Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
Wisdom
Wisdom
Psalm 1 “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”
Introduction:
Question/Discussion: Think of someone you know, or someone you used to know, who you considered to be extremely wise. Describe that person, how he or she talked, how he or she thought about things. Give me some examples of a wise person.
As you’re thinking about that wise person I want to jump into our series through the Psalms called “Selah” We’re taking a sampling of different styles and genres of psalms.
Psalm 1
Psalm 1
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
This is an example of a wisdom psalm. This is another style or genre of psalm
-Wisdom psalms are in a lot of ways more like proverbs set to music.
-When we think about the Wisdom books in the Old testament, we think about Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job.
-And the thing about wisdom literature, whether it’s wisdom poetry like Job and some of the Psalms, or if it’s wisdom proverbs like proverbs and ecclesiastes, is that wisdom literature is read a little bit differently.
-The main key to wisdom is that it describes what’s called a general truth. It’s something that is true, even when we can find examples to the contrary.
-A really simple example from our modern culture: An apple a day keeps the _____
Another example from the book of proberbs
Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
This is a general truth. Most of the time if you wake up early, if you get a good start to the day, if you go out and work, and you get plenty of sleep at night, you’re going to be successful.
-does that mean that every single person who wakes up at 5 am is going to be successful? of course not. There are plenty of people who wake up early, and are poor. And there are plenty of people who are very successful and work the night shift.
-But we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. which is another general truth.
-That’s the kind of attitude we have to have when we talk about wisdom psalms. And that’s going to come into play a little later. so keep that in the back of your mind.
-but By in large, when we look at the bible, somebody is considered Wise based one single criteria: Whether or not they listen to God’s word. If you went through all of the wisdom literature in the bible, you will find that wisdom is associated with being righteous. And righteousness is synonymous with obeying the word of God.
Likewise, unwise people are those who don’t do what god says, who choose their own path. ‘
And look at the beautiful picture the psalmist paints of the ways we are to avoid evil
Blessed is the one who doesn’t Walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the company of mockers.
-notice that? how much should we avoid disobeying god? Don’t walk in sin don’t stand in sin, don’t sit in sin.
That pretty much covers all of the ways a person can be, doesn’t it. except maybe lying down.
The alternative he says is what? It’s to delight in the law. To meditate on the law.
-The alternative to sin is to be steeped in The word of God.
-I challenge you this week, if you don’t already, when you wake up in the morning, before you go make coffee, before you shave, or shower. I want you to keep a bible by your night stand and I want you to spend five minutes just reading a short passage of scripture.
-I’ll give you a hint, we’re going through the psalms, if you put your finger right in the middle of your bible chances are you’re going to land on a psalm. PIck a random one and just read it over and over.
-don’t try to explain it, don’t try to understand it, don’t ask questions about it. Just meditate on it. Which in the hebrew context, biblical meditation is a repeated reading of god’s word. so just read it over and over.
Meditate on it, and then simply delight in it.
-You don’t have to come up with a plan of action for your day, or spend all day trying to understand it. Just read it, and take joy in it.
-and what you will find is that you will gain wisdom from it. and you will grow.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
A TALE OF TWO OAKS (5 minutes)
Summary: a man plants two trees, a pin oak and a bur oak. The pin oak grows very quickly, the bur oak grows slowly. After a couple of years the man decides he doesn’t have to water the oaks anymore. That spring the pin oak leaves come out a little more yellow, that summer the leaves start to get curly and crinkly, that fall they fall off even earlier. The next spring the bur oak buds out leaves, and the pin oak doesn’t.
Bur oaks grow slowly because they devote their resources to their roots.
When you spend time in God’s word, you are growing your roots.
Psalm 37
Psalm 37
Of David. Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish: Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke. The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously; those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be destroyed. The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing. Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just. The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip. The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death; but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked or let them be condemned when brought to trial. Hope in the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it. I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a luxuriant native tree, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. Consider the blameless, observe the upright; a future awaits those who seek peace. But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked. The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Some bibles there say “befriend faithfulness” others say “you will be fed”
What it literally says ther is “pastor faithfulness” or
“graze on faith” or maybe “feed on faith”
it’s imagry of sheep grazing on a pasture.
And it’s unclear whether the idea is that you are the sheep who is put out to pasture and you are feeding on god’s faithfulness, or whether you are the shepherd and you are feeding faith to your flock. the flock in that case is representing your spiritual self.
as with so many things in poetry it’s probably a both and situation.
when you are immersed in god’s word, you are cultivating your faith. You are feeding your faith tree and allowing yourself to be rooted deeper and deeper.
At the same time you are feeding on god’s faithfulness. Grazing on faith.
-And the wisdom that we’re getting from this psalm, and the one after it, is the idea that if we do that, if we graze on faith, God will take care of us.
