Alright again I invite you to turn in your Bible to our text for this morning which is James chapter 3. This morning we’re going to look at verses 13 through 18. Verses 13 through 18 of James 3. Alright this is the Word of the Lord.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. Now this wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Now, let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we come again and we want to thank You and praise You for such a blessing and privilege of being gathered as Your people. We remember again those who are unable to be here, we commit them also under Your hands. We pray that You too would draw them near unto Yourself. We pray in particular for those who are unwell, for brother John and perhaps others. We pray that You might continue to strengthen them and grant them recovery. We continue also to pray for our brethren further afield in other more difficult places.

We remember our brethren in Ukraine this morning and those also in Myanmar and those in Afghanistan. We pray that You’ll continue to preserve Your people and help them that they too might be able to continue to worship You, that the churches might be able to in some way gather perhaps in small groups to encourage one another and to hear Your Word. And we pray that indeed You will continue to do good to Your people even this day. And for us here, we pray again that You’ll bless our time as we open up Your Word. We look to You that Your Spirit might grant us understanding. For these we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

So, we have a charismatic, the next one will be hallelujah. Alright as we open our Scripture to James chapter 3, and this is the last part of this chapter. Now we’re looking at the subject of wisdom. And I’ve entitled this morning as “True Wisdom”. The reason is because as we look at this passage here, the Bible not only tells us of wisdom but the Bible also differentiates between true and false wisdom. So, if you think you have wisdom, then you have to find out from the Scripture whether your wisdom is true or is fake or false. Alright true wisdom. Now as we look at this passage here, you see that James begins with a question in verse 13. He asks: “Who is wise and understanding among you?”.

Now put it another way is by asking who among us is wise. I think that is an important question for us to ponder. I’m not sure how often we ponder upon this question: Who among us is wise? And if it is important. But if I’m not wise, now what if you are not wise? Is it important that we are wise? Now as far as the Bible is concerned, it is extremely important. Woe to those who are not wise. And that’s the reason why we have what we call the wisdom literatures in the Bible such as Proverbs. And if we read through Proverbs there is this call to us to seek wisdom above all things. Above all things we should seek wisdom more than you should seek money or for money or for other things.

Wisdom is so very important. James is going to tell us that. But not simply wisdom. Maybe you say ah, I’m looking for wisdom too. I seek after wisdom, but what kind of a wisdom? There is only a kind of wisdom, a true wisdom, a wisdom which is from God from above rather than the wisdom which is from men, from the earth, from a society. You see, a problem that James at the start is helping us to think through this issue here. So, who among us is wise? Who? Are you? Now people used to think of Steve Jobs as I don’t know they call him wise or smart. So is Steve Jobs wise or Steve Leong alright. Who is wiser?

Now we have to think alright who is wiser. And how do we determine? You see, if we put two persons up, then we say how do we decide who is wiser? And where do we go to to look for wisdom? Do we go to the school, to the university? Where? Or to parliament or politics for wisdom? So where do we go to for wisdom? Now these are the questions that we have to think about as we think about if wisdom is so important, is so vital to us, and we need to seek it, where do we go to look for wisdom? And also, how can we tell a wise man from a foolish man? How can we tell a wise man from a foolish man?

Alright so those are the questions I’ve just raised here. I raised those questions because although James doesn’t raise all the questions, but I think it’s all implied you see in the first question or in the question he asked: Who amongst us is wise and understanding”. Alright so what we’re going to do, what I’m going to do here in this text is to look at these. And first of all, we look at the manifestation alright- the manifestation of wisdom. And then we’re going to look at the source. Where do we get this wisdom from? And then we are going to look at the result alright- the result of wisdom, true or false wisdom. Alright so let’s begin by first of all looking at the manifestation.

Now you see, that’s how James begins here now in this section. When he asked the question: Who among you is wise and understanding? And then he supplies the answer alright. And then he tries to help us think through this question. And he says let him show (that’s my translation). Now let him show by good conduct that his works are done in meekness and of wisdom. Now your translation perhaps says “by good conduct let him show” alright. Now I think that let him show. Now what James is saying is that we can tell who a wise man is by his life (or in the NIV said “by his good life”). Good life means by his life, his conduct, his behaviour. The kind of life he lives.

