Wisdom from Heaven

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 21st of January, 2024, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Last week we quickly looked at the start of the 3rd chapter of the Apostle James’ letter to the early church.  In that passage, James encouraged us to practice self-control, especially over what we say, and even when we say it.  You’ve heard the expression, “There’s a time and place for everything”?  Well, if we heed James’ advice when it comes to something we might think to say, the time could well be never and the place nowhere.  Some things are just better left unsaid.  Some reactions are better left undone.  Sometimes we just need to pull back on the reins and think a bit before we say or do something we might regret.

Now, this letter from James has been broken into five chapters and we’ve gone through two and a half of them, so we’re basically half way through.  Everything James has imparted so far has been very important for us because it is all inspired by God.  He provides good, sound, practical advice on how we should live as Christians, as well as the occasional warning about what we should not do.  He offers words of profound yet simple wisdom.  And since James was the half-brother of Jesus, we probably should listen to what he has to tell us.

Today we will finish up the 3rd chapter of his letter and learn from where his wisdom comes.  Please listen and follow along to the second part of the 3rd chapter of James’ letter to the young Christian church, verses 13 through 18, and I’ll be reading this from the Living Bible version of our Holy Bible…

13 If you are wise, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don’t brag about them, then you will be truly wise! 14 And by all means don’t brag about being wise and good if you are bitter and jealous and selfish; that is the worst sort of lie. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, inspired by the devil. 16 For wherever there is jealousy or selfish ambition, there will be disorder and every other kind of evil.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is wholehearted and straightforward and sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.

--James 3:13-18 (TLB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, Your Son’s brother and disciple James shared his keen insight with us in his letter to the early Christian church, insight that You gave him.  His message can guide us if we heed it.  Thank You, Father, for inspiring James and the other authors of the apostolic letters.  Thank You for saving all these for us.  Please forgive us, Father, when we don’t spend as much time reading our Bible as we could.  Help us take these words to heart to aid us in our relationships with others.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand our message today.  May Your Spirit guide us in all we say and do.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School once noted that, “Experience comes from what we have done.  Wisdom comes from what we have done badly.”  A good example of this appeared in an article in the March 1993 issue of Reader's Digest, when the author related that, “A colleague of mine at NASA was assigned to prepare a presentation on lessons learned from our bad experiences with the Hubble Space Telescope.  On his chart at the briefing, lesson No. 1 read: ‘In naming your mission, never use a word that rhymes with “trouble”.’”  But I think possibly the most accurate words of wisdom came from columnist Doug Larson when he said, “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk.”

Have you ever watched Judge Judy on TV?  It’s a fun show.  When one of her litigants starts getting mouthy and tries to over-talk her, she is prone to say, “You need to stop talking and start listening.  You know why you have two ears and one mouth?  It’s so you can listen twice as much as you talk.”  I think some of us try to make up for the inequity between mouths and ears by talking twice as much as we need to.

Now there’s nothing wrong with talking.  It’s our main method of communication.  But it’s what we say that we need to watch.  Sometimes we express our opinions as if they were actual facts, or our perceptions as the ultimate truth.  We wax eloquent, delighting all who hear our musings, at least in our minds’ view.  We think we’re being wise, but this is what James has in mind when he talks about earthly, unspiritual wisdom, inspired by the devil.

And then we might boast and brag about just how wise we are, or the wisdom in our words, when they are actually just born of our bitterness or jealousy or selfishness.  James warns us that disorder and all sorts of evil follow jealousy and selfish ambition, for this is not of God nor of His kind of wisdom.

James characterizes the wisdom that comes from heaven as being pure and full of quiet gentleness.  It isn’t loud and brash and boastful, but instead is peace-loving and courteous.  It allows for discussion rather than trying to silence opposing viewpoints.  It yields to others, being full of mercy and grace.

And to me, this describes the wisdom James is sharing with us in his letter.  For that matter, all of the authors' works and words contained in our Holy Bible were inspired by God.  They were given the word of God to record for us.  So I would say that they all were blessed with wisdom from heaven.

Oh, and in the last verse, James shares that “those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness”.  This echoes what Jesus said during His Sermon on the Mount that we read last week: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  What greater harvest than to be called a son of God?

Wisdom.  A fancy definition of “wisdom” is, “knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action”.  I have to ask, though… can we really know, for sure, what is true and right, without God’s guidance and insight into the truth and rightness of what we think we know?  I’m kind of thinking that definition of wisdom lacks wisdom.  I prefer what the unknown author of Psalm 111 tells us in the 10th verse…

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.

