What is Wisdom?

Delivered 9/23/2012

James 3:13-4:8

I proudly possess the 11 volume “Story of Civilization” by American historians and philosophers Will and Ariel Durant. It is an impressive set of big volumes with colorful slipcovers that fills up a whole shelf of your bookshelf and makes you look smart. Several times I set out to read the whole set, thinking that if I could get through it all I could consider myself knowledgeable in world history. I have never made it through. I have read certain volumes – Caesar and Christ, the Age of Faith, The Reformation, and the Age of Reason, and sections of some others, but I never made it through the whole set and I never will. I did read Will Durant’s single volume Story of Philosophy, which is very good. Will Durant has an article entitled “What is wisdom?” he starts off the article saying: “What is wisdom? I feel like a droplet of spray which proudly poised for a moment on the crest of a wave, undertakes to analyze the sea.” If Durant, one of the most learned historians and philosophers of the 20^th century feels that way, what hope is there for me, a far less knowledgeable and intelligent person, to answer this question in a 20 minute sermon? But I am vain enough to try.

People mean different things by wisdom. I am examining it from a biblical perspective and therefore I will be talking mostly about spiritual wisdom. There are other types of wisdom. Wisdom is often seen as a sort of common sense about how the real world works. It is also understood as the product of experience. We all know people who have lots of book knowledge but not much practical sense. Geniuses with PhD’s may be really smart, but they can also be not very wise. Wisdom is not intelligence. Some of the wisest persons I have ever known never made it beyond eighth grade, but they have a wisdom that I respect greatly. The Greek philosopher Euripides said, “Cleverness is not wisdom.” Creativity is not wisdom. Certainly celebrity isn’t wisdom. I am always astounded how TV reporters or talk show hosts will ask celebrities their opinions on all sorts of social, political, or ethical issues of the day. Why? Just because they can act or sing does not make them wise or knowledgeable. The same is true of wealth.  Just because someone found a way to make a billion dollars does not mean they are wiser than other people. They just know how to make money. You might want to ask Warren Buffet about investing in the stock market, or Mark Zuckerberg about social media, but they are not necessarily wiser than anyone here. The same with politicians; it is especially true of politicians. Just because they can get elected doesn’t make them wise. So what is wisdom? Today I am going to look at what the apostle James has to say about the subject, since his words are found in the Bible, which billions of people have agreed contains some wisdom.

I. First, James says that wisdom is from above. In our passage he contrasts two different types of wisdom – one which he calls wisdom from below and the other wisdom from above. He says in the opening verses of our passage saying: “¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you?” And then he says, “if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly….” Then he contrasts it with “ the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

There are two types of wisdom – a worldly wisdom and a spiritual wisdom. A worldly wisdom might tell you how to make it in this world, even how to get rich, how to become powerful, how to win friends and influence people, as Dale Carnegie said. There is a lot of practical worldly wisdom. The self-help book and seminar industry thrives on this type of wisdom. Then there is the homespun wisdom of Ann Landers and Heloise and advice columnists. This is not bad. In fact a lot of the Book of Proverbs has wisdom like this. Some of the earthly wisdom that people possess is helpful. But some of it is not so good – especially when it is purely self-seeking. James describes some of this worldly wisdom saying, “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” That is strong language. There is a worldly wisdom that has nothing to do with God, morality or spiritual things, and can even be against God and the Spirit.

James says that there is another type of wisdom, which is from above. He means it is from God. James says earlier in this same letter: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  Spiritual wisdom – the kind that the Bible talks about and not the type generally mistaken for wisdom in our world today – comes from God. Jesus had it. When Jesus was only twelve years old the teachers in the temple were amazed at his answers to their questions and the wisdom that came from the mouth of one so young. When Jesus began his ministry at age thirty, the Pharisees mocked him because he was so young. When I was thirty I thought I knew a lot. I was thirty-one when I first came here to Sandwich as your pastor in March of 1982. I don’t know how you put up with me! I thought I knew everything, and in fact I knew nothing. But you were patient with me and some of the older folks and retired ministers in the congregation at the time tolerated me and helped me and I appreciate it. When we are thirty years old – fresh out of our twenties - we think we are mature and wise, but we aren’t. We are just getting started. But when Jesus was thirty he was wise beyond his years. They said of Jesus, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him….”

