Again, in our study series in the Epistle of James, the third chapter, we begin reading at verse 13 through to the end of the chapter, verse 18. We'll be considering this passage this evening. James 3, 13. Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of 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. 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, and 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. Beside the Lord Jesus Christ, your congregation, Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived. He did not feel wise in his own estimation, we know. In fact, he estimated himself to be as a little child who lacked basic understanding. And so he humbly at one point asked God for wisdom. And the scriptures tell us in the book of Kings that the Lord was pleased with that request, and so he gave him a great measure of wisdom. Just like James has written and we've already considered, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask it of God who gives to all, that is, all who ask liberally, that is, abundantly, and holds nothing back. And it should not rather surprise us, therefore, that Solomon was inspired to write what we now refer to as the wisdom literature in the Bible. That includes Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes. And in those two books alone, we find references to over one third of the Bible's 200 plus references to wisdom. In fact, Solomon writes in Proverbs 9 and verse 10, these well-known words, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Again, Proverbs 4 and verse 7, wisdom, he writes, is the principal thing. It's the main thing. therefore get wisdom and in all your getting get understanding. And so this evening as we take up our continued study in the book of James in the epistle of James we do so and we find And I trust you will also find the wisdom of God being revealed as he details out this very searching subject of wisdom. The words of our text are that which we read from James 3, verses 13 through to the end, verse 18. And our theme this evening is very, very simple. It's two types of wisdom, as I trust you'll see is self-evident in the text itself. There is earthly wisdom, he writes about, and there is heavenly wisdom. Two types of wisdom, earthly and heavenly. You recall, dear congregation, in our last message in this series, we saw that James had been exposing the terrible sin of the tongue. He told us in this first part of James chapter 3 that the tongue is a little member in our bodies, comparative to our whole bodies, but it can and it does inflict great harm. And he uses several pictures, he uses several metaphors to illustrate that very sobering truth. Just like a match can be carelessly discarded and burn down an entire forest, so also... The tongue, it burns things down. It burns things down, he says, with a hellish fire. It burns down reputations we saw. It burns down relationships. It burns down unity. Unbiblical words burns down joy and peace. And the little tongue, which is so little, Oftentimes, sadly, speaks out of two sides of our mouths in contradictory ways. And so James counsels us. He says, my brethren, these things ought not so to be. And we saw, you recall, that the tongue is a little member but that which the tongue says is really an indication of what the heart believes. What the tongue says is an indication of what the heart believes and that's why he can come to this conclusion in the first part of this chapter that no man therefore can tame the tongue. But the good news we ended with last time is that God can tame our hearts And with a tamer heart, our tongue can be also a little tamer as a result. And now James switches gears here, as it were, and he comes to this new section, this fresh subject of wisdom. And as he does so, just as he has been doing with expounding this principle of language, of communication, the things that we say, he is still using the sharp scalpel of the Word of God. to prove his point and he is not doing so only just to cut us and to inflict harm upon the reader and the hearer so that we are pained by the Word of God and don't know what to do with that pain. James, as a good counselor, as a good pastor, he not only exposes the problem through a deep cutting surgery, but he also shows us, and it's evident from the entire epistle, that he desires that we seek remedy. for the great problems that we have, the heart problems that we have. And that, of course, is only found in the great spiritual physician, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And so as he approaches this, this new subject of wisdom, he no doubt has these thoughts regarding communication or the words that we speak as a subject still, as it were, fresh in his mind, or at least in the back of his mind. But here, as he writes, the application is broader. It is for all of life. In other words, this wisdom that he writes about now should be something, yes, that we express with our lips, but also how we live our lives. In other words, it's not only now about saying wise things, but it's also doing wise things. And he says as much as he introduces the subject really in verse 13, because verse 13 acts as an introduction of sorts into the details regarding these two types of wisdom. And he says in verse 13, inspired by the Spirit, and he asks the question, who is wise and understanding among you? And he allows, as it were, that question to settle in our consciences for a moment. And then he goes on and he