Notes From A Sermon: Earthly Wisdom And Godly Wisdom

Notes From a Sermon: Earthly Wisdom and Godly Wisdom

James 3:13-18, 4:1-8, talks about two kinds of wisdom. Earthly wisdom and Godly wisdom.

Earthly Wisdom and Godly Wisdom

Bitter envy and selfish ambition arise from earthly wisdom, the letter says. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Think of those people in our lives, in history, and in the country, who demonstrate earthly “wisdom” with unspiritual envy and selfish ambition.

Now, think about, the people in the world who demonstrate the wisdom that comes from heaven.

James says, “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

Think about the people in the world who have this sort of wisdom. Peacemakers throughout history who are considerate and reap a harvest of righteousness.

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell one type of wisdom from the other. We think it’s from heaven, but sure sounds like earthly, selfish, demonic wisdom.

There are two ways of understanding wisdom, just as there are two ways of understanding power – there is God’s power and the power of worldly leaders.

Just as there are two ways of understanding religion: one is based on compassion and love and one is based on hypocrisy and the world.

How do we tell one from the other?

“Draw near to God,” James says, “and God will draw near to you.”

Earthly wisdom and worldly wisdom each produce its own fruits and consequences.

Peace or violence. Envy or compassion. Hate or love. Strife or the spirit. Respect or resentment. Hypocrisy or hope. Purity or perversion. Purity of thought or perversion of the truth.

Our religion may lead us to think and act in positive ways, sometimes, but not all the time.

We may come to church, or read our Bibles at home, or listen to religious broadcasts on the radio, and feel better about ourselves or feel closer to God. But we know those feelings fade over time. Sometimes after a few days, sometimes after a few hours, sometimes the feelings fade faster than it takes to get out of the church parking lot.

This happens to a lot of us. The first blush wears off. The world weighs on us for hours and days and weeks and the message of scripture is often a very thin wall holding back the darkness of the world, and the power of the scripture fades, as all things fade.

I’m reminded of Robert Frost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay:

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Part of the reason our faith fades is because of compartmentalizing.

Compartmentalizing means dividing into sections or categories. Someone has the ability to compartmentalize her life. To keep the different parts of her life separate.

For example, in third or fourth grade, the teacher was speaking with another teacher. The students were all in our seats, in the classroom, the teachers at the door. Our teacher laughed and smiled happily as she said goodbye.

When she turned around to look at us, her joyous expression was gone, replaced with a harsh and dour glare.

It’s easy, temping, and very common to compartmentalize our faith. To keep it separate from other parts of our lives.

When we compartmentalize our faith, we move further from God. We allow God to work in some ways, but not in others.

When we compartmentalize our faith, we say, “that was worship,” and then we go and do things that aren’t worship. We believe things that are ungodly and we put our trust in ungodly people.

When we compartmentalize our faith, we limit our connection to God and we live our lives in a limited way, a way that keeps us feeling connected sometimes, but separates us, other times.

Let us work toward feeling and sharing the power of God in every aspect of our lives. Let us pray that with God’s grace we find the serenity to live fully and completely in the moment with God.

The Serenity Prayer

By Reinhold Niebuhr

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen