James 3:13-18, Part 2

[Hidden In Him]

Wisdom From God Is Spiritually Pure, And Full Of Good Fruits, Part 2

What hinders a church from growing? Sometimes it can be the "wisdom" being taught, if it justifies evil things. The membership increasingly begins to sense that an evil spirit has crept into leadership, and that things are now going in a bad direction. In the case of the churches James was writing to, there were several things being taught (i.e. many by example) that were disturbing; practicing religious discrimination, being hypocritical and judgmental, walking in bitterness and resentment towards the brethren, and a number of other behaviors that were making things difficult to endure.

So what was the solution? For James, the answer began with not teaching wisdom that was "earthly, soulish and demonic" but rather truly from above, and "full of mercy and good fruits." In other words, it started with teaching wisdom that came from the Holy Spirit, not an evil one. They needed to identify who the leaders were who were walking in godly wisdom, and they would know who they were by watching their behavior:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him demonstrate from good behavior his works through the meekness of wisdom… for wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, forbearing, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, non-discriminating, and non-hypocritical. And the fruit of righteousness is being sown in peace by those making peace. (James 3:13, 17-18)

What did James mean by adding the phrase, "and the fruit of righteousness is being sown in peace by those making peace"? He first taught this principle in Chapter One by stating that believers should be slow to speak and slow to wrath, "for the wrath of man does not cultivate the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20). By this, he was comparing those who were hard-hearted to hard earth that was difficult to implant seed within. If a person harbored resentments in their heart, they would not be willing to listen to others and thus not allow others to teach them. So to receive the word within, they would have to set aside their hard-heartedness by "placing aside" the spiritual filthiness of bitterness and resentment first. Then the fruit of righteousness could be "sown" within them:

He brought us forth through the word of truth, for us to be a kind of first fruits of His creations. Therefore, my dear brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not cultivate the righteousness of God. Therefore, having set aside all filthiness, and the excrement of evil, receive with meekness the implanted word, which has the power to save your souls. (James 1:18-21)

But "sowing the word of truth in peace" meant sowing it with a peaceful heart and in a peaceful context. If the words being spoken are intended only to criticize the other person rather than help them, they will not be received. As it states in Proverbs, those who do not love peace will secretly speak deceitfully, only to wound others rather than heal them.

Some wound like swords when they speak, but the tongues of the wise heal... Deceit is in the heart of him that imagines evil, but they that love peace shall rejoice. (Proverbs 12:18, 20 LXX)

No matter how things are worded or how truthful they might be, if the intent is only to hurt others, the "wisdom" being shared won't be from God. Though someone might say they are sharing a word "from God" with you, if what follows appears intended only to slander, criticize or insult you, it will be rejected because you sense it's coming from a resentful or evil spirit rather than from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus referred to these same principles when He talked about removing the speck from our eye first. Criticizing others for the minor sins they were committing when you yourself had much bigger problems was exhibiting a type of religious hypocrisy, and instead of bringing peace and healing would only cause resentments.

Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but do not consider the beam in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye," when look, a beam is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

The idea, then, was to speak wisdom from above, for only this would bring healing and Life. If those deemed to be leaders in the early churches kept speaking wisdom that was earthly, soulish and demonic, the result would be the eventual destruction of the churches rather than their spiritual growth.


A Spirit Of Forgiveness Vs Bitterness

Satan was seeking to overcome churches with a spirit of bitterness. For congregations not to allow the enemy in, therefore, walking in forgiveness was absolutely necessary. Along with other manifestations of the Holy Spirit, this was paramount to maintaining the Spirit of unity that the apostle Paul talked about:

Put on therefore, as the chosen of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. If any man should have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. And add unto all these love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God arbitrate within your hearts, unto the which you were also called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell within you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:12-16)

Why was forgiveness so important? Because as we have been saying, during New Testament times, impure and unclean spirits were constantly trying to goad Christians into sinning against one another to inject a spirit of bitterness. Christians were cheating each other (1 Corinthians 6:1-9), committing adultery against each other (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5), mooching and freeloading off of one another (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12), and as James shared, belittling each other (James 2:1-4), and even cursing one another in the name of God (James 3:8-10). One can see then why bitterness was taking hold, and this later became a problem in Gentile churches just like it had in the Jewish ones. The enemy remained hard at work even amongst the Gentile churches trying to sow division.

