SERMON TITLE: For Those in Need of Wisdom
SCRIPTURE: James 1:5-8 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 1-18-25
Sermon Discussion Guide
Takes notes here
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’re continuing our series in the book of James this weekend. As we learned two weeks ago — James — our author — is the younger brother of Jesus — and he was also a key leader in the early church. And James — the book — is essentially a collection of mini-sermons — or teachings — on a variety of topics. The book is considered by many to be the wisdom literature of the New Testament — sort of like the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament — as it contains many short statements that show us how life generally works.
Last week’s topic was on the purpose of the trials we experience in life. Those unexpected — and often — unwanted moments — those experiences in life that are trying and hard and exhausting do have a purpose. Again — that’s what we saw last week. And — today — we’re on to a new — but somewhat related — topic. Here’s what James has for us today. We’re in James chapter one — beginning in verse five. There we read…
James 1:5–8 ESV
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Christian or not — here’s a topic that’s relevant and practical for all of us. For — inevitably — we come to moments in life when we don’t know what to do — where we lack wisdom — and James is going to tell us what to do in these moments. And — spoiler alert — his advice isn’t to turn to Google or to ChatGPT. No — James is going to tell us to turn somewhere else — or — I should say — to Someone else — when we find ourselves in need of wisdom.
But before we get to our destination — here’s how we’re going to get there. We’re going to first answer the question, “What is wisdom?” Then we’ll look at the generosity of God which — believe it or not — has everything to do with where wisdom is found. And — finally — we’ll look at how we receive — or find — wisdom.
What is wisdom? The generosity of God. And how we receive wisdom. That’s where we’re headed today.
We’ll begin with our question, “What is wisdom?” As James says in verse five…
James 1:5 ESV
5 If any of you lacks wisdom…
If wisdom is what we lack — we need to make sure we’re in agreement with what we mean by wisdom. I say this because there are two very different meanings of the word wisdom that are used by people today.
The first definition is something like this: Wisdom is applying knowledge to a situation.
Now — that doesn’t sound all that bad. And — it’s not — except for one significant aspect. Often — with this definition of wisdom — morality and theology are not taken into consideration. And that’s because this view of wisdom is human-centric — meaning — it puts the power and responsibility of determining what is wise in the hands of us humans.
The second definition of wisdom is nearly identical to the first — but with a significant change. If definition one is “applying knowledge to a situation” our second definition of wisdom is “applying biblical and theological knowledge to a situation.”
This second definition emphasizes that wisdom — foundationally — is biblical and theological. And — theology — if you’re unfamiliar with the word — has to do with God. Thus, wisdom is understanding our — humanity’s — proper place in relationship to God as found in the Bible. Which means — to live wisely means we must live according to what the Bible tells us about God, ourselves, and our relationship with him.
Here’s another way to show the difference in these two definitions of wisdom. Wisdom — under definition number one — asks, “What works?” Wisdom — under definition number two — asks, “What honors God and reflects his character?”
And we live in a “what works” world created by a God who is more concerned with “what honors him.”
For example,listen to what the Bible has to say about wisdom and notice its relationship to God.
Proverbs 1:7 ESV
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
And…
Proverbs 9:10 ESV
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
And…
Psalm 111:10 ESV
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.
And…
Job 28:28 ESV
28 And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Fear — in these verses — means to revere — to hold in admiration — to have a profound respect for someone or something. And in these verses we learn that wisdom’s birthplace is in having fear of — or a profound respect for — the Lord.
Now fear is a word we quickly associate with something scary. So let me try and help us all out. To fear the Lord means that — in knowing who God is — for example — in knowing that God is holy — that he’s pure and without sin — and that he’s righteous — meaning God always does what’s right — and that he’s just — meaning God doesn’t play favorites or take bribes — and that he’s loving and kind and good and merciful and wrathful — that last one means that God hates wickedness, sin, and will punish those who do such things — in knowing who God is — on his terms and in his own words — we then fear him — are in awe of him — have great respect for him — and live accordingly.
So there’s a theological aspect of wisdom — it’s God-focused. Yet there’s also a moral aspect of wisdom. We saw this in the verse from Job which mentioned “turning away from evil.” Turning away from evil is a statement of morality. It supposes that there’s a definition of good and evil and that — to be wise — means you turn away from evil and turn to God who is good.
Having said all of that — even in the church — the wisdom of “what works” continues to dominate — at least in the church in the US — I won’t speak of churches around the world. Here in the US — we’re such pragmatic people — that the wisdom of “what works” — and the success it often brings — in relationships, in business, in politics, even in the church — the wisdom of “what works” excites us.
