JUN 22 2025 | Storm Proof: A Study in James S1E2 | Wisdom is There for the Taking

Sea Change Church · JUN 22 2025 | Storm Proof: James S1E2 - Wisdom is There for the Taking
James 1:5-8
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

honor and praise with everything that we do oh heavenly father i pray right now for pastor adam as he brings forth the word lord god let every heart be prepared to receive what you have to say to us today oh heavenly king we thank you so much oh lord god for your divine protection your covering lead us and guide us for in jesus name we pray amen the letter of james chapter 1 verses 5 through 8 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 that he will receive anything from the lord he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways this is the word of the lord as your love and wave after way crushes over me crushes over me for you are false you are not against champion of heaven you made a way for all to enter i could watch that twice in a row before i get started that just fires me up i don't know about you but i need a little firing up on sunday mornings sometimes have your bibles james one five through eight i don't know about you i'm still a little full from pastor joshua's message last week goodness gracious like i was feasting on that when i could remember your outline in my head you preached it well and uh i just remembered and used it all week and we're in the book of james james written by the half brother of jesus pastor joshua spoke about that well uh and this is a book a lot of christians have struggled with especially it feels like an old testament book right it is kind of the proverbs of the new testament martin luther didn't like it he says a book of straw should be burned up didn't like it i like it because it brings some balance brings some balance it doesn't let you err just when you start thinking okay god i can put god in a box here he says a little something else and what james main point is is you're saved by faith but if you're saved by faith there's going to be some proof in the pudding you're going to be able to see it by the works that you do and if your faith it has no works to it is do you really have faith it's kind of like looking at a dry riverbed and saying that's a river well is it because the riverbed's there you know no it has to be filled with something and so this is what james talks about and people really struggle with it we're going to let you work that out because it is a never ending two you know two millennia we've been discussing the book of james it made it to the new testament for one reason or another and uh it's i really like it i really like this book because it's simple it's punchy it uh hits you in the face and tells you how to live and today we're talking about wisdom wisdom and uh one of my favorite books is proverbs you probably know that i start every year with it and uh when it comes to wisdom wisdom is uh a bit uh needed in our culture there's a lot of uh feelings desire a lot of knowledge people know a lot but not but knowledge and understanding are a little bit different than wisdom brian driscoll you've heard of him uh the uh rugby uh legend uh famously said when asked about how do you know how to use different players and knowing who your players are and when they use them and you've probably heard him say that well knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit wisdom is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad and so that is the difference knowledge is knowing what a car is understanding is knowing how a car works wisdom is knowing when to cross the street so many times we have all the knowledge we have all the understanding but we just don't know about the timing we don't know about how to do how to employ what we have pastor jim famously says that knowledge excuse me wisdom is knowing what to do with what you've got two points today God wants to give you wisdom for the situations you face that has to become an ethos that has to become something that you deeply understand God wants to give you knowledge he wants to give you knowledge it is in his deepest heart's desire to share with you how to employ wisdom in your life he wants to give you knowledge do you believe that or do you believe it's just a little hide and seek Jesus died on the cross so that he could go then the rest of the time play hide and seek with you with his will oh not going to show it to you oh just guess where I wanted you to go not going to show you he wants to give you wisdom whether he tells you the destination or not and you can walk in wisdom whether you know where you're going or not that's the faith component the next is doubt is part of the process of faith formation now there's a lot of backhand in the second part of this scripture right there's hey don't be double-minded better not ask because if I'm double-minded I'm like a ship tossed by the wind at sea and I'm double-minded unstable in all that I do I'd rather just not ask right but I'm telling you that if we understand the actual language of this verse that doubt is a part of faith formation without doubt you don't need faith you have foregone conclusion faith is the thing that overcomes doubt we'll look at that let's go to verse 5 we're gonna get the first point God wants to give you wisdom for the situations you face if any of you any of you lacks wisdom circle lacks the word lacks wisdom let him ask God circle ask God in your notes who gives generously you can circle that as well I'm having you circle five things today keeping you active on the notes to all without reproach circle without reproach that's important and it will be given to him when do you need wisdom when do we need wisdom when do we know you know when do we need knowledge when do we need understanding and when do we need wisdom knowing when to cross the road how to cross the road there's three main places in your life that you're gonna need wisdom and if you need it right