Hurricane in the Church – Pt. 2

if God’s people would once again
take their Bibles and turn back to James. The epistle of James chapter
three is where we are nestled currently. James chapter three,
and even though this is a new angle on his argument, where
James is addressing the Christian in the expression of his faith,
in his living out of his faith or her faith. Here is just another
in a long line of considerations that James puts before the believers,
that of the right use of wisdom and knowledge, a right appropriation
of those things, and not unlike all of those things that he’s
put before believers in the past, in the initial portions of this
epistle, how the believer handles trials and how he handles temptation,
how a believer functions in the actual living out of their faith,
how How a believer handles social implications. Are they impartial
in the church? And how they handle works and
good works. And this particular passage rests
on that foundation that James had established in discussing
the tongue. How one handles their mouth. How their faith in Christ affects
their speech and their conduct. If you would, I want to take
this passage in its, not in the entirety from the very beginning
of the chapter, but I want to go back to verse 13, where we
considered last Lord’s day, where James is really wrestling with
two kinds of wisdom. One, you would even put quotes
around that wisdom, if you would, if it even can be considered
wisdom. But he wants to zero in on what
is real, genuine, God-given wisdom. Beginning in verse 13, if you
would. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior
his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter
jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant
and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which
comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish
ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the
wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable,
full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy,
and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who
make peace.” So James introduces the whole
subject of wisdom. When we talked about wisdom,
we’ll talk more about genuine wisdom today. This is not a subject
that James treats lightly. This is what the Puritans referred
to as our deportment, the way we carry ourselves among our
brothers and sisters in Christ and among the world. It is our
demeanor. It is the way that we utilize
biblical information and the way it touches our lives. It
touches not only our attitude, but it touches our actions as
well, as we will see even today. If you were to look for a thesis
statement in these six short verses, you could look to verse
13, where James seems to summarize really the entire epistle into
this little verse. Who among you is wise and understanding? Do you really truly possess God’s
wisdom? And if you possess God’s wisdom
and his understanding of how the world operates, if you’re
really truly operating from a Christian worldview, if your operating
system is up to date and not beset with viruses, If you really
are wise and understanding, it should show. Let it show. Let him show his wisdom by his
good behavior, in his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom. We’ll
come back to that whole concept today. But the first thing that
James began was pointing out that there is a kind of wisdom. There is an operating system
riddled with viruses. that is troubling not only to
the individual, it’s troubling to all around him. Because it
is manifest in bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. That is
the world’s wisdom. That is the world’s operating
system. And James just basically introduces
us to false wisdom. This is not an alternative method
for functioning in the church. This is the devil’s way of doing
things, even as James points out at the end. It is earthly,
natural, demonic. It is not the way that God would
have us to behave in the church. And so we need to search our
hearts. We need to examine our hearts to see whether Bitter
jealousy and selfish ambition are part and parcel of our own
operating system. Is that the course of our worldview? Is that our demeanor? Is that
how we carry ourselves? We already determined that there
was much to examine, isn’t there? There’s much to examine in that
mindset that really is suspicious of everyone and takes matters
into their own hands for their own purposes through the means
of selfish ambition. James says, look, he doesn’t
even mince words here. He says, look, if that is the
way you operate, don’t lie. Don’t lie and suggest that you
belong to Christ. Don’t lie and suggest that you
have become a Christian and you desire to live as a Christian
because that is not Christ-like. Do not be arrogant and so lie
against the truth. This wisdom is not that which
comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish
ambition exists, there is disorder and every evil thing. I left off last Lord’s Day with
an illustration that really won’t carry forward today. I suggested
to you that there was a hurricane in the church. That’s the image
that comes to mind as I look at these words, these plentiful
words that really end up destroying the local church. We’ll come back to that idea
in a moment of why that illustration doesn’t carry, but the bottom
line is you can’t stop a hurricane. You can’t prevent a hurricane,
necessarily. You can’t steer a hurricane.
