Godly Knowledge Applied - James 3:13-18

A message by Tyler Sanborn on James 3:13-18.

South Valley Student Ministry is a ministry of Compass Bible Church South Valley located in Kuna, ID. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, please visit compassbiblesv.org.

Transcript

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Now, how how many of you have seen the movie Pocahontas? I see some nods in the back row. Respect. Respect. Pocahontas. There's this guy named John Smith, this pioneer guy of sorts, this leader figure, this explorer figure. He's a captain. He is a leader of sorts that is going to help some Englishmen, hopefully, discover gold in the New World. Some precious resources were promised. There's some rumors and some rumblings. This is a real person in real time, not just a Disney movie. John Smith was given a task to go and secure precious resources. He was looking for gold. He sailed from England across the Atlantic, and he he comes to the Potomac River that divides Virginia and Maryland, and he's going up in hopes of finding gold. Now he he finds it. He finds this glimmery, glittering, sparkling material, and it's in this heavy, rich, dark clay. It's everywhere. He's finding so much of it that he's overwhelmed by it. And his his ship is seven miles away at a port, and he and his crew are hauling away close to 1,100 tons of this clay that contains this glittering golden material. Now, if you see trucks driving around, I did some like 1,100 tons, that's like a big number. I get that's a lot of weight, but just put it in this term. A pickup truck weighs about 5,000 pounds. And if you put that into pickup truck terms, I'm not talking about dually. Some of you are like, well, is it a dually? No, it's not a dually, just a normal pickup truck. 440 Ford F-150s that weigh about 5,000 pounds. 450 of these trucks. That's how much material he's bringing back to England that has this golden material in it. There's only one problem. There's only one problem. It's not gold. Spoiler alert, it's not gold if you're watching Pocahontas. Sorry. I've spoiled it for you. It's iron pyrite. It's not gold. It's fool's gold. He's bringing all these riches back to England. He's like, sweet. Royalty's gonna be proud of me. I'm gonna get some more contracts. I'm gonna go back. It's gonna be a great adventure. I'm gonna get rich. No, it's fool's gold. And at the time, the discovery of this product, this material that's found in the earth, had no value. It's not really used for anything. It's used today, but back then it was useless, pointless. It had no value at all. And uh our our text today is gonna challenge us, not necessarily with worldly material treasure and riches like gold or fool's gold, but we're gonna be comparing uh real wisdom, genuine wisdom that comes from God's word, or a fake or false wisdom that is found elsewhere, found in the world, found in the knowledge of mankind. And our challenge today, our challenge today, like John Smith, we we got to be careful because it's easy to be fooled by worldly wisdom. It's easy to be thinking, this is the real deal, this is the real thing, this is gonna take me a long ways. And and ultimately, we're gonna be, if we've if we invest in earthly wisdom, worldly wisdom, we're gonna be, we're gonna be the fool. We don't want to be left playing the fool, acting the fool, or being foolish, pursuing this glimmering wisdom, the substitute that the world would try to convince you is the real deal, is actually treasure, is actually gold. To avoid this kind of wisdom that leads to to vile or evil practices, we need to look to James chapter 3 to see the pure wisdom, to see the real gold, the real treasure that comes from God's word, and only God can provide it. Take a look with me as we we look at these six verses that wrap up James chapter three, starting at verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. It's important to understand in this life. For you students, understanding things is a matter of passing or failing. It's a matter of advancing to the next grade or not. It's a matter of obeying your parents in the directions that they give you or disobedience. If you're understanding the wrong directions, if you're understanding something incorrectly, you're gonna get yourself to a destination that you don't want to be in. You know, this this meekness, this understanding that we're gonna look at here, it's important, but but who can put it into practice? The person that can put it into practice is is the person who knows it well, the person who is experienced. We get this idea of a person of understanding is someone that has a rich, in-depth knowledge of the inner workings, and and from that deeper knowledge, they can apply it. They can use this understanding and use it with precision and effectiveness. The work that you put in has a great and positive outcome when you are someone who understands. You might have a lot of knowledge, but if you don't have understanding, you'd be lacking wisdom. You might you might be thinking of of uh professions or people who exercise this. You're like, well, what does this look like, Tyler? How does this understanding or this wisdom, what does it look like? Well, someone who has a a knowledge about music, you might, you might know what a luthier is. Raise your hand if you know what a luthier is. It's it's someone who makes guitars. If you have a deep understanding, a rich understanding, a knowledge, a wisdom about how to use materials in a certain way to build a musical instrument, the outcome is going to be a very pleasantly sounding instrument. When you strum the strings and you have your hands in the right positions, they're going to play beautiful sounds when tuned properly. Now, structural