What does First B Jackson teach about wisdom?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on wisdom starts with a clear distinction: wisdom is not the same as intelligence. Pastor Scott and Pastor Ray have both made the point that you can be smart and still lack wisdom entirely. Wisdom is applied knowledge, knowing when and how to act on what you know. James 3:13-18 is the passage the church returns to most on this, and the challenge James puts there is direct: if you claim to be wise, prove it by the life you live, specifically in honorable conduct done with humility.
The humility piece gets careful attention in these messages. Pastor Scott defined it as meekness, gentle strength, power held in reserve, and he was clear that it does not come naturally. Human nature fights it at every turn. The clearest picture of it in scripture is Jesus at his arrest, a man who could have called thousands of angels and chose instead to walk the path the Father had set before him. James draws a sharp contrast between that kind of wisdom and the world's version. The world's wisdom, rooted in jealousy and selfish ambition, produces disorder and evil without much effort at all. God's wisdom produces something entirely different: a harvest of righteousness, marked by qualities James lists one by one, pure, peace loving, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good deeds, showing no favoritism, always sincere.
Solomon's life stands in the background of these teachings as a sobering illustration. Both Pastor Ray and Pastor Mark have worked through his story, and the lesson is hard to miss. Solomon asked God for wisdom when he could have asked for anything, received it, heard direct warnings from God more than once, and still turned away. Wisdom and wealth, as Pastor Ray put it, are not the answer to mankind's problem, because Solomon had both and still walked the wrong road. The point is not to discourage but to do what Solomon himself wanted Ecclesiastes to do: keep the rest of us from learning the same lesson the hard way. James says wisdom is available to anyone who asks, and that is where the church lands, not on human effort or intelligence, but on asking God, who gives it generously.
Taught from James 3:13-18 · James 1:5 · Proverbs 4:7 · Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 · Proverbs 3:5-6
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 6, 2019 Prove It: True Wisdom Comes from God James 3 shows that true wisdom comes from God, not ourselves. It is pure, peace-loving, gentle, and merciful, and it produces a harvest of righteousness.
- January 6, 2019 True Wisdom Comes From God James 3 shows two kinds of wisdom: the world's, which breeds disorder, and God's, which grows righteousness. Learn what it looks like and how to seek it.
- May 5, 2013 The Philippians of the Old Testament, Morning Praise The pastor traces Solomon's arc from wisdom and wealth to regret, showing how Ecclesiastes was written by a man who knew better but wandered, and what that means for us.
Mentioned along the way
- February 7, 2024 Women's Bible Study - February 7th, 2024 - James 3 Deborah walks through James 3 on the power of the tongue, exploring how our words shape our lives and how guarding the heart leads to wisdom and peace.
- January 24, 2024 Women's Bible Study - January 24th, 2024 - James 1 James chapter one shows that real faith thinks differently, acts boldly, and trusts a good God even when trials, temptation, and suffering press hard against us.
- February 26, 2023 Fear God and Keep His Commandments Pastor Ray walks through the arc of Solomon's life and the book of Ecclesiastes to show why wisdom and wealth alone cannot satisfy, and where true answers are found.