Wisdom | James 1:5-8

Good morning. It is wonderful to be with you today. If I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name is Ryan. I have the joy and privilege of being one of the pastors here at Arrow Heights Baptist Church. Thank you for gathering with us today.

I would invite you to open your Bibles to the Book of James, Chapter one, verses five through eight. We're in the third week of our walk together through the Book of James. As a bit of a refresher, James wrote this letter approximately 15 years after the death, burial and resurrection of his older brother, Jesus of Nazareth, who was the Christ. Now, James wrote specifically to Jewish Christians in what he calls the Dispersion. The Dispersion was the scattering of God's covenant people, the Jews, over hundreds of years via warfare, resettlement, and most recently to James writing, severe persecution, targeting the Christian church.

Now, despite their difficult and challenging circumstances, as we read last week, James wrote to these believers in verses two through four, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Now, as we discussed last week, James is not being idealistic or glib to his readers. Genuinely, what James wants his brothers and sisters in Christ to understand is that God uses everything and wastes nothing.

God is not absent in our struggles or indifferent to our difficulties. The sovereign God uses all things for his glory and for the good of his people.

What James notes then is that God often uses our trials and our pain to make us steadfast in our faith, to make us draw near to Christ, to see his perfection, his completeness and his fullness, as we recognize the brokenness and incompleteness in this world and even in ourselves.

So for the believer, the Christian, the adopted son or daughter of God through Christ, being brought near to our Father even through trial, is a source of deep, satisfying, nourishing joy. Because God Himself is our deep, satisfying, nourishing joy. And the more we experience this joy, the more steadfast our faith in God becomes. As James says there in verse four, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing.

Yet even as we read the end of verse four, we immediately recognize a lack in ourselves. We recognize that while we are on the road of sanctification by the Spirit, striving to be more and more like Christ every day, there is something missing, a self insufficiency.

We are not smart enough or strong enough, we don't have the right perspective, understanding or ingenuity to live the Christian life in and of ourselves.

What we recognize we lack then is wisdom.

In today's text, James says that is exactly the point. Let's read James chapter one, beginning in verse five.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.

So what James identifies as that lack of wisdom that we perceive and feel within ourselves is something he says is readily available to us, yet is also incessantly counterfeited before us.

Now, what is wisdom? Wisdom is not intuition, like a gut feeling we follow. Wisdom is not a performance, just doing the right things. Wisdom is not even knowledge, facts that we can recite that are true. Well then, what is it?

Well, for the sake of our discussion today, we're going to use this Biblically informed definition that wisdom is understanding how to apply truth to life. I'll say that again. Wisdom is understanding how to apply truth to life.

Now, how and where then do we get wisdom? Where do we get understanding? Is it from our experience? Is it from our intuition? Is it heard in the voices of this world, vying for us to trust and follow their will and way?

Well, when it comes to the question of where wisdom is truly gained, especially in times of trial, we need look no further than the Old Testament book of Job. In Job 28:12, Job says, but where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? In verse 15 and 18 he says, it cannot be bought, for gold and silver cannot be weighed as its price. The price of wisdom is above pearls.

In verse 23 through 24, Job explains God understands the way to it and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under heaven. In verse 28, finally, Job concludes, behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom. Now that statement that the fear of the Lord is wisdom echoes throughout Psalms and Proverbs and the Old Testament wisdom literature. But now this fear is not apprehension or anxiety or dread or trepidation about God.

The Biblical fear of the Lord is reverence, respect, appreciation, humility.

It is recognition that God is God, the Creator of the cosmos, all knowing, all present, all powerful, and that we ourselves are none of those things.

So in light of who we are and who God is, James tells us here in verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.

Upon recognizing our own lack of wisdom, why would James instruct believers to ask God?

Well, simply because God has all the wisdom. God knows all things, ordains all things, created all things, and He Himself is the author of the order, design and purpose for all things. There is nothing that can be known or understood that God does not fully know and understand. All actual wisdom comes from God. His wisdom is both temporarily and eternally true.

His wisdom supersedes time, culture and space, just as God Himself supersedes time, culture and space. To where else then would we logically turn for wisdom?

To our own intuition or instinct, driven by fickle feelings and appetites? That guy twittering his thumbs on social media? That talking head on TV, parroting some script? Or that loudmouth influencer making money off your clicks?

No, seeking wisdom from those sources is absolute foolishness.

Every source of supposed wisdom in this world is lesser and significantly so than the wisdom that comes from God Himself.

And but one may ask, well, sure, that's great, but doesn't God conceal His wisdom? Isn't God hidden, silent, distant? Would God really allow me to know and understand his wisdom? Verse 5 continues, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach.

Listen. God loves to give us his wisdom. He desires for us to have it and to use it. God is not hidden. He has revealed Himself fully in Jesus the Christ.

God is not silent. He has given us His Word that we can actually read in this book. God is not distant. He has given us His Spirit to indwell and guide and direct us according to His Word. So hear this simple truth this morning.

The Almighty God wants us to have and use his wisdom.

