Growing in Wisdom (Part 2)

Introduction

Afternoon. Yeah, Jeff texted me about 10 o’clock or 9 o’clock last night and said, I just saw the title of your sermon, and it seems pretty close to mine. What are we going to do about that? And I said, at 9 o’clock on Saturday night, we’re doing nothing. He said, Well, do you want me to avoid some verses? I’m like, no, if we they hear the same verses, maybe they’ll remember them better. So and he only had two verses, but our lessons are totally different. So welcome. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you. Last month we looked at the book of Proverbs and how to better understand it and apply it as we’re reading through it every day with our deal daily Bible reading program.

And I had mentioned a part two lesson, which is what tonight is about why is wisdom important and how do we go about obtaining it. So before we look at what the Bible has to say about it, I wanted to show you another noted philosopher and what he has to say about wisdom. He says, It’s so simple to be wise, just think of something stupid to say and don’t say it. So I’m not endorsing the Simpsons.

But another some other words of wisdom are knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. So especially true for me because I don’t like tomatoes, so you can remove a fruit salad that way. So but anyway, back to the Bible. the book of Proverbs’ main concern is about how to become wise and not foolish. So why is that important? I’m gonna reiterate the conclusions I had from last month’s lesson that when I talked. Wisdom is more precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with her, from Proverbs 3 15. Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you. Love her and she will guard you. From Proverbs 4, verse 6. And then Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and all the people.

That’s one of the two verses Jeff and I had in common. And what I said at that point was, you know, if Jesus’ goal was to grow in wisdom, then that should certainly be our goal as well. So how do we do that? How do we go about getting wisdom? When the wise man says in Proverbs 4 and verse 5, get wisdom, get insight, he doesn’t mean go to school and take more courses. Now that might be part of God’s plan for you, but for most of us it’s not. So yet the command is still there to get wisdom. So what does that mean, and how should we do it? So one of the reasons that getting wisdom is as important is it’s it’s the key to happiness.

Proverbs 3 13 says, Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gets understanding. And then Proverbs 24, my son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul. If you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 19, verse 8 says, He who gets wisdom loves his own soul, he who keeps understanding will find good. In other words, do yourself a favor, get wisdom. Proverbs 8 32. Now, therefore, listen to me, my children. This is wisdom herself speaking. When, as I mentioned last month, a lot of times in the book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified, and that’s the case here. So listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor with the Lord. Secondly, as we just read, it is the way to find favor with the Lord.

If we seek wisdom and go about it as we should, which we’ll talk about tonight, the Lord will be pleased. So the command get wisdom, get insight is very important. To get wisdom is better than gold, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. So really the eternal happiness that people are long for will only be found by those who get wisdom. You know, there’s a lot of sources that people go to try to find happiness. alcohol, drugs, sex, suntans, television, tubing, eating, drinking. I mean, there’s any countless ways that people try to find happiness, but these things don’t bring true and lasting happiness. the joy that the that people may get from those is not that which we’re made for.

And it therefore it leaves us unsatisfied and frustrated and unfulfilled and incomplete, knowing that there must be something more. But that ultimate and eternal happiness that we crave is only found by wisdom. Therefore, it’s important that we get wisdom. Wisdom does not require a high IQ or an advanced degree. The first what’s important is to seek it as we would a valuable treasure. Proverbs 2, 4 and 5. If you seek her as silver, then you will find the knowledge of God. Seeking is in a wisdom in a way that is genuine stores up wisdom for the upright. And also it’s the way to righteousness, justice, and discretion. So, what are the characteristics of the person who has it? The first characteristic most of us know is you have to have the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 9 and verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding. So the wisdom that leads to life and ultimate joy begins with knowing and fearing God. Fearing that the Lord, fearing the Lord means fearing to turn away from him. It means fearing to seek refuge and joy and hope anywhere other than God. It means keeping before our eyes what a fearful prospect it is to stop trusting God. The fear of the Lord is therefore the beginning of wisdom, not only in the sense that it’s the first step in a wise way to live, but it’s also in the sense that all the later characteristics of wisdom come from the fear of the Lord.

Another characteristic of person whose wisdom seeker is someone who’s humble. Proverbs 11, verse 2 says, When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom. The wise character, the wise person is characterized by humility. The person who is proud doesn’t fear God, who hates a haughty spirit, and therefore really can’t get the first base in seeking wisdom. the person that’s got humility is the person who depends upon God for everything, and fears to take credit himself for what God in fact does. Humility is the foundation for the other aspects of godly wisdom because it’s teachable and it’s open to change and growth. The proud person won’t admit his errors and doesn’t see a need for growth and for change. But the humble person is open to counsel and to reasoning, and is okay with being corrected and following the truth.

