Latest / Reformed Thinking / Wisdom That Walks: James’s Test of True and False Wisdom (James 3:13–15)

Transcript

Wisdom That Walks: James’s Test of True and False Wisdom (James 3:13–15) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive where we
• 0:03
  take the sources you've given us, scripture commentaries, our
• 0:06
  notes, and try to pull out the knowledge needed to well, to
• 0:11
  live skillfully before God. Today we're focusing on a
• 0:14
  passage that it really acts like a spiritual lie detector test.
• 0:18
  We're in James chapter 3, verses 13 through 15.
• 0:21
  And the apostle James just asked this question that cuts right
• 0:24
  through all the theory, all the doctrine, and it just, it hits
• 0:27
  you. It really does.
• 0:28
  He asks. Who is wise and understanding
• 0:31
  among you? And that's such a critical
• 0:33
  question for our time, isn't it? I mean, we are just swimming in
• 0:37
  opinions. Completely saturated.
• 0:39
  And knowledge is everywhere instantly, so everyone feels
• 0:42
  like they're an expert ready to teach or critique.
• 0:45
  The volume is just so high. And the loudest voice, the most
• 0:48
  confident one, often gets mistaken for the wisest.
• 0:51
  Yeah, but James is speaking right into that kind of chaos.
• 0:54
  He was writing to people, you know, a community where a lot of
• 0:58
  them wanted to be teachers. They wanted to be seen as
• 1:00
  insightful. But their lives were a mess.
• 1:02
  A mess of rivalry and sharp words.
• 1:05
  So our mission in this deep dive is to get past all the
• 1:08
  performance, all the claims, and really look at James's test.
• 1:12
  And it's a simple test, but it's devastating.
• 1:14
  It is. True wisdom isn't proven by what
• 1:17
  you say you know. It's proven by the posture of
• 1:19
  your heart and the whole pattern of your life.
• 1:22
  We have to learn to tell the difference between the wisdom
• 1:25
  that is truly from above and, well, the dangerous counterfeit
• 1:29
  that comes from below. And the stakes are so high.
• 1:32
  I mean, James is telling you that you can have this perfect
• 1:35
  theological vocabulary, you can defend all the right points of
• 1:38
  orthodoxy and still be practicing a kind of wisdom
• 1:41
  that's just rooted in pride. And that makes it completely
• 1:43
  incompatible with the gospel. The real test is character,
• 1:46
  right? OK, so let's get into it.
• 1:48
  Let's unpack this initial challenge James gives us in
• 1:51
  verse 13. Let's do that.
• 1:52
  James kicks it off with his spotlight.
• 1:54
  Who is wise and understanding among you now?
• 1:58
  We said this isn't to him asking for volunteers.
• 2:00
  It's a summons. What do you think he saw in his
• 2:03
  audience that made him demand proof like this?
• 2:05
  Well, I think he saw the same confusion we see today, that
• 2:09
  age-old mix up between say intellectual gifts and real
• 2:13
  spiritual maturity. His audience was probably
• 2:15
  confusing a good speaker or someone with high social
• 2:18
  standing with someone who had God-given wisdom.
• 2:21
  James just has no time for that. He wants to see the evidence.
• 2:24
  Yes, he demands visible proof that a person is wise.
• 2:28
  That's Sophos in the Greek and understanding, which is
• 2:31
  epistomen. If you claim it, you have to
• 2:33
  show it. We should probably define those
• 2:35
  terms because how the Bible uses them is so much deeper than how
• 2:39
  we use them today. When we say sophis or wisdom in
• 2:43
  a scriptural sense, we're not talking about just being smart
• 2:45
  or having a lot of facts. Not at all.
• 2:47
  Biblical wisdom is never neutral information.
• 2:50
  It's it's a moral and religious skill first and foremost.
• 2:53
  Right? The background for this is
• 2:55
  always Proverbs 1.7. The fear of the Lord is the
• 2:57
  beginning of wisdom. So Sophos is the ability to
• 3:01
  order your life correctly in light of who?
• 3:03
  God. Is it's knowing how to fear God?
• 3:05
  And because of that, knowing how to walk uprightly.
• 3:09
  Look, if you can break down complex doctrines, but you don't
• 3:12
  fear God enough to actually obey Him.
• 3:14
  You have knowledge, sure, but you don't have James's wisdom,
• 3:17
  OK. So if Sophos is the overall
• 3:19
  skill set, knowing divine truth, what does epistemon or
• 3:24
  understanding add to that? How does that connect to the
• 3:28
  practical living we're talking about?
• 3:29
  Understanding epistemon is all about tested judgment.
• 3:33
  It's that real world discernment that takes the divine truth, the
• 3:36
  sofos, and applies it skillfully and the messiness of life.
• 3:40
  I see it's being able to see a situation not just how the world
• 3:43
  sees it, but how God sees it. It's one thing to know the
• 3:46
  theology of forgiveness. It's another thing entirely to
• 3:49
  know how to actually forgive that annoying person at work or
• 3:52
  a spouse who really hurt you. So James cares less about who
• 3:54
  can write the best books. And more about who can live the
• 3:57
  holiest, most skillful life you know, But the world asks who's
• 4:00
  got the best credentials. James is asking who's actually
• 4:03
  submitting their life to God's rule.
