Which Sort Of Wisdom?--September 25, 2024

Which Sort Of Wisdom?--September 25, 2024

"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. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace." [James 3:17]

They will tell you that putting yourself first is just common sense--everybody does it, so you'd better do the same.

They will tell you that you've got to be ready to shoot the other guy before he gets the chance to shoot you--because everybody else is a threat and you can't look "weak."

They will tell you that being gentle, merciful, and honest is for suckers, and only "losers" act like that when it really comes down to it.

And then, over against all that worldly wisdom, the way of Jesus dares us to choose different values.  James, for one, calls us to a different sort of wisdom that is centered on peace, gentleness, flexibility, and compassion, rather than some self-centered nonsense.

The real question is which sort of wisdom we will take to heart. Whose way of life will we follow as our own?

You might likely have already heard these words from James in worship this past Sunday, but it's easy to miss the stark (and frankly countercultural) choice James presents to us.  Between the verses we looked at yesterday and today's, James has been contrasting the world's kind of "conventional wisdom" with God's kind of wisdom, even though the latter sounds like foolishness to the rest of the world. (You know, sometimes I think that Paul and James really would have gotten along if they could have heard each other out, despite the hullaballoo theologians have made about them over the centuries.) 

One kind of wisdom is based on sheer self-interest, and it's willing to do anything (or ignore the interests of anybody else) in order to get it.  The world tends to admire this perspective and calls it, among other things, "business savvy," "a nose for profits," or "the law of the jungle," as though this is the way the world really operates, and people who play along are the smart and successful ones.  On the other hand, James has been telling us that the way of Jesus is different--it operates by an entirely different sort of wisdom, which is more interested in seeking the well-being of all and doesn't end with the question, "What's in it for me?"

But, be prepared: an awful lot of the Loudest Voices around are hell-bent on getting us to believe that we can build our lives on mean-spirited greed and baseless fear and baptize it as somehow righteous and "in the national interest," while sometimes the unconventional wisdom of Jesus gets laughed out of town.  James is here to tell us not to fall for the obnoxious and angry voices of self-interest and petty strife, because Jesus' kind of wisdom--the kind "from above"--is actually the kind of life we were meant for. We were made for peace, authenticity, gentleness, justice, goodness, and joy. The way of Jesus' kind of wisdom leads us into it, and the convention wisdom of "Me and My Group First" leads us away from it--no matter how much it tries to promise us the good life.

So today... whose way will we walk?  Which kind of wisdom will we allow to guide our lives?

Lord Jesus, let your wisdom become our way of life.