[Sorry, no audio today]
Sermon – Wisdom Is as Wisdom Does
Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Farmville Presbyterian Church
9/22/24
Every week I hope to learn something, and my feeling is that I do, but this week I have a little bit more excitement because I feel like I learned something especially interesting. Thankfully, it is also what I am supposed to be talking about today, so I am going to share what I figured out about wisdom thanks to James.
I also learned that I had a sermon with the very same title from 2021. That sermon was part of a series that I was preaching on King Solomon. No surprise there. King Solomon was known as Mr. Wisdom. He gets high marks for asking for Wisdom when God comes to him in a dream and offers him anything. Solomon is a real struggle for me, though, because he seems to be the dumbest wise person I have ever known. He ends up with 1000 “special women” (wives and concubines) many of whom are foreign and worship other gods which leads him to build holy places to these other gods all over Israel. His women played a big hand in trade with other nations – lots and lots of trade. This is the period of Israel’s golden age. He also enslaved a significant portion of his own people to build and build and build. Again, this is Israel’s golden age. His son became king, and when the people asked him to go a different direction than his father’s cruelty, he ignored their wisdom and became more cruel. That’s when Israel died. The nation was split into two nations and never ever recovered. That does not say much for Solomon as a King, a husband, a father, or a shepherd of the people. But I learned this week how he might be considered especially wise, even still.
There is all kind of wisdom. I had never thought about this. There is a wise way to plant a garden, a wise way to recover from surgery, a wise way to drive, a wise way to go shopping, a wise way to rob a bank, a wise way to fleece the people in government, a wise way to cheat on your taxes, a wise way to fix dinner – a wise way to do anything. Certainly, some of those things might not be considered especially wise things to do, but there is still a wise way to do them. That’s how Solomon could still be wise. What he did, he did well because wisdom is about doing things.
I was of the mind before that wisdom was more about knowing things, knowing the best things to do, but that is actually silly if the person never does it. You have heard the old adage, “You can give someone a fish and feed them for a day or teach them how to fish and feed them for a lifetime.” At face value, I would have said that is exceptionally wise. It seems wonderfully wise, but what if that person lives nowhere near fishable waters? What if that person has no inclination to ever go fishing? What if that person does not have any fishing equipment? Does the saying still stand as a wise thing? I don’t think so. This very same thing has happened over and over in what we call toxic charity.
How many mission trips have gone out into the world to help depressed communities with new things (new buildings, new farming techniques, new manufacturing practices)? Someone with money and knowhow swoops in and builds a fancy new hospital or brings tractors or supplies other equipment for manufacturing, and once it is all set up and shown, they leave the community to figure out what to do next. After a few months, the building needs a repair or the tractor breaks down or the manufacturing line has an issue. And the local labor was not even used to build in the first place. The money did not even go into the community. The people who swept in and did all of those amazing things left the community worse off than before. Their help was not sustainable, and the community is even more depressed. Wisdom means doing things in the best way, whatever that thing may be. Something can also seem wise when it is not wise at all.
This is where James is grappling with these Jewish Christians living abroad, struggling to survive in ways that honor their life in Christ. There are different kinds of wisdom. Some is earthly wisdom; some is unspiritual wisdom; some is devilish wisdom. All wisdom is not the same and all wisdom is not helpful in following Jesus. Since James is at its heart a Wisdom book, this is a place to see a better wisdom, if we want it.
A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something so precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.
Everyone does not necessarily want a better wisdom. Maybe they are content with the way their life is. The man in that story thought he had won the lottery, but thankfully, wisdom prevailed. He understood something was more important than wealth. There was something else that he did not have but that he knew he needed. He needed wisdom. This is a question for all of us. Do we genuinely want more wisdom or a more wise life? How we answer that question will change us for the rest our lives.
Wisdom is not about what we know but about what we do. You can read the books of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes 200 times. They are both Wisdom books in the Bible, but if you do not implement any of the good teaching, it is worthless. James harps on this idea through his whole letter. That’s why he says, “Faith without works is dead.” True, pure wisdom, the kind of Wisdom that comes from God, is found when we live it. The heart of wisdom according to James is in peacemaking, at least in his situation. Wisdom is what leads to peace.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Of course, that is wisdom for people who are divided or where things are contentious. We can be so thankful that things are never that way among us. We can be so thankful that things are already abounding in peace. Is it OK to use sarcasm in a sermon? We shall see how wise that is. Of course, we have no peace today on any front. We are lacking peace in our personal lives, in our families, in our community, in our nation, or in our world. So much seems tossed about by high feelings, stress, brokenness, depression, failure, despair, and resentment. Others are trying to exert control over us. It is hard to get along in a world fighting for power.
James wants us to go to the place where power is not important. The wise woman in the story I shared had no need for power or control. That’s what made her wise. She did not have to write any books or even say anything pithy. She did not have to have a school or followers. She simply gave what she had to someone with need, and it changed that person’s life.
James is desperate for that kind of change among those to whom he writes. He cares about them and loves them, but they are at each other’s throats. There is nothing godly in what they are doing.
James also makes a very interesting point in the last part of our reading today to get us to the end. To share in what is more godly, we need to draw nearer to God. If we want to read a book, we probably do not put on headphones and blast music while we read. If we want to get work done, we probably do not invite all of our friends over for a party while we do it. If we want to live closer to God’s heart and God’s wisdom, we might want to find some space to pray, to meditate, to rest, and to know peace.
Who wants a better life? If you are perfectly fine with your life and the world around you, congratulations! I have nothing for you. Be joyful and carry on. If you are struggling or dissatisfied with things, then God is speaking to you through the trouble that is in your life. I am there, myself. We can all use more peace. It is time to put it into practice. To God be the glory. Amen.