What You Know Trumps What You Feel

Tom Shrader continues an expository walk through Ephesians 1, unpacking the spiritual blessings of election, adoption, redemption, and forgiveness that God freely lavishes on believers in Christ. He emphasizes that these doctrines are not meant to generate debate but to provide deep assurance and rest, grounded in what God has already done before the foundation of the world. Turning to James 3, he contrasts earthly wisdom—marked by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition—with wisdom from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and merciful, calling listeners to let what they know about God's grace shape how they live and think.

“God chose you, predestined you, elected you, adopted you, redeemed you, and forgiven you — those are done deals. That's done. And because it's done, it's evidence of these blessings that He's just heaped upon you.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Ephesians

Recorded: 2010 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 47 min

Themes: assurance, grace, wisdom, forgiveness, peace, identity, jealousy, election, struggling with doubt, feeling unworthy, dealing with jealousy, new believer, young adult, navigating conflict, seeking peace, overwhelmed by emotions

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 1:6, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 1:8-9, Colossians 2:10, James 1:1, James 1:2, Romans 8:28, Romans 8:35-39, James 3:1-12, James 3:13-17, Psalm 103:12, Isaiah 44:22, Jeremiah 31:34, Micah 7:18-19, Psalm 22, Proverbs 9:10, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Peter 1:18, Colossians 2:10

Theological Themes: predestination, adoption, soteriology, redemption, spiritual blessings, sanctification, wisdom from above, divine election

Full Transcript

Introduction and Series Context

If you go back about two-thirds of the way in the Bible we provide, you will find the New Testament. Go to page 150 and you will find the book of Ephesians. If this is the third or fourth week you have said, "Give me a Bible to use," I would really recommend you go and get yourself a copy of the Word, some notebooks, and be ready to go. This is a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. The earliest manuscripts do not include that phrase, "to the church at Ephesus," and we believe this was designed to be a general letter — one that would be sent to a church, copied, and then circulated among Asia Minor.

I do not want to do a long summary, but I encourage you to visit the website where you can find the first week's introduction. Last week we focused on the balance of verse 2 and then got into verses 4 and 5, so let us pick up there. Verses 3 through 14 are, in the original text, one long sentence, and Paul introduces some powerful terms in those verses.

Every Spiritual Blessing

Verse 3 sets up the heading when Paul says, "Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." We asked the question last week: how do we bless God? We understand how God blesses us, but how do we bless Him? We are talking about the praise and adoration we give Him as we thank Him and acknowledge who He is and what He has done.

Paul says we bless God because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Every spiritual blessing there is, every good thing — James says in James chapter 1 that every good thing that comes into our life comes down from God, from heaven. So we bless Him because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.

From there, Paul begins to enumerate those blessings. You start to see words like choosing — another word for that might be election, or predestination. We see the ideas of God's will, God's grace, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, insight, mercy, the inheritance He gives us, salvation, and the promise and pledge of the Holy Spirit. All of these are contained in that first very long sentence — verses 3 through 14 in our translation.

The Text: Chosen, Predestined, Adopted

Paul writes: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, just as He chose us in Him" — and this was done before the foundations of the earth — "that we would be holy and blameless before Him, and in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself. And all of this was done according to the kind intention of His Word, to the praise of the glory of His grace."

This adoption, predestination, and choosing were all done as a result of His will, His desire. When we add the phrase "before the foundations of the earth," we see this was not some afterthought. It was not whimsical. This was God's deliberate plan before this world ever began.

This flows from the many blessings He has, which in verse 6 He freely bestows — heaping them on us in His beloved. The beloved there is Jesus. At Jesus' baptism, God says, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." So in Christ, God has heaped these graces and blessings upon us so that we have every spiritual blessing. Paul says to the church at Colossae in Colossians 2:10 that we are complete in Christ.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 4 this way: "Long before He laid down earth's foundation, He set His mind on us, He had His mind on us and His focus of His love on us to be whole and holy by His love." What motivates God is His love for us. God drives home to us the reality of every spiritual blessing found in Christ as a result of His love for us.

