Blessed Are The Wise

Live Life Well   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
0 ratings
· 4 views
Notes
Transcript
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome everyone!
I want to remind everyone of what we are doing as a church together:
We are studying chapters 10-30 (the individual Proverbs) and memorizing the ones that really stand out to us.
We are memorizing so that we can internalize them, and then live them out!
Would anyone like to quote a proverb that you have memorized?
“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, the mouth of the wicked conceals violence”
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, and the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous”
“A good man has regard for the life of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel”
“The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered”
OPENING PRAYER
Lord, would you today compel hearts to see the greatness of Your wisdom? Would you open our hearts to hear and understand this section of Proverbs today? And would you make us wise people, who are so wise that the world is drawn to You by the way we live our lives. Amen
Sermon Introduction
The message today is on the subject of “blessedness” because in Proverbs chapter 3 we come to a “Beatitude of Wisdom”.
A beatitude is just a “blessed are” statements that are found in Scripture.
Here is a couple of examples from Matthew:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
““Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Beatitudes teach us that a person is “blessed” when they have certain characteristics
Here our beatitude in Proverbs:
Proverbs 3:13 NASB95
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding.
We live in a world that puts great emphasis on what you have. According to worldly thinking:
Blessed are those who have money.
Blessed are those who have nice homes.
Blessed are those who have great power.
Blessed are those who have lots of knowledge.
Blessed are those who have popularity.
These are the things people think bring happiness, but a lot of those people who have those things don’t have happiness.
The beatitudes teach us it is not what a man has that makes him happy, but what a man IS
Solomon is saying the the same thing to us today: The man who IS wise, is the man who is blessed
The wise people in this world get the most out of life.
They experience the most satisfaction in life.
Because they live life the way God intended it to be lived.
Solomon is going give us 6 reasons why those who find wisdom are blessed
1) Wisdom is worth more than money
(v 14-15) “For her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her gain better than than fine gold. She is amore precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.”
The majority of our lives is devoted to making of money
We go to work and we put in 8-10 hours of labor so that we can get money in return. We call that wage. A worker is worthy of his wages.
In essence what we are doing is trading our time, effort, and skill for money.
Most people place a very high value money. The reason being is because money can buy ALMOST anything you want!
You wanna take a vacation? As long as you have the money, you can go anywhere you want!
You want a nice car and nice home? Money can give you that
You want to sit on the couch and watch TV for a month? As long as you have the money, you can
Money can buy ALMOST anything
But money cannot compare to wisdom
And if we were to take a poll in here of who would rather have great wisdom or one million dollars what would you say?
I think many would choose money because they believe it will take away their problems
Wisdom is worth far more than money, is is much more valuable! Why?
Because her profit is better than the profit of silver and fine gold, and nothing you desire compares to her..
Money can buy houses but it cannot make a house into a home
Money can put food on the table, but it cannot put fellowship around the table
Money can attract friends, but it could never make us good friends
Money can buy education, to make more money, but it could never teach us how to use our money
Wisdom is far more valuable than money because it can give us what money cannot.
Wisdom outweighs money, gold, fine silver, or precious jewels
QUESTION: How hard do you work for your money?
How many hours, how much energy, how much planning, how much sacrifice do you make for your paycheck every week?
Now compare that to amount of effort you put into finding wisdom. How much have you studied this book since we have started this series? How much effort in memorizing the Proverbs in chapter 10-30? How much time have you traded for wisdom?
Obviously we will work more. But to put in minimal effort into finding wisdom is going to give us the short end of the stick
AND ONE DAY, we will have our fill of money and desire the things that money cannot buy and only come from wisdom

2) Wisdom leads to a longer life

(v 16) “Long life is in her right hand”
Remember wisdom is portrayed as a woman, and here is a picture of wisdom with her hands out, and in the right hand is long-life
What that means simply put is that the wise will generally live longer lives than the unwise
How does becoming wise help extend our lives?
Wise people use good judgement
Proverbs 8:12 NLT
“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.
This practically speaking can make a serious difference in the longevity of one’s life
Think about our health.
A wise person will stay away from things like smoking, drinking alcohol, overeating, or mistreating our bodies
Wise people understand the frailty of life and take care of themselves long-term
They avoid many pitfalls in life that foolish people find themselves in
IN CONTRAST: Foolish people live carelessly
Proverbs 14:16 NLT
The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.
There is no discretion
There is no discernment
There is no consideration for the future, for tragedy, for consequences of decsions, fools only live for the moment and deal with the consequences later
This often leads to a shortened life
God blesses the life of the wise
Proverbs 8:35–36 NASB95
“For he who finds me finds life And obtains favor from the Lord. “But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death.”
the favor of God is upon the life of the wise
How that favor shows up we are not told, but it must certainly include health in some instances, and it may include God’s intervention to keep one from an accident
We must not take God out of these Proverbs

