Sunday
09/19/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Widsom From Above”
(“The Book of James” - Series: Part 3 of 4)
Old Testament Scripture: Proverbs 31:10-31
New Testament Scripture: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Gospel Lesson: Mark 9:30-37
For the past two weeks I have preached
a sermon series on the Book of James. As I have mentioned for past two weeks,
the Book of James, while an enjoyable book of scripture, it is a hard book of scripture.
The Book of James in many ways calls us to be more righteous, more holy, and of
course more like Jesus. All of us, myself included, can continue to love more
deeply and care more deeply, and continue to be more like Jesus.
In the first week of this Book of James sermon
series, I preached on James 2:1-17. The topic once again was “Faith and Works.”
As I said on this Sunday, all we need is faith in Christ for salvation,
eternity, and heaven, but doing good works is a measure of our faith in Christ
and conveys our love for our neighbors. The world needs our good works, but God
does not.
Last Sunday, I talked about how the Apostle James
tells us in the Book of James, that we need to consider our tongues. We need to
realize that the words we say can do a lot of good, or they can do a lot of evil.
Last Sunday we were all challenged therefore to “Tame our Tongues!” This
includes me! What we say with our tongues, has the ability, the power, and the capacity
to do amazing things, or terrible things. This little thing in our mouth can
built up or tear down.
Today, on
this the third week of the Book of James sermon series, James talks to us, in
part, about wisdom. Where do we acquire wisdom, love, and caring? In our
culture today we tend to look for it everywhere, don’t we? We look to magazines,
television shows, self-help books, products, brands, etc. How do we acquire wisdom?
How do we get the grounding we need to live like Christ?
It is interesting that this morning we have a reading
from the Book of Proverbs that talks about the perfect wife. This reading ends
the Book of Proverbs with our reading from 31:10-31, and there is company out
there called “31”. This company sells tote bag and all sort of things. Does
anyone here own any products from “31”? The name of this company is based upon our
reading for this morning from the Book of Proverbs. This reading honors women,
honors wives, and talks about how amazing a woman, a wife can be. In 31:26 it
says:
“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue” (Prov. 31:26, NRSV).
Throughout the entire Book of Proverbs wisdom is referred
to as her, she, or a woman. In asking all of the woman in church last Sunday, if
wisdom should be a woman or a man, the consensus was pretty clear that it should
be a woman.
That being said, where do we get wisdom? Where do we get
truth? From magazines, television show, books? How do we know how to live,
love, and lead? Further, without God how would we even know what love is?
In looking at our Book of James reading for this morning
once again, James begins with talking about wisdom. Beginning in 3:13 it says
once again:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
As
I re-read this, I am sure we can think of people, or parts of our own lives
that draw upon broken and un-Godly earthly wisdom. It is very easy for us to
make a compromise, then another, then another, and then another. People can
start doing things and saying things that look and sound nothing like the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Since God through Jesus Christ is the
source of life, light, and love though, to love is to know God. To hate is to
be disconnected from God. I know that the Book of Ecclesiastes says there is a “time
to hate,” but in general, we are to love, to care for, and to be focused on our
neighbor. Worldly teaching and wisdom tell us that we need only worry about
ourselves and that only crime is getting caught. As Christians, as the church,
we are called to live and love like Jesus Christ. Are we going to mess it up
some days? You bet, but worldly wisdom is not wisdom that will center us on God
and serving others.
So, emphatic about this the Apostle
James picks up in 3:17 for this morning saying once again:
17 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. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace (Jas. 3:17-18, NRSV).
People have asked me, “But
Pastor Paul if that is true, why do we read once awhile that a pastor or a
prominent church leader has committed a crime?” Simple, they took their eyes of
“The Wisdom From Above,” and transferred it to earthly wisdom, wants, and
desires.
In baptizing Brett this morning,
I was reminded of the beauty of our baptismal covenant. You see, all of us
agreed that we are going to love Brett, care about him, let him know that Jesus
loves him, and let him know that he is always welcomed here, through that baptismal
covenant. We hope to love the heaven into people, not scare you know what out
of them. The church is filled with broken people, redeemed by the grace of God
in Jesus Christ. We are reminded every Sunday, and every day, that we should
seek “The Wisdom From Above,” not the wisdom of this world. While none of us
are perfect, we follow a perfect savior named Jesus. Every day we hope to grow
is grace, holiness, and love. This unfortunately, is not always the wisdom that
we get from the world.
Imagine going to a
church, as Pastor George Gallandorm said, that is the like the theme song to the
show “Cheers”. Anyone her ever seen “Cheers”? Don’t worry I am not going to put
a bar in the sanctuary! What Pastor George commented on about the theme song to
“Cheers,” is part that say, “Everyone knows you name.” A place you go to feel
loved, to feel cared for, to draw closer to Jesus and each other. Maybe some of
us on a given day have grown in faith, and yet some have struggled. We come
together and laugh and cry together, for this is body of Jesus Christ.
So serious are we about
our commitment to Christ, to help the world, and each other, that we entered
into a covenant this morning to love the heaven into Brett. So that whenever his
family comes in with him, they will leave feeling loved, filled, and more holy
and righteous. This is “The Wisdom From Above.” This is what the church was always
meant to be, and this is what makes it so different than the world.
Like the world though,
because we are human, sometimes people have a conflict within the church. As
such, James goes on to say, starting chapter 4 once again:
4 Those conflicts and disputes among you,
where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war
within you? 2 You want something and do not have it; so
you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so
you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You
ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get
on your pleasures (Jas. 4:1-3, NRSV).
Interesting,
and this was written almost two-thousand years ago. The church though that
Jesus Christ founded was and is a church where we draw people to Christ, we learn
the Bible, we love others, and we love our neighbor as ourselves. Why are the
churches that really growing and making disciples of Jesus Christ right now so
successful? It isn’t really that complicated, they are created a community of
followers of Christ that are a really tight knit spiritual family. People that
love you, will watch your kids, will teach them in Sunday School, people you
can love, rely on, grow with together, and people that have your back through
thick and thin. Why are churches like this growing so much? Well, who wouldn’t
want to be part of a church like that? A church that just met a beautiful
little baby for the first time, and said, he’s part of our family now. We love
him, we love his family, and they are always welcome here.
To
bring this point home more, and to close our Book of James reading for this
morning, James concludes once again with:
7 Submit
yourselves therefore 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
(Jas. 4:7-8a, NRSV).
When
we love each other and we are focused on God through Jesus Christ, the church
becomes a force at work in the world to be reckoned with. This is why we should
seek “The Wisdom From Above,” not the wisdom of the world.
In
briefly looking at out gospel of Mark lesson for this morning, once again we
have Jesus traveling with his disciples. Jesus is explaining to them that after
he is done teaching them for what will end up being three years, that he is
going to be betrayed, tried, mock, crucified, entombed, but will be resurrected
from the dead. The disciples, the scripture says did not yet fully understand
that Jesus would die and rise again (Mk. 9:30-32, NRSV).
In the last part of our gospel of Mark
reading once again, the disciples were arguing over who among them was the
greatest. They were clearly in this moment seeking earthly wisdom, not “The
Wisdom from Above.” The gospel of Mark reading for this morning then ends once
again saying:
35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said
to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then
he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he
said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my
name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent
me” (Mk.
9:35-37, NRSV).
Jesus
was telling his disciples to seek “The Wisdom From Above.” It isn’t about who
is better or who is worse, it is about whether we are following and being
faithful to God through Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus picks up a little child,
and tells the disciples if you welcome a child like this in his name, like Brett,
then you welcome Jesus himself.
This morning and always, we are called seek “The Wisdom From Above,” and in doing this, Jesus tells us to have faith like meeting a baby for the first time. When we meet that baby, welcome them, love them, and in doing so, we love like Jesus, and seeking “The Wisdom From Above.” Amen.
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