Believers therefore needed to be ready for these attacks, and refuse to allow any spirit of bitterness to take up permanent residence within them by practicing forgiveness instead. As Jesus made this clear in teachings like the story of the Prodigal Son. The answer lay in forgiving the wrongs others have done, by not holding them accountable for the sins they once committed:

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living... 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” 20 And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him... and the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry." (Luke 15:11-24)

The Lord told this parable to show how things the Devil means for evil can be turned for good, with it eventually resulting in great joy when forgiveness was practiced. Wisdom from above is interesting only in seeking the joy of restoration, not the condemnation that comes from a spirit of bitterness and being judgmental over others.

 

[Hidden In Him]

The real life story of Joseph being thrown into a pit by his brothers had a similar ending. At the time, his brothers did it because they wanted to see Joseph dead due their jealousy, but God meant it for good, and because Joseph was able to forgive them when the time came, everyone involved was healed from the bitterness in their hearts. Instead of remaining divided, they were reunited together as a family, and the result was greater joy as a family than what they had before the betrayal ever happened.

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to their hearts. (Genesis 50:15-21)

As Jesus stated, the more carnal teaching was to "love your friends and hate your enemies." But wisdom from above sought to reconcile even family who had betrayed us, so that the result would be the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc, and healing for all concerned, rather than harboring bitterness of soul forever.


The Spirit Of Love Vs Discrimination

James also mentioned how wisdom from above was "non-discriminating and non-hypocritical." By these terms, he was referring back to things he had already mentioned in the letter. The rich were treating the poor like second-class citizens and telling them to sit under their footstool or over in the corner during services, as a manifestation of religious discrimination. It was causing the poor to be dishonored in their midst, and all the more hurtful when this conduct was being condoned by "wisdom" from the leadership that justified it.

As recorded in Acts, the same thing was taking place between Hellenized Jewish Christians and Hebrew believers. Many living outside Judea were called "Hellenists," meaning they spoke primarily Greek instead of Hebrew. But Jewish Christians living in Judea spoke Hebrew exclusively, and considered the Hellenists to be spiritually compromised. As a result, they didn't treat the Hellenized Christians fairly, and widows among the Hellenized believers were being passed up in the daily distribution of food.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because they were overlooking their widows in the daily distribution. (Acts 6:1)

The "wisdom" being displayed here was that Hellenists were obviously not as worthy of help. As such, this was not wisdom coming down from above coming from unclean and impure spirits down below who deliberately wanted to stir up strife between the two factions. Wisdom from above prevailed, however, by putting an end to this business and not allowing it to take place any longer (Acts:2-5).

Such might have also been the case when Gentiles began coming to Christ as well, but the early church teachings (especially those of the apostle Paul) was that there was no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile in Christ, for all had essentially become one body in Him. This was wisdom from above aimed to prevent discrimination from hindering the growth of the church. As he would encourage them in his letter to the Ephesians:

Wherefore remember that you who were once Gentiles, and those said to be "the uncircumcision" in the flesh by those said to be "the circumcision" in the flesh performed by hand, that you were at that time without Christ, having been alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and being without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once afar off were brought near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity... And having come, He preached the gospel of peace to you who were afar off, and to those who were near, in that through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:11-15a, 17-19)

The primary distinction between wisdom from above and wisdom from below was that the former brought unity, whereas earthly, carnal wisdom only brought division. Whether through discrimination, hypocrisy or any of the other form of unjust treatment, wisdom from below only created resentments. So when James mentioned how hypocrites were just giving lip service to the less fortunate rather than actually doing anything to help them, the point was that this was an obvious form of what was only referred to as "wisdom" but wasn't.

My brothers, what help is it if anyone claims to have faith yet does not have works?... if a brother or sister is insufficiently clothed and may be lacking daily food, and anyone from among you says to them, "Go in peace. Be warmed and filled," yet does not give them the things the body needs, what help is it? So also faith if it does not have works is dead by itself. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18)

So the answer lay in what kind of wisdom church leaders were teaching. Wisdom from above would lead to love, unity, peace and joy. Wisdom from below, however, would only lead to strife. As a result, early church Christians were to reject any form of "wisdom" that encouraged the practice of religious discrimination, walking in hypocrisy, harboring bitterness or any other evil practice. Those who knew what the Spirit was truly teaching knew that wisdom from above encouraged the opposite.


Questions And Applications

1. Ever been in a toxic relationship where everything you "shared" with each other was in reality only meant to criticize? If so, did that relationship ever heal, and if so, how?

2. Describe a situation where you have successfully forgiven someone in your past.

3. All of us have someone who has hurt us. Think of someone you wish would ask for you forgiveness for something they did to you in the past. Have you prayed for them about it? James will end the letter by saying, "Love covers over a multitude of sins," because he wanted his readers to keep this in mind.