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James (Part 2) Do You Need Wisdom?
The Epistle of James Part 2 Do you need Wisdom?
By: Ben Fronczek
This past week I thought about James and his brothers and sister growing up with Jesus; who was their big brother. I could not help but wonder what that was like. Imagine growing up with a sibling who was perfectly sinless, someone who never did anything wrong or evil. What would that have been like?
In scripture we read over and over that Jesus was without sin. He never, ever, ever sinned.
In 2 Cor. 5:21 we read, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God”
And in 1 John 3:5 it says, “And in Him there is no sin” (NKJV)
In 1 Peter 2:21-23 it says “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
Never once did Jesus lie, take anything that did not belong to Him, gossip, cheat, lust, retaliate, or do anything else wrong. While growing up with Him, His brothers and sister must have thought He was the ultimate ‘goodie two shoes’.
He was tempted throughout those years, but He was wise enough not to act on those temptations. In Hebrews 4:15 it says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” That was Jesus!
I know that Jesus was the Son of God, but He was still a man, and if push came to shove His brothers and sisters probably admired how good, honest, mature and wise their big brother was as they grew up. At times He may have even seemed too wise and mature for his age.
Even at that age of 12 we read that people were amazed at His understanding. In Luke 2:41-47 it says, “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.(By this time Jesus could have had 5 or 6 brothers and sisters) 43 After the Feast was over, while His parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
Thinking He was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for Him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find Him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for Him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers. 48 When His parents saw Him, they were astonished.”
Now this boy was the one who James, and Jude, and Simon, and Joseph, and all his sisters grew up with. I can’t help but think that when they had a problem, they would turn to Him for advice.
So when James wrote about needing good advice or needing wisdom, he probably wrote with his brother Jesus in mind. In all those years he spent growing up with Jesus and observing Him, James must have learned something from Him.
And so James writes “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” 1:5-8
I am sure that in all the years he lived with Him, Jesus probably never made fun of him or any of his siblings when it came to them needing help or advice. And I can’t help but believe that when Jesus Himself needed an extra measure of help, advice or more wisdom, James and the rest of the family saw Who He turned to; and of course that was His Father in Heaven. I’m sure Jesus came across as stable, and sure of Himself, not doubting what God’s will was.
And so James and his other brother and sisters had someone strong to look up to and show them how to get thru this life when they weren’t quite sure how to do it; and that was to turn to God and sincerely ask Him for help and believe that He would give them the help and wisdom they needed.
James probably saw others who talked the talk, those who seem so religious and pious, but because of their lack of faith and doubts they would seem like waves or a small boat being tossed about every time a strong wind blew. So James tells those who seek God’s help and wisdom that they MUST believe and not doubt.
Life is full of choices and we make decisions every day. Someone once said, “The decisions that we make – make us!” I believe this to be a true statement. As I look back on my own life – the decisions that I have made have had an immense impact on my life. So have yours. The quality and direction of your life has been determined by the decisions you have made. Some of them you feel good about. Some of them you regret. It’s important to make the wisest decisions possible.
As humans, we can all make mistakes. We wait too long. We pay too much. We say the wrong thing. We open our mouths and insert our foot. All of us do stupid things. But the wise man learns from the mistakes he makes. I hope and pray that we all learn from what James says here; that there is a place to go and someone to turn to if we want to become wiser.
Maybe today you unsure about something. Maybe it’s your life, your direction, maybe you don’t know how to help or advise another. I believe that James is giving us the same advice he learned from His brother Jesus when he was unsure and needed help. He instructs us to turn to God and ask Him for the wisdom we need. James wrote that God is generous when it come giving us this kind of help.
But there are some conditions; we must ask, and we must believe.
We need to believe in God.
We need to believe in His willing us to help us.
We need to believe enough to open ourselves up to His wisdom.
And believe enough to act on such wisdom.
If you really don’t believe, and waver back and forth between listening to God and/or doing what you or your friend think is right, verse 7 says that such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Yea that’s right; many times we think we want God’s help and He puts the answers right out in front of our face in one way or another; either in His Word, thru good advice from a Christian friend, or in a sermon we read or listen to. He may even put a thought in your conscious, but we don’t listen because we are stubborn, or the advise is not what we want to hear. No wonder we get so confused.
James tells us ask and believe! So don’t act like someone who is wishy-washy, double-minded or unstable.
Where do you need wisdom right now? What’s the big decision in your life? Is it a career decision? Is it about retirement decision? Are you thinking about making a large purchase, making an investment, or helping someone financially, how to serve Jesus better, or even how to start a special ministry for our Lord.
God is there to give you wisdom – if you just ask Him in faith, and believe. Proverbs 2:6 makes a promise and says, ”For the Lordgives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
Do you believe that?
If the Lord gives wisdom we need to ask Him for it. We need to pray to Him for it. We need to ask Him to give us some.
Here we read that God wants to give you wisdom. He is eager to give it to you. He is ready to give you wisdom. He wants to give you the best things He can – but you need to ask. You need to accept His counsel and believe.
I want to talk to you right now about the greatest decision you can make in your entire life. The greatest decision you’ll ever make in this life is this: Are you going to follow God or not? Am I going to live for myself or am I going to live my life for God and listen to Him, and follow His advise the best I can?
Let me tell you, following God is the only thing that will produce stability in your life. Following God is how you can live in peace with Him and yourself. Here is how you do that – ask Him now to guide you and direct you through life – and to give you wisdom in the decisions that you need to make.
And you may say, “Well Ben I’ve been doing that. I have been praying and praying and asking God about a certain situation but I still don’t know what to do” The question I have for you is this, ‘Have you been listening for God’s response? Or are you listening with your ears and eyes closed?’
God has not only provides us with His word which provides us with His will on so many matters. His Spirit has also entered those of us who are Christians, and is described as a Helper, a teacher. We not only have His word and the Holy Spirit, and the avenue of prayer, we also have other Christians that we can talk to. Maybe God has provided you with an answer to your dilemma, but maybe it not the answers you want to hear, and so you are in a standoff.
And if that is the case, it may not be that we need to pray for more wisdom, instead it may be more of a matter of humbling our self and learning to accept the answers or direction which God has provided and are right before us.
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