Earthly and Heavenly Wisdom, Pt. 3
James 3:14‑18
Let's open our Bibles tonight and we are going to study God's Word. I'm excited about what the Lord has for us tonight in James 3. James chapter 3 verses 13 through 18, and we've been trying our best for the last couple of weeks to get into this passage but been dealing with an awful lot of background that's been very, very helpful to us. James chapter 3, let's begin at verse 13, let me read you verses 13 through 18:
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with humility of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal; for where envying and strife are there is confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace.
Now this wonderful text is a text about wisdom. It contrasts earthly and heavenly wisdom. Now keep in mind that wisdom is the next test of true saving living faith. James is laying out a series of tests by which a person can verify the genuineness of their faith. And this is the next in that list. He is telling his readers that those who are truly saved, those who genuinely know God, those who possess a living faith have a certain kind of wisdom. In other words, their spiritual conversion is manifest in their wisdom. Wisdom is evidence of what kind of a person you are and I am.
And wisdom, remind yourself, does not mean knowledge. It does not mean information. It means the application of knowledge with divine power to the reshaping of life, transforming attitudes, transforming behavior into righteousness. Wisdom then is not what I know, wisdom is how I live. And so how I live according to the wisdom of God is a barometer on my spiritual condition.
And I pointed out to you in the past that God puts no premium on a wisdom that is cerebral or a wisdom that is creedal. The only premium God has to put on wisdom is the wisdom that transforms the life. Wisdom then in biblical terms equals life style. It equals life style, behavior. True wisdom is knowing God in a life changing relationship, okay? True wisdom is the outworking of a life changing knowledge of God.
Now last time we looked at wisdom from the Old Testament because that's the basis of what James is writing. He doesn't even define it here. He is a Jew writing to Jews so he assumes their Old Testament understanding. And since we can't assume that for ourselves as Gentiles far removed from the Jewish context, we needed to fill up a little bit of our understanding. Remember that the wisdom of the Old Testament was basically initiated by the fear of the Lord. Do you remember that? The fear of the Lord is the...what?...beginning of wisdom. Wisdom begins in fearing the Lord. We showed you out of Scripture that fearing the Lord equals saving faith. You remember that? To fear the Lord is to have a reverential trust in Him. When the Old Testament says "fear God, fear the Lord," it is a call to salvation, it is a call to reverential trust, to commitment in which a person turns from sin in faith to God and has a hatred of evil and a love of obedience. And we went through all of that in great detail a couple of weeks ago.
So, wisdom began at the point when one was ushered into a relationship with God through reverential faith and trust...called in the Old Testament the fear of the Lord. You remember that Cornelius because he was a believing Gentile was called a "God...what?...fearer," because that was the essence of saving faith. So once a person put their faith in God, then that introduced them into a life of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was to turn from iniquity. The fear of the Lord was to hate evil and love righteousness. The fear of the Lord was to do God's commandments. And that all is a part of a saving work.
So, when a person put his faith in God, he was ushered into the sphere of wisdom. And then became the really the student of divine wisdom who lived that wisdom out. True wisdom, we saw, comes from God. It is given to one who comes into relationship with Him. And all of us who know God in a personal intimate way have received from Him that wisdom. Now let me say that again. All of us who know God through Christ in a personal way have received the wisdom of God. And that wisdom of God is manifest in the life of a true believer. Every true believer will manifest the wisdom of God.
Now let me say something at this point. We will manifest the wisdom of God and we should manifest more of the wisdom of God. A true Christian will love the Lord Jesus Christ and should more love the Lord Jesus Christ. A true Christian will serve God and should more and more serve God, right? A true Christian will obey and should more and more obey. So when we say that having become believers we have received the wisdom of God, that does not mean we have received and are applying all the wisdom that is possible to have. Okay? It is truly a mark of a believer to manifest the wisdom of God, but none of us manifest the wisdom of God to the fullest possible capacity. And so when we say this is the mark of a believer, we can also say it is an encouraging and exhorting text to increase our commitment to that wisdom at the same time.
