Sermon Tone Analysis

!!! [[James 3:13-18|Bible:James 3:13-18]]

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Translation

13 Who is wise and understanding among you?

He must show out of his good conduct of life his works in humble wisdom.

14 But if you hold on to bitter jealousy and rivalry in your heart, you must not boast and lie against the truth.

15 This is not the wisdom which comes down from above but is earthly, natural, demonic.

16 For where there is jealousy and rivalry, there is discord and every worthless deed.

17 But the wisdom from above is indeed first holy, then it is peaceable, gentle, obedient, full of mercy and good fruit, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

18 But fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by the ones making peace.

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Outline of the Text

 

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V. 13 Who is wise among you?

* He must show, from his good conduct in life, his wisdom

* That which comes from his wisdom will be meek, not aggressive or haughty

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V. 14-16 The one claiming to be wise but not displaying it

* V14 A wrongful claim

* This person displays something other than good conduct:

* Bitter jealousy

* Selfish ambition

* This person must not boast

* He must not exalt himself over others, the opposite of the meek person

* This action opposes the truth about himself and about others

* V15 This wisdom is not from above

* It does not come down from God above

* It is earthly~/worldly

* It is unspiritual~/fleshly

* It is of demons~/Satanic

* V16 From jealousy and selfish ambition will come things opposite that of Godly wisdom:

* Disorder

* Every vile practice

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V. 17 Wisdom from God

* V17 What Godly wisdom is:

* Chiefly it is pure, holy

* It is peaceable, given to peace, making peace

* It is gentle

* It is open to reason, reasonable, listens to others

* It is full of mercy

* It bears good fruits

* It is impartial

* It is full of sincerity

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V18 The result of living in Godly wisdom

* The fruit, the harvest will be righteousness reflecting the first aspect of Godly wisdom

* The fruit is sown in peace, reflecting the second aspect which summarizes all the others

* When you live out the wisdom of God, righteousness is what will ultimately result

* This is done by those who make peace

* Active in making peace, not just wanting or desiring peace

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Sermon Manuscript

 

This is our tenth sermon through the book of James.

Assuming I do not change my plans for James, and assuming God allows us to proceed, we will have six more sermons from James.

Throughout the letter from James he has displayed a concern that the believers live holy lives, displaying the truth of their faith by their works.

James began his letter by calling on the people to seek wisdom from God.

In today’s passage he shows the people the kind of works that should result from Godly wisdom.

So let’s read together [[James 3:13-18|Bible:James 3:13-18]].

{{@Cue Pray}}

 

Is there anyone wise here this morning?

Anyone with understanding?

If not then back up to chapter 1 and read [[verses 5-8|Bible:James 1:5-8]].

There you will find instructions for seeking Godly wisdom.

It seems to be James’ expectation that Christians will either be growing in the wisdom of God or be seeking the wisdom of God.

Godly wisdom is available to all believers and should be desired by all believers.

What are the effects of Godly wisdom on the Christian life?

Is there any?

Does Godly wisdom simply enable us to sound smart?

It seems to be a common idea that wisdom allows us to say profound things at the right time.

The wise person is the old man with a long flowing beard who sits in a chair waiting for people to come to him so he can give cryptic answers.

The wise man is the Great Guru from the B.C. comic strips, just waiting to share his wisdom with a needy world.

But there is much more to Godly wisdom than the ability to say clever things.

When we receive wisdom from God I think it will aid us in how we respond to people, in the insight we have to situations, so that we are able to give an answer that is more pertinent and helpful.

But that is not the primary effect of the wisdom from God.

 

James offers one basic demonstration of Godly wisdom: that the person who has wisdom should display the qualities of wisdom through his good conduct.

In particular James has in mind the meekness of wisdom, but we will get to that in a moment.

Let me add a brief aside for those of you looking at the King James; you might be a little confused since your translation says something like, “/Let him show out of a good conversation/…” This is one of the instances in which English has changed over the years, and one reason why I tend to recommend that people use more recent translations.

/Conversation/ in this context made perfect sense to people in 1611 and is a proper word to use.

But the meaning has changed over the years.

The word used to mean that which is seen outwardly in a person’s life, that which communicates to others about your life.

Your conversation was what you told others by the way you live.

Over the years the meaning of the word became more limited, referring only to that which takes place verbally, so that conversation today means what people tell each other with their lips.

So understanding that James here is talking about good conduct, let’s consider what he means.

This means more than just make sure people see you doing the right thing.

This refers to the entire structure of a person’s life.

How do you live?

What guides your life?

What drives you?

And yes, what can other people tell about you by the way you live your life?

It isn’t enough just to do the right things, how do you do them and what is your attitude?

Jesus tells us in [[Matthew 5:13-16|Bible:Matthew 5:13-16]] that we are salt and light to the world, demonstrating to the world the richness of God and the light of his truth.

Can people see those things in the way that you live?

Is your life pointing to God or does your life point to yourself, demonstrating a selfish individual who is driven by his own interest, his own desire to life a safe and comfortable life?

If you are living according to Godly wisdom then your good conduct should reflect the glory of God.

Your life should not be about you, it is about the one who made you and bought you with his own blood.

If you are living according to Godly wisdom then your life will also be about service to others.

Demonstrating the glory of God and service to others is what James means by the meekness of wisdom.

People today often do not like the idea of being meek.

Jesus calls us to be meek, but meek is weak and we have to be assertive to survive in this life!

I have to dominate my surroundings, I have to let myself be known, let myself be heard, let the world know who it is that people are dealing with!

Look out for number one, look out for my own interests.

After all, what good is wisdom if it does not help me to thrive in this life?

This is not wisdom from God.

In [[verse 14|Bible:James 3:14]] James speaks of people who make these claims.

They have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their hearts.

They look around them not with the mindset of a servant, not looking for ways to help those around them, but with a sinful, grasping heart desiring things they do not possess.