When I was studying social ethics in graduate school, one of the most popular professors was a strong socialist. He spoke on and on about the importance of equality and the evils of capitalism. He was concerned, he said, about the poor and the working class, and he wanted to make things better for them. Our system of social life here in America was inherently unjust, favoring the rich and powerful, and he wanted to change that. But at the same time, he made a very comfortable living as a tenured professor at a large university. And rather than rejecting the benefits that came to him from this unjust system, he put his own children in an expensive private school. He criticized American prosperity in his classes, but he seemed to enjoy that prosperity very much, and I don’t think he was anxious to part with it. There seemed to be no connection between his teaching and his way of life.
James is concerned to keep these two things connected. God has created us as whole beings, and He claims lordship over us in every area. He wants us, not only to believe the truth with our minds and hearts, but to apply it to our lives. We are, whether we want to be or not, connected with Him everywhere we turn. He created us, and He also created everything we see. We can’t escape His presence. He speaks to us in His Word, which affects the way we think, and He also surrounds us with His presence all through the week as we go about our daily duties. In all the things we do, He is there. He can’t be confined to one area of our lives. James wants to make sure that there’s a connection between the things we believe and the way we live.
In this passage, James is concerned about the nature of true wisdom. He introduced the subject of wisdom in chapter one. Here’s what he said: “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” (1:5). So, how do we recognize this wisdom when it is given? If we pray for wisdom, does that mean whatever comes into our minds is God’s answer? How do we discern true wisdom from the deceptive seduction of our spiritual enemies? James gives us a clear description of the differences between true and false wisdom; and the differences he describes are mainly differences in spirit. True wisdom, the wisdom given by God, leads to meekness and humility. False wisdom is self-centered, producing qualities like envy and selfish ambition; true wisdom is God-centered, producing qualities like meekness, humility and gentleness.
In verses 14-16, James describes attitudes that are inconsistent with true wisdom. He’s saying that we can have lots of knowledge about God’s Word and about the teachings of the Church, but if our lives are characterized by envy and selfish ambition our wisdom is not from God. These qualities, envy and selfish ambition, are evident all around us. We’re bombarded by these things every day. In the political realm, our national leaders often find it useful to encourage us in the sin of envy. An easy way to win votes is to make promises based on our resentment toward those who have more than we do. And those who want us to buy their products appeal to our selfish ambition, our desire to have more for ourselves.
One of the things that often created conflict on Logos (the OM ship ministry) was going into dry dock. Periodically the ship needed maintenance and repair, so all those not on the ship’s crew had to leave for a few weeks. The crew: officers, engineers, engine room workers and deck workers, stayed behind and worked long hours to get all the work done. The rest of us worked on land teams, in participation with local churches, holding meetings and doing evangelism. Those on the crew often felt like the rest of us were on vacation. They resented the fact that the burden of all that work fell on them. And, of course, those of us on land teams resented their attitude, because we were also working long hours doing a different kind of work.
On our last year, one of the families ended up during dry dock with very little to do. The husband, wife and two sons had lots of time to just be together and relax. I saw them once or twice during that time, and they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Life onboard the ship was hard on families, and it was good for them to have that time. But some people got angry about it. I heard them talking about how this family was off having a vacation while everyone else had to do all the work. Some clearly felt envious that they had been given that time, that somehow they had escaped the frantic pace of ship life. Just a year later, though, most of us had finished our terms and gone home, and Brian, the husband and father, had died of cancer. We need to be careful about this sin of envy. God had given this family a gracious gift in granting them that time together in preparation for the fact that Brian would soon be taken away from them.
Envy is closely related to selfish ambition. In selfish ambition we’re grasping after the best for ourselves; when we don’t get it, or when someone else gets something we want, we feel envious. James is describing a life turned in on itself, a life closed off from God and His grace. He says wisdom that is characterized by envy and selfish ambition is not from God, but is “earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.” The first term, “earthly,” is also used in Philippians 3:19. Paul is describing enemies of the cross of Christ, and he says: “Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” Their minds are set on earthly things, rather than the things of God. Wisdom that’s characterized by envy and selfish ambition is earthly, it’s cut off from God and concerned only with the things of this world. It limits itself to the wisdom of this world, without submitting to God and His ways.
The word translated “unspiritual” is also used in 1 Corinthians 2:14: “Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Paul is talking here about our condition as sinners who are cut off from God’s Spirit, blind to the things of God. People in that condition are blind to spiritual realities because the god of this world has blinded them: “the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That’s why James goes on to describe this wisdom as “of the devil.” It’s a wisdom that is cut off from God, blind to spiritual realities, part of the kingdom of darkness. It may be effective in getting things done; it may be hard for our pragmatic minds to resist, because it works so well in accomplishing what we want. But its source is the kingdom of darkness and it will bear evil fruit. That’s James’ point in verse 16: “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” It may accomplish things you want to get done, but it will wreak havoc on the body of Christ. It will destroy the unity of the church.