Now let me go to the New Testament with you for just a moment. The New Testament also ties wisdom to the act of believing. For example, go back to Matthew chapter 7...Matthew chapter 7 and verse 26 which is a very familiar text to anyone who has studied the gospels, you remember there are people who hear the Word of God and that's all. And then there are people who do the Word of God and they are the true believers, not the ones who hear and not the ones that say but the ones that do. And then He gives an illustration of that in verse 24, "Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him unto a...what kind of man‑‑what kind?...wise man who built his house upon a rock, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew beat on the house, fell not. It was founded upon a rock. These sayings of Mine are also heard by people who do not do them and they are likened unto...what kind of a man?...a foolish man who built his house on the sand, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew beat on the house, it fell and great was the fall of it." Now here you have the unregenerate man who is very religious. He's got all the religious superstructure but no foundation and he is a fool. On the other hand, you have a truly converted man who does the Word of God and he is a man who is...what?...wise. Wisdom then in the words of our Lord right here is equated with true salvation. It is equated with saving working faith.
Matthew chapter 24...Matthew chapter 24 verse 42, "Watch therefore for you know not what hour your Lord does come, but know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would have not allowed his house to be broken into." Our Lord is speaking, "Therefore be also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man is coming. Who then is a faithful and...what?...wise servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household to give them food in due season?" In other words, who is the exalted and wise servant? Who is this? "Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Verily I say to you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming, and begin to smite his fellow servants and eat and drink with drunkards, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he's not aware of and cut him in half and appoint his portion with the hypocrites and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The unregenerate fool and the man who is ready for the Lord's coming and he was what kind of man? A wise man. Wisdom again is equated with salvation. The false believer is unfaithful and unwise. The true believer is faithful and wise.
Chapter 25, again in the Olivet Discourse, our Lord speaking of His Second Coming tells a parable about the Kingdom of heaven being like ten virgins who took their lamps and the lamps, by the way, represent Christian profession. Those are the symbols of Christianity in the parable. And they went out to meet the bridegroom. They wanted to meet Christ when He came. They had all their symbols of their Christian faith. But five of them were...what?...wise and five of them were foolish. The foolish ones took their lamps, they had a profession but they had no...what?...no oil, that means no reality. There was nothing on the inside. There was only something on the outside. There was a profession without reality. Verse 4, "The wise took oil and their vessels with their lamps and while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. At midnight there was a cry made. Behold the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet Him. Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, that is they adjusted the wick so that it would function, and the foolish said to the wise, Give us your oil, but salvation cannot be transported from one human being to another. And that couldn't be done. The wise answered and said, Not so lest there be not enough for us and you. Go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves." It was too late for that obviously. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. They were ready, went in with Him to the marriage. The door was shut. Afterward came the other virgins saying, just like in Matthew 7, "Lord, Lord, open to us. He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man comes." You don't want to be a fool with a religious profession without reality, you want to be wise, professing Christianity that has reality. So, again, wisdom is equated with true saving faith.
First Corinthians, please, and chapter 1, verse 23 and again we find this same kind of equation being made. Verse 23, "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Gentiles foolishness, but unto them who are called‑‑that is called to salvation and every call in the epistles is an efficacious saving call, so those that are saved both Jews and Greeks‑‑Christ is the power of God and the...what?...the wisdom of God." And listen to that. When you receive Christ, He became to you the wisdom of God. So again wisdom is equated with saving faith.
Verse 30, "But of him are you in Christ Jesus who from God is made unto us wisdom." When you receive Christ, you receive wisdom. In Him, Colossians 2 says, dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, right? And you are complete in Him. So when you receive Christ, you receive wisdom. Those who put saving faith in God are those who are wise. When you fear the Lord, you begin the path of wisdom.
In 2 Timothy, one more passage, I call your attention to chapter 3 verse 15, "From a child," Paul says to Timothy, "you have known the holy Scriptures..." Do you know the rest of the verse? "Which are able to make you...what?...wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Faith which is in Christ Jesus makes you...what?...wise. So true wisdom then is an identifying mark of a saved person. And that is precisely what James is proposing. He is saying here you can know a person's spiritual status by their wisdom. What kind of wisdom do they manifest? What kind of wisdom do they demonstrate? And he compares verses 14 to 16, false wisdom with verses 17 and 18, true wisdom.
