back to index01.26.20 True Wisdom
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Let's take a moment to turn our Bibles to the book of James chapter 3. 00:00:18.040 |
I'll read for us the passage and we'll pray to begin. 00:00:26.520 |
The scripture says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? 00:00:31.360 |
Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 00:00:35.600 |
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant 00:00:43.040 |
This wisdom is not that which comes from above, but it's earthly, natural, demonic. 00:00:48.800 |
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder of every evil thing. 00:00:55.480 |
But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, 00:01:00.040 |
full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 00:01:04.560 |
And the seed of whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." 00:01:11.800 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace. 00:01:15.360 |
God, we are so incredibly grateful that as Ryan said, we have been given the privilege 00:01:22.560 |
to know Christ, who is the answer to all, who is salvation. 00:01:28.640 |
And we are praying, Father God, that all the more as we live our lives, then we would grow 00:01:33.060 |
And what's more, as you continue to instruct us, as you continue to guide us, I pray that 00:01:38.480 |
we will then grow in true biblical gospel wisdom. 00:01:42.280 |
That God, we would be maturing children, giving honor to you. 00:01:46.680 |
We also want to pray for our collegians who are at the retreat studying and learning. 00:01:51.920 |
We pray for fruitful times of both fellowship in Christ, of learning and growing. 00:02:00.880 |
I want to ask you by way of introduction, when you were in school, let's say high school, 00:02:09.080 |
Junior high, high school, college years, what kind of student were you? 00:02:14.400 |
One that says, "I'm going to cram as much as I can and get this test done." 00:02:19.880 |
And so by the time there's this kind of ebb and flow of you play, play, play, play, play, 00:02:24.160 |
and then you cram, cram, cram, and you take your exam. 00:02:27.040 |
Or were you the kind of student who really felt like, "You know, I actually want to learn 00:02:31.240 |
and retain this stuff because at some point I have to use it." 00:02:35.120 |
And so you tried to study, you tried to actually apply, and you tried to make sure that when 00:02:39.680 |
you come to just exam time, it wasn't just performance of test taking. 00:02:47.960 |
For a lot of people, I'm just assuming, it's just hard to be that kind of student, right? 00:02:52.960 |
It's just the general tendency is to be the crammer, is to be the procrastinator who says, 00:03:00.200 |
And what we realize is that in education, examinations are actually very important because 00:03:07.120 |
it forces us to make sure, "Okay, am I actually learning?" 00:03:11.440 |
Exams are designed to test and see what do you know? 00:03:16.080 |
And then what's really interesting is there are different kinds of exams that is not so 00:03:19.240 |
much intellectual or how well you retain information, but there are certain exams, let's say performance 00:03:25.920 |
reviews, or even let's say in certain professions where the exam is not so much what do you 00:03:34.720 |
Let's say for a test for firefighters, a test for certain officers, military personnel, 00:03:43.880 |
And what I'm saying is these kinds of examinations periodically are absolutely necessary because 00:03:49.240 |
it's important for us to know, is there an actual skill? 00:03:59.680 |
Now then applied to our Christian faith, what's very interesting is that this passage when 00:04:10.600 |
The book of James is actually filled with tests. 00:04:13.800 |
The book of James can be actually organized into five different series of exams. 00:04:18.280 |
Some of these exams are can you handle trials? 00:04:22.600 |
Through trials, what is exposed, what is contained in you? 00:04:27.360 |
There's a test of how do you respond to the word of God? 00:04:35.160 |
There's a test of your tongue, this powerful tool that I've given you, this powerful thing 00:04:39.880 |
that you're supposed to use for the praise of God. 00:04:42.280 |
How do you use this massive power called your tongue? 00:04:53.960 |
And there is this call out because literally he says, "Who among you are wise?" 00:04:57.280 |
It's almost like, "Hey, stand up if you think you can do this." 00:05:04.840 |
The passage literally straight up says, "Show me your good behavior. 00:05:10.960 |
And that's why as I was reading this passage, I was so convicted, felt a little uneasy, 00:05:15.560 |
almost felt like, "Oh goodness, I'm about to take this exam." 00:05:19.640 |
And I'm going to go through some scrutiny and what James is going to do, the scripture 00:05:24.280 |
is going to do, is really show us are we growing and maturing as good students of the Lord, 00:05:33.240 |
And so the way that I'm going to structure this sermon is to say, of course God wants 00:05:39.040 |
Of course God wants us to live with maturity. 00:05:46.580 |
And so we're going to describe it as examination questions. 00:05:54.480 |
First, true wisdom leads to skillful demonstration. 00:06:02.500 |
And my exam question to you is, do you know what you're going to get examed on? 00:06:07.280 |
