- 6 weeks ago
Wisdom doesn't come from isolation and philosophy. It comes from interacting with the world, meditating on the Word of God, and living out his commandments.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
James 3:13-18 KJV
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://jaycarper.com/ttn
Follow me on X: https://jaycarper.com/twitter
Follow me on Facebook: https://jaycarper.com/fbat
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
James 3:13-18 KJV
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://jaycarper.com/ttn
Follow me on X: https://jaycarper.com/twitter
Follow me on Facebook: https://jaycarper.com/fbat
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00can i ask you a question about your exercise that we do whenever we read and call out the words
00:09sure is there a point where it becomes too many words well it's pretty subjective i mean really
00:18the idea is is to you know it's such a temptation when you're reading the bible just to kind of
00:25skim over things because you've read it over and over and over so when you're deliberately looking
00:30for significant words or phrases or ideas it helps you really to focus on what the author is saying
00:37and maybe even catch some things that you wouldn't have noticed before right so it's not really for
00:43understanding it's just to make sure that you're getting a good idea of what the author is is
00:50talking about what is the topic here right okay welcome back to common sense bible study
00:59and we are looking at the book of james i think this is our sixth session in james
01:05and we're looking at chapter 3 verses 13 to 18
01:09it's a fairly short reading but there is quite a bit in here to talk about there's a lot of real
01:17world application here too as usual we're going to go through this exercise of making sure that
01:26we are actually reading the text and getting a good idea of what james is talking about and what the main
01:33idea is that he's trying to convey so as i'm reading through this passage this pericope i want you to pay
01:43attention to the specific words that james is using and listen for those words important phrases
01:50and the important ideas in those words and after we read through it then we'll write down the words
02:01that you hear and as i was telling alan earlier the point of this exercise isn't really to understand
02:09what james is saying but to make sure that we're listening and or or reading paying attention while
02:16we're doing it and really trying to just hear the things that james is trying to say and the the
02:26significant words and the phrases and the ideas that he's using are going to give us a good overall idea
02:31a big picture of what this passage is about and it might catch some things will catch our attention
02:38that maybe we haven't noticed before even if we've read this passage a hundred times
02:43so i'm reading today in a new american standard nasb 95
02:53usually i do esb last week i switched to the tlv this week nasb 95
03:01who among you is wise and and understand let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness
03:08of wisdom but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart do not be arrogant
03:14and so lie against the truth this wisdom is not that which comes down from above but it is earthly
03:20natural demonic for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder in every evil
03:27thing but the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle reasonable full of mercy and good
03:33fruits unwavering without hypocrisy and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who
03:40make peace okay so what words phrases and big ideas stand out to you you can go ahead and unmute yourself
03:53or put it in the chat if you prefer i'm going to go ahead and start with wisdom
03:57yeah i think probably the big idea that comes across to me here is uh not just peace but peace within
04:10the body of christ okay and he talks about why that peace is important but we'll get to that here in a
04:17little bit let's start with verse 13
04:21who among you is wise and understanding let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness
04:29of wisdom i think the the reading in the es in the nasb is a little bit awkward it's it's a good
04:37translation but it's it's frequently too literal so it just gets a little clunky the esb is i usually
04:48prefer it because i think it's a really good balance between literal and readable it's i don't think
04:55it's always right but you know there's no perfect translation but let me read this verse in the esb and
05:01i think it's easier to understand
05:02who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom
05:10notice that the esb translates the whatever the word is behind gentleness translates it as
05:18meekness so the emphasis in the esb they're putting it on the idea of humility rather than being nice
05:27king james translates that as meekness also the greek word is
05:32prautes let me see you got the context in other passages
05:37in first peter 3 15 uses the same word when he says
05:42always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you
05:48yet do it with gentleness and respect and here the esb translates it as gentleness
05:53according to thayer's greek dictionary it can mean a gentleness of spirit or a gentle disposition
06:03i really think that the king james is closer to the intended meaning here
06:09i think a gentleness of spirit isn't talking about being nice and soft spoken although it can mean that
06:16i think it's really talking about a humble approach if you're going to talk to people about what they're
06:23doing wrong it's better to approach them with humility and that humility will of course
06:29come across as gentleness they're kind of two sides of the same attitude so i mean i don't i don't think
