A Faith that Speaks Well - part 2

Good evening. I tell you it's a good sign when it takes a little bit longer for the kids to be ushered on out to their classes. Does my heart good to see that there's more youth and children than there are adults? I'm blessed. I can remember a day when we had adult small groups but didn't have kids small groups. I can remember a day when we just had a handful and the first time we heard the kids loudly being rambunctious. We just rejoice. That's a good sound. If you would turn with me and in your copy of God's Word to the book of James.

We are back in our series entitled "The Faith That Works Well." We have a six message and we're looking tonight at a wisdom that works. James turns his attention speaking on wisdom. He had admonished this group of dispersed Jewish Hebrew believers, converts to Christianity, spread throughout the known world because of persecution. He had urged them that not many of them should be teachers last week. Last week we looked at a faith that works well as a faith that speaks well. We looked at the sins of speech that we as a church can commit.

If we make the assumption that nobody here tonight is going to use a four letter word, that that's not who we are. The Lord has saved us from that type of language. There are still plenty of sins of speech that we can commit. We looked at those last week as very convicting to me personally, even having to preach the sermon to myself beforehand several times. James is talking to this group of dispersed believers and he's saying you need a faith that works. Not just a profession, but a possession. A faith that is demonstrated. And tonight we will see he is making the same appeal to them.

You need to have a wisdom that is manifested in your actions, specifically in a life at a local church. Let's look at what he says tonight in James three verses 13 through 18. Less scripture than we unpack sometimes on Wednesday nights here in this series. I will be preaching from chapter four this Sunday. I think it goes well with where brother Chris has been preaching in Ephesians. So let's see 13 verses 13 and 18 in chapter three. Who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct? Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is earthly on spiritual demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But with wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. The harvest of righteousness is sown in peace and by those who make peace. Four areas we need to see wisdom worked out tonight. We need to pray that the Lord would bless us with a humble wisdom.

We would flee from human wisdom. We would avoid hell's wisdom and that the Lord would grant us heavenly wisdom. So to that end, let's pray tonight. The Lord would grant us a wisdom that works in the local church. Father God, we do pray that your mercy and grace would fall upon us heavily as we open up your word. I pray especially that you would use these words that you've first spoken to me in conviction, that you would help us as men, leaders of our homes to lead out being the first to see our great need for wisdom. But that we would see a church creative in good deeds, crafty and cunning in our wise kingdom minded service.

So bless us tonight that we seek you in Jesus name. Amen. So our message title tonight is a wisdom that works. And specifically for four areas that I believe the Lord would show us. Proverbs four seven says acquire wisdom. God commands us throughout scripture to acquire wisdom and to acquire understanding. So we see tonight that James is calling the church to live out wisdom practically the wisdom and the faith that they profess. Now we've been in our study of Ecclesiastes, which is wisdom literature. According to John MacArthur, Solomon needed great wisdom to solve the economic military social problems that he would face as king.

He saw this great need and he asked the Lord and the Lord granted him wisdom. But this Solomonic wisdom, if I can use that term and not sound too too high and mighty, but the Solomonic wisdom is that I would say is the best of common grace. When the Lord blessed him with wisdom to build aqueducts and to classify different species of animals and to organize a labor force, God gifted him with the ability to rule well. However, with this common grace wisdom, we see that the end of his life when he's writing the book of Ecclesiastes, he's in great despair. If we read chapter one, 16 through 18, and we've been studying this intently this summer.

"Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me." It's including his dad. "My mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. I set my mind to no wisdom. And because in wisdom there is much grief, increasing in knowledge results in increasing pain." And James is writing to Jewish believers who were very familiar with Solomon. They were familiar with all of the wisdom literature and would have read this weekly in the synagogue commonly. And so when James is telling them of a new type of wisdom, he is saying something that is actually earth shattering.

It's even counter-cultural and revolutionary. So I want you to see that James is commanding a humble wisdom. Our first truth tonight, humble wisdom. Let's read chapter three, verse 13. "Who is wise in understanding among you by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom." Now you need to understand the context. This is under the Roman Empire, but it's still very much Hellenistic culture. Hellenistic culture is Greek culture, and humility was not a virtue to the Hellenists and to the Hedonists.

