Wisdom

Posted on Jan 17, 2010 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Proverbs 2:1-11
Date: 17 Jan 2010

I. One thing that occurred to me over the summer – we live in a world of so many choices! Sometimes I’m amazed by all the options each of us face. Not just taking about:
a. Subway,
b. Starbucks.

My nephew –Andrew. I show in an interest in Him because same name as me. At College decided to become a games animator. We laughed a bit. Where will you get a job? Finished college. Did one year’s training. Was unemployed, but his family prayed. Got a phone call. Started work in Wellington three days later. Got a 6-month contract as a minor animator on the second biggest move blockbuster in history, Avatar! If you look at the credits, you’ll see it there –my name, Andrew Brown! So he got a job that didn’t exist when I was a kid, works on contracts I never imagined, and by 21 is working on world class projects. Our last discussion was whether he should stay in Wellington, or try San Francisco, Japan or New York to look for work?

There are so many choices, and not just for those in his age group. Each of us face all kinds of choices: Moral choices –what shall I do with whom? Career choices –where do I go? Lifestyle choices –where do I live, what treatment do I have? Spiritual decisions –what do I truly believe?

It’s led me to conclude that if there’s one thing that we all need to navigate through this world, its wisdom. I mean health is nice, good looks are great, a good family helps, but I think wisdom comes out tops. You need tremendous wisdom to know how to make the best choices and to find your way through this maze we call life.

So how do you find it? And how do you know if you’ve got it?

Just recently a book came out recently called ‘Wisdom.’ It had some good ideas by various celebrities, but strangely enough, some of the best wisdom you will ever find for how to live in a modern, multi-choice world doesn’t come from modern authors. It comes from an ancient source that proven very reliable over time. I’m talking about the Bible –in particular the book of Proverbs, most of which was written by one of the wisest people who ever lived, King Solomon. I’d like us to delve in today and see what he says about wisdom.

[Would you read it with me…]

1. Solomon begins by saying that in order to be wise you must invest in wisdom. In order to be truly wise you have to make a commitment to finding wisdom. So many of us are part of the ‘Instant generation’ –we want things right away. Instant coffee, etc. We have to have things ‘now.’ But Proverbs says that wisdom is part of a long-term process. Wisdom is the product of a lifetime.

The thing is thought that all of us like to think that we are wise. We like to imagine that we have the inside information on things, but who amongst us is truly wise? Are you the kind of person according to Proverbs who is on track to become truly wise?
The writer lists five qualities of those who will end up wise.

1. They accept wisdom (v1). They are people who ‘receive’ wise input. Do you receive what other say if it’s wise –your parents, teachers, or mentors. Do you listen to good advice even if it’s dressed as criticism? Many of us resist good advice, rather than accept it, and so we don’t grow as we ought. A person on their way to wisdom is open to input.

2. But more than they hoard it (v2). They store wisdom up. They accumulate wise advice in their memory. I wonder, can you remember a piece of advice or wise words spoken to you that has stuck with you for years? Perhaps someone said something helpful to you and you thought I must remember that. Years later you still can. E.g. someone might have said to you always shake hands firmly. It makes a good first impression. What pieces of advice have you accumulated? [Response]. Then you are on the path to wisdom.

3. However, the wise person is always looking for more wisdom (v2). They are like a vacuum cleaning always sucking up more information. Tell me –how many of you are good at eavesdropping? [Anyone]. Because this passage literally says in the Hebrew that you will prick up your ears whenever there is a chance to hear new wisdom. Are you like that? Is your antennae tuned into gossip or wisdom? Are you interested in learning?

4. The person who is becoming wise will also apply himself or herself to the knowledge (v2). This kind of wisdom is not just about an accumulation of knowledge or facts. There is a man called Ammon Shea who has spent a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary. That’s the 20 volume one. He said that both the letters Q and X were a bit boring. He doesn’t now claim to be any wiser than the rest of us, or to be a better person for all his knowledge, because he hasn’t chewed it over. He hasn’t processed and made sense of it.
When I first pastored in Te Awamutu I lived on a diary farm. Apparently the cows eat the grass, store it in one stomach and bring it back up to chew on it again, before swallowing it probably down. This process breaks the grass further down so it can be properly digested. Do you do the same thing with what you learn?

Do you think about it, weight it up, compare it to other things you know, and decide how you should apply it? A wise person will do these things.

5. But a wise person will also call out for more wisdom. They will cry out for it, or as the Hebrew says, they will “Accost” wisdom. What this means is that a wise person will not be afraid to ask people questions. They won’t be afraid to go and ask someone for answers they seek. Do you seek the right person to give you advice? Do you seek them out? So many people’s dilemmas go unresolved because they simply refuse to put up their hand for a question!

What he’s saying overall though is that a wise person you will pursue wisdom with a vengeance. You must make it a top priority.

There is a story about an Indian guru. A man came to him and said, “Teach me to pray.” He took the man down into the river, and then held his head under until he came up gasping to breathe. He did this three times and said, “When you are a desperate to pray as you are to breathe, then I can help you!”

