Heavenly and Earthly Wisdom
To gain God's wisdom, we must
walk by the Spirit and not in the flesh.
Here's Gene:
In terms of wisdom, whether it's
heavenly or whether it's earthly,
really that's a very foundational concept
in understanding the book of James.
In fact, it relates to almost every issue
that we've looked at and we're going to
look at before we finish this book.
Now I've already referenced
this section of the letter when we
looked at why God was not listening
to them and answering their prayers.
Because he says: If you lack wisdom,
ask of God who gives to all.
But they're not receiving it
because they're double minded.
And the double mindedness
relates to the fact that they were
controlled by worldly wisdom.
And God says: As long as
you're controlled by worldly wisdom,
I'm not going to give you my wisdom.
And so here, we'll see this again as it develops.
James defines earthly wisdom in verse 14.
There are four concepts here:
Bitter envy. Selfish ambition.
Boasting. And denying the truth.
Now if you take those four statements
and break it out into all kinds of behaviors,
that just basically says it all
in terms of the world--worldly wisdom.
The wisdom of this world.
And he goes on to say that this kind of
wisdom is earthly, it's unspiritual.
It's actually demonic in many respects.
It's not from God. It's from evil--
from Satan himself.
And it will lead to disorder
and every evil practice.
Now James contrasts that
with wisdom from above.
And here are several different descriptive words.
Wisdom from above is: Pure.
It's peace loving.
It's gentle. It's compliant.
It's full of mercy.
Good fruits.
Unwavering.
And without pretense.
And James goes on to say that all of this
creates the fruit of righteousness.
So you have this incredible contrast
between wisdom from above
and wisdom from this earth.
Now you don't have to think very deeply
to see that Christlike living relates to
wisdom from above.
And living in a way that is
out of the will of God
and sinning against God is related to
the wisdom from this earth. From this world.
And that's what James is trying to
help us to really understand.
So with that in mind, let me just
repeat this Principle:
To gain God's wisdom, we must
walk by the Spirit and not in the flesh.
And these people that James was
addressing were walking in the flesh.
And therefore, they weren't receiving
God's wisdom because of their motivation.
And you're going to see later
that James addresses their motivation.
It was inappropriate.
So with that in mind, I want to
take you further and expand on this
with the Reflection and Response question:
How does this section in James's letter
compare with Paul's description
of the works of the flesh
and the fruit of the Spirit in his
letter to the Galatians?
Well look at what Paul describes
as the works of the flesh.
And he expands because the works
of the flesh relate to earthly wisdom.
The wisdom that is even demonic.
So look what he says and correlate this
with what James says:
Sexual immorality.
Moral impurity.
Promiscuity.
Idolatry.
Sorcery.
Hatreds.
Strife.
Jealousy.
And he goes on:
Outbursts of anger.
Selfish ambitions.
Dissensions.
Factions.
Envy.
Drunkenness.
Carousing.
Paul covers the waterfront.
Now you could take what James says
very succinctly and you could expand it.
And that's what Paul does.
He expands all of the things
that grow out of earthly wisdom.
From those simple things
that don't seem so bad
to those things that are evil,
and horrible, and demonic.
So you see the correlation.
The works of the flesh relate to
the wisdom of this world.
But Paul gives us the fruit of the Spirit.
And this relates to what?
Wisdom from above:
Love.
And joy.
Peace.
Patience.
Kindness.
Goodness.
Faithfulness.
Gentleness.
And self-control.
James actually, I think used seven statements
or descriptions but here Paul uses about eight.
But they're talking about the same thing.
This is wisdom from above.
This is godly wisdom.
And this of course, is what
James wants us to have.
This is what God wants us to have.
And one of the things is that
I'd just like to conclude with is that:
The more we study Scripture,
the more we'll see how all the
authors of Scripture communicated
the same truth.
They may have used different words,
but they communicated the same truth.
And it all comes together
as God's revealed will to us.
And to me, that makes this passage,
2nd Timothy 3:16, really more meaningful
as Paul wrote this to Timothy
when he was about ready
to go home to heaven--
from a Roman prison. He said Timothy:
All Scripture is inspired by God
and is profitable for teaching,
for rebuking, for correcting,
for training in righteousness.
And that of course is God's wisdom--
wisdom from above.