now you're gonna identify with one of these three one in relationships human relationships when do I speak when do I quiet when do I listen when do I ask her out when do I give her some time when do I maybe allow myself to show a little bit of anger restrained but some anger it's okay God gave us emotional how do we employ how do we use frustration in a way that doesn't damage a relationship how do we give praise in the right time how do we support someone without them feeling like you're being codependent and kicking their legs out from under them in relationships if you're in a relationship right now and you're not getting along wisdom will help you get along number two complicated situations business situation you know whether you're working with a marketing whether you're how to do a say you have a mission to Mexico you want to do and how you're going to do it should I ask people to pay for their own you know travel should we organize the I mean situations like that I'm trying to make it not a great example but in situations where you just don't know what to do it's a bit relational but you just kind of need to know how to employ it for us pop-up church is just one of those elements how do we do it do we jump right in right at the beginning and say every single week we're going to be there starting last January we knew that we didn't have the margin the staff margin the emotional margin to do that so he said let's just do pop-up like pop-up restaurants we're going to show up do it five six times this year see what it's like test it out not go all in get up over our skis we felt like God gave us some wisdom on how to do that and the third way you need it is when life takes an unexpected turn get a diagnosis right job gets changed you get fired you want to move on life takes an unexpected turn those are the three places you need it you need it in relationships complicated situations and when life takes an unexpected turn here's the word I first had you if anyone lacks wisdom had you circle that for a reason that's when you don't know what to do or how to do it you can be assured that you are lacking wisdom when you get to a place in your life and you're just not sure which way to go now that the tendency is we develop old traits old habits old ways of doing things that are comfortable for us and because it's works for you in the past so many times a lot of times we try to fit a square peg into a round hole and we just employ what has worked in the past and there is a foundational wisdom that we can walk in but in each new situation God has new wisdom I spoke a few weeks ago about how I realized I had been kind of just living the maturity of my life based on old things I had learned in Christ back in the 90s and really good foundational stuff 80s growing up but God was wanting to mature me in new ways and so with wisdom God wants to give you new wisdom for the situations you face here's the problem often times though is we try to out think our problems problems with the knowledge we already have laying in bed at night you have a problem right you wake up you think through the problem now rarely do I do that and I come up with an idea I don't think it hardly ever happens up in the middle of the night stressed out about something thinking about it and if I think three hours if I think one more hour I come up with the right answer that rarely ever happens Einstein said it like this you can't solve a problem with the same mindset that created it the mind that is asking the other side of the mind the answer only has the knowledge of the brain that it exists within it and so often times we just keep circling things in our head through a mental exercise thinking that we're going to figure it out it's often times not a math problem and God has told us the ways to go about it so if you lack wisdom right now you will have identified with some of the things that I've said so then it goes on to say go back to the verse if you would if any of you that's any of you men and women even though it says him at the end it's any of you lacks wisdom let him what ask God I love that when you have a problem where do you first go you can go to a distraction sometimes I go to a distraction I don't ask anybody I just want to go get a coffee and a blueberry donut you know or I don't think they make blueberry donuts blueberry muffin they should make a blueberry donut maybe they do our cafe would I want to go I want to outthink the problem I want to outrun the problem I want to distract the problem right away if you lack wisdom ask God wow how quick is your trigger finger on asking God how long do you wait before you ask God and do you know how to ask of God I think a lot of people get to ask God and they're like I don't know what to do I don't know how to ask God I don't know I've never give me a book somebody show me let me just give you a simple little sentence asking God is not some complex theological calculus rather it's speaking a sentence to God directly asking him for what you need to know God I'm in a relationship right now and I the person I'm who's angry with me I want to approach them because my old way is I want to approach them and control the situation and manipulate or whatever it is but instead will you show me what to do show me how to approach this anger and sometimes God will just say wait I'll talk in a minute how he shares these answers with us but asking God is as simple as let me think asking God we get we get to that place and it's like the great wall of China it's like Hadrian's wall you get to the wall and it's so big I can't get over it God says just ask me write down a sentence I have a little book now when I have I need wisdom one of those three situations and I don't know what to do my tendency now hopefully my tendency is I'm starting to have a little bit of a speed bump between my discomfort of not having wisdom and my next move and that speed bump is sitting down and writing God how do I deal with this