Now, not only does God give us his wisdom, James says, but he gives it generously. This word in the Greek means unwaveringly or without hesitation. God's wisdom is open and available to you right now.

James also said, God doesn't give his wisdom discriminately only to the smart, to the clean, or the good. James says, God gives his wisdom to all without reproach. In this Greek, he has the idea of without finding fault or demeaning another. God does not see us as unworthy or undeserving of his wisdom.

In Matthew 11:25, 26, Jesus said, I thank you Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. As one scholar noted, the Lord will never cast even the mildest reproach on a child of his who comes seeking wisdom in a time of trouble and testing. He will not remind us of how undeserving and unworthy we are, obvious as that might be. Nor will he chide us for not asking sooner, fully understanding that the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Without hesitation, reluctance or reservation, his divine wisdom will be given to us in generous abundance. He will say to us in effect what he said to his people Israel through the psalmist, I, the Lord am your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Now where then do we go to find and to receive and to be filled with God's wisdom?

We go to His Word, the Scriptures which he has given to us for this very purpose.

Now could God's Word be difficult to understand at times? Absolutely. That's why he gives us training and resources at the local church, those who can instruct us in the way. Can God's will through His Word be difficult to discern at times? Absolutely.

That's why he gives us the gift of prayer that we may seek him and the direction of His Spirit to guide and to lead us. Can you get five PhDs from Harvard as a Christian and still find yourself overwhelmed by the depths of God's Word you seem unable to fully mine? Absolutely. And such is the glory of God that He is inexhaustible.

But can we still teach God's Word in a way that even little children can understand?

Absolutely. Can we hear even the simplest truths of God's Word and grasp them in a life changing way? Absolutely.

Jesus loves me, this I know, why, for the Bible tells me so.

And because of this we can rest firm in James' promise that no matter where we are, no matter our ability or aptitude, as he continues in verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Now this is one of the most beautiful, affirming and encouraging promises in all of Scripture. Christian, God will give you wisdom when you ask Him.

Now this beautiful promise comes with both a comfort and a question.

The comfort is what this tells us about the character and the nature of God. Because the picture that James draws is of God in an eternal posture of generous benevolence toward his children, just waiting to give them the wisdom he so desires them to have. Church, this runs counter to some of our ideas about God's posture towards us because we can easily forget that God is a giver.

All the way back to Genesis 3, a tactic that our enemy Satan uses is to make us think that God withholds from us, that he is stingy, that he would only begrudgingly share himself with us, if at all.

But here and in the rest of Scripture, we see clearly otherwise. Acts 17:25 says, he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Psalm 32:8 says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Proverbs 2:7 says, make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding.

Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth, from him come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. Jesus even instructs us in Matthew 7, beginning in verse 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?

God loves and desires to generously give us his wisdom.

Now that is the great comfort stemming from this promise from God. The question, however, is how? How does God give us his wisdom and understanding? And the answer to that is probably not according to our timetable or desired means.

When I was a kid, about 7 years old, on one Sunday I was bored in church, if you can imagine such a thing. Guy up there just kept going on and on and on. And so I just started flipping through my Bible and I came to the Book of Job, J-O-B. I said, oh well, this must be the part of the Bible that tells me what my job is going to be. I'm seven, so I'll put that in my pocket and come back to that later.

Now, while it would be great on some level if God gave us his wisdom in that way, that's just not how he works. It's not even to our benefit that he should work that way.

God's wisdom does not come in an immediate download like Neo learning Kung Fu in the Matrix. No. God imparts his wisdom through His Word, over time and in community as it is heard, received, applied and proved again and again and again.

Like a sculptor or a builder or a farmer, God knows time, process, and waiting for the bigger picture to unfold bring about the greatest results.

That is not, however, how we want God to operate.

We want God to work speedily, with minimum effort on our part, and only through good fun surprises that we enjoy.

But God knows such things rarely bring about true and lasting wisdom and understanding for his people.

We must remember Isaiah 55:8. God says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And it is because of this reality that alongside his encouragement, James also provides a warning. Verse 6: But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

So James' warning is this. If you are going to ask God for wisdom, you must ask in full, genuine, uncompromised faith.

Now does that mean if you ever struggle in trials or have a single thought of doubt, that God won't give you his wisdom? Well, no. James is not here describing someone wrestling with doubt or struggling to understand God's will and way in a season of trial. Remember in Mark 9:24, the father of that dying child said to Jesus, Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief.

And Jesus still rewarded that man's faith. Now, what James is saying is that there is a difference between asking God for wisdom while walking in obedient faith and asking God for wisdom while actively walking in doubt. And what is that difference? Let me ask a question.

What would make you have complete faith in a person or thing? And what would cause you to doubt that same person or thing?

Well, one's faith or doubt would be rooted in how one views the dependability of the object or the person that they are considering. And how do we judge dependability? Well, one way is history. Has it or have they proved dependable in the past? If something has continually proved true, we can trust it will prove true again.

The second way is ability. What is its capacity or strength in relation to its opposition? If something is stronger and greater than the force set against it, we trust that it will hold.