• 4:05
  Which brings us right to his demand that this wisdom has to
• 4:08
  be shown. It can't be some invisible
• 4:10
  internal thing he says by his good conduct.
• 4:14
  Let him show his works. I want to push on this a bit
• 4:18
  because I know a lot of our listeners coming from a reformed
• 4:20
  background, they might hear show his works and feel that tension
• 4:25
  with justification by faith alone.
• 4:28
  So we need to be clear why James's focus on works is so
• 4:31
  necessary and isn't just legalism.
• 4:34
  That's a good point, and it's a tension we have to address.
• 4:37
  But James isn't a legalist. He's more like a diagnostician
• 4:39
  of genuine faith. If Christ has truly justified
• 4:43
  you, then the Spirit has without a doubt started the work of
• 4:46
  sanctification in you. So a life that's been
• 4:48
  transformed by grace has to bear fruit.
• 4:50
  It's inevitable. So wisdom isn't a secret, it's a
• 4:53
  visible pattern. A visible pattern written across
• 4:56
  a whole life. That good conduct, he mentions,
• 4:58
  That's a sustained way of living, your whole manner of
• 5:01
  being. It's about the steady rhythm of
• 5:03
  obedience. You keep up when no one's
• 5:04
  watching and no one's applauding you so.
• 5:06
  What does that look like when we're trying to test it?
• 5:09
  It's how you respond in the moment, under pressure.
• 5:12
  What do you do when you're criticized unfairly, or when
• 5:15
  someone misrepresents your beliefs?
• 5:17
  Or when obedience is just boring or it costs you something?
• 5:21
  James is looking for consistency.
• 5:24
  The man who sounds great in the pulpit but is short tempered
• 5:26
  with his family. By James's standard, he's just
• 5:30
  disproven his own claim to wisdom.
• 5:32
  So the works are the evidence. They're the evidence that the
• 5:34
  fear of the Lord has actually taken root in the heart.
• 5:37
  The works are the fruit, not the purchase price.
• 5:40
  They're the product of a heart renewed by grace, and this is a
• 5:43
  really strong rebuke to a certain kind of religious
• 5:46
  counterfeit. Oh, absolutely.
• 5:47
  It's a rebuke to the person who can dissect doctrine with
• 5:50
  surgical precision but can't discipline their own desires.
• 5:53
  We see that all the time. We do people who are masters of
• 5:57
  theological arguments, who can debate the finest points of
• 6:00
  doctrine, but their lives are full of bitterness or
• 6:03
  factionalism. Scripture just refuses to see
• 6:06
  things like personal holiness and patience as you know,
• 6:09
  optional extras to being Orthodox.
• 6:12
  The wisdom has to govern your whole life.
• 6:14
  Not just the part you put on display.
• 6:16
  James forces the intellectual giant to submit his intellect to
• 6:20
  God's ethical commands. And it takes us to the real
• 6:23
  hinge here, the condition that changes everything.
• 6:26
  This visible wisdom must be shown in the weakness of wisdom.
• 6:31
  Without that, none of the brilliance or activity counts
• 6:33
  for anything. This is the critical filter
• 6:35
  because like you said, a proud person can do impressive things
• 6:38
  on the outside, build a big church, write books.
• 6:41
  But Jane sees right through that.
• 6:43
  If it's not done in meekness in priets, it's not God's wisdom.
• 6:48
  And we have to define meekness correctly.
• 6:50
  It's so often confused with being timid or weak.
• 6:53
  Right, it's not being a doormat. So what's the biblical
• 6:56
  definition? It is strength submitted to God
• 6:59
  that's the key. Think of a wild horse that's
• 7:01
  been tamed. It hasn't lost any of its power,
• 7:03
  but all that strength is now under the rider's control.
• 7:06
  So it's conviction without being carnal.
• 7:08
  Yes, it's having immense power, strong convictions, the ability
• 7:11
  to win any argument, and yet holding all of that power under
• 7:15
  tight restraint because you fear God more than you want to win.
• 7:18
  That's a vital distinction, especially today.
• 7:21
  The meek person doesn't need to be seen as wise because their
• 7:24
  security is in God, not in their reputation.
• 7:27
  Exactly. The meek person serves others
• 7:30
  with the truth. They don't beat them over the
• 7:32
  head with it. They can correct someone without
• 7:34
  crushing them. They can disagree without
• 7:36
  despising them. When you see someone correct
• 7:39
  another believer with with real humility and a desire to restore
• 7:44
  them. That is the meekness of wisdom.
• 7:46
  And when you see someone correct another with a sneer or a joke
• 7:49
  at their expense. That's the opposite.
• 7:51
  That's proud knowledge, and that posture always leads back to the
• 7:55
  tongue. Meek wisdom doesn't start
• 7:57
  fights, it puts them out. So it seems like James is saying
• 8:00
  if you have the truth, but your attitude about it makes you tear
• 8:04
  others down to lift yourself up, you've completely misunderstood
• 8:07
  the character of the God who gave you that truth.
• 8:10
  That's the summary right there. A wisdom that's dressed up in
• 8:13
  arrogance is a guaranteed counterfeit.