Now let's look at verse 13 and refresh ourselves very briefly. James asks the question: who is a wise man? There were no doubt people parading around claiming to be wise. And who is a man endued with knowledge among you? Who is in the know and who has true wisdom? Then he says this, "Let him show it." And he pinpoints three areas. First, out of his good life, that means his general conduct. If he is a truly wise man endued with true divine and spiritual knowledge, if he is really redeemed, he will show it in his general conduct. In other words, if you know him over a period of time and see him in the trials and tribulations and exigencies of life, you will see by his conduct the wisdom of God.
Secondly, not only in his general conduct, let him show it out of a good life but also his works. That means specific deeds. Not only will it be generally made manifest but specifically in a given deed that wisdom of God will be seen. And then finally in an attitude of humility...an attitude of meekness. So the wisdom of God if claimed should be demonstrated in conduct, specific acts, and attitude...and attitude. And every person reading this passage and hearing this message needs to do a little self‑examination. Wisdom is manifesting the power and the word of God in every area of life. So who is wise? The one who proves it by his general conduct, his specific deeds and his attitude of humility.
Now James brings us to the text. First of all, let's look at false wisdom, verses 14 to 16. He begins by analyzing the worldly wisdom that is not of God. It has no relationship to God. It has no obedience to God. It has no knowledge of God's truth. He goes under the surface of this worldly wisdom to tell us several things about it.
First of all, the motivation for false wisdom, verse 14, follow this, "But if you have bitter envying and strife‑‑as the Authorized says‑‑in your hearts, do not glory and do not lie against the truth." Now here we're introduced to the motivation for false wisdom. If you're keeping a little outline, Roman numeral I is false wisdom. "A" under that is the motivation for false wisdom. The issue here is motive because there's a little phrase in verse 14, three words, "in your...what?...hearts....in your hearts." That's the place of motive. As Proverbs 3...Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with diligence for out of it are the issues of life." So he's looking into the heart and as he looks into the heart, he sees what motivates the person. And there are two things that motivate. One is bitter jealousy and two is selfish ambition. We'll look at those just briefly.
What are the motives behind human wisdom? Number one, in the Authorized it says "bitter envying," a better translation would be "bitter jealousy." So James writes, "But if you have bitter jealousy," the word "bitter" means exactly that. Pikron in the Greek means harsh or bitter. It is used of bitter undrinkable water. The word "envying" or the word "jealousy" is zelos. It is used here in a bad sense and it means an evil jealousy. It is the idea of a harsh bitter self‑centeredness that produces basically a resentful attitude toward everybody else.
In other words, it's a "me" kind of world that these people live in. People who possess false wisdom have their own world. It is a self‑formed world. It is a self‑focused world. And it is a bitterly jealous attitude they convey toward anyone else who threatens that little world. They are resentful of anyone who threatens their territory, who threatens their accomplishments, who threatens their reputation, who threatens to crowd their little slice of this world. Human wisdom then is self‑focused and any self‑focused person has a tremendous problem with bitter jealousy. Some handle it better than others, but all self‑ focused worldly wisdom type people struggle with this. Anyone who differs with me is an implacable enemy. Anyone who differs with me is a foe. Anyone who differs with me is wrong. And anyone who differs with me and is successful, I am jealous of, I am bitter against.
And then there's the word "strife" in the Authorized. It's actually selfish ambition, eritheian(?), it means a personal ambition that creates rivalry or a party spirit or antagonism. It's again selfism. It's just another way of pointing to self. First you start with bitter jealousy and that creates the attitude of competition and conflict. And selfish ambition generates a party spirit and a bitterness toward others. The term, interestingly enough, this word "selfish ambition" really once meant spinning for hire. It was used of ladies who made thread. And it was used of these sewing women. It eventually came to mean any work done for pay. And then it came to mean anything anybody did for what they could personally get out of it. It's...it entered politics and it became used with people who in selfish ambition tried to seek high political office, attaining their person goals at any cost no matter what they had to do to other people to get there.