Election and Predestination: Security, Not Debate

Immediately, in verses 4 and 5, Paul introduces two terms that over the years have generated all sorts of debate and argument: "chose us," this idea of election, and the idea that He predestined us. It is really important to keep fresh in our minds that these terms were not invented by some human author. You will frequently hear a discussion on Calvinism, for example, but Calvin did not invent these terms. Luther did not invent them. Paul did not invent them. Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and God interjects these terms — not to generate some sort of debate or discussion, but to let you know how safe and how secure you truly are.

It is in Him that you find all of your security. That relationship in Him, from which all these other blessings flow, is absolutely secure because He made that determination before the foundations of the earth. These terms are linked not to a debate, though we do not mind having that discussion. They are linked to the idea that we can rest assured. In the midst of a world full of uncertainty, challenges, and difficulties, we find a sense of peace in this.

Turning to Romans 8

I said last week there are two passages of Scripture that, wherever I go, I find myself returning to again and again. We went to one last week, and we ought to go to another one today. So if you mark your place in Ephesians, turn to the left — past Galatians, 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians — and you will find Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 is designed to provide us the enormous comfort we should derive from the idea of God's choosing and God's predestining us. He predestined us, remember, to adoption. He brought us into the family.

Adopted into God's Family

In the entire Old Testament, the authors referred to God as Father only 14 times, and never in a personal way. It was always as the Father of the nation. Jesus comes along in the Gospels and 60 times calls God Father. The only exception is when He is on the cross and He is quoting from Psalm 22, and He says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" There is a relationship that has been opened up. We are now adopted into God's family.

In the Roman world, the idea of adoption emphasized the rights and privileges bestowed by the father onto the son. It would not at all be unusual for a father to go out and adopt a grown son so he could pass the inheritance onto that one specific man. Under Greek law, a boy or girl who was adopted could never be disowned. There is the idea of the permanence of that relationship. God brings you in, He chooses you, He predestines you into that relationship, and He does it out of His love.

What We Know

Turn to Romans 8, verse 28 — a passage so familiar to us because we go there often. If you mark in your Bible, circle, underline, whatever it is you do, those first three words are really important: "And we know." This is a fact. It is not speculation. It is not guessing. It is not a hope. And we know.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together." It does not say God causes all things — God is not responsible for sin in the world. But God takes the things that come into our lives and works those things together for those who love God. This is not a universal promise. If you are here and communion was passed and you said no thank you, you are not a follower of Christ, then this promise is not for you. Our prayer is that you would come in repentance and faith, but this promise is not for you.

Paul says we know that God has a plan for us. God causes all things to work together for those who love Him and those who are called according to His purpose. The idea of predestination and election is not designed to divide us, but to unite us under the truth that God has predestined and chosen us, and there is assurance that comes from that.

Nothing Can Separate Us

Look at verse 35. "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" It is the same concept — not my love for Him, but His love for me. Paul then lists tribulation, distress, famine, and persecution, and says no, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer. Paul says in verse 38, "I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."

When Paul says you are adopted and you are chosen, he is saying he wants you to be confident in this relationship. This adoption, this predestination, these blessings, this grace that He freely bestows on you — it is a cognitive, conscientious, clear choice that God has made, and you cannot change it. You are into the family of God, you are grafted in, and there is nothing that can happen that can separate you from God's love for you. No created thing — and anything other than God is a created thing.

The Cry of the Heart

When I was in high school, there was a jewelry store in town that had these little buttons. I assumed it was just in the Quad Cities, but I have learned since that it was all over the country. It started in a jewelry store, and pretty soon radio stations were doing it. It was a simple little button that everybody was wearing that said, "I am loved." That is the cry of man. That is the cry of our heart — to be loved, to find acceptance.

We will do all sorts of things for acceptance. We will engage in all sorts of behavior because we think that if we do that, people will respond to us positively, will love us, will want to be around us. That is a deep fear we carry — the fear of rejection, not just from God, but from one another. When I sit with discussion groups and ask what people are afraid of, one of the things I hear over and over again is rejection. We want to be liked. We want to be loved. We want to be accepted.

Even in our closest relationships, there are things we keep hidden. You will hear a husband and wife sit down and one will say, "If I knew that about you, I would have never married you." So we hide those things, though most of them we cannot keep hidden forever. But this God loves you. And God is never going to say, "If I knew that about you, I would have never chosen you. If I knew that about you, I would have never predestined you." Because He knows all those things. He will never wander away. Nothing can separate Him from you if you are truly His child.

