I want wisdom, and I do, I must let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly. Christianity was not intended to be lived in isolation, but rather within community. It requires collaboration. We're to give careful consideration. Get creative about helping one another make it to the finish line. Persevere in faith in a sin-filled world. We have to instruct each other. We must warn each other. That's not everybody. That's those that we can study. And those that we are warning, we do so in all wisdom, bound by the spirit of James 3. And now Paul has told us this. You also admonish, you warn each other, when you yourself are full of goodness. Full of goodness. Like after you've eaten 12 donuts. You're just full of goodness. Full of is literally used in the Greek of a sponge that was full of a liquid and when you squeeze it, that liquid comes out. Paul is saying, here's how you can warn and instruct each other. When life squeezes you, what comes out? I'd love to pastorally say, whenever life squeezes me, goodness comes out, but honestly, a lot of times, other stuff comes out, and it ain't goodness. When life squeezes you, what comes out? Paul is saying if you're ever going to be a good instructor and warner of those that are around you, helping them get to the finish line, when your life is squeezed, goodness will come out of it. Which means this, the greatest asset in teaching and warning that you and I have is the life that we live, not the words that we speak. Interestingly, goodness, as it is used there in Romans 15-14, shows up in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5-22, we read that list of the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, which means This goodness that I'm full of is not a personality trait. It's not an affable congeniality. It's not just an innate kindness that I have. It is me living under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus, when life squeezes me, goodness comes out. It's my example lived out before you in the ups and downs and ins and out of life. That's why church family's so important. How can I fulfill this mandate to teach and instruct those that are around me in all wisdom, full of goodness? Back it with your life. Your good behavior, your good conversation, your good conduct. When life squeezes you, does goodness come out? Your testimony and your example is so much more powerful than your words. But not only does He say full of goodness, He says filled with all knowledge. Now when He says that, He doesn't mean the believers in Rome don't need to know one more thing. He means they have all the knowledge they need in order to proceed in their walk with Christ. You have the written Word. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Are you obsessed with the truth of God's Word? Surrounded by paganism, surrounded by a rivalrous world, surrounded by immorality and corruption. Are you just obsessed with the truth? What is it that drives you? No one needs your opinion. No one needs to line up with your preference. Nobody needs to fulfill your expectations. But if you're obsessed with the truth, filled with all knowledge, you can be an instructor. Now again, we're simply unpacking scripture. We're not inventing any of this. Christianity is not isolation, it's collaboration. Forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. You need this. You need me and I need you. In fact, even when we sing together, we're instructing each other. Right now, intentionally, I'm taking the truth and I am teaching, preaching, I'm sharing it with you, instructing you in the truth. That's our responsibility. We're to give careful consideration. We've gotta actually provoke each other to greater love and to more good works because this world is going to hell and it's hard to stand for Jesus in it. So I have to get creative, study you out, what encourages, what discourages, what builds you up and what tears you down, what's the right word and the right time to say it, which means I have a sphere of influence that I've gotta instruct and warn. But I can't just stand on the teabox with folded arms and a cynical, critical, condescending, looking-down-my-nose-at-you spirit. I have to, with gentleness and peaceableness, I have to, with meekness and humility, I have to, in all wisdom, rooted in the Word of Christ, teach and instruct. I have to back it up because when life squeezes me, goodness comes out. I am literally living under the influence of the Holy Spirit and you can see it. And I'm filled with all knowledge. I'm obsessed with the truth. And what comes out of my mouth is the Word of God. You don't have to get into gray area. You don't have to work your way around my opinion. It's the truth. I am literally filled with all knowledge of it. What do the scriptures say? That's the driving question. And you and I both need it. Why? One said this, because we don't drift toward holiness. We don't gravitate toward godliness. We don't just gravitate towards prayer and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. But rather, we drift toward compromise and call it tolerance. He said we drift toward disobedience and we call it freedom. We drift towards superstition and call it faith. We cherish the lack of discipline and call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness and think we've escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves that we have been liberated. The natural law of our flesh is that we don't just simply get more Christ-like because we're drifting that way. We tend to drift back towards our flesh and we need each other every once in a while to come along and admonish. and instruct. And we don't have designated instructors and admonishers and teachers and warners. We're all doing that for each other. And our greatest tool is the life that we live. I need you and you need me. You were meant to live in collaboration like this. Who can you deeply study? Who do you care about and are close with? Get creative. You don't teach because you're right. You teach with your life. You teach in all wisdom, saturated by the word, full of goodness, under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, filled with all knowledge, obsessed by the truth, conveying what the Bible says over and over and over. Look, it's hard to make it to the finish line in an immoral world. It feels like an uphill journey the whole way. It's good to be surrounded by a few people who every once in a while can take you by the arm, pull you back in and keep you moving forward. That's the mandate for you and for me. Would you please bow your heads just for a moment? Thanks for listening this week to the Graceway Baptist Church podcast. For more information about our church and our ministries, head on over to our website at gracewaycharlotte.org. We are a church located in South Charlotte. We are growing and our ministries are doing big things for Christ. If you're looking for a way to get plugged into what we're doing, email us at info at gracewaycharlotte.org. Also, stay in the loop with everything happening by following us on Facebook and Instagram. Our handle is GracewayCharlotte. Thanks again for listening to the Graceway Charlotte podcast. We'll see you next week.