engineers, I think you're like, well, one day I want to get a job that pays a lot of money. You want you want to be someone who has a lot of responsibility. If you're a structural engineer, you might be building and designing buildings that we're we're standing in, sitting in today. You might be looking around and saying, Man, I'm so thankful for people that have a working knowledge of how weight uh is properly bearing in a building, how materials interact in and marry with this working knowledge of structural design and they make homes that we live in. I'm really glad that when it snows, my roof doesn't cave in. There was someone that figured out the right geometry of roofs at one point in time using using Douglas fir and uh plywood and a wide variety of other materials to make sure that when I go to bed at night, I know that the roof isn't gonna fall in on me. Um we need we need people in our lives, in this world practically speaking, that have an understanding. Uh you might not be thinking about this right now, but the the vehicles that you drove in to get here, many, many people had an in-depth knowledge and understanding about how a combustion engine works. I'm so glad. I'm so thankful for engines. I I don't mind walking, but imagine if you had to walk everywhere. Or better yet, maybe if you you had a horse. I don't have to ride a horse everywhere. I could just sit in a comfortable seat. You might be like, actually, Tyler, I do prefer horses. I see good angle. I like that. You might be thinking, actually, horses are superior, Tyler. Okay, maybe. But not for a long time. You're not gonna you're not gonna cruise from here to San Diego on a horse and be like, yeah, that's my preferred method. Um he's like, Yeah, I still disagree with you. I can't win. I can't win. Umone who is wise. James is saying, who is wise among you? Who has who has wisdom? Who has knowledge? Who has understanding? I'm so thankful for people that have an understanding and a knowledge of the human body. When people get sick, when people need to go to the hospital, people have a precise understanding. God has given us an understanding of the way the body works. James is asking you, are you wise? Who is wise? Who has understanding among you? And he's gonna answer. He's gonna answer this. This is how he defines it. By good conduct, by his good conduct, let this wise person, let this person of understanding, show his works in the meekness of wisdom. The meekness or the gentleness of wisdom. Now, if you if you know, if you have a good understanding of something and and someone is is speaking in a way that clearly shows that they don't understand, they don't have an understanding of things work of working the way that they should. Um if you're going, if you're talking to someone and they they have a they claim to have an understanding about about how to keep a lawn green, and they're telling you, go go into your laundry room and get the bleach. Get the bleach out of the top shelf and go out and just start pouring it on your lawn. Your lawn's gonna love it. It's gonna thrive, it's gonna be so green. No, don't listen to them. No. If they're trying to argue with you, they're debating you. No, Tyler, this is how you make your lawn green. Pour the bleach out there, get the vinegar, pour it out there, get it out, get it all, let it, let it soak in. Let it soak in. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good for you. No, the person, the person who uh is is meek, this person with good conduct is gonna show his works in meekness and quietness and gentleness. A person that knows that they're right is not gonna be quarrelsome, they're not gonna be debating what every every other person is wrong. There's gentleness and and a meekness is the opposite of arrogance. It's it's open to learning, it's open to being taught, it's open to being instructed. And for students, for you today, in this season of your life, you're receiving a lot of that. It's like always on the conveyor belt. It's always coming at you. Always, always, always, all the time. There's always opportunities for you to learn. And you know, I want to challenge you this evening. Are you gonna have a posture of like, I know mom, I know dad, I know. Unteachable, not easily corrected. This, this is, these are things that would show that you have an arrogance or a pride about you. You're not easily coached, you're not easily taught. Um, we we want to be people that are are thinking lowly of ourselves and thinking highly uh of other people. This is this is the meekness of wisdom. And and this is this is a person who is who is wise, who is understanding. It's better for you to say, like, I don't know, can you tell me than to pretend like you do know and make things up. Have you ever been there? If someone asks you, like, hey, do you know how to do that? You're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I know how to do that. In your mind, you're like, I probably could figure it out. It's like not that hard, right? Yeah, just just say that you don't know. Just say that you don't know. It's okay. It's okay. You're not you're not gonna be looking like a fool if you say, I don't know. I don't know, I don't know how to ride equestrian. You might have a certain experience on a horse, might be might be riding western, and someone's like, hey, have you have you ever tried you know, equestrian? Have you ever like side saddle? You ever sit like this way? You're like, maybe. I can figure figure it out. Yeah. Yeah, maybe you have a lot of experience with uh with piano and someone asks you, hey, can you play like the accordion? And you're like, well, it's kind of like kind of like the same idea. Like, yeah, I can figure it out. No, just just admit, when