Rev. David Holwick I
Boothbay Baptist Church (re-working of my sermon on April 24, 1994)
Boothbay, Maine
July 10, 2022
James 1:5-8
WISDOM FOR THE ASKING
I. What smart people believe.
Rosalind Picard was a smart kid. She got straight A's.
She believed smart people didn't need religion.
Those who were religious must be uneducated.
In high school, she led a class debate that argued for a
godless form of evolution.
But the student audience awarded victory to the creation side.
Rosalind was dumbstruck.
At the time, she babysat to earn money.
One of her favorite families was a young couple who were
smart - the husband was a doctor.
One night, after paying her, they asked her to attend church
with them.
Rosalind was stunned - people this smart actually went to church?
When Sunday came around, she told them she had a stomachache.
The next Sunday she invented another illness.
This was not easy because she was trying to fake out a doctor.
Eventually the couple tried a different approach.
They told her, "Going to church is not what matters most.
What matters most is what you believe.
Have you read the Bible?"
Rosalind knew the Bible was the best-selling book of all time,
so she gave it a shot.
The young doctor recommended she read the book of Proverbs so
she did, in the King James version.
She was surprised to find the book of Proverbs was full of
real wisdom instead of the phony miracles she expected.
Then she bought the Living Bible translation and read the whole
Bible.
Rosalind began to wonder whether there really might be a God.
A college friend invited her to his church and this time she
agreed to go.
During the sermon she started to raise her hand to ask questions
but her friend nudged her - you don't do that in church!
One Sunday, the pastor talked about the difference between
believing there is a God, and following God.
He got her attention when he asked, "Who is the Lord of your
life?"
Rosalind had doubts about God's existence but she was willing to
try an experiment.
She prayed, "Jesus Christ, I ask you to be the Lord of my life."
Her world began to change dramatically.
She felt joy and freedom, but she still asked a lot of questions.
She says her life worked fine before she believed, but after she
turned her life over to God it worked exponentially better.
Today, Rosalind is a professor at MIT.
She once thought she was too smart to believe in God.
Now she knows she was an ignorant fool who snubbed the Author of
everything there is to know.
Once she asked him, she received a new level of knowledge of life.
#66149
A. The book of James was written for people who want to be wise.
1) Not wise in a theoretical sense, but in a practical sense.
2) It is a wisdom that applies knowledge to everyday life,
always keeping God in view.
a) Biblical wisdom is the ability to KNOW right from wrong,
and then to DO the right thing.
b) It is also the ability to find God's perfect will in
the worst circumstances, the kind that James's
readers were facing.
1> Jesus called it "understanding the times."
B. The context of today's passage is significant.
1) Verse 4 speaks of having a persevering faith that is mature
and lacks nothing.
a) Some in this church have this faith - maybe 3 of you.
b) The rest of us have one response - "I need help!"
2) Verse 5 repeats the word "lack" to focus on those who
still need to find this overcoming wisdom.
a) How do we get it? All we can do is ask God for it.
b) King Solomon is a great Old Testament example.
In 2 Chronicles 1:7, God appears to the young Solomon
and says, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."
Wow! What would YOU do with that offer?
In verse 10 Solomon responds, "Give me wisdom and
knowledge, that I may lead this people...."
God likes his answer and says,
"Since this is your heart's desire and you have not
asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the
death of your enemies,
And since you have not asked for a long life but for
wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom
I have made you king,
Therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And
I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor."
II. Getting by asking.
A. Obvious problem: ASKING doesn't always produce GETTING.
1) Verse 5 sounds very straightforward: lack, ask, receive.
a) But James himself knows it doesn't always work out
that way.
b) Maybe MOST of the time it doesn't work that way.
2) You have to know the God you are asking, and you have to
ask in the right spirit.
B. James says you must know the one we are asking help from.
1) God is not a casino dealer, handing out wins when he feels
like it.
a) Many try to beg God or make deals with him.
2) Our God is generous.
a) He wants to give us good things, just like a human
father. Luke 11:11-13
b) This reflects God's loving nature.
3) Our God is positive - he is not looking for faults.
a) He doesn't hold our past sins against us.
b) People tend to do this.
(Celeste's grandparents - grandma never forgave g.pa.)
Carl D. Windsor mentions this story:
Even the most devoted couple will experience a "stormy"
bout once in a while.
A grandmother, celebrating her golden anniversary, once
told the secret of her long and happy marriage.
"On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of ten of
my husband's faults.
For the sake of our marriage, I would overlook them."
A guest asked the woman what some of the faults she has
chosen to overlook were.
The grandmother replied, "To tell you the truth,
my dear, I never got around to listing them.
But whenever my husband did something that made me
hopping mad, I would say to myself,
Lucky for him that's one of the ten!" #1750
c) God is a lot more forgiving than we are, and we can
take comfort in this fact.
4) James says, ask this kind of God, and it will be given you.
III. Problem: It still doesn't work.
A. Understanding God's character is not enough.
1) We must also understand what God requires of us.
2) Choosing to do what God wants us to, is what faith is about.
B. Asking in faith.
1) We must believe God is hearing and can answer.
a) "Faith" here means trusting in God to act for us when
we pray.
2) The gospels reveal this kind of faith.
a) Men lower a paralytic through a roof. Mark 2:5
b) Bleeding woman's faith heals her. Mark 5:25,34
c) Blind man's faith gives sight. Mark 10:51,52
3) One scholar's definition:
"Faith is the simple act of coming to Jesus with some need,
in complete confidence that he can, and will, deal with
it."