• 8:15
  The measure of our wisdom is not the sharpness of our arguments,
• 8:18
  but the meekness with which we hold our beliefs reflecting
• 8:21
  Christ. OK, so now James really sharpens
• 8:24
  his focus. If true wisdom is known by its
• 8:27
  fruit, meekness, good works, then false wisdom is exposed by
• 8:32
  its root. He aims right for the heart in
• 8:34
  verse 14. But if you have bitter jealousy
• 8:37
  and selfish ambition in your hearts.
• 8:39
  This is James showing he understands that hypocrisy is,
• 8:42
  at its core, a heart problem. He's not just looking at the
• 8:45
  polished outside. He's digging into the hidden
• 8:47
  motives that are running the whole show right.
• 8:49
  We have to get this. The heart is the engine room,
• 8:53
  and the tongue, which he spent the first part of chapter on, is
• 8:56
  just the messenger. So when the heart is ruled by
• 8:59
  pride, the words that come out, no matter how orthodox they
• 9:02
  sound, they become a weapon. A source of conflict?
• 9:04
  A source of conflict and a way to puff yourself up.
• 9:07
  This is the tragedy. You can say all the right things
• 9:09
  look wise and still be driven by this internal corruption that
• 9:13
  belongs to a whole different system.
• 9:14
  And the names 2 specific sins of the heart that are masters of
• 9:17
  disguise, often hiding behind labels like zeal or or
• 9:21
  conviction. Let's breakdown the first one.
• 9:23
  Bitter jealousy. Bitter jealousy is so
• 9:26
  destructive because it just. It thrives on comparison.
• 9:31
  This isn't about wanting to improve or follow a godly
• 9:34
  example. This is a sour internal feeling
• 9:37
  that can't stand to see someone else succeed or get recognition
• 9:41
  for their gifts. It just poisons the soul.
• 9:43
  It can't celebrate the blessing of a perceived rival.
• 9:46
  Not at all. When another church grows or
• 9:48
  another teacher is honored, bitter jealousy immediately
• 9:52
  jumps in with a critique or a little insinuation, something to
• 9:55
  diminish that person's success. It says well, they might be
• 9:57
  doing well, but or if only people knew the real story.
• 10:01
  It spreads poison. It does by undermining
• 10:04
  fellowship and just devaluing what God is doing in other.
• 10:07
  People, it's like a spiritual cancer.
• 10:09
  It turns every win for the Kingdom into a loss for the
• 10:11
  jealous person because their sense of worth is all
• 10:13
  horizontal. And that leads right into the
• 10:15
  second sin of the heart, Selfish ambition erythea.
• 10:18
  This one is maybe a bit more aggressive.
• 10:20
  This isn't just godly diligence. It's that competitive drive to
• 10:24
  be #1 to be seen to be the most influential or, and this is key,
• 10:29
  to gather a loyal party around yourself.
• 10:32
  The Greek word often suggests factionalism, a self seeking
• 10:36
  rivalry. In a church setting, how does
• 10:38
  that look different from, say, a godly ambition like Paul wanting
• 10:42
  to preach where Christ hadn't been named?
• 10:44
  The motive? Godly ambition is driven by a
• 10:47
  desire for God's glory and for His people to flourish.
• 10:51
  It shows up as sacrificial service.
• 10:53
  Selfish ambition is driven by a desire for your own glory.
• 10:56
  It shows up as self promotion, subtly undermining rivals and
• 10:59
  being obsessed with your platform.
• 11:01
  Paul wanted to advance Christ's Kingdom.
• 11:03
  Arathea wants to advance your Kingdom under the very clever
• 11:06
  disguise of advancing the truth. The moment it becomes a
• 11:08
  competition to see who's more faithful.
• 11:10
  Selfish ambition has taken over. So when these two sins, jealousy
• 11:14
  and ambition, are in the heart, they inevitably lead to the
• 11:16
  behaviors James condemns right after.
• 11:19
  Do not boast and be false to the truth.
• 11:21
  Boasting is the natural language of that ambitious heart.
• 11:25
  It's the loud declaration that I'm the one you should listen
• 11:28
  to, all while the engine is running on.
• 11:29
  Pure rivalry, right? It's trying to manufacture the
• 11:32
  wisdom that James says has to be shown naturally.
• 11:35
  But it's that second part that really exposes the deception be
• 11:39
  false to the truth. What does he mean by that?
• 11:42
  False to the truth. He means you're living a
• 11:44
  contradiction. You might be posturing as a
• 11:47
  defender of God's truth, but if your heart is full of rivalry
• 11:50
  and envy, the very truth you claim to love is being
• 11:53
  suffocated by yourself serving motives.
• 11:56
  You're acting out a lie. It's sin being deceitful.
• 11:59
  Deeply, you use the language of devotion to hide your own
• 12:02
  internal idolatry. It's when envy dresses up its
• 12:05
  nasty critiques as faithful discernment, or when self
• 12:09
  promotion calls itself bold leadership.
• 12:11
  The words might be technically right, but the spirit behind
• 12:14
  them is toxic. And that makes the whole thing a
• 12:16
  lie against the spirit of the truth itself.
• 12:18
  This goes way beyond just bad manners.
• 12:20
  This is about spiritual integrity and we see this danger
• 12:23
  all the time with the modern idol of pragmatism.