Now we look at a person’s life, you see his behaviour, you see his preoccupation, you see his priorities, you see what he is you know as far as he is concerned what his life is all about. Now then we can determine whether this person is wise or foolish. Now we see that that is what James is helping us. He’s saying that is how we can know. In other words, he’s saying that the way we can tell whether a person is wise or foolish is not by looking at his exam result. Oh, straight A’s, oh very wise. There are very many stupid straight As people. Now you might think how could that be? Straight A’s and you say he’s stupid, foolish. But that is as far as the Bible is concerned.

Perhaps most people who have excellent academic results are actually very foolish. Then we shall find out why the Bible says so. So that is what James says. So do we put this person through an IQ test? And then he scores very high and he said oh, this is a very wise person? Is that how we determine? No, James says that is not how we determine. He says this is how. We look at the man, he says. We look at his life. We look at his action. Now in the Bible is always the taste. Turn with me for example to some of the passages in the Bible that speaks to this subject about foolishness and wisdom, about who really is a foolish and who really is a wise man. Luke chapter 12 alright- Luke 12:17-18.

Now look at what Luke writes here concerning what Jesus says. In Luke 12:17, here is part of the parable of the rich man. And Jesus says in verse 17 about that man. He says: “He thought within himself, saying, ’What shall I do”. You see, we can look at this man. Yes, he’s rich, but he’s not wise. He says what shall I do? And then in verse 18 and he said again: “This I will do”. Now Jesus is helping us to think through. And He said as you look at this person, he’s wealthy, and he has got a plan. He has got a clever plan of how to increase and maintain his wealth. We look at many people like that in the world. They are rich, they are wealthy, and they got great investment plan and they grow richer and richer.

And then people say look at this person. He’s such a clever, wise person. Maybe a lot of parents think that that is wisdom. And so, the way we train our children, we train them that way. You can know how to make a lot of money, you are very clever, wise kid. And so, in the little kid’s mind he thinks that that is what it means to be wise. I want to grow up to be wise. And so I will do what this man does. I would think. I will tear down this barn. I will build a bigger barn. I will invest in a bigger you know investment or company you know.

So, this person is thinking, very clever. As far as the world is concerned this is worldly wisdom. But what does God say of this person? Is he a wise man as far as God is concerned? And Jesus tells this story or tells this parable to make the point that although this person seems to be very clever in the eyes of himself and in the world, but listen to what God says to him in verse 20. “But God said to him, ’Fool!”. You see, the Bible is counter intuitive you know as far as we are concerned. They counter to our thinking pattern. Everyone will say that this is wise, this man is wise. And how come God said to this man fool? He’s fool.

You look at his life. Look at his preoccupation. You look at his priority. Look at what his life is all about. His life is all about this life. His best life as it were, it’s all here. You know what God says to these people? Fools. Why does God say that this man is a fool? God says because this man doesn’t understand that he who lays up treasure in verse 21: “He lays up treasure for himself, but he’s not rich toward God.”. God is not in his thoughts. God is not in his calculation. God is not in his life, in his thinking. All his thinking is outside of God alright. He thinks about himself for himself and he’s a fool.

Or you look at Matthew chapter 7. Matthew 7:24. Verse 24, again Jesus, here Matthew writing. And here’s Jesus saying, telling a little parable here. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man”. So here is a wise man. And then here is a foolish man in verse 26: “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man”. Can you not see what Jesus is saying here that there are many foolish men or women in the church?

You see, these are not people who do not listen to the Word of God because verse 26 tells us that these are people who hears the saying of Mine. They come to church. Maybe they attend Bible study. They hear what Jesus says. They hear the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hear the preaching of the Word, but they do not do what Jesus tells them to do. These are foolish people. They go out and they just live life as usual. Just go on, do what they have all the while being doing. And that is foolish because there will come a day of accountability. And these people, these foolish people will not stand the Day of Judgement. They are building on the sand. They will perish. They will be wiped away. They will be destroyed. Oh, so foolish.

Why don’t you think about that day that will come? Why don’t you think about eternity? Why you only think about this life? People who only think about this life, who live for this life, they are foolish people. Foolish men and wise men. Or at Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25 and listen again to what Jesus says here as recorded by Matthew. Matthew 25:1-2, Jesus says: “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”.

