Wisdom

Ever meet anyone lacking common sense?

Fun trick that farm boys tried to play on city boys get them to pee on an electric fence. This seemed like fair game to us because anyone with a lick of common sense should know not to pee on an electric fence.

Ever peed on an electric fence? It is an experience you won’t soon forget. I knew not to pee on electric fences. What I didn’t know was that there was an electric fence I couldn’t see in the wheatfield I was working in. I stepped out of my tractor to relieve myself and for about a second and a half came face-to-face with God.

Not peeing on electric fences ought to be common sense, in the same way, as not sticking your hand in a fire. Sadly, common sense isn’t always that common. You’ve likely heard the famous last words of a redneck: “Hold my beer and watch this.”

Or maybe you’ve come across these kinds of people:

SNL clip. - Don’t buy what you cannot afford

What we tend to refer to as common sense, the Bible has a different name for - wisdom. While there are a few books in our Bible that we classify as wisdom literature, specifically Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, technically the entire teaching of the Bible is for the purpose of gaining wisdom. To learn to live with the grain of how God ordered the world in order to experience his blessings. Wisdom is a chief way that God speaks to us and guides us.

You’ve all observed people who’s life seems to be on a continual self-destruct cycle. There always seems to be drama and chaos surrounding them. They blame it on bad luck. But with closer examination, it’s often the outcome of numerous foolish choices. Their life is lived against the grain of wisdom when it comes to money, personal relationships, and so on.

God is invested in human thriving. He wants you to thrive. He wants it more than you want it. To put it in secular terms, he wants you to win at life. But to win, you have to live life his way. This is the way of wisdom.

The cool thing about wisdom is that it is equally accessible to anyone. We don’t all have the same spiritual gifts. We don’t all have the same access to opportunity. We don’t all have the same talents. But all of us can be wise. The rich and educated have no more access to wisdom than the poor or uneducated.

Wisdom doesn’t come through an audible voice or dramatic experience. But wisdom, accumulated over time, is God’s guidance that will help you win at life. So how can we experience God’s voice and guidance through wisdom. This morning Job is going to help us. It’s a book that deals with an ancient problem, why do bad things happen to good people. As part of Job’s discourse he talks about the way of wisdom and where humans can go to find it.

Pray...

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What is the most valuable thing you own? Or, what is the most valuable thing you could own?

Jewelry

Baseball card collection

Marriage

Relationship with God

Would you be surprised that the Bible says wisdom is the most precious commodity you can own?

Job 28:12–19 “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Mortals do not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls. The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.”

As valuable as a piece of jewelry or a baseball card collection might be, they pale in comparison to wisdom. Job says gold or silver can’t buy it - even the good stuff from Ophir (wherever that is). It’s more precious than the most precious minerals and jewels. It’s price is above pearls.

His point is that whatever we would said it most valuable, wisdom is more so.

Why does he make this case? Because wisdom is the operating system that God has built into the world. If you know how something operates then you can use it according to its design and get the best performance out of it. If you think about it, just about any other good thing you desire it life comes through wisdom or wise living. Do you want to be financially stable. That’s not a bad goal. But you must make wise money decisions. Do you want to live to a old age with a good quality of life? While there are no guarantees, wisdom guides you one a path to physical health. Do you want to have successful relationships? Again, wisdom is the path you have to walk. Unwise people will have none of these things.

Remember Solomon? When he became king God asked him to name anything he wanted. Think about that. ANYTHING YOU WANT. What would you have asked for? Solomon asked for wisdom. And this pleased God so much that he said I’ll also make sure you have wealth, long life, and status. But I wonder if God just gave those things outright, or if he gave them to Solomon through his use of the wisdom God gave?

Whatever the case, according to Job, Wisdom is the most precious thing you can own. Every other success will come through the acquisition of wisdom.

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But where can wisdom be found?

Unfortunately, finding isn’t easy. In the Bible, wisdom is often contrasted with foolishness. And humans have a way of confusing the two. Think of all the things that sound wise on the surface until you start to probe underneath:

Follow your heart: Sounds wise. Except the Bible says our heart is deceitful and often the things it loves it out of step with what’s actually best for us.

Look out for number one: Some see life as a zero-sum game. If you get more there’s less for me. It’s one of the great satanic lies. The truth is that we’re better together.