If you were gifted with great wisdom, you showed your contribution to society by going to public forums and displaying how wise you were. So Apollos in the New Testament, the church in Corinth was familiar with him. He was thought to be a very, very gifted, oratorical, gifted person, oratorically gifted. This was not associated with humility. The type of wisdom that was popular in Greek culture was that which would elevate the self. Humility was not prized by the Greeks, and it was not coming natural to the saints scattered throughout the known world.

Why is James lecturing these almost-rebuking people in his own church scattered throughout the world? Why is he even calling them adulteress later in the book? This turns harsh. He's saying you would presume to be wise, but the wisdom that you are displaying is puffing up in the self. It's adversarial. It is biting at times. It's confrontational at times. And he says if there's anyone wise and among you and understanding among you, they must be meek. At first glance, we could read over these words. Who is wise and understanding? Further study would show us that these are synonyms, but they are slightly different.

MacArthur says the word wisdom, sophos, is used referring to speculative knowledge, theory, or philosophy. However, the word understanding that you read in your text is actually the Greek word epistemon. We get the word epistemology from this. And this is actually used only once in the New Testament right here. And it speaks to specialized knowledge. Think of a skilled tradesman, like an expert welder, a person who would garner large hourly wage for very specialized service. So this is essentially what James is saying. He is giving them a command.

He is saying become an expert, skillful person at displaying wisdom and understanding in meekness. And this is revolutionary and it's countercultural. And he's coming to them, especially in the local church. He's already talked about favoritism showing preference. In our church we said this may not be giving preference to monetary poverty, but it could be intellectual poverty. A person is just not as accomplished academically as us. Do we love everyone equally?

And in fact, a person who is wise in understanding is, I think, a person with great discernment who would be the person to look out in a crowd and to notice who is not getting spoken to. Who is the one person that maybe people don't go and fellowship with? Who is the one person in church who's not been asked out to lunch? It is these kind of questions that many times we just kind of skip over. So this understanding, epistemone, is a highly skilled, wise and understanding person. I want us to see what wisdom is and then we will see what wisdom is not. Wisdom is active.

Now some speculate that James is addressing those who presume to be teachers in chapter 3 verse 1. In fact, many commentators go so far as to say he's continuing the whole book and perhaps the division and the conflict is coming from people who are claiming to be teachers. MacArthur, Douglas Moo, think otherwise. These scholars believe that James is actually targeting a group of people who are saved in the church and a group of people who are not saved in the church. They are professors, but they are not possessors. Possessors of saving faith. That's what the book is about. He is urging people to walk the walk and to talk the talk.

To live a faith that works. So this faith is active. But this faith and this wisdom specifically is also demonstrated. Matthew Henry says that wisdom that James admonishes must be demonstrated in three ways. Matthew Henry calls for good conversation. This is not roughness in the church. Our conversation must not be rough. That means we should not be harsh. We should not speak with a harsh tone. Even when we're exhorting someone or sharing the gospel or eat. Sometimes we can be very animated, but our language can turn to a roughness and a coarseness if we speak with impatience.

If we speak out of anything other than the wisdom and understanding that God gives. When you're ministering to someone and this is this good conversation. Are you dependent on the Lord in that moment? And is the Holy Spirit actually giving you not just the divine appointment, but is God giving you the divine understanding? That that wise understanding. Good conversation produces life. Henry says good works. These are edifying works spiritually discerned works. Because we're talking about wisdom, I would just ask you what good deeds is the Lord calling you to be a part of here at Grace Life? Because we're talking about wisdom.

We're not just talking about have to service. We're talking about want to service, but specifically in an area of giftedness that requires creativity. We hear of people in the world becoming very, very creative in terms of their wickedness. We went to the Angola prison rodeo probably decades ago and we went to the Angola prison museum. And on display are all of the unique devices that people created in their escape attempts. Creating weapons, contraband. And you look at this on display and you just think what ingenuity. What creativity and what wickedness would we as the church be as creative in doing good deeds?

Matthew Henry says good conversation, good works and a good temperament. And this speaks to the meekness in verse 13. You know, Jesus mentions Matthew 5 5. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. He doesn't say blessed are the Christians for they will inherit the earth. You know what this says from Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount meekness is used as a synonym for Christianity. He could have said blessed are the saved for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the born again for they will inherit the earth. But he says blessed are the meek. So this means that we as a church need to be known characteristically by our meekness.

