Blue Jean Theology Part 10
Tom Shrader examines James 3:13-18, distinguishing between two types of wisdom: earthly wisdom characterized by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition that leads to disorder, and heavenly wisdom that begins with purity and manifests in peace, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, and authenticity. He emphasizes that godly wisdom requires a converted heart and flows from a right relationship with Christ, challenging listeners to examine their own motivations and thought patterns.
“Knowledge is the accumulation of information, wisdom is the application of information.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Blue Jean Theology (2011)
Recorded: 1996
Duration: 42 min
Themes: wisdom, humility, peace, gentleness, mercy, jealousy, selfishness, authenticity, struggling with jealousy, dealing with selfish motives, seeking godly wisdom, examining personal motivations, mentor, teacher, mature believer, spiritual leader
Scripture: James 3:13-18, Romans 12:2, Romans 12:18, Hebrews 12:14, Matthew 5:9
Theological Themes: sanctification, spiritual maturity, biblical wisdom, holy living, godly character, heart transformation, christian ethics, practical theology
Full Transcript
We are working our way through the book of James, and we've entitled the series Blue Gene Theology because James gives us doctrine. All Scripture we know is inspired by God. We know all Scripture's doctrine. But he gives us an emphasis, not so much on the doctrine, but on the application. That's James' whole approach to this thing. And nowhere is that more evident than in the material we looked at last time we were together and this time as well, next week additionally.
Very important, let me just remind you, I had a discussion with someone the other day, and they were talking about the book of James. And they made the fundamental error that I warned you against the very first week, and I think three or four times even since then. When you look at the book of James, when you look at any Scripture, you guys got this figured out by now.
When I'm looking at real estate, the three most important things are location, location, location. When I'm interpreting Scripture, the three most important things are context, context, context. I've got to know who's saying what to who. What's he talking about?
Context is Critical
James is not trying to tell you how to become a Christian. We're going to use the word saved. James is not telling you how to be saved. James is saying, if you are a Christian, if you are saved, then your life should look like this. And you better understand that going in, because if you don't understand that, you're going to get all messed up as you start to try to apply this stuff.
So James is saying to you, to me, to everyone that reads this book, if you are a Christian, you should live like this. Not in specifics, even, but he gives us some very broad parameters that we can apply to our own life. And we are looking at this entire study in the book of James, and really, we should do it any time we read Scripture, but especially when we read the book of James.
We are holding a mirror up, we're looking at this, and we're interpreting or trying to understand our own life. This is not the time to be figuring out the person to your left or right, or the person that isn't here. We want you focusing on you in this discussion.
The Transition from Tongue to Wisdom
Now last time, James talked about the tongue, and he said it has the power of life and death, and it can be vicious. But the tongue is so important, because it reveals what's in my heart. Next time, he talks about quarrels and strife. But in the middle of that discussion, at the end of chapter 3, in verses 13 through 18, he gives us this little parenthetical insert on wisdom.
We're going to go ahead and read it, then we'll come back and just spend a half hour or so and see if we can't pull some stuff out of here. Here's what he says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let Him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom."
Again, it's almost a repetition of that theme. Phillips does the first verse this way, "Is there someone wise and understanding among you? Then let his life be a shining example of humility that is born out of true wisdom." So you get a sense here, he's setting you up for what he's about to tell you. He's got the little jab, jab, jab, and here comes the left hook from nowhere.
The First Kind of Wisdom: Earthly and Selfish
"If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition..." Now those two phrases are very important to understanding one kind of wisdom. In fact, you'll even see him repeat it. "If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't be arrogant and lie against the truth."
In other words, if you're bitter, if you're jealous, if you're selfish, and that ambition that you have is selfish ambition, you're concerned about yourself and yourself alone, if that's true in your life and you say you're a Christian, you're a stinking liar. That cannot be true.
That wisdom, that wisdom that is jealous and selfish, is not that which comes down from above, but it's earthly, it's natural, and it's demonic. Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder in every evil thing. So you get the sense here that he's talking about wisdom. He begins by talking about one kind of wisdom.