You can hardly predict a hurricane. I remember even two weeks ago
how bewildered everyone was as to where the particular hurricane
of the day was going to land. Even to the last 24 hours, they
had no idea. But hurricanes are certainly
destructive, as we saw last week. I pointed to what I saw was really
just a category two, a small hurricane in Titus chapter three.
In Titus chapter three, he talks about a factious man, somebody
who has come in and is utilizing these various means to create
a club, his own Christian club within the church, people who
believe like him and want to follow him and want to do like
he does. Paul warned. young Titus on the
island of Crete, but that was a minor thing. It was a faction
and Paul could deal with that. But the one in Corinth, the hurricane
that was very likely to hit Corinth, so concerned Paul that Paul was
even reticent to go to Corinth because he didn’t want to be
brokenhearted to get there and see the destruction that it had
caused. This is how he described what I called Hurricane Macedonia,
a category five. I am afraid that perhaps when
I come, I may find you to be not what I wish. And I may find
you to be not what I wish and may be found by you not to be
what you wish, but that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy,
angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances. That has literally every one
of the ugly words that we considered last Lord’s Day. Paul says likewise
that there was a there was a past hurricane that had come through
Galatia. that he warned those saints about. And here, James
is warning people of the same thing. He’s warning them of the
same kind of destruction, category five kind of destruction in the
church when he warns them about bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. How do we control the tongue?
We have to start with the operating system. We have to start with
God given wisdom. And the world’s wisdom will never
equip the saints in the church to do battle with the tongue
that threatens to destroy the very church of God. So James
turns to heavenly wisdom. And aren’t we thankful for that?
It would be one thing if James just left this and left this
image in our mind. It would resonate with us. But he also turns to a positive
description of what wisdom is, what godly wisdom is, and he
does so in verse 17. James has already identified,
as we just saw, that there is a kind of wisdom, if it can even
be called wisdom, It is not from God. It is not one of the manifold
gifts which comes down from above. Rather, it is earthly, mundane,
run-of-the-mill, natural, as opposed to spiritual, and demonic,
its source and its effect in the church. Verse 15, this is
not, this wisdom is not that which comes down from above,
but is earthly, natural, and demonic. And so we saw that wisdom,
as we began to look at a definition of what wisdom is, it’s the ability
to choose the best goal, the highest goal, together with the
surest means of attaining it. And if we are wanting to shepherd
our God-given tongues, then we need God’s wisdom and we need
God’s goal for the use of our tongue. One pastor said that
Christian wisdom is essentially practical. It’s not that we sit
in some ivory tower and ponder and someday label ourselves as
wise or even to have others label ourselves as wise. Christian
wisdom is practical. Christian wisdom is where the
rubber meets the road of life. And he says, it is such knowledge
turned to action in all the decisions and the personal relationships
of everyday life. And that’s why we said that it
is our demeanor as Christians. It is our deportment. It is our
operating system. It is our worldview. And so James
happily informs us that there is a wisdom that is from above. There is wisdom that is from
above, and I want you to note this. The Greek translations,
or the English translations rather, typically don’t catch this little
subtlety. But there is an interesting twist
here in the Greek. In verse 15, James spoke literally
of the wisdom from above coming down. It’s a beautiful image. It’s one of those many gifts
that sifts down to earth as it were in a parachute and rests
there and available for the believer. The wisdom from above coming
down. And he’s still referring to the
same thing here, but he shortens that phrase. In the Greek, he
shortens that and he only refers to it again, literally, the from
above wisdom. The wisdom, particularly that
is from above, it’s exclusively the wisdom that comes from God
now that he’s focusing on. It’s a different kind of wisdom
because it has a different source. This wisdom is from heaven itself. And I want you to note that the
source is divine, it’s heavenly, it’s it’s by divine grace that
this wisdom comes. This is true wisdom. This is
God given wisdom. This is the wisdom from above. One referred to it as the supreme
excellence of religious life. This is what changes the way
that we talk because it changes our operating system. It changes
our worldview. It alters our deportment for
the good. This is that wisdom which Jesus
possessed. Remember, at least three times