-He will watch over us.
-And if we don’t, if we abandon that faith, there’s going to be judgement.
-But here’s the thing that’s really difficult with this psalm.
This psalm is bringing up an answer to a question that I think we all have sometimes.
-Because this is general wisdom, we talked about this at the beginning, just because something is generally true, that doesn’t mean we can’t find examples to the contrary.
And psalm 37 is giving us an answer to the question: well if God promises us that if we are faithful he will take care of us, and if we are wicked we will have trouble, why is it that I look around and see faithful people suffering and wicked people prospering?
-let’s get real here for a second. right now, today, there are people who are making millions of dollars in illegal drug smuggling.
In the year 2020 the dea siezed over 550 tons of narcotics coming into the US. That’s just the people who got caught.
-There are people in the world right now who are immensely wealthy off the backs of human trafficing.
-child trafficing. Kidnapping rings. the slave trade. These are things that are happening right now.
-you want to talk about wicked? you want to talk about evil
That’s evil.
-We’re not just talking about oh, you know sometimes I smoke cigarettes, or sometimes I let a four letter word slip out from time to time.
-We’re talking about
-I’m going to go ahead and show my weakness as a Christian here, because I do fret about that.
-More than that, I get angry. it ticks me off, is probably the nicest words I can use
So when I read a psalm like psalm 37 and it says don’t fret over evil doers?
-The literal translation is “don’t get heated” don’t fan the fire.
-That’s a time where I have to sit down with God and have a conversation and just say God how?
-How do you expect me to just not get upset, to not get angry when I see millionaires in private jets on private islands doing wicked evil detestable things the weakest most vulnerable people on earth.
-How am I supposed to just be ok with that?
-God I’m trying to trust you, I’m trying to have faith that you’ve got this under control.
Mark 9:24 “Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!””
God says “Trust in the Lord, and do good”
Trust in the lord and do good. Our Job is not to enact justice. That’s god’s job
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Biblical wisdom is knowing when to step aside and trust that God is Just
-No matter how much we look around no matter how much we desperately want to be the agents of God’s wrath.
-Trust in the lord, and do good.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.
-When we sin in our anger, when we retaliate, satan wins twice. He’s already corrupted one soul, he’s already infected one soul, he’s already infected one soul with sin, and he is just waiting for another one to lash out in anger so that he can corrupt that one too.
We don’t always like to talk about God’s wrath, it makes us uncomfortable.
-But if we’re being honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we need a god who enacts justice.
-We don’t want a God who just turns a blind eye to sin, and doesn’t care about sin. There’s something deeply engrained within us that says, no we want justice, we want god’s wrath.
-We just don’t want it enacted on us
-But that’s a whole other issue.
Our God is just. he cares for the least of us.
For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
We see throughout this psalm is that our instructions are to be patient with God. Because the wicked will receive Justice. Just not from us.
And we see this theme, over and over, about inheriting the land. The word is eretz, it means land, it also means earth. The meek shall inherit the earth.
-In the sermon on the mount , Jesus is quoting this psalm.
And that phrase “inherit the land” “inherit the earth.” it’s used five times in this psalm. Any time you read something that is repeated 5 times, you should have little alarm bells going off in your head that say, this is important.
In case you wanted to highlight it, it’s in verses 9, 11, 22, 29, and 34.
Those who hope in the lard will inherit the earth,
the meek will inherit the earth.
The ones the lord blesses will inherit the earth
The righteous will inherit the earth.
Hope in the lord, and keep his way, he will exalt you to inherit the earth.
Notice a pattern there about who is going to inherit the land?
I think to an ancient Jewish audience the “land” is jerusalem. it’s a physical piece of property.
-As Christians we understand that inherit the earth takes on a completely new meaning for us, when we think about Christ’s return.
-There will be a new heaven, and a new earth. and a new jerusalem.
-One where there is no sin. one where there is no suffering, there is no human trafficing.
But we’ve got to trust him.
-We’ve got to trust him even when we think our world is falling apart, even when we see evil and wickedness in the world,
Biblical wisdom is trusting that God is in control.
We have to trust in the lord and do good.
-because there’s only two roads.
Going all the way back to psalm 1,
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
way meaning pathway, the road traveled.
There’s only two roads. There’s the road where you trust God, where you seek his word, where you meditate on his law day an night, where you are humble and wait patiently for the lord.
The road where you make Jesus Christ Lord of your life and you dedicate every ounce of your self to him.
-Or there’s the other road.
-There is no third road, there is no middle path there is no well I’m going to walk my own path.
no, it’s simple.
To be wise, is frankly, being on the right road.
One of which God watches over, and one of which leads to destruction.
If you want to be wise, pick the right road.
Trust in the Lord, and do good.