The Contrast: Wisdom from Above
Verse 17 now, we get the comparison. But, here's one kind of wisdom, here's the other kind. "But wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, then gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." And we'll tie verse 18 together when we're done.
So as we look at this, just right off the top, we can see that James is saying to us that there is a wisdom. In other words, there's a way that we're to live. When we started this series, we talked about two things. We talked about knowledge, we talked about wisdom.
We said knowledge is the accumulation of information. Never have we lived at a time that has more knowledge than the time we're living right now. We have an explosion of knowledge. What we don't have a whole bunch of is wisdom. Knowledge is accumulation of information. Wisdom is the application of information.
Common Sense Isn't So Common
That's why when you're sitting down and you're talking to somebody, you find yourself saying, hey listen, it's only common sense. And they go, duh. And that's because common sense is not so common. They're not very wise. There aren't many who are wise.
Now, two kinds of wisdom, and you get the contrast. The first one is earthly, natural, and demonic. It's not from above. You see the contrast there? So you've got earthly versus heavenly, natural versus supernatural, demonic versus godly wisdom. And then what James does, and that's kind of neat because watch how you don't even need me today.
This just falls right into place. You just see it, bam, it's right there. He starts to describe, if I've got wisdom, how do I know the wisdom I have? How do I know my thought process is either godly or demonic, natural or supernatural? How do I know that?
Well, you'll know it by its fruits. You'll know whether you're thinking like God or thinking like man by your fruits. Now, the fruit of natural, demonic, earthly wisdom is bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.
The Nature of Bitter Jealousy
That phrase, bitter jealousy, the phrase I've been using is zealous jealousy. It's jealousy that just wants to cut and rip. And when we talk about jealousy, we're talking about me wanting what you have. Oftentimes, just because you have it. And I could even be jealous by not wanting what you have. I just don't want you to have it. That's what jealousy is. It's an awful, hideous thing.
If it has a twin, the twin to this is pride. But what I want is I'm jealous. I care about me, myself, and I, and that's it. I have a language and vocabulary that is filled with singular personal pronouns: my, me, I.
And I'll tell you, I have fought that battle frequently. I try, even though I've just used the word about eight times, frequently I will not even use the word I. I'll use the plural, I'll say we. And it's proven a hassle, at least for Susan, because I'll say, well, we were gone this weekend. Well, everybody assumes that it was Susan that was with me. But actually, I went by myself. I just love to hear myself say I. And I know that if I say it enough, I start to think about me. And out of that comes every sort of stinking evil.
The Dark Side of Human Nature
Jealousy is a horrible thing. Again, it's me wanting what you have. That's how we typically think of it. Or it's me just simply not wanting you to have it. When I was a banker, and I don't believe I coined the phrase, but I don't remember hearing it anywhere else, it was my view of the office. I said the dominant philosophy, at least that I felt, was this: the next best thing to making a deal was seeing someone else lose one.
And that's the dark side of this. Maybe having them go all the way to the brink. If you really didn't like them, you like to see money go hard, and then the deal blow, because now they've really spent it. So then they're really, boom. Well, this is this bitter jealousy. This is this dark side of man. And it seems to be in virtually every person.
I was in line at the grocery store the other day. I'm on yet one more diet. I'm like you. I don't go on a diet anymore, but I'm changing the way that I eat. So I'm eating all this fruits and nuts and bananas and stuff. So all of a sudden, I realize I need some licorice. So it's been two days. So I blow into the grocery store to get my licorice, because I wanted a certain kind. I take two parts red and one part black and wrap them. And not that I'm in a rut or anything.
A Grocery Store Revelation
So I'm standing in line. I'm standing in a line that frequently, I don't go to the grocery store hardly ever. But if I do go to the grocery store, I go in this line. It's the express line. And I'm there because it says express. We have a person who's being trained. And some of you have to be trained, and I understand that. She's really struggling with what is 10% of $5. And we are now lined up at the express line. So I'm sitting there, and I'm thinking, OK, because I've learned, I've trained myself. OK, I'm thinking, OK, illustration, just control yourself. It's wisdom.