Do you know what you're going to get tested on? 00:06:09.640 |
Some students show up to the test like, "Oh shoot, I didn't know this was on the quiz." 00:06:19.960 |
Most often when we think of wise, we think of, let's say, an old individual who has a 00:06:25.320 |
gray beard, the wisdom is shown in the glory of his white hair, and he's teaching, lecturing, 00:06:31.680 |
and the pupils are around him, and what he's doing is giving audible wisdom. 00:06:37.440 |
Let me drop some knowledge on you guys in my days, and then he starts telling everybody 00:06:41.940 |
his experience and the stuff he's learned in the past. 00:06:45.900 |
But the kind of wisdom that God desires for us is far above and beyond that, is it not? 00:06:51.560 |
The kind of wisdom that God desires for us is not something that you can just do audibly. 00:07:05.600 |
"Then let him show it by his good behavior in the deeds and the gentleness of wisdom." 00:07:12.040 |
The manner of your deeds, the quality of your life, and the general behavior in your daily 00:07:17.280 |
routine, daily decisions, is it demonstrating wisdom? 00:07:23.920 |
In the way that you make decisions, in the things that you do day to day, is it demonstrating 00:07:28.720 |
This is the overarching concept that the scripture teaches us. 00:07:31.640 |
God wants us to have a certain kind of wisdom and maturity, Christian growth, that is absolutely 00:07:43.840 |
The scripture says, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in 00:07:48.200 |
which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they what? 00:07:54.600 |
Observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." 00:07:59.040 |
Not because you're like, "No, no, no, no, no, I'm not bad. 00:08:02.800 |
You're never going to win an argument like that. 00:08:10.000 |
They can see your works, they can see your deeds, then they'll glorify God. 00:08:14.320 |
Even more so, James, earlier in the book, in chapter 2, verse 18 through 20, he said, 00:08:19.520 |
"But someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works. 00:08:31.760 |
But you do well, "The demons also believe and shudder. 00:08:36.080 |
But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow," contrary to wisdom, the foolish fellow 00:08:43.660 |
But he says, "No, faith without works is useless." 00:08:48.440 |
Now that all makes sense to me, and the way I want to describe it to you is I want you 00:08:51.640 |
to think about maybe just metaphorically the Christian life as a master craftsman, or the 00:08:56.640 |
trade of being a craftsman, maybe a woodworker, right? 00:09:06.040 |
When they pick up a piece of lumber, they'll be like, "Oh, this is actually softwood, not 00:09:15.280 |
You need cedar, because this and this and this and this. 00:09:19.480 |
A knowledge base will be with a master craftsman who is wise. 00:09:24.980 |
For you as a Christian, I will have to ask you this. 00:09:28.200 |
If you have been sitting in church, you've been going to church, and you've been living 00:09:31.380 |
your Christian life, there then must be a growing knowledge base. 00:09:44.040 |
You should be able to tag, label, and identify the stuff that is necessary, essentially is 00:09:54.320 |
Because the master craftsman, he's sitting there like, "Oh, this is good lumber. 00:09:59.040 |
And then you go over with him to the table saw, and he's like, "How do you turn this 00:10:05.280 |
Or all of a sudden, he sees the saw blade come up. 00:10:10.800 |
And then if you've ever worked with wood or these tools that are loud, it's like, "Oh 00:10:22.360 |
And if it wasn't a woodworker, but it was your physician, you'd be like, "Someone 00:10:33.960 |
If he looked over to his assistant, he's like, "Can you hand me that thingamabobber?" 00:10:40.120 |
We're not doing operation with a guy who calls it a thingamabobber." 00:10:43.840 |
You better know your stuff and know how to use it. 00:10:47.760 |
Biblically speaking, wisdom is not just knowledge. 00:10:51.040 |
Biblically speaking, all through Jewish history, when you look at the past, wisdom is skillfulness. 00:10:58.400 |
It's a knowledge base that is skillfully used for you to live a life that is pleasing to 00:11:09.200 |
It guards you from that presumptuous, rebellious, and all kinds of deviance from God. 00:11:15.360 |
And it moves you to walking with God in holiness. 00:11:18.480 |
That's the way Old Testament Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, all these things are seen as wisdom. 00:11:26.960 |
But then for us, I got to ask you this question. 00:11:33.120 |
What's really interesting in the Book of Proverbs says a good reputation is worth more, the 00:11:36.360 |
much more valuable, much to be prized than money. 00:11:39.280 |
Well, the thing about it is, is your track record, not that's a snapshot, but the film 00:11:46.440 |
strip of your life, marked with a growing wisdom. 00:11:51.400 |
Earlier on, when I experienced this thing, I was like, "What is this? 00:11:58.640 |
Not only both in knowledge, substance of scripture, principles, and instruction, but there is a 00:12:05.000 |
I know how to decide what to do in this scenario. 00:12:10.520 |
And you know in this scenario, you know what's valuable? 00:12:15.200 |