follows it up immediately. Let him show by good conversation, literally by conduct, Conduct that includes words, but is really broader than words, by conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. He begins here with a very probing question. Who is wise and understanding among you? And it tells us a couple things. It tells us that he's not doubting that there was wise ones among him in the church, but he is also not assuming that everyone who is reading this epistle and everyone who will read this epistle is wise and has this whole wisdom thing figured out. You see, as he asks this very question, he doesn't stray in one direction or another, but he comes, as it were, right down the center of the pipe, right to us, right to our very minds and consciences and hearts, and he asks this question, who is wise and understanding among you? And the question that's asked here, and was asked, therefore, and read, rather, by the original audience, that is the scattered tribes, that's where this letter was to be read among, you recall, really could be asked about any, asked to any congregation, ours included, and every individual within every congregation, and so that's us individually. Who is wise and understanding among you? We have to ask that question about ourselves. And you know, there's several ways, isn't there, to answer that, and our answers might vary. Maybe some have in their minds, well, I'm pretty wise. I'm pretty wise, I haven't arrived quite yet. But I think comparatively, relatively, maybe compared to others, well, I'm pretty wise. Well, that's the wrong answer, of course. And then there's the answer of false humility. Somebody can answer that question, well, is anyone really wise? Is anyone really wise? And so somebody can be rather proud of their humility. And that's also a wrong answer. And then maybe somebody answers it with conviction. Well, no one is wise, so why even try? That's also the wrong answer. And in one sense, our verbal response to the question is somewhat irrelevant. Because James says, whatever our answer is, whether we verbalize it or whether we just think it or whether we just feel it, his response is, Let him show by good conversation, by good conduct, that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. In other words, James is saying, don't just tell me the answer to this question, show me the answer to this question. You know, there's that old saying, words are cheap. I'm sure we've all heard the expression, words are cheap. And it really tells us that our actions communicate far more than our words. I believe I've told you that story before about my dear grandma, late grandmother, who was telling us once a story about a lady in her congregation whom she so happened to not agree with something that she was doing in her way of life. And she used to say this about that one lady, and we heard it several times growing up, and she used to say this about this lady, Her walk is talking so loud, I can't hear her. And we used to think that was just grandma's tongue twister and way of confusing us as grandchildren. But really, she was communicating with that little proverb, wasn't she? That our actions speak louder than our words. and our actions can actually drown out our words. Words are important. James just had stated as much in the very first part of this chapter, but now he's speaking about wisdom and he now says now it's about action. It's about echoing those very words with good and godly action. He says here, if you say you're wise, show me with good, godly, biblical conversation, whole life conduct, literally, done or practiced in the spirit of meekness and wisdom, the meekness of wisdom. Meekness and wisdom, they do go together because meekness does not seek its own glory, but it seeks the glory of God. And so God calls us also, you and I, to humbly put wisdom on display. He doesn't call us to hide wisdom. He doesn't call us to deny wisdom, but he calls us to reveal wisdom. Jesus said it so plainly, didn't he? He says, so let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Just recently, I saw a man with a shirt, a t-shirt, and had a picture of the moon on it. and found out that this man was a Christian. And there was a little phrase under the picture of the moon. And it just said, be the moon. You've got to stop and process through that for a moment to think it through, to realize and to understand that the moon doesn't have any light of itself. But it simply does what? It reflects the sun. And that's what a Christian is also called to do. We are called to be like the moon reflecting the sun of God. We are to reveal God's wisdom through us, to put wisdom on display, as it were. Not like the Pharisees in Pride, of course. But we're to conduct ourselves, he says very specifically here, in the meekness that is in the humility of wisdom. And the Scriptures tell us in principle again and again that the only way that you and I can ever even begin to do that in truth is when we stand in the shadow of the cross. Because it is only in the shadow of the cross, when we stand there by faith, that we realize, we realize that there is someone far bigger and far better and far grander and glorious than puny us. And we realize there in the shadow of the cross how unworthy we are. And that even after we receive the grace of God, we are, as the Apostle Paul put it, less than the least of all saints. And how that our boast is in Christ alone. for what He has done and for who He is