This is heaven born. This is heaven produced and it's connected with a wisdom that honors the Lord. And it's important to note in verse 13 that this is not a suggestion. Who is wise and understanding among you by his could his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. This is written in the heirest tense, which means it is an imperative command. The Lord through James, the half brother of Jesus, known as James, the righteous or James, the just the leader of the local church at that time. We can look over his shoulder as he's writing this and we can see this as God's command to us.

Grace like Prokofin you are commanded to be an expert skilled technician in meek wisdom, good deeds, acts of kindness, all patience and forbearance. Brother Chris was talking about. Let's look at what wisdom is not. It's not oracle skill. And that's important to note because that's what they thought it was. The readers thought wisdom was standing up in front of a community and wowing them. These were the proverbial rock stars of the day. When you hear of this in Corinthians, some followed Apollo's, some follow Paul, some followed Peter, some the very spiritual.

I follow Christ and they had these camps and a lot of it was centered around oracle and speaking ability. Wisdom is not simply. What would make a good sermon? There are many great orators who are not preachers. What they say when they stand behind the pulpit may sound smooth, it may sound flashy, it may pull in lots of folks. But what is the end result in the pew? Is it producing godliness and a godly character in the hearts of the church? It's not intellectual. This cut against the grain of the Hellenism that was dominant. It's not empty arguments and it's not inactive. You can't be wise in the church and not demonstrate it.

It doesn't mean you're called to use that wisdom to teach a small group. It doesn't mean you're called to use that wisdom to preach. That wisdom that God grants you, it is heaven-born. It is first and foremost called to be lived out in body life. It is called to be lived out in your small group. First and foremost in your family. But secondly in the relationships in the church and it's not optional. Matthew Henry says he may speak well and he may think well. But the scriptures will not allow him to be called wise if he does not live well. So just as faith without works is dead, so wisdom without works is dead.

Jesus was the most gentle and the most meek and the most humble. He pronounced blessing on the meek and he was crucified. The world will not think much of meek leaders. In fact, they will crucify them. Christian wisdom is counter-cultural today just as it was in James Day. It is that of a doulos slave. It will elevate the needs of the local church above your own. It will call you to sacrificial service. It will call you to lay down your life, take up your cross and to follow Christ. It is not a show. It is not combative. Yes, it can be clever. It can be creative. It can even be crafty. But the end goal is not self.

Would it be that we would be marked not just in our meekness, but that we would take up the mantle of being skilled craftsmen at serving the Lord to meet the needs of others in meekness. We went to the True Church Conference and they fed us as a plant church, all the partner plant churches. They fed us. And at the end of the banquet, Brother Chris was asked to preach and to share his testimony. It was a blessing and at the end of the banquet, they had these beautifully ornate crocheted blankets that were on sale.

And the ladies of the church had gotten together about 10-15 years ago and they crocheted blankets and they sold them in the church. And they put forth the money that they gained from that to a specific missionary in a specific part of the world. That's creative. That is unique. It was unique to their skill sets. Maybe you think that that's kind of antiquated, maybe out of step with the culture and out of time or something that would have been done in generation. They were doing what the Lord had put on their heart and they did it in their own way.

What would be your own unique, God-given method of blessing people in the church and doing kingdom service? A wisdom that works is a humble wisdom. And it calls us away from human wisdom. Let's read 14 to verse 16. "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, you do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual and demonic." Human wisdom is false wisdom. It is first and foremost lifting up the self. We see a few different elements of human wisdom. We see bitter jealousy. The word here, pikras, it means sharp, pointed, cutting, prickly, pungent.

And James in this book uses this word to describe bitter water coming out of a fountain. And when I hear that word, pikras, I think of the bitter water that Moses and the people of Israel found three days outside of seeing Pharaoh destroyed. They go into the wilderness, into the desert. They have no water for three days. They grumble at the Lord. This is actually the first of their ten tests. And they find water, but the water is bitter. It is just as pikras, sharp, pungent. And if you remember this story, Moses is praying there. He is exasperated by the people. And the Lord shows him a piece of wood. This is dead wood.

It is not connected to a tree. It is of no use. But the Lord tells him to pick it up and throw it in the bitter water. He picks this up. He throws it in the bitter water. And the water becomes sweet. It becomes drinkable. And what a great picture here when the Lord, through Christ, would pick up you or I. Of no value, of no substance, of nothing to offer. And he would pick us up and he would throw us in the midst of a group of people maybe at work. Or maybe a family get together of lost relatives. Where their words are pikras and their actions are pikras. Bitter, pungent. We are called to be peacemakers.