The key phrase here is that it was “given to him.” Wisdom is given to us. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Worldly wisdom is gained from years of experience. The longer we live the wiser we can become in many ways. Of course that is not always true. Some octogenarians  have 80 years of experience and are wise. Others stopping learning when they were young; they have one year of experience repeated 80 times. Worldly wisdom is of some use, but especially when combined with spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is not earned in the school of hard knocks. It is given from above. Solomon was known as the wisest man of his generation. He was wise as a young man because he asked for wisdom from God, and God gave it to him. The book of I Kings says of Solomon, “Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” You want wisdom? Ask God. Seek it from above, not below here on earth. Seek spiritual wisdom and not just worldly wisdom.

II. Second, Wisdom – spiritual wisdom - is Egoless. James spends a lot of time in this passage listing the characteristics of spiritual wisdom in verse 17  ¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”  I could spend a whole sermon going through each of these characteristics, and it would be time well spent. But in this message today I just want to sum it up by saying that the wisdom from below is full of ego. True spiritual wisdom from above is egoless. What do I mean by this?

By ego I mean pride, self-centeredness and arrogance. The old word is hubris. You don’t hear that word much, but I have heard it several times recently regarding the myth of Niobe in reference to the restored statue of Niobe that has been replaced on the Great Wall at lower corner here in Sandwich. That word is used in the Sandwich Historical Society Excursion booklet. It says that Niobe was punished by the gods Apollo and Artemis for her hubris. It is a good Greek word which means pride or arrogance. I will use the word ego instead, but hubris is what I mean by it. Spiritual wisdom is free of that quality of hubris or ego. Wisdom is egoless.

Wisdom is seeing the bigger picture – the picture beyond ourselves and our tiny concerns. In the article “What is Wisdom” by Will Durant that I quoted earlier, he says, “Ideally, wisdom is total perspective -- seeing an object, event, or idea in all its pertinent relationships. Spinoza defined wisdom as seeing things sub specie eternitatis, in view of eternity; I suggest defining it as seeing things sub specie totius, in view of the whole. Obviously we can only approach such total perspective; to possess it would be to be God. ” That is a good definition. Wisdom is seeing things from the perspective of God. We naturally see things only how they affect us. We are naturally self-centered. Wisdom is God-centered. We judge things as good or bad from our perspective. But wisdom sees things from a higher perspective. This total perspective is unique to God and we can share in it only insofar as it is given to us by God.

III. Third, wisdom is demonstrated in action. Our passage starts off: “¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” Wisdom is not just saying clever things or thinking profound thoughts. Wisdom acts. Next month we are going to be exploring the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a special service and as part of a broader series of evening studies. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in Germany during WWII. He was an outspoken opponent of the Nazis from their rise to power in the 1930’s when he was only in his twenties; he died when he was still in his thirties, yet he was wise beyond his years. He was a scholar and a theologian, but most importantly he put his faith into action when it counted. Wisdom does not sit cross-legged on a mountaintop spouting proverbs. Wisdom is in the cities and valleys getting its hands dirty in the messy affairs of human life.

IV. Fourth, Wisdom produces peace. Verse 18 of our passage says, “¹⁸ Now the fruit of righteousness [another translation says “the harvest of righteousness] is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Then James goes on to talk about wars and fighting and covetousness that are so much a part of the human condition. “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? ² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet^[a] you do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers and^[b] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

You can tell true spiritual wisdom by its fruits – by its harvest. By its uncompromising, honest, single-minded devotion to peace and the things that make for peace - peace in churches, peace in denominations, peace in nations, peace in international relations, peace on earth. Peacemakers sowing the seeds of peace, which might not blossom in that generation, but eventually they will srpout and produce a harvest of peace. This is not a Pollyannaish, hide your head in the sand and think happy thoughts type of peace. This is not the naïveté of some political peace movements. This wisdom flows from a deep selfless inner peace which elicits that same peace in others. This is the only way to true peace. People can hold hands and sing “Imagine” by John Lennon all they want, but true peace comes from the peace of God and the God of peace.

V. Lastly, wisdom submits to God. Our passage ends with these words: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Wisdom comes from God, and therefore the only way to have this wisdom is to submit to God. Again let me illustrate this with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp and executed just two weeks before Allied troops liberated the camp. The camp doctor who witnessed his execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

This is spiritual wisdom. It gives us the courage to face life and death. Wisdom is to know your priorities. When one sees the world from the viewpoint of eternity and lives life in that light – that is wisdom. As another young man, missionary Jim Elliot, who died early in life, wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." He is talking of eternal life. Wisdom is knowing that we cannot keep our lives. They are God’s and to give them back to God is the wisest thing we can do. “⁷ Therefore submit to God…. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”