situation a lot of times it'll just come with a sense of peace it'll be I want to do this I want you you know you want to send that email if you're Pastor Mark always said to me my old pastor he said if you ever press send on the email and you feel really good afterwards he said you sent the wrong email true I don't send more emails than I send learning how to wait it's a great four letter word and some of you just know we just need to wait it says you're asking God what you need to know you ask it you write it down there should be a list of questions that you have somewhere in a prayer journal on a Google spreadsheet in the cloud wherever you want to keep them of questions you're asking God how do I employ this now understanding would be asking God why is this happening that's not as much wisdom as it is understanding God I need to understand why this relationship is broken God why is this relationship broken well he might eventually show you as you seek wisdom because that's the second part we'll get to as you seek it that you have an anger issue God will reveal that to you and then the question is are you going to work on that issue so then you can employ the wisdom because if you keep having that issue in your life that never gets healed that old wound that doesn't get healed you're going to keep employing probably false wisdom that doesn't work or you'll keep reacting to the situation next part says that when you ask it says let him ask God and then there's a flood gate opens when you do this it doesn't say do a dance it doesn't say do anything special just ask and who gives generously to all without reproach I love that generous word there's a story of Alexander the Great Alexander the Great if you've read of him he's the greatest conqueror of all time and there should be a slide that's going to come up here in a second with Alexander the Great Jeff can you help get that up there we go and Alexander the Great rides and you just leave that up if you would Tony Alexander the Great rides into a city conquers the city and a beggar comes out of the city this is one of the three different ways they tell this story and the beggar comes out of the city and he says can I just have a piece of bread can I have something a piece of bread just anything anything and he says I deed you the entire city you are now this is now your city and the beggar says no I can't accept something like this and he says non quato quid teisipri desiat se quid midare I worked on that all week all week thank you thank you that wasn't what I was going for go to the next slide this is what it means I am not asking what is fitting for you to receive but what is proper for me and it says oftentimes as a king to give you see God's generosity isn't based on what you deserve that's grace it isn't based on that you're just a poor beggar or whatever mindset you have of yourself it's fitting on what it is for a king to give and he gives generously more than you deserve ever deserve because of his grace he gave his son and he gives generously and if he will give his son on a cross he will show you how to deal with your boss I didn't mean that to rhyme but it did flowing today goodness gracious this is what he'll do and it says I love this other part this really stuck with me I had you to put without reproach I love that when God gives to you he doesn't give a tagline okay you know you know that person right you need some help all right I'm gonna bail you out this time but how many times are I gonna have to bail you out you know when are you gonna get it together here it is I'm gonna help you but when you're gonna get it together that's not generous it's controlling it's manipulative you might have some generosity to it thanks for giving tell you the truth I'd rather not have it I'd rather go in suffrage than to have somebody who tags their generosity to me with a conditional response where I walk away with some guilt or some shame you just give it my father was very generous and he never lent money to anybody he just gave it to him and I had somebody send me a check about 10 years after he had passed away and they said your dad gave me money once I wanted to pay it back to you with interest they wrote me a check and I got a check in the mail for whatever it was it was like 2,000 bucks and I thought to myself and I told him I called him I said look my dad you don't we're not asking for money he goes no it's gonna make me feel better I'm getting ready to pass away and I just wanted to give it back it's generosity he gives it without reproach as you give if you're a person who gives that little bit of reproach I'm gonna give it stop or just don't give because no one likes that no one wants to be in debt it's not generous God gives generously without reproach because he is a king that will give you a city sometimes when you're just asking how to live your life breaking it down go to doubt it's part of the process part 2 verse 6-8 but let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord he is double-minded unstable in all his ways I hate that verse I don't know about you but every time I read it I'm like I just don't want to ask for any wisdom so I was asking the Lord as I was studying this I'm like God I have to preach this because it landed in the this kind of how we you know broke it up and Pastor Joshua got to preach the easy part last week just kidding and I began to ask and he said start studying it so I began to read all Monday I was just in the text all Monday I wasn't studying I was just reading the text letting it soak into me and the first thing I realized is when I looked up no doubting it says let him ask a faith with no doubting I'm like how can you do that how can I not doubt you're asking me to be perfect the word diakrino I looked it up it's Greek word it means to separate thoroughly to withdraw from but it was understood in the first century by the listeners meaning don't be double-souled that is different than doubting double-souled