The Way To Get Wisdom | James 1:5-8
I was watching “Paw Patrol” with my grandchildren. For those of you unfamiliar, the “paw patrol” is an animated cartoon series that features a group of rescue dogs. They are a “pack of pups” – named Chase, Everest, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Liberty, Marshall, and Skye. They are “little heroes doing big things.” The aim of the Paw Patrol is to teach kids about problem solving and teamwork. So, episodes include – “Everest rescues Alex and Mr. Porter from the snowstorm”; “Paw Patrol saves the dinosaurs.” “Rubble saves the kingdom of Barkingburg from a sleep spell.” And their motto is “No job is too big, and no pup is too small.”
As I’m watching the episode entitled, “Pups help the fish get over the beaver dam,” I find myself thinking that, on account of the Paw Patrol, the citizens of Barkingburg kingdom can count it all joy, when they meet trials of various kinds. And that’s because, if anyone in Barkingburg kingdom requires help, needs to be rescued, or lacks wisdom, let them call the Paw Patrol, and it will be given.
What do we need when we meet trials of various kinds? What do we need so that, whatever our circumstances, we might be “lacking in nothing?” Now, this may be disappointing to some here, but we are NOT going to turn to the Paw Patrol. We are going to turn to the Bible, to the Word of God. And our text is James 1:1-8.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion: Greetings.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
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. For that person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
—James 1:1-8
Like the citizens of Barkingburg kingdom, we meet trials of various kinds. And when we meet trials, we react to those trials. And the way we react to the trials that we meet reveals something to us about us. Our reaction to the trials we meet reveals what we are trusting. Therefore trials, according to James 1:3, are a test. Trials are a test that reveal what our hearts are trusting in, or relying upon, for joy, and peace, and for a quality of life where we are lacking in nothing.
Now, one reason the letter of James is so useful is that the author is not merely dealing in the realms of the hypothetical. James captures our attention, because he addresses the very trials we face each and every day. This letter is where the proverbial “rubber meets the road.” When James writes, “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds,” he is addressing us. There are friends sitting in this room who are meeting financial trials. “How are we going to pay our bills?” There are friends in this room meeting vocational trials. They’re unemployed, under-employed, mis-employed – working dead-end jobs they’re only doing because they need a pay-check. There are friends in this room who are face to face with relational trials where they meet daily, with angry, slanderous, passive-aggressive, or un-bridled verbal aggressions. There are friends sitting next to you confronted daily with physical trials – and I’m not just referring to the cold and flu season, which certainly does test the joy of our faith. I’m talking about chronic illness – pain, brain-fog, infertility, heart disease, degenerative osteo-arthritis. And compounded with those trials, are emotional trials. There are friends here, who meet up daily with sadness, unspeakable grief, bitterness, and anxiety, jealously and dissatisfaction. And then there are spiritual trials. Overwhelming temptations, and consequences of moral compromise, and spiritual backsliding, and shallow, or false conversions. It’s all here. James throws it all down. And with all due love and affection for the children in this room, the powers of the Paw Patrol are of no help.
So, what do God’s people need to produce godly virtue – that is, joy, and peace, and soul-satisfaction - in the face of unwanted, unplanned for, and unbearable trials? James’ answer? Wisdom. Wisdom from God. That’s because, Wisdom is a Gift from God for the Joy of the People of God in Every Circumstance.
Now, the purpose of my outline is to draw your attention to 1) the nature of wisdom – that is, the kind of wisdom James is talking about – 2) the assurance of wisdom, and 3) our access to such wisdom. Wisdom and its nature. Wisdom and its assurance. Wisdom and its access. 1st, what is it?
The Nature of Wisdom
And more specifically, what is the nature/substance of wisdom according to James? If we slow down, and read this letter carefully, and in its entirety, a profound definition emerges. First, James tells us that wisdom is a gift from God. James 1:5,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God . . . and it will be given him.
—James 1:5
James 1:17 says,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.
—James 1:17
So, the wisdom that James has in mind is more, much more than the wisdom of the world, wisdom gained through age and experience, wisdom discovered through the academic study of the great minds and intellectuals. The wisdom James is talking about is from above – coming from God Himself.