3) Those who have wisdom will also have wealth and honor

( v 17) “In her left hand are riches and honor”
Here is our woman wisdom presenting her rewards to those who love her. In her right hand, long life, in her left hand riches and honor.
Now isn’t it ironic that earlier we talked about the higher value that wisdom has over money and we should put forth great effort to become wise.
And look at what will happen to those who do that! They will end up gaining wealth anyways, because the ability to handle money is a characteristic of the wise.
There are many Proverbs about wealth. I’m going to give you two:
Proverbs 13:11 NASB95
Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, But the one who gathers by labor increases it.
This is a Dave Ramsey plan given to us by God
Work and earn your money little by little. That is the biblical way to financial peace.
And it works!
Proverbs 21:20 NASB95
There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man swallows it up.
This is a call to save our money and not use it all up.
In contrast, a fool burns through every penny and has nothing left
God created money. It is not a bad thing. It is not evil. It is simply a tool to help us get through life.
Many good people have become mastered by it, but we must never go down that road.
WEATH MUST NEVER BE THE GOAL OF A ONE’S LIFE
If we drift from our pursuit of God to the pursuit of money have become fools
Jesus told a parable about a man like that. He saved and stored and has so much that he ran out of room to store it all in. So he tore down his barns and built bigger barns to hold all of his grain.
Then God said this to him:
Luke 12:20–21 NASB95
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
God did not rebuke him for having treasure, He rebuked him not being rich towards God.
But also she has honor in her hand
This is referring to respect from others
People take us much more seriously when we walk in wisdom
They listen to what we say, they respect our positions, and often are influenced by us
Application
Think about our witness in the world
It’s really hard to point people to an all wise God if we live the life of a fool
People see the trouble we get ourselves in much more than they see our devotion
But when we live as wise people, they see the outworking of our walk with Jesus, and they will greatly respect that

4) Wisdom leads to be a better quality of life

(v 18) “Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace”
Wisdom calls us to walk a different way in life
No one comes to this book, seriously studies it, and continues to live the same way
It demands change
It constantly gives us principles that go against the habits we have picked up, or the mindset we may have
What does an unwise life look like?
Proverbs 13:15 “Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is hard.”
Proverbs 22:5 “Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards himself will be far from them.”
Foolish people will have a much harder way to go
They will constantly struggle with relationally, with guilt and shame, and never have the satisfying life that is available to them
“thorns and snares” await those who take their own way
BUT WISDOM makes life more pleasant!
It simply is a much better quality of life!
That doesn’t mean there will never be trouble, or ever be difficult times, but with wisdom life is much more enjoyable!
We have answers when difficulties come
We do not life with the shame and guilt that weigh others down
We avoid all the unnecessary hardships that others welcome because they go their own way
Wisdom says to us, her way is pleasant!

5) Wisdom is the source of a good life

(v 18) “She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her…”
“tree of life”
This “tree of life” is first introduced in Genesis:
Genesis 3:22 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—”
In this instance, it somehow stood as the source for eternal life to those who would eat from it
Likewise, wisdom here is “the source” to live a good a life here on earth
Those who will eat from this tree will be satisfied with its fruit, will be glad to know it, and will come back for more
“and happy are all who hold her fast”
We have now made a full circle back to where we started
This section started off with the beatitude of blessedness for the wise
And we end with the same word except it is translated here as “happy”
That word really is the sum of all human pursuits, the pursuit of happiness
Most everyone makes the decisions they do because they think it will make them happy
Some chase money, some chase fame, some play sports, some play games, the end goal for them all is that they think it will somehow make them happy
But true happiness will come from wisdom’s way of life
That means that must cling to her and do not let her go
We continuously draw direction and guidance and correction from her, and the result will be more joy than we have ever experienced in this life!
We must continue to study, memorize, and put into practice these principles.
We must search for it like hidden treasure, and cry out to God to give us His wisdom
Happiness comes with a wise lifestyle!
We cannot think our lives will drastically change in 2 months or even 2 years
When Ashley first came to Jesus, she asked me one time, why are things not getting better yet
We had difficulty after difficulty and were being faithful to the Lord
And I said to her, you spent 27 years going the wrong way, don’t expect total transformation in 6 months
But now it has been 10 years and the difference is unbelievable
CONCLUSION
(v 19-20)
Proverbs 3:19–20 NASB95
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew.
Here is the point: If God’s wisdom can bring about such great things as the creation, how much more can He do with His wisdom in our own lives?
This amazing world, all of its mysteries, challenges, depths, and glorious things, can you even imagine what the Lord will do with us when we make His wisdom a priority in our lives?
I am so encouraged to hear of those in this room who are tasking this series seriously. Reading Proverbs, Memorizing Proverbs, and living them out.
Maybe you are not there yet, or maybe you think it really wont make a difference in your life, BELIEVE THAT IT WILL.
God used wisdom to create the world
God’s wisdom is available to us
God will recreate your world, if you see its value and do everything you can to obtain it.
~PRAYER~
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more