Would it be that the Lord would use you to go out into the world that he would pick you up and he would throw you? And when the conversation turns to political or conversation turns to ungodliness, that the Lord could simply pick you up and allow you with godly wisdom, ungodliness, not a know-it-all spirit, with understanding of a skilled tradesman, with tact and discipline, with discernment. And the Lord would use you to make bitter water sweet. Can Jesus pick you up and throw you into your workplace? I'm afraid it's the opposite. I'm afraid people come into the church oftentimes and they see pikras. They see bitterness. They see infighting.

They see jealousy. They see petty arguments about the color of the carpet or the type of music. In fact, this is actually, sadly, closer to reality. When the lost world comes into the church, they see the same things that James is writing against. Selfish ambition, the word erythea, it means strife, contention, even an extreme selfishness. Have you seen extreme selfishness in the church? Let's just think about this. God forbid, yes, I saw it within me. These are arrogant motives. Christians can't have human wisdom that is motivated from sinful motivations. This is why we need to pray with David, that he would create within me a clean heart.

We need to pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, the motivations of my heart be acceptable to you. This is a fallen wisdom, Matthew 5, 19. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses and slander. Human wisdom is fallen because our hearts are fallen. We move on to number three, hell's wisdom. Let's read verse 15. Chapter three, this is not the wisdom that comes down from above. It is earthly, unspiritual and demonic. What is this demonic wisdom? You know, in Ephesians 2, verse 2 through 3, the church has three great enemies. The world, the flesh and the devil.

You're familiar with those we've been preaching through Ephesians. The world and the flesh and the devil. But look at the parallel between James in verse 15 when he's talking about demonic wisdom and these three enemies. He says that a divisive wisdom or wisdom that is selfish and self motivated is earthly. There's the world. He says it is natural. There's the flesh. He says it's demonic. There's the devil. The world, the flesh and the devil are three, an unholy triumvirate that are most likely to form a picross, bitter, pungent, odorous spirit in the church.

It is our earnest prayer that God would so work in your heart in life that you could invite someone from your workplace, a lost relative. You could invite them here knowing that they can go to every pew and talk to everyone and not find bitter envy, jealousy, infighting, complaining. Because this is not the wisdom that is heaven born. It's actually hell's wisdom. It is demonic wisdom. This is unspiritual, earthly, demonic. This is the horrendous consequence of unrestrained, unfulfilled jealousy and desire. You know, James will go on in chapter four and we would get to this Sunday. He calls his readers adulteress.

Just to give you a preview of the message Sunday morning, he uses the Greek feminine noun adulteresses. He's writing to people he presumably hasn't seen in months. Members of his church, they're spread throughout the world. He's pastor over them. Perhaps some are involved in leadership and they're leading their people astray. He's hearing reports of all of this bickering and this favoritism and this preferential treatment of the wealthy. And he writes to them and he calls them, dear friends, I miss you. No. I hope you're doing well. I hope your family and your children are well. Greetings from here in Jerusalem.

No, he calls them adulteresses. He's writing to a group of Hebrews who would have read Jeremiah, who uses this same term. He's writing to people who are familiar with Isaiah in 54, one through six. When God commands the prophet to tell the people they are playing the harlot. You realize this is just a warning for down the road. We've had pastors come here and say this is a loving fellowship. But if there becomes a time when we are showing preference and we are unloving and when there's bickering and infighting. Would it be that the Lord would call our wisdom demonic? And he would rebuke us and call us adulteresses.

Finally, we see a heavenly wisdom. I want us to see the seven attributes of wisdom in verses 17 and 18, and we will conclude and I will move through these quickly. But the wisdom from above is first pure. Then peaceable. It's gentle. Open to reason. It's full of mercy. Good fruit. It's impartial and sincere. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. The first of these seven attributes is purity. It's the word hagnos. It means moral blameless. It's just free of contamination or defilement. It's related to the word the word holy hagyas. This means we're going to have the wisdom that God gives from heaven.