• 12:26
  Oh, pragmatism, especially in ministry, is the lie that says
• 12:31
  if it works, if it brings in a crowd, if the numbers go up, if
• 12:34
  the platform gets bigger, it must be wise.
• 12:38
  Regardless of the means. James just smashes that idol, he
• 12:41
  says. If your methods create division,
• 12:43
  factions, scorched earth debates, then no matter how
• 12:47
  successful it looks, the wisdom driving it is counterfeit.
• 12:51
  The Church is so tempted to adopt the world's metrics.
• 12:53
  Constantly. But James says those metrics,
• 12:56
  status influence, are the products of bitter jealousy, not
• 12:59
  meekness. So this forces some really hard
• 13:02
  practical questions on it. It's like, do you feel genuine
• 13:06
  delight when God uses someone you disagree with?
• 13:08
  When you defend a doctrine? Is your first desire for God's
• 13:11
  glory to be clear, or for your own position as the correct one
• 13:14
  to be established? If it's the first, that's the
• 13:16
  fruit of wisdom from above. If it's the second, James gives
• 13:20
  us the hard diagnosis. You are grieving when others are
• 13:23
  honored and you're feeling a secret thrill when a rival
• 13:25
  stumbles. You're putting your own status
• 13:27
  above the health of the body of Christ.
• 13:29
  But there's mercy here in that He gives us a clear way to test
• 13:33
  our own hearts. Yes, if the truth you claim to
• 13:36
  hold doesn't humble you and soften your spirit toward your
• 13:39
  brothers and sisters, you've probably bent it to serve your
• 13:42
  own pride. This diagnosis gets really
• 13:44
  serious in verse 15. James completely denies this
• 13:48
  counterfeit wisdom any legitimacy at all.
• 13:51
  He separates it completely from God's provision.
• 13:53
  He does. He says this is not the wisdom
• 13:56
  that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual,
• 14:00
  demonic. The take away there is stunning.
• 14:03
  This isn't just a weaker version of godly wisdom.
• 14:05
  It's from a completely different source, an opposing source.
• 14:09
  That denial is so central to his whole point.
• 14:12
  He wants you, the believer, to see that there are only two
• 14:15
  streams of wisdom you can operate from. 1 is a gift that
• 14:18
  comes down from the Father of Lights.
• 14:20
  The other rises up from below, from the dark soil of human
• 14:23
  pride and rebellion. So if you're running on envy and
• 14:26
  rivalry. You're not just struggling to
• 14:28
  apply God's wisdom, you're operating with an entirely alien
• 14:31
  wisdom. It produces the exact opposite
• 14:33
  of the fruit of the Spirit. And he piles on three
• 14:35
  descriptors to really drive the point home.
• 14:38
  Let's start with the first one, Earthly.
• 14:40
  Earthly wisdom is tied completely to the values and
• 14:42
  metrics of this present age. It's all about reputation,
• 14:46
  influence, control, winning the argument, establishing your
• 14:50
  dominance. It's.
• 14:50
  What the world respects. Exactly.
• 14:52
  If a wise man is defined by how big his platform is or his
• 14:55
  financial success, that's at the Jr's wisdom.
• 14:58
  It's entirely horizontal. Man centered and focused on
• 15:01
  outcomes. That explains why rivalry is
• 15:04
  baked into it. It is because if the Goodyear
• 15:06
  chasing is status or applause these limited horizontal goods,
• 15:10
  you are automatically in competition with everyone else
• 15:13
  who wants the same thing. Earthly wisdom has no patience
• 15:16
  for quiet, long term faithfulness.
• 15:19
  It needs to be seen now. It needs tangible results.
• 15:21
  And that's the constant temptation for the church, isn't
• 15:23
  it, To adopt the world's marketing strategies, its
• 15:26
  definitions of success, instead of the slower, meeker wisdom of
• 15:29
  God. The second descriptor is
• 15:31
  unspiritual or psychic. I This one points us back
• 15:34
  inside, right? Yes.
• 15:35
  Psychic I means it's governed by the psyche, the fallen
• 15:38
  unregenerate Adamic self, instead of by the Spirit of God.
• 15:42
  This is the flesh wearing religious clothes.
• 15:45
  The content might be right, but the motivation is all wrong.
• 15:48
  Exactly. The person might be technically
• 15:50
  correct, but their gifts and energies are being used not by
• 15:54
  the Spirit, but by the self rule of their fallen nature.
• 15:58
  So the flesh hijacks theological truth for its own glory.
• 16:01
  It uses truth as a tool for vanity.
• 16:04
  The psychicon loves being the correct 1, the discerning one
• 16:07
  who spots the heresy everyone else missed because that
• 16:10
  position feeds his pride. James, this is confronting the
• 16:13
  reality that you can be theologically precise while
• 16:16
  being spiritually carnal. The problem isn't a lack of
• 16:18
  facts. It's that the heart, corrupted
• 16:20
  by sin, is busy justifying its own jealousy and ambition.
• 16:24
  And we get to the final and most severe descriptor, demonic
• 16:29
  demonages. That really elevates church
• 16:32
  squabbles to a whole other level.
• 16:33
  Why does he use such a strong term?
• 16:35
  He's not just being dramatic, he is naming a real spiritual logic
• 16:39
  that aligns with the accuser of the brethren.
