Sermon Tone Analysis

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“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 by those who make peace”* *[1]
 
James called for people of wisdom to identify themselves.
Those who are unwise will expose themselves as fraudulent when their “wisdom” is examined.
Those who are wise will be apparent through a similar examination of their lives.
Learning to distinguish what honours God and what excites this dying world is the ongoing task assigned to each Christian.
In order to fulfil this vital responsibility, join me in study of James’ explanation of divine wisdom.
*Wisdom the World Esteems* — Though it appears valid, and perhaps even beneficial, the wisdom valued among earth dwellers cannot stand the test of eternity.
There is, however, wisdom that does stand the test of eternity, reflecting as it does the smile of Heaven.
Jesus addressed the issue of wisdom quite frequently, stressing the need for those who would please the Father to act with wisdom.
The wisdom the Master espoused is assuredly countercultural, because it rejects the concept of self-preservation, exalts the ideal of self-sacrifice and leads the one possessing that particular wisdom to weigh every action against God’s approval.
As an example of the contrast between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of Heaven, Jesus contrasted those who heeded His teaching and those who pursued their own interests by means of a parable concerning two men building houses.
He concluded the parable by making a pointed application: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” [*Matthew 7:24*].
The wisdom of this world would approve of building one’s life on a philosophy that is insecure, justifying the action on the basis of ease and comfort, whereas the wisdom of heaven would be demonstrated through anticipating difficulties and planning accordingly.
The Master taught us that building on a secure foundation was wise, whilst building on sand was foolish.
Similarly, when He sent His disciples out into the world Jesus urged them to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” [*Matthew 10:16*].
They were to anticipate how wicked people would act in response to the message of life.
They would need to guard against acting out of malice or with a desire to hurt others, and yet they would need to patiently present the Good News and persistently obey the command of Him who sends His people to serve.
Because we have the promise of the Master concerning His return, we may be either wise or foolish when preparing for the fulfilment of His promise.
Jesus spoke of this when He told a parable about ten virgins.
In the Master’s parable, five of these virgins were foolish and five were wise [*Matthew 25:2*].
The foolish virgins failed to anticipate that the bridegroom would come when he said he would come, but the wise were prepared.
The foolish did not invest a significant amount of their capital in preparing for the coming of the bridegroom, whereas the wise knew that they were responsible to be prepared for the moment when the bridegroom would appear.
Those that the world would have said were wise were proved by events to be foolish, and those whom the world would have ridiculed as overly prepared were proven wise by events.
On yet another occasion, the Lord addressed the matter of wisdom, comparing the failure of the children of the Kingdom to use the wisdom God provides to the avid use of earthly wisdom by those in the world.
Listen to that parable.
Jesus “said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
And he called him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you?  Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.”
And the manager said to himself, “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me?
I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.”
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?”
He said, “A hundred measures of oil.”
He said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.”
Then he said to another, “And how much do you owe?”
He said, “A hundred measures of wheat.”
He said to him, “Take your bill, and write eighty.”
The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.
For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light’” [*Luke 16:1-8*].
Jesus is not saying that deceit and theft are acceptable tools for advancing His Kingdom.
He is, however, acknowledging that those who are inhabitants of this dying world are more adept at using what they value than are the sons of light.
In other words, he is confronting His people with their failure to use the wisdom that is at their disposal.
It is a tragic truth that the professed people of God are prone to ignore the wisdom that God freely offers while they eagerly try to use the wisdom of the world in a vain attempt to do God’s kingdom work.
Think that through!
One major conservative denomination recently reported that virtually one hundred percent of their pastors are confident that the Bible is inerrant and infallible.
That is, they hold that the Bible is authoritative for faith and practise.
Yet, less than two-thirds of the membership of the churches believes the Bible to be authoritative for daily life.
There is a disconnect between what is professed and what in reality guides the lives of those Christians.
Remember, this is one of the more conservative denominations in our world today.
I fear that the vast majority of Christendom lives as though the Word of God is optional for faith and practise.
It is as though the average professing Christian does not want to be bothered with thinking of how to please God in daily life.
It is difficult to avoid drawing the conclusion that many, if not most Christians are content to reduce faith to a matter of ritual, holding God in reserve for times of crisis when they are incapable of otherwise mounting a cogent response.
Certainly, the world can live as though the will of God is irrelevant, but it is impossible to reconcile the evident attitude of many Christians with the revealed will of God.
Walking with Christ demands that we seek His will and act according to His wisdom.
According to what we have seen in previous studies in James’ letter, the world appears to esteem “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.”
The wisdom of this dying world leads to boasting against the truth and justifying deceit.
However, that is not the wisdom that God approves.
Paul contrasts the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of Heaven in his first letter to the Church of God at Corinth.
Listen to the Apostle.
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
 
“‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
“Where is the one who is wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” [*1 Corinthians 1:18-25*].
Paul continued that line of thought by urging his readers to think.
“Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” [*1 Corinthians 1:26-31*].
Clearly, God esteems values that are quite different from those esteemed by the world.
Paul urged those who professed the Faith to think of what they were in the estimate of the world, asking why they thought the conclusion of earth dwellers who were perishing was valuable.
Christians must struggle to avoid being influenced by the opinion of the world.
However, it is easier to see the opinion of those dwelling in the world as inconsequential if we keep our eyes focused on Heaven rather than on the world.
How often have Christians made decisions concerning vital issues of righteousness—the conduct of worship, their witness, and even how they will live—based on a desire to gain the approval of people in the world!
One hundred years from now, it will make no difference what people living in the world think.
They are perishing, and if we permit them to inform our attitudes and actions, we are identifying with that which is perishing.
We must remind ourselves that this world and all that is in it is destined for destruction, and according to what we saw moments ago in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that includes “the wisdom of the wise.”
Paul reminds us that all that is associated with this world shall perish when he writes, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Behold!
I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
 
“Death is swallowed up in victory” [*1 Corinthians 15:50-54*].
The Word of God identifies those who live for this present world as “those who are perishing” [*2 Corinthians 2:15*].
Again, the Apostle cautions, “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing” [*2 Corinthians 4:3*], meaning that the inhabitants of this world live for the moment and as if nothing of eternal worth lies beyond this life.
Therefore, if we choose to permit the inhabitants of this world to dictate our moral and ethical values, and if we adopt the wisdom they esteem as our own, and if we permit ourselves to live servile before their opinions, we are identifying with that which must perish.
In one of his earliest letters, Paul reminded the Thessalonian Christians of the coming of the Antichrist.
“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” [*2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10*].
It is those who are perishing, those who are of this world, who will be deceived.
My fear is that many who profess the Faith will be included among those identified in this passage.
By their failure to stand with righteousness and by their unwillingness to resist succumbing to “fleeting pleasures of sin” [*Hebrews 11:25*] they give tragic testimony where their heart actually lies.
It is a given that that which is perishable must perish, while that which is imperishable shall endure forever.
Therefore, all who have purified their souls by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, have been “born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” [*1 Peter 1:22, 23*].
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