Walking With God in Wisdom - Proverbs 3

Intro

If we want wisdom, scripture tells us that we must go after it! In fact, it tells us that we must do three things:

1. We must listen to God attentively (matt 13:9 says “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and undertand!”)

2. We must Obey him humbly , seeing him with sincere and an unbiased hearts.

3.We must ask sincerely (James 1:5 reminds us that if we need wisdom, we should ask our generous God and He will give it to us, without rebuke or favoritism”)

4. Finally it says that we must seek him dilgently (Isa 55:6-7 urges to “seek the Lord while you can find him. call on his now while He is near”)

Bason on those scriptures, it becomes pretty clear that obtaining wisdom isn’t a once- a week- hobby, rather it’s the daily discipline of a life well spent!

But here’s the problem...Our modern ATTENTION SPANS have been REDUCED to that of a GNAT.

Fast food and microwaves aren’t fast enough, now we must cook our meals in Instapots!

we want instant access to entire seasons of a television show with zero commercial interruptions thanks to Netflix

We want access to 24 hr streaming news so we can get what we need whenever it best fits into our crowded schedules

We want the gratification of having instant communication with those we love the most without the awkwardness or hassle of ever having to make a phone call

As much as these things have enhanced our lives, these modern conveniences have also robbed us of the art of waiting…they’ve robbed us of the art of patiently pursuing and tarrying for that which we want most!

It’s no wonder then that so many Christians struggle with their quiet times in prayer and scripture reading.

It’s little surprise that they wrestle with being able to hear and discern the voice of God or find his guidance in their daily lives.

After all, this is not something that happens instantaneously, rather it requires diligence and patience.

In all fairness, many of us just don’t know...or remember how to wait on the Lord in this way...

And its sad...because it is robbing us of daily investing time and energy into digging deep into our relationship with Jesus, and it’s robbing us from being able to receive timely wisdom and sage advice from His Word.

Unfortunately, the modern church hasn’t exactly equipped or taught us how to seek the Lord or grow in His presence.

Instead, we’ve mass produced easily digestible nuggets of truth from Scripture and shared it on every social media platform know to mankind

We’ve fed the masses on sound bites and 2 minutes excerpts of sermons from some of the most esteemed Biblical communicators of our time

We taken the beauty and pageantry of true worship and packaged it neatly into 3- 5 minute sanitized vignettes that can easily be accessed on our preferred You Tube subscription channels

We’ve created cell phone bible apps filled with 3 minute devotions spoon feeding us from the same 50 scripture passages to the point that we no longer know how to search scripture or interpret it for ourselves.

And thanks to Covid, we’ve made it even easier to access church through Live streams and Zoom. Now we don’t have to even go to church, get dressed or fight traffic. Instead we can just tap into the church of our choice at the push of a button from the comfort of our easy chairs.

Can you see how these things have contributed to the body of Christ becoming spiritually anemic?

Can you see how our modern conveniences have helped us to lose our sense of the awe and wonder of the presence of God?

As the global church, there’s little doubt as to why why we’ve lost our inherent fear of God and have begun falling more in love with the things of this world than our pursuit of our beloved Savior!

We have slowly but surely been lulled into deep spiritual sleep and complacency at just the time the unbelieving world around us needs our light and wisdom the most!

Let me be clear:

This is not the time to fall further into spiritual disrepair...

this is not the time to continue “dialing in” our spirituality

This is the time TO WAKE UP

This is the time TO DIG DEEP...

TO ATTUNE OUR EARS and OUR HEARTS to the Lord

this is the time to ZERO IN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT’s FREQUENCY so we can once again hear his still small voice

This is the time to return to the passionate pursuit of Holy living marked by the presence and power of God being demonstrated in our lives!

This is the time to assume the posture of true repentance

It’s time to give ourselves to heartfelt worship - without the aid of a professional band with singers who rival the world’s greatest entertainers

This is the time for us to start living like the bride of Christ who is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her groom!

We can not afford to rest on our spiritual laurels any longer...the time for spiritually hitting the snooze button is over -

it is time to for us to WAKE UP to reality of God’s assignment for the church in 2021!

It’s time to learn to walk in WISDOM under God’s guidance and daily direction!

Amen?

Here’s the truth:

I don’t know one Christian who doesn’t want to live a victorious life

I don’t know one who doesn’t want to walk under God’s anointing and blessing

I don’t know of one church goer who doesn’t want to know God and find their worth in His love

The problem for most of us...is that we simply don’t know how to get there. Many of us don’t even know where to begin.