you don't know something, you're not sure about something, don't act as if you do know it. It's gonna, it's gonna make you look foolish down the road. It's gonna, you're gonna be exposed ultimately. Be a person who is who is humble, be a person who is meek, who is coachable, who is gentle in spirit when when interacting with other people, and uh, and just resist the urge to to think that you have it all under control. You have it all going on, you have all the answers, and no one, no one can teach you anything. In Job chapter 9, verses 2 2 to 4, um, we're gonna go through a handful of references, so just be be ready to jot these down. Uh Job chapter 9, 2 through 4 says, Truly, I know that it is so, but how can a man be right? How can a man be in the rights before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself against him and succeed. Who who are we in front of God? You might feel like you have an upper hand over your sibling, over people in your class. You might be kind of comparing yourself, like, yeah, I kind of I'm a little bit sharper than them. I might have it, I might have some better understanding, some depth of knowledge when I'm communicating with them. Most of the time they don't really know what I'm talking about. Um when we compare our understanding, our intellect, our wisdom, our knowledge, our mind compared to God, we can't contend. We can't complete, we're not even the same picture, we're not even the same conversation. No, we we we know so little compared to God, and that should that should humble us. That should give us a gentle spirit. That should, with that fact in our mind, we should know that uh we we don't have to know everything. We don't have to be a person who's proud that thinks and has this image of, I got it going on, I know, no one can teach me anything. It's a it's an arrogant heart that's opposed to God. Psalm 104 and verse 24 says this, O Lord, how manifold are your works, or how many, how, how, how great a variety of the works that you show. In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. We look to creation, we look to the Genesis account, we look to our world, we look to the night sky, and we see the brilliance and the intellect and the wisdom of God. How manifold are your works, how how great, and how many are the things that you do. Now we mess up just the most simple things. Uh, if you were in the service uh this morning, uh you heard a story about my battle with a desk and instructions. We mess up simple things, basic instructions. Attach this, attach A to B and attach B to C. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I got that. Directions, phew, I got this. I could build this desk without these directions. Uh no, this morning was a great and humbling reminder that uh that I'm weak and I need instruction, even when I think the task is below me, even when I think that I understand what's going on, I need to be coachable, I need to be humble, and I think we would do well to do that. So for you parents, for you adults in the room, for people that have maybe a responsibility, uh, and maybe some of you children, even now, some of you students, if you're under 18, you're technically a child, so please forgive me if I call you a child. You are. Um I wanna I want to give you technically, we're we address you as young young men, young women, because that's where we want you, that's the trajectory we hope and we pray for you. We want you to be mature. Um when my little one, Ruby, my youngest daughter, was about two or three. We were uh in the front yard. Um we had some popsicles, it was a hot summer day. We're enjoying some time with neighbors talking. Uh it's a weekend, and my kids are playing in the front yard, and uh we lose track of my youngest girl. We don't like, oh, where'd she go? Is she left? Is she right? We kind of keep keep the boundaries of like the front yard, stay here where we can see you. And uh there was something that was going on in the street that she really caught her eye, caught her attention. And we didn't know where she was until this moment where this truck is driving by and my daughter is beyond the sidewalk into the street. And uh for a very quick moment, I I thought I was gonna lose my daughter. I thought she was gonna get run over. Kids playing in the street. Why why do your parents tell you not to play in the street? Why, why do your parents tell you to avoid hazardous and deadly situations? They love you, they care about you, they don't want you to be run over. Um and as a child, as a child, my little three-year-old didn't understand, like, don't play in the street, mom and dad. Like, my friends are in the street. I have to cross the street to get to my friend's house. They're playing in their front yard. They don't understand the rule of you don't cross the street unless mom or dad are with you. This little little tot is maybe a total of three feet tall. She's barely taller than that now. And she didn't know. She didn't have an understanding. She doesn't, she doesn't think that this giant truck that's rolling by could crush her and end her life in an instant. She doesn't understand that. Now we we need to understand where the this the source of wisdom is. Uh, and for for many of you students, the majority of that of that instruction, that relational instruction from from person to person isn't becoming from your parents. It's gonna be coming in in a supplementary way from these small group leaders, uh, from people that are bringing the word of God and challenging you with questions about your life. Um, they're gonna be people asking you to consider the way you think, to consider the way that you're behaving, to consider the way that you're speaking, the way that you're thinking. Because