Faith That WorksSample

Who Has Wisdom?

In chapter 3, James asks a really important question: Who has wisdom? And then he follows it up with a difficult challenge: Let that person prove it with their actions.

Wisdom, like faith, if it’s real, has an effect on what we do and how we live. Wisdom is more than just knowing the right answers to hard questions. It’s choosing to live according to those answers when it would be easier not to. Here’s how James says it:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. James 3:13 NIV

Faith is trust, based on evidence, that leads to obedience. And according to James, wisdom is knowledge, based in humility, that leads to good choices.

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:14-16 NIV

If your “wisdom” doesn’t come from humility and it doesn’t lead to right choices, then you know it’s not the kind of wisdom that God cares about. It’s something else entirely that will lead to all sorts of ugly things.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:17-18 NIV

The wisdom we develop when we follow Jesus is wildly different and so much better than the worldly “wisdom” that other people might be peddling. God’s wisdom promises the same kind of fruit that the Holy Spirit produces. Do you see it? The process of becoming like Jesus involves the work of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of God’s Word. We need them both to avoid the negative outcomes that so many people are stuck in.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people,don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? James 4:1-5 NIV

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t cozy up with the world and claim to be a committed follower of Jesus. Aligning ourselves with the world means standing against God! And God wants so much for us to know Him, trust Him, follow Him, and be loved by Him. James tells us God “jealously longs” for a relationship with us! Which is why the good news is so good. Even when we turn our backs on Him, He still offers grace.

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:6-10 NIV

Wisdom produces submission. Wisdom is the knowledge that God is God, and we are not, and that humility motivates us to choose to surrender control of our lives and submit everything to Him. When we humbly admit our need for God and commit to following Him, we are actively resisting the devil and inviting God to come near. And when God comes near, He will, by the power of His Spirit, work with you to clean your hands and purify your heart. And when all is said and done, after God has done what He needs to do, He will lift you up.

So what now? How do we live faithfully and wisely as disciples of Jesus? James concludes this chapter with these words:

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17 NIV

Sin is not just doing what you’re not supposed to do. Sin is failing to do what you are meant to do. It’s missing the mark. What is the mark? It’s what we’ve been talking about all along. Loving God and loving others the same way Jesus does. So, when you know what you’re supposed to do, do it. Otherwise, it will be considered sin. This may sound extreme, but that’s because it is so important. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could chill on the couch. He died and rose again to rescue us from sin and restore our purpose of partnering with Him in His good plans for the world!

Faith and wisdom lead to godly action. Commit to live by faith and wisely do what God has called you to do.

Challenge: Think about or journal through the following questions:

• What good things do you know you need to do that you haven’t done yet?
• What decisions do you need godly wisdom to help you make?
• Who is someone faithful and wise that you can make time to learn from?