in the Gospels, Jesus was said to possess this God given heavenly
wisdom. Luke 2, 52, Jesus kept increasing
in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. It was manifest in time in his
young manhood. Matthew 13, he came to his hometown,
began teaching them in their synagogue. They were astonished
and said, where did this man get this wisdom, the way that
he carried himself, the way that he spoke? It was evident that
he had this gift. He had this gift of God given
heavenly wisdom and that wisdom guided himself through his whole
life. Matthew 11, 19, the son of man came eating and drinking,
and they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend
of tax collectors. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her
deeds. He says, keep watching, keep
watching this savior, keep watching this Christ, because in time
he will be seen for what he is. Jesus operated with a correctly
functioning operating system. Jesus possessed the biblically
informed conscience. Jesus possessed this God-honoring
worldview. And he says that, James does,
that we too may possess this heavenly wisdom. We too may operate
as God would have us. And so here in verses 17 and
18, James turns his attention to this real wisdom. Godly, God-given,
from above wisdom. In verse 17, he observes the
attitude of wisdom, its nature, its characteristics, what it’s
like. And then in verse 18, having
looked at the attitude of wisdom, he closes with the action of
wisdom because it’s both. It is the outworking. of a deportment of life. Note here in verse 17 of wisdom,
the first thing that James says, one virtue of seven, he says
it is first pure. And when he says first, I believe
that he points to the believer regarding his life and says,
get or take the log out of your own eye first. First and foremost,
the believer deals with his own life. The believer deals with
his own sin. The believer deals first and
foremost with his own shortcomings and sinful habits before the
Lord. It is first pure. But it is pure. It is holy and clean. That’s
what the word means. Paul uses that word pure to speak
of his service. To Christ’s bride. Listen to
this, 2 Corinthians 11, two, I’m jealous of you with a godly
jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband,
that is Christ, that I might present you as a pure virgin. Paul envisions the church as
a bride that he is attending. He is the one lifting the train. He is the one setting the veil.
He is the one preparing the bride The church for Christ. And he says that that bride is
pure, pure virgin, that word is used of our own thought life.
Remember, Philippians four, eight, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, our thought
life should be pure. It’s used of an older woman in
Titus two, as we saw even this last Wednesday evening. That an older godly woman is
to be sensible, pure. And she has to urge the same
of the young women. It is urged likewise of unequally
yoked wives, I would call them in first Peter three, two, that
as those husbands, those wayward husbands observe your chaste,
your pure and respectful behavior, that they can be one. And so
the word means morally pure, holy. One pastor described it
as things which are neither tainted nor corrupt. Like our motives. Free from all debasing elements,
leaving no blot on the conscience and no stain on the character. What a beautiful word this word
is. Because it does touch not only
motives, but acts. There can be pure deeds that
are oriented from pure motives, he says. What a happy thing that
is for the church. I believe that James here particularly
is zeroing in on motives. And he says here that those that
are helpful in the church, those that keep the hurricane at bay,
that prevent a hurricane from making landfall in the church,
are those whose motives are pure. Those who have no ulterior motives,
those who are free of selfish ambition, As one described it, they are
clean and undefiled, shrinking, recoiling, drawing back from
contamination. Free from all vices such as jealousy
and party factions. In other words, these are the
people who will not listen to gossip. They will not sow discord
among the brethren. They will not pass along a false
report. Robert Johnstone, one of my new
heroes in the faith, said this, the Christian wise man shrinks
from moral defilement of every kind. I mean, it’s one thing
to think of the moral defilement of our own world, and it’s not
surprising that we should back away from so much of what they
promote. But many who would turn their
head from a vile worldly thought or picture or idea readily engage
in moral defilement in the church in their gossip. The Christianly
wise man shrinks from moral defilement of every kind. The truly wise
man is he who has conformity of spirit to the only wise God. who believes that what God teaches
loves what God loves. He has a superiority of soul
which will show itself continually in word and deed, a freedom from
petty views and sinister ends. Well, this is a man who doesn’t
get caught up in all of that. He doesn’t subject himself to