and how He works His grace out in history on the cross and also personally in our undeserving heart. It is only when we rest in Christ that we can do as James exhorts us. Let Him show. by good conversation, by good conduct, that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. Who is wise among you? Let him show it. And that's really his whole introduction now into this theme of wisdom. Because in verses 14 through 16, James first then describes the way of worldly wisdom. Worldly wisdom. Let's look at the verses particularly. Verse 14, but if you have, if you have, he says, bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. And so he's clearly speaking about earthly wisdom, but note very carefully, inspired by the spirit, the very words that he writes. He says, if you have. He doesn't say, I know you have. He doesn't assume the worst for his readers. But if you have some of these characteristics, these things revealed in your life. And what are those things? Well, he first speaks of bitter envying. And the idea behind these original words, let me give you the idea behind the original words. Sometimes they come out clear in some translations, a little less clear in other translations for our understanding. But the idea behind bitter envy is the idea of intense zeal. Intense zeal for our own cause and our own interests. And oftentimes the idea of bitterness and envy and jealousy and revenge, they go together and they're kind of like melded together as an unholy stew in scripture. He says, this is worldly wisdom. And then he folds it up with a parallel, an overlapping thought and self-seeking in your hearts. In our translation, it's strife in your hearts. It's the idea of self-seeking in your hearts. In other words, thinking only of self, pampering yourself as your great goal, self-gratification. And notice also, once again, what James says very carefully. He says, in your hearts, doesn't he? In your hearts. He's saying it might not necessarily be something that you express with your lips, and it might not be something that you necessarily express with your lives, but this is where it begins, in your heart. And you see, it teaches us a very basic principle that we can never, ever lose sight of. is that God wants us right on the inside. And so he exposes what's wrong on the inside. He says as it were to us, even with these very words, and as we've been seeing in the first part of the chapter with the expression of our words, which is an expression of our hearts, he is saying you have a heart problem. You know, on the physical level, if we have a heart problem or we have an internal problem of any of our internal organs, we go to the doctor, don't we? Whatever doctor that may be. And we say, is there any way you can help me in any way? You can fix this. But the Bible tells us again and again that the predicament, the CT scans and the x-rays, as it were, of the Word of God goes over us, and we recognize from the scans of the Word of God that we have a spiritual heart problem. But the sad, tragic irony is that we say a lot of times to the spiritual doctor, let me try to fix this myself first. Let me apply my own remedies to the situation. Let me try to patch up my problems first. And so James is exposing our heart, you see. If you have self-seeking in your hearts, if you have this strife, this bitterness in your hearts, He says, don't boast and lie against the truth. In other words, don't be proud of this type of self-centered thinking. The world says, boast in this way of living. Think great thoughts of yourself. But God says, if you think that you are the center of your world, you are lying to yourself, about the truth of scripture. You're deluding yourself. That's what he's saying. You're deluding yourself. This is the way you see of worldly carnal wisdom. It's called wisdom here. Some translations actually translate this type of wisdom and they put it in quotations. And whether we do that or don't, as long as we understand that the world sees this as true wisdom. But clearly, this is not the wisdom that is commended to us by God. That's clearly the bent and the drift of the passage that James is encouraging the one type, that is heavenly wisdom, and he is discouraging and exposing this earthly type of wisdom. In fact, he writes just a little bit later in chapter four in verse six, And he says about God, he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And there, James is actually quoting from Proverbs 3 in verse 34, when he says, God resists the proud and gives grace unto the humble. And so what is James saying, even with that quote in the fourth chapter? He's saying, this is the way it's always been. This is nothing new. This is the way it's been from the beginning. that God calls us to humble ourselves before him. You see, this way of self-admiration is a way, James says, that God resists, he pushes away, he rejects. It's the way of worldly wisdom. You see, the message of the world's so-called celebrities is project yourself, be proud of yourself. You, after all, are most important. But God says, if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't boast about it or deny the truth. You see, this is the way of worldly wisdom. And so James is flaying, as it were. He's exposing the world's system for what it is. And if that's not bad enough, what James is doing, he's taking, again, the fillet knife of the Word of God, and he's opening it up even deeper. And he's saying, now I'm going to do one