James wrote about two types of wisdom. James wrote that our wisdom is demonstrated by how we live our lives. He wrote that we “show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom.” Our lives, how we live each day James is saying should demonstrate what has happened within us.
James first points out the worldly wisdom when he writes there beginning in verse 14:
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
James 3:14-16 CEB
I really like how Peterson wrote in The Message
Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats
James 3:14-16 The Message
Jesus came to do something about that. Jesus came so that our lives could be transformed. Think about it this way, God could have just washed His hands of the entire mess that sin had made. He could have just said the word and the creation would have been wiped out. But He didn’t and He didn’t because He loved us His creation so much that He still wanted to have a relationship with Him.
God himself came in the person of Jesus and He lived here amongst His creation and He lived just like one of us. Yet He lived differently, He lived his life as an example to us of how to live, how to be obedient to the Father.
He didn’t just live here, but He died here. He willingly laid His life down for us. He wasn’t guilty, He was sinless. He willingly laid His life down, He who was without sin took our sin, your sin and mine on Himself.
He died for you and He died for me. That alone should change how we live our lives.
The greatest part about the story of Jesus life is that He didn’t stay in that tomb. He is alive! He’s alive today in heaven. Someday and we pray soon, someday Jesus is going to return.
The amazing thing about Jesus resurrection is that same power that raised Jesus from the dead is still available today. Paul in his letter to the church at Rome wrote this:
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you.
Romans 8:11 CEB
That’s a transformation that Paul is talking about. The same Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to you today if you are a Christian. Without Jesus, we are dead, dead in our sins. But by the saving faith in Jesus, we are raised from the dead, we are changed, we are transformed.
I can’t say it any plainer than this: A person who claims to be a Christian should look and live differently than a person who makes no profession of faith in Jesus.
From “Living in the Real World” a sermon by Nathan Zipfel 16 September 2018