And here’s where the book of Proverbs comes to our aid.

Proverbs 3:1-2 “My chid, if you truly want a long and satisfying life, NEVER FORGET the things I’ve taught you. Follow closely every truth I’ve given you. Then you will have a full, rewarding life. Hold on to Loyal love and don’t let go, and be faithful to all that you’ve been taught. Let your life be shaped by integrity with truth written upon your heart. That’s how you’ll find favor and understanding with both God and men - you will gain the reputation of living life well.”

Let’s break that passage down...

Never forget what God has taught us (the importance of remembering, journaling and applying what god has spoken to us)

Follow closely every truth He’s given us (as recorded in scripture, as hard in sermons, as received by the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit)

Hold on to love (the missing ingredient in much of the world today)

Be faithful to all we’ve been taught (faithfulness to the gospel once marked the life and the mission of the church, and we desperately need to return to this spiritual mandate!)

Let integrity and truth shape our lives… ( not popularity polls and attendance numbers)

Gain the reputation of living well. (living lives that are marked by godliness, holiness, purity and passion for Jesus!)

There aren’t any shortcuts listed in this passage...There are no INSTANT RESULTS offered. It’s truths can’t be reduced to easily remembered or pithy sermon points

—> These things can only result from a close and intimate relationship with Jesus and His Word through prayer.<—

—> These things only come when we invest ourselves deeply into the plan of God for our lives.

Chapter three goes on to urge us in verse 5 to...

“Trust in the Lord Completely” (of course to do that we have to stop trusting so much in ourselves and our own abilities)

“with all our hearts, rely on Him for guidance” (completely, resolutely, become reliant on Him for apart from Him, we can do NOTHING!)

“become intimate with Him in whatever you do.”

Intimacy is the key!

We can’t expect God to move miraculously in our lives if we are living like strangers in his presence!

We must return to our prayer closets.

We must return to our First Love

And make Jesus the most important part of our lives!

But don’t just take my word for it...Listen to the powerful words found in verse 7. This is the PASSION Translation speaking

“Wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that is wrong.”

...THEN you will find the healing refreshment your body and spirit long for...

Modern Christianity has been more focused on what we want to receive rather than what scripture requires us to pay in order to receive those things we ask.

We love to speak of the blessings of God.

We love to recount the many passages of scripture that declare our freedom, our victory, and our healing... but we’re not very good at explaining what Scripture tells us is required of those who receive such things.

Things such as complete surrender

living a holy life

making room for God in our crowded lives and busy schedules

learning to love the things God loves and learning to abhor that which he abhores.

I believe a time is soon coming soon where the church is going to be stripped of its pretense, it will be stripped of its glitz and glamour allowing us to see how truly bankrupt and spiritual deficient we’ve become.

And although it will be painful, it will force us to rise from the ashes of our failed pursuits so that we can pursue something far better and lasting - the ultimate glory and honor of the Lord!

Call me old fashioned, but I think we need to return to the altar...

I think we need to return to nights of prayer where the church would call on the name of the Lord, seek him with all their hearts, tarrying for a long period of time in His presence.

That’s why they were blessed to watch him move in powerful and miraculous ways.

It wasn’t because their services were professionally polished or their worship was perfectly orchestated - to the contrary - their gatherings were simplistic and rudimentary - yet because they allowed themselves to be humbled before the Lord, he allowed them to be changed in His presence and amazing revivals sprang forth as a result!!

We need to return to the simplicity of our faith. We need to forget trying to impress others with our spirtual facebook insights and cleverly crafted tweets....we need to learn to just sit at the feet of our savior in anxious anticipation of what He wants to say and do in our lives.

We need to humble ourselves and pray. Not popcorn prayers or ‘now I lay me down to sleep’ prayers - we need to learn to tarry in his presence. We need to learn to sit and bask in His glory.

We need to become men and women who are in tune with the God we serve so that we stop being so reliant on others to hear from God when He has clearly designed our ears to hear from him ourselves!!!!!!

The New Living Translation interprets verse 7 like this, as it instructs us to “Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

This is the message many of us in the modern church need to hear today!

Fear the Lord

Turn from Evil

If displeasing the Lord was really important to us, then many of us would likely be living quite differently… with reverence and holiness

If we feared the consequences of our sins and their impact on our relationship with the Lord, we would do those things less and we would seek God more.

We would get serious about kicking sin out our lives forever!

It’s no wonder that Solomon boldly declares that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!”

For it sets the stage of how we need to live in order to receive God’s guidance, direction and wisdom.

