Need Wisdom?
James 1:5-8
 
The kind of world you and I are living in, and the nature of the problems that we face on a daily basis, makes it necessary for us to have some wisdom. We need the wisdom of God.
 
Someone said, "If you can keep your head while all else around you are losing theirs, it's a pretty good sign you don't understand the situation."
 
We need the wisdom of God. There is a lot of knowledge in our day. We are experiencing an information explosion. We have mountains of data. There is a lot of knowledge but very little wisdom.
 
There's a lot of education. People are more educated today than they have ever been. In fact, someone said that a lot of people are educated beyond their intelligence. I've met a few people like that! We have a lot of education, but there is not a lot of wisdom. We need wisdom.
 
I want to talk to you about wisdom, and I'm going to do it on the basis of this man James who is the half brother of our Lord. You have to keep in mind that James is a Jew, and he is steeped in the Old Testament wisdom literature.
 
You will notice that he closes the fourth verse of the chapter by saying, "That ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing," which literally means, deficient in or lacking nothing. 
 
 
Then he picks up in verse 5 with the same word and says, "If any of you lack," that is, "If any of you want, if you are deficient in wisdom." 
 
I suppose that every one of us in this building would say on many, many occasions in our life that we lack wisdom and that we need wisdom. So James is going to teach us just exactly how to get wisdom.
 
I. The Shortage of Wisdom.
 
He says in verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom." Let's define wisdom. It's the Greek word sophia, from which we get the name Sophie or Sophia. 
 
What is this wisdom that he is talking about that sometimes we lack? Wisdom here is not intelligence. It doesn't have a thing in the world to do with your I.Q. You can be on the level of a genius, you can be in the Menses Society, you may have an abundance of intelligence and you may not have wisdom. 
 
I remember a friend in school who was very intelligent, but he kept an extra set of keys in the glove compartment just in case he locked his keys in his car! 
 
So just because you may be intelligent doesn't mean necessarily that you have wisdom.
 
Nor does wisdom mean knowledge. Just because you have acquired a great deal of information and just because you know how to do a lot of things does not mean necessarily that you have wisdom. You can have the knowledge to go faster than sound but not have wisdom to know which direction to go. You may have the knowledge to make a living, but you may not have the wisdom to make a life.
 
Neither is wisdom common sense. There are some people who have an abundance of common sense. We call it good old horse sense, but there is a difference between wisdom and common sense. Wisdom is not common sense. Wisdom is uncommon sense.   It is supernatural in origin.
 
So what, then, is wisdom? Wisdom is the ability to take knowledge and apply it to particular situations. Wisdom is the ability to take heavenly judgment and bring it to bear on the practical issues of our life. 
 
Now James says, "If any of you lack wisdom."
 
I think all of us would say that he is talking to us! You probably ran into some situations last week that you didn't know what to do. You weren't sure exactly which direction to go. I will guarantee you that before this week is over, you will be faced with some problems and circumstances and there will be some situations and some decisions that you need to make and you really won't know what to do and you won't know what decision you ought to make. 
 
It may be some crisis. You may be contemplating a job change and you want to know, "Should I change jobs or not?" You say, "I've got a certain amount of security on this job now. Will I have that security if I take that other job? It might mean that I'm going to have to move or it's going to change my schedule." You need to have wisdom about whether or not you should change the job.
 
 
It may be that you are facing a difficulty with a child. Maybe some problems have arisen and you're dealing with a situation with your child and you're wondering, "What am I suppose to do?" You don't know what to do. "If any of you lack wisdom." 
 
In many ways you and I are faced with our need for wisdom. "If any of you lack wisdom," the shortage of wisdom.
 
II. The Source of Wisdom.
 
Where do you go to get wisdom? Where do you find this wisdom? Where do you look when you are going to get this wisdom? Where is wisdom to be found? "If any of you lack wisdom." We lack that wisdom and we need that wisdom and so the question is, "Where do we get that wisdom?"
 
