James 3: Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his 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, of the devil. 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 raise a harvest of righteousness.

A Faith to Live By James 1-5 James, brother of Jesus He’s writing to the Jewish Christians scattered throughout the Greco-Roman empire. Intellectual knowledge is valued… but he tells them their faith needs to be more than knowledge. He tells them they need to live their faith.

We are going to look at 3 points: 1.Wisdom 2.Faith and works 3.The tongue and right relationships

Wisdom… More than the intellectual knowledge

My Uncle Wayne, the plumber Always complained about UI students “no practical smarts”

James tells the early Christians that their faith is more than intellectual knowledge They seemed to have a habit of gathering information, but not putting it into use

James 1 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Wisdom is more than head knowledge It is being able to take what we learn and put it into action “Practical faith” James talks about 2 kinds of wisdom Wisdom of the world often differs from the God’s wisdom

James 3: Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his 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, of the devil. 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 raise a harvest of righteousness.

James is stressing that it is really important to have true wisdom Not just accepting the thinking of the culture, but really evaluating what is important to God

Understanding of the culture James was writing in, We can now go to his discussion of faith and works This is what James is most well know for Sometimes has been controversial, but it shows that faith is a progression

James 1:14-15 Faith and Deeds 14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

Deeds are the outward evidence of our inner faith They don’t earn us salvation, But when we believe in Christ we want to live to honor God and treat each other well

How we treat each other begins with what we say James has a lot to say about our tongues

James 3 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and it itself on fire in hell.

How we behave, starts with our tongues It directs our behavior Sometimes even more that our minds! Therefore, we must be careful

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James wants us to know we cannot live a divided life We must be true to our faith by living it out in a consistent way We can’t believe one way, and talk and act another Our faith is shown by how we live --- Our speech, our deeds matter

Examples James give include: Not showing favoritism to rich over poor (2:1-4, 8-9) Concern about wrong motives (4:1-4)

Summary “Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine.”

For our faith to do any good, we must live it: With God’s wisdom A pure tongue Doing deeds that come from our love of Christ