06:36gentleness is wrong i just think it misses really the the point of what james is trying to say i think
06:41he's talking about meekness humility i think this passage in a way parallels what yeshua has to say
06:49in matthew 15 especially the second half let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness
06:56of wisdom yeshua says do do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the
07:04stomach and is expelled but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a
07:09person for from out of the heart come evil thoughts murder adultery sexual immorality theft false
07:15witness and slander these are what defile a person but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person
07:21and what yeshua is saying is that it's the spirit by which you're doing things that really matters
07:27i mean you can wash your hands all day long and there's nothing wrong with that but that's just
07:32something that you do for yourself there's no spiritual benefit in washing your hands if what
07:38comes out of you especially out of your mouth is harshness and criticism and slander hateful speech
07:45well that's betraying what's in your heart these are that may just be words we've all heard that
07:52frank or that saying um sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me
07:57is totally false it's just it's something people say to help kids get over being bullied or you know
08:04having arguments and to an extent it's useful but in reality words can be very hurtful the things
08:12people say to each other can you can wreck someone's life by a stray word you know we talked about this
08:19i think it was last time when we talked about some of the things that people have said that either
08:25changed the world for the better or you know created triggered a world war because someone was a little
08:33thoughtless in what he promised so you know in in those cases it was really just thoughtless things he
08:40you didn't intend anything by it you just said something and it was just kind of flippant now
08:44we're talking about words that come from an unclean heart stuff that comes out of you that reveals who
08:52you are and is actually intended to damage the world maybe you don't mean for it to damage the world
08:57but the spirit behind it does james is talking about a lot of wisdom here and i think it's it's
09:07important to define what wisdom is does anybody have some ideas on that you want to share what
09:11you think wisdom is applied understanding good obedience to the torah and i say that from the
09:21standpoint of deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 5 and 6
09:25i have taught you the laws and right rulings as yahuwah my elohim commanded me to do this in the land
09:34which you go and possess and you shall guard and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding
09:40before the eyes of the people yeah and those are both good and something you you might that might
09:48stand out between what both paula and alan said there is wisdom has to do with doing things
09:54it's not just something in your head you can have all the knowledge in the understanding you want
10:00of how the world works but if you're not able to put it into practice if you're not able to do
10:05something with it then it's really not wisdom it's just knowledge knowledge and wisdom often seem to be
10:12equated in scripture and i want to read a couple of verses one one or the other of these is probably
10:18popping into your head right now already proverbs 1 7 the fear of the lord is the beginning of
10:25knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction the fear of the lord is the beginning beginning of
10:31knowledge it doesn't say the beginning of wisdom well proverbs 9 10 says the fear of the lord is the
10:38beginning of wisdom so it's tempting to say that knowledge and wisdom might be the same thing since
10:46the fear of the lord is the beginning of both of them but they're really not knowledge leads to
10:51wisdom but it isn't wisdom itself when proverbs 9 10 says the fear of the lord is the beginning of
10:57wisdom well that's true because if you fear yahweh then you will believe what he says you will
11:07uh you will respect who he says he is and you will want to live in alignment with that and that means that
11:16if you understand who he is you understand he created the universe he created everything around
11:20us he created us and that fear of him will lead you to say okay if god created me and he created this
11:28world then he created it for a purpose he put me here to do something in this world and with that in
11:35mind you can then begin to understand the world around you so the fear of the lord is the beginning of
11:40knowledge and if you reject that fear if you reject the fear of yahweh and the idea that he is the
11:47ultimate creator and judge of everything well you can find a kind of knowledge by just studying the
11:53physical universe you can look at cells through a microscope and look at all the different micro
12:00machines inside of a cell and try to figure out what they do but you will never really understand it
12:05you will never know who you are in relationship to that cell because you don't know why you were
12:11made i mean there is no why if you don't fear god there's no why to anything it just happened
12:17so that's how the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge because that's how you really begin
12:25to understand how the universe works and who you are and once you understand that now you know what
12:31to do with yourself and that's how the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom you take what you
12:37know based on who what you know about who god is and who you are and you put it to work in the world
12:43around you and that is wisdom
12:45okay any of anybody else have any thoughts on verse 13
