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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. God gave all the wisdom it was available to Solomon. And he had it on a human level. He didn't have it on a spiritual level. He didn't apply his heart.
to God's truth. What he did is he married many women. One wasn't enough. He married a thousand different women. Wives and concubines.
What a nightmare. For him and his wives. And those wives, the Bible says, turned. His heart. From the Lord.
So brilliant, so wise on one level, on another level, not so much.
So, wisdom is practical. The second thing to make a note of in the book of James is that wisdom is humble. Go back to verse 13 and notice. Let him show by good conduct That his works are done. In the meekness Notice that word, meekness.
of wisdom. We're familiar with the word meekness, are we not? It's one of the first words. that are red in the New Testament.
Some of the first words recorded that Jesus ever spoke was the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus said, Blessed are the meek. for they shall inherit the earth. The trouble with the word meekness is that most people think meekness is weakness. That's the trouble with the word. It doesn't mean that, but if you look up meekness in the English dictionary, It has synonyms like Docile.
or passive or even timid. That's how we think of meekness. But the Greeks And this is a Greek word. Praos is the word used in Greek for meekness. or meek.
Praas is a very colorful and surprising term. A wild stallion that was broken, brought under the control of a trainer was called Meek. Carefully chosen words that soothed strong emotions were known as meek. Words Ointment that took away fever and the sting of a wound that soothed. That person was called meek.
So the actual meaning of meekness is this: it is power. Under control. Isn't that good? Power. Under control.
Now go back to that first little illustration I just mentioned, an unbroken horse. A wild horse will buck. will kick and will resist the bit and bridle. But eventually As it gets used to the hand of the trainer and the bit and the bridle, eventually the horse will have dignity. And toys.
it will be at peace. It's still very, very powerful creature. But it is power under control.
So for believers. Meekness is the willingness to be under God's sovereign control. Paul said, Part of the fruit of the Spirit is to be meek. Jesus used that word referring to himself. In Matthew 11, Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn.
From me, for I am gentle. The word is meek. Traas. I am meek. power under control and humble in heart.
But go back to the 13th verse where we are currently and notice this little phrase. It said, let him show by goodness. or by good conduct that his works are done In the meekness of wisdom. That's a very interesting phrase. The meekness of Wisdom.
And I say it's interesting because meekness is the right use of power. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. You put both of those things together, you have a very powerful individual. The meekness of wisdom. This is a person who, though he could or she could, won't manipulate.
another person. He would use his power. in a very controlled manner. He doesn't demand things for himself. He is, in other words, God's gentleman.
Power under control. And this kind of a person, when they enter a room, when they enter a situation, they produce a calming effect. Just like that broken horse who has dignity and poise. I ha I heard of a a class, a young kids class. where they were asked to write an essay on the Quakers.
And so One young girl wrote this in her paper. Quakers are very meek people. who never fight and never answer back. My mother is a Quaker. But my father is not.
The meekness of wisdom. What does it mean?
Well, when you think of others first. When you are patient with other people, When you practice self-control, when you refuse to intimidate someone in order to make yourself feel strong. When you welcome other people's opinion, that is the meekness of wisdom.
So Wisdom is practical. Wisdom is humble. Third characteristic. Wisdom is spiritual.
Now, what you're going to notice in the next few verses is that James shows the difference between two different kinds or sources. of wisdom. Look at verse 14. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts. Do not boast.
and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly. Sensual. Demonic For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing. Are there?
But or in contrast to that earthly Sensual wisdom, but the wisdom that is from above. It is first pure. Then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits. Without partiality, without hypocrisy, now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Notice then, two different sources, two different types, two completely different kinds of.
Wisdom First, worldly wisdom. What he calls in verse 15 earthly. Sensual Demonic. It is earthly. of this world.
It is sensual. It is of the flesh. It is demonic. Of the devil.
Sound familiar? the world, the flesh, the devil, the three enemies of every believer. Worldly wisdom has that as its source. In contrast to verse seventeen, the wisdom that is from above. What wisdom is that?
It's God's wisdom. It's the wisdom God Himself has, but it's the wisdom God is willing to share with you. Wisdom that has its source from above.
Now Consider the first type of wisdom, worldly wisdom, human wisdom. In human wisdom, Man is supreme. Individual choice and preference is supreme. God is irrelevant. Worldly wisdom, human wisdom, is dominated by self.