all of that. And as he hears it, he excuses
himself and backs away politely. He refuses to be drawn into a
faction. He refuses to cultivate a critical
spirit. He’s pure. By God’s grace, he
has purified his heart and he takes great measures to maintain
that purity. But look again, there’s a second
characteristic, the second of seven. The wisdom from above
is not only pure, it’s peaceable. It’s peaceable. This word is
only used one other time in the scriptures. And really, Hebrews
12, 11 doesn’t lend us a lot of help. It just says this, all
discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful,
yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the
peaceful fruit of righteousness. So the best I can do there is
tell you that at least at the end of being chastened by the
Lord, you know what it feels like to be peaceable. You’re no longer at war with
God, you’re no longer angry with him, you are just peaceful in
spirit. Well, this goes even beyond that
the way James is using it. The way James is using it, there
is an eager readiness for peace. And not just an eager readiness,
but this is describing the one who is out fostering peace, cultivating
peace. keeping down trouble in the church
and discord. This is the one who really stirs
up his brothers to maintain right relationships. I want to take
you for a second, just think it through with me. I want to
take you, those of you who are members of this church, or those
of you who are pondering such, you’ve read our constitution.
It’s one of the things that I take the new members through when
we stand up here in the front. It’s our, it’s our agreement,
our covenant with one another. This is what we agree to do,
how we agree to live in this church. And I want you to listen
to how many of them have to do with being peaceable. We do promise and endeavor by
God’s grace, because you can’t do it without him. We do promise
and endeavor by God’s grace to refrain from using the name of
our God emptily, same thing that James says, or to take upon ourselves
carelessly, but to walk in the paths of righteousness for his
name’s sake. We don’t want to cause anybody
to stumble in our sin. We promise an endeavor to avoid
what tends to destroy us or our neighbors and to engage vigorously
in all lawful endeavors to preserve our own lives and the lives of
others, especially by ready reconciliation. In other words, we don’t let
trouble foster. We don’t let division begin. We do promise and endeavor by
God’s grace to bear one another’s burdens, to cultivate genuine
fellowship. We do promise and endeavor to
watch over each other’s lives and not allow sin upon one another. This is peaceableness. This is
practical peaceableness in the church. We do promise and endeavor
to pray for one another. We do promise and endeavor to
bear with one another’s weaknesses, failings and infirmities with
much tenderness. And I love this clarification. I love the way it describes this. To bear with one another’s weaknesses,
not revealing them to any outside the church. We don’t talk about
anybody in this church to anybody outside of this church. But there’s a second clarification.
To bear with one another’s weaknesses, not revealing them to any outside
the church, nor any inside the church, unless it is according
to Christ’s rule. And so you see a brother in sin
and you go to him and you patiently appeal to him and you come to
him with all gentleness. And if he does not turn to his
sin, that’s the situation that our Constitution speaks of. That’s when you employ the help
of another, an elder, if you will. So this is the kind of
peace, it’s peaceable. This is the kind of wisdom that
seeks peace and preserves peace and wants to promote peace at
every possible opportunity. There’s a third, the wisdom. The wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle. In our world, As I looked at
this whole list, this is one, we’re almost ashamed as men now
to be gentle. We want to be rough and tough.
We want to be in your grill. We want to be, you know, we want
to, we want things done and done now. The translations on this word
are really greatly varied. Forbearing, courteous, reasonable,
kindly, fair, equitable, patient, moderate, softness, I love this
one. Sweet reasonableness. Sweet reasonableness. In fact, William Hendrickson
in his commentary said this, the word is so broad and really
steered by the particular context in which it’s used. But he said,
any one of the following works, forbearance, yieldedness, geniality,
kindliness, gentleness, sweet reasonableness, charitableness,
mildness. This beautiful word was used
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that? Paul said, I urge you, 2 Corinthians
10, 1, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Paul didn’t say, look,
this is one of my fine attributes that God got by drafting me into
his service. He didn’t say that at all. He
says, you know what? Look what God has done in my
life. God has changed me. And now I have what Christ has. The meekness and gentleness of
Christ, this character quality is expected of all believers.
