Two Kinds of Wisdom

As I begin the message today I would invite you to close your eyes and consider a few questions…

• Who is the wisest person you have ever known?
• Do you have a picture of that person in your mind?
• What are or were the chief characteristics of that person?
• Where do you think that person got their wisdom from?
• What are or were the results of wisdom in that person’s life?

Alright, you may open your eyes.

I asked you to engage in that exercise because I think that often in life we learn more from people’s lives, people’s characters, than we do from books. So, when we think about wisdom, it is important to have in our minds a clear picture of a wise person we have known. As we proceed through this sermon together, you might take mental note of how that wise person you know or have known, stacks up against the description of wisdom I hope to provide in this message.

Now, when you saw the title of this sermon, “Two Kinds of Wisdom”, what two kinds of wisdom did you think of?

Perhaps you thought of “Conventional Wisdom” and whatever we might call the alternative. According to Wikipedia, “conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public and/or by experts in a field.” So, the alternative to conventional wisdom might be to follow one’s own intuition down a different path.

Well, I am sure there are arguments to be made for both conventional and intuitive wisdom. But that is not what I was referring to in the title of this sermon. James talks about two different kinds of wisdom that are identified in a completely different fashion. Let’s take a look at what he has to say in James 3:13-18…

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

So, in this section of his letter, James tells us there are two kinds of wisdom. I will call them very cleverly: Wisdom #1 and Wisdom #2. I invite you to look with me at the Origin, Characteristics, and Results of both kinds of wisdom.

First, let’s look at Wisdom #1. What is its origin? James says that there is a kind of wisdom that does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, even devilish.

So, the origin of Wisdom #1 is earthly. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. A lot of good things come from the earth.

But James goes on to call Wisdom #1 unspiritual. The Greek word he uses is ψυχική which literally means “pertaining to the psyche or soul”. Now, as with the word “earthly” there is nothing wrong with the soul or psyche in and of itself.

But in the New Testament we see a tripartite division of the human person. There is the body (or soma), there is the soul (or psyche), and then there is the spirit (or pneuma). In this instance, James is using the word ψυχική in contrast to the spiritual (or pneumatic) part of human beings.

Ψυχική is used in contrast to the Spirit in a couple of other places in the New Testament as well. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul says, “Those who are unspiritual (ψυχική)do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”And in Jude 1:19 we read, “It is these worldly (ψυχική)people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.”

So, the origin of Wisdom #1 stems from the world, the psyche, and even from the devil. This is the only place in the New Testament where the word δαιμονιώδης is used.

James’ trinity of “earthly, unspiritual, devilish” sounds like the New Testament’s three sources of temptation: the world, the flesh, and the devil. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul says,

You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.

So, the earth, the psyche, and the devil are the origins of Wisdom #1. But what are the characteristicsof this kind of wisdom? These characteristics tell us much more than the origins. After all, we probably wouldn’t know where this kind of wisdom came from unless James had told us. But when we look at the characteristics of this kind of wisdom, then it will be much easier to identify in our own lives when we come across it.

James names two characteristics of Wisdom #1. The first isenvy.The Greek word that James uses is ζῆλον. The word occurs 16 times in the New Testament. From this we get our English word: zeal. Now, zeal is not always a bad thing. It depends upon what we are zealous for.

2 Corinthians 11:2 talks about a godly zeal. Paul says about the Corinthians, “I feel a divine jealousy (ζήλῳ) for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

When Jesus cleanses the temple in John 2, his disciples remember the verse of Scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

When we are zealous for, or jealous for, what God wants, that is good. But when we are zealous for, or jealous for, what we want, in our selfishness, that is bad.

Even a supposed “zeal for God” can be misguided. Paul talks about a zeal for God among his fellow Jews, but it is a zeal, he says, that is unenlightened. (Romans 10:2) And Paul himself admits to having had a misguided zeal that led him to persecute the church. (Philippians 3:6) That is, before he came to accept Jesus as his Messiah on the road to Damascus.

The second characteristic of Wisdom #1 isselfish ambition. James uses the Greek word: ἐριθείαν. This word occurs 7 times in the New Testament.

Now, once again, there is nothing wrong with ambition, in and of itself. It is a question of its direction. Are we ambitious for the things of God, or only for things to feed our own egos?

As this word is used in the New Testament, it is always negative, always directed toward the self, not toward God.

Intriguingly, Paul uses both of these words in Galatians 5 where he identifies 15 “works of the flesh”:

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy (ζῆλος), anger, quarrels (ἐριθεῖαι), dissensions, actions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, what are theresultsof welcoming and implementing Wisdom #1 in one’s life?James names 2 results. The first is disorder.

The word that James uses is ἀκαταστασία. It appears only 5 times in the New Testament. It is variously translated as disturbances, tumults, riots, commotions. But my preferred translation is: confusion.

In 1 Corinthians 14:33, Paul says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…”

It has been my experience that one of the key signs of the devil at work is confusion. Where there is confusion, you can be sure that Satan has been busy. And no wonder, if we seek worldly wisdom, the kind of wisdom that comes from the devil, then we will have devilish results.

James says the second result of Wisdom #1 is wickedness of every kind. The word that James uses here is φαῦλον and another way of translating that word is as: “worthless”.

So then, if we pursue Wisdom #1 the end result is going to be confusion and worthlessness.

Allow me to illustrate the outworking of Wisdom #1 this way…

In the summer of 2004, my youngest brother, who was 49 at the time, noticed a bump on his lower neck and shoulder. He didn’t think anything of it at the time. I doubt I would have either. Benign cysts run in our family.

However, by the end of 2004, my brother was having some serious headaches. He was finding it difficult to sleep at night. So, he finally went to our local doctor. That doctor, after doing a physical exam, sent my brother to an oncologist who diagnosed cancer.

