would ask you to open your Bibles to James chapter 3. James chapter 3. While you're doing that, I do want to bring greetings to you from Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Kirkland, where I serve. We pray for you regularly and seek the Lord's blessing upon you here, and we certainly are grateful for our fellowship in the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as well as that ecclesiastical fellowship that we enjoy in the context of the Association.
We also want to thank you for your prayers for the work in Cuba. As you know, my co-pastor and my father, Don Limblad, regularly travels there. He's, in fact, just returned from a trip. And we are grateful for your prayers, for your concern for that labor as well.
And I would also like to take this occasion to thank you for your prayers for the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies Theological Seminary. I know that's a mouthful, but thank you for your prayers. Nonetheless, you may know that this fall I will be One of the professors there will be teaching there beginning this fall. I'm not moving, my family's not relocating, but I will be traveling back and forth to fulfill my responsibilities there.
So thank you for your fellowship in Christ, for your fellowship in prayer, and for your fellowship in the things most dearly loved and believed among us. Again, I've asked you to turn in your Bibles to James chapter 3, and I want to read verses 13 through 18. And this morning, we want to give consideration to the subject of wisdom. Hear now the reading of God's Word, James 3, verses 13 through 18.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life, his works in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace. May God add his blessing. to the reading of His Word.
Let us again bow before the Lord, our God, in prayer, seeking His blessing upon His Word.
Opening Prayer
Our gracious Heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, by the powerful operation of the Spirit, we pray that Your Word would be implanted within our hearts that your word would be inscribed upon our minds, that your word would bear fruit in our lives. To this end, we pray particularly for your blessing upon the word as it is preached now. May we come to understand not only what wisdom is, but may we come to see the vital need that we have to live our lives in wisdom, to live our lives indeed in the fear of the Lord. Bless us, we pray for Jesus' sake, amen.
Introduction
Wisdom. Wisdom is a vital concern of the teaching of Holy Scripture. We find, in fact, that there are several books in the Old Testament that are devoted exclusively to the subject of wisdom. We find as well in the New Testament several places that touch upon this vital subject, and indeed the book of James is one such place.
One could make the case that the entire book of James is the New Testament equivalent of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. It is New Testament wisdom literature. And yet, for all of the attention that wisdom gets in the Holy Scripture, experientially, that is, in our lives as Christians, we often feel, perhaps, that wisdom is elusive to us. We talk about wisdom, we talk about the need for wisdom, we even pray for wisdom.
But perhaps as we live our lives before God, we sense, or at least we feel perhaps, that we do not quite understand what wisdom looks like, what wisdom entails, how wisdom behaves. Well, the Scriptures teach us these very things. And in fact, again, the book of James teaches us this very thing and answers these questions for us. And even particularly here in our text this morning, in James chapter 3 and verses 13 through 18, we find a clear and a concise discussion or delineation of true wisdom.
James here is concerned to describe true wisdom, especially in contrast to its counterfeit, to false wisdom. And in fact, what we'll discover here this morning is that this instruction regarding wisdom lies at the heart of everything else that he has to say in this book, as he speaks even here of patience, of good works, And even later in the letter, or earlier in the letter in fact, as he speaks of the use of the tongue, for example, all of these realities, all of these practical realities of the Christian life are rooted in, or founded in, and in fact are the form of true wisdom. James tells us here that true wisdom, that Christian wisdom, is wisdom from above. He uses that phraseology twice, in fact.
One, to tell us that a certain form of wisdom is not wisdom from above, and then as he actually positively describes this wisdom. True Christian wisdom is this wisdom from above. It is heavenly wisdom. And it is necessary, it is vital for God's pilgrim people.
For us, as we yet live in this fallen age, in this sinful world, waiting for the ultimate, the final fulfillment and realization of God's promises to us in Christ. One author puts it this way, the epistle of James is an apostolic ministry of heavenly wisdom addressed to the 12 tribes in the dispersion who suffer manifold trials in their pilgrimage to the kingdom which God has promised to those who love him and who for this reason are in need of heavenly wisdom. Here is an apostolic ministry, a divinely appointed ministry of heavenly wisdom addressed to the church of Jesus Christ, the church as it suffers various trials, those various trials experienced along the way, as it were, to heaven. to the ultimate realization of the kingdom. And it is a ministry, again, that we need.