12:50i thought it was huge and i stayed on it for a little bit today that that wisdom is meek and visible
12:57um and i'd always thought about it not so much as the visible part of it but you know let him show
13:08um that's that's my takeaway that's good yeah i like that the wisdom is visible i'm not sure i
13:18thought about it that way but it does say let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness
13:24of wisdom or esv by his good conduct let him show his works and the meekness of wisdom the works come
13:33from the meekness of wisdom and if he didn't have wisdom and he wasn't exercising that wisdom and
13:40humility then it wouldn't be coming out and good deeds and you're right you can see it if wisdom is
13:47the the practical application of sound knowledge then you can see wisdom you will never find wisdom
13:56with a guru on a mountaintop because he is divorced from the world he has he has no impact he's not
14:04doing anything as the proverbs say you find wisdom in the marketplace on the street corners in the in the
14:11city gates those are the places where you will find wisdom in the doing of things that impact the real
14:18world let's move on to verses 14 to 16 i put all these together because they're all talking about
14:26the the negative side so nesb is on the screen but since we already read that i'm going to read it in
14:34the esv but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast and be false to the
14:41truth this is not the wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly unspiritual demonic for where
14:47jealousy and selfish ambition exists there will be disorder in every vile practice this the word for
14:55jealousy is zelos which is exactly what it sounds it's zealotry but it's a specific it's a particular
15:03kind of zealotry it's not just being really excited think of uh uh finichas he speared cosby and zimri
15:14when uh zimri brought this uh this moabite woman into the camp and trying to lure people into idolatry
15:23and finichas he was zealous for god and for the people and so he speared them and god made a covenant
15:31of peace with him because of his zealotry so there is a kind of zealotry a kind of jealousy that is
15:38good if you are jealous for god's name or uh jealous that over something that's right not
15:46necessarily over your position or something like that but zealous for justice it's usually a good
15:54thing depending on how you act that out in the world but what james is talking about is a bitter
16:00jealousy let me see if what that word is in greek the word there for bitter is pikros which literally
16:09means bitter harsh violent or virulent this is an angry kind of zealotry you know finichas whether he
16:17was exercising some righteous anger or not i suppose he probably was or he might not have taken
16:23the specific route to punishment that he did but it wasn't for himself it wasn't because he was bitter
16:31against them or um because he wanted to be violent it was because he was he was defending god's name
16:40and he was defending the people this uh idolatry in the camp this plot between
16:47belaam and balak to undermine the people's righteousness so that they could be cursed
16:52was going to destroy people and so finichas was jealous of god's name in the camp and god's holiness
17:01and he put a stop to it but the bitter jealousy that james is talking about here is more about
17:10jealousy for place i am protecting my place in the congregation i'm the one who gets to sit in this
17:19chair you go sit in that chair over there i'm the one who donated the funds for this baptismal or this
17:27pew and so it's going to get my name on it otherwise you can't have it that kind of thing and if somebody
17:35else uh somebody else succeeds maybe somebody else gets celebrated in the congregation you get angry
17:43about it you get bitter because uh it's not you being celebrated that's a bad kind of jealousy and
17:50that happens all the time it probably we're all tempted to do that at times and in fact that was
17:58that's standard behavior for the pagan gods they were always getting jealous and petty about things
18:06um i think if i remember right hera was the wife of zeus or one of his wives off and on or maybe his
18:16wife and his mother or sister or daughter i don't remember it's all pretty crazy but if anybody caught
18:23zeus's attention she would get very jealous and she would attack that person didn't matter that that
18:29person didn't do anything wrong she was just i'm number one here nobody's going to take my place
18:36that kind of jealousy is always a bad thing
18:41we i think we had a conversation recently in our local fellowship here about um moses and his
18:51reaction to the the challenge to his leadership uh when his when his authority was challenged
18:58he didn't immediately uh you know fight back or say you know i'm the boss god put me in charge
19:05so you guys just sit down and shut up and listen instead he fell on his face before the people and
19:12interceded on their behalf before god he humiliated himself in order for to protect the people not to
19:20protect his own position but to protect the sanctity of god's name among the people and to
19:26protect the people themselves but later on there was another rebellion where moses did have to stand
19:35up and say you know me and aaron we're the ones that god put in charge and you guys are putting
19:40everybody in danger so i have to stand firm here and the end result was that the people who were
19:48challenging his authority the rebels were all destroyed you know god opened up the ground and
19:53swallowed them but that wasn't moses protecting his own name in his own position that was moses
19:59protecting the people and the sanctity of god's name so that's a really big difference and i think the