Proverbs says a similar thing. It says that you should look for it as a miner looks for silver, or a goal prospector looks for gold. Seek wisdom in the same way that many people seek money.

Finding wisdom requires the commitment of a lifetime, but it also says you will find it, if you seek it. God will give it to those who seek. You do the work, but God will provide the wisdom.

2. There is one issue however, that Solomon says you will have to face if you wish to become a wise person, and it is this: how do you work out what is right and what is wrong? How do you decide whether the stuff you’re feeding on is garbage or good? I mean we live in a post-modern world. People will tell you that one opinion is just as good as another. They’ll say, “It all depends upon where you’re coming from.” So how do you know which way is up so that you’re not blown this way and that by the winds of opinion?
For instance I came across a book several years ago by a Pastor Leonard Ravenhill called “Illusions of our culture.” He said that some popular things that people believe are simply fiction, and he went on to list twelve of them. Can you think of some popular wisdom that is simply rubbish?

Let me mention a couple of them. Quite a lot of people will tell you that it’s a good idea to sleep or live together before you get married. The popular opinion is ‘try before you buy.’ But did you know that you are 2,3, even 7 times more likely to get divorced if you lived together before you get married, than if you didn’t. Yes, the statistics tell us that! But whom you know got sucked in and harmed by this popular illusion? Or what about the idea that journalists or movie stars somehow know more about life than you? They seem to get regularly trotted out now for every cause now under the sun. Tell me, what are sports stars excellent at? Sport! What are movies stars excellent at? Starring in movies! You probably know as much as they do on certain issues. So the next time you see one of them on TV offering an opinion on a particular topic think, “That should be me.”

What we need at times Solomon suggests in verses 5-6 is a source that stands above the dust and confusion of everyday life. You need an alternative viewpoint to critique popular ideas from. You need some position from which to get a better perspective and that position He suggests is Gods. We need to see things from God’s perspective. We need to use God’s wisdom to understand things better, because God’s wisdom is not like human wisdom.

I often think of it this way. Several months ago I bought one of these [binoculars]. If I close one eye and look through the left side, I can just about see whose sleeping in the back row. If I close one eye and look through the right side I can still just about see whose sleeping in the back row. If I open both eyes I can definitely see whose sleeping in the back row and all those that are listening a whole lot more! There’s a greater depth and clarity.

And God’s wisdom is like that. If you take the eye of man and the eye of God, when you take what you know and add to it what God knows you have greater clarity and depth. You have what we call “discrimination.” You can discriminate or understand things far more deeply and clearly than ever before.

Just as an example I had a great discussion with my teenage niece recently. She is quite keen on becoming a vegetarian, but she wondered if she had to become a Buddhist first. I was able to pick up a Bible and show her from the scriptures that there is a very strong case for eating less meat. It’s a bit like slavery. It’s not banned in the Bible, but if you follow God’s principles you probably won’t do it. I showed her how God wants us to care for the earth as Christians. However, I then pointed out from Paul’s writing that you are actually permitted to eat and enjoy meat (no doubt in moderation), and how it would be spiritually dangerous to make vegetarianism like another religion. We had a great discussion and it ranged all over the topic in a way that we never would have without this book [the Bible].

You know there’s even more wisdom in here. You just have to keep on digging. But the important thing is that you need a base line or a foundation upon which to base your quest for wisdom. Somewhere you need to put a stake in the ground to begin and Solomon says begin with respect for God.

3. Solomon goes on to says that if you do these two things, i.e. pursue wisdom and you base it upon God’s perspective, then you will reap incredible results. Your life will be all the better for it. I don’t have time to go through in depth so I’ll just give you a quick overview of it.

a. He says that wisdom leads to success (v7). ‘Victory’ comes from living your life with spiritual and moral integrity. Life just works better when you do the right thing.

b. Good judgment (v7). Gives you the discernment you need for living so that you can see and understand all the options in front of you and know which one to take.

c. Provides protection or safety (v8 & v11-12) (In Hebrew: like thorny hedge protecting you from trouble). It will snatch you from away from following evil(s) (v12). Like a train that stays on the track, it is safer.

d. Lastly give you pleasure (as you look back on a well lived life with wise choices, not one whose opportunities have been squandered).
Now when I look at these I ask: ‘Why wouldn’t you want this?’ Why wouldn’t you want wisdom with all your heart?

(It’s not enough to know how to pick yourself up when you call down. To simply forgive and restore as we’ve looked at over the last two weeks. You need to know how to avoid getting into trouble and how to find the best path to take. That’s what wisdom does.
So I urge you to make wisdom a priority. Accept it. Hoard it. Prick up your ears when you hear it. Apply it. Accost and overall pursue it.

C. On a personal note can I just say that I believe that the greatest source of wisdom a person can have is a life based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Sinead has made that decision today. I urge you to do the same. Decide to be wise today.
As a symbol of her decision we want to present her with some Bible study books that will help her to delve into God’s wisdom even more deeply.

Song: “Without You’