And all of a sudden, I began to contemplate, as I looked around me, something I'd never really thought of before. Is Richard Gere mating with an alien? And it was right there. And I hadn't really thought about it until it was put in print before. And I said, oh, well, there's only one more to go from Cindy Crawford. There's only one place to go, I guess, from there.
So I'm thinking about this now. And then I had the thought that I'll bet you've had, and that is, who buys this stuff? And why would someone buy this stuff? And I think it ties back into here. I mean, it's like the fascination with Princess Di and Prince Charles. I don't get it. And I think it's more than just a passing thing. I mean, it's a real deal here.
And I think the reason is, we don't want anybody that happy. I don't know if you realize it or not, but Geraldo still does an hour every night on OJ. Every night, he's on TV with OJ. What the heck is the big deal on this? Well, I think it's a fascination with that dark side that says, I don't want somebody who's got it all together.
The Media and Our Dark Fascination
I watched an interview with Robin Leach once. I thought this was fascinating. And Leach said, we frequently blow our filming budget on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. And I said, why would that be? And he said, because we will have crews set for days. Because we will never film the rich and famous in clouds or rain. They shouldn't be viewed in rain. Never really thought about it that way.
But I guess there's this side of us, this kind of dual side that we struggle with, that idle curiosity and that desire, selfishly, to want no one to have it all together. I finished a great book last summer on the Nike story. And in it were some terrific quotes. John McEnroe had the best quote, I thought, in the whole book. He said, people love success, but they hate successful people. There's something about when you say success, that's great, until you personalize it.
The Fruit of Earthly Wisdom
He said, that kind of wisdom, that kind of thinking, when we talk about wisdom now, that kind of thought, that is selfish and jealous. And the outflow of that is disarray and evil. When I start to think that way, everything in my life is in disarray, and everything is evil. It flows from pride. I mean, it drips off of there. Pride.
You live in a time where there's this massive emphasis on self-esteem. And we've got to have self-esteem. And let me give you my own spin on this. And I think it's accurate. I happen to think it's biblical.
I think whether you feel good about yourself or bad about yourself, both are wrong. You shouldn't be thinking about yourself at all. We are obsessed to our own demise, individually and corporately as a nation, with self-esteem. Two years ago, the high school students in the United States ranked 13th among 14 industrial nations in math. We ranked first in self-esteem. We have no idea what 2 plus 2 is, but we feel good that we don't know what it is. We are happy that we feel good.
It seems to me that the whole command of scripture is deny yourself. That doesn't mean sit and whip yourself. You'll start to see the pictures on TV now of these people crawling through glass for Holy Week. That's not what this is talking about. This is talking about saying, I'm not proud about myself. I'm not disappointed about myself. To the extent that I can, I want to think less and less about myself, because when I think about myself, I'm thinking about myself. Pretty soon, I become self-absorbed. Natural wisdom says I'm the center of this planet, and everything else flows around me, and I become selfish. That's what He's saying.
The Wisdom from Above
But verse 17, there's a contrast here. There's a flip side of this thing. But there is a wisdom. It's in contrast to that earthly, natural, demonic wisdom. It's a wisdom from above. It's a wisdom that's supernatural. It's not one that you can just say, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can," and you'll produce it. It's the answer to the question He asked in verse 13. Here it is: "Who among you is wise and understanding?" Well, it's this person that He describes in verse 17.
When you look at verse 17, and you read verse 17, "the wisdom from above is first pure, and then peaceable, and then gentle," and read all that stuff. What kind of strikes you, what jumps right out at you as you read verse 17? The wisdom from above is first. See, I want to suggest to you that I think He's giving you a sequence here. I don't think He's saying, here's a whole bucket load of these things. I think He's saying there's a process here. That wisdom from above is first. He even goes "first" and "then." I think there is sequence in this.
Wisdom Begins with Purity
I think He's saying that wisdom from above begins with something that we almost mock now, and that's purity. We don't hardly ever use the word in the form it used to be. We may talk about pure gold, or we may go to Incredible Universe to try to find an audio unit that would give me a pure sound. Once every 10 rounds, I might hit a pure shot. But pure. Pure in terms of the way that we talked about it.