20:07key there is in the next phrase and selfish ambition in your hearts it's all about me if your
20:16zealotry is about me and what i can accomplish then it's probably a bad thing although that
20:25immediately makes me think of paul uh i can't somewhere in romans it was towards the end i think
20:30he was talking about how his his great ambition was to go where no man had had gone and preached the
20:36gospel before and he wasn't saying that i want to be first that wasn't the point the point was that
20:46he wanted to find those places where nobody had taught the gospel and go there so that somebody
20:53would be there and you know i don't think he cared whether it was him or somebody else
20:57his just his ambition was to go and make sure that those places heard the gospel and there was a
21:04particular prophecy and i can't remember which which prophecy it was right now but there's a
21:09prophecy that says that um that the law of god will be preached to kings and princes of other nations
21:16and i think that paul saw himself as part of the uh the fulfillment of that prophecy and yeshua
21:23himself told him that he was he said you know i've chosen you to be the apostle to the nations
21:29well he is sending paul to the nations and so paul was ambitious to accomplish the mission that
21:37yeshua had given him and that's a good kind of ambition if god has given you a role to play then play
21:46that role with everything you've got and don't let anybody stop you anybody have any thoughts about
21:52bitter jealousy and selfish ambition and and actually the last half of that verse do not be arrogant and so
21:58lie against the truth i'm curious what y'all think that might be talking about
22:02i think that this is about how we operate in in the body you know if we're family if we're brothers
22:12and sisters all that kind of stuff um and if we are seeking after messiah then there really shouldn't
22:21be any selfish ambition i mean if just like you were saying like paul's if paul's zealotry was because of
22:28the commission he had what he was called to if he was jealous for for god in that sense
22:34then what can you say about him you know that's bad and i think this is kind of the same thing it's
22:43like if if we're um if we're having jealousy and we have ambition more selfish um then it's probably a
22:53good indicator that we might that we're not aligned with what god's will actually is
23:02in terms of like seeking after the the mission that god has has for us and particularly the the
23:11mission which is you know like the great commission but also loving one another you know all the things
23:19that kind of go along with that and um and so they're really there's kind of only one mission
23:25in that sense everybody's aim and objective is generally the same and of course we're different
23:34parts of the body so we have different roles to play and different things that we're doing
23:39but it's all it's all toward the same end or the same purpose and i think um when there's you know
23:48just like in families or just like in marriages it's like when there's fighting then it destroys
23:56the the ability of the unit to accomplish what it's trying to accomplish i'm i'm thinking about that as i
24:04think about if you have jealousy selfish selfish ambition um do not be arrogant and lie against
24:13the truth like it essentially it's like a testimony against what you're actually supposed to be doing
24:19yeah making it about you instead of about the truth of who yeshua is or the truth of what the kingdom
24:27is about yeah it's like it's this idea that like we're all on the same team at the end of the day
24:33and when we're acting like we're not when we're working against each other it's a problem
24:40the testimony of how you're acting lying against the truth would be your about your behavior
24:48oh i i just thought it was interesting that um where it says that the result of jealousy and selfish
24:56ambition is disorder or confusion and every evil thing yeah that is an indication of the work of
25:06the enemy yeah it's kind of a contrast there i wonder if that was a deliberate contrast between
25:11verse 14 and 16 where he's saying um you know do not be arrogant and lie against the truth because
25:20jealousy and selfish selfish and selfish ambition brings disorder and god is the father of truth
25:27satan is the father of confusion disorder and lies which ties into that word that you mentioned the
25:35demonic yeah we'll definitely talk about that one here too yeah i just really like the understanding
25:44of what disorder is uh when there's disorder to me that that can show that god is not primarily in
25:55your life like you're not putting uh christ first um usually usually what happens uh it's not that our
26:04lives go it's not like we're in pure happiness and everything's going good but one thing i notice is
26:10when i am clinging to christ uh my life is a lot more orderly uh and in the first seven days of
26:20creation god is he's a god of order like he he has an order for the way things are and so uh it's pretty
26:30cool how james uh speaks about that in there there's an example of this in i don't want to say the news
26:39because it's not you know you're not going to find it on the evening news but if you're paying
26:44attention to stuff that's going on in the the sunday church and evangelism then you know there's
26:50been a controversy going on over the last few weeks especially um not going to name any names about
26:56who's involved you can you can go find this for yourself if you're really curious but there is a
27:02a christian apologist and translator teacher done a lot of really great work who made some
27:11stupid mistakes decades ago and they weren't you know terrible flagrant things not like he was
27:19meeting up with male hookers nothing like that it was fairly innocent as these kinds of mistakes go
