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Wisdom from Above (2)

James 3:13-18

A minister who was teaching and preaching for his congregation realized that the message was not going through. There was no response from his congregation. Nothing changed in their lives. All this knowledge, what was happening in their lives?

One day he decided to give a strong illustration about the wrong lifestyle.

“Four worms were placed into four separate cans.

The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.

The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke.

The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.

The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.”

In conclusion, the minister said:

“The first worm in the alcohol was dead.

The second worm in cigarette smoke was dead.

The third worm in chocolate syrup was dead.

The fourth worm in good soil was alive.”

So the minister asked the people, “What can we learn from this illustration?”

A little man at the back raised his hand and said:

“As long as you drink, smoke, and eat chocolate, you won’t have worms.”

Very wise analogy!?

Once a busy man wanted to surprise his wife with a special gift. He bought a parrot that could speak words in eleven different languages. Each language cost $300.

He is busy, so he sends the gift by UPS. His wife gets it, and does not have any idea what is it. She takes it, seasons it and puts it in the oven.

Her husband comes in the evening and wants to see the surprise. Yes, he was surprised to see the parrot in the oven. I think he will be happier if they could have time for communication. They will be saving $3300, and a wise parrot.

According to James, wisdom is from above and not below. That means anyone can have wisdom if one is ready to be in communication with God (plugged in). We enter into our spiritual life in discipline. Like the tongue, which needs to be controlled by the spirit of God, our wisdom is from God.

In the Old Testament, we have the Wisdom Literature. Wisdom was an important part of their teaching. God gave wisdom to King Solomon. We read in Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” We do not have a choice; the first thing is to have relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ who is our mediator to God.

Then there are fruits of wisdom which can be described as: “pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (17)

1. Pure. In Armenian sourp, holy. In Greek hagnos: meaning pure enough to approach gods. It was related to rituals in the Greek society. In the pagan religion, they had to clean themselves to go to prayer.

In the Christian perspective, things were changed. Christ, he is the only one who is completely holy and pure. So if our mind is Christ centered, our wisdom will be “pure”. True wisdom is to be clean from wrong motives and centralized in Christ.

2. Peace-loving. (Kaghagharar) eirenikos in Greek. It comes from the word Eirene, meaning peace: right relationship between man and man, and between man and God.

True wisdom brings right relationships between humans. In the Sermon of Mount, Jesus said: “Blessed are peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Mathew 5:8) I will love to have more peacemakers and lovers in my church.

Let me warn you.

Loving peace, or making peace do not mean not to have principles. Unfortunately, many are interested in pleasing everyone in the name of the peace. This is not peace loving wisdom. In addition, sometimes for those people, pleasing means compromising biblical principles.

3. Considerate, (hez) epiekes in Greek. This is a difficult word to translate. Someone who has the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not stuck with law, (the strict letter of the law.)

He knows to forgive when the justice gives him the right to condemn. Someone translated it “sweet reasonableness”, considerate of the situation and the person.

4. Submissive, (Hlou) eupeithes in Greek. it has two meanings:

a. someone who is ready to obey. Whenever he or she hears God’s voice, he or she is ready to obey.

b. it means also easy to persuade. Not rigid, but easy to understand and not in the sense of easily in changing basic principles.

Someone who is ready to listen to God and obey him.

Not being stubborn,

Willing to listen,

knowing when to yield.

5. Full of Mercy, (Voghormoutiounov ou pari bedoughnerov letzoun) Eleos in Greek.

To have mercy for a man who is in trouble even that trouble was his fault.

You see Christian mercy can be learned from God. God loved us when we were sinners. God loved us even when we were suffering because of our fault and wrong deeds. When someone is in trouble, instead of rebuking that person, try to help the person, even if it is his fault. Christian wisdom teaches us to have pity and understanding. Therefore, the word eleos has a continuation, to bring good fruits, it means to show that person practical help. In one word when you see someone in a hole, in trouble, you do not leave him there and push him down; no, you give your hand.

I see that picture in the story of the prodigal son. The son does not deserve any mercy and compassion. He brought all his problems to his life, therefore one can say he deserves it. God does not work that way. God’s wisdom is different.

6. Impartial, (angoghmnagal), adiakritos in Greek.

I was so disappointed with teachers who were favoring one student from the other. (Gohmnagtsoutioun). They were not objective in their judgments. It is also called double-mindedness. James used this word many times.

“Wisdom, then, is without double-mindedness; it possesses a singularity of purpose in its trust in God.”¹

7. Sincere, without hypocrisy, (angeghtz), anupokritos in Greek.

Jesus spoke harshly about hypocrisy. Pretending to be someone you are not. Once I have preached on this topic in length. The opposite of hypocrisy is sincerity. To be sincere does not mean to say everything you have in your mind. That is not honesty. Sincerity means integrity, to seek the right way and the truth.

James finishes this part by saying “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” (18)

All these fruits bring peace in relationships. This is wisdom from above. This is not the peace that Hippie movement preached in 60s. This peace is Biblical. In the Old Testament the word shalom, in Arabic salam, mean

“to be whole, to be healthy, to be complete.”

Biblical peace is peace in its totality, not partial. Peace with God and therefore peace with each other.

A man was lost in a neighborhood. He saw little boy playing in front of his house. The man asks this boy:

“Do you know how can I find the nearest interstate highway?”

The boy says, “No Sir.”

“Do you know how to go to the main street?”

The boy says, “No Sir.”

“Do you know where is the nearest gas station?”

The boy says, “No sir.”

Now the man was angry and he says, “What is this you don’t know anything.”

The boy answers, “Sir I am not lost, you are the one.”

We think we know everything. We think we have wisdom. James speaking about wisdom from above.

This wisdom is from above.

This wisdom knows that wisdom does not originate from us; it is a gift from ABOVE.

Examine yourself .

Do you have wisdom from above?

Do you want to have it?

Ask God to give you His Wisdom which starts in worshiping, obeying, fearing, awing God almighty.

Amen