Lesson 8: Part II - Two Kinds of Wisdom

Two Kinds of Wisdom - Worldly wisdom vs. Godly Wisdom

James 3:13 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. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17But 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. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

Discussion:
-What is bitter envy? ___________
-What is Selfish ambition? _________

Both have origins in “Pride” – which is the opposite of submission, or the willingness to come under Christ’s Lordship.

True wisdom manifests itself in the person’s life by a good life. (For a full treatment on the topic of Wisdom, I recommend Pastor Betters’ recent sermon series on the Proverbs -Teaching the Young)
The result of seeking worldly wisdom: war/chaos/death vs.

The result of seeking Godly wisdom: a harvest of righteousness/life eternal, Obedience to the law of God - Godly wisdom does not result in earthly wisdom/fights and quarrels

Conclusion: From the beginning, James’ hearers are being called to a Living Faith, which is a faith that shows itself in good deeds. They are Christians who are being persecuted because of their faith, but at the same time, some of them are prone to fighting, quarrels, envy, favoritism, selfishness and all sorts of behaviors that were inconsistent with what their faith required. Here James is showing the worldly wisdom that some of them have bought into is in complete opposition to divine wisdom. They are not living consistently with their faith in Christ.

Lesson 8: Part 1 - Wisdom Sermons from Pastor B

If you are interested in learning about what the Bible says about Wisdom, I'm recommending Pastor Betters' series from Proverbs, Chapters 1-9 that he has been going through. Here is a list:
10/19/08
Are Your Kids in Love with the Bride?
Watch
Listen

10/12/08
Do Your Kids Love the Church?
Watch
Listen

10/05/08
The 8-Fold Gospel Your Kids Need to Learn
Watch
Listen


8/31/08
Standing Alone
Watch
Listen

8/24/08
Is Your Child a Darth Vader - Part 3
Watch
Listen
Notes
8/17/08
Is Your Child a Darth Vader - Part 2
Watch
Listen
Notes
8/10/08
Is Your Child a Darth Vader - Part 1
Watch
Listen
Notes
8/3/08
The 2nd Most Important Decision Your Child Will Ever Make
Watch
Listen
Notes
7/27/08
The Slippery Slope to Moral Failure-Part 2
Watch
Listen
Notes
7/20/08
The Slippery Slope to Moral Failure-Part 1
Watch
Listen
Notes
7/13/08
Marks of a God Fearing Person
Watch
Listen
Notes
7/6/08
What Children Need to Learn Before the Age of 12
Watch
Listen
Notes

Adoption to the Glory of God on ESPN

Lesson Seven: The Word, Our Words

This week's lesson on James 3:1-12 was particularly convicting to me. In fact, I actually thought for a few mintes about asking Doris to teach, given the first few passages (that would have been irresponsible and I did not do it):

James 3:1 "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because
you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check."

Of course, only one person was ever a perfect man, never at fault in what he said, and that one was Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. But as a person who has been asked to teach the Word to other women, I can't help but shake in my shoes when I read these verses -- and then to avoid it or ignore it because it is CONVICTING. However, as we have been learning, studying God's Word takes more work than simply plucking a quote out only to encourage someone or to whack him or her over the head with it.

In our study last night, Brenda had us discuss the power of words for both good and evil. We were reminded:

1- God spoke the world into existance - His Word Is Powerful!
2- Satan deceived Eve by a lie and by challenging God's words - "Did God really say..."
3- Eve bought the lie and that lie led Adam and all of humanity to the Fall.
4- God promised that He would give us a Messiah to save us from our fallen state thru the seed of the woman.
5- Jesus is the Word, and The Word was made flesh and made His dwelling among us. He lived the perfect life and always spoke Truth - He is the Truth, the Life and the Way. He was the perfect man, was never at fault in what He said, and kept His whole body in check. If we trust completely in His atoning death and resurrection for our salvation and if He is Lord of our lives, the we are imputed with His righteousness. That means that when God looks at us, he sees Christ and no longer condemns us for all of our unrighteousness - meaning our terrible words.
6- The Holy Spirit enables us to know God, to understand His Word, to think His thoughts and to speak the Truth in Grace. We are no longer slaves to sin - words that lead to death and the grave. Instead, we have been raised to words of life with Christ.
7- With Christ, we are compelled to speak truth in love even though our old man fights and rebells against the Word that gives life. Christ is seated in the heavenlies making intercession for us and as we submit to Him, He will give us the power of renewed hearts that speak His Truth.

Because we were raised with Christ, and He has given us His precious Word and we have the Word as it is preached to us, our desire should be to grow more like him - keeping a check on our tongues and remembering the power that words have for life and death.

Finally, I was reading today and was reminded that as we behold in the Word of God the revelation of the Lord's holiness, the most I can do, that any of us can do, is to say with the prophet Isaiah:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD
of hosts!