We need this heavenly wisdom. We need wisdom from above. Now, as James speaks to us and describes for us this wisdom, he contrasts it, again, with its counterfeit And he does this, he tells us what wisdom is not, and he tells us what wisdom is, ultimately to form this wisdom in us, and so that then we might frame our lives in this wisdom. He is concerned to teach us what wisdom is, yes, but he is concerned as well to see this wisdom take root in our hearts and bear fruit in our lives.
And as he discusses this wisdom, as he delineates this wisdom, in fact, he teaches us the four fundamental features, the four fundamental aspects of true, godly, heavenly wisdom. And we want to notice those four things this morning.
Wisdom Is Communicated
First of all, James teaches us that wisdom from above is a communicated wisdom. That is, wisdom needs to be understood in relation to its source, in relation to its origin. And true wisdom, this wisdom from above, he says, finds its source, finds its origin in God. And not just God generically. but the triune God, the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When James uses this phrase, wisdom that cometh down from above, he uses that phrase in verse 15, again, in contrast to an earthly or sensual or devilish wisdom, which is no wisdom at all. And then in verse 17, he speaks of the wisdom that is from above, he is clearly indicating, again, the source, the origin, the place from which or the one from whom comes wisdom. And in that sense, he is clearly tying what he's saying here about wisdom to what He has already said about God and all things as they stand in relation to God. Remember what He says back in chapter 1 and verse 17.
Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Christian wisdom, heavenly wisdom, true wisdom, is the gift of the triune God, the immutably good God. He implants wisdom, in fact, into the minds and into the hearts of His people. We need to say several things in this regard.
Source: The Triune God
Christian wisdom descends from the Father of Lights. Its origin is our Heavenly Father. But we need not think that the Father is somehow alone in this task. The reality is, again, this is a gift of the triune God.
It comes down from the Father of lights, that is, the God who is the author and creator of all things, including wisdom itself. And it comes through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, by way of the Spirit that He has made to dwell within us. Wisdom finds its ultimate source, its ultimate origin then in the triune God, as the triune God operates and works, as it were, in our salvation. Further, we need to understand that
Channel: Word and Spirit
this wisdom is communicated to us through the word of truth, through a word that is delivered by the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, and even by apostolic servants such as James, who is the servant of God and the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. James 1 in verse 18 reminds us that even our salvation comes to us through the word of truth. That word again, which was revealed, delivered by the prophets of whom James speaks in chapter 5 in verse 10. And James himself describes his calling and his labor as one who is an apostolic servant, a servant of God, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in James 1 and verse 1.
So this Christian wisdom, this heavenly wisdom comes from God, from the triune God. And it is communicated by way of the word, by way of that prophetic and apostolic word that is inscripturated, written in the form of the Holy Scriptures. But even then we need to understand that this wisdom comes from God. This wisdom is inscripturated, if you will, in the Old and the New Testaments, but it is a wisdom itself that is implanted into our hearts, that is communicated from God to us by way of that powerful work of regeneration.
For indeed, the word of truth itself, the word of wisdom, is implanted by God in our hearts through that powerful work of regeneration. And that regeneration bears a harvest of righteousness in those who are the firstfruits of God's new creation. Wisdom from above is communicated. It is from God. through His apostolic and prophetic servants, through His Word of truth.
And it is given to us specifically as our minds are enlightened to the truth of Scripture. Minds once darkened in sin, now enlightened by the work of the Holy Spirit. It comes to us as those whose hearts have been changed from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh. And it comes to us as those whose wills were once enslaved in sin but have now been renewed again, all as the Spirit works savingly and sovereignly in our lives.
All of this to say, is that God is the fount of wisdom. Scripture is the form of wisdom, and we come to share, we come to receive and participate even in that wisdom by way of the Spirit saving us, or applying to us, as it were, the benefits of Jesus Christ. One author speaks in this sense by reminding us that the God of unchangeable goodness is the fountain of every good and perfect gift in nature, grace, and glory. He gives good gifts to all in simplicity with unmixed motives.
