I have a wooden banker’s swivel chair in my bedroom. It is a miserable chair; uncomfortable to sit in, slow rolling on the carpet and constantly in my way. But it matches my desk so we grudgingly allow it to exist. I use this chair in the mornings as I put my socks on. My wonderful, comfy socks are great, but they fit really tightly, so it helps to put my foot up on something in order to help myself pull my comfy socks on properly. But do you know what I’ve discovered? A swivel chair is a lousy foot prop! If I don’t put my foot perfectly in the center of the chair, it will swivel to one side or the other and I lose my balance. I lost my balance so badly the other day; I thought I sprained my hip. Now a smarter, wiser man would find a better sock prop, but not me – no sir! This is personal now. My fight with the swivel chair is an official part of my middle-aged, get your boring clothes on, early morning routine. This is Ninja preparation; how will I ever become Jedi master if I can’t master the sock thing? I’m getting pretty good lefty, but the right sock is a perennial problem…so add me to your prayer list.I really need some wisdom here, don’t I?
Open your Bibles to the first few verses of the book of James. For the next few weeks, I want to spend some time with the great James the Just, the wise half brother of Jesus. History tells us the author of this letter used to jokingly be called “Camel Knees” by the early church because of the amount of time he spent on his knees in prayer. Most scholars also believe this brief letter might well have been the very first book of the New Testament written. If we were to analyze it closely, we would see it is sort of a basic, practical expansion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. For the next few weeks, I want to walk through this letter. I believe there is some very real, practical stuff here to think about; today’s passage pertains to wisdom. Where can all of us find a foothold of wisdom that’s not going to swivel around on us?
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 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. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because those who doubt are like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. People like that should not think they will receive anything from the Lord; they are double-minded, unstable in all they do.
There are six truths packed tightly into these six verses I believe we would be wise to notice. Each of these wise bits is itself a category of truth worthy of deeper exploration. But we’re just going to fly through them in order to hopefully whet our whistles for deeper study on our own later. Are you ready? Let’s go…what truths must we notice here about wisdom?
The Cradle of Wisdom
Notice, first of all, the fuller context in which this wisdom conversation takes place. James was talking about trials and perseverance when faith is tested. And then he jumped very abruptly into this important discussion of wisdom. I believe he made this abrupt jump because he wanted us to understand trial and testing is often the cradle of wisdom. God frequently allows us to go through trials in which our faith is tested so that, as we cry out to Him for help, we will gain wisdom from God. Trials are quite often the cradle in which wisdom is born. And please, please, please don’t forget James does not tell us to consider it joy “if” we experience trials and testing of our faith. James says “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever” we experience trial and testing. It is not a question of “if,” but “when.” We will go through difficult things. Our faith will be sorely and frequently tested. We can either become embittered by all the hard stuff or we can gain wisdom through it all. Difficulty is often the cradle of wisdom.
The Definition of Wisdom
The second truth I believe we need to notice relates to wisdom itself. We not only need to understand trials as a possible cradle of wisdom, we also must have a clear definition of the wisdom we seek. We must notice James is not talking here about people who recognize they lack in knowledge, but people lacking wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom are not necessarily the same thing. Any idiot with a library card can gain knowledge or accumulate data. But raw data isn’t what we need. We’re looking for the ability to use knowledge. We want to know the right thing to do with information. We want to know what God wants us to do. We seek wisdom.
The Necessity of Wisdom
The third truth is enormous. We understand trials and the testing of our faith are often the cradle of wisdom. We seek wisdom, not just knowledge. But thirdly, foundationally, we must understand our constant need of wisdom. The simple, underlying assumption of this entire passage is that eventually we will realize our dire need of wisdom. We need wisdom.
We all know there is no more annoying, difficult person in the world to work with than someone who already thinks they know everything and no more pleasurable person to work with than someone hungry to learn and gain wisdom. I believe this is what the Apostle Paul was hinting at when made his great declaration that he “resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified.” All the knowledge I used to count valuable I now see as nothing but a swivel chair compared to the wisdom I’m beginning to discover in Christ. I need wisdom.
The Source of Wisdom
And that brings us to the fourth, absolutely foundational truth of this wisdom passage. Where do we go for the wisdom we need? James says: “If any of you lack wisdom, ask God!”
Don’t go running to an opinion poll to see what the American people think! Don’t glue your heart and soul to some absurdly simplistic daytime television talk show! Don’t waste your time “googling” the internet to discover what the scholar, scientist, politician, pundit or even the famous megapastor of the minute have to say about your issues! We very well might be able to get lots of great, relevant knowledge, data or information from any or all of those sources, but if you’re looking for wisdom, if you’re looking for a way to put this mess together in some overcoming and wise way, there is one first place to go. If any of you lack wisdom, ask God!
Some of us are trying to make it through this confusing city without a map. Some of us are trying to find our way through Minneapolis using a road map of Chicago. Some of us are trying to find our way through the streets of 2009 with a torn and dirty road map from 1959.
