But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. - James 3: 17 (ESV)

Wisdom. It is a word we hear quite often in Christian circles. It is a word that is prevalent throughout Scripture. If we lack it we are implored to seek God for it. Fearing God is the beginning of it. We are urged to make sure that our walk is wise because the days are evil. It seems that wisdom can be one of those words we all nod our heads about yet never dig deeper to get to the root of what God is trying to teach us. One biblical definition of wisdom that gets to the heart of the matter is, "the ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding." How do we analyze the situations in our lives accurately so that we might take the correct path every time - based on knowledge and understanding. If we break this definition down into two halves the first half can be summed up as follows:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3: 5-6 (ESV)

One of the most popular set of verses in the Bible, this set from Proverbs actually contains the secret for wisdom. If you asked Christians if they would be better off letting God pick their paths or themselves we would all agree God. The recipe is simple. Trust God with everything within us - don't trust our own perspective - acknowledge Him in everything - and He shows us the paths to take. Simple right? Easily taught but not so easily caught. The truth is we like our own wisdom. We believe what we see and feel way too much over acknowledging God. We often find ourselves on the wrong road based upon leaning to what we believe or feel. The truth is that we pay lip service to God more than we acknowledge Him. Paying lip service is calling Him Lord while treating Him in an advisory capacity. 

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? - Luke 6: 46 (ESV)

So we come to it. Where do we find what God has told us? In the Bible. Therein is contained the entire revealed wisdom of God. That is why we no longer have to lean on our own understanding. When we live our lives based upon the Bible we are acknowledging the Lord. We are not merely saying Lord Lord, we are treating Him as our Lord. But our study on wisdom cannot merely end there. It is based not only on the knowledge of the Scriptures but understanding them in relation to God and His design. What greater example do we have than the Pharisees?

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! - Matthew 23: 23-24 (ESV)

They knew the Word of the Lord but they clearly did not understand it. They used it for their own ends. As it was, so it still goes today. We all know far too many people who have a great head knowledge of the Word but seemingly no heart for God. They can recite to you the most mundane portions of Leviticus but seemingly do not care about the lost or about those sitting under false teaching. They can do a seminar on the Parable of the Leaven but be completely unaffected by the leaven they sit under themselves. Knowledge without understanding is useless. It is not wisdom. Thankfully God never leaves us wondering about anything. The key verse today reveals the spirit of Godly wisdom and thus teaches us how we need to approach employing the knowledge we obtain from Scripture in the manner God desires. 

The first lesson for us today is that the wisdom of God is first pure. It is uncontaminated beloved. What does this mean for us? It means we cannot follow people who insist on poorly interpreting Scripture! We need to approach the Word of God in reverent awe! This starts with putting a stop to all of this divine revelation nonsense we see polluting modern Christianity. Can God speak audibly to His people? Absolutely - He is God. But you cannot walk ten feet in Christianity today without tripping over people claiming God speaks to them, or takes them on tours of the throne room, or sends them ridiculous signs and wonders like glory clouds, angel feathers, gold dust or gemstones. Here is the thing. Measure up the divine revelation against Scripture because God will never contradict His own Word. I mean measure it up well. The Bereans were of more noble character because they approached what was taught with them with the Scriptures as their guide not their feelings. Secondly, we need to insist on contextual interpretation. Let me show you some examples:

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. - Matthew 7: 17 (ESV)

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 28: 2 (ESV)

I have heard preachers preach the Matthew verse to convince church members to get involved in ministry. After all, you want to be a healthy tree don't you! You want to bear good fruit for the kingdom of God! I also heard noted prosperity preachers use the Deuteronomy verse to justify their extravagant lifestyles, million dollar mansions, and fleets of private jets. I have heard sermons on it. After all, they are simply seeing the blessings of the Lord overtake them because they obey His voice - hallelujah pass the offering plate! Now, let's take a a step back and see the context of these verses:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. - Matthew 7: 15-17 (ESV)

"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 28: 1-2 (ESV)

The Matthew verses have nothing to do with service, ministry, or purpose. They have to do with false teachers ironically enough! The diseased trees are the false teachers! The Deuteronomy verses are taken from the end of the Torah. The prosperity preachers leave out verse one because it is the condition for verse two. It is not merely obeying. It is obeying all 613 Mosaic laws! So IF you obey all of the law the blessings of God will overtake you. They also leave out the 53 verses that address all of the curses for disobedience contained in the same chapter. I know some may look at this and still think it is not a big deal and that reveals a large part of the problem. This is a huge deal! These preachers preaching from these verses out of context are trying to tell you something God never said! Beloved we do not go to hear thus sayeth the pastor but rather what sayeth the Lord! What we believe forms our theology and thus our faith. If we believe that Deuteronomy 28 promises us riches for obedience then we have just cast aside the cross for a works based salvation. Not only will we be disappointed to find out that we will not get rich but when we get to the last day and discover Jesus never knew us our disappointment will become eternal. Knowing what Deuteronomy 28:2 says is knowledge. Knowing what it means in context is wisdom. Believing it points to earthly prosperity for you is incorrect and leaning upon our own understanding. Realizing it points to the need for a Messiah because no one could keep the Mosaic Law is wisdom. Oh beloved, wisdom starts with purity.