C. We must believe God's way is best.
1) "I believe God will answer my prayer, or in His higher
wisdom have a good reason why not." (James Adamson)
2) Jesus himself had this kind of faith. Gethsemane. Luke 22:42
a) "Not my will, but yours be done."
3) We may not appreciate his answers, at first.
Barbara Bartocci was looking for a birthday card for her
husband and found one that said:
"Sweetheart, you are the answer to my prayers."
(inside)
"You're not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently
you're the answer."
Often we don't get exactly what we pray for, but we need
to trust that what we receive is the answer.
When her father became gravely ill, Barbara and her mother
prayed for three weeks that he would live.
One morning she quietly prayed in the hospital chapel,
"Dear God, I know what I would like.
But that may not be the best answer for Daddy. You love
him too.
So now I release him into your hands.
Not my will, but thy will be done."
She felt as if a burden had lifted from her shoulders.
Whatever God's answer, she knew it would be the right one
for her father.
Two weeks later he died.
When her children cried and asked her, "Why did Granddaddy
die?" she softly replied, "Apparently, it was the answer."
#2409
IV. When faith falls short.
A. There are reasons why God may not answer our prayers.
1) Because we are arguing with him.
2) Because we are complaining about our circumstances.
3) Because we are hesitant to be open to his answers.
B. Lack of faith hindered Jesus's ability to do miracles. Mk 6:4-6
1) Faith is necessary to discover God's power.
a) He doesn't just pour it out automatically.
2) What about healing crusades?
a) They work up emotions, then blame those who
aren't healed for lack of faith.
b) But they are correct in seeing a need for us to
respond, to receive from God.
C. Bible dilemma: Him or us?
1) Faith comes from God, and is not something we produce from
nothing. Ephesians 2:8-9
a) Yet we are responsible for using, or neglecting, it.
2) Somehow we have a PARTNERSHIP in God's will for us.
a) We would prefer to put it all on God's shoulders.
1> "I'm just an empty vessel, Lord." (Don't blame me.)
b) Not that simple. We have an active part to play.
1> (Short review of the theology of altar calls.)
2> Same principle holds for prayer.
V. Wavering waves of weakness.
A. Rollercoaster Christians.
1) Image of erratic sea swells (more than waves).
a) (My experience on a hovercraft on the English Channel.)
b) Sometimes this person thinks God may help him.
c) At other times he abandons hope and finds no solution.
2) "Double-mindedness" reveals divided allegiance. 1:8
a) Literally, double-souled.
b) Part wants to trust God, part wants to trust world.
1> St. Augustine prayer:
"God, make me pure. But not yet, not yet!
#2180
B. Faith in prayer means constant trust in God.
1) If a person has no real trust in God, it is doubtful that
he would recognize any answer that came as being from God.
2) Such people receive nothing from God - beyond his general
goodness to everyone.
C. Affects more than prayer - unstable in ALL he does. 1:8
Commentator Homer Kent:
When a person has no stable understanding of God and thus
no firm relationship with Him, he can have no truly
satisfying philosophy of life.
If one does not know that God is in charge and controls all
things and that He has made certain promises to His
children in the Bible, difficult circumstances can be
frightening indeed.
A sense of hopelessness, despair, panic, or depression is
often the result.
Such a doubter tends to view himself as a victim of his
circumstances, rather than a participant in the life and
program of God, who controls our circumstances. [1]
VI. Sometimes we need a little help to believe.
A. When we believe, mountains can move. Mark 11:23
I know a church in New Jersey that believes this.
It was a little over two miles from my home.
Back in the 1960s they moved to a site on a hill and
built a nice sanctuary.
But the town planning board wouldn't let them use it
because there wasn't enough parking available.
There was a huge pile of dirt behind the church where
the second and third parking lots would have to go.
They had no place to move it and couldn't afford to truck
it away.
The next Sunday, Pastor Crawford read them Matthew 17:20,
"If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place,
and it shall remove;
and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
The pastor then added, "If you believe that, come on
Wednesday night to pray with me that God will move this
mountain in back of our church."
The next morning the pastor's phone rang.
It was the telephone company.
They needed to fill a swampy area to put up a new building.
Could the church sell them some dirt?
But of course!
The phone company hauled away 40,000 square yards of dirt,
leveled the ground for their parking lots, and paid them
$25,400!
#28651
B. What if we fall short?
1) Story of a man with a demon-possessed son. Mark 9:21
a) Man - "If you can, help us."
b) Jesus - "All things are possible to those who believe."
c) Man - "Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief."
1> His son is healed by Jesus.
2) Is he a double-minded person?
a) Not really. He is facing in the right direction.
b) But he feels inadequate.
c) God can handle inadequacy.
VII. Are YOU wavering or solid?
A. Over a problem?
B. Over salvation itself?
C. If you really want an answer, ask God.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Homer A. Kent,Jr. “Faith That Works: Studies in the Epistle of James,”
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1986.
# 1750 “Lucky For Him That's One of the Ten!” by Carl D. Windsor,
Leadership magazine, April 1990, page 48.
# 2409 “The Unexpected Answer,” by Barbara Bartocci, Readers Digest,
December 9, 1999, page 87.
# 2180 “Not Yet, Not Yet!” Original source is forgotten but it may
have come from Tan’s “Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations.”
#28651 “Can Prayer Move Mountains?” from the booklet “1943-1973, From
Maple Avenue To the Mount," (a history of Grace Church),
page 29.
#66149 “An MIT Professor Meets the Author of All Knowledge,” by Rosalind
Picard, Christianity Today, March 15, 2019.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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