Redemption Through His Blood

Verse 6 speaks of the praise and glory that has been bestowed on us, bestowed on us in Christ. Verse 7 says, "In Him" — that is, in Christ — "we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of our sin." We have the idea of redemption. In the Old Testament, when we talked about redemption, there were two meanings we would look at. One was the idea of to ransom or to purchase back, and the other was the

Redemption: Purchased at a Price

The idea of being set free comes together here with the picture of Israel in the Old Testament, released from captivity by God from the nation of Egypt. Historians tell us that at the time of the Roman Empire, when the New Testament was being written, there were about 6 million slaves in the Roman Empire. The buying and selling of slaves was big commerce. If you had a friend, a loved one, or somebody you cared for, you could actually go and purchase their freedom. You would be given a certificate of freedom, and there was a day when that person was now free.

Paul says to us in 1 Corinthians 6 that we were bought at a price, that we are now slaves to Him, purchased through the blood. 1 Peter 1:18 says, "You are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but by the precious blood as the lamb, unblemished and spotless, the precious blood of Christ." You have been redeemed. You have been forgiven.

Three Types of Forgiveness

With redemption comes forgiveness, and there are three types of forgiveness to consider. First, there is personal forgiveness — the idea that I am no longer at war with God and have been accepted by Him. Second, there is ethical forgiveness — I find some alleviation for the burden and guilt that I carry around. Third, there is legal forgiveness — my death sentence is commuted.

With personal forgiveness comes something amazing: the elimination, at least theoretically, of my guilt and blame. Novels are written about it. Stories are written about it — the guilt and shame that we carry.

The Weight of Unforgiven Guilt

Chuck Colson tells the story of a man named Albert Speer, who was a confidant of Adolf Hitler. Because of his technological skills, Speer was able to sustain much of the German war machine during World War II. He was one of 25 war criminals tried at Nuremberg and, interestingly, the only one who pled guilty. He served a 20-year sentence.

Colson talks about seeing Speer in an interview on Good Morning America. The questioner said to him, "You have said guilt can never be forgiven, or shouldn't be. Do you still feel this way?" Speer looked into the camera and said, "I served a sentence of 20 years, and I could say I am a free man. My conscience has been cleared by serving the whole time as punishment, but I can't get rid of it." He was promoting a new book and said the book was part of his atonement, part of clearing his conscience. The interviewer pressed him and asked whether he really didn't think he would ever be able to clear it totally. Speer replied, "I don't think it's possible."

Do you feel the heaviness of that? I have heard versions of that story. I have had people say, almost in passing, "I don't know if God could ever forgive me." I have had people, as we talk about grace and mercy and forgiveness, say, "I'm not sure God could forgive me." But on one occasion, I had a man in a Priority Living study come to me afterward and say, "You talked about forgiveness. I don't think God could ever forgive me." I asked him what happened, and he began to tell me his story. It was awful. I told him I understood what he did was bad, that it was horrific, and that I understood why forgiveness felt impossible — but that God could forgive him, and God would forgive him.

I remember him walking away with tears pouring down his cheeks and his hands in his pockets. We were upstairs, and you could hear his voice all the way down the stairs: "I don't think He could. I don't think He could. I don't think He could." What a heavy burden of guilt to carry.

What God Says About Forgiveness

That is why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary." Listen to what God says to us over and over again in His Word.

Psalm 103:12 — "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Isaiah 44:22 — "I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."

Jeremiah 31:34 — "I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more."

Micah 7:18–19, written hundreds of years before Calvary — "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possessions? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

It is significant, I think, that God says as far as the east is from the west. If He had said north from south, consider what would happen: if you go north long enough, you eventually go south. But if you start going east, you can never go west — you just keep going east. That is the picture of how completely God forgives.

A Room Full of Burdened Hearts

My conviction, coming into a room this full — having met many of you for the very first time today — is that some of you carry a burden of guilt and blame and sorrow and broken hearts that you do not think can ever be healed or forgiven. Some of you come from a world that is loveless, and you wonder if you will ever be loved. Maybe there have been relationship after relationship that has broken, friendships that have been violated, and you are wondering whether anybody loves you or will ever forgive you.