27:25but it was still a mistake he abused his position and then when somebody called him on it he lied about
27:33him and then he lied about the people who called him on it and then other people got involved and
27:41said hold on here we know what really happened and you're what you're saying about this other person
27:46isn't true and so then he doubles down on the lies and if he had just told the truth from the
27:52beginning and said yeah you're right that was awful that was a terrible mistake and i should not have
27:56abused my position that way and i'm so sorry and it probably would have all just disappeared they could
28:04have made peace the kingdom would not have been significantly damaged but instead now this one man
28:11who has decades of very high profile ministry who has actually done a lot of really good work
28:19now everything that he has ever done is tainted with this one controversy because he was he made it
28:28about himself he wasn't able to humble himself to accept that he had been caught and it wasn't even
28:36something that was still going on instead he just the lies are now what the controversy is about rather
28:43than what happened 25 30 years ago it was just a a ridiculous example of arrogance and somebody
28:51being jealous of their own position rather than for the kingdom itself i was going to go back to verse 14
28:59okay uh the um that last uh phrase and um and so lie against the truth um we uh i tend to read that as
29:11the truth you know as um as you know god's truth truth of ultimate truth and so on um but looking up
29:19the words in the greek the greek the the lie and the truth um it's uh i think it's more tied to
29:26arrogant um uh pretending to be somebody you're not um is uh deceiving or pretending um against the truth
29:36who you really are um is kind of the idea i get that he's trying to talk about there um anyway if that
29:46makes any sense yeah yeah it does yeah although i i suspect that most people who are guilty of this
29:53bitter jealousy and selfish ambition they don't set out to deceive people but you know they're making it
30:01about themselves instead of about yeshua and the whole purpose of you know teaching people to keep
30:08god's commandments is to help them become more like yeshua to point him to point them first to their
30:15need for the messiah and second to help them become more like him and so when it becomes about us
30:23and our position and you know our fame well it makes the whole thing a lie and eventually it does
30:31become deliberate deception okay so going on to verse 15 the wisdom this wisdom is not that which
30:39comes down from above but it's earthly natural demonic uh james is saying that there is this kind of
30:46wisdom that the world recognizes and you know we we all see it you know i've kind of alluded to it
30:51with the comment about the guru on the mountaintop we all have this i we've been given this idea
30:57that wise people you know speak in parables and they give good advice and you know all of that's true
31:06obviously the the proverbs are full of good advice this letter from james is full of good advice
31:12but true godly wisdom isn't just telling people the truth or telling people giving people good advice
31:20but actually doing good things and the world also has this kind of wisdom maybe call it machiavellian
31:29wisdom where here's how you succeed in life and it's all about success but that whole attitude is all
31:38about me getting into things like um law of attraction and all of these ideas that might actually have some
31:50basis in reality or they have some some effect they can actually do at times what people want them
31:59to do but again it's about what i want i'm trying to envision the things that i dream about so that i can
32:06make my life better so all of that wisdom is just it always tends to be self-focused accruing more power
32:17or money or fame or you know whatever it is for me sometimes it can be a little broader than that
32:23maybe i'm trying to enhance my family's name which isn't in itself a bad thing it's not even a bad thing
32:30to accrue wealth or power for yourself if it's for a good purpose as long as you're not doing it just so
32:36just you know so that i can have a better life so that i can be more powerful and have more influence
32:42for for my purposes god uses those things and he gives those things to people so that they can use
32:50him for the benefit use them for the benefit of his kingdom not for their own aggrandizement
32:56so this earthly natural and demonic wisdom is what drives people to do things for themselves and to be
33:04jealous for their own position now earthly and natural that makes sense but this word demonic
33:11it sounds like james is saying that demons make people do this and it's probably true to an extent
33:18that demons influence people and try to get them to do evil things but that's not really what james is
33:26talking about here this specific word it's related to the greek word for demons but it's not derived
33:35from demons necessarily but resembling what demons do demon like so the king james version translates it
33:44as devilish it's a little archaic but i think it's accurate demonic i think in modern english that kind of
33:52gives you the idea that it has to do with demon possession and demons are making you do evil things
33:57or putting evil thoughts in your head and that may happen but that's not what james is talking about
34:03he's talking about behaving in the ways that demons behave and i mentioned this earlier when i talked about
34:10how the greek gods were just capricious and vindictive always infighting it was like just a
34:18a long soap opera about how everybody's sleeping with everybody everybody's trying to get power over