Is there a growing wisdom in you that is demonstrable, it's seen? 00:12:21.280 |
Or is your reputation, it's like every time that guy hits a hard road, it's always like, 00:12:26.440 |
And then they just go off into this horrible trail. 00:12:29.040 |
I'm asking you this question to examine your life. 00:12:32.000 |
Is there a growing wisdom, avoiding folly, avoiding childish decisions? 00:12:38.480 |
This is the kind of test that God is going to ask. 00:12:42.280 |
He's going to ask that, like, "What are you doing with your time?" 00:12:48.200 |
Moving forward to number two, true wisdom is not only seen, but as it's seen, it's humble. 00:12:58.640 |
Take a look at the passage with me again, verse 13. 00:13:00.560 |
It says, "Let him show his good behavior, his deeds, in the gentleness of wisdom." 00:13:05.720 |
So yes, you're supposed to show it with good behavior, but it's supposed to be gentle. 00:13:10.480 |
Now, I've got an older brother who has three daughters. 00:13:13.560 |
I always saw my older brother as like, "Dang, this guy's a man." 00:13:17.280 |
When he was in high school, he lifted, he was kind of big, he had a shaved head in high 00:13:22.480 |
And so for me, I always saw him as like, "This guy's a man." 00:13:24.800 |
And he had three daughters, and he got all gentle. 00:13:28.520 |
He's all soft, like, "Elise, do you want to..." 00:13:35.160 |
Okay, that's typically what we think when we think gentle, like tender-hearted, which 00:13:39.480 |
is good, because biblically, that is gentleness. 00:13:43.040 |
But here, there's a really interesting nuanced word that is translated differently in different 00:13:49.160 |
The NIV translates it, "Humility that comes out of, or comes from, wisdom." 00:13:59.560 |
Clearly, then, the translators had some tough time describing this, and it's true. 00:14:05.480 |
You guys all know, those of you guys who speak two languages, there are certain terms you'll 00:14:08.880 |
just never be able to do a one-to-one correlation and translation, right? 00:14:14.740 |
So I'm going to give to you an interesting definition I found through a resource. 00:14:19.600 |
The idea is more so not just gentle and soft, but meek, but not in a man's outward behavior 00:14:27.280 |
only, nor in just his relation to his fellow man or his mere natural disposition. 00:14:34.680 |
Rather, it is an in-wrought grace of the soul, and the expressions of it are primarily towards 00:14:41.040 |
So what the biblical commentators do is they just start bean-counting. 00:14:47.560 |
And they just look at every single instance, and they notice a pattern. 00:14:50.860 |
This is typically towards God, and the attitude is a spirit where we accept God's dealing 00:14:55.760 |
with us as good, and do not dispute or resist. 00:15:03.200 |
And then he says, "This word protest, according to Aristotle," now they track. 00:15:10.080 |
"In Aristotle, it is the middle standing between two extremes, one side getting angry 00:15:14.960 |
without reason," always like, "Raaah," like brute force. 00:15:18.300 |
"But the other, never getting angry at all, pushover, doormat. 00:15:23.160 |
Therefore, protest is getting angry at the right time, in the right measure, for the 00:15:30.380 |
"Protest is not readily expressed in English. 00:15:33.880 |
There is no one-to-one correlation, but it is a condition of mind and heart which demonstrates 00:15:38.040 |
dentalness not in weakness, but in power, in a balance born in strength of character." 00:15:49.080 |
And you're like, "Oh, that sounds all good, but, huh?" 00:15:57.040 |
What is the prime example of this kind of meekness, humility, gentleness, where there 00:16:06.640 |
You guys remember when he gave the incredible invitation to his disciples, and he said, 00:16:11.920 |
"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:16:22.200 |
"'Cause I'll be your coach, and I'm going to whip you into shape, and you're going to 00:16:28.840 |
Come to me, take my yoke, because I am gentle and humble in heart. 00:16:38.960 |
Is Jesus Christ like meek and beating around the bush when he teaches? 00:16:46.160 |
Jesus Christ speaks authoritatively, but that authority and power is controlled. 00:16:54.880 |
We see the perfection of this wisdom and humility in Christ. 00:17:00.880 |
He has such stability and self-control that when he is reviled, he does not revile back. 00:17:06.880 |
When it is appropriate, he shows what's true and what's right. 00:17:12.120 |
This is the kind of gentle humility that we want to exhibit. 00:17:16.560 |
And so, as a means for you guys, in your Christian life, have you been a newbie craftsman who 00:17:30.360 |
For example, when I think of a newbie craftsman, number one, he's too scared. 00:17:33.520 |
He comes in, he's like, "Oh my gosh, I'm supposed to hold that power tool? 00:17:41.520 |
That's not confidence, and you're probably going to get hurt. 00:17:45.280 |
But on the flip side, if you see certain people have a major task, a big task at hand, you're 00:17:51.680 |
supposed to build furniture for the king, you're like, "Oh my gosh." 00:18:04.720 |
We are challenged and tested in so many different ways. 00:18:08.640 |
And when we are growing in this kind of mature control, all kinds of anger will come out, 00:18:15.240 |
impatience will come out, fear, interpretation, all this stuff will come out. 00:18:18.880 |