• 16:40
  Devil, right? Jealousy, pride, accusation,
• 16:43
  division. These are the methods and the
• 16:45
  character of the Evil 1. The demonic element is in the
• 16:48
  destruction of fellowship and the refusal to be humble.
• 16:50
  So the devil strategy isn't always some big external
• 16:53
  persecution, It can be this internal corruption turning
• 16:57
  brothers into rivals. Turning truth into a weapon of
• 17:00
  destruction. That's the connection, the fruit
• 17:03
  of this wisdom, strife, division.
• 17:05
  Every vile practice it echoes. Hell, it tears down.
• 17:09
  It doesn't build up. Sobering.
• 17:10
  It teaches us a sobering truth when a person or a community is
• 17:14
  constantly driven by rivalry and prideful arguments.
• 17:17
  They are, for all practical purposes, cooperating with
• 17:20
  Satanic patterns. The flesh eagerly lines up with
• 17:23
  these destructive, hellish strategies.
• 17:25
  So if we put the three together, earthly, unspiritual, demonic,
• 17:30
  it's a pretty clear outline of the opposition we face.
• 17:32
  It is. It's the classic pattern, the
• 17:34
  world which is earthly, the flesh which is unspiritual, and
• 17:38
  the devil which is demonic. If any of those three sources
• 17:41
  are governing our wisdom, the result is going to be contention
• 17:44
  and fracture. Whereas true wisdom operates
• 17:46
  under God's authority. And produces the quiet fruit of
• 17:49
  purity, peace and meekness. James insists we have to judge
• 17:54
  our methods and motives not by their immediate success, but by
• 17:57
  where they're coming from and the fruit they actually produce.
• 18:00
  This whole passage in James really forces us to accept a
• 18:03
  critical theological truth. Wisdom isn't some neutral skill
• 18:08
  you can separate from the moral state of your soul.
• 18:10
  No, it's a moral reality. It's the God-given ability to
• 18:13
  live rightly, skillfully and humbly before Him.
• 18:17
  And for Reformed believers, this is so important.
• 18:19
  James will not let us divorce theological precision from
• 18:22
  spiritual maturity. The claim to believe the right
• 18:25
  things is just well, it's invalidated if the heart is
• 18:27
  still carnal. He makes us move past the idea
• 18:30
  that our main problem is a like of information.
• 18:32
  It's not. It's an existential and moral
• 18:34
  problem. Wisdom is what your heart truly
• 18:37
  love and what your life actually shows.
• 18:39
  If the fear of the Lord is the beginning, then wisdom can only
• 18:42
  grow where self glorification has been crucified.
• 18:45
  Let's talk about the noetic effects of sin here.
• 18:48
  James is so clear that sin doesn't just corrupt our
• 18:50
  actions, it corrupts our judgement, our minds themselves.
• 18:54
  The noetic effect is how that remaining corruption in a
• 18:57
  believer can distort how we see things, how we rationalize.
• 19:01
  Jealousy and ambition don't just lead to bad behavior.
• 19:04
  They twist the internal story we tell ourselves.
• 19:07
  They allow us to relabel our pride as defending principle or
• 19:11
  our anger as righteous boldness. That's the deep deceitfulness of
• 19:16
  sin. The fallen mind uses all his
• 19:18
  intellectual ability and theological language to justify
• 19:21
  the idols of the heart. The intellect becomes a servant
• 19:24
  to the ego, not to God. So when a person who's driven by
• 19:27
  selfish ambition argues for the truth, their mind is subtly
• 19:31
  working to make sure they come out as the hero of the story.
• 19:34
  That's it. They're using God's principles
• 19:36
  to protect their own position. The second a person feels their
• 19:39
  identity or their status depends on winning an argument, the
• 19:42
  psyche has taken over. This is why the fight for
• 19:44
  sanctification is so central to getting wisdom.
• 19:47
  But James doesn't leave us there.
• 19:48
  He balances this heavy diagnosis with the doctrine of grace.
• 19:52
  He grounds true wisdom in a supernatural gift.
• 19:55
  It comes down from above. Yes, this is his theology of
• 19:57
  dependence. True wisdom isn't something we
• 20:00
  generate through intellectual effort or willpower.
• 20:04
  It's a gift we have to ask for and receive.
• 20:07
  From moralism to sanctification. Exactly.
• 20:09
  It moves from try harder to be meek.
• 20:12
  Recognizing this is the work of God's free grace.
• 20:16
  How did this wisdom James describes connect to the process
• 20:19
  of sanctification in a Reformed context, maybe thinking about
• 20:22
  the Westminster Shorter Catechism?
• 20:24
  Well, in the Westminster framework, sanctification is
• 20:27
  God's ongoing work of renewing us into the image of God,
• 20:30
  enabling us more and more to die to sin and live to
• 20:33
  righteousness. James's wisdom is the visible
• 20:36
  evidence of that renewal. The Spirit is training the
• 20:39
  believer into the humility and restraint of Christ.
• 20:42
  So when James demands meekness, he's demanding the visible fruit
• 20:45
  of the Spirit's work, which is always killing off the bitter
• 20:48
  jealousy and selfish ambition of our old nature.
