We’ve been thinking about “worldliness,” not, as some of our traditions have defined it, as abstaining from certain activities (every tradition has its own list), but by how scripture differentiates between the Kingdom of God and the ruler of this world. We have a different ruler, and we follow a different Spirit.

Today, again at my friend Ray Bandi’s suggestion, let’s think about a different source of wisdom:

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God… (1 Corinthians 3.19, NASB)

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom…The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3.13 – 18, NASB)

I wrote a few blogs a couple weeks ago about a serious problem articulated in an Atlantic article about church members demanding the church’s teaching align with their politics. The author observed:

The aggressive, disruptive, and unforgiving mindset that characterizes so much of our politics has found a home in many American churches. – Peter Wehner

“Aggressive, disrupting, and unforgiving” doesn’t much sound like wisdom that is “pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, and full of mercy,” does it?

The verses preceding James’ definition of godly wisdom speak to the problem:

[The tongue] is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (James 3.8 – 10, ESV)

“These things ought not to be so” because we have a different source of wisdom.