People will come to our church and they will say that's holy wisdom. That is holy purity. And I believe that the intersection of wisdom and holiness is out of great reverence for God first. But I also believe it is a self sacrificing love where we really do put the needs of others above ourselves, even at great cost. And I would will say in body life, there is a time it's even expected, I think, where you're wrestling in a relationship in the church and you see that you don't have this holy purity. You don't have this hagyas or hagnos, a holy purity that comes from God in relationships. Perhaps you're struggling in your loving.

Didn't James say, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask. Lord, I need wisdom. I'm in this small group and there's just one person in my small group and I'm teaching these kids. And there's one kid that doesn't come from the best home life. This last VBS, me and brother Chris were reminiscing of some of the most challenging children we've had in VBS. Those children that we would go and bus in from various parts of the town where we were serving. Many of them were coming from lower income housing. Many of them were coming from homes where there was drug use and where there was all kinds of immorality.

And we'd sit down and try to teach them a song or a VBS lesson and they would run laps, run full speed. And they would climb over the pews. And I can promise you that I did not have haggis, holy spirit given love in wisdom at all times working with that population. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask. After purity, we see peaceableness. This is a gentleness. This is a tenderness. This is a graciousness. You don't have this in your flesh. You don't do this. You produce Mara, bitter water. When the Lord saves you, you will be surprised at how brackish the water is that flows from your heart.

You see water flowing from the spirit, but you still have the flesh. If any of you lacks wisdom, I pray if any of these grab you that you would just write it down and take it in the prayer closet. Purity, peaceableness, gentleness, reasonableness. You know, love does not insist on its own way in the local church. You can be confidently wrong. But there are also times when you can be right. Wouldn't it be appropriate at certain times just to give up for the sake of peace? I'll never forget when I heard John MacArthur say, "Just take it." The kids say, "Take the L. Take the loss." Right?

Except that your position on this minor issue doesn't have to win. Can you be reasoned with? This wisdom is merciful. It's merciful. It's fruitful. It is without hypocrisy. In conclusion, I want us to go back to James chapter 1 verse 5 through 6. If any of you lacks wisdom, that's the need for wisdom, let him ask God. That's the source of wisdom. He gives generously to all. That's the solution of wisdom to all without finding reproach. Verse 6, "But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave on the sea, is driven and tossed by the wind." That is the sin blocking wisdom.

Wisdom must be manifested in a life at a local church. And when it is manifested, it will meet these attributes. I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to grant you wisdom, patience. The closer we get to each other, the more we need wisdom. If you're just coming on a Sunday morning, a fool is thought wise with his lack of words and his lack of church attendance. It's easy to sound very spiritual just by showing up on a Sunday morning, maybe Wednesday night. But the closer we get in relation to each other, the more our rough edges offend people, the more our rough edges brush up against others.

The closer you serve, what if the Lord would call you to serve as a co-teacher in a small group and there would be some personality clash between you and your co-teacher? What would you do if this just really graded you in a certain kind of way? It could be sin, but it could be this other person's weakness. Maybe the person just forgets to call you and let you know that they're going out of town on vacation. Maybe this is just a personality weakness. It's not a sin or not a personality flaw. We all have them. Well, first of all, if we're humble, we realize you're that guy too. To somebody, you're that guy.

Ladies, you are the person that can grate others. And so if we have humility and neatness, then our approach will be spot on where it needs to be. Scripture doesn't mandate that you are wise. It's like Paul. I have learned the secret of being content. How did he learn how to be content? God put him in prison without adequate clothing, without adequate food, without the Scriptures. And all he had was Christ. And in the local church, the Lord will craft a situation that is exactly what you need to show you your lack of wisdom. See, God knows that you lack wisdom. It's not the question if you lack it. This was not a church filled with Solomons.

This was a church, multiple churches, because they went throughout the known world. Do you know this actually? I think the letter worked because this was a time of rapid growth in the church. You know, when Stephen was stoned, they scattered. And then later on, there was another scattering. And when this happened, this caused Christianity to spread in the local community. These local towns picked up two or three Christians, a couple of families of Christians. They had problems and difficulties, but the church worked. The church spread like wildfire. Would it be that the Lord would use our local church to show you where you need wisdom?

And it just happens organically. It starts with humility, being able to go to someone and say, "Listen, I was wrong here. Please forgive me." You know, in Christian fellowship, we're going to say, "Hey, man, it's no big deal." But the really big issue is when you lack wisdom. It's not when you make mistakes. May the Lord add an abundance to the wisdom here at Grace Life, brocadin.