• 20:51
  If wisdom was just a natural skill, we wouldn't need the
• 20:54
  spirit. We wouldn't need prayer to get
• 20:56
  it because it's a gift. We know that meekness is
• 20:58
  completely dependent on grace. This really clarifies that old
• 21:01
  debate about faith and works. James isn't contradicting Paul.
• 21:05
  He's showing us what true justifying faith actually looks
• 21:09
  like. He is.
• 21:10
  The works are the evidence, not the basis for our acceptance.
• 21:13
  The faith that justifies is never just some intellectual
• 21:16
  thing. It's always productive.
• 21:18
  It leads to a changed character. So boasting and self seeking are
• 21:21
  proof that the heart is still looking for status in its own
• 21:24
  achievements. Right.
• 21:26
  If jealousy and ambition are still in charge, the wisdom
• 21:29
  you're showing is the bitter fruit of the old man.
• 21:32
  It shows a failure of faith to actually transform the inner
• 21:35
  life. True faith in Christ crucifies
• 21:38
  the need for self promotion. It frees the soul to be meek.
• 21:42
  So the presence of genuine meekness and good conduct proves
• 21:45
  you've received that divine wisdom from God.
• 21:48
  And this has massive implications for the church
• 21:49
  community. James calls the counterfeit
• 21:52
  wisdom demonic, because jealousy and ambition always fracture the
• 21:55
  body of Christ. They are divisive forces.
• 21:57
  They echo the anti accusing logic of hell.
• 22:00
  So we pursue meekness because we belong to a different spiritual
• 22:03
  order. We're governed by the King of
• 22:05
  Peace. Wisdom is sanctified life, where
• 22:08
  grace produces humble obedience and peace, while sin
• 22:12
  counterfeits it with proud zeal and contention.
• 22:15
  And we have to bring this all back to the center of our faith.
• 22:18
  We can't just talk about wisdom from above as an abstract idea.
• 22:22
  God has shown us that wisdom perfectly in the person of Jesus
• 22:27
  Christ. He is the ultimate standard.
• 22:30
  Christ is wisdom Incarnate. Paul tells us Christ is the
• 22:32
  power of God and the wisdom of God.
• 22:35
  So if you want to know what wisdom from above looks like,
• 22:37
  you just have to look at the life of Jesus.
• 22:39
  James 3 is really a contrast between the world's proud Adamic
• 22:43
  wisdom and the perfectly obedient, meek wisdom of Christ.
• 22:47
  If true wisdom is defined by meekness, then Jesus is the
• 22:51
  perfect example of that. His life wasn't about loud self
• 22:53
  promotion, even though he had every right to demand glory.
• 22:56
  His home ministry was marked by this voluntary, obedient
• 22:59
  humility. He didn't use his divine nature
• 23:02
  to dominate people or to gather a faction of followers who are
• 23:05
  obsessed with his status. Think about Philippians 2.
• 23:09
  Even though he was God, he didn't cling to that equality.
• 23:12
  He emptied himself, took the form of a servant, and became
• 23:15
  obedient even to death. That self giving, that
• 23:18
  restraint, that's the definition of true meekness.
• 23:21
  It's the perfect pattern of wisdom from above.
• 23:24
  It's the opposite of the sins James identifies.
• 23:27
  I mean, when James condemns jealousy and selfish ambition,
• 23:30
  he's describing the very temptations Jesus faced.
• 23:33
  The temptations in the wilderness were all about
• 23:34
  shortcuts to glory, paths of self exaltation without
• 23:38
  submitting to the Father's way, right?
• 23:40
  Satan offered Jesus a chance to show off his status command.
• 23:43
  Angels dominate kingdoms and Jesus refused.
• 23:46
  He chose the Father's wisdom, the way of suffering and
• 23:49
  submission, over the devil's wisdom, which is always earthly,
• 23:52
  immediate and self-serving. False wisdom promises crowns
• 23:55
  without crosses. And Christ shows us that true
• 23:58
  wisdom is found on the cross, where all our boasting is
• 24:00
  silenced. Cross itself just demolishes
• 24:03
  human pride. If salvation is by grace alone,
• 24:06
  through faith alone in Christ alone, then there's just no room
• 24:09
  left for jealous comparison or ambitious self promotion.
• 24:13
  How could there be? How can we possibly boast or
• 24:16
  envy when we stand before the cross knowing we contributed
• 24:20
  nothing to our own rescue? The world says prove yourself
• 24:23
  and that feeds ambition. The cross says you have nothing
• 24:27
  to prove. Christ has secured it all.
• 24:29
  The world says protect your status.
• 24:32
  And the cross says your life is hidden with Christ.
• 24:35
  Take the lowest place. The meekness James demands is a
• 24:38
  gospel shaped humility. It flows from knowing that
• 24:41
  Christ is enough for us and our vindication is in His hands, not
• 24:46
  in our own accomplishments. So we're not just called to
• 24:48
  admire Christ's wisdom, we're called to receive it.
• 24:51
  Absolutely. He is wisdom imparted to us
• 24:53
  through our union with him, Colossians 2 says.
• 24:56
  All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.
• 24:59
  And we access those treasures through the ordinary means of
• 25:02
  grace. Union with Christ nurtured
• 25:04
  through the Word in prayer. Our prayer for wisdom, which
• 25:07
  James tells us to make, is answered as the Spirit actively
• 25:10
  conforms our character to the image of the sun.
