Sermon notes from Sunday 2026-05-24 Thu, May 28 at 8:29 AM Living Like We Mean It, Part 6 James 3:13-18 PENTECOST Here’s a question: What is wisdom? Is it the accumulation of experience? Do we get wiser the more experience we have of life? I’d like to think so, anyway. Well, James, who was probably Jesus’ half brother, and who wrote the letter that we have in Scripture, doesn’t think that that’s always the case. He says that what we learn from experience can be the wisdom which comes down from heaven, or, it can be the “wisdom” of our own earthly egos. And of the two, there is only one kind of wisdom that is worth pursuing. As it’s Pentecost today, let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would open our ears to hear, and our hearts to receive, whatever God would say to us about wisdom, through the book of James. Lets pray Almighty God, as your Holy Spirit filled the disciples with joy and boldness to preach the gospel at Pentecost, so we pray that you would empower us with that same Spirit. Pour out upon us your Spirit of wisdom and understanding through your words; and may the boldness of your Spirit transform our lives. May we hear what you would say to us; may we respond to what you would say to us; and may we speak your wisdom with joy and power. May the people we know, and the people we meet, be drawn to you by the work of your Spirit through us. For it is through our Lord Jesus that we pray. Amen. James, chapter 3, vv 13-18. 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. We live in an area where there are a lot of very smart people around. There’s no shortage of technical wisdom in the South Bay. We are world famous for that. what James is telling us here is that God’s wisdom, the wisdom that comes from heaven, is far better than the technical, earthly wisdom which is everywhere around us. And we really need God’s wisdom. That’s because we need a framework for our human wisdom to grow in; and the best framework for human wisdom is the much greater wisdom of God, given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. After all, God knows us better than we know ourselves; so why wouldn’t God’s wisdom be better for us than our own earthly wisdom? So James teaches us how to distinguish between heavenly and earthly wisdom. That’s called discernment. We all need to be able to discern heavenly wisdom before we can make wise human decisions. Especially now, in the era of artificial intelligence. AI isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It depends on what we use it for. AI can be used for good purposes; and it can also be used for evil purposes. And it’s not always easy to sort out which is which, since it’s all happening so fast. Which is why we need to be able to discern the wisdom which is from God, from the earthly wisdom which is not. Here’s an example of bad use of AI. I’m guessing that none of us have turned to AI for advice on how to kill people! We would never do that, Yet given where we live, perhaps some of us have turned to AI for medical advice, or to find a book title. And even if you personally don’t use AI, your younger relatives probably do. Our doctors and our dentists probably do. It’s part of the culture here. In my field, there are lively on-line discussions on pastor forums about whether we should be using AI to write sermons. Just so you know, I don’t use AI – not for sermons, not for prayers, not for counseling nor Bible teaching nor anything else related to the word of God. That’s because I believe that the Holy Spirit can and does work through our spirits to convey his word to others. So I try to make myself as open as possible to the Holy Spirit’s word through Scripture, for my own sake and for the sake of those I serve. whether I like it or not, AI is widespread - so it doesn’t make sense to ignore it. What we can do is to respond wisely to it. We need to know when it’s appropriate, and when it’s not. That’s why it’s so important, at this place and in this time, for us to be able to discern heavenly wisdom from earthly wisdom. Fortunately, James can really help us to distinguish between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom. James says that earthly wisdom is unspiritual and demonic. James, earthly wisdom leads us to harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in our hearts. And how do we know that harboring bitter envy and selfish ambition is a bad thing? Because these thoughts lead to disorder within us, which then leads to every evil practice in our lives. That sounds demonic, , I’m reminded of the Mafia, or politics, or other really cutthroat businesses. James’ description of earthly wisdom does rather sound like that, Envy, selfish ambition, disorder, every evil practice, unspiritual, demonic? Are we going to get tangled up in all this muck, just so we can try to build up our own egos? The problem is, all of us have egos. All of us have at least some desire to improve our status, and rise in the esteem of others. And in order to gain more status, it can be very tempting to step on our competitors. Climbing the ladder on other people’s heads. We aren’t willing to do major evil things, But there might be other things that we would be willing to do to improve our social status, which don’t seem so bad - like bragging about ourselves, or cutting down others. We are often tempted to do things like that. MATTHEW 4:8-9 But, as I reflected on earthly temptations, I was reminded of Satan’s temptation of Jesus. Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor? And then Satan said to Jesus,“All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:9) Jesus, recognized that temptation and refused it. He can help us do likewise. The next time we are tempted to take advantage of others, or lie to others, or inflate ourselves at the expense of others, we can always turn to Jesus first. We can always ask him to help us resist all this earthly wisdom, and turn instead to the heavenly wisdom that he can give. And if we ask, he will help us. Jesus wants us to grow to be more like him, and less like Satan. JAMES 3:17-18 So what’s heavenly wisdom, James says that heavenly wisdom is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. We can discern heavenly wisdom in a person, by watching what they do. - MATTHEW 7:15a, 16-17 As Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-17, “Watch out for false prophets…By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” Are there examples of people around us who can show us what heavenly wisdom might look like? Sure there are. Again, we can discern heavenly wisdom in a person by watching what they do. And then we can do likewise. What examples have you seen of heavenly wisdom, in the lives of people you have known? as the fruits of heavenly wisdom build up individuals, so they also build up whole communities. Which are, after all, made up of individuals, What if we all looked at one another with compassion, knowing that we all are fallible, that we all are mortal, that we all go through struggle and suffering? What if we all did what we could to help others? Which would mean that the others are helping us as well? What do you think that would be like? Maybe you remember that on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 tells us that about 3000 people were baptized and were added to the followers of Jesus? And, that they met every day in the temple courts to hear the apostles’ teaching and fellowship? And that they broke bread together and ate together in their homes? The fruits of heavenly wisdom built up a community, the foundation of the church, which still exists to this day. The church isn’t perfect; it wasn’t back then, and it isn’t now. I don’t think that any group of people, anywhere, has ever perfectly been pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere, all the time. And heavenly wisdom does exist. The Holy Spirit does help us to discern between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. We can grow in heavenly wisdom as individuals, even as earthly wisdom seems to be growing faster and faster around us. And if we grow in heavenly wisdom as individuals, we can help whole communities to grow in heavenly wisdom. Let’s pray.