To put it simply, James says, the wisdom that is not of God is selfish, it is self‑centered, it is consumed with ego fulfillment. It has as its goal personal gratification at any cost. It is the goal of humanistic thinking. It is the goal of humanistic sociology and psychology. It is the goal of all materialistic human endeavor, personal fulfillment no matter what is typical of an unregenerate unredeemed heart. There's no selflessness, there's no humility, there's no humble love for someone else. And to put it in the terms of 1 John, there's no love for one another. Proud, selfish, self‑focused, self‑ centered motives for all of life, people working for their personal gain, their personal fulfillment, their personal aggrandizement are manifesting the false wisdom of the world that is not of God and they show the absence of divine wisdom, thus the absence of a relationship to God. James says if you have such a proud loveless self‑centered motive for life, notice verse 14, stop arrogantly boasting. That's what "glory not" means. Stop arrogantly boasting. What are they boasting about? They're boasting that they have...what?...the wisdom of...whom?...of God. And he's saying if you're running around boasting that you have the wisdom of God but the character of your life is proud, loveless, self‑centeredness, stop arrogantly boasting. Stop that. Stop claiming to possess a wisdom which you're not living because, he says at the end of verse 14, you are lying against what is obviously the truth.
In other words, go back to verse 13. James says you say you have wisdom, show it. If I look at your life and I see you motivated totally by self‑centeredness, selfishness, pride, ego‑ fulfillment, then for goodness sake stop your arrogant boast about having the wisdom of God, the fact is you're lying against what is obviously true. Stop claiming to have what you don't have. The truth, that little phrase, no doubt, has reference to the gospel...the truth, the saving gospel. Back in verse 18 of chapter 1, "Of His own will begot He us with the Word of truth." The Word of truth. Chapter 5 verse 19, "If anyone err from the truth and one convert him," links the truth again with the gospel. So he is saying you may be running around claiming to have the wisdom of God, but if your life is motivated by your own selfish ambition, your own selfish desires and you are motivated by bitter envying and jealousy, then whatever may be your claim, you better stop making such an arrogant boast because your lying in the face of the gospel. No pretentious claims to the possession of divine wisdom are convincing when they come out of a heart that is totally motivated by jealousy and selfish ambition. An evil motivated arrogant selfish self‑promoting jealous person is lying in the face of the truth when they claim to have the wisdom of God.
So, he says don't be a living lie. Own up. And he really calls for an inventory of our hearts, doesn't he? He's saying take a look at yourself. What motivates you? What motivates you? Look at your heart. Are you motivated by that which is God honoring? Are you motivated by a love for others? Are you motivated by humility? Are you motivated by unselfishness? Or are you on a massive ego trip to fulfill all your own desires? There is no single characteristic of unredeemed man more obvious than that he is totally dominated by..what is it?..pride and self. That's the nature of it. And there is nothing more characteristically evident of a redeemed person than that he is no longer totally dominated by self.
So, the motive then we see in verse 14. What about the characteristics of false wisdom? Let's go to the second under the false wisdom, first was the motive, now the characteristics. What is false wisdom like? Verse 15, this wisdom, this wisdom that doesn't come from heaven, this wisdom that is not from God, he says, "This wisdom descends not from above." What wisdom? The wisdom that is bitter, the wisdom that is jealous, the wisdom that is selfishly ambitious, the wisdom that is self‑centered, self‑focused, the wisdom without humility, the wisdom without love, the wisdom that doesn't care about other people, just consumes on its own desire...that wisdom is not from above.
What do we mean by wisdom again? Life style...that kind of thinking, that kind of acting, that kind of conduct, that kind of attitude constitutes the wisdom that descends not from above. What does that mean? It doesn't come from whom? God. It doesn't qualify to be called divine. True wisdom comes from God. We have, by the way, surveyed enough Scripture to cover that, but I remind you of James chapter 1 verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask...whom?...God. He's the one that gives it to all men liberally and holds back nothing. And if you ask, it will be given you." God is the source of wisdom. Verse 17, "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." So God is the source of wisdom. He gives it to those who ask as He gives all good gifts. Worldly wisdom, the wisdom of men, as Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, is not from God. It's not from God. It is self‑centered and self‑ focused.