• 25:12
  And that changes our desires from the inside out.
• 25:15
  It reforms our internal allegiances.
• 25:18
  Our minds are renewed and the heart slowly starts to find more
• 25:21
  satisfaction in meekness than in mastery, more joy in service
• 25:25
  than in status. The good conduct and works James
• 25:29
  demands are just the fruit of abiding in Christ.
• 25:32
  So if we see that bitter root of jealousy or ambition in our own
• 25:35
  hearts, the solution isn't just to grit our teeth and try to act
• 25:39
  meek. No, the solution is repentance
• 25:42
  and running back to the only source of true meekness.
• 25:45
  Jesus doesn't just command the meek life, He supplies the meek
• 25:49
  heart. We're invited to learn from Him
• 25:51
  because He is gentle and lowly in heart.
• 25:53
  When ambition flares up, we look to the one who made himself
• 25:56
  nothing. And when our tongue wants to
• 25:58
  tear someone down, we look to the one who, when he was
• 26:01
  reviled, did not revile in return.
• 26:03
  True wisdom is revealed, supplied, and secured by Christ
• 26:06
  Himself so that our lives can finally show what our lips claim
• 26:10
  to believe. So James won't let us measure
• 26:12
  wisdom by any of the things our modern world finds impressive.
• 26:15
  How quick someone is with a comeback.
• 26:17
  How big their platform is, the only measure that counts is the
• 26:20
  quiet food of a life and the posture of the heart.
• 26:22
  And the application for us today has to be really searching
• 26:26
  because our culture is built on jealousy and selfish ambition.
• 26:30
  We have to relearn how to evaluate everything.
• 26:33
  Success, truth telling, not by volume, but by humility and
• 26:38
  peace and holiness. Let's start with those personal
• 26:41
  diagnostic questions James forces on us.
• 26:43
  How do I test myself for that bitter jealousy, the resentment
• 26:46
  that likes to dress up as righteous critique?
• 26:49
  The simplest test is often the most painful 1 You have to
• 26:52
  examine your first spontaneous internal reaction when you hear
• 26:55
  about the genuine success of a peer or even a rival.
• 26:59
  Does your soul honestly and immediately rejoice for them in
• 27:02
  their effectiveness, their gifts?
• 27:04
  Or does that that sour feeling rise up, that need to find a
• 27:08
  flaw, A weakness and asterisk to put next to their
• 27:10
  accomplishment? Bitter jealousy can't just
• 27:12
  celebrate, it has to qualify. It has to.
• 27:14
  It often comes out as a passive aggressive critique.
• 27:17
  I'm so happy for their success but I just hope they stay humble
• 27:19
  when the real issue is that we're not the one getting the
• 27:21
  attention. Right or I love their teaching
• 27:25
  but they don't seem to grasp the finer points of the real test is
• 27:30
  do you grieve when someone else is honored?
• 27:33
  If your worth is tied to your position relative to others,
• 27:36
  then every time they rise you feel like you're falling.
• 27:38
  Whereas true meekness is secure enough in Christ to celebrate
• 27:42
  what God is doing through someone else without worrying
• 27:45
  about what it means for your own status.
• 27:47
  OK, now for selfish ambition. This one can be harder to spot
• 27:50
  because it can look like passion or drive.
• 27:53
  What happens when I'm not chosen for something, or my idea is
• 27:55
  ignored or I get some real criticism?
• 27:58
  Selfish ambition shows itself is volatility as a depth sense of
• 28:02
  being personally injured when your status is threatened.
• 28:05
  If your idea is passed over, do you get irritable or sulky?
• 28:09
  Do you start thinking the decision makers are incompetent?
• 28:12
  Do you start trying to build a little faction of people who
• 28:14
  agree with you? Exactly.
• 28:15
  The test is what happens inside you when your personal control
• 28:18
  or influence is taken away. Can you handle being corrected
• 28:22
  or overlooked without feeling wounded or needing to explain
• 28:25
  why everyone else was wrong? It's that question, Can you be
• 28:28
  teachable without being touchy? Meekness is the strength that
• 28:32
  lets you absorb criticism because your security is in God,
• 28:36
  not in saving face. If my heart just snaps back with
• 28:39
  resentment when I'm corrected, I'm showing that selfish
• 28:42
  ambition, even if my position is theologically perfect.
• 28:46
  And this leads right into how we engage in controversy today.
• 28:50
  In the age of hot takes and public call outs, it is
• 28:53
  shockingly easy to contend for the faith when what you're
• 28:57
  really contending for is yourself.
• 28:59
  James makes us ask, Does my public defense of the truth
• 29:02
  smell like Christ's meekness, or does it smell like the bitter
• 29:05
  zeal of the natural man? The world's logic is that you
• 29:08
  win by defeating and embarrassing your opponent to
• 29:10
  prove you're superior. But James says boasting and
• 29:13
  rivalry are lies against the truth itself.
• 29:16
  We have to measure our wisdom not by how well we silence an
• 29:18
  opponent, but by the atmosphere of speech.
• 29:20
  Creates as your argument lead to clarity and repentance and peace
• 29:23
  in the community. Or does it just leave behind a
• 29:26
  trail of broken fellowship and self congratulation?