is when you're like I'm not sure God actually exists you know what you so you had people that were worshiping at the temple of Athena but also going to God because you got to play your options right in the first century lots of gods all over what he was saying is there's only one God don't be double-souled double-souled being double-souled is different than how we hear the word no doubting when we heard the word no doubt we think of a 1990s Orange County band no we don't but let him ask in faith with no doubting he's saying don't be double-souled I don't know many believers that are double sold but I know a lot that doubt there's two examples in the scripture that I saw where people were doubting and they weren't rebuked and told that they were being washed away like from the wind and ships at sea and they shouldn't ask God for anything one was in Mark 9 24 the father of this child comes up to Jesus he says my child is dying you know it's he needs help and I believe that you can heal him and then Jesus speaks to him and you know tells him to believe and he's immediately the father of the child cries out and said I believe but help my unbelief you see that is what I think James means he's not talking about people that are saying well maybe you know maybe I'll go to this God or that God it's okay to doubt and we see an example and Jesus gives a graceful answer and the child is healed so that would directly contradict what James is saying that example would directly contradict it so faith is something that gets on the edge of the pool of doubt and it's you can have fear and still have faith I don't think they're mutually exclusive a person who's afraid and continues to take steps forward are they walking would you say they're a person of fear or a person of faith person of faith right the problem is is many of us confuse faith with our ability or the ability to believe to concentrate on a divine outcome let me explain what I mean by this faith is not a feeling and when I'm thinking do I believe like I've prayed for people for healing before they come up I've done a lot and I'm praying that somebody comes up with a really bad health issue and I'm praying for them and I'm thinking to myself okay do I am I do I actually believe that you can be healed I think oh I'm feeling I'm feeling pretty good right now yeah I think I oh and maybe they won't be healed no they won't be healed no no no no no concentrate again concentrate and I'm trying to muster up this feeling within me of faith yes I fully believe that is not what it's asking it's not asking me to believe in an outcome it's asking me to believe in something much easier do I believe in a God that can heal the answer for that for me is yes I rarely doubt that God can heal but when I think about will he heal I'm not sure and so when I'm praying for people oftentimes I'm disqualifying myself because as I'm praying or for a situation in my own life one of those three situations when this has the ask for wisdom I'm just concerned that he won't give it and so I'm trying to muster up this feeling of like I can do this I can do this and that's not what faith is and don't be confused by the two faith is continuing to employ wise decisions and right actions no matter what circumstances you see yea though I lay down in the valley of the shadow of death yea though I do walk through the valley of the shadow of death wisdom then when you ask God don't doubt don't doubt but it doesn't mean that you can't have a feeling of doubt within but asking God then give me the faith that I might overcome it just like the example in 924 I also like in verse 7 this is a word of grace and this just kind of hit me this little little dessert before we come into the practical takeaways for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord I it's interesting if we are talking about a double-souled person let's say it's somebody who's worshiping Mithra and in the first century and then they ask God for wisdom it doesn't say they won't get wisdom it says they shouldn't suppose that they can get it now if you are asking God you should suppose I do I go to God regularly or if it's like with my finances if I have an issue with my finances I'll say to God God I do think financially I believe I do it the way you've told me to do it I believe I'm generous where you've asked me to be generous I believe I follow what you've asked me to do in the scripture and I don't cheat people and I don't know of anywhere I've been dishonest I have a financial issue you have to show up now you might not agree with that that's how I think the scripture works and I believe in a bunch of different issues that God protects us and he protects those that are righteous and different things and different attitudes that we see and what we see here in the scripture as we move in is that that as as God gives that he not only won't give but he might give it says that person should not suppose but that doesn't mean that God won't give isn't that interesting I mean it says you're gonna be like a tossed around blah blah blah you might be that person they shouldn't suppose that they can get it but they shouldn't suppose that they shouldn't that they won't isn't that the grace of God if someone was let's say the translations right if someone was double-souled totally walking away from God but he still gives them wisdom when they ask anyways but he doesn't have to you see Romans 5 8 if that wasn't true that God might give wisdom to a person who's worshiping Mithra or Athena in the first century then Romans 5 8 that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us wouldn't make any sense because we have a graceful God and even people that are not walking properly according to what James thinks here you shouldn't suppose but he still might because he's a gracious God but I will say to you as I said in the first point that God wants to give you wisdom he has promised to give you wisdom and if you ask even though you have fear even