Somebody asked me a question the other day that I thought was a pretty interesting question. They said, "When's the last time you blushed?" I mean, when's the last time you saw something so horrific? We used to blush at almost the slightest thing, just a little inference to something. And we've been so exposed to everything, we don't blush much anymore. Purity. I believe He's giving you a key here. He's saying wisdom from above has a characteristic about it, and the first characteristic is it's pure.
Four Elements of Purity
Let me give you four elements to purity. First of all, I think He's talking about purity of thought. In Romans 12:2, Paul said, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed." How's that? "The renewing of your mind."
Now, ladies, I'm going to let you learn a lot about guys in these next few moments. Not like you don't already know it, but I'm going to confirm what you suspect in these next few moments. For I'll let you figure out your own purity of thoughts, but I will tell you, for guys, most guys struggle in the area of thought and purity as it relates to women.
The Lust Index
In this area of thought, I've developed my own little approach to this. When Jimmy Carter was president, he had something called the Misery Index. I don't know if you remember. You combine the cost of living plus unemployment, and Jimmy was able to get that baby up to about 32, as I remember. I have something called the Lust Index. And it kind of corresponds to fashion, corresponds to two things that drive it: fashion and time of the year.
We are coming in to a very hot season. We are about to see a rapid increase in the Lust Index. Skirts are short, and shirts are tight. But then it doesn't even matter if they're tight or if they're loose. And it is about to be hot. Ladies, when it is hot, I've observed you tend to wear fewer clothes. And guys tend to struggle with this. Guys are sick. And these thoughts are not pure.
Living on the Razor's Edge
I had breakfast with a guy a while ago who is really a neat guy. And we got talking about this. And he said, "You know, I'll tell you something. I love my wife. I've never been unfaithful to her." He has implemented a policy in his office where he hires women who are not particularly attractive, but are terrific, competent people, just so that there's no temptation. And even then, he says, here's his phrase, "I live on the razor's edge. I can fall at any minute." I mean, it is really difficult.
And the first thing he said, "I can't, in many instances, I can't even control what comes in." By the time a high school student graduates from high school, they have seen the equivalent...
By age 18, the average American has seen approximately 350,000 television ads. Most of them are using sex to sell everything. For a guy, this is a huge deal. So men, the first thing I have to do is I have to get control of my thoughts. You'll see how these tie together.
Here's the second thing. It's purity of habit. It's a pure lifestyle. It's controlling the people, places, and things. I had a guy in a study a few years ago down in Tucson. He came up to me after one of the studies, and he said, "Could I talk to you?" I said, "Sure. Is it important?" He said, "I'd like to do it today if we could." I said, "Listen, I just had a guy cancel. Let's just do it right now."
He sat down. You can tell. You can just tell that there's something. Whatever this is, this is going to be big, because he is nervous. He's all over the map. So I said, "Hey, listen, I've been through this before. Just say it." He said, "OK, listen, my wife doesn't know this. You're the only person I've ever told this to." I said, "OK." He said, "I've had a series of one-night homosexual encounters."
I said, "OK. Tell me about it. I don't want to know all the detail, but what happens here?" Well, here's what's happening. I forget how many instances there were. Every one of them began in the same bar. Now, most of you don't have a PhD in counseling. But if you were me at that moment, what do you think you might have said to the guy? Not in the bar.
Yet he's saying to me, "Tom, you don't think I know that?" But there is this incredible struggle. Even as I'm going in to say, "I don't want to do this. I know I don't want to do this. I don't want to be involved with this. I think I can overcome it tonight." And away you go. It's purity of habit.
Practical Wisdom in Daily Choices
I've observed, for example, that people who tend to go to a place like the Q and work out tend to be really fit people. That's why they go there. I think, for example, guys, probably gals too, but guys especially, I think if you need to cool down, you shouldn't do it at the juice bar with 15 hard bodies sitting there. I don't think good things happen. Go by and get a big gulp at Circle K on the way home and cool down in the car.
See, that's just using your head. That's just taking a... Most of the times when we have a moral failure, it's not us falling off a cliff. It's kind of a gradual toboggan ride down the hill. It starts with a thought, puts us in the wrong place.