Now again you see this is a huge issue in the Bible. It’s so important that we understand the importance of being wise. That’s the reason why the Bible speaks to this subject again and again all over the Scripture. And here are these ten virgins (five wise and five foolish). How do we know these five are wise? How do we know? You give them an IQ test or you look at the exam results and say oh, these five are wiser than the other five? How do we know? By looking at their life, how do they live their life. You see, the foolish virgins are those who live their life without regards for God. They were not prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord comes, they’re finished. They were not ready.

See, many people in this world are like that. They are simply not ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus- of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not ready for the Day of Judgement. How often do you think of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? How often do you live your life in light of Judgement Day, in light of the fact that one day you will stand before the judgement seat of Christ and to give an account of yourself? How often do you think about that and live your life and make decision in light of eternity? Maybe during this time of pandemic, it should be a time where people should realise that this world is fleeting. It’s only a temporarily that we ought to be thinking in terms of eternity because people are dying.

And then we have a war in Ukraine. What would the people there be thinking that their business taken off, their homes been bombed. They are running for their lives. This is the world. This is the life that we have. This is the kind of world that we’re investing our lives in, our time and our energy in. It will be destroyed. It will be destroyed; the Bible tells us. And so how should we live? How should we live? That is wisdom. If you know how to live your life rightly before God, now that is wisdom. And that’s why, come back to James chapter 3 alright- James chapter 3. Now that’s what James is talking about. How do we tell who among us is wise?

And he says well this is how we know. We look at his life, let him show by his life with his behaviour, his conduct, his priorities. How he lives his life, whether they are done in meekness or wisdom. Now you know the phrase there the meekness of wisdom or humility or wisdom. In other words, James is saying that these people, the wise people, now this is how they live their life. They do not live their life with arrogance. Boasting is what we see you know in verse 14: “But if you have bitter envy or jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast”. Now you see opposite are those who boast, are arrogant. In what sense are they boasting?

In fact, James mentioned you see about these people in the next chapter in chapter 4 and verse 13 about these people who said: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and buy and sell, and make a profit””. Now sounds familiar? Sounds like what everybody is doing. Today and tomorrow we are going to make more money. We’re going to do this investment and going to do this thing. Listen to what James writes in verse 14: “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”. That is your life, here today and gone tomorrow.

See, this is kind of being impressed upon us again and again throughout the last two years. Daily we hear people here today, gone tomorrow. Here this truth is being impressed upon us with wars in Afghanistan and in Ukraine. Here today, gone tomorrow. We are only here for a while. Your life is like vapours. Do not boast. And he says, verse 15: “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we live and do this or that. (Verse 16) But now you boast in your arrogance.”. Now that is foolishness to think that our life is in our hands, to think that this world is forever, to think that we are going to be like here you know for eternity, to think that we have no one to account to.

Now when James writes in verse 13 of chapter 3 that these people’s life is lived or done in meekness or in humility of wisdom, he is thinking you see of what the Old Testament teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These are people who humble themselves before God. These are people who know God. That’s why they dare not boast. They know that their lives are in the hands of the Lord. These are the people. And so, James says like this is how we know whether a person is wise or foolish. You look at his life, look at how he spends his time. You look at his preoccupation in life. You look at his priority in life. You look at how he makes decisions in life. You look at what he considers, whether he considers God.

This is how we know whether a person is wise or foolish. Why do they act differently? I say because one is in the meekness of wisdom. They are humble. They know God. They fear the Lord. They understand. You see what the Bible teaches about that, meekness of humility. But the fools- the fool says this. Psalms. Psalm chapter 10. Psalm 10:3-4. Now listen to what the psalmist writes about those who are fools. Psalm 10:3-4: “For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire”. Selfish ambition alright, James writes about that. These are people who are self-seeking. Their life is about what they want rather than if the Lord wills we will do this or that. Rather than what God wants.

