DatePassageSermon TitleBig Idea Mini-Series…Just Stop It! 5/8James 1:1;9-11Stop Dropping Names James was the half-brother of Jesus yet he called himself

WORKS

Mini-Series—Just Stop It!Part 3-Stop Paying Stupid Tax

Date Passage Sermon Title Big Idea

Mini-Series…Just Stop It!5/8 James 1:1;9-11 Stop Dropping Names James was the half-brother of Jesus yet he

called himself a bondservant5/15 James 1:2-4 Stop Wasting Your Trials Trials are the process and means by which

God develops in every believer Christ’s character.

5/22 James 1:5-8 Stop Paying Stupid Tax Wisdom is offered freely and extravagantly to those who cry out for God’s wisdom.

5/29 James 1:12-18 Stop Blaming the Devil We sin because we have inward desires to sin

6/5 James 1:19-20 Stop Playing God We play God when we react in anger towards our trials and those who try us.

6/12 James 1:21-25 Stop Deceiving Yourself A person who study’s the Bible and leaves unchanged is a person that is self-deceived

6/19 James 1:26-27 Stop Waiting For Others to do your job

Pure religion acts to meet the needs of those around them and doesn’t wait for the government or others to do the job God has called them to do personally

Stop Paying Stupid Tax!

• I have a habit of listening to Dave Ramsey’s radio show while in the car as he talks about money matters. On a regular basis he will refer to the cost of bad financial decision making as “Stupid Tax.”

• Have you ever paid “Stupid Tax” before; I know I have!

Wisdom Defined:• σοφία (sophia)• The capacity to understand, hence act wisely

(Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains)

• all wisdom is ultimately rooted and grounded in God. Wisdom forms a central part of the nature of God. In wisdom God created the universe (Prv 3:19) and human beings (Ps 104:24). Thus wisdom, in its positive connotations, is something inherent in God, reflected in creation, and a part of the reason for human existence. (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)

• Working Definition…Knowledge Rightly Applied

TRUTH #1—WISDOM IS ROOTED IN THE NATURE OF GOD

“If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God”

• The context of this passage is trials and it is in the midst of trials that we are often in the most need of wisdom to navigate our trials correctly.


• Proverbs 1:1-7--Wisdom begins with fearing God

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, …A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, …

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.


• Proverbs 3:5, 6--Wisdom is to be the path of the believer

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.


• Proverbs 3:13-20--Wisdom rewards those who pursue her

Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens; By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.


• Proverbs 8--God is Wisdom1 Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice? 2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, Beside the way, where the paths meet. 3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, At the entrance of the doors:

22 “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. 23 I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

33 Hear instruction and be wise, And do not disdain it. 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD; 36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.”


• So often in our walk we depend upon our own wisdom, our own ideas and our own resources.

• When we choose to ignore, reject or simply not pursue God’s wisdom we do so at our own peril.

TRUTH #2— WISDOM IS GENEROUSLY

GIVEN BY THE HAND OF GOD“who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will

be given to him”

Liberally=ἁπλῶς (haplōs)-generous, open-handed

Without reproach—μή ὀνειδίζοντος-without shame

When we are in the midst of our trials we should cry out to God for wisdom because He is poised ready to open-handedly give us the wisdom that we need. And when we ask, He does so without shaming us!


GIVEN BY THE HAND OF GODLuke 11:5-13--God is the giver of good gifts to His children5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.


GIVEN BY THE HAND OF GODLuke 11:5-13--God is the giver of good gifts to His children9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”


GIVEN BY THE HAND OF GODProverbs 1:20-33--Wisdom is calling out for followers

20 Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. 21 She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: 22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. 23 Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.



24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,



They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. 31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies. 32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.”


GIVEN BY THE HAND OF GOD

Warning!!!

God gives His wisdom through primarily through His Word, His People, History and the Holy Spirit.

Wisdom is not typically easy, but it is effective!

TRUTH #3— WISDOM IS FOUND IN THE

SINGULAR PURSUIT OF GOD“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who

doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive

anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

-Ask in faith pistis-to trust completely, depend

-No doubting diakrinomenos-suggest vacillating

-Double-minded dipsychos-literally two-souled

-Unstable akatastatos-not controlled, wavering in purpose or intent

CONCLUSION

• Why do we need wisdom when we are going through trials? Why not ask for strength, or grace, or even deliverance? For this reason: we need wisdom so we will not waste the opportunities God is giving us to mature. Wisdom helps us understand how to use these circumstances for our good and God’s glory (Wiersbe).

CONCLUSION

• Often times in our lives we pay the same stupid tax over and over because we either ignorant of God’s wisdom or we simply walk in opposition to His wisdom.

• Are you currently paying stupid tax? • Are you on the precipice of paying it?• God is poised to freely and generously pour

out His wisdom to those who will ask and receive it!

Documents

DatePassageSermon TitleBig Idea Mini-Series…Just Stop It! 5/8James 1:1;9-11Stop Dropping Names James was the half-brother of Jesus yet he called himself