Christ as Wisdom: Meekness, Peace, and Righteousness

True wisdom descends from above. It is given, not achieved. There's nothing we can do to earn this gift that God has given. There's nothing I can do to gain this wisdom that Christ and James talks about. Looking at verse 17, James begins to describe the character of true wisdom from above. This wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. All things that Christ Jesus embodied. You see, wisdom is about its character, and that character is the shape of Christ. [01:05:04] (52 seconds)  #WisdomFromAbove

Christ has already done that for me. I met the standard. He's done it. He's died for my sins. As was said earlier this this morning, they were pounded to that cross. This cross helps expose that false wisdom. What looked weak, Jesus, the son of god, born in a manger, serving the weak, the poor, the ill, and then being crucified on a cross was actually divine wisdom overturning hell. You see, we've seen the test. We've seen what false wisdom is. And now we look at the character of true wisdom, verses 17 through 18. The origin, as James says, is from above. [01:04:15] (49 seconds)  #CrossRevealsTruth

You see, as earthly wisdom competes, Christ served. Earthly wisdom produces disorder. Christ creates peace through the cross. You see, if earthly wisdom is grasping and competing, how can there be order or unity? If our purpose is ours alone, why does anyone else matter? You see, why should I seek the good of others or even God or anything else if wisdom is strictly about myself? Christ's death creates peace by destroying the power of the devil. He no longer has this grasp on me, and thus I no longer need to compete to make myself better. [01:03:28] (48 seconds)  #PeaceThroughTheCross

Hard to say that this hyper piety, this Christianity is demonic. Yeah. If we twisted it this wrong way. If we do the self comparison trying to elevate ourselves at the cost of others, yeah. So what are we exemplifying by doing this false wisdom? James says this here, this mirrors the serpent, the pride, arrogance, rivalry, disorder. You see, where this type of wisdom comes and what this type of wisdom does, peace dies. Where envy rules, peace dies. Where selfish ambition rules, unity fractures. [01:00:12] (48 seconds)  #FalseWisdomDestroysPeace

Now John Calvin, in his commentary, he says that man's earthly wisdom earthly wisdom is merely egocentric. It's constantly trying to prove one's value, but to do this, you have to constantly bring others down to make yourself look better. In other words, it's not about saying, hey, I'm super wise. I compare myself to these other people. Look at me. I'm so much greater. But John Calvin says no in our egocentric ways. No. It's not about building ourselves up. It's actually tearing others down to make ourselves look better in comparison. [00:51:07] (54 seconds)  #EgocentricWisdom

But the difference is a strength or blessing under control. It's humility without insecurity. It's confidence without harshness. Another way to put this in a podcast I also hear on this topic, the question was posed. Does meekness mean that we just ignore sin? In other words, k. You're wise. You know God. You know right from wrong. Alright. Great. So you said to be meek, Does that mean I just ignore the sin that's around me? Do I not turn to somebody else who's saying you're do wrong? I should be meek, not say anything at all. To answer that, they used this analogy. It was quite interesting. [00:52:48] (45 seconds)  #MeeknessIsStrength

You see, Christ, in contrast to this earthly wisdom, the one the standard we should base our wisdom upon, earthly wisdom grasp, trying to fill itself. Christ wasn't grasping. He gave. He wasn't trying to gain more. He wasn't trying to elevate himself anymore. He emptied himself, something we struggle to do. And even if we do, we wanna make sure everybody heard it or knows it. The other ways that we tend to grasp too is not only in that status, but I'll think about the things that we may do. We may try to elevate ourselves or make ourselves feel better by our possessions, maybe our status, our position, that job promotion, or what you do for work. [01:01:43] (54 seconds)  #EmptyingNotGrasping

It's easy for us as Christians, as humans, to look down at others who what we feel are not as good as us. I go to church. You know? I I go to maybe I go to a Christian school. I pray. I know the pastor. I'm friends with the pastor. But look at them. I don't think they pray. Look at how they they are. I don't even think they go to church. They'll even know god. They say they know god, but you should hear how they talk. And I admit, I'm not just talking to you. I'm talking with you because I'm guilty just as much as everyone else. [00:58:36] (40 seconds)  #HumbleSelfExam