Just as God fathered the heavenly lights in the first creation, so he fathers the saints in the new creation by bringing them forth of his own goodwill through the word of truth. Again, is this not what James has already told us in chapter one? Of His own will, who is James speaking of here? Speaking of the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, with whom there is no shadow of turning.
Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. The first fruits of the new. creation. And in doing so, God grants us wisdom. God, out of His own perfect, His own unchanging goodness, gives freely and graciously this wisdom from above.
And He gives it to those whom He, of His own will, through His Word and Spirit, brings to life regenerates. Wisdom then is from above. It is from God. It is from God first, second, third, and last.
Through and through. God is the source, the origin of the wisdom that we need. Indeed, just as all things are of the Father through the Son, and in and by the Spirit, so wisdom comes from the Father, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who shows no respect of persons, and even by the Spirit of truth and wisdom. Wisdom from above then is communicated, communicated from God to us, his creatures, indeed to us, those who are new creatures in Jesus Christ.
Wisdom Is a Copy
Secondly, and we've already hinted at this, but it needs to be said specifically and clearly, secondly, wisdom from above is a copy. That is, it is a copy of God's own wisdom. We need to think as well, or not only of the source and the origin of wisdom, but we need to think of the form of wisdom. What does wisdom look like?
What is the wisdom that God communicates to us? Well, James tells us here that the wisdom which the triune God communicates by His grace to the saints of His new creation is, first of all, pure. Now, what James here says in verse 17 about the purity of this wisdom from above, needs to be understood as he speaks of this wisdom in contrast to false wisdom, or we might even say to folly. He speaks of a form of wisdom which is earthly.
He speaks of a wisdom that is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. True wisdom in distinction is pure. It is untainted, untarnished by the world, by the flesh, and by the devil. It takes its very form.
It has its very nature, not from the things that belong to this passing evil age, but it takes its form from the age to come. That is, it takes its very form from above. It takes its very form, we might even say, first and foremost, from God. When James says that this
Pure and Ordered After God
wisdom from above is first of all pure, he's not merely saying that it is first in addition to a number of other things pure, but he's saying first of all in a foundational sense, in an ultimate sense. He says, that we cannot be said to know wisdom at all if we do not first know and understand that the very form of wisdom is pure. Not only is it from God, but wisdom, true wisdom, reflects, if you will, God. Is God himself not pure?
James has already told us that God is not tempted and cannot be tempted with evil in chapter one and verse 13. And so the wisdom which he gives, the wisdom which he communicates to his believing and regenerate people is, we might say, a copy. a shadow of His own immutable and infinite wisdom. God is wise, God communicates wisdom, and the wisdom that He communicates to you and to me as believers is, we might say simply, divine wisdom. but a wisdom that is suited to us as creatures. Remember that God is infinite.
We are finite. That's just a fancy theological way of saying that God is God and we are creatures. And as creatures, we're not God, and as God, God is not a creature. And so the wisdom that God communicates is a copy of his own infinite and incomprehensible wisdom in a form that we can understand, in a form that we can apprehend, and in a form that we can even put into practice in our lives.
The wisdom that he grants, the wisdom that he implants in us by the regenerating work of the Spirit is a wisdom that simply is the word of truth. How do we know that? Well, first of all, we need to notice in this context that James speaks of that false wisdom that earthly, sensual, and devilish wisdom as a wisdom that lies against the truth. Verse 14, true wisdom then, a wisdom that is from above, does not lie against the truth, even as God himself is true.
Moreover, as James speaks of this wisdom in its practice, as it takes shape in our daily lives, he says that this wisdom is also, verse 17, without variance, without hypocrisy. It's a wisdom that doesn't fluctuate and change based upon the people that are in front of us, or even whether we're with people or by ourselves. It's not a wisdom that is hypocritical, that shows the face of one thing when in reality and in truth, there's something else going on in the mind and in the heart. But where does James get this idea that wisdom is without variance, that it's without hypocrisy?
Well, God himself is without variance. God himself, there is no variation, no shadow of turning. And James in chapter two tells us and reminds us that God is not a respecter of persons. God does not show partiality because God himself is immutably good and righteous.