There is only one place you can get wisdom. The Bible says in these verses of James, "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God." It is God who is the source of wisdom. In I Timothy 1, verse 17, it says, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
 
Spiritual commodities are obtained from spiritual sources. If you need grace for your life, the Bible says that God is the God of all grace. You have to go to God to get grace. 
 
If you need peace in your life, the Bible says that God is the God of peace.  You have to go to God if you're going to get peace. 
 
 
In like manner, if you need wisdom, the Bible says that God is the only wise God. God has a monopoly on wisdom; and if you need wisdom in your daily life, in that decision you're facing now, the Bible says that you have got to come to God to get that wisdom. It comes from God alone.
 
Let's take a look at what kind of God this is to whom we will go for wisdom. He says in verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives." 
 
Literally it says, "Let him ask the giving God." He's saying that one of the characteristics of God, one of the attributes of the nature of God, is that God is a God who loves to give. 
 
The sun shines because it is the nature of the sun to shine. That is just what the sun does. God gives because it is the nature of God to give. You will be astonished how many times you will read in the Bible that God is a giving God. 
 
For instance, in John 3, verse 16, the Bible says, "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son." God is the God who loves to give. Proverbs 2, verse 6, says, "For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."
 
The source of our wisdom is God, and we are being told the kind of God He is, that God is a God that loves to give. God is a God of love, and it is the nature of love to want to give so we go to the God who is the giving God. 
 
 
 
He continues on and says, "Let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally." It says that God likes to give and God likes to give a lot! That means that God likes to give generously. It means that God likes to give with no strings attached. In fact, the word "liberally" literally means an open hand. God loves to give with an open hand.
 
What do you think about when you think about God? What kind of vision do you have? What kind of image do you have? What kind of concept do you have when you think about God? When you think about God, do you think about a clenched fist or do you think about an open hand? 
 
Here we are told that God is a God who loves to give and that God is a God who gives with an open hand. God wants to give liberally. God wants to give generously. If you lack wisdom, God is the God of all wisdom and God says, "I love to give people who come to Me wisdom." He gives liberally.
 
The second thing it says about this giving God is not only does He give liberally but He does it, "without reproach." That means that God does not scold you. When you come to God, God who is the giving God wants to give it to you generously, and God is the God who will not scold you. He will not rebuke you. He will not make you feel guilty because you've come.
 
Sometimes the way a person gives a gift can spoil the joy of the gift. Think about it. Your child comes to you and wants a little allowance money and you say, "What? You've come back again this week? What did you do with the dime I gave you last week?" It spoils the gift. 
God never spoils it. God never says to you and to me, "I gave you wisdom last week. What are you doing coming back again? Why are you bothering me again this week for it?" You see, the Bible says that God is a God who loves us so very much that He wants to give and that God wants to give generously with an open hand and that God won't scold you for coming. It thrills the heart of God when you come to Him and ask Him for the things that you need.
 
And keep in mind the context here: the previous verses dealt with the multi-colored trials of life, and that God is at work developing patience that we might be mature and complete. And if we are to deal appropriately with that, we will need God’s wisdom. 
 
Now if God is at work to produce the patience so we can mature, and He wants us to succeed in the test, then why would He withhold the wisdom that we need to accomplish what He has planned for us?
 
We don’t have the wisdom, humanly speaking, to deal with it. We “lack wisdom”, but there is a source, and it is God and God alone. 
 
See what’s happening? God is setting us up for success. In fact, He lets us in on
 
III. The Secret of Wisdom.
 
He tells you how to get that wisdom. You need some wisdom. You're facing a decision. You don’t know what to do, but you know that you need the wisdom of God. So here’s the question: How do you obtain that wisdom?" 
 
It says in verse 5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." What he is saying is that if you need wisdom, the way to get wisdom is to ask God for that wisdom.
 
He didn't say that if you need wisdom to sit down and think about it. He didn't say, "If you need wisdom, go take a class at the university on it." He didn't say, "If you need wisdom, go read a book about it." He didn’t say, “If you need wisdom, you should call your trusted friends and advisors, or maybe go on Oprah or Jerry Springer.”
 
He said, "If you need wisdom, ask God to give it you." That's what he said.
 
Now when it comes to wisdom, everybody's in the same boat. If you want wisdom, no matter how educated, no matter how much common sense you have, no matter how intelligent you are, if you want wisdom you've got to come to God and ask God for it.
 
And then in verse 6 it says, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting." Asking, I think, is one of the simplest definitions of prayer there is.
 
I remember in my Christian life and ministry as a preacher that I read a book by Dr. John R. Rice. The title of the book was "Prayer. Asking and Receiving." There are many sophisticated definitions of prayer. There are many fancy ways of discussing and describing what prayer is, but I think the most beautiful depiction of prayer, the most beautiful explanation of prayer, is the one that is given here. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given unto him." 
Prayer is simply asking God. 
 
Jesus says in Matthew 7, verses 7 and 8, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." You and I, every day of our life, are to come to God for new wisdom. 
 
You get wisdom the same way you get your daily bread. You don't pray one time for your food, your daily bread. When you got old enough to know what you needed, you didn't say, "Oh, God, I think I'm going to live here for about 70 more years. I pray, dear God, that You will supply all the food I'm going to need for the next 70 years." That's not what Jesus said to do. He said, "Give us this day, our daily bread." We ask God every day to meet our physical needs.
 
The same thing is true when it comes to the wisdom of God. I had some needs for wisdom last week, and I asked God to meet those needs and to give me that wisdom. I'm going to need some wisdom of God this week, and I'm to ask God every day for that wisdom. We are to come to God continually, daily, and ask God for it. That's the promise of prayer.
 
Notice that he raises the problem of prayer. You say, "Preacher, you say that we lack wisdom and that's me. I need wisdom. You say that God will give wisdom and that's right. He will give you wisdom. But wait a minute. I asked God and I didn't get any wisdom. I asked God what to do. I asked God to give me the wisdom to make that decision, and I didn't get any answer." 
There is a problem here that he deals with that I think will help us.
 
He says in verse 6, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." The word "wavering" means doubting. What he's saying is that when you need the wisdom of God, go to God and ask God for it in prayer, but he says, "Don't do it with a doubtful mind." "But let him ask in faith, without doubting." 
 
He uses an illustration here, and you will find as we go through the book of James that James is just full of illustrations from life and from nature to help us understand and help us to see. Look at the picture he draws at the middle of verse 6. He says, "He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind."
 
Have you ever been to the ocean and watched the waves in the water? They are here one minute, and then the wind blows and they're over here the next minute. They're up and they're down, and they're just tossed and turned like a wave in the sea.
 
He says that it is possible for you and me, when we pray, to be just like that unstable, that wavering wave in the sea. It is possible for us to have a doubtful mind. And again remember the context. This is in those times of life when we are going through trials and testing. The availability of wisdom is not limited to those times, but it is in those times especially that we need to hear from God.
 
And in those times when you might be tempted to doubt, don’t. Instead, pray. Jesus said in Luke 18:1, “ Men ought always to pray and not lose heart.” 
He's saying that when we pray we're not to doubt. 
 
And let me point out something extrememly critical in verse 6.
 
Notice the little preposition “in”. He did not say, "Let him ask with faith," as if faith is some kind of additive.   A lot of people think that when you pray, faith is like a spiritual STP. You just kind of add it to the ingredients. You make your prayer and then you put a little dab of faith on top of it to make sure that God will answer.
 
He didn't say that we are to pray "with" faith. He says that we are to pray "in" faith. What that means is that we are to be in an attitude of faith. We are to be in the atmosphere of faith. Every day of our life, we ought to live our life trusting in the Lord. Every day of our life we ought to live our life walking close to the Lord, to be in the atmosphere of faith, to be in the atmosphere of belief. 
 
Someone said, "Pray and believe and thou shalt receive. Pray and doubt and you'll do without." We must learn to pray in faith. So when you and I come to God in prayer and God says, "If you need wisdom, you come to Me and if you ask Me, I'll give it to you." If you'll come to God and ask God for the wisdom you need and if you will do it in the atmosphere of faith, God says, "I'll give you wisdom." Don't do it with a doubtful mind.
 
Then he says secondly, don't do it with a divided mind. In verse 8 he says, "A double minded man," which literally means, "A double-souled man. A double-souled person is unstable or vacillating in all his ways." 
What is a double-souled person and how does a person get to be double- souled? 
 
In the fourth chapter of James he uses the same picture. In verse 8 he says, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw near to you." That's living in faith. That's living your life in the atmosphere of trust and relationship with God. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." 
 
He's saying that there is something in our heart that causes us to be double minded. There is something that causes us to vacillate; and it is that sin, it is that unbelief in our life, it is that divided loyalty in our life.
 
Sometimes God's people are trying to hold on to both worlds. The reason a lot of Christians never successfully live the Christian life is they are trying to hold on to two worlds at the same time. They're trying to hold on to this godless world with one hand and they're trying to hold onto their relationship with God on the other hand. They're looking between the two.
 
When you and I need wisdom, and you're going to need it this week, you're going to remember and say, "The preacher said I was going to need this." You're going to face something at school, kids. You're going to face something on the job. You're going to have to deal with an issue related to one of your children this week. You are going to need wisdom and you're going to remember that I have preached on this and you're going to go to God in prayer and ask God to give you wisdom. 
 
When you do, you're going to ask in faith, and when you do, you're going to say, "Lord Jesus, I totally surrender my life one hundred percent completely to You. I don't want to be double minded. I'm sold out to You, Jesus Christ. Give me this wisdom so I can make the decision that would honor You and would be right in this situation." Do you know what God says He'll do? He'll give you that wisdom.
 
I want to show you a beautiful illustration of that in the Old Testament. I think it's the classic example in all the Bible. Second Chronicles 1 illustrates these verses we've studied this evening. It is the illustration of a young man named Solomon. 
 
Solomon was the son of David. As a young man he was the successor to his old father, David, as the king of the people of God. He was a young man and in II Chronicles, chapter 1, the Lord came to Solomon one night and it says, "In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee." The Lord just came to Solomon and gives him a blank check. Think about that. The Lord said to Solomon, "Just ask whatever you want." 
 
Let me ask you a question. If tonight the Lord came to you and said to you, "Ask what you want," if God extended a blank check to you this evening, what would you ask for? Here is the God of heaven, the God who controls the universe, the God of all wisdom, the God of all grace, the God of all power, the God of all wealth and He says to Solomon, "Ask what I shall give you." 
 
What did he ask for? 
 
Solomon didn't ask for wealth. Solomon didn't ask for fame. Solomon didn't ask for power. In verse 10 Solomon said, "Give me, now, wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this, thy people, who are so great?" Solomon asked God for wisdom. 
 
It just thrilled the heart of God. God is a God who gives. God is a God who gives liberally and doesn’t scold. Solomon has asked for wisdom and in verse 11 it says, "And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king. Wisdom and knowledge are granted unto thee." And God says on top of all that, "I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee."
 
Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived.   In fact, he wrote three of the books in your Bible. He wrote 3,000 proverbs. He wrote 1,005 songs. Solomon had so much wisdom that the Queen of Sheba came all the way over to try Solomon with hard questions, and he answered every question. He had unbelievable wisdom; and when she heard it all, she went away shaking her head saying, "The half has not been told."
 
Do you think that Solomon was different from you? Do you think God will do that for Solomon but won't do that for you? James says, "If any man, if any person, lack wisdom ask of God and it shall be given unto him."
 
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the wisdom of God. Let me string some verses together as I draw the message to a conclusion. 
 
In I Corinthians 1, verse 30, the Bible tells us that Jesus was the Wisdom of God for us. . .
 
Colossians 2, verse 3, says that in Christ are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 
 
Proverbs 9, verse 10, says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 
 
If you want wisdom, you need Jesus. The wisest decision anybody will ever make is the decision to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and into your life. Second Timothy 3, verse 15, puts it this way. "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." 
 
If you want to be wise, if you want to have access to supernatural wisdom, the wisdom of God, then the Bible says that the way to have wisdom is to receive Jesus Christ by personal faith into your heart as your very own Savior.
 
Let's bow our head and pray.