Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: James 3:13-18 | Date: December 5, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Thematic Peak of James: Wisdom

Three, we’ve been slowly, slowly—because of so many interruptions—we’ve been slowly working our way through this epistle, and we have seen that James’ emphasis is that our faith must be evident by our works. We will see more of that this evening. James 3, verses 13 to 18, in a sense, is the thematic peak of James’ letter. And he deals with it here in terms of wisdom.

James 3, beginning with verse 13: “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 from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we have been so frequently reminded coming from the Apostle James that your intention for us is to transform us into the likeness of Christ. And we’ve been reminded of how many ways in which we fall short of that. We pray that this evening you will use this portion of your word to adjust and correct our lives that we may display the wisdom that is from above that we profess to have in Jesus Christ. We pray in his name. Amen.

I may have mentioned it way back in the beginning when we first looked at the book of James, at this letter, but many have observed that James’ epistle has the ring of Old Testament wisdom literature. You remember the Old Testament wisdom literature is very life-oriented. It has to do with how we behave, how we react and act in certain circumstances. We have that in Proverbs, most famously, in the wisdom literature there. Other books of the Old Testament have wisdom literature. Job is considered wisdom literature. Many of the Psalms are considered wisdom literature. Ecclesiastes and even some consider Song of Solomon wisdom as well.

But here, James—if it seems like in his letter overall he’s been shaped by the Old Testament wisdom literature—here in chapter 3, verses 13 and following, he seems to make that explicit. Our faith must show itself by its works, and that is what he describes here in terms of wisdom. In the Old Testament idea of wisdom, the word is translated in other contexts in the Old Testament as “skill.” For example, when they had the men building the tabernacle, they were skilled, and they had skill in metalworking and things like that. It’s the same word, wisdom, here. The idea is not so much knowledge, but the use of that knowledge.

And wisdom literature pictures us as living under God, in a world that is ordered by God, and having then the wisdom to sort through life according to what God has intended for us in order to live successfully before him. You have on the other hand the fool who has no clue or no care of what God has said as to how to live successfully before God. He doesn’t care about that. But the wise man is one that does what is right. And it’s in doing right; it’s wisdom. It’s wise to do what is right because in the end it works out better for you. And so we have this wisdom literature that is given to us in the Old Testament to shape the way we live.

Job teaches us how to suffer with trust. Some of the Psalms are considered wisdom Psalms; they’re full of instruction on how to live, exhorting us how to live and how to trust God and behave. Proverbs, of course, is par excellence the Old Testament book of wisdom, and it gives us exhortations regarding a whole host of particulars in how to live successfully before God. Ecclesiastes gives us a worldview: how to live rightly under God, recognizing that this world under the sun is vanity, it’s empty, apart from living under God.

The Bible pictures, as I say, the world as ordered by God, and our sinfulness has blurred our perception of that order, and in fact it even makes us rebellious against it. And so part of God’s transforming work in us is to give us this wisdom to see how to live rightly before him. And so the various portions of the Old Testament called wisdom literature are filled with that.

But it’s not just the Old Testament. We come to the New Testament. We have many, many passages from Jesus himself, and then, unusually, the back half of the epistles giving us instruction on how to live and how to behave. And we’re reminded by all of that that the gospel comes to us not only promising acceptance in Jesus Christ but also promising to transform us and to make us what he has called us to be. And so that instruction is given to us throughout for that purpose: to transform us into God’s image and to help us in these terms now to live wisely. James’ entire letter is given to that and here he names it as wisdom. So wisdom then in a biblical sense is very behavior-oriented, and James does seem to be very heavily influenced by the Old Testament wisdom literature. Many of the topics that James picks up that we have seen already are topics that are familiar to, for instance, Proverbs: the use of the tongue, temptation, trials, getting along with people who are difficult. Those are familiar topics in the Proverbs and James picks those up here.

The Marks Of Wisdom

Wisdom then is very behavior-oriented. Now James’ particular theme here is the marks of wisdom. How can we identify that you are a wise person? How can we demonstrate that we are wise people? And he answers the question. He asks first this rhetorical question in verse 13: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Then he answers it: “By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”

Now that’s his overall theme in the letter, but here he comes to make the point. We saw in the previous passage, earlier in chapter 2, verses 14 to 26, where we have the heart of James’ argument, where he argues that a faith that does not have works is useless. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but the faith by which we are saved is not alone. It works. And Paul would preach that as well as James, and James presses it, having to deal with this matter evidently with the congregation that he had.