But the wisdom of “what works” will not produce righteousness — which is the goal of biblical wisdom. And — righteousness — as you may know — when it comes to us humans means to be right with God. And there are many people who call themselves Christians today — and many organizations that call themselves churches — who are very successful — they’ve figured out “what works” — and yet — they are not right with God.
Many people have discovered “what works” — again — in relationships, in business, in politics, even in the church — and they think this makes them right with God. But our works — what we do — have never made us right with God — even works that bring about great success. And those who are biblically wise understand this. For it’s not our works — that makes us righteous — but the work of the One who’s called the Wisdom of God. We’ll get to him in a moment.
So wisdom — according to God — means more than just “what works” — for many sinful decisions may bring about success. Dictators — who have their opponents killed — win elections — a shocking example, I know — but when wisdom is solely about “what works” — people will go to extremes.
But “what works” and what honors and pleases God are not always the same thing. And we who claim to follow Jesus need to be very careful of which definition of wisdom we allow to influence the decisions we make. We who follow Jesus need to be careful about which definition of wisdom we expect and tolerate those in leadership to use. Because God will not bless the wisdom of “what works” when it does not bring him honor and glory. And — many people — after doing nothing other than “what works” — then try to spin their decision as if honoring God was always their goal. But God is no fool.
Interestingly, provocatively, and — what’s quite possibly one of the most shocking statements in his entire letter — James will later say this about wisdom. In chapter three he writes…
James 3:13–18 NLT
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
We’ll get to these verses in a later sermon, but — for now — I want you to notice what James says about wisdom in verses fifteen and sixteen. I’ll read them to you again.
James 3:15–16 NLT
15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
What’s often called wisdom — the pragmatic kind that “gets the job done” and is “what works” — is often wisdom clothed in jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, and evil of every kind. And James says that this kind of wisdom is earthly, unspiritual, and — wait for it — demonic. And — friends — this is why we need to be so very careful about giving into the spirit of our age in which getting things done — and “what works” — matters more than whether or not something is demonic.
A moment ago I said, “God is no fool” — but he is generous. Which leads us to some extremely great news about wisdom found in our verses. We’re in verse five again.
James 1:5 ESV
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James — being a good Jewish man — may’ve been thinking of a verse like this one from the book of Proverbs when he wrote these words. In Proverbs we read…
Proverbs 2:6 ESV
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
God has, is, and will always be the source of true wisdom. And though it may seem overwhelming — especially when thinking that something may work and bring about success and still be grounded in something like the demonic — though it may seem impossible to know where to begin — “How do I even know what’s biblical wisdom or just something that works” — James points us directly to step one — which will never lead you astray. For James essentially says, “Do you lack wisdom? Here’s step one: Ask God.”
Ask God.
Yet how many of us make decisions — and not just small or insignificant ones — but even really huge decisions — without ever asking God, “Hey God, I’m about to make a decision about — marriage or a promotion or switching careers or having a hard conversation with a friend — and I need some help here. What’s the wise thing to do?” And — my goal — is to encourage all of us — myself included — to do more asking. Let’s ask God more and more for wisdom.
“OK. But how will I know what he’s telling me?” Great question! Did you know that there are many ways that God responds to us when we ask him for wisdom?
In his cleverly titled book, God Told Me: Who to Marry, Where to Work, Which Car to Buy…And I’m Pretty Sure I’m Not Crazy, author Jim Samra lists twelve different ways that God speaks to us. His list includes the Bible, the preached Word, individual prayer and fasting, corporate prayer and fasting, the inner prompting of the Spirit, spiritual direction from others, to name a few.
We’ll look at just two ways that God answers us when we ask him for wisdom: 1) God’s Word — the Bible — and 2) Prayer. His Word and prayer.
By far — prayer is perceived as the less demanding of these two. You can pray whenever and wherever — but reading the Bible — well that’s a lot more work. But here’s something I’ve found to be a principle of following Jesus: The better we know his Word — the Bible — the better we’ll know his answers to us in prayer. Meaning — God’s answers to us in the Bible are clear. Yes, this is a big book with lots of words — but — instead of viewing that as an insurmountable obstacle — I wonder what would happen if we viewed the bigness of this book — and the vast amount of words in it — as God’s gracious way of making sure we know how to be wise. And — again — the principle I’ve found is that the better I know what he’s said in the Bible — the better I know what he’s saying to me in prayer.