And further, this wisdom that proceeds from above, as a gift from God to God’s people, functions. It gets things done. It produces certain virtues. According to James 3:17,
The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
—James 3:17
Wisdom, according to James, functions in a Christian’s life, by generating fruits – divine fruits that become evident in the face of trials. This wisdom produces virtues that stand up under fire. This kind of wisdom has nothing to do our own nature, or nurture. It is something we are incapable of in and of ourselves apart from the active presence and power of God. This wisdom – wisdom that produces joy and peace and soul-satisfaction in the face of soul-crushing trials is the result of a heart made new. This is important. This wisdom has its source, it draws its life and effect from union with God through Christ.
Notice how James identifies himself in chap. 1:1.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
—James 1:1a
James does not see himself as a free agent. He sees himself as a servant. He belongs to another. He draws his sense of identity from His relationship with God. He is God’s servant. He is not his own master. He is, to use the other translation of this word, God’s slave.
That word, slave, is so unsettling and provocative to people in our day and age. There is such a strong aversion to the notion of slavery that our impulse is to bristle and recoil. The world-view of a servant or a slave simply does not resonate with our spirit of rugged individualism, and our cultural virtues of self-reliance, and self-sufficiency. The notion of being owned by another is simply inconceivable. But James doesn’t pull back at all. That’s because, for James, belonging to God is the greatest gift in all the world. “I belong to God. He has made me His own. I am entirely His.”
There’s no compartmentalizing of his relationship with God. James is not part-time Christian. James is not a Christian with silos – some that he gives God access to, and others that are just for him. That’s just not the way it is for slaves. The framework James is operating from is that God owns him. God is over him. God is James’ master. God is James’ sovereign king. And God’s sovereignty over James extends to everything. Which is inferred in the very next phrase. James 1:1b,
To the twelve tribes in the dispersion.
—James 1:1b
How did those twelve tribes get dispersed? How did those Jewish believers get scattered? What is the ultimate cause? Listen. There is no Jew with any familiarity with their history, who would understand their experience of dispersion as anything other than God’s doing. Can the same be said for us? Speaking to Gentiles, the apostle Paul said, in Acts 17:24,
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth . . . he determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place . . . in Him we live and move and have our being.
—Acts 17:24, 26, 28
The ultimate cause of our living now in the 21st century, as opposed to any other century is God. The ultimate cause of our living in Sioux Falls, SD, versus Sudan or Sumatra, is God. And James gets this because James is wise. He writes in James 4:14,
What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes . . . you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
—James 4:14-15
So, who is Lord over your vocation and your location? Who is Lord over your body, mind, and soul? How do you perceive it? What is the framework from which you draw your functional identity? Who is it that holds your life, and your doing, and your being, AND the trials that you meet? It’s significant because according to James, the wisdom that produces the kind of joy and peace and soul-satisfaction, that is “lacking in nothing” – that wisdom rises from union with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s where it all begins. 2nd,
The Assurance of Wisdom
For James, there is unwavering assurance that God will supply all he needs to meet every circumstance. And this assurance rises, on the one hand, from his confidence that he belongs to God. It rises on the other hand because of who God is. And there is a logical connection between the two. James belongs to God. And who is this God to whom James belongs? What’s He like? Look again at 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 1:5
James sets forth God’s character with a three-fold emphasis. The God James is joined to is the God who gives. According to the Greek grammar, He is the “giving God.”
Then James adds a second phrase. God gives generously to all. That word “generously” may also be translated “sincerity” or “single-hearted-ness.” In other words, God gives, not just generously. He gives genuinely. God gives not only with an open hand, but with a full heart. He does not hold back. There is no other like this God, who is so ready and so eager to add new blessings to former blessings without any end or limitation.
And then James adds yet another phrase. God gives “without reproach.” And in this context, that means God does not give according to our worthiness, or because we deserve it, or because we’ve fulfilled our end of the contract. God gives, because we belong to him. And we belong to him by grace alone, through faith alone, in all that has been done to remove our guilt and sin and brokenness by Christ alone. We belong to God because God, through Christ, has made us His own. 1 Cor. 1:30 says,
Because of Him (God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
—1 Corinthians 1:30
And such is the assurance of the people of God. Together with James, we can say, “I have access to all I need in any circumstance, and any trial I meet, because I belong to God, through Christ. I belong to God through Christ, who died a bloody death on a cross at Calvary for me. I was bought with the price of His own blood. Through Christ, God has made me His own. My life is in His hands. I am His servant. I am His slave. All I have, and all I need, and all I want, including wisdom, is because of Him. And all He is, including wisdom, is mine.” 3rd –
Our Access to Wisdom
Having described the “willing father”, as one commentator puts it, James turns to the other side of the transaction, “the waiting child.” Again, v. 5,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God . . . and it will be given him. But let him ask . . .
