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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Wisdom
from Above
(James 3:13-18)
by
Karl J. Forehand
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good
behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your
heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down
from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is
disorder and every evil thing. But
the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full
of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace.
(James 3:13-18)
I like questions like this: “Who among you is wise and
understanding?” inherent in the Greek
word for wisdom, Sophia, is not only the knowledge of a thing, but the
execution of it. Wisdom and knowledge
are not the same thing. This passage
says that if you are wise, you should show it by your good behavior
and deeds. Wisdom then is
“knowledge properly applied.” Sophia
is to “develop the best plans and means for execution.” James returns to the them that our actions
are a fruit (proof) of what you say you believe.
Wisdom is not a badge that we wear, it IS
a collection of knowledge properly applied.
The question then is this, “Have you done the last thing God taught
you to do?” We don’t need more
knowledge – we need to apply what we already know. Sin is not only doing what we shouldn’t; but also not doing
what we should. Who is wise? He must show it by what he does. This passage tells us about 2 types of
wisdom.
Earthly Wisdom
The First Fruit of
Earthly Wisdom = bitter jealousy. The literal definition of this phrase
means “zeal.” That surprised me. Even zeal for the things of God can
deteriorate into things like a win-at-all-costs attitude or a
take-it-from-them approach. Often our
zeal for good things degenerates when we are slothful. We know what we should do, but we avoid
the necessary steps to get there.
Zeal can degenerate when we fail to act or when we impatiently act.
There is not a certain amount of positions
in the Kingdom. We don’t have to
bring someone else down to receive one.
We DO have to act correctly.
Jealousy is not a fruit of heavenly wisdom – it is a fruit of our
laziness and our lack of attention to God’s methodology.
The Second Fruit of
Earthly Wisdom = selfish ambition (strife). This Greek word is very close to our word
for “partisanship.” It is when we
want our group or our interests to be right.
It is a product of envy. Often
we are in the middle of a battle and wonder, “Why am I fighting this battle?” Then, we resolve, “Well, I’m in the
battle, I might as well win it.” The
problem, of course, is that we begin to accumulate casualties in our wars
with others and we may not even be fighting the right battle.
Earthly wisdom is not from above (anothem). It is, first of all, earthly. Who is the prince of the Earth? Satan. We were never
told to be in harmony with the earth – we are to subdue it and manage
it. We are not to be “earth” people,
we are to be heavenly people; and the wisdom we seek must be “from
above.” This wisdom is also natural. We often use the natural as an
excuse. We say “I am naturally like
that” or “that is just how I am:” but God did not call us to be natural. Why?
Because to be natural is to be sinful. We must strive for the unnatural, the supernatural in our
lives. The natural man is
sinful. This wisdom is, last of all, demonic. If something is not of God, it IS of
the adversary. The demonic realm is
real and active. Our earthly, natural
desires are ultimately demonic.
What is end result of earthly wisdom – it
leads to confusion. God is not the
author of confusion.
The
Wisdom from Above
The Fruit of Earthly Wisdom
If there is proof (fruit) that comes from
earthly wisdom, then there should also be proof that you have Godly
wisdom. What are the things our lives
should show if we have wisdom from above.
Wisdom from above is pure. Pure means “truly, certainly, sure,
indeed.” You don’t have to explain
and justify pure things. We would
say, “His motives are certainly good.” “Truly, she is a woman of God.” Would people use words like that to describe you? If you have wisdom from above that
displays itself in action, your actions will be pure – they won’t require
asterisks and footnotes to explain – they will be pure.
Wisdom from above is peaceable. Jesus said, “Blessed are the
peacemakers.” We make peace, not
through ignoring sin, but by confessing it.
We bring the “prince of peace” to others. Are you a peacemaker?
If you have wisdom from above, it will be displayed in your
peacemaking ways.
Wisdom from above is gentle. The Greek word here means
“considerate.” You don’t have to be
soft spoken or weak to be gentle.
Gentleness means that you consider the thoughts, feelings and needs of
others. Are you gentle? If you have the wisdom from above, it will
be displayed in your consideration of others.
Wisdom from above is reasonable. This characteristic means “ready to obey”
and “willing to yield.” We forget
this quality, because earthly wisdom teaches us to demand our rights and
subdue the rest of the pack to get what we “deserve.” Jesus yielded (when He went to the cross)
and was always ready to obey the Father.
Are you reasonable? If you
have wisdom from above you must be “ready to obey” and “willing to yield.
Wisdom from above is full of mercy and
good fruits. If God’s Spirit is
in control of your life, you should be displaying the very characteristics of
God. He should be overflowing in your
life. Is you life full of mercy. If you have the wisdom from above, it
should be displayed as the characteristics of God in your life.
Wisdom from above is certain. Our submission to the Lord should
bring a certainty to our walk. The reason
we are so hesitant and uncertain about our walk is because we are trying to
implement earthly wisdom in a spiritual sounding way. Are you certain about your walk? Wisdom from above should bring a sense of
certainty to our walk
Wisdom from above is sincere. Sincerity is without hypocrisy. If we have wisdom from above we should act
in a way that is free from guile.
The instruction
“What
is sown in peace will have a harvest of righteousness.”
- You have to have the Prince of
peace to sow seeds of peace.
- He has to be in control. It is not enough to “know the
good,” we have to DO it!
- We have to desire what he desires.
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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