A recent survey by the Barna Group found a hopeful trend regarding Bible reading in our country. Forty-two percent of adults in the US say they read their Bible weekly — up from thirty percent in 2024. That’s forty-two percent of all US adults — Christian or not. Can you believe that? Nearly half of all adults in our country say they read the Bible weekly. That’s pretty encouraging to me!
So what about those of us who claim to follow Jesus? If forty-two percent is the national average — surely we Christians are tipping the scales, right? Not so fast. In that same survey, just fifty percent of self-identified Christians report reading their Bible weekly.
Though I’m thankful that both numbers have seen an increase — I see such an opportunity for Christians to engage more and more with God’s Word — so that — we’ll be people who grow in wisdom and influence our nation for the better.
Here at Gateway we describe this as our desire for us to be Word and Spirit Christians. Where — as followers of Jesus — we live under the authority of the Word of God and by the power of the Spirit of God. And — to do this — we must be people who know this book.
That same Barna survey revealed another piece of data about Bible reading. This data focused on what’s going on generationally in our country in regards to Bible reading. Though Bible reading has grown among Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z — one of these groups is lagging behind the others in their weekly Bible reading. Any guesses as to which generation in our country is falling behind the others?
Who thinks it’s Gen Z — the youngest generation surveyed? They’re just on video games and social media, right? I bet they’re not reading their Bible.
What about the Millennials — who thinks it’s them? They’re all depressed because we’ve moved on from talking about their generation and now it’s all about Gen Z, right? I bet it’s them — they’re probably the ones not reading their Bibles.
Who thinks it’s the Gen Xers? Nobody does — because everyone forgets about my generation.
Well — it’s not Gen Z. It’s not the Millennials. And it’s not Gen X. The generation falling behind the others — when it comes to Bible reading in our country — are the Boomers.
Forty-nine percent of Gen-Z, fifty percent of Millennials, and forty-one percent of Gen-Xers read the Bible weekly — but only thirty-one percent of Boomers do. So — to the Boomers among us — first, I love you. And I see this data as an opportunity for you to lead your generation. You have an opportunity to be an example to your peers when it comes to the practice of reading God’s Word and living by his wisdom.
God answers us in his Word and in prayer.
But I want to take this a step further — because we need to push back against our individualistic view of the Christian faith. How many of us make decisions without ever asking a fellow Christian, “What do you think God would say is the wise thing to do here?” I bring this up — because often — for those of us who do read our Bible and pray about our decisions — God’s leading often ends up being the choice we wanted to make anyway.
You know. I know it. And God knows it.
Whether it’s a relationship decision, a business decision, a church decision, and so on. And we know if we clothe our decision with “God’s leading me” or some other spiritual sounding statement — we know that no one can question our decision. Even if it’s just a “what works” decision or a decision that’s nothing more than selfish ambition on our part.
I mean who does God think he is that he can use someone else to tell me what to do? Or have someone point out a verse in Scripture that should cause me to pause in the decision I’m about to make. Or have the preacher say something that — even though he has no idea of what choice I’m thinking about making — well that preacher said something in his sermon that’s clearly a direct warning to me to stop in my tracks.
Will we be people who desire biblical wisdom — wisdom whose primary purpose is to make our God look glorious in all of our decisions — and not just be people who make decisions that work? If so, then we must ask God for wisdom — knowing that he’s generous and has given us the Bible, prayer, sermons, our fellow Christians, and much more to give us his wisdom.
Which leads to our final thought for today — receiving God’s wisdom. We’re in verse six. There James writes…
James 1:6–8 ESV
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The way we receive God’s wisdom is by asking him in faith — with no doubting. James then goes on to describe what he means by using the illustration of waves of the seas being tossed around by the wind — an illustration we looked at last week. But — now — James goes on to call the person who doubts a double-minded individual who’s unstable. And this tells us something very important about what James means when he says we must ask in faith without doubting: He’s describing our posture towards God.
And — when we remember our two definitions of wisdom — one based on “what works” — the other based on “what honors God” — this shows us that James is definitely meaning the second definition of wisdom.
The apostle Paul says something similar to the Christians in Ephesus in a passage we looked at last week as well. Though he doesn’t specifically use the word wisdom — notice the similar illustration he uses to describe why we — together as a church — need to mature in faith. He writes…
Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Here Paul warns about doctrinal instability causing us — as a church — to be tossed around by the deceitfulness of false teachers and their lies that lead us away from faith in Christ. James is warning about the personal instability that comes from this kind of doctrinal instability.