That is what the cross is all about. It is the picture of God's love for His people, God's forgiveness. I look back over my own life — over the first thirty years of it — and I see a life that was absolutely wasted, a history that has a path cluttered with broken relationships.

Accepting God's Verdict on Ourselves

There are people who were hurt and destroyed by my sin — things I committed that I am not only not proud of, but embarrassed and humiliated by. And yet I do not carry around one second harboring guilt over it, because I know God has forgiven me, and that is what is important. I know God has forgiven me, and I know that in that forgiveness I find indeed a new identity.

John MacArthur — and this didn't seem like something he would write, which is what made it so interesting — says this: "Because God accepts every believer as He accepts His own Son, every believer ought to accept himself in the same way." What he is saying is that it is arrogant to say, "I can't forgive myself." We do not accept ourselves for what we ourselves have done, any more than God accepts us for that reason. We accept ourselves as forgiven and as righteous, because that is what God Himself declares us to be. To think otherwise is not a sign of humility but of arrogance, because to think otherwise is to put our judgment before God's Word and to belittle the redemption price paid for us by His own beloved Son.

Every Spiritual Blessing

Here is what Paul does at the beginning of this letter. After a standard introduction, he says he wants you to praise God — to bestow thanks upon Him, blessing upon Him. The thing that will make that happen instantaneously, or at least it should, is for you to understand that He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing. Then Paul begins to lay them out.

He chose you. He adopted you. He predestined you — all according to His goodwill, out of His grace. He does it, as we say all the time, in spite of you, not because of you. He has redeemed you. He has brought you back. He has delivered you from the bondage of sin. You are free. You are forgiven. You are loved in the most perfect way you could possibly be loved by the Creator God of the universe.

In the midst of this, Paul says He does this according to His grace — verse 8 — which He lavished on us. The latter part of verse 8 connects with a thought in verse 9: "In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mysteries of His will." He then begins to lay out what those mysteries are. When we talk about mystery here, it does not mean something unknown and never to be known. The mystery as Paul uses it refers to things God has made known to us that were hidden in the past — things that at one point in time people did not know, but now they can.

Wisdom and Insight

I want to focus on that last part of verse 8 — the idea of wisdom and insight. Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Wisdom is the idea of understanding — understanding things like life and death, God and man, time and heaven and hell. It allows us to see into the heart of things. Insight is the right practical expression and application of that understanding. It is how that understanding applies to the principles of everyday living. The Bible tells us that He lavishes these upon us — they are poured out upon us.

James on Wisdom

Turn to the book of James, chapter 3. We want to talk about the idea of wisdom and add to it the idea of understanding — wisdom and how it connects to the way we live. The book of James is a highly practical book. When I taught it in Priority Living, I titled the study "Blue Jean Theology." It is everyday, practical, rugged, and very useful, and you will see lots of application.

James is writing to believers who were scattered, and he immediately in chapter 1, verse 2 talks about trials — they are under persecution. The book is filled with practical application. When you get to chapter 3, verses 1 through 12 form the longest contiguous discussion on the tongue, on speech. I have learned firsthand over my career that this little thing can get you in trouble, and it is hard to control. No human can in fact control it — only God can — and yet it is an expression of what is within us.

James is getting ready in chapter 4 to talk about the problems the church has. They are warring; there are quarrels and opposition; the church is not getting along. And he drops in this section on wisdom. He says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom." If you are wise, James says, I am going to see it.

"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 it 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, good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy."

Two Kinds of Wisdom

James says he wants to talk about wisdom — this understanding of life and death and the things around us — and what that is going to look like in life. You can tell whether a person is wise or not, not by an IQ test and not by some analytical matrix. You can begin to see it in how they react to the circumstances around them. James says there are two types of wisdom.

Earthly Wisdom: Bitter Jealousy and Selfish Ambition

There is wisdom that is earthly, and there is wisdom from above. There is wisdom that is natural, and wisdom that is supernatural. There is wisdom that is demonic, and wisdom that is godly. James leads into this discussion in verse 14, where he says if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition — the word "bitter" carries the idea of sharp, prickly, pungent. Jealousy here is the idea of something harsh, sharp, cutting, and destructive, having no concern for anyone else's feelings.