Did you realize that? Philippians 4-5, let your gentle
spirit be known to all men. This is us living out our Christianity
in a fallen world in all gentleness, sweet reasonableness. It’s an
absolute requirement of all elders. First Timothy 3-3 and 3-2 both
urge and stipulate gentleness as part of an elder’s qualification. One pleasant pastor described
it this way. It conveys the thought of respect
for the feelings of others, being willing to waive all rigor and
severity in one’s dealings with others, gently reasonable as
combining the thoughts of gentleness and fairness. This is a person
who doesn’t insist on their own rights, isn’t demanding that
they get their own way, This is one who bears long with his
brothers in Christ, even in places where rigidity, firmness, even
harshness might be called for. And James basically says, if
you’re looking for wisdom. It better have that sweet reasonableness
that is characteristic of Christ himself and absolutely should
be found in a believer’s life. There’s a similar word. There’s
a similar word that is also occasionally translated as sweet reasonableness,
and it’s there in verse 17, reasonable. The wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable. This is a person
who is easily one with whom negotiation comes
easily. He’s open to persuasion. He takes
you at face value. He hears you out. He’s not overbearing. He’s not headstrong. One described it as a man who
is easily persuaded, not in the sense of a weak gullibility. In other words, he’s not a dupe.
You can’t pull things over on him easily. But a willingness
to defer to others, open to reason, willing to listen. He’s accessible. He’s approachable. He sees the
best in others and hopes the best in others. He’s not a suspicious
man. He’s not accusatory. He’s reasonable. There’s a fifth quality. And
this is a double. You get two for one here. The
wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable,
full of mercy and good fruits. James has already spoken of fruit
bearing. And this mercy that he speaks
of is more than just kind of an attitude of pity that does
nothing. This is practical mercy. This
is an attitude of the heart that moves the individual to expressions
of compassion. It’s an active compassion for
those that are in trouble. Paul urges us to weep with those
who weep. This is the man who comes alongside
and does that. There’s a sixth. We’re picking
up speed. I acknowledge the wisdom from
above is first, pure than peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy
and good fruits, unwavering. He’s not driven here and there.
You know what you’re going to deal with when you interface
with him. He’s not. double-minded. That’s one of James’s least appreciated
features of humanity. He’s not doubtful. He’s an undivided
man. This is a man who is not given
to division or discord in the church. He’s not capricious in
his values, in his opinions, in his convictions. This is a
man who is firm, and yet at the same time, he’s gentle. He’s
a man who knows what he believes and knows how to live it out.
And then finally, in this list, wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits,
unwavering, without hypocrisy. What you see is what you get.
He doesn’t live behind a mask. This is a word that is so common
in the New Testament that it hardly needs saying. Paul used
it to speak of genuine love in 2 Corinthians 6, 6. In 1 Timothy
1, 5, he spoke of a sincere faith. Peter used it as well to speak
of a sincere love of the brethren. What you see is what you get.
It’s without guile. It’s without dissimulation. He’s
not a phony. Not putting on airs. But you know what? Wisdom, as
we’ve already said, is intensely practical. It does something. And so whereas we have looked
at the attitude of wisdom in those seven virtues that really
reveal the genuineness of the wisdom, James also wants to talk
about the practical effects of this wisdom. Having looked at
the attitude of wisdom, now he closes in on the action attended
with it. Look at verse 18. Where he just
says, and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace
by those who make peace. This is what they do in the church.