So as I say, he begins with this rhetorical question in verse 13: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” So look around the congregation, he says, who among you is wise? Who are the wise ones? And it’s not necessarily the one with the most opinions. It’s not necessarily the person who is wanting to tell everyone else how to live. It’s not necessarily the teacher or the preacher. Who is wise among you? He answers: it’s the one who by his good conduct can show his works in the meekness of wisdom. So true wisdom is evident and demonstrated in our behavior, and in our behavior we show the marks of wisdom or the lack of wisdom that we have.

Now the emphasis in particular in verse 13 is meekness. “Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” Or I think we could translate this—I think the sense of it is—meekness that is produced by wisdom. So if you’re wise, you will be meek and the works of meekness will be evident in your life. I think that’s the sense of this.

Now meekness, what is that? Meekness is not weakness. It’s not necessarily the person who is willing to be everyone’s doormat. It’s not that. I’ve often liked to define meekness as power under control. And that’s kind of the sense that you have when you use it. For instance, you’ve heard the expression of a meek horse. Strong beast, but under control. Moses was a meek man, the meekest in all the earth. A strong, powerful man, but under control. So meekness, I think, is power under control.

But it’s more than that. Meekness is not humility, but it is humility in action. It is the outward demonstration of humility. If humility is an attitude, a disposition, meekness is that disposition on display in interaction with other people. So, again, a meek person is not necessarily one who’s willing to be everyone’s doormat, but he is one who is able to endure patiently the offenses of other people. A meek person is the one who doesn’t have to offer his opinion every time. A meek person is one who is able to hold his tongue when he’s rubbed the wrong way. A meek person is one who would rather be corrected than to continue in wrong. Often, if we’re corrected, our instinct is to dig in our heels and jump for self-defense, if not lash back out. A meek person would rather be corrected than to continue in wrong. Meekness is humility in action.

Now, wisdom is evident then in—we could say it this way—a controlled spirit. Self-control is what we’re after here. The meekness of wisdom. If you are wise, that wisdom will produce meekness. It will produce a control of self. You’re not given to lashing out. You’re not given to outbursts, revenge. You’re not given to self-vindication. Not having to lash out or to lash back. Not having to correct every wrong that you hear or see. But meek. Able to hold it in. Not having to express your opinion every time. Meekness.

Now, having said that much, I always feel like I need to balance it back again. That is not to say that some controversies aren’t necessary. Some controversies are necessary. Pastor Boyd talked about some of that this morning in the context of the church at Ephesus. There are some controversies that need to happen. And there’s been some controversies in the history of the church and controversies in the history of local churches that needed to happen. Clearly, that’s not what James is talking about, so we can just set that aside now, okay? He’s talking about in the general course of personal interaction, we should be marked by meekness. So when we’re confronted and we’re challenged, we’re approachable. We’re teachable. We’re able to receive correction and able to receive exhortation. We’re restrained and we hold our tongue. Meekness, humility in action, or self-control.

Now, we don’t know much about James’ congregation that he’s writing to. He addresses it to the Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion. It’s evidently a Jewish-believing church. But specifics, we don’t know a lot about it, except that throughout the letter, he keeps coming back to this idea of personal relationships in the church. He talks about your warring against one another, you’re slandering one another, the fighting and the backbiting with one another. So evidently there’s some of that going on in James’ congregation and he has to address it.

So it doesn’t look like the ideal church. I was bragging to someone the other day about RBC. I love RBC. We don’t have these problems very often at all. It’s just an easy place to be and the relationships are nice. But here’s this passage, and James didn’t have that kind of church, and I’ll say it like I’ve said before going through these passages: I don’t, on the one hand, want you to think I’m gunning for somebody here in the congregation. I don’t want you to think I’m gunning at a problem. If we had a problem, we would deal with that. But neither do I want you to think we don’t need this exhortation. There’s not a church in the world that doesn’t need this. And so James is very applicable to us.

Now, James is never content merely to point out the generalization: “be meek, show your wisdom by your works of meekness.” Rather, what he wants to do now, having stated his theme, he wants to give us the particulars and some pointed application of all of that. And so in verses 14 to 18 here, he contrasts for us wisdom that is from above and wisdom that’s from below. True wisdom and false wisdom.

Marks Of Wisdom From Below

In verses 14 to 16 we have the marks of wisdom from below. What does a wisdom from below look like?