34:24the other guy that's what james is telling us not to do he's pointing out that you know all of the
34:30people he's writing to are are very familiar with these stories because they're the minority religion
34:36in the world in america everybody knows the stories or the big stories of the bible everybody knows about
34:43noah's ark and david and goliath in the world that james was writing into everybody knew the stories of
34:50zeus and hera and achilles and you know all of these these mythological figures that we think of as
35:00mythological figures but that people actually worship and sacrifice to and james is calling them demons
35:07and he's saying don't behave like those demons that is not the way that is not god's way
35:14okay verses 17 and 18 reading this in esb again but the wisdom from above is pure then peaceable
35:24gentle open to reason full of mercy and good fruits impartial and sincere and a harvest of
35:30righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace
35:33the wisdom from above is first pure the greek word for pure there is hognos it's related to
35:42hagios is in something that's sacred and so james is talking about something that is set apart
35:50and it is uh undiluted so it is
35:57undiluted by self really this is purely for god and his kingdom that's the true wisdom that is from
36:06above and it is peaceable the wisdom from god produces peace it doesn't produce conflict that
36:15doesn't mean that there won't be conflict around it remember what yeshua said about how he came to
36:21bring a sword uh to divide families and how the world will hate us because it first hated him
36:28so wherever you bring the word of god there's going to be conflict but it is not the word of god that
36:37brings the conflict it is the spirit that was already there that spirit is very jealous of itself
36:44and so it's going to fight it doesn't want to be replaced but once the the spirit of god takes over
36:51then there's peace you can have peace with god that's one of the things that paul said in romans
36:58too is that the thing that yeshua came to do is to establish peace between people who put their faith
37:07in him in god without him there would be no peace so all the wisdom in the world can't can't earn you
37:17uh reconciliation with god that takes yeshua to do that and you put your faith in yeshua and repent
37:25from your sins he establishes that peace he removes our sins but there is no peace with god without
37:32repentance without obedience and actually learning what god commanded and putting it into effect
37:37there can't be peace so and then we come to this word gentle again in this case it does mean
37:46gentle is a more reasonable uh translation here it's not necessarily talking about humility but it is
37:54talking about being mild not being offensive and the words of god the gospel his commandments
38:02they're offensive to the world because their spirit rebels against it
38:07but we don't have to be offensive in the delivery of it james's main topic here he's not even talking
38:14about evangelism he's talking about within the kingdom these are in-house controversies so if you
38:21go to a brother or sister and you say i think this is a problem in you know your your behavior here is
38:29creating a problem for yourself or for the community or whatever we need to be gentle in that whenever
38:35possible it's not always possible it's not always possible sometimes you have to be firm with people
38:39sometimes you even have to be harsh remember yeshua in the temple um i think he was so hard on the pharisees
38:47sometimes because they were so close to the truth in so many ways but we shouldn't be going out of our way
38:56to be harsh with people the wisdom from above is gentle what do you think he means by reasonable
39:03the king james translates that as easy to be entreated it seems like this would mean you know
39:11if somebody's having a conversation with someone that they would be easy to reason with like they would
39:17be easy to like if someone were showing them an error or someone were showing them a problem or someone
39:25were showing them a different way that they would be willing to listen and make adjustments if necessary
39:33that they would be reasonable about that that they would be willing to reason and discuss and work
39:40through yeah this is one of those words that's kind of difficult to define even in english because it
39:46can mean so many different things somebody is reasonable when they listen to you or they're reasonable
39:52when they have a good reason for what they're doing both of those are true but they're not necessarily
39:57talking about the same thing and i think james is talking about a different kind of reasonable here
40:04so uh the king james gives a hint here when he says that it's easy to be entreated
40:10and what i think he's really trying to get to is what paul talked about when he said
40:15to the jews i became as a jew to the greeks i was as a greek i became all things to all people
40:22so that i could tell i could tell them the gospel and it doesn't mean that he behaved like a like a
40:28pagan it doesn't mean that he tricked people by behaving in a way that wasn't really who he was
40:35it meant that he customized his mention his uh message to the people he was speaking to
40:41he gave it in a reasonable manner he made it easy for them to understand i think that's what
40:48james is talking about with reasonable he's saying when you if you have to correct somebody
40:54then do so in a way that makes it easy for them to hear what you have to say
40:59be gentle don't be offensive what's the the strategy that they always teach the manager the
41:06boss they tell the person what they're doing right first you're doing this really great thing and i'm
41:12so proud of you for that but i have this thing against you if that sounds familiar that was on
