The Epistle of James - Godly Values
Part 24 - The wisdom that comes from heaven
James 3v17
12th October 2018
Real wisdom, godly wisdom, heavenly wisdom is wonderful but rare:
James 3v17
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate,
submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
"Pure" here means innocent, morally clean, morally good. And of course the wisdom that comes from heaven is innocent, because God is innocent. Of course it's pure, because God is pure. God doesn't have mixed motives. God isn't envious, and He isn't full of ambition. He's just full of love and self-giving, grace and patience and sacrifice. The love that comes from heaven is without moral taint.
And the wisdom that comes from heaven is peace-loving. Jesus is the prince of peace. God loves you more than you realise, and He wants you to be at peace. And He wants your brother and your sister to be at peace. So the wisdom that comes from heaven is always seeking the peace of our brother and sister. It's never wanting to unsettle anybody or upset anybody or shake up anybody; it's always looking to bring peace to others.
We're not all good at that all of the time, but we can improve. When you get into a conversation with another person, the wisdom from above says "I want this person to leave this room more peaceful than when he came in". The wisdom that wants to upset him, distress him, hurt him, is unspiritual, earthly, of the devil (verse 15). So is the wisdom that ignores his needs while focussing on my own. But the wisdom from above seeks your brother's well-being.
And the wisdom that comes from heaven is considerate. I can get a bit project-orientated sometimes, trying to get something done. Sometimes someone will come into my office when I'm typing. And sometimes I say, rather insensitively, "Come back in a minute!" But perhaps that person needs pastoral care, perhaps he's going through some sort of crisis. To be considerate is to put the possibility that he has an immediate or serious need above my desire to finish my project. And the wisdom that comes from above is always considerate. It's always thinking about what's the other person needs.
The wisdom that comes from above is submissive. In our culture "submissive" is not the most popular word. We much prefer "assertive" to "submissive". I remember, about twenty years ago, assertiveness courses were very fashionable for a while, and some of my friends in church went on them. I asked my friends, "How about going on a submissiveness course?" and no-one was interested! There is a place for knowing you have the right to say what you think, but the wisdom that comes from above is submissive. Even Jesus submitted, even to His accusers.
The wisdom that comes from above is more wanting to listen more than I want to speak, wanting to learn more than I want to teach. Wisdom that's Unspiritual, earthly, of the devil says "Do it my way!" but the wisdom that comes from above says "Why don't we do it your way?" Sometimes we can't do that, because we're convinced that the other person's way would be really harmful, but we should always try to listen to the other person and see the value of what they're saying.
And if we really can't go along with what another person is saying, we can look for a way to at least not be aggressive while disagreeing. There's a way of saying "I respect what you think and why you think it, even though I can't go along with all of it".
Wisdom that comes from heaven is full of mercy - ready to forgive, and ready to help those who need it. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I read a Scripture in Luke 6 that teaches us to give to the ungrateful and wicked because God does. So I found an ungrateful and wicked person and gave him some money. It was really hard to do. But the wisdom that comes from above is merciful, and mercy is surely giving people more than they deserve. Certainly God has given me more than I deserve - infinitely more.
To be like our Father in Heaven is to give to people who we think aren't the most deserving of cases, to be peace-loving and full of mercy with everybody, all the time.
The wisdom that comes from above is full of good fruit. Some people think that means the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5v22-23). That's OK, but I think James simply means that godly wisdom will bear good fruit. If a church or an individual lives in the wisdom of God and not in worldly wisdom, then that church or individual will have an impact for the kingdom of God. People will come to faith, people will be healed, people will be encouraged, people will be strengthened, because you're part of their lives.
The wisdom from below bruises people. The wisdom from above heals people. The wisdom from below alienates people. The wisdom from above draws people in. The wisdom from below accepts a little bit of sin here and there, cuts a few corners. The wisdom from above knows that the purity of the kingdom of God reaches the lost.
The wisdom that comes from heaven is impartial. For example, some people will say, "Loyalty to my family comes first" but, for a Christian, loyalty to truth and justice must come first. Integrity must come first. Some people will sin against you, and justify it by saying "I'm being loyal to my family". That is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. It's not OK for me to hurt and cheat you because I'm loyal to my family or to anything else. It's wicked. But I've heard it expressed quite openly as if it's the right way to go. No. Living in truth and holiness comes first.
Loyalty to my church, or to the faction within my church, is just wrong. Factionalism is unacceptable in the kingdom of God. We must be impartial. We can't love one group of Christians more than another. We can't say loyalty to our friends and brothers comes first. Integrity and love come first. The idea that "I'll defend this person against that person because he's my friend and the other isn't" is immoral. The wisdom that comes from above is impartial.
The word "impartial" can also mean "straightforward". There's no deception in the wisdom that comes from above. There's no turning in it. There's no manipulation in it. It is what it is. As Jesus says, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' 'no'" (Matthew 5v37, quoted in James 5v12).
The wisdom that comes from heaven is sincere. The truly wise man will never say one thing while meaning another. He'll never say something for effect. He'll say it because he means it, because he believes it to be true. He'll never give a reason for something unless it's the real reason.
For an example of earthly, unspiritual, devilish wisdom, you could watch "Prime Minister's Questions" sometime. Many politicians promise to do things they have no intention of doing. They insult one another, they even make rude signs at one another across the House of Commons. They tell lies about each another and about themselves. We must never behave like this. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Don't manipulate. Don't show favouritism. Just love the way Christ loved.
Let's get back into the habit of asking ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" What would Jesus say? How would Jesus deal with this situation? How would Jesus deal with this problem? If I have difficulty with a person, how would Jesus seek to heal the problem? What does Jesus think of that person? That's the wisdom from above.