31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

The Jews told Jesus that they were never in bondage to any man, but this was simply not true. The Jewish nation had been enslaved to Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, and Rome in various periods of their history. Our modern world has faced enslavement too, with forces like fascism, Marxism, communism, and other forms of oppression and dictatorship.

Why do we have war? We will always have war in our world because there are people who desire to impose bondage, to enslave, and to exercise power over other people. There are numerous examples of this in our world even today.

Freedom from this bondage is not cheap; a battle must be fought constantly. There are many who have given their lives for the freedom that we experience in our country. We honor these heroes each year on Memorial Day. If we hope to remain free, this defense of freedom must continue.

However, there is another kind of freedom that is even greater. Jesus talked about this kind of freedom to the Jews as He spoke. This type of freedom was not from the outward bondage imposed by a dictator, but freedom from the inward bondage imposed by sin. As we commit sin, we become the "servant" or the slave of sin. Sin enslaves!

The opposite of enslavement is freedom. When we are under the bondage of sin, we are put under its control. It is amazing how much conflict, anger, and bitterness exists in our world. The reason for these problems is the bondage of sin.

Jesus told the Jews that they could be "free indeed." The power to experience true freedom comes through the Son, Jesus Christ. One of the greatest things about freedom is the ability to choose to do what is right. We can choose to forgive, to let go of bitterness, to release anger and resentment, and to live a life pleasing to God. But we only have this power through Christ.

We lose our freedom when we base what we do on the actions of others. When we blame others for our wrong actions we are claiming that they have control over us -- that we are in bondage to them. But are the difficult people in our lives the true root of our problems? Our real problem is not the people around us but the sin that is within us.

The sin in our hearts is a grim reality, but Christ came to bring victory! When we give our lives to Christ, the Holy Spirit works within us to produce the fruit of true freedom -- love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. The greatest freedom is found in Jesus Christ.

This Memorial Day, we honor those have given their all for our outward freedom from the oppression of man. But we also need to remember to give honor to our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given His all for our inward freedom from the oppression of sin. 

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13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

This passage in James talks about two kinds of wisdom. One is "not from above" (vs. 15). This is human wisdom, apart from God. Men without God have accumulated much knowledge, but cannot obtain true wisdom. It's like a man in a dark room, stumbling around without a clear picture of his surroundings. Man needs God's light.

The wisdom that is from below is centered on humanity. Humanism says that "Man is supreme." Man's wisdom builds its foundation on self. But man's self-wisdom cannot recognize itself. Very few fools describe themselves that way. The courtroom judge explained to the atheist who was complaining about not having a holiday dedicated to atheism, "Your holiday comes every year on the same day, April 1st." (Psalm 14:1)

The second kind of wisdom is the wisdom that is "from above" (James 3:17). God, who is above, provides His wisdom to man through His Word. Biblical wisdom is the ability to live life in a way that follows God's Word. True wisdom is not intellectual, but behavioral. The person who desires to live within God's truth must walk in that truth every day.

Man's wisdom results in "bitter envying and strife." (vs.14) "Strife" is used to refer to problems between people, but the meaning goes deeper than that. The meaning deals with the motive of the strife. Selfish ambition causes strife; it is a fleshly act. It wants "what I want." Those who cause strife set their own standards as the measure for everything. Anyone who comes between someone operating in earthly wisdom and their self-set standards will be viewed as an enemy. The worldly wise individual resents anything that comes between him and his objectives.

Those who are following the wisdom of man also exhibit bitter envying. This envy is tied to the strife that they cause. The envious person can be harsh, not just in what they say to others, but how they say it. Bitter envying is sharp and cutting, and it is the opposite of being kind and gracious.

Bitter envying and strife results in "confusion and every evil work." (vs.16) Man's wisdom apart from God can't result in order and in good work. Man can use the resources God has given him to develop many things, but he can't use these resources for anything but selfish ends. A person can have great knowledge, but still miss God's wisdom.

The man who lives with God's wisdom shows meekness in his daily life. (vs. 13) Meekness carries the idea of gentleness, tenderness, and graciousness. Simply put, it is being nice. Christians are supposed to be nice people. Meekness also includes the idea of being under the sovereign control of God, and being submitted to Him. Meekness is never self-seeking or malicious. The meekness of someone who is following God's wisdom sets him apart from the people of the world, who have envying and strife as characteristics of their lives.

Abraham exemplifies the meek man. He graciously gave deference to his nephew Lot and his herdsmen when there were problems with grazing land for their cattle. Instead of claiming his rights as the older of the two, or arguing that he had more cattle, or any other reason, Abraham simply gave Lot a choice of where he would like to graze his cattle. Abraham took what was left over rather than demand that he get his way.

We each need God's grace, because not one of us is perfect. We need God's wisdom through His Word to help us live our lives every day.

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God's Word Explained is a ministry of Boston Baptist Church in Boston, GA.