And humility, unlike pride, does not recoil when it’s commanded to do something. And that’s essential for the advancement of wisdom, because Moses taught us that wisdom consists in knowing and doing the commandments of God. So from Deuteronomy, the fourth chapter, surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

These words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock. So a good definition of wisdom, therefore, is hearing and doing God’s word. God’s word is a divine prescription for how to be finally cured of all unhappiness in life. Everyone wants happiness, right? Everyone. Wisdom is the practical knowledge of how to attain that happiness. Therefore, wisdom is hearing and doing God’s word. And the only people who will do this are the people who are humbly relying upon God for help and who fear to seek happiness anywhere but in him. Therefore, the fear of the Lord is the beginning and spring of all true wisdom. But something more has to be said about the nature of this wisdom.

That’s not enough. It’s not enough to say a humble hearing and doing of God’s word, because God’s word doesn’t address itself specifically to every single circumstance we face in life. A famous example comes from the life of Solomon in 1 Kings of the third chapter. A lot of us know this story, but I’m going to read it anyway. One day two prostitutes came to King Solomon. One of them said, My Lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and we each gave birth to a son last week. And one night while she was asleep, she rolled over on her son and smothered it. So she got up in midnight and took my living son from me while I slept and left me with her dead son.

When I awoke in the morning and looked closely, I could tell it was not my son. But the other woman said, No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours. And so they argued before the matter. Bring me a sword. So a sword was brought, and the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one woman and half to the other. But the woman whose son was alive yearned for her son and said, No, my lord, give her the child and by no means slay it. And the other said, It shall be neither mine nor yours, divide it. Then the king said, Give me, give the living child to the first woman, she is its mother. So the story concludes with this.

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice. So there was no really biblical command to tell Solomon exactly what to do in this situation, right? Therefore, wisdom has to go beyond just hearing and doing the word of God. It’s got to include discernment. The person who’s seeking wisdom has to have some discernment and a mature judgment of how the fear of the Lord should work itself out in those kind of circumstances where we’re in a specific situation and there’s no direct biblical command or example on how to handle it, right? We’ve got to have some amount of judgment and discernment as part of acquiring wisdom.

Or Paul calls it in Romans 12, verse 2, a renewing of the mind. And in Colossians 1 and verse 9, Paul said, We have not ceased to pray for you that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Of course, the wisdom which follows God’s word and the wisdom which discerns the way to act when there is no clear word from God are not separate. It’s by saturating our hearts and minds with God’s word that we gain the discernment that we need when we face those situations where there’s no clear-cut command or example of how we should act. So, in summary, when the Bible says get wisdom, it’s referring to the practical knowledge of how to attain true and lasting happiness.

1. First, You Have to Desire It

It begins with the fear of the Lord and consists in humbly hearing and doing God’s will, perceived both in Scripture and in the unique circumstances of the moment. Such wisdom is essential because the person who finds it finds life and joy, but the person who doesn’t find death and misery. Therefore, get wisdom. Get wisdom. Have I said that enough? So let’s look at how we do that. How do we go about it? We know it’s important to have it, so how do we do it? I’m going to tell you five steps on how to get wisdom. First, you have to desire it. Proverbs 4, verse 8 Exalt her, and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her, speaking of wisdom. So if you exalt something or prize something or embrace someone, those are signs of intense desire and intense love.

2. Devote Ourselves to the Study of God's Word

So wisdom has to be valuable for us. We must desire, we must be willing to sell anything and to buy it. If we seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, he says in Proverbs 2 and verse 4. Second, besides desiring it, we have to devote ourselves to the study and meditation of God’s Word. We have to apply ourselves to study. We sing these words quite often. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. Therefore, we have to devote ourselves to know and understand the testimonies of the Lord. I would also suggest that besides devoting ourselves to Bible study, that we read other books that have to do with theology and spiritual matters.

If you need you need ideas for books like that, ask Tony or ask me or ask any number of people around here. You could go to Truth Bookstore online, you can go to the Florida College bookstore online. There’s dozens of books by brethren there can help enrich your Bible study and help provide more depth to your spiritual knowledge. Even easier, you can go to our library upstairs. Library, you say what library.

I know some people I that I’ve talked to in the last couple months went upstairs for the first time ever, even though they’ve been here for years. now that we have a class up there. But there’s probably 200 books up there. I’ve got another 50 books at home that I want to bring up here and put in the library. And so I’d I’d like to see us have a system where people can go up there, find books that are interesting, that can help their spiritual knowledge, and have a checkout kind of system. So I’m recruiting tonight a church librarian. doesn’t pay much. In fact, it pays nothing. but I think it would be valuable thing to have, and you may find I would be willing to guess that every person would find at least one book up there that they could read that would be help their spiritual knowledge in addition to reading the Bible.

So I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I don’t have time to read, I’ve got a full schedule, and I usually can’t stick with reading anyway. So we’re going to go through a mathematical exercise, and I’m going to show you how in 15 minutes a day, you can read 20 books a year. Okay? You ready? So most of us, the average reading speed is 250 words a minute. That might seem like a lot, but you’d be surprised. I there’s I got fed something on the internet the other day to prove that, and it had me reading at a speed that and the verbiage was something along, you can read faster than you think. This is actually a speed of 300 words a minute, and I was keeping up.