—James 1:5, 6
Let him ask. Notice James doesn’t say, “But if he asks . . .” No. He says, “But let him ask.” By his death, Jesus bought the right for every Christian to have instant and constant access to the heart of God and to his throne of Grace. Heb. 4:14,
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession . . . Let us then draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
—Hebrews 4:16, 18
The way to wisdom is open. The devil cannot prevent God answering our request for wisdom, that is the wisdom to respond rightly to the trials we meet. So, instead, the devil does all he can to prevent us asking and he often does so by misusing the truth that we are not worthy to ask. If we were only entitled to access to God and His wisdom when we were worthy to do so, when we could bring to God a standard of obedience and holiness that entitled us to receive the wisdom we asked for, we’d never be able to ask. And the devil knows this full well, and all too often he drags us into thinking along these lines: “Oh what’s the use of praying? I’m such a hypocrite. I’ve drifted so far from God. How can I ask the Lord for anything? Shoot. The reason I’m running into so many trials is more than likely because God is so offended by me.”
I’m not the type who is persuaded there’s a demon under every bush. But I can tell you, that kind of thinking is nothing less than the devil’s device. And he is working you, big time. But here’s the point. Prayer must happen.
Prayer Must Be a Fact
God has promised access to the wisdom we need to meet every trial, but only IF we ask. Just think of it. There is actual wisdom from God to discern the next right thing to do, when I meet that financial trial, or that vocational trial, or that relational trial, or that physical trial, or that emotional trial, or that spiritual trial. What’s the next right thing to do? Ask God. And because you belong to God, you will receive nothing less than what you need to do what He has called you to do. You will lack nothing that you need to know peace and soul-satisfaction in every circumstance. But you must ask. Prayer must be a fact. And -
Prayer Must Be In Faith
James 1:6-8 present a challenge. In v. 5 James says God gives generously to all without reproach. But in vv. 6-8 we read,
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. For that person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
—James 1:6-8
What happened to God’s generosity to ALL? That sure sounds discriminating. It sounds like reproach. Ask with NO doubting? Is that even possible? Is it possible to be doubt-free? And what does James mean by “double-minded?”
Listen carefully. God’s reproach is NOT for weak faith. If your faith is weak, God does not charge you with double-minded-ness. If your faith is weak, God does NOT condemn you. If your faith is weak, God invites you to ask Him for help. Ask Him for wisdom. Ask Him for sustaining grace. If you don’t feel like asking, then ask Him to help you to ask Him anyway. If you don’t care that you don’t feel like asking, then ask Him to cause you to care that you don’t care. If all there is, is a mustard seed of faith, it pleases God that you would turn to Him and ask Him for help in your day, or your month, or your season of trouble – or compounded trouble.
Here’s what “double-minded” means. In the context of James 1, “Double-minded” means you have not yet resolved the issue of your ownership. In other words, the double-minded man is the one who serves himself. He is his own master. He is his own Lord. He is ruled by his own desires, and his one ambition is for himself.
It should be obvious, if the wisdom we need to meet trials is only accessible from God through Christ, then this same wisdom is something an unconverted, unregenerate person never has.
And when such a double-minded person meets trials of various kinds, trials he/she discovers that he/she does not possess the wisdom to control, or fix, or figure out, or make go away – well then, he/she is like a wave – a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
My friends, are you a wave? Are you a wave, or are you a slave – purchased, owned, led, and governed - belonging to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Perhaps you are a wave. But there is still grace offered to you. Repent of your self-reliance and attempts at self-salvation. And turn to God through Christ, and ask him to save you, to forgive you of your sins. Entrust yourself to this promise,
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
—Acts 2:21
And perhaps you are fearful, right now, that you might be a “wave.” “What if I’m a wave?” Then turn to God through Christ, and ask Him to assure you. Trust Him. Trust his promises – promises like James 1:5
Ask God . . . and it will be given.
—James 1:5
Or Matthew 7:7,
Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
—Matthew 7:7
James probes our hearts. Do we even recognize our lack of wisdom? Are living in reliance upon our own wits? Are we willing to submit to God’s purposes for our lives? Do we pray? Is our faith grounded in the promises that God has made?
Whatever the trial we meet today, under God, and through Christ, we confess: “I am not my own, but belong—body and soul in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Our hope springs eternal. Now, and ever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death.” Let’s pray.