And my question to you is, are you growing in this? 00:18:25.280 |
Because we're supposed to be growing as children of God, as disciples of Christ, in this kind 00:18:32.260 |
And scripture says, I want to give you another passage from James chapter one, that he'll 00:18:38.000 |
constantly contrast for us in teaching us what is contrasted with the wisdom of God. 00:18:42.360 |
On the flip side sometimes, James chapter one, 19, 20, he'll say, "This you know, my 00:18:46.680 |
beloved brethren, that everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow in anger, 00:18:52.160 |
for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." 00:19:00.080 |
The frustrated, annoyed, irritated, and impatient anger of man saying, "We need to get this 00:19:11.320 |
That doesn't accomplish the kind of righteousness that God desires. 00:19:16.120 |
But in wisdom, have you thought through that? 00:19:21.240 |
And so, I want to put up an interesting kind of Venn diagram for you, because that's what 00:19:32.560 |
And you will be tested on those good deeds, that is it visible or not? 00:19:36.080 |
But what's more true, good, good, godly wisdom will be humble and self-controlled. 00:19:41.600 |
And then he contrasts that in the next section, and he starts to describe the false kind of 00:19:45.800 |
wisdom, the kind of wrong wisdom that we might exercise. 00:19:49.120 |
And he says that this wisdom is absolutely selfish. 00:19:52.040 |
Let's take a look at the passage, and this is what he says. 00:19:54.480 |
Verse 14, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not 00:20:03.600 |
This wisdom is not that which comes from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic." 00:20:12.520 |
And so what he says is, there is this false wisdom, but that to me is very interesting. 00:20:19.120 |
Because if you ask the question, what is the opposite of wisdom, for lack of better words, 00:20:24.740 |
To be foolish is maybe a more biblical way to say it. 00:20:30.520 |
But when you think of foolishness, what do you normally think of? 00:20:33.200 |
I would have expected that the Bible would say, if you're foolish, then you don't know. 00:20:47.960 |
What's very interesting is, he says, the false wisdom, it actually is derived from your selfish 00:20:59.100 |
What do I mean that we know this experientially? 00:21:02.560 |
Because many of us have experienced what it feels like to know up here exactly what we 00:21:10.440 |
I call this the, you have conviction on Sunday, but you have sin on Monday. 00:21:14.880 |
You come into service, you're convicted, you know what you ought to do, and then Monday, 00:21:19.000 |
whether it be your challenge to forgive, your challenge to be patient, your challenge to 00:21:23.040 |
be focused and not distracted, and then Monday, I know what to do, but I can't do it. 00:21:30.300 |
And sometimes that has been our maturity ever since we were young. 00:21:34.020 |
Our parents, it's not like they didn't tell us, dude, don't do this because you're going 00:21:42.140 |
And how many times have our parents told us the same thing multiple times, only for us 00:21:45.820 |
to be like, I know, I know, and get all frustrated, like stop lecturing me, and then do it. 00:21:51.660 |
And all of a sudden, it really does make sense. 00:21:55.040 |
I mean, take a moment just now to do the evaluation. 00:22:02.480 |
In moments of frustration, in moments where you really regret your decisions, in moments 00:22:08.520 |
where you wish, like, I really wish I had a take back, because that was a bad, bad moment 00:22:15.020 |
Was it because you didn't know what was good? 00:22:18.320 |
You didn't know what people would be upset by? 00:22:21.800 |
You genuinely didn't know what you kind of ought to do? 00:22:25.680 |
Those moments are probably filled with, I could not control what I wanted. 00:22:34.080 |
You couldn't control that inner desire, and the longing, the love, the craving, the hunger. 00:22:39.840 |
A lot of times, our struggle is not just simply knowledge up in the head. 00:22:44.480 |
A lot of times, it is the submission of our own will. 00:22:48.000 |
And that's why scripture says, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it 00:23:00.480 |
And what's more, Proverbs 25, verse 18 says, "Like a city that is broken into, and without 00:23:04.840 |
walls is a man who has no control over his spirit." 00:23:17.240 |
The greatest thing oftentimes that we need to control is our ambition and our heart's 00:23:25.400 |
We recognize that this selfish ambition is an incredible force to be dealt with. 00:23:31.800 |
And for you, I don't know if you think wisdom means I can wax eloquently about systematic 00:23:40.240 |
Maybe I can do the apologetic on teaching everybody why Christianity is so smart and 00:23:47.640 |
However, wisdom often is seen in a man who can domesticate one of the greatest beasts 00:24:00.280 |
You know what's really interesting is that word for selfish ambition, it is tied together 00:24:07.400 |
Bitter jealousy has many different translations. 00:24:10.240 |
So when you do that word study again, like how is it used here? 00:24:20.240 |
And what's more, the term for selfish ambition, the word for ambition is really weird because 00:24:25.860 |
