Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (2009) Rev. Toby Byrd

Christ, the Divine Wisdom from Heaven

James 3:17 (ESV)

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Have you ever met a really great inventor? I mean one that sees new creations in everything. Well, if you haven’t don’t feel slighted, such individuals are truly rare. I’ve met a few in my lifetime, men who didn’t just tinker, they actually invented useful things. However, it is typical for the tinkering inventor to spend their time inventing items which, putting it kindly, aren’t of much benefit.

There’s a story of the inventor who bought an old army bombsight and when he got home, he took it apart to see what made it tick and then put it back together. During this process he discovered that he could add things to it, other parts and pieces that he had lying around the shop from other projects. As he continued to develop this contraption, his neighbors became curious and they would visit him as he tinkered, watching him with amazement. Some even brought parts of their own to add to the invention. After considerable time, our inquisitive inventor had used nearly every component and cog, motor, wheel, belt, and screw he had as well as those supplied by his neighbors. The result was a machine that had over 10,000 parts. When the switch was turned on, 3,000 parts moved, bells rang, lights flashed, wheels turned, belts ran, and the whole contraption revolved on a turntable. It was a wonderful invention and the neighbors were awed by its demonstration. However, that’s all it was good for, a mesmerizing demonstration of flashing lights and whirling wheels. It accomplished absolutely nothing. It just ran and made noise: hardly an invention worthy of scientific note.

For some people, religion is like that. Come Sunday morning, they dress in their finest clothes and go to church. It makes them feel good; it makes them feel as if they are doing something special. They get an opportunity to socialize. They feel its good recreation. Making the wheels turn, they need to be active in the ladies groups, in men’s clubs, or in the choir. Such activity seems to make their life more interesting. Bells seem to ring and lights seem to flash when they know what other people are doing. However, the question must be asked, what does all the activity accomplish? Is it like the wonder-machine I spoke of earlier; something that makes a lot of noise but isn’t very beneficial. Thus I ask, does your membership in church do something or is it just something that’s just good to look at? Is your membership in the Body of Christ fruitful, for both God and man?

St. James is a man who is always asking these kinds of questions. He asks: “You say you have faith? Let me see you life. What are the results, which of your good works are the fruit of this faith?” Moreover, in today’s Epistle Reading he asks, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom” (v. 13). St. James is asking, “So, you think you have the pure Gospel? You think you are wise and understand the truth? Well, let me see your life. Let me see the result of this so-called wisdom? Depending on the results, I’ll know whether you have the truth or not.” Therefore, as we study this text, let us take note of how St. James first speaks of a wisdom that works ruin and then contrasts that with the wisdom that works wonders. Thus, we pray, that the Holy Spirit would lead us, through this text, to find Christ, the Divine Wisdom from Heaven; a wisdom that turns our Christianity away from frivolous and foolish inventions while providing a wisdom that makes our very lives a wonder to behold.

The wisdom that works ruin is a wisdom that is human. St. James describes it with three sharp words: earthly, unspiritual, and demonic (v. 15). Let us examine these words more closely. “Earthly” suggests that human wisdom is strictly from the earth, from the creature, man. Therefore, he implies there is something suspect about it, for James said earlier in his letter, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17 ESV). Thus he is saying, “This wisdom of yours, it is not one that has come down from above, on the contrary, it is human, it is without divine aide, and it is promoted by the devil.

Secondly, he says this wisdom is “unspiritual.” It is a natural wisdom compared to what we call spiritual wisdom. Finally, it is characterized as “demonic.” It is from the devil and it is used by the devil. Thus, just as there are three great enemies of the soul; the world, the devil, and our flesh, so there are three words that describe the wisdom that works ruin; earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

When human wisdom alone is controlling force in man, Holy Scripture describes the results in very negative tones. Scripture says the results of such control leads to bitter jealously, selfish ambition, disorder, and vile practice. When man’s thoughts are filled with earthly, unspiritual, and demonic ideas, can there be room for anything else? I think not, because filled with such thoughts man becomes jealous over the success and good fortune of others. In fact, the original word implies overzealousness in an evil sense. St. James then adds the word “bitter” to this zeal, bitter in the sense that it makes a person bitter when they are eaten up with jealously, and their relationships with others can only be “bitter.”

Furthermore, St. James ties this bitter jealousy together with “selfish ambition.” The word for ambition is not used in Greek literature outside the New Testament except by one author, Aristotle. Moreover, when Aristotle uses this word, he uses it to describe the wages earned by a mercenary. The mercenary soldier is not interested in the good of the country that hires him or the people of that country. Instead, he fights for the love of adventure and for money. To make this idea more understandable, St. James adds “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice” (v. 16). Thus, man’s life is filled with confusion, his sense of purpose and meaning is destroyed, and his relationship with others is ruined. This is the wisdom that works ruin. However, let us look at the marvelous contrast with the wisdom that works wonders; Christ, the Divine Wisdom from Heaven.