Indeed, because this wisdom is a gift of the God who is unchangeably good, immutably wise, The wisdom He gives to us is good. It is a wisdom that shows itself in a good life of works in meekness. Verse 13 here of our text. What then is wisdom?
What then is this wisdom that is from above that God communicates to us. I think perhaps the most helpful thing in the text is that it's found in verse 16. As James piles up this description of this earthly and sensual and devilish wisdom, this counterfeit wisdom, this folly, he says, for where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. Much of what James here has to say about true wisdom is given to us in the negative.
That is, we're told what it is by way of what it's not. False wisdom is confusion. True wisdom is order. True wisdom, in fact, is all things ordered rightly in relation to God.
For us to have wisdom then is to understand all things as they are ordered by God and as they are ordered in relation to God. The man who is wise and who has understanding, in other words, is the man whose thoughts and ways, whose mind and heart are ordered rightly in relation to God. The wisdom from above, then, that is a communicated copy of divine wisdom. It is true.
It is good. It is without variation. It shows no partiality. It is pure.
That is, it is ordered by God. and it is ordered in relation to God. It sees all things as they are related to God. It is not an earthly wisdom. It's not a sensual or animal wisdom.
And indeed, it's not a diabolical wisdom. No, the wisdom that comes from above is heavenly, spiritual, divine. Just as God, we might say, is perfectly ordered in himself, just as God has perfectly ordered all things in relation to himself in his works of creation and redemption, So then the wisdom that he gives is that pure order, that pure understanding of the way in which all things stand in relation to God. Wisdom then is communicated from God.
Wisdom from above is a copy that is the form that it takes, the shape that it takes, is ordered after God Himself and His own wisdom. But thirdly, we also want to understand from the text that
Wisdom Is Contemplative
wisdom from above is, we might say, contemplative. Wisdom and the activity of wisdom The use of wisdom, we might say, engages the intellect. It engages the mind. Again, we've already spoken to the fact that counterfeit wisdom, false wisdom, is rooted in a lie against the truth.
Verse 14. Its origin, James goes on to say, is earthly. It has its foundation in this passing evil age, this fallen world. It is sensual.
Again, its form is of the flesh, of the fallen mind. It is natural, we might even say, as opposed to spiritual. It's born of man's faulty reasoning rather than being born of the regenerating work of the Spirit of Christ. And perhaps the most damning thing that can be said of this false wisdom is that it is devilish.
It is itself a copy of the devil's false wisdom, the devil's feigned wisdom. It is a wisdom that begins in the question, or with the question, has God really said Remember that Satan is the father of lies. And the very first lie recorded in Scripture is that lie. Has God said?
True wisdom not only says that yes, God has said, but God has said clearly. And He's spoken clearly in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the wisdom that is ours given to us by God is the wisdom that has become even incarnate in Jesus Christ. But this false wisdom then, this wisdom that is devilish, this wisdom that entails a spiritual darkness that is in bondage to the devil, is a wisdom or a false wisdom that is marked by confusion rather than order.
The same can be said of how false wisdom works or even what false wisdom looks to.
False vs. True Contemplation
False wisdom, this devilish wisdom that is not true wisdom at all, considers or contemplates things only as they are in themselves, or only as they are understood in relation to this fallen world. James, again, is stating negatively things that need to be understood by us positively. When he says that this false wisdom is earthly, sensual, devilish. He tells us that true wisdom is the very opposite.
And just then, as false wisdom only looks at things through the lens of sin, and as they are disordered by sin, true wisdom will contemplate all things in relation to God. The wisdom that is from above entails contemplating everything that is and everything that is a part of our lives as ordered by God or as they stand disordered presently in sin. As we look at the world, for example, we look at it as God tells us to look at it. As we contemplate the things that He has made, we say, yes, God made these things.
But we also say that in rebellion, man has ruined these things. Wisdom, then, is the believing, regenerate activity of contemplating all things in relation to the triune God.
Contemplating Trials in Relation to God
Think of James' very first word in this letter. Count it all joy, verse two. Consider your manifold temptations. Consider these things and count it as joy.
