At the
church where I serve we have been spending our time together looking
at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called
the book of James. James was
the half brother of Jesus who turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a
pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in
the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead. And
as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our
hope and our prayer has been that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts,
and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that
works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus.
This week,
I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off
last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the half
brother of Jesus wrote to early followers of Jesus, called the book of James,
we will see James reveal
for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that
works. So let’s discover that timeless
truth together beginning in James 3:13:
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by
his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
James begins this section of his letter to early
followers of Jesus by asking a question: “Who among you is wise and
understanding?” Now when we see the word wisdom in the Bible, this word refers
to a developed skill for living life that produces positive results. In
addition, the word understanding conveys the sense of not only having knowledge
but also being able to use that knowledge effectively.
If James was asking this question in the language we use
in our culture today, this question may have sounded something like this: Who
among you thinks they are wise? Who among you has demonstrated a developed
skill for living life that produces positive results? Who among you is
effectively exercising the knowledge that you have received?
With this question, James is addressing a timeless issue.
And that timeless issue is the issue of wisdom. James here is addressing the
timeless question “what is true wisdom? And how does wisdom actually demonstrate
that it is wisdom? How does one
distinguish what is wisdom from that which is not truly wisdom?
We see James begin to answer these questions in the
second half of verse 13 when he states “Let him show by his good behavior his
deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.” To fully understand James answer, however,
we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to
understand is that when James refers to good behavior, this phrase refers to a
way of life that is of high moral quality.
The second thing that we need to understand is what James
means when he uses the phrase “the gentleness of wisdom”. What is so
interesting here is that the word gentleness, in the language that this letter
is originally written in, literally means to not be overly impressed by a sense
of self-importance. This word refers to a person who is not full of themselves,
but considers others and the opinions of others.
So James answer, if communicated in the language that we
use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Let the
person who thinks that they have true wisdom demonstrate that wisdom by a way
of life that is not full of themselves but that through their actions
demonstrates the developed skill for living life that produces positive results
in their relationship with God and others.”
James point here
is true wisdom is proven by the right lifestyle. James is revealing for us the
reality that true wisdom results in a lifestyle that flows from not being
overly impressed with themselves but that reveals the wisdom that produces
positive results in their lives. James then contrasts true wisdom from that
which is not true wisdom beginning in verse 14:
But if you have
bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
Here we see James reveal for us the reality that one of
the ways that we can distinguish true wisdom from that which is not true wisdom
is through what motivates and drives a person when it comes to how they live
out their lifestyle. When James uses the word bitter jealousy, this is phrase
refers to an intense negative feeling over another’s achievement or success.
You see, jealousy or envy is the desire to want what
others have or to not want others to have what they do have. In addition, when
James refers to selfish ambition he is referring to a dream or desires for
one’s life that is driven by selfishness.
You see, it is not a sin to be ambitious. As a matter of
fact the Bible is full of ambitious people. Moses was pretty ambitious; after
all he led over one million Jewish people out of slavery. King David was pretty
ambitious; after all he was driven to lead the Jewish people and prepare the
plans for the Temple.
Paul was pretty ambitious; after all he was driven by the
desire to spread the gospel through the known world and to write the majority
of what we refer to as the New Testament. And Jesus was pretty ambitious. You
see, the Bible is full of ambitious people. The problem is not ambition. The
problem is selfish ambition. The problem is the ambition to pursue our selfish
desires at the expense of others.
James, in this verse, is basically saying “If you are
driven to want what others have and to not want others to have what they do
have, do not brag and boast that you have wisdom, because you are lying and you
do not have wisdom. If you are driven to pursue your selfish desires at the
expense of others, do not brag and boast that you have wisdom, because you are
lying and you do not have wisdom.”
James point is that those who have a lifestyle that is driven
by a bitter desire to want what others have or to not others to have what they
do have should not boast about having wisdom, because such a boast would be to
tell a lie. And those who have a lifestyle that is driven from the core of our
beings by selfishness should not boast about having wisdom, because such a
boast would be to tell a lie.
Instead of possessing true wisdom, such a lifestyle
reveals a faulty and false wisdom. Tomorrow, we will see James reveal the
source of such faulty and false wisdom…
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