though you're afraid that you might not get the wisdom he will give it to you and he will give it to you generously so what are the practical takeaways here they are one three quick practical takeaways and we're done ask for wisdom and then go get it Proverbs 4 7 the beginning of wisdom is this get wisdom and whatever you get get insight let's make it simple the beginning of getting orange juice is going to sprouts and buying orange juice it's what that scripture says basically how do we get it a lot of people don't know how to get it well there's three places you can get it one three well there's many but here's the one go to God's Word God's Word is a book of wisdom I would go to the wisdom books go just I read Proverbs every single day I read as one proverb for every day of your life and after I don't even know how long I've been doing it a long time it just you just you get to a situation it's just there you get to a situation and like where it says you know if two dogs are fighting don't grab them by the ears and sometimes I'll be in a situation people are arguing I'll be like Jim done it's just there go to God's Word go to God's Word the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the Bible is our primary source of divine wisdom timeless trustworthy and spirit breathe number two prayer in the Holy Spirit ask God ask the Holy Spirit a lot of times after I ask a question I'll turn off the normal podcast I listen to the music I listen to and I'll think I'm just gonna turn up the worship I'm gonna go find a old spiritual classic you just kind of you know if you want to eat healthy don't go McDonald's you know I'm saying go to you know a health restaurant go to the different aisles you just go to the place where the goodness is I don't ask for wisdom and then just sit back and don't try to get wisdom it says if you need wisdom go buy the orange juice you actually have to go to the place you have to go seek it to go get it okay sometimes God's worthy he might he's graceful he might just send it to you without doing those things but I have found that when I up the volume of what's around me of wise things around me I get it so it's God's word it's prayer and the Holy Spirit asking the Holy Spirit not just asking your mind over and over to figure it out and then finally wise counsel in a Proverbs 11 14 in a multitude of counselors there is safety God often speaks through the godly advice of mentors pastors and friends I'll give you a story to finish my wife and I had just gotten married and my her parents own the house next door to their house and their grandfather had lived there and he had moved in with them because he needed to move with them we had just gotten married and my father and mother-in-law are incredibly generous incredibly generous and they said we will sell you the house for half price that's in Orange County I mean it was like it was like 400 grand was the house back then it was expensive back then and they said well we're gonna go half price maybe even a little bit less and I was like this is amazing we're getting married this is an amazing thing but that verse leave and cleave kept going through my head like I don't my kids I would tell my daughter don't live next door to me you know I just would I love my daughters Lucy my daughter says you know if you ever get old and you can't take care of yourself you can move in with me that's what she told me this week I was like you are the best I love you I love you she said I ain't changing no diapers but nonetheless that's what she did say she did say that to me she's funny though and I went to all my wisest friends boogie went to Eric nor John Norton I went to all my friends my mom other people I said this is incredible offer they are so generous they are so loving and everyone said I don't think it's a good idea and I'm not gonna just buy it turn it on a profit and then bounce you know I mean that's not a good idea right and then I went to a friend who's and not on purpose but we were just hanging out and he's probably the biggest fool that I knew 30 years ago and I said what would you do he goes buy it that was the one word that I thought we're not buying it that one guy every decision he'd make in his life you know he blew up a toilet one time with a with a half stick of dynamite at Point Loma Nazarene just shoved it in there blew it up destroyed the bathroom wise counsel sometimes you make decisions that are not easy because they're wise and we're gonna be married 28 years I don't know if we still would be otherwise but we're coming up this August wisdom is the thing God has wisdom he wants to give it to you amen let's stand if you would let's have the worship excuse me yeah the worship team come forward and also the prayer team we're gonna pray for you today if you need prayer I don't know if the worship team was ready to come forward so we'll just have the prayer team come forward Bonnie you could tickle the keys for us if you want to extend your hand I'm gonna give you a moment to ask for wisdom let's just take a moment just extend your hands to God and if there's one of those three situations relationships complicated situation change of circumstance and you just have it just in your own mind just voice a question to God ask him and say God give me generously now Lord I ask God that you would give generously you have said that you would give generously to all who ask we bless you Lord God we ask that you would give wisdom understanding and knowledge Lord God to your people we are going to seek you and even in their own hearts and minds show them the place where they should seek where they can turn up the wisdom in their life the way to get wisdom is to get wisdom and we go to you first we ask God in prayer and we thank you now we bless you now as we send you out a wiser people in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit amen love you guys we'll see on Tuesday night or come forward for prayer if you need it we you you you