BIG IDEA: Godly wisdom flows from the love and embrace of the Bridegroom.
The first thing we can identify from James 4 is that we are the source of fighting and quarrels. We are the problem. More specifically, when we embrace worldly wisdom we destroy.
What is worldly wisdom? A life philosophy that says, “I am the center”. Of course it is not just worldly. James 3 tells us this is worldly, unspiritual, and demonic. You have a broken world, a sinful heart, and lies from the enemy all cooperating together.
James tells us the features of worldly wisdom. Bitter jealously & selfish ambition. Where this exists you will find chaos. Elevated desires, Covetousness, and Lack of Genuine Prayer.
The meaning of desire in James is the word for hedonism. Maximizing pleasure.
Seeking pleasure and comfort in an inordinate way. Pleasure has become an end to serve the god of you. Desire is elevated and becomes a lust and something we have to have. Let’s identify and dispel some faulty beliefs about desire.
- Desire Faulty Beliefs
- Faulty belief 1. Desire is bad. This faulty belief leads to asceticism. Wrong, we were created to desire and for pleasure. Every good and perfect gift is from the father of lights. God is the author of pleasure. Desires are designed to point us to the one thing that unites all smaller desires. The goal then is not to desire, but learn to hold our desires loosely with an open hand. Question-is my heart more controlled by a desire for creation or the creator? The blessings God provides are meant to point you to a deeper presence and enjoyment of Him. In many instances, we also need new and different desires.CS Lewis quotes on desire“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
- Faulty belief 2. I’m on my own, have to look out for myself. Result is we become closed handed and hyper-competitive. Makes the world your rival. Deep seeded, learned habits of surviving in a very fallen world. Lies from the enemy. Sinful heart and is proud.
- Faulty belief 3. This thing will provide deep and lasting fulfillment and is an end in itself. Result is a continual cycle of disillusionment. “If I only had this?” “Get a good view of the temporary nature of this life and stuff and you’ll enjoy it more” Miller. Desires become open handed. Jesus understood and described this perfectly when he was being questioned by Pilate. Pilate is asking Jesus to verify if he is king of the Jews. Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world my servants would have been fighting against this. It is folly to try to secure eternal pleasure from temporal things.
- Once a desire has become elevated it quickly can give way to coveting and envy. Covet: wanting something so bad you are willing to steal it. Focused on an object. A one-track mind. Envy: wants something someone else has and then wants the other person not to have it. The focus is on a person. Matthew 27. It literally says that it was envy that drives the Pharisees to hand Jesus over to Pilate. Worldly wisdom, sin itself, came against Jesus. The very wisdom He came to die for and destroy was the wisdom that handed Him over to Pilate.
- The third feature of worldly wisdom is a lack of genuine prayer.
- You are either not praying at all or you are praying wrongly. This lack of real prayer reveals two things.
- Reveals that you really don’t love God.
- Reveals that you are really your god. God is a means to an end and you are the end.
- What is genuine prayer? Prayer is about a relationship, because the heart of Christianity is about a relationship restored.
- Prayer is key. Enjoying and loving God is what we were created for and the meaning of this whole thing. Only way to walk in Godly Wisdom is to walk with God in loving relationship. In this relationship is where true wisdom flows.
Embracing this worldly, demonic wisdomis adultery. The actual meaning of the word James uses is adulteresses. This is what sleeping around on God looks like. James is speaking to us as a wife who has betrayed her husband. Spiritual adultery is going to the world for what only God can provide.
Our main thought tonight is that Godly wisdom flows from the love and embrace of the bridegroom. (Hosea 2:16-20, 11:8)
What has God done? He gives more grace. More importantly even to identifying our adultery, is to understand how God responds to our sleeping around! Hosea 2. Rom 15:1. He bore the reproaches of us all and so we should bear with the failings of the weak. The wisdom of God is perfectly displayed in Jesus Christ on the Cross.
- Jesus was perfectly humble…what Jesus and the Father gave up. Perfect love & communion with the Trinity. John 17:23-24
- Jesus perfectly submitted and obeyed. (His delight to obey, in the garden…your will be done)
- Jesus resisted the devil. And more. Defeated Satan.
- Jesus drew near
- Jesus is not the exalted one.
What does this mean? It means that God loves us far more than we can ever imagine. JOHN 17. And…. it also means that….
We can attempt this imperfectly now through Christ, who gives more grace! Romans 15:1
1)How do we make godly wisdom operate in our lives? We draw near to God and receive this loving embrace and relationship. The outcome is that our desires are renewed and become open-handed. We find that our prayer life is less about asking for stuff and more about enjoying fellowship with the Father. We dare to live for the sake of God and others by sacrificial love. When we embrace the wisdom from above, we gain a harvest of righteousness.
- Humility
- Resist=courage
- Submit—God is good and for us!
- Draw Near =Closeness