Christ, The Wisdom Of God

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 16th November service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Jas 1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

Jas 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

Jas 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

Christ, The Wisdom Of God

James is speaking about wisdom and a believer’s longing for spiritual wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is the practical and experiential application of spiritual truth. Every believer seeks to know Christ better and to experience His grace more so as to deal better with the trials and challenges of life, what James calls ‘divers temptations’. Though they differ, person to person, we all feel these trials as members of Christ’s body. When the Holy Spirit quickens a dead sinner He creates spiritual life and initiates a process of spiritual development.

The purpose of trials

Believers grow in God’s grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Trials are used by the Lord to enable and expedite that growth. We grow individually in our own spiritual understanding and collectively we grow together in fellowship and bear one another’s burdens. Trials sharpen our awareness of our spiritual need and stir up our desire to deepen our experience of the Saviour’s close presence and His grace in our lives. Our ‘divers temptations’ teach us our need of more heavenly wisdom.

Two kinds of wisdom

In this world there are two kinds of wisdom. There is a wisdom which is worldly and natural, and a wisdom that is from heaven and spiritual. There is a wisdom that is ‘earthly, sensual, devilish’ says James. He will speak more of this in chapter three. For now he is speaking of wisdom ‘that is from above’ which is ‘pure, peaceable and gentle’. Only Christ’s church knows this wisdom and only believers appreciate their lack and need of it. Day by day we need more of Christ Himself who is the pure, spiritual wisdom of God in us.

Wisdom personified

We have good reason to personify this wisdom as Christ, and think of Him personally as God’s wisdom in us. The scriptures do this often. God’s revelation of spiritual truth is Christ’s voice to us in the gospel. Paul tells the Corinthians it is Christ ‘who of God is made unto us … wisdom’. In Proverbs the wise man personifies wisdom in a female voice yet he undoubtedly means the Messiah, the divine Wisdom of God revealed on earth. Our Lord Jesus spoke His good news in the gospel and committed it to His apostles and the church.

Wisdom increases

That a believer lacks wisdom is not to say He is totally ignorant of Christ. Every believer knows Christ savingly and all believers afterward seek to deepen their knowledge of their Saviour and Friend. They wish to enlarge their spiritual union and communion with Him whom they love. A believer’s appetite to learn more of Christ is a mark of spiritual life. In the creation of the new man believers lack no good thing. In our growth in grace we shall be denied no good thing.

Asking God

Our requests for spiritual blessings, of which spiritual wisdom is foremost, are to be made to God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. He is God-only-wise in whom all wisdom dwells. James is generous and tells us God will give ‘to all men liberally’. All who ask in faith receive. All who seek will find. The Lord does not upbraid, that is, He will not withhold His goodness for past faults or failures. He gives liberally as only He can, with open hand.

The primacy of faith

James emphasises faith. Faith is the key to the Lord’s storehouse of blessing. We are to ask in faith, believing in God and trusting His promise to supply our need. We are to ask in faith, believing that whatever is asked, according to the will of God, for His glory and His people’s good, will be granted by divine wisdom in God’s own time and way. Doubters and double-minded men need not apply. James employs the picture of waves at sea being blown by the wind to describe an unstable man. This use of imagery from nature is a characteristic of James’ writing as we shall see and is reminiscent of the Lord’s own use of parables.

Faith in practice

In tomorrow’s service we shall endeavour to make some practical applications of these lessons for the encouragement of our hearts in times of trial. God’s children are brought into trials by God’s love and carried through them by Christ’s wisdom. Our trials on earth are a means to the end of greater trust and dependence on Christ. It is for this reason that we can rejoice in divers temptations despite their bitterness. Our ability to see this is spiritual wisdom.

Amen

Hymn 752

“The wisdom of God in a mystery.” 1 Cor. 2. 7

I. Watts   L.M.

1
Nature with open volume stands,
To spread her Maker’s praise abroad,
And every labour of his hands,
Shows something worthy of a God.

2
But in the grace that rescued man,
His brightest form of glory shines;
Here on the cross ’tis fairest drawn,
In precious blood, and crimson lines.

3
O the sweet wonders of that cross,
Where God the Saviour loved and died!
Her noblest life my spirit draws
From his dear wounds and bleeding side.

4
I would for ever speak his name,
In sounds to mortal ears unknown;
With angels join to praise the Lamb,
And worship at his Father’s throne.

Hymn 1006

Christ our Wisdom and Righteousness. 1 Cor. 1. 30

I. Watts                L.M.

1
Buried in shadows of the night,
We lie till Christ restores the light;
Wisdom descends to heal the blind,
And chase the darkness of the mind.

2
Our guilty souls are drowned in tears,
Till his atoning blood appears;
Then we awake from deep distress,
And sing, “The Lord our righteousness.”

3
Our very frame is mixed with sin;
His Spirit makes our conscience clean;
Such virtues from his sufferings flow,
At once to cleanse and pardon too.

4
Jesus beholds where Satan reigns,
Binding his slaves in heavy chains;
He sets the prisoners free, and breaks
The iron bondage from our necks.

5
Poor helpless worms in thee possess
Grace, wisdom, power, and righteousness;
Thou art our mighty All; may we
Give our whole selves, O Lord, to thee.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God revealed to sinners. Here James asks if any believer needs spiritual wisdom. He is pointing us to Christ to supply all our needs during times of trial, trouble and temptation.