Purity of Motives
Here's the third thing. It's the purity of motives. It's doing the right thing for the right reason. Years ago, I love this story. Years ago, I met this guy, and we're talking. He has no idea what I do. He was a developer. Somehow, we got talking about church. I won't even tell you what city he's in, because that would ruin this.
He said, "I found a great church." I said, "Really? I'm really interested in those kind of things. What was it that made this church great for you?" He said, "The city manager and the director of planning and zoning go there." I said, "Really?" He said, "Yeah, I'm on a waiting list to get into their Sunday school class." Apparently, all the other slime developers were trying to get in there.
Well, I thought that was kind of interesting. We can be doing, and this is really important, we can be doing the right thing externally, but be doing it for the wrong reason. Just so you understand this, that's what religion is all about. See, religion, at its very core, is selfish. Religion, at its very core, says, "I'm going to do this to appease God. I can make God happy." That's why God hates religion. God despises religion.
At no more time of the year do you see more religion than you've got going on right now. You've got all sorts of religion running around. But it is not orthodox Christianity. It's not a relationship. You and I need to struggle to do the right thing for the right reason.
The Need for a Converted Heart
You cannot possibly do the right thing for the right reason if you don't have a converted heart. The only way your heart can do something good is if you empty it out before Christ and embrace Him alone as your Savior. Without that, you cannot, in God's eye, and this is very important, you cannot, in God's eye, do a good work. Your work physically may be the same, but God looks not at the work. He looks at the heart.
Purity of thought, purity of habit, purity of motive. Here's the last thing. It's purity of God's word. Really, in my mind, that kind of precedes, supersedes, and overwhelms everything else. When I understand that this is the word of God, then really, now I know where to go and get the answers.
The Jefferson Bible: A Cautionary Tale
Have you ever seen this book? You familiar with it? Look familiar to you? It's a Bible. Well, kind of. It's Thomas Jefferson, the Jefferson Bible. This is where Jefferson did something I always wanted to do. He took the Bible, especially the Gospels, and he eliminated all the stuff that was hard, that was narrow, that wasn't ecumenical, and that was supernatural. So he got rid of all that stuff. He ended up with about 15% of what's in the Gospels.
I would not recommend wasting the time reading this. This is a perfect illustration of someone who may be one of the greatest minds that we ever produced, who's got about no wisdom at all. He thinks he can do a better job than God did. Again, I wouldn't waste my time with this.
But to prove my point, let me read you the last sentence of Thomas Jefferson's Bible: "There they laid Jesus and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed." That's the end of Jefferson's Bible. Not a lot of hope there, is it? According to Jefferson, He's still in the tomb. This whole Easter thing is a scam to sell flowers. Why do we even celebrate it, Jefferson said. Nothing supernatural. He didn't rise from the dead. If He didn't rise from the dead, then you and I are about something here that is vain and useless.
The Wisdom From Above: Pure and Peaceable
Christmas time brings people running around with buttons that say "Jesus is the reason for the season," which is fine. But it seems to me, if there was ever a time to wear that button, it's now. Pat McMahon is on his eternal search for the meaning of Christmas. He never tries to find the meaning of Easter, because it only goes in one direction: a risen Savior, an empty tomb. That's what the Word of God says.
Some of you struggle with this, and you're just guests here, and you're wishing right now you weren't. We're glad you're here. But I'm telling you, if He rose from the dead—and the evidence is overwhelming—if He rose from the dead, then I suggest you better figure out whether He told the truth or not. If He did, He's God. And if He's God, He says the only way to heaven is through Him. There's no other way.
James says the wisdom from above is first pure, and then these other attributes flow out of that. The first is peaceable. The Scripture is filled with the idea of you and me living in peace. "As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everybody" (Romans 12:18). Hebrews 12 says try hard to live in peace with everybody. Matthew 5 says "Blessed are the peacemakers."
Peace Must Begin Vertically
But the Scripture is clear that I cannot have peace around me until I have peace vertically with Christ. If I am not in a peaceful relationship with Christ by grace through faith, I can't begin to have peace around me. If that relationship is right, then I should be in a position of peace.