So 250 words a minute, I think is a good average for most people. So if you read 15 minutes a day, 250 words a minute in one year, that’s you’re reading at 5,475 minutes. and then if you multiply that times 250 words a minute, you get 1,368,750 words a year. Now, most books have between 300 and 400 pages in them. so if we take 350 words per page, so WPP is words per page. If you take 350 words per page, PPY is pages per year, divide 350 into 1,368,750, you get 3,910 pages per year, which equates to 20 books. Fifteen minutes a day, 20 books a year. And then at the end of the year, when you’ve done that, this is what it will be said about you.

3. Pray for It

The words of his mouth are as deep as waters. The fountain of wisdom is a gushing spring. So give it a give it a try. There’s lots of people here who could recommend books for you to read. Anyway, the third thing, besides desiring it, studying and meditating on God’s word is to pray for it. Remember, Solomon was not born a wise man. He prayed for wisdom. And God said, Because you have asked this thing, have not asked long life for yourself, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but you’ve asked for yourself understanding to discern justice. Behold, now I do according to your word. Daniel also admitted in Daniel 2 and verse 30 that he had no wisdom.

But he said in chapter 2 and verse 23, to you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and strength, and have made known to me what we asked of you. And we have seen that Paul prayed for the churches in that they might be given spiritual wisdom. And then James makes it as simple as it could possibly be. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to you. So wisdom is not something we’re born with necessarily, right? We have to seek it, we have to ask for it, we have to pray for it, and we have to desire it. I don’t know if you pray regularly to get wisdom.

4. Think of Your Death

I do. If not, I would suggest you add that to your prayers. And then a fourth instruction for how to get wisdom is to think of your death. What? Think of my death. That’s kind of morbid, Mike. So let me put it another way. Think of the shortness of this life and the infinite length of the next. Psalm 90 in verse 12 says, So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. The older you get, I can tell you personally, the older you get, the more you start thinking back on your life and what you wanted to accomplish in your life, or what you hoped you would leave as a legacy in your life. So the younger you are, it’s actually cleansing to think of the kind of life you would like to look back on when it comes time to die.

5. Finally, Come to Jesus

So think often of your dying in this sense. Think of what you would want said at your memorial service about the kind of person you were. I’ve been to three funerals in the last five years. Funerals where person after person, what they said publicly about this particular brother in Christ whose life we were celebrating, left me in awe of that person and left me to wonder, am I going to leave the same kind of legacy? Are people going to say these same kind of things about me? One of those people was Wayland Melton. So what kind of legacy do you want to do you want to have left behind? And then finally, come to Jesus. That’s one last essential thing you have to do to get wisdom.

You must come to Jesus. He said to the people of his day, Jesus did, the queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Matthew 12 and verse 42. What an understatement. Something greater than Solomon. Solomon spoke God’s wisdom. Jesus is the wisdom of God. Others had spoken truth. Jesus is the truth. Others had pointed the way to life. He is the way and the life. Others had given promises, but all the promises of God find their yes in him. To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Others had offered God’s forgiveness. Jesus bought it by his death. Therefore, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. To know and to love and to follow Jesus is the treasure, which is to own the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness. Therefore, the command, get wisdom means first and foremost, come to Jesus. Come to Jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. Also, to be wise, there’s some of the other essential qualities you have to have. You have to develop positive attitudes like patience, generosity, modesty, trustworthiness, benevolence to the poor. So here’s the second verse that Jeff and I shared, and he read it. I’m going to read it also, except I’m going to go through well, hang on a second, let me back up.

I’m going to go through verse 11 of 2 Peter, the first chapter. If you don’t know this and don’t read this often, I would suggest you do it because it’s the key to everlasting life. Second Peter 1, starting in verse 5, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith of virtue, to virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It’ll take diligence, it’ll take effort. But if you put all your heart into developing these attributes and make it a goal of your life, look at what 2 Peter says we will be promised. An entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord. Isn’t that what we all want? Of course it is. Also to be wise, Proverbs tells us we have to avoid certain pitfalls. Some of them that he that are pointed out are laziness, drunkenness, and loose women. So we have to also, besides developing positive qualities, avoid some of the pitfalls that have caused other people to stumble and not achieve their goal of obtaining wisdom.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, there’s no higher goal than getting wisdom once you’ve been saved. It’s the key to ultimate happiness, to righteousness, and to justice. If you follow the five steps we talked about today, and if you aren’t doing these today, the chances of getting wisdom are pretty slim. It’s like the old saying, slim and none, right? And none left town. So I mean slim left town. if you are doing these things, you’ll have to make some changes. You’re going to have to, if you want to get wisdom. So, again, to repeat the five things to get wisdom. Do you have to desire it? You need to study God’s word diligently, pray for it fervently, remember the shortness of life, and come to Jesus. And if you haven’t done number five, if you haven’t come to Jesus yet, why don’t you do it today?

Don’t put it off. Getting wisdom is the key to happiness in this life, and you can’t do it without Jesus. Why don’t you come as we stand and sing?