Faith That Works: Wisdom

No one would like to be considered a FOOL.  And yet, I don’t think very many of us have any idea how to be WISE!  We all want to possess wisdom.  Wisdom is hard to come by when we are prideful and arrogant.  Recently our 10 year old son Caleb was convinced in his mind that an event at our church started at 5:00pm.  We told him, “no, it starts at 6:00pm”. He argued with us for a few moments convinced that he was right.  I think, if left to his own wisdom he would have walked to the church to be there at 5:00pm.  It would have been foolish to show up at 5:00pm when it actually started at 6:00pm. This is an insignificant and a simple example of how our own pride and arrogance can get in the way of submitting to an authority who knows and understands MORE than we do.  We often lack wisdom because we are arrogantly convinced that we are right and that there is no greater source of what is right and true than ourselves.

READ:  James 3:13-18

What is wisdom? = The humility to discern God’s perspective in any and every situation and apply it to our lives.  Wisdom is not just being smart or intelligent, in fact, according to Scripture it probably has little or nothing to do with it.  In Proverbs 1:7 we are told that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline”.  True wisdom starts with a humble fear of God.  A humble fear of God begins with a fundamental understanding that He is perfect and we are flawed, He is right and we are wrong, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways, and that we are in desperate need of Him to lead in guide us in our attitudes, actions, and words.  When we have this type of fear, reverence, and awe of God, we are in a position to receive and put God’s wisdom to work in our lives!

How do we know whether we possess wisdom?  We can observe whether we, or those around us, have wisdom by the fruit that comes out of our lives.

False wisdom (foolishness) is SELF-RELIANT and SELF-FOCUSED (vs 14-16) – “I can do this myself” is the motto of the fool!  Oh, that hits most every one of us square between the eyes.  Selfish ambition and jealousy reveal something very important about the condition of our heart . . . the things that we are doing (selfish ambition), or would like to be doing (jealousy), are all about ME!  For the fool, living life means having no source of authority above us but ourselves! 

True wisdom GOD-RELIANT and OTHER-FOCUSED (vs 13, 17-18) – If we are going to possess true wisdom it will not come from us but from God who is ABOVE.  In fact, God’s wisdom will often be different and even contradict with what we might think would be wise.  Therefore, in order for us to be wise, we must rely on God through the Holy Spirit to provide us with the mind, the way, and the will of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16).  When we receive wisdom from God we can be sure that it will build bridges with other people.  Purity, peaceability, gentleness, open to reason, merciful, good fruits, impartiality, and sincerity are not characteristics that compete or promote ourselves over others, but ones rather that allow us to share life and be at peace with others.  We can be sure that we possess wisdom if the attitudes, actions, and words that come out of our lives promote peace!

CONCLUSION

The greatest way to get wisdom and to discern whether we have wisdom or not is whether we are asking God to give it to us.  James 1:5-8 says, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”.  The phrase, “let him ask” in verse 5 is a command!  We will NOT have wisdom in our lives if we do not possess the humble fear of God to ask Him for it.