if you take it literally, like you're not using it metaphorically, but you just take 00:24:33.440 |
You can't say like a mercenary, a hired hand to do the dirty deed. 00:24:41.100 |
But what it says is sometimes it's translated man of strife. 00:24:44.940 |
What it tells you is this is a force to be reckoned with. 00:24:48.280 |
Your internal desires don't just sit there like now that I'm a Christian, I want all 00:24:57.900 |
The desires of your heart must be constantly kept in check. 00:25:02.300 |
The desires of your heart must be constantly ruled by you. 00:25:11.780 |
And scripture says this is at the heart of true wisdom. 00:25:23.980 |
And what's really interesting is I shared how I had a pendulum swing. 00:25:27.700 |
When I became Christian, I took this vow like all money is wicked. 00:25:33.740 |
And part of that was because I was wicked with money. 00:25:40.580 |
I literally had daydreams, wishful thinking, and dreams of owning the world. 00:25:48.660 |
You can take heaps of money pile because that to me was incredible value. 00:25:55.140 |
That to me was my answer to all the struggles of our family. 00:26:04.540 |
I became Christian and I was like all money is wicked. 00:26:12.700 |
All money is is paper with dollar signs on it and has a monetary value in your economic 00:26:21.860 |
In the hands of a man with a wicked heart, that money will be used as a powerful tool 00:26:27.300 |
Now as we think about this, all I'm saying with that then is money is not wicked. 00:26:37.420 |
When the wickedness lies in your heart, now I have to ask you and we have to do that examination 00:26:47.660 |
Are you wise enough to look into your heart and then start to decide and determine, do 00:26:57.260 |
Oh my gosh, I want this thing but it's wicked. 00:27:07.860 |
That shows me you have much more wrestling to do. 00:27:11.380 |
That shows me you have much more learning to do. 00:27:13.980 |
Have you exercised the wisdom of God to let the scriptures start to judge the intentions 00:27:20.820 |
and thoughts that are in your heart and therefore exercise a great wisdom. 00:27:27.180 |
I want to tell you this, this is at the heart of this message. 00:27:29.780 |
This is at the heart of what we need to get to because scripture says that the indicator 00:27:34.260 |
of your wisdom is going to be the desires and ambitions of your heart. 00:27:37.700 |
Your selfish ambition is going to be to you the greatest hindrance for you to live as 00:27:48.820 |
What scripture kind of hints at is this, buy what you want, it starts to be indicative 00:27:57.180 |
You want to find out if somebody is super shallow, ask them what they like. 00:28:02.540 |
And when you see somebody who loves shallow stuff, a man who's always attracted to a shallow 00:28:08.020 |
girl because all he sees is externals, a man who makes his decision based on all superficial 00:28:25.820 |
Your desires start to determine and judge who you are. 00:28:31.460 |
And so I ask you, brothers and sisters, what do you want today? 00:28:39.260 |
Does it have anything to do with God and his kingdom? 00:28:47.140 |
Because your wisdom is going to be used to get it. 00:28:54.800 |
And therefore, ambition, wisdom, all these things. 00:29:00.300 |
Ambition in and of itself is not wrong, right, or evil, or wicked, but for what goal you 00:29:04.940 |
use them, now all of a sudden you become a villain, right? 00:29:09.860 |
You could have the greatest wisdom of how to make objectives, you could have the greatest 00:29:14.540 |
wisdom of, you know what, although these are the resources we need, these are the personnel 00:29:18.220 |
that we need, these are the benchmarks that we need, this is the process by which we're 00:29:25.860 |
As soon as to your ambition you add the word selfish, now it's become wrong. 00:29:33.220 |
What I'm trying to say is we as believers, we are taught in scripture, you actually should 00:29:38.300 |
be some of the most ambitious people on the face of this planet, right? 00:29:43.580 |
You should be persevering, you should be sacrificing, you should know what it means to work hard. 00:29:50.300 |
We should be as Christians some of the most ambitious people. 00:29:58.700 |
If you've tagged your desire on the things of this earth, your world view is so small. 00:30:05.660 |
Set your heart and ambition on the things that are massive, true, weighty, and actually 00:30:13.620 |
And so I want to move quickly into the next point. 00:30:20.660 |
Our faith informs the reality that the ambitions of this world, you may have them, but it's 00:30:32.700 |
And what's more, this passage talks about this in a kind of nuanced way. 00:30:37.980 |
Go back to verse 14 and it says, "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition 00:30:41.700 |
in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth." 00:30:48.140 |
Don't be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 00:30:52.020 |
The command there is to stop, knock it off, being this arrogant person or a prideful individual 00:30:59.100 |
And when you do that, you're lying against the truth. 00:31:03.100 |
Now just a moment ago, I just told you, right? 00:31:07.500 |
I just told you that we should be some of the most ambitious people because we actually 00:31:12.780 |
have something worthwhile to be ambitious for. 00:31:16.740 |
