Wisdom in Practice
James 3:13-4:1
Two Kinds of Wisdom
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
Our scripture today is a classic piece of wisdom literature. It feels like a sermon, or at least a sermon-et. And while authorship is never absolutely clear with much of the Biblical narrative, we will not be the first to imagine James, the brother of Jesus, asking, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that war within you?”
Who doesn’t love rhetorical questions? Have you not used rhetorical questions for the purpose of proving a point? Have you ever wondered if rhetorical questions should really have a question mark?
Is the sky blue?
Is water wet?
Is the Pope Catholic? (A fascinating sequel to Conclave.)
Parents might ask, “Do you think money grows on trees?”
Teachers should never ask, “Do I look like I was born yesterday?”
A president once asked, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.” (Back when presidents still used complete sentences and hoped to inspire folks). Bob Dylan sings, “How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?” And Shakespeare set a rhetorical question to verse asking, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
And no matter who is asking the rhetorical question, you can pretty much bet they are about to answer it for you.
James asks, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” James implores the community to consider what wisdom looks like. He then gives the answer: wisdom is something you can see. God’s wisdom is something they live, not something they prove with an IQ test. Wisdom rests in hands and feet; it’s not memorized. Wisdom is a practice of mercy; it is peaceable and gentle and it yields good fruit. And James is certainly clear on what it is not: selfish ambition or partiality.
There are good scholars who agree and disagree with the notion that the James who preached this sermon is James, the brother of Jesus. And in the spirit of the letter, I am guessing the author wasn’t interested in theoretical debate in a world of actual needs. So, for the sake of this letter, I ask you to imagine the author is James, the brother of Jesus, and to consider the sermon in that context. James is much more like a bishop offering a State of the Church address then Paul’s letters, which we might imagine as a bishop emailing the spunky church in Rome or Corenth, again.
James is an elder in the Book of Acts and thus, he carries authority in the midst of so much uncertainty. The early church is growing, loving, making mistakes, and trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus after his death. As it turns out, church conflict is not a modern invention, despite the fact that many church arguments spark around intense topics like human rights. Or, even more important things, like, “What color the carpet in the church office should be, or which group moved the chairs in the church parlor, or who made the potato salad with sweet pickles rather than dill pickles?”
The question of what it means to follow Jesus has some practical implications. James is no stranger to church conflict. Perhaps this is why he asks, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that war within you?”
Acts chapters 14 and 15 recount the details of a serious church council meeting. Paul and Barnabas have been working their tails off in Turkey, where they are driven with passion for growing the church. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they are chased out of town, publicly debated, mocked, and nearly killed in the process.
The church meeting described in Acts details a new church start that is thriving. Paul and Barnabas have succeeded and a new church is empowered in ministry. New leaders are lifted up and named as elders with particular gifts when Acts reports “certain individuals from Judea” come to town and tell the excited infant church that they are not doing it right; they need to be circumcised.
Acts says, “Paul and Barnabas had no small debate with them.” Which I think you could translate differently if you weren’t in church into something more colorful than “no small debate.” Paul and Barnabas completed the hard work of building a faith community out of nothing. They built relationships, they held hard conversations; they spoke and worked and cared. They taught people to care for each other and built an infrastructure to empower ministry and establish key leaders in key roles. And now, someone else trotts along and tells this fledgling church that they are not really faithful.
Oh no, that is not ok. So, they take the issue to the one place where it can be settled: Jerusalem.
An assembly is gathered in Jerusalem and James the elder is there. Acts offers us a view into the tense church council meeting. After some conversation, Peter takes the floor.
His comments appear very classic Peter: “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.”
I like to imagine a few disciples rolling their eyes and exchanging glances of, “Yes, Peter you are very important.” Peter continues:
“And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” (Acts 15: 9-11)
As Peter concludes his remarks to remind the community not to put extra burden on new faith, and to remember God does not make distinctions in the human heart, Acts 15:12 says, “The whole assembly kept silent, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.”
Then James speaks.
James says, “Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God,” and he offers a pragmatic solution which encourages the new faithful to care for themselves and others in accordance with Hebrew spiritual practices.
As James conducts the proceeding, he acknowledges the comments Petter has offered. In a classic, Jesus-like move, he cites the prophets. He lifts up a passage in not one but three Hebrew prophets offered before him. It is a passage about God being larger than one nation, and James reminds the community that Israel’s call is to inspire the world to celebrate God.
Listen to James again, with more context:
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?” (James 3:13-4:1)
James, a key elder of the early church, urges the faithful to live their faith. He must have witnessed conflicts among the faithful that came from a place of deep care, and conflicts that came from a place of ego and selfish ambition. Conflict has value in revealing what matters, but church leaders are human, then and now. James must have encountered people bringing all of their passions, all of their hopes, fears, and ego to bear on the life of the church. James takes all of their baggage and encourages reflection and wisdom. Wisdom that is not about the theoretical, as he didn’t preach on the theoretical implications of affirming or disaffirming circumcision in the early church. He did not build arguments around the nature of his brother’s death and resurrection, but arguments on the wisdom that inspired his brother to live in the manner that led to his death. James points to the wise as patient and yielding, not driven by ego but by compassion.
And even though James may have preached these words two thousands years before us, are they no less relevant today? Mislove Volf says, “The church can be a place that offers grace in a graceless society.” Barbra Brown Taylor pushes us a step further, suggesting, “Our economy is as reliant on selfish ambition and active envy as it is on fossil fuels.”
James asks the church past and the church present to be different, to be alive with mercy and plant peace. Wisdom comprises action, and it doesn’t look like ego-driven battles. James calls us to be wise, to produce the fruit of peace. This fruit will look peaceful and be gentle, willing to yield and eager to show mercy. It will not be riddled with selfish ambition or unchecked ego.
His sermon-et is filled with questions for reflection. Questions that remind us what a Christian should look and feel like in our world today. Christians are leaders that are peaceful, gentle, and willing to yield. Christians should be full of mercy rather than envy and selfish ambition. It’s a fairly plain plumb line and no amount of metal gymnastics can erase it.
James asks questions because our faith requires us to ask them of ourselves. And that kind of work rarely feels comfortable. It forces us to think about the why of our actions. We must question even our best actions: have we volunteered for this project or that post for the right reason? Have we given time or money with the hope to pull strings? Have we hosted to control the result? I know I have. It is hard to give and let go. It is hard to work without care for how the outcome makes you look, and it is hard to discern if your work is born out of selfish ambition or active care for God’s people.
But the gift of faith is we get to try again. We come to this place to practice checking our personal wants and intentions at the door. We come to this place to build community with passion for God and compassion for others. It’s hard work in a world that says everything to the contrary, but we are not alone. Thanks be to God, we are not alone.