Here's what that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean my life is smooth. My life will still go up and down, and circumstances are going to be all over. Drunk drivers are going to run red lights and hit our kids. We're going to lose babies and jobs and everything else. The circumstances are not steady, but my response in the middle of it is.
There should be in your life a sense of tranquility. Jesus said, "I'm going to give you a peace, a peace that passes all understanding." The only way—very important—the only way I can know if I have a peace that passes all understanding is to put myself in real hellish circumstances. I'm not going to get it sitting in the middle of cashing my huge bonus check. Not a lot of challenge there. I'm going to know whether I have peace or not when I'm in the fire. That's when I'm going to understand that.
Gentleness: Strength Under Control
I'm also going to have a sense of gentleness and reasonableness in my life. Gentleness means strength under control. You want a picture of strength under control? This is real easy. Look to the cross.
I confess I've got kind of a sick mind on a lot of this stuff, but I used to try to think about what if I was Jesus? How would this have been? It seems to me I could have handled anything—the beating and all this—but there was one point that would have gotten to me. It's when He's hanging there and they're mocking Him and some little punk in the crowd yells, "He saved everybody else, but He can't save Himself." At that point I would have gone down, put his little head there and crushed him. That would have been the end of this thing right there. I can handle all this other stuff, but this would have gotten to me.
The problem is the man spoke truth. He could not save Himself and save us too. He had to die. When you want a picture of gentleness, it's not just being a pushover. It's strength under control. It's a life that is continually in the process of overlooking human frailty.
Marriage and the Art of Meeting Needs
This is how this starts to come together. All of a sudden I'm in a marriage relationship where I have two people: the man whose biggest desire is to meet his wife's needs, the wife whose biggest desire is to meet her husband's needs. That marriage cannot fail.
The problem is I'm busting my back to meet her needs and she's not meeting any of mine. So I say, "Well, I'll tell you what, I'm way ahead in this meeting the needs deal. When she catches up to me, then we'll start again." Every time we're counseling couples, we got a husband and wife and we're sitting on the couch watching this play itself out. Every time there's some version of keeping score that's going on here.
The guy will say, "I'll tell you what, I did three nice things for her two days ago. She hasn't done one thing for me since. Well, I'd dump her. I mean, why would you put up with that? I wouldn't put up with that for a second." See, that's the whole picture.
Do I understand pain? Some of you are looking at me very angrily. I understand pain and I understand hurt, but I'm sorry. Once you say "I do," that's your person. Your commission is not to have them meet your needs—it's for you to meet their needs. Whether they meet yours or not, that's the deal. You signed up for it "for better or for worse." This is as bad as it can be, but you said you'd be there for this. Didn't you?
Reasonableness: Willing to Yield
It's also reasonable. Reasonable means literally willing to yield. It's the idea of being open to reason. There are two elements to it: the idea of teachability and the idea of obedience. It should be a reoccurring thing—it is a reoccurring thing—should be familiar to you in the book of James: hearing, doing, hearing, doing, hearing, doing. It's not enough just to hear this. I've got to do it.
Sticking with physical fitness for a second, I discovered something over Christmas. It's one thing to own a treadmill. It's another thing to use it. Two different things. I can drive by Circle K and get a box of Twinkies and a Big Gulp, drive to the gym and sit in the parking lot and say, "Well, I've been at the gym an hour," and leave. There's a big difference between going there and doing it.
I say to you, as honestly as I can, from my heart to yours: there's a big difference between hearing this stuff and living it.
There's a big difference between going to church and being a Christian. It's reasonable spirit. Not only that, it is full of mercy. It is giving people, not giving people some of the things that they deserve. It's a tender, sympathetic, compassionate spirit.
Now again, I don't think you can have that until you've suffered. I give you three very simple illustrations, two pretty trivial. I used to hear about people having food poisoning. And I'd say, I've eaten at some of the dirtiest, scummiest dives in the world. I've never been sick in my life. I got food poisoning. When somebody says to me now, "I have had food poisoning," I'll say to them, "Let me tell you about food poisoning."
