James: The Wisdom of God: I Kings 3: 1-15; James 3: 13-18
When I first passed the Bar Exam, I had to go through a mentoring program in order to complete my continuing education. It’s required of all new lawyers in Georgia. It just so happened I had taken a couple of mediation courses with an attorney who agreed to provide this mentoring. I’ll never forget a story he told about wisdom in times of trouble. A man went to a local wise woman asking about how to find peace in life. She handed him a bottle with a duck happily swimming in it. “Get the duck out without harming either the duck or bottle,” she said. The man comes back saying he could smash the bottle, but was told that wouldn’t work because he couldn’t damage the bottle.
Shortly thereafter he came back believing he could yank the duck out. “No,” he was told, “That may harm the duck.” Finally he came back a week or two later with a big smile on his face. He put the duck in a bottle down in front of the wise woman and said, “Not my duck, not my bottle, not my problem.” She replied, “Ah, yes, you have learned.” James teaches us about wisdom in our text for today. Sometimes wisdom is minding our own business, but sometimes wisdom calls us to act on problems in life. On Memorial Day weekend, we talk about sacrifice, suffering, and especially from our soldiers who return from war in many cases broken and vulnerable. That IS our problem. When you live with tremendous power, you must also have tremendous wisdom.
The wisdom from God is shown in living an honorable life. James tells us, “If you are wise and understand God’s way, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” Wisdom has to start with the idea of humility. We see it in Solomon, who displays for us that he’s not automatically wise, or simply born that way. He has to ask God, rely on God, for the wisdom that he has. If you intend to be wise, it starts with a humble admission that an honorable life, and the good works we do come from the humility to rely on God.
Now, some folks pretend to have God’s wisdom, and try to cover over the fact that they, in fact, do not. James tells us that earthly or human’s best attempt at wisdom masquerades as something else and can clearly be seen in versus 14 and 15 by bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, and covering up the truth with boasting and lying. Those with God’s wisdom have no cause to be bitter or jealous, for their wisdom and ability are found in their relationship with God. It’s our sin that tells us to be jealous of others, and in fact if you consider jealousy and envy similar, then it’s one of the seven deadly sins. Again Christians do not need to be selfishly ambitious for what we have is a gift from God and not of our own merit. And because these two things are sins, they are usually covered up by loud boasting and lies.
We are told over and over in Proverbs and by Paul not to boast, or be proud, or puffed up. Jesus said the first shall be last and the last shall be first, so wining, being number one, and bragging about all things do not follow Jesus’s teachings. These things are not God’s kind of wisdom, says James, and “wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.” We should be thankful for our blessings and achievements, giving God the credit. We cannot worship such things, and we must not let the allure of earthly success rob us of holy Savior and holy calling.
The wisdom we receive from God, however, also has tell-tale signs. James tells us that such wisdom is pure, peace loving, always gentle, willing to yield to others or find grace. Such wisdom is full of mercy and good deeds, shows no favoritism, and is rooted in sincerity. These things bear a striking resemblance to Paul’s fruits of the spirit. If you want to see whether someone is operating (or whether you and I are operating) with God’s holy wisdom look to those things: peaceful, loving, gentle, merciful, sincere, and pure. Many people believe hat the louder they are the smarter they seem, but God’s wisdom is seen in Christ-like action coupled with decision-making led by God, not by how often one can spout off.
I will never forget one time I was in the courtroom and there was a very slick, fancy Atlanta lawyer who had come down to show us poor bumpkins down in Macon how this law stuff was supposed to go. It was a civil case, and he was 15 minutes late, strolling in importantly and pompously with a fancy suit and big coif of hair. He proceeded to holler and interrupt, talking over the local attorney, interrupting him with loud “NO!” shouts. He cited no cases and provided no state laws, but he could bluster, huff, and puff in front of the judge. Finally, the Macon lawyer found his commanding voice and in two sentences skewered the blustering fool. Defeated at his game, the fancy Atlanta lawyer went home and dropped his case entirely.
How do we have wisdom? We must follow the example of Solomon. He first realized how inadequate he was. Though he was a smart man, in his humility, he realized the need for God to provide wisdom and guidance. He says to God, “I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.” Then he simply asked God for the wisdom to do what was right, saying, “Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” It goes back to an earlier part of James, if you lack for something, ask God for it in faith.
But also, be willing to sacrifice. Solomon could have had anything else—riches, power, everything. But he asked for wisdom, and because God was so pleased with Solomon, he was given everything else he could ever want. Memorial Day Weekend for many is a fun holiday, but for others it is a painful reminder of sacrificed the wisdom to know when such sacrifices must be made to help and protect others.
Sometimes wisdom tells us to stay out of places where our nose doesn’t belong—not my duck, not my bottle, not my problem. But we must also have to wisdom to know when to act. On Memorial Day we pause and remember the sacrifice of our men and women who gave themselves for our freedom, our lives, and our peace. In these times we are called to small sacrifices as well—to wear a mask in public, to stay out of large groups, to protect the fragile and elder ones in our communities. Those things really aren’t much to ask—in reality—they’re a minor inconvenience to us.
Others have sacrificed far more: our soldiers on the battle fields, our police in the streets, black and brown men and women struggling for equal rights under the law, those around our nation who put themselves in harm’s way each and every day have learned what wisdom means—personal sacrifice because you love someone and want good for them. It’s what Jesus did for us. Christ laid down his life so that we might have hope here and in the hereafter. God’s wisdom teaches us to be gentle and humble, peaceful and merciful. The greatest sacrifice one can give is to lay down his or her life for another. So let us be grateful and mindful, and humbled by those who in wisdom counted the cost and gave everything they had for us, in that same way that Christ loved and sacrificed as an example of grace.