They go about sowing seeds of righteousness. in peace. They go about looking for ways
to cultivate peace in the congregation, to cultivate, to make peace and
reconcile one brother with another. The trouble is the world is full
of bitterness. The world is full of that harsh
zeal that James knew all too well by the zealots in his midst. James knew that the church needed
more of those who were given and touched by a heavenly wisdom
that were going around sowing seeds of peace among the brethren. Hebert said it this way. With
a strong statement of peacemaking, rather than simply leaving the
word peaceable As one of the many qualities of wisdom, the
statement implies a lively anticipation of the expected harvest. You
know what? You know what he says? He says, this is the way the
church is supposed to be. No wonder he’s out doing that.
He’s out cultivating what the church is already supposed to
be. There’s an expected harvest of
peace. I’ll just tell you, it’s been
a disappointing year in the garden. Beets came out all right. Some
people are thrilled about that. Everything else is just kind
of languished, right? And it’s bothersome when you
go out and you expect a plant to bring forth and you’ve spent
all year on it and a lot of water. And you go out and there’s no
fruit, nothing to gain. by this year’s harvest. Imagine
what God thinks of the church when it is caught up in skirmish
and division. He goes on to say righteousness
cannot effectively be cultivated among strife and turbulence.
The whole process begins, progresses, and ends in peace. Motivated
by this heavenly wisdom, they aim at reconciling quarrels,
bringing men into peaceful relations, and in so doing, they themselves
share in the blessings of peace and fellowship that they promote.
I love that image in 2 Corinthians. where we are reconciled to be
reconcilers. We are reconciled to be peacemakers. And so if you’re going to be
used by God for the greatest privilege as a Christian of reconciling
others, then the gospel is paramount. You can’t do anything until you
know and believe in Christ through the gospel. But having done so,
then even as a Christian, you are called to be a peacemaker. You’re called to live as a peacemaker.
Paul said it very simply in Romans 14. He said, Let us pursue the
things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
There’s an interesting image there. It’s one that is frequently
used in scripture. We call it edification. Imagine
this. If God himself And God has given
His Holy Spirit, and He has provided the Word of God, and He has given
all of the apostles, and all of those who serve the church
throughout all times, pastors and what have you. If everything
has been given toward the building of the church, can we even imagine
how absurd it is to be fighting against that project? To be tearing
down the church? To be in the process of dismantling
the very thing that God is building. What is required said one pastor
is an altogether earnest seeking to promote among brethren a true
peace as is manifest as manifest itself in a mutual up building. We have the opportunity. to stop this hurricane. And I
don’t know of any real issues. I’m not talking to anybody in
particular. I just know human nature and
I know what scripture says. And scripture says in all likelihood
there’s brewing off the coast a hurricane. And if it blows
into this church, if we take a direct hit, the church itself
would be destroyed. by Category 5, but we can stop it. We have a
method. It’s called heavenly wisdom.
And all we have to do to be used by God in stopping this storm
is to be peaceable and to cultivate a peaceableness among us as a
church. Would you just pause and examine
your own heart as we’ll do at the Lord’s table? Merciful God,
we do rejoice in the work that you have begun in our lives.
Lord, we were at war with you. And with your peace treaty enacted
by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, you brought about peace. Peace between sinners and a holy
God. And Lord, we know that if that’s
true, you can curb our quarrelsome heart. You can curb our gossip
focused heart. You can stop us in the process
of this division, which is so common to the churches. Lord,
we thank you for this word. We thank you for its timeliness.
We do find ourselves as a church in a season of peace, a lengthy
season of peace. We know of no trouble that’s
brewing. We know only of human nature.
We know only of what your word speaks. And so we pray. We pray that first of all, if
there are any among us who do not know Christ, he is our peace. We pray that you would bring
to repentance and a saving faith, any in our midst who have not
placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But then Lord,
if that is true, we do pray that once those individuals are saved,
we pray that you would make them to be peacemakers. Make them
to go about, those who go about looking for trouble and division,
not so that they can involve themselves and become part of
it, but so that they can be used to reconcile one brother to another. Lord, we plead with you. Do your
work of grace in each of us, we pray in Jesus name. Amen.