So verse 14: “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 is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

All right, verse 14: if we harbor bitter envy or harsh zeal and selfish ambition, he says, you’re living a lie. So if it’s a person’s harsh zeal, bitter envy, harsh zeal—you know the kind. There are some people who have just never held an opinion quietly. And every opinion is as important as the whole world? I think that’s what he’s getting at here. Harsh zeal. They’re zealous about everything. Equally zealous. Enormously zealous. Over everything. And everything’s that important. And if you have said something contrary to that opinion, well, you need to be corrected. And you need to be corrected now and soundly. That’s the kind of guy he’s talking about here in verse 14.

So it’s antagonism against those who disagree with you. A party spirit. A partisanship. “I don’t know why in the world you voted for that guy in the primaries, and I need to talk to you.” That kind of spirit. When your opinions are challenged, you just can’t bear it. You’ve got to justify, you’ve got to vindicate yourself. That’s not meekness; that is not the wisdom from above. And James says if that is true of you, then your presumed or professed wisdom, he says, is a lie. You’re false to the truth.

In fact, notice how he describes the origin and the true character of this wisdom from below, or this kind of behavior. Verse 15: “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above.” But what is it? It’s earthly, unspiritual, demonic. You get the sense that he’s against it? I think the NIV here translates it, “such wisdom,” wisdom in quotes, and I think that captures the idea here. Such so-called wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. It’s not from heaven. Well, where is it from then? It’s from the earth. That is, it’s of this world. It’s unspiritual. It’s from the flesh, the old sinful man that we were before Christ. And it’s from the devil. It’s demonic. So our three great enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil—here they are. That’s the source of that kind of behavior. That kind of behavior has all the earmarks of what is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

You can’t miss the point then from it that this party spirit, this harsh zeal, this lack of meekness and having to vindicate yourself and express all of your opinions and correct everyone, that is not the mark of a meek or a wise person. And notice the results of that kind of behavior, verse 16: “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

You ever noticed where that kind of a spirit dominates, there are all kinds of problems everywhere? Maybe you’ve never been in a church like that, and if not, you’ve been blessed. Maybe you’ve never been in an organization like that, and if not, you’ve been blessed. But where that kind of a spirit—where you’re having to be vindicated, having to champion every opinion you hold with this harsh zeal that he’s talking about—it tends to breed more problems, and they just multiply, and they grow, and the whole place is just a terrible place to be. That’s what he’s saying here. You have this kind of so-called wisdom, you’ll have all kinds of issues and all kinds of problems. You’ll have chaos, you’ll have anarchy. Rather than producing harmony in the congregation, it’ll produce just more and more and more trouble. It will just multiply. And so James is against it.

I say it that way because I got it going in the back of my mind one Sunday when President Truman was in office. The story is he went to church Sunday morning and his wife did not go with him. He got home from church and she said to him, “How was church?” “It was good.” “What did the preacher preach about?” “He preached about sin.” “Well, what did he say about it?” “He was against it.” This is James here. He’s against it. And what he’s saying here is that it’s so serious that this kind of behavior is a denial, a practical denial of the gospel. It’s a renunciation of our faith that we profess. We profess that we have been changed and transformed by Christ, and here we behave like this with one another? It’s a denial of the faith we profess. And that’s why he treats it so seriously.

Wisdom From Above

Well, that’s the wisdom from below. Now we have the wisdom from above, and that’s verse 17, and it’s quite different.

“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

All right, first, let’s go through all of these. First of all, pure. Pure, that is, it’s marked by integrity, it’s marked by godliness. And “first,” that is, this is the leading characteristic of wisdom. First of all, it’s pure. And this is the broad term. It’s sort of a broad catch-all. Wisdom is marked by purity, godliness, integrity, and things that are good.

But then he moves on to give us more particulars. That’s the broad catch-all. But now in these next seven words, we have the qualities that follow—specific dimensions of this purity.

It’s peaceable. “Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable.” It seems to be a point that James stresses a lot through this letter. We’ll find it again later in the letter. We’ve seen it before. Paul talks about this. In fact, James seems to share with Paul that great concern for peace in the congregation. That there be an experienced sense of love and peace among the people of the church. If at all possible, do as much as lies within you to live peaceably with all men, Paul says. And James is picking up that here. And this is the first mark of a wise man. He’s easy to get along with. He’s not always picking a fight. He’s approachable. You don’t have to worry he’s going to lash out. He’s peaceable.

Next, “Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle.” That is, I think the NIV translated “considerate,” not harsh, kind to those who differ, treating them kindly and gently. This person is not always critical and censorious of people who disagree with him. He’s concerned for the welfare of others. He’s peaceable and he’s gentle.

