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35 Test 7: The Wisdom Test, Part 2

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 3:13-16

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

Today as we focus first on the worldly wisdom that fails the faith test we will see several characteristics, starting with roots. 

  1. Roots of test-failing wisdom (14)

Did you know that tree roots can spread out until they cover an area up to three times the height of the tree? Many of us don’t realize the reach that roots can have because they are unseen below the surface. Often, it’s not until one of those roots pokes into your sewer line, lifts your sidewalk or cracks the foundation of your house that you realize the reach and power of those roots. We’ve all seen people pour concrete next to trees without even thinking about it. Then the next thing you know, the tree roots have cracked and destroyed that sidewalk. Why do people do foolish things like that? Because they didn’t see the roots hidden below the surface. They exist quietly beneath the surface servicing everything above the soil. Every other part of the tree exists because of what is carried to it by those hidden roots. If the roots are diseased, the tree will be diseased. The trunk, the bark, the branches, the leaves and even the fruit will be diseased. The same is true of our heart, the hidden part of our innermost being, who we really are. James tells us that the root of test-failing wisdom has to do with an unhealthy heart, that has become infected by the disease of bitter envy. Bitter envying is the disease of divisive jealousy. It’s the picture of a thorny thicket that grabs a hold of you, piecing your flesh with its sharp thorns so that the more you struggle the more stuck you become. Bitter envy is a jealousy that keeps you in jail. It results in selfish ambition, and while in and of itself ambition isn’t a bad thing, this is an ambition motivated by self not service. It’s the kind of ambition that seeks to serve self so that we become number 1. It’s a glory grabbing not a glory giving ambition. Where we spotlight self not the Savior. It’s a combative and competitive ambition not a cooperative and caring one. It’s a cancer that kills the church instead of cultivating. If you want a modern-day picture of what this kind of selfish ambition looks like turn on your TV and watch the commercials. It’s what they all feed, they tell us it’s all about us. Our feelings, our fun, desires, dreams, pleasures, happiness, and prosperity. The Bible also shows us several painful pictures of worldly wisdom anchored in selfish ambition: 

  • The building of the Tower of Babel

Gen 11:4 “Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” On the surface it seemed like a wise idea but its roots were rotten. Because the seeds they sowed were rooted in self-glory not God’s service. They stated that the goal was unity, it’s a great goal but it wasn’t grounded in God it was grounded in self. Self-glory doesn’t bring unity it brings the disease of division. The real goal was that they wanted to make a name for themselves; instead of lifting up the name of God. Today we are still trying to create unity through self-glorification instead of through service to God 

  • What about the story of Lot.

Both Abraham and his nephew Lot had large herds of cattle, and their herdsmen quarreled over their pasturelands.  In his wisdom, Abraham suggested that the two separate. Being the godly man he was, he gave Lot his choice of land. The Bible tells that Lot in his wisdom chose the lush, fertile, land of the Jordan River valley. The grass may have looked greener but greener is not always good. Sometimes the grass is greener because it’s growing over a septic tank of Sodom. You know how the story goes, Lot’s self-seeking decision led him to lost everything including his wife turned back to look and turned into a pillar of salt. Worldly wisdom leads to ruin because it is rooted in self-gain not God’s service. And like Lot worldly wisdom will lead you to wickedness 

  • Who can forget man’s first recorded act of poor judgment in the Garden of Eden.

God was clear when He said: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” And when the snake questioned the women repeated God’s command but when she listened to the wisdom of Satan who said they would become like God, she saw that the fruit as good, pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, and so she ate it and also gave some to her husband. 

Earthly wisdom is a result of being self-focused instead of God-focused! The Greek word for what James describes as “selfish ambition” means “a party spirit”. It was used by the Greeks to describe a politician canvassing for votes. It basically means, “Vote for me!” This self-seeking spirit may be prevalent in politics but there is no place for it in the Lord’s church. It promotes envy, jealousy, strife, and dissension instead of peace and unity of the Spirit. Earthly wisdom says, “I’m smarter, stronger, and better than everyone else”. Earthly wisdom promotes getting to the top no matter who you hurt or how you get there”. Worldly wisdom promotes self-fulfillment as the most important thing in life. When the people attempted to build the tower of Babel, they wanted to make a name for themselves. When Lot chose the Jordan valley, he was looking out for his own self-interest. And when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree, they saw that it was “desirable for gaining wisdom for themselves. But the wisdom they sought was self-seeking and forbidden by God.It’s the wisdom that seeks the self-glorifying spotlight on the stage. It’s a heart that’s rooted in the wrong kind of wisdom. The kind of wisdom that the world glorifies. Is your heart caught up in the bitter barbs of envy and jealousy? Does it selfishly elevate you above others? James says that this kind of wisdom results in a hard heart that is completely incompatible with being a Christian. 


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34 Test 7: The Wisdom Test, Part 1

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 3:13-16

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

As we continue in the series “The Litmus Test for Life” James moves from words to wisdom something the church is desperately lacking today. Because wisdom comes from God’s Word and few spend time studying the scriptures. Sadly many Christians are more influenced by the Media than the Master. The real question we should be asking is not just are we in His Word but is His Word in us? Its here in James 3:13 that James reveals two kinds of wisdom. One that is based on the world and the other on God’s Word. We will start with worldly wisdom where we will see what a test failing wisdom looks. Then we will look at wisdom that comes from the Word and see what a test passing wisdom looks like. Why do we need Godly wisdom, because wisdom determines our walk. My pray as we walk through the wisdom test together is that we will trust in the true wisdom that only comes from God’s Word and not a test failing wisdom that comes from the world. 

INTRODUCTION – Vs 13

We all know that there is a big difference between being book-smart and being wise. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is the proper use of knowledge. Knowledge comes from learning but wisdom comes from the Lord. If you lack knowledge, go to school, but if you lack wisdom, get on your knees. Remember James 1:5 says ”If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.” We need to be careful that we don’t confuse the knowledge with wisdom. While there is an abundance of knowledge in this world that we all benefit from, there is an atrophy of wisdom. Man may unlock the secrets of the universe, but he does not know what to do with them. Think about the quantum leaps being made in all areas of knowledge, from the medical field to computers. It’s estimated that medical knowledge, for example, doubles every seven years, and scientific knowledge doubles every twenty years. The total written knowledge in the world is said to have doubled between 1450 and 1750, and then to have doubled again between 1750 and 1900. Between 1900 and 1950, human knowledge doubled once more, and then again from 1950 to 1975. Now, it is believed to double every 900 days and shortly it is predicted to double every 72 days. But what are we doing with that knowledge? Now while there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom there are also different kinds of wisdom. James starts by describing two kinds of wisdom, what he calls worldly wisdom and the wisdom from above. That is man’s wisdom and the kind of wisdom that can only come from God. It’s here that we discover a powerful principle, your walk reflects your wisdom. Either you will walk according to the ways of the world or according to God’s Word. Faith in God means interpreting everything through his word, not interpreting his word through everything in the world. Now contrary to what the world says, you don’t have to be smart to pass the wisdom test you have to be surrendered to God’s Word. One of the reasons we often fail the wisdom test is because we worry about what other people will think. This leads to us trying to look wise in the eyes of the world instead of caring about how wise we are in the eyes of God. Many of us live foolish lives because we choose to walk according to the wisdom of the world instead of God’s Word.