James 3:13—4:10
October 7, 2012
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Like most of you, I have a smart phone. This smart phone can do so many things that it’s smarter than me! There are features of this device that I have yet to understand let alone use. Remember when we used to take two soup cans and drill a small hole on the bottom and attached a string to the two cans? That’s a simple phone.
We like to be smart because the opposite is being dumb. If you were to Google the ten top dumbest things people do, here are a few to think about:
*Cut coupons and never use them.
*Order diet coke at a fast food restaurant.
*Wash clothes without separating the whites and colors.
*Not vote and then complain about the president.
*Marry a person you met at a bar and then wonder why it’s not working out.
*Pick up a porcupine.
How about not reading one’s flight information accurately and completely missing a flight but didn’t realize it until 24 hours later! That’s pretty dumb!
None of us would do such dumb or stupid things because we are smart or at least, we think we are.
For some time now, we have been spreading this myth that we use only 10% of our brains at any given time. And if we can just figure out how to use the other 90%, we would have unlimited intelligence! We can be pretty smart! But here’s the problem: it turns out that after better technology like brain scans, we have discovered that we’re already using most of our brains. This means that we can’t go around making excuses that only if we had the use of the rest of our brains, we could become smarter.
Worldly Smart
The lesson that we have from James today tells us that even if we are brain-smart, we might still be dumb and do stupid things. James talks about wisdom that is from above and wisdom that is earthbound.
When we think about worldly smartness that speaks about animal cunningness, devilish conniving, and selfish ambition, Steve Jobs come to mind.
Who cannot—on some level—admire the guy? His biographer, Walter Isaacson, compares him to Thomas Edison. Edison was a 19th century Steve Jobs, the Genius of Silicon Valley. Jobs changed the world we live in, as did Edison. We can’t go through a single hour anymore without being affected in some way by a product Jobs created. I am still waiting to buy a new MacAir laptop! How many of you have the iPhone 5 now?
Yet as smart as he was, he was a beast of a human being to work with or work for. Isaacson cites colleagues, friends, family and acquaintances, and the adjectives that come rolling off the tongue include: autocratic, controlling, mercurial, temperamental, cold, absent, obsessive, distant, passionate, rebellious, and so on. He shouted, he yelled, he bad-mouthed people, he misled. He was a jerk. Here’s a guy who needed to tame his tongue! But he was also one of the most influential people of the past 40 years.
We are at awe of people who, on the basis of their brainpower, carve out successful businesses for themselves. How many of us have said something like, “I wished I’d the wisdom to invest in such or such company when it first started.”
So who is wise and understanding among us? James lifts up a number of markers of the evidence of God-given wisdom in the life of individuals. These include: gentle or humble (13b). pure (v.17), peaceable (v.17), willing to yield (v. 17), full mercy (v. 17), without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy (v. 17). This does not describe a Steve Jobs.
These are difficult traits to live by. They speak of a life that is not ego-driven, not grasping or envious. In a society that is centered on self-gratification, often at the expense of others, these words sound alien and countercultural.
How are you living out these traits in your daily lives? What practices or habits would help you to live into God’s wisdom rather than in worldly wisdom that focuses on envy and selfish ambition that leads to disorder and wickedness of all kinds?
Conflicts and Disputes
James was writing to a community that was struggling with conflicts and disputes. He asks, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from?” In any relationship, family, community, and church family, there will be times of disagreement. James looks at these conflicts and sees at their core the attitude or sin of envy (3:16; 4:1-3). He may call it different things—selfish ambition, cravings, coveting—but it really comes down to desiring what another has. James sees this as a sin that feeds on itself, craving ever more, asking for the wrong things, escalating violence until the taking ends in death (4:2).
When we look at our society, we see this “worldly, unspiritual, devilish” wisdom all around us. Children desire brand-name clothing because they see others who wear that clothing as popular and happy. Youth crave the latest in tech toys so they can communicate and promote the self 24-7. Adults look for the greatest car, house, and job that will promote the lifestyle that they believe will bring fulfillment. Sometimes family members are objectified in this way, looking for the “best provider,” “trophy wife,” or the “genius children” as a measure of self-worth and achievement.
Marketing capitalizes on these attitudes. We are told via commercials that we can be happy if we just use a particular shampoo or weight-loss remedy. We envy others who appear to embody or have what we want, making-over ourselves and our homes in their images.
