Introduction

So, we’ve been going through James, and we are still in James, and we are now in James 3, in the middle of chapter 3.

And we’re coming to a point in James where a lot of people are going to question the things that they’ve been believing in or the people that they’ve been believing.

And it’s going to cause you to ask yourself a question, do I have to continue to believe what I have been believing or to follow what I have been following?

But the intention of this is not just to have this intellectual knowledge. This is not what James wants. James wants us to apply this knowledge in our lives so that every decision that we make is guided by, controlled by the Holy Spirit through the word of God.

So please turn with me to the book of James. Those with the Afrikaans bible – die boek van Jakobus…Jakobus
Jakobo – that would be the Tswana one and the Pedi one…Jakobo.

Definition

Now, the dictionary, at least the one that I use, defines wisdom as the trait or the characteristic or the attribute of utilizing knowledge and experience. This is how it defines wisdom.

It also says there’s four definitions it has. The other definition it says is the quality of being prudent or wise and sensible. Do I have a problem when the dictionary uses the same word to define the word?
So being wise is being prudent or being wise is being wise. But that’s what it says.

The third one, it says ability to apply knowledge, experience, understanding, or common sense and insight.
Now, BDAG, one of the most respected Greek lexicons, defines wisdom as used in this, in James 1:5, which we dealt with some weeks ago. He defines it as the capacity to understand and function accordingly.

Now, Logos, which is the software that myself and Karl uses to study scripture and prepare sermons and all of that, it defines it as a trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight.
Now, a run through lexicons and dictionaries indicates that the common understanding of what wisdom is, is that it is having knowledge and understanding and experience and being able to use that in determining how you act. Having knowledge, understanding, experience, and being able to use all of that, or either of that, to determine how you act. In short, wisdom is defined as applied knowledge.

It’s not only knowledge, it’s not only understanding, it’s not only experience, but it is applied knowledge, applied experience, applied understanding. But not all wisdom is created equal.
The 2 most fundamental types of wisdom, and there’s many.

There’s a sound here.
That’s my ears.
Or is it the water?
Oh, because there’s no water in…
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Bear with that.
There’s no water in Witbank as far as I understand it.

2 Fundamentals

Like I said, not all wisdom is created equally. There are two fundamentals.
If I group them, two groups come up. There’s one group and I group them by virtue of what the outcome or the purpose of that wisdom is.

The First One

The one is biblical wisdom, and the other one is worldly wisdom. And you will see why I have these two main groups. Now, biblical and worldly wisdom operate from fundamentally and understand this irreconcilably, different foundations leading towards different outcomes.
And I repeat that it’s very important to understand.

Biblical and worldly wisdom operate from fundamentally at its core and irreconcilably they could never come together. Different foundations leading towards different outcomes.

The contrasting orientations reveal themselves in practical ways. If you really want to see how different they are, you see the outcomes, the practical outcomes of those two types of wisdom. Then you will see vastly two different sources, two different manners, and two different purposes of these wisdoms.

Jesus’s Example

The 2 forms of wisdom often demand opposite things.
Example, Jesus highlighted these differences when he commanded loving enemies rather than hating them. It’s a common thing in our world today that if someone has done something very, very, very, very, very, very wrong to you, are entitled to hate them. And it is understandable that you hate them. But Jesus said, no, it’s not understandable.

You will love, not even someone who disagrees with you, your enemies, you will love them.
Since these two types of wisdom are not only different from each other, but also lead to different outcomes, how can we know which one is biblical and which one is not?

Because if you don’t know, you’d follow either or not because it’s good or it’s bad, but because it serves you and you will see. But as slaves of Christ, there’s only one that you should follow, and you will see one.

 

Biblical Discussions

Now, I’m looking at Brenda now because, you see, in our church, we hold each other accountable and I love them.
I love that when I walk, when Karl walks out of this pulpit, he looks at me to see if I’ve got anything to say about what he just preached or he looks at Lucille or Brenda or anyone to see if there’s any feedback from what he said. And we truly appreciate it. We don’t see it as an attack or anything. We see it as the body making the body to go. So, it goes both ways.

So, we had this short discussion. I wish I had time to debate with Brenda longer than that. She was saying that we were debating the title of this sermon, whether I should say the kind of wisdom a slave of Christ must display or a slave of Christ should display.

And I promise that at the end of this sermon, we will see what God says, whether it should be “should’“, or whether it should be “must.”

So that’s how open we are at this church. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying, I don’t think so. I think it’s this one. With Karl, you’ll probably get a book to go and read. So, there’s always that danger! With me, you’re going to get a long argument, which I enjoy very much. So, if you want argument, if you want a book, you can choose whoever you want to go and speak to.

James Will Tell Us!

So we are in James, chapter 3. So, if you want to know, what’s the difference between the two? James will tell us.
It’ll give us some illustrations on how we can differentiate whether that motivational speaker on Facebook is someone you should be listening to on. Whether that elder in that village is someone you should be listening to on.

There’s his, there’s this Afrikaans gesprek wat se:”Met grys hare kom wysheid.”
Is that true?
Well, James will tell us. Whether that is true or not.