more cut. And I'm going to even bear down and go deeper and identify the source of this so-called wisdom. In verse 15, he speaks about the source. He says this wisdom, the so-called wisdom, he says, does not descend from above. In other words, it doesn't come down from heaven as its source, but he says it is. And then he uses three words that are progressively more sobering than the next. He says, first of all, it is earthly. It's earthly. In other words, this so-called wisdom of being number one, it's sourced in this fallen world. It is not heavenly in any sense of the imagination. It has inseparable connections with fallen depravity. It is earthly. He uses the word earthly here much in the same way that John uses the way worldly when he writes in his letters, love not the world. It doesn't mean that the dust and the physical stuff, as the Gnostics believe in the stuff of life, that everything physical somehow is sinful, but he says, this system wherein that you think that you are the most important. This bitter, envying, zeal for self, this self-seeking in your heart, and this strife in your heart. He says, this is not the way of truth. This is worldly. This is altogether worldly. And then he goes on to say, it's sensual. Now it's a little more of a challenging word. And the idea behind the word sensual is the idea of breathiness to it. Sometimes we still associate that the idea of sensuality with breathiness, but that the concept you see embedded in it is this, that it has no substance. One contemporary A commentator even says, it's like someone who's just full of hot air. There's no substance, you see, no substance to it. And some translate this word sensual as unspiritual, unspiritual, and essentially has the same idea. There's no bit of godness in it at all. It's earthly, it's sensual, there's no substance, it's unspiritual. Even though people may say, you know, I'm not necessarily religious, but I am spiritual. I trust you've heard people say that. And oftentimes the same people who say that are very, very self-focused on themselves. Well, what James is saying shatters and just smashes a hole in that whole concept, that whole worldview of thinking. This wisdom, it doesn't descend from above. It's earthly. It's sensual. And then he goes on to use the strongest term yet. He says it's demonic. It's demonic. It's devilish. In other words, it's the opposite of heavenly, downright demonic. And here he, as it were, reaches back to what, similarly to that which he had done about unbiblical speech. You see, you recall that he said in verse six, that unbiblical speech, the tongue that's on fire, a world of iniquity, so is the tongue among members, verse six, that it defiles the whole course of the whole course of the body, and is set on fire of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. It comes from the world of outer darkness, ungodly speech. And he says, in principle, it's the very same thing with ungodly living. This is the source of it. It's earthly. It's sensual. It's unspiritual. It's demonic. And then James isn't quite done yet with this so-called worldly wisdom. And then to punctuate this apparent wisdom that the world says is good, James shows how really in the end it's going to all self-destruct. Because verse 16 is the kind of the conclusion of this. He says, for where envying and self-seeking is or exists, confusion and every evil work is there. You see, the fallen world with all its apparent wisdom is more dazed and confused than ever before. The sinful, self-focused way of thinking can only result, James says, in more sin. In other words, an ungodly worldview cannot somehow turn out good in the end and have everybody living happily ever after No, that's the fairy tale imagination and the ending that Satan would have us to believe, that live for yourself and all will be well in the end, in this life and for the life to come. But God's word, which is true, has the exact opposite message. He says, worldly self-seeking, self-pleasing wisdom leads only to more questions and more confusion and more evil practices, and ultimately, implied, ends where evil finds its source, in the place of outer darkness. For where envy and self-seeking exist, and really that's a summary of this apparent so-called wisdom, Confusion and every evil thing are there. And so James points out the problem, he points out the source, and then he says, and now this is where it's all gonna end. He's very much of a very careful teacher, inspired, of course, by the spirit. And then he takes a breath, And thankfully, he doesn't end there. But then he says in verse 17, but. But. So beautiful, isn't it? That at the subject, it doesn't end on a low note. But. Here's the heavenly wisdom, the wisdom that's from above. is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruit, without partiality and without hypocrisy." Now, notice that James actually doesn't identify it as heavenly wisdom per se. We use the term heavenly wisdom. But it is clear that this type of wisdom is the exactly opposite exact opposite of that which he had just described he says this wisdom doesn't come from below but this wisdom comes from above in other words it finds its source in the god of heaven itself because god is good and all good flows down from god And he had also already said as much, you remember, as we unpacked the first chapter in verse 17, James 1 verse 17, he says, every good and perfect gift comes down from above and comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation, no variableness, neither any shadow of turning. He says that is the source, the ultimate source of this wisdom. It is a God wisdom. It is a divine wisdom. It is a good wisdom. It is a heaven-sourced wisdom. And it is very clear as James is simply laying these two things out for his readers, that he is showing them The folly of the one and the grace and the light and the wisdom of the other. And then what James does. Again, inspired by the spirit, he holds up the wisdom that is from above and he holds it up like a fine diamond. You know, sometimes you can look at a fine, precious diamond with all the facets and you can see beauty in every single different cut. And so what James does, he holds up a diamond, this beautiful diamond of wisdom, and he shows us seven beautiful cuts facets of it. Now let's look at those individually. First of all, he says, this wisdom that is from above is first pure, is first pure. No spots, no flaws, it's spotless. You see, the way of heavenly wisdom is the way of purity. The world says, don't be too fussy about purity. But heavenly wisdom strives for purity, purity of speech, purity of life, purity of motives, doing the right things for the right reasons. It is pure, first of all pure, because it comes from an unstained source, doesn't it? It comes from God himself. It comes down from heaven. God himself is pure. And that which is expressed from God, therefore, can't be anything but pure. And what is expressed from God? Well, his word is pure. And the psalmist understood clearly this connection. That's why the psalmist wrote, David wrote in Psalm 119, verse 140, your word is very pure, therefore, your servant loves it. And so the first facet of this wisdom is purity. And he says, then it's peaceable. You see, it's not posturing in a quarrelsome position, but seeking the way of peace. You remember what the Lord Jesus Christ has said, and he echoes the very same truth. And that's what we find all the way through Scripture, that when Scripture tells us one thing, we find an echo and a re-echo and a re-echo in another place. Jesus says, blessed what? Are the peacemakers. For they shall be called the children of God. Not, of course, seeking peace at any price, but surrendering our hearts. That's the way of peace. Surrendering our hearts to the great peacemaker, Jesus Christ, and walking in his peace. Peaceful wisdom is because our hearts have been captured by the King of peace. And we desire to reflect him, even as we love him. So first of all, he says this heavenly wisdom is pure, then it's peaceable. And then he gives a closely related aspect or characteristic to peace, and that is gentle, gentle. First pure, then peaceable, and gentle. And the idea behind the word gentle here is the concepts of thoughtfulness and respectfulness. Yes, there are times, of course, when a firm word and firm actions are required. But, wrote Solomon, soft answer turns away wrath in some cases. And there are even times, Solomon wrote in Proverbs 25 and verse 15, that a gentle tongue, a gentle word will even break the bone. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 6, he says about himself, that we did not seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. He says, I wasn't so sharp with you, even though there were times when Paul was extremely firm. But he says, we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. And it seems that that gentleness that the Apostle Paul engaged in, it went a long, long ways. He says, this is the way of wisdom. Next, he says, fourthly, a fourth facet of this wisdom is easily to be entreated, or we could rephrase that, willing to yield or open to reason, as some interpret it. And so this wisdom weighs both sides of a discussion. It doesn't come with a closed mind to the table. Proverbs 18 and verse 13, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it's a folly and it's a shame to him. Why is that folly and why is that foolish? Well, because he knows the answer before he's even listened to the issue. But you see, the wise man reasons it all out. He doesn't say my way or the highway. But the way of wisdom is willing to yield, easy to be entreated. listens carefully to it all and listens to the wisdom of the word. Fifth, this wisdom that's from above is full of mercy and good fruits. That phrase there, it goes together, full of mercy and good fruits. In other words, the heart is full of overflowing mercy toward my neighbor. And we'll see that good fruits result from that merciful heart. You see, heavenly wisdom intentionally engages in good deeds to others, which comes from a heart that is overflowing with mercy. Heavenly wisdom puts the heart of mercy into action. That's what that's what James here is saying. That's the way it works. The way of wisdom, heavenly wisdom, is full of mercy and or expressing itself in good, that is godly, fruits. Sixth, this wisdom from above is without partiality, is without partiality. In other words, it doesn't pick and choose to show mercy on the apparently deserving ones. Remember, we already had explored this in James chapter two and verse four, where he says that godliness doesn't show favoritism, but heavenly wisdom treats all who have been made in the image of God equally. It is without partiality. And then seventh and finally, it is without hypocrisy. And it's interesting how James is inspired to say this in the negative. He says it is without being a hypocrite. And the way