New Year's Message

December 31, 2023

In 2011, Drake released a song called Yolo.

The meaning of course being You Only Live Once.

In other words, don’t miss out on an experience today by remembering you only have one life to live, so live it fully today!

To say that all even shorter.

Live for today! Take risks, be bold. Live.

You know there’s some truth there in capturing every moment.

I think at some point in the later 2000-teens mid-2000s (what do we call that time period by the way?)

anyway I think YOLO morphed into FOMO.

You only live once became the Fear of missing out.

The message of Fomo is also the same. Do something today, even if it is embarrassing or strange, because you don’t want to regret missing out on it later.

Or it’s also choosing to be social because you don’t want to miss out on what your friends are doing.

At face value, there’s value in both of these.

There’s truth there that we need to live today.

We need to live in the moment.

Take a few risks.

Live the one life God has given us… even though Drake or Fomo I’m sure would rather leave God out of this.

Here’s where things turn though.

When it comes to living in the moment,

this gets a little more tricky in situations where we have to choose between right and wrong.

Let’s say you’ve started driving.

You are about to go somewhere with your friends and right before you jump in your car, your friend says, “Hey, I’ll race you there...”

Ok, now here’s the situation.

Do I race him?

Is it wrong to race him?

- No, not if you are obeying traffic laws. Yes it’s wrong if you are breaking traffic laws.

Will I be breaking traffic laws in order to race him?

- Most likely.

Really then, this question is not a matter of right and wrong.

It’s a matter of wisdom.

Is it wise to race my friend?

That’s the target question I want to ask today.

You see there’s two major questions we’ve asked today, but I think there’s much deeper meaning in life from the second one.

“Is this the right thing to do?”

“Is this the wise thing to do?”

Is this the right thing to do assumes it’s ok to do something as long as it isn’t wrong.

In other words, There is a cookie being offered to me to eat. Is it wrong to eat it? No.

Is it right to eat it? Sure.

However, how does t his change if we ask “Is this the wise thing to do?”

Well...

Is it wise for me to eat this cookie?

Well it’s Christmas time and I’ve already had a lot of sweets today… maybe not.

Am I a diabetic, no… but has my consumption of sweets this week put me at risk… probably… ok probably not wise to eat the cookie.

All of a sudden because we aren’t just talking about right and wrong, but wisdom, we are now thinking more deeply about the situation.

It’s this idea of wisdom that I want to discuss this morning.

Wisdom allows us and invites us to think deeper about the questions and situations in front of us, rather than just determining something as right or wrong.

“Am I living a life of wisdom?”

Am I being wise in all that I say and do?

Am I living a life of Wisdom right now?

One of my favorite verses is Job 28:28 “28 And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.””

Amidst all the deep questions asked in the book of Job, this one isn’t hard.

Pursuing God is wise.

Turning from Evil produces understanding.

Sometimes I think we view wisdom or wise people as Gandalf, Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Dumbledore.

These gray-haired older people who have all the answers…

But that’s not how the Bible describes wisdom.

The Bible says, Are you pursuing God? Do you care what He thinks?

Are you learning what He says? Are you interested in what He’s done and still actively doing?

Gosh… I want to be.

Do you?

I mean let’s just sit there for a second guys, and really think about that.

Is the direction of my life every day saying that I want more of Jesus?

Imagine you show up to a school dance.

Maybe you are too cool and you don’t get out there and dance. Maybe you do.

You know what is never said after a dance?

“Wow… I’m sure glad I didn’t dance tonight. I’m so glad I sat our the whole evening...”

Nobody says that…

You either dance and enjoyed yourself, or we sit on the sidelines and miss the dance.

We then live with that regret that we missed out.

We have FOMO or regret not saying Yolo and getting on the dance floor.

Let me just throw some respect to Ryan for a moment.

I still think about the fun he had dancing at Awanita this summer.

Guys… Ryan didn’t say “I wish I hadn’t danced...”

But all of us I’m sure thought about that moment at some point that night and said, “Man, I wish I had danced...”

What does that have to do with wisdom?

Again, Dancing isn’t a right or wrong

It takes wisdom to know when it’s ok to dance and when it’s not.

That’s my point!