• 29:29
  The truth you claim to defend condemns the pride you use in
• 29:32
  its defense. If your methods are sarcastic,
• 29:34
  contemptuous, or designed to humiliate, James's verdict is
• 29:38
  clear. That is earthly wisdom.
• 29:41
  That is not God's wisdom. And this has huge implications
• 29:44
  for church leadership. Jim started this chapter by
• 29:47
  warning against the desire to be a teacher.
• 29:50
  It demands a total change in how we pick and affirm leaders.
• 29:53
  Churches can fall into the trap of choosing leaders based on
• 29:56
  worldly metrics. Charisma, Decisiveness, the
• 29:59
  ability to command A room. Qualities that can look a lot
• 30:02
  like selfish ambition. They can, but James demands we
• 30:05
  prioritize the quieter, more costly signs of meekness,
• 30:09
  restraint when provoked, patience with people who are
• 30:11
  slow, a willingness to be corrected in private, and a
• 30:14
  refusal to gather a personality driven party around yourself.
• 30:17
  So a leader might be gifted and articulate, but if he's governed
• 30:21
  by selfish ambition, he'll eventually create a culture of
• 30:23
  rivalry. The world asks, can he build
• 30:25
  something impressive? James asks.
• 30:27
  Can he consistently lower himself for the sake of peace
• 30:29
  and holiness? And we have to apply this test
• 30:32
  to the digital world. Online confidence and outrage
• 30:37
  are rewarded. They get clicks and followers.
• 30:40
  If our online tone, the way we communicate truth, is
• 30:43
  consistently sarcastic, impatient or contemptuous, we
• 30:47
  are failing the test of meekness.
• 30:49
  Even if the facts are right. Even if the facts are totally
• 30:52
  sound, we're showing earthly wisdom.
• 30:54
  The fruit of the Spirit is the right manner as well as the
• 30:57
  right content, because the manner reveals who's really in
• 31:00
  charge of the heart. So many of us operate online
• 31:01
  with a harshness we'd never use face to face, and that shows a
• 31:04
  deep lack of the fear of the Lord in that space.
• 31:07
  So for the person listening who recognizes this bitter root,
• 31:11
  that feeling of resentment when a peer succeeds, or that
• 31:13
  constant need to be seen as correct, what are the specific,
• 31:17
  actionable steps forward? First, specific repentance.
• 31:20
  You have to name the sin for what it is, confess the jealous
• 31:22
  comparisons, the competitiveness, the need to be
• 31:25
  the self appointed, discerning 1 confess loving to be right more
• 31:29
  than loving to be Christ like. And then second, practice hidden
• 31:32
  obedience. Actively choose to serve in
• 31:35
  places where there is 0 platform.
• 31:37
  No chance of applause, no recognition at all.
• 31:41
  Meekness grows in the soil of secret faithfulness.
• 31:43
  We're the only one watching is God.
• 31:45
  And 3rd. Pursue wisdom as a genuine gift.
• 31:49
  We have to ask God for it and then receive it through the
• 31:52
  Word, prayer and humble fellowship, submitting our minds
• 31:55
  to be renewed by the Holy Spirit.
• 31:57
  We're not called to just act humble.
• 31:59
  We're called to embrace the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of
• 32:02
  the cross that destroys all our boasting and creates real
• 32:04
  peacemakers. The world says show your
• 32:07
  strength by fighting for the top spot.
• 32:09
  James says show your wisdom by voluntarily taking the lowest
• 32:13
  spot and let your quiet life do the talking.
• 32:15
  James leaves us with this final searching unavoidable test.
• 32:18
  The question isn't do you claim wisdom, it's do you show it.
• 32:22
  The Spirit isn't looking for a resume of religious talk.
• 32:25
  He's looking for the evidence of a transformed life.
• 32:28
  A sustained, steady pattern of good conduct, visible works, and
• 32:31
  that critical quality of meekness that flows from a heart
• 32:34
  totally submitted to Christ. And where wisdom is genuinely
• 32:37
  from above, it doesn't need to advertise.
• 32:39
  It just quietly bears the fruit of righteousness, seeks peace,
• 32:43
  restrains the tongue, and serves without needing recognition or
• 32:46
  status. It's content to be faithful
• 32:49
  rather than famous. But if bitter jealousy and self
• 32:52
  ambition are living in the heart, James delivers that harsh
• 32:55
  verdict. It's a lie against the truth.
• 32:58
  It's wisdom from below, earthly in its goals, unspiritual in its
• 33:02
  energy, and demonic in the division and destruction it
• 33:05
  causes. So we have to choose every day
• 33:08
  between the wisdom that crowns the loud and the wisdom that
• 33:11
  commends the meek. Look to Christ, the Source and
• 33:14
  the pattern of all true wisdom, and ask Him for the humility
• 33:18
  that He loves to give. And maybe a final thought to
• 33:20
  consider. Think about your current method
• 33:23
  of studying and sharing truth. The way you process knowledge
• 33:25
  and opinions, the specific tone you use when you discuss
• 33:28
  doctrine. Does it show that your heart is
• 33:30
  governed by the wisdom from above or the wisdom from below?
• 33:33
  Are you seeking status and being correct, or are you seeking the
• 33:35
  humility that reflects Christ?