The Wisdom from Above Is Reasonable
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September 09, 2018 |
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"But 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 3:17-18).
Dr. Jaerock Lee,
Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church
Chairman, The United Holiness Church of Jesus Christ
Permanent President, The World Christianity Revival Mission Association
Founder & Board Chairman, Global Christian Network
Founder & Board Chairman, World Christian Doctors Network
Founder & Board Chairman, Manmin International Seminary
Founder & Board Chairman, The Alliance Holiness Theological Seminary
Doctorate of Ministry, and Honorary Doctorate of Divinity
His sermons were broadcast by the Far East Broadcasting Company and the Asia Broadcast Station.
He conducted crusades in New York City, Washington D. C., Baltimore, Maryland, Los Angeles, and in Hawaii of the USA; Japan; India; Pakistan; the Philippines; Argentina; Honduras; Peru; Russia; Germany; Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Jerusalem of Israel; and Estonia.
God says to His loving children, "Keep His commandments and do good, and I will bless you." While those who are spiritually foolish do not obey and just follow their own benefits, wise people joyfully keep the commandments and do good because they know that blessing given by God is much greater than profit they can gain through worldly methods.
As you keep the commandments, do good, cast off evil to achieve sanctification, and pursue peace, you can bear the fruit of gentleness and reasonableness. These two elements come from broad hearts and freedom that you can have to the extent that you cultivate your heart into truth. Continuing from the wisdom of gentleness in the last edition, I will explain the wisdom of reasonableness or wisdom of submissive willingness to yield.
1. Spiritual Meaning of 'Reasonableness'
Here, 'being reasonable' spiritually means 'being submissive with a willingness to yield.' When you are reasonable and submissive with a willingness to yield, you can show the aroma of a good and beautiful heart through words and deeds. If your heart is filled with goodness and truth, the words you give out will be good words and all your deeds will be beautiful.
But being good is not just being submissively soft and gentle all the time. It is also strong and bold because the heart filled with goodness and truth has the authority of light to drive away darkness. So, if we have reasonableness in a submissive willingness to yield, that is to yield to higher reason or judgment, we can lead others to the truth and help them control their hearts. Thus, when pastors and workers who have borne the fruit of reasonableness give advice to the church members, the authority of their words will be different.
Without the fruit of reasonableness, although you consulted someone and it seemed he understood, soon he may come with similar problems wanting to hear the answer again. Even if you do your best to solve his problems, you can see that he has not changed. But if you are submissively willing to yield, you can cut him off from all his doubts and negative thoughts he has. Just with a couple of words you can understand his situation and change the direction of his thoughts to have spiritual thoughts.
In other words, 'reasonableness' is not just about being good and gentle, but it is the high level of goodness in which we can discern and choose what is more pleasing to God by the Holy Spirit when there are several choices that belong to the truth.
2. Three Characteristics of 'Reasonableness'
1) It gives peace to others by discerning the crux of their problems based on the truth.
In Luke chapter 12, one person came to Jesus and asked Him to tell his brother to equally divide the inheritance of his parents with him. But Jesus said to him in Luke 12:15, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." Unless this person cast away his greed, he would constantly have conflicts with his brother. Also, only when he could cast away his greed could he receive blessings from God. So, Jesus gave him the spiritual answer by teaching him the true way of blessing.
In Daniel 5, King Belshazzar of Babylon was having a party. He brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem. He drank from them and praised his idols. At that moment, the fingers of a man's hand suddenly emerged and began to write something on the wall of the palace. The king was so shocked he trembled with fear. He said he would give a big reward to the person who could interpret the writing and would make him the third ruler in the kingdom.
Now Daniel who had been appointed by the king's father Nebuchadnezzar was summoned. He was able to read and explain what it meant. The meaning was that king Belshazzar acted arrogantly before God. Because of it, his kingdom was to be handed over to Medes and Persians. The king gave him great awards as he promised. He clothed him with purple and made him the third ruler in the kingdom.
Even after hearing the interpretation, however, he did not set about solving the problem to nullify the upcoming judgment of God. He just enjoyed his party. On that very night, he lost his kingdom and was killed by the enemy forces as God had said. God warned him in advance through such an extraordinary incident, and Daniel explained to him with wondrous wisdom, but it was of no use. Because the king did not apply the wisdom to himself, he could not derive any benefit from it.
There are some people who are like the king even today. They like to hear advice but they do not apply it to themselves. Thus, only when you change yourself in actions by the truth and try to help your family and people around you change can you help them change by the good wisdom and lead them to the grace of God.
2) It is discerning the will of God quietly and being self-content.
Some people show their discontent outwardly when things do not go as they want or when they are in difficult situations. They become nervous, their facial color changes, and they make others feel nervous as well. They pour out complaints, and they may also put the blame on others. But this way, they cannot solve the problem. These kinds of actions will just block them from experiencing the works of God, and they will lose the heart of others, too.
However, those who have cultivated submissiveness and willingness to yield will not lose the comfort in their heart even in difficult situations (Philippians 4:11-13). They do not get surprised or become sad. They just quietly discern the will of God. Because the grace of God they have received is abundant in them and because they are sure of the love of God, they can be at peace. And they choose the best course of action they can in given situations.
Of course, it does not mean they are not nervous at all. But it means deep inside their heart there is no agitation, and they are at peace because they trust God. When that trust is truthful, God will surely answer them and be glorified (Romans 8:28).