If it feels good, do it: This is the sexual ethic of our modern age. As long as we’re not hurting anyone - as long as it’s consensual, then go for it. As if consenting to something has anything to say about whether or not it harms.

I do what I want: Here is the person who rejects all counsel or guidance. It is the core characteristic of the fool in scripture.

All these and more may sound like wisdom, until you play the hand out to the end. Then you’re left only holding ashes. Here is what Job says:

Job 28:20–22 “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’”

The point he is making is that wisdom is hidden from humans through natural means. On our own we won’t find the way of wisdom. Think about it: We can see further into space than ever before. We’re able to go deeper into the ocean. WE can split the atom. But we cannot, through our own ingenuity, create true wisdom. All our knowledge does not add up to ultimate genuine understanding. We have become smarter but not wiser.

According to Job, Wisdom will not be found through human best practices.

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So, again we ask, if wisdom is the most valuable thing there is, if it is not something we can gain through our won efforts, then where can we find it? Job finally gives the answer:

Job 28:23–27 “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight, and apportioned out the waters by measure; when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the thunderbolt; then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.”

You probably already saw where this was going. God is the source of wisdom. Job is using poetic language. He speaks of wisdom almost as a separate entity and that God alone knows the way to it. And that is, of course, because God is the source of it.

Remember Solomon? He wrote Proverbs 3:19 “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;” God didn't just find wisdom; He is its origin. He planned it, created it, and holds it in His hands.

So if we want to be wise - if we want to actually win at life in all the ways that matter - then Job says the most logical thing in the world is to look to the Designer. Wisdom is found in God alone.

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And so the only question left is, how to we acquire wisdom. How do we answer questions like:

Is this the right time to buy a home?

Is this the kind of person I should marry?

Should I take this new job opportunity?

Job gives the answer in the final verse.

Job 28:28 “And he said to humankind, ‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

The command to “fear the Lord” is scattered throughout the Bible, and especially the wisdom literature. But what does that mean. I think most of us realize it doesn’t mean we should be frightened of God. God is love. Like Aslan in Narnia, he’s not a safe lion, but he’s a good one.

Fear of the Lord is usually understood as respect or reverence. Like a child that can at one time crawl into her father’s lap and safely snuggle, yet at the same time knows she needs to speak respectfully to him.

But I think Job is pressing for something even more. What does it mean to respect God? I think it means that we listen to what he says. We do life according to the way he designed it. To disregard what he says is to ultimately disrespect him. Wisdom at it’s core is the accumulated ability to live with the grain of how God created the world. It is applied knowledge.

When we listen to him, when we practice relationships they way he says, when we regard money and possessions and fame they way he says, then we know that he is speaking to us through the wisdom he has built into the world. And when it feels like everything is constantly blowing up in our face, maybe we need to ponder if we are walking the way of wisdom.

The good news is that God has made his wisdom accessible through his word. I mentioned last week that, while we have a few books that we specifically call wisdom literature, truly the entire Bible is there to make us wise. It gives us the only reliable testimony about God. And it gives us the only valid means to apply knowledge in a way that is truly wise.

So the question for us today is, where are you searching for wisdom? Self-help books? The latest social media influencer? Your friends that always just tell you what you want to hear? Or do you look for wisdom at the source. Practically, that means a regular diet of scripture that over time becomes an internal library that will cause you to naturally draw on God’s hidden wisdom.

Or you can just keep peeing on electric fences.

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Wisdom is often personified in the OT, such as in Proverbs 1. It calls to us as Lady Wisdom. But what is merely personified in the OT becomes an actual person in the NT. Listen to what the apostle Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 1:20–25 “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Paul’s claim is that wisdom is not just something you can know intellectually; He is someone you can know relationally. Jesus is the fulfillment and perfect personification of wisdom. He is wisdom in the flesh.

And while many in the world continue to stumble over him - or ignore him - the crucified Jesus is the beginning of all true wisdom. If you want to be wise - if you want to win at life in the ways that matter - here is the starting point.

Have you met this person?

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Communion

Have them stand… Invite the worship team forward…

Let’s rejoice in the wisdom of God will all his people in the words of Psalm 111:

Psalm 111:1–2 NRSV

Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.

Psalm 111:10 NRSV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

Father, we praise you for your wisdom and that you give it generously to all who ask for it. Help us to walk in the way of wisdom. We thank you that through your wisdom you made a way for us to be reconciled to you through the life, death, and resurrection of you Son.

Through the blood of the cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.