This next one is so important as well: “open to reason.” The NIV translates this “submissive.” I get what they’re getting at there. I think our translation here does us better: open to reason. The idea is they’re compliant, they’re obedient. But the idea here is when you’re challenged, when you’re confronted, you’re able to listen. You’re approachable. Open to reason. You’re open to be taught. It doesn’t mean you’re weak and gullible. It doesn’t mean you’re naive. It doesn’t mean you’re willing to compromise on the truth. But it means that you’re willing to be taught. You’d rather be corrected than continue in wrong. Easily persuaded. I think that King James translates it “easy to be entreated” or something like that. I think that’s the sense here. Some people are so concerned for what they perceive to be the truth that they’re willing to fight at the drop of a hat over any small point. And that’s, I think, what James is aiming at here.

Next, and this begins now to have some overlap: “full of mercy and good fruits.” Well, James has already illustrated for us the kind of actions that he has in mind here, mercy and good fruits. Back in chapter two, he talked about the one who is willing to give when a person is in need. He doesn’t just say “good luck,” but he actually gives him help. And doesn’t just say, “I’ll be praying for you.” He actually helps. He does things himself that he’s able to do. So he’s concerned for the welfare of others. Full of mercy and good fruits. And it says here, “full of mercy and good fruits.” Full of mercy and good fruits. This characterizes him throughout. This is the characteristic of his life. He’s known as one who is concerned for others and looking out for their well-being. He doesn’t have pretense. He’s actually concerned. He’s full of mercy and good fruits.

And then he’s impartial and sincere. Impartial and sincere. That is, he’s stable. He’s trustworthy. He’s consistently guided by principle. And he doesn’t have a pretentious way about him. But what he appears to be, he actually is. And that’s shown in all of these ways.

So in contrast now to verse 16, notice verse 18. In verse 16, what were the effects of the wisdom from below? Well, if you have the wisdom from below, you’ve got anarchy and confusion and chaos and all kinds of problems in the community. But now look at verse 18: the effects of heavenly wisdom. Verse 17: “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” That is, in contrast to the confusion and the chaos and the disorder and the anarchy, and the fighting and the squabbling of the wisdom from below. Now instead what we have is a harvest of good things: peace, righteousness. We actually enjoy being part of these people. In contrast to the confusion and the disorder of devilish wisdom, heavenly wisdom produces a certain kind of wellness in the congregation that is actually attractive and wholesome.

Now James, as I’ve mentioned already, shares with Paul his concern for the peace and the practical, functional unity of the congregation. Paul mentions that often in his letters—not at the length that James does, but he does mention it often. And so on the one hand, James says here, we have this wisdom from below. People who are worldly wise, wisdom of the world, they’re stubborn, they’re contentious, they’re self-centered, they’re argumentative, they’re fighting, and that’s the way they’re characterized. And on the other hand, you have this wisdom from above, and they have this skill of living successfully under God. And when they do, well, you can see it because it’s sincere, it’s peace-loving, it produces righteousness and a wonderful environment in the community.

I’ll say it again: I’m grateful for RBC. I am thankful that I can go through a passage like this and take it up without having to be concerned of who’s offended and what am I going to have to deal with next. But I also want to say it again, that there’s not a church in the world that doesn’t need this. Our hearts are such that we’re given to selfish pride, and we’re all too prone to vindicating ourselves and championing our own little causes. And we need passages like this to remind us what a wise life looks like.

We’re big on doctrine in this church—what the Bible teaches. And that’s a good thing. It’s an important thing. As the book of James, as well as so many places throughout the New Testament, we’re reminded that one big thing that the Bible teaches is that Christ not only saves a man from hell, he saves him from sin. He transforms him from the inside out and makes him a different person. And we who profess to be Christ’s people ought to, as James is leading us to do here, have lives that reflect the life of Jesus himself, who modeled meekness. He who was rich, for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be rich. He who was in the form of God didn’t think that to be something to be grasped and held onto at all costs, but humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Let that mind be in you, Paul says. And here’s the wisdom James says that ought to mark every one of us. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our father, we need exhortation like this. We need these reminders. We do feel that you have transformed our hearts; our desires, our goals, our ambitions are different from what they used to be. But the flesh remains. We need constantly to put off the old man and put on the new and to be what we are in Christ. We need these reminders and we thank you for your word that gives it. I pray that you will enable us by your spirit to live to your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.