they want you to grow in wisdom. They want you to grow in the knowledge of God specifically, the knowledge of God, so that way you can apply what God tells you to do. The wisdom of God is God's knowledge applied. Let's write this down for point number one. Obey the scriptures to grow in wisdom. This is this is this is the whole point of us diving into the scriptures. This is the whole point of the discussion questions that we have. This is the whole point of Sunday sermons, of your personal time in the Word of God. You, when you are investing your time, your energy, your effort, your mind, and your heart into knowing the scriptures, you're investing into the wisdom that God provides, that he shares with us in his word. And we need God's wisdom in the biggest way. We there's no other way to grow than through understanding what God's instruction would say, what his word would say, what the scriptures tell us to do. Obeying and following the word of God is how we mature and grow in wisdom. In Proverbs 3, 13 to 23 says this: Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. The her is God's word, God's wisdom, God's scripture. Do you treasure, do you seek and invest into your time in God's word? Do you see the value? How much more precious it is than jewels? How no other wisdom, no other understanding can compare to God's word. This verse is familiar and I've quoted it before. There's songs connected that you can you can listen to this. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, may be mature, equipped for every good work. The work that you have ahead of you in this life, whether literal job or the spiritual work and plans that God has in store, it's so incredibly important. To know what God's word says. It's uncomparable. It's uncomparable. Now, you might be tempted to believe and subscribe and gather information from a wide variety of sources outside of God's word. And there are great things to be taught and learned that make life easier, that help you understand, that help you accomplish a job, that help you invest, that help you solve problems, practical problems. But I want us to think about tonight. I want us to think about the source of our information. Where are we gathering information from? Is it from our friends? Is it from people on YouTube? Is it from the teachers that we have? Is it like where are we gathering? Just identify all the different sources, all the possible directions that information, that wisdom, that knowledge can be coming to you from. Now, I we should be evaluating this wisdom, this information all the time, because it it matters. It matters that you are identifying what wisdom, what information is helpful, and what information is hurtful to you. How do I know this is true? Is true? Check the sources. Stop citing Wikipedia. Stop citing Wikipedia. If you're looking up, you're like, you know, like you've been tempted, you've been there. Anyone at any point in time can change anything on Wikipedia. You can edit it, you can change the definitions of words, you can rewrite history, go on to Wikipedia and edit. Um, don't cite Wikipedia on your research paper, your senior year. Don't do it, don't be tempted. You need to check the author, check the credentials. Where does this person go to school? Where does this person learn? Where does this person gain their understanding? Is this person someone that's posing to be someone that they're not? Are they a credible source? We need to be, we need to be really skeptical in the in the way that we go about absorbing information, absorbing knowledge in this world, the wisdom that is available to us. Because there's many influencers out there, people wanting to get your attention and steer your mind, your heart, your dollars in a certain direction. They would try to convince you to make decisions based on the life that they're portraying to you. We need to be careful. People might be trying to convince you to influence you to dress a certain way, to eat a certain way with a specific diet, or exercise in a certain way to achieve a certain goal. You're gonna have a happier life, you're gonna have a healthier life, you're gonna be, you're gonna be better for it. And oftentimes these things come and go. They're fads, they're trends, they uh they're hot for a month or so, they're like memes. They're really useful and then they're gone. You never heard of them ever again. Uh but what are they bringing to you? What are they bringing to you? Are they from the Word of God? Are they rooted in Scripture or are they rooted in earthly treasure, temporary pleasure? Where is the source of this insight coming from? So let's write this down for point number two. Assess the source of your wisdom. We need to be skeptical. Assess where this information, where this wisdom is coming from. Where do we find the direction? Where do we find the insight into life? Where is this coming from? Well, let's look, let's look to God's word. Let's start there. Let's end there. Let's not stray from God's word. Verse 14 says this in James chapter 3. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. Yeah. Are you gaining knowledge? Are you gaining information? Do you do you have this agenda inside of you and you're responding and acting in a way out of jealousy, out of an envy, out of a comparison to what other people have and you don't? Are you trying to make it about you in your heart? And and if you are, I want to challenge you. James is challenging. Let's not boast about this worldly wisdom. Let's not boast about the things that we know or think we know outside of Scripture. Don't be false to the truth. Don't be false to what God has said in his word. This is this is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. Demonic wisdom. That's a that's an odd thing to consider. Demonic wisdom. Demonic wisdom. Don't if you eat that, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Just they're holding they're holding something back. They don't want you to know. Just take a bite. Just take a bite. That's earthly, unspiritual, that's demonic wisdom. This next verse in verse 16 is a heavy one. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. Vile, you can swap that word out for evil. Every evil practice. If you're playing the comparison game, you're feeling jealous, you're feeling selfish. If this is consuming your mind, if this is if this is what's going on internally, we need to pump the brakes and stop. We need to be thinking about there's there's a a check engine light that is blinking at you here with your heart. If you're feeling jealous, if you're feeling like, I need to have that, I don't have that, I want that, I need that. Um you're feeling like like you have this me-centered attitude, all you can think about is how the decisions other people make affect you. How how your parents' decisions for you, how how they affect you. And if you don't like that, I would I would call I would call you now to to reconsider. Your parents are are often making decisions for for your good. Don't don't play the victim. Don't don't be a person who is thinking about, well, I wanted to do this, I didn't get this, they're getting to do that. Why can't my parents be like that? Why can't my parents be like them? They're happier than me. Yeah. If you find yourself in that, let's let's check your heart. Let's check if there's a selfishness about you. Let's check yourself if there is a uh a self-ambition or jealousy in your heart. We need to be cautious. We need to be cautious. Where the verse says where jealousy and self-ambition exist, there will be disorder, there's gonna be some there's gonna be some chaos, there's gonna be um, there's gonna be some problems in every vile practice. If you find yourself wanting more and more and more and more, I'm thinking about this this character named Cowboy Hate Good that just kept wanting more and wanting more, and he was never really satisfied. He was never satisfied. He he wanted what the earthly treasure, what earthly wisdom would tell him that he could have if he if he got the treasure that he thought he needed. No, you you need to you need to be thinking about what what God promises. You need to be thinking about what God's word says uh about wisdom, about the things that are gonna bring you understanding and that that are gonna be dry driving and directing your life. Uh Romans 11 has has some more to say uh about riches and wisdom. Romans 11 verses 33 to 35 says, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? The wisdom, the only wisdom that we need is the best wisdom. It's from God. There's no one wiser, there's no one giving God counsel. There's no one saying, Well, you know, you might consider this investment strategy. There, you might consider the way that uh that you're working with this person's life. No, he doesn't he doesn't take counsel from other people. He he hasn't been given a gift or an ability from someone else that he would need to be repaying someone else. God in God is uh an infinite depth in riches and wisdom and knowledge. We need to be mining that. And in God's word, we could spend an entire lifetime of mining. We get to explore the riches, the joys, the knowledge, the wisdom of Scripture for our entire of our entire lives. Go and find someone mature at church and say, hey, how long have you been reading your Bible? Is it is it getting stale yet? Is it getting crunchy? Is it getting kind of boring yet? If they're a mature believer, they're gonna be like, I've barely scratched the surface. I've I've barely even begun to know what's going on here. Because we can we can spend day and night and day and night. And if you continue to read your Bible over the course of the middle school years and over the course of the high school years, and the course of your working years or college years, depending on what you want to do, you keep reading and reading your Bible, you're gonna be wise. You're gonna be you're gonna be wiser than than people that are that have doctorate degrees. You're gonna be wiser than people that have this in-depth knowledge of the way this world works in worldly terms. The greatest treasure, the greatest wisdom that you can ever have is found in the pages of this book. Invest heavily, invest heavily into this book. You will not be disappointed. Colossians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3 says this. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those at Laodicea, and for all that have not seen me face to face. This is Paul speaking to the church in Colossae, and in Laodicea specifically, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance, of understanding, and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. In whom are hidden, in Christ, listen to this, in Christ, in whom all are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You want to be wise, you want to have rich treasure, but know Christ in the scriptures. Know him well. Draw near to God. Draw near to God. If you're looking for wisdom, just start reading Proverbs. If you're like, I don't know, that's a lot of chapters to read. This Bible is really thick. Just go to Proverbs and just start reading a chapter a day. Just read a chapter a day. Go to Proverbs and read a chapter a day. Proverbs 14, verses 6 through 12. A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain. But knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. A man who knows God's scriptures, this knowledge is going to be easy for him. Verse 7 Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The wisdom of a prudent, of the prudent is to discern his way. But the folly of fools is deceiving. Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance. The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. Listen into this. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. There's going to be a lot of people thinking in their own mind they got it, they understand. But if this thought is not buried in the pages of Scripture, if they don't know the gospel of Jesus Christ, if they don't know the love of the Savior, all this knowledge in this world that you can have, that you can attain, all this wisdom, this earthly wisdom without the gospel, without God's work in your life, it leads straight to death. Invest in godly knowledge. Invest into seeking wisdom in the scriptures. Now, we often think we have it going on. We often think that we understand, but sometimes we we're nodding ahead, like, yeah, yeah, I get that. But really, we're so far off, it's it's kind of laughable. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 18 to 21 says this. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in his age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of the world is folly with God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, and they are futile. So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours. We need to be we need to be wary of the knowledge that we gain. We need to be concerned about where our wisdom is coming from. God says that the thoughts of the wise, the worldly knowledge, the worldly understanding, these pursuits are futile. We need to be seeking the wisdom that comes from above. Verse 17. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. This if it kind of feels like the fruits of the spirit, it feels like a list of like what to do. If you look to Galatians 5, there's the fruits of the flesh. Hey, avoid these things, run from these things. Get out of the way, step aside, turn from these things. Galatians 5, verses 22 to 26 says this But the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desire. The old us, if you're a Christian, the old you wanted nothing to do with the fruits of the spirit. You only knew the desires of the flesh. Read the first the first part of chapter 5. Write that reference down. Galatians 5. Compare the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. God's wisdom, listen, God's wisdom is full of his love. If you're wise in a godly way, it's full of his love. It's full of the fruits of the spirit. Impartial and sincere. Now, if you're looking at this list and you're thinking, man, like I'm not any of these things. I'm like, I'm pretty impatient. Like I'm pretty argumentative. I'm kind of harsh with my words often. I'm not gentle with my siblings in my mind or with my ver or with my words. I kind of think I know most things. I can't be taught. You're not open to reason. You kind of hold people's wrongs against them. You're not someone who's forgiving. You're not full of mercy. Um if you're just saying the right things because you know what you're supposed to say, but really you don't mean those things, you're not sincere. Guys, this this list here, as you see God in the scriptures, as if you've truly, genuinely repented from your sin and you have the Spirit inside you, the way that you go about reading God's word, the way that you go about studying and exercising what God is telling us to do, these things are gonna grow over time. They're gonna grow. You're gonna be imperfect in the progress and the process of this, but but you're gonna be trending in a direction that is that is upward, that is obeying God, that is seeking to please God. Let's write this down for point number three. See the beautiful product of godly wisdom. You might not see, you might not see or even desire the outcome of being wise in a godly way, knowing God's scriptures, following him in a way that is attentive, that is full and filled with joy. Yeah. In Philippians chapter 1, Paul says this, and it's it's my prayer, he's speaking to the the church in Philippi, it's my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Now, the the result the result of applied godly knowledge, godly wisdom found in the scriptures is peace. There's a great harvest of righteousness that is being sown by people that are leaning in, that are looking to obey, seeking to find ways that they can follow Christ day by day by day. There's this natural outcome. If you're a person that's full of the Spirit, you're practicing godly character, you're practicing following God's wisdom and instruction, you're a person of understanding. You're gonna be a person that is sowing seeds of peace, a harvest of righteousness. Do you know what a broadcast spreader is? You ever see those dads and the white new balances and the high socks in the spring? You know what I'm talking about? Some of you just raise your hand. I mean, I didn't ask for you to raise your hand. Some of you might be out there just got the fertilizer going, get the nitrogen going, right? You know what I'm talking about. They're out there, their lawn is looking a certain way. They're looking at their lawn, they're looking at the looking at the lines, you know, they got the head tilt, they're out there mowing their lawn like three times a week. Minimum. You know what I'm talking about? They're these there's they're these people that just obsess over the way that their lawn looks. And really, I want us to draw draw into this. I'm gonna attempt to make a connection here. When you when you learn to please God through the power of his spirit, if you learn to walk in his steps and do what he tells you to do, as you're learning to do that, as you're starting