And so the psalmist writes: “The wicked, the foolish boasts of his heart’s desire. He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord”. The wicked, verse 4 in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Verse 13, why do the wicked renounce God? Because he said in his heart You will not require an account. God will not judge us. There is no such thing as a Judgement Day. We can live as we like. That is foolishness. That is not meekness; that is arrogance. That is thinking that you are your own God. That is foolishness. And so it’s self-seeking, it’s pride. It does not consider God.

And so, James says now you see a foolish man and a wise man, you can know not by his academic qualification or by his business successes or by whatever. You can know by looking at his life. The manifestation of true wisdom is to look at a person’s life. Secondly, the source alright- the source. Now where does this wisdom come from? If this wisdom, true wisdom is so important, where do we get it? Where does it come from? The source of true wisdom. Alright let’s come back to James 3. James chapter 3, the source of true wisdom. And James tells us. James tells us this that true wisdom comes from above or comes from God.

Verse 17: “But the wisdom that is from above (as opposed to verse 15) the wisdom that does not come from above”. So, there is a wisdom that comes from above; there is a wisdom that does not come from above. In other words, it comes from below. It comes from somewhere else. True wisdom comes from God. Now that’s the reason why in chapter 1 alright, remember James says that if anyone lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives liberally or generously to us. If you want wisdom, go to God. Go to Him in prayer and go to Him before His Word because this is how He gives us His wisdom. This is the wisdom of God. The gospel is the wisdom of God.

You see, the gospel is an amazing message to the world. It is an amazing message to the world that you know no one could have come up with that message or come up with that plan of salvation. It’s a wonderful message. And so, you remember Paul tells us in First Corinthians. First Corinthians alright, and he says that well this is the amazing wisdom from God alright. The message of the cross. Verse 18 of First Corinthians 1: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”. And then verse 20: “As people don’t believe”. People don’t see the beauty of it.

“So where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”. Now you see, what Paul is saying is that this wisdom here, the gospel is the wisdom of God. The Bible is the wisdom of God. If you want wisdom, this is where you go to for wisdom. Now I have tried to emphasise this or bring this up again and again for us who are helping others and for parents, now this is the wisdom of God.

If you want your child to be wise, it’s not a matter of sending them to the best school. You can send your child to the best school, to the best university, pay expensive tuition fees, but that is not how your child gets wisdom. Now this is how. 2 Timothy 3:15, when Paul writes to Timothy and say that: “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”. Now what Paul is saying is that Timothy’s parents (and here particularly in reference to his mother and grandmother), they know that if their child or grandchild were to be wise, now this is the way to get wisdom to them that “from childhood they have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ”.

That is the wisdom of God. The Word of God is where we find wisdom. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 119. Psalm 119:98. Psalm 119:98, now here the psalmist says: “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts”. Now here you see the psalmist is saying that I am being made wise and all the other people than the wise men in the world. That’s what he means, than the ancient, than the clever people, than the philosophers. I’m wiser than all these people because I meditate on Your Word.

You see, if you know the Scripture, you are wiser than all the wise, so clever people in the world. That’s what the psalmist sees here. Now you see that the wisdom of God is different from the so-called wisdom from below or from the world. See, the wisdom of God is so radical. That’s the reason why people reject the wisdom of God. They reject the Scripture. They reject the gospel. To them is foolishness because as they listen to it, you mean you’re going to tell me that this man, Jesus of Nazareth can save me from my sin? You see, He was being challenged again and again even when He was on earth. You can help us? You can save us? You mean the gospel?

You mean you tell people to come and believe in Jesus Christ and repent of their sin, they can be saved? He said we have better ways. You know we have some meditation to do. We have some good works to do. We have better ways to be saved. You see, the wisdom of God is radically different than the wisdom of man or of the world. Now you see that in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, and here we have the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. If you are teaching the Scripture, if you are teaching the wisdom of God to people, this is what you will say to people. And this is what Jesus said to the people when He was on earth.

Matthew chapter 5 and beginning in verse 37: “But let your ’Yes’ be ’Yes,’ and your ’No,’ ’No.’ And whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”. Just be honest. Let your yes be yes. Speak the truth all the time. You know that is considered as foolishness in the world that sometimes they say you must cheat. Sometimes you must tell lies you know, those white lies, lies of necessity. Then you can survive in this way. There are those people who do not tell lies at all and let your yes be yes. You’re a foolish man as far as the world is concerned. Or verse 38: “You have heard that it was said, ’An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’”.

That is the ways of the world. If you hit me, I hit you alright. I’m going to get back at you. But Jesus says in verse 39: “I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other cheek also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.”. Now you see, these are radically different from the teaching of the world. And Jesus said in verse 43: “You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”.

This is the ways of the world. You love those who love you. You do good to those who do good to you, but you hate your enemies. You don’t love those who do not love you. That is the wisdom of the world. But Jesus says in verse 44: “But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”. This is the wisdom of God. This is the wisdom of God. You see, as you read the wisdom of God, as you read the Scripture, you can see that the ways of God, the wisdom of God is so different.

Think also of what the Bible teaches about marriage that you are to be the husband of one wife. You might say: Is that a wise thing? Sometimes maybe it’s better to have two wives. That will help me in my income tax submission alright. Or where the Bible teaches that you must not divorce your wife? What God has joined together let no man separate. That is foolishness the world. I was just a few days ago watching one video about this woman. Well, this is just an entertainment show alright, well she was the judge in the entertainment show. And she was applauding the song and said that well, it reminds (her) now she just got married alright.

So it was a love song. She said it just fits alright, I just got married to my third husband. Now that is the wisdom of the world alright. And they proudly proclaim that on television. And then the other guy just said: Is this the last? She said, hope so. That is the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of God is husband of one wife. Whom God has joined together let no man separate. The wisdom of God is that a man must marry a woman; the wisdom of the world is a man may marry a man. Now you see, it’s radically different alright. And that’s the reason people do come to the Scripture and think it is stupid alright. The Bible is silly. It is teaching something so different from the thinking of our society.

Now that is worldly wisdom. Worldly wisdom says everything also can or anything also can. That is worldly wisdom. Now then James tells us the wisdom of God, the true wisdom comes from God as revealed in His Word. Now that is true wisdom, but that is radically different from the world. Now worldly wisdom comes from where? Now we look at James 3 again. It tells us now this is where the worldly wisdom comes from. James 3, he says in verse 15: “Now this wisdom (that is worldly wisdom or false wisdom) does not come from above”. It doesn’t come from above. All that we are hearing in our society telling us to do the kind of things that they tell us to do, these things do not come from God. They do not come from God. Now where do they come from?

Now he tells us: “But it’s earthly, fleshly (or natural), and demonic”. That’s where it comes from. It comes in other words here three things. Comes from the world, earthly. It comes from the world. Look at Colossians 2:8, what Paul writes there to the Colossians. Colossians 2:8, Paul writes: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”. Now that is where it comes from. It comes from the word- the philosophy of the world, the clever thinking of the world, the wisdom of the world. And then he says it comes from where? It comes from the flesh or our natural self.

The word ’sensual’ in this translation (in some translations is natural). It comes from our natural man. Now what does the Bible tell us about the natural man? What does the Bible tell us about the natural man? Well in 1 Corinthians 2:12. Now Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 2:12- “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world (referring to Christians)”. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world (referring to Christians, we have not received the spirit of the world), but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Now these things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. (Verse 14) But the natural”.

Now the word ’natural’ is the word that James uses, the same word alright in verse 15 there, fleshly or natural. He said: “But the natural man does not receive the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”. It comes from the flesh, our own self. And then finally, James says it comes from the devil. In fact, James alluded the same thing earlier on in this chapter in verse 6. Chapter 3 of James in verse 6, where he says: “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the whole course of nature; and it’s set on fire by hell.”.

Finally, he says the true source of all these is from hell. It’s from the devil. It’s from the devil. See, false wisdom is from the devil. You remember when Eve was confronted by the devil in Genesis 3:4, what does the devil say to Eve? What does the devil say to Eve in Genesis chapter 3? Now this is what he said and verse 4. He said: “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die.”. Now that is a wisdom from the devil. There is no God, that is from the devil. You can live your life as you like, that is from the devil. Your best life now, that is from the devil.

You see, this is what the devil is telling Eve here, and that is what he’s telling people today. Money is the most important thing in life, that is from the devil. You see, a lot of things that we are listening to, we are hearing day in day out, these things are from the devil. So, there is a wisdom from above, and there is a so-called wisdom that is not from above. But amazing thing is how many Christians are deceived all the same. We listen every day to the people of the world and we believe them and we live like them and we pursue the things they asked us to pursue and we live the way they asked us to live.