In verses 17-18, James describes what true wisdom looks like: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Listen to this list in The Message: “Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”
True wisdom is concerned with maintaining unity in the body. It’s concerned, not just with getting things done or getting its own way. It’s concerned with the life of the community. Several years ago I was part of a church that had some very serious problems. The church leadership consisted of a board of elders who were evenly divided on a number of important issues. I had the opportunity to become an elder in this church, and several of my friends wanted me to go ahead, because I would have represented the more moderate position and would have given that side a winning vote. For awhile, I was inclined to do that. But after talking to some people I respected, I decided to withdraw my name. That church was torn by serious spiritual problems which wouldn’t be solved by a winning vote; all my presence on the elder board would do was to further polarize the church. I couldn’t do much to solve the problems there, but at least I could avoid deepening the divisions.
The list here is different than Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, but it’s difficult to miss the similarity in spirit. Both James and Paul, in these verses, are describing qualities that result from the presence of the Spirit in the life of God’s people. When we’re cut off from God, closed in on ourselves and seeking what we want, the result is the works of the flesh (which Paul lists in Galatians 5:19-21), qualities like envy and selfish ambition which lead to disorder and every evil practice. When we’ve been walking with God, cultivating His presence, He brings fruit into our lives, fruit that builds up the body rather than tearing it apart: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
But this isn’t where James begins. We’ve been looking at the middle and end of the passage, but here is what James starts out with: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” True wisdom, he’s saying, will show itself in a good life. He’s been talking, since the beginning of the chapter, about the effect genuine faith should have on our use of the gift of speech. Now he’s saying that true wisdom will affect the way we live; true wisdom will lead to a good life.
But listen to how he describes this good life: “by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” A good life is characterized, not just by doing certain things, but by humility. People often have the wrong idea about humility. Those who are most aware of their humility are usually deceiving themselves. One of the most famous examples of false humility is the character Uriah Heep in Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield. One of Heep’s favorite phrases is “I am ever so `umble.” He goes on and on about his humility, fawning over everyone and pretending to be a humble servant. But in reality he’s one of the villains in the novel. Dickens describes him as an oily creature, who writhes like a snake and tries to take control of the law firm where he works as a clerk by blackmailing his employer. Heep seems so humble at first. When I first encountered him in the book, I thought his humility was genuine. And he succeeds in deceiving people for awhile.
Here’s an example of true humility: “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.... O Israel, hope in the Lord, from this time on and forevermore” (Psalm 131). The author of this psalm professes to be humble, but he’s not making that claim to other people. He’s professing his humility to God, who knows his heart: “My heart is not proud, O Lord.” It’s easy to get the wrong idea about humility, which is why people like Uriah Heep so often succeed in deceiving us. Here’s the main difference: Uriah Heep is obsessed with himself. He’s always talking about his humility, telling everyone “I am ever so `umble.” The psalmist’s focus is not on himself. He’s humble because he knows who God is and has seen himself as a creature before the One who created him. That’s what humility is. It has nothing to do with trying to see ourselves as nobodies, trying to persuade ourselves that we really don’t have any gifts, that we really don’t have anything to offer in the church. Humility is simply seeing ourselves as we are, being rid of our illusions, seeing ourselves more truly as God sees us. It means seeing ourselves as finite, dependent creatures in the hands of an infinite Creator. As one writer describes it: “Humility is the truth about ourselves, the whole truth–about our weaknesses, our failures, our history, our virtues, our gifts. Once we are truthful about ourselves before God and others, we can deal gently with others who are afraid to face the truth about themselves or who fancy themselves our competitors. Christ humbled himself out of compassion; out of humility grows our compassion for one another” (Hugh Feiss, Essential Monastic Wisdom, pp. 90-91). Humility is the truth about ourselves.
True wisdom, the wisdom that comes from God, leads us to see the truth. As we see the truth, we humble ourselves before God, and as we continue doing that over the course of a lifetime, we become less obsessed with ourselves and more obsessed with God. We seek the things that He wants, rather than always grasping after what we want (even though this often means doing without something that we’d really like). We become the kind of people James is describing, who show our wisdom (the wisdom that has come to us freely from God in answer to prayer) “by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” We become people who seek peace in the body: “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
The way we learn this is by seeking to know God. James is firmly rooted in the Old Testament teaching on wisdom, which sees wisdom, not as a purely intellectual understanding, but as an understanding about how to order our lives in obedience to God. True wisdom is always connected with life. It includes an understanding of the truth, but that understanding is never isolated from real life. This wisdom always begins with God: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever” (Psalm 111:10). We learn the fear of the Lord by cultivating His presence, learning who He truly is, and seeking to live under His lordship in every area of our lives. All those who do this, the psalmist says, “have a good understanding;” they learn true wisdom, the kind of wisdom James is describing. We don’t learn true wisdom by taking a course of study. But we don’t learn it just by experiencing life in the world either. We learn true wisdom by seeking God and ordering our lives in obedience to His Word.
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