Wisdom for the asking
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If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Sounds great… but what is wisdom?
Wisdom was a relationship.
THe adam and eve story-
The lie- god isn’t trustworthy- he is holding back.
The temptation- knowledge outside of relationship.
Wisdom was lost.
AS our trust in God was lost.
But trust is regained in relationship.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Wisdom was regained in relationship- Abraham
Wisdom was regained in the law.
Wisdom was regained in the person of wisdom
Jesus in flesh.
In christ all of satan’s lies were proven wrong.
Paul says that God proved his righteousness
When Christ was put to death as a sacrifice for our sins.
And Corinthians tells us that jesus is our wisdom
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
So we have learned that biblical wisdom is not..
an old man on a mountain with a long beard and weird nonsensical sayings.
biblical Wisdom is not the result of years of academic study and a large number of initials- after your name.
and contrary to all those facebook posts- it is not common sense, a good work ethic, or thriftyness.
And finally wisdom is not cynicism
Wisdom is returning to the rooted relationship of peace that we had with God before the fall.
Seeing and knowing him as he has been revealed by creation, by his word and by Jesus.
to be wise is to revel in the character of Christ. Enjoying his love and righteousness and desiring to walk in his footsteps by his strength.
wisdom in this sense is synonymous with the knowledge of our salvation that paul describes in
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
So this means that Christian wisdom is not something academic or aerodite but simply the knowledge that we have been saved and we have a savior who is with us and loves us. So that when trials come we can find joy in the midst of the painful processes that he uses to produce patience and endurance in our faith.
Now let’s go back and look at the rest of what james has to say in light of this understanding.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
The lord give generously of himself. Wisdom is relationship.. and that relationship is established in the gospel and growing in the heart of the believer through the means of Grace.
worship, bible study, prayer, sacraments, and the fellowship of believers.
AS we enjoy these things together- some of them daily. So too does our understanding of God’s Character and Plans.
You can never be too wise, or wise enough this is a journey of relationship not content.
The Unicorn in the ― C.S. Lewis’, The Last Battle
“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. ....Come further up, come further in!”
So too is the christian journey of wisdom.. It is a journey of knowing and being known. A journey we were made for. and a journey that will never end.
Double minded.
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Imagine a relationship where you don’t believe what they other person says. Or you believe them some days and then on other days you refuse to believe. You would never get anywhere you would always start back at square one. The relationship would undoubtedly fail.
Now this is the type of doubt that James is talking about.
he isn’t talking about the doubt that comes from not understand the theology of atonement, or election or the eschaton. This is not a question of intellectually understanding God.
The doubt that James is describing here reminds me of Adam and eve in the garden.
Remember how they heard Satan's lie that God was holding back on them. That he really wasn’t giving them what was “best” for them. When they bought that lie they stepped out of Godly wisdom into a world without God at it’s centre. And that is what we do when we turn our backs on the Gospel but doubting God and his word.
You see the Gospel says, that we who where once slaves to sin and deserving of death have been given a new lease on life. We have been declared righteous in Christ. We have be adopted into a new family, God’s family, and we have been given a new purpose, We are servants of the King. and Heralds of the Kingdom.
But Paul warns us that even though we have new life we can return to the foul slavery to death that we were in. Refusing to believe that we have become royalty we can return the slavery of sin.
Why would we do so? because we have joined Adam and eve in believing the lie that cost them their crowns.
This is the double minded doubt that James warns against. Because it strikes at the core of our relationship with God and at the core of our hope to walk with him and grow in his wisdom.
But Friends there is good news. We have a god who delights to be know.
All creation sings his praise. from the mountain peaks to the oceans waves and every star in the sky. They all remind us of his love and his power.
He has revealed himself in His word
In history and most of All in Jesus!
And to Know him is to trust him bit by bit , day by day.
To trust him is times famine and in times of wealth.
To trust him when we are him when we are in bad health and in Good.
We learn of his character, His holiness and glory. and we worship.
ALL OF THIS IS WISDOM. Wisdom is the knowing God and Loving God, and being Know by God and being Loved by God.
Our father wants us to know him. He wants all of this for us.
That is why James says
The New International Version (1984) Trials and Temptations
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him
Because our father wants us to know him and to walk with him through the trials and the joys of the lives that he has given us.
To walk with Him is the beginning of Wisdom. To listen to Him is how we grow wiser day by day.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
pray