So when you have these sharp, self-centered thoughts, words, and attitudes in your heart, they give way very quickly to selfish ambition — the "I want what I want" posture. Ambition here is the quest for more and more and more. You can picture the universe described this way: here I am, and everything else circles around me. If my attitude is sharp, contentious, and focused on me, I will put my name on all my buildings in big gold letters and talk about me, me, me, I, I, I. My main concern when something happens is, what does it mean to me?

If that thought process is present, James says you are going to see bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart — and they will come out. Just as it came out in the preceding section on speech, it will come out in behavior. He says do not be arrogant. That is the idea of boasting, bragging, and promoting yourself. That kind of arrogance lies against the truth.

This wisdom — the wisdom that results in bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, the wisdom that is arrogant — is earthly. It is thinking on this plane, not thinking heavenly. It is what is natural, and it is what a child of God would not do. It is the evidence of a child of disobedience, a child of wrath. We use this illustration often, and it is borne out every Sunday in the nursery: the moment you bring out the goldfish crackers without regulating them, war breaks out, because every child wants what they want when they want it. That is all James is describing here.

The Fruit of Earthly Wisdom: Disorder and Drama

If you have jealousy and selfish ambition in your life, verse 16 tells us there is going to be disorder, disarray. Things will be chaotic, double-minded, unstable, confused. You might put it this way: lots of drama. Now, life does bring things to us that create real levels of tension and disorder — that is understood. But if I am living in a constant state of disorder, if it surrounds me, and especially if within relationships there is this unrelenting tension, I need to stop and take an inventory and ask: how much of that is me?

Even in the middle of a battle or a struggle, what comes to mind is the whole arena of politics and civil debate. Rather than vilifying every side, we have to recognize that when we become culture warriors — this side against that side — we are being played, and nothing gets resolved. Some level of civility is necessary. I have many people in my life with whom I have deep disagreements — theological, political — but I am not at war with them, and they are not my enemy. This is really important to understand.

You cannot hold a business together in a spirit of constant contention. You cannot hold a family together that way. You cannot hold a nation together that way. When everything is discontentious and angry, you have earthly, natural, demonic wisdom at work.

Wisdom from Above: Beginning with Purity

The wisdom from above is something altogether different. Look at verse 17. When you read that sentence and examine it grammatically, what James appears to be saying is that these are a list of characteristics you should expect to see, and they come in a sequence. The wisdom from above is first pure — free of contamination or defilement.

There are four types of purity worth considering here. The first is purity of thought. Paul says to focus your mind on the things above, to set your thinking on what is pure. We cannot always control what comes into our eyes or ears — we are simply barraged with things. But what Paul means when he says "set your mind on the things above," and what James is communicating here, is this: do not let your mind sit and dwell on those things. Do not let your mind go there and stay there. Take those thoughts captive.

The second type is purity of habit — getting control of the places, the people, and the things around you. I had an instance once with a man from Tucson, and I am comfortable sharing this knowing you will not know who he is. I was teaching down there, and he told me he wanted to share something he had never told anyone. He described having had a series of one-night stands — homosexual relationships with scores of different men. I think he expected that to shock me, but it does not. We are sinful people, and that happened to be where his sin was at that moment. God can forgive that just as He can forgive some of you for eating too much. God can forgive that sin — just being honest.

Purity of Habit

He said he'd like to talk about it, so I said okay. I asked him to tell me how it happens and when the last time was. He said he'd had three of these situations in the last two weeks. So I asked about the first one, and he said he went to this bar — and I stopped him right there. I asked about the second one, and he said he went to this bar — stopped him again. The third one: he went to this bar. I said, okay, here's the first thing. I always give a disclaimer that I'm not trained and don't have a degree, but here's my advice.

The answer seems obvious from the outside, doesn't it? But when you're in it, it isn't that easy. I'm not trying to be personal — it's just like saying "don't order the fries" or "just go to the gym." I have to tell myself the same things. You can't just say don't do something without replacing it with something else. Don't just avoid the bar — but I want you to love God more than you love what's going to happen in that bar, because if you don't have that affection replacing the no, just saying no isn't going to work. There has to be a no that has an affection behind it.

That's purity of habit. And it's just as easy to diagnose your own life as it was to diagnose that guy you didn't know. You know the pattern, you know the place, you know the people.