Now, I wan you to notice what comes AFTER fearing the Lord and turning away from evil…something truly amazing takes place: we’ll find healing for our bodies and strength for our bones.

We don’t start by demanding healing

We start by pursuing holiness

Healing and strength follow our pursuit of God

it’s not the other way around.

Let that sink in to your heart this morning.

If we want God’s blessings, we are going to have to pursue Him - there’s no other way!

Now before we read verse 9, let me warn you because it might hit a bit close to home, for it goes after what many of us value the most in this world - our financial security!

“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the BEST PART of everything you produce.”

God isn’t interested in our left overs

He isn’t pleased when we give him what’s left.

He wants our FIRST FRUITS! He wants us to give with cheerful and faithful hearts, trusting him that He can do more with our 90% than we could ever do with 100.

It should be our HONOR to give to the work of the Lord.

It should be our JOY to give back to Him for all that He’s graciously given to us!

I believe there are a lot of broke and financially deficit believers out there who are suffering because they’ve been robbing God in their giving. They trust in their paychecks more than their Savior. They pay their bills, they pay themselves and if there is anything left over, THEN they pay a penance to God. But that’s not how its supposed to work. We are to be cheerful givers who give out of our abundance and surplus, trusting the Lord to meet all of our needs.

I could give you countless examples of how God has miraculously met my needs in response to my obedience in giving to Him. We’ve given when it hurt. We’ve given when we didn’t even have the money to give. Yet we trusted God to make up the deficit and He richly blessed and rewarded us for it.

I want to push you to grow in this area this year. Not for me or for my benefit, but for yours! It will change your life forever.

But God’s not just after our money -

He wants the BEST PART of everything we produce - our time, our talents, and the entirety of our life’s pursuit

Many Christians today live their lives their way and then beg the Lord to bless them

But Scripture tells us that the way to live a blessed life is to put God first and to give Him our best.

Then - and only then - will He be able to truly bless us and enrich our lives!

I want you to compare the passion with which you perform your job, pursue your hobbies and accumulate your wealth with the way you pursue the Lord...which gets more of your time, passion and effort?

If it’s not the Lord, I want to challenge you to make some changes. Put Him first. Seek him above all other things and see how he will richly bless and reward you for it.

The second part of that verse tells us that when we honor the Lord by giving him our best“Then He will fill our barns with grain, and our vats will overflow with good wine.”

TPT put it in more modern terms “Then EVERY dimension of our lives will overflow with blessings from an uncontainable source of inner joy!”

And before we ge to the rest of the blessings that come from pursuing wisdom, I need to warn you that you might very well experience a little discomfort and pain first.

Look at verse 11, “My child, when the Lord God speaks to you, never take his words lightly, and never be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as father corrects a child in whom he delights.”

TPT further points out “The father’s discipline comes only from his passionate love and pleasure for you. Even when it seems like his correction is harsh, its’ still better than any father on earth gives to his child.”

Some of you may relentlesly pursue the Lord this week and the first thing you are going to experience is a little discipline. He may tell you to stop doing something you enjoy. He might tell you to walk away from a relationship that is harming you, he might ask you to stop doing certain activities or cut our some bad habits in your life.

If this happens, don’t be suprised or upset by this. It’s normal.

God’s intents are always redemptive - they are not to punish, but to purify our lives!

He wants us fully, wholly, obedient to His will.

And he will clear some things out of the way in our lives.

While I was preparing this message, he convicted me of a series I’ve been watching that is not appropriate for me to watch. To be honest, I tried to ignore it, because I really like the show. But the more i fought him, the more I felt him pressing in to make point. Is what your holding on to worth what you will miss out on with me?

Wow. That’s all it took. Television series ZERO, God ONE!

If God calls you out of behaviors, lifestyles and relationships, you need to understand that it is to prepare you to receive much more than you could ever give away.

Look at verse 13 “Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitabe than silver, and her wagesare better than gold. Wisdom is more precious that rubies...nothing you can desire can compare withy her.

Why? I’m glad you asked…keep reading

“She offers you long life in her right hand and riches and honor in her left. She will guide you down delightful paths, all her ways are satisfying. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly.:

Joy

RICHES

HONOR

DELLIGHT

SATISFACTION

HAPPINESS

these are the rewards for those who seek after God’s wisdom and insight.

And I can just hear someone thinking, “Tom this is great but it sounds so hard. It’s antithetical to everything I’ve been taught. it’s the polar opposite of how I see so many other Christians living their lives. I just don’t know if I can do it. I just don’t know if the sacrifice is worth what I will receive in return.

The N