Because on the flip side of it, we actually should be boastful people then. 00:31:29.840 |
Because we then, in our faith, actually have something to boast of. 00:31:37.060 |
I have power supernatural by the Spirit of God and I have a heavenly Father who is perfect. 00:31:49.180 |
Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23 to 24, "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not a wise man boast in his 00:32:00.980 |
"Because truth be told, all those things are false." 00:32:05.180 |
"But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. 00:32:10.860 |
And that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, righteousness on earth. 00:32:15.420 |
So I delight in these things, declares the Lord." 00:32:22.880 |
At any moment, you really, really want to be, or at any moment, you really, really actually 00:32:35.100 |
When you think highly of yourself beyond what is true and real, that is absolute arrogance. 00:32:42.180 |
And honestly speaking, to have a selfish ambition where although in reality you're a slave of 00:32:47.340 |
God, although in reality you're a servant of the Lord, although in reality you're a 00:32:50.380 |
child of God, to demand your agenda, to demand your way, to demand that the God of the universe 00:32:55.700 |
or the people around you fulfill your ambition, that's something so deceived about that, isn't 00:33:06.060 |
And so, scripture talks about how here, for us, we are to operate in reality. 00:33:15.580 |
It is also not humble, it is also not godly of us to go beyond that on the flip side, 00:33:21.900 |
where we absolutely smash ourselves and we say, "We are absolutely worthless. 00:33:39.700 |
But the God also says, "No, aren't you more valuable than two sparrows?" 00:33:50.780 |
On the spectrum of the way that we deal and interpret, to be wise does not mean just to 00:33:55.940 |
smash yourself and get low, but rather it means to operate in reality. 00:34:02.040 |
This is the way that we have to make sure that we're not lying against the truth. 00:34:05.860 |
Now I want to talk about something here a little bit. 00:34:10.620 |
Just as a way, as an example, to take a moment of breather to think about wisdom. 00:34:16.340 |
The other day I was watching a silly TV show with my boys. 00:34:20.860 |
And it was so funny because we were watching a bunch of grown men go fishing and then after 00:34:25.580 |
they caught their fish, they got together, they cut up the fish and was eating sashimi. 00:34:32.380 |
And it was so funny because I was watching that and I was like, "Oh, it must be so yummy." 00:34:38.820 |
It was so funny because all it was a bunch of guys eating fish and then the guy who was 00:34:44.140 |
the captain of the team or the guy who was actually running the boat and stuff, he goes 00:34:48.740 |
on this monologue and he's like, "You know what, girl? 00:34:54.260 |
And if you hit that wall, you just got to keep going." 00:35:05.820 |
But what he was saying was, look how much they're enjoying life by going out and fishing, 00:35:20.220 |
There was a little part of me that was like, "Yeah. 00:35:25.700 |
And when you hear that, I mean, everybody, we've all heard that in this world. 00:35:42.940 |
Part of me want to be like, "Don't listen to him, guys." 00:35:46.580 |
You're not supposed to just go and follow your dream like nobody's telling you no. 00:35:49.740 |
The world's wisdom is absolutely contrary and they can't even hear the arrogance when 00:35:57.980 |
Let us not be those who operate under this kind of worldly wisdom. 00:36:02.780 |
Moving forward, number five, true wisdom perseveres order and righteousness. 00:36:07.220 |
These next couple points are going to get a little shorter. 00:36:11.980 |
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder of every evil thing. 00:36:20.180 |
And what's more, look at the passage, it describes that this is not from above. 00:36:24.820 |
In verse 15, he describes this as earthly, this is natural, and then boom, demonic. 00:36:35.220 |
When your selfish ambition is not controlled and put into check, you know what it's going 00:36:39.740 |
It is going to do the age old methodology and strategy of the devil. 00:36:50.820 |
Sometimes it will lie, sometimes it will fudge the truth, sometimes it's going to manipulate 00:36:55.020 |
you, sometimes it's going to use all kinds of pity parties, sometimes it's going to use 00:36:59.540 |
I can't get what I want through reason because it doesn't make sense, so you know what I'm 00:37:15.640 |
If you do not have your selfishness in check, you will find yourself resorting to all kinds 00:37:25.860 |
There is an absolutely manipulative way to get angry. 00:37:29.520 |
Have you in your life exhibited foolishness, lack of wisdom because you use anger to get 00:37:38.940 |
Do you use anger in your relationships, in your marriages, in your friendships, with 00:37:43.020 |
whatever it may be that you use anger as a means to let the other person know, "Don't 00:37:57.780 |
God's going to look at that and say, "You foolish man. 00:38:04.980 |
If you turn your Bible to James chapter four, verse one through three, he actually explicitly 00:38:09.140 |
says, "This is the reason for all your troubles." 00:38:12.140 |
James chapter four, verses one through three, this is what he says, "What is the source 00:38:16.980 |