The next facets of wisdom are that it is peaceable and gentle. Sometimes, and I can bear witness to this myself, we take possession of the truth as a right to turn the two edged sword into a blunt instrument. We start bashing people over the head with the Bible. We get confused about who does the saving and here is a hint - it's not us. 

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 1Corinthians 3: 6-8 (ESV)

As difficult as it may be, our approach always is to be peaceable and gentle with people. Sometimes it is so easy to be like the Sons of Thunder and want God to call lightening down upon those who reject our attempt to impart wisdom. Instead we are to be like Christ and simply walk to the next town. The Word of God is wisdom and we are called to speak the Gospel. Maybe the person we are speaking to is hearing it for the first time and thus we are planting. Maybe they have heard it before and we are watering. It matters not because God gives the increase. When we get to heaven we may finally see the fruit of our efforts when we see who is there that we may have played a part in. This becomes harder when we are met with attitude or even rudeness but it is even more needed then. This is equally true for those in the church. Present the truth in the Word and move on. God did not call us to convince anyone - just to speak His truth. 

Next on the list is open to reason and full of mercy. Wisdom that refuses to listen is not wisdom at all. This is not to be confused with compromising the truth. The truth is what the truth is but we must approach others understanding that they come from their own perspective as well. This is especially true of unbelievers, many of which sit in our churches today. 

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. - Colossians 4: 5-6 (ESV)

The best use of the time is not to be argumentative. My pastor says that we must convey to people that we care about them or they will not want to hear us. Salt seasoned speech preserves first. Merciful wisdom recognizes that we must be compassionate with people. The Pharisees for example devoured widows estates for profit while making lengthy shows of their prayers and piety. The prophet Micah tells us that one of the three things the Lord requires of us is to love mercy. Not just be merciful but to love the state of being merciful. One look around Christendom today and you can tell that we often do not love mercy. We constantly blame the unsaved for all of the woes of humanity while making a pious and lengthy show of our own bloated sense of religiosity. Fleecing the flocks of their money claiming curses upon them for not giving is the farthest one can get from mercy. Preaching what you then do not practice is equally unmerciful. There is no wisdom in it at all. 

Next we are to be full of good fruits and impartial. Wisdom that contains no love, joy, gentleness, patience, peace, goodness, faithfulness, kindness or self control is not a work of the Holy Spirit. It is so easy to slip into our flesh. To approach people with piety instead of compassion. The work is of God. The wisdom is from God. The fruit must be aligned with Him as well. Too many ministries today lack one or more of these areas. Or they remain partial to the things of this world over God. Too many of us choose denomination over truth. We choose ritual or tradition over truth. The true wisdom that comes from God transcends the mere mortal boxes we try and place God into. We celebrate our partiality to a given preacher or style of message. I have run into this constantly when confronting false teaching. People do not want to hear biblical truth when it comes to their favorite false teacher. There is no wisdom in that beloved. If the Word of God is not foremost then it is nothing. If it is not supreme then it is nothing. Our partiality must be toward Jesus. 

Lastly, wisdom that comes from God must be sincere. The number one reason why people say they do not go to church is the hypocrisy of those that do. We cannot just preach the knowledge and not apply the wisdom. You cannot preach on the 99 and 1 while telling people if they if they can't get along with someone they need to leave your church; something I witnessed personally. You cannot claim sincerity when it comes to following Christ and then alter His Gospel to fit your carnal visions of relevance and worldly success. We cannot call Him Lord and then proceed to not do as He says. We simply cannot. There is too much at stake. 

Proverbs says that wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. We have all of the knowledge we can ask for in the revealed Word of God. We just need to stay in it. Knowledge alone is not enough. Wisdom requires the application of that knowledge in a manner that God has outlined for us. Wisdom has to be pure - not tainted. There is no wisdom in ripping Scripture out of context to twist the actual meaning of what God has said. We also need to be peaceable and gentle. There is no wisdom in assaulting people with the truth. They will remember the assault - not the truth. We have to be open to reason but refuse to compromise the truth. We have to be full of mercy beloved. If we are dealing with people outside of the faith, even in the church, remember they have a far worse fate awaiting them. The Lord requires us to love mercy for a reason. Since wisdom comes from knowledge and knowledge from the Word of God it would only stand to reason that wisdom is required to be aligned with the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit after all who leads us into all truth! Lastly, wisdom must be impartial and sincere. We cannot side with anything except God through His Word - period. We cannot see our sincerity doubted because of any hypocrisy. Remember, only the Word has the power to save lives. We must know it, apply it, live by it, and present it all in accordance with His revealed will. That is wisdom. 

Reverend Anthony Wade - May 19, 2014