James says, “Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (4:4).
Double-mindedness
James talks about wisdom that is from above and wisdom that is earthbound. We all know that the worldly wisdom can achieve some great successes like the life and work of Steve Jobs. But the worldly wisdom can also lead to conflicts, disputes, and the sin of envy. The more we trust on the results of worldly wisdom, the more at risk we are to selfish ambition, cravings, and coveting what someone else has.
But the other kind of wisdom comes from above. This wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and bears good fruits, without any trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
So we have this “double-mindedness” of two kinds of smartness. While the worldly wisdom is tempting to us, we are to choose God’s wisdom that comes from above. James says, “Submit to yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (4:7-8).
What does God want? God wants us to not be double-minded and rely on worldly wisdom but to submit ourselves to God. We are to repent, turning away from this grasping lifestyle that leads to violence. God is yearning and searching for the human spirit that mirrors God’s own image. Therefore, in choosing to draw near to God, we are throwing off the power that earthly wisdom has over us.
Church Smartness
On this first Sunday of October when later on this afternoon, we’ll have our Church Membership Meeting to receive the Proposed 2013 Budget for the canvass and to discuss and conduct other items of church business, let us take a look at a church community that lives by God’s wisdom. Here are some of the marks of a wise church that this passage suggests:
*Church officers and board members are chosen on the criteria of godly wisdom, rather than how much money they give to the church.
*Worship is not just led by the pastor but is shared among the church membership of all ages and backgrounds.
*Disputes are handled with mercy and love, seeking peace above selfish ambition.
*Stewardship or giving becomes not just a season of pledge collection, but a yearlong spiritual discipline taught and lived by the community.
*Prayer is not selfish, asking for what will feed individual desires, but seeks the good fruits that will meet the needs of all.
*Our Sunday morning schedule is not just for the convenience of any one individual’s convenience, but for faithful worship, studying the Bible, and for the good of the whole church family.
*Peacemaking, social justice ministries, and our own public stands on issues become ways of addressing the earthly wisdom that surrounds us.
*Supporting missions overseas is our way to extend the hands and feet of Christ to nations that are beyond our physical reach but possible and necessary through the World Missions Offering.
*Our primary identity is measured by our closeness to God rather than the possessions we accumulate.
As in this Christian community like the church that James was writing to humble ourselves before the Lord, we too can be humbled. And when we do this, God will exalt us.
Becoming Smart
The challenge that’s before us is how can we live in God’s wisdom that is from above and not depend solely on worldly wisdom? With the world’s wisdom is all around us and dominates our lifestyles, how can we begin to live in God’s wisdom?
Just as James was addressing the church in his letter who are gathering in the name of Jesus and professing the faith of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, but whose attitudes and actions are not fully in friendship with God, we are like that too. James was not condemning the church but was simply recognizing that conversion does not remove the ambiguity of life and that complete acceptance is not given by the first commitment. To become fully in God’s wisdom, it’s a painfully slow journey requiring many conversions.
We have this double-mindedness, even among those of us who truly want to be friends of God. The wisdom from below is not easy to abandon or avoid, because it is the way of the world, surrounding culture but also in our very hearts.
Becoming smart with God’s wisdom that is from above is a lifelong learning event, and that should not discourage us, but excite us. C.S. Lewis, puts it this way using a house—a lifelong building project—for a metaphor:
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on and on.
But now he starts knocking down the house in a way that hurts your understanding and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to?
The explanation is that he is building a quite different house, from the one you thought of—taking down the new wing here, putting on an extra floor here, running up towers, making courtyards, You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but he is building a palace. God intends to come in and live in it himself.
We are pretty smart people here; many of you attended Cal and Stanford. Some of you are actually using 100% of your brains each day. For me, I still need my smart phone and hopefully a new MacAir to remain somewhat smart. And if we think that we are only giving 10% of our thinking power toward living in God’s wisdom of a holy life, we know that this does not disqualify us from discipleship. Instead it gives us lots of room for growth—and lots of room for Jesus to build on.
Let us pray.
Holy God, as we opened your word to us today, we lay aside all our selfish and personal cravings that hinder us from listening to the wisdom in your voice. We ask that you grant us grace to hear, wisdom to understand and courage to apply what we learned. We pray for a faithful journey of faithfulness in our lives and in our church. In Christ we pray. Amen.