James 3

A3 Chapter 3

B1 Teachers

C1 This is teachers who teach the Christian faith.

C2 They must know the Gospel, Christian doctrine, and the Christian life.

C3 If a teacher teaches falsehood, God will judge.

C4 We should be careful to know the truth.

C5 We must interpret the Bible, read the Bible, and study the Bible in its plain, normal sense.

B2 Speech James 3:1-12

C1 What we say can be very dangerous. Our tongue cannot be tamed.

C2 The perfect man is one who is a mature Christian.

D1 Perfect has the sense of complete.

D2 In this case, complete in holiness in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.

D3 Verses

E1 Matthew 5:48 CSB - Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

E2 1 John 4:18 CSB - There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

C3 The Lord Jesus is the only one who is sinless and perfect..

C4 Some things:

D1 Lying VS truth

D2 Verbal abuse VS encouragement

D3 Foolishness VS wisdom

D4 Babbling VS quiet

B3 The life that the Lord Jesus wants of us is a life of wisdom towards others. James 3:13

C1 Words and self opinions may be OK.

C2 The truth is seen in actions, not just words.

C3 The Lord Jesus lived as He preached. Hebrews 13:8 CSB - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

B4 Four things that we are NOT to have James 3:14

C1 Bitter envy The word has to do with zeal, a hot, angry jealousy, emotional passion for something. Our zeal must be for God and His ways, not for us and our ways. Notice that this and selfish ambition are a heart issue: Matthew 15:19 GNB For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.

C2 Selfish ambition The Greek word implies a politician running for office making statements to get elected. These appear to be promises and truth but are not.

C3 Bragging which has the idea of having something, say an ability or talent, and shamelessly bragging about it. This bragging and lying is to oppose, negate, and hinder truth. It is implying that what I believe is truth rather than truth (reality).

C4 Lie against the truth An example of this is Paul: Acts 26:8-9 CSB - "Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? "In fact, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things in opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

B5 Different kinds of wisdom James 3:15-18

C1 Worldly wisdom James 3:15-16

D1 This is the type of wisdom, philosophy, debate, argument, science, etc. against truth, especially the Christian faith. Some have left the faith from this “scholars.” 1 Timothy 6:20-21 NASB - O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge"-- which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.

D2 Labeled as earthly, sensual, devilish.

D3 Leads to

E1 Disorder

E2 Every type of evil

D4 This wisdom is foolish: 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 NKJV - Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness"; and again, "The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.

C2 Godly wisdom James 3:17-18

D1 Facts, that is, based on God’s standards, truth, reality, and what is most reasonable. All these are in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.

E1 God gives this wisdom: Proverbs 2:6 CSB - For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

E2 We need to ask from God: James 1:5 CSB - Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

D2 We can read and study wisdom—The Bible

C3 Table of 2 sources of wisdom

Wisdom Not From Above	Wisdom From Above
Earthly	Spiritual
Impure	Pure
Bitter jealousy	Peaceful
Selfish ambition	Gentle
Bragging	Compassionate
Lying against the truth	Reasonable
Sensual	Merciful
Selfish ambition	Produces good results (in the things we do)
Demonic	No prejudice
Confusion	No hypocrisy
Evil deeds and actions	Righteous

B6 Application

C1 We need to be careful what we teach.

C2 The Bible is the only source of 100% truth.

C3 We need to pray for God’s help so we can watch what we say.

C4 We need God’s wisdom, so we ask and study the Bible and apologetics as Cold Case Christianity.