Purity of Motive

Purity of thought and purity of habit lead to purity of motive. In every relationship, at every time, in every instance, I am either ministering to a person or manipulating them. I'm either trying to bless them or trying to do something that will get them to do what I want. That's virtually every relationship, every time.

So it's not only about doing the right thing — it's about doing it for the right reason. That was Jesus' whole problem with the Pharisees. When you pray, don't pray like they do. When you give, don't give like they do. When you fast, don't fast like they do. He's not saying don't pray, give, or fast. He's just saying don't do it like they do.

Purity of God's Word

The last one is the purity of God's Word, and I couple all of these together. So when I talk about purity, it's the purity of thought, the purity of habit, the purity of motive, and the purity of God's Word.

Remember, our context here is wisdom — wisdom to understand the deep things of life, death, heaven, hell, people, money. And the source of that wisdom is the One who created all of it. I was watching a pastor recently, and he was preaching really well, really going. He kept saying, "Faith comes by hearing, faith comes by hearing, faith comes by hearing." Now, is that true?

Faith comes by hearing — but by hearing what? When he said faith comes by hearing, his point was that you have to speak things into yourself so you hear them. But that's not what the scripture says. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We've said it many times: we study the Word of God so we can know the God of the Word. It is a book written by God — a timeless God communicating to us. That relationship is what will sustain us.

The Character of Godly Wisdom

So James says this wisdom is first pure, and then it is peaceable. Blessed are the peacemakers. I have peace with God, so I have the peace of God, and as far as it depends on me, I am living at peace with the people around me.

Then it is gentle — the idea of forbearance and consideration. The phrase I always use is strength under control. And godly wisdom is also reasonable and teachable — the word I use is coachable.

I spend a lot of time in various settings with younger people, and others will ask if I can spend time with them or mentor them in some way. There is always one characteristic that trumps everything else: are you coachable? With a young person, that can be difficult, because you give them advice and they reject it at the speed of light. You have to make a determination — is that just being young, or is that a character trait? If it's just youth with a little arrogance to it, I can relate to that and live with it. But if argumentativeness is a character trait, I'm not interested.

The wisdom from above is reasonable. It overlooks human frailty. It overlooks the hurt and pain that others will cause you. And it is also full of mercy — tender, sympathetic, compassionate.

Compassion Learned Through Experience

Now, this is a simple illustration. I used to hear about people having food poisoning and think nothing of it. I had eaten in some of the dirtiest places around and never had a problem — food poisoning, what does that even mean? Then one day I ate sandwiches with mayonnaise that had been left out all day. No one in the history of mankind has ever been as sick. And I was just getting on a plane from San Francisco to Phoenix.

Now, when someone tells me they have food poisoning, I say, give me knuckles — I am with you.

The Wisdom That Comes From Above

Larry Wright was the most merciful guy I ever saw. He had a broken heart — a broken heart because he saw the damage his own sin had done to so many people. Most people, I don't think, are intuitively merciful, but life experience can shape that in us. That wisdom from above is full of mercy, and of good fruit, and it is unwavering, and it is without hypocrisy. It is the real deal.

Paul is saying to you and me that you have every spiritual blessing from above. God has chosen you, predestined you, adopted you, redeemed you, and forgiven you. All those terms are significant and important, but the idea there is not to debate them. He is not saying God has chosen you, predestined you, elected you, adopted you, redeemed you, and forgiven you — now let's debate it. He is saying these are done deals. That is done.

And because it is done, it is evidence of the blessings He has heaped upon you. Then He comes along and gives you wisdom — that is the ability to see the hard issues and the heart of the issues around you. He gives you wisdom, and He gives you insight, and He gives you practical application of how to live.

Taking Inventory

Now is a great time to stop and take an inventory and ask: is my wisdom earthly, or is it natural? Is it demonic, or is it from God? If I see all this stuff around me, I need to stop and say, maybe I am thinking like a normal person, where I need to be thinking like a supernatural person.

Next week we look at the mystery that God reveals to us in chapter 1 of the book of Ephesians. Let us pray together.

Father, thank you for these amazing and wonderful truths. Thank you for the comfort that we find in knowing that You chose us, You predestined us, You brought us into Your family — it had nothing to do with us, all generated by Your will and Your kindness. Father, I pray that we would rest and be satisfied in the gift that You have given us: the gift of life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of truth. God, thank you for that. We praise You in Christ's name.