Self-interest, self-centeredness. Self-pity, self-indulgence. It's all about me. This worldly wisdom produces a society. That has slogans like Do Your Own Thing.
Have it your way. Look out for number one. And this type of wisdom pervades. The philosophical world, the educational world, the political world, the economic world, the sociological and psychological world. Where one's own personal ideas, personal values, and desires and standards.
are the measure for everything. You are in essence your own God. Your Standards and values are as valid and important as anybody else's. You do you. We like to say.
That is what is most important. That is the measure of everything. You know, back in the 5th century BC, there was a Greek philosopher named Protagoras. And Protagoras was the guy who came up with the axiom: man is the measure of all things.
Now, what changed is Christianity came into the world and changed all that, and a whole generation in every culture and every decade at every um Sphere was transformed by the gospel. But now, 2,500 years later, we're All back. to the philosophy of Protagoras, man is the measure of all things.
So It's all personal, it's all individual, and whatever helps that agenda. is deemed as good. Whatever threatens that agenda will be called evil.
So there's a couple easy examples of this. You don't have to really go far to see that. Abortion. is one. Abortion is, at one time, it was all about That's a human child.
We would never dare take the life of a child once conceived. We wouldn't think of that. No society would think of that. But today, it's all about Personal choice. It's all about, gosh, I don't think I can afford it, or it doesn't fit into my lifestyle, and it's becoming a woman's health issue.
Where it never used to be that way. Or here's another example: homosexuality. Love who you want to love. It's all up to you. It's all individual.
So if a person Professes faith in Christ. Claims to have wisdom from God. But as proud Arrogant. Self-centered. and lives a self- Focused worldly life.
That wisdom is bogus. That wisdom is, as James said, earthly. Sensual. And get the next word, demonic. Demonic.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching from Pastor Skip. But there's another kind of wisdom, and that is the spiritual kind. That is the theme of this little point that we're making. Wisdom is spiritual.
Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above The wisdom that is from above.
Now, the wisdom that is from above, as I just mentioned, is God's own personal wisdom that He Manages the world that he created, but also it's the wisdom he will share with you. If you ask for it, as James said in chapter 1, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally. But it all begins. From above. It all begins with God.
I remind you again of Proverbs 9: the fear of the Lord is the Beginning of wisdom. It's where you start. That term, by the way, the fear of the Lord, that's an Old Testament description of saving faith. To be a God-fearer is somebody who has belief in God. It's saving faith from an Old Testament vantage point.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, it's where we start.
So, No one has wisdom without a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It begins with him. When the children of Israel were being led from Egypt to the Promised Land. God noticed that they had a propensity to, well, to do a lot of things. like complain.
And like Wander. And, um So they made a commitment to God. And God lamented when he was leading them out. He said, Oh, That they were wise. Do you hear his lament?
Oh, that they were wise and that they understood this. He understood them. He knew they had a proclivity to wander away from him. Which was unwise. And let me just say: if you're wandering from God, you are not a wise person.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Now, I want to button this up by saying that it is possible to have wisdom on two levels: the earthly level and the spiritual level. Daniel was one who did have both kinds. In Daniel chapter 1, Daniel and his three friends, remember them, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that's their Babylonian names. Their Hebrew names Anybody remember them? Taquez, Taquez, quick, quick, quick.
Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah. Doesn't matter, won't be on the test.
So anyway, God gave Daniel and his three buddies Wisdom. It says he gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
So they were able to administrate, call the shots, had wisdom in political matters, matters of state. But then A few chapters later, Daniel chapter 5, another king is on the throne named Belshazzar. Belshazzar calls for Daniel. and says to him, I have heard of you. That the Spirit of God is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent wisdom is found in you.
Here's a man, Daniel, who had. Wisdom on the horizontal level. but also wisdom on the vertical level.
So wisdom then is practical. Wisdom is humble, wisdom is spiritual. Finally, fourth, wisdom is fruitful. Go back to verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above Now, he lists several characteristics.
of one who has wisdom. The wisdom that is from above is first pure. Then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality. without hypocrisy. Let's just say a few words about each of these descriptors.
First, The wisdom that comes from above is first pure. Could be translated wholly. This is the effect of a transformed life. Once Jesus gets a hold of a life, he makes that person pure. He cleanses them by the blood of Christ.