What James is telling us to do here in this opening exhortation is to contemplate our trials as God would have us to contemplate them. Contemplate your trials, contemplate the manifold temptations that face you in relation to God, in relation to the truth that God has made known. Don't contemplate your trials in relation to anything other than what God has said. Don't consider your trials and your temptations as they are only in themselves.
I'm being attacked for my profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I'm being mocked in the workplace for a commitment to Christ. I'm being mocked even for setting aside the Lord's Day, a day in its entirety to worship God. This is a trial.
This is a temptation. Don't look at it only in terms of the mocking itself and only in terms of the momentary and passing trial that it is, but consider it in relation to God. Consider how God defines that trial and consider even the end that God has in view in that trial. contemplate all things in relation to God. That is true wisdom.
True wisdom considers carefully that God is not only the author and source and origin of wisdom, but that God is also the object of all heavenly wisdom, as one has put it. All of God's gifts His gifts of nature, of grace, and of glory necessitate, in fact, that we contemplate all things in relation to God. God indeed Himself has ordered all things in relation to Himself, and we, as it were, to think His thoughts after Him, to exercise wisdom after His wisdom. True wisdom then, as one has put it, regarding anything in our lives, is gained when all things are viewed in relation to God, the supreme origin and end of creatures.
For James 2, or for James also, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom. contemplative. True wisdom is the spiritual capacity for knowing and perceiving the good God and all things in relation to Him. Again, wisdom itself is not confusion but order, and we need to contemplate that order as God defines it. we need to contemplate all things as they are ordered by God and ordered in relation to God.
But this activity of the regenerate soul bears fruit. And James spends a lot of time, in fact, telling us about this fruit, for which reason we need to understand that wisdom is not only communicated. Wisdom is not only a copy, if you will, of God's own good and immutable wisdom. Wisdom is not only contemplative, that is an intellectual activity or the intellectual activity of the soul, but
Wisdom Is Consequential
we need to notice fourthly and finally that wisdom from above is consequential. That is, it is practical. It bears fruit. The fruit, the consequence of this contemplative wisdom, of considering and contemplating all things in relation to God, is the spiritual capacity, as one has put it, for discerning the right course of action as we live between the inauguration and consummation of God's eternal kingdom.
As we are pilgrims on the way, living between the cross and the consummation, what we need is wisdom, And what we need is a wisdom that engages the totality of man's life, that engages the totality of our soul. This wisdom then is not only an intellectual activity, but it is, we might even say, a vital activity, an activity of the life. James here tells us He asks this opening question, who is wise and understanding among you? Who has so ordered his thoughts in the contemplation of God? and in the contemplation of all things as they relate to God, as God has made them, and even as God has redeemed sinners, and even as God will come and usher in the fullness of His new creation.
Who is wise in understanding in that way? James says, let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. Wisdom comes from God. Wisdom considers God.
And wisdom, as it were, returns unto God as our lives are framed and ordered by God. As we live as God would have us to live. As we maintain a good life, that is a life that is good as God defines it. by doing works in meekness, good works, works that conform to God's law. All of this is done out of wisdom and is itself a show of wisdom.
Moreover, James goes on to tell us that this wisdom from above does not bear the fruit of bitter jealousy. It does not bear the fruit of factions. How could it? If wisdom is order rather than confusion, it can't bear the fruit of confusion.
And the fruit of confusion is this jealousy, these factions. These are things that are rooted in self-centered pride rather than God-centered humility. Such things are earthly and sensual and devilish. No true wisdom bears the fruit of humility.
Jealousy and faction. In fact, all these vile deeds are the fruit. They're the consequence of confusion. James tells us in verse 16.
What needs to be true of us as God's regenerate people is that we need to be marked by that pure wisdom which is from above. Again, that godly wisdom that first contemplates all things in relation to the immutably good God and bears the fruit of a good life. And what is that fruit? It is the fruit of peace.
Wisdom from above, we are told, is first pure, then peaceable. Are you seeking peace in the context of the church? Is the order that God has established for the church your desire? That's wisdom.
That's the fruit of wisdom. Wisdom is also gentle and merciful. It's easy to be entreated. What James here means is that it's open to correction.