As things turned out, my brother had a large, germ-cell tumor in his chest. He was treated with chemotherapy that eliminated the cancer. But the drug the doctors used to eliminate the cancer, Bleomycin, produced a fibrosis in my brother’s lungs and he died from that in May of 2005.

Now here’s the thing. My brother was walking around with this time-bomb inside of him for six months and he didn’t even know it. He didn’t even think anything was wrong with him until it was too late.

And that is like what James is talking about here. James isn’t, of course, referring here to physical illness—though the sickness in question can sometimes go with actual physical ill-health. James is talking about a worldly, psychological, even devilish kind of wisdom that we can take into ourselves without even realizing what we are doing. But when we buy into this sort of wisdom, what we are really doing is taking a time-bomb into our hearts and souls. And before long, that time-bomb will go off, eventually killing us, spiritually if not physically. As Bible commentator Tom Wright says,

What James is talking about is ‘bitter jealousy and contention’, a spirit which is always carping and criticizing, which cannot let a nice word go by without adding a nasty one, to take the taste away (as it were). And when someone with that kind of spirit claims to be healthy—claims, for instance, to be a practicing Christian—James has a sharp response. Such a person, he says, is boasting. They are telling lies against the truth.

That doesn’t sound very good does it? So perhaps we better take a look at Wisdom #2.What is its origin? James says that Wisdom #2 comes from above. What James means by “above” is clear when you read James 1:17…

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

What are the characteristicsof this wisdom that comes from the Father above? James identifies 7 characteristics of the wisdom from above:

First, it is pure. In the ancient Greek language and culture, purity had a moral and a ritual aspect to it. One had to be both morally and ritually pure to approach the gods. We see the same thing going on in Israelite religion, at least up until the time of the destruction of the Temple. However, I think James’ emphasis here is on the moral side of purity, not the ritual.

Of course, Jesus is the ultimate embodiment of each of these seven virtues that James mentions. But Jesus is especially pure. 1 John 3:2-3 says,

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

If we want to grow more in purity everything depends upon our focus in life. Are we looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ and the day when he will make us perfect in his presence?

Secondly, the wisdom from above is peaceable. If we are becoming pure as Jesus is pure then we will naturally want to be peacemakers. We will want to relate to God and others in ways that are peace-loving. Hebrews tells us that if we want to be more peaceable, then we have to discipline ourselves. Hebrews 12:11 says,

Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Third, the wisdom from above is gentle. If we are going to be peaceable, then we also have to be gentle. J. A. Motyer defines this gentleness as “tolerantly though not weakly accepting of others, graciously amenable, yielding wherever yielding is possible rather than standing up for one’s rights.”

It seems to me, that contrary to much of the way of our world these days, Christians ought to be fighting for others’ rights, but also devoted to their own responsibilities.

Fourth, the wisdom from above is willing to yield.Gentleness is obviously closely connected to this next characteristic in James’ list: being willing to yield. The word literally means being “reasonable”. Matthew Arnold’s “sweet reasonableness” comes to mind in this regard. Do we give to others the consideration we would want them to give to us?

Barclay translates the Greek word used here as “not rigid”. It seems that the older we grow the less childlike we become. Just as we see in our bodies a “hardening of the arteries”, so also we see in our minds a “hardening of the categories”. The opposite of this would indicate we are following the wisdom from above.

Fifth, the wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits.Jesus is the epitome of mercy. We see mercy in all of Jesus’ actions. And he calls us to be merciful to others as he is merciful to us.

Note: God does not dole out his mercy only to those who are worthy. It would not be mercy if we deserved it. Like grace, mercy is unmerited favor.

Do we show mercy to others regardless of who is at fault? If we are full of mercy, then that mercy will be demonstrated in good fruit, in practical helpfulness toward others.

And speaking of fruit, James’ list here of the characteristics of the wisdom from above is very like Paul’s list of the different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Paul says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control.”

Sixth, the wisdom from above is without a trace of partiality. As we have already seen, in the matter of the rich and the poor that James touched on earlier in his letter, the Christian is not one who shows partiality to anyone. Partiality and Christianity simply do not mix.

However, the word that is used here can also mean “without uncertainty”. The person who is following the wisdom from above is not uncertain; he or she is not like the double-minded person whom James mentions in chapter 1, who is unstable in all that he or she does.

Finally, the person who is following the wisdom from above is without hypocrisy. “Hypocrite” was the name for an actor in Greek drama who wore a mask. Now, we must confess that we all wear masks to some extent as we appear before each other.

For example, isn’t it funny how you can be having a family argument in the car on the way to church, and then when you get out of the car, you are all smiles? We do that because we are afraid to reveal to each other who we really are.

But as I have said so many times, to be a Christian is to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of Christ. That involves being honest with yourself about who you really are and being honest with Jesus about who you are—taking off your mask in his presence. We can get comfortable doing that because of God’s mercy to us in Christ. And the more we take off our mask in Christ’s presence the more we should be able to take off our masks in front of each other too.

As a pastor, I wish I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “I don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites.” My answer is, “Of course! We are all hypocrites. We all wear masks before one another.” Church really ought to be the place where we begin to become comfortable in shedding our masks.

What is the result of following the wisdom from above? James tells us that the result is a harvest of righteousness. And righteousness is all about right relationships. The more we follow the wisdom from above, the more we will be growing in right relationship with God and others.

Now here is the $64,000 question: which kind of wisdom are you going to welcome into your life? Back in chapter 1 of his letter James tells us:

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Do you want the best kind of wisdom? If so, you must start with faith in God, and then you have to ask him for that wisdom. If you have faith and if you ask, you shall receive. Jesus promises this: 

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.