Day Thirty One

James 3:13-18

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

         This James was the half-brother of Jesus. Sometime after the Resurrection, James became the leader of the Jerusalem church. James was very much one who would speak clearly and say exactly what he meant, whether you liked it or not. Martin Luther, the reformer, wrote that The Book of James did not belong in the Scripture, saying it was a book of straw. However, some of his contemporaries and companions wrote later that Luther was convicted by James’ writing. The above passage is pointed out. Luther was competitive and ambitious. He had a low opinion of other reformers. Yet, where would we be without Luther? It proves that God can use us while He is working on us.

         The above passage points out some of the ills of our society. The book itself is written to Christians, but it also speaks to the leaders in the world. James says at the beginning of this chapter that not all should want to be teachers. Teachers are held to a higher standard and when we fail the fall is greater. Again, he is talking to Christians. But we see the results in the world, too. Those who allowed and even supported the rash of riots and violence that erupted a couple of years ago are now facing trouble in the elections. One big city mayor who pulled the police back and let the rioters run amok, later had her own home vandalized. When we willfully teach the lie, it tends to turn around and bite us.

         Anyway, let’s take a look at this passage and what it means for today.

         Verse thirteen; Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. Now here is an interesting question; can you name a single politician who is wise and understanding? If you are wise and understanding you are seen as being meek. We don’t like meek in our politicians. We vote for emotion and flash and charisma. Unless things have gotten really bad, we don’t look for wisdom. And if a wise person gets in, they get a single term.

         The same is true in church life, to a lesser extent. A church wants a pastor, but they call the man based on his preaching. Then they get upset if he isn’t a good pastor. We vote someone into office because of a lot of reasons, wisdom not being one of them. But then we want them to be wise.

         Verses fourteen and fifteen; But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. James told it like it was. Again, how many politicians have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their hearts? I don’t know. Maybe 99.7%? James says that this is earthly and unspiritual and even demonic. So, why do we vote these people in? Because they lie convincingly enough that we believe. Another question; who was the last President whose Spirituality was a guiding force in his life? You saw it everywhere in his life. Jimmy Carter. Reagan was a good man who professed Christ, but he was first and foremost a politician. The second George Bush was also a good man who also professed Christ, but he was a politician. Jimmy Carter was a Christian first. His politics were more than skewed, they were all over the place, but he was a believer who taught Sunday School even as President. He ran for president just after the greatest political scandal in American history to that time, and people were longing for decency. But he only lasted for one term.

         Verse sixteen; For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. Wow! This is our government and our nation. Disorder and vileness. We want them out! And then we vote their clones in. Our country is stumbling and failing because we, the people, are not looking for Godly men and women. We are looking for those who want what we want. And then we say they are Godly, which is the lie.

         Verses seventeen and eighteen; But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

         Now wouldn’t that be wonderful? It probably will not be like that until Jesus returns, but we can seek to make it happen. We can be true to our Lord. We need to employ wisdom from above and it probably won’t go very far in this world, but we are responsible for ourselves and how we act before God.

         The small city I pastored in before here was run by the City Council. It was the goofiest group of oddballs you ever saw. Our area was known for our covered bridges. A neighboring town had a long bridge that spanned a pretty serious valley. The bridge was old and was dropping concrete slabs into the valley below. It was decided that it needed replaced. Somebody put forth the idea of making it a covered bridge. It would be the longest covered bridge in the world. If you are ever in Ashtabula Township in Northeast Ohio, look it up. It is pretty impressive. Anyway, our little town was jealous of the Ashtabula bridge. The Council decided that they would show them up by making the world’s shortest covered bridge. There was a storm sewer culvert that needed replacing, so they replaced it with an eighteen foot covered bridge. Only about six feet actually covered the water. When they opened it they had the high school marching band march over it and speeches made by city leaders and hardly anyone showed up. Someone complained to me one day about the city spending $250,000 on the bridge. “Why would they do that, Pastor?” I shrugged my shoulders and told them that the people voted the goofballs in.

         Our prayer today is that we Christians will be strong enough to act with wisdom and that the government will begin to respond to that, as well.

         And, if you are ever in Geneva, Ohio and find yourself headed north on Broadway, as soon as you cross the tracks you will see a road to the left called Liberty Street. Turn there and almost immediately you will see an odd wooden bridge. That is the smallest covered bridge in the world. You will be awed.