Now he gives us three words to describe the wisdom that is false. One, it is earthly. Two, it is sensual, or fleshy. Three, it is demoniacal. Those are very interesting, those three. Have you ever read in the Scripture or in some book that the believer has three enemies? What are the three enemies of the believer? The world, the flesh and the devil. You notice the parallel here? The wisdom that does not come from above is first of all...what?...earthly, that's the world; secondly, sensual, that's the flesh; thirdly, demoniacal, that's the devil. This is a characterization of human wisdom apart from God.
First of all, what do we mean by earthly? That word means just that. As to its extent, it is limited to the sphere of time and space. It cannot crawl out of its locked prison. Man is in this little box and that box is a box of time and space. Outside is God and all of eternal truth, man cannot get out of his little box, he bangs around in his little box from side to side and top to bottom, he cannot get out. He conceives without spiritual illumination. He never rises above the level of the material world. He is in a closed system, locked up. And everything that he comes to conclude is a part of his own self‑styled system. He is earthbound. And so, all of his wisdom has the mark of the curse of his own fallenness and the curse of his fallenness is primarily his pride and self‑centeredness. So everything the world spews out and everything it spawns is more and more self‑ centeredness. Have you noticed that? Do your own thing...have it your way...even Burger King is into the mode of the moment, but that's the spirit of typically unredeemed humanity...fulfill your own needs, fulfill your own desires, do what you want, don't let anybody invade your square inch. The finite system of unregenerate men who know not God is demanding an earthly wisdom and nothing more. Everything is limited to the corruption of man's system. It pervades his philosophy, it pervades his education, it pervades every dimension of his life.
Secondly, he says it is sensual. That is psuchike(?), it means it's fleshy. It pertains to the life of man, pertaining to his flesh, his humanness, his frailty. Whatever belongs to the life of the natural world, that's what psuchike has to do with. In fact, it says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 the psuchikos man, the natural man understandeth not...what?...the things of God. He is sensual. All of his feelings, impulses, appetites are again in a closed fallen corrupted system locked up. From man's unsanctified heart, from his unredeemed spirit he spawns all of his human wisdom. And whether it's sociology, psychology, philosophy, education or whatever it is, he comprehends man, he comprehends man's problems, he comprehends man's solutions from a purely humanistic fleshy sensual perspective.
That's the wisdom of the world. It is earthbound. It is limited to the sphere of time and space and the fallenness of a corrupt humanity. Secondly, at best it is reflection of his humanness, his fleshiness, his sensual character. That is, it rises not above his bodily impulses.
Thirdly, it is demoniacal. That is the adjective really from the term "demon." It is the only place in the whole New Testament where it appears in an adjective form. And it means demoniacal. And that is to say that human wisdom, though it is all that man can spawn out of his own mind and is locked into his own earthly existence, is really generated by what source? Demons who have been made captive to the same kind of evil system of which men also is a captive. It's just what Paul said in writing to Timothy when he said that false teachers are really teaching doctrines of demons generated by seducing spirits.
So earthly wisdom, now mark this, earthly wisdom is spawned by demons, it is reflective of sensual feeling and it goes no further than the fallenness of mankind. That is earthbound sensual demonic wisdom. And that's the way most people live. But Satan calls it wisdom. Hey, when Eve was in the garden in chapter 3 verse 6, she looked on the fruit because she heard that the tree was able to make one wise. That was a lie. Satan always promises wisdom. And he always promises that you will know and be in the know and understand and be erudite and be educated. But the wisdom of the world proceeds from evil spirits. It proceeds from fallen angels. It proceeds from demons. It proceeds from Satan and his agents who are disguised as ministers of light when in fact they are ministers of darkness. The thing that makes human wickedness so devastating is that man is smart and man is wicked and the combination is deadly. Demonic natural earthbound wisdom, mark it, never touches God. It never touches God. It leads man into smugness, it leads man into self‑content, it leads man into immorality, it leads him into arrogance,