Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. [James 3:13 NIV] https://james.bible/james-3-13
James couples wisdom and humility - not two qualites that naturally go together. In fact, from experience it is more common for pride and arrogance to go hand in hand with so-called wisdom from the world's perspective. Maybe you have someone in mind already. This person you are thinking about is highly intelligent but they use their brain power to boost their ego. They love to show how quick witted they are by making a fool of other people. They like to impress other people with their wisdom and intellectual ability. James is telling us that wisdom from God always manifests itself in both good deeds and humility. It is not by being quick witted and showing off our wisdom to impress others. It is not in our talk: it is seen in our actions. James is going against the norm. He is being what is described as counter-cultural. From reading this letter we can clearly see that James is bluntly criticising teachers who were more interested in their reputation and status than their congregation. How often the values and attitudes of the world find their way into our churches? The world admires the quick witted - think of the many TV programmes where there is quick-witted banter which entertains an audience but is destructive.
So James is using wisdom to mean a spiritual quality rather than an intellectual ability. James expects us to demonstrate our good deeds in a humble fashion. This is following the teaching of Jesus in relation to doing good. We are not helping those in need in order to make an impression on other people. So James is drawing attention to the importance of motives in our service. What is the driving force behind our service? Are we engaged in good works in order to impress other people? Are we motivated first and foremost by our love for the Lord when we seek to engage in service for Him or are we driven by self-interest? This is a stark reminder that we can do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. This is a challenge to me personally. I need to examine my 'heart' to discern what is the driving force in my life. Am I serving the Lord in humility or am I seeking to impress other people by engaging in service for the Lord?
We have already noted that there are similarities between this letter from James and the teachings of Jesus who was his 'brother' or more accurately half-brother. Here is a short extract from the sermon on the mount where Jesus is dealing with this same theme - Jesus is condemning the Pharisees for hypocrisy and ostentation. They performed good deeds to impress others.
Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.[Matthew 6:1-4 NIV]
The Pharisees were not subtle in their conduct. Jesus speaks about them making a noisy announcement that they were giving to those in need. This may not have been literal - actually sounding a trumpet when they did a good deed. Jesus uses a figure of speech to emphasise this point. Jesus says that we have 'not to let our left hand know what our right hand is doing.' Again, we need to avoid taking this literally. If we were to keep things so secret that no one else is aware what we are doing, this would make it difficult to engage in any service for fear that someone will find out that we have done a good deed. Jesus' teaching is a clear warning, however, to avoid excessive publicity in our service for the Lord. It is a timely reminder to examine our hearts to see what is motivating our service. He warns us that if we are seeking people's approval, we have already received our reward when people are impressed by our good deeds. There is also the possibility that we will not receive any commendation or approval from others in this life. If we are serving the Lord from the correct motives, we will not be upset if no one praises us. We are doing our service for the Lord and we are looking for His approval and reward at the judgement seat of Christ.
James is counter-cultural. The prevailing philosophy among the Jews was to gain prominence and popularity in the estimation of our peer group. Notice the words in today's verse - 'wise among you' [James 3:13 NIV]. It was considered important that people admired those who were seen as teachers and rabbis. Their status was measured by their approval rating. If there had been Facebook or YouTube in the first century, this would have been reckoned by the number of Facebook friends or subscribers to their YouTube channel. How many followers you have is still considered to be the most important factor. Maybe we have got this all wrong. We have elevated certain public men and women while at the same time there are many who serve the Lord faithfully and their service is largely ignored. James provides a commentary on the teachings of Jesus with regard to the need to examine our motives for service and to avoid any desire for doing good to gain approval from other people. James places a great deal of emphasis on the quality of humility which is an essential element in any service for the Lord. In his classic novel, David Copperfield, Charles Dickens created a character by the name of Uriah Heep who let everyone know how humble he was. In fact, Uriah Heep, the fictional character, was very proud of his 'humbleness.' Dickens is a master of caricature. His characters are almost cartoon characters. What is the point of all this, you may ask. I am making the point that we often think we are really humble when were the exact opposite. We are proud of our humility. Ayrshire's poet (Robert Burns) talks about 'seeing ourselves as others see us.' It is sometimes enlightening to discover what people really think of us. It is even more important, however, to examine our lives from God's perspective. We can often deceive our friends and family, but God sees us as we really are. He is not impressed by our claims at humility - he knows our true motives for service.
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