And this all becomes clear when we understand that the word ‘doubt’ — in verse six — doesn’t mean a moment of uncertainty — but rather having a divided mind or being double-minded. The word means to have a discrimination against God — where our default setting is to take God out of the picture when it comes to our decision making and what we think is the wise thing to do. Whereas faith — and this will not surprise you — means to have a commitment to God — a wholehearted commitment, in fact. Where you keep God — not just in the picture — but in the center of your life — where your desire is for your decisions to honor him.
Or — to say it another way — it means to…
Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on — or trust only in — your own understanding — even if it’s “what works.” Thus — to receive God’s wisdom — requires a humble and teachable spirit. Humble — because — we recognize our limitations in what we know and understand. Teachable — because — even what we do know and understand will need some correction. And then you can add to that — how all of us have a lot of unlearning we need to do as well — especially when it comes to believing that the wisdom of “what works” is what matters most.
But — ultimately — the key to receiving God’s wisdom — is to know the One who is the Wisdom of God — which is where we turn to as we end our time together.
For quite a few years — we did a series here at Gateway that was called Finding Jesus. In that series I preached one sermon on every book in the Old Testament. For the sermon on the book of Proverbs — which is part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament — and a book I’ve quoted quite a bit from today — I helped us find Jesus by looking at verses from Proverbs chapter eight. Specifically these words that wisdom speaks…
Proverbs 8:35–36 ESV
35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, 36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”
Throughout Proverbs chapter eight — wisdom is personified as if it — wisdom — is a person. And there’s a reason for this — the wisdom of God is a person. The apostle Paul tells us so.
1 Corinthians 1:24 NLT
24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Jesus is the wisdom of God.
And wisdom — whether in Proverbs chapter eight or in James chapter one — or in all of Scripture, for that matter — wisdom is pointing us to Jesus. In fact, true wisdom will always point you to Jesus because Jesus is true wisdom. And all who find Jesus — who believe that he is who he says he is and has done what he says he’s done — all who find Jesus find life and favor from the Lord. And all who fail to find him — all who reject him instead of believing in him — whether they realize it or not — love death. For eternal death — separation from the wisdom of God for all eternity — is what’s in store for them.
You see, in obedience to his Father’s will — and in love for you — Jesus went to the cross. He did so accomplishing the wisest plan ever made — the salvation of the people of God. And — in finding Jesus — the wisdom of God tells us that we must take the step of repentance. For — as one person has said, “The most basic act of wisdom is repentance.”
What is repentance? Repentance is turning from the direction you’re headed in and turning to the Wisdom of God — Jesus Christ. It’s the “turning away from evil” that we saw in the passage from Job. We repent — and turn away from evil — as we turn to Jesus in faith. And faith is more than just knowing that Jesus lived, or knowing that he was crucified, or knowing that he rose from the grave — faith means you act on the knowledge of his life, death, and resurrection. That you live accordingly — in response to now realizing that he — Jesus — is God in flesh.
For — as Paul — just before telling us that Christ is the wisdom of God — writes…
1 Corinthians 1:18–24 NLT
18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” 20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Jesus is the wisdom of God. And the message of what he accomplished on the cross is foolishness to the world. And — though the world may find it foolish — it’s the news all people need to hear. For it’s the news that must be received in order to be saved. It’s not a message that makes the most sense — it’s not the obvious “what works” — yet Jesus and his cross is the wisest plan ever to have been made. And — not only that — it’s the wisest plan ever to be accomplished. And — not only that — it’s the most loving act in all of history.
So — now — having heard of God’s wise plan — let me ask you: What’s the wise thing to do in response to the news about Jesus that you’ve just heard? Let’s pray.
Father, we begin by being struck in awe with who you are: wise, good, kind, righteous, holy, all-knowing, all-powerful, just, wrathful, the God who saves, and the one who is in control of all things. You are awesome.
Holy Spirit, help us to fight against the lure of “what works” wisdom — and instead — commit ourselves to “what honors God” wisdom. And help us to search our hearts and desires — especially in those decisions of life where we’re prone to deceiving others and ourselves into thinking our desire is to honor God when — in reality — we’re selfishly doing nothing more than “what works.”
Jesus — to you the Wisdom of God — as we turn ourselves to you — we turn ourselves from our sinful ways. We thank you for loving us. Thank you for your commitment to us. Thank you for showing us what it means to be wise. And may we honor you as we follow in your footsteps. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.
May you go asking God for the wisdom you need. And may you remember that he is always generous in giving his wisdom to those who ask. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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