Faith is not just wanting God to work the way we want Him to work. If we truly believe, we have to realize the will of God by relying on Him all the time. And within the will of God we have to find our way and act with faith. If we are self-content in our situations with reasonableness and follow goodness, the Holy Spirit will always shine on our way.
This is the wisdom to experience the works of God who walks with us even in the valley of death.
3) It is the character to not only obey the word of God but do more than what we are supposed to do.
Those who have reasonableness of heart will obey the word of God because they love God. Furthermore, in the Holy Spirit's guidance, they can discern what is better in everything. When God commands them one thing, they do two or three, or even more than that by understanding the heart of God. When God looks at children like this, He will be so pleased saying, "They are after My heart."
You may sometimes have to choose between two things. Of course, if one is truth and the other is untruth, you obviously have to choose the truth. But if both of the things are of truth, most people would want to choose what they themselves want more. But if we have complete reasonableness, we would be able to choose things that can glorify God more. We would be able to think which of the ways would please God more. It was the case with Daniel and his three friends who were taken as captives to Babylon when it invaded the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
In Daniel 1, they lived in the palace of the Babylonian king and came to eat the choice food of the king. But this choice food possibly contained the kind of detestable foods prohibited by God's Law. Daniel and his three friends asked the chief of officials for a special favor. They asked him to give them only water and vegetables and check their condition after ten days. They could have just compromised and eaten the food thinking, "We are in Babylon, and it is out of our control." But they did not compromise and volunteered to eat only vegetables not to eat the foods prohibited by God.
So, God worked in a way that their appearances were better and more robust than those youths who were eating the king's choice food. Daniel and his friends also received great blessings because of their hearts that chose what is right and more of goodness. They later could reach high positions being recognized by the king.
It is sometimes not easy to choose what is more right in the sight of God. Even if we choose what is more of goodness, we may have some difficulties rather than immediate blessings. But even in those times, we have to have the willpower to accept them, without any complaints. We can do this only when we have strong trust in God. In addition, we have to understand what kinds of attitudes Daniel and his friends had until they were able to ask the chief of the officials such a favor. They were very good, faithful, and lovely before the chief of officials and other people. They had accumulated enough measure of their good deeds so that at a crucial moment God could move the heart of the chief of the officials.
When you show your faith in the sight of God, you sometimes need others' understanding or help. Suppose you want to attend a church's event but you cannot take a day off from work because of your work schedule or you have to go to family gathering. You have to ask a favor of other people or family members. To do so, you have to pile up deeds of goodness in your daily life. You must work diligently, gain recognition from others, and do no harm to others. You also have to move the hearts of your family members though you cannot attend the family gathering. If you just do whatever you want and ask them to understand you, it is just your greed.
3. Apostle Paul with Abundant Reasonableness
1) His desire not to cause souls to stumble
Even before he knew the Lord, he kept the Law of God completely. After he met the Lord, he gave his everything and he did not enjoy even the things that he could have enjoyed for the sake of the gospel. For example, 1 Corinthians 8:13 days, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble."
At that time, there was a lot of idolatry in Corinth, and in many markets they sold the meat that had been offered to idols. So, people often happened to buy some meat that had once been offered to an idol without knowing. They wondered if this would be unacceptable to God. Of course, if the believer knew that it had been offered to idols, it would be better that he did not eat it. But, if he did not know where it came from or could not but eat it, then even if he ate the meat it was not a sin (Romans 14). He was just eating it as food, not as a part of participating in idolatry.
But for those who had weak faith, they might have disliked eating what was once offered to idols. Also, just by seeing Apostle Paul eat that food, they might have thought that he was participating in idolatry. Or, they might have thought, "Oh, if a person like Paul can eat food that has been sacrificed to idols, then I can eat it, too." In Paul's faith, it doesn't matter to eat it, but he said he would not eat that kind of food in the fear that somebody who saw him could stumble. He said he wanted to choose not to eat any meat forever to prevent any soul from stumbling.
2) His heart's willingness to give up his right and authority
Apostle Paul gave up his right to enjoy himself and get married like other people did so that such things would not get in the way of his preaching the gospel. He even gave up the right to be supported by believers. In fact, pastors were provided with the necessities from the church members to devote themselves to the Word and prayer. But Paul worked and satisfied his needs on his own. Of course, there were several other reasons for it. But above all he did not want to burden the members because of his love for them.
God was pleased with Paul and let him manifest more powerful works than other apostles. Also, God gave him clearer inspiration and greater wisdom so that he could give clear answers to the members' questions. And with great powerful works, he could lead countless souls to salvation and in the direction God wanted.
When you accomplish the heart of reasonableness or submissiveness with a willingness to yield, you can choose goodness all the time. You will choose goodness not because you have a certain underlying purpose or because someone is watching you. It is just because you want to please God more. That is, the goodness that fills your heart overflows and naturally comes out in your words and actions. Pastors and leaders must achieve this heart of reasonableness because they must show good examples in everything and sometimes do something that they do not have to do in order to glorify God.
Thus, when we do something, even if it belongs to the truth, we must humbly check if it is right in God's sight once again and choose what is more pleasing to Him. Then, we can do everything more wisely. If we can choose things that are more pleasing to God, it is true wisdom. Also, we can discern what is more pleasing to God to the extent that we throw away selfish motives.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When you reach the eternal heaven, you will give tearful confession of thanks and love for God who remembers every hope of yours and gives beautiful dwelling places and rewards. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will receive the wisdom of reasonableness to choose what is pleasing to God and enter New Jerusalem the most beautiful heavenly kingdom.
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