Malcolm Muggeridge once joked that Mother Teresa never read the newspaper, never listened to the radio and never, ever watched television, so she always had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the world. There are many excellent sources of knowledge and data available to us in this world, there is lots of good information we would be wise to pay attention to, but if we really want to know what is going on in the world, there is only one best source of wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, ask God! Pray! Listen to Him! Read and study your Bible! Submit and obey Him! Seek wise counsel from those who have already sought and found wise counsel from God. Drink deeply from the Living Water! If any of us lack wisdom, ask God! Ask God!
The Promise of Wisdom
The fifth truth of this passage is the glorious, genuinely mind-blowing centerpiece of the whole message. Look carefully again at verse five: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” Am I truly reading that right? Is old Camel Knees honestly saying a prayer for wisdom is a prayer God will always say “yes” to? And not only say “yes,” but say “yes” generously? Yes, yes, yes!
He will give us wisdom overflowing into even greater wisdom. He will start a wisdom waterfall going in our lives! He will give us wisdom without even finding fault or laughing at our stupidity! Regardless of who we are, regardless of what we are, regardless of where we’ve been or what we’ve done, when we sincerely ask God for wisdom, He will give all of us, without exception or qualification, the wisdom we need! To all! It will be given! Make no mistake, we may not receive the knowledge, data or intellectual answers to the questions we think must be answered, but we will always receive the wisdom we need to overcome the trial and testing in which we find ourselves. We will receive the wisdom we need to overcome as we must.
Has the scope of this promise ever fully struck you? Isn’t this thrilling stuff when we really think about it? Doesn’t this just fill your spiritual lungs with pure oxygen? God promises to give us wisdom. Meditate on that. God will say yes to our prayers for wisdom. Wow!
The Faith of Wisdom
But if that is true, pastor, then why are so many Christians such ignorant, unwise fools?
This is where the sixth and final point comes into things. James says that the only way any of us will ever receive the wisdom God always wants to give us is to single-mindedly trust God wants to give it to us. “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because those who doubt are like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. People like that should not think they will receive anything from the Lord; they are double-minded, unstable in all they do.” We must faithfully see our trials as opportunities to gain wisdom. We must faithfully and fully understand what wisdom is and our need of it. We must faithfully trust God alone as the ultimate source of all wisdom and that He does want us wise. And unless and until we single-mindedly, faithfully believe all these things, we will never fully receive God’s wisdom. Until we single-mindedly believe these divine things without doubting, we will be tossed about on the foolish oceans of this world, flailing away desperately for some sort of flotation device just like everybody else. We will continue trying to prop ourselves up on the silly swivel chairs of this world’s best attempts at wisdom. James says we will be double-minded; which in the original Greek, actually means “two-souled” or “two-headed.” The Greek word is “dipsuchos,” but let’s just abbreviate it to “dip,” okay? James says, “Folks, don’t be a faithless dip!” Almighty God absolutely wants to give you wisdom! Trust Him! Allow Him to lead you through the process through which all wisdom is gained! Have faith in His wisdom and your ability to receive it!
Have you ever been lost in traffic with a bunch of loud, pushy people in the car all trying to give you different directions at the same time? How well does that work for you? Isn’t that exactly the problem we’re facing in the world today? Ultimately, we just don’t trust God’s desire to give us wisdom, so we double-mindedly submit ourselves to any screaming, self-important person climbing into the car! We don’t faithfully trust God’s genuine desire to give us wisdom and so we weave and swivel through the rollercoaster, just as ignorant and lost as all others.
Until we single-mindedly trust Almighty God as the loving giver of all wisdom, until we allow Him to help us filter through all the competing voices, until we kick some noisy fools out of our car or at least figure out how to politely ignore them, we will never wisely get where we were created to go. We will never receive the wisdom God intends for us.
As most of you know, I’ve begun doctoral studies at Bethel Seminary this month. I’ve blasted my way through several fat books in the last few weeks and have a whole bunch more to go over the next four years. I am swimming into a much deeper end of the knowledge pool looking for wisdom. But big words, fancy titles and fat books don’t guarantee wisdom, do they? While I thoroughly enjoy the academic world, there are a lot of swivel chairs in academia too.
Folks, swivel chairs anywhere are lousy sock props! Even the fancy ones…
Do you honestly believe me when I tell you your Father loves you? Do you believe me when I tell you your Heavenly Father genuinely wants you to be wise in all you do, even when you don’t have all the answers to the questions? Take all this stuff for a test drive this week. Ask God to help you wade through whatever wisdom gaps you’re dealing with right now. Ask your Heavenly Father to help you filter through all the voices yelling directions at you. Ask God to help you turn all the knowledge and data you’re swimming in into wisdom.
Don’t keep playing swivel chair games. Sooner or later, you’re gonna sprain a hip!
May God help us trust Him for the wisdom we need each day!
Amen.