His own blood? The blood of Calvary. And then he cleanses them continually, sanctifies them, makes them pure. The sixth beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart. They shall see.
God. Here's a question for you: Have you come to Christ? Really? Have you surrendered your life to Christ? That's where you begin.
That's where wisdom begins. That's where. Purification begins. It's first pure, second. It is peaceable.
Better translation, it's peace-loving. Peace loving. A wise person loves peace. A fool. Loves an argument.
Seventh Beatitude says, Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called the sons of God.
Now let me just say that this is the effect of the first. That Peace loving is the effect of being made pure. Once you are purified by Christ, you want to start showing love, peace to other people. rather than always being in conflict by selfishness. you have a humble desire to make peace.
Martin Luther used to tell a cute little story about two goats. Two goats who met on a very narrow bridge. That was very Um it could only fit one goat. Or one person. And it was over a very deep chasm with a deep river underneath it.
So the goats met right in the middle of the bridge. And they couldn't go back. and they dare not fight because the bridge would capsize.
So they talked. And they negotiated. And finally, one goat laid down and allowed the other goat to walk on top of him to get over to the other side. And then that goat got up and continued his journey. That's the idea of Peace loving me.
Somebody who makes peace.
So The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.
Next word is gentle. One commentator called gentle sweet. Reasonableness. Doesn't that sound good? We need a little more sweet.
Reasonable. It's sweet and reasonable. To have that. Sweet reasonableness. It is, as I said, being God's gentleman.
By the way, did you know the word gentleman? It's an old English term. Originally a gentleman was somebody of noble birth. It set a certain class of people apart from, you know, the average. People like us.
They were like royalty or nobility. That was a gentleman. When you and I are gentle, like this We are Showing to other people that we are of noble birth. We are sons and daughters of the king of kings. We show No, we are royalty.
Now let me just also say that To be gentle doesn't mean that you have to compromise your own personal convictions. You can have your own opinions and your own deep-seated, hopefully biblical convictions. Just be nice about it. Be courteous. Be considerate.
Somebody described President Abraham Lincoln, who knew him as a man of velvet steel. Velvet steel. It's a good description of gentleness.
Next is willing to yield. Willing to yield. Agreeable. approachable. Easy to live with.
Easy to work with, easy to be around, not inflexible. You can disagree without being disagreeable. willing to yield. Then full of mercy. and good fruits.
This speaks of compassion. And wanting to alleviate the suffering of others. I love the fact that our church every year has Love Week. And in the wintertime, we do a thing around Thanksgiving that is a day of dignity and loving of the community, especially those in deep need, full of mercy and good fruits. Then, without partiality, which means you hold the same standard at all times, without hypocrisy.
You're genuine. You're the real deal. A wise person is authentic. Here's a piece of wisdom from Irma Bombeck. I don't know if you remember her, but she was an American humorist and she wrote several columns in newspapers.
Way back when, but she used to have this little saying: never go to a doctor. whose house plants have died. It's good wisdom, isn't it? Are you going to entrust surgery to a guy who can't even keep a plant alive? It's good wisdom.
And uh Speaking of wisdom, kids have their own wise advice. This is the wisdom of children. These are all All true pieces of advice. Patrick, a 10-year-old, said: never trust a dog to watch your food. Michael, age 14, said, When your dad is mad at you and asks, Do I look stupid?
Don't answer him. Ten-year-old Joel said, Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat. He learned. Andrew, age nine, said puppies will have bad breath even after eating a polo mint. Talia, age eleven, said, when mom is mad at dad.
Don't let her brush your hair. Amir, age nine, said, You can't hide a piece of broccoli in your milk. Yeah, exactly. Like, really? Mitchell, age 12, don't sneeze in front of your mom when you're eating a cracker.
And finally, Michael, age 14, said: Never tell your mom that her diet is not working. Hey, I say we take Google's advice. When I asked the question, where is wisdom to be found? And two pages spat out. The Word of God, the Word of God, the Word of God.
Let's go back to the Bible as our source of wisdom. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, Adulting, a study through the book of James, Pastor Skip's 21 Message Series that gives you straight talk from Scripture about how to grow in spiritual maturity and live out your faith in the real world. Adulting is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's word with more people. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.
And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails and get a free download of a chapter of Skip's The Biography of God. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on his wood.
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