It is not the source of your pleasures that weighs war in your members. 00:38:22.700 |
You lust and you do not have, so what do you do? 00:38:26.840 |
You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:38:32.940 |
You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it 00:38:45.980 |
The scripture is wise to notice that selfish ambitions and zeal for your own gain will 00:38:51.080 |
produce nothing but disorder and unrighteousness. 00:38:59.460 |
I want to describe to you for a moment what the scripture is going to do is give you rapid 00:39:13.640 |
For the sake of time, I cannot go through every single one of these things, but let's 00:39:19.980 |
Starting from verse 17, "The wisdom from above that God desires for his godly children who 00:39:25.700 |
are growing and maturing is first pure, is peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, 00:39:32.780 |
of good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy." 00:39:39.520 |
What I'm going to do is do my best in brief summary of those things. 00:39:43.880 |
Just try to paint a picture of good godly wisdom. 00:39:46.720 |
And the question to you is going to be, have you exercised this kind of spiritual good 00:39:51.700 |
wisdom or in your thinking, your maturity and growth was going to be, I'm going to do 00:40:00.200 |
Unfortunately, sometimes that's the case for Christians who are just walking this very 00:40:09.980 |
But the scripture is challenging us to higher standards and higher heights and saying, are 00:40:25.120 |
The idea of purity has the idea of innocence and a lot of times that purity is actually 00:40:30.360 |
wrapped up with the concept of a virgin being chaste. 00:40:34.800 |
And the idea is you haven't given yourself away to the desires and allurements, right? 00:40:42.400 |
You haven't contaminated yourself with the filth of the world. 00:40:45.960 |
And what's more, there is this purity in your heart that you're seeking. 00:40:48.720 |
I want to highlight a passage for you because again, I want to give you pictures. 00:40:54.720 |
King David, he's repenting after some heinous sin, heinous sins. 00:41:00.480 |
In Psalm 51 he says, this will purify me with hyssop. 00:41:07.920 |
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me. 00:41:12.360 |
Brothers and sisters, did you exercise this wisdom where you are asking the Lord, God, 00:41:24.560 |
A lot of times I'm just walking my life, walking my life, assuming I'm pure. 00:41:28.600 |
And then God has to interject like, hello, what are you doing? 00:41:36.920 |
A wise child is asking the Lord, God, wash me, cleanse me. 00:41:46.360 |
And what's more, there's another passage I want to highlight for you. 00:41:48.520 |
It comes from 2 Corinthians chapter 7 where Apostle Paul describes true godly repentance. 00:41:55.080 |
And he says, for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without 00:42:04.280 |
For behold, what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you, listen 00:42:08.720 |
to this, what vindication, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, zeal for 00:42:16.880 |
godliness, what avenging of wrong in everything you demonstrate, okay, you demonstrate yourselves 00:42:28.000 |
In your relationships, when you hurt somebody, right, is your thought like, oh, just don't 00:42:35.760 |
I'm sorry, okay, I'll do better next time, right? 00:42:44.240 |
You have a zeal to be innocent of a certain matter. 00:42:46.960 |
You're not just saying like, please stop nagging me and pointing all the flaws at me. 00:42:58.040 |
You desire in the innermost part, clean heart. 00:43:11.600 |
You know, I love the way the NIV translates it. 00:43:21.520 |
And peace naturally has a relational attitude, right? 00:43:24.280 |
If selfishness was me, you better acknowledge me. 00:43:30.080 |
If selfishness is me, my, and mine, peace is us, right? 00:43:36.080 |
Have you exercised a certain wisdom in your life where you're able to be peaceful, that 00:43:46.400 |
Have you guys ever gotten in a fight where you're like, I don't, we're just missing each 00:43:50.280 |
We're just like communicating, but it's just like blah, right? 00:43:53.400 |
A novice craftsman would be like, I'm frustrated, forget you. 00:44:00.160 |
But the skilled craftsman, even in peacemaking will come in and say, let me understand what's 00:44:09.960 |
The lover of peace will be motivated to make peace. 00:44:21.400 |
Now what's really interesting is verse 13 had the Greek word prautis, and it meant self-control. 00:44:26.680 |
You're like, you have this calm about you because you're solid, right? 00:44:32.360 |
But this is a different word, and the definition entries are things like fair, modest, tolerant, 00:44:41.960 |
You don't have to turn there for the sake of time. 00:44:56.920 |
Have you now exercised some wisdom in your relationships where you're able to understand 00:45:05.980 |
Maybe it's because they've got 15 things to fix. 00:45:09.560 |
They're working on three, and you're seeing the whole picture, and you're like, dude, 00:45:15.400 |
But an understanding person realizes, growing Christian, he's working, look at him. 00:45:20.120 |
He's got lots of things to correct, but you understand so you can overlook. 00:45:29.480 |
You hurt me in these five ways, and you better pay, right? 00:45:42.240 |