Now a third way is will. Is this something they can or would actually do? If someone desires to apply their dependability and exert their strength in a given situation, we can trust that they will do so. So if we find something or someone has always been dependable without fail, that something or someone has the greatest capacity or strength possible, that something or someone is determined, even delighted, to do this thing, then we can have full and complete faith in that person or thing. Now consider God's Word displays for us that God has always proved dependable. God by his very nature has the greatest capacity and strength possible.

Also here we just read James says God is determined, that he loves, that he is satisfied, set to give us his wisdom. Thus we can have full assurance of faith in who God is, that he is able to give us wisdom, and that he will do so when we ask, just as he said.

Now the only way we would doubt that God would give us his wisdom is if we actually do not see God as dependable. If we believe there is something else stronger or greater than he, or that God does not love us enough to guide us in the right way.

In that case, one would be a doubter of God's Word, a skeptic of his intentions and his character, thus calling God a liar.

That person would uphold something else's power above God, functionally making that thing a god. That person would not believe that God truly loved them, thus rejecting the work of Jesus Christ who died on their behalf. They would turn to other sources for truth, seek something else for their provision, and surrender themselves to something other than God for love.

And church, that is the very definition of idolatry.

And what would such an idolatrous person be like? James says they would be like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, at the mercy of that which is itself unstable, unsteady, unpredictable and erratic. In doubting God, that person would run to false promise after false promise, being pushed and pulled by what Ephesians 4:14 describes as every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, in deceitful schemes. And church, we see that unfolding every single day.

We should not expect that we can doubt God, dabbling in functional idolatry, and still reap the rewards of trusting Him by faith.

Either God is God or he is not. Either God has all wisdom or he does not. We either trust God and His wisdom or we do not. But be warned, James says, that which we sow, we will reap. Verse 7.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. So what James describes is one who John Bunyan in his book The Pilgrim's Progress called Mr. Facing Both Ways. Again, this is not someone struggling to hold by faith to God in trial.

This is one who looks to God for wisdom, but also looks to himself and to others and to the world. One who believes they can mix God's wisdom and his will and his way for life with that of the world and come out with something better than God's wisdom alone.

Be careful, James warns, there is no Jesus plus anything else.

Either you trust and believe God fully or you don't. Now, I'm not talking here about employing common graces that God has provided like science and medicine, etc. Those can be good things that God gives us in accordance with his wisdom.

What I'm talking about is what Hebrews 11:6 says. Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.

Now, church, as we said when we began, the Book of James is very direct and at times uncomfortably so. But let me remind us again of the comfort in these verses: when we are in trials and ask for wisdom, truly believing in Him, God will give us his wisdom. And friend, that is a wonderful, foundation building promise. What a mighty and loving God and Father we have.

Still, in light of James' direction, each one of us should ask: Do I really believe that God is the one source for true wisdom in all of my life? Do I really believe that God wants to give me his wisdom? Am I anchoring my faith to God alone for wisdom and readying myself to receive it?

Now, what would be the evidence in your life that answers those questions? Well, one strong evidence would be the way you do or do not value God's Word.

Are you constantly drawing from the Scriptures to remember God's history and to know his character and to drink in God's wisdom from the very source?

Do you value His Word, invest time with it? Do you steel your heart and your mind with it so that you will have it readily available when trials come?

Do you pray according to His Word, continually asking God for His wisdom as you read now? Above all, are you trusting and following Jesus Christ alone for salvation through his willing sacrifice on the cross in your place?

He whom God's Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30 became to us wisdom from God, that we might know him and be rescued by him from our slavery to sin. Trusting and following he who himself is God's wisdom personified, is your life living gospel proof that God in Christ is the one, all sufficient source of wisdom from which to eat and to drink?

Well, may I invite you today, as God's Word does, to feast at the table of God's wisdom in full assurance of faith.

Proverbs 9:1 through 6. Solomon wrote, Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars, she has slaughtered her beasts, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here to him who lacks sense.

She says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live and walk in the way of wisdom.

Whereas Proverbs 4:7 so directly puts it, the beginning of wisdom is this.

Get wisdom.

Amen. Let's pray.

God, we thank you for who you are. We acknowledge that you alone are God Almighty, the Creator, Sustainer, the author of all time, space and history. You yourself are the source of all wisdom.

God, we thank you that while you didn't have to, you made your wisdom known to us.

You have given us your very Word. You gave us the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ, who walked the earth with us. You have given us God, the Spirit, who guides and directs and leads us according to the Word. God, there is nothing that you have left undone in giving us your wisdom. You even call us and invite us to pray to you.

An intimate relationship, like a child to their father, even and especially in trial, that you would teach us your wisdom, that you would show us the way and help us follow it. And as we do, we would see your wisdom for what it is. That which points beautifully back to who you are.

God, I pray on behalf of this church family that you would give us wisdom. God, we need it. We desire it. We hunger for it.

You know, there are so many voices in this world calling for our attention and our affection. God, direct us with laser focus and with great love and desire for your Word, that we would understand and submit fully to Jesus Christ alone.

We ask this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.