you could flip that around and say it in the positive is that it is being sincere. That's what the opposite of hypocrisy is. It's being sincere. And it is most fascinating, actually, that that English word sincere comes actually from a Latin root, which has two words, sign or sin, which means without and seer means wax and so without wax is what it is to be sincere and if you think of this in terms of a carving or some kind of formation, a bust of something that has wax filler keeping it all together and so the idea of sincere It is no filler, no wax. It's the sincere thing. It's the real McCoy. It's not fake, but it's sincere. This is the way of heavenly wisdom. It is without hypocrisy, you see. It's real. It speaks and it acts the way of truth that is not fake. And so these seven things are characteristics or aspects of this heavenly wisdom. And now, whether or not the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ had in mind his own dear brother, actually, as he is writing these very words, we don't know. But we do know from Scripture, more broadly speaking, that that which is true of divine wisdom is certainly true of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Think of them in terms of Jesus himself. He is pure. He is purity personified, isn't he? The Bible tells us that he's the lamb of God without blemish. He is peaceable. He is the prince of peace. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 and verse 14 that he is our peace. He is gentle. You remember how he most famously said one time, come unto me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. You see, Jesus Christ was pure. He is peaceable. He's gentle. And then he was also easy to be entreated. He was willing to reason. He was open to listen. He always welcomed sinners, didn't he? That came to him day or night. Think of Nicodemus in John chapter three, the disciple that came to him by night. Think of what he said in John six and verse 37, all that come to me, I will in no wise cast out. Then too, he was full of mercy and good fruits. He is the merciful one. He is the source of mercy. He shows mercy by saving sinners. He shows mercy by sanctifying saints. He shows mercy and he showed mercy to the needy, didn't he? He helped this one. He healed that broken one. He went around doing good. Simon Peter said as much, and he preached to the Gentiles in Acts 10 in verse 38, and he says, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Our blessed Lord was full of mercy, you see, and good fruits. And two, he was without partiality. He was without favoritism. He blessed Jews and Gentiles alike. He dined, didn't he, with publicans and sinners. And he was without hypocrisy. He was sincere. He had perfect motives in everything that he did and everything that he said. There was no ulterior motivations. with him. He was always sincere and that which he was during his earthly ministry. He still is praise God today. Because he never ever changes. He's the same yesterday. He's the same today and he is the same forevermore. You see the Lord Jesus Christ is wisdom heavenly wisdom personified. And then James. Inspired by the spirit once again, he not only shows what wisdom is. He reveals the heart of wisdom, but then he comes to a conclusion where wisdom leads, heavenly wisdom. He had showed just previously where earthly wisdom leads to, leads to more questions than answers and more confusion, and it leads to more sin, every evil work. And now in verse 18, he says, now here's the result. Here's the conclusion of heavenly wisdom. And this is a little more challenging to understand, but read through it. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of or by those who make peace. In other words, the fruit reaped by the planting of heavenly wisdom in peace is a bountiful crop of righteousness. Or to express it just a little differently, we sow gospel peace and God brings forth fruits of righteousness. We sow gospel peace and God brings forth fruits of righteousness. You see, peace seems to be a very modest grace, but it's a seed that results in a great harvest of righteousness. In other words, doing what is just and right. Or to rephrase it just a little differently, just and right things result from pursuing a life of heavenly wisdom. He had said again that bad things result from pursuing earthly wisdom, worldly wisdom, but now quite the opposite, that which is right and just comes as a result, comes as a fruit of sowing seeds of peace, which is the way of heavenly wisdom. In other words, he is saying that good comes out of it in the end, and ultimate good comes out of it at the end of all things. And the only way that you and I can do that, as he's giving this exhortation, of course, to the churches and therefore also to us, is when we rest in Jesus Christ by faith. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30, but of him, are you in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. In other words, Paul is saying this. When we are by faith in Christ. And we embrace him by faith. We are in him and his wisdom becomes ours. We call it our wisdom. But really, it's Christ's wisdom. being revealed in us and through us. And particularly it is revealed in us and through us. We walk in the way of trust and obedience. And so, dear congregation, I end this evening coming full circle to ask the question that James began it all with. Is our wisdom from below or is our wisdom from above? Who is wise and understanding among us? Amen.