True wisdom, or the wisdom that knows the pure Gospel, is a wisdom that “comes down from above,” as does every good gift. This is in contrast to the wisdom that is human, earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. St. James wipes all this away by simply saying, “It comes down from above.” The only way a man gets this wisdom is for God to give it. He says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5 ESV). Again he says, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2 ESV).

How does one receive this wisdom? It is created by God in the heart of the person who has been gifted to receive Him. The Old Testament says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10 ESV), while the New Testament says through St. Paul, “from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15 ESV). Thus, this describes the process of conversion, regeneration, and coming to faith in Jesus Christ. When a man is given the gift of faith to believe in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he is made into a new creation in Christ. Therefore, it is this new creature that is gifted with the wisdom that comes down from above, because he receives Christ, the Divine Wisdom from Heaven.

It is not uncommon in the lives of people when they are asked, “What is the most thrilling moment of their life?” to respond by saying something like, “the most thrilling moment in my life was when I came to know that I could not save myself. More importantly, it was at the blessed moment I understood that I didn’t have to worry about saving myself because our Lord Jesus Christ had already saved me by His death on the cross of Calvary. This blessed knowledge has led me to live my life with a new purpose; to glorify my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ by the life I live.” Such an answer usually floors the questioners.

Such a condition is the wonder that the wisdom which comes down from heaven works in the lives of God’s people. It changes lives. It gives aim and purpose for living. However, it doesn’t come as a complete package. Our Lord Jesus has likened it to a new birth. Regenerated through the gift of wisdom we are reborn as mere infants and led by the Holy Spirit to grow into mature Christians. This process is known as sanctification. Led by the Holy Spirit, we mature more and more with each passing day into knowledgeable and faithful Christians. Some call this the curse of Christianity, because with each passing day the growing Christian (and is there any other kind?) becomes more and more aware of the sinful condition of their lives. However, the wretchedness of that reality is offset by a Christian’s growth in the Gospel which leads not to despair but to thankfulness for a loving God who sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for the forgiveness of sins.

Guided by the wisdom that comes down from above, the Christian learns the true meaning of St. James’ words, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (v. 17). These have been described as the seven notes of harmony.

1. Pure: When men’s sins are washed away in the blood of Christ, they are pure; they are “white as snow.” Peter speaks of, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth” (1 Peter 1:22 ESV). So the plea of St. James is to “keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).

2. Peaceable: “First pure, then peaceable.” This is the opposite of “disorder and vile practice.” It is living at peace with one’s neighbor because of the peace that is in one’s own soul.

3. Gentle: This is the outward expression of a peaceable attitude. James started this text with the thought: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13 ESV). This meekness or gentleness is not softness or cowardliness. Christ was meek and gentle but also brave and strong. Moses was weak in his own cause but hot as fire in the cause of God. St. Paul lists this gentle spirit as one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Peter speaks of it as a jewel when he says that a woman’s beauty ought to be “the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious” (1 Peter 3:4 ESV).

4. Open to Reason: Pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason. This means reasonableness, willing to listen, or as one translation says, “considerate.”

5. Full of mercy: “Full of mercy and good fruits.” The person who has become a follower of Jesus Christ learns an attitude of kindness compassion, and love toward a brother or sister in Christ. Such a person hears the voice of our Lord, Jesus Christ say, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7 ESV) and again, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36 ESV).

6. Without uncertainty and

7. Without insincerity: These last two notes are stated negatively, but they can be stated positively: with certainty and with sincerity. St. James is affirming that a man who knows this wisdom from above has found a conviction and a goal, an honest purpose that he follows with sincerity toward all men. He is the opposite of the man who doubts, who, says St. James, “is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6 ESV)

These then are the seven notes of harmony in the Christian character which makes the Christian a wonder to behold. What can make a person pure, peaceful, gentle, considerate, and merciful, with conviction and sincerity but the power of God in Christ Jesus? How is it with you? Look at your life and see which is controlling you, the wisdom that ruins or the wisdom that works wonders? Certainly, we are all still human and there will be some of the selfishness, jealousy, and disorder in every life as long as there is still the old Adam. However, we need to petition our Lord in prayer seeking more and more the wisdom that works wonders into our lives; Christ, the Divine Wisdom from Heaven. Firmly planted in our hearts, Jesus can control us and lead us to bear the fruit of the Gospel. The Christian is able to live their life of wonder only because of the love of Jesus Christ who loved us before we loved Him.

No longer lurking in the darkness of the world, each of you, having been called, justified, and sanctified, now walk in the light of the kingdom of God. Therefore, filled with the light of our Lord’s wisdom pray that the Spirit will lead you to follow the admonition of our Lord Jesus when He says to you, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16 ESV).

Although we proclaim the goodness of God’s Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ and perform works of love in His name out of faith, our Lord reminds us, He alone is the inventor, He alone is the Creator of all things and we are blessed to live in the world He has made. We might be good at putting together widgets, but He creates life out of lifeless people. Therefore, as Christians, rather than just being busy tinkerer’s, St. James advises us to, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. . . . . Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (vv. 4, 7). Amen.

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.