A Word to the Wise
(James 3: 13-4, 7-8)
I believed that the basic function of my role as an attorney was to counsel people, people who sought me out for advice or whom I had been appointed by the courts to represent in a criminal matter. And, as a prosecutor, I also counseled victims on the best way to navigate the criminal justice system so that they might obtain some sort of resolution bringing a semblance of closure if there is such a thing. My approach was to be as honest with them as I possibly could, pointing out all of the different ways a case could go, not giving them an unrealistic expectation in the outcome, and providing them with all the information they needed to make their own informed decisions. Sounds simple enough but you would be surprised at how many didn’t follow my advice or thought they had a better idea. It’s hard to do damage control when you insist on engaging in the same behavior that got you in trouble in the first place. When I was in Tyler, Texas, I had one young man who wanted to put me on a permanent retainer so he could call me when he was about to do something he knew he shouldn’t or if he happened to get arrested. This would have required me giving him my cell phone number so I could take his late-night phone calls. Not a good idea as he explained the methamphetamine he was self-medicating with worked better than the doctor prescribed Ritalin he was supposed to be taking. I wisely declined his attractive offer to be his personal on-call attorney and gave him the best free advice I could. Think about the inevitable consequences before you act and then don’t do it! If you believe something could go wrong with your plan, it will.
American humorist Mark Twain once observed: “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” I believe he is talking about that wisdom we’ve acquired over time and that if we had it to do all over again, we’d do things differently. But what young person wants to listen to some old person spout irrelevant wisdom? Twain also said that wisdom came from listening when you wanted to speak.
And I believe that is what James is writing about in our scripture reading for this morning. He’s talking about a wisdom that comes from God, a wisdom that, if you follow it, will lead to a happier and less troublesome life. He starts out by asking: Are any of you wise and understanding? Show that your actions are good with a humble lifestyle that comes from wisdom. Honestly, very few of us would admit to being foolish and not knowing what is going on about us, but if we are really honest with ourselves, there have been those moments when we’ve foolishly made a bad decision, a decision we knew deep down was bad, and then wondered how we ended up where we found ourselves. We probably muttered to ourselves: “Ain’t nobody’s fault but mine.” James is basically telling us that when we get in trouble it’s because we didn’t make the right choices, weren’t satisfied with living within our means, and succumbing to wanting what we didn’t really need. He’s not saying that there is anything wrong with wanting a pleasurable life. It’s God who gives us good gifts that he wants us to enjoy. It’s having friendship with the world that involves seeking pleasure at the expense of others or, worse yet, at the expense of obeying and pleasing God. This is what he meant when he said: However, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then stop bragging and living in ways that deny the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. He’s talking about another wisdom that is competing with the wisdom from God, one that is from the earth, one that is materialistic, one that can drive us to do evil and harmful things. He says that wherever there is jealously and selfish ambition, there is disorder and everything that is evil. People are so envious of what another person has in spite of the fact that they have more than they or their family will ever need. This wisdom from the world bears its own distinctive fruit such as: envy, self-centeredness, bragging, disorder, and living in ways that deny the truth. For some people, not having is deeply threatening and produces a string of resentful behaviors and divisiveness. I believe we’re seeing a different form of it playing out in our current election cycle that, by the way, resurfaces every four years whether we want it to or not. It’s called entitlements and the fact that someone is getting something they didn’t get really raises their hackles. It really gets under their skin. For some unfathomable reason they resent the fact that some children are on free or reduced breakfasts and lunches at school or that some college student might be getting some assistance with books or tuition, or that some low income wage earner might qualify for housing assistance, or that someone who doesn’t have a job with health benefits is getting subsidized healthcare. I didn’t get any of that, but I don’t begrudge someone else for getting it during their time of need. A well-fed child learns better and gets better grades. A better educated child gets a better job, supports his or her family, buys more stuff, and pays more taxes which go to help someone else. And a healthier America is a stronger and more secure America. Who wouldn’t want that?
Wow, pastor! That’s quite a rant and a little too woke for me, you might be thinking. But I feel comfortable saying that because of what James says next regarding the wisdom from above. He asks: What of the wisdom from above? First, it is pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine. Those who make peace sow the seeds of justice by their peaceful acts. This is the contrast between the two competing wisdoms. There is a wisdom to the way the world works, and a wisdom to the way people work when God is operative in their lives. Because the world does not know the good God who gives gifts to all who ask, it operates by competition, greed, coercive speech, and strife. It assumes we live in a world of limited resources controlled by the rich and powerful, before whom all are required to show deference if they are to survive. But the wisdom from above enables God’s people to live in a way that is pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine. Again, who wouldn’t want to live in such a world?
James then gets direct when he asks his readers, us, what is the source of conflict among us? What is the source of our disputes? He rhetorically asks: Don’t they come from your cravings that are at war in your own lives? He’s asking us to look inward for the source of what is really bothering us, our insecurities and resentments. We long for something we don’t have so we’ll resort to doing something that is so outside who we really are that others are shocked, disgusted, and even horrified by the lengths we have undertaken to get what we want. He says that we are jealous for something we can’t get so we struggle and fight. He points out: You don’t have because you don’t ask. You ask and you don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. James just put his finger on the most common problems in prayer: not asking, asking for the wrong things, and asking for the wrong reasons. Don’t even get me started on the prosperity gospel. Drawing near to God requires us to purify the thoughts of our hearts and the works of our hands. It will also require us to lament our current state with tears, joining in solidarity with those who are already weeping due to marginalizations and poverty.
What James is pointing out is our temptation to lay the blame for our anger and frustration on the government, the church, the conservatives or the liberals, but by this point in the letter the answer is quite clear. Our social conflicts derive from our own envious cravings. Our desire for material things or particular social structures makes us willing to dehumanize people in order to reshape the world according to our own desires, rather than the well-stated desires of God as explained to us by Jesus Christ. Jame’s point is that only the humble will be able to welcome the word God has planted within; they alone will be open to receive the wisdom that comes down from above.
So, my questions to you are: Do you talk to God at all? When you do, what do you talk about? Do you ask to satisfy your desires? Do you seek God’s approval for what you already plan to do? Your prayers will become powerful when you allow God to change your desires so that they perfectly correspond to his will for you and his creation. Like the Spirit, this wisdom from above is a gift from God available to anyone who humbly seeks it. The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits, and the fruits of righteousness are sown in peace by those who make peace. So, just as faith cannot exist without faithful action, so also one who is truly wise will demonstrate it by good conduct and a humble lifestyle and, that my friends, is a word to the wise.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, move us by your Spirit to live the Christ-like lives you would have us live. Keep us centered and focused upon what truly matters to you and the restoration of your creation. Instill in us the will and the ability to exemplify by our actions what it means to have faith in your promise as we humbly serve you and your lost and hurting children. Keep us mindful of the fact that people know whose we are and that they watch what we do and listen to what we say during those times we are faced with our own adversities. Clear our minds of all the greed, envy, jealousy, want, and resentment that we hold in a world focused upon satisfying the self. We pray that we come near to you, and that you will come near to us in our daily lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
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