to hide God's word in your heart, you're starting to exercise obedience according to the scriptures, God's gonna be working in your heart and it's gonna have a certain effect in your life. It's gonna have a certain effect. There's a reason why people go out and and broadcast fertilizer on their lawn. There's a reason why they are are mowing their lawn, they're checking, making sure that they're dialing in the right amount of water. Their sprinklers are set for a specific number of minutes over the course of the week. There's a certain soil pH and temperature. They're measuring the contents and the nutrients of the soil, making sure that the soil has the right nutrients for the grass to grow in. Um there's the right bacteria. Did you know that there's like harmful bacteria that just spreads the disease all over your grass? Yeah, it's true. You ever seen a lawn that's like, oh, like what happened? You know, it's like kind of patchy. It's like all the dogs in the street love this lawn, apparently. It's just real bad. If you if your lawn is like this, I'm not slandering you, I'm just telling you, like, there's there's a certain there's a certain attention and care that goes to maintaining a lawn to make it look its best. To make all the kids on the street want to come to your front yard and play because the grass just feels so good. You just want to take your socks off. This grass is so nice. It has the right pH, it has the right amount of sunlight, it's lush, it's vibrant. The grass looks almost fake. It looks so good, it's glossy. It feels good. It's thick, it's healthy, it's not patchy. You're like, Tyler, stop freaking out about lawns. It's okay. No, you have the right mower. I'm gonna keep going. Your your blades in your mower are so sharp, there's no tearing on the blades of the grass. There's it doesn't look like a split end everywhere all over your lawn. None of that. There's no weeds, there's no clover, there's no there's no there's nothing defiling your lawn. It's like the Wizard of Oz. It's like an emerald city right in front of your house. It's amazing, it's beautiful, it almost glows. In the right light, it sparkles in the morning. Tyler, what are you getting at? What are you getting at? When when you are seeking to do the things that God would have you to do, the things that are healthy for your life, the things that are good for you, the things that are gonna bring you peace, the things that are gonna bring you joy, that that is only found in knowing God and knowing the scriptures and knowing Jesus Christ crucified. If you know the gospel and if you're seeking to obey him, all the things that you're doing in your life, seeking to obey him, are only adding to your life in a way that's gonna make you a more healthy Christian, gonna make you a more useful Christian. If this is you, you're gonna be sowing peace. The outcome of your life, though the circumstances and trials may be really hard, you're gonna have an internal and unshakable peace that is found and hidden in Christ. And it's so, it's so good. It's good for you. It's good for the work that you have to do that God would call you to do. This is these are the fruits that come from obeying Christ. You're gonna have you're gonna have an internal peace, and you're gonna be distributing peace to those around you. Harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So run from arguments, seek to be understood, seek to understand others. Stop arguing. Stop trying to be the person that's always right. Make, if you're if you're gonna get something right, make sure that people are right with God. Make that your focus. Make that your aim. Stop trying to be the person that's always right and think about like, are they right with God? Are they right with God? Do they have they responded to the gospel yet? If if that's if that's the thing you're concerned with, you're in a good lane, you're in a good spot. Do they know? Do they love Christ more than anything else? The pursuits of worldly wisdom are gonna leave you wanting more. They're gonna leave you depleted, nutrient deprived, tired, exhausted. The source of the treasure that is available in your life, that's available to you in the gospel, is found in the wisdom that God provides in His Word. Invest heavily into understanding what God says about life. It's gonna, it's gonna bring, it's gonna bring gains far beyond what you can find anywhere else. We don't we don't want to be searching in this life for for spiritual wisdom that is actually fool's gold. We, the adults in this room, want you to have a mind that is going towards the ultimate source of endless treasure in God's word. The source of treasure that leads to life everlasting and that will satisfy your soul. It's found in the Bible. It's found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, help us to lean into worldly wisdom, lean into godly wisdom and turn from worldly wisdom. God, we need we need a wisdom that comes from above, that's not found here in this cursed world. God, there's so many people fighting for these students' attention. God, help them to see, help this, this word, help these discussions be the lighthouse that draws their attention to the refuge and the safety that's found in the scriptures, that's found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, help these discussion times this evening to go well, help them to be profitable. God, will you continue to work in the hearts of these students this evening, I pray? May they be wise for salvation. God, help them to understand what the gospel means. Help them to understand the life that is found in Jesus. God, will you continue to work through your word and through your spirit? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay.