James 3:17-18 (Heavenly Wisdom, Part 7)

These are my notes from a sermon series I did through the book of James. It has not been proofed for spelling or grammatical errors. I present it to you as-is.

We are in a series of lessons on wisdom. We have been dissecting James 3 and what God’s Word tells us about natural wisdom (the kind without God) and heavenly wisdom (God’s Wisdom). No matter who you are, you are navigating your life using one of those wisdoms. James is trying to help us understand and apply God’s wisdom to our life.  With that said let’s take a look at James 3:13 where we are told, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. ¹⁵ For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. ¹⁶ For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.¹⁸ And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness” (NLT). James gives us 8 marks that identify God’s wisdom in action. We have already looked at the first five. Today, we are going to see that God’s wisdom is expressed productivity and producing good fruit in your life.

The main truth is God’s wisdom produces fruitfulness. In verse 17 James tells us that God’s wisdom is “full of… the fruit of good deeds” (NLT). This says, “If I’m wise, I will not waste my life.” I will be productive, fruitful, useful, and helpful. I’m not going to kill time, I’m going to redeem time. I’m going to make the most of my life. I’m going to live a fruitful life. I’m going to bless people. I’m going to lift them up. I’m going to love them and encourage them. I’m going to be there for them and I’m going to support them. Other translations and paraphrases of the Bible describe this as “full of… good fruits” (CSB), “helpful” (CEV), “kindly actions” (Phillips), “blessings” (MSG), or “to do good for others” (NCV). Today, I want you see three important truths about God’s wisdom and fruitfulness.

Your fruitfulness is spiritual in nature

Number one, your fruitfulness is spiritual in nature. Remember, we are talking about God’s wisdom and what His wisdom can produce in your life. The only way you can walk in God’s wisdom is with the Holy Spirit working in your life. God is working in your life to produce certain things in your life. A list of those is mentioned in Galatians 5:22. Look at this carefully, which says, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (NLT). I want you to notice it is the “Holy Spirit” that “produces” these qualities and attitudes in your life. You cannot do this on your own. You can produce some good imitations of these, but it will not be the same “kind of fruit” that the Holy Spirit can produce. This is spiritual in nature. This is where the Holy Spirit does a work in your life working on your heart and mind transforming you into a fruit producing believer. This is spiritual in nature. This is a work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Your fruitfulness is for someone else

Number two, your fruitfulness is for someone else. Now watch this. James 3:17 tells us that God’s wisdom will produce “fruit” in our lives. Let’s think about this for a minute. I love a good orange. Let’s say there is an orange tree in my backyard. I go up to the orange tree to get me an orange, but the orange tree says, “No, this is my orange. You need to go make your own oranges.” I have two problems with this orange tree. One, the orange tree talks. Two, the orange tree doesn’t want to share its oranges. God created and designed orange trees to produce oranges so others could experience the oranges. The fruit that comes from the orange tree is not primarily for the tree, but for others to be blessed by the oranges. That’s how God made the orange tree. That’s how God made the peach tree. That’s how God made the apple tree. They produce all this fruit for someone else.

God created and designed you as a believer to produce fruit that others may enjoy and be blessed by. Galatians 5:22 gives us nine specific fruit that you will produce when God’s wisdom and His Spirit are at work in your life. This fruit is for the benefit of someone in your life. Let me show you how this works.

• If God is producing love in me, then I will be committed to you.
• If God is producing joy in me, then I will rejoice in/for/with you.
• If God is producing peace in me, then I will do everything I can to live in harmony and unity with you.
• If God is producing patience in me, then I will wait for you. I will wait for you to grow up, to mature, to come to your senses.
• If God is producing kindness in me, then I will bless you.
• If God is producing goodness in me, then I will do the right things for you and toward you.
• If God is producing faithfulness in me, then I will be there for you. I will not quit on you.
• If God is producing gentleness in me, then I will be considerate and tender toward you.
• If God is producing self-control in me, then I will restrict myself and control my emotions, thoughts, actions, and words toward you.

That is the fruit of God’s wisdom. If you are walking in the wisdom of God these kind of things will show up in your life. This fruit is for someone else. It’s for your wife, its for your husband, its for your children, its for your parents, its for your brother or sister, and its even for your enemy.

Your fruitfulness will have different levels of intensities

Number three, your fruitfulness will have different levels of intensities. The Spirit of God is working to produce His fruit in your life. But there are various factors that hinder the level or quality of fruit that comes from your life. This is why a mature believer may produce a lot of spiritual fruit, while an immature believer is not producing as much from their life.

Jesus talked about this in John 15 where He says those who follow Him will “produce fruit… more fruit… much fruit” (John 15:2,5,8; CSB). If you are not producing as much love as you would like or as much joy as you would like don’t give up on God yet. God is still cultivating, watering, pruning, and fertilizing your life so you will produce His fruit, more fruit and eventually much fruit.

Conclusion

When you are walking in God’s wisdom and producing things like love for others, joy even in the midst of pain, peace in the middle of chaos, and patience when everyone says hurry you will be living the most productive life you could ever live. There are people who God has placed in your life, they live under your branches and God wants you to produce for them fruit that He calls love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He is going to use you to feed them spiritually. Make sure that when they look up to you they see God’s love, God’s joy, and God’s peace coming from your life.

Remember, we are talking about God’s wisdom being produced in your life. Let’s finish our time together by looking at Colossians 1:9-10 which says, “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better” (NLT).

The wisdom we are talking about today is spiritual in nature. Its wisdom that helps you understand what God’s Word says and how to apply it to your life. It’s spiritual wisdom because it comes from God. It’s spiritual wisdom because the Holy Spirit will help you walk in this wisdom. It’s spiritual wisdom that produces spiritual fruit in your life. It’s the kind of wisdom that causes you to live a life that “honors and pleases the Lord.”

We need to pray for each other to grow in this wisdom because there is an enemy that is trying everything he can to get you to live by natural wisdom rather than supernatural wisdom. He wants you to think through life without God.

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