His praise endures forever.

--Psalm 111:10 (NKJV)

The beginning of wisdom comes from fearing… respecting the Lord.  He will give us a better understanding of things as we follow His commandments.  The more we respect God, the more likely we are to do as He tells us.  The more closely we follow His commands, the greater and clearer our understanding will become.  And the greater our understanding, the wiser we will truly be, and not with earthly wisdom but with the wisdom that comes from heaven, from God.

Our Bible instructs us not to boast about what we have or what we’ve done.  James tells us not to brag about being wise.  And let’s face it…  if we truly are wise, we won’t be bragging about it, or even feel the need to brag.

But let’s go back a little before James wrote this, around 700 years before.  The great prophet Isaiah warns us not to think we're all that, in the 5th chapter of the book bearing his name, verses 20 and 21...

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

And prudent in their own sight!

--Isaiah 5:20-21 (NKJV)

“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”  That’s a pretty good description of earthly wisdom.  Pres. Abraham Lincoln is noted as saying, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”  Those who brag about all the good they've done, especially if they're taking credit for someone else's efforts, will eventually be found out by the masses and discredited.

Too often what we think is wisdom is only wise in our own mind’s eyes.  Sometimes the wisdom a supposedly wise person spouts is really foolishness cloaked in fancy words and gibberish.  We must learn to distinguish earthly wisdom from true wisdom from heaven, and then pay no heed to the earthly variety.

So how do we get wisdom from heaven?  Earlier, the Psalmist told us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but how do we nourish and further that beginning?

Well, James already told us how, back in the opening of this letter.  Hear what James wrote in the 1st chapter, verses 4 through 6…

4 Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

--James 1:4-6 (NKJV)

Patience.  That isn’t a very common trait, especially in our current times.  Microwaves, instant potatoes, frozen dinners, all just to save us time in the kitchen.  Hurry, hurry, hurry.  We pray, “Lord, give me patience… and give it to me now!”

But through our patience, the Spirit can perfect His work in us, making us complete.  And that work includes growing and nourishing true, spiritual wisdom within us.

James says all we have to do is ask God, and He’ll give us the wisdom from heaven.  He gives us everything else we need, so why not wisdom?  And Jesus told us we can ask God for anything as long as we ask in His name.

But here James adds one more condition, and it’s one we shouldn’t even have to think about.  We must ask in faith, having no doubt whatsoever that God will grant our request.  But that kind of faith can be a little tough for us mere mortals.  I can ask for the gift of healing, but do I really believe, deep down in my heart of hearts, that I can heal someone?  I’m just a man, not a divine being.  I don’t have the power of God.  Or do I?

With God’s Holy Spirit within me, I am imbued with His mighty power.  I just have to believe it, fully trusting in God and His word.  The same goes for asking for true wisdom.  We just have to ask in complete faith, with no doubt that we will receive it.  And it can begin with insights into God’s word, a new way of looking at what has been saved for us in our Bibles throughout the generations.  Wisdom from heaven will better reveal what God has planned for us, what He really wants each of us to do in His service.

So let’s shore up our faith and ask God for the true wisdom only He can give.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who came to us to redeem us, to give us new life.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for ensuring that we would have Your word to study, to learn from, and to live by even in our age.  Your inspired word has survived thousands of years and many attempts to destroy it.  But we have it still today, and it instructs us now just as it did the generations before us.  Thank You, Father.  We admit, though, that we don’t spend as much time with Your word as we should, nor even as we could.  We get so caught up in the busyness of life that we simply miss out on some of the lessons our Bible holds for us.  Too often, Father, we just blurt out what we think are words of wisdom, when they are really only based on our opinions and perspectives, more foolish than wise.  Forgive us those times, please Father.  Please help us learn patience so Your Spirit can work within us, perfecting us.  Help us grow and nourish the wisdom that begins within us as we respect You more and more.  And please help us do a better job of sharing our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You promised blessings for the peacemakers.  Your brother James echoed this when he wrote that we will reap a harvest of goodness when we plant seeds of peace.  In the same vein, he tells us all we need to do to gain the wisdom from heaven is to ask God for it.  We know that we can ask our Father for anything and He will answer if we ask in Your name.  But we have to truly believe we will receive what we ask for.  This can be tough for us when we ask for something we really can’t do, so we usually keep our requests simple.  Thank You, Jesus for assuring us we can perform even greater things than You did while on this earth, if we just have enough faith.  Please help us grow and strengthen our faith.  And help us grow and nourish our wisdom.  And Lord, please help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.