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" ” (Isa. 6:5)

Let us use our tongues to bear witness to our Holy God, telling of who He is, what He has done, and of His precious promises! Amen.

James 3: A Story

From the 2008 Desiring God Conference, October 7, 2008.

Our Words Matter: Vignettes on The Tongue

James 1:26 "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."
Paul Tripp
Paul Tripp: For Those Who Have Been Hurt by Words
Paul Tripp on the Importance of Speaking the Bible
Paul Tripp on Speaking the Truth in Love
Paul Tripp on the Need for Silence
Paul Tripp on How Sin Affects the Transparent Use of Words
Paul Tripp on the Life and Death Power of Words
Paul Tripp on Owning Our Words
Paul Tripp: What Makes Bad Language Bad?
Paul Tripp on God's Role in the Words We Speak
Paul Tripp: Does God Care About Every Word We Speak?
Paul Tripp: What is the War of Words?

Sinclair Ferguson
Sinclair Ferguson on How the Heart Affects Words
Sinclair Ferguson on Acceptable Speech
Sinclair Ferguson on Being Judged for Our Words

Mark Driscoll
Mark Driscoll on Speaking the Truth in Love
Mark Driscoll on the Life and Death Power of Words
Mark Driscoll on Using Words to Arrest Attention
Mark Driscoll on the Bible's Use of Harsh Language

Lesson Six, Part 2: Dilemma? -- James 2:25

So, last night in our study, we looked at two examples of faith. One was the example of Abraham who showed faith by holding nothing back from God, not even his most valued treasure - the very promise of God - his son Isaac. He trusted that God would keep his promises.

The second illustration is from Joshua chapter 2, the story of Rahab the Canaanite prostitute who showed faith by deciding to turn from the idols of Canaan to the God of Israel. She risked her life to protect two strangers. Two foreigners. Mortal enemies even. She risked everything to protect two Israelites from the king of Jericho. (Joshua 2:1-24)

The fact that she was a Canaanite AND a prostitue would have been scandalousness enough. However, what several women from our study really wanted to know is: Given the fact that she LIED, how could God 1) bless Rahab and her family for her faith and 2) show her as a positive example in two New Testament passages -- the hall of faith (Hebrews 11:31), and in the call to faith that works (James 2:25)-- and 3) name her in the Messiah's geneology (Matthew 1:5). Isn't lying sin? How can this be? Are we to understand the Bible as a case of “situation ethics?" (e.g., lying under certain conditions is acceptable?).

At first, this seemed like one of those questions that when you hear it, you're like, uh oh. This is going to be a stumper. Of course, I'm the kind of person who takes it as a mission. As it turns, this is not as complicated as I had originally thought.

Let's take the simple facts:

1- yes lying is a sin and is condemned by God as a sin.
2 - Rahab lied to save the spies in Joshua 2.
3- Rahab is commended for her faith in the New Testament by James and the author of Hebrews.

Now, let's dig into the details - what does God's Word specifically say was she commended for:

"because she welcomed the spies" Hebrews 11:31

and "even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?" James 2:25

No where is she commended for lying. Her act of lying is not to be misconstrued as justified or justifiable, because that is not why she is called out in scripture.

She is, however, commended for welcoming and giving lodging to the spies and sending them off in safety. Keep in mind, these spies were children of the holy God of Israel. In Joshua 2 we see the whole basis for her kindness to the spies:

Joshua 2:11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

It was out of awe and reverence for the holy God of Israel.

Finally, we know that all of Old Testament heroes in the Hebrews hall of fame, including Abraham, who James mentions also, all lived lives that were not honoring to God and did not always obey or trust God perfectly. The point is not to justify sinful behavior in these figures, but rather to show that sinners just like us can be changed so that by faith we do great things for God. God does this even while we were dead in our transpasses and sins. Especially while we were dead in them.

Just like Rahab, while she was breaking God's law by sinning, God saved her and she turned away from her past. With man this is a great dilemma. With Christ, the dilemma is put to death on the cross when he died for our Rahab lies and all of our Canaanite evil deeds. When we received Him in faith, and put our trust in Him alone as our Lord and our Savior, the dilemma ended!! We were raised from dead works and total depravity to life. And each day we are being made more like Him and our faith that works grows as we remain in His Word and in His love.

I think Ephesians 2 explains it best:

Eph 2:3 "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Just like Rahab.

(by the way, Pastor Betters' sermon series that he gave last Christmas on the five women who shaped Christmas includes some of THE most awesome OT gospel preaching that you will ever hear. If you have a chance to get it, I would highly recommend it!)

Lesson Six, Part 1: Genuine Faith, according to Paul, John, Matthew, and James

Cross-references to Question #2 for tomorrow night's lesson

Paul: Galatians 5:6b

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
The kind of faith that "counts" as genuine saving faith is the faith that is shown in and through our love toward others.

