Sermon Tone Analysis
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Good Morning!
Man, it is good to be back home and to be with you guys again.
Before we jump in this morning, I want to take a moment to highlight a few things that happened last week.
I listened to the service on zoom while we were traveling and, man, it was amazing.
I was really bummed that I had to be out of town and missed being here in person.
I can’t wait to see TGP Lafayette and give them all hugs.
What an incredible morning of worship and testimony!
I also watched the Cenla Interfaith Assembly online and, wow, what an incredibly powerful and moving event.
Thank you to all of those that went as delegates to represent TGP West.
I spoke with or texted with Michelle, Craig Austin, Rev. Green, and Ben.
All of them were over the moon with the unity and love that was present.
I am excited to see how God will use that organization to make positive changes in our communities.
We will talk more about this at the end of the service, but we may need to call on the collective influence of C.I. as we talk with DOTD and local government about the bridge being out.
Our Wednesday and Thursday night teams handled their ministries beautifully.
You guys may or may not know this, but it should be the goal of any that are in leadership to train your teams so that they no longer need you.
More or less, as a ministry leader, you want to work yourself out of a job.
It was obvious last week that you guys own these ministries.
I can’t express how cool it was to get to watch you guys ministering to one another and our communities.
I’m proud of you guys and I want you to know that.
In spite of all the good that happened last week, there were some in our body that were handling ministry while also dealing with some really difficult situations.
I thought and prayed for you this week as I was preparing for today’s message.
You are also probably aware that the Guidepost Investigation of the SBC came out this week and it is horrific, to say the least.
Wisdom is needed and I’m so grateful that God has had me focused on pursuing him for wisdom this week.
Two weeks ago we started James by looking at the first few verses of James 1.
I want to remind you that our goal in this study isn’t to look at James’ words and then to try and conform our lives to what he says they should look like.
Jesus speaks directly against this type of living when chastising the Pharisees and scribes.
There is no benefit from us using this letter to try and make the appearance of our lives look better than it is.
This is what created the environment that led to the crucifixion.
The religious leaders were more concerned with their appearance and maintaining their power than they were on following God.
Our goal is to do the exact opposite.
We want to grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and allow Him to change us from the inside out.
Our goal is to develop True Faith.
True Faith never stops growing
We are approaching this letter with the understanding that James’ intent was to communicate to these new believers what authentic, true faith looked like.
Not so they could mimic it, but to provide them with a gauge that would lead them to pursue their relationship with God.
James briefly introduces himself and then dives right into the deep end.
Let’s review briefly as we begin today.
I posed the question to these verses of how much joy do you want.
We focused that way because James is telling these new believers that they are going to face various trials, but how they decide to deal with them will determine their outcome.
The state of mind we choose matters.
We talked about the importance of lamenting in the process of dealing with hardships.
James isn’t telling the church to ignore their problems.
If we don’t dig into the root of the problems, there is no opportunity for learning.
Lastly, we saw that as we struggle with others, both their faith and our own are built up.
James says in verse four...
James’ suggestion is that we embrace the trials with a specific determination that we are going to be obedient and with the understanding that God will use them for our good.
I loved Josh and Lana joking about Josh’s comment about being willing to be homeless if that is what God wanted.
lol, I totally get Lana’s response!
Allowing God to work in our lives is what will make us more like himself.
As we listened to their testimony and as you think about your own lives, you will see a pattern of difficulty that is accompanied by personal growth.
What we saw in the Carver’s story and in our own is that even though we are struggling, God brings joy as we follow His leading.
As we are going through a trial, what is it that we want more than anything?
We want a resolution.
We want to get through that trial and based on what we have learned so far, we want to get through it and be better on the other side.
James knows this and is encouraging the church to do just that.
This word, wisdom, is translated from the Greek word Sophia.
Sophia refers to specialized wisdom, that can come only from God.
Wisdom as we typically think of it, or its common understanding is the knowledge that is the quality of having
experience,
knowledge, and
good judgment.
When those three things, are combined, a person is thought of as being wise.
This is not what James is talking about.
James is referring to a wisdom that comes from God’s experience, knowledge, and good judgment, not our own.
Do you see the difference there?
We can gain wisdom outside of God, and we will discuss this later in the message.
But James is talking about wisdom that comes from God as we are abiding in Him.
Two weeks ago, I left us on a cliffhanger question.
What if the situation you are facing is bigger than you and you don’t know where to begin?
As I mentioned a few moments ago, many of us have found ourselves in this place recently.
We are doing our best to abide, but the things we are facing are so much bigger than we are.
What do we do?
How do we proceed in a way that both benefits us and brings joy?
The answer is simple, we ask for wisdom and James says that God will give it.
When we are facing trials, suffering, hardships, whatever word we want to use, we ask God.
God Gives Us His Wisdom
We know this to be true because we saw it modeled in Jesus’ life.
This is where James gets the wisdom to tell the church where to find wisdom.
Take this mental rabbit trail with me for a moment.
James is referred to as modern day wisdom literature.
But where did James get the wisdom that he is sharing?
James was the son of a carpenter.
He was pretty low on the socioeconomic scale.
He certainly wasn’t a student of the temple.
James recieved this wisdom from Jesus, the son of God.
James heard Jesus say things like Matthew recorded in his gospel.
James was told by Jesus directly that if He would ask, God would give it.
James also grew up hearing that through the Proverbs.
God made it clear through his word and through Jesus that if we want to gain knowledge, understanding, and how to apply it to life, all we need to do is ask.
If you are in a situation that you do not understand, ask God to give you His perspective.
When we studied Ecclesiastes, we discussed where the author got his wisdom.
Now, Solomon is considered to be the wisest man to ever live, but where did that wisdom come from?
Was he born with it or go to a special school?
There are a couple of things worth noting here.
Solomon wasn’t interested in wisdom for his own sake, but for the good of his people.
It was because of his heart.
Think back to our discussions in the past about Cain and Able and the difference in their offerings.
We know from Solomon’s life that the wisdom of God did in fact benefit Solomon as an added bonus.
The same will be true for you and I.
God’s wisdom will inform all of our life, not just the portion we were requesting wisdom for.
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