There is a depth and a fulness to life when we choose to live from wisdom rather than just making decisions based on right and wrong.

At a much deeper level…

God doesn’t want us to choose Him because it’s right. or reject evil because it’s wrong.

He is and evil is wrong...

BUT! There is a depth to our relationship with God.

There is the heart of God, his character, His Words that He’s given to us.

And Job says, The beginning of wisdom is that!

It’s just knowing God.

Choosing to dance through life close to the heart of God rather than looking back and regretting the fact we never got on the dance floor.

2. Am I being wise in all that I say and do.

Read

Proverbs 1:1–3 “1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;”

Proverbs 1 mentions 4 things here.

These proverbs are for…

Gaining wisdom and instruction.

Understanding words of insight

Receiving instruction in good behavior

Doing what is right and just and fair.

These are 4 targets that the book of proverbs is aiming towards.

Is it easy to do what is right, just, and fair? No, but you know you have to… ok. that’s step one.

Is it easy to receive instruction in how to do that? - No… It’s tough to hear and receive that from others.

Is it easy to receive words of insight? - NO! This is very hard. Because this assumes you are looking to hear wisdom, not just looking to hear what you want to hear. (more on this in a moment)

Is it easy to gain wisdom and instruction. - No. Again, this assumes you want it.

With all 4 of those questions I just asked, what was the leading 3 word phrase that introduced those questions?

“Is it easy...”

AH

Friends this is the key.

The quick fix.

The cheap fix.

The fastest solution to the problem may be the easy way.

But it’s not the way of wisdom.

Wisdom is not easy. It is hard.

And consciously choosing wisdom is difficult and not easy.

Illustration:

There’s a guy named Daryl Davis who is a blues musician.

There’s one other important part of Daryl we need to know.

He is black.

Normally, race wouldn’t matter, but part of His life apart from music has been to actively seek out white supremacists

His goals in this is not to get in arguments, or even to talk much at all.

He simply wants to listen to white supremacists who are willing to talk to him, a black man.

Through 30 years of this, He has conviced over 200 Ku Klux Klan members to abandon their racisim.

The main way he has accomplished this is through one simple question.

He asks, “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?”

Friends, that is wisdom.

What Daryl does through that question is invite people into a story.

He draws people close when they would rather be far away.

I think Daryl is an awesome example of being wise in what he says and does.

But again, what he’s doing isn’t easy. It’s hard.

And that’s where wisdom is found.

Another word for this is Empathy.

Empathy is not just feeling bad for someone (that’s sympathy) but Empathy is the deeper side.

It’s being with someone.

It’s being in the trenches.

Empathy sees the humanity in everyone around us and seeks to share the hope with a dying world through the hope we have received through Christ.

APPLICATION:

Am I seeking wisdom?

AM I being wise in all that I say and do?

These are the two questions we’ve asked today.

As we just discussed, wisdom is hard.

It takes discipline and it also takes honesty.

Honestly evaluating ourselves and living present today pursuing what matters.

Life can so easily just grip us and take us.

Like a rapid in a river, sometimes we are just letting the water carry us through life.

However, God has given us the ability to have wisdom.

To navigate the currents of life and not just be swept away by them.

Social media and our phones is one way we can get swept away and lose wisdom.

It’s honestly emotionally jarring how crazy our phones are.

In 10 seconds, I can see horrible atrocities in the middle east pop up on my phone, I can see a funny video of a dog, I can see how little money I have in my bank account, and I can also text my neice and tell her happy birthday…

I mean we can experience all of those emotions in 10 seconds on our phone…

That’s crazy.

That’s too much going on at once.

In school…

Am I being wise with my words or am I just going with the current?

I know school is stressful. I know people are stressful and crazy.

But if I’m rooted in Jesus, I have the light of the world living in me.

Am I speaking and living in a way that wisely brings that light to the world I’m living in?

So here’s my challenge to you.

In 2024, take a week… Take the whole year.

Slow down…

Pause.

And ask God for wisdom.

God, I don’t want to just do what’s right.

I want to know you.

I want to be wise in what I say and do.

I want to stay close to Jesus.

Let’s read Proverbs 2:1-12 today to challenge this and then we will get out of here.

Proverbs 2:1–12 NIV

1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. 9 Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,