Scripture says that an individual who is reasonable is teachable. 00:45:46.220 |
Scripture says that even leaders need to be reasonable. 00:45:48.640 |
What's really interesting is this term for reasonable is often translated submissive. 00:45:53.440 |
But the way I want to describe it to you, because I want to give you a picture, and 00:46:01.680 |
Are you able to listen and then be persuaded? 00:46:06.840 |
I picture, on contrast, the older Asian man who's just like, no, I hate vegetables, I'm 00:46:20.120 |
You can say it's good for me all you want, not doing it. 00:46:23.440 |
But look, I got, no, I've never done it, not doing it now. 00:46:27.120 |
Do you know how frustrating it is when you talk to somebody like that? 00:46:31.240 |
If you've ever been that person where your excuse for not changing was, I've never done 00:46:35.840 |
The person talking to you is being like, fool. 00:46:40.720 |
What does it matter you've never done it this way? 00:46:46.000 |
Or have you put your foot down and said, no, I'm not changing. 00:46:49.460 |
Not only are you going to be a hard person to deal with in relationships, but you're 00:47:02.560 |
Because the biblical reality is you've been lavish with mercy. 00:47:06.160 |
If you want to picture it, God has literally poured out mercy upon you so that your cup 00:47:12.840 |
For you to be stingy with mercy is an absolute hypocrisy. 00:47:18.040 |
And scripture says you're blessed when you're merciful. 00:47:20.720 |
But another nuanced way to think about mercy is this. 00:47:23.560 |
The terminology was used in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 24 to 25. 00:47:28.600 |
The scripture says, "The Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome. 00:47:34.600 |
"He must be kind to all, able to teach patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those 00:47:43.120 |
If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of truth." 00:47:46.920 |
What's really interesting is later on, he's going to say, well, he's going to describe 00:47:51.600 |
the character of a man who could be a leader. 00:47:53.840 |
And one of those things is rather than getting everyone back, he is absorbing the wrong of 00:48:17.760 |
What's more, scripture says that true wisdom is full of good fruits. 00:48:20.960 |
We talked about how your wisdom is going to show in your skill. 00:48:25.240 |
Scripture also says that true wisdom is unwavering, meaning that you are unbiased when you judged. 00:48:34.000 |
You're not wavering by people and you're not partial. 00:48:36.640 |
You're like always like a politician is like, "I think you want to hear this from me, so 00:48:41.080 |
I think you're going to get pissed off, so I'm not going to say this." 00:48:43.040 |
If you are constantly trying to predict what you should do to please people, guess what? 00:48:48.760 |
You are going to be the most wavering, double-minded person on the universe. 00:48:56.040 |
What's more, true wisdom is without hypocrisy. 00:49:04.400 |
Now, at this point, you might be like, "Wow, we just went through a lot." 00:49:11.360 |
God's wisdom that he wants us to grow is a lot. 00:49:16.280 |
And if we keep thinking about the perfection of these things, we're thinking about Jesus 00:49:25.760 |
How many of us can say, "I am really patient." 00:49:30.480 |
How many of us can say, "I'm super merciful, and no, I don't hold wrong." 00:49:34.520 |
How many of us can say, "There's no hypocrisy in me. 00:49:36.640 |
There was never a time when I tried to present myself more godly than I am." 00:49:50.840 |
To be godly in the way of God's wisdom is a lifelong investment. 00:49:57.500 |
And that's why Proverbs chapter four says, "The beginning of wisdom is, yes, the fear 00:50:00.920 |
of God, but he says, "Here's my number one advice to you. 00:50:09.360 |
Proverbs chapter five, and it goes on to this, "Look at wisdom and prize her, guard her, 00:50:22.560 |
If you've been plateauing and stuff like that, ask yourself, where is your hunger for God 00:50:32.860 |
And so that's why verse 18 ends with, "The seed of fruit of righteousness is sown in 00:50:47.480 |
In the off season, when it's cold, you start prepping the ground. 00:50:53.240 |
You're still prepping this and prepping that, and then you're way patiently, and like a 00:50:57.160 |
master craftsman who knows, "Listen, young man, I know you're impatient with this whole 00:51:05.700 |
Even the layer of finish and the layer of paint takes time. 00:51:13.440 |
All of it takes an immense amount of investment." 00:51:19.280 |
It is wise for us then to dedicate and say, "God, teach me. 00:51:28.420 |
This is to us a great, great challenge because regularly, I'm going to be honest, certain 00:51:34.160 |
moments in life, you're going to assume you're good. 00:51:37.640 |
You're going to assume you know enough, and at least you know more than the people around 00:51:43.040 |
Those are the moments you're a fool because scripture says you will fall. 00:51:48.240 |
I want to end with Ephesians chapter five that says this, "Therefore, be careful how 00:52:08.160 |
May our Father look at us, not because we're perfect, but he's looking at us like his children. 00:52:24.760 |
Yes, out of 15 things, maybe you're only getting three right, but my wise son is listening