I used to see somebody that had chronic pain. And those are kind of the worst. You kind of want blood or stitches or something. You just got chronic pain. It can be crippling chronic pain, but I'm telling you, you can't relate to that. Because in your mind, you're going, "My shoulder hurts every other day too. My back hurts. Suck it up." And then God gave me that hand thing where I could not even put my hand in my pocket for the nerves were raw and the pain was there. I couldn't swing a club or throw a ball. At night, if the sheet brushed over my hand, I was up like a shot. Now somebody talks about chronic pain, I go, "Pain, let me tell you, pain. You ever seen this? This is pain right here."
Mercy Born from Suffering
The other night, we were at the hospital with a neat couple. They were trying to have a baby and they wanted to have it before midnight for a couple of reasons. Number one, she was only five months along, so there was no chance this baby was going to survive. Number two, the next day was their two-year-old son's birthday. They didn't want those days to hit. They were really hurting. And yet in the midst of that, there was a joy in that room.
I did all my kind of pastoral deals and then came a couple who about seven months ago, we buried their newborn. And when they walked into the room, the whole thing changed. They've got mercy and compassion that flows out of hurtful circumstances.
The Final Qualities of Godly Wisdom
There's two last qualities of this godly wisdom. It's unwavering. Pretty soon, you got this guy that's reasonable and he's gentle. You think you got this Christian Harvey Milk Toast guy that you just slap him and he turns the other cheek and pretty soon, he's just like this all day. No, there is an unwavering, but here's what he does. He says, these are the things, and there aren't that many of them. These are these things that are truly important and upon these, we will not waver. But everything else is up for grabs.
And also, it's without hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is somebody who pretends to be something they aren't. That's what it means. It means in the old Greek, it means to be a play actor or somebody playing a role.
The Example of Judas
This is a great time. I'll give you the great, to me, the guy that to me embodies this idea of hypocrisy is Judas. I'm still amazed that friends of mine argue, "Do you think Judas is in heaven or hell?" Let me help you out. He's in hell. This is a no-brainer. That's what the Bible says. He's in hell. He never was a believer.
What's interesting to me is he's the guy that kept the money. So apparently, the other eleven felt comfortable that this guy was a trustworthy guy. There's a point where Jesus, the night before He died, said, "One of you will betray me." It always seemed to me at that point, eleven pairs of eyes should have gone to this guy, the guy with one big eyebrow. It's got to be him. That's not what He did, is it? Evidently, this guy was able to fool Peter and all the rest of them. That's why, frankly, in most cases, unless it's blatant sin, we just kind of leave the judging to God. Because I can't see your heart. And you can't see mine.
The Fruit of Godly Wisdom
If you have godly, supernatural, heavenly wisdom, your life is characterized by those seven traits. In that process comes verse 18. Let me paraphrase it for you. When we work at peace, we sow in peace a seed that produces righteousness. Righteousness means right living. When I think with the wisdom from above, I begin to live a life that's right.
Well, Tom, that's fine and dandy, but I've just looked at my watch, and it is 7:47, and I got to go, and I'm leaving here to go to this hellhole I work in. I got this jerk I can't stand that works for me, or I work for them. I've got a spouse that's driving me crazy, and I got people all over that are really driving me nuts. This is great theory, but how do I put it to work? How do I make it work? What's a system for me? How do I apply this in my life?
Well, we're out of time, so next week, we'll tell you how to do it. Next week, Mark will tell you how to do that. No, I'm teasing. We'll see you next week.
Father, we thank You for the fact that You have told us how we are to live, and when we look at this list that is pure and reasonable and gentle, full of mercy and unwavering and without hypocrisy, I find myself saying, "I can't do that." And God, I believe that's what You want us to say, for this wisdom is supernatural. It begins first as we have a peaceful relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus Christ, and when that relationship is in place, now we're ready to live. God, as we look at this, help us understand this is very serious business for us. We pray that You would give us lives that would attract others rather than repulse them. And in those instances where there is conflict in our life, as far as it's possible, we pray that we would not be the cause of the conflict unless it's to defend Your Son and Your Word. God, give us the wisdom on how we're to live. And Father, then give us the guts to live that way. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. See you next week!