It's full of mercy and good fruits. It's without partiality. Indeed, it is sincere without variance. It is true without hypocrisy.
All of the vicious patterns of speech and life that James condemns in this context are the opposite of the practical wisdom that he enjoins, the practical wisdom to which we're exhorted here. The way that we talk to each other, The way that we live with each other in the communion of the saints just is the practice of wisdom. These are those virtues that contribute to and are conducive to the peace, to the harmony, indeed, the order of the church.
Practical Fruit of Wisdom
Wisdom from above, then, is a course of practical wisdom, a course of putting wisdom into practice. And it's not what the world would suggest. It's certainly not what our own flesh would propose. And it's not what the devil himself would endorse.
No, it is that form of wisdom that comes from God, conforms to God, and again, we might say conduces to God or leads us to God. For not only does practical wisdom have our life in the church in view, as it does here in our text, but really it has in view our friendship with God. drawing from other texts in the scripture as well as other texts here in James, one author puts it this way. The ultimate happiness promised to the one who stands the test under trials is the crown of life, which God has promised to those who loved him. Just as contemplative wisdom lays a foundation for practical wisdom, so practical wisdom prepares pilgrim saints for a blessing that lies beyond the ken of its immediate agency, and that according to Jesus and Paul is itself contemplative in nature.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Practical wisdom prepares us for the blessing of the beatific vision, of the sight of Christ in glory. The road that we are walking from, as it were, our regeneration unto our glorification, the road that we are traveling as pilgrims on the way to heaven is a road of wisdom. A road of practical wisdom.
Of wisdom that bears fruit. Contemplating all things in relation to the triune God. Faith will bear the fruit of good works. Faith will bear the fruit of meekness and of peace.
It will bear the fruit of righteousness, sown in peace for them that make peace. Wisdom then comes from God, and wisdom in its practical nature, in fact, leads us to God. Not only as we're conformed to Jesus Christ, but as we walk upon that road, which will eventuate in our standing before God and hearing Him say unto us, Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Application
Now, all of this, to be sure, is a matter of grace. In fact, none of us can be wise apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit of Christ. Without the Spirit, Any show of wisdom is just that, a show. The question then is, are you wise?
That is, at a foundational level, have you come to understand, have you come to know the wisdom of God made known in Jesus Christ? Have you been born again? And the only way you can know the answer to that question is to answer this question. Do you trust in Christ and in Christ alone?
The fruit of regeneration is faith. And it is that faith which generates within us an earnest desire to walk in wisdom, to live in wisdom. It is the seed of eternal life that has been implanted within us, that generates within us a desire to know and for our lives to be ordered in relation to the God who has brought us to life. Is that true of you?
Do you love wisdom? Do you seek after wisdom? Another way to put that is, do you love God? Do you seek after God?
And do you seek to know and understand and live your life always in relation to God, in that order which God himself has established, that order which God himself has created in you. Do you desire wisdom? Seek it from above, seek it from God, and practice that wisdom. As you contemplate God and all things in relation to God, seek after peace one with another.
Be gentle one towards another. Be open to correction one towards another. Be full of mercy towards one another. Bear good fruit toward one another.
Do not show partiality in your midst, but live in truth and in sincerity with one another. Bear the fruit of righteousness that is sown in the soil of peace. Make peace with one another, knowing this, that God has made peace with us in Christ, and that we will enjoy an eternity of peace in the eternal contemplation of our Triton God. Would you know wisdom It may be found from above.
It may form your life. Indeed, it may form your mind and your very steps. May God grant us such wisdom, and may He grant that we would live in such wisdom. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our gracious God and heavenly Father, show mercy to us and grant us that wisdom which is from above. Leave us not to our own devices, for all we have is but sin. Grant grace unto us that we might live in wisdom. that we might walk in wisdom, that we might bear the fruit of wisdom here in the context of the church, as well as in the context of our lives, bearing witness to your grace. Lord, be gracious to us, bless us, smile upon us, treat us not as our sins deserve, but grant us true wisdom, we pray, for Jesus' sake, amen.
Our God dismisses us with this word of blessing. Please stand for the benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen. you