Living Out True Wisdom: A Divine Pursuit

"james 3 13 who is wise and understanding among you let him show it by his good life by good deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom but if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast about it or deny the truth such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly unspiritual of the devil for where you have envy and selfish ambition there you find disorder and every evil practice but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure then peace loving considerate submissive full of mercy and good fruit impartial and sincere peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness" [00:57:21]

"who is wise and understanding among you let him show it by his good life by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom and the challenge that he is laying down is akin to what has already happened in chapter two as it relates to faith remember here comes somebody who says i am a man of faith or i am a woman of faith and jim says okay then show me your faith show me your faith and now in chapter three here i am i'm someone of wisdom and understanding he says well then let's just apply the same test why don't you show me how wise and understanding you are" [03:45:20]

"because true wisdom like true faith is vital it is practical and it is observable because the wisdom that james is addressing here is the endowment of heart and mind from god giving us all that is necessary for right conduct as a result of right thinking that's what you have in romans 12 be transformed by the renewing of our minds how will we know that our minds are renewed how will we know the nature of our creed in our conduct how will we know the nature of our faith in our function how will we know the nature of our wisdom in our practical living out of such a life" [04:24:43]

"wisdom is to be seen in the living of life we are completely on the wrong track if we're thinking simply in terms of sat scores of our or of intellect or of gray matter of capacity mental capacity that's not what james is addressing here it's not really what the bible addresses at all when it comes to the subject of wisdom wisdom has feet wisdom has action wisdom goes places so for example in psalm 1 the book of psalms opens up with a description of a wise man how do we know that he is wise because he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly he does not stand in the way of sinners he does not sit in the seat of mockers" [05:37:20]

"the source of true wisdom is god and it is available to those who seek it james encourages us to ask god for wisdom promising that he gives generously to those who ask james has already introduced the subject and has and has answered his own question and in the fifth verse of chapter one if you remember he said if any of you lacks wisdom he should ask god who gives to all generously in other words james knew his bible he knew that this was exactly what solomon had written in his proverbs and particularly in proverbs chapter 2 where he says for the lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding" [08:11:12]

"solomon's request for wisdom as recorded in 1 kings 3 exemplifies this he sought the ability to discern between right and wrong a request that pleased god and it is this wisdom which solomon requested of god remember how god comes to him and is recorded for us in first kings three it's a wonderful story and and god says what what would you like solomon and solomon says well i would like to be wise i'd like to be able to discriminate between error and truth i'd like to be able to discern between right and wrong i'd like to be a wise person and first kings 3 10 records the fight that the lord was pleased that solomon asked him for this" [10:09:50]

"from his very infancy solomon was nurtured in the awareness of what he later writes that the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom that the entry into the school of understanding is an entryway that comes in an encounter with god who has made us and the god who has made us has revealed himself to us externally in creation and internally by means of our conscience and so we have within us a sense of oughtness that speaks to the fact of his handiwork and his control and we have above us and beyond us the vastness of the world that he has made which speaks to his power and to his majesty" [11:09:39]

"he needs to be wise he doesn't need to be educated if education was the answer to helping people to stop smoking the information is so undeniable there wouldn't be a person smoked in the entire world education is not capable to do it if education could deal with teenage pregnancy it would be over with it can't do it it's wisdom that is lacking we're getting a group of wise and understanding people they're going to stand over here by the tree whose who are the wise and the understanding ones you see what solomon does is provide if you like the example power excellence of christian parenting" [12:47:04]

"our young people are growing up at a period when the foundations of the earth are out of course and when subtle and restless efforts are made to poison their hearts and pervert their ways nothing therefore can be more important than to fortify them with sound principles that when withdrawn from the parental wing into a world of temptation they may be under a divine cover as the children of a special providence this is the introduction to a book on proverbs october 7th 1846 so 160 years ago the fellow is writing the introduction to proverbs and he goes this is this is terrible our young people are in just in dreadful predicaments" [14:42:24]

"we're better fed better paid better housed better educated and healthier than ever before and with more human rights faster communication and more convenient transportation than we have ever known alongside all this large s however are the signs of life in pain and travel since 1960 the divorce rate has doubled teen suicide has tripled violent crime quadrupled the number in prison has quintupled illegitimate children six times sex tupled and the number of those cohabiting has increased sevenfold now these are facts ideas have consequences the idea that there is a god to whom men and women are accountable has an impact when believed on the lives and lifestyles of those who believe" [20:46:40]

"the idea that there is a god to whom men and women are accountable has an impact when believed on the lives and lifestyles of those who believe the idea that we are simply a random collection of molecules held in suspension with no particular significance at all also has implications not least of all in how we spend our time our money and with whom we spend our time and money and it may be with whomsoever we choose and on whatsoever we desire depending on the source of wisdom" [21:35:55]

"the wisdom that james is addressing here is the endowment of heart and mind from god giving us all that is necessary for right conduct as a result of right thinking that's what you have in romans 12 be transformed by the renewing of our minds how will we know that our minds are renewed how will we know the nature of our creed in our conduct how will we know the nature of our faith in our function how will we know the nature of our wisdom in our practical living out of such a life" [04:24:43]