That’s the reason why a lot of Christians’ lives are not much different from the people of the world, not much different from their neighbours. Our priorities are not any different because we are listening to all these lies day in day out either from the neighbours around us, from our colleagues, from our course mates, from the internet. Those are not wisdom from above. Those are wisdom from the earth and from the devil. So, James differentiates. He says that there is such a thing as true wisdom. We can know by looking at the person’s life- his priority, his preoccupation, the way he makes decision. And we know that true wisdom comes from God. It doesn’t come from the world.

And finally, he tells about the result or the effect, the consequence. Back to James 3. The result or the consequence of true and false wisdom. Verse 16: “For where envy and selfish ambition exist, confusion and every (vile or) evil thing are there.”. Now you see what James is saying? When you have this worldly wisdom, when you listen to the world and what they tell you to do and you believe them, what is the result? Confusion (on in your translation disorder) and every evil thing. That is what we are seeing today in the world. Look around us. What has the wisdom of the world done to our society? What has the wisdom of the world do to humanity, do to us?

Think about that. It’s all over us into society, creating chaos. It is the wisdom of the world that we see conflict in society, in the world today. And all kinds of things that are happening in the world today, do not we see those confusion, confusion in the family? What kind of confusion? We see that. I just sent a video to some of you when the supreme court judge cannot even define a woman. That is the kind of confusion we live in. We are not able to tell between a male and a female. When we think that when a man marries a man or woman marries a woman that is marriage. That is disorder in society. What kind of family are they going to produce, where children are raised having two daddies and no mommy? What kind of confusion and disorder?

You see, we see that getting worse and worse, the confusion. And that is what worldly so-called wisdom results in. And in the family, we have family been broken. That is a result of worldly wisdom when they pursue worldly things. They break up the family or friendship or they produce every evil thing. Think about the every evil thing that’s been produced in the society. Every evil thing when babies are killed every day in the mother’s womb and accepted as normal. Society wants to make it normal, legalising all these things- legalising prostitution, legalising this and that. That is what James is saying, producing every evil thing, disorder, confusion, while things are happening in our society. Where do this come from? What happens to the world that we’re living in? Why are we behaving like that?

Because- because we follow the wisdom alright earthly wisdom, wisdom of this world. On the other hand, heavenly wisdom, wisdom from above. Verse 17: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, and peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.” Beautiful. Wisdom from the world, look at what it produces here. And here there’s an allusion alright to Galatians chapter 5. Remember in Galatians chapter 5 and what Paul writes there. And what was Paul writing about in Galatians 5? What was he writing about? Two kinds of life. Two kinds of life, two kinds of people produced by two kinds of things. He says that the wisdom of the world, what do they produce?

Galatians 5:19- “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”. You see, what Paul is saying? You see why the Bible emphasises on true wisdom because this false wisdom leads you in the other way and lead you to hell. That is what Paul is saying that these people will not inherit the kingdom of God.

On the other hand, verse 22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”. You see, James is alluding to the fruit of the Holy Spirit when he lists down the fruit of true wisdom in James 3. That is what it produces. It produces love, it produces harmony, not conflict. It produces peace. It produces self-control and gentleness and patience and so on. The fruit of the Spirit. Who among you is wise? Who among you is wise? Those who are truly, those who are born from above alright, those who are from above.

You look again at Galatians 5:24- “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”. Those who are born of the Spirit, those who walk in the Spirit, those who are new creatures in Christ, those who walk according to the Word of God, those are the wise leading to eternal life. On the other side, those who are foolish, who do not do the Word of the Lord, the will of the Lord, who live according to the world, they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, again we are made to see the importance of true wisdom. We know that so often we speak of wisdom in the world. We speak of seeking after wisdom, and yet so often we are being deceived from the wisdom that we hear all around ourselves are earthly, are sensual, and are demonic. They lead us away from God. And so, we pray that this morning You will help us to see that there is true wisdom that come from above, wisdom that we should seek and have a wisdom, a wisdom that leads to eternal life. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.