1 John 3:10, 17-19

10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the
devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is
anyone who does not love his brother.

17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.

The crucial piece of evidence that we "belong to the truth" and are children of
God is by giving to those in need, doing what is right, and loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Matthew 7:15-23

A Tree and Its Fruit
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Jesus tells us that there must be a direct link between faith and deeds. We should look at the fruit of those who say they love Christ to see whether there is fruit. Do they do what the Word says? Do they love the church? Do they have a heart for the poor?

James 1:27, 2:14-17

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress and
to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James, Matthew, Jesus, John and Paul all show agreement, along with the Westminster Confession of Faith:

Chapter XI Of Justification
II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is
the alone instrument of justification:[4] yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by
love.[5]

Lesson Five, Part 2: The Royal Law

James 2: 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your
neighbor as yourself,"you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin
and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he
who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not
commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that
gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has
not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

The Royal Law
To love our neighbors as ourselves. When we break this law, we break the heart of the law of God toward others. If we show favoritism to the powerful or wealthy, we are sinning against the very heart of God.

Study Guide note (page 57)
"Christ's law offers us the power to obey it, so it frees us from guaranteed condemnation ( Romans 8:1-13). When we stand before Christ's judgment seat, we cannot plead that we are unable to obey the royal law. By commiting ourselves to Christ we freely pledge to obey Him, so we cannot claim that His law is a harsh burden imposed on us. Our freedom as God's children and friends means more responsibility than when we were slaves to sin.

Law and grace are not contradictory. God gave Israel the Ten Commandments after He graciously liberated the people from slavery in Egypt. The laws were a gift to show how the redeemed should live. Likewise, after God frees us by grace from slavery to sin and death, He gives us commandments by which we may live our lives in true freedom. If we ignore these laws, eventually we will fall back into slavery to sin.

Illustration
In March 2007, Muskegon, Michigan residents Christine Bouwkamp and Kyle Kramer got married. The ceremony was traditional, but their reception was something else. Instead of hosting a formal reception, the couple took the money they would have spent on a reception for 150 wedding guests and bought 5,000 pounds of food. Then they put their 150 guests to work and had them unload the food from a truck to help feed 120 neighborhood families.

"We decided the first thing we wanted to do as husband and wife is to serve others," said Christine. "We thought about not just feeding our guests, but also the neighborhood."
Immediately after they exchanged their vows, Bouwkamp and Kramer put on aprons marked "Bride" and "Groom" and worked with their guests.

The couple met a year earlier while working on a committee for a ministry that conducts outreach to the neighborhood. Christine was a single mother of two daughters. Kyle had battled drug addiction and graduated from the Muskegon Rescue Mission's discipleship program.

"Both of their lives have radically changed," said Pastor Gary Sherwood. "People who haven't seen them for a while will recognize them by the way they look on the outside, but they won't recognize them on the inside."

When asked about the charitable act, the happy couple simply said they wanted to "bless God for blessing us with each other."
(reference: Devotional Email by Peter Kennedy)


Meditation and Application
Why is it personally important to you that "mercy triumphs over judgment" (verse 2:13)?
How can we begin this week to take the truth of James 2:1-13 to heart and put it into practice?

When we are demonstating love toward others, people see the glory of the Jesus Christ. Today in prayer, praise the Lord for His love towards you and love others.

Lesson Five, Part 1: No Favorites

Favoritism Forbidden

James 2:1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't
show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and
fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show
special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat
for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my
feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil
thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor
in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he
promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich
who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you
belong?

Illustration:
The story is told of a church meeting at which a wealthy man rose to tell the congregation about his faith. As he stood, most in the congregation took notice, due to his elegant suit, trendy and crisp hairstyle, and well polished mannerisms.

“I'm a millionaire,” he said. “And I attribute my wealth to the blessings of God in my life.” Everyone was enraptured to hear what he might have to say.

He went on to recall the turning point of his faith. As a young man, he had just earned his first dollar and was eagerly thinking of all the possibilities when he happened upon a church meeting. He found himself consumed by the message he heard that night, and felt compelled to give it all to God at the offering. He said that he knew that night he would either have to give it all to God or nothing at all.

At that moment, he decided to give everything he had earned that day as a young boy to God . Looking back, he said, he now knew that God has always blessed this decision and today made him a successful man. When he finished his story an awed silence filled the entire room.

As he returned to his seat, an elderly, immigrant woman wearing shabby clothes and speaking broken English placed her offering in the plate, leaned over to him, handed him the plate, and said: “I dare you to do it again.”

Meditation and Application
What might lead us to treat rich people better than poor ones?
What is wrong with the motives you uncovered?
Pray that God would convict us to to repentance for wrong motives and change us to become more obedient to His Word.