41:17purpose that's the way the yeshua did it in his letters to the churches he said you're doing this
41:21right but you got this other thing we need to fix so he made it easy for them to hear what he had
41:28to say because what he had to say is hard to hear it's hard to hear you're screwing up this thing
41:33that you believed your whole life is wrong so try to present the truth in ways that are
41:40i don't know more palatable so real quick i just want to mention wouldn't it be wisdom
41:47on how you deal with people too and the because yeshua dealt with uh some people with a whip um
41:56that he made to drive out people from the temple like he wasn't just this hippie loving jesus as
42:05most people have him to be i'm not saying that we have to we we just can't like why can't he be
42:13everything you know like he can be he he can be like a lion or he could be like a lamb like he
42:20there's different characteristics but he's still loving in in every way every every way he has
42:28dealt with people has been on a loving way but did i would i would think it would take wisdom
42:35um to handle the pharisees differently than to handle someone who is just trying to understand and
42:44not not at that place yet what would you say about that yeah yeah i think that's exactly right
42:49is that customizing the message to the audience doesn't always mean changing the words you use
42:55sometimes it means changing the attitude that you approach them with some people need to be smacked
43:01around they can't hear what you have to say unless you shock them so you really have to know your
43:07audience to know how to do that i mean if you think about the way that yeshua approached people
43:11there were some pharisees where you know he would make them look like fools in public
43:17and whether that was for their benefit or for the benefit of the people who were listening
43:22it's hard to say maybe for both uh and there was the time where he went into the temple and you know
43:28he's turning over the tables of the money changers and cracking a whip um those people were being
43:35extremely offensive to god so he was being very zealous for god's name if you were to go to
43:43somebody whose entire life motivation is profit and they are so profit driven that they are even
43:52willing to abuse the system of god's worship to abuse the most holy place in the world you know
44:00twist it around and extract extra profits from people who are just trying to come there and worship god
44:05well those people are going to need more than just reasonable speech they're going to need
44:11something to really shock them out of it i think it really takes a lot of discernment and you really
44:17have to know who you're talking to to know when it's appropriate to be like that not sure that i would
44:23that i would be very good at it i use my social media interactions as illustrations a lot and
44:30this is one of those areas where i fail constantly because it's difficult to to know people that
44:37you're interacting with you really can't know anything about them unless you've had
44:40interactions with them over the over a long period of time my first reaction when somebody says
44:47something stupid or says something harsh to me is to say something harsh back or to point out how
44:54stupid what they said was but that's that almost never helps anybody it might help if i'm able to
45:01give uh you know a good argument or um if i'm patient and i work through it a little bit and spell
45:09out well here's what why what you said is really kind of stupid and you know lay out all the facts
45:15that might help other people but it's not going to help that person because now they're offended and
45:21they've got their guard up so i think if you're going to take the whip in the turning over tables
45:27approach you really need to know who you're dealing with that shouldn't be a default okay so the rest of
45:36that verse full of mercy and good fruits unwavering and without hypocrisy full of mercy well that that
45:45fits in with being reasonable and gentle it's more of the same somebody is screwing up you need to
45:51correct them but you know you're screwing up somewhere too you screwed up maybe you had this
45:57same mistake in the past so if you approach somebody with the idea that i cannot believe this person is
46:05doing this terrible thing this is just so awful and i'm going to set them straight well that's not
46:10very merciful maybe approach it with okay i understand how somebody gets into this position
46:16maybe that's not my sin but that's what this guy's dealing with and i've got my own issues so
46:22let's approach it from that spirit not trying to condemn anybody but trying to help them
46:29there's a i think there's some danger there of being uh condescending also so that's where humility
46:38is important make sure the guy knows you know i've i've got my issues i i'm screwing up and
46:45please if you see something where i'm really getting it wrong please come and tell me but here's this
46:51thing i want to talk to you about um and again i think you just need to know people and it really
46:58helps if they know you because you can't just walk up to strangers most of the time and say hey i
47:03notice this thing you're doing wrong because if you did that to me i'd like who are you why are you
47:10talking to me what james is talking about i mean he's really writing to people who are in community
47:16they know each other he's writing to the 12 tribes in diaspora so this is really an open letter
47:21but it's an open letter to congregations it's about how do you relate to the people that you meet
47:27with the people that you live and work with not how do you relate to the strangers on the street
47:35not how do you relate to the pagan romans how do you relate to your brother how do you relate to your
47:40wife that's what james is talking about when you are acting in the world when you're helping people
47:48doing whatever it is you're doing talking to people your aim should be to produce good fruits
47:53if what you're doing is not helpful to people if it's not creating more obedience if it's not
47:59creating more believers better relationships with god what is it creating is it driving people apart
48:08are you preaching something or behaving in a way that is going to create problems in relationships and
48:18make people mad or encourage people to sin in their own life well that's producing bad fruits obviously
48:28okay and then verse 18 this is our last verse uh and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace
48:38by those who make peace this is the good fruits the harvest of righteousness if you behave towards
48:47people in a way that encourages righteousness if you behave in a way that that encourages peace among
48:53brothers peace within the fellowship a righteous harvest is the end result i mean that really is
49:00your goal is to help people become more like yeshua to use an example that's common in pronomian circles
49:07in in torah congregations is uh feast days or the sabbath they're all important god wouldn't have
49:15commanded us to keep the sabbath and to remember these feast days if they weren't important but
49:22he didn't give us a lot of details on how we're supposed to do it the sabbath is the one i mean
49:28everybody loves to fight about the sabbath you know he gave us instructions and he repeats it over and
49:34over and over in the scriptures keep the sabbath those who keep the sabbath are my people uh the sabbath
49:40was made for man so it's clearly very important to god but i think he left out a lot of details on
49:49purpose so that we would get practice living with each other and being kind to each other and exercising
49:56some humility and submission to each other let's say in a congregation one person says well the sabbath
50:05begins at sunset and by sunset we have to have you know all the cleaning all the cooking everything
50:12has to be done by sunset and we have to get those candles lit before sunset because we can't kindle a
50:18fire after sunset and lighting a candle is kindling a fire so in in the summer we got plenty of time
50:26sunset's late we've got a lot of cushion in the winter we have to make sure that that everything
50:32is done and dinner's on the table we're ready to eat by 4 30 or 5 o'clock well that's really difficult
50:40for a lot of people to do because their office doesn't change their schedule based on the seasons
50:47and other people will say well you know lighting a candle that's not the same as kindling a fire it's
50:52about work fires it's about preparing for your job so don't don't do your whatever it is you do for
50:59your employment to pay the bills don't do that on the sabbath that's what it means by kindling a fire
51:04and i think both of those are reasonable people have good reasons for the beliefs that they have
51:11so when you come together as a fellowship and one person said hey what did you do to to honor the
51:18to bring in the sabbath last night and the other person says well you know when when sunset hit we all
51:26sat down for dinner and the wife lit the candles and you know then we after dinner we watch tv
51:33and the other person's like oh you lit candles after sunset you turn the tv on on the sabbath
51:39that's a mortal sin well maybe just acknowledge that okay i in my house we do things a little bit
51:47differently and uh you know we we make sure that we do light the candles before sunset and we don't
51:53watch tv on the sabbath and you know if you want to have a conversation about why you believe that
51:58way that's great but also make allowances for reasonable differences of opinion you know the
52:04other guy isn't trying to break the sabbath i mean obviously some people are just we're not all in the
52:10same place and some people aren't trying as hard and some people don't care but when people are
52:15honestly trying to do the right thing show them some grace let people grow at their own pace nobody
52:23has to be exactly where you are and someday you may discover oh yeah it wasn't really about the candles
52:30it was about this other thing whatever it is your opinions will change over time so if instead you
52:39attack the other person and say i that's that's so wrong you can't do that you're violating this habit
52:45and you are disrupting the peace of that sabbath and creating division within the fellowship there's
52:54a better way to handle those things asking questions showing the person oh okay well i can see where you're
53:01coming from here's how we do it and let that person ask questions you really have to know the person you
53:06have to have a relationship but if the way that you approach these things doesn't end up in greater
53:14righteousness within the within the congregation which includes greater peace among brothers because
53:21that's one of the things that god loves is peace between the people in his kingdom peace between
53:28neighbors peace between brothers in the kingdom sisters in the kingdom that's part of obedience that is
53:34righteousness so if by your righteousness you are creating division maybe back off a little bit
53:43depending on what it is obviously i mean there are some things that are clearly wrong i'm talking about
53:49things where it's a matter of conscience and opinion give people grace to be wrong on matters where
53:55there's legitimate room for disagreement
53:56there's legitimate room for disagreement
53:57there's legitimate room for disagreement
Recommended
1:56:52
0:37
35:30
1:12
24:43
1:01:52
1:06:47
3